Werewolf Hunting Rules.

Chapter 575 Taking the Lead

A well-dressed man abruptly entered Charlie's hiding place. The stagnant, murky air and dusty environment made him very uncomfortable, and he had to pinch his nose while searching for Charlie.

It was dark and damp, with a sliver of light filtering through cracks in the walls and flickering candlelight on the floor.

If Charlie isn't here, then he hasn't gone very far.

After scanning the room several times, Charlie suddenly appeared from an area he had examined and then abandoned.

Charlie wasn't hiding deep inside; he'd always been there. But his existence had initially felt like a lifeless pile of junk, a cold stone, or a rotten rope. Now, he's deliberately showing himself and has come back to life.

【Return to Earth】, a rare off-path in the Blade Secrets that can be used for stealth.

This fork in the road already existed when the Blade Secret Technique was still called the Stone Secret Technique, but it has always been regarded as a fork inscribed by cowards.

"Little Romitz, you shouldn't have come."

“But I’m already here,” said Sir Romitz Jr., pinching his nose and raising his other hand to show a bottle of wine. “I even brought some wine.”

Charlie sighed, took the bottle, and sat down on the dusty cot in the corner.

"Suit yourself, but don't stay too long."

Almost no one knew that Charlie the Drunkard was not an ordinary criminal; he was the second son of the previous generation of the Romitz family, so it was only natural that he left home empty-handed to fend for himself.

Several years ago, he returned to Sasha City with Easter Island to visit his family. However, after learning about his brother's "achievements" and "honors" abroad, Sir Romitz was terrified and drove him away, ordering him never to return, lest his status as a wanted criminal be exposed and bring shame upon the family.

However, Sir Romitz Jr. was quite interested in his uncle whom he had never met and ignored his father's prohibition to contact him in private.

“My father hasn’t slept well since he heard the news about you. You’ve really angered him this time. You’ve done something really serious. He’s terrified at the thought that others might find out you’re also a Romitz.”

“I’m leaving. Isn’t that what he wanted?” Charlie’s eyes were fixed on the entrance, while he opened a bottle of liquor. “But criminals always have to pull off one last heist before they leave. I won’t leave easily without getting enough benefits.”

"Where is that book? I want to see it."

Charlie's gaze shifted to his nephew: "You want one too?"

Little Romitz nodded: "I heard from the church that it is related to land rights and can help nobles restore the power of ancient generations. Although I don't know the specific details, since it is a good thing, why don't we keep it?"

"We can't keep it."

Charlie paused, disappointed to see that Romitz's face showed no sign of understanding.

He shook his head, put down the bottle, and pulled out two clean glasses from somewhere. He handed one to Romitz and then poured wine into both glasses.

"The power of this book is not entirely what the church claims; some of their ideas are wrong. If they truly knew what it could do, they would rather it remain in a museum than have it actually taken over and used by anyone. They might even agree to destroy it collectively, and whoever gets hold of the book would become a public enemy."

"You might say we can use it secretly, but the interesting thing is, if this ability isn't revealed, then using it isn't that meaningful,"

"Does it need to be known by others for it to work?" Little Romitz looked at his uncle, puzzled, holding his wine glass.

Charlie sipped the fine wine, his previously tense expression easing considerably.

"To put it this way, some people live in pigsties, which are full of excrement and smelly, but when it's cold, they can sleep next to the pigs to keep warm. This book, on the other hand, can throw them into a pure manure pit, where there are no pigs, only excrement, and they won't feel the difference for a while. They'll need someone to remind them before they realize they're living in a manure pile."

Little Romitz was disgusted by the description, but he did understand how this ability worked.

"Okay, I don't really want it anymore. So, who are you going to sell it to?"

Charlie held the glass up to the candlelight, squinting to admire the beautiful pale red color: "I won't say his name. You can try to guess and think about what we've talked about before."

It took Romitz a very short time to recall, then he exclaimed, "My God, Caroline Cures! He didn't recognize you? You're his cousin!"

“Your father didn’t recognize me either,” Charlie said calmly. “That’s true.” Little Romitz was no longer surprised, but a new question arose: “How much?”

"Not as much as I imagined."

Charlie reluctantly tilted his head back and drank the glass empty.

