Westminster Bank

Chapter 37: Chapter 34: The Truth

From the Demon Hunter, Baron learned the general gist of what had happened. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Yalilan had led a group to investigate last night’s altar, hoping to map out the Blood Demon’s general area of activity and possible escape routes.

But at the very spot where Andre and his group noted the Blood Demon had last vanished from sight, they found it devouring a stolen sheep.

A battle erupted, and Yalilan easily subdued the Blood Demon. The Demon Hunters were about to execute it when it transformed into a human.

And its human form was none other than the Lady Baroness, whom Yalilan had seen before at the Baron’s Mansion!

The Demon Hunter said, "After a confrontation between our leader and the Baron, it’s been confirmed that the Blood Demon is the Lady Baroness. Now the Baron has also been arrested and thrown into Mundra’s prison on suspicion of colluding with a Demon Fiend!"

After the Demon Hunter left, Baron remained where he was, frowning in thought. His intuition told him that things had taken a bizarre twist somewhere along the line.

But he couldn’t pinpoint where.

The Blue Blood Faction... the Sisterhood of the Blood of the Lamb... the Blood Demon... virgins and prostitutes... the farmwives’ confessions... the unknown deaths of young girls... and the mysterious graffiti in the Baron’s basement.

His train of thought, which had been forming a theory, was suddenly shattered by the Lady Baroness’s self-exposure.

But regardless, the Blood Demon had been caught and the Baron was in prison. Even if Baron managed to find other evidence, it would likely be redundant at this point.

A clamor of voices rose from outside the window. Baron glanced out, and his eyes narrowed.

Another group had surrounded the Little Nun. Savi, his face wrapped in cloth and his blond hair making him stand out, wore an Iron Thistle Medal on his chest. It was the Iron Thorn Gang, out for revenge!

Baron guessed their motive in a single glance. The Little Nun had been with him the whole time; Savi, unable to get his revenge on Baron himself, had likely decided to target someone connected to him instead.

His expression darkened, and a savage urge to tear someone to pieces began to surge from within.

’Kill him... Kill him...’

The only reasons he hadn’t killed Savi before were his unfamiliarity with this world and not wanting to drag Zod and Maguire into a conflict with a local faction.

He was also just an ordinary guy from the 21st century; he had never actually killed anyone before.

But now these people were coming after him again and again...

Baron’s mind flashed back to the day he’d crossed over from the Outer Side. Ever since, he’d been inexplicably sentenced, hunted after a prison break, and forced to flee...

A baseless rage swelled in his chest, like the black smoke that billows from a volcano before it erupts.

’Fuck it! Even a nice guy will flip the damn table when he’s pushed too far!’

Baron vaulted out the window. In a flying leap, right in front of numerous Demon Hunters, he stomped Savi under his foot from the exact same angle as before!

He followed up with several hard kicks to the gut, making the man double over in pain.

Then he pulled out his revolver, pressed it to the stunned Savi’s head, and just as he was about to pull the trigger, he turned to the Little Nun. "They didn’t do anything to you, did they?"

The Little Nun looked astonished. After a moment of silence, she said hastily,

"Mr. L... this gentleman didn’t do anything to me. He was just asking for the way out of Mundra Town."

Baron: "..."

’Next time, try saying that a little sooner.’

Stomped under Baron’s foot for the second time and still looking dazed, Savi snarled at his followers, "Beat that guy to a pulp!"

But after a moment’s hesitation, perhaps feeling that wasn’t menacing enough, Savi added, "Tear him limb from limb!"

The followers charged forward.

Without a second thought, Baron threw the Little Nun on his back and bolted!

His two transmigration experiences hadn’t just shown him different Fantasy Worlds; they had also made him an expert at running away!

Savi’s followers helped him up. His face contorted with rage, he ordered, "Get them!"

"Mr. L... this way..."

With her arms wrapped around Baron’s neck, the Little Nun acted as his navigator. She guided him through Mundra Town like a nimble fish, and they quickly left Savi’s pursuit team far behind.

