When he returned to the church, the Little Nun was still waiting for him in the main hall, her head bobbing as she dozed off on a pew.
Sitting beside her was an older nun, around forty years of age, holding a candle and leafing through a copy of the *Blood Holy Scripture*.
Upon seeing Baron, she gently made a gesture toward him, tracing a swastika on her own forehead with her finger—a sign of blessing from the Blood Church.
Baron paused for a mont before returning the gesture.
Now it was the older nun’s turn to be taken aback.
Baron explained, "It’s how people from my holand show goodwill."
In another corner, Zod, Maguire, the Blood Loss Knight Morey, and, to his surprise, Andre, were gathered in a circle playing a ga called Feinan Card.
When they saw Baron arrive, Zod and the still-bandaged Andre simply gave him a nod. Morey maintained his mysterious smile, while Maguire asked:
"L, is everything taken care of?"
Baron nodded. Just then, the Little Nun woke up and cried out in delight, "Mr. L!"
The older nun said, "She insisted on waiting up for Mr. L to co back."
"Shouldn’t you be in bed? Don’t you have morning prayers tomorrow?"
Baron gently patted the small head beneath the nun’s coif. Olivia’s voice was downcast. "The Blood Nun training starts tomorrow. I won’t be able to co out for the next few days..."
"Blood Nun training?" Baron was taken aback. The na imdiately reminded him of the Magic Potion Trial for the Silver Demon Hunters.
"It’s a training program primarily designed to develop the overall qualities of our most exceptional nuns. After a discussion among the Fude City Blood Church leadership, we unanimously decided to nominate Miss Olivia to beco a Blood Nun."
Before Baron could voice his confusion, the older nun added apologetically, "It also serves as an apology to Miss Olivia for having to endure such a malicious incident so soon after her arrival."
’The older nun must be referring to that incident with the fat supervisor.’
’It seems the Blood Church found out and dealt with the supervisor again.’
’They could have claid ignorance or feigned it before, but now that Baron and his group had exposed the matter, the Church had to act. If they didn’t, their public credibility would suffer—that was one problem.’
’Other churches using this incident to attack them would be another problem entirely.’
’But a Blood Nun...’ Baron stroked his chin, lost in thought. He was suddenly reminded of the Inquisition from the Inner Side and their Battle Nuns, who would hack and slash with their blades.
’From his previous encounters and fights with the Battle Nuns, all he knew about them was that they were incredibly strong, inhumanly fast with their blades, strikingly beautiful, and had Combat Skills refined to a masterful degree.’
’He had even asked Bagins about it later and learned that Battle Nuns were a unique profession exclusive to the Inquisition, one without any corresponding Professional Law.’
’Could Prole have this kind of nun, too? Or are they like Sister Teresa’s Lamb Sisterhood from the Blue Blood Faction, where all the Blood Nuns can transform into Blood Demons?’
He looked at the Little Nun Olivia’s small face, illuminated by candlelight and seemingly full of hope.
He could see from her expression that the Little Nun secretly yearned for and looked forward to becoming a Blood Nun.
He glanced over at the group of four, who had stopped their ga.
Andre collected his cards, bid them farewell, and left mysteriously.
Zod had simply fallen asleep in his chair and started snoring. It seed the alcohol had already been laying siege to the drunkard’s brain during the ga, and now it had claid total victory.
Maguire t Baron’s questioning gaze and said, "Blood Nuns, huh... I imagine they must be elegant won, like Sister Teresa."
Maguire, of course, didn’t know that Sister Teresa was an undercover mber of the Lamb Sisterhood.
Finally, Baron’s gaze landed on the Blood Loss Knight, Morey.
Morey seed to understand the question in Baron’s eyes and gave him a nod.
The older nun also noticed Baron’s apprehension. Figuring he must be an important guardian to the Little Nun, she explained:
"I swear in the na of the Blood God that Miss Olivia will co to no harm in the Blood Church. A sinful dereliction of duty like what happened with Supervisor Seba will never be repeated."
Baron’s mind was put at ease. He patted the Little Nun’s shoulder.
’Since this was the Little Nun’s own choice,’ he thought, ’the only thing he could do was kill anyone and everyone who might try to hurt her.’
The words ca out of him naturally, as if they had been repeated in his heart countless tis, like a pianist’s fingers playing a tune practiced for years:
"Yelena."
He said suddenly,
"I will protect you."
Baron snapped back to reality, realizing that everyone was staring at him in astonishnt.
The Blood Loss Knight, Morey, wore a teasing expression. "It seems our dear Demon Hunter has already given his heart to soone..."
Maguire wore a gossipy grin. "L, co on, tell us about this Yelena..."
The Little Nun Olivia’s big eyes sparkled, her kittenish face full of curiosity. "Mr. L, do you have a girl you like in Feinan?"
Knowing he’d made a slip, Baron cleared his throat and said in the calst voice he could manage, "She’s just my sister. It’s late. I’m going to my room to rest."
With that, he turned and walked away.
They all watched his retreating figure fade into the shadows, until he vanished completely.
.........
Back in his room, Baron lit the bedside lamp with his Dragon Fla but made no move to sleep.
Instead, he locked the door and windows, drew the curtains, and sat down on the edge of his bed. He took out the Silver Faction parchnt Yalilan had given him and examined it for a while.
’Even though he was a Blood Demon Hunter and didn’t have anything like Alchemy Circuits, there was value in knowing a little about everything.’
’Silver Faction, Blood Faction—they’re all Demon Hunters. It couldn’t hurt to learn more, especially since he was so lacking in information about Blood Demon Hunters himself.’
’A deeper understanding of the Demon Hunter profession could only help his future career of murder, arson, and life on the run.’
After a quick scan of the parchnt, Baron morized the general design and stored it in his Holding Ring.
Next, he took out the Secret Notes and flipped to the page docunting his exchange with Number 2, the one he suspected was Yelena.
The last ssage was still the one he had sent: [You’re not Yelena, are you?]
Number 2 had not replied.
’Based on what Baron knew about the palpitations that accompanied a ’call,’ the long delay in their reply ant one of two things: either they didn’t want to respond, or they never received the ssage.’
’There’s definitely a ti discrepancy between Prole and the Outer and Inner Sides. Based on my last estimate, it’s about four to one. Four days in Prole is equal to one day there.’
’But that’s just a guess, I don’t have enough data to back it up, so it might not be accurate. Maybe I can ask the Shepherdess when I enter my dreams later.’
’If she’s even willing to talk.’
Just as he was about to put the Secret Notes away, Baron paused. He flipped the notebook to a page where the body’s previous owner had written a diary entry.
After a long silence, he wrote his first diary entry of this long life on the run:
"I’m the one who killed Gray..."
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