Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Vampire Corruption
Jima looked at George’s face and noticed his brow was not furrowed; he was telling the truth.
If that’s the case, things have escalated significantly. Even someone like Jima, who frequently colludes with dark forces, knows that turning a lord into a vampire is a highly dangerous trick.
She had personally witnessed a vampire transforming a lord into a vampire, successfully turning the tides in a dire situation.
George became serious and asked, “Have you seen this with your own eyes?”
The farmer shrank his neck in fear and said in a low voice, “I… I’m not talking nonsense; I’ve just heard about it.”
George questioned again, “Has anyone seen it with their own eyes?”
The farmers fell completely silent, no one dared to speak, their gazes evasive, not daring to meet George’s eyes.
George looked at them strangely and asked, “Why have you suddenly gone silent?”
The farmer suddenly knelt down and said, “Sir Knight, please spare us.”
George was even more surprised, quickly moving forward to help the farmer up and saying, “Why are you kneeling like this?”
But George’s actions only made the farmer more afraid.
With a trembling voice, the farmer said, “I… I was just talking nonsense; I didn’t mean to speak about the lord.”
George frowned; this was a lie, and at the same time, he felt a deep uncertainty.
Jima couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She quickly discerned that the farmer was frightened. In the presence of a supernatural being, an ordinary person’s heart naturally fills with a sense of instinctive fear, much like a modern person encountering a two-meter-tall, muscular bald man carrying a pair of rocket launchers on his broad back.
She reached out and tugged at the cloak behind George, saying, “Step back; you’re scaring them.”
The tall George obediently stepped back a bit.
Jima stepped forward, and her beauty and charm made the farmer’s heart race, easing the accumulated fear in his heart. They raised their heads to look at Jima.
Jima smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Sir George is loyal to the Church; he has sworn not to easily kill unarmed farmers, which is why he is rejected by many knight-lords.”
George frowned behind her.
The farmer’s tense face finally showed a relaxed expression as he said, “Milady… Hello.”
Milady, my foot.
Jima maintained her smile and asked, “George just wants to investigate whether your lord has fallen; this is a serious question that concerns millions of citizens in the city. If anyone has seen it with their own eyes, it would be a great help to him.”
A little girl raised her hand and said, “I… I saw.”
Her mother tried to pull her back, but Jima smiled at her and asked, “Very good, you’re a brave girl. Can you repeat what you saw?”
Encouraged, and with her mother no longer stopping her, the little girl said, “I… I was playing with my friends behind the low wall of the cemetery in the city, and I saw the lord, biting into a living person’s neck. With one bite, it made a splashing sound, and half the neck was bitten off.”
“Are you sure it was the lord?”
“Aunt Susan also saw it.”
A farmer’s wife stepped forward, saying she had also seen the lord biting into a living person’s neck one night.
Jima turned to look at George, whose golden brow did not furrow. He looked worried as he met Jima’s gaze.
Five minutes later.
The three were riding horses towards the city.
Jima said, “What do you think, George?”
“I need to investigate first,” George replied. “This is a very tricky matter. If the lord has turned into a vampire, then I must seize the power in his hands to save all living beings. But if I do this, the other knights in Barto will be apprehensive because I represent the Church. If this is just a rumor, then that would be best.”
“Do you believe it?”
“I have some doubts about him. Not long ago, Bishop Gregory and the knight’s army crushed the green-skinned army, captured their leader, and burned him, causing the greenskins to scatter. But here, it has become a hell, almost like defeat; unless the local lord willingly turns a blind eye, such a situation wouldn’t occur.”
Saintess Jenna said, “We should seek assistance from the Church and request the knights at the border to support us; this way, we can help a knight seize his power.”
“No, we have to wait until after the investigation.”
Jima said, “So? Are we going to swagger into the city just like that? With an introduction letter from Saint John in hand, walking into the lair of a suspected vampire lord, what if as soon as we step in, he waves his hand, and thousands of skulls rise from the ground to surround us?”
George said, “We can enter the city first, investigate, then visit him. If the rumors are true, I would have gathered evidence against him to punish him, just like what was done in Shalin City.”
