Chapter 2320: On Justice

Chapter 2320: Chapter 2320: On Justice

"No need, I’ll go by myself."

Shard said as he looked at the two swords on the coffee table, finally abandoning the "Angel’s Right Arm" and picking up the "Night Watchman."

"Um... can I go with you?"

Emilia suddenly said quietly. Seeing everyone looking at her, the girl with pointed ears explained:

"It’s likely that the Church people and the police are maintaining order outside now. Shard riding Little Liana would be more convenient. I... I just want to see what’s happening outside, to understand what’s going on tonight. I won’t be a bother to Shard, and I also have the Five Rings level."

"Let Emilia go with you; otherwise, it’s inconvenient for you to act with Little Liana alone."

Miss Belindel speaks for Emilia, and the Elf girl looks at her gratefully. Shard also nods;

"Alright, we’ll be back in an hour."

After saying goodbye to them, Shard and Emilia took the Little Unicorn downstairs. With nothing else to do, Angelina escorted them to the ground floor, waving as she watched them fly together into the night sky.

She didn’t say she wanted to go too, knowing she only had the First Ring and would just be a burden to Shard if she went along. As she looked at the beast disappearing abruptly in the night sky, her face showed a more complex and indescribable expression.

Angelina Cavendish recalled the conversation she had with her sister in Shard’s bedroom before leaving Tobesk. She suddenly understood that perhaps just pursuing someone isn’t enough; she also craves power.

Whatever new ideas the Little Princess might be harboring at the moment, Shard was naturally unaware. He was worried that the Little Unicorn might not handle the weight of both him and Emilia, but it turned out he had underestimated this creature rated the same as a Dragon.

They flew all the way to the Lower District along the Taton River, then landed at Spider Alley. However, the door of the mortuary’s sewer corridor was tightly shut, and there were no Vampires waiting for Shard as he had imagined.

Yet, there was a large patch of blood on the ground in Spider Alley, which Shard confirmed after careful discernment was Vampire Beast blood:

"Emilia, you all follow me. Be cautious and ready for an attack at any moment."

In the darkness, the "Echo of Blood" created a conspicuous red halo in Shard’s vision, and they followed it all the way, eventually reaching Herring Street by the river.

Both the Little Unicorn and Emilia carried the Camouflage Spell, and Shard rushed out from the burning district to find the battle continuing over there, immediately going over to help.

Herring Street wasn’t in the northern part of the city, and the cause of the fire here was still unknown, but the blaze wasn’t large and had basically been extinguished.

Yet, several Vampire Beasts were still trying to attack citizens fleeing from their homes through the air, while Mr. Benhart, Mr. Ptolemy Albert the Coroner, and even John Flynn’s team from the New World Mutual Aid Society were attracting those Vampire Beasts’ attention along the riverside street while continuously eliminating the monsters.

The battle was already nearing its end; Shard brought Emilia to join the fight, further hastening the monsters’ defeat. Five or six minutes later, the last large bat exploded into a mass of wooden debris in mid-air due to Emilia’s thrown oak seeds.

No one was in a rush to communicate, instead quickly leaving the scene. Shard thought they would find a secluded place to talk, but to his surprise, Mr. Albert led everyone straight to the mortuary at Spider Alley.

Wearing a hooded robe, the Coroner took out a key to unlock the large iron door at the corridor entrance, and Shard cast a puzzled glance at Mr. Benhart. The latter looked at John Flynn’s team and softly said:

"While coming over, Ptolemy was already helping the locals nearby with them. Ptolemy thinks they can be trusted."

Thus, Shard didn’t question further and followed them into the sewers.

He initially wanted Emilia and the Little Unicorn to wait outside, thinking they likely wouldn’t enjoy it here. But unexpectedly, the Elf girl holding the little beast showed no intentions of staying outside; instead, she followed Shard inside, staring with interest all around.

Due to the large number of people, the office couldn’t accommodate them all, so in the end, they gathered at Mr. Albert’s mortuary, where he usually worked.

The smell of corpses and preservatives mixed together, combined with the sewer’s inherent cold and dampness, created an unpleasant odor, but including Emilia, no one frowned or was displeased.

Then the Coroner first introduced himself to John Flynn’s team:

"Thank you for your assistance earlier. I am Ptolemy Albert, the Coroner here. As you also saw earlier, I am of the Vampire Kind."

