Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

Seraphina carefully folded the stockings she had taken off and placed them in the bag she carried with her, as if they were something extremely important.

Even this detail was just like Mirrorheart, and Loren felt he really needed to punish Mirrorheart. But so far, he still hadn’t come up with a proper punishment.

”Let’s head back...”

After seeing everyone home, Loren didn’t even have time for dinner before heading straight to the Church.

Originally, the Church hadn’t taken this matter very seriously. After all, Merfolk rarely came into contact with humans, and the few encounters they had were mostly as food. The legend that eating Merfolk flesh could prolong life was still quite widespread. Loren suspected the Church had deliberately spread that rumor to encourage people to hunt Merfolk.

As a result, people more or less looked down on Merfolk and basically never regarded them as a threat.

It wasn’t until Loren proactively brought up the matter that the Church finally took it seriously.

”We’ll immediately arrange the fastest train to take you there. His Holiness the Pope hasn’t been around recently, so I’ll have to accompany you myself...”

The speaker was the Bishop. Under his command, people moved swiftly—some went to adjust the train route, while others prepared to leave with Loren.

To save time, they even used magic to move, with vines sprouting from the ground to toss them directly to their destination.In just over ten minutes, they had already prepared the train for Loren:

”Master Mentor, the nearest express train will arrive in two hours. Once it does, we can reroute it to the coast. The original passengers will be transported to their destinations on a new train, with refunds and free food and accommodation.”

”Good. You work pretty efficiently.”

The Bishop’s style of operation earned Loren’s praise, and at that moment, the Bishop finally showed a smile, feeling that his prospects had brightened considerably.

”Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention something. Headmaster Casper has quit his post. He’s gone off to become the Pirate King.”

”What?”

Loren’s words left the Bishop completely stunned. He couldn’t figure out how those words fit together.

What did it mean that the esteemed Headmaster of an inland country that had barely seen the sea, someone respected by all, had abandoned everything to go be a pirate?

”He made quite a scene when he left. You should have noticed he was gone, right?”

”At the time, Headmaster Casper seemed in a hurry. I just thought he had urgent business to attend to...”

After all, who could have imagined that Casper would go off to be a pirate, and so openly at that?

A big shot from a major nation going out to sea to scuffle with pirates—how could I ever dream of such a thing...

Still, the Bishop quickly realized this was an opportunity. Since Casper had already left and Loren had no intention of becoming Headmaster, that position might very well fall into his lap.

Loren bringing this up now was also a subtle hint to him.

Instantly, the Bishop made up his mind—this time, he would ensure Loren was completely satisfied.

”Alright, I’ll head home first to settle my household. I’ll find you all at the train station later.”

”Yes, Master Mentor!”

Loren said he would meet them at the train station, but the Bishop clearly wasn’t foolish enough to wait there blindly. As soon as Loren left, he immediately began arranging for the fastest carriage to pick Loren up at his doorstep.

...

”Welcome home, Master.”

When he returned home, Seraphina was standing at the entrance to greet him. She lifted her skirt and curtsied to Loren. By now, she had already changed into new white stockings.

”Gather everyone first. I’ll be leaving for a while.”

”Yes, Master.”

Receiving Loren’s orders, Seraphina immediately summoned the others.

Soon, except for Cecelia, who was hiding under the table, everyone else was seated around it.

”Some Merfolk are attacking the God of Bountiful Harvest’s territory. I feel like this isn’t that simple, so I plan to check out the situation.

”This time, I don’t intend to bring anyone other than Laila. There are too many variables.”

Even Loren had never encountered a situation like this before, so he’d play it as safe as he could.

The reason he was bringing Laila was that her Arcane Ability was very useful. If Loren did run into any enemies, he could have Laila mark them, making it easier to root them out later.

”Me?”

Laila pointed at herself, her eyes brimming with undisguised joy.

Loren hadn’t brought anyone else—not even Naclis or Anna. That alone showed how important she was to Loren.

At least, that’s how Laila saw it.

Naclis shot Laila a look tinged with hostility. Though somewhat dissatisfied, she knew full well that Loren’s decisions were always optimal. She just had to obey.

She never questioned Loren, nor would she let her own petty emotions affect his plans.

”Are you really sure I can’t come...”

Anna pleaded, tears uncontrollably streaming from the corners of her mouth.

”Really can’t. Could you stop obsessing over eating Merfolk, please?”

Loren tried to pull a handkerchief from his clothes, but his hand came up empty. Only then did he remember he had given his handkerchief to Paqina, and she hadn’t returned it yet.

At that moment, through the Synchronized Heartbeats, Loren also sensed Paqina’s embarrassment. A handkerchief was such a personal item that she had actually planned to keep it as a memento, which was why she still hadn’t returned it.

”Forget it.”

Loren simply wiped Anna’s mouth with his sleeve. Ever since they encountered Merfolk at sea last time, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about eating their flesh.

Though Loren had no moral compass to speak of, he was still quite averse to this kind of thing. Unless there was no other choice, he really didn’t want to eat sentient beings.

Of course, if there truly was no other food, that was a different story.

He came first.

”Do we need to bring anything?”

Laila, knowing she was the only one following Loren, was incredibly excited, showing off in front of everyone.

”How about I bring a few extra pairs of stockings? You like tearing...”

”Ahem... We don’t need to bring too much. The Church will prepare everything for us.”

Food wouldn’t be lacking either. After all, they were heading to the God of Bountiful Harvest’s territory, where food was never in short supply.

”So that’s the sort of thing you like doing?”

Naclis looked as if she had just had an epiphany, making it even harder for Loren to keep a straight face.

It was one thing if the others knew, but Loren was terrified that this bunch of crazies would corrupt pure-hearted Naclis.

”Alright, let’s eat first. I’ll have a meal at home before I leave...”

Loren quickly changed the subject, but his words had already sunk in with Naclis.

So much so that during dinner, Naclis sat down beside Loren. She was wearing a black dress today, and when she lifted her skirt, Loren could see the white stockings on her legs.

Ever since she found out Loren liked white, she had worn them more often, though she still occasionally wore black, as if she hadn’t put them on specifically for him—it just happened to be white stockings today.

She lifted her leg and placed it on Loren’s lap:

”Tear it.”