When the sky was stained with crimson, Iss and Camilla returned to the mansion. Contrary to their expectations of strict security measures, the front of the mansion was unusually empty, and only two guards were left at the gate, instead of the previously arranged team. Sensing someone approaching, a knight in armor immediately stepped forward. However, as soon as he saw that it was Iss, his expression changed as if he had seen a ghost. He couldn't close his mouth for a long time. On the other hand, Iss seemed more normal, and the joy from shopping had not yet dissipated.

"Oh, hello~ Good afternoon. Why are there only two of you today?"

"Uh... uh... well... did the hostages come back by themselves?"

Like a broken record player, the soldier couldn't even organize a proper response. Camilla, who was following behind Iss, explained in time.

"Miss Camilla, you scared them."

"Is that so? I thought it was just a normal greeting."

"Well... it is a normal greeting, but because it's you who greeted them..."

Because the eldest daughter of the Earl is so fierce, saying hello to people suddenly would surely startle them. Iss scratched her cheek in embarrassment. It seems that it's difficult for her to change these small habits, such as greeting people. Well, over time, everyone will accept her current persona.

Not paying much attention to details, Iss yawned and walked back to the mansion under the stunned gaze of the soldiers.

A moment later, as expected, Deputy Chief Priest Onn, perspiring profusely, arrived as scheduled. Several knights responsible for mansion security accompanied him. When they saw Iss sitting in the dining room having dinner, all of them breathed a sigh of relief.

After exchanging glances for a moment, Onn, dressed as a priest, stepped forward as a representative.

"Miss Pesia, it's good to see that you're safe."

"Onn, were you worried that something happened to me?"

"Well, not really in that sense." Onn wiped the sweat from his forehead, "To be honest, when I heard that you disappeared from the mansion again, I thought you were going back to the vampire clan."

"Just wanted to take a look at the human streets." Iss pretended to be calm and gestured to Onn to have a seat. "Onn, please sit down and talk."

"In that case, I will respectfully obey."

To be honest, when Onn found out that the eldest daughter of the Earl had disappeared again, he and the Chief Priest were at a loss. After all, they had just managed to weaken the extremist faction with Iss's help and take a big step towards peace between humans and vampires. But now, Iss suddenly disappeared without a warning during this crucial period. If she had escaped right under their noses, not to mention the peace between humans and vampires, just losing the hostage alone would keep the Church busy. Remembering that Iss, as the only heir of Count Pesia, was an important bargaining chip the Church used to obtain the position of the bishop in the Niuru Diocese, if they let Iss get lost, even if the vampires were willing to return the bishop, there would surely be a massive amount of resources such as food and money to be paid.

At that time, the blame would first fall on the moderate faction.

Fortunately, Iss came back on her own. Onn drank a few sips of tea that a servant brought over. At this point, he couldn't care about his dignity anymore. If he didn't drink water now, his tongue would not straighten out. Although it's puzzling that Iss voluntarily came back even though she could have escaped, it was still a good thing that she returned.

Of course, Iss didn't know what the Deputy Chief Priest was thinking at this moment. She calmly enjoyed her dinner with the chopsticks she had just received and casually said.

"I always keep my promises. Since I have made an agreement with Deputy Chief Priest Onn, I will naturally not go against it. So, Deputy Chief Priest Onn, you don't have to worry at all."

Your promise keeping is as unreliable as the stubble on the chin of the Knight Commander. I swear, if you were under me, I would kick your ass with my boots. Onn could only think that in his heart, while his face still wore a smile.

"That's natural. However, next time Miss Pesia goes out, I hope you could inform the duty knights. They will assign dedicated guards to accompany you and ensure your safety."

"Mm, I will consider it."

Considering it is damn ridiculous.

Iss rolled her eyes in her mind. She went out to collect blood, and if the Church found out, they would be monitoring her every hour of the day. Iss changed the topic at an appropriate time."As the story goes, what do you think of these utensils?" The utensils referred to are chopsticks, which can be made quite quickly without getting too caught up in the material. "Compared to the complicated and expensive knives and forks, these utensils are affordable for the common people. From what I know, most people in the human kingdom can only eat directly with their hands, which makes it easy to get infected with many bacteria - or rather, suffer divine punishment."

The people in this world do not understand the meaning of bacteria, so Iss had to find another way to explain. When Iss had lunch at the merchant's house before, he was shocked to see the merchant eating food directly with his hands. According to the merchant, there is a certain way to eat with hands, such as commoners using all five fingers, while more refined people like nobles would only use three fingers, excluding the ring finger and pinky.

Iss's words puzzled Onn. It was laughable for a vampire like him to be told by a clergyman that he would suffer divine punishment. However, Onn, who had received a good education, did not behave that way. Besides, the church also had its own reasons for eating with hands.

"To be honest, the cutlery you use in the mansion is not something we use in our country. Only the bloodsuckers, the neighboring Kingdom of Hels, and the faraway Nota Empire have the habit of using utensils. Everyone in our church eats with their hands."

"Why? It's obviously unhygienic."

While not understanding what Onn meant by unhygienic, they had their own reasons for doing so. Every kind of food is a gift from the Goddess Yumil, and treating her gifts with cold utensils is disrespectful and will bring down the wrath of the Goddess.

Ah...

Iss looked at Onn as if he was an idiot and silently gave up on the idea of promoting chopsticks. He realized that he was too foolish to try pushing forward a backward civilization. The church was a stumbling block to the development of civilization.

Iss wholeheartedly agreed with this notion.

After a conversation that lacked valuable information, Onn stood up.

"Now that I have confirmed Miss Persia's safety, I should return with the captain of the guard."

"Wait, there is something I want to ask, Onn."

Iss stood up as well and stretched out his hand towards Onn, indicating for him to stop.

"Is there anything Miss Persia needs?"

"No, there is nothing like that. I wanted to ask how the church would handle it if there were demon infiltrations in Nilu City."

Originally, Iss wanted to be straightforward and ask if the church had noticed the presence of demons in Nilu City. However, if he were asked, "How do you know?" it would complicate matters. So Iss could only ask in a roundabout way.

"Demon infiltrations? It has been almost two hundred years since the Nilu district was invaded by demons, and with The Tower of Alexia protecting it, the Nilu district is not afraid of demons at all."

Although Onn's statement seemed quite confident, since the other party was so confident, Iss didn't feel it was appropriate to say more. With the manpower of the temple, they might have already discovered the presence of demons, or perhaps the demons lurking in the city were under control and there was no need to worry about them.

"Well then, Miss Persia, if there is anything you need, please inform the guards immediately. It will be three more weeks until you can return to the bloodsuckers."

"Naturally."

Iss nodded at Onn and watched him leave with the holy knights.