Chapter Ninety-Three: The One Who Slept in the Same Coffin

Baron Shaer was clearly stunned for quite some time. He even shut his eyes and rubbed them hard, and only after confirming that he was not dreaming did panic finally spread across his face.

“Lord Jonstr? You... how can you be here?”

Mullan smiled and gave a cutting reply.

“I never would have thought you had such a peculiar taste, Shaer. You like sleeping in coffins.”

“I...”

Baron Shaer tried to explain, but the situation was so bizarre that there was no explanation at all. Before he could even decide what to say, Mullan had already seized him by the collar and hoisted him out of the coffin with one hand.

“I showed you enough courtesy in front of the servants at the baronial manor, and I had no intention of exposing you in Shaer Town. But you, a pitiful fool, actually chose to side with vampires. What a disgrace to the nobility of Dilga!”

“Earlier today, I found our conversation most pleasant, and I even thought I might make a good friend in Shaer. I never expected you to have sunk so low, never expected you to be plotting to keep werewolves fed within the empire’s borders. Do you know what crime that is? Do you know what punishment it carries?”

Mullan’s face was almost touching Shaer’s, who was already trembling in terror.

“You would be put to death, and even then you might not die right away after enduring unimaginable suffering. Vampires possess a remarkable tolerance for harm; pain alone is not enough to kill them. So long as the vital organs are avoided, those old mages can torment you into collapse again and again, studying your bones and organs right before your eyes...”

“By the time you are finally tortured to death, perhaps a year or more will have passed. And even then, your soul will not escape. It will face even crueller torment, locked away in some tiny glass bottle and taken out for study whenever there is need. It could go on without end...”

Mullan’s expression in the shadows was terrifying and uncanny. His voice carried into Baron Shaer’s ears with a fierce power of suggestion and temptation, helping him conjure in his mind one horrifying and miserable scene after another.

Shaer’s face turned deathly pale, and his whole body began to tremble faintly.

“No, no... I never meant to overthrow the empire. I just... I only wanted power unlike anyone else’s. I only wanted a fresh and exciting life. I only—”

“Only wanted a long life, only wanted greater power, only wanted more?”

Mullan narrowed his eyes and fixed Shaer with a merciless stare. A dreadful pressure burst forth, making the self-styled elegant baron shiver uncontrollably. Somewhere beyond Shaer’s sight, in the shadow behind Mullan, it seemed as if a great demon had spread its wings and claws, opening a mouth full of fangs to sneer at him.

Though he could not see it, the fear and crushing presence brought by that demonic shadow left Shaer nearly suffocating. The temperature he felt seemed to plummet to freezing; breathing became difficult, and his whole body felt stiff and unable to move.

Just as Shaer was on the verge of wetting himself, Mullan’s tone abruptly changed.

“However, Shaer, fortunately for you, you still had some restraint. You have not bitten anyone’s neck, and you have not truly become a hopeless vampire. Perhaps there is still a way to save you.”

“What way?”

Baron Shaer instantly seemed to come back to life from the brink of death.

“What can I do to help? What can let me escape these charges?”

Mullan smiled.

“Use your vampire talents to help me wipe out those wolf pups for good.”

“I? No, no, I’ve never dared go near there. They are all my friends...”

Mullan cut him off brutally.

“Your friends are dead! Believe me, he will never appear again. Do you want to save yourself, or do you want to be sent to the Imperial Ministry of Magic as experimental material?”

With Mullan’s face darkening, the demon in the shadows also exuded a cruel aura. Shaer broke down at once.

...

There must certainly be a werewolf leader in the mines near Shaer, otherwise the ordinary werewolves would be difficult to keep under control. With Shaer alone, it was unlikely to be possible.

That evening, dinner at the baronial manor was unusually early. It kept the servants busy for quite a while, but nothing went wrong.

The dinner party had grown to four in all: Mullan, Hendel, Farolinch, and Baron Shaer.

The Shaer family had few members and a tradition of early graves. By now, there remained only one unmarried man, along with a few cousins living elsewhere. When Mullan spoke of his plan during dinner, Shaer very much wanted to refuse. After all, he had only one life. But after weighing everything, obedience still seemed the surer path to a longer one.

