Chapter 11: Starving (New Book Requests Everything)

　　Ray-Ray was a little overwhelmed as he looked at the girls his sister had sent to his room.

　　This girl's name was Kate, and she was only thirteen years old, a real thirteen years old, not an old demon like Lei Lei who looked thirteen but was actually almost a hundred years old.

　　This little girl was originally from a pretty wealthy family, so she was raised white. When vampires attacked Constantine half a month ago and killed Kate's parents, this poor little girl was fostered to her cousin's house. Unexpectedly, the cousin uncle sold her to human traffickers after embezzling her parents' property.

　　The traffickers originally wanted to sell her to one of those establishments, but I don't know if it was lucky or unlucky, but Lynn took a liking to the child and bought her back.

　　There were six of these "domestic animals" bought back together with Kate, and originally they were to work as normal maids for a while to get used to the environment of the house. Lynn also had to check whether they were loyal enough, not loyal enough to be dismissed in advance, otherwise it would cause trouble.

　　But because Lei Lei used the Blood Banshee a few days ago and used up his bloodline power, he had recently developed symptoms of hunger and thirst.

　　Lynn then took control of Kate, the most honest of the lot, with a mind bending spell and sent her to Ray-Ray's room.

　　Because of the effects of the spell, Kate was already in a state of unconsciousness. Now whatever Lei Lei did, she would cooperate and there would be no residual memories.

　　But Ray-Ray has no experience with this sort of thing.

　　As a pureblood born in the Joy Night Empire, he grew up relying on blood potion tablets to suppress his hunger and thirst. Although he had occasionally done such things as using his mouth to bite through a human's neck to suck blood during battles, those were situations where he didn't need to care about the life of his prey in the slightest, and he had never left a living soul under his mouth.

　　Looking at Kate's slender neck, Lei Lei kept muttering in his heart, if this mouth goes down and directly bites her to death, it would be a violation of the commandment set by Lord Lilith.

　　But the symptoms of hunger and thirst had become more and more pronounced, and in the past few days he had begun to become irritable and paranoid. Occasionally, he would also be afraid of the cold and chills, when it was clear that it was already a warm spring day outside.

　　If he didn't draw blood in time, he would more than likely lose his mind, and it was even possible that his entire body would night demonize and fly out to attack humans.

　　That would be more than just a transgression, it would even tarnish the name of the family.

　　After much hesitation, Ray-Ray, a little trembling, wrenched the young girl's tender shoulder and prepared to bite down on the neck.

　　Just as her mouth was about to touch the blown skin, however, Kate suddenly spoke.

　　"Leonardo... Deaconess? I... What's happening to me?"

　　She's actually awake!

　　The Confusion Technique was very ineffective against people who were strong inside, and it was unexpected that this little girl was quite resistant in this regard.

　　The handsome teenager stiffened for a moment before saying, "That, you suddenly fainted just now, let me check the back of your head for trauma."

　　"Huh? So that's it... My hair is too long to get in the way?" Kate was also feeling a little groggy in the head, so she ruffled her long chestnut-colored hair for Ray-Ray to examine.

　　The unobstructed view of the young girl's white neck exposed to the teenage blood, caused the corners of Ray-Ray's mouth, who was trying to suppress his hunger, to twitch, and he pushed Kate away before saying, "It's okay! You're not hurt, I'll go get my sister!"

　　The red-faced teenager stormed out of the room, startling Lynn, who was lying in the doorway eavesdropping.

　　"Sister, look after her, I'll go hunting!"

　　He had one last way to quench his thirst.

　　The Hunting Order, a special decree of the Zhu Night Empire.

　　Bloods on the outside can hunt humans if they have to as a last resort due to hunger and thirst, but there are a lot of restrictions.

　　Lynn looked at her brother with slight disappointment and said, "Keep your hands clean and don't expose your tracks."

　　As she watched her brother about to rush out the door, she thought of something else and shouted, "Wait!"

　　------

　　After breakfast, Edward was lying comfortably in his own bed reading a book when Master Baldwin appeared at his door.

　　"Here, come out with me."

　　The leader asks you to do something, of course you have to be good.Edward immediately put on his cloak and followed Baldwin out.

　　Arriving at the front yard of the guild, there were already several hunters here fully armed and waiting for the two of them.

　　Among these was Evelyn.

　　"What's the situation?" Edward asked Evely in a whisper.

