Miss Witch's Devotion Has Gone… Twisted-Chapter 247: The Corpse Business

"Scarlett."

Loren called out to Scarlett. She turned her head blankly, a piece of popcorn stuck in her hair. Loren could only help clean her hair while speaking to her.

"Secretly let Gwen out. I have a use for her."

"Oh."

After being trained by Loren for so long, Scarlett had gained a bit of intelligence. At the very least, she knew how to use her Arcane Ability discreetly.

Their seats were already in the back row, not many people noticed this area, and the Uridia Kingdom didn't have surveillance cameras or anything like that.

The Church of Night and Thunder was suppressing the development of technology, especially technology related to information. So, even though movies had been invented, telephones hadn't appeared here.

Gwen appeared silently in the empty seat next to them, as if she had been there from the start.

Loren controlled Gwen, who naturally walked out of the cinema, hailed a taxi outside, and got in.

"Where to, miss?"

"The cemetery."

Gwen maintained her mysterious persona, saying nothing more and exuding an oppressive aura.

"Are you a necromancer?"

The driver, being naturally chatty, started making conversation. Perhaps those who drive taxis might be from the lower class, but those who take taxis definitely aren't. So, these drivers who frequently interact with the upper class know quite a bit.

"What makes you think that?"

Gwen neither admitted nor denied it, simply asking a question in return.

"Your attire looks like you can't stand the light... uh... I mean mysterious. Also, there are people selling corpses over at the cemetery. Many necromancers choose to go there to buy corpses."

"After all, spending a little money can save a lot of trouble. Why wouldn't you do it?"

This driver really knew a lot. Loren simply continued asking through Gwen.

"They sell corpses so openly? I remember Uridian law doesn't allow that, right? And can the cemetery's supply of corpses withstand being sold like that?"

It seemed he had finally found an opportunity to show off his knowledge. The driver held nothing back, sharing everything he knew.

"Tsk, those buried in the cemetery are all Nobles and Royals. How would they dare sell them? The ones being sold are commoner corpses shipped in from who knows where. Most of these corpses carry viruses, very useful."

"Those who come to buy corpses aren't just necromancers. There are also some followers of the God of Plague. Many of them are necrophiliacs, and many like to eat corpses. These corpses really aren't hard to sell."

"..."

Loren didn't think this driver was some kind of intelligence operative. Otherwise, he wouldn't speak so freely.

So, this only meant one thing: these matters were already common knowledge. They couldn't even be bothered to put on an act anymore.

On the surface, necromancers were still roughly equivalent to villains. The Church would arrest any they saw. Even the Plague Church wouldn't openly keep necromancers. Yet, this situation existed here.

Necromancers going to the cemetery to buy corpses was as normal as going to a convenience store to buy instant noodles.

"We're here."

The taxi stopped near the cemetery. It was very desolate here, with only some scavengers perched on tree branches.

Most graves had flowers placed in front of them. The custom here was to offer some food, but the food would be snatched away by homeless people as soon as it was placed.

"Keep the change."

Gwen threw down a few silver coins and got out of the car directly. This driver had indeed given her a lot of useful information.

When usually investigating information, Gwen would assume the face of a passerby. Even if someone saw her, they wouldn't have a deep impression.

Generally, Loren didn't need to use another identity either.

"What are you doing here?"

Gwen was just about to enter the cemetery when she was stopped by the gravedigger.

The gravedigger wasn't using the more convenient flashlight but had chosen an old-fashioned lantern.

Loren knew this thing had some effect in suppressing the undead. Cemeteries in this world really did often have hauntings. Without this lamp, a gravedigger wouldn't survive a few days.

"To buy a corpse."

Gwen directly stated her purpose. Hearing this, the gravedigger's serious expression suddenly vanished, replaced by a slight smile.

"Apologies. Recently, there have been quite a few homeless people stealing offerings and corpses, so I've become a bit cautious. If you want a corpse, please follow me."

The gravedigger walked ahead to lead the way. Due to some special reasons, the cemetery was darker than other places. The gravedigger's lantern actually provided better illumination than a flashlight. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"The corpses are right here. Please take your pick."

The gravedigger brought Gwen to a place. It was a warehouse filled with corpses.

Separated by a puppet, Loren couldn't smell anything, but he could guess the odor here certainly wouldn't be pleasant.

"I'll take these few."

Loren selected several relatively intact and clean corpses. Casually using a first-tier magic, the Corpse Awakening Chant, the corpses all shakily stood up.

Seeing Gwen cast the spell so quickly, the gravedigger lowered his posture a bit more.

"That will be two gold coins, ma'am."

"Here you go. And I'll ask you something."

Gwen directly threw a ten-gold denomination coin to the gravedigger. Watching his greedy eyes, Loren sighed internally about how useful money really was.

"Please, ask away."

"Where do the corpses here come from?"

"Bought from the Bloodline. The Bloodline buys them from commoners. Commoners will sell their deceased relatives or friends."

What the gravedigger said matched all the information Loren had previously obtained. But Loren still felt something was off.

"Wouldn't you make more money buying corpses directly from commoners? Why go through the Bloodline? This kind of thing is already common knowledge, right? You don't need a middleman."

Gwen raised the doubt. Loren had always hated middlemen.

"No choice. This is the Bloodline's territory. If you want to make money, you have to consider the Bloodline's stance."

As he spoke, the gravedigger pointed to a well-preserved corpse and said.

"A well-preserved corpse like this should have a market price of around thirty silver. But the Bloodline buys it for 15 silver and sells it to me for forty-five silver. I can only sell it for fifty silver. The vast majority of the money is made by the Bloodline."

"Of course, I could buy directly from commoners. But then it wouldn't be a question of whether I could make money, but whether I could survive."

When talking about this, the gravedigger didn't show much resentment. He was already used to it.

"The price difference between foreigners' corpses and Uridians' corpses is that big?"

Loren remembered that vampire buying that Uridian corpse spent thirty silver, almost the market price.

"Of course. These foreigners' corpses are consumables, ingredients. But Uridians' corpses are medical tools."

Having taken Loren's money, the gravedigger spoke without reservation. This also showed these things really weren't secrets.

But at the same time, Loren also noticed a point of doubt. If they wanted to make more money, the vampires shouldn't categorize the corpses. They should buy them all at a low price uniformly. So why did they specifically increase the price for Uridians' corpses?