Chapter 41 - First Encounter with the Kingdom of Vatrene

Third person POV

 And then, shortly after, Basilio and his group are now scouring the camp of their enemy, the Kingdom of Vatrene. That camp was not attacking them yet, and most of the soldiers were guarding and cleaning their weapons, with a goal to invade Pantano's northeastern region, which has a good number of natural resources. "So that's their camp…?" Basilio asked in a low voice while spying at the camp with his pair of binoculars.

 "Yes, this is Vatrene," responded Cas back while spying at the camp with his pair of binoculars. "They had been there for weeks now."

 "Right…" Ormoc responded while looking at Vatrene's camp without a pair of binoculars.

Seeing Vatrene's banner, which was a traditional coat of arms consisting of a dragon and 2, opposite-in-position-and-direction banners in black and red complete with a figure of a mage's magical staff, mounted on a pole in that camp site, Basilio pulled out his phone and took a picture of it quietly without a flash of the sound of clicking to avoid getting their attention, before taking a glance. "Got it."

 "Basilio is clever…" Paulina thought while glancing at her youngest brother, before looking at Vatrene's army camp.

 "These guys are not attacking us…" Artem said.

 "We'll just prepare just in case they do," replied Cas.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

 And then, in Vatrene's army camp, one of the soldiers, a gunner, was scouring Pantano and Ruslav's combined campsite, only to see a familiar banner, Ruslav's Vamzom banner. "How in the hell…?"

Then, one of his comrades, a knight, heard that and went to him while asking what was wrong.

 "Is that banner of the Forest Vamzoms?" the gunner responded.

The knight in heavy metal armour then looked at Ruslav's banner and was stunned to see it alongside Pantano's. "Did Pantano have an alliance with those bloodthirsty monsters?"

 "Not sure, man…" the gunner responded back, "…but this might be a compromise on our battle with Pantano."

 "Don't worry, mate, our army had soldiers from the Light Rays Church. These guys will handle those Vamzoms."

 "Oh, right…"

 As these two soldiers of Vatrene kept on chattering, Basilio, who used his Vampire Invisibility ability to sneak in without being detected, was recording their conversation that included the mention of an organization called the Light Rays Church using his phone, before ending the recording with stealth and leaving Vatrene's army camp site quickly using the Vampire Swiftness ability. Meanwhile, back in Pantano and Ruslav's army camp, Ormoc was searching for Basilio because he wasn't everywhere in the camp. "Where's Basilio?"

 "Huh? Did you check everywhere?" one of Pantano's soldiers asked back.

 "Yeah, but he's nowhere to be seen and-"

 In time, Basilio appeared in front of them and said, "I'm back!" Ormoc and that Pantano soldier heard that and looked at him.

 "Basilio?"

 "Where did you go, Basilio-san?"

Showing his phone recording towards them, Basilio smiled. "I was getting some intel from Vatrene's camp."

 "That's too smart, Basilio!" Ormoc was stunned with moderate shock.

 "What did you record with that thing?" the soldier asked.

Basilio played the recording, and it spoke of one organization that had assigned some soldiers to Vatrene's camp.

 A few moments later, Ormoc and the soldier were stunned. "The Light Rays Church…" commented the soldier while trying to remember what it was.

 "Light Rays Church?" Ormoc and Basilio asked at the same time.

 "That organization was one of Vatrene's main institutions of power, and it was Vatrene's second most powerful institution behind the monarchy."

While Ormoc was processing these new bits of information, Basilio used his phone's Sekai Stream app to search and watch videos about it.

 And then, as Basilio watches one 10-minute video about the Light Rays Church, Ormoc notices it and is stunned that one can watch videos in this world. "Wait, you can watch videos here in this world?" And then, Artem, Cas, and Paulina noticed that and went to the scene.

 "Hey, what's going on here?"

 "What is it, Ormoc-san?"

 "What's wrong?"

 "I'm watching a video about the Light Rays Church," replied Basilio while watching.

 "Huh? You can watch videos here?" Paulina was stunned while paraphrasing Ormoc's question.

 "Yes, through an app called Sekai Stream for all gadgets in this world," Cas replied with an explanation. "Otherworlders brought these gadgets to this world 140 years ago, and they became a staple for most people now."

 "Oh…"

Cas then peeked at what video Basilio was watching now. "Huh? Light Rays Church?"

 "Yes, and Vatrene's camp over there has some in their group," responded Basilio while speeding up the video a bit.

 Because of what Basilio just said, Cas was distraught by what Vatrene did. "Again, with these soldiers from that organization…" Basilio noticed his expression. "What's wrong, Cas-san?"

 "That organization had been a pain in the neck for us in Pantano," Cas replied while feeling upset about the organization from Vatrene. "And…always were always hired by Vatrene to do their dirty conquests for them."

 "Oh…" Basilio now gets it, "…okay then, well…that church's soldiers also hunt for Vamzoms, too."

 "What? Wait, you're saying that these soldiers were ith the camp, right?" Artem asked.

 "Yes." Basilio looked at him. "They do."

 "No way…" Paulina gasped in mild horror.

 "But the Vamzoms are now civilized!" Ormoc added.

Hearing that, Cas said to all of them, "I'll reorganize our attack so any Vamzom in our group will not get harmed by the church's army."

Basilio and the others agreed with him.