Eldritch Horror Theatre

To think it was for her value as food.

Fu Qian had been wondering why those unseen ”eyes” pulling the strings had appeared here in the first place.

Jane was clearly an ordinary person. For her to forge a connection with such an entity and draw this much attention, there had to be a special reason.

The answer turned out to be as absurd as it was logical.

The fresh blood of a young woman.

Fu Qian could almost picture it: an elegant Jacques swirling bright red liquid in a wine glass, raising it to take a delicate sip with a rapt expression.

Come to think of it, he had just done the exact same thing.

In fact, that was one of the reasons he was using the name Herbert this time.

Regardless, with that initial motive established, everything else made perfect sense.

The change in her eyes was payment for her blood. Something had just gone wrong, forcing the ever-reputable Jacques to stoop to playing family doctor.Jane’s two recent bouts of isolation were most likely due to this ”colleague’s” arrival and whatever procedures he had performed on her.

As for her bizarre shifts in condition after each visit, they could be chalked up to a quack’s blunders.

The Order, the Blood Clan, and an outsider—tonight was actually a joint consultation between three parties!

His prestige as the attending physician was only going up.

Fu Qian felt a momentary wave of gratification.

...

”The change in her eyes was a complete accident. It wasn’t supposed to happen.”

As expected, having his aesthetic tastes insulted was more than a member of the Blood Clan could bear. Jacques spoke up to defend himself almost instantly.

”Is that so? I was just thinking that if that were a true Blood Clan aesthetic, you should have blessed yourself first.”

Fu Qian gave a mild ”oh.”

”Save the nonsense. I won’t deny what I’ve done.”

Jacques sneered, motioning for Fu Qian to drop the act.

”Regardless, I saw her again some time after the transaction was completed. Her condition surprised me quite a bit.”

”At the art salon?”

”How did you know?”

The question clearly caught Jacques off guard.

It was obvious. The voice at the salon that told Jane to close her eyes was either him or one of his kind. Not to mention, Fu Qian had already seen similar artistic inclinations in another group of the Blood Clan.

”A guess. Jane hasn’t left the house since then, and the Blood Clan members I know have always had an artistic streak.”

”You really do know other members of the Blood Clan...”

Jacques seemed to sense that Fu Qian’s final ”compliment” carried a strange undertone, but he was clearly more focused on the first part of the sentence.

Since he didn’t question it, it seemed the Blood Clan of this world also preferred to live in isolation. Otherwise, he most likely would have asked, ”Why haven’t I heard anyone mention you?”

Making that silent deduction, Fu Qian ignored the surprise and gestured for him to continue.

”You guessed right. I went to check on her myself after being tipped off... It was hard to understand.”

Staring at Fu Qian, his scarlet eyes sharper than ever, Jacques finally confirmed the guess.

”The effect seems to have been distorted on her.”

”And then you followed her here to monitor the changes every now and then?”

”I needed to determine the cause. This shouldn’t have happened. A commandment is never wrong!”

Jacques didn’t deny it.

”It seems I bear some of the responsibility for her turning out like this.”

Fu Qian glanced at Jane on the floor, offering the self-criticism with complete ease. ”Did my examination disturb you?”

”Not at all. I was simply curious about your motives,” Jacques denied coldly. ”There’s no way someone like you would run around for a bit of money, and you clearly aren’t an idiot like Olinter.”

”I had already planned to treat her tonight. If her condition progressed any further, it would likely draw in those annoying Hunters from The Order.”

Just as expected, he was different from Olinter and the others. This guy could tell that Fu Qian wasn’t an ordinary person.

Fu Qian thought to himself.

”The problem is, based on your earlier performance, it doesn’t seem like The Order has the ability to annoy you.”

It went without saying that this vampire’s evasion aura had to be some highly specialized commandment, one that Olinter was clearly defenseless against and entirely oblivious to.

”Hunters are different from Olinter. Although they’re also idiots, they have rather sensitive noses.”

”Also, aren’t you getting off-topic again? Weren’t we discussing the condition of the lady on the floor?”

Jacques clearly didn’t want to miss a single opportunity to strike back.

A sensitive sense of smell. This seemed to be the second time that had been brought up. It looked like the Order Hunters were a special group indeed.

However, based on the two descriptions, this was most likely just a metaphor rather than literal olfactory sharpness.

They probably used some special method to detect anomalies with extreme precision, especially around sunrise.

Which was also the reason he was here right now.

...

”You’re right. We know her condition was entirely caused by your actions, and your treatment doesn’t appear to have been successful.”

Obliging the man, Fu Qian held up two fingers.

”Twice.”

Since Jacques seemed so eager to master the art of mockery, Fu Qian figured he might as well offer him a few pointers.

”Could you share the details of your failed experiences?”

”You insolent freak!”

It took an expert to recognize one. With his shallow skills in the art, Jacques was reduced to personal attacks in a single second.

”That’s a different topic.”

Unfortunately for Jacques, an attack of that level was terribly weak against Fu Qian.

”Let me think. Was the first thing you did just now trying to clear out the previous boon?”

After her first rest, regardless of her voice, Jane’s eyes had at least returned to normal.

”Exactly.”

Fu Qian’s shift in topic was so swift that Jacques felt he would lose his own dignity if he kept harping on the insult. In the end, he chose to answer.

”The commandment I used can purge all abnormal conditions. Anomalies of any category—”

”But you didn’t expect it to start purging what’s normal too, did you?”

Fu Qian’s commentary arrived right on cue.

”It’s not that uncommon to create a much bigger problem while trying to solve