Monster Girl Development Master.

She was already very happy. What if she became greedy and displeased Lord Zhuang Sen? Although she actually wanted to get closer to Lord Zhuang Sen, for example... Hana glanced at Mira, who was far away. She also wanted to be able to drink Zhuang Sen's blood, just like Mira.

It was easy to guess what the socially anxious girl was thinking. Zhuang Sen saw through her interest at a glance, so he firmly said, "No, you need it."

Zhuang Sen's decisive tone left Hana with no choice but to timidly reply, "Then, I would like to ask Lord Zhuang Sen..."

Her lips twitched several times, but under the gazes of Dantalian, Nia, and Mira, she ultimately didn't dare to say that she also wanted to drink Zhuang Sen's blood. Instead, she said, "...I would like to ask Lord Zhuang Sen to hold my hand every day from now on!"

Upon hearing this, Nia remained unfazed; the dwarf girl was simply watching the drama unfold. Dantalian and Mira, however, exchanged uneasy glances. The former's eyes sharpened instantly, as if she had caught a meowing cat stealing cream, while Mira looked on with fear and struggle, as if she saw her future self reflected in them, yet also with a sense of helplessness—it was too late; she could no longer live without Zhuang Sen's blood.

"..." Zhuang Sen was somewhat surprised, but quickly recovered and grasped Hana's nervously twisting hands. The cool sensation flowed into Zhuang Sen's palms, stirring his heart. A thought that had been lingering in his mind for the past few days became even more profound.

That is to help Hannah "get revenge." Or to put it less childishly and more pragmatically, to continue to do Hannah favors so as to gain deeper control over her.

As mentioned earlier, Hana isn't good at hiding her emotions, and Zhuang Sen had already noticed her closeness and "distance" towards him during this time. The closeness goes without saying; her daily head pats were practically muscle memory for Zhuang Sen. The distance, on the other hand, refers to how she always deliberately created emotional distance between them.

Although it came to pat its head every day, it rarely said anything affectionate, let alone complained or made any demands. It was like a highly wary young animal, ready to retreat into its den at any moment. Zhuang Sen was actually quite familiar with this state; most orphans went through a similar period, especially when they were bullied.

The "treatment" is simple: just retaliate against the bullies. If someone is willing to help, it's easy to gain their trust and favor. This is what Zhuang Sen plans to do... It sounds a bit despicable, but thankfully Zhuang Sen never claims to be a gentleman.

"Hana, what are the names of all the people who bullied you?"

"Huh?" Hana was taken aback, then shook her head repeatedly after realizing what she meant. "No, no need, it would only cause you trouble."

“Just call me Zhuang Sen from now on.” Zhuang Sen tightened his grip on Hana’s hands. “Besides, this isn’t a problem. If I don’t even stand up for my own chief gardener when he’s being bullied, how am I supposed to recruit others? A lord who can’t protect his vassals will be ridiculed. Hana, you don’t want me to be mocked as a coward or a weakling, do you?”

"Waaah..."

Hana let out a cute whimper. She was speechless and unable to refute Zhuang Sen's words. However, she was still filled with fear and anxiety. To put it bluntly, she was so insecure that she did not trust Zhuang Sen's words. She did not think she was worth making Zhuang Sen offend others, and she did not want to trouble Zhuang Sen.

But she didn't dare refuse Zhuang Sen, so she could only look at him with teary eyes, making it seem as if Zhuang Sen was bullying her. This was different from what Zhuang Sen had imagined; back then, he would grab bricks and sacks and get to work.

Just as Zhuang Sen was taken aback, the professional avenger, the holy nun, descended like an angel and resolved the awkward situation: "Miss Hannah, Lord Zhuang Sen is the chosen one of our great goddesses of vengeance. Righteous revenge is his duty, so there is no need to worry."

Nia added, "Besides, those who bully Miss Hannah aren't enough of a problem for you, dear, especially since Baron Flor is one of them."

Hannah quickly shook her head: "No, Father just doesn't have much time to care about these little things, he didn't mean to mistreat me..."

Baron Flor wouldn't go so far as to target one of his ordinary daughters, but he also didn't have time to care if such a daughter was being bullied by her siblings.

"So there was some unintentional mistreatment?" Zhuang Sen interjected. "I see. It seems the price we paid for Baron Flor's plate armor was too low."

"Lord Zhuang Sen..." Hana was about to cry.

But deep down, it was impossible not to feel moved. Mira, who had been observing coldly, couldn't help but become wary, thinking to herself, "Zhuang Sen, what a dangerous man..."

