“What is the Imperial Capital like? Priest Leon, could you tell me about it?”
“The newspapers say Catherine was originally just a girl from a small town, but then she went to the Imperial Capital and was discovered as a popular star of the Heron Empire. Is that true, Priest Leon?”
“Priest Leon, you’re here! This is some super soft baked bread Granny just made. Would you like to try some? I can give it to you with my allowance, but in exchange, can you tell me more stories about that shining prince in the Imperial Capital?”
In his fragmented memories, Leon didn't have a very deep impression of Juliet.
But seeing such a girl, full of dreams and aspirations, now drained of her blood and dead in this dark earthen cave, a surge of rage rose from his heart.
He turned his head sharply to glare at the Baron’s steward.
“Tell me, why are there so many bats in the territory under Baron Sori’s jurisdiction?!”
“These bats kidnapped so many people and transported them into a cave beneath a shop, yet you never noticed?!”
Seeing Leon’s grim expression, the steward’s face turned as pale as the dead girls. His legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground, stammering incoherently.
“Young Master Leon! I... I... I didn't know. I really didn't know about these vampires...”
Leon dismissed him with a wave of his hand, not listening to another word.
He turned his gaze toward one of the Baron’s private soldiers.
“Go fetch the Chief Inquisitor of the Tribunal. Go now!”
“Don’t think about stalling, and don’t harbor any delusions of getting away with this. Otherwise, the consequences will be far worse than you can imagine!”
“Yes... yes!”
The soldier scrambled out of the underground cave, trembling.
A moment later.
The Chief Inquisitor of the Solainem Tribunal arrived.
“Young Master Leon...”
The Chief Inquisitor descended into the cave, first greeting Leon before turning his gaze toward the girls who were receiving treatment from Light Prayer.
In the corner of the cave lay those dozen or so shriveled bodies, drained of their blood.
The Chief Inquisitor’s expression instantly turned grave.
Leon stared at the Chief Inquisitor and said, “I suspect Baron Sori of colluding with the Nightmare Empire and offering the subjects of his territory as rations to a vampire archduke of the Nightmare Empire.”
The Chief Inquisitor’s already grave expression turned even colder. He said solemnly:
“Young Master Leon, I will certainly handle the aftermath here properly.”
...
The two living vampires were handed over to the Tribunal for interrogation.
The surviving girls were sent to the church to be treated by priests proficient in Greater Healing.
The deceased girls were moved out of the dim cave and placed under the night sky.
Ryan stood before Juliet’s body, his hands clenched tightly into fists. “Why did it have to be little Juliet... She was just telling me before how she wanted to open a ‘Delicious Bakery’ in Solainem too...”
Alicia lowered her head, looking at Juliet’s pale face.
She also remembered Juliet. Back in the town, Juliet had been kind enough to give her the leftover bread crusts when she was hungry.
Alicia had heard Leon say that a life-saving debt must be repaid.
Although Juliet giving her bread crusts probably didn't count as saving her life, such a kindness still needed to be repaid, right?
But... she could no longer repay her.
Leon stood beside Alicia, remaining silent as well.
He despised human traffickers.
He had considered the worst-case scenario to be that Juliet had been kidnapped and was being held somewhere, hungry and afraid.
After all, it had only been three days; the traffickers wouldn't have had time to move her out of Solainem.
However, Leon had never imagined that three days would be enough to completely drain the blood from a person’s body.
And the reason Juliet had been targeted and drained of her blood was because, in the eyes of vampires, “the blood of human girls is especially delicious.”
As a transmigrator, Leon felt he could set aside the prejudices of the humans in this world and treat every race calmly.
But now, Leon felt he had been wrong.
There was a reason why vampires were loathed and hated by humans.
He shouldn't agonize over how that reason came to be; he should simply follow it.
Following it was the right thing to do.
...
Leon did not go when the news of Juliet’s death was delivered to Granny Taylor.
He remembered the old woman who had bumped her head in the gray mist. After being saved by him and Alicia, she had kept talking about making a perfect loaf of bread to give to them as a reward for saving her life.
But he likely wouldn't be receiving that perfect bread now.
Leon returned to his room in the manor to perform Holy Light Meditation.
Without Alicia’s “audience feedback,” even if he devoted himself entirely to Holy Light Meditation, he couldn't escape the Poor rating and couldn't gain much experience.
Nevertheless, Leon still immersed himself fully in the meditation.
Because besides experience, Holy Light Meditation could expand his mental energy pool. Although the gains were minute and required daily accumulation to see any visible growth in mental energy, didn't accumulation require a starting point?
Leon was currently building that necessary accumulation.
He didn't know how long it had been since dawn when the sound of Old Hunter’s footsteps came from outside the door.
“Young Master, the penalty decided by the Tribunal is out.”
Old Hunter spoke from the other side of the door.
Leon opened the door and looked at Old Hunter, who continued:
“The Tribunal’s ruling has been published in an emergency edition of the Solainem Daily.”
“It states that due to negligence in management, Baron Sori must pay one thousand gold coins as compensation to the families of those who died in this incident.”
“Furthermore, he must conduct a thorough overhaul of all shops under his name to ensure no more vampires are hiding within them.”
“Additionally, because Baron Sori unauthorizedly cordoned off an entire street, the Tribunal has also ruled that he must issue a public apology in the newspaper, reflect deeply, and admit his failure in his duties.”
Old Hunter continued:
“The reaction from the people in the city has been particularly strong. They both hate the vampires and blame Baron Sori.”
“The newspapers previously reported on the Nightmare Empire harassing our borders, and everyone was already very angry back then.”
“Now that they’ve heard these vampires dared to kidnap living people and drain their blood in Solainem, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen girls...”
“The people in the city are terrified that there are still vampires hiding among them, worried about their own children, and their hatred for these vampires has only grown.”
“As for those city associations that spent all day preaching racial equality and advocating for peaceful coexistence with the vampires, they have gone completely silent now.”
Hearing the word “compensation,” Leon thought of the old woman from the Delicious Bakery. Her granddaughter, whom she depended on, was gone. How could a few gold coins ever fill the void in her heart?
He snapped back to the present and asked:
“What do the other nobles in the city think about this?”
Rate on N.U.
