It's so hard being a hero!

"Tell me, what are we really trying to achieve in this life?"

Sophia was taken aback, not expecting him to suddenly ask such a profound question.

She thought for a moment before answering, "Before, I wanted to save the world; later, I wanted to live freely; and now..."

She didn't continue.

Vic didn't press further, just smiled, then stood up and dusted off his trousers.

"Alright, it's getting late, I should go."

Hearing him say that, Sophia also stood up.

"Are you really not going to stay the night?"

"No need, I'm used to traveling at night, and who knows when I'll see my sweetheart again? She's waiting for me."

Vic walked to the courtyard gate, then looked back at her; in the twilight, his gaze seemed somewhat distant.

"If there's anything you can't handle on your end, remember to let me know."

Sophia nodded.

"understood."

Vic waved his hand, said nothing more, and turned to walk into the twilight deep in the alley.

His footsteps faded into the distance on the stone pavement, and after turning the corner, they could no longer be heard.

Sophia stood at the gate for a while before turning around and walking back into the yard.

Chapter 141 Everyone Has Their Own Way of Living

Vic left, and he left so decisively.

Without even turning his head, he waved and disappeared into the twilight at the alley entrance.

The footsteps faded away on the stone pavement, and after turning the corner, they could no longer be heard.

Sophia stood at the gate of the courtyard, staring at the empty alley for a long while before looking away.

She turned and walked back into the courtyard, sat down on the stone bench, rested her hands on her knees, looked up at the darkening sky, and sighed heavily.

"That guy, he left with such style."

Her tone was filled with undisguised envy, tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"I wish I could live a life where I can just go wherever I want, stop whenever I want, and leave whenever I want, without any worries."

She was talking to herself, and her voice wasn't loud, but Frey, who was sitting on the stone bench opposite her, heard her clearly.

Frey glanced at her while holding her cup, a slight smile playing on her lips, but she didn't rush to reply.

Sophia withdrew her gaze from the night sky, looked down at her hands, and added another sentence.

“I used to think he was a frivolous person, always slacking off and not taking anything seriously. But now I see, he's finally figured things out. He's fought all the battles he needed to fight, paid off all the favors he needed to pay, and now he can enjoy his life. As for me? I'm busy all day long, and I don't even know what I'm doing it for.”

Frey spoke only then, her tone light and casual, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.

"You're just making things difficult for yourself."

Sophia paused for a moment, then turned to look at her.

"Lilith's matter cannot be resolved in the short term."

Frey put down her cup, her voice soft, but each word was clear.

"Let alone in the short term, it might not be so easy to solve in the medium term. What level is she now? God level. Even if you recover to your peak strength from your previous life, you will only be at the peak of the Saint Realm, still a step away from being a demigod. What can you use to fight her? Moreover, she has the God of Darkness standing behind her, an existence that the entire God Realm cannot ignore."

Sofia did not refute, because she knew that Frey was telling the truth.

"The same applies to the demon race."

Frey continued.

"Although the Demon Suppression Pass has been stabilized for the time being, as long as the God of Darkness is still watching over there, the demons will make their move sooner or later. You are thinking about how to solve these problems all day long, but have you ever thought that these problems are not something you can solve by yourself? No matter how much you worry, what is going to happen will still happen, and what is not going to happen will not come sooner because you worry about it."

Sophia sat on the stone bench, remained silent for a while, and then gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"You're right, I really did force myself to endure the hardship. Even though I had no other choice, I insisted on holding on as if the sky was about to fall."

She paused, her tone becoming more serious.

"But you're right, some things can't just be left unattended. I'm being a bit stubborn, but I have to do something, right? I can't just do nothing and wait for things to get better on their own."

Frey didn't respond to that, but instead changed the subject.

"Isn't the reason you didn't acknowledge me before because you were worried about this?"

Sophia's body stiffened slightly.

"You're worried that Lilith will find out you're back and trace it back to us."

Frey's tone was calm, as if she were stating something she had long since seen through.

"So you hid, you pretended not to know me, you pretended to be just an ordinary genius student, thinking that as long as you didn't admit it, Lilith wouldn't notice you, wouldn't notice us."

Sophia lowered her head and remained silent.

Frey continued speaking, her tone neither accusing nor yielding in the slightest.

"But have you ever thought about it? Can you really solve this kind of problem by hiding alone? If Lilith really wants to know where you are, she has countless ways to find your whereabouts. You hide from me, you don't recognize me, you don't recognize Lyra. You think you are protecting us, but in reality you are just putting yourself on a pedestal. You think you can handle it, but what you are carrying is too heavy, so heavy that you yourself know you can't carry it for long."

