Chapter 10: The Baron

　　Edward and Evelyn went back to the bookstore first to check out the books they had bought.

　　"Thank you for chasing off the scum, the book is yours." The shopkeeper said.

　　"That's not good, it's a blessing to pay for a favorite book." Edward said.

　　Originally, he had stepped in to help Evelyn, only incidentally helping the bookstore, and these magical books were all high-priced things, taking them for nothing would be a matter of conscience.

　　The store owner couldn't argue with him, so he gave them a half-price bonus, and solemnly declared that if they came back to buy books in the future, they would also be half-price.

　　Finally, the shopkeeper also said mysteriously, "If little brother wants to find any forbidden books, he can also tell me, I can find the door."

　　Edward smiled and said, "Yes, thank you."

　　Eveleigh also bought three books and wrapped them very solemnly.

　　Before wrapping the book up, Edward inadvertently glanced at it and noticed that the book the huntress had carefully sandwiched between them had a somewhat familiar cover.

　　It's the one about the mentally depleted lizardman squire.

　　I can't imagine this girl has heavy tastes.

　　Uh, speaking of which, just now when she faced the Heretic Inquisitor, her attitude was noticeably less forceful than before, could it be because she had this book on her?

　　Young, too young.

　　The duo had planned to purchase some protective gear and the like, but they were distracted by the clerics and went back after buying the book.

　　After lunch, Edward was reclining on his bed looking at his newly purchased copy of Eastern Continental Winds when a squire knocked on the door and entered.

　　"Master Baldwin invites you to his room for business."

　　Mostly inquiring about the morning's events, right?

　　Edward thought so and followed the squire to the third level of the fortress.

　　The Guildmaster's room had been locked before, and it was only when he passed through the thick door that he saw how spacious the Guildmaster's room was.

　　This place could practically be a martial arts arena!

　　Edward then saw the wooden dummies and archery targets along the wall.

　　Well, it seems that the Guildmaster is really using this place as a martial arts arena.

　　Master Baldwin was standing on the balcony looking out.

　　You can see all the way to the far reaches of Constantine, and even to the ruins of the deserted city a few kilometers away - the old Valenvinia Castle, known to the vampires as the "Old Capital".

　　"Coming?"

　　Noticing Edward come in, the Guildmaster approached him, he had taken off his armor at the moment and was wearing a loose robe.

　　"Master, what do you want to see me about?"

　　"Practice with me first." Master Baldwin tossed over a sword.

　　Edward took the sword and pulled it out, but instead of a wooden sword or something, it was a shiny silver sword.

　　"This... With a real sword?"

　　"Don't worry, it's not bladed." The lanky big man had taken a sword himself.

　　Seeing that Edward was already standing, he shouted "Go!" , and then attacked.

　　"Oooh wow, that was fast!"

　　Seeing the Guildmaster coming with a horizontal chop, Edward scrambled to raise his sword to block.

　　The sword was so powerful that he thought he couldn't block it with one hand, so he pressed his left hand on the sword and used both hands to catch the sword.

　　However the Chairman's blade was easily bounced off, leaving him feeling a bit incredulous.

　　A false move?

　　"Nice catch!"

　　Unexpectedly, although the chairman was stout, he was very agile, and he immediately utilized the momentum of the sword being bounced away to turn around three hundred and sixty degrees, and slammed another slanting downward chop with an even more vicious momentum.

　　Edward immediately dodged to the right, managing to avoid the sword, and then quickly took a small half-step backward to pull away.

　　But it also cost him the opportunity to pursue. The Chairman made air with this heavy chop, his center of gravity was too far forward, and he visibly sank down to adjust his balance.

　　But he doesn't leave Edward a chance to counterattack, immediately stepping forward and making a straight jab with one hand.

　　However, because he had already pulled away, Edward raised his sword and grasped it, then he followed the momentum of the sword and picked it upwards, and the president's sword was actually picked empty by him.

　　However, the other party was worthy of being a master hunter, the president kicked a false kick, while Edward dodged, but used his body to see the position of the sword spinning in the air as he pirouetted, and then jumped backward away using the force of the pirouette kick, and with a single reach of his hand, he caught the sword back in his hand.

　　It was a beautiful catch of the sword, and the two men were thus separated, and now the president ceased his quick attack, and he took up his stance against Edward.

　　However, although his gait was steady, he was panting slightly, and his right hand, which held the sword, was shaking slightly.

　　This state... Is the President weak?

