“Something bad has happened.”

Looking at the Viscount Carmel in his hand, Lan Qi slapped his forehead and suddenly seemed to remember something.

“What should I do…”

He frowned slightly, muttering to himself.

“What’s wrong?”

Talia was shocked, wondering what big problem they had overlooked.

Since following Lan Qi, she hadn't used her brain much. She didn't even have to worry about taking keys when going out. Lan Qi would arrange everything for her.

“I was in too much of a hurry to leave. I should have brought a twenty-eight-inch suitcase.”

Lan Qi explained to Talia.

“…What do you need a suitcase for?”

Talia replied with a puzzled thought.

“A twenty-eight-inch suitcase is just big enough to fit an adult male.”

Lan Qi looked at Viscount Carmel and explained to Talia.

That would make it easier to take the goods back.

“…”

Talia thought that if this wasn't the Empire, she would have called the police.

But now she had to concentrate on completely knocking out this vampire without using too much high-intensity magic, to the point where he wouldn't wake up for days unless actively awakened, so she couldn't be bothered to say anything more to Lan Qi.

Vampires were even tougher than cockroaches and couldn't be killed easily. Ordinary sixth-level practitioners really had a hard time defeating these immortal creatures.

The clouds in the sky sometimes gathered and sometimes drifted away, obscuring the moon and then releasing it, and the wind in the dark alley swept through as if cutting through the air.

Autumn days were short and nights were long, and the night deepened unconsciously.

The field of vision was as dark as if painted with ink, making it impossible to see ahead clearly.

However, at this moment, in the container area of the Bulilda Mafia, the black-haired, purple-eyed girl holding a cat was no longer as panicked as before. She had calmed down.

Ursula followed Professor Landry and walked to Elsa's side.

“Elsa, it’s okay now.”

Lan Qi looked at Elsa and comforted her.

“Waa, Brother, I was so worried that you wouldn’t be able to beat him.”

Elsa’s pressure seemed to be suddenly released, and she began to sob, looking up and crying loudly.

She thought she had almost harmed her brother.

“That’s great.”

Ursula’s eyes showed relief, but also a hint of loneliness, and she could only look away and sigh softly.

Seeing Elsa and her brother together reminded her of her own brother, and her chest felt tight with pain.

She didn't know what she had done wrong to make her brother hate her from the bottom of his heart. She only knew that both friendship and family affection would change with time, and once estranged, they could never be recovered.

“It’s okay, I’m the strongest.”

Lan Qi told Elsa confidently.

His current persona was Loren, the High Priest disguised as Professor Landry, so it didn't matter if Loren was a little crazy.

According to Loren's characteristic of getting stronger with each battle, he should have an attitude of being the only one supreme in heaven and earth, so that he would seem more in line with his persona.

“…”

Talia felt that Lan Qi had already changed Loren's persona a bit when he played Loren in Parieu, the City of Flowers.

Although the 1798 version of Loren played by Lan Qi was indeed more domineering with the aura of a royal conquest, she always believed that Loren himself should not be like this.

Unfortunately, Loren himself couldn't offer any opinions now, so he could only let Lan Qi play it out in the Kretia Empire.

Behind Lan Qi, Ursula looked at the motionless Lan Qi.

She looked at Lan Qi several times, as if urging him.

“What’s wrong?”

Lan Qi naturally noticed Ursula’s gaze.

“Don’t you think a brother should pat his sister’s head at this time?”

Ursula asked him speechlessly.

She heard Elsa say that Landry had become distant.

His sense of responsibility was genuine, but he would not easily get close to anyone. Even his sister, Elsa, seemed to be separated from him by a wall, as if they weren't related at all.

Could this guy be a steel straight man?

“It is not acceptable to pat the head or touch the back of a female student, as that would constitute sexual harassment. But I can listen to her and comfort her from the heart. That is the teacher's code.”

Lan Qi smiled and explained to Ursula beside him.

“You really have a professional spirit. You treat even your own sister the same.”

Ursula’s expression seemed to be mocking him, but also amused by Lan Qi.

“Of course, at Saint Kretia Monastery, you are all my students, and I won’t favor anyone.”

Lan Qi nodded.

“…You’re actually pretty good.”

Ursula paused and said softly.

“Of course, the school where I previously taught received 100% positive reviews from students.”

