The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Before long, the industrial area's towering chimneys, resembling a forest of bricks and metal, came into view. Along the edges of those steam factories, which resembled steel hills, rows of sheds spread out densely, like matchboxes stacked along the river and hills.

The shacks were narrow and oppressive, forming a complex network of veins. The poor, dressed in rags, could only squeeze through these cramped passages. The clotheslines hanging overhead, filled with faded garments, resembled a spider web covering the sky, shattering the sunlight into fragments.

This is roughly what Greg had described earlier as a shantytown, a place where undocumented migrants and the poorest of the poor live together.

The crow landed and searched around with its eyes. After a short while, it spotted the people sent by the Royal Police and the Sanctuary of the Mist on the outskirts of the settlement.

Ella manipulated the raven to spread its wings and land on the eaves of a shed. She saw that the group from the Sanctuary of the Mist consisted of a blonde arcane mage girl and the young priest Ella had seen in the group before.

The person who came from the police station was a middle-aged man with long, curly, dark brown hair, wearing a black cowboy hat and with a slightly dashing appearance. This was probably Greg's colleague from the Magic Defense Department.

The three people were at the edge of the shantytown, seemingly talking about something.

"Lady Sophia, we'll just investigate briefly and leave soon. Please bear with us."

"I don't want to. Lucas, you guys can go. Why does Elder Antar insist on sending me to a place like this?"

The young arcane mage, known as Sophia, stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes revealing her disdain for the appalling conditions of the shack area.

Although both wore the sanctuary's uniform, the young priest, whom the girl called Lucas, had some faded patterns on his robes from frequent washing, while Sophia's arcane robes were brand new.

Although the Holy Church provides a few sets of basic uniforms to the professional priests who join its ranks, these are equipment with enchantment effects, so they are only provided once. Any additional replacements or upgrades require the priests to use contribution points or spend gold coins.

Therefore, only professional priests from wealthy families can always ensure that the sanctuary garments they wear are the latest.

Listening to the argument between the two from the Holy Temple, the Royal Police detective leaned silently against a moldy wooden wall, leisurely smoking his pipe, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

Compared to the other detectives Ella met at the police station, this detective's attire was more rugged and unkempt, with a fur coat and long hair draped over his shoulders like seaweed, clearly indicating that he was often out on the field.

After Ella finished her afternoon tea and had Ophelia pay the bill, she and her two attendants found a secluded alley, opened a portal, and went straight to the shantytown.

Physically, she was somewhat averse to the dirty and chaotic environment of the shantytown, but having explored all sorts of sewers and stinking rivers, Ye Xiaoshi wasn't too resistant to the shantytown when it was her turn to go.

Moreover, with Ye Xiao constantly training, she is now an expert-level elemental mage, and controlling wind and water elemental magic to keep sewage and dust away from her is no problem at all.

For convenience, she put on the ring "Granx's Experimental Spell Enhancement Device," which she had always kept with Ye Xiao and could be used to cast spells.

She hadn't worn it before mainly because, unlike Ye Xiao, she rarely used ordinary elemental spells. But now, in public, her supernatural spells like tentacles and black flames were really unsuitable, and holding a staff was too much trouble.

A moment later, the two members of the sanctuary, who were still hesitating on the outskirts of the shantytown, saw Ella slowly approaching with two attendants.

Young priest Lucas was clearly surprised that Ella had arrived so quickly. He was taken aback when he saw Ella suddenly appear in a black dress, and then nodded and greeted her, "Good afternoon, Lady Havil."

Sophia, who was standing nearby, immediately followed suit with a greeting. The detective who had been leaning against the wooden wall also strolled over slowly and casually greeted him, "Good afternoon, sir."

Good afternoon, you three. May the Holy Light protect you.

Ella smiled and replied, "Shall we set off now, or would the three of you like to rest a bit more?"

The detective paused, a hint of surprise finally showing in his seemingly indifferent gaze. "...Sir, would you like to come in as well?"

No wonder he was surprised, because Ella's simple yet elegant dress seemed quite out of place against the dirty and messy shack settlement in front of her.

Sophia's resistance was exactly what he expected. This kind of place was not suitable for delicate nobles, so when he saw a noble girl in gorgeous clothes with two servants, he was speechless.

But to my surprise, this seemingly more delicate girl acted quite casually.

"of course."

