William was shrouded amid darkness in an alley a few meters away from the manor. He snuck out after his bedtime.

"I'm tired of waiting. If the person that tried to assassinate me finds out I'm still alive I doubt they will stop trying to kill me." William walked in the darkness. He wore a hooded cloak to cover his mummified body.

Time neared midnight as clouds covered the night sky and made a silly attempt to hide the bright and surreal moon. The cold, north winds blew the litter on the street south.

The houses were made of bricks with decorative half-timbering and had steeply pitched roofing with multiple overlapping, front-facing gables of varying heights. A few of them still had the weak and dim candle lights reflecting out of their tall and narrow windows but that didn't do much to brighten up the street. The streets had oil-lit lamps but they were dim too.

William retraced his steps and followed the path where Berne led him down.

"Berne, that kid. The first friend I made in this world didn't even wait more than a week after we met to betray me and lead me to my death. Maybe I'm truly cursed." William murmured to himself as he got to Cottonshire and headed up to the alley he was almost assassinated by a vampire.

Upon getting to the area, William saw that the houses beside the alley had signs of repair but the walls and floor were charred black.

Since the police had already run the necessary protocol and even identified the corpse, there was no need to watch the site 24/7.

William was relieved to see that there was no one there and crossed over to the alley.

On the wall, there was a shape of a person with their hands up. They were most likely screaming.

"Serves that disgusting vampire right." William said for only him to hear and gently touched the wall. The bricks crumbled like a piece of cake.

…Now I remember, Father said I should report to him if I see anything suspicious that day I started school. It seemed like he was enrolling me there to stumble upon something crucial or get essential evidence and the other person realized this quickly and then decided it was best to eliminate me. I was a nuisance to someone as the son of a Viscount, but who?

William thought hard about all the people he met during the five days he was in school and only one person's face kept on popping into his head…

"Miss Bethany!" William placed a hand under his chin.

…She doesn't like me one bit. Never once has she ever looked at me without holding back her vomit. I should tail her and learn her true colors. Why will that old hag want me dead? I cautiously tried to avoid her and never acted like I knew more than her during class, right?

William heard a few footsteps behind him and he quickly hid in the shadows by walking further down the alley.

A boy wearing tattered clothes and a cap held the hand of a little girl with brown hair in a worn-out dress.

The boy looked cautious of his surroundings, he whispered to his sister, "Let's pray for William's soul so the Holy Mother will accept him in her loving embrace."

The little girl nodded then interlocked her fingers and muttered a few words. And the boy did the same too.

…What is this sh*t show? Praying for my soul when you're an accomplice? William reached his hand somewhere in his cloak and brought out a shortsword but put it back.

William walked out of the darkness and lunged at Berne, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and said, "Speak!"

Berne, with the face of a child that had just seen a ghost, stammered, "W-W-W-William…"

William shook him and repeated, "Speak! Why did you trick me into meeting with a freakin' vampire?!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…" Berne cried profusely as he begged.

Emma grabbed onto William's cloak and also had tears rolling down her eyes.

Berne continued, "H-H-He took Emma and said he was going to kill her if I didn't bring you to him. Please I'm sorry but I couldn't let my sister die too."

William reduced the amount of force in his grip and hissed, "Tch. That disgusting vampire, roping children in on his evil schemes…"

Then he later turned to Berne and added, "But do you think I will let you go? I am like this because of you!"

"I know, what I have done can't be forgiven. But please, leave my sister out of whatever you do to me, she has nothing to do with this! I am the one that tricked you, not her…"

William released his hold on Berne's collar and said, "I haven't forgiven you. I'm just tired of beefing with children."

…I'm sure I would have probably done the same thing for Allison anyway.

Berne thanked William and apologized to him profusely. Emma's stomach growled once again and William gave her the bread he planned to eat if he got hungry in his search for answers.

Berne studied William's figure and said, "I heard there an explosion after I left you. What caused it? Are you okay? Your injuries look really serious. This is all my fault…"

William remembered what Selene said about the explosion and stammered a little, "I-I don't know what caused it, and uh yeah, I'm recovering fine."