Lan Qi replied triumphantly.

He stopped chatting with Elsa and Ursula and instead focused on the Viscount Carmel he was holding in his hand again.

Now Talia was relying on him, using his body to cast mental magic on Viscount Carmel.

He should be almost finished healing Viscount Carmel in this short while.

“Then why can you touch me whenever you want?”

Talia asked through telepathy, looking thoughtful, her thoughts still lingering on Lan Qi's previous sentence.

She had indeed noticed that Lan Qi didn't touch other people, but last time in the Kingdom of Bozen, she and Lan Qi had held hands while competing with each other, and later she felt that he had gotten used to it.

“Pfft, Master, do you really think you’re a student just because you’re wearing a short skirt student uniform in Ikritt?”

Lan Qi couldn’t help but laugh,

“Don’t you think about how old you are? I should be reporting you for sexual harassment… Wrong!”

Before he could finish speaking, he was immediately arrested by Talia.

Talia grabbed his heart with her cold, formless hand.

“I will never wear that short skirt again in my life, and you better not mention it again.”

She resentfully released Lan Qi’s heart.

The week she spent wearing a student uniform and going to and from school with Lan Qi in the Ikritt Academy made her scalp crawl just thinking about it now. Fortunately, she didn't encounter any acquaintances.

Thoughts returned to reality.

“Speaking of which, what exactly is going on? Why would a vampire target a well-behaved Saint Kretia Monastery student like you?”

Lan Qi waited for Talia to damage Viscount Carmel’s nerves, while looking at Elsa and asking.

He could be fairly certain that Elsa was a human with ancestral werewolf blood, otherwise she wouldn't have the characteristic of getting stronger at night.

Even if werewolves and vampires were mortal enemies, Elsa shouldn't have provoked the vampires. Her traits were more like a human. It was hard to see the difference between her and a human. Even she might not understand her own werewolf bloodline.

How was she discovered by the vampires?

“It, maybe it was…”

Elsa sniffled, shifted her gaze, and hesitated.

She didn’t want to involve her brother.

“It was that banquet at our house that day. There’s nothing uncertain about it.”

Ursula simply said for her, spreading her hands.

It all originated from a banquet of their Roland family, and Elsa didn't quite understand what her own talent magic meant at that time, so she easily activated the Eye of Judgment and saw a very strange guest at the banquet.

Ursula felt quite guilty about this. She felt that all the dangers Elsa encountered tonight were probably because she dragged Elsa to the banquet.

“At that time, I heard my brother say that he would investigate. If there were dangerous people mixed into our family’s banquet that night, he would definitely bring them to justice. I thought it was no big deal.”

Ursula roughly told Lan Qi the cause and effect.

Now that she thought about it carefully, the dangerous incident that should have been taken so seriously was just like a minor farce in her brother's eyes.

Her brother's judgment was obviously a big mistake.

Even, it was like, her brother was hiding and protecting the vampires.

She didn't want to think about it anymore.

“Your brother, Ninth Army God Marquis Ryan of Amethyst Seat, can’t find the trace of a person who mixed into the banquet?”

Lan Qi looked at Ursula with doubt and asked her.

“…”

Ursula lowered her head and bit her lip.

She couldn’t answer Professor Landry’s question, where each word carried a heavy weight.

If the truth was just a minor accident, then Marquis Ryan’s explanation would naturally be correct.

But the current result was very obvious. The "person" who appeared at the Roland family's banquet that day and was seen by Elsa's Eye of Judgment was almost certainly a vampire.

“It is my responsibility. After learning about the situation Elsa told me at that time, I told my brother directly without thinking. The danger she suffered is directly related to our Roland family.”

Ursula replied with a drooping head and with difficulty.

She rarely admitted mistakes.

Professor Landry probably wouldn't trust her anymore and would regard her and her Roland family as enemies, and may even not allow her to contact Elsa in the future, but she would not hide anything.

“Do you feel that your brother’s personality has changed drastically in a short period of time in the past two years?”

After listening, Lan Qi’s expression was still calm, and he analyzed while holding his chin.

“!”

Ursula raised her head suddenly.

She grabbed Lan Qi’s coat and stared at him, her green eyes full of surprise and unspeakable words.

“You, do you know the reason?”