Ella nodded, interlaced her fingers, and closed her eyes slightly, revealing a charlatan-like demeanor. "As a child of my Lord, I should spread the Holy Light equally to every corner of the world."

"Haha, sorry, I was being a bit presumptuous."

A slight smile appeared on the detective's unshaven face. "Now that you gentlemen are all ready, let's set off."

Sophia's expression was somewhat complicated. She had learned about this "temple priest" from Elder Antar. Since the other party had said so, it would be beneath her to be coy.

"No need to apologize. I understand that the inspector was just being polite out of consideration for me."

Ella waved her hand. "Another question, if I may ask, how should I address you?"

The detective then gently pulled his hat up and gave a simple bow, saying, "Sir, you may call me Van Hessing."

Chapter 117 The Smith Family

The group of six entered the dark shantytown. The church's bright and beautiful robes seemed out of place in this damp and cramped settlement.

The various vagrants dressed in linen suddenly noticed this group of uninvited guests and, as if they had seen a plague, they all hid in the narrow alleyway or crouched behind doors and windows, scrutinizing them with wary eyes.

These piercing gazes made Sophia of the Misty City Sanctuary feel extremely uncomfortable. "What, I haven't even complained about them yet, but they're already complaining about us?"

"The Sanctuary of the Fog City...does it not often come here to make offerings?"

Ella was puzzled by the way everyone around her was avoiding her.

Although the church has feudal doctrines that divide people into different classes, it still maintains the basic obligation to "spread the light" to people of all classes.

At least in Loren, the people in the poorer parts of the city actually revered the church, because the church in Loren would often go there to distribute relief food and clothing in order to take in more homeless believers.

“They often come here to give alms and preach, from the small chapel in the industrial area.”

Lucas replied, "Perhaps because we don't look like typical pastors distributing food."

"It's more likely because of my uniform."

Vanhesin shook his police coat. "The police often come here to arrest or drive away illegal residents, which makes our image not very good in their eyes."

Ella understood and nodded slightly.

The group originally planned to first investigate the previous disappearances in the shantytown to find the vampire who caused the Blood Servant Boy's transformation and the murder of his mother.

But now that Ella has obtained the Blood Servant Boy's identity information from the Blackwater Gang, her first step is to go directly to the places where he used to live to investigate.

It was a dilapidated shack built halfway up a hillside, constructed of planks and nails. Judging from the patchwork of planks around it and the walls covered with weeds and moss, it was easy to tell that the building had been there for quite some time.

But Ella could see some figures flashing by through the broken window frame, indicating that people still live here today.

Van Helsing then went up and tried to push the door, but when he found that he couldn't move it, he simply punched through the fragile wooden board.

Screams immediately came from inside.

Vanhesin shoved aside the broken planks, his tall, muscular frame squeezing into the narrow doorway. In his field of vision, a ragged woman stood with her arms outstretched, protecting a boy and a girl beneath her, her eyes filled with terror. "You...who are you! What are you going to do?!"

"Uh... I'm sorry for being rude."

Van Helsing removed his hat, brushing off the dust as he greeted them. "This abrupt intrusion was not my intention. I am Van Helsing from the Royal Police. According to police records, this should be the residence of the Smith family. Are you relatives or friends of theirs?"

"We...we..."

The woman looked nervous and stammered, "We are their relatives! Please leave. I didn't give you permission to come in!"

"Which branch of the family is she from? A cousin? A sister-in-law?"

"Cousin..."

"Liam Smith's cousin?"

"Yes...yes!"

“Little Smith has no cousin, madam. If you lie to me again, I’m afraid I’ll have to arrest you for interfering with a police investigation.”

Ordinary civilians were no match for Van Hesing; with simple words and intimidation, the outwardly strong but inwardly weak woman quickly gave in.

They admitted that they were refugees who had illegally crossed the border from the Kingdom of Dante in the north. This year, there was a drought there, and now that winter was coming, the poor people were short of food and clothing, so they had no choice but to cross the mountains and rivers to reach Valen.

They recently found this empty house and moved in because no one lived there.

“Refugees have always been a major problem for the kingdom,”

Vanhesin sighed. "According to the law, we should theoretically send them back to Dante, but it's foreseeable that if we do, this family will definitely not survive the winter."

