Emperor's harem: Transmigrated with SSS mana talent
Chapter 131: [How to Help the Homeless]

Chapter 131: [How to Help the Homeless]

Lysaria went silent.

Not the calm, composed kind of silent.

But the soul-crushed, ego-flattened kind.

Why did it feel like he had just pissed on her entire magical education... with a smirk and a dance?

She sat there, stiff as a statue, every word he’d said echoing in her skull.

Then why the hell didn’t you cast a single damn spell when I kidnapped you?!

Gods.

The answer was both simple... and utterly humiliating.

Because she’d panicked.

Because she’d never been in an actual life-or-death situation before.

All her spellwork had been learned in velvet-curtained classrooms, not battlefields.

Her version of "danger" was a misfired levitation charm.

Not a masked lunatic smashing through guards and throwing her into a demon-carriage.

She’d frozen.

A prodigy—almost Rank 3—and she’d frozen.

Kael asked again, softer this time, "Lysaria...?"

She looked up at him, face pale.

So this was it?

This was the moment?

Not a secret confession.

Not a sudden proposal under the moonlight.

No.

This bastard just wanted to know why she was the magical equivalent of a scarecrow during a kidnapping.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes—hot, bitter.

She was on the verge of breaking when Kael noticed her face.

He blinked.

"Wait—hey. What’s wrong?"

From her corner of the carriage, Yue sighed like a disappointed mother ghost.

"You really went for the throat, huh?"

"What? I just asked a question!"

"A question that shattered her entire academic identity," Yue muttered.

"Maybe next time, just stab her with a fork."

Kael looked mildly alarmed now. "Wait, really? Was it that bad?"

He glanced back at Lysaria.

She was looking away, eyes glassy, lips trembling, probably considering whether jumping out of a moving carriage was worth it.

"...Shit."

In a rare moment of self-awareness, Kael looked outside, searching for something—anything—to salvage the atmosphere.

And then he saw it.

As planned, the carriage no longer looked like a monstrous black beast cloaked in darkness.

The moment Venom retracted his armor, it had reverted to its original, unimpressive form:

A shabby, dented brown wagon that looked like it belonged in a cabbage merchant’s memoir.

It blended in perfectly.

Which is why the entire city was still frantically hunting for a demonic black war-carriage... while they rolled quietly past guards like peasants on a grocery run.

Kael allowed himself a small smirk.

Then something else caught his eye.

A run-down adventurer’s guild.

And in front of it, half-buried in snow, were four mercenaries passed out cold—snoring, twitching, limbs tangled like frozen scarecrows.

Judging by the bottles clutched in their hands, they were less "resting" and more "hibernating in beer."

Kael’s face went still.

Unreadable.

He turned slowly toward Lysaria and said gently, "Hey... look over there."

She blinked and followed his gaze.

Outside, the mercenaries looked pitiful.

Ragged coats.

Cracked boots.

No roof over their heads.

She frowned, heart softening.

"That’s awful... they’re sleeping in the snow."

Kael nodded solemnly.

"So cruel," he said.

She tilted her head.

"Are... are you going to help them?"

A long pause.

Then Kael gave her the most unnerving smile she’d ever seen.

"Yes," he said warmly. "Let’s help them."

Lysaria’s heart dropped into her stomach.

Why did she suddenly feel cold?

"...What kind of help are we talking about?" she asked, already clutching the edge of her seat.

But Kael didn’t answer.

Because Kael had already snapped the reins.

The carriage lurched.

Snow sprayed.

And they were suddenly barreling full-speed toward the sleeping mercenaries.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Lysaria screamed.

"KAEL, STOP THE CARRIAGE!" Yue yelled, half-floating, half-panicking.

The mercenaries stirred.

One opened a bleary eye, saw a carriage coming at him like divine punishment, and promptly screamed.

They tried to roll away.

They failed.

Kael drove the carriage with surgical cruelty—not over their bodies, but directlyover their legs.

CRACK.

The sound of four knees giving up on life echoed through the street.

Howls of agony followed.

The entire street broke into panic.

People screamed.

"MONSTER! PSYCHO! CALL THE HOLY ORDER!"

Lysaria had her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.

"YOU’RE INSANE!"

But when she turned around—expecting a scene of carnage—what she saw instead were the Night Goddess Temple guards already rushing out from the nearby church.

Priests and healers scrambled to the scene, wrapping the injured mercs in blankets and rushing to heal them.

Kael sat back calmly, reins loose in one hand, completely unbothered.

Lysaria snapped toward him.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"I helped them," Kael said without flinching.

"You crushed their legs!"

"Yes.

And now they’re being taken to the Church of the Night Goddess.

Free healing.

Hot food. Blankets. Shelter.

....Probably a free sermon or two."

He looked smug.

Proud, even.

"They didn’t have a roof," he added.

"Now they do."

Lysaria just stared at him.

Mouth open.

Brain empty.

Yue stared, equally horrified.

"You committed felony assault to give them indoor housing?"

"Exactly," Kael said cheerfully. "Everyone wins."

Lysaria slumped back in her seat, eyes glazed.

Silence.

Awkward, heavy, suffocating silence.

Kael shifted in his seat, unsure if he’d just emotionally traumatized her...

He cleared his throat, trying to salvage whatever this was.

"I mean... it was a temporary upgrade," he offered weakly.

"They didn’t have a roof, now they’ve got medical care, blankets, divine blessings.

Technically, I helped."

He looked at her, hoping for something—anything—besides another soul-crushing stare.

Then—

Lysaria laughed.

It started as a breathy snort, like her brain had finally cracked under pressure.

Then it rolled out—full-bodied, head-tilted-back laughter that made her eyes water and her ribs ache.

Yue slowly turned to her, brow raised, face somewhere between concerned aunt and bystander at a mental breakdown.

"...Why is she laughing?" she asked flatly.

Kael blinked. "I—I don’t know."

Lysaria, still breathless, wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and shook her head.

"You," she managed between gasps, "are absolutely impossible."

Kael laughed, a little awkward at first... then genuinely.

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

The mood in the carriage shifted.

What was tense moments ago now felt absurd.

Ridiculous.

Almost... fun.

Yue stared at the two of them for a moment—then sighed dramatically and leaned back.

"Are all young people this insane?" she muttered.

But even she cracked a smile.

A beat later, she was laughing too.

And so the three of them rolled through the city—one wanted criminal, one kidnapped noble girl, and one undead ghost with sarcasm issues—cackling like idiots inside a perfectly ordinary brown carriage.

And for a moment...

It actually felt kind of nice.