After resting at the church for a night and having a fierce spar with the Shepherdess to hone the skills he’d learned from Ludwig that day, Baron and the Little Nun bid farewell to the old nun and Mayor Gorman and set out on the road.

The Little Nun was headed to the Blood Church in Fude City, while Baron remembered the Shepherdess’s advice to follow "Destiny" and search for the Dream Master’s remains.

Although he didn’t know what that ethereal thing "Destiny" actually was, Baron instinctively felt that searching for something was like looking for a job—you had to go to a big city.

After all, the population density and traffic were much higher there. Even if he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he’d be able to gather more intel.

Besides, one of his revolvers was broken. He figured the Undead Knight’s Sword Qi had likely sliced through the barrel by accident.

Thankfully, he’d learned from Gorman that firearms existed in this world. The Gillian Duchy was even nicknamed the Country of Steam and Hunters, so Gorman had suggested that Baron find an Alchemist of the Mechanical School in Fude City to repair the barrel.

Since Yan Nan was still quite a ways from Fude City, Baron spent one silver coin and forty copper coins to rent two chestnut horses in town, each adorned with a Griffin feather.

Once they got to Fude City, they just had to find a livery stable that used the same Griffin feather and return the horses.

It was said that besides being used to distinguish the different livery stables and make it easier to recover lost horses, the intimidating aura from the Griffin feathers also kept wild beasts in the forest from approaching while on the road.

A funny thing happened while he was renting them. The owner tried every trick in the book to persuade Baron to rent a pair of horned horses, supposedly Unicorn crossbreeds, but Baron was immediately drawn to the two skinny chestnut horses.

When the owner asked why, Baron claimed that both Lu Bu and Lord Guan had ridden horses like these, so of course he had to ride one as well.

The stable owner immediately hiked the price. When Baron furiously questioned him, the owner drawled, "Well, if both Lu Bu and Lord Guan rode this kind of horse, doesn’t that mean you’ve gotta pay a bit more to ride one?"

What followed was Baron beating the owner to a pulp while the Little Nun prayed, which conveniently brought the price back down.

The owner should consider himself lucky; the last person Baron beat up to the sound of prayers was now deader than a doornail.

Baron named the two chestnut horses "Red Hare" and "Nuzi Nande." And so, riding Red Hare himself and telling the story of *Don Quixote* to the Little Nun atop Nuzi Nande, he began their journey.

They encountered no other travelers on the road—only the swaying shadows of trees and the steady passage of time. The waterskins in their saddlebags were full, making it the perfect time for a story.

As she listened to the story of Don Quixote, the Little Nun would alternate between praying and giggling. "Mistaking windmills for giants and flocks of sheep for armies," she said. "Don Quixote is so brave, to charge into battle even against things like that."

Baron was moved by the Little Nun’s words. It was the first time he’d ever heard someone praise Don Quixote’s actions after hearing what he did, without any modern analysis or the emotional boost from a short video set to epic music.

’Brave? In reality, it was just foolishness, not even knowing what he was doing, yet stubbornly believing he was right, wasn’t it?’

This was how Baron had felt when he first finished reading *Don Quixote* as a child.

He’d thought Don Quixote and Sangji were both complete fools. They were lucky that most of the people they met on their journey, like the innkeeper or the duke and duchess, were good-natured. Otherwise, in that era, they’d have been devoured without a trace.

But years later, while browsing analyses of *Don Quixote* online, he’d reflected on the people and events in his own society and come to a different conclusion.

He now felt that perhaps what the world needed more of were precisely those kinds of reckless fools who would risk everything.

At the very least, when faced with something most people would dismiss as a mere windmill, he had the courage to charge in, even if it meant getting battered and bruised.

After reaching the part of the story where Don Quixote confronts the caged lion and dubs himself the "Lion Knight," Baron took a drink of water and asked casually,

"Olivia, do you know of the Mad Lord?"

When they had left the Black Moon Church, the old Priest was still unconscious. The town doctor had come and said it was nothing serious, that he would be fine after a few days of rest.

This left Baron, who had hoped to ask the Priest about the Blood Madness Disease, feeling a bit helpless. Still, they couldn’t afford to linger at the Church.

Yan Nan was still a considerable distance from Fude City. For safety, and to avoid any unexpected delays, they needed to reach their destination before the fog of Regression Day arrived.

