We're perfectly legal.

The Circle of Vitas?

Vanessa blinked blankly. People did call her the Mad Caregiver, but she had never heard of the Circle of Vitas.

She was about to speak when a familiar sensation abruptly descended.

The being that controlled her had returned!

Vanessa's taut nerves instinctively relaxed. She knew this dependence was not good, but now, sensing that will beside her, she felt an indescribable sense of security deep inside.

Meanwhile, Elliot stared at the situation before him in astonishment.

What was going on?! He had only stepped out to chat with a customer. How had Vanessa ended up in the Mourning Poetry Society's headquarters?

Had she defected?

And what had that talk of mooching a meal meant? What organization was this Circle of Vitas?

Had he missed a huge chunk of the plot?!

Elliot's fingers hovered over the keyboard. Watching this inexplicable turn of events, he finally withdrew them.

He decided to let Vanessa handle things herself for now and see how it went.

Knowing that being was watching her, Vanessa immediately gained confidence and boldly asked, "What's the Circle of Vitas?"

The man opposite her visibly froze. His gaze beneath the hood swept sharply over Vanessa again, carrying a trace of disbelief. "You... wait, you're not even the Supernatural person?"

"If I were the Supernatural person, I wouldn't have fallen off the wall. Have you ever seen the Supernatural person fail to climb over a wall?"

"..." The man fell silent. That argument was unexpectedly convincing.

"So you..."

"I came to find Winnie. I saw her come in here, so I wanted to climb onto the wall and see what was going on... but you spotted me."

"Then what about your title, the Mad Caregiver? The story is that you fought a monster, and traces of supernatural power were left at the scene."

"A monster? I did encounter a corpse infected with Mad Rat Disease... but it wasn't that powerful, was it? An ordinary patrol officer could have dealt with it."

The man fell silent again.

Vanessa suddenly caught on. "Wait, I was wondering why everyone kept calling me the Mad Caregiver. You thought I was the Supernatural person? And part of some Vitas-whatever circle?"

The man stared at her for a long while, as though judging whether she was telling the truth. At last, he sighed helplessly. "There have been rumors like that. The Circle of Vitas has been strangely quiet lately, and you're the only one active on the streets. Then there's the matter of Mad Rat Disease... perhaps it really was a misunderstanding."

A brief silence settled over the study, then the two spoke almost simultaneously:

"What's the Circle of Vitas?"

"You encountered Mad Rat Disease in the city?"

Their eyes met, and Vanessa spoke first, explaining, "When I was 'making a delivery' east of the Harbor District, I encountered a corpse infected with Mad Rat Disease. I fought it and nearly died."

"Impossible! How could there be Mad Rat Disease in the city? If there were, it would have spread everywhere by now!"

Vanessa shrugged. "That's what I told other people too. Nobody believed me."

The man thought for a while, then suddenly asked, "Did you see a core?"

"What's a core?"

Vanessa paused. She suddenly remembered that Doctor Norman had mentioned that word too.

"You can find the core by sensing your surroundings with your spirituality... oh." Halfway through, the man remembered and shook his head in frustration. "I forgot you weren't the Supernatural person..."

"In any case, that couldn't have been actual Mad Rat Disease. There must be some sort of misunderstanding. As for the Circle of Vitas..."

He glanced at Vanessa, his tone peculiar. "New Scandinavia General Hospital is an institution under the Circle of Vitas. Most of the 'caregivers' there, especially those responsible for 'special cargo' like you, are the Supernatural person, and double as muscle... You really didn't know? Then how did you get in? They don't seem to recruit outsiders, do they?"

Vanessa instantly remembered the white light that had risen from Doctor Norman's hands as he stitched her up that day. At the time, she had marveled at how she had so casually encountered the Supernatural person.

It turned out she herself worked for a secret society!

"You might not believe this, but I got in through debt..." Vanessa said with a dry laugh.

She briefly recounted how she had ended up on the streets and how the hospital had "taken her in" to repay her debt.

After hearing her out, the man found himself at a loss for words.

She had gotten into the Circle of Vitas through debt, then into the Mourning Poetry Society by climbing a wall... The man's expression was complicated. He kept feeling that the girl before him would surely become a legend in this city.

"So... can I go now?"

Vanessa asked cautiously.

"Since you're here, stay for communion." The man sighed. "Unfortunately, our best cook isn't here today. You'll miss out on some good food."

Vanessa had wanted to refuse, but the being that had remained silent all this time accepted on her behalf.

And so the girl had no choice but to stay and "mooch a meal."

She had expected something much like what she had seen from the rooftop, but the result surprised her. Eating raw flesh and blood was only one part of it. There was also a whole table of cold and hot dishes.

Everyone helped with the cooking, directed by the few who cooked best. The man also removed his hood, revealing a young but somewhat weary face.

Even the orphans Winnie had adopted came to help-yes, although Winnie herself had not come, she had sent all the orphans over to mooch a meal.

And the people here had actually not refused. They really let these noisy children join them for dinner.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Vanessa leaned toward the man and asked quietly, "You let so many outsiders in to mooch meals, especially children. Aren't you afraid of exposing yourselves as a secret society?"

The "secret" in "secret society" was the very foundation of its survival.

The Empire's Associations Act stipulated that official societies had to pay a registration fee of a full 800 gold pounds, almost equivalent to twenty years of an ordinary worker's wages, effectively prohibiting the lower classes from forming societies.

The nominal exchange rate between gold pounds and leo was 1:100. That large bag of leo in Vanessa's pocket could only be exchanged for a single gold pound.

Thus, secret societies were inherently guilty. If discovered, everyone here would be imprisoned and would have to pay hefty bail to get out.

"Oh, that." The man speared a piece of potato roasted to perfection, his tone utterly calm. "We're an officially registered society. We're legal."

"I see... wait!" Vanessa froze for a moment. "An official society?!"

"Yes. The Mourning Poetry Society is an official society approved by the royal family. Our charter is right inside, issued by Emperor Trist himself, with a drop of his blood as his seal."

"Wait, no, what?" Vanessa felt as though her brain was about to burn out. What era had Emperor Trist lived in?

The Cosmog Dynasty, more than two hundred years ago!

After that, the dynasty had fallen, the republic had been established, the republic had perished, and then the monarchy had been restored... The continent had sunk into the flames of war until Emperor Romanov unified the lands and established the present Hoffenwall Empire.