Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

“Still alive?”

“Alive.”

A guard lashed the vampire and shouted angrily,

“Master Mentor is asking you a question, stop playing dead!”

“Master Mentor! You are Master Mentor!”

Hearing Loren’s title, the vampire suddenly became agitated, ignoring the wounds on his body.

When he spoke, Loren confirmed the vampire was male.

“You know me?”

“Of course I know you, your name is known throughout the Bloodline!”

Since he recognized Loren, the following would be much easier:“Why did you come to the Gedlan Kingdom? This place isn’t very suitable for vampires, is it?”

“I didn’t want to… In the Uridia Kingdom someone suddenly started hunting the Bloodline, not just monster hunters, but some high-ranking vampires were involved too. We low-ranking vampires had no way to survive…

“I was chased by monster hunters. I barely escaped, I was badly injured, and had to feed on blood to recover…”

“Such a big incident happened over there?”

Whatever the reason, the fact remained that he had killed so many people. Loren had already sentenced him to death, but before killing him he needed to extract all the needed information:

“What do you know about the Mastermind Behind the Scenes?”

Loren’s memory had no record of this. This world had little habit of recording history, and Loren didn’t know whether this event existed on the original timeline, especially since his interference in this world had indeed been significant.

“I know almost nothing. I’m just a low-ranking vampire without a title. Many titled vampires are dead…”

When he said that, his voice revealed deep, genuine terror—this fear was not feigned, he was truly terrified to the core:

“They found a new method to deal with the Bloodline. I almost died from it…”

The vampire’s tone was like a confession to Loren. He exposed his back, which showed wounds that looked like severe sunburn.

“What is this new method?”

Loren continued to ask; in his memory there were no other known methods for dealing with vampires.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see anything, my eyes went blind. It felt like being exposed to sunlight…”

“Anything else?”

“No more…”

After gathering all the information, Loren looked at the nearby guards:

“Alright, you can execute him now. Make sure to notify everyone. Hold a public execution, throw him under the sun to be burned to death in broad daylight.

“This will raise the Church’s reputation and let people see the true nature of vampires.”

The Bishop who had just arrived was panting. He hadn’t fully recovered when excitement hit him, and he felt he had truly chosen the right leader.

The vampire’s face had been burned beyond recognition by the sun; it was utterly disfigured and repulsive. No one was going to shout, “Oh my God he’s so handsome, he doesn’t deserve to die,” right?

“Master Mentor! I really don’t know anything else!”

“Then you deserve to die all the more. Murder must be paid with blood, that’s the natural order.”

Loren’s tone was flat, without a hint of wavering.

“I only killed two people, not enough to deserve execution, right!”

Two soldiers had already lifted the vampire, but when Loren heard this he raised his hand and signaled them to put him down.

“You say you only killed two?”

At that, the vampire grabbed at a lifeline and hurriedly explained:

“Yes, yes, yes, I only killed two people. Because I confessed so much, as long as it’s not the Church of the God of Vows and Wind’s law, I shouldn’t be sentenced to death, right?”

“How did you kill them?”

Given a chance at life, his confession came quickly:

“I looked for people who were alone late at night. Once I caught them I drained them dry, then tore the wounds and other parts to make it look like other beasts attacked them…”

“Do you have any accomplices?”

“No! I came here alone!”

This complication suggested there was more than one vampire drifting into the Gedlan Kingdom, and another vampire was clever enough to mimic the modus operandi. Even Loren had been misled into thinking there was only one vampire; luckily he asked a few more questions before the execution.

“Alright, under Gedlan Kingdom law you killed two people, but you confessed a lot of useful information, which can mitigate some punishment…”

Just as the vampire felt relief, Loren suddenly changed his tone:

“But my words are more useful than Gedlan Kingdom law. I now pronounce your death sentence.”

From beginning to end this vampire had treated other lives with contempt, which was precisely why Loren insisted on killing him.

After issuing the sentence, Loren turned and left, letting the vampire howl behind him. The vampire had shouted many things, but nothing useful to Loren.

“Master Mentor, what should we do next…”

The Bishop followed Loren, completely turned into a walking bundle of questions.

“There’s nothing special to do. Proceed with the original plan: search by day, stake out by night. He will definitely continue committing crimes. Also, remind surrounding towns to be vigilant.”

While answering the Bishop, Loren’s mind lingered on something else: the little vampire who knew information about the Observer. If she were swept up in this incident, it would be disastrous. Setting aside Loren’s inability to obtain more information about the Perpetual Observer, even finding the Fool’s Card would be extremely difficult.

Loren planned to finish handling matters here quickly, then go to the Uridia Kingdom to see that half-vampire first. He didn’t know whether half-vampires were on the hunters’ list.

This whole affair was hard for Loren to understand. He couldn’t imagine who would dare hunt vampires in the vampires’ stronghold. Uridia had vampire Princes, and the power of a vampire Prince had already reached the peak of mortal power, just below the Angels. Such strength could crush the vast majority of people in this world.

Even to players, a vampire Prince was a major BOSS and extremely difficult to deal with.

“Is there any trace of high-ranking vampires behind this?”

Loren still couldn’t figure out why vampires would turn on their own kind. Normally, even if vampires weren’t perfectly united, they were extremely cohesive.

Vampires could turn humans into their own kind and grant ranks. For example, a vampire Prince could elevate someone to vampire Duke, and a vampire Duke could elevate someone to vampire Earl, though at great cost.

Except for untitled vampires who could only turn people into mindless monsters, other elevations were essentially beneficial. Even the most ordinary vampire would possess power comparable to a low-ranking mage, so vampires generally only granted titles to close confidants or lovers, which fostered internal unity.

But there was another method that could cause internal conflict: low-ranking vampires could devour high-ranking vampires to elevate their own bloodline, but this method was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.