The Laws of Werewolf Hunting

Chapter 539 Questions
Clayton Bello participated in the second collective meeting of the Presbyterian Council, which was held in the auditorium of Sasha University. The auditorium was spacious enough to accommodate all members of the Presbyterian Council, and the seats were arranged at different heights so that no one's view would be blocked by the person in front of them, making it very suitable for meetings.

There were many faces Clayton had never seen before. Of the newborns he had met when he first came into contact with the Elders, only three remained. He didn't know if they hadn't had time to attend the meetings or if they had passed away for some reason—it might sound like a baseless guess, but it was quite common for Darkin.

The elders convened the meeting to inform all members about the coming of the Dark Moon and to prepare for the impending impact.

They required all members to report any extraordinary individuals they encountered from out of town, and to search for Dark Ones interested in joining the police force, while also relaxing the rules regarding seclusion.

Because on the day the Dark Moon appeared, more than one strange thing happened in the world: the "living pot".

For some unknown reason, with the appearance of the Dark Moon, Wonderland is getting closer and closer to the mortal world. Julius calls it "the neighbor who went abroad has finally returned home." A large number of Darkin and artifacts spewed out from this ceiling.
News from outside Sasha City hadn't come in so quickly, but there were already twenty supernatural events reported in the local newspapers the following day.

A white horse sculpture that had stood in the square for forty years disappeared from its pedestal, and then people saw a huge white horse running in the street.

Big Lonne, a notorious gambler, disappeared. When his creditors broke down his door, they found an exceptionally large, fat beetle lying on his bed. He was nowhere to be found. The creditors had no choice but to take the rare beetle away and auction it off, hoping to recoup some of their losses.

Residents of an old house in St. Mellon Parish heard a strange coughing sound in the middle of the night, as if it were coming from the house itself. When they woke up the next morning, they found the chimney cleaner who had disappeared the previous year lying in the fireplace, as well as the one who had disappeared the year before.

Large flocks of birds of different species hover above the famous White Curtain Cathedral in Sasha, which some consider a miracle.
The list goes on and on.

The so-called principles of seclusion are no longer sufficient in the face of so many unexpected events, and it is unknown how many more shocks will come. However, the elders do not want the enthusiasm of the people to attract other heretics or give rise to any cults or associations, so they have decided to relax some restrictions.

It's better to have members of the council of elders act as masters of mysticism in the public eye than to have them worship other people.

In addition, in order to deal with the influence of the Dark Moon, Elder Fisher temporarily issued a bounty, asking others to hunt down ghouls other than himself, with the bounty calculated per head.

His offspring all resided in the filthiest parts of the sewers, which wasn't a problem in itself. However, as the influence of the Dark Moon intensified, their carnivorous nature was awakened, and they might leave their original territory and come to the surface to attack humans. Elder Fisher didn't want to give the church any cause for criticism because of such a foolish act, so he chose to pay a fine to avoid further trouble.

Clayton was tempted by the bounty amount, and even the blood of the werewolf surged within him, urging him to fight. However, he felt it wasn't worth ruining his hard-won peace for such a sum.

This not only violated Donna's "moderation plan," but the enemy was a ghoul that rolled out of the sewage area.

After some consideration, he said he didn't have much time.

However, Elder Fisher's bounty inspired Clayton, who decided to hand over the investigation of the Oracle Caves to others to save himself time, so he also put up a bounty, which attracted the interest of many people.

Elder Cheryl was among those who were interested.

Following Clayton, Roderick proposed at the meeting to monitor all newborns, which caused an uproar, with many Darkborn born through bloodline being horrified by his description of the newborns.

Elder Gloria affirmed his proposal. She decided not only to investigate but also to completely change the way the Elder Council operates. From now on, all newborns discovered by members of the Elder Council must take Druidic medicine to alleviate the effects of the curse. They cannot choose for themselves. Only newborns who pass the examination can stop taking the medicine and participate in more important affairs of the council.

Newborns who object to the above rules will be dealt with.

She didn't say what the specific handling method would be, and no one asked.

Because most of the newborns born in recent years under the influence of the Dark Moon have decided to take medication to suppress the curse, only a small number of newborns have stopped taking the medication in order to gain power, and some of them have already died. This change only applies to newborns recruited after today.

In fact, compared to this topic, Elder Lin Jing's transformation from Grone to Gloria was the biggest news of the meeting. Given the loose structure of the Elder Council, many people had not yet seen her new form.

Towards the end of the meeting, the elders proposed to all attendees that a fee be collected, ostensibly for "donations from wealthy citizens who love the art of song to the church band."

