Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted-Chapter 17: The Ball

"Master Mentor, greetings."
"Greetings, may the God of Bountiful Harvest bless you."
Everyone who saw Loren would inevitably come to greet him, and to make matters worse, the dance was even playing songs written by Loren, making him feel quite exhausted.
Mirrorheart and Naclis were still by his side, while Anna had long since thrown herself at the dance's pastries. Her eating manners were quite unsightly, and under normal circumstances, she would have been mocked, but since she was Loren's person, everyone unanimously ignored Anna and even specially assigned a maid to take care of her.
This being her first time in such a place, Naclis felt somewhat at a loss, standing behind Loren the entire time. Only after Loren had exchanged greetings with everyone here did he finally have some free time to take Naclis to sample the food carefully prepared by the King.
Naclis followed behind Loren, her fingers repeatedly spreading and clenching, clearly conflicted. After taking several deep breaths, she finally mustered the courage to reach out from behind and take Loren's hand. Loren instinctively tightened his grip, and feeling the familiar warmth, Naclis felt a trace of comfort in this unfamiliar place.
Unlike before, Naclis placed her other hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat - much faster than usual.
"What's happening to me..."
Naclis then placed her hand on her face, noticing even her cheek temperature was higher than before.
"What's wrong?"
Loren remained as attentive as ever, quickly noticing Naclis's unusual state and placing his hand on her other cheek.
"Hmm?"
As time passed, Loren felt Naclis's temperature growing increasingly hot and began to worry:
"Are you sick?"
After a moment of hesitation, Naclis nodded:
"Master Mentor... my face feels so hot... my heartbeat is so fast..."
Hearing Naclis's words, Loren directly placed his hand on Naclis's chest. Due to Naclis's figure, Loren could clearly feel her heartbeat, but this action seemed to ignite a sports car's engine, making the heartbeat almost roar like thunder.
"Witches aren't supposed to get sick easily..."
Loren muttered to himself while pressing more firmly.
"Ahem, I think I know what's going on."
Mirrorheart suddenly coughed a few times, attracting Loren's attention.
"That's great, you take Naclis back to rest first."
Before he could finish speaking, Loren saw a man approaching them. The man was very thin, dressed quite revealingly, looking utterly exhausted, and even walking unsteadily.
Especially noticeable was the plum blossom pattern beneath his neck, which Loren immediately recognized:
"A believer of the God of Plague..."
Unlike the God of Bountiful Harvest's followers who wore plants as symbols, the plum blossoms on the God of Plague's believers weren't drawn but were symptoms of venereal disease.
"Master Mentor..."
"Get lost!"
Loren didn't give him a chance to speak and immediately began driving him away. Followers of the God of Plague all had their peculiarities. Witches couldn't inspire lustful thoughts in people, so throughout the entire dance, no one paid attention to Anna and Naclis. Mirrorheart was Loren's maid, and anyone attending this dance wouldn't be foolish enough to hit on her.
So the man had only one purpose here...
"Don't be so harsh, I just wanted to invite you to spend..."
"Believe me, I have ten thousand ways to make you die here without anyone suspecting me."
Loren despised all Orthodox Gods, and for profit, he wouldn't mind believing in some deity, but he held particular disgust for the God of Plague and His followers, even willing to openly confront them on the spot.
The God of Plague could suppress all illnesses, so His followers weren't affected by diseases, allowing them to indulge without restraint - which explained why this place had the most homosexual men.
Not because this place was blessed with exceptional people producing many homosexuals, but because people could indulge here without worrying about diseases, attracting these individuals...
But that wasn't the main reason. Plague followers used plagues and viruses as weapons during wars, disregarding the costs, making them the worst of the worst.
Realizing the man had ill intentions, Mirrorheart promptly hugged Loren's arm to declare sovereignty, also demonstrating Loren's orientation.
Seeing Mirrorheart and Loren so intimate, Naclis felt somewhat stifled in her heart, not understanding what was wrong with her today.
Normally they often slept together, but now simple physical contact made Naclis react so strongly...
Seeing the man still unwilling to leave, Loren decided to send Naclis away first. Just being near a follower of the God of Plague made Loren feel contaminated:
"You two return to the room first, and check how the nightingale we rescued earlier is doing."
"Okay..."
Seeing an opportunity to separate Mirrorheart from Loren, Naclis proactively pulled Mirrorheart away. Loren also drew the gun hidden in his black robe, aiming it at the God of Plague's follower. Being able to bring a gun into the dance proved Loren indeed had ways to kill him. Only then did the plague believer finally leave.
Loren hadn't expected this dance would invite people from the God of Plague's side. Loren glanced at the King who was conversing with someone, suspecting this old fellow wasn't exactly respectable either.
The King noticed Loren's gaze and immediately ended his conversation, walking toward Loren.
The king of a small country didn't command much authority. The Gedlan Kingdom, called a kingdom, was actually smaller than a province, even the smallest province.
Especially since the King still had the church above him - royal authority and divine authority were completely incomparable. The church could replace a king just by holding a vote.
"Master Mentor... could you play a piece for everyone?"
Loren didn't respond but instead questioned:
"Why are there followers of the God of Plague attending this dance?"
Challenged by Loren, the King instinctively wanted to explain, but Loren interrupted again:
"Listen, he may just look somewhat weak, but he probably has over ten types of venereal diseases on him. He has the God of Plague's protection, so he's fine, but that doesn't mean the diseases won't spread. Using plagues is how those plague followers wage wars. He may look fine, but if you get infected, you'd die in days, and even I couldn't save you then. Would you change your faith to the God of Plague just to survive?"
Such a serious accusation suddenly thrown at him made the King quite fearful.
All gods had methods to control their followers - plagues were the God of Plague's method. Once followers lost their faith, they would instantly die from disease outbreaks after losing divine protection.
But the God of Bountiful Harvest lacked means to control followers, relying solely on the church, which made the church extremely fanatical about faith management. With Loren's accusation, the King could truly die.
"I wouldn't dare... He's nobility from the Bardo Kingdom, and we have business dealings with them. Much of our grain is exported through his channels."
"You'd better truly know what you're doing."
The fundamental reason for saying all this was simple - Loren detested these people. Even the morally flexible Loren still considered them inhuman.
After speaking with the King, Loren walked to the band, took a violin from one of the musicians, and began playing skillfully.