Baron vaguely recalled that the Mad Blood Faction, the group associated with the Blood Madness Disease, worshipped not only the Blood God but also an Ancient God known as the Mad Lord.

’The Little Nun is a nun of the Blood Church, after all,’ he thought. ’She ought to know some of its secrets.’

"The Mad Lord?" The Little Nun shook her head. "I only know of the Seven Great Old Gods and the Blood God. Regarding the Mad Lord, all I know is that he is the Ancient God who presides over the First Law, Madness. I don’t know anything more."

"Then can you tell me more about the Seven Great Old Gods? What Laws do each of them preside over?"

Sensing the Little Nun’s surprise, Baron just shrugged. "In Feinan, all anyone talks about is the Dragon God. The records on the other six Great Old Gods are all incomplete."

The Little Nun nodded and began to explain the origins of the Seven Great Old Gods to Baron.

She explained that in ancient times, long before the birth of the human race, the Gods who presided over the Laws already existed on the Continent.

At that time, the chief among the Gods was the Lord of Nature, Cornu, who presided over the First Law, the Natural Law.

Later, the Lord of Nature unexpectedly fell during an event Alchemists call the "Night of Withering." A long and brutal war then erupted among the Gods as they fought to seize the "one-third Chaos Law Fragment" that the Lord of Nature had been guarding.

This is what Alchemists call the [First Law War].

In that war, Gods fell and Laws were shattered. The ultimate victor, the one who seized the Chaos Fragment, was a nameless and formless entity.

He was the Great Lord, creator of Blood God Aisley, who embodies wisdom and love, tolerance and compassion, glory and brilliance.

’With a preface that long,’ Baron thought, ’you’d think the Blood God was the sun of some Kingdom of Light, and the Great Lord was an even bigger sun.’

Unaware of Baron’s blasphemous thoughts, the Little Nun continued her explanation:

"Because the Great Lord wields the Chaos Law—the most powerful Law, which cannot be swayed by Destiny—the world would inevitably crumble just from his presence."

"To preserve the world’s stability and Order, guided by Destiny, the seven most powerful Old Gods remaining after the First Law War—aside from the Great Lord himself—stepped forward. They led the surviving Ancient Gods to seal the Great Lord away."

"Those seven Old Gods are:"

"The Master of Dreams, who presides over the First Law, the Law of Dreams;"

"The Mother Goddess of Suffering and Calamity, Sofia, who controls the First Law, Suffering, and the Second Law, Joy;"

"The Holy One, who controls the First Law, the Sacred Law, and the Second Law, the Light Law;"

"The Dragon God Pulansantos, who controls the Second Law, the Emperor’s Law, and the Second Law, the Dragon Race Law;"

"The Traitor, who controls the Sin Law; the Lonely Silver-faced Goddess, of the Soul Law;"

"And finally, the one who still slumbers with the Great Lord in the Fear Plateau, the master of the Fear Law and the Snake Law, the Cave Rhythm Snake."

"This war to seal the Great Lord is known as the Second Law War."

"And it was during this period of sealing that the Great Lord’s lingering will used his blood to create the Blood Race, his pupils to form the sun and moon, and his golden hair to become the Golden Lion... His body itself drifted across the ocean, eventually forming the Fear Plateau on the southern part of the Continent."

"Then what about the Blood God?" Baron noted the inconsistency. "It sounds like the Great Lord’s blood created the Blood Race, not the Blood God."

The Little Nun offered a quick prayer, then said, "The moment the Blood God was born, he bonded with the Blood Law that the Great Lord held. He was then immediately sealed away by the Seven Gods."

’Sealed away right after he was born,’ Baron thought. ’What a pitiful Blood God.’

"That’s it?" Baron asked.

The Little Nun shook her head. "That’s it. The rest of the scripture is just hymns praising the Lord Blood God. Do you want to hear them, Mr. L?"

"I think I’ll pass."

’I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to resist bad-mouthing the Blood God,’ Baron thought, ’even if Blood Demon Hunters seem to have a pretty major connection to him.’

Just then, Baron felt the Hunter Badge on his chest begin to vibrate again.

His interest piqued, he glanced at the darkening sky, then signaled for the Little Nun to take the horses and hide. He leaped onto a tree trunk and scanned the forest from his high vantage point.

After pinpointing the direction, he made sure the Little Nun was well hidden before melting into a slender shadow and dashing toward the source of the signal.

He caught the scent of blood and decay.