The Laws of Werewolf Hunting

Chapter 561 Battle with One's Own Kind
According to the school history records in the library, which no one reads—not even Principal Catherine—the teaching site of Sinjani Women's College was indeed originally converted from the mansion of a noblewoman, so there is a noble cemetery there.

This noblewoman had no children and died after serving as the head of the academy for a period of time. Her remains were buried here.

Half a century later, an epidemic broke out at the school, and many students died from the disease. At that time, the Sinjani Women's College was similar to a convent. Most of the students here were young women who lacked status in their families. After their deaths, only a few of their relatives would come to collect their remains, and the rest of the unclaimed bodies were buried in this cemetery.

Donna knew all of this because she had read the school history.

She spent nearly thirty hours in solitary confinement, during which time she had time to read books, in addition to going to school in Bracola.

The solitary confinement room contained many dry and boring books to demonstrate that confinement of students was not entirely a punishment, but a corrective measure with education as its primary purpose.

Although Donna is very active, she does have a reading habit.

She might have difficulty writing poetry in her native language, and her everyday speech tends to be rather blunt and straightforward. However, she has no problem using Felline, where she perfectly embodies the standards of a classical lady. Her brisk and straightforward speaking style is merely a matter of her language habits and does not indicate that she is rude, impulsive, or incapable of concentrating on reading.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have thought of looking through Bracola's collection of magic books when she was a child.

What Miss Truby saw in the cemetery reminded Donna of grave robbers.

If she were a tomb raider, she would also choose to target Xin Jiani Girls' College. This cemetery has long been forgotten, and the level of security is so low that there is almost no risk in doing bad things there.

Based on this assessment, Donna was very cautious.

Miss Truby's first sight of the excavation site was probably just good luck; perhaps the grave robbers heard the noise and hid in advance, or perhaps their route was simply different from Miss Truby's. Donna will have to be careful when she wants to inspect the cemetery again.

The tomb raiders may not have given up on this area yet.

However, she also has her own helpers.

Clara followed Clayton's instructions, delivering various desserts and canned goods every day to supplement the school's meager food supply. Now, because Donna was suddenly put in solitary confinement, she was waiting foolishly with breakfast in the courtyard behind the teaching building, which was their usual meeting place.

Donna walked to the tree and tapped the trunk. Clara, who was perched in an empty bird's nest, slowly raised her arm and turned her head. When she saw it was Donna, her eyes immediately burst with a joy that made her feel guilty.

May God have mercy on her and grant her the same joy when she sees Clara one day.

Fortunately, she is now able to make up for it in other ways.

That was a great adventure.

Clara can not only prove her courage and earn honor with her own hands, but also gain the opportunity to use violence at will.

Upon hearing her intentions, Clara couldn't help but let out a very soft cheer, tumbling down from the tree into Donna's arms. Donna wrapped her arms around her neck like Clayton had done—it looked like she was carrying two heads on her shoulders. Then she quickly ate the biscuits and sausage slices Cllay had brought to replenish her energy. After eating, Donna went to the dormitory to get the lion skin that Clayton had given her, making sure she was fully prepared before heading to the cemetery.

The cemetery on campus is not far from the shooting range she frequents; the two are adjacent and separated only by a grove of trees.

It was free time after dinner. Clara helped carry the lantern as they walked through the bushes, while Donna used the light to repeatedly check the flintlock pistol she had secretly taken from the shooting range's storage room. It was loaded and ready to fire.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, she carefully tucked the pistol into her waistband and took the lantern from Clara to survey the area.

The cemetery is right next to the college's boundary wall. If it weren't for the rows of tombstones, it would look like an ordinary wasteland, with weeds that could reach up to your calves.

Many people have been buried here. Their tombstones are simple, with only the deceased's name and date of death on them. Due to lack of maintenance, the inscriptions have become blurred and incomplete, and cannot be clearly seen even under the light of a lantern.

In the area Miss Truby described as having been dug up, Donna saw signs of the ground being turned over; broken blades of grass lay scattered along the edges of the freshly turned black soil, an area much larger than Miss Truby had described. Wild animals would hardly be able to do this; it was clearly an act of human desecration. Apparently, grave robbers had been working there for some time after Miss Truby's initial visit.

The images of everyone in the college flashed through her mind. She didn't think any of them could do that. If they had to attend classes during the day and dig graves at night, when would they ever get to sleep?

The prime suspects are the tomb raiders from outside the area.

They might come tonight too.

The cemetery was silent. Donna licked her lips, her breathing unconsciously quickening.

