Chapter 161: Captain

Chapter 161 Captain

Without the slightest warning, and without a shred of prelude, the head of a bloodthirsty vampire noble was "plucked" off, just that simply and cleanly.

Karen, who was standing to the side eating candy,

Only had time to catch Edith's subtle micro-expression when Neo placed his hand on her shoulder, his mind still analyzing that this was yet another cliché story of a sister-in-law also loving her brother-in-law;

But he never could have anticipated that Neo placing his hand there was merely to make the subsequent removal of her head more convenient and swift.

Right in front of her father's face, he killed his daughter.

And could still act completely unbothered, talking away to himself.

The sheer impact of this scene was suffocating.

For a moment, Karen could not begin to imagine which one was the true Neo;

One moment he was the cautious and meticulous clerk following Vice Director Mion, another moment he was the captain sitting behind the desk pouring a pot of cheap chicken soup for him while gifting him an even cheaper ring, and yet another moment he was the man commanding an elite Squad of the Whip of Order, plucking off the head of the protected target's daughter without a second thought, all just to have her accompany his lover in death.

Subconsciously, Karen's fingertip lightly brushed against the ring, sensing its presence; so, who exactly was the one truly wearing a mask?

"Thud!"

Because the head had been removed too quickly, Edith's headless corpse stood for a good while longer before losing balance and toppling backward onto the ground.

She was dead, truly dead, for the severed neck was a pitch-black abyss, which meant that the blade was coated in a terrifyingly potent venom; even if bloodthirsty vampires were legendary for their extremely powerful bodily regeneration, no miracle could possibly occur upon this foundation.

Dincom and Pick subconsciously moved closer to each other, as if at this moment only they could provide a modicum of warmth to one another.

The two bodyguards who had originally followed Edith immediately underwent bloodlust transformation, baring their fangs, but before they could even rush at Neo, two black daggers appeared at their respective necks.

Two masked members of the Whip of Order appeared at their sides like ghosts.

This unimaginable speed caused Karen's gaze to narrow slightly.

He had felt from the very beginning that the quality of Neo's squad was much higher than that of Tyers's, and now, he had no choice but to adjust his cognitive judgment level upward once again.

Was it because Tyers's team, whom he had first encountered, was too useless? After all, they had already become corrupt and fallen; a whip that was already rusted itself could certainly not produce a true, sharp crack.

But Neo's squad was definitely not a normal Whip of Order;

Karen recalled what the Count had said earlier; over the years, Neo had been suppressed by the Church because of his relationship with Edith.

Yet even so, after the Ziche case broke out, in order to clear up the accumulated malpractices in this area, the higher-ups of the Church still transferred Neo's team here.

This was equivalent to a person with a highly problematic political screening who, instead of being dismissed or sidelined on a cold bench, could actually remain a captain of the Whip of Order all this time, and was even transferred into the core district, almost within the capital circle.

This could only prove one thing:

Neo and his squad possessed hard strength that even the higher-ups had no choice but to take seriously.

Instantly, Karen felt that the ring Neo had given him smelled sweet again.

Even if it was plastic, so what?

The Count spoke: "A single funeral, and I have lost two daughters."

Neo didn't even cast a glance at the Count, saying indifferently: "Anyway, you have many children."

The Count asked: "It can be calculated that way?"

"Mhm, you have only lost two among your many children; what I have lost is my only one."

"Earlier, I already had Edith kneel before her sister's coffin to apologize."

Clearly, the Count had long known who had swapped out the Rest Liquid, because he was the one who had given the real Rest Liquid out, but it had passed through his daughter's hands in the middle; therefore, when he arrived at the funeral scene, he basically knew what the actual cause of Elisa's death was.

"If apologies were useful, what would we need the Whip of Order for?"

The Count looked at Neo and said: "I regret it, Neo."

Neo glanced at the wall clock in the mourning hall: "The funeral time is over."

The Count spoke up: "Edith died of a sneak attack by the forces of the Bocart and Magna families in York City, dying to protect me."

Following this,

The Count turned his face slightly, looking at Edith's bodyguards who were held captive there, and said: "Do me a favor."

Neo waved his hand;

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

The necks of the two bodyguards were sliced open, the venom from the daggers directly entering their bodies, but under the suppression, they could not even manage to struggle, finally slumping to the ground dead.

The Count straightened his collar, looked toward Karen, and in his capacity as a mourner, paid his respects to the funeral organizer with a half-bow.

Karen returned the bow to him.

Afterward, the Count turned around, his figure vanishing into the dark night outside.

