A False Sense of Harmony

After evading the guards drawn by the noise and making sure the elves had escaped as well, Li Lin left the warehouse district. The encounter had left him in a poor mood. Remembering how elves, dwarves, and humans had lived together in the Magic Empire a thousand years ago, he felt as though he had stepped into another world entirely. Back then, the elves had been proud but not cold. And though humans had been prejudiced against elves, they had respected them more than anything. Relations between the two had never been as strained as they were now, with humans treating elves as slaves and elves treating humans as enemies. Seeing it all left Li Lin disheartened. They had endured so many hardships to bring the races together, to make them set aside their prejudices and live in harmony. And now, everything had changed.

Breaking something was easy, but restoring it to its original state was much harder.

Though the encounter had left Li Lin troubled, he collected himself and followed the road to their inn. Although the God of Justice's followers strictly observed the rules, at least their god did not demand that they live the self-denying lives of ascetics. As a result, the inn the sisters Mina and Fina had found was quite good. Perhaps because they had revealed their identities as clerics, the innkeeper was very welcoming to the paladins.

Even the sumptuous dinner failed to lift Li Lin's spirits. He hurriedly ate a few bites, politely expressed his thanks, and excused himself. Everyone else was occupied with their own thoughts, and aside from Fina, who was a little curious about his behavior, no one paid him any mind.

Sitting by the window, Li Lin gazed out at the lights shining from countless homes, his heart heavy. After all, he had not been sufficiently prepared to face the changes before him. Before leaving, Li Lin had believed that only eighteen years had passed in this world, and eighteen years was not a long time. As long as he could return to this world and gather the surviving troops and his strength, defeating the invaders and driving them out of his country should not have been difficult. But time had played a cruel joke on him. He had not returned to the time he had hoped for. Perhaps time flowed differently between the two planes, causing this change.

But now Li Lin felt somewhat lost. The world was no longer familiar to him; the world he knew had become history. This left him deeply conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to restore the Magic Empire to its former glory. But from the look of things, that was clearly unlikely. On the other hand, as a victim of the invasion back then, he could not let go of his hatred and allow the flags of those damned nations to fly over his homeland. Even after a thousand years, they were still invaders, not owners.

At that moment, Li Lin felt he stood before a road of no return, hesitating as he waited for the final push.

I only need one sentence to do this.

He told himself in a low voice.

I'm the only one who can say it to myself.

But even now, he still could not say those words. As a former arcane mage, he had lived through enough years, enough wars, and enough conspiracies-though the last had been a very fatal mistake. But now, he knew perfectly well what he should do next and how to do it.

Now, only one thing remained: he had to convince himself, You have to do it.

By the time Angela returned to the room, Li Lin had put those thoughts aside. Though the matter had not been resolved immediately, Li Lin had always made a habit of sorting out matters he could not resolve at once and then setting them aside. All he needed was an opportunity, and he believed that as long as he waited, he would find the answer. Some things could not be settled through thought or emotion alone.

Likewise, Li Lin did not tell Angela about the doubts in his heart, because he could almost foresee how she would react. She would open the window, point at the streets outside, and ask in her usual proud, confident voice, "Master, look outside. Every household is enjoying a time of harmony and happiness. Children are immersed in joyful moments, young men and women are enjoying the pleasures of love, and everyone is enjoying their lives. But the decision you make will utterly destroy everything they have. Only fear and death will fill their lives. Have you made up your mind and prepared yourself to face such an outcome?"

The answer was yes.

But Li Lin did not want Angela to make that decision for him.

"How did it go?"

He looked at the little devil walking toward him and asked.

"Not good, not bad."

Angela hopped lightly onto Li Lin's lap. She opened her eyes, which gleamed bright red, her expression smug and excited.

"Those two foolish humans don't know anything at all. They don't even know what they came here to find. But I did hear them say that the man called Duncan has led parties into the ruins to explore several times, and every time, he was the only one who came out alive."

"Every time?"

"Every time."

Angela proudly raised her head.

"If you ask me, that foolish lower life-form must have taken those treasures out of greed and killed his companions because they couldn't agree on how to divide the spoils. Greed is an original sin humans can never escape. It's the same everywhere."

