CA – Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Having skipped over the priest in the second position and being personally appointed by the Red-robed Archbishop, Lucy, who had always been unremarkable in every aspect of the Church, couldn't help but feel elated. Although she had always sided with Monica, which cleric in the Holy See wouldn't want to be transferred to the Central Church?
This was likely the dream of every cleric.
And now that she had gained Archbishop Reese's favor, she certainly wouldn't let the opportunity slip through her fingers.
Lucy had already imagined many ways to use this chance to curry favor with Reese and show her loyalty.
If it worked out, perhaps after escorting the Light Believers to the Central Church, she could stay there directly.
After the meeting, Lucy had to lead a patrol of the streets, so she couldn't immediately go see Archbishop Reese to express her honor. She walked absentmindedly at the back of the group of clerics, still immersed in her joy.
"Congratulations, Lucy." Linda's voice came from behind. Lucy subconsciously turned her head, and upon seeing Linda, she smiled and said, "Thank you."
Seeing that Linda was alone, she asked with confusion, "Do you have patrol duty today?"
Linda shook her head. "No." She had come out specifically to find Lucy.
Lucy looked annoyed. "If I'd known you didn't, I would have switched with you." A wasted opportunity.
A flicker of something passed through Linda's eyes, and then she said softly, "Archbishop Reese thinks highly of you this time."
This person's strength and aptitude were clearly inferior to her own. Although Linda wore a gentle smile, her mood was gloomy.
Reese and Monica were like fire and water. It seemed that all the priests in the Church sided with Monica, but in reality, who hadn't hoped to receive an olive branch from Reese?
Otherwise, how did the priest positions in the Church become vacant?
An irrepressible smile was on Lucy's face, her eyes filled with pride. "I just don't know if Archbishop Reese will transfer me to the Central Church."
"It's very possible."
Lucy smiled and said modestly, "It still depends on Archbishop Reese's wishes." After speaking, she thought of Monica, paused, and then began to worry, "If I get too close to Archbishop Reese, will it make Priest Monica angry?"
Linda said softly, "Priest Monica will be angry."
Lucy frowned, then heard Linda continue, "However, if you can be transferred to the Central Church, you won't have to care about Priest Monica's feelings."
"You should just accept the olive branch from Archbishop Reese." Of course, there was one thing Linda didn't say: if you fail to grasp it, then you can just wait to face Priest Monica's wrath when you return to the Church.
The wavering scales in Lucy's heart tilted toward Reese because of Linda's words.
Watching Lucy's thoughtful expression, Linda lowered her eyes and chuckled softly.
One was absentminded, the other harbored ill intentions. Linda and Lucy didn't notice that they had fallen a certain distance behind the group of clerics ahead, nor did they notice a pair of crimson eyes in the shadows staring intently at them, red lips curling slightly into an arc.
For an Assamite vampire, once she silently approached within ten meters of her prey, any strike was guaranteed to be a fatal one.
Lola hid in the darkness, her figure like a phantom, and in an instant, she was behind Lucy. Linda caught a glimpse of a black shadow in her peripheral vision and subconsciously looked back, her eyes meeting Lola's. Her eyes widened instantly, her face filled with astonishment.
"Watch out..." Her voice trembled slightly.
Lucy, still unaware of the danger, gave her a puzzled look. Seeing the drastic change in her expression, Lucy subconsciously tried to turn, but a sharp pain suddenly shot through the back of her neck. Her vision went black, and she fainted.
Linda forcefully suppressed the urge to run. She bit her lip nervously but managed to maintain some composure, lowering her voice to say, "What are you doing, Lola."
"She's not the prey I prepared for you." Her deal with Lola was to provide one cleric a month for her to feed on. Even with that, she was constantly on edge. How could she dare let Lola capture a priest?
Lola reached out to catch Lucy, then bent down and hoisted her over her shoulder. Her crimson eyes scanned Linda up and down, her cold gaze like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, causing Linda to involuntarily take a step back.
"Or would you rather be my meal for tonight?" Lola said with a smirk. Seeing Linda lower her head and fall silent, she sneered, turned, and left with the person on her shoulder.
Linda stood frozen in place, her body cold. She bit her lip, her expression changing several times. Finally, she took a deep breath and waited a while longer. Estimating that Lola had already left the area, she took out her light staff, ruffled her hair a few times, and then hurried off in the direction of the cleric group.