Eventually, the two of them found themselves at the edge of Mundra Town, where they ran into a team of Demon Hunters preparing their horses.

Zod and Maguire, still wrapped in bandages, came over to greet Baron. Demon Hunters tended to recover from injuries quickly.

Just yesterday, the two had been bedridden and fed by a Nun, but today they were already full of vim and vigor.

"What’s going on?"

Baron looked at the long line of Demon Hunters. It looked as if Yalilan was assembling a force for an expedition.

"The Lady Baroness revealed that there’s another Blood Demon. Tonight at midnight, a fog will cover Prole as it enters a Regression Day, and the Demon Fiends’ activities will become more frequent."

Maguire explained, "Lady Yalilan wants to set up defenses around town ahead of time. It’s to prevent the fog from encroaching on Mundra, but also to set a trap and ambush the other Blood Demon."

’Ambush a Blood Demon?’

Baron thought of last night’s ritual. Combined with what he’d read about Blood Demons that morning, he knew they had an irresistible attraction to blood... ’No, wait!’

A chill ran down Baron’s spine. He suddenly remembered the Blood Demon’s attack trajectory from last night, and its demonically cold gaze.

It had attacked Yalilan the moment it appeared, then immediately fled after being wounded. From start to finish, it hadn’t spared a single glance for the fresh blood dripping on the altar!

’Two Blood Demons... If there are two of them, then everything makes sense.’

Just then, the clamor of pursuers rose from behind them. Savi had caught up.

After bidding farewell to Zod and Maguire, Baron again threw the Little Nun on his back and took off.

This time, they reached a village outside Mundra Town. The Little Nun led Baron on a winding path through the village to a small oak cottage.

The Little Nun explained that this was where she and her younger sister, Sessi, lived. After that fateful night, she had moved with her sister out of Wisemo Village.

Her sister Sessi wasn’t yet old enough to become a Nun, so Sister Teresa had found this little house for them near Mundra.

It was the perfect place to hide from Savi’s pursuit.

The door was pulled open from inside. Sessi was home.

Baron leaned against the door, listening. He didn’t let out a breath until he heard the sounds of their pursuers fade away. He was about to say goodbye to the two sisters.

But the Little Nun spoke up, "It’s getting late, Mr. L. Why don’t you stay for dinner before you leave?"

Baron shook his head. He still planned to find the Demon Hunters and ask about the Blood Demon and the fog. Though pangs of hunger were returning, it wasn’t the time to eat.

Suddenly, he felt a touch on his leg. The little girl, Sessi, had hugged his thigh. Her face was soft and delicate, and she mumbled incoherently, her eyes bright and glistening.

Baron sighed. He picked Sessi up, stroked her soft hair, and pinched her little cheek, muttering to himself,

"Why would God want to destroy such a lovely child?"

"Is it just because He can’t hear her prayers?"

The Little Nun had told him that Sessi was mute.

...

After dinner, Sessi was in a corner, drawing with a piece of charcoal. After watching her for a few moments, Baron casually asked the Little Nun, "Does Sessi like to draw?"

"Ever since Grandpa took her in. Sometimes she’ll start crying as she draws, and then fall asleep right after." The Little Nun watched Sessi with a gentle expression. "Grandpa said Sessi would be a great artist someday."

Grandpa... Baron asked the question he’d been holding back. "Was the village chief really your and your sister’s biological grandfather?"

The Little Nun shook her head. "Sessi and I aren’t blood-related. We were both adopted by Grandpa..."

’So they’re not his biological grandkids...’

Baron rested his chin in his hand and asked, "Then did you choose to become a Nun at the Blood Church because Grandpa abused you?"

It wasn’t the answer Baron expected. The Little Nun shook her head again. "Grandpa is a very good person... We just didn’t want to make things difficult for him."

"Difficult?" Baron asked. "How so?"

