"Supreme True Ancestor..."

"The embodiment of darkness and shadow..."

"The origin of all bloodlines..."

"As your devout and humble descendant, I pray here for your guidance..."

...

In the splendidly lit secret chamber.

Numerous werewolves led by the black hooded werewolf Luff fervently prayed at the altar and raised the crimson emblem composed of Thorny Roses.

The altar was intricately carved with exquisite magical runes, adorned with a throne made of thorns and roses, emitting a crimson haze as the werewolves prayed.

Amidst the haze, Luff, the leading werewolf, faintly seemed to hear an illusory and majestic voice echoing in his ears.

A crimson mist pervaded around the altar, and a blood-colored light enveloped Luff. And Luff felt a warm power surging into his body, making him feel being filled with strength.

It was a blessing!

It was a blessing from the great True Ancestor!

Luff was excited.

He firmly remembered the ethereal and majestic voice that had just echoed in his ears and fervently bowed towards the direction of the altar.

"Your Majesty the Great True Ancestor! Your devout and humble descendant will always remember your guidance!"

"Your guidance... is the direction of our lives!"

The crimson radiance gradually disappeared from the altar, and the fervent Luff slowly stood up and turned around.

Facing the numerous werewolves, he spoke in a deep voice.

"Everyone! It has been eight months since we had re-established contact with the great Ancestor..."

"Just now, the Majestic True Ancestor sent us another divine oracle..."

"The Holy Court has noticed the activities of our Nightshade Cult. We must now head north and leave Borde behind."

"Everyone, the gaze of the True Ancestor is upon us."

"For the early return of the Lord, for the future of the werewolves, let the crimson radiance... accompany our footsteps towards the north!"

"Praise... the True Ancestor!"

Luff exclaimed excitedly.

"Praise the True Ancestor!"

Other werewolves echoed one after another.

...

In the luxurious small reception room of Castell mansion.

A beautiful young girl with golden hair and blue eyes, dressed in a gorgeous gown, sat elegantly on a silk armchair.

It was a strapless gown primarily in white, adorned with golden patterns, elegant and dignified, enhancing the girl's already beautiful appearance, adding a touch of maturity to her youthfulness.

She rubbed her temples slightly, looking apologetically at the Judgment Knight in front of her.

"I'm sorry... Sir Knight, I felt a little dizzy just now, and I didn't catch your question clearly. Could you please repeat it?"

Shifting his gaze away from the increasingly charming face of the girl, the Judgment Knight took a deep breath and adjusted his expression.

"Miss Castell, you are the first Borde noble that come into contact with the power of God Nyx. Do you really have no clue about this?"

"Sir Knight, I'm really sorry. As a devout believer in the Holy Court, I have always avoided matters related to these Evil Gods... You know, my grandmother was once bewitched by the Blood Demon Cult, and I was almost killed because of it..."

"Well, we've noted your words. Thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything later or get any clues related to God Nyx and the Nightshade Cult, please report immediately to the Inquisition."

The Judgment Knight said solemnly.

"Oh, by the way..."

After speaking, he stood up from his seat, and his solemn expression softened a bit, his tone slowing down.

"Miss Castell, on behalf of the Inquisition and the Grand Knight, I congratulate your coming of age. May the divine light always be with you!"

The girl also stood up, curtsying slightly, revealing a pure and beautiful smile.

"Thank you for your blessings. May the divine light be with you too!"

The Judgment Knight soon left, and after watching him leave, the girl's smile slowly faded.

She picked up the goblet on the table, took a sip of fragrant milk, and fell into thought.

"Meow! Miss Charlotte, it seems that the Inquisition takes God Nyx very seriously. It's been so long, and they're still investigating, and even digging out the secrets of the Thorny Rose..."

"Choosing today to inquire, these knights from the Inquisition really lack romance!"

The black cat Nice wiggled its chubby body, jumped off the chair, skillfully picked up the milk jug, and eagerly filled the girl's cup.

