Knowing Veren would leave soon, Vousenne's visits became more frequent. She would lay her head on Veren's lap and fall asleep or sit in a corner and watch him.
Veren wasn't keen on starting any conversation, hence their interaction was at the minimum.
Vousenne carefully looked at Veren, who wore fancy clothes for the first time.
"Your destination..."
Veren continued her words: "The Desprit city, what about it?"
"...There is a wanted criminal currently present in that city...Please be careful." Vousenne walked away.
'She has grown suspicious of me, huh...well, considering my actions, it's weird how she noticed so late. However, that will not change my actions.'
From Vousenne's actions, it's apparent that her affection for Veren hasn't decreased at all.
Crunch! Spit!
Veren ripped another one of his nails. At this point, his action has grown to be a phenomenon. It was as natural as breathing in air.
'At least, the nightmares have stopped...' Veren breathed in deeply and left his room with a bag of clothes.
A week had already gone by and most of this was used to make plans by Veren. He ravaged his mind to extract even the smallest things he could remember from the Novel.
The corridor was basked in sunlight, as Veren walked through it. He could tell that the servants had stopped maintaining the place properly, at first glance. Their reason being apparent, with Veren gone, they had no reason to remain here.
Vousenne was going to move into the main estate in the capital too.
As he reached the main gate, he could see a luxurious carriage waiting for him. Before it stood a robed figure, bowing immediately at his arrival.
"I'm Gornec and I'm here to serve the vessel of the divine." A rusty male voice left the robed man.
"Let's go." Veren just nodded his head and got into the carriage naturally.
The guards prepared to leave and Gornec closely looked at the carriage.
'So that is the legendary mask and the vessel. For him to have level 7 divinity at the age of ten...as his highness said, he might be a threat to the kingdom. As per his Highness's order, I will try to kill this brat naturally through bandits or monsters.'
The death of the Duke's son will send turbulence throughout the kingdom. Heavy investigation would follow later, so it was important to be prudent in carrying out this murder.
Gornec contemplated, not noticing the dozens of souls flying around him. The dead souls' visage was so distorted that it could bring disgust to anyone.
Inside the carriage.
Veren followed a simple mindset, if it's someone he didn't remember from the novel, then they are suspicious.
'He can't notice the dead souls flying around him? There is no way he can be a ritualist from the pale mask church then. A spy? I have no information of any betrayal that happens to the pale mask church...'
No, which kind of crazy bastard would even dare to attach a spy to this colossal organization?
Veren's thumb finger rubbed the black ring on his finger. It was the present his father gave him only in name.
It was his first gold-rank item. It can teleport Veren to the headquarters of the Pale Mask church, it can only be used once. So it's more like an emergency item.
Its other function is for communication between the wielder of the same ring.
'I don't want to lose such a life-saving item, but at the same time, I will have to destroy it naturally in the future. They must have added a tracking function for sure.' Veren began feeding the ring with his dark divinity.
Ting~
"What is it?" Duke Walprus spoke in a cold voice.
"...Gornec is a spy, he can't see dead souls. And when one of the souls tried entering his body, they were purified instantly."
Being with strong enough divinity are naturally immune to dead souls. The reason is pretty apparent too.
Almost all divinity has a natural purification effect. Leaving aside dark divinity, which actually made for a perfect house for the dead souls.
"....Alright, use the ring immediately if you feel any kind of danger." Duke's voice grew heavy hearing such shocking news.
Veren didn't share one piece of information, that this Gornec had holy divinity.
He was sharing the vision with the ghost who tried to invade Gornec's body; he could instantly tell what kind of divinity killed it, after seeing it once.
The story had changed, the royal family was not aware of the pale mask church, until all of them were killed. Which led to the downfall of the holy kingdom.
'...Someone has reincarnated among them and he is aware of the danger posed by my existence too. If the royalty is aware of the pale mask church and my existence. Then, my life will be in danger while staying in the camp for training.'
But, it was not yet confirmed if this information was fully true.
If all of this is the action of a single individual, then it would be easier to handle.
Thinking rationally, it would be hard or impossible to bring out any concrete information on Duke Walprus's betrayal. He was just that thorough in his actions.
'That's right, if they had concrete information, they would have already raided and killed me.' Veren's eyes shone as he contemplated in silence.
This would point out that, whoever controlling Gornec must still be in the process of collecting evidence. His knowledge of the novel must have made him confident.
However, unfortunately, he was going to fail thanks to Veren.
'The danger has still not been eliminated. I will kill whoever is pulling the strings for the peace of my mind. They might get in the way of my goal too.'
For now, Veren had many cards to prove his 'innocence'.
As the carriage moved through the city, Veren looked at the streetlamps on the asphalt and stalls that seemed to ignore hygiene at first sight.
'I feel different after actually looking at it...' Veren had imagined how the villages and city might look, however it wasn't even close to reality.
'The houses seem to be built with proper foundations. I thought it would be more flimsy...'
When Veren glanced at Gornec, who returned his stare with a respectful nod.
'Did he invade the pale mask church long ago, or did he just kill the real Gornec and take his place? How I want to just torture it all out of him...'
Feeling itchy, Veren bit into his nail, as usual, causing Gornec to freeze. But it didn't last long, he began looking forward again.