Clara, infected by her emotions, turned her head from side to side on her shoulder like a puppy moving into a new home. The witch picked up her lantern, unscrewed the lampshade, blew out the candle, and hid it in a patch of grass. She then unfolded the lion skin and draped it over herself, before slowly walking to a shady spot under a large tree not far away, pressing her body against the trunk, waiting with excitement and tension.

Perhaps she will have a lover in the future, and she will wait for him under the big tree on some date, but the anxiety she feels will probably never be as great as this time.

Every tomb raider is a desperate criminal, and the law does not protect them. Therefore, once their crimes are discovered, they often tend to kill witnesses directly.

Donna was prepared for battle; she carried a pistol and a dagger, and had also considered the possibility of peace.

She had encountered a group of grave robbers in Gevor; although one of them attacked her and Clay, another was familiar with Clayton. Stuart—she remembered the surname. If any grave robbers visiting the academy knew him, that connection might come in handy.

Or perhaps, Donna looked at the tombstone and thought to herself, she didn't necessarily have to show up.

Her snake belt and Clara can both serve as a deterrent; if she appears at the right time, she can subdue the enemy without a fight.

Fighting, negotiating, intimidating. She stared blankly at the cemetery under the moonlight, repeating these three words over and over in her mind.

Time passed unnoticed, and the parish bells rang eight times. Two figures silently climbed over the wall and fell into the bushes, less than twenty meters away from Donna.

If it weren't for the warning from her psychic awareness, Donna wouldn't have known they had arrived. This change immediately cheered her up after waiting for two hours, and she began to carefully observe the newcomers.

The two grave robbers were both men, dressed as laborers. Because of the lack of light in the woods, they didn't find Donna after landing in the grove. Instead, they leaned against the trees and peered through the gaps in the branches at the moonlit gravesite outside the woods. Once they were sure no one was there, they picked up their shovels, made a slight rustling sound as they dragged them into the gravesite.

Both men were of average height, and their blond hair indicated their Nelimate ancestry. The thinner one hid half his face in a tangled beard. The other tomb raider was exceptionally burly, wearing a mask made of some unknown leather. The mask had very distinct facial features, so realistic that it was unclear whether it was an artistic addition or actually made of the leather itself. This thought sent a chill down Donna's spine.

The two tomb raiders communicated without language; they used simple gestures to communicate, each holding one hand free.

When they finished dividing up their work and walked into the moonlight, bending over and digging in the dirt with their backs to the witch, they revealed the amulets hanging from their waists.

The two tomb raiders each wore two "glory hands," pale dead hands strung together with rope, swaying back and forth on their lower backs with each movement, like two strings of garlic.

When Donna saw the Hand of Glory, she immediately sensed something was wrong. This kind of talisman, a favorite among criminals, not only concealed their voices but also served as a warning of hostility.

Sure enough, the next second, their little fingers spontaneously combusted without any fire.

Donna turned her head stiffly, while Clara's eyes were wide open, fixed on the tomb raider's back, like a cat spotting a mouse.

Clearly, Clara didn't think there were three options.

The burning sensation on their buttocks made both tomb raiders straighten up. The burly one, wearing a leather mask, put down his shovel, pulled out a flintlock pistol from his pocket, and looked around. His thinner companion, also carrying a shovel, turned around warily.

"Find him, and deal with him." The leather-masked man spoke his first words, his voice echoing through the labyrinthine caverns.

His accomplice nodded without hesitation.

In less than ten seconds, the two tomb raiders refocused their attention on the grove of trees. As criminals who often need to hide, they could naturally tell where was the best place to hide.

Despite it being the way they came from, they remained highly suspicious of this place.

Two tomb raiders approached step by step through the woods, the burly one in front and the thin one behind.

Donna quietly turned around, completely concealing herself behind the tree trunk. Then she closed her eyes and focused her mind on the lifeless serpentine puppet. The black snake emerged from her sleeve, then slid to the ground, its slender body twisting and sliding across the equally dark earth. After emerging from the forest, it quickly disappeared into the weeds.

"I have a bad feeling about this." The skinny tomb raider jumped up as if he had been electrocuted the moment he said this, and slammed his shovel into the ground next to him, but he missed.

"Damn it, a snake! I've been bitten by a snake!"

“Quiet, you fool,” the leather-masked man said, without even turning around. “No snakes live in this land, but if you keep yelling, you’ll really die.”

His companion immediately shut up.

"Great, what a tough guy. I have to kill him now," Donna thought.