The Laws of Werewolf Hunting

Chapter 591 Fifty Plus Fifty

Clara looked at the stranger with a puzzled expression.

Clayton warned her to be careful of the man in the black robe, but he recognized her and seemed vaguely familiar.

“Leilet?!” Clara asked hesitantly, recalling a boy who could never dance well, the complete opposite of her other friend, Gosher—thanks to the Bello family’s education, she could now associate changes in appearance with age.

Pete smiled and confirmed her words: "Yes, I am Wright."

Wright was his real name, while Pete was his Christian name. Since he officially became a clergyman, the name Wright has been abandoned.

Clara, despite having a close friend in front of her, propped herself up on her arms and stepped back, looking wary.

The priest was taken aback by her attitude, and his smile gradually faded: "Clara?"

Clara pouted, her thin golden eyebrows furrowing together: "Hawn is a friend too, but Hawn has turned bad. You wouldn't want to attack me too, would you? Kerry said he's a Ratwalker, and Wright, I remember the adults call you the Rat King."

Both the Rat King and the Rat Walker are related to rats, but the Rat King sounds more powerful than the Rat Walker.

If the Ratwalker is the villain, then the Rat King must be an even bigger villain.

Pete quickly understood her logic and began to defend herself.

“I am not a rat. They call me that because my talent is similar to the Rat King phenomenon—a group of rats intertwine their tails and grow together. Their originally small strength is integrated, making them far stronger than individuals. Because of this talent, I did not undergo the drastic changes that others experienced after my sacrifice.”

Clara tilted her head to look at him: "So, you're part of a group?"

"It's not entirely wrong."

The priest smiled again, and he held out his hand. Clara crawled over, but instead of climbing onto his hand as he expected, she stopped in front of him and shook his small, slender hand. "Wright, it's nice to see you and the others again. Can they say hello to me?"

She looked him up and down curiously, trying to find a second face.

“My brothers and sisters can’t speak, but they can hear,” Pete replied.

“What a pity.” Clara’s eyes darted between Pete and the stairs. “You used to always bump into people when you were playing, so clumsy. Things would be so much better if they could help you.”

The priest felt embarrassed when Clara, with her youthful face, called him "stupid." He coughed and said, "By God's blessing, I can now control my strength, and that kind of thing will not happen again."

"So who are you playing with now?"

"I'm old, so I'm not playing anymore."

Clara said with a hint of envy, "Yes, you're an adult now, and I really want to grow up too."

“You can grow slowly, there’s no need to rush. In nature, slow-growing plants and animals often end up growing bigger than other species.”

Clara was delighted to hear this, and she made no attempt to hide her joy; her expression was as if she were seeing flowers and butterflies for the first time.

Father Petty was infected by her smile, and his own smile became even brighter.

"Mr. Bello has been very good to you, hasn't he?"

"You know him?"

“Yes, but I wouldn’t dare say I know him a lot, at least not as much as you do.” The priest looked up at the ceiling, one of the few parts of the house that remained pristine white.

He only learned last winter that Clara was hiding in the Mani family's old house. By then, she had already escaped. If Clara hadn't been a demon, perhaps he would have taken her in and cared for her. But "now" is better than "maybe." Her new guardian is much better than him, as evidenced by Clara's newly grown hands.

Clayton Bello killed Athena Berlusconi—Clara's biological mother, but that's not really important; the madwoman she truly considered her mother had long since died.

Now that she has a new family, she can start over completely, as long as she never sees Joe Manny again.

“However, being an adult isn’t all that great,” Pete sighed sincerely. “There are always things you have to do, and people you have to meet. Even if you’re full of other people’s secrets, you can’t share them.”

“You can tell me,” Clara suggested, her eyes sparkling.

"I'm afraid not, Clara, it really won't work."

Clara's blue eyes lost their sparkle, and she pouted, "Stingy." "Keeping other people's secrets is my duty. Adults can't do whatever they want." The priest leaned back on the stairs, letting the sharp edges of the steps support his back. "In the adult world, everyone needs to consider the opinions of others, or they will be punished."

"Was Kerry punished too? I heard he's been throwing tantrums for days on end."