"No worries, we're leaving here soon anyway."

Charlotte didn't mind, shaking her head gently.

"Then you should pay attention to your subjects, the intelligence of werewolves... might not withstand the investigation of the Holy Court."

"I have my arrangements."

Charlotte said indifferently.

"Meow! That's good! I can't wait to follow you to Castell County now. I heard that the fish from the Star-Moon Strait is delicious!"

Nice eagerly expressed as he licked his paws.

Charlotte glanced at it strangely.

This guy... used to want to run away at any time, but now it's already assumed that it will follow her to Castell County.

After finishing speaking, the black cat left the reception room.

Charlotte fell into contemplation.

It had been exactly one year since she came to this world.

After eliminating the influence of the Blood Demon Cult in Borde and sending away the High Priest, she enjoyed quite a long period of freedom.

In nearly a year, with daily perseverance in training, her true strength had improved further, and she had mastered various bloodborne innate magical talents one by one.

Unfortunately, after successfully controlling Borde City, the newly appointed High Priest shifted his focus back to the event of the Evil God's appearance in Borde, restarting the investigation.

Honestly, Charlotte wasn't afraid of the investigation herself.

But she wasn't alone anymore.

Shortly after the High Priest prayed to her last year, she received prayers from the werewolves.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Charlotte accepted the werewolves' prayers and successfully established some kind of strange connection with them.

Thinking about this, Charlotte immersed herself in consciousness and activated the Gospel of Blood again.

The crimson radiance spread in her consciousness, and she once again saw the starry sky composed of illusory crimson stars corresponding to the Blood Summoning.

But at this moment, the starry sky had changed significantly from when Charlotte first saw it.

Around Charlotte, in the center of the starry sky, there were nearly two hundred reddish-gold stars.

These were stars representing the werewolves, and they also represented Charlotte's believers.

Yes, believers.

Charlotte immersed herself in consciousness, looking at her personal panel on the Gospel of Blood.

Behind the Blood Affiliation, there was a new column added—

【Blood Acolytes: 179 (Werewolves)】

That's right, Charlotte has acquired believers.

Half a year ago, after accepting the prayers of the werewolves, it was as if she was an aircraft carrier that had re-established contact with the carrier-based aircraft, establishing a wonderful connection with these werewolves.

Like Sebastian, she could send her gaze through the stars represented by these werewolves to them and could also hear their prayers.

However, she couldn't bestow power upon them, nor could she summon them to her side like summoning Sebastian.

Moreover, Charlotte did not gain the power of belief from these followers, even though they indeed worshipped the True Ancestor.

Charlotte initially thought this was because she was not the real True Ancestor.

But as she looked at the thorny rose emblem used by the werewolves for their prayers, she overturned this idea because... the thorny rose was pointing to her.

This is interesting...

Through this, Charlotte speculated that the gods cultivating believers did not necessarily seek to gain power from the believers.

Or, it is even possible that there is no such thing as the power of belief in this world.

Then, what is the purpose of divine evangelism?

Charlotte was quite curious.

For the past half year, she had been secretly studying the mysteries of believers and Gods, but unfortunately, she had not been able to make any sense of it.

She speculated that either the power of the Gospel of Blood was not enough and her true power was too low, or she had not grasped some key aspect...

The only special point, perhaps, was that when she bestowed divine blessings upon these blood acolytes, the efficiency of using the divine power of blood was much higher than when blessing ordinary beings, and the duration was also longer.

This even made Charlotte speculate whether continuously bestowing blessings could forcibly create a presence among the followers similar to a Divine Messenger.

Of course, this was only Charlotte's speculation.

She is currently lacking in divine power.

She doesn't have so much divine power to experiment with.

For the past half year, the only stable source of divine power she could find was from leeching Harald!

By absorbing the power of large-scale divine rituals, she accumulated divine power little by little...

But it's ridiculous!

Half a year has passed, and her divine power has only recovered by 3 points, totaling 27.8!