Holding Edith's head, Neo walked toward the mortuary table, placed the head inside the coffin, and then reached out, gently combing Elisa's fine hair.

"I really like how she looks right now. Where is Inquisitor Pavaro?"

Karen proactively stepped forward, standing below the mortuary table: "The boss is not in; the boss is very busy."

Neo nodded; he knew exactly what Mr. Pavaro was busy with.

If it were any other Inquisitor who was absent today, he might think the other party was avoiding trouble, leaving a few god-servants to watch the house while hiding away themselves, but Pavaro would not do such a thing; he must be truly busy.

This scene, falling into the eyes of Pick and Dincom, was completely different yet again; they did not know Neo, and had not even recognized that the Neo before them had once accompanied the Vice Director to deliver documents and bonuses to their own "boss."

But seeing that Karen actually dared to proactively approach and converse normally with the other party, they could only lament that he was indeed worthy of being from the same system.

This was actually a misunderstanding on their part, and even Karen himself did not realize it; earlier, when Edith came in, she had asked him if he was the Inquisitor here, and when the Count came in, he had asked him the exact same question.

Because after walking in and sweeping a glance, a normal person could clearly distinguish who was the errand boy running chores and who was the person in charge.

Coupled with Karen's experiences and temperament, no matter how wary he was inside, his face could appear

For her sake, he and his squad had willingly remained suppressed all these years, denied both promotion and advancement; yet, just when the moment finally arrived to bring their love into the light, as a pivotal bridge of cooperation between the Holy Church and the Anawas family;

fate, with immense cruelty, played a thoroughly absurd joke.

"I am sorry..." Gross knelt upon the floor, prostrating himself, "I have failed you, and I have failed the young mistress."

Neo shook his head,

and said:

"I do not blame you, truly;

for I know that tonight you intended to follow Elysa as soon as your vengeance was spent, fearing that when her soul departed for the River of Blood in which you believe, there would be no one to care for her.

In this life, except for the matter of leaving her family for me, she was, at all other times, merely an innocent girl who knew nothing of the world's ways.

Go on then; she fears the dark, and she fears loneliness, so do not keep her waiting too long."

Gross nodded, tears streaming ceaselessly down his face: "Yes."

Then, he drew a pistol from his breast pocket, raised it, and pressed it against his own temple.

"Bang!"

The bullet tore through, blood splattered, and Gross crumpled to the ground.

A funeral held for a single person, yet upon the floor, four corpses now lay.

"Has the burial plot been reserved?" Neo asked Karen.

"It has."

Neo’s gaze swept across the corpses on the floor, and he said: "Clear this place out."

Pick and Dincom had assumed he meant the two of them and stepped forward with slight trepidation, but they quickly realized they had misread the situation as a group of masked figures entered the mourning hall, first removing the bodies, then scrubbing the floor, and finally employing "purification arts" to erase the last remaining traces, demonstrating a truly professional demeanor that made it evident they were well-accustomed to handling the aftermath of such killings on a regular basis.

Once everything was completed, a row of Whippers of Order stood there in absolute silence.

Neo spoke: "Dismissed."

The entire squad began to retreat in unison, their figures gradually dissolving into the darkness.

Neo then lowered his head, looking down at the woman resting within the coffin:

"I am going to take her to be buried."

"Very well."

Karen was just about to call people over to move the coffin, but Neo merely raised his hand, a faint black luster emanating from his palm, wrapping around the wooden casket as it began to float.

"The hearse is outside, I will go open the door."

Karen walked over and threw open the rear doors of the hearse.

Neo approached, "suspending" the coffin, and guided it steadily into the back of the hearse, after which Neo himself climbed inside.

Karen first walked back to the storefront and spoke to the gathered crowd: "We do not need too many people, I will handle the driving myself."

Upon hearing these words, Pick and Dincom breathed a sigh of relief.

"The car keys." Alfred handed over a set of spare keys; while the hearse keys were already on Karen's person, Alfred was offering the spares to his own secondhand Ponz, yet as Karen took them, he noticed a ring that had been meticulously glued back together resting among them.

Karen nodded, slipping both keys and ring into his pocket, before walking to the hearse, taking the driver's seat, starting the engine, and driving out of the funeral home.

Karen had originally assumed the journey to Ivy Cemetery would pass in absolute silence, but Neo was the first to speak:

"Do you have someone you love?"

Karen glanced through the rearview mirror at Neo, who sat in the back facing the coffin, and answered:

"I do."

"How did you meet?"

"Arranged by our respective parents, Captain, and what about you?"

