Chapter 7
A Sudden Turn of Events
Ximilita was somewhat surprised—she clearly hadn't anticipated that Lia would refuse, not even pausing to consider it for a moment.
A position within the Holy See was, for an ordinary person, undoubtedly a coveted opportunity that many would rack their brains to attain. After all, it implied a leap in social standing.
She had proposed the suggestion partly out of genuine gratitude, and partly because... this girl called Lia always gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Being near her brought a long-forgotten feeling of ease.
Ximilita furrowed her brow slightly, studying the fear and refusal written plainly across Veiloria's face. The ripple of doubt in her heart seemed to spread a little wider.
‘Was it fear? Or was there some other reason?’
"There's no need to be nervous," Ximilita said, softening her tone. "The Holy See has many ordinary clerical and logistical positions—nothing that demands exceptional ability. With my authority, I can secure you a stable foothold. Won't you reconsider? This is an opportunity many people would kill for."
"Really, there's no need!" Cold sweat had seeped through Veiloria's back. She forced a smile more painful-looking than tears, scrambling for an excuse. "I—I have a sick mother at home who needs looking after. I can't go too far... and I've always been free-spirited by nature—I can't stand all those rules that come with a big institution. I appreciate your kindness, truly... thank you so very much!"
As she spoke, she even rose to her feet in a fluster, the very picture of someone desperate to end the conversation on the spot.
Ximilita watched her in silence, those ice-blue eyes seeming to pierce straight through her.
The air in the room appeared to thicken for a moment.
After a long pause, Ximilita exhaled softly and said no more.
"In that case, I won't press you." She stood, smoothed her robes, and resumed that cool, composed air of hers.
Yet deep within her eyes, a faint trace of disappointment flickered and vanished.
"For last night and this morning—thank you for the hospitality. I should be going."
"Ah, yes—of course..." Veiloria quickly stepped aside to let her pass, quietly exhaling with relief, though she couldn't help adding, "Um... you drank so much last night. Are you really alright? Would you like to rest a little longer, or have something to eat first?"
"I'm fine, it's already passed." Ximilita reached the door, hand resting on the handle. She paused—and without turning around, said, "Lia."
"Mm?"
"If you... change your mind, or find yourself in trouble down the road—you can look for me at the sanctuary in the west of the city."
With that, she pulled open the door and swiftly disappeared from Veiloria's sight.
Veiloria stood rooted to the spot, listening as the footsteps grew fainter and farther until they disappeared entirely. Only then did the tension fully drain from her body. Her legs gave way, and she sank back onto the edge of the bed.
"Phew... that scared me half to death." She pressed a hand to her still-pounding chest, murmuring to herself. "Work for the Holy See? What kind of ridiculous joke is that... but..."
She thought back to Ximilita's final pause, and those words spoken in a tone that betrayed nothing.
‘This girl... could she have noticed something?’
Veiloria wiped at the nonexistent cold sweat at her temple, a lingering unease clinging to her.
Though Ximilita had already left, there was something even more urgent waiting for her.
Namely, the werewolf's corpse.
In the heat of the moment the night before, Veiloria had only managed to hastily conceal it behind a rubbish bin.
Now that it was fully daylight, that massive Non-Human corpse, once discovered, would inevitably cause a huge commotion—and might even draw a thorough investigation from the Holy See.
It had to be dealt with as soon as possible.
"What a headache..." Veiloria scratched irritably at her hair.
She couldn't use any spells that would leave obvious traces, and she still had to move that enormous thing and destroy it completely. For her, that was no small challenge.
But difficult as it was, it had to be done.
Veiloria quickly changed her clothes—she had been wearing her sleep clothes just moments ago—and left the rented room, hurrying toward the alley she remembered.
The morning streets were growing busier with pedestrians. She kept her head down and blended as best she could into the flow of the morning market crowd, her heartbeat gradually quickening.
‘Please let nobody have found that corpse yet.’
She turned into the dark, damp alley, and the familiar stench of rot hit her immediately.
Veiloria held her breath, her gaze sweeping toward the massive rubbish bins at the very end of the alley, reeking of spoiled waste.
Her footsteps halted.
The lumpy mound from her memory—covered by a ragged cloth—was gone. Behind the bins: nothing but scattered cardboard and stains, the hasty traces of her concealment from the night before still visible. But the werewolf's corpse that should have been there...
Had vanished.
Veiloria's pupils contracted slightly. She strode forward.
"It's gone?" she murmured, a chill crawling up her spine.
Who? In less than half a day since she'd left, someone had moved the body of a full-grown werewolf?
"Oh my, which 'kind soul' went and tidied that up for me?" Veiloria pulled at the corner of her mouth. "I'm just so... incredibly 'grateful.'"
‘Grateful, my foot!’
A missing corpse was far more unsettling than one left in plain sight.
That werewolf had her fang puncture marks on its neck, and the better part of its blood had been drained.
Characteristics like these—anyone with even a basic grasp of such things would immediately think of a Vampire. And not just any Vampire, but one who needed to feed, possibly in a weakened state.
If whoever had disposed of the body harbored ill intentions—or had come specifically for her—the consequences were too dreadful to imagine.
"I have to find out!" Veiloria gritted her teeth.
She scanned both ends of the alley once more to confirm no one was present, then quickly withdrew to the darkest corner of the wall.
She raised her right hand and slowly covered her left eye. When her right eye opened again, the pupil was etched with a complex arcane formation.
‘Amaterasu! (Not really.)’
[Eye of Rewind]
This was an advanced observation-type spell that allowed her to witness events that had occurred within a specified small area over a recent span of time.
Its strength lay in its nature as an inward-facing spell—the Arcane energy fluctuations it produced were minimal, difficult to detect from the outside—which was precisely why she dared use it here.
Its drawback was its considerable cost, particularly for her current "half-full" state—it was nothing short of adding frost to snow.
But there was no time to worry about that now.
A dark-crimson halo flashed at her brow and vanished. Veiloria's vision shifted abruptly.
The scene before her seemed to take on the cast of a nostalgic filter—colors dulled, lines faintly warped.
She focused, setting the observation point to just after she had left.
Blurred light and shadow began to flow, rewinding...
She saw the silhouette of herself supporting Ximilita as they walked away.
She saw the nearly 1 hour of silence that followed—only the occasional shape of a rat scurrying past.
Then, abruptly—something changed.
Veiloria's pupils constricted. From one side of the alley, several... crimson bats appeared out of nowhere?!
‘What—what was going on?’
Veiloria was stunned. She watched helplessly as those small bats slowly flew to the werewolf's corpse and began to devour it with startling speed.
In less than 10 minutes, the werewolf's massive body had been consumed entirely.
"Wha—what?!"
After a brief moment of shock, Veiloria suddenly recognized them—those blood-red little bats were unmistakably Eternal Night Bats!
Only Vampire royalty at the core imperial level could ever release such creatures!
These certainly weren't hers to command. And if Kronos were to identify another Vampire of core imperial lineage...
"Could it be—could it actually be—the Old Bat?!"
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Bunny bunny