Volume 1 - CH 156

After that, the four reported the circumstances to Magistrate Goro in the Magistrate’s office.

Rashata was also seated next to Goro.

“As such, it seems that there are Vampires and at least ten Strigoi subservient to them.”

“Those who disappeared …”

“I fear they have become Strigoi …”

Goro confirmed with a pained look and Hugh replied with a nod.

Hugh was also a guildmaster who led people.

If those he should be protecting were changed into such beings … the feeling of mortification would be unimaginable.

Hugh said nothing and waited while sipping coffee until Goro could digest some of the feelings of mortification.

“Okay, so are the eastern woods home for the Vampires?”

Goro recovered in about thirty seconds and asked.

Hugh hesitated and turned to Graham.

“Let me see … the possibilities aren’t zero, but … honestly, the possibilities aren’t high either. Strigoi live in various places but the Vampires tend to live in houses. Unless there are abandoned houses or a village in the woods, but since there aren’t any such buildings … what is on the other side of the eastern forest?”

Graham seemed to answer while remembering various things.

Asked about what was on the other side of the woods, Goro took a large map from the cupboard and laid it out on his desk.

“This is a schematic diagram of the area around Kona village … the eastern forest is quite large. Beyond that … there is only a fishing village. The outermost part of the Kingdom. It should be Baron Momor’s territory. The Baron lives in the Royal Capital and I believe that this fishing village and the manor, which is quite far a distance away from the village, are managed by a representative lord. Graham, you don’t mean …”

“It’s just a possibility. The fishing village may have already fallen into the hands of Vampires.”

Both Goro and Graham conversed with frowns.

Even though it was a small fishing village, there were dozens of people living there.

If they were all turned into Strigoi …

Given that line of thought, it would be unavoidable for both Goro and Graham to frown.

“In any case, we need to go to the fishing village to check.”

Hugh said.

“To go from Kona village to the fishing village without going through the forest …. the south side of the forest protrudes to the coast, so you will have to go by sea, but that is not recommended. It has very difficult currents and there are monsters in the sea. It would be difficult without the ‘Sea monster repellent’ that fishermen have.”

(What’s that!? Is there something that can repel sea monsters?!)

Ryo was really excited deep down.

He definitely had to find that at the fishing village.

At the top of Ryo’s checklist was the sea monster repellent.

Meanwhile, Goro’s explanation continued.

“The realistic choice is to go around the north side of the forest, which would take you through Baron Momor’s mansion before going to the fishing village.”

“His mansion? I wish to talk with them but will they accept adventurers …?”

Hugh expressed his concerns.

“Well … that depends on the representative lord.”

“Then, I’ll go with you.”

Rashata said that.

“I am still a noble with the Viscount rank. I don’t think the representative lord of the manor would refuse to cooperate?”

It was a very reasonable logic.

“I’m very grateful for that.”

“Yup. I understand. Although minor, this is how I can be of aid to this village.”

Rashata burst into laughter.

(It is great to have such a person as a noble … but I don’t think everyone has such a wonderful personality.)

Ryo was dogmatic and prejudiced as his impressions of aristocrats crossed his mind.

“Also, we will leave the defense of the village to Dogon and his party. After a few days, those in the recovery room will be able to fight too.”

“Oh, thank you. It’s better if nothing happens … but we can never know what might happen.”

Goro nodded happily to Hugh’s suggestion.

Once he found out that Vampires and their servants were in the woods, he was worried about the village’s poor defense capabilities.

But even with that knowledge, it was not something that could be done easily.

Some villagers could fight to some extent, but when it came to fighting Vampires … it was impossible.

It was only natural to be pleased to hear that Kyradea’s adventurers would stay behind.

Sure, their behaviors raised some eyebrows, but Goro thought that might have changed after having a close brush with death.

Etho and Ryo returned to the accommodation and explained the process to Niels and Amon at the cafeteria.

“If magic doesn’t work on Vampires, it’s our turn as Swordsmen!”

Niels rejoiced.

However, Ryo was silent with his eyes swimming openly.

“What, Ryo. Is there anything you wish to say?”

“Well … the front line will probably be Roman and Hugh …”

“Eh……”

Niels stiffened after hearing Ryo’s prediction.

“Those two are amazing after all. One is a Hero while the other is a hero of the Great War.”

Amon nodded and commented.

