Chapter 192: A Frightening Affair with Vampires (Part 2)

  Night. This was the fourth night since the vampire's appearance.

  During these past few days, the priests of the Magic Academy had taken on the role of the Royal Capital Guard, patrolling everywhere in the capital from night until dawn. The holy light arts for detecting evil were visible everywhere, but they had failed to find even the slightest trace of the vampire. There were even rumors that this was just an ordinary murder, and that the culprit had deliberately staged the scene to create a smokescreen.

  This suspicion was not entirely without reason, because a vampire known for its cunning and secrecy would have no need to hunt so brazenly in the center of the royal capital, near the Magic Academy. So, by the third night, there were not as many patrolling guards and priests.

  But no one noticed that a black figure was nimbly moving through the streets, like an extremely agile cat, dodging the patrolling priests and guards with perfect timing while moving at high speed.

  It didn't take long for this black shadow to traverse the vast royal capital and stop in a remote, deserted area outside the city. With a thud, the black shadow split in half and fell to the ground. The black shadow was actually two people overlapping each other.

  In the faint moonlight, it could be seen that the one who fell to the ground was a half-grown child. He was dressed in rags, his large, listless eyes staring blankly at the ground from a thin face. Although he was filthy, in the moonlight it could still be discerned that all the skin on his body had a nearly translucent whiteness. There were two deep holes on his neck, with thin trickles of blood seeping out and hanging on his ghastly pale skin.

  The black shadow that had dropped the child's corpse quickly dug at the ground with a small shovel. His movements were swift and powerful. Soon, there was a sizable pit in the ground. He placed the child's body into the pit, then covered it with dirt, and finally piled some plants on top. At least on the surface, there were no obvious, eye-catching traces.

  This place was a distance from both the royal capital and the main roads. If no accidents occurred, this corpse would most likely never be discovered. And the disappearance of such a street urchin in a large city like the royal capital was like a small ripple on the surface of the ocean. No one would pay any attention. A person vanished from the world without a sound.

  The movements of the black shadow burying the boy's corpse were very practiced, as if this was not the first time he had done this. But after finishing all this, he did not leave cleanly. Instead, he knelt there in a daze, looking at his own work. Slowly, faint sobs and cries could be heard, interspersed with broken phrases: "Almighty Lord... We confess and lament our many sins and evils, these transgressions we have committed from time to time through thought, word, and deed, which are enough for the Lord to bring down condemnation and wrath upon us... Please forgive us, remit our debts as we remit those who are indebted to us, lead us not into temptation. Evil and darkness. All glory be to the Lord, from this day to forever... Have mercy, Lord..."

  This was a confession, recited by a believer when kneeling before the statue of the Lord in a church to confess their sins. Yet this person was kneeling in the wilderness, confessing beside a corpse they had just buried. From the thin, soft voice, it could be heard that this was a woman.

  The crying and sobbing seemed to be deliberately suppressed. Finally, she suddenly bent over and began to vomit. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not bring up anything from her throat, just writhing painfully on the ground. In the moonlight, three other inconspicuous mounds of earth could be seen nearby, all identical to the one where the boy had just been buried. She moaned painfully among these few mounds, like a prisoner suffering extreme torture.

  "I thought you should have been used to it by now." A voice came from behind her.

  She spun around as if she had been stabbed. In the pale moonlight, the black shadow revealed Her Majesty the Empress's incomparably beautiful face, but now this face was completely twisted by terror. The pain and dishevelment from moments before had also left too many traces.

  Also in the pale moonlight, the Cardinal's face was still as resolute, handsome, and extraordinary as ever, as brilliant as if he were under the bright sun. He looked at the panicked Empress, the smile at the corner of his mouth unchanged from that day in the palace. He said faintly, "Since you've already learned to do it secretly, why are you still not used to it? This should be the fourth one you've eaten..."

  "It's all your fault." The Empress let out a sharp, mournful shriek. Her face was twisted by anger and fear. In her wide-open mouth, sharp canine teeth reflected the cold light of the moon. Like an enraged leopard, she charged at the Cardinal with a speed and explosive power completely inconsistent with her usual movements.

  But Bishop Javi just waved his hand lightly. The Empress, who had shot forward like a crossbow bolt, was immediately repelled by a flash of white light. Her shriek was exceptionally mournful in the wilderness. The skin swept by the sacred white magic light gave off puffs of green smoke.

  Bishop Javi walked forward, placed his hand on the Empress, and chanted a spell in a low voice. A cloud of black mist rolled over the Empress's body, and the damage caused by the white magic immediately healed. He frowned and shook his head, saying, "Your power has just awakened. You can't even withstand this level of white magic. If it weren't for your relatively high-level bloodline, you probably wouldn't even be able to tolerate sunlight."

  Although the injuries had subsided, the Empress still slumped to the ground, seemingly without the strength to even stand up. She just stared at the ground, muttering incessantly, "I'm not a man-eating monster, I'm not a man-eating monster..."

