“The paladins, can they be trusted fighting against these vampires? I don’t mean to be sacrilegious but paladins don’t exactly deal with threats like this very often. From what I understand they mostly protect their temples and holy sights from those who would try to destroy them.” Detective Carius’s scepticism was a surprise to me. I knew that a majority of the kingdom followed the circle of fire as their religion, I would have assumed that even those that didn’t follow would see the circle as a force of stability and strength.

“You think they don’t have the ability to handle such a matter?” I asked.

“It's not that I think they are incompetent, I just think they just have higher priorities. Things like stopping occultists from summoning their demon masters and keeping the goblin hoards to the north from bearing down on us.”

“Even if the paladins and the circle of fire can’t help us with manpower we should still contact them or ask the crown to contact them on our behalf. They may still be able to offer information that would be invaluable when fighting against this vampiric threat.” Captain Dio interjected as I was about to rebuke the detective.

“Even in the event the circle doesn’t send anyone there are still many powerful individuals that would be more than willing to fight against the vampires, many of which are a part of the circle anyways. I know a priest who calls himself Brother Albin, he has helped me in the past and I see no reason he wouldn’t be willing to at least offer his spiritual guidance for something like this.”

Both the captain and the detective were quiet as they thought about what I said. I could see that the captain was more than willing to try and contact the circle while the detective had already decided that the circle was a waste of time. I didn’t know why he felt this way, but I already knew that the circle would send their paladins so contacting them was worth it.

“Do you have contact with the crown of one of their advisors?” I asked, turning to captain Dio. She nodded and brought out her communication orb from her desk and called the kings secretary. He picked up the line with a rather tired look on his face.

“Captain! We are having a rather interesting day today, are we not? How can I help you?” Despite the tired tone he spoke with he still tried to look presentable and upstanding.

“It's about the vampire situation. I would like to suggest to the crown that we should inquire to the circle of fire for information and perhaps even some of their paladins to help fight against them.” Stepping behind the captain I got my first good look at the man. He was a middle aged human of about average height with short brown hair and a clean shaven face. He also seemed rather surprised by both the captain’s recommendation and my sudden appearance.

“Well that is an interesting suggestion, captain. But I must ask, who is that man standing behind you?” The king's secretary asked nervously, I noticed he fiddled with his fingers as he spoke. Likely a nervous habit he picked up from his job.

“This here is the evoker Arthur. He is a mage from the mages guild and the target of the vampire attack that has the whole upper echelons of the kingdom panicking. It was actually his idea to contact the circle to ask for help.” I nodded as the captain gave this explanation, I could see the man relax somewhat as he understood I wasn't just some nobody listening in on the conversation.

“Ah, very well then. Is there anyone else in the room with the two of you? This is a rather delicate matter so it would be best that I know of everyone who is a part of this conversation from the start.” Both the captain and I turned to the detective who looked rather annoyed with our decision regarding the circle of fire. He sighed and walked over standing next to me and within view of the view of the orb.

“I assume that is everyone?” The king’s secretary asked and the three of us nodded.

“Very good then. Now regarding your suggestion, asking the circle of fire for help, that has already been done. The king is actually on very good terms with the current High Lord of the circle and she was willing to send a platoon of paladins to assist with the vampire threat.”

I smiled at the statement, it already lined up with what happened the last time and it looked like they would be here on schedule. Soon I would be able to deal Darius with some powerful backup in case things go wrong.

“So do we know when they will be arriving? Having a timeline of how long we will need to keep the vampire threat occupied would be a gods-send at this point.” I could see the captain relaxing her shoulders as she asked the question. I already had an idea of the answer, but knowing from the source would be better.

“They are estimated to be here in around a week's time. If there are any delays I am in charge of informing all of the guard captains. Now if there isn’t anything else I have my duties to attend to.” Moments later the call with the king’s secretary ended and captain Dio returned the orb to her desk.

Only when she closed and locked the drawer did she turn to me and speak. “So now we just need to discuss your protection until this threat has been dealt with. How do you think we should go about this detective?” Captain Dio then looked to detective Carius for an answer.

“Well that mostly depends upon what Arthur is doing. Since he is an alchemist I would assume that he is brewing potions on the regular. That would mean either buying lots of ingredients from places that sell ingredients or going out and collecting them himself. So do tell us Mr. Arthur, how do you source your ingredients?” The detective had a slight unhappiness in his tone that I could make out, but I could see that he was trying to keep his feelings out of the conversation.

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“In the past I have been buying my ingredients from a supplier, but as of recently I have needed to collect them from the nearby forest personally. I do have a decent amount of money saved up and I have a living space rented out for a month, so shelter and work are not exactly an issue that I am dealing with. I do however still need to be certified by the mages guild as an alchemist, I will be doing that as soon as possible in light of these new developments.”