"But he's a paladin of the temple, not a greedy, lustful mercenary."

Li Lin shook his head, though the question raised by this news remained unanswered. He thought it over carefully, and when he considered it alongside Duncan's series of strange actions during the day, he couldn't help feeling that something wasn't quite right. "If he did that, he'd suffer divine punishment."

"As long as that god is on the same side as him, wouldn't it be fine?"

Angela gave a cold snort.

"How good can a god who incites his own followers to dig through ruins be?"

Though Angela's words were somewhat petulant, they offered another possibility. Indeed, Knight Duncan had led his parties deep into the ruins of the Magic Empire several times, yet he had been the only one to escape each time and had never been punished. That established one thing: whatever had happened inside, the God of Justice had evidently given his tacit approval to this conduct.

At that moment, Li Lin finally grasped the source of that feeling and began to unravel it.

But soon, the soft body shifting in his arms interrupted his thoughts.

"Master, how have you been feeling lately?"

Leaning against Li Lin's shoulder, Angela whispered in his ear.

"If you wish, I can have those two women crawling to your bedside tomorrow night, begging you to give them physical comfort. I can guarantee that they'll be very enjoyable."

"What if they go to the other paladins?"

Li Lin asked with a slight, helpless smile. This made the red light in Angela's eyes shine even more brightly—a sure sign of her excitement.

"Of course I'll have them do that. There's no more interesting work than conquering a group who think themselves messengers of the gods. Watching those people, with all their talk of morals, submit to the desires of their bodies, trembling, crying, and begging because of the uncontrollable lust burning within them—what a pleasure that is. But they're still virgins, and only you are worthy of taking their first nights as my gift to you. The girls of this world aren't very good at dressing themselves up, but they're naturally attractive. Even without dressing up like the girls of our world, they can still show their beauty."

Angela paused.

"Besides, I've already made considerable progress. I'm afraid the younger sister won't be able to resist using her fingers tonight to fill the craving deep within her. And when she can't find satisfaction, I think she'll need something more suitable in their place."

"Don't break them."

Li Lin shook his head, clearly disapproving of Angela's suggestion.

"Remember, we need their help. You should understand that perfectly well."

"Of course, Master."

In response to Li Lin's warning, Angela gave a small, smug smile. A beautiful, innocent smile appeared on her delicate, lovely little face.

"I know my limits."

The night had grown late.

Though she was already in bed, Fina kept tossing and turning, unable to sleep. During the day, when they had taken Angela out shopping, the little one's hands had kept straying, deliberately or otherwise, toward some of Fina's "sensitive spots." It had left the girl deeply uncomfortable and distressed. On the one hand, she couldn't reprimand Angela for something like that; on the other, she was tormented by the sensations in her own body. She didn't know whether the feeling was good or bad, but right now she found it deeply troubling. Her body was growing slightly hot, and she had even broken into a light sweat. She turned restlessly from side to side, trying to find peace through prayer. At times, Fina even thought she was ill and that the heat in her body was merely the result of a cold. She secretly cast a divine spell to cure disease on herself, but it had no effect.

Fina had no idea that Angela's mark had already been left on her body. This was one of the abilities of vampires. When they saw prey they liked, they would always leave a mark on the other's body by various means. Such marks were generally transmitted through kiss marks. Not only could they help vampires pinpoint the location of their "mobile blood banks," they could also leave a brand on their bodies. This mark would constantly torment their bodies and minds, altering their mental state to make them increasingly dependent on the vampire.

"O God of Justice, please dispel my troubles and take away my pain..."

Though the holy emblem she clutched tightly radiated boundless divine power, it gave no answer to Fina's prayer.

Just then, the girl suddenly recalled the scene in the carriage earlier, when Angela had aroused her desire. Her body had been just as hot then, but there had been a way to dispel it.

The girl hesitated for a moment. After all, though she knew little about such things, she did not think it was a good thing to do.

But in the end, the flames burning within her overcame her reason.

"Just this once..."

The girl murmured to herself and reached between her legs. When the surging waves swept over her body and mind once more, she bit down hard on the bedsheet...