Setting Out

This was a good team.

Including Duncan, five paladins were taking part in the operation. Along with two priests of the God of Justice, Li Lin the "scholar," and Angela, there were nine people in all exploring the ruins. In terms of numbers, the group was clearly a little short for an adventuring party. After all, only five of them could actually fight. The two priests knew only a few supportive divine spells and knew nothing at all about attacking. Li Lin, meanwhile, played the part of a scholar who knew a little swordsmanship but was hardly proficient. As for Angela, one look at her was enough to make anyone rule her out.

In truth, however, those five paladins were a match for dozens of people. After all, they were more than just skilled swordsmen. These knights, who had once received the gods' blessings, could not only see through darkness but also withstand heat and cold and resist the effects of poison on their bodies. Even if they were injured, they would recover in a short time. These were advantages ordinary adventurers could not hope to match, and they were also why the knights could stride along with their heads held high in their iron shells, whether in summer heat or winter cold.

Things went very smoothly.

The advantage of traveling with paladins was that wherever they went, the locals were unlikely to give them trouble. Even bandits and outlaws abandoned any thought of robbery when they saw the paladins. They would suffer heavy casualties, and even if they did succeed, they would get only a few gold coins and end up wanted by the temple. No one would make such an idiotic choice.

But the journey was not entirely peaceful.

The reason lay with the two priests.

The two priests were twin sisters. Li Lin had heard that they had been sent to study at the temple from a young age and had become excellent priests. But for two of the travelers, that was hardly good news.

The sisters were named Mina and Fina. Both could be called beauties, but their temperaments were complete opposites. Mina wore an icy expression all day, serious and silent. Fina, on the other hand, was gentle and kind—so kind that she even wasted her own strength casting a healing spell on Angela to cure a pain that did not exist. According to Angela herself, it had felt as awful as having a bucket of sulfuric acid poured over her from head to toe.

Even according to legends on "Earth," vampires would be reduced to ashes when exposed to holy light, let alone this light, which was not sunlight from Earth but the genuine radiance of a god. Fortunately, Angela was no ordinary vampire. She was a True Ancestor, a rank at the very top even among vampires. That was why she could face sunlight without fear and endure a sacred aura. When Fina healed her, the little girl had even obediently pretended to be comfortable.

Of course, no one saw her that night as she cursed the woman in Li Lin's ear with the most vicious and furious words she could muster.

"Master, I really want to teach them a lesson, and then have you take their virginity. Only when those two accursed creatures surrender their dignity in pleasure and kneel before you, begging for your favors and forgiveness, will the pain of my injuries be made good."

The soft, petite body curled up in Li Lin's arms was a little cold. Angela had stripped naked and snuggled into his embrace. Holding him tightly, she grumbled in his ear.

"There's plenty of time."

Li Lin reached out and stroked the little girl's cheek, clearly seeing the dazzling light flickering in her scarlet eyes.

"You should be careful too. Clearly, not everyone trusts us."

"That woman is so suspicious."

Angela snorted in displeasure and pressed closer to Li Lin. Her slightly budding breasts gave him a faint, unusual sense of comfort. Angela liked humans—or, more precisely, she liked their warmth. Ever since becoming a vampire, she had been fascinated by it. Vampires, who had given up life to become undead, had no warmth of their own. For that reason, warmth was what they longed for most.

You lost some things and gained others, but that did not mean you would give up what you had lost forever.

To a large extent, vampires drank blood to regain that warmth, even if only temporarily. And when they could not obtain blood, making do with a substitute was a good option too. For example, they could obtain something equally warm through a more comfortable means.

Of course, this was not the kind of intimacy Angela wanted at the moment. But this was a campsite out in the wilderness. Those stiff-necked paladins were not blind. If they noticed anything, it would do neither of them any good. After all, although Angela was not exactly a little girl, she still looked like a child in need of protection. And to paladins brimming with justice and a sense of responsibility, Li Lin would clearly be worse than a beast for "making a move" on such a young child.

Proud and arrogant as Angela was, she understood Li Lin's situation very well. She would never do anything that hindered her master.

So for now, Angela could do little but lie in Li Lin's arms, muttering curses through gritted teeth while secretly plotting all manner of sinister and vicious schemes.

Gently stroking Angela's long hair, Li Lin could not help laughing aloud. He remembered when he had first met her. Angela had also been lying naked in his arms then, her mouth full of vicious curses and disgusted abuse, though on that occasion they had been directed at him.

In fact, their encounter had been quite "romantic" at the start.

It was apparently by sheer chance that Angela had noticed Li Lin. She had happened to come to this country and then to this remote orphanage. Out of a vampire's caution, Angela rarely looked for food in bustling places. Besides, the more civilized and developed a place was, the more creatures known as "creepy uncles" there were. Their blood was mostly full of fat and grease, and not at all pleasant to drink. Then she had stumbled upon Li Lin, and soon decided to make a delicious meal of him. In fact, all Angela did was follow the routine required in a classic vampire film: turn into mist and enter a sealed house, put the victim to sleep, and finally drink his blood. The plan was flawless.

The one unexpected development was that, before feeding, Angela had watched an adults-only performance of the orphanage director and his wife "communicating," out of boredom and curiosity. Just as she was about to drink Li Lin's blood, perhaps under the influence of that earlier stimulation, the little girl had suddenly wanted to try what she had always regarded as "a vulgar, degrading act of mating that lower life-forms engage in to reproduce."

And so, full of curious fantasies, Angela had awakened Li Lin, who had been sleeping under her spell, intending to "eat" him completely. She treated it as a game. Vampires had no limit on their lifespans anyway, and cared even less about chastity. If it felt good, Angela planned to make it a new form of entertainment in the future. If it did not, it would only be once, so it was no great matter. To her, who had already lived long enough in this world, any new experience was a pleasure.

But Angela's one miscalculation was that this young body housed a mature soul that did not match its age.

And so, before long, the prey became the hunter, and the hunter became the prey that was eaten... Of course, after discovering that it actually felt very good, Angela still came out ahead.

"What are you thinking about? You look so happy."

"Nothing."

Li Lin certainly would not tell Angela that he was reminiscing about their "first intimate encounter," so he gently stroked her long white hair and changed the subject.

"Do you think they really recognized you?"

"The younger sister is an idiot. As for the older one... it's hard to say."

At the mention of Mina, Angela was a little less certain. After all, she was the only one in the entire party who was not as friendly toward Angela as the others. Sometimes she even deliberately found fault with her, as though she had long known Angela was only pretending. But Angela was clearly more experienced. No matter how Mina tested her, she put on an appearance of helpless innocence that made it hard for anyone to say anything truly harsh to her. Li Lin, however, had the feeling that Mina herself seemed somewhat surprised by her own hostility toward Angela. On several later occasions, he could clearly see that she had been about to reproach Angela, only to swallow her words in the end.

On the surface, she did not seem to have noticed anything. But if that were true, it was strange that she singled out Angela. Fortunately, this conflict was confined to the women. Whether or not the God of Justice had taught that "a good man does not quarrel with women," the paladins spent each day traveling, checking the map, buying supplies, and guarding the camp. Matters like this were entirely outside their jurisdiction.

Of course, it would not do for things to continue like this forever.

They had to find out why that priest was so sensitive to Angela.

Holding Angela in his arms, Li Lin fell into a deep sleep.