"I met her by chance during an incident, back when I was executing a mission in a city near her home, a city where her family was tacitly permitted to operate."

"The way you met, I imagine, must have been quite romantic?"

"I was gravely wounded at the time, on the verge of death and covered in blood, when she saved me—dreadfully cliché, wouldn't you say?"

"No, looking back now, it must certainly feel romantic."

"Yes, it does." A faint smile touched the corner of Neo's mouth, "You are luckier than I."

"Indeed, since it was arranged by both sets of parents, there is no resistance from our families; we only need to resolve the issues between the two of us."

"Mm, so, do you love her?" Neo asked.

"I do."

"That sounds a bit reluctant."

"Because I do not know what it feels like to love someone with absolute certainty, but I believe I must love her."

"I hear a sense of responsibility in that; are you simply being responsible for her?"

"Yes, responsible," Karen affirmed.

"Do you believe that being responsible can be considered a form of love?" Neo asked.

"I do not know, but I believe that failing to be responsible certainly cannot be called love."

Neo nodded.

A brief silence descended upon the vehicle, and Karen simply drove on in silence.

"You are no ordinary servant of the gods."

Upon hearing those words, Karen seemed to catch the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

Nevertheless, Karen replied: "No one who enjoys the favor of the gods is ordinary."

"The more properly you answer me, the more it reminds me of your abnormality, though that is no fault of yours." Neo rolled down the window, letting the wind rush in to stir his hair, "It was already quite obvious when you sat in the mourning hall; no matter how well a piece of gold is hidden, it remains conspicuous within the dirt."

"Mr. Pavaro trusted me deeply, which is why the junior servants defer to my word."

"You see, you choose the most proper response yet again."

"Captain, I am simply accustomed to acting this way."

"Do you know what kind of person becomes accustomed to making their every word and action appear perfectly reasonable? Someone with a secret to keep."

"But then, who doesn't have secrets?"

Having said this, Karen was the first to chuckle—damn this relentless propriety!

"Heh." Neo laughed as well, "Inquisitor Pavaro, when did he pass away."

"He passed away very early on."

"So, you arranged the funeral?"

"Yes."

"Why did you make that extra phone call to me, specifically to inform me of the funeral arrangements down to the last detail?"

"Because during our first call, I noticed a change in your tone, Captain; I felt that you cared deeply about this funeral."

"A change in my tone?"

"Yes."

"So, because of that, you became certain I had something to do with this funeral?"

Karen could now be sure that Gross had indeed not told Neo the details of their phone call, meaning Neo didn't know Karen had actually bluffed Neo's identity out of Gross.

"Yes, Captain. Additionally, the identity of the deceased also clarifies the situation."

"Based just on that?"

"Yes."

"What about Inquisitor Pavaro's two daughters and his wife?"

"I arranged for them to stay at a hotel tonight. The boss's two young ladies stay at home all the time; going out for a change of scenery occasionally is good for their condition."

"You arranged it very properly. You see, we're back to 'proper' again."

The hearse arrived at the entrance of Ivy Cemetery. Karen opened the door, got out of the car, and headed toward the management office at the main gate. The caretaker was already asleep and was rather irritable upon being awakened by Karen, but Reals are always the best stress reliever. After Karen handed over 200 Reals, the man stopped losing his temper, opened the cemetery gates, told Karen the coordinates of the reserved burial plot, and motioned for Karen to drive in himself.

Returning to the car, Karen drove into the cemetery and pulled up to the pre-arranged burial plot, where the cemetery staff had already dug the pit in advance.

"We're here, Captain. It's right here."

Neo "lifted" the coffin down from the hearse and slowly lowered it into the pit.

Then, he spread his hands open:

"Order—Purify!"

The aura of purification swept across, completely erasing the deviant demon aura on Eliza's remains. Preventing contamination was only a minor aspect; the most important thing was to deter those grave robbers who specialized in stealing spiritual corpses.

Once the purification was complete, Neo sighed: "If it were possible, I would be willing to pay an immense price to have her awaken and talk with me just a little longer."

Karen could actually help with that, but Karen didn't do it. It wasn't out of fear of exposing himself, but rather because Neo himself was capable of doing it, even if Eliza was a deviant demon and the difficulty and cost of awakening her were massive.

The problem was that Eliza had died before falling into madness, her expression utterly hideous at the moment of death. Even if she were awakened now, she would only turn into a bloodthirsty living corpse, a fact Neo knew perfectly well himself.

Karen offered words of comfort: "She certainly wouldn't want that side of her to appear before