Chapter 87: Chapter 73: Seeing the Little Nun Again

The altar!

Five minutes later, the last rays of daylight vanished, and the twin moons rose completely, accompanied by a white mist.

Beneath the Cross at the center of the Blue Blood altar, the bodies of the Cultists were piled high.

Some had their brains blown out by gunshots, while for the rest, Baron had taken the opportunity of contact to activate the Demon Hunter’s blood they had drunk, spilling their intestines all over the ground.

Baron took the 23 innocent victims down from the crosses, used his blood to coagulate their wounds and stop the bleeding, and then tied the remaining, unresisting Blue Blood Cultists to the crosses.

Ignoring their struggles and pleas, he slit both of their wrists, only returning to the altar to pack his things once he had confirmed that the blood was dripping at a rate faster than five centimeters per second.

The sacrificial offerings this time were mostly bizarre Herbs and animal or Demon Fiend entrails. The playing card on his chest didn’t vibrate as the Shepherdess had said it would, which meant the entrails had nothing to do with the Dream Master.

Relying on the "Prey Intuition" granted to him by the Blood Faction, Baron roasted and ate the edible entrails with some Herbs to recover from his weakness due to excessive blood loss.

After offering a few more words of praise to the Dragon God at the foot of the altar and, while he was at it, looting all the Prole Coins from the Cultists’ bodies,

he mounted a horse by the roadside and rode along the long path, avoiding the mist, toward a small town near the altar called "Yan Nan."

He found the mayor’s house, kicked open the main gate, and told him everything about the ritual.

Mayor Gorman of Yan Nan hastily gathered and armed the town’s youth, who then rushed to the altar under Baron’s guidance.

As for Baron, he was led by the mayor’s adjutant to stay at the local Black Moon Church.

The church was ancient and dilapidated, far from the magnificence of the Blood Church in Mundra Town, yet it possessed a unique elegance of its own.

The adjutant mentioned that the town’s Black Moon Church had a long history; it was said to have been built during the first War of Faith, a thousand years ago, when the Rose Church was destroyed by the Empire.

Inside the church were only a Priest and a Nun, both of whom were very old.

The old Nun told Baron where he would be sleeping, then yawned and went to bed herself. The old Priest, however, seeing Baron’s travel-worn appearance, cordially invited him, saying:

"You haven’t had dinner yet, have you, Mr. L?"

"Please, follow me."

After receiving a nod from Baron, the old Priest led him from the bedroom hallway toward the dining room.

Along the way, the Priest shared some interesting anecdotes about Yan Nan and mentioned a few prohibitions regarding the Black Moon Church. He also noted that, coincidentally, a Nun from the Blood Church was also staying the night...

But Baron only responded perfunctorily, his attention fixed on the other side of the hallway’s glass windows.

Pedestrians passed by outside from time to time, their gazes subtly flicking toward his position.

He understood that Mayor Gorman probably hadn’t let his guard down and had secretly sent people to watch him.

This wariness would likely not be lifted until he had thoroughly investigated the origins of that Blue Blood Sect.

’If only the mayor of Mundra had been as cautious as Mayor Gorman, then he wouldn’t have been oblivious to his own town’s Blood Church being infiltrated by a Nun from the Blue Blood Sect... Oh, I almost forgot. The secular government of Prole apparently has no authority over clerical matters. That’s because in this world, there really is a bunch of Old Gods and Ancient Gods who do nothing but wait to be resurrected through faith.’

Guided by the Priest, Baron took a seat and was surprised to find a Nun already sitting on the other side of the dining table.

She wasn’t old and had a lovely face. Strands of golden hair escaped from under her nun’s coif, shimmering in the candlelight like gilded ripples under a setting sun.

He was very surprised.

Not because the Nun from the Blood Church was so young—just a little girl, really—but because he knew this little girl.

"Olivia," he said, nodding to the Little Nun, whose cheeks were puffed out like a bun from being stuffed with black bread. "Long time no see."

Olivia stared blankly at Baron for a moment, and then tears started streaming down her face.

...

"You’re saying Yali Lan—er, Lord Marquis erected a monument for me in Mundra?"

"The Blood Church was converted into an orphanage by the mayor?"

"Lady Yali Lan went north to Steel City, the capital of Gillian?"

"And as a Nun of the Blood Church, you were summoned to Fude City for training, and are now awaiting reassignment?"

As Baron listened to the Little Nun recount everything that had happened in Mundra after he left, it all felt like it had happened a long, long time ago.

While listening to the Little Nun chatter on, Baron accepted a piece of black bread from the old Priest with a word of thanks. He waited patiently for her to pause, then hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"Did you see Sessi’s painting?"

He remembered the promise he had made to the little girl. Unfortunately, after his battle with the monster that Baron Camberra had become, he had returned to the dreamscape and never had the chance to tell Olivia.

Now that he had brought it up, he felt it would have been better to have never said anything at all.

For a girl like Olivia, who was only about ten years old, all of this wasn’t just cruel—it was agonizing.

But the Little Nun just stared for a second, then said softly, "I saw it. It was painted very well."

"That’s good," Baron said.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

After all... he hadn’t been able to save that girl in the end.

The old Priest, sensing the awkwardness in the air, turned to look at the twin moons outside the window and changed the subject. "Mr. L, you’re a Bounty Hunter, aren’t you?"

Baron nodded. "Only an amateur one, at best."

"But you were able to escape from the encirclement of the Blue Blood Faction. That in itself is a testament to your strength."

"Escaped? Mr. L? You weren’t hurt, were you?" the Little Nun asked hurriedly, her face paling at the old Priest’s words.

Baron shook his head with a look that said he was fine, then turned to the old Priest. "It sounds like you have something you need my help with, Priest?"

The old Priest sighed. "Mr. L, on your way here, did you happen to feel a sudden chill from time to time, accompanied by heart palpitations?"

’I didn’t feel anything... ’

Baron nodded. "Is there some other reason for it?"

The old Priest nodded, then said, "It’s because this evening, an Undead Knight passed by here."

"An Undead Knight?"

An image of a certain dark knight brandishing Frost Sorrow in a world of ice and snow immediately appeared in Baron’s mind.

"What was it, exactly?"

"Nothing but a hallucination."

The old Nun had entered at some point. Seeing Baron look at her, she began to explain:

"The Priest has probably been too tired lately. He says he always sees an Undead Knight passing by at dusk. Mayor Gorman sent people to stand guard at the spot the Priest mentioned, but they saw nothing..."

"Sasha, what I said is true," the Priest said to the Nun. "He was a Knight whose armor was engraved with a lion, a design I’ve never seen before. He had hair like sunlight, and an incomparably handsome face... He said he had been murdered..."

The Priest suddenly trailed off.

"People can’t see Ghosts," he sighed softly. "Perhaps I really am sick."

"No, Priest. You might not be sick."

But the Bounty Hunter shook his head. "There’s an old saying that dusk is when the forces of yin and yang are most balanced. At that time, a person’s soul won’t be harmed by an excess of yang energy, nor will it be corrupted by an excess of yin energy and turn into a demon... or rather, an Evil Ghost."

"That period is the most suitable time for ghostly activity, and some people born with a natural abundance of yin energy can see them during this window. I believe the Undead Knight you saw, Priest, might be one such case."

The Priest said, "Then could I ask you, Mr. L..."

Before the Priest could finish, the Bounty Hunter said, "There’s no need to ask. I’m also very interested in this lion-engraved Knight you spoke of."

"I will go investigate it myself tomorrow afternoon."