Part 4 – Chapter 4: Point of Issue

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Half an hour after they returned to the magitec car, the guild worker arrived to explain himself.
The guild worker was quite impressed when he saw how spacious the back of the car was.

“It is not cramped, even when four people are inside. And is that a ladder? Is there a second floor?”
“Maybe like a mezzanine floor.”

And then they made the guild worker take a seat.
The backrest was very soft, and he let out an ‘ahh…’ as he looked around him. He saw that the seats could be folded, and was impressed at the way they utilized the limited space.

“Oh, forgive me for getting distracted. Let us get to the matter at hand.”
“I would appreciate it if you did. Why can’t you talk about the vampire incident within the guild?”

Tor asked, and the guild worker explained.

“I’ll start from the beginning. You can trace this Crambarrow vampire back to events that happened fifteen years ago.”
“What? fifteen years?”

Tor came to this world nine years ago. If there were traces of a vampire from six years before that, then it would not have been strange for Tor to have heard about it.
The guild worker then took out some old reports and spread them out on the table.

“We can see that there were strange monster deaths around Crambarrow fifteen years ago. It is said that they bled to death. However, there was no blood at the scene. At the time, people thought it was some new type of monster that sucked blood, and the area was searched thoroughly.”

Tor picked up the autopsy report and quickly looked through the information he was interested in, and then he handed it to the very excited Mailey.
Mailey grabbed the autopsy report as if it was the latest novel of her favorite author, and began to read.
The guild worker looked like he didn’t know how to react as he glanced back and forth between Mailey and Tor.

“Similarly strange monster deaths are reported every six months to a year. Though, there are probably others that have just not been discovered.”
“That sounds like a big problem.”
“Of course, some people are concerned. However, all of the dead monsters were very powerful. And there has not been a single human victim.”

An unknown, blood-sucking creature, that no one had ever seen, was targeting powerful monsters alone. That was indeed strange.
As a trade city that exported art and goods, there was a lot of traffic along its roads. And so if there was a powerful monster prowling about, then it made little sense that no humans had been attacked.

“Eventually, rumors began to spread. …A vampire who was a lover of art, was protecting the city.”

While a rumor, it could not be laughed at as impossible.
It was proven from documents of the ancient civilization, that vampires were intelligent, and understood human language. They also looked just like humans, and considering Crambarrow’s population, it would