Among the young girl wielding a seemingly Relic Staff, the robust man holding a Spiked Mace, the middle-aged man with a priest-like demeanor, and John Flynn, the young man holding a Holy Sword was evidently the leader of the group.

He shook hands with Mr. Albert, briefly introducing the team’s origins.

They had met Shard and Benhart more than once, so both sides exchanged only brief pleasantries.

"Who knows exactly what happened tonight? I was writing a letter in the inn when suddenly chaos erupted outside. By the time I got out, those mutated bats were already filling the night sky.

Honestly, though I ran around busily for like two hours, I still know nothing about tonight’s events."

Mr. Benhart showed a puzzled expression, and after hesitating, Shard spoke:

"It’s said that a relic was stolen from a church, but it’s unclear which church it was or which relic was taken."

Because he needed to protect the information channel of the Belindel Family, he didn’t go into much detail.

The scholarly middle-aged man from the New World Mutual Aid Society team also spoke up:

"There’s something you might not know: although the Dragon Feast Cult has its main forces in the Old Continent, they’ve been engaged in large-scale dragon beast training in the New World.

It’s said they’ve received help from the notorious Blood Spirit School, and by funding a secret researcher in the Old Continent, they’ve cultivated many half-blood dragon monsters over the years."

This should be referring to Laplace Howard from Green Island.

"The Church has been hunting them down in the New World over the years, but with little success. These dragon beasts tonight are very likely from the New World. However, with such a large number, even we at the New World Mutual Aid Society haven’t received any information."

"So that ritual site indeed has space teleportation capabilities."

Shard whispered in his heart, while the coroner lowered his eyes and spoke softly:

"So, so many people died tonight just to divert the Church’s attention to steal an item?"

"Mr. Watson’s intel rarely makes mistakes."

Mr. Benhart also said, letting out a heavy breath through his nose:

"This really can’t be explained now; I can already imagine that by tomorrow morning, the Church will issue a wanted order across the entire Moon Bay black market, demanding that all circle sorcerers provide information on the local long-settled vampire kind."

Nobody comforted him because this was the reality. Although the Church is aware that most vampire kinds are innocent, this is the era of humans. Since the vampire kind have sided with cultists, it is only fair to suspect that all vampire kind are accomplices of the cultists.

Mr. Benhart’s own safety should be fine, as he is a foreigner and only knows a small part of the local clan. The coroner did not consider his own safety; he just suddenly said:

"Is it really worth it for so many lives to be lost over a relic?"

The question was ridiculous, but since he asked it, John Flynn still responded:

"There are always such selfish people who don’t consider others’ lives and freedom to achieve their own goals.

The establishment of the New World Mutual Aid Society was to let everyone who emigrated to the New World and those adventuring there help each other. If people can understand another person’s suffering, if everyone, including ordinary people, is willing to extend their hand to help another, the world would become a better place... this is our justice."

His three companions nodded continuously.

The coroner also nodded gently:

"You are all good people. Please allow me to thank you here for helping me save the nearby neighbors just now. Compared to those monsters, ordinary people are indeed very fragile."

He paused before saying:

"However, regarding justice... we must acknowledge the differences between people. If not for the absence of reproductive isolation, circle sorcerers and ordinary people would have almost become two different species.

Justice doesn’t necessarily mean everyone holding hands; we cannot demand too much from ordinary people, like tonight. Justice, to me, is merely about the strong protecting the weak."

The man holding the spiked mace seemed to have a different opinion on this view, but before he could speak, John Flynn stopped him.

Shard had no opinion on the coroner’s perspective, but he didn’t expect Emilia, hiding behind him, to speak up at this moment.

The elf girl tugged at Shard’s clothes, her eyes bright:

"Of course it is right for the strong to protect the weak, but indiscriminate protection will only breed parasites. I realized this principle when raising... horses."

The little "horse" behind her dissatisfiedly nudged her with its head.

"Justice shouldn’t be a heavy responsibility; I used to think justice was about eliminating injustice, but many things have happened recently. I feel justice is simply wanting to draw a sword from the heart to make one’s life more meaningful."

John Flynn and Mr. Albert both looked at her in surprise:

"Makes sense, but when you grow older, perhaps you’ll have other opinions."

In other words, they didn’t quite agree with Emilia’s viewpoint. So, the elf girl, dissatisfied, hid behind Shard again, grabbing onto his clothing. It had taken all her courage to speak up.