Of course, Miss Mira felt absolutely no envy or jealousy whatsoever!

The author says:

Author's note: I've been diagnosed with tenosynovitis. Hopefully, I'll recover before I run out of manuscripts.

Chapter 78: Bandit Harassment

Although the mission was to avenge Hannah, they certainly weren't going to the Flor family's territory immediately. Otherwise, by the time Johnson and the others returned, they might only find the blacksmith shop reduced to ashes by the Church of War. Besides, Hannah herself didn't seem to have recovered from the ordeal yet, and taking her there now might cause trouble if she chickened out and didn't dare to fight.

As for how to change her mindset, Zhuang Sen had already figured it out. If he wasn't mistaken, Ange or the War Church's new tactics should already be on their way...

in the afternoon.

A disheveled merchant was led into the main building's reception room by the vengeful female warrior. His yellow embroidered silk coat was torn in several places, revealing dripping blood. This once luxurious garment, which might have cost several gold coins, had been reduced to rags, and the gleaming wounds explained the reason.

"You mean that at the crossroads after you passed those three walls, you were robbed by more than thirty bandits, all twelve guards you hired were killed, and the four sets of plate armor, twenty fine steel longswords, and ten steel axes you bought from me were also stolen?"

"My lord, Chosen One! I'm telling the truth! The corpses of those mercenaries are still at the crossroads!"

Seeing the merchant crawling on the ground, wailing and crying with snot and tears streaming down his face, and trying to throw himself at his own leg, Zhuang Sen quickly stopped him: "I'm not questioning you, I'm just wondering when such a large number of bandits appeared, and I remember that intersection was within Strau's control area, not far from her walled pass, and she didn't send any troops to support us?"

The merchant remained silent, and even his weeping subsided; he was clearly a shrewd man.

Of course, Leon Territory cannot be said to be without bandits and robbers, but bandits and robbers are not like those in games, who have full sets of armor and exquisite weapons, and who have a tight organization and a large number of members—those are generally called enemy forces.

Zhuang Sen remembered that although the merchant's guards were not all heavily armored, they were all wearing leather armor and helmets, and their weapons included long spears, shields, short bows, and battle axes. The leader was an old soldier wearing a full set of scale armor and using a two-handed battle axe. Such a skilled mercenary could at most suffer some losses against thirty bandits, and it was impossible for them to be completely wiped out, unless those bandits were more elite and better equipped than them.

So either the merchant was stupid enough to fabricate a lie that would be easily exposed to Zhuang Sen, or those bandits had another identity.

“They’re from the Church of War, aren’t they?” Dantalian, standing to Zhuang Sen’s left, spoke up, her eyes turning cold. “Attacking innocent merchants, what a despicable tactic.”

"In their eyes, they might even think this merchant is a traitor..." Zhuang Sen smiled at the trembling merchant. "Sir, I sympathize with your plight. How about this, I can sell you the same quantity of goods at half price as a token of my sympathy for your situation..."

"Sir, this..." The merchant anxiously tried to interject, but as Zhuang Sen's eyes turned cold, he immediately shut his mouth.

“I know what you want to say, sir. You’re just worried that those bandits will come again. Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll send thirty warriors to escort you to Starry Night City, but only this once. And I hope you can tell other people about this. Don’t worry, just tell me the version you just told me.”

The merchant nodded tremblingly: "Your command, sir."

"Go down." Zhuang Sen waved his hand and nodded to the vengeful female warrior who had brought him there.

After they all left, Dantalian shook her head and sat on the armrest of Zhuang Sen's chair. Her broad, full hips and voluptuous waist stretched out seductive curves with the movement. She put her right arm around Zhuang Sen's shoulder and pulled him close to her, saying disdainfully, "The guys from the Church of War really have no shame. They even resort to tricks like pretending to be bandits."

Zhuang Sen leaned against the plump, alluring flesh with a smug look, his small, not-so-clean hand touching the fragrant, plump buttocks in front of him: "Why not use it if it's so useful? Besides, they might not all be from the church. Maybe they're subordinates of my brothers and sisters. Didn't Bishop Rosa write to say that the War Church has allied with them?"

Dantalian, aroused by the touch, slowly slid her right hand down from Zhuang Sen's shoulder, but she hadn't forgotten the important matter: "So what do we do next? We can't send avenging warrior to escort every caravan, can we? We don't have that many people."