　　Edward, however, did not know that the president was like this because he had fought with him for these swords, and in the president's opinion, although this young man's sword skills were mediocre, his strength was really a bit scary.

　　It's almost like .... Vampires!

　　With that thought in his head, Baldwin's gaze began to go cold.

　　Without moving, he said, "Good, I'm going to get serious next."

　　After saying that, he adjusted his breath and unleashed [Martial Technique: Valor] and [Martial Technique: Swiftness].

　　Edward clearly felt the president's aura increase, his hands were not shaking his breath was not panting.

　　Between the doubts, the other party approached with great speed and attacked.

　　Edward subconsciously raised his sword to block, he barely managed to block one of the swords, but Baldwin's attack this time unleashed [Sword Technique: Triple Extreme Blade], there were two more combos after the first sword was blocked. The second sword he tried to dodge, but he was stabbed in the shoulder socket, the unbladed silver sword didn't cause substantial damage, but it disrupted his body's balance and Edward sat down on the ground with a fall.

　　The powerful third sword had already attacked, and the silver sword that flashed with cold light went straight to Edward's face. In a panic, he instinctively used his left hand to block, but directly grabbed the sword.

　　Even though the silver sword was not opened, the flat blade still rubbed a bloody mark on his hand because the sword was too sharp.

　　The chairman immediately withdrew his sword and stopped, revealing a smile, "You're dealing with this nonsense, if it was a real battle, hands and head would be gone."

　　He reached out his hand and pulled his defeated man up from the ground, then asked with concern, "Is the injury on your hand alright? Do you need to put some medicine on it."

　　Just now he suspected that Edward was a vampire, so he did his best in his attack. At this moment, seeing that this young man was wounded by the silver sword, the suspicion of vampire was not broken, but it made him feel a little apologetic.

　　"It's fine, just use a little spell."

　　Luckily, Edward was quite generous, and a small wound from the Bijin was not a big deal. He caressed the wound with his right hand, and a soft beam of [Healing Hands] shot out, healing the shallow wound.

　　Baldwin had long heard that the new lad was good at holy attribute magic, but it was also the first time he had seen someone heal a wound directly with a spell.

　　"That's a powerful hand you've got there, a skill I've heard only those powerful archbishops in the Western Continent have."

　　"That's nothing, that hand of the Master's swordplay just now is what's powerful, what about suddenly becoming faster and stronger."

　　Baldwin smiled, "These are very common martial arts techniques, if you want to learn them, come over to me when you have time and I'll teach them to you."

　　Although on his lips this was sparsely spoken, but those who could make martial arts and sword techniques flow like this, looking at the whole of Constantine, Old Bao really hadn't found a few that could outperform himself, so he was also very flattered.

　　Moreover, in his opinion, the young man in front of him most likely came from a magical family and had soaked in magic books since childhood, which was why he had become interested in dancing with swords and guns. When he really delved into martial arts and recognized his bottleneck, he would most likely obediently go back to rubbing fireballs.

　　Baldwin, however, did not call Edward here merely to try him out. Seeing that Edward had healed his wounds on his own, he stepped inside the room and pulled out a chair signaling the lad to sit down.

　　"Tell me about the night of the vampire attack." When Edward sat down, the President pulled up a chair and did the same across from him.

　　Edward then went through it all. All of these things had actually been reported to Baldwin by others, but he still listened carefully, not missing a single detail.

　　When he got to the section about the baron's attack, Baldwin suddenly asked, "Do you remember what the baron looked like?"

　　The baron's surprise attack made such an impression on Edward that he recounted in detail what he looked like.

　　The Guildmaster listened while his face became grave.

　　As he told it, Edward felt the Baron's face gradually overlap with the Guildmaster's.

　　"Speaking of which, that baron's frown bears some resemblance to the master."

　　Speaking of which, his heart suddenly thumped, that baron wouldn't have anything to do with the Guildmaster, would he?

　　Unexpectedly, Baldwin nodded and, after a long sigh, said, "In that case, he's probably my nephew, Collins, who disappeared a few years ago."

　　"Huh?"

　　The Guildmaster went on to talk about Collins.

　　It was the eldest son of Baldwin's brother Edmund - also known as the Duke of Constantine - who was really a baronet, to put it mildly, and was to inherit the dukedom in the future.

　　A few years ago, Baron Collins went out on a hunting trip with a few hundred Knights of the Close Guard, then suddenly disappeared, and the hundreds of people were as if they had evaporated.

