Westminster Bank

Vivian was a little scared at first, but when she saw Baron was only stroking her ears, she wasn’t afraid anymore. She let him do it, saying timidly,

"Sir, 100 times is a bit much. Could it be fewer?"

"Are you trying to bargain with me?" Baron asked nonchalantly.

"N-no..."

Vivian jumped in fright, lowering her head and letting Baron stroke her fluffy beast ears and snowy-white hair.

Jack watched, feeling tempted to try it himself, but Dunbar stopped him. "S-sir, even if you saved us, Vivian is still just a child..."

Jack was speechless. ’Looks like this old man thinks I’m some kind of creepy blond perv.’

From behind the barrier, Barbara watched the masked youth in the trench coat, thinking he was quite interesting.

Their eyes met, but his gaze didn’t linger on her for even a fraction of a second before sweeping past.

This only made Barbara find the man more interesting.

It wasn’t that he was one of the rare men uninterested in her beauty. It was that in the instant their gazes met, she was unable to see what he truly desired.

For a professor of Wizard Psychology at the Edinburgh Wizard School, this was an incredibly fascinating prospect.

The Old Blood Nobility had suffered heavy losses, and they began chattering amongst themselves, discussing how to pass Judgement on the Old Race on the other side of the barrier—those who had dared to transgress and offend them. It was then that Barbara stepped in and interrupted.

"I don’t care what the rest of you do, but leave that man to me. I need him."

She pointed to Baron, who had just snapped out of his petting-induced trance. He seemed to have had an epiphany and was now lost in thought.

"Miss Hestie, you..." The Third Elder of the Medici Family rubbed his hands together like a housefly, a sly smile spreading across his greasy, fat face. "I seem to recall you already have a husband..."

"And what if I do, Mr. Medici? Are you wondering why I didn’t choose you?" Barbara replied with a smile. Her lips were a vibrant red, her smile just as dazzling.

If one were to grade a woman’s allure, Barbara would undoubtedly be at the very pinnacle—able to awaken a man’s primal instincts with a single glance or smile.

Every man who witnessed this, be they Old Blood Nobility or the Old Race and Bloodless on the other side of the barrier, awkwardly doubled over as a certain primal urge surged within them.

If not for their apprehension toward her noble status and the Magic Staff in her hand, that urge would have instantly translated into action.

The only exceptions were Baron and Jack. While everyone else was mesmerized by her beauty, the two of them were squatting over a corpse, brazenly looting it.

This act thoroughly enraged the nearby Old Race. "Kill them!" they roared, but when Baron casually fired a few shots into the air, they lost their nerve and didn’t dare to approach.

The Old Blood Nobility on the other side of the barrier stared coldly in their direction, whispering instructions to the Demon Hunters who were protecting them.

The Old Race and the Bloodless grew uneasy. Deeply indoctrinated by the class system of the Inner Side, they began to speculate about what was to come.

This was especially true after everything that had just happened in the train car.

Those high-society elites were probably planning how to punish them all later.

Just then.

A window slid open, and a blood-soaked figure staggered inside.

It was Anke.

As Anke entered, the once-noisy train car was plunged back into silence.

The Third Elder ordered, "Anke! Drive all these members of the Old Race out!"

One by one, the other Old Blood Nobility chimed in with their agreement.

But Anke didn’t listen to the Third Elder. He stared out the window in terror, his face twitching uncontrollably. After a long moment, he finally choked out, "It’s all over."

"Out there... besides the Corrosive Demon, an entity on par with a top-tier Bronze, there are countless other Bronze Demons, big and small. They’ve caught up... My squad was wiped out. I’m the only one who made it back... Damn it!"

Anke slammed his fist on the floor.

Everyone froze at his words.

Demons that even Demon Hunters couldn’t defeat... ’What were ordinary people like them supposed to do?’

"Let’s use these Old Race and Bloodless as bait to draw the Demons away. Their lives aren’t as valuable or important as ours... I have a complete defensive Alchemy Array on me, powerful enough to withstand an attack from a Bronze Tier Demon for some time. And only I can activate it..."

The Third Elder whispered, conferring with the nearby Demon Hunters and Anke.

"So why don’t they just call the Inquisition?"

Baron, whose Dragon Knight Profession granted him enhanced hearing, had overheard the conversation between the Third Elder and the other elites. He turned to Jack and asked.

’He still remembered the Battle Nuns from his first ride on the Dragon metro... those long legs in black silk stockings—ahem, I mean, their cinematic entrance and comic-book-level strength.’

Jack said, "The Inquisition only passes Judgement on heretics."

’Talk about over-specialization,’ Baron griped internally.

RUMBLE!

The chaos erupted anew. The sound of immense, heavy breathing echoed from outside the train car. All at once, the windows shattered. A frigid wind howled inside, clinging to everyone’s backs along with their cold sweat, a bone-deep chill.

Anke let out a battle cry, rallying all the remaining Demon Hunters in the car. It seemed he intended to make a final, desperate stand.

Everyone stared at them, a faint glimmer of hope flickering in their desperate eyes.

’Even though they hated the class system, at a time like this, the only ones they could rely on were these Law Enforcers.’

But the faint hope in the passengers’ eyes was extinguished just as quickly as it had appeared.