“Faslag is dead, isn’t he? Without him, the Kules family doesn’t know how many years it will take for Caroline to have offspring. I originally wanted to attract him with the concept that the ancient nobles could exercise the power of ‘fertility’, but I didn’t expect him to have completely forgotten about it. Seeing that he was furious, I naturally didn’t dare to remind him, lest he think I was mocking him and kill me directly.”

"But he is the best buyer I could find, so we can't be too demanding."

Charlie and Romitz Jr. were both deeply moved by the mention of Fasslag's death.

The eldest son of the Kuresh family died young, and Caroline, as the second son, was supposed to inherit everything. However, due to a serious illness in his childhood, old Sir Kuresh had to try to save his son with the power of the Blade Secret. In the end, the method succeeded, but the progress of the secret also suppressed Caroline's fertility. He has had many lovers but no children.

For this reason, Carolingian's only heir for a long time was probably his brother Fassrag.

Charles knew more than Romitz Jr. that last winter, the Holy Grail envoy Athena Berlusconi, through the foolish Fasslag, had made contact with Carolingian, and the two sides reached some kind of agreement. Subsequently, in the aristocratic social circles during that period, people noticed that Carolingian's attitude towards his heir had turned cold.

Charlie knew why.

Athena Berlusconi was actually a native of Sasha City. She was active half a century ago, and was already a popular urban legend when Drunkard Charlie was still known as Missing Tooth Charlie. In children's minds, the image of the Spider Priest was only one step away from being a demon.

After becoming a professional criminal, Charlie learned about his predecessor's great achievements.

The Spider Priestess possesses extraordinary martial prowess, but she is not known for it. Her signature techniques are "mystical contract forgery" and "Black Mass".

Furthermore, due to her desire to have normal offspring and her ideal of creating Darkin as a member of the Holy Grail Order, she also has an ambiguous relationship with the Lich King, who is capable of desecrating nature and giving birth to unnatural offspring, and possesses a great deal of abyssal magic.

While Kuresh wasn't exactly wise, he wasn't a complete fool either. All the Sasha nobles knew how risky it was to cooperate with the Holy Grail Order—in order to completely eliminate the influence of the Holy Grail Order's heresy, the local church had carried out a major internal purge, the archbishop was dismissed, a quarter of the clergy were removed from their posts, and ordered to the nearest knightly order for investigation.

But it wouldn't be surprising if Athena Berlusconi lured him into cooperating with her by offering to improve his fertility.

However, she was eventually murdered, and Faslag also suddenly disappeared, leaving Caroline penniless.

"But what does he want that book for?" Little Romitz couldn't understand, his glass of wine still untouched.

“I don’t know about that, but you can go back and advise your father to be careful of Kules. He has nothing left but money, and that kind of person is dangerous. He may want to devote himself to his career now, or he may want to mess with everyone.” Charlie solemnly warned his nephew.

"Don't worry, our mindset has never changed."

Romitz Jr. believes such concerns are unnecessary: ​​"My father is still the same old guy, just like everyone else. Developing suburban land has become a recurring topic. There are protests year after year, and mutual attacks with the Druids. That's all they do. They can't see anything else."

The income from land rent and agricultural products could no longer satisfy the landed nobles. More and more wealthy commoners gathered together because of the nature of cities. The exorbitant prices and various forms of extravagance were enjoyed by merchants. The nobles could not accept that they had gone from being trendsetters to being mere followers. This fear of being abandoned by the times made them unite and react in similar ways.

It's like sharing a single brain.

"Unfortunately, I get along quite well with the others," Charlie sighed.

"Unfortunately, I can't leave here," Romitz sighed.

"You should go now, I'm leaving soon too." Charlie raised his glass to his nephew one last time, and Romitz Jr. then drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, put down his glass, and turned to leave.

Charlie was packing his things to leave when his intuition kicked in, and he abruptly turned to look at the door.

Romitz Jr. is back.

He retreated step by step, his face deathly pale. A slender woman's hand pressed against his neck, followed by a blonde woman with bewitching green eyes. The moment she appeared, the temperature in the room began to drop.

"Mr. Charlie, because of you, I haven't had time to see my children all week!"

The woman's tone was chilling as she looked at the drunkard Charlie.