“W-we … we … we …”

Niels’ voice gradually became quieter.

“Niels … the front line is not the only battlefield! Protecting the back line is also an important role for Swordsmen!”

Ryo encouraged Niels.

“O-oh, yeah, that’s right! I definitely won’t be useless!”

Niels managed to recover.

Although they were Rune’s 『Room 10』, known as a party showing great promise for the future, they still could not compete with ‘Hero Roman’ or ‘Hero McGrath’.

Right now, they were still at the stage of accumulating achievements one by one …

(I feel that this time it is my role to protect these three.)

Hero Party and Hugh McGrath … it didn’t seem like there was any need for Ryo.

However, these three …

Ryo nodded in his heart.

The next morning, the expedition led by Hugh McGrath left the village of Kona and arrived at Baron Momor’s mansion at 3:00 pm without incident.

(The mansion has probably already been taken over by Vampires and the representative lord will be a Strigoi. The party will fall into a trap and be driven into a forced combat event! Surrounded by more than a hundred Strigoi, the Vampires would say to the surrounded party, ‘You’ve fallen into my trap, fools. Ahahahaha.’)

Ryo stood in front of the manor while thinking about such things.

His expression of faintly grinning …

Naturally, the three from Room 10 noticed his expression and whispered to each other.

“Ryo’s facial expression …”

“Yeah, definitely that …”

“He’s thinking about something bad again.”

Amon, Etho, and Niels have had a long relationship with him so they could see through Ryo’s internal thoughts.

“Hey, Ryo.”

Hugh suddenly called out to Ryo.

“Yes, what is it?”

Ryo immediately tightened his expression and answered seriously.

“Are you thinking something strange?”

“No, I was not.”

Even though he didn’t have a long relationship with him, the former A-rank adventurer could sense the change in Ryo.

Of course, Ryo responded with a prim face as if nothing happened.

The lord’s mansion wasn’t that large.

It resembled the mansion of a slightly wealthy merchant house, and the lord of the manor who greeted them was an ordinary man who looked like an administrative official in his mid-fifties.

No matter how they looked at him, he appeared to be a normal human being.

The moment he saw the representative lord, Ryo’s shoulders fell and his head hung down slightly, and the three from Room 10 did not miss it.

It’s a pity nothing happened … the three felt Ryo’s regret.

“I knew he was thinking about something bad.”

No one could hear their mutterings.

“Viscount, is what you say true?”

Vampires may have settled nearby. That was the answer to Rashata’s question asking the representative lord to allow them to enter the fishing village.

Representative lord Kenkan was a wealthy merchant and the leader of the company that served Baron Momor before he received his Baron rank.

After Momor was conferred peerage, he was dispatched to act as the representative lord to manage this mansion and the fishing village on the outermost edge of the kingdom.

“But that fishing village …”

Having said that, Kenkan, the representative lord, hesitated.

“Is something wrong?”

Rashata asked with a smile to get friendly cooperation and not to put pressure on him.

“No, I can’t call it a problem … to be accurate, the village is no longer Baron Momor’s territory.”

“What do you mean?”

According to Kenkan’s explanation, it seemed that there was a discussion in the Royal Capital, and in exchange for gifting the fishing village to the royal family, Baron Momor received land in the Royal Capital.

As a result, the fishing village was no longer under the control of the representative lord.

“That was about a year ago.”

<The first disappearance was ten months ago …>

While listening to the story, Hugh was thinking in his head.

If the Vampire approached the fishing village after Kenkan no longer had control of the village … it wasn’t strange that they did not notice anything going wrong until now.

The royal family does not dispatch representatives to the outermost fishing villages of the Kingdom, especially lands that do not border other countries.

The tax collector would be dispatched once a year to determine the amount of tax payment, but otherwise they would be almost untouched.

“But even though it’s a fishing village, don’t people visit here for business?”

Rashata asked the question he was pondering.

“The villagers of this fishing village set sail to sell goods before Momor became a Baron. Therefore, no one may have gone to the village from the outside since I stopped visiting …”

Representative lord Kenkan replied, frowning and shaking his head several times.

“I see, I understand. As far as I can tell, I don’t think that the representative lord or the baron will be blamed. I’ll put in a good word when I report to the capital.”

“Thank you, Viscount.”

Rashata promised to put in a good word and Kenkan bowed deeply to thank him.