Whispering Poems

Chapter 3962 The Missing Vampire

Chapter 3962 The Missing Vampire

"It's certainly good to be cautious, but where are you living now?"

Shad asked curiously again, so Mr. Bernhardt took out his notebook and wrote down the address for Shad:

"We are here with a public identity. Marquis Fabius of Velendale has commissioned us to go to the Arcadia branch of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Carsenrick to check on the construction progress of the prototype of the compressor steam engine he ordered two years ago. Apart from me, everyone else in the group has a background as a scholar and engineer."

We are currently staying at 'Fabis House,' which is in the lower town and is the Marquis's private residence. If you need to contact me, you can go there.

Although most local nobles resided in the Upper Town, the Upper Town was relatively small, so there were also many noble mansions enclosed by high walls in the Lower Town. Considering that the Marquis was most likely not a local, it's understandable that his residence wasn't located in the Upper Town.

Shad took the piece of paper that Mr. Bernhardt had torn off, wrote down the address on it, and then Mr. Bernhardt asked worriedly:

"So what brings you here? Is it related to the matter I'm investigating?"

"It seems irrelevant now; I'm tracking down a 'grey glove' agent."

As he spoke, Shad looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. Being overheard discussing ring mages was a small chance of getting into trouble, but being overheard talking about "grey gloves" would most likely get him into serious trouble.

"There has been no progress yet, and I am still waiting for further news."

"Is that agent a cultist? Or some kind of indescribable entity?"

Mr. Bernhardt then asked with a worried expression, and Shad laughed:

"He's most likely just an ordinary person, and my search for him is only for my personal matters, not really related to those world-destroying events. Well, at least not really for now."

I arrived in this city this week, and so far it seems relatively peaceful. Although there are some minor and major issues, there's nothing to worry about too much so far.

Shade said he would also leave his contact address with Mr. Bernhardt, but the "Blue Ink Library" had not yet been acquired, and because of Vigo, he did not rent a room in a local hotel as a temporary place to stay as usual.

After a moment's hesitation, Shad wrote down the address of Fragrance House, trusting Mr. Bernhardt completely:

"If you need anything, you can write to me here. Although I'll most likely be away, the maids at the manor will receive my mail."

The Vampire Seed Lord took the note and glanced at it with some surprise; he clearly knew where this place was. But then he remembered how Shad always managed to maintain close relationships with powerful ladies in different cities—like Countess Belindel of Moon Bay—so he didn't find the address surprising.

The two then exchanged information about the local situation. Mr. Bernhardt had only arrived half a week earlier than Shad, and given their deep distrust of the locals, they didn't have much information to offer.

Shad recounted the events of the morning, mentioning news he had gleaned from the black market, such as the return of "Master Constructor" Gerald Delon to the Church of Creation from the Diocese of Willendale.

Mr. Bernhardt then mentioned that this place is the third largest gathering place of vampires in Carsonrick, after Willendale and Moon Bay:

"Actually, this area has been our clan's territory since the time of the Kingdom of Delinor. Back then, it was the capital and very prosperous."

Not all local vampires have gone missing; most of those missing are higher-ranking vampires. Aside from outreach efforts, Bernhardt and his group have spent most of the past week gathering information from trusted members of their own species, but the information they currently possess is limited.

"The Church of Creation is right next door, and the local people are very well-behaved, at least much better than their counterparts in Moon Bay. They haven't offended anyone locally, and on the contrary, they have good relations with most of the local powers. Therefore, our current suspicions are that of outsiders."

“Coincidentally, I took on a local job that also involved investigating outsiders.”

Shad then described the details of Miss Rowling's back injury to Mr. Bernhardt, but unfortunately, this vampire had never heard of anything like it:

"We don't know whose methods it is, but if we get any leads later, we can communicate with each other. Maybe we're investigating the same group of people."

The thought that he might be passively or even actively involved in what Xia De was dealing with during his investigation made the middle-aged vampire appear much more weathered. He even considered asking his friend from Moon Bay, who had a good attendance record, to come and help.

"However, it's also possible that we won't get involved in anything too troublesome this time."

As he thought to himself to comfort himself, Shad then inquired about the [Blood Essence of All Things]. This was a material needed to activate the "Forge of Life" within the Time Key. Although it could also be obtained from the "Blood Factory," it required fighting dangerous monsters.

