Time flowed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, two months had already rushed by. From a human perspective that span wasn’t long but it still felt distant; for Norton, who had already reached the end of eternal life, those two months were basically no different from his previous existence. No—there was actually a slight difference.
A month ago, the Papal States officially confirmed their new Pope, taking the honorific: His Holiness Adam. It was said that when Adam governed his prior city, it included the Holy Lord City area, and that he came from a Church background there (while serving as a Low Bishop he oversaw the Church in Holy Lord City). In that respect he was from the same hometown as Norton.
His character was cruel and brutal, cold and bloodthirsty. Shortly after ascending the throne, he used the Ascension Ceremony as a pretext to burn to death the former pope’s followers and servants—carefully selected senior nuns with ample bosoms, warm and comforting housekeepers, the group of young acolytes personally trained by the former pope... There was nothing particularly unusual about that—just like a new game development team often revamps or kills off the old team’s designed protagonist, this was human nature. Killing off a batch of former staffers wouldn’t cause huge damage to the Papal States overall.
When the old pope had taken power years ago, he had repeatedly sent troops to neighboring nations to expand territory and try to establish a grand saintly reputation. That was what unleashed chaos across the world. Compared to the old pope, however, the new Pope Adam was somewhat strange.
In the past month, aside from burning the former pope’s people with the Ascension Ceremony, His Holiness Adam took only one minor action. He established a new position within the Church system across the Papal States called the “Holy Eye.” The explicit function of the Holy Eye was to scour the land, capture various Monsters and Vampires, and conduct in-depth research on them.
The people of Rino City were gossiping that His Holiness Adam sought to obtain immortality—that was why he created the Holy Eye system. Within the Church it was a reform neither huge nor trivial; to the citizens of the Papal States it was a mostly optional structure—just another group of people to show reverence toward. But for Norton, this was bad news.
He was a Vampire, and one tracked by Werewolves. With Werewolves around outside the city he had already found it difficult to stay, and now the city had become unsafe too. Over these days he’d noticed that every night the Church sent knight squads wearing armor he’d never seen before through the streets toward the outskirts. Perhaps these were members of the newly established Holy Eye tribunal. Their presence inevitably affected Norton’s ability to go out.
Not by much—after all, Norton hid up in the Clock Tower to observe the surroundings, and from that vantage he could still determine the squads’ departure directions and timings, so he could simply avoid them. But it was while using the Clock Tower to look far and wide that Norton discovered yet another mysterious force operating inside the city: spies the Boar Empire had planted within the Papal States...
Interesting. This world was not the unchanging place he had imagined; for the first time he sensed its unpredictable transformations. Aside from that, Norton had another small, not-quite-a-gain.
A boy dressed in rather fine clothing, clutching his bulging garments, carefully crawled out through a hole in a wall he’d broken. He scanned the passersby on the street with cautious eyes, then stealthily approached an unremarkable beggar at the corner.“Here you go, beggar sir.” The boy produced a pastry hidden in his arms and held it out before Norton with both hands, paying no mind to the stench of dirt and tatters coming from the beggar’s robe. The innocent voice and well-meaning gesture made Norton’s scalp crawl.
Not this again! Are you sick or what? Picking on a beggar to feed every day!
When Norton observed the Church, he often pretended to be a beggar and squatted at a street corner with the best line of sight. Norton believed true surveillance wasn’t about furtively watching for a bit and then moving to another spot—such shifting behavior actually attracted attention. Who in their right mind would loiter repeatedly around a single area? Norton thought the best way to hide was to plant yourself in one place. Maybe on day one you’d draw some looks, day two someone would glance again, but by day three, four, five and even a month later, people would no longer notice you. If you didn’t stay, those who had grown used to you might even wonder if something had happened to you. That was the optimal method of covert surveillance.
Sure enough, on the first day Norton squatted at that wall corner he’d draw comments and even be chased away by a missionary. But now no one looked at him there anymore; everyone simply knew there was a beggar in that spot. Even passing missionaries and Church Knights had become accustomed to him. Norton felt like a genius.
Yet precisely because of that prolonged presence, some people who should never have paid him any attention started to notice. Like the priest’s favorite little boy. Perhaps the boy’s family was powerful and the people around him were too kind, leaving the child with too much goodwill that had nowhere to go. So he poured it all onto Norton, the beggar at the corner.
Wide, innocent eyes brimmed with goodwill, and the pastry cupped in his two pale little hands looked exquisite—treats even wealthy families couldn’t often afford. That explained why such a naive child still existed in this age: his family afforded him the luxury of innocence.
Under the gaze of those bright, round eyes, Norton grit his teeth and remained silent. Even though his beggar role didn’t match this behavior, he refused to take the pastry. He knew these ill-fated children well: if he refused the pastry, the boy would feel slighted and his enthusiasm might wane over time; but if he accepted it or gave any reaction, the boy would be overjoyed and would certainly return next time, dragging his little friends along as well. So Norton simply ignored him.