Distrust

The Church could have gotten him killed, but no matter how hard Adrian thought about it, he couldn't come up with a reason for the Church to target him. 

Yes, they were often at odds, but Adrian had learned his lesson from his time on Earth and didn't challenge the Church's authority. Instead, he always turned a blind eye to matters that didn't concern him. 

Unbeknownst to Adrian, all the thoughts about betrayal made the transplanted mana core within him go rampant. Feeling a sudden pressure coming from him, the people around him began to retreat, eyeing him suspiciously. 

Even one of the paladins noticed the situation and walked in Adrian's direction to confront him. However, before the man could reach him, a series of explosions went off, shaking the entire courtyard. Chaos erupted as debris flew in all directions.

Paladins, clad in their traditional armour, rushed to shield the Pope. One yelled, "Protect His Holiness! Form a barrier!"

Without delay, the Paladins covered the Pope with shields, pushed him inside the Church and locked the premises for the safety of his holiness. 

Amidst the smoke and confusion, heroes attending the funeral unsheathed their weapons while scanning the crowd. Healers and mages began casting barrier magic to protect their respective teams. 

"Who dares to attack the Church when the Paladins and all the heroes are present here?" Rowan, a royal elf, yelled over the chaos.

"Do you need to ask?" Vincent scoffed; given his rivalry with Rowan, he spared no time taking shots at his half-brother. "Of course, it's those Nether bastards-"

"Ah, such uncouth language from an elf," Rowan retorted. "You're a prime example that no matter how refined one's upbringing and education, their actions and words always align with their lineage."

"What did you say?"

Vincent clenched his fists, anger boiling within him. His face reddened as he moved towards Rowan, eyes burning with rage. However, the elves around him, including Amelia from his team, pointed their weapons at him to protect the crown prince of Alfvania. 

"Vincent, don't do anything foolish," Amelia mumbled a warning while pointing an arrow right at Vincent's forehead. "You'll only get yourself in trouble."

Vincent stared at Amelia as if he was going to rip her to shreds. But he wasn't foolish enough to go through with hurting an elf. Besides, being the son of a concubine, he wasn't exactly favoured in Alfvania and was relieved to have found his way to Nexaria.

However, his happiness didn't last for long as he got to know that the half-brother whom he detested with all his being was also summoned to the strange world. 

The elves surrounding Rowan were initially meant to follow Vincent but changed their allegiance upon learning about Rowan's summoning. Everyone except Amelia shifted to Rowan's side, dealing a blow to Vincent's wounded pride.

It was why Vincent, despite his noble status, found himself in a guild alongside humans and dwarves – groups traditionally looked down upon by the elves.

Swallowing his pride, Vincent rudely pushed past Amelia, moving towards the crowd. Before anyone could notice what he was about to do, Vincent unleashed a barrage of attacks from his aura blade into the disoriented crowd.

Innocent civilians cried out in pain as Vincent's aura blade cut through the crowd. All the while, the elf had a twisted smile on his face. Everyone was startled by Vincent's sudden aggression and struggled to react quickly. But Seraphina was the one to vocalise everyone's thoughts. 

"What are you doing, Vincent!?" she exclaimed, her voice filled with disbelief. 

"Just taking care of the miscreants who caused those explosions," Vincent, still attacking the crowd, had a sadistic smile on his face. "I apologise if some innocents got caught in the crossfire. But it was necessary to take swift action."

Seraphina, shocked and appalled by Vincent's callousness, approached him, but Vincent smacked her hand off his shoulder. 

"Saintess, this isn't a safe place for you," Vincent remarked, his eyes red with bloodlust.

"You're injuring innocent people! This is unacceptable!"

"Innocents always lose in wars. This is merely another such incident." Vincent replied, shrugging Seraphina's remarks.

"Vincent, this isn't the way. We need to find a solution without causing harm to the innocent."

"They shouldn't have been in the way," Vincent, unapologetic, met her gaze with a cold stare. "If they're harmed, blame those who caused the chaos."

"You-" 

Seraphina, being a saintess, rarely loses her emotions, but when she does, it always ends badly for the one on the receiving end. And it seemed the emotions surrounding Adrian's funeral had gotten into her as she raised her hand to cast a curse on Vincent.

But at that moment, Sophia stood between the two, wanting to stop the infighting. 

"Enough! We can talk about this later!" she yelled. "We first need to get rid of the assailants!"

Without further ado, the heroes jumped down from the stage, charging into the disoriented crowd, their weapons at hand. 

However, the people, still reeling from Vincent's unexpected assault, refused their help. The distrustful eyes of the crowd regarded the heroes with suspicion and disgust. 

"Come on! We're here to help-" Amelia tried convincing a lady by handing her a potion, but the lady smacked it away.

"Help? That's what you call attacking us?" the lady retorted.

However, Amelia wasn't the only one facing the crowd's rejection. Every single hero was being shunned by the public. 

In contrast, whenever the Ravens, clad in dark attire, approached the crowd, though initially hesitant, they accepted the Ravens' assistance. The heroes were taken aback by such development. 

Little did they know, while they were occupied sorting out their disagreements, the Ravens had taken the opportunity to react to the attack and win the favour of the public. That, along with the Pope's words, made the public see the Ravens in a positive light.

Besides, the Raven's aid and Vincent's attack on the innocents had a compounding effect on the crowd as the carefully crafted image that Adrian had painstakingly upheld was now unravelling right before the heroes' eyes.