  "In your eyes, those who eat people are monsters?" Bishop Javi looked at the Empress with a slight smile and said, "No, to take something as food is a sign of being superior to that species. Just like humans eating chickens, eating pigs. Perhaps in their eyes, we are the monsters who eat 'people'. Have you ever confessed for eating chicken?"

  The Empress struggled to her feet, looked up and stared at the Cardinal. Although two sharp teeth were visible from her lips, her face, now covered in tears, was not ferocious at all, but instead appeared extremely pitiful. She cried out to the Cardinal, "I want to be human, not this kind of monster. Why did you harm me?"

  "I harmed you?" Bishop Javi shook his head and sighed helplessly. "Do you know that if I hadn't helped you, that half-vampire's kiss inside you might have, at some unknown time, turned you into a real monster who bites anyone it sees, whose consciousness and thoughts are completely frenzied under the chaotic power of darkness? This unfinished Embrace ritual only sent a small amount of vampiric factors into your body. It neither completely changed your body nor gave you enough dark fluctuations. After this past year, those original vampiric factors gradually accumulated and developed. But without the dark fluctuations of the Embrace to assist, your transformation was fundamentally incomplete. If I hadn't used all my strength to help you with Necromancy, you would have been done for."

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  The Empress shook her head and shouted, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know anything. I'd rather die than be like this. I can't stand this neither-human-nor-ghost life, pretending to be sick during the day, and coming out to eat people at night..."

  "It seems that although your body has transcended the human realm, your consciousness has not. Your heart is still that of an ordinary, little woman." Bishop Javi shook his head regretfully, then his voice turned sharp again. "But I hope you can adapt as quickly as possible. I also hope you won't act recklessly. Have you considered that if you expose your identity now, the one who will be most heartbroken and suffer the most might be your sister. Both psychologically and in reality, you are her only remaining relative, almost her only spiritual support. And if others knew you had become a vampire, how would they view your sister? Although everyone saw her fighting vampires during that incident, can you guarantee that not a single person will have reservations about your sister because of you?"

  Hearing these words, the Empress immediately fell silent. She stared blankly, in a daze.

  "Don't worry, as long as you listen to me, I guarantee you will get used to this body very soon, and I can also give you a more comfortable way of life, so you no longer have to kill people secretly like this, suffering the condemnation of your fragile conscience. Blood, it doesn't have to be taken by killing. I can teach you how to obtain this food without harming people. In the future, you won't have to worry about aging and sickness. Your life will be no different from before. You can watch your sister live happily, without any worries."

  The Empress remained silent. After a long while, she finally spoke, "What do you want me to do?"

  A smile finally reappeared on Bishop Javi's face. This smile was truly very warm, brilliant, and sunny. One could see that he was genuinely happy. He used this smile, which seemed to be able to resolve any hostility and difficulty, to say to the Empress, "Don't worry, it's really very simple. You just need to fully support me in taking control of the Magic Academy."

  "But... I never interfere in these matters, nor do I know how to do them... And these things are all decided by His Majesty and Commander Roland."

  "Don't worry, I will tell you what to do. It's not difficult and doesn't require much effort. As for Grafenhardt, that kind-hearted, honest emperor, and Commander Roland..." Bishop Javi smiled again. "We don't need to worry about them..."

  A short while later, the figures of Bishop Javi and Her Majesty the Empress flew together in the direction of the royal capital, quickly disappearing into the night.

  At this moment, a loud female voice came from the black curtain of the night. This voice was not the Empress's delicate and sharp one, but was full of vigor and anger: "You bastard, let go! I'm going to kill you."

  A strange darkness slowly dissipated in a place not far from where the Bishop and the Empress had been talking. Although this place was originally a shadow of thorns and bushes, it was only after this strange darkness faded that one could discover that this place originally had some light under the moonlight. But that cloud, which was not smoke, seemed to be purely a kind of dark aura that had devoured all the surrounding light. However, due to the night and the angle, no one would have noticed anything amiss there.

  As the darkness faded, it revealed three figures in the middle. The one in the center was the Drow, Jessica. She let out a long sigh. This darkness was a special skill possessed by the Drow that she had unleashed. The one who had shouted just now was the tall, heroic Temple Knight, Talise, in her suit of armor.

  The other was Ethan. He had just withdrawn his hand from the knight's mouth and waist. Looking at the knight who had jumped away, he said, "Do you think I wanted to hold you? Do you know what the consequences would be if you had rushed out like that and been discovered by those two? I'm telling you, I have no interest in saving you. I'd turn around and be on my way. I'd just let you be raped and killed by your Cardinal, then have your body destroyed and all traces erased."

  "Pah. Having my mouth covered by your stinking hand that has touched a Drow's body, I must wash it with holy water for a week and confess and pray every day. Oh. Lord in heaven, forgive me. I truly did not intend to rely on a Drow's evil arts to conceal my presence, it was only to understand the truth."

