As Old Hunter’s voice fell, the surroundings instantly plunged into a dead silence.
The private soldiers who had just drawn their blades felt their hands tremble on their hilts the moment they heard the word "Duke."
Even the captain of the private soldiers, who was being pinned to the ground by the Hand of Divine Spells and struggling frantically, now lay as still as a fish stranded on a beach that had exhausted all its strength, not daring to move a muscle.
It wasn't just the private soldiers; even Ryan, who had fought alongside Leon in the gray mist, couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing the words "Duke's son."
Priest Leon is... a son of a Duke?
In the Heron Empire, the ranks of nobility were divided from high to low into Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.
A Duke meant that, aside from His Majesty the Emperor, they were the most powerful people in the entire Heron Empire.
“Douglas, Douglas... so it's that Douglas, the Imperial Prime Minister’s family...”
Ryan remembered Leon’s surname and finally had a realization, slapping his own forehead.
Many people in the Heron Empire had the surname Douglas, and there were many noble families with that name, but only one could be called the most prominent.
That was the Douglas family of William Douglas—the Imperial Prime Minister most trusted by His Majesty the Emperor!
No wonder the Viscount had specifically dispatched the Commander of the Lionheart Warband to meet him...
At the time, Ryan had thought it was simply because the Viscount took the expansion of the gray mist seriously.
Seeing the bewildered looks of everyone present, Old Hunter gave another cold snort.
These hicks who lived far from the Imperial Capital were truly short-sighted. When he had mentioned the Douglas surname before, they had merely treated him as an ordinary noble.
Only by slightly casting aside the restraint expected of a noble and addressing him by the rank of a "Duke's family" could these hicks realize just how illustrious the young master’s identity truly was!
“Young Master Leon! What brings you here?”
Right then, an incredibly fawning voice drifted from not far away.
A bearded man, so fat he couldn't even fit into his tailcoat, with a layer of flabby belly sticking out, came rushing over.
He was Baron Sori’s steward.
The steward first hurried to Leon’s side, performing a noble etiquette that looked somewhat comical due to his portly build, and then began to flatter him incessantly:
“Truly, to see you once is better than hearing of you a hundred times. Young Master Leon is indeed extraordinary, truly a worthy successor of the Douglas family! I have long heard of your great name in the Imperial Capital, and to have the honor of seeing you today...”
Before he could finish his sentence, Leon had already raised his arm.
In the next second—
Slap!
A crisp slap landed on the steward’s face.
The atmosphere on the field turned silent once again. Everyone held their breath, and the Baron’s private soldiers didn't even dare to lift their heads.
“You watched the show for so long before coming to see me. You’ve got quite a lot of nerve, don’t you?”
Leon asked with a cold expression.
As a Duke’s son, having a Baron’s steward’s face kiss his palm didn't even qualify as acting like a "spoiled brat."
Despite receiving a slap, the steward didn't dare to show even a hint of emotion, continuing to smile fawningly. “It was this lowly one’s negligence, it was...”
Slap!
Another slap landed, loud and clear.
“Did I tell you to speak?”
The steward continued to force a smile and shook his head repeatedly.
Only then did the coldness on Leon’s face soften slightly. He walked straight past the steward and the private soldiers, entering the cordoned-off Minko Street.
Suddenly, he paused and turned to look at Ryan and the others. “What are you standing around for? Go in and find her!”
“Yes, yes!”
Ryan was momentarily intimidated by the aura Leon exuded. He hurriedly responded and led the members of the guard team into Minko Street, searching for the missing Juliet in the direction described by the mage.
“Is this the pressure brought by the status of a Duke’s descendant...”
Ryan thought, realization dawning on him late.
Before knowing Leon was a descendant of a Duke’s family, he had only seen him as a calm and efficient heir of an ordinary noble family.
Now that he knew Leon was actually from a Duke’s family, a sense of awe immediately rose in his heart.
“All those stories from bards about commoners standing equal to Dukes and Emperors are nothing but bullshit!”
Having truly felt the pressure of the "Duke's son" identity and seeing how the usually arrogant steward could only smile after being slapped in the face...
Ryan felt that all that talk of being unyielding was nonsense!
Facing someone who held the power of life and death over you, how could you possibly remain unyielding?
For instance, as he thought about how he had dared to say those things to Leon back in the gray mist, the chill down his spine nearly migrated to his crotch.
Ryan and his men rushed into Minko Street to search, and Alicia followed. However, before she left, she gave Leon several quick nods.
But Leon didn't understand what she meant.
Accompanied by the steward, he entered the blocked-off district, strolling through the streets as if he were on a tour.
He even took an interest in casting a Light Prayer to add a bit of brightness to the dim street.
At least, that was how it looked in the eyes of the private soldiers and the steward.
But within Leon’s field of vision:
【Divine Spell Performance Rating: Normal】
【Hand of Divine Spells Experience +8】
【Hand of Divine Spells Lv1 (18/100) → Hand of Divine Spells Lv1 (26/100)】
...
【Divine Spell Performance Rating: Good】
【Light Prayer Experience +10】
【Healing Experience +9】
【Light Prayer Lv2 (32/300) → Light Prayer Lv2 (42/300)】
【Healing Lv1 (42/100) → Healing Lv1 (51/100)】
“The performance rating for Light Prayer is actually higher than for Hand of Divine Spells?”
Leon was somewhat surprised.
Did that mean the audience feedback for the former was stronger than for the latter?
It seemed likely to be the influence of his status as a Duke’s son... As Leon pondered the mechanics, a loud shout suddenly rang out from the night sky—
“Vampire!”
It was Ryan’s voice.
Leon glanced at the steward beside him. “Take all the private soldiers and go support them!”
“Yes, yes! Young Master Leon!”
The steward didn't dare to delay in the slightest, hurriedly calling all the private soldiers to support Ryan’s side.
Leon followed the crowd to the scene.
It was a shop located on Minko Street, and beneath the shop was a hidden passage leading deep underground.
Stepping into the passage, they found a crude earthen cellar that had been manually excavated.
The deeper they went, the clearer the clanging of swords and the roars of battle became.
When Leon stepped onto the damp mud of the cellar, he happened to see Ryan’s power erupt as he swung his sword with a heart full of rage—
Though the greatsword was blunt, it carried a terrifying force like a steamroller, crushing the fanged vampire before him into a mess of flesh and blood.
On the other side, Alicia emerged from the darkness like a shadow, ending the life of an unaware vampire in an instant.
With these two vampires dead, the remaining ones—who were even weaker and hadn't even reached the Bronze rank—were unable to resist and were soon cut down one by one, leaving only two survivors with broken limbs.
Leon didn't pay much attention to the cleanup of the vampires; his gaze was fixed directly on the depths of the cellar.
The missing girls were tied to upright wooden frames, their faces as pale as paper, devoid of any color.
Their once vibrant bodies were now just a thin layer of skin over skeletal frames, covered in shocking scars.
They were riddled with tubes similar to the needles used for drawing blood in his previous life.
The other end of the tubes was connected to one wooden barrel after another, each filled with blood.
Leon didn't find Juliet among them.
He turned his gaze toward another corner of the cellar.
There lay a dozen or so girls.
However, their bodies were already shriveled.
Their breathing had stopped.
In Leon’s fragmented memories, Juliet—the girl from the Delicious Bakery who longed for the beautiful big city—had been drained of her blood and lay dead in the corner of this dirt cave that was neither beautiful, nor grand, and certainly did not belong to a bustling city.
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