"Then let all the caravans set off together and accept the unified protection of the Vengeful Warriors," Zhuang Sen said casually. "Whether it's the Church of War or the Anti-Zhuang Sen Alliance, no matter what name they pretend to be, they can't actually kill all our customers. Or rather, they can't even deal with our most important customers by bandits. The Falau Merchant Guild has more than thirty guards. They wouldn't be stupid enough to send bloodline members to be bandits, would they?"

Any bloodline member, even a first-level one, can become a glorious noble knight and live a life far better than robbery, as long as they are willing to swear allegiance. Therefore, if a bloodline member is found as a bandit, it is tantamount to declaring that they are not bandits. Furthermore, the abilities of bloodline members are generally very distinctive, making it easy to identify them. It can be said that unless the Church of War wants to completely lose face, they will not send them out.

Well, especially considering the possibility of being surrounded and killed, Zhuang Sen has four bloodline users on the surface. Unless they send someone who has undergone a second awakening, but the Church of Vengeance is not without second awakenings.

If they continue to escalate the situation—why don't they just eliminate the problem altogether?

Burning down Zhuang Sen's blacksmith shop and killing or kidnapping his blacksmiths would be much easier and faster than harassing merchants, wouldn't it? Plus, it would avoid damaging his reputation and might even increase his deterrent effect.

Dantalian also changed her mind, pinching Da Zhuangsen as she said, "So, they were just deliberately harassing us?"

"Hmm, on one hand, they're harassing our customers, and on the other hand, they probably want us to think that their methods are limited to this, so we'll lower our guard." Zhuang Sen's hand slipped inside the nun's habit, stroking the smooth black stockings.

"What if they really only intend to use this method? After all, the impact is still quite significant." Dantalian narrowed her eyes, adjusted her posture, and placed her long legs between Zhuang Sen's legs, her large breasts swaying close to Zhuang Sen's face.

“If my mother weren’t Lia Farau and my father weren’t Count Cross, then perhaps it would be possible, but now that they want to stop me from taking away their arms business, they have to quickly launch better or at least the same products before I sell enough goods. So I think they’ll be serious soon. I need to be more vigilant these next few days and send a letter to Bishop Rosa to tell her about the situation here and ask her to be more vigilant as well.”

Zhuang Sen hugged Dantalian's long, full, and fleshy thighs and said seriously.

"And tonight?" Dantalian blinked.

“She definitely won’t come tonight.” Zhuang Sen moved his hands up and hugged the nun’s waist, which was still slender in proportion but had become somewhat exaggerated in size. He buried his head between her large breasts and walked upstairs.

Then we had a great time.

Chapter 79: Research Findings

Another week has passed, and a dozen or so decorations flutter in the wind at the entrance of Thorn Manor. These are the spoils of war brought back by the vengeful female warriors. The vengeful female warriors, who have begun to gradually change into plate armor, have maintained absolute dominance over the "bandits." The merchants coming and going have gradually regained their courage, and some have even begun to hire vengeful female warriors from other places instead of following the group.

"Almost there..."

Zhuang Sen looked at his bloodline development level, which had just reached 60%, touched Dantalian and Nia sleeping next to him, and cast [Purification] on them and himself to cleanse his body and get up to prepare for a pleasant day.

First, we arrived at the restaurant, where I patted Hana's head, held her little hand, and casually inquired about the Sacred Scale Fruit Tree. Then, Dantalian escorted her to the chapel to prepare for morning prayers—because of the Sanctification Day, there were many more vengeful believers in Thorn Manor now, so we couldn't just give them a perfunctory service anymore.

After dealing with Hana, take her to her field and see the Sacred Scale Fruit tree in person; it's now grown to 1.3 meters tall. After dealing with the two monster girls, head to the blacksmith shop with Nia. Nia will naturally go and enjoy forging, while Zhuang Sen will supervise the workers from the Falao Merchant Guild installing the equipment needed for the blacksmith workshop, while also processing the various important documents delivered by the female treasurer from the Falao Merchant Guild.

“Jack and John got into a fight because of Mary, and John’s leg was broken… Jack was arrested and publicly whipped three times, and made to pay for John’s medical expenses.”

"Old Jack and Old Mary had a fight over watering the fields. Old Jack died of anger after he lost the argument... We asked Old Mary to pay part of the funeral expenses and also to expedite the digging of the irrigation ditch."

"The convoy transporting a new batch of equipment has been robbed by bandits, which will slow down the blacksmith's workshop's progress? It seems they're about to take action... The backup team should be arriving soon, right?"

