Norton was baffled and wanted Principal Asta to provide more information, but the principal merely suggested he would find out upon returning home, or he could ask his mother, Lady Windsor. No matter how much Norton inquired, the principal remained tight-lipped, leaving Norton frustrated and unable to focus during his remaining classes.
Finally, at five o’clock, the day’s lessons concluded. Refusing his classmates and teachers' invitations to stay for an extra hour of study, as was his routine, Norton took the carriage back to Drakenhof Castle, eager to unravel the mystery.
Determined to clear up this matter as soon as possible, Norton pondered the situation during his journey home. The notion of new students transferring due to their parents' work made sense, yet there was no need for them to reside in the castle, even for noble vampire families. The real mystery was why they would be staying specifically because of him.
"What on earth is going on?" Norton muttered, rubbing his temples in frustration. Despite his best efforts to puzzle it out, Asta’s cryptic message gave him no concrete leads.
Just as Norton decided to calm down and stop dwelling on the issue, he was jolted forward by a sudden stop, nearly tumbling to the ground. The ghostly carriage had encountered some magical obstruction, halting abruptly.
“What’s going on?” Norton wondered. This was the von Carstein domain—who would dare cause trouble here?
With no intelligent servant to answer his question and lacking an escort, Norton had to investigate himself. With a grim determination, he tightened his grip on his sword hilt, then deftly unsheathed a mithril dagger hidden in his boot, tucking it into his sleeve before stepping out of the carriage to confront the situation.
The ghostly carriage had stopped at the head of a broad, four-meter-wide stone bridge spanning a river. Blocking his path was a figure that appeared about Norton’s age, similarly slender but dressed quite differently.
Instead of the defense-enchanted evening attire typical for vampires, this young figure was clad in blood-red full plate armor, as if drenched in blood. The vivid armor was adorned with blood-dripping bats, and the chest displayed a snarling, dying red dragon. The shoulders were capped with golden beast mouths, and the head was crowned with a bat-shaped open-faced helm.
Her sword, hanging at her waist, was larger than the ceremonial ones, suited for actual combat. She held a blood-red lance and a compound material kite shield, seated astride a nightmare horse in full barding. Her narrowed eyes regarded Norton with a gaze as cold as a predator's.
This outfit screamed "Averell Rasin family’s war maniac, stay away," a well-known reputation among vampire circles. Norton had heard of these Averell Rasin vampire knights who honed their martial skills by challenging warriors at crossroads and bridges, allowing civilians to pass but demanding duels from fighters—killing challengers without repercussion.
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But this knight’s apparent age seemed off, looking about his age—wasn’t she too young to be out challenging people?
Regardless, Norton had no interest in these intrigues. He shrugged and addressed the vampire knight, "I’m a mage, not interested in martial growth from you. It’s late; I need to get home."
With that, he turned to leave.
As he did, the young vampire knight spoke, "Count von Carstein, do you wish to evade my challenge?"
“You know who I am? Specifically came looking for trouble?” Norton’s mind raced with these thoughts. “Looks like my reputation is widespread,” he mused, feeling a slight twinge of pride. He paused, curious about what the vampire knight would say.
Her speech was archaic, making it slightly cumbersome to follow, but Norton, having studied classical languages, understood her well enough.
“I am born of the Averell Rasin family, direct bloodline. I’ve honed my martial skills since age four, nearly ten years now. It’s my dream to become a true blood dragon knight, to charge into battle, to claim victories, to bring honor to my family. Yet now, my family orders me from the knight’s path to serve another master. I am unwilling, thus I am here.”
With murder in her eyes, the would-be blood dragon knight continued, “Fight me! Count of the von Carstein family, I will defeat you, to show the world my worth, and prove to my family my abilities. Or you can prove to me that you can use me, that you can lead me. Then, I will follow you.”
“…A lunatic,” Norton muttered, shrugging as he nonchalantly walked past the vampire knight. The ghostly carriage began moving forward, nearly crossing the bridge.
The vampire knight, visibly flustered at being ignored, quickly turned her nightmare steed, pointing her lance at Norton, repeating her challenge, albeit more hesitantly this time, “I—I said, accept my challenge, prove that you can use me, and lead me!”
However, Norton continued ignoring her, advancing to the carriage’s side. With a snap of his fingers, the carriage whisked up beside him, where he winked mockingly at the knight, then boarded. From the carriage window, he made a face at her.
"You—you have no chivalry at all!" she shrieked, her voice rising in pitch, shouting as Norton’s carriage sped away. Her family had taught her how to issue challenges but not how to handle refusals, leaving her bewildered.
Yet, Norton’s voice reached her from behind, "Hey, are all Averell Rasin vampires this dense?! Why don’t you chase after?" Shocked to find someone suddenly riding behind her on the nightmare, she instinctively dropped her lance, drawing her sword, intending to strike back!
“Idiot!” Norton hissed, gripping the vampire knight’s wrist. She felt as if caught in a vice, unable to move, fear shooting through her as Norton told her, “Stay still if you want to live, haven’t you noticed?! We’re surrounded!”
Norton’s low words echoed with the cackling laughter from the surrounding bushes. On both sides of the bridge and from beneath the river emerged hordes of snarling, fleshy ghouls. Among them were towering, muscled monstrosities, their spines ridged with bone spurs, escorting a similarly grotesque, large humanoid figure laughing harshly.
“A direct line of Averell Rasin, and the future count of von Carstein… what a harvest.” The humanoid monster growled in broken Old World Common Tongue.
“A Strigoi ghoul king?!” the vampire knight exclaimed in shock.
“Only now do you realize?” Norton sneered softly, muttering, “He intended to set us against each other and pick off the survivor. I noticed and played along to take advantage and leave. But you just stayed put, ruining my act.”
Her face reddened at Norton’s words, muttering, “How was I to know the von Carstein were such schemers…”
As she spoke, Norton leapt up with a swift sword thrust, piercing a ghoul lunging at him mouth-to-stomach. With a ‘snap,’ the ornamental sword couldn’t bear the ghoul’s weight, breaking in two!