Miss Witch's Devotion Has Gone… Twisted
Chapter 345: Being a Dog
Even after being assassinated, Koranda still found Loren at noon the next day without fail.
"Master Mentor, I was attacked last night..."
Koranda had bandages wrapped around her neck, yet blood continued to seep out steadily, leaving her complexion somewhat pale.
The consequences of Loren's slash from yesterday persisted until now, and due to its location, the effects of this cut were even more severe than the previous Night-Rending Comet.
"What's with your injury? Why is it still bleeding now, and the wound on your face wasn't healed by my magical potion either? My potions are very effective."
"That person seems to have a special ability; wounds caused by him are difficult to heal..."
Koranda casually fabricated a somewhat reasonable excuse, and her breathing didn't change at all as she said this. She was used to lying, and she probably almost believed it herself as she spoke.
"Is that so..."
Loren pretended to be deep in thought, while Koranda continued speaking:
"Master Mentor, our previous assessment of that person was somewhat mistaken. He is more dangerous than we imagined, and he has even begun actively attacking us.
"If I were killed, it would be fine; others could replace my position. But if something happened to you, it would be over. No one could take your place..."
Koranda spoke with great sincerity, putting on a righteous and awe-inspiring appearance.
However, Loren didn't believe it too much, after all, the image Loren himself projected was even more righteous than hers. Only Loren himself knew how hypocritical he truly was.
But, Loren still gave Koranda a chance.
"By the way, have you seen this symbol? It appeared in my prophetic dream. This thing is closely related to us resolving this crisis."
Loren took out a slip of paper, on which was drawn an inverted cross, with an eye in the center of the inverted cross.
This was the symbol of the Perpetual Observer, and also the pattern on the back of the Tarot cards.
It was precisely this matter that made Koranda visibly panic:
"This... I haven't seen it..."
She even stuttered a little as she spoke, and with just one glance, Loren could see the problem.
No matter how skilled a liar is, when their deepest secret is exposed, they will feel some degree of panic, and even Koranda was no exception.
"Is that so? What a pity."
Loren had originally thought that if Koranda was willing to voluntarily give him the Justice Card, he would spare her life.
But clearly, Koranda had no intention of handing over the Justice Card, so Loren could only reluctantly take her life when he took the Tarot card.
"The enemy is in the open, we are in the dark; it's truly difficult for us to deal with that mysterious person. We can only continue searching and strengthening our defenses.
"Speaking of which, did any sacrifices occur yesterday?"
"There were no sacrifices performed yesterday. They stopped the sacrifices after realizing the sacrifices were ineffective. Setting up sacrificial rituals also requires some cost. After realizing that performing brief sacrifices was not worth the loss, they stopped the sacrifices."
"I see... Could you please step back a bit? Don't drip blood on my floor."
"Alright..."
Koranda covered her neck and took a step back.
Even though Loren treated her this way, she harbored no resentment at all.
"Do you have a better method..."
Koranda thought of the previous evaluations others had of Loren. It seemed that no matter how tricky a matter was, it would become easy once in Loren's hands, so she also subconsciously began to rely on Loren.
"..."
If the robed figure Koranda mentioned wasn't Loren himself, Loren could indeed instantly come up with a bunch of methods to deal with him. But the problem now was that the robed figure was Loren himself. Loren couldn't really tell Koranda how to deal with himself...
"There are too few clues right now. I don't have any methods either. Currently, we can only develop some countermeasures targeting Night Magic..."
Regarding this, Loren could only brush it off. He could have accompanied Koranda in putting on an act, but Loren was too lazy to do that.
However, telling Koranda the weaknesses of Night Magic was harmless. When Loren really intended to kill Koranda, he wouldn't use Night Magic anyway.
"Alright, please tell me. I will definitely remember it firmly."
Something is better than nothing. Even without a very good method, Koranda still acted extremely eager.
"Night Magic is countered by light magic, and its effects are greatly weakened during the daytime. So, they basically only act at night. Therefore, to catch them, you can only take advantage of when they are active at night."
Loren's words were essentially meaningless. Where would Koranda, a Bountiful follower, get light magic from? If she really used it, that would be heresy, a great sin.
"Moreover, Night Magic contains many sensory interference spells, so their whereabouts are hard to detect. I suspect they used similar magic to successfully ambush you."
...
Koranda left. The many things Loren said were somewhat useful, yet also somewhat useless. However, she still expressed gratitude to Loren.
After leaving Loren's house, she hadn't walked more than a few steps before blood seeping from her wound dripped onto the ground. She squatted down, wiped the bloodstain away with her hand, and then left.
When Movila mentioned this incident, Loren found it a bit hard to hold back, but this couldn't change Loren's mind.
This time, after leaving, Koranda came to the Church for the first time in a while. After chatting with a nun from the Church for a bit, the nun took off her own eye and gave it to Koranda. Koranda then swallowed the eye in one gulp.
After swallowing the eye, the wound on her neck finally stopped seeping blood, but soon began bleeding again. Because of this, she had to continue asking other nuns for eyes.
But she always maintained her principles, not demanding too many, not making things difficult for nuns who were somewhat busy tending to the wounded.
Some nuns offered to heal her injuries, but she refused them all, only leaving the Church with a few eyes.
Loren believed her greater reason for leaving was fear of the Justice Card's secret being exposed.
Koranda returned home. Loren also didn't plan to attack her further. Today passed by uneventfully just like that.
During dinner at home in the evening, Caroline also joined them at the dining table. Loren had altered her appearance a bit, plus a little magic, so now even if Koranda came, she wouldn't recognize her.
No one would care why there was suddenly one more person in Loren's house. Loren's household had already gone from a family of four to a family of over a dozen.
While eating, Caroline suddenly started crying. Even while crying, she didn't forget to stuff food into her mouth, forcing Loren to wipe her nose for her:
"Master Mentor, life here is too good. Compared to here, my previous life was simply not fit for humans.
"I beg you, please keep me. You can keep me like a dog, just give me some food and I can survive. I'm very easy to raise, I don't even need a doghouse..."