The Original Vampire

"This is the flesh of the Lord, which was given up for us, and you shall eat it."

In the quiet and solemn main hall of the church, the voice of the archbishop echoed.

Vera respectfully took the sacrament (unleavened bread) handed by the archbishop and put it in her mouth.

"This is the blood of the Lord, it is for us, drink it."

The archbishop handed Vera another glass of pure holy water.

Vera drank it all.

Standing in the crowd watching the ceremony, Colin suddenly had some new thoughts on these two habitual prayers.

Of course he had heard these two prayers at his bar mitzvah.

The story behind this is familiar to every citizen of the Radiance Empire.

Legend has it that thousands of years ago, human beings were far less powerful than they are now.

At that time, the human race was not only oppressed and enslaved by major foreign races, but also targeted by countless demons.

These demons covet the souls of human beings, and they use various means to deceive, tempt, intimidate... let human beings sacrifice their souls.

At that time, the human race was shrouded in darkness.

Until the appearance of the Lord of Light.

According to the records of the Holy Codex, He dedicated his body to save fallen mankind.

The flesh is turned into a sacrament, and the blood is turned into holy water, falling from the sky.

Humans who eat the Holy Supper and drink the holy water will be able to get rid of the entanglement of demons and have the divine power to fight against them.

At this point, the human race finally embarked on the road of rise.

In order to commemorate the sacrifice of the Lord of Glory, there will be such a process of sharing the holy water of the sacrament at the coming-of-age ceremony hosted by the church.

Seeing Vera drinking the holy water in one go, Colin, who was greedy, licked his lips.

He thought of the bottle of pure holy water that had helped him advance, and secretly guessed—that wouldn't really be the blood of the Lord of Glory, would it?

"Eat the Lord's flesh and drink the Lord's blood, from now on, the Lord of Glory will be with you!"

"The Lord is with me!"

...

Vera's bar mitzvah continues.

Today's adopted daughter of the Duke is wearing a classic and elegant white pear flower dress, and her golden hair is draped straight over her shoulders.

She didn't dress up today, she didn't have any extra jewelry on her body, she just painted light makeup.

But even so, it's still breathtakingly beautiful.

Also, she was not wearing shoes.

The white jade feet just stepped on the cold marble floor, which is both lovely and heart-wrenching.

The archbishop finally finished the prayer, and finally put a crown of thorns on Vera's head.

Looking at all this, Colin suddenly realized a problem.

Vera is a mage, but the coming-of-age ceremony for noble children has always been presided over by the priest of the Radiance Church.

This seems to be the default, Vera has converted to the Radiance Church!

Of course, the rite of passage does not explicitly require that the recipient must be a member of the church.

But the reason for this is because of the noble children of the Radiance Empire, there is no one who does not believe in the Lord of Radiance.

Except for an outlier like Vera...

Oh no, now Vera is no longer an outlier.

She had already told Colin herself that she had converted to the Lord of Glory after the battle at the River Run.

However, she also said that in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, it is not yet possible to make this matter public.

Therefore, as long as Vera does not take the initiative to admit it, the mages of Nayavier are estimated to be able to go down a step. It can be explained that there is only such a form of the coming-of-age ceremony for noble children.

If it is explained in this way, Vera's acceptance of the adult ceremony does not necessarily mean that she believes in the Lord of Glory.

Unless Yeville wants to tear his face with the North now, those mages can only think so first.

After the archbishop put the crown of thorns on Vera, he bowed and stepped back.

Subsequently,

Queen Midella stepped forward and handed a copy of the "Sacred Tome" to Vera.

Finally, Duke Saint Hilde stepped forward and handed Vera a knight's sword.

The crown of thorns symbolizes responsibility and dedication;

The holy scripture, a symbol of wisdom and faith;

The knight's sword symbolizes courage and strength.

So far, the eighteen-year-old girl has finally completed her transformation and officially opened a new chapter in her life.

And witnessing all this, the first thought that popped into Colin's mind turned out to be—

After the coming-of-age ceremony, you can get married...

The ceremony has actually ended so far, followed by the long-awaited dinner party for the nobles.

Naturally, the dinner will not be held in the main hall of the church.

Under the leadership of Duke St. Hilde, the crowd left the church and came to the atrium of the Lion's Roar Fort.

There, the butler has already prepared everything.

Food, wine, music, dance floor... In short, the real night has just begun.

After Duke St. Hilde finished his opening remarks, the dinner officially began.

Just like the banquet in Ice Rock City last time, many unmarried male nobles immediately focused on the focus of tonight's banquet - Vera.

Who can invite her to her first dance?

Many people turned their attention to Colin.

Last time, it was this unremarkable son of the baron who successfully invited Vera, and he was the only one who succeeded!

And now, Colin has transformed himself into Viscount Angele.

It seems that this time Colin has a greater grasp.

As a result, the male nobles were a little hesitant.

I want to see what Colin is doing first.

After all, he was the man who had the most hope of dancing with Vera.

Colin still had that laid-back attitude, as if he didn't realize that a fierce competition had begun quietly.

And just when the male nobles hesitated, a troll noble suddenly stood up.

I saw that Prince Okamoto came to Vera, first performed a standard human noble ceremony, and then said aloud:

"Beautiful Miss Vera, in order to celebrate your coming-of-age ceremony, I specially prepared a small gift for you, I hope you like it!"

After speaking, Okamoto took a roll of parchment from the attendant behind him and slowly unfolded it.

That's a map.

Colin raised his eyebrows, thinking that this guy wouldn't play a trick.

Then he shook his head again, denying his guess.

Even if the trolls really want to send assassins, they will not send Okamoto, but the northern prince who is said to have just been promoted to the sanctuary is almost the same.

The map is fully expanded.

No dagger.

There are only three big red circles.

Okamoto pointed to the three red circles on the map and said to Vera, "Dear Miss Vera, my gift is these three military fortresses!"

Colin took a few steps closer and saw the location of the three military forts.

It's all on the southern border of the troll kingdom!

what does this mean?

Hand over your defenses to the enemy?

Vera stared blankly at the map, also a little confused.

With her military literacy, I'm afraid she hasn't figured out what this means.

However, Duke St. Hilde said: "Prince Okamoto, you mean, these three military fortresses will be handed over to the northern army to garrison?"

"Yes!"

At this time, the nobles present realized the value of this gift.

No, it's not precious anymore.

It is simply a sign that the trolls are bowing their heads to the north!

It was as if Little Japan sent Yokota Base to the U.S. military, licking its face and saying—

Dad, come on, come and put me on a leash!