Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

Ofemia’s description sounded a lot like a Tarot card, the Chariot.

The Chariot’s effect was that it could forcibly drain its subordinates’ stamina, energy, and even life force.

The definition of “subordinates” was extremely broad. Parents could drain their children, generals could drain their soldiers, and kings could drain their subjects.

As long as the user had control over someone, that was enough. If Loren got the Chariot, he could certainly drain the witches.

Ofemia said that the person was a king, and a newly crowned one at that. This made Loren even more certain of his theory.

Loren guessed that the Battlefield card had ended up in the hands of the Bountiful Church. Most likely, its holder had sought out the Church on his own. After all, by Fate’s design, the Church would have a hard time obtaining Tarot cards.

After weighing the pros and cons, the Church had decided to help him. To make the most of the Chariot’s abilities, it had even directly installed him as king.

And he had lived up to expectations. With the Chariot’s boost, he absorbed his subjects’ life force and forcibly held off the God of Plague’s assault on the battlefield.

To be capable of that, he couldn’t be weak in his own right. After all, the Chariot didn’t directly increase stats.

Now Loren had even more reason to get involved. He could obtain the abilities of a Mythical Creature, as well as a new Tarot card.

After obtaining this important information, Loren stopped dawdling and prepared to leave. Before going, however, he still asked one last question:

“Do you have any information about Lilith? The Half-vampire who’s been following me.”

“No…”

“Do you have any information about the Princes, then? Have they been up to anything lately?”

“The Princes have had some conflicts with the Church recently. That’s also why the Church is forcing us Bloodline members to fight on the battlefield.

“I suspect we may end up breaking with the Church…”

At the thought, Ofemia clenched her fists, unable to hide her anger.

She had already put down roots here. She had money and influence, and had reached the top of this world.

But if the Princes really fell out with the Church, she would have to oppose the Church too. She had no choice in the matter.

Even if she really defected to the Church of Night and Thunder, even if the Duke above her didn’t interfere, the Church still wouldn’t accept her.

After all, the Church knew how thoroughly high-tier vampires could control those of lower rank. The moment they accepted Ofemia, a single word from her Duke would be enough to make her fight the Church with everything she had.

So it was only natural that the Church wouldn’t accept these vampires.

“Look on the bright side. If I’m the one who wins in the end, maybe I’ll make you queen.”

Hearing this, Ofemia was so exasperated that she laughed. She even dared to talk back to Loren. “A king? If I wanted to be king, I’d have become one long ago…”

“Let me clarify…”

Loren interrupted Ofemia and added:

“Before I make you queen, I’ll unify this world, leaving only one country in the entire world.”

Loren knew perfectly well that, with Ofemia’s influence, becoming queen wouldn’t be difficult. Naturally, he couldn’t really persuade her with an offer like that.

Loren was definitely going to unify the world. He just hadn’t known who to make its ultimate ruler.

William was clever, but he tended to think more like a merchant. Ofemia was different. She really did think from a ruler’s perspective.

Besides, Ofemia was easier to control than William. After all, she couldn’t resist the commands of a high-tier vampire.

Loren didn’t know why, but it seemed the high-ranking vampires really were on his side.

Loren had seen Ofemia’s abilities for himself. Among these vampires, whose intelligence had been worn down by time, she was an outlier.

There was another reason to choose Ofemia: she had a long lifespan.

Unless absolutely necessary, Loren didn’t want to extend outsiders’ lives.

He didn’t need her to live all that long, either. He only needed Noah to develop an AI capable of managing the world. Loren was sure it wouldn’t take very long.

At Loren’s offer, Ofemia was genuinely tempted.

She truly craved status; otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.

At first, her only wish had been to become a Vampire Duke. But after hearing Loren say that, it seemed a Vampire Duke wasn’t all that impressive after all.

Ofemia didn’t doubt Loren. If anyone else had said that, she would have thought they were crazy. But it was Loren saying it.

“Master Mentor, I shall serve you with all my heart and soul…”

In an instant, even the way Ofemia addressed herself had changed.

“Good. Keep up the good work for now, and help me gather intelligence. When the Church and the vampires finally fall out, cut ties with the Church immediately.”

Although Ofemia obeyed Loren in everything, he wouldn’t really treat her especially well. After all, his relationship with her had been built entirely on threats and inducements.

So Loren had always treated her as a tool. Even if he really made her queen, she wouldn’t hold the position for long before being replaced by an AI.

“I’m leaving.”

Facing the excited Ofemia, Loren didn’t say anything more. He’d let her fill in the rest with her own imagination.

……

Only after leaving Ofemia did Loren truly set out for

 home. The battlefield wasn’t far from the Gedlan Kingdom, so it wasn’t wrong for him to say he was going home.

TourProperties

As they passed through the territory of the God of Night and Thunder, the sky suddenly brightened. The blinding sunlight made everyone feel a little uncomfortable.

“Too bad we never got to play in the arcade at Ofemia’s house before leaving.”

Anna sighed. Whenever they went to see Ofemia, something else always came up, and the visit to the arcade kept getting postponed.

Still, Anna wasn’t too disappointed. She knew perfectly well that more important matters were at hand.

“These games really aren’t that fun. Once everything’s over, technology will develop rapidly, and there’ll be even more interesting games.”

Without realizing it, Loren had made more and more promises. But these weren’t empty promises. When the time came, he really could deliver.

While they chatted, they reached the sky above the battlefield. From here on, planes frequently flew overhead. They were all inventions Noah had developed, and Loren could even sense the runes he had inscribed on them.

If Loren wanted to, he could detonate those planes at any time.

Luna kept looking down, trying to spot Jessica among the people below.

Loren saw what Luna was thinking and began searching with her.

“The battlefield is huge. We’re only passing over a small part of it, so it’ll be hard to find Jessica…”

Loren had barely finished speaking when he actually spotted a familiar figure. Compared with how he remembered her, though, she looked much more worn. She was mechanically casting spells, slaughtering the enemies in front of her.

Behind her, Loren saw the execution squad.

“Found her. Jessica’s right there.”