In order to accumulate divine power, she didn't even perform new blood summoning.

And these hundred-plus blood acolytes couldn't provide her with any divine power!

But one thing is certain, after acquiring these blood acolytes, she could clearly feel that her connection with the Gospel of Blood seemed to deepen. Even when she practiced the Bloodborne magical talents and studied the Bloodline Resonance.

This was a breakthrough in research, but unfortunately, Charlotte was not sure if this change was really related to the believers.

Without obvious benefits, Charlotte didn't have much motivation to preach.

Furthermore, in the heartland of the Holy Court's faith, Borde City, she didn't dare to preach recklessly...

So, these werewolf believers were "kept" in the Rose Society by her.

Not to mention anything else, at least as blood acolytes, they could ensure loyalty.

However, Charlotte's temporary lack of preaching impulse did not mean that the werewolves didn't have it.

The Nightshade Cult was formed under such circumstances.

Although it was only in its infancy and was not established by Charlotte herself, it... naturally and inevitably established itself in the underground world of Borde City and gained the enthusiastic support of the werewolves...

Charlotte could even guess that Sebastian must have had a hand in this.

However, since Sebastian was willing to help her secretly establish a church, she was happy to see it happen.

Regardless of what the purpose of divine evangelism is, almost every God spreads faith.

This indicates that faith and believers play a crucial role in the growth of Gods.

Although Charlotte currently couldn't figure out the purpose of the Gods, it didn't prevent her from making plans for the future.

Therefore, after discovering that the Holy Court had noticed the existence of the Nightshade Cult, she contacted the leader of the werewolves, Luff, and conveyed the "oracle" for them to set off north as soon as possible.

It could be considered paving the way for Charlotte, after all, Castell territory was in the north.

Thinking of this, Charlotte slowly withdrew from her consciousness.

At the same time, Sherry, who had already taken up the position of head maid and Charlotte's personal maid, also came to the reception room.

Seeing Sherry, Charlotte smiled slightly.

"Are they all here?"

Sherry slightly lowered her head, still expressionless, but her voice carried a hint of anger.

"Yes, the guests have almost all arrived. Are you going to the banquet hall now?"

Charlotte did not directly answer but asked back.

"How did you think about the matter I asked you to consider?"

Listening to her words, Shirley's expressionless beautiful face lowered slightly, seemingly hesitant.

Charlotte didn't force it but smiled.

"Don't feel pressured. Even if you don't become my follower, you can still continue to work by my side."

"However, if you want to continue following me, then drink that bottle of blood."

Sherry remained silent for a moment before nodding gently.

The blood Charlotte referred to naturally was the blood that one needs to drink to become her servant.

That blood was her own, containing a trace of the bloodline power needed to become her servant.

After recovering more than twenty pages of the Gospel, Charlotte's quota for blood servants had increased by three, and for Sherry, her personal maid, she hoped to recruit her as a servant as well.

This would facilitate her future actions.

Of course, if the other party was unwilling, Charlotte wouldn't force it.

In that case, she would have to find a more suitable personal maid, and the proposal of drinking the blood to become a servant would be erased from Sherry's memory...

Modifying memories... that was a Bloodborne magic talent, an ability under the Mental Path's Domination.

The Blood Demon Cult's High Priest had once used domination to modify Lottie's memory.

And after obtaining the pages from the Blood Demon Cult, Charlotte also gained the inheritance called "Memory Domination".

The number of Bloodborne magic she now mastered was already vastly different from before, and she could be considered a qualified Bloodborne member.

Standing up from her seat, Charlotte adjusted the gown on her body.

Today marked the first anniversary of her crossing into this world.

At the same time, it was the sixteenth birthday of this body, also the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, formally inheriting the title of Countess Castell...

Today's Castell Manor gathered quite a few nobles from the Duchy!

"Let's go, let's meet our guests."

Wearing the family crest of Castell on her chest, Charlotte smiled and said.