Jima recalled that George had gained the “Punishment” ability with the help of an extraordinary item in Shalin City, obtaining increased attack power against evildoers through investigating evidence of their crimes. Now that George had leveled up, he had a more comprehensive grasp of this ability.
“So? If things go awry, you intend to kill a knight lord on the spot?” Jima said. “I bet that even if the entire city were to die and turn into undead, the harm to the Church wouldn’t be as great as if you were to behead a knight lord, even if he were a vampire.”
No matter the situation, the Church depriving a knight noble of his power and life would undoubtedly provoke the disdain, if not hostility, of the other knight lords in Barto.
George said, “That would be unavoidable.”
“Then I request to stay outside the city,” Jima said. “I don’t have the habit of walking into an obvious trap. I’m easily targeted and quite fragile, thank you.”
After serious consideration, George nodded.
Saintess Jenna said, “I’ll go with you, and later, I’ll send a letter to the Church to inform them of the current situation, to prevent any unexpected incidents.”
Jima inexplicably thought of a movie where a team of explorers leaves a letter before entering deep mountains, only to go missing. The protagonists, based on the letter, go to the mountains to encounter aliens/cannibals/monsters/ghosts, bringing them snacks.
She looked at George’s face, sighed, knowing this guy couldn’t be dissuaded.
The letter was quickly written, and a plump, fluffy pigeon had unknowingly settled on Jenna’s shoulder. Jenna held the pigeon, took the letter, tied it to its leg, and patted its head, saying:
“Fly quickly; remember to come back here if you get a response.”
The pigeon’s glossy black eyes, however, were fixated on Jima, cooing at her several times.
Saintess Jenna smiled at Jima and said, “It seems it really likes you.”
Jima stared at the pigeon, thinking: If it’s that fat, I wonder how much oil it would yield when roasted.
After a while, the pigeon finally spread its wings and flew away.
According to Saintess Jenna’s explanation, this pigeon had a procrastination problem, taking an extra ten minutes to do everything.
The pigeon encountered another pigeon in midair, flew down, landed on a branch, bending it, and cooed a few times, its voice identical to what it had just made at Jima.
The three continued riding, heading towards the city.
Along the way, they encountered several groups of people fleeing from the city; each time George personally inquired, and the answers were identical to what the farmer had said.
They were all afraid that the lord had turned into a vampire, so they quietly escaped the city, despite the greenskins rampaging outside.
George’s face grew increasingly serious. He placed his great sword within easy reach and donned a bucket helmet.
Jima, however, felt it was somewhat strange, a sense of familiarity, but she couldn’t pinpoint what was odd about it. She glanced at Saintess Jenna’s profile, admired her curves for a moment, then pulled the reins, steering her horse closer to Saintess Jenna and persistently trying to dig a hole, asking concernedly:
“Sister Jenna, are you alright?”
“I’ve been well.”
Jima smiled and said, “Sister Jenna, just now when the farmers were pleading, you must have thought of some unpleasant memories, right?”
Jenna fell silent for a moment.
“You clearly did your best, yet you still had a look of guilt,” Jima said. “I think this isn’t just simple empathy; am I right?”
Jenna said, “You’re right. I always feel like I’ve done something wrong somewhere, something I can’t pinpoint that leads them to lose their lives. Also, thank you for helping me out; I really didn’t know what to do at that time.”
Jima chuckled, saying, “If I’m not mistaken, this has to do with the boy you saw in alchemy class who died while trying to show off when you were young.”
Jenna nodded.
Jima said, “I understand this mindset. People find it hard to escape the influence of past shadows.”
Jenna smiled and said, “You’re making fun of me. I was planning to help heal the wounds of your soul and help you walk out of the shadows.”
“Healers cannot heal themselves; it’s mutual support.”
With that, Jima felt quite impressed with herself and cast a triumphant glance at George.
This stubborn tail still was unaware that her corner was being dug. I can easily see that Jenna’s psychological shadow is stepping onto the road of conquest; sooner or later, her body and mind will be mine.
Just then, a troop of cavalry appeared ahead. They did not come with good intentions; the hoofbeats kicked up a cloud of dust, surrounding the three.
Amidst the entourage, a knight approached the trio, raising his visor to reveal a pallid, unfriendly face. He said, “I am the local ruler; you are the reinforcements sent by the Church?”
