(To those waiting to see Norton change: it'll happen soon, but the groundwork is necessary. A sudden change would be jarringly disjointed. He couldn't suddenly go from a half-mad man who'd been imprisoned by the Church for twenty years to a ruthless, cunning Vampire lord.
Besides, the first volume is Norton's birth, and the second is the Age of Darkness (the Age of Norton). In other words, the entire first volume lays the groundwork and depicts Norton's transformation from a somewhat abnormal man into a Vampire lord. It also covers the end of the Age of Myth and the arrival of the Age of Norton. So there will definitely be satisfying moments for those who want them, and those waiting to see Norton change will get their wish sooner, because a major event is about to begin. I'm striving to build a realistic world in which to create a true legend.)
The news Karl brought was somewhat useful to Norton.
Besides helping him build a picture of the world, it also allowed him to compare and analyze it alongside what he had heard elsewhere, then reach a final judgment.
What use was that?
Simple. Knowing the Church was planning a major move, he, Norton, could be more careful and leave longer intervals between his hunting trips.
Knowing when the Church was going to hold Mass, he could stay away, lest he be completely purified by God's holy light.
And if anyone asked whether there was any news Norton was particularly interested in, there really was.
"What did the Church get from Holy Lord City?"
Holy Lord City. There it was again.
Norton recalled the scene when he left Holy Lord City.
Although the bones in the streets had been cleared away, Holy Lord City's population had dwindled so badly that not a voice could be heard anywhere on its streets, still showing how devastating it had been. Norton had never heard any news about Holy Lord City in Lino City before.
To the people of Lino City, going to a place as strict in its faith as Holy Lord City was nothing short of a death sentence. So this was the first news he had heard of Holy Lord City in all this time.
What could the Church possibly have obtained from a city destroyed by some unknown cause?
Could it have been the plague he had suspected before? Or perhaps the Werewolves that had hunted him?
Or had the devastation in Holy Lord City not been caused by a plague at all, but by some unknown monster that the Church had now obtained?
Surely the Church couldn't have gotten hold of Father Mia, could it?
Norton beat his chest and stamped his feet, regretting what he had done. For some reason, he felt as though he had lost a hundred million for no reason at all.
Can't you let me have a look?
I can't? Ha, what a joke. I, Norton, didn't really want to see it that badly anyway!
Damn it, what the hell did the Church get?!
Norton's life returned to peace once more.
Just as Karl had said, a little over three months later, His Holiness Adam flew into a rage.
He declared that the members of the Eye of Holiness were truly dull-witted, stupid to the extreme! Its higher ranks pretended to obey while secretly defying orders, while its lower ranks were dull and ignorant. Day after day, all their work came to nothing!
But the members of the Eye of Holiness really couldn't be blamed for that.
Norton knew perfectly well how the Church trained its personnel, and everyone here knew it just as well. Its lower ranks were supposed to be dull and ignorant. If every one of them became smarter than their superiors, it would be the Church itself that lost sleep.
As for the higher ranks pretending to obey while secretly defying orders, nothing could be done about that. The drawbacks of a policy that allowed only a few to be smart were that obvious. Without an influx of fresh blood, the Church would only decline further with each generation, and its upper ranks would only grow more incompetent.
This was a problem common to all empires once their class structures became rigid, but the Church's policy of allowing only a few to be smart made the process much faster.
If His Holiness the Pope did not have the Holy Judgment Order, a force unmatched anywhere in the world, the Papal State would have been overrun by the surrounding kingdoms long ago.
Only a month or two after His Holiness the Pope vented his fury, Norton noticed more and more spies from the Boya Empire appearing in Lino City.
Others might have had trouble identifying the spies, but with his super hearing, super sight, and super sense of smell, he could easily observe their activities.
Moreover, the blood of people from the Boya Empire smelled different from that of people from the Papal State. Norton didn't know whether it was because the people of the Papal State had spent too long bathed in divine grace, but their blood always carried a whiff of decay.
By comparison, the blood of people from the Boya Empire carried a fresh scent.
By comparing the scents of their blood, Norton also found some people from other countries. However, they were very few in number, nowhere near as numerous as the people from the Boya Empire.
"Troubled times are coming. What an eventful age!"
Atop a towering bell tower, a slender figure stood at its highest point, surveying the surroundings of Lino City.
Although Lino City looked the same as ever, for some reason, Norton kept feeling as though he could smell blood in the air.
It seemed that some terrible disaster was about to occur.
The scent was faint and elusive, dreamlike and unreal, yet it made his skin tighten, as though it were some kind of warning.
Norton found the feeling very strange.
Everyone had a sixth sense. Though it sounded vague and mysterious, it could sometimes be remarkably uncanny.
Norton wondered whether becoming a Vampire had enhanced not only his five senses but also his sixth. Otherwise, he wouldn't have felt anything so strange.
The feeling made his heart tighten, yet it also left him inexplicably excited.
If some great disaster really was coming, wouldn't he, Norton, have a chance to get into the church?
He had always firmly believed that as long as he lived long enough, he would one day unravel the secrets of Vampires. But that was on the condition that this stuff didn't interfere with his life.
Now packs of Werewolves were waiting outside to hunt him, forcing him, Norton, to hide in Church territory. He couldn't feel relaxed and carefree anymore. If he, Norton, went on lying low and swallowing his humiliation, how the hell was that any different from living in the Church!
Damn it, I, Norton, am going to rise too!
Norton felt that he had steeled his resolve!
A powerful, musty smell drifted out of the bell tower on the breeze and into Norton's nose, making him feel a little sick.
Inside the bell tower, the pastries Norton had piled up over the past two years had reached the height of a brick wall.
The pastries at the bottom had rotted and crumbled, sticking to the walls and wooden floor. They were utterly disgusting.
But Norton thought it was great. The more disgusting it was here, the less likely anyone was to come over.
"Chirp, chirp..." Five bats circled through the air, swooping unsteadily into the bell tower.
Over the past two years, their bat family had gained three new members, much to Norton's delight.
Although they weren't his children, he had watched every one of them grow up. When they were little, they had always liked hanging from Norton's nipples, which gave him a strong sense of involvement.
Considering that he and the first little bat would eventually part because of their differing lifespans, Norton gave it a name.
"Coal Ball."
Norton was indeed Norton. He had only been a Vampire for a few years, yet he was already thinking about their parting.
Harboring doubts about the future, Norton continued his life in hiding.
As an eternally long-lived Vampire, Norton was destined for a lonely and uneventful life.
Perhaps hundreds or thousands of years from now, his old memories would become history, and even he would no longer be able to recall the moments he lived through today.
Everything would eventually be buried by time.
Even Norton's longing for Father Mia would one day fade...