The next morning I awoke in my bed with a good night's sleep. Looking out the window revealed a wonderful sunny morning with no sign of any break ins. I knew that one night was far too soon to expect anything from the cult but deep down I was hoping that they would do something so the plantains would arrive and give me an opportunity to take them down permanently. ‘Looks like I will need to wait for a little while longer, but I should have a few things to do while I wait for them to act. I should look into a few other tier three geomancy spells that could give me an edge against Darius.
**********
Auria stood before her boss as her heart was practically beating out of her chest from the sheer stress alone. One of the blood spawn of the Red Eye cult was standing just a few feet away from her as she was given her assignment. She could see in its eyes that it was very interested in her, like it was just about ready to reach out towards her to take her and bleed her out like an animal the same way they did to their other victims.
“Now Auria, I want you to work with this… gentleman here and look into the person or people that uncovered the hidden dumpsite the sect was using to dispose of their waste. I am certain that you will be more than enough to satisfy our clients.” The grandmaster of Misery's end Hanno Metilius said this with a false smile on his face as if he was trying to convince himself that what they were doing wasn’t such a horrible thing.
Auria was disgusted and terrified by the idea of working with the blood spawn, but she knew she couldn’t say anything. Not without insulting the cult and them in turn demanding something in return which would likely end up being her. “Of course sir. Consider it done.”
The red cloaked blood spawn smiled and walked over to Auria creeping both her and the grandmaster out. “Such an enthusiastic little girl. I just want to keep you all to myself.” The blood spawn said as he grabbed Auria by the chin and forced her to look him in the eye. She was given a look at the young vampire that she didn’t want in a million years.
She was forced to look directly into his deep red eyes like rivers of blood. The pale flesh that made up his face was equally unappealing as his eyes, he looked almost like a corpse. His breath was no better as it smelled like a mixture of blood and death.
“Why don’t you show me all of the ways you use to find sensitive information.” The blood spawn said as he released his grip on Auria’s chin. Auria trying to avoid his face just kept her head down and left the room with him right behind her.
The guild master watched all this happening holding his breath out of fear. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that the guild and his leadership might be numbered because of the Red Eye cult. For the past year they had been a small but regular client that on occasion helped deal with people that were a threat to the guild, but now they were making big steps in the city, they were expanding, and he didn’t know what to do.
*********
Two days passed as I continued with my studies and harassment of the Red Eye cult. I learned another tier three geomancy spell called Wall of Earth, it was a defensive spell that would conjure up a large amount of earth that would take the form of a flat wall standing a little shy of two meters tall and a meter wide. I ended up testing it against a few of my own spells and I found that it was a decent protective spell that I was able to move freely around myself within about two meters. The spell was able to withstand several tier two spells and even two strikes with weapons conjured from the Free Handed Earth Weapon spell before suffering significant damage and breaking apart.
I was more than confident that the spell would do well when I would eventually face Darius again. Given what I recall of his physical strength it should be able to survive at least one strike before breaking on the second, but that would depend on how much strength he uses against me.
‘I will be certain to have the paladins there just in case something does happen. For all I know, given my greater strength Darius might even use everything he has in his first attack to try and take me out quickly. Having a ritual just in case would be a smart move, something like an extra Wall of Earth centered around the mana stone.’
********
On the last day of the month of Slate was when the attack happened. I had waited for quite some time at that point for the vampire assassin to strike, but I couldn’t feel him watching me from a distance like I did the last time. It was like he was so much weaker than I am that I couldn’t even register him as a major threat to my life.
The vampire arrived at my room to kill me at night while I was asleep and like I suspected he tried to enter through the window to avoid anyone who might have been inside the tavern. The ritual ended up activating as he stuck his head through the window to take a look around and the earth vine grabbed him by the neck. If the loud snapping sound that was made by the shifting earth didn’t wake me the sudden shout of surprise and fear certainly would have.
He tried cutting the vine off with his knives but before he could I was already on my feet and running towards him with my longsword in hand. When I reached him I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room while the vine kept its grip around his neck. At this point the vampire started to panic and swung his knives around wildly like an animal snarling as he did so, he also managed to deal a fair bit of damage to the vine holding onto him and he started to try and pull it off.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Instead of just waiting around to see what he would do I raised my longsword and pointed the tip towards his very exposed chest and stabbed. The blade only found a bit of resistance from the thin leather armor he was wearing before it pierced the pale flesh and drew blood. The vampire shrieked in pain and instead moved his efforts to try to block my attacks with his two knives, but with the vine around his neck and the angle he was at he couldn’t see much below himself making it rather easy to stab him again and again.
