Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

”Welcome home, Master.”

Seraphina and Mirrorheart greeted Loren at the door, though one was standing and the other was kneeling.

”Mhm.”

Loren was already accustomed to this and didn’t react much. He went straight back to his room, where Gwen was already sitting obediently on his cabinet.

The black robe was placed on the table, and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner had been put away, looking like an ordinary, unremarkable flag.

Having been away for so long without a proper chance to clean up, Loren’s first thought was to wash Gwen. While changing her clothes, he had the strange feeling of playing with a doll.

However, it wasn’t as troublesome as playing with a doll. Loren could still control Gwen’s movements. Although it was shared vision, Loren’s sensation was more like operating a drone.

It was just a bit awkward for Loren while washing her... he had made her a bit too realistic...

But this wasn’t something he could conveniently ask others for help with; that would make Loren even more embarrassed...

In the end, Loren simply gave her a basic cleaning, changed Gwen into fresh clothes, and then controlled her to leave the house again.The vampire matter still required Loren’s personal intervention. That new vampire was cunning. Loren estimated the Church wouldn’t be able to find him, so he planned to have Gwen use necromancy to cooperate with Movila in the search. Once found, he would use his Prophet title to lead the Church to capture the culprit.

But before that, Loren first had Movila come to his room... After all, she had plenty of souls now. Having an orgy with Loren wouldn’t affect her investigation of the vampire.

Even the most cautious person makes mistakes. With the information gap, no matter how clever he was, he’d never think the crows in the sky were surveilling him, let alone with the assistance of necromancy.

What Loren needed to do next was wait, wait for that vampire to slip up himself.

However, Loren still sent out that letter to Cecelia. Having multiple preparations was a good thing.

Compared to the Gedlan Kingdom, Loren was actually more concerned about matters over in Uridia. On one hand, he worried about that half-vampire; on the other, Cecelia was also there.

Loren had met Cecelia very early, even earlier than Mirrorheart. In the early days, most of Loren’s money came from Cecelia, especially after she learned Loren also had to raise a child. The money they earned was almost split nine-to-one, Loren taking nine parts, Cecelia taking one.

Not only that, Cecelia even cared about Loren’s feelings. She always told Loren they split fifty-fifty. The nine-to-one split was something Loren calculated himself.

So Loren cared quite a bit about Cecelia. Although she wasn’t a vampire, Loren still worried she might get caught up in this.

There was also considerable estrangement between vampires and humans. They might not treat humans like livestock to be slaughtered at will like Demons did, but it wasn’t much better. They didn’t value human life. Even the vampire Loren had just killed was the same.

A night passed, and Loren hadn’t discovered anything. With one vampire just captured, the one hiding in the shadows should also lay low for a while.

”We’ll wait one more day, then set off for the Uridia Kingdom, regardless of whether we catch that vampire or not.”

During lunch, Loren announced this information. He had already had the Church prepare a train to the Uridia Kingdom. Loren’s stated reason was to investigate the vampire matter over there. Loren’s selfless dedication moved the Bishop deeply, who tearfully insisted on going with Loren, vowing to protect Loren with his own life.

However, Loren refused. His reason was simple: Loren went on trips often enough normally. Taking his family could completely be explained as a summer getaway vacation. But bringing Church personnel would change the nature of the trip.

This reason was irrefutable, so the Bishop could only agree.

During this time, the Church increased their protection of Loren. Every day, there were more Scarecrows around Loren’s house than at the Church itself.

That very afternoon, the Bishop hurriedly ran to Loren’s doorstep:

”Master Mentor, there’s a new victim!”

”When did the incident occur?”

Loren moved swiftly, throwing on the black robe and following the Bishop out. This time, a crow perched on his shoulder.

With Movila around, he could get the latest updates anytime.

”It was at noon. People nearby saw her figure this morning, but she was dead by the afternoon. Her entire family is dead, including her parents, so I deduce it happened at noon.”

”Take me to see.”

The purer the vampire’s bloodline, the stronger their resistance to sunlight. Vampires without a title suffer severe injuries upon contact with sunlight, but by the rank of Viscount, they can go out during the day if bundled up tightly.

But Loren didn’t jump to conclusions so quickly. It was also possible he had been hiding in someone else’s house and simply chose to strike during the day.

Simultaneously, Loren received a new piece of information: his injuries were severe; otherwise, he wouldn’t have struck again so quickly.

The Bishop led Loren to the doorstep of a household. This family had recently moved in. They had just gained a foothold here when tragedy struck.

It was a family of three: parents and a daughter. Their corpses were now laid out in the Living Room. The only wounds were bite marks on their necks. After being exposed, that vampire no longer attempted to mimic previous crimes, opting for a simpler, more brutal method.

Since Loren already knew the perpetrator was a vampire, there was no point in him hiding further.

”Search. Search this room first. Check the hiding spots for any traces.”

Loren first gave orders to the Church members who had followed, then crouched down to examine the corpses, with the Bishop staying by his side.

That vampire didn’t waste a single drop. These three had been directly drained into mummies.

Physical sucking couldn’t achieve this. He had used the blood magic unique to vampires. All vampires know a bit of blood magic.

”Have there been vampire sightings elsewhere?”

”Yes, but mostly in border towns. Rarely in important locations like the imperial capital.”

”Normal. Vampires who get driven out aren’t particularly powerful, and most are injured. The difficult part of dealing with them is finding them.”

Loren couldn’t find any other useful information on the corpses, so he could only wait for reports from the others.

”Master Mentor, we discovered a tunnel under the bed.”

”Indeed...”

Loren wasn’t surprised by this. His earlier speculation was correct. That vampire knew Loren understood vampires well, so he deliberately chose to operate during the day, making Loren mistakenly think his bloodline was purer, thereby causing Loren to be more cautious and buy himself more preparation time.

”Send a few people down to check. He’s definitely not in the tunnel now, but we can see where it leads. It should help our investigation somewhat.”

The tunnel likely led to a lightless place. It was daytime now; escaping wouldn’t be easy for him.