　　"It seems that there are suspected blood-sucking victims in town."

　　The group trooped to a corner of the boxwood street, where there were already a few Knights of the Close Guard waiting for them.

　　Seeing the lord's brother come in person, an older Knight of the Close Guard waved his hand and said, "The experts are here, make room for them."

　　Baldwin smiled and stepped forward to greet the old knight, shaking his hand with the old knight's wrist before asking, "What's going on?"

　　"Here, there's the body, you're the expert, you should know better than us."

　　The old knight nudged at a dead wood-like "thing" on the ground.

　　Edward looks at the object and realizes that it's a body that has been drained of its flesh and blood.

　　"With all the blood and flesh sucked out of it, it looks like this vampire has been starved to a certain point." Baldwin kicked the dried corpse with the tip of his boot, then looked around.

　　"Have the bodies been identified? Is there anyone missing from the surrounding area?"

　　The old knight grunted, "This neighborhood is chaotic, people go missing every day, either by murder or abduction."

　　"Isn't it your Order's responsibility to maintain law and order in the city?"

　　"So what, the little silver coins your old brother sends us are not enough to make ends meet, and it's good that I didn't go and join those thieves and bandits."

　　Baldwin grinned a bit, "That's true, you are at least a knight lord with a domain, the annual income from the domain is enough to give you an old man a good death."

　　The old knight grunted again and stopped answering.

　　As he was speaking, a Knight of the Close Guard brought over a half-grown child, who looked dully for a moment and said, "Yes, it's my lord, that's what he was wearing yesterday."

　　The old hunter revealed a satisfied smile, "I told you, so you old boy found out all about it. Say, which lord is it?"

　　"My lord my ass, it was a neighborhood gang leader who got drunk in a tavern yesterday and died here this morning."

　　The old knight roughly said about the situation of the deceased, this gang leader usually to loan sharks for a living, people nicknamed scar-faced Monty. Of course, you can't see the scar on his face anymore.

　　"So it's one of a kind." Edward, who was standing on the sidelines, said.

　　"What do you mean?"

　　"Loan sharks aren't called vampires too."

　　The old knight and the old hunter froze, then gave a few dry chuckles.

　　"That's an interesting kid." The old knight patted Edward on the shoulder.

　　After laughing for a while, Baldwin crouched down by the body, resting his chin and analyzing it:

　　"But just because it's all 'vampires' doesn't mean this Scarface... What was it?"

　　"Scarface Monty."

　　"Oh, and while this Scarface Monty can run into all three religions as a loan shark, the likelihood of coming into contact with a vampire is expected to be very low."

　　"Why?"

　　"Vampires are rich and don't need to borrow from loan sharks."

　　"So that's how it is, you old boy became a vampire hunter, is it just for the vampire money."

　　Baldwin smiled bitterly and shook his head without speaking.

　　The old knight realized that he seemed to have said the wrong thing, and that the reason why the lord's brother had become a vampire hunter had a bitter past.

　　A dozen years ago, Baldwin's six-year-old son was killed by a vampire.

　　The old knight laughed dryly for a few moments before changing the subject, "So, why is this Scarface Monty being targeted by vampires?"

　　"Most likely it wasn't being targeted, it was pure bad luck." Baldwin paused and pointed at the body, "The body was sucked like this because that vampire was already very hungry and thirsty, and in this case the vampire doesn't care what the target is."

　　"That means random acts." Edward said.

　　"Random? That's quite the word to coin." It seemed that the old knight was fond of this novelty word.

　　"Yeah, that's what it is." Baldwin said.

　　"Then wouldn't that make it impossible to find out about the vampire by investigating the dead man's relationships?" Edward said.

　　"Yeah." Baldwin sighed.

　　"So, there were no traces left at the scene?"

　　"While it doesn't look like an experienced vampire from the point of casually discarding the body, it also didn't leave anything of concern, so it should be a guy with a good mind." Baldwin glanced around the scene a few more times, trying to figure out something.

　　"One bad thing about the killer being a vampire, there won't be any blood left at the scene." The old knight also complained.

　　"Well, let's go to the next place..." Baldwin stood up.

　　"Going to the tavern? Ask the last person to see Scarface Monty what he's got?" Edward said.

　　"Right." Baldwin patted him on the shoulder, "You've got a lot of experience investigating vampires."

　　Edward smiled bashfully and didn't say anything.

