Chapter 128: Chapter 102: Bronze Knight Promotion Method

Here in Dongcheng District, there was no repentance, only tears.

As Baron passed before them, everyone wore a numb expression.

It wasn’t the wish-seeking prayers of devout believers Baron had imagined. To him, it felt more like the despair of a dead heart—the desperate questioning of both God and themselves from a people with nowhere left to turn.

He hadn’t been able to see clearly from behind earlier. Now, up close, he saw that everyone bore scars and bloodstains to some degree.

Some were grievously injured. One man’s arm was broken in half, the white of his radius bone peeking out from beneath the blood, like weathered jade.

Yet the man’s face was numb, like a sculpture carved with a single expression, destined to live forever in that one moment—even though, judging by his age, he was just

Nuns poured "Holy Blood," blessed by the Blood God, onto the wounds. As the blood met the new flesh beneath, it let out a SIZZLE. White smoke rose, and the wounds began to heal slowly.

Baron had initially assumed the steam came from some sort of device in the church powered by a steam engine. He never imagined the white smoke was actually the blessing of the "Holy Blood."

’Is this the "Blood Therapy" of the Blood Sect? I thought it was going to be some medieval-style bloodletting. I never expected it to be so... "scientific." No, "magical" would be a better word.’

A ripple went through his heart. His impression of this world’s Gods and Churches had shifted once again.

At the very least, they actually did things in exchange for faith. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

’It seems other Churches are probably the same. Believers have faith in a God, and in return for their faith, the God either grows stronger or is resurrected, bestowing all sorts of "blessings" upon them as a gift.’

The "blessings" could be good or bad depending on the nature of the prayer, but that was precisely what divided proper believers from Cultists.

From what Baron could tell, religion in this world could be boiled down to a simple principle: good and evil lie with man, not God.

In that light, the existence of blue blood and Mad Blood seemed perfectly reasonable.

Baron glanced at the high-society young ladies from the West City District, who covered their noses with handkerchiefs and looked upon the people from Dongcheng District with disgust. Then he looked to the other side, at the poor who had lost their homes and suffered every imaginable misfortune.

After a moment’s thought, using his jacket for cover, he took a few pieces of Gold Coin Chocolate from his Soluble Ring—the D Level Taboo Item: [Chocolate That Makes Dogs Baa Like Sheep].

Baron had only discovered this other ability of his, [Assimilation], shortly before obtaining the [Glimpse of the Mysterious Crystal].

He could "assimilate" ordinary Gold Coin Chocolates, turning them into [Temporary Taboo Objects] with the same properties as the original. The only cost was buying a few British Pounds’ worth of Gold Coin Chocolate from a shop.

The chocolates Baron had handed out earlier were of this kind. The true Taboo Item, the Gold Coin Chocolate, had a bite taken out of one corner, as if to distinguish it.

He distributed the chocolates to the children. Just as Baron was about to push open a side door and leave the main hall, a voice sounded from behind him.

"They’re all unlucky souls from the villages around Fude City and from Dongcheng District."

"Last night was a Foggy Day. Some of them couldn’t afford the fog-sweeping fee and had the bad luck of running into a [Beast]. The price was the destruction of their homes and families."

Baron turned his head. Morey, the Blood Loss Knight, stood right behind him.

A rough-looking cigarette dangled from his mouth. His hair and stubble were as messy as ever, half-covering the Blood Pattern that symbolized the Blood Loss Knight.

Baron caught a whiff of heavy perfume on him. It was nothing like the fragrant scents of the high-society ladies; it smelled like he’d just climbed out of a pile of naked women.

Morey took out a bronze kerosene lighter.

It was the signature work of a Mechanical Alchemist in Fude City named Michael. It had been popular in Gillian for a while and was gradually starting to replace matches and flint.

The story goes that it was invented when Michael stuck his head into a fireplace to light a smoke while a special alchemical potion was brewing. He accidentally triggered the potion’s properties and got himself blasted black from head to toe.

He lit his own, then took another cigarette from a tin box in his pocket and offered it to Baron. "A new style of cigarette from Haiwede. Different from the traditional Pipe and hookah."

Baron took the cigarette, and Morey lit it for him. Baron took a drag and exhaled, the smoke mingling with the white vapor rising from the Holy Blood in the church.

Morey smiled. "I didn’t think you smoked."

"Because you’re the Blood Loss Knight?"

"Not really," Morey said. "It’s just that a lot of old-timers in Gillian don’t like them. They think these cigarettes ruin the rich, smooth flavor of traditional tobacco. They say they’re for women."

’So, traditionalists versus progressives. If they really started fighting, I’d still side with the pretty one.’

Baron tapped his cigarette. "Is the fog-sweeping fee expensive?"

"A worker in Fude City earns about six to eight Silver Coins a month, and that has to support a family of four. The fog-sweeping fee is at least two Silver Coins a month."

Morey took a drag from his cigarette. "The villages around Fude City are different. The villagers usually pool their money for a protection fee, hiring one or two Demon Hunters to patrol on the night the Regression Day begins."

"These villagers who were attacked by the [Beast] were either outcasts who couldn’t afford the fee, or the [Beast] just happened to attack their specific house..."

"But aren’t the Demon Hunters supposed to be on patrol?" Baron frowned.

That cynical smile returned to Morey’s face.

"They patrol, yes. But intervening costs extra. The protection fee from a whole village of over twenty households is only two or three Silver Coins a month. For a Demon Hunter, that’s far less profit than they’d make in the city. So they just go where their horse takes them."