Ursula didn’t understand why this professor’s eyes were still full of trust at this moment, and didn’t understand why he knew about her brother.

“Let’s leave here first and go back to school to talk.”

Lan Qi nodded seriously and said to Ursula.

He felt that Viscount Carmel would be completely subdued in a while, and then they would have to secretly cross the city with Viscount Carmel and take him back to Saint Kretia Monastery. They must be foolproof.

Ursula nodded vigorously.

She was very nervous.

She originally thought he was just an ordinary professor, but now she was more and more convinced that this professor was full of secrets.

The night was so dark that it couldn't be dissolved, and the wind was still blowing in the alley.

The wind suddenly became a bit faster, blowing the hair of several people.

“Are you treating this place as your own home? Coming and going as you please?”

Suddenly, a voice appeared in the alley without warning, like a ghost whispering in the dark night.

Elsa and Ursula were immediately shocked and looked around.

Until they looked in the direction of Professor Landry's gaze.

They could only find a figure in the far end of the alley, who had been there at some point.

The man stood quietly in place, his coat fluttering slightly in the wind, almost blending into the surrounding darkness.

The moonlight shone on him, turning into a cold and distinct silhouette.

In that darkness, only his pair of pale blue eyes were particularly bright, like two clusters of cold ice flames burning brightly in the darkness.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to offend!”

Lan Qi probably guessed that the owner of this territory had come, and apologized in that direction.

Fighting here would not do them any good.

The battles at the seventh level were completely different from those at the sixth level.

In the worst case, the attention of the strong men of the Imperial Army in the capital might be attracted due to the excessive noise.

“…”

The other party did not reply.

He just walked over slowly, and the slight sound of metal friction entered the ears of the three people.

That was the soft sound made by the various knives on his waist, and the cold light was looming in the darkness.

Slowly, the shadow finally faded from his body.

The visitor had short dark gray hair, and his blue eyes under his sword-like eyebrows had a trace of turbidity, no longer as clear as a teenager. His face looked less than thirty years old.

He wore a pure black trench coat, tied with a brown leather belt, and a black shirt and vest inside. The cuffs and hem were trimmed with dark red patterns.

He seemed to be able to ignore the terrain and cross any obstacles.

“Barton Hall…”

Ursula immediately thought of this dangerous person in Bulilda—

The leader of the Bulilda Mafia.

In Bulilda, he was the Bulilda underground emperor who made smugglers tremble and the police avoid him.

That black cloak and coat were probably all special magic vibrating knives.

“Professor, he is very strong! He used to be an Imperial Colonel. After leaving the army, he became a mafia member and rose to the top…”

Before she could finish speaking, the figure of the mafia leader Barton had been infinitely magnified in Ursula’s eyes.

In the next frame of her perspective, Barton was already close at hand, even his movements were silent and without foreshadowing.

His hand was aimed at the Viscount Carmel held in Lan Qi's hand, but it was blocked by Lan Qi's other hand.

“Colonel Barton, could you please do me a favor? Your people weren’t killed by us. My sister was also swept in by space magic. We had no intention of intruding.”

Lan Qi said politely.

“…Don’t call me Colonel.”

Barton’s eyes moved from the vampire viscount to Lan Qi’s hand blocking him, then to Lan Qi’s face, his eyes as sharp as a knife, with a chilling coldness and a determined decisiveness, as if he could see through people’s hearts and peel away all disguises.

He didn’t use his full strength.

Because he would not accidentally hurt two little girls and a kitten.

This young man who captured the vampire also did not seem to have clear hostility towards him.

“Are you from Saint Kretia Academy?”

Barton’s gaze stayed on Lan Qi’s face for a while, and he seemed to finally realize why this person called him Colonel.

Professor Landry, today’s imperial newspaper happened to have a group photo of him receiving commendation at the Imperial Special Operations Department—

Under the administrative building of the Imperial Special Operations Department, several special agents cordially received the young imperial professor wearing a gray coat, and they did not hide their overwhelming power and bureaucratic aura.

Since this professor from Saint Kretia Monastery belonged to the Imperial Special Operations Department, he could be considered a military personnel, so he would naturally know some of the military’s past.

“Leave this vampire viscount behind, and I won’t make things difficult for you. You can leave.”

The mafia leader Barton put his hand back into his black cloak and said to them.

(End of this chapter)