By the time dinner was nearly finished, Hendel excused himself early to make preparations, while Mullan and the others remained at the table, eating slowly and methodically.

“Lord Jonstr, if... I mean if, we fail? I don’t know how many werewolves are in the mountains, but there are certainly more than ten, and there are only a few of us. Wouldn’t it be better if I gathered Shaer’s police, then mobilized the people of Shaer Town to bring their guns and form a hundred men? Wouldn’t we have a better chance if we went in together?”

Mullan glanced at him.

“And you want everyone to know that Baron Shaer has turned into a vampire? By then you would never be able to remain in Shaer, and I fear that before the Imperial Ministry of Magic even comes for you, the Sanctuary will have already seized you and burned you at the stake.”

Shaer’s neck shrank slightly.

“The Sanctuary? They arrest vampires?”

“Ha. The Sanctuary is not merely there to spread the gospel. They possess formidable power. A half-dark creature like you daring to appear before them is practically handing them a merit reward.”

“All right, we’re finished eating. Let’s get ready. We have to enter the mountains before dark.”

Mullan rose first. Farolinch, who had not eaten a single bite and had only sat there smelling the food all night, also stood up at once. He had long since reached his limit. Watching others eat while he could only crave it was unbearable; his digestive system had not even recovered yet.

Mullan seriously wondered what was currently driving this man’s body. He did not seem to possess any magical power. If he could not see the light, then he certainly could not photosynthesize. It even made Mullan want to dissect him and take a look.

Baron Shaer did not dare remain seated alone, so he followed Mullan and the others out of the dining room. On the surface they all said they were going to rest separately, but in truth they entered the cellar beneath the baronial manor and used another exit passage to slip quietly beyond the manor grounds.

This passage lay in a room beside the cellar hall. The entrance was hidden behind a bookshelf door. The three of them walked through the dark for about fifteen minutes before reaching the exit on the other side.

Mullan led the way. He unfastened the lock, pushed hard several times, and as dry leaves, dead branches, and clods of soil fell from the opening, a hidden oak panel at the foot of the mountain woodland was forced open from inside. The three of them then climbed out from within.

“Not bad, Shaer. A cunning rabbit has three burrows. The Shaer family really does value its lives, though your lifespans are a bit short. Why didn’t you hurry and marry, so the Shaer line could continue? Vampires cannot bear children.”

“What? Vampires can’t have children?”

The newly emerged Shaer stared in shock, and Mullan’s expression made it plain that he was not joking.

“What, you didn’t know?”

“Damn it! They never told me that! That fellow even promised me everything would be more comfortable than before, that everything would only get better than before. He didn’t even tell me about the empire’s...”

As he spoke, Shaer’s voice dwindled away. He stopped complaining, though his face had already gone as pale as Farolinch’s.

“Let’s go.”

Mullan brushed the dust from his clothes, closed the oak door, then swept some leaves over it with his foot to cover it up. After that he took the lead. They were still a long way from the mine shaft in the mountains, and of course they could not walk there.

When they reached a broad mountain road, Hendel was already waiting with a carriage, the very one that had been hidden there earlier.

When Mullan opened the door and saw what was inside, both Shaer and Farolinch clearly froze. Several large sacks had been placed in the carriage.

“What is this?”

“Explosives.”

After saying that, Hendel grinned and added an explanation while holding the reins.

“The Shaer mine has long been shut down, but it wasn’t hard to get some old explosives from the warehouse here. I checked them all. There’s no problem.”

“Good. Get in. We’re leaving.”

Farolinch and Shaer exchanged a glance. After a brief round of polite refusal, Farolinch boarded first and sat right beside the sacks of explosives, his expression growing even darker. Shaer’s face was no better. He only felt that danger surrounded him on every side.

Damn vampire.

Shaer could not help cursing inwardly, without even realizing that he was cursing himself as well.

“Ha, no wonder you two look so much alike now. You really did sleep in the same coffin!”

Mullan teased them with a laugh.