The female finance officer, who had been handling other matters nearby, looked up and replied, "They are expected to arrive this afternoon, around the time this batch is finished."

“Thank you, Marnie.” Zhuang Sen took out this one separately. “These next few days, you can move to the main building and stay next to Hana. Also, send the girls out to search for those scum who dared to steal my equipment, and bring back their heads.”

Ordinary people are no match for those with bloodlines; staying at home will only increase their chances of being easily killed. It's better for them to go out and do some work. Anyway, with him, Nia, and Dantalian around, as long as no one awakens to the third time, they can kill indiscriminately.

"Yes, my lord."

The female financial officer nodded in confirmation, then continued calculating the documents filled with numbers in front of her.

Zhuang Sen buried the documents in front of him again, but he felt like he had missed something... Oh, right, there was also a vampire girl. Should he awaken her? Judging from her recent behavior, she seemed to be inseparable from his blood. Moreover, he needed more monster girls to increase the development of his abilities.

I'll ask tonight.

……

Meanwhile, Miss Mira was engrossed in her research.

Her room was filled with all sorts of strange devices, some of which even Zhuang Sen couldn't recognize. Bright red blood flowed through them, transforming into forms and data that only Mira herself could understand, and then into lines of records on white paper.

"Hana Flor, nature attribute, plant form? Human form?... Then what is this flame? And is this really human blood?"

“Nia Harper, earth element, human form… You call this solid stone human? Besides being red, what about this blood resembles human?”

"Dantrian, divine attribute, human form? snake form?... A single drop of blood can kill laboratory mice, and this is a divine attribute? Moreover, I've never heard of a half-human, half-snake form before. There's not even a single record of it in the Great Library. Where did Zhuang Sen learn about this bloodline?"

"Rom Harper, Earth attribute, Level 1 Iron-Eating Rat... Too ordinary. A typical human model mixed with rat form. He seems to have decent talent, with high performance values ​​for various abilities, but compared to the ones above..."

Each line of summary was followed by a dizzying array of data; the elegant and clear font seemed to have been given some strange effect, causing mental overload at a glance. However, Mira was already used to this feeling; the exceptionally talented girl could quickly grasp the overall picture and then identify problems in her mind.

"As expected, Zhuang Sen's women all have problems; they don't seem like normal Awakened at all!"

No matter how strong a normal awakened being's bloodline is, they are still essentially human, with a significant "human" component in their blood. But none of Zhuang Sen's three women are human; even if they appear to have human parts, they cannot hide it from her, the master of the knowledge tower.

Compared to them, Rom Harper is like a person disguised as a tiger encountering a real tiger. They may seem similar, but their inner selves are worlds apart, and their abilities are also worlds apart. They are not the same thing at all, like fragments and the original!

"But in that case..."

Mira glanced at her wrist and gently bit her lower lip.

She had certainly studied her own blood, and the conclusion was that it was even worse than that of ordinary people. Her blood was essentially "dead." Although it looked red, it could dry up and become moist, but it had no extensibility and did not react to any attributes. It seemed to be a unique kind of blood... Yes, just like Zhuang Sen's three women.

Could it be that she really has a bloodline? But like Zhuang Sen's three women, it's a "complete bloodline"—different from those with normal bloodlines?

Mira's heart pounded. Of course, she wanted to become a bloodline user too. No one in this world didn't want to be one. As for being "not human"? Bloodline users weren't exactly "completely human" to begin with.

"But, can this result alone help Zhuang Sen awaken me?" Looking at her research records, Mira suddenly became dejected again. No one knew better than her how precious bloodline knowledge was. She had once had "opponents" with similar talents, but only she had achieved what she had today. This was because her teacher was the honorary chairman of the Thousand Towers Kingdom, a level four bloodline user who had awakened four times, and the librarian who had the authority to let her read all the books in the Great Library.

Others who want to enter the main library have to submit an application and then wait in line for a month.

But then Mira thought of Hana and felt courageous again: "Let's give it a try. After all, he helped Hana awaken, and I drank his blood twice. He should be trustworthy, right?"

"Yeah, there's no reason why Hannah can do it but I can't."

"Besides, wasn't it Zhuang Sen himself who said he would help me awaken in the first place? I was just responding to his invitation... The Church of War? What Church of War?"

Miss Mira, who was gradually taking the shape of Zhuang Sen's blood, convinced herself of this, and at the same time put all the research records and samples into her handbag, and left the room in the dim sunset.