Unfortunately, Mr. Bernhardt shook his head:

“Last summer, all the Blood Essence of All Things in the race was used to support Albert. Although high-level vampires can condense that stuff, the efficiency is extremely low. The amount that Albert consumed was the amount that more than ten clans in Velendale had stored for nearly five hundred years.”

The [Blood Essence of All Things] consumed by the vampire coroner in order to cast "Earth Power - Protect All Things" was only two-thirds the size of the piece that Shad obtained before leaving the Bloodstained Factory.

So Shad stopped thinking about getting that thing in the Sixth Age:

"It's alright, I have other ways to obtain it. Although it's a bit more troublesome, it's not impossible. Speaking of which, could those people who kidnapped your kin be after the Blood Essence of All Things?"

Shad raised this possibility, but Mr. Bernhardt disagreed:

"It's not worth it to kidnap a high-level vampire and challenge the largest vampire clan in the material world for the sake of the [Blood Essence of All Things]. The condensation of the [Blood Essence of All Things] is extremely slow. Even if you kidnap those of your own kind, you won't get a fingernail-sized [Blood Essence of All Things] in less than one or two hundred years. I don't believe anyone would do that."

However, Mr. Bernhardt did not rule out other possibilities:

"Currently, my and the other members of the investigation team believe that someone is planning an attack on the entire vampire race. You've probably heard of 'vampire hunters,' right? Our race did have a bad reputation during the Fourth Era, but in this day and age, vampires, like most other species, simply want to live a peaceful life."

However, there are still a few vampire hunters who want to hunt us down. After all, from a purely profit-driven perspective, vampire blood and certain organs are excellent ingredients for potions. The last large-scale hunter operation was before the steam revolution; perhaps they've been hiding for so many years, and now they're finally starting to oppose us again.

That reason certainly sounded more likely, and Shad nodded:

"Then I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm active locally. If there are hunters who hunt intelligent life for profit, in my opinion they're no different from cannibals. I'll help you."

Mr. Bernhardt sighed again:

"In short, vampire hunters are the best possibility I can think of. Any other possibility would probably be worse."

Xia De then asked curiously:

What is the worst-case scenario?

Mr. Bernhardt looked around, then lowered his voice and replied:

"The night before I left Velendale for Arcadia, the elders summoned me to the castle outside the city. I thought they wanted to give me some life-saving relics or sacred artifacts passed down through the race, but instead they showed me a stone tablet."

He didn't let Xia De guess:

“The stone slab contains ‘fragments of poems’.”

Now it was Xia De's turn to tilt his head back slightly and inhale:

"Well, that's certainly the worst-case scenario we could possibly foresee. So, what's written on that stone tablet?"

"【The end is also the beginning of birth】, yes, just that one sentence. Although it seems to have nothing to do with the events in Arcadia City, high-level vampires usually have a powerful ability to foresee dreams, especially when they are in a long period of hibernation, this ability is even more accurate."

More than one elder had sensed that the events in Arcadia might be related to that stone tablet. Those old fogies—I mean the elders—though they were rigid, conservative, and inflexible, they would never joke about something like this.

Shad thought that this sentence sounded very similar to what Luvia with long hair had said in his dream last night, while Mr. Bernhardt picked up his teacup again:

"So I've been very cautious since I brought people here, and thankfully it seems that things have been quite peaceful here recently."

After he finished speaking, the two of them looked out the window of the teahouse from a distance, but there was no explosion or commotion.

"Alright then, I'll keep an eye on that too. As for the fragments of the poem, the only remaining undiscovered chosen ones are the Sun and Moon, Chaos, and Creation. The fragments of the poem you mentioned are most likely related to Creation, and less likely to Chaos."

"If we combine this with my investigation into the disappearance of members of our own race, the answer is definitely creation, since we have nothing to do with that 'low probability'."

Mr. Bernhardt spoke, then chatted with Shad for a few more minutes about the interesting things that happened around the year-end holidays, before taking out his pocket watch, glancing at it, and apologetically saying to Shad:

"I have some things to do tonight, so I'm afraid I have to leave."

Xia De also sensed the time:

"What a coincidence, I also have things to do tonight. Even if you hadn't said anything, I'm afraid I would have had to take my leave."