If Lola could just kill Lucy... that would actually be quite nice. A dark glint flashed in Linda's eyes. Then, when the time was right, she would leak clues about Lola to the Church... She no longer wanted to cooperate with this greedy vampire.
Lola carried the person around several blocks before finally leaping into Lucille's manor. She entered a second-floor bedroom through the window and tossed the person onto the floor. She then spoke teasingly to Lucille, who happened to be on the balcony, "Planning on changing your prey?"
It was Lucille who had asked her to capture Lucy.
Lola cracked her knuckles. She saw Lucille raise her eyes, look past her toward her back, and pause. Frowning, Lola turned around. The blonde priest was sitting up in bed, a steaming cup of fruit tea beside her and a thick book on her lap. She was flipping through it casually. Sensing Lola's gaze, she looked up and said with a smile, "Long time no see."
Lola raised an eyebrow, her gaze shifting between Lucy on the floor and Tang Qiu. A flash of understanding crossed her eyes, and she let out a low laugh. "Was this person an eyesore to you?"
She had already dealt with several annoying clerics for Linda, so she understood the situation at a glance. Thinking this, she habitually licked her lips.
"How could that be?" Tang Qiu picked up her cup and took a sip of the fruit tea. The sweet and sour taste spread through her mouth. She chuckled softly and said, "The Light Goddess teaches those in the Church to love one another. As a devout Light Believer, I must of course remember her teachings."
Lola narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow. "So?" She gestured with her eyes at the still-unconscious Lucy on the floor.
"I just invited her over as a guest," Tang Qiu said, putting down her cup. Although a smile still lingered on her lips, her tone was somewhat flat.
Whether Reese was deliberately targeting her or was just bored and looking for some fun, Tang Qiu had little interest in figuring out her motives. How to seize this opportunity to leave the Church was her main concern.
Tang Qiu walked to Lucille's side, placed her hands on the railing, and looked up at the moon that was once again nearing fullness. She said in a low voice, "The full moon is almost here again."
Lucille's eyes flickered, and she glanced sideways at her. "You're going to rescue Erin?"
Tang Qiu smiled and wagged a finger at her. "I'm going to scout things out in the Gru Empire, and try to rescue her along the way."
A lie. Lucille thought the order of those two things should be reversed. She recalled the person, Erin. Back at Rose Manor, she hadn't felt that Tang Qiu cared much for this person, but now she felt she needed to pay more attention.
Although she hadn't quite figured out why she should be wary of a Black Witch.
Lola, who had been listening to their conversation from the side, paused for a moment, then frowned and said, "You're leaving the Bill Empire?"
She pointed at Lucy on the floor and licked her lips. "So, am I supposed to take care of this one?"
Tang Qiu turned to look at her and nodded with a smile. "You do indeed need to take care of her."
"I hope that in three days, she can appear at the back gate of the Church, safe and sound." Tang Qiu thought for a moment and decided to offer Lola a little something. "You can drink her blood, but not too much."
Lola's face had darkened upon hearing the first part, only softening slightly at the end. But she had no relationship with the blonde priest, so why should she listen to her?
As if she knew what Lola was thinking, Tang Qiu explained in a gentle tone, "If you want to continue hunting in the capital, you'd best listen to me. After all, this isn't Vandent. If you kill a priest in the capital, the Church won't let you go, for the sake of its own reputation."
Either leave the capital to hunt elsewhere, or be captured by the Church and turned to ash by divine punishment.
Tang Qiu felt that Lola wasn't stupid and should be able to make the right choice. Although she didn't have much trust in this vampire, for Lucille's sake, she could try to trust her for now.
Being threatened by a priest for the first time felt strange to Lola. Her crimson eyes carefully sized up the blonde priest from head to toe. But just as her gaze slowly moved down from her face to the neck tightly wrapped by her collar, her line of sight was suddenly blocked by Lucille, who had taken a step sideways.
Lucille looked at her with dark eyes, a bloody tide churning within them. Her slightly pursed lips and the aggressive aura emanating from her body successfully made Lola retract her gaze. She took a step back and said with some exasperation, "Calm down, will you? I'm not stealing your prey."
Although Lucille had a very cold personality, the unique bestial nature of the Gangrel still existed within her.