“We were thinking more in terms of an armed escort given your interest in the situation. We wouldn’t want another vampire to make their way into your home and try again.” Captain Dio corrected my thoughts on the matter and brought up a good point while doing so. I was expecting that I would be asked to stay in the barracks at night to ensure my safety like the last time, however this time I was being offered an armed escort.

‘An interesting development, perhaps this is due to my status as a proper magical practitioner. I was just a nobody the last time I went through all of this, my little display of instant casting of tier one spells must have made its way higher and been more important than I thought.’

“In truth in cases like this the monetary situation of those we are protecting isn’t really a major factor, we will be providing food and drink if you can’t afford it, but given what you just said I doubt that is an issue. Our biggest priority right now is keeping you alive, and the best way to do that is with an escort which will be following you around to keep you safe. Wherever you go they will be nearby and more than ready to jump in to protect you.” Detective Carius’s explanation was sounding far nicer than the previous arrangement.

“I have one question about this armed escort.” I interjected. “I won’t need to sleep in the same room as this armed escort will I? I like my privacy and I would be far more comfortable without some heavily armed man or woman standing around while I am asleep.”

“No no, you will have your own privacy during the night when you are asleep. However during the day whoever is chosen will need to be in the same room as you for most of the time. At night they will be waiting just outside your door, all you will need to do in that situation is call for help and they will come running with their weapons ready.”

I paused for a moment to think about the arrangement. It was a considerable upgrade from what I had to endure the last time and I was still able to retain my autonomy to go about my work. I would of course be spending a considerable amount of time in the guild library for anything on restoration magic as that was something I needed if I wanted to greatly improve my healing potions, but I would also need to choose a supplier for my ingredients since for the time being I wasn't leaving the city.

“Very well then, I will allow an armed escort. But I would like to meet them beforehand and I would like to have full autonomy of my decisions while inside the city. Otherwise I am going alone because I have things I need to do and little time I am willing to waste.” I said making my terms firm, I wasn’t going to be sleeping in a barracks full of sweaty and smelly guards again and I was more than willing to go alone.

********

One week later on the very first day of Felsite Arthur was walking through the streets of the western district to pick up the ingredients he ordered, his armed escort just a few steps behind him. The first face was a familiar one, the stone elf he had spent some time with by the name of Titia. She was on loan from the eastern district for the duration of the task to keep Arthur alive and safe from any threats. Worst case scenario she had the skills needed to escape and inform the city guard of the situation with her illusion magic.

The second person following him around was a new face to Arthur, he was a human man that called himself Eric. Based on the name alone it was easy to figure out that he was from the empire, but he was apparently loyal to the city guard and both skilled and trusted enough to handle the task. Unlike Titia his weapon of choice was a spear and he wore proper chainmail armor with several pieces of metal plate armor over his head and his other most vital areas.

While this trio was walking through the streets Eric used his intimidating presence to keep a small amount of breathing room around them. He said he was doing it to keep any hidden assassins from trying to sneak up on them. Titia disapproved while Arthur didn’t really care too much, he was more concerned with getting to the store and back to his temporary home.

But as the trio was walking south a commotion occurred from the west and was heading in their direction, they along with everyone else on the street stopped to see what it was. As they waited the sounds of metal boots marching in sync almost echoed off the buildings. The people parted like the ancient saints of old were commanding the oceans, when they did it gave Arthur and his armed escorts a sight of who it was.

A platoon of heavily armored men wearing plate armor with a symbol of a sword wrapped in a golden flame marched down the street towards the seat of the crown at the very centre of the city. It was the paladins sent by the circle of fire, and they were here to fight the vampire threat. It was both good and bad news.

‘Darius and his little cult should start getting a little uncomfortable as the news spreads. But that also means the likelihood of them contacting me will rise which will almost certainly lead to confrontation. Hopefully I will be ready to fight him when that happens.’ Arthur was nervous as he watched the paladins pass by. He knew that if he could get them to follow him without the cult finding out about them then it would be an issue to survive the encounter.

********

Not too far from where Arthur was, a young human woman dressed in some rather worn thief-like garbs pushed her way through the crowd and back towards the southern district to the old tavern her guild operated from. When she was outside of the large bunched up crowd she started running with as much strength as her legs could muster up. When she reached the tavern she was breathing heavily, but she didn’t stop moving and pushed open the door and stepped inside.

When she was inside he walked by the few drunkards at the tables and bar drinking so early in the day into the back and down the hidden hallway to the guild master. The Pyrosan bodyguard tried to stop her but she just shoved him with the strength and adrenaline in her system out of the way just enough to pass by.

The guild master looked up from his desk rather surprised by the sudden visitor. He wasn’t expecting anyone for another hour, and here was one of his subordinates that he unfortunately had to allow the blood spawn barrow for a while. He felt a little bad about it but the timely death of the young vampire was both happy and unhappy news.

“Boss, we have a situation down in the western district.” Auria said while breathing somewhat heavily. “We have paladins entering the city, they were heading for the center of the city the last time I checked. They are probably here because of the vampire.”