Sophia sat there quietly and listened to these words for a long while before speaking.

The voice was lower and deeper than before.

“I understand what you’re saying. The reason I was reluctant to acknowledge you at first was because of this. I was afraid that Lilith would target you, that she would use you to blackmail me, and that I would drag you into a fire pit before I was ready.”

She looked up at Frey, her gaze filled with an unusual frankness.

"But over the years, I've slowly come to realize something: hiding and pretending not to know someone is ultimately just treating the symptoms, not the root cause. I can hide for a while, but I can't hide forever. When Lilith comes knocking, she will come knocking. It has nothing to do with who I am or whether I recognize you."

She paused for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts, and then softened her voice.

"Give me a few more years, let me grow a bit more, let me be fully prepared, and then I will talk to Leila about it at the best time. I won't keep it from her forever."

Frey looked at her, without asking any questions or urging her, and simply nodded gently.

"I respect your choice. You can say it whenever you feel it's appropriate."

Upon hearing this, Sophia felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

Just as she was about to say something more, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the courtyard gate.

Immediately afterwards, the courtyard gate was pushed open from the outside.

Leila burst in with a bang.

As she walked, she untied the straps on her helmet, her golden hair disheveled by sweat and the night wind, draped over her shoulders.

As soon as she entered, she glanced around the yard. Not seeing Vic, she immediately turned to Sophia and Frey, asking them a question with a puzzled look on her face.

"Hey, where's Uncle Vic? I didn't see him when I came back. Wasn't he supposed to be eating here?"

Frey sat on the stone bench, picked up her cup, took a sip, and replied casually.

He's already gone.

Laila froze, forgetting to put down the helmet in her hand.

"Gone? Gone so soon? He just arrived, and left without even saying goodbye."

Sophia chimed in from the side.

"He was just passing by, stopped by to take a look, and left after confirming that there were no major problems here. His wife is still waiting for him in the south, and he is in a hurry to go back to be with her."

Upon hearing this, Leila immediately pouted in displeasure, slammed her helmet on the stone table, and spoke with obvious complaint in her tone.

"He's so carefree, coming and going as he pleases, without even staying to help out for a few more days. There's still so much to do in Tianqian City, why doesn't he think of lending a hand?"

Upon hearing this, Frey put down her cup, glanced at her daughter, and spoke with a tone that carried the lecturing quality typical of an elder.

"Do you think everyone is like you? We Saint Realm cultivators should focus more on breaking through to the demigod realm, or even the god realm. How can we have time to get involved in these petty squabbles every day? If he comes to help when there's a big commotion, that's already considered good enough. You expect him to patrol and catch succubi for you every day? Isn't that a waste of his talents?"

After being told off by her mother, Leila shrank back, stuck out her tongue, and dared not say another word.

"Okay, okay, I was just saying it offhand."

She hugged the helmet to her chest, then turned to look at Sofia, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, Sophia, when are you going back to the academy? You've been away for so long, haven't they been urging you to come back?"

Sophia shook her head.

"There's no rush. The teacher knows I'm here to provide support at the front lines. Besides, the situation here has just stabilized. I want to stay a few more days to see how things go. In case the demons make any more moves, it's always better to have one more person than one less."

Leila didn't say much after hearing this.

She simply nodded and then stretched out a big yawn.

"Alright, you guys chat, I'm going back to take a shower. Sophia, see you at the city gate tomorrow morning."

After saying that, she waved to Sophia, nodded to Frey, turned around, and pushed open the door to leave.

Chapter 142 Teammates Arrive

In the days that followed, Sophia would leave home before dawn almost every day and wander around the city of Divine Punishment with Lyra's patrol.

He goes out into the city during the day and returns at night. His life is like a wound-up spring; he never has a moment of leisure.

Although the demon army was suppressed behind the ruins of Zhenmo Pass by Beatrice and never launched another large-scale advance, small-scale infiltrations never stopped.

Moreover, their infiltration methods are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.

At first, the ones that infiltrated were all Shadow Fiends, the kind of guys who would sneak into the perimeter of the warning zone at night, clinging to the shadows.

However, after being spotted a few times by the Dawn Knights' patrols, these creatures learned their lesson.

Instead of traversing the wilderness, they began to mingle among the refugees, pretending to be refugees fleeing from the west, trying to find a way to sneak into the city gates of the City of Heavenly Punishment.

The soldiers guarding the city checked the identification documents several times and found that the fake documents were becoming more and more realistic. Some of the fakes could even fool the initial rudimentary magic detection arrays.

Fortunately, several light-attribute detection devices were later installed at the city gate. The alarm would sound if the Shadow Demon or Human Demon got close, which suppressed the infiltration momentum a bit.