One could only say that vampires truly lived up to being blood-sucking creatures.
The taste of blood, in his first conscious sampling, was completely different from what he remembered in his memories.
It was somewhat like sweet and sour jelly, but upon careful tasting, he could detect a hint of odor reminiscent of the elderly body smell found on older people.
This showed that the age of the ingredient indeed significantly affected the flavor.
However, Norton wasn't in any position to be picky when there was readily available food. He stealthily lifted the clay pot, then carefully sneaked out of the wooden house and slipped back into the grassy patch where he had been lying before.
He needed to put his armor back on—otherwise, if he encountered Church Knights, he would have absolutely no means of resistance.
Originally, Norton had considered finding a broken-down house to temporarily rest in, but now it seemed better not to.
When that werewolf had been hiding in the livestock shed eating cattle, this household clearly hadn't reported it, yet the Church Knights had come anyway, and they were absolutely certain something was in that livestock shed.
Norton felt they must have some tool capable of locating magical creatures—otherwise, they couldn't have been so precisely targeted.
Until he figured out this problem, he'd better avoid entering the city. Otherwise, if he got located, he wouldn't even be able to escape when the time came.Norton felt this world was becoming increasingly dangerous.
The Church Knights were only one of the dangers—the various monsters described in Church texts were the greatest threats in the wilderness.
After all, this world didn't have only vampires as its monstrous inhabitants.
----
A corpse lay quietly on a bed made of wooden planks.
The torchlight illuminated the surroundings—not bright enough, but at least not too dim.
For the Church's morgue to have such facilities was already quite good, considering most corpses were simply discarded at the Mass Burial Ground.
The corpse looked horrifying, especially when viewed at night.
The eye socket pierced by branches was gruesome and terrifying, but what drew more attention was the neck that appeared to have been torn apart by tremendous force.
"Church Knights don't possess that kind of strength." Father Mia's fingers traced the broken edge of the corpse's neck, his eyes narrowing with an unreadable expression, as if lost in thought.
"There's very little blood residue at the scene—a torn neck wouldn't have so little blood spillage. Also, Norton's corpse is missing. A traitor wouldn't drag a cumbersome body while fleeing." Bishop Rosen stood nearby, his shadowy face showing a trace of greed.
"And there's no Church Knight's steel armor at the scene. A traitor couldn't possibly wear one set of steel armor while laboriously dragging another. So, that armor must have been taken by Little Norton." Father Mia's face also showed a flash of greedy expression as he added.
"A vampire! How many years has it been since one appeared. To think we'd have one here. This is truly... wonderful!
This perfect creature is simply intoxicating!" Bishop Rosen's expression showed a hint of obsession.
This expression on his face, combined with his words, created an uncomfortably strange feeling.
But Father Mia seemed oblivious to this, even showing similar obsession on his own face.
"Indeed, His Holiness the Pope will be very pleased. And our positions will likely be elevated too. But the urgent task now is to find him first."
Father Mia clapped his hands, and from the dimness behind the morgue emerged two Church Knights. They wore steel armor that looked different from standard Church Knight specifications, and their expressions lacked the usual coldness of regular Church Knights, instead showing a hint of fanaticism.
Faith Servants—the upgraded version of Church Knights. Essentially, they were selected from among Church Knights who demonstrated exceptionally devout faith, then given steel armor symbolizing God, thus becoming enforcers and servants who could slightly access the core.
"Activate the Holy Knights!"
"Yes!" The two Church Knights responded respectfully.
Vampires—unclean beings. The Papal States' territory hadn't seen a new one for many years.
As the sun declined day by day, such unclean beings should have been increasing, and while other monsters had indeed exploded in growth, only the vampire species had been gradually disappearing.
All of this was thanks to the inheritance and expansion of the Papal States' faith.
Vampires—creatures completely incompatible with God—could not emerge from the corpses of believers. As the number of believers increased, the mutation base for vampires naturally diminished further.
Additionally, burial requirements within the Papal States greatly reduced the possibility of vampire emergence.
Originally, vampire birth was a low-probability event, and now with the mutation base massively reduced, vampire emergence naturally became extremely difficult.
According to the Church's multi-year statistics and existing records, the current number of vampires possibly remaining in the world was less than a hundred.
Currently, besides the Church headquarters preserving one vampire corpse for research, all other vampires had completely vanished—likely either hiding in deep mountains and old forests, already dead elsewhere, or concealed within other countries.
Therefore, Norton's appearance was exceptionally precious.
If they caught him, it would be a great achievement.
If they failed to catch him, it would be an additional crime.