Although the steam plants in the Fog City are criticized, it is undeniable that the swirling smoke emitted day and night from these large chimneys makes the winters of this city, located north of Valencia, unexpectedly less cold than usual.

Furthermore, due to the high demand for cheap labor, even migrants can find illegal work here in exchange for some food and shelter.

However, the influx of migrants significantly increases the difficulties in urban security and population management. There have been many cases of robbery, theft, and even vandalism committed by desperate migrants recently, and these cases have been on the rise in recent months.

"I won't kick you out, but I need to ask you some questions."

After briefly calming the frightened woman, Vanhesin pulled out a small notebook bound with a thick rope from his coat. "When did you move in? Have you seen any of the previous residents or any suspicious persons here?"

The displaced women told the truth that they had moved into the house about two weeks ago and had no idea who the previous residents were.

But when it came to suspicious individuals, the little boy behind the woman said that a week ago, he saw what looked like a fat woman loitering around the house.

The trait of being "fat" was very rare among the poor in the shantytown, so Van Hessin asked the surrounding residents and quickly found a dilapidated clinic nearby based on their descriptions.

After checking, Van Helsing discovered that the clinic was a legally operating clinic with a license, and the owner and doctor, Jenny, was a middle-aged woman with a rounder build.

When she first saw the royal detectives and the priests, the kind-hearted doctor was quite frightened, thinking she had gotten herself into some serious trouble.

But after listening to Van Helsing explain his purpose, he revealed why he had lingered near Smith's shed earlier.

"Mrs. Smith borrowed some money from me before, and since it was already half a month past the repayment deadline, I thought I'd go and see what the situation was, since Mrs. Smith rarely defaults for so long."

"But later I found out what had happened to their family... Sigh, this mother and son are also pitiful."

How much do you know about the Smith family?

Van Helsing asked.

"Actually, it's not much. It's just that Mrs. Smith has an old injury on her foot and can't afford the treatment fees at the church or a big clinic, so she often comes to me for treatment."

Jenny shrugged and said, "But as far as I know, Mrs. Smith is quite frugal. The reason she borrowed money was probably because of her alcoholic and gambling brother."

"Mrs. Smith has a younger brother?"

Van Helsing raised his head.

"Well, I only learned about this person when I treated him a long time ago. That time, the idiot got into a fight and broke his nose."

“I don’t know if he and Mrs. Smith are siblings, but that guy is a homeless person without legal status… Actually, as the doctor here, it’s really not very kind of me to disclose a patient’s privacy to your police station, but I think that bastard deserves it.”

Ella listened silently under the umbrella held up by Orfino, took out Liam's identity information, and indeed could not find any relatives such as "uncle" in the section on his mother's relatives.

It feels very suspicious to find an unregistered person whose relationship with the victim is uncertain and who has not reappeared after the victim was victimized.

"Do you know where you can find this person?"

Van Helsing asked.

"Ah... let me think, it's been a while, I can't quite remember,"

Jenny turned around and shouted at the clinic entrance, "Hey, Kexi! Dear Miss Kexi! Get me the medical records from three months ago, no, I mean four months ago."

This name... why does it sound so familiar?

Ella was slightly taken aback and tilted her head to look, but she didn't see anyone. Instead, she saw a stack of documents tied with rope flying out of the door in an arc.

"Hey! Kexi! I've told you so many times not to throw things like that, it's very impolite!"

Jenny skillfully took the documents that were thrown at her. "Sorry, my assistant has only been here for a few days... and she's a bit rough around the edges."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

Van Helsing smiled.

"May I meet Miss Kexi?"

Ella suddenly said.

"Huh? Uh, is this related to the case you're investigating, sir?"

"Actually, it doesn't matter."

Ella honestly shook her head and said, "If it's inconvenient, then forget it."

"Thank you for your understanding, sir. We've been quite busy lately, so we're really sorry."

Jenny smiled warmly and cheerfully.

"It's okay. Thank you for your hard work."

As Ella lowered her hat slightly and said this, a crow silently landed on the clothesline on the roof of the clinic.

Chapter 118 The Ripper

Watching Ella and the others disappear into the end of the corridor between the shacks, Doctor Jenny's expression seemed rather complicated.

She retreated back inside the clinic, waited a moment, then turned around and sighed softly, "Alright, they should all be gone by now."

"These aren't the people you were trying to avoid, Miss Kexi, are they?"

"Avoiding them was just a side effect."