Chapter 631: The Restaurant
The attendant stared at Laila, stunned for a long moment before speaking:
"So you're actually a woman?"
"I..."
Laila's face puffed up with anger, and she glared viciously at the attendant. In the end, it was Loren who let out an awkward cough:
"Ahem, bring out all the signature dishes, and desserts too."
"That's right, that's right, I'm his daughter, I want dessert!"
Veronica chimed in at just the right moment, and with Loren's soothing, Laila's anger subsided, and she sat back down in her seat.
Which made her look even shorter.
"Very well..."
With Loren ordering so many dishes, it would cost a pretty penny, and she could earn a nice commission, so at this point, she no longer cared about the dynamics of Loren's family.
Otherwise, she might have asked whether what Loren was doing was even legal...
But Loren didn't look like an ordinary person no matter how you looked at him, so the attendant chose to keep her mouth shut, so as not to invite trouble upon herself.
In her imagination, Veronica was Loren's daughter, Loren's original wife was missing without a trace, and Laila was the second or even third wife...
The fact that Loren looked so young only further demonstrated how extraordinary he was.
"How are the others doing?"
While waiting for the food, Loren asked about the others.
"They're fine. None of them have left Scarlett's house."
"Let's eat quickly and head back."
Loren looked out the window as he replied.
The streets outside remained desolate. So much time had passed that fewer and fewer people were searching for witches.
By the time Loren had returned, the number of people hunting for witches had dwindled even further, and even those who did search carried fake detectors.
As long as I don't get tested, then there are no witches, and I don't have to be Loren's enemy.
Everything Loren had done before had been effective. He had long since planted the seeds of fear deep in people's hearts.
Now, the Church members were more afraid of detecting witches than the witches themselves.
If they didn't act, they couldn't get past the Church. If they did act, Loren would kill them. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.
...
The food at this place really was delicious, no wonder so many people came here. The only flaw was that the desserts weren't very sweet. Loren rather liked that flavor, but Anna didn't.
Moreover, after Veronica admitted her identity as his daughter, Laila's attitude toward her improved considerably, to the point where she even started actively feeding Veronica.
After the meal, Loren packed up quite a bit of food and headed toward the hideout.
The streets were still largely empty, and it wasn't just because of the serial killer, but also because of the war.
There was a fair distance between here and the battlefield, so the war's impact here was limited, but there were still virtually no able-bodied young men to be seen on the streets. They had all been dragged off to the front lines.
Of course, those forcibly conscripted were all commoners. The nobles continued to live their carefree lives here.
On the way back, Loren picked up a newspaper along the way. There was still no useful information in it, nothing but reports of what successes the war had achieved, another victory.
Or law enforcement officials vowing they would catch the serial killer, even though Loren hadn't seen a single law enforcement officer on the streets.
Loren also looked at older newspapers. A long time ago, the papers had claimed the serial killer had already been apprehended. When more people died afterward, the papers would say it was copycat crimes, and it wasn't until dozens of copycat offenders had been executed and the killings still hadn't stopped that the papers finally changed their tune.
These matters made Loren think of Helen from the Bardo Kingdom. Relying on her family's status as great nobles, she had directly become a Divine Detective.
Whoever she said was the murderer, that person was the murderer. Who knew how many innocent people had died unjustly, and how many criminals roamed free.
This sort of thing was everywhere, and one could even say the Bardo Kingdom's situation counted as the brighter side, at least the King actually wanted to deal with them.
The biggest difference was that other places wouldn't be so flashy about it. Finding a scapegoat was finding a scapegoat. They wouldn't build someone up into a Divine Detective. They at least had some sense of shame.
...
Although Scarlett's little house was small, everyone was here, which made it feel rather cozy.
Originally, Loren had planned to use Abundant Magic to create some furniture, but since Scarlett had already woken up, Loren simply had her pull quite a bit of luxurious furniture from her space, instantly transforming the humble little house into something upscale.
At the moment, everyone was gathered around the dining table, enjoying the food Loren had brought back.
"We're gradually reuniting as a family..."
Loren looked at everyone eating and felt a bit emotional. Everything was moving in a good direction.
After learning the coordinates of nearly all the witches from Laila, Loren finally breathed a sigh of relief.
All that remained was for Loren to steadily retrieve the other witches.
Aside from Movila, whose whereabouts were still unknown, Loren was most worried about Paqina.
Her position was similar to Noah's. Noah could kill all of humanity for his dead lover, and Paqina, being a witch, would only be more extreme than Noah.
After all, from Paqina's perspective, Loren was already dead.
Although Loren had told them more than once that he couldn't die, even earlier, Loren had explained that the equality of life and the impossibility of resurrection were the foundational logic of this world.
From that perspective, Loren's later claims that he could resurrect seemed more like comforting words.
"Paqina is with the Witches' Church. The Secret Witch should be watching over her... probably..."
The Secret Witch was kind to Loren, but that didn't mean she was some pushover. To have survived the encirclement of the nine Orthodox Gods to this day, and to still shelter other witches, she absolutely could not be any pushover.
If Paqina, like Noah, developed something capable of exterminating humanity, perhaps the Secret Witch wouldn't support her much, but she would never stop her either.
Exterminating humanity wasn't actually that big of a deal, it was within Loren's acceptable range, but what Paqina was researching was likely not that simple.
Lost in Loren's thoughts, the day passed uneventfully. The next day, Scarlett had recovered some of her mobility, and it was time to set out.
Scarlett wouldn't need to walk far on this journey. Starnight would carry them in flight, at worst the flight would be a bit thrilling.
Since they were planning to leave, Loren no longer had any intention of hiding. After all, Laila could locate the other witches' positions, so there was no fear of them relocating.
Perhaps once they heard news of Loren, they would even head toward him, a mutual journey to meet each other halfway.
"Let's have a meal before we set out. This time we're heading straight for the God of Night and Thunder's territory, and there won't be any proper places to eat on the road."
Before leaving, Loren planned to bring everyone to the most luxurious inn in town for a meal.
This was the place where Loren had seen the couple walk in yesterday. There weren't many people here, but they were all important figures.
The interior was different from what Loren had imagined. It was like a teppanyaki restaurant. The head chef was a woman, and her skin was exceptionally smooth and delicate, which left a deep impression on Loren.
She grilled some side dishes on the iron plate. Just as Loren expected her to introduce some expensive ingredients, she suddenly began introducing herself instead.
She talked about how regular her life was, what she usually ate, and how she maintained her skin... Loren suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the next moment, she sliced off a piece of her own flesh and tossed it onto the iron plate without hesitation. Blood flowed down her arm, spreading from her hand to the spatula, and finally dripping onto the iron plate, sizzling loudly.