The money will be used to invite one of the church's key assets—the Paradise Mountain Choir—to perform in Sasha for two consecutive months.

The members of this choir are all children raised in church orphanages. Only volunteers with miraculous qualities and singing talent are recruited into the choir. The church performed castration surgery on them when they were teenagers so that their voices would have both masculine and feminine beauty. More than ten years of training have also taught them to incorporate sacred law into their singing.

When the castrato singers of the Heavenly Mountain Choir begin their grand chorus, the power of the Holy Law will continuously emerge within the area that the song can reach, dispelling the curse. The Darkin, who are powerful because of the curse, will be severely weakened, and the weak may even die directly.

If it is a cursed artifact, the Heavenly Mountain Choir could destroy it completely in the time it takes to sing a song.

Of course, ordinary people can only appreciate the beautiful singing. Given the ability of singing art to attract money, suppressing the Dark Ones is actually a side job for the choir.

The elders wanted to hire them to solve the security problems in Sasha City for the next two months.

The four elders had already withdrawn a significant number of personnel from the West Coast to manage the growing number of Darkborn in Sasha City, but the National Park project initiated by Huchini took away many of Elder Gloria's druids and Bennandandy wizards. Elder Cheryl and Elder Jonard also contributed personnel to the project.

If Sasha City experiences a large-scale outbreak of violence due to the impact of the Dark Moon's power, it will be difficult to continue with the original tourism city plan. The elders need time to continue gathering manpower.

The Paradise Mountain Choir's national tour route happened to pass through Sasha, but they only stayed for a month. It would be very expensive to ask them to stay an extra month.

Most of the Darkkin agreed with the expenditure, and Roderick's previous arguments about newborns played a significant role in persuading them.

After the meeting, Clayton was about to leave when he was stopped by an acquaintance downstairs in the teaching building.

"Mr. Bello, please forgive my sudden request, but could you please offer me some guidance?"

Clayton looked at Barbara in surprise.

This vampire widow had not seen her husband since his funeral. She had shed her country woman persona and now exuded a ladylike air. Even her speech carried the accent of the Upper East Side of Asia. Her skin, drained of color by the curse, was no different from that of the upper-class women who wore lead powder.

"Mr. Bello?"

Barbara stared straight into his eyes, and only those red eyes that glowed with green made him realize that this was the vampire he once knew.

“I was thinking,” Clayton licked his lips, quite intrigued by the change, “that maybe I should send Donna to whichever school you attend.”

Barbara looked at him blankly, then realized what he was talking about and looked down at her own body.

“Oh, you describe me now. I don’t go to school. Sir Joannard has hired many different teachers for me, who teach me how to be a high-society woman, and he says that’s the payment.”

Clayton couldn't understand why Joan Lard would hire Barbara to work for him and offer her such thoughtful compensation.

Could it be that someone in the organization needs to be quietly eliminated again?

He thought for a few seconds before realizing that thinking too much about this would stimulate his fighting spirit and make it difficult to control himself, so he decisively gave up.

"Madam, you can tell me about your troubles, but I can't promise anything."

“That’s enough. You’re the friendliest and most sincere person I’ve ever met.” Barbara offered a compliment first, then spoke with concern, “You must have had a bad few days because of the moon’s influence, right?”

Clayton didn't understand why she brought him up, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Have you considered that Donna is in danger?" Barbara asked again.

"I will lock myself in the basement on the day of the full moon."

“What you did is certainly appropriate. I was lying in a coffin just two days ago, with only a handful of warm earth with me. But even if we can restrain ourselves, the world itself is full of countless dangers. What if something else threatens our children?”

Barbara still didn't say anything specific, but Clayton already understood what she meant.

"You want to transform your child."

Barbara instinctively raised her hand again and bit her thumb, the eerie green light almost completely engulfing her eyes.

"Dark Moon has returned! How can I not worry about them? Those newborn little monsters may seem weaker than me, but they are still stronger than my children. How dangerous! How dangerous!"

Clayton swallowed.

As a Darkin who also possesses the ability to transform, he had to admit that Barbara's words did indeed make some sense.

The Dark Moon has made the world more dangerous, and his past conclusions may not be definitive. Donna is a wizard, but is the power of a wizard enough? She should need some protection.

But
"Since you already have sufficient reasons, why do you still need to ask for my opinion?"

The green light in Barbara's eyes faded, leaving only bewilderment.

"I do not know."

“It’s good that you don’t know.” Clayton took a deep breath. “Now I want to ask someone that question.”