Chapter Eighty-Eight: Settling in Shaer

Mulan walked step by step toward the vampire. Under the immense pressure bearing down on him, the other man seemed to glimpse, in a daze, a towering black silhouette approaching. Though he and Mulan were nearly the same height, the feeling it gave him was that of facing a giant with wings spread wide.

Those eerie red eyes, that face of madness and cruelty, the slightly parted mouth exposing countless razor-sharp teeth, and the pair of hands with hooked claws drawing subtly inward at his sides.

The vampire, at that moment, was like a frog fixed beneath a serpent’s gaze, completely ruled by fear. And he could sense something even more dreadful: the way the other looked at him was faintly the same as the way he himself looked at young girls.

“Speak. If you tell me, I will spare you.”

As Mulan’s lips moved, the immense demon fused with his shadow also opened and closed its mouth. The vampire seemed to “hear” the demon’s hoarse voice rather than Mulan’s true one.

The fangs had pinned his right hand in place, as though poisonous teeth were continually injecting venom into him, weakening his will and spirit.

“I-I’ll talk!”

In this situation, the vampire could not possibly remain defiant, or rather, he had been entirely overrun by fear. He chose to yield to the terrifying being before him, or to say whatever he was asked.

In less than ten minutes, the vampire had already revealed his purpose. The last scraps of his sanity and reason kept him from confessing everything, yet the demon within the shadow showed no sign of restraint at all; instead, it kept drawing closer.

At last, a pair of claws had touched the vampire, and Mulan’s hand had also seized him at that very moment, subjecting him to a crushing double pressure of body and mind. The demon’s massive head kept drawing nearer, and the mouth that had once worn a cruel smile was now opening wider and wider, the sharp teeth within becoming even more horrifying.

“No, no, what are you going to do? You promised you’d spare me. You promised! You—”

One of the demon’s claws had already covered the vampire’s face, as if stripping him of the ability to speak, cutting off his terrified cry mid-sentence.

“I did say that. But I never said I’d keep my promise. Besides, I’m very hungry now. Very hungry...”

The shadow’s terrifying maw drew ever closer. At the final moment, the vampire seemed to break free of his mental restraints and let out a shrill, piercing scream.

“Ahh—”

...

Hendel suddenly turned toward a direction.

“Did any of you hear something?”

“Huh?”

“What sound?”

“There are noises everywhere here.”

The area beside the halted train was lively indeed. There were station staff who had come to help, nearby residents who had been called over to assist, and quite a few detectives and officers from Charel. After all, it seemed many people had died aboard the train.

And after looking inside the carriages, those people inevitably felt shaken. When they were asking the similarly shaken passengers what had happened, the place outside the train became all the more bustling.

Hendel looked around in confusion. This station had been converted from an old-age train depot, and so it was built rather large and deep. Perhaps it was some echo carried by the wind?

“Maybe I heard wrong.”

Now that the professor was gone, even if something really was happening, Hendel felt it would not be wise to probe too deeply. Still, he kept one eye open and paid closer, more careful attention to his surroundings.

“Let’s continue discussing what we were just talking about. The train really can’t be started again?”

“This, we truly do not recommend it...”

...

More than ten minutes later, Hendel finally spotted Mulan walking back beside the train and hurried over.

“Professor, where did you go? I couldn’t find you anywhere just now. I heard the next train won’t come until tomorrow, and the people here have arranged lodging for us, in inns and in local homes. Will you go?”

Mulan glanced sidelong at the train.

“And the train? It can’t move anymore?”

“The situation with the train seems even worse than expected. Even if we forced it to go, it definitely couldn’t take everyone. On one hand, no one wants to ride it anymore; on the other, the detectives from Charel have come over. The situation aboard is very serious, so they won’t allow it to depart.”

Mulan touched the corner of his mouth. He looked toward the passenger who had approached him earlier. The man had already boarded a carriage with several other passengers, clearly heading for the place of lodging, and so Mulan gave a slight nod as well.

“Then let it be.”

If Mulan really insisted on using his position to force the departure, it could be done. But there was no need. Though the Stone of the Sun was precious, it was not something he could simply take upon arrival; some waiting and preparation would be necessary. A delay of a few days would not affect the larger plan. Presumably, Imperial intelligence agents would already be making the arrangements for him.

“All right, Professor. Then let’s get in as well. It’s quite a walk over there. I’ll go get your luggage.”

This time Mulan did not refuse Hendel’s kindness. He nodded, watching Hendel return to the train to fetch their two suitcases, while some of the passengers were doing the same.

From the number of people around, quite a few passengers had already left. Yet the train had carried two or three hundred people in all, and while this place may once have been prosperous decades ago, it had long since declined after the ore vein was exhausted. Mulan rather doubted whether the town’s inns could accommodate them all.

Of course, Mulan did not concern himself with the others. He was only watching that one person. At the same time, he himself felt rather lazy and would very much have liked a proper sleep.

“Professor, I’m back. Let’s go.”

Hendel came back, carrying one suitcase in each hand. Mulan reached out and took one from him, then walked with him toward where the vehicles were waiting. There were several carriages there, as well as many large flat carts used for hauling goods, which were now being pressed into service as passenger transport, since there were simply too many people.

And the vehicle Mulan rode in was, naturally, a carriage.

Once Mulan had boarded, the driver immediately moved to close the door, but Mulan raised a hand to stop him.

“Wait before leaving.”

The driver was somewhat puzzled, but knowing that the man before him had a very high standing, he did not dare say anything. He sat and waited. Only when Mulan saw one of the vehicles begin to move did he call out to the driver.

“All right, we can go.”

Naturally, all of the vehicles were headed in the same direction: Shire Town, not very far away, though still requiring at least half an hour on foot.

The old road was hard going. Even in the carriage, Mulan felt the ride was rather rough; those on the flat carts had it worse still. Through the carriage window, Mulan looked outside, then slowly closed his eyes.

Hendel had also been watching the other passengers all along, and now he finally asked, “Professor, is that vampire still hiding among the passengers?”

“Perhaps he won’t appear again.”

Mulan gave an ambiguous answer, then said no more. Hendel was slightly stunned, and when he thought of the strange, hallucination-like sound he had just heard, along with the time the professor had been away...

In other words, it was quite possible the professor’s sudden disappearance had been to pursue the vampire. Either the vampire had escaped, or he had been captured and executed. Judging from that scream, the latter was more likely.

Thinking this, Hendel’s heart also eased somewhat.

The passengers soon reached Shire Town, but as Mulan had expected, the town’s only two inns were already full of the passengers who had arrived first. Even among that first group, many still had not found rooms, and dissatisfaction had begun to simmer through the crowd.

Fortunately, a new solution was quickly arranged. Under the direction of a detective from Charel, the remaining passengers could be scattered among the homes of the town’s residents, so long as they paid the same fee as they would at an inn.

For passengers who were weary and worn out, all they wanted was a clean, tidy, and safe place to sleep. For the residents of Shire, merely taking someone in for one night and earning a little extra money was also a fine arrangement, so neither side objected.

Mulan was one of the few who had the freedom to choose. He did not opt for an inn, but instead planned to stay with one of the local residents of Shire.

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