novelraw Chapter 258: Collusion
Chapter 258: Collusion
The church knows this virus was researched by vampires, or at the very least knows it's related to vampires. But the money from selling the medicine is simply too much. Even if the church only gets a portion, it's still an astronomical figure.
One bottle costs ten silver coins. Buying two bottles a month, counting outsiders, Uridia has nearly a hundred million people. This number is even a bit hard for Loren to comprehend.
Because of this epidemic, Uridia's population has decreased significantly. The gods might not care about the feelings of their believers, but They do care about the number of believers. With such a large-scale reduction in believers, the church should intervene no matter what.
But the church is the church, and the church's higher-ups are the church's higher-ups. In the end, they still made a decision contrary to their duty.
"So the reason you came to find me is to have me help you deal with the Bloodline Rebels?"
Seeing Loren finally stop talking about the church, the Bishop quickly nodded.
"Right, recently the Bloodline Rebels have become increasingly brazen. Not only did they create the virus to poison Uridia's humans, they've also repeatedly hunted Uridia's vampires!"
Subconsciously, the Bishop placed himself on the moral high ground again. Although Loren had already seen through all his thoughts, this kind of thing was subconscious. Who knows how many times he's done it already.
This is the church's true appearance. After all, clergy are not like Angels who have already lost their humanity; they always have personal motives.
However, he's somewhat misunderstanding the Bloodline Rebels this time. After having new operations, the Bloodline Rebels' actions against vampires have decreased significantly. The vast majority of vampires were killed by Loren.After researching ultraviolet magic wasn't enough, Loren also conveniently used vampires to stack Pluto's Mouth. Vampires are quite useful; any vampire with a title guarantees at least one attribute point increase for Loren.
"I've already reached a cooperation agreement with Vampire Marquis Ofemia, promising to help her deal with the Bloodline Rebels. Why trouble yourself to come find me again?"
Regarding this, the Bishop had some difficulty speaking. He clearly understood why this was.
Loren's contract was essentially getting something for nothing. He did nothing afterwards, and the contract didn't specify a time limit, so Loren wouldn't be violating the contract even if he waited until Ofemia died of old age before conducting research.
Regarding the things the church did, Loren could point them out, but the Bishop couldn't point out the things Loren did.
"Oh, I understand. You're here to show loyalty to the vampires. Recently receiving so much money, you feel a bit guilty not doing anything."
"The people living in dire straits doesn't make you feel guilty, but receiving vampire money without delivering makes you feel guilty. How laughable."
Loren's attitude like this was bound to offend many people. But as long as he didn't openly break with the church for a single day, all churches would have to treat him with respect for that day.
No matter how much they disliked Loren in their hearts, on the surface they absolutely had to praise him.
The Bishop was somewhat restless. If they weren't completely helpless against the Bloodline Rebels, they wouldn't have come to Loren.
"Alright, let's make a deal. State your conditions."
Hearing this, the Bishop finally breathed a sigh of relief and stated his request.
"I hope you can add a time limit to your contract with the vampires."
"I agree. Let's make the deadline one month. What benefit can you give me?"
"I can give you the share the vampires gave us..."
At this point, Loren suddenly raised his hand, signaling him not to continue.
"You know, I, Loren, have no interest in money. Talking about money is too vulgar."
The money the King of Bardo previously allocated to Loren was far from spent. The foundation of a great family is terrifyingly strong. Moreover, even if Loren wanted money, he could directly intercept it from those vampires. During this period, Loren has already made quite a bit of money using this method.
To the extent that Scarlett is now somewhat numb to money. Every day, a large sum of money is stuffed into her Life Thief space. Scarlett has truly reached that state of having no interest in money.
"Then what do you want?"
"That depends on your sincerity."
Loren crossed his legs, doing what he always liked to do—let the other party make an offer first, then increase the price based on that.
"Then... are you interested in a Night Amulet?"
After considering for a while, the Bishop proposed a new price.
The Night Amulet is the same type of item as the Emblem of Bounty, a special accessory of the church with fairly good effects.
The Night Amulet's effect is to increase all one's attributes, including luck, when illuminated by moonlight. The increase is quite decent. Most crucially, this accessory is very compatible with Luna.
Loren turned to look at Luna, and at that moment Luna was also looking at Loren. When discovered by Loren, she quickly turned her head away.
He himself already has the Emblem of Bounty. The Night Amulet, like the Emblem of Bounty, occupies the brooch slot, so giving it to Luna would be perfect.
"Not bad. But I'm quite interested in the Church of Night and Thunder sequence magic. Give me the magic as well and it's a deal."
Loren originally planned to actually research a method to deal with ultraviolet light for the vampires. This transaction was essentially free profit for Loren. The Bishop being willing to give a Night Amulet was already a pleasant surprise for Loren.
"Deal!"
Fearing Loren might change his mind, the Bishop hurriedly took out a contract, handing both the contract and pen to Loren. The Bishop's name was already signed on it.
"You're a Church of Night and Thunder person, using Church of the God of Vows and Wind items. Is that appropriate?"
Before moving the pen, Loren suddenly mentioned this, causing the Bishop to break out in a cold sweat instantly.
This kind of thing could be big or small. Some useful items are used by other churches too. He uses Church of the God of Vows and Wind contracts, but Church of the God of Vows and Wind people also use Church of Night and Thunder light bulbs. If these matters were taken to an extreme by someone of Loren's level, it would be quite troublesome for him.
However, Loren didn't intend to cause him further trouble. He silently signed the contract. Afterwards, the Bishop felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted, scrambling and crawling out.
After the Bishop left, Loren opened his attribute panel to take a look:
Name: Loren
Level: 46 (50%)
Strength: 10
Stamina: 45
Agility: 26
Intelligence: 51
Mana: 5500/5500
Remaining Attribute Points: 0
Accessories: [Weeping Blood Wedding Ring] [Lurking Fangs] [Virtue Rings]*7 [Emblem of Bounty]
Blessings: [Truth Discernment] [Pluto's Mouth] [True Sight Eye] [Clear Conscience]
Curses: [Shattered Love] [Scorn of All Beings]
Talents: [Sensitive Heart] [Necromancy Affinity] [Everything Has a Spirit] [To be selected...]
During this period, he continuously devoured vampires, increasing his attribute points by over twenty. But these vampires were all out of practice, not giving Loren a single point of Strength. However, the improvement for Loren was sufficient enough.
Not long after the Bishop left, Gwen passed through the wall and returned home. Loren directly took off the dragon-skin black robe from Gwen and draped it over himself.
"I'm going out to hunt again. If anyone comes looking for me, Gwen will temporarily transform into me. No one can see through physical-level disguises."
Using Pluto's Mouth through a puppet has losses; this is a pattern Loren summarized during this period. So he plans to personally go hunt vampires.