　　No experience investigating vampires, Conan still has a few episodes under his belt.

　　The crowd was led by the old knight to a nearby tavern.

　　"Boss, did Scarface Monty drink here last night?" The old knight threw his sword on the counter and then asked.

　　The store manager, who was wiping down glasses of wine, was a little scared as he nodded his head back and forth, "Yes, Monty in trouble again?"

　　"Him? He's dead."

　　The store manager's first reaction was one of surprise, then a flash of elation, which he then wiped away in a panic.

　　Slightly panicked, he asked, "He... How did he die?"

　　"Attacked by a vampire... Why, it looks like you're a little happy about it."

　　"No, no, no, no." The store manager looked nervously at the old knight, then gulped and explained, "He's dead, so does that mean I don't have to pay the money I owe him?"

　　"Hahahahaha, yeah, you kid got lucky!"

　　The store manager stood there with an embarrassed look on his face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

　　"Well, talk about him drinking here."

　　"Yes, yes, yes, he came in and ordered several rum punches and hasn't paid ...."

　　"Get to the point."

　　"Focus? Uh... The point...?"

　　"Did he meet anyone and who was he with when he left?"

　　"Ahhh, he came with a couple of his own men, and when he left, the men stayed to drink while he was .... Right! Scarface Monty left with a woman... Uh, I wonder if it was a woman."

　　"What's wrong?"

　　"Uh, the guy was short and wore a dark red dress, but again, the face looked like a guy."

　　"Is it a man or a woman?"

　　"I don't know... Scarface Monty was walking away with his arm around the guy's waist, and I thought at the time that it was a prostitute hustling in the neighborhood..."

　　"What kind of clothes was that woman wearing?"

　　"It looks as if it's more valuable clothes, but it's hard to tell, and as you know, the women who hustle wear clothes that look valuable, but are actually very cheap fabrics ...."

　　"Are you familiar with the women in the neighborhood, old widower?" Baldwin joked to the old knight.

　　"Familiar my ass, aren't you an old widower too?"

　　"Let's split up, I'll lead the way and ask Scarface Monte's men. You go find a pimp in the neighborhood and ask if there is such a woman."

　　The old knight grunted and walked away.

　　Baldwin, meanwhile, took Edward and a bunch of other hunters and let the half-grown kid who had identified Scarface Monty lead the way to the youngster who had been drinking with the boss last night.

　　The hunters went from door to door knocking on the homes of the punks, punching the guys awake who didn't want to wake up because of their hangovers, and asking them about the boss.

　　The punks said pretty much the same thing as the tavern owner, they didn't recognize the woman, it seemed that Scarface Monty was drinking on a whim and had to pull a random person to let off some steam, so he went off with the woman.

　　The hunters scouted all morning with no luck, and at noon the old knight came over to the rendezvous deflated, having asked all the pimps around him, and they all said they had never seen a short woman with male features.

　　Judging by the efficiency of the old knight's inquiries, he was indeed familiar with the neighborhood's specialty service industry.

　　But the trail was cut short.

　　Just as the two old guys got together and fretted, Edward said, "The master also said before that loan sharks would be acquainted with all sorts of characters from the three religions and nine streams, and since the gangsters and pimps don't know about this woman, this woman shouldn't be a local."

　　"And then what?"

　　"Then she should have a stronghold here, let's go through the rented as well as unoccupied houses in this neighborhood one by one, we might get a clue."

　　"That's all there is to it." Baldwin nodded as he listened, then talked with the old knight, assigning men to line up everywhere.

　　With that, the hunters and knights of the close-guard worked in pairs to explore the nearby neighborhoods.

　　The day passed quickly, and on the second day, a new clue was finally obtained.

　　Although the woman was not found, the hunters found another body in an unused residence.

　　------

　　Back in his room, Lei Lei was completely confused.

　　This time it was two unconscious girls lying in their own beds.

　　There was also Lynn in the room.

　　"Sister, what are you doing?"

　　"This time I'll demonstrate myself and teach you how to suck blood."

　　"It's... Don't worry, we solved the problem yesterday."

　　Linlin's face was icy cold, and she directly rewarded her brother with a violent chestnut: "And you have the face to say it! Yesterday, because of your incompetence, you wasted a piece of your master's precious blood medicine!"

　　"But that blood potion tablet would have had my share, if not for the master's successive injuries ...."

　　"Shut up!"