The Little Nun hesitated for a moment. "The people of Wisemo Village believe outsiders are bad luck. Especially the older women. They said Sessi was an adopted Demon, and that when she grew up she would destroy the entire village."

’Destroy the entire village when she grows up... Did they adopt Godzilla or something?’

Baron picked up on something odd in the Little Nun’s words. "If you were both adopted by the village chief, why do they only say Sessi is an adopted Demon?" freewebnovel.cσ๓

"I’m not sure... Perhaps because they think she’s a bit mad, since she can’t speak..." the Little Nun said. "But Sessi is a really good kid. Grandpa said so, too."

As she spoke, her face was filled with a blissful smile. An almost maternal warmth enveloped the eleven-or-twelve-year-old girl.

Baron watched the Little Nun in silence. She was little more than a child herself, yet she so naturally referred to a girl only a few years younger as "a kid."

’Prole is even darker than I imagined.’

"Grandpa used to say that most children reach out their hands to ask for candy, but Sessi... Sessi reaches out to wipe away people’s tears."

Olivia smiled. "Sessi isn’t a Demon, she’s an Angel."

’An Angel who’s been treated like a Demon...’ Baron’s heart stirred. He suddenly remembered the Gold Coin Chocolate he had in his ring.

He took out two coins. One he gave to the Little Nun, who insisted it was too valuable until Baron explained it was chocolate, at which point she accepted it with some skepticism.

He rose with the other coin, picked up Sessi from where she was drawing on the floor, broke it in two, and placed the pieces in her hands.

And then he froze.

It wasn’t because Sessi had pressed one of the halves back into his palm, but because of the images scratched onto the floor with the charcoal. The lines were as messy as writhing snakes, yet they formed a faint outline.

The silhouette of a person, with a faint, flower-like mark on the shoulder.

"It’s Sessi’s memory of her mother..." the Little Nun said gently. "It’s the only thing she remembers."

Baron said nothing. He had entered a state that was simultaneously muddled and crystal clear.

Fragments of memory flashed through his mind: Blood Demon, ritual, the Baron, the basement, the graffiti... the farmwives’ confessions, the girl called a Demon... and those same farmwives, returning from the fields with their hoes under the moonlight.

The fragmented images began to assemble themselves, slowly but undeniably.

Baron sat in the chair, holding Sessi. A theory that at first surprised him, then made him tremble, and finally filled him with horrified suspicion, quietly took shape, forming a sequence of images in his mind’s eye.

The basement... medicine fed to pregnant women... the children who were born and raised... killed as pure virgins by a Demon... their blood offered to a nameless God.

He began to tremble.

A wave of tragic sorrow, terror, and rage washed over him.

It was like being a man on the execution block, watching the executioner raise the blade. His eyes saw the cold glint of metal, his ears heard the jeers of his enemies, and the air was thick with the scent of blood from his friends, family, and lover.

It was the smell of betrayal.

The little girl, Sessi, seemed to sense his emotions, cooing softly as she touched his face.

He was completely oblivious, unconsciously repeating a single, despairing phrase, filled with rage: "God... truly deserves to die."

The Little Nun was horrified, but not because of the man’s blasphemy against God.

It was because, after he spoke, she saw a faint golden light flicker in Constantine’s eyes, like a dying ember flaring back to life.

The door was thrown open, and the maid, Hira, rushed in, gasping for breath.

"Mr. L... I finally found you... Traces of the Blood Demon have been discovered in a village more than fifty li from Mundra Town. The Lord Marquis sent me to ask if you will accompany them."

She finished speaking and stood expectantly in the doorway, waiting for Baron’s reply.

Behind her, "Bad Boy Al"—the one who used to always pull her braids—had his face wrapped in bandages and was creeping along behind Hira.

He looked at Baron with a complicated expression.

"No."

To the surprise of everyone present, Baron refused Yalilan’s invitation.

He stroked Sessi’s small face and said flatly, "I have something very important to attend to. Please give Lady Yalilan my regrets."