  Jessica watched as Talise jumped out of this circle of darkness and made the sign of the cross on her chest. Looking at Ethan beside her, she rolled her eyes and said, "I really think you shouldn't have stopped her. An idiot like this really should be raped, killed, and have her body destroyed and all traces erased. If my Deeper Darkness hadn't reached the third tier and could eliminate some minor noises, the sound this wench made would have been discovered long ago."

  Ethan sighed, looked in the direction of the royal capital, frowned and thought for a moment, then asked Talise, "So? Do you believe me now?"

  "I can't believe... I can't believe that guy is really a spy from the Diya Valley. Unbelievable..." Talise's eyes flickered, the veins on her forehead throbbing lightly, her expression a mix of anger and agitation. "Could it be... what you said is true? I... I must return to Celeste. I need to ask my teacher... to ask His Majesty the Pope..."

  "At this point, what are you going to ask? Are you trying to die? Didn't Lancelot already tell you that the Pope has known about these things for a long time?" Ethan said coldly.

  During these four days, Ethan had once again fully appreciated his great progress in dealing with people without using his fists. The Temple Knight had apparently never met someone who constantly used the knightly code of saving a life and repaying a favor to corner her. She was actually coaxed and deceived by Ethan into making an oath, promising not to leak their identities or make a big fuss. But she seemed very lost and had nowhere else to go, so she used the excuse of monitoring Ethan to ensure he didn't carry out any assassination plots and stayed in the same inn. As a result, the vampire incident that shook the royal capital happened that very night. She became even more suspicious that it was related to Ethan. Although, because of her oath, she couldn't take any real action, she followed them almost everywhere, staying near the trio's room. This made it so the three of them could do almost nothing for the past few days, except for Ethan sneaking out a few times.

  Both Jessica and Luya had strongly suggested that Ethan find a way to kill or get rid of this obstructive person, but Ethan never had any intention of making a move. Instead, he constantly found topics to talk about with the female knight. Talise, in terms of scheming against people, could almost be compared to the simplicity of an elf, and her heart was currently lost and troubled. She was quickly coaxed into revealing everything by Ethan.

  "By the way, how did you know this place beforehand? It's as if you knew something would happen here and brought me here to wait?" Talise asked, turning to Ethan as if she had just remembered. "If I weren't absolutely certain that was indeed a vampire, and that it was indeed Javi, I would really suspect that you arranged for someone to put on a show for me."

  "Of course I had scouted it out beforehand. The key is that I also happened to hear that this Cardinal said he would be in closed-door meditation tonight and didn't want to be disturbed. I knew he was probably coming here to 'meditate'."

  Talise thought for a moment and was even more surprised. She asked, "You mean you were already certain that Javi was related to that vampire? How did you know?"

  "By asking people, of course." Ethan said with a light smile.

  "Ask people? Who could you ask?"

  "That's none of your business." Ethan shook his head. "Let me ask you now, since you know all this, you shouldn't hinder me anymore, right?"

  Talise was stunned, frowned, and thought without speaking.

  Ethan looked at her, seeing that she hadn't quite figured it out yet, and suddenly said, "Have you really never considered that when I called you to this wilderness in the middle of the night, it might have been to kill you? Do you know? On this journey, I've had at least three hundred opportunities to make you die without even a chance to resist."

  Talise was stunned again, her face turning a bit green. Although she was unwilling to admit it, she knew this was true. At least just now, Ethan could have covered her mouth, so he could have also snapped her neck.

  "But just these four short days of peaceful coexistence, plus me saying I saved you, and you completely forgot the opposing stance between us, keeping your guard up only as a formality. I may have had a purpose in saving you, and if the situation were different, I might kill you... Have you never thought of these things?"

  Talise's mouth opened and closed, but she said nothing. Her face in the moonlight had deepened a few shades in color, though it was hard to tell if it was from green or red. Finally, she just said, "Don't tell me this counts as you saving me three hundred times?"

  "Hahahaha." Ethan couldn't help but laugh. Then he shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I'm not that shameless. I just want to tell you that one, under the current circumstances, we are indeed friends, not enemies. Two, you are far too immature. What you need is tempering of your will and mind. And to face things you don't believe in, to solve difficult problems, that is the best way..."

  "You want me to cooperate with you?" Talise frowned, interrupting Ethan and asking.

  "I didn't think you were really that stupid..." Ethan was slightly taken aback, then nodded helplessly. "Indeed. I'm feeling short-handed now. It's not easy for me to handle this situation alone. I originally thought I had a helper, but she insists she's no good at managing this kind of thing... So I can only ask you, my original stumbling block, to be my helper. Don't worry, if you really help me, and considering you returned my weapon before and didn't expose us, let's consider the score between us settled. From now on, you no longer have to be squeezed by me and your great knightly code. And I guarantee this matter..."

  "Fine, I agree." The female knight answered abruptly. It seemed she had figured something out or made some kind of decision. Her expression now had none of its previous hesitation or difficulty. Her answer was resolute.