When Lola first met Lucille, she had thought that she hadn't inherited many Gangrel traits, because she was cold and calm, showing no sign of the wild, bestial nature engraved in her bones.
Until she discovered the prey Lucille treasured... Lola sighed inwardly. Lucille's bestial nature was probably expressed entirely through her blatant possessiveness.
Just a single glance was considered a provocation. Lola pouted, not wanting to provoke a Gangrel guarding its prey right now. She bent down, scooped up Lucy from the floor, and jumped out the window.
The sudden confrontation between Lucille and Lola brought a flash of confusion to Tang Qiu's eyes. Watching Lola's disappearing back, she frowned and said, "Can she really be trusted?"
Lucille closed her eyes, suppressing the crimson in them. Then she moved closer to Tang Qiu, her right hand reaching out to grab her wrist, half-pinning her against the railing. She lowered her head to look at her shoulder and said, "She can."
The familiar, cold fragrance enveloped Tang Qiu. She was dazed for a moment as her right hand was lifted and her wrist was gently caressed by soft lips. Tang Qiu came back to her senses just before Lucille could bite down, turning slightly to press against her shoulder with a helpless smile. "I have to go back to the Church."
The Church was probably in chaos right now because of Lucy's disappearance.
She had to show her face. With Lucy captured by a vampire, the escort would definitely have to be re-selected. Monica would be the first to hear about a priest of the Church getting into trouble, and with her personality, she would never send someone to inform Reese.
Therefore, the power to decide on the replacement fell to her.
As the first-in-line priest after Monica, Tang Qiu felt it was necessary to make a few more appearances in front of Monica.
As for Reese... she felt that a Red-robed Archbishop wouldn't be so bored as to target a minor priest a second time.
From her sudden decision to send the Light Believers back to the Church, and setting the time for the very next day, it seemed she had something urgent to attend to. She probably wouldn't waste any more time on selecting people.
Of course, Reese's temperament was hard to grasp, so Tang Qiu felt a bit uncertain.
Lucille rested her forehead on her shoulder and took a deep breath. "I'll take you back."
The corners of Tang Qiu's mouth lifted unconsciously. She raised a hand and placed it on Lucille's back, saying softly, "Alright."
When Tang Qiu returned to the Church, it was brightly lit, and clerics hurried past her without even having time to greet her. The priest in charge of dealing with dark creatures was assigning tasks, while the priest responsible for maintaining the Church's image was discussing with his subordinates how to explain the Church's large-scale operation this time, intending to suppress the matter of a priest being captured by a vampire.
She surveyed her surroundings as she walked to the conference room where Monica was. Linda happened to be coming out. She froze for a moment upon seeing her, then nodded. Linda was in no mood to target the blonde priest right now and simply lowered her head and left in a hurry.
Tang Qiu glanced at her retreating back, then looked away and raised her hand to knock on the door. Only when Monica's voice came from inside did she push the door open and walk in.
Monica sat in her chair, exuding a cold aura. Her green eyes stared at the blonde priest for a while. Because of the warm aura around her, the coldness in her eyes slowly faded a little. "Lucy was captured by a vampire. I suspect it's the one we encountered in Vandent."
She had never forgotten about that vampire, but the priests she had sent to find clues had come up with nothing.
"If a sixth-generation vampire wants to hide, it's very difficult to track her," Tang Qiu said, subtly glancing at Monica's expression.
Monica's face was grave. She was silent for a moment before sighing in frustration. "Damn it, why did it have to be at this time."
If she didn't have to escort the Light Believers with Reese, Monica swore she would definitely capture this sixth-generation vampire and bring her to the Church for divine punishment.
Tang Qiu took the initiative to bring up the escort mission, her tone worried. "Priest Lucy is missing, so there will be one less priest to escort Archbishop Reese tomorrow."
Monica frowned slightly and said flatly, "You'll take her place."
She really would say that. A faint, almost unnoticeable smile flashed in Tang Qiu's eyes. She nodded slightly, then asked probingly, "Is there no need to ask for Archbishop Reese's opinion?"
"No need," Monica said in a cold, hard tone. "She's not part of the Bill Empire's Church anyway."
The journey was long and arduous, and there was no telling what they might encounter along the way. Monica was already dissatisfied with Lucy, although a large part of that dissatisfaction was because Reese had been the one to choose her.
The blonde priest was already second in line, and bringing her along would give Monica more peace of mind.
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