Chapter 30 - Discipline (New Book Requests Everything)

　　"If Inquisitor Suez wishes to cast a magic-breaking arrow at Lord Baldwin, please do so, why force me to do so? It is well known that I have always respected His Excellency Baldwin, so if after I do it, you all accuse me of tampering with my magic, will we not be left with no defense?"

　　Edward said without irony.

　　In fact, Suez was waiting for these words, and he said with a smile, "Since you are unwilling to do it, then in order to prove President Baldwin's innocence, we will have to do it."

　　With that he turned to Baldwin, "So, can I ask President Baldwin to cooperate?"

　　The Master Vampire Hunter said flatly, "Be my guest." Then walked to stand in the center of the hall.

　　"Then, excuse me."

　　Suez and a few of the clergy from the Heretic Inquisition spread out in a semi-circle, and actually stretched out their hands together and began chanting a prayer.

　　By the looks of them, they had identified Baldwin as a vampire and were going to strike together to destroy him outright.

　　At this time, Lei Lei, who was hiding in the crowd, had already begun to secretly decipher the jutsu, preparing to interfere with the group's spell casting.

　　However, he noticed how Lord Kayne looked like he had it all figured out, and thought about how the Countess had once been severely injured for taking it upon herself to disrupt Lord Kayne's plans.

　　He then canceled out the solving of the jutsu.

　　The only sound left in the hall was that of the clergy chanting spells, and the vampires who knew what was going on inside felt a great deal of anxiety, and in their senses it was as if the neat chanting was burning away their lives.

　　Soon, a dazzling golden arrow was released from the warlock's hand and flew at Baldwin in unison.

　　But also because the golden light arrows were too dense, no one present noticed that the golden arrows dimmed and dissipated when they were less than half a meter away from Baldwin.

　　After the blow that gathered the strength of many, Baldwin was unharmed and didn't even furrow his brow.

　　"Again!" Considering the possibility that there might be anti-magic shields or defensive spells present, Suez was no longer speaking of martial virtues.

　　"Don't you guys get ahead of yourselves!" Edward reprimanded.

　　"Let them come." Baldwin said calmly.

　　Even if Baldwin didn't say anything, Suez and the others didn't have the intention to stop, and what they were chanting this time wasn't the [Demon Breaking Arrow] anymore, but the more powerful [Holy Light Strike].

　　The silhouette of a holy sword appeared in front of the crowd, and with the completion of the chant, the holy swords flew towards Baldwin in unison.

　　Yet Baldwin remained unharmed after this round of attacks.

　　Edward acted like he was taking it for granted on the outside, but on the inside he was in a slight cold sweat.

　　Surely it was right to let Baldwin secretly wear Lilith's relics on his person!

　　Inquisitor Suez was getting a bit in your face at this point.

　　"It seems that I have indeed been hoodwinked by treacherous people. Let's go."

　　He signaled to the clerics and prepared to leave.

　　That's when the hunters in the room pointed fingers.

　　"Trying to run away after attacking the lords?!"

　　"You heretical Inquisition's don't think too highly of the Lords, do you?"

　　"Without even basic manners, you are worthy of serving the gods?"

　　Being accused by the crowd in such a way, the Suez Inquisitor was slightly helpless, he could only turn back and walk over to Baldwin and salute, "Baldwin... Your Excellency, it was my poor consideration, please forgive me."

　　Baldwin, on the other hand, had a rare caustic look on his face, "As a messenger of the gods, it was originally your duty to judge heretics, but I have also heard that there are individual clergymen harassing the good inhabitants under the false pretense of judging heretics, so in the future, under my rule, I would like to ask the Inquisitor to more often restrain his subordinates from committing the mistakes that make the gods and men so angry."

　　Suez took a deep breath and said, "Yes, that's something I'll keep in mind."

　　With that, he turned to leave, and before stepping out of the great hall, he also looked at the small noble in the crowd, leaving an angry and resentful look.

　　"Well, let the ceremony continue." Baldwin said with a wave of his hand.

　　So the crowd went back to their places and continued the grand ceremony.

　　Edward, on the other hand, came to Evelie's side and whispered a few words to the huntress.

　　Evelie nodded, then squeezed into the crowd.

　　By this time, the minor noble who had secretly snitched to the Heretic's Inquisition had slowly approached the back of the crowd, ready to leave.

　　However, a hard object rested against his waist.

　　Behind him, Evely, wearing a long dress skirt, said quietly, "It's a silver dagger, so don't do anything rash if you don't want to die."

　　The young nobleman was sweating like a pig, and he dutifully stopped.

　　"Put your hands out." The huntress gave a new order.

　　The betrayed vampire only did as he was told, at which point Ivory quickly rolled up his sleeve and snapped a bracelet-like object on his wrist before recovering the sleeve to cover the object.

　　"Keep quiet and don't run away, if you try to take that thing down, you'll die."

　　After saying that, Ivory put away her dagger and quietly left.

　　Instead, the knighting ceremony continued in an orderly fashion, with Baldwin calmly taking the oath of office, stating that he would follow in his brother's footsteps and guard all of Constantine's domain.

　　Although there was an unpleasant interlude in the middle, the ceremony eventually came to a successful conclusion.

　　The nobles were beginning to prepare to disperse, when Edward stepped forward, pointing to the back of his hand and shouting, "Please, those of you who have made a pact with the Guild of Stigmata's Skin stay!"

　　The vampires who had spells engraved on the backs of their hands naturally knew what he meant by that, and obediently stayed in the venue.

　　Once all the uninvolved people had left the venue, the hunters barricaded the gates and then stood in a line at the entrance.

　　The silver swords they carried glinted coldly in the shadows of the gate, which made the vampires wonder about everyone.

　　"Leaving you all behind does not mean anything else, you all saw that farce just now." Edward stood in the center of the hall and said in a calm tone, "You all still remember the agreement that my guild made with you all not long ago, don't you?"

　　A sparse "Remember." rang out in the hall." "We won't break the pact." Something like that, and Edward nodded.

　　"But there may be a few who feel that we are exaggerating and that the marks left on you all are also scaremongering."

　　The nobleman dressed as a squire scanned the crowd before continuing:

　　"And as a result, someone has betrayed us and secretly contacted the Heretic Inquisition, causing this farce today. Isn't that right? Commodore Clement?"

　　His eyes locked onto the small noble who had just tried to escape.

　　After the farce was over, he had Evely keep an eye on Clement, then had the hunters quickly pull up the reports of the hunters tracking the man over the last few days.

　　The report details the time and frequency of Clement's trips to the church and notes that he had met with Suez on several occasions.

　　By this time, Clement, who had been named, had turned pale with terror, and the people around him were gradually dispersing and shunning him.

　　"I... It's not true, I have my reasons." He stammered in protest, yet it solidified his guilt even more.

　　Now that the evidence is clear, Edward will show no mercy.

　　"I'm sure you have a hard time with this, but rules must be followed."

　　He pressed the mechanism in his hand, and the energy from the twin rune stones emitted, causing the shackles worn on Clement's hands to trigger the mechanism.

　　A silver needle shot into Clement's wrist.