Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

”Alright, Laila, stop giving this poor fellow a hard time.”

Loren pressed down Laila’s gun and spoke up.

The guard was about to thank Loren, but seeing the malicious expression on Loren’s face, his heart instantly sank halfway.

”May I ask who the mastermind behind this really is?”

Stepping on the assassin’s hand and grabbing her hair, Loren inquired with a pleasant and amiable expression.

But even now, this assassin still refused to say anything. Even if she didn’t speak, Loren could guess roughly.

Since arriving in the Bardo Kingdom, Loren had only offended two groups of people. One was the bandits who had come for him earlier, but if it were just bandits, the guard wouldn’t have needed to be afraid.

The only other possibility was the other party—Helen, who had threatened him earlier in the Prison of Sin Spire. Loren still remembered her full name from her initial self-introduction:

”Helen Stern.”

The Stern Family was the most powerful family in Bardo. In this world, even if they worshipped the same deity, war could still break out.The deity’s interests were the deity’s interests; human interests were human interests. To put it bluntly, no matter how powerful a deity was, the king’s territory remained exactly what it was; it wouldn’t expand just because the deity had more believers.

About a hundred years ago, Bardo had been invaded by another country. It was a knight from the Stern Family who single-handedly held off an entire army’s assault, saving the nation.

That knight is still alive to this day, even though the king has changed twice since then.

Therefore, saying the Stern Family held overwhelming power at court wouldn’t be an exaggeration. No wonder Helen dared to assassinate him—she had simply lived her whole life not knowing that murder was against the law.

She wasn’t killing Loren because she feared her crimes being exposed; she simply wanted to protect her own reputation. She was already deeply immersed in her game of playing the divine detective.

However, everything so far was just Loren’s speculation. He didn’t have definitive evidence yet.

Although Loren didn’t need any evidence to kill her entire family, Loren killing was one thing, legal prosecution was another.

”I have a way to make you talk.”

Loren pulled out his gun, broke the assassin’s limbs, and then had the guard help her up.

Seeing that Loren needed his assistance, the guard immediately became obsequious. Without a word, he propped the assassin up.

She wasn’t naming the mastermind out of fear, not loyalty. This type was easy to deal with; he just needed to make her more afraid of Loren.

In front of her, Loren sheathed his blade.

”Throat-Severing Slash!”

A flash of red light. None of the onlookers could clearly see Loren’s movement before a red line appeared on the tip of the assassin’s nose. After obtaining the Requiem, Loren’s sword-swinging speed had increased considerably.

A small amount of blood seeped from the red line on the assassin’s nose. Simultaneously, the guard felt something wet soaking his shoes.

Although disgusted upon realizing what had happened, the guard still didn’t move a muscle.

The injury was roughly equivalent to a scrape. The assassin, who hadn’t made a sound when Loren broke her limbs with the gun, was now so terrified she wet herself outright, the fear in her eyes growing deeper and deeper.

Attacks from the Requiem induced fear—a deep, soul-penetrating dread.

”Who is the mastermind?”

”I... I don’t know...”

The assassin began to cry, still unwilling to speak. But Loren wasn’t anxious. He made another slash, cutting the assassin’s cheek. This time, only despair remained in the assassin’s eyes.

”Who is the mastermind?”

”Helen Stern.”

Upon hearing this name, the guard was so frightened he let go. Seizing this opportunity, the assassin slammed her head against the steps, dying instantly.

The Requiem had already severed all the assassin’s hopes, including the hope of living. Her heart now held only thoughts of death, so naturally, she had no further reservations.

”Thank you. Thanks to you, I now know who the mastermind is.

”You all heard the murderer’s name just now, right?”

Loren’s words were like some fatal curse. The Guard Force Captain knelt on the ground in despair. The others were plunged into a deathly silence; Loren even wondered if he had forgotten to turn off the soul-shock effect when he drew his blade this time.

Passing by these people, Loren returned to his room. On the way back, he noticed the witches staying next door had all come to check on him after hearing the commotion. By the time Loren reached the door, Anna had already kicked it open.

”...”

The meeting between the two groups was exceptionally awkward.

”Forget it, doesn’t matter. Have the inn prepare another room for me. After something like this happens, even if I wanted to ride the innkeeper, I doubt he’d mind.”

What happened here seemed like Loren didn’t care, but precisely this attitude was what was most terrifying.

Within a minute, the attendant had prepared a new luxurious room for Loren. It was as if nothing had happened. Loren was still lying in bed studying magic, but this time, Laila had no intention of teasing him.

She saw Loren take out a small notebook and write down a passage:

”Helen sent someone to assassinate me. I’ve noted this grudge.”

”What are you planning?”

Laila had been wondering why Loren wasn’t pursuing responsibility. Seeing him record the grudge, she realized he was saving it for something bigger.

”I’ll see the King tomorrow and lodge a complaint directly.”

”Will that work?”

Helen acted so brazenly; the whole world knew. Laila didn’t believe the King was unaware, nor did she think Loren was the type to blindly trust rules.

”It might not work, but I think the current King won’t tolerate such a major threat as the Stern Family.”

Loren could deduce this quite simply because, by the time the game started, the Stern Family had basically vanished from sight. Loren had only heard legends about them.

When Loren, still a player, arrived in the Bardo Kingdom, the Sterns were reduced to just a few stragglers. Even the young master of the Stern Family at that time had to sell himself to survive.

This was an opportunity. If the King was smart enough, he should seize this chance Loren presented to suppress the Stern Family.

”I kind of miss the territory of the God of Vows and Wind.”

Laila suddenly sighed with emotion. Loren didn’t know how to evaluate that; that place was also pretty fanatical. There was no place in this world that wasn’t fanatical.

In the territory of the God of Vows and Wind, the law was absolute; no one could break it. Although his laws weren’t much stricter than elsewhere, many people died because of them.

Because there, collective punishment was applied, especially for officials. Those who abused their power faced the death penalty. If their superiors failed to handle it promptly, the superiors would also face the death penalty. If the superiors concealed it, their superiors’ superiors would join them in execution.

If someone like Helen appeared over there, probably the entire kingdom from top to bottom would be purged by tomorrow.

Nothing could be hidden there. As long as the people reported to the wind, the deity would send envoys to verify. If true, the reporter would be rewarded, and the reported would be dealt with.

But if it was a false accusation, the reporter would also pay the price.

For ordinary people, aside from the God of Bountiful Harvest, the best deity for them was the God of Vows and Wind. Although the God of Vows and Wind couldn’t make them full, at the very least, he treated them as human beings.