Chapter 441: Preparing for the Hunt |
Reflection Naclis curled up, making herself even smaller, just barely able to be hidden behind Loren.
“From now on, when you all go out normally, I can come out once in a while. I’ll just curl up under the table and eat with you guys.”
Her words actually stirred a bit of guilt in Loren. Reflection Naclis had never really gone out to play with the rest of the family, rarely even showing herself in front of others.
But there was no helping it. The moment she appeared, someone would definitely find it strange.
Even if they didn’t dare to question Loren, it would still be a potential problem.
There was one thing Loren hadn’t forgotten: later on, something capable of detecting witches would emerge. Before that thing appeared, Loren had to leave behind no loose ends. Not a single person should question Loren.
Not “dare not question” — just plain “not question.”
The method for detecting witches was simple, so simple it didn’t even require getting close. Intimidation wouldn’t do Loren any good either.
If she were truly discovered, Loren wouldn’t be able to protect her either.
“You don’t have to feel guilty. It’s just because I like being treated this way.”
Reflection Naclis grabbed Loren’s hand, placed it on her own head, then stuck out her tongue at him, imitating a dog’s gesture.
“This is really too weird…”
Loren still couldn’t quite accept it. If Mirrorheart did this, that would be one thing — Loren was used to it. But Reflection Naclis’s face was exactly the same as Naclis’s, and that dissonance was just too much.
“Is it the face that’s the problem?”
Reflection Naclis tilted her head and asked, puzzled.
Loren didn’t answer. For a question like that, saying yes was wrong, and saying no was also wrong.
“Then how about I cover my face?”
With that, Reflection Naclis pulled a lace ribbon from the shadows and tied it over her eyes.
“What about now?”
With her eyes blindfolded, Reflection Naclis had a bit more charm, but Loren wasn’t paying attention to that.
“You can store things in the shadows?”
“I can… but the space isn’t big. I can only store some of my small personal items…”
For her efforts going completely unnoticed, Reflection Naclis was only dejected for a moment.
She reached into the shadows and rummaged for a while, pulling out her and Loren’s wedding photo.
“How do you have something like that?”
The moment she saw the photo, Laila instantly bristled. But she quickly calmed herself down — it was just Loren amusing himself with a kid…
“We took it last time, just the two of us~"
“…”
Laila remained silent. She had already convinced herself not to let Reflection Naclis’s words affect her mood.
Seeing that she couldn’t provoke Laila anymore, Reflection Naclis gave up entirely. She dug through the shadows again.
“There’s also a lipstick here. I had Mirrorheart buy it for me.”
After pulling out the lipstick, Reflection Naclis applied it directly. Then she took out a hair tie and tied her hair into twin tails.
Now, with a ribbon over her eyes, lipstick on, and a different hairstyle, she truly did look distinct from Naclis.
“Master Mentor, do you know why I bought the lipstick?”
Reflection Naclis twirled her hair with her finger as she asked.
“To differentiate yourself from Naclis?”
Loren was a bit puzzled. Why did Reflection Naclis insist on asking that?
Facing Loren’s answer, Reflection Naclis shook her head.
“No. I actually wanted to leave behind some evidence that I exist.”
“Wha—”
Before Loren could finish his question, Reflection Naclis, with lightning speed, left a lipstick mark on Loren’s pants, then swiftly retreated into the shadows.
“I don’t actually need to eat! I’m leaving first!”
“You—!”
Before Loren could call her out, Reflection Naclis had vanished without a trace.
“…”
Loren was a bit speechless. But no matter how much he called out, Reflection Naclis refused to come out.
“Let me wipe that off for you.”
With no other choice, Laila giggled to herself as she took out a tissue and started cleaning Loren up.
“No, wait, you—”
Loren tried to refuse, but it was already too late…
…
Nothing eventful happened along the way, and Loren reached his destination before nightfall.
Under the Bishop’s guidance, Loren met the church members sent to receive him. They were extremely excited to see him, but Loren cut off their pleasantries directly.
“When do the Merfolk usually launch their attacks?”
Since Loren was being so direct, they naturally didn’t waste any more words.
“All at night.”
“Not during the day?”
“No.”
“Good.”
After the brief exchange, Loren climbed into the carriage and began analyzing the situation.
Attacking at night was indeed a good strategy. The power of the Orthodox Gods would be slightly weaker at night, and humans were better suited to fighting during the day.
But there was another scenario — a necromancer. They could only unleash their full strength at night.
“Have you done anything to provoke the Merfolk? Like hunting them in large numbers.”
Humans had done plenty of hunting and killing of Merfolk, given all the legends surrounding them. Every piece of merfolk meat could fetch a sky-high price.
Because of that, many people even sewed humans and fish together to fake Merfolk.
“No. Our ships are mostly used to export grain, and most of that goes to the territory of the God of Vows and Wind…
“Besides, Abundant Magic isn’t suited for combat at sea. Even if we did run into Merfolk, we couldn’t fight them.
“If we could beat them, we wouldn’t have been harassed by them for so long…”
“…”
Loren knew all this, which was why he couldn’t understand why the Merfolk would attack this place.
“Forget it. Once we catch those Merfolk, everything will be clear.”
“How do we capture them? We’ll cooperate fully…”
They had tried to catch Merfolk during this time, but whenever danger arose, the Merfolk would simply dive into the deep sea.
“What have the civilian casualties been like?”
“The first attack was heavy — a few hundred dead. We’ve since evacuated the people, and there have been almost no casualties since. Only a few lured astray by their songs, now missing and presumed dead.”
“Missing and presumed dead — that means they’re dead.”
Hearing this, Loren’s expression turned much more serious. In his eyes, these Merfolk had already earned a death sentence.
Even ignoring the sentiment of “those not of our kind are bound to have different hearts,” Loren believed in “a life for a life, a debt must be repaid.”
They had killed people, so they deserved to die.
“Get me a harpoon gun. I’ll enchant it.”
There was a reason Mara (half-Merfolk) had used a harpoon gun as a weapon before. As long as the enchantment was right, it was effective against Merfolk.
If he wanted to know more, the best method was to capture a Merfolk.