Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

His reaction actually made Loren somewhat interested. Loren sheathed his blade in time and said:

"I'll give you a chance to explain. If I'm satisfied, I'll let you go."

Just moments ago, Loren had transferred his Intelligence stat over to Strength, and now he felt brimming with power, itching to punch something as practice.

With this much Strength, Loren figured he wouldn't be overpowered anymore—unless he chose not to resist, that was another story.

"Now tell me, why did you kill the previous captain, and have you done anything evil since becoming a pirate?"

Loren found a clean spot to sit down. After searching the table for a while and finding only alcohol, he gave up on getting something to drink.

"I originally lived on a small island in the Endless Ocean. The previous captain slaughtered my village. I joined the Pirate Crew undercover just to take revenge."

"The two of them have similar stories. The previous captain killed people important to them, so they've been lying low here, waiting for their chance at revenge."

The Captain introduced the two people beside him to Loren. Loren could sense his emotions—he wasn't lying.

Loren converted the Strength he'd just switched over back to Intelligence. In an instant, the Sin-Burning Flames engulfed the few people before him.

When the flames dissipated, they all had some burns on them, but none were seriously injured.

They had sin, but not deeply—likely forced into wrongdoing by the previous captain.

"Alright, I thought you were Blackbeard, but it turns out you're Whitebeard. Though you don't have a beard anymore.

"Hand over the ghost ship. After that, quit being a pirate, and I'll spare your life."

"Okay."

Without hesitation, the Captain pulled a ship in a bottle from a bag beside him:

"This is our ghost ship. When you uncork the bottle, the ship appears. Touching the bottle's mouth to the ship puts it back inside.

"Also, you can stuff anything the ship collides with into the bottle—but only one thing at a time. If something's already inside, the ship can't go back."

As he handed over the ghost ship, the Captain thoughtfully explained how it worked to Loren.

"I..."

Seeing this, the pirate who'd brought Loren panicked completely. He was about to say something when he saw Loren snap his fingers.

The next moment, his head dropped to the floor.

"You're..."

Recognizing the familiar method, the Captain immediately guessed Loren's identity.

"That's right. I'm Loren, the Master of Witches. But I prefer you call me the Perpetual Observer."

Then Loren snapped his fingers again. The pirate's corpse turned to dust, scattering into the air, and his clothes fell to the floor.

"I'm leaving. Use his stuff to pay for the door you damaged.

"Oh, and you should know what I'm capable of. Don't leak anything about the Tarot cards."

"Yes..."

Facing Loren's orders, the Captain dared not resist. He simply watched Loren leave in silence.

...

High Priestess, Strength, Hermit, Justice, Demon, High Tower, Sun, Judgment, World... and now the latest, Temperance. Loren already had ten Tarot cards—nearly half of them.

From now on, Loren's focus would shift to finding the remaining Tarot cards. He could even temporarily set aside preparations for the Severance Ritual.

Loren was certain he had a chance to inherit the Perpetual Observer's authority. Based on what Lilith had described about the Crooked One—that infinite stacking—Loren figured that even with just a fraction of the Observer's power, he could crush all the Orthodox Gods.

The so-called Orthodox Gods weren't all that impressive. Their forces only covered this world, and likely just this planet.

Even the Outer Gods could overwhelm them, let alone the Perpetual Observer that even the Outer Gods feared.

But most Tarot cards were in other people's hands, constantly changing owners. Even if he tried to search for them, he'd have no starting point. In the end, Loren could only rely on Fate.

This world was trying to save itself. Loren was this world's hope. That was why the world arranged for Loren to meet the Witches and why it let him obtain the Tarot cards.

If Loren hadn't suddenly gotten the urge to gamble back then, he never would've gotten the demon card.

...

"Master, aren't you going to kill those two?"

"No. They're not bad people, and they know when to back down.

"Besides, news of my return will spread across the world soon enough. There's no need to hide.

"And after what happened here, they might even become my followers."

Veronica asking this kind of question caught Loren by surprise.

This wasn't just about being cold-hearted anymore. For his safety, she'd even choose to kill innocent people, even if they posed almost no threat to him.

"Veronica..."

Loren suddenly stopped and cupped Veronica's face. He felt it was time to teach her a lesson:

"Remember this: unless there's no other choice, we don't kill good people."

Veronica had never received any education. Cultivating a proper worldview was difficult, but at least Loren could set a baseline for her.

Besides, Loren wasn't telling her never to kill good people. If some saint was deceived by the Church into coming after him, Loren would try to awaken them first. If it became too troublesome, he'd kill them outright.

From the moment he'd transmigrated until now, Loren had always tried to be a good person as long as it didn't harm his own interests.

Give Loren a billion to kill a saint—he wouldn't do it. But ask Loren to sacrifice some important item to save a saint—he wouldn't want to do that either.

"Then how do I tell who's a good person?"

Veronica asked naively. She never interacted with anyone else and knew nothing about human hearts.

"I'll teach you a magic spell for judging who's a good person—the one I just used."

Rather than slowly teaching her, Loren chose a simple, brute-force method.

The Sin-Burning Flames weren't just an excellent offensive spell—they could also judge a person's level of sin.

But many people in this world couldn't escape the flames' burning. So what? If they couldn't, that was on them for not doing good deeds.

At that point, they'd really have to reflect on themselves. If someone lived a straightforward life, even with minor flaws, the Sin-Burning Flames wouldn't do much to them.

Loren walked to the seaside and blatantly led Veronica onto the ghost ship, beginning their journey across the ocean.

The ship in a bottle was slower than any ghost ship Loren had ridden before. This trip would likely take considerable time.

That worked out fine. Loren could use this time to teach Veronica magic. She had absolutely no magical foundation, so he'd have to start from the very beginning.

"I wonder how the Merfolk are doing..."

Loren still remembered that when he'd told the other Witches to escape, they were supposed to meet up with the Merfolk.

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