“Ah, I know about that. He offended Sir Culles, who is not a friendly man. Stepping on him is as dangerous as stepping on a poisonous snake, but Mr. Bello should be able to handle it.”

Can you help Kerry?

“I can’t do anything about it,” the priest said. “If it were last year, I could have done something based on my friendship with the mayor, but this year the mayor has changed, so my opinion is no longer relevant.”

“Okay.” Clara was disappointed, but still comforted Pete, “You were very good last year too.”

Father Petty gave a wry smile.

They lingered on the stairs for a while, reminiscing about the past—a period that matched their combined age of a century—but there weren't many shared memories truly worth deepening; in this house, food, play, and deception occupied all of it.

Forty years have passed since then. Pete is now a middle-aged man, while Clara is still a child.

As the priest spoke of his days at church, Clara began to talk about her new family.

Sharing pleasant things strengthened their friendship, but due to their different social statuses, the things that brought them joy were very limited, and they soon had to fall into silence together.

After a while, Clara took the initiative to break the silence.

"Why did Wright come here? He clearly doesn't like it here."

The demon's ability to read minds made her realize that Wright didn't like this place as much as she did, so she became curious about his purpose in being there.

“I don’t like it here, but I need it.” Pete sat up, her face showing a hesitation that Clara couldn’t understand. “If a person wants to be healthy, they must eat vegetables and meat and get enough sleep. It has nothing to do with whether they like it or not.”

"Wizards consciously control their emotions because appropriate emotions can enhance their magic, and so can miracles."

"I need to reflect on my experience here, which will give me stronger conviction."

"Are you in trouble?" Clara also propped herself up on her arms, placed her palms on the ground, and "stood" up on the steps.

"Ah."

Pete didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, but Clara pushed herself up with her arm and jumped up, landing right in front of him, clearly determined to get to the bottom of it. He shook his head helplessly.

“This matter is actually somewhat related to Mr. Bello; it can help both of us.”

“Cray, or Clayton,” Clara corrected him.

As a mutual friend of both of them, and having just had a great chat with Pete, their friendship had deepened. Clara felt that he and Clayton should now use more intimate terms of address—for her sake, they should also be friends.

“Alright, then it’s Clayton.” The priest readily agreed: “Last year, he defeated an evil witch who was connected to Sir Kureth, who is now at odds with him. That witch had other accomplices, and Kureth, in order to gain their support, chose to hand over one of his secrets. But the witch died unexpectedly, and the secret that Sir Kureth gave her was immediately lost, and no one knows who it fell into.”

“If we have this secret, even if Sir Curles has a bad temper, we can put a bit on him just like we would on a wild horse.”

"For some personal reasons, I also have reasons to take revenge on him."

"I spent two months investigating this matter and found that it was likely sent to the dwarven community, but it is currently ruled by the Earth Mother Cult. This religion, which arose among the Moriel, appears to be mild and harmless on the surface, but it is actually very aggressive. Those dwarves who still believe in the Urog giants have been driven away by them, and non-dwarves who have joined the cult are only of value as patrons."

"Actually, most heretics are at this level, but recently, the Earth Mother Cult has started abducting homeless people. This practice reminds me of sacrifice."

At this point, the priest solemnly admonished Clara.

"Clara, you probably have similar ritual magic in your mind. Try not to use these rituals; they are not good things."

Seeing Clara nod, he continued, “Nobody cares about the homeless. Many people want their numbers to decrease—by whatever means necessary. The bishops are too busy preparing for the festival and hosting the brothers of the Heavenly Mountain Choir to deal with it. The only person who wants to deal with it and has the ability is me, but just as I was about to head to the Moriel community in St. Alvin, the area was sealed off, and I was stopped outside.”

"The person who issued the blockade order was from the Knights of High Rock. He and his men claimed that they had not found anything unusual there and emphasized the completeness of the blockade. But I know that their blockade has not achieved the effect they envisioned."

"Because during the period when they locked down that community, members of the Earth Mother Cult were still appearing near the various workhouses."

“No one has ever seen those vagrants who were lured away again. I believe there must be a huge space beneath St. Alvin where the dwarves can pursue evil without any regard for the eyes of the world.”