　　Having heard of the formation and composition of the attacking vampire legions, Baldwin quickly suspected the missing legion of Knights of the Close Quarter, and the numbers were roughly right.

　　A look at the armor left behind by the vampires confirms this idea - the armor has been redyed black, but the style and materials are the same as Constantine's Knights of the Close Guard armor.

　　Unfortunately, all of these vampires had been reduced to ashes, including the baron who had been broken in half - he was the first to be burned to ashes in order to prevent vampires from coming back to life.

　　Baldwin had also asked the other hunters who were there, but it had happened so suddenly that most had seen nothing but bodies corroded pale and black by the Silver's Poison, and the only one who had seen the living Baron was Edward.

　　And his answer corroborated Collins' looks, so that after listening to it, Baldwin could already confirm that the baronet was his nephew.

　　For this nephew, he was actually very appreciative and had taught Collins quite a few martial arts skills, but Baldwin was at a loss as to why his nephew had inexplicably become a vampire.

　　"In short, this matter must not be known to others, and if anyone asks you again about the Baron's face, you will say that it is too dark to see clearly, remember?" After the question, Baldwin solemnly instructed.

　　"Understood." Edward nodded.

　　------

　　"Master, is the injury better?"

　　Lynn asked with concern as she entered the Countess's room in the townhouse uptown.

　　Margaret sat up a little wearily; without powder she looked clear and beautiful, but achingly thin.

　　"Well, still recovering."

　　She rolled her thin robe up to her chest, revealing the wound between her waist and stomach.

　　The severe burns had just scabbed over, which was actually considered a quick recovery - the flame damage blocked the Blood's ability to heal itself, which meant that the Countess herself was strong enough to do so, and if it was an ordinary Blood, she would most likely die from it.

　　"Lynn, I might ...."

　　"Master! I have something to report." Seeing that the countess was about to start feeling sorry for herself, Lynn interrupted her master without hesitation.

　　As a hard-working maid, she had a lot to do and couldn't afford to be pestered by her master at this point.

　　"Uh, go ahead." Margaret's expression became more mournful.

　　"I would like my master's permission to allow Ray-Ray and I to store livestock in Constantine."

　　Domestic animals here, naturally, are not cows, horses and sheep.

　　"Why? Constantine's livestock looks dry, thin and ugly, and maybe infectious, so don't condemn yourselves..."

　　"We have brought few more tablets of blood pills, so we will only be able to use them for the master's own use."

　　"Hey? That's a whole bottle, the three of us won't be able to use it all in a year, right?"

　　"There isn't much left, the master has been wounded three times and soaked in three blood baths!"

　　"Uh ...."

　　"So, you're willing to agree, right? The livestock breeding thing?"

　　"That's fine, but it's always a good idea to make a good report to the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

　　"I've already drawn up the application, just ask the master to sign and mail it back to the country."

　　Lynn said as she pulled out a sheet of material written in a delicate script and a feather quill dipped in ink.

　　Margaret signed her name with slight embarrassment, and then Lynn took the Countess's fire-painted seal from a nearby cabinet and sealed the application again.

　　Watching Lynn do all of this handily, the countess was a bit helpless, she seemed to have delegated her power a bit too much.

　　Luckily, the loyalty of this strong character maid was unquestionable, or else she would have sold herself one day and not even known it.

　　One has to show a bit of initiative once in a while, and not let the maid underestimate it.

　　Thinking of this, the countess cleared her throat and said, "When selecting domestic animals, you must look for ones that are physically healthy and have a clean family history. Loyalty is the most important thing, and if necessary, you can control the mind with the Confusion Technique."

　　"Yes."

　　"As for the gender of the domestic animal, I don't care about Lynn's, and it's best if Ray-Ray's doesn't have a girl; it's not good for a boy his age to be attracted to a domestic animal."

　　"I can't agree with that!"

　　"Eh?"

　　"It might be more dangerous if it's a boy."

　　"Uh ..... Well, I'll leave you two alone then."

　　The Countess lost the battle.

　　After collecting the letter and helping her master change into a clean robe and carefully changing the medicine, Lynn left the room with the blood-stained robe.

　　However, she paused at the door of the room and said, "Master, allow me to overstep my bounds and say something I shouldn't."

　　"Huh?"

　　"As a girl, please love your body! After all, neither Lei Lei nor I would like to see our master get hurt!"

　　After saying that, the maid with a strong character left the room, leaving behind the fuming countess.

　　After a while, Margaret wailed out.

　　She was lectured by the maid who was hundreds of years younger and raised like a daughter.