After seven total stab wounds to the stomach and chest he eventually let out one last gurgle and stopped moving, at the same time the earth vine dispelled and his corpse fell to the ground with a thud. A pool of blood had formed from all the stab wounds he suffered and was only growing larger as he was on the floor.
Before anything else happened I picked up my mana stone and placed it in my dimensional bag. I did the same with anything else that I didn’t already have in their other than my sword.
Several minutes later the city guard arrived due to all the commotion from the people all around me in their rooms. I guessed it was the owner of the tavern that actually called the city guard. Two guards took my sword and pushed me to one side of the room to keep an eye on me while the other two investigated the scene to find out who the instigator was. Eventually I could hear people out in the halls exiting and speaking to a few other guards who were blocking the doorway.
“Excuse me, what happened in there? It sounded like some sort of fight going on. Did somebody die?” An older man asked from the hallway.
“Nothing you need to worry about sir. We have the situation well under control and the suspect is in our custody.” One of the guards in the hallway answered the old man.
Another ten minutes passed before an actual detective arrived and began looking at the crime scene. When he took a look at the corpse he quickly recoiled and demanded that the two guards keeping an eye on me bring me to him. When they brought me over just a few meters the detective started asking me questions. He started with the expected questions such as asking my name and what I did for a living before he asked anything about the case.
“Do you know what you just killed sir?” The detective was direct with his question which was a little surprising, but I answered honestly, mostly.
“It was a vampire. It tried sneaking through my window, thankfully I woke up as it was doing so and managed to kill it before it killed me.” The detective nodded with a stern look on his face and nodded to the two guards next to me who then exited the room to the hallway.
“Well sir I am not certain if you are incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky because a vampire entering someone's room in the capital isn’t something that happens very often. A small village is one matter, but the capital itself. I will need to report this right away.” The detective turned to the two guards still in the room. “You two keep everyone who isn't a member of the city government outside this room. We can’t have just anyone coming and going as they wish. They might damage the crime scene.”
But just as the detective was about to leave he stopped in the doorway and turned to me. “And you sir, I recommend finding another place to stay the night. Preferably someplace out of the way where you won’t be followed by anyone. I would rather there was no more death within the city tonight.” With those final words the detective raced out the door and out of the tavern. I suspected that his destination was the castle where the king and queen were, he likely wanted to make certain that they know of the situation before any other vampire or associates have the opportunity to cover up what happened.
I was also forced out by the two guards in the room and instead of finding another room in the same tavern I left and looked for another. Unfortunately it was not only late at night but there were also very few rooms left in the few places that were still open. After a half hour of searching I found a small cramped room in a place called the Black Pot for a couple copper pieces. The room was located underground in a basement area along with several identical ones which were only three meters in length and width, the only thing inside of each was a cheap bed that creaked as I moved around.
‘What an interesting night.’ I thought to myself as I looked to the ceiling that was just a few cheap wooden boards connected to the top of the walls. ‘I should expect the city guard to send for me sometime soon to get a proper statement from me since that detective has my name and knows I am a part of the guild. Hopefully they bring in the paladins soon, that way Darius can die sooner rather than later.’
Past that last though I didn’t remain awake for much long, despite the uncomfortable bed I was laying on I soon drifted off to a dreamless sleep and felt my body relax after the dangerous situation I found myself nearly an hour earlier.
**********
When I awoke the next morning I instinctively looked to where the window in my previous room was to take a look outside, I was disappointed but quickly reoriented myself. I dressed myself and stepped outside my room and followed the stairs up the main floor and out the door to find it was around nine o’clock in the morning. I had apparently slept in an extra hour.
My first priority of the day was to collect more ingredients as I was practically out of everything I needed for more healing potions. After that I would need to find a new place to stay for the long term which would be followed by speaking with the foreman of the glassmakers to inform them of my new address.
‘But I might need to be in the city when the city guard comes looking for me. If I am in the forest when that happens they might think the vampires have gotten to me and made me disappear, then when I return they will likely be very annoyed because they wasted their time looking for me. I should go and look for another room to rent right away and then speak with the glassmakers. After that I can think of some way to spend my day.’
I started looking around the western district looking through all the taverns I could find and even checked out a few buildings offering far more long term rentals. Eventually I found a place within a ten minute walking distance of the guild that had living spaces available. Outside on the front entrance and a few nearby boards was an ad for five living spaces that were a little larger than the room I was renting in the tavern.
Instead of paying by the day or week or whatever payment plan that someone made with the tavern, this would be paid every month. The monthly rental was for just one silver coin which was a very good deal compared to what I was paying at the tavern, the only real downside was that the place didn’t come with any furniture so I would need to buy all that myself.
After looking the ad up and down and even checking the back I walked into the small reception area at the bottom of the building and walked over to the receptionist.