He quickly changed the topic to something more relevant, "Anyway, how did you meet that vampire?" William asked Berne as he escorted them home.

"He…He was the new priest at the Basilica of Our Lady of Passion that came last month."

William was shocked by this information, "Wait, did you say he came only a month ago?"

Berne drew close to William and whispered so Emma won't hear, "Yes. We live near the Docks so we see him regularly. He called me and Emma to help him fetch a few buckets of water. He said he was going to pay us but he locked Emma in a basement in a shack near the church and showed me he was a vampire…

"It was my first time seeing one I was so scared. He said I shouldn't tell anyone and follow all his orders otherwise he won't only kill my sister.  When I got back there after, I saw a masked man. He said I was extremely lucky they were laying low, otherwise, both I and Emma wouldn't leave there alive. After that he let us go."

William thought for a few seconds before asking, "Do you think this masked man is connected to the disappearances?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Just to confirm, the Basilica of Our Lady of Passion is a church of the Holy Mother of Life, right?"

"Yeah."

…I knew it. Even a newborn child will not be stupid enough to not realize that religious organization is roped in with blood-sucking murderers. Those bastards might have killed my mother. I'll add them to my investigation…

Berne stopped and pointed at a small house amongst other small houses, "See our house over there. My father's probably busy right now."

…Yeah, come to think of it. These kids have way more independence than normal children. Their father's too irresponsible… William thought about his father and how maybe he had been too aggressive in how he spoke to him earlier.

William bid Berne and Emma a farewell and headed back home.

…Vampires, a masked man, missing children, and the Church of the Holy Mother of Life. I must find out how they're all related to each other and why they would want the son of the viscount, dead…

William got home about an hour after midnight and snuck back into the manor by climbing over the wall and got into the main house by sneaking in through the kitchen.

…I should probably go and apologize to father, right? Hehe, it won't be awkward if a 10-year-old kid went to their parent's room in the middle of the night with teary eyes to apologize for the wrong they've done… William headed up the stairs to get to the last floor.

Clang!

"Argh!" A loud noise was heard when William was only a few meters away from Viscount Maxton's room followed by a loud groan.

"What's that?!" William sped up and opened the bedroom door.

Viscount Maxton was on his knees, on the floor with his sword logged in the middle of his upper abdomen!

"Father!" William quickly ran to his father and held attempted to remove the sword.

"Father! What happened?! Who did this to you?!"

Viscount Maxton held William's hand and coughed some blood before he struggled to say, "Don't pull it out…"

Viscount Maxton's eyes were losing focus and William was still too shocked to make sense of the current situation.

…Sh****t! What do I do?! Call for help? Or chase the assassin? F****ck! If I call for help and he eventually dies then I'll have no way of knowing who did this! Then how will I get my revenge?!

A grin of frustration appeared on William's face.

Selene, who was standing at the door saw an evil smile on William's face as he held the handle of the sword that was logged into Viscount Maxton.

"YOU DEMON! I knew I shouldn't have let you live a day after you came here!" Selene screamed. Her thick black, long hair slowly turned white and her pale skin became even paler as she slowly started levitating.

William couldn't believe his eyes but he instinctively knew if he didn't speak up quickly he would suffer grave consequences, "I-I-I'm not the one!"

Selene was as white as the moon and bright white light blinded anyone that looked upon her divine figure. She said majestically, "I told you if anything happened to him, you shall suffer my wrath. I curse you, William Maxton. You shall suffer a sad and cold death."

"W-W-WAIT!"

⸤Energy detected!⸣

⸤System initializing…⸣

<Error!>

<Danger!>

<Danger!>

<Danger!>

「Warning! An extraordinary power is heading your way! Leave the area immediately!」

…A system?! All William heard in his head were constant warning messages. In such a series of rapid and unprecedented events, he couldn't think straight.

⸢Name: Selene

Race: God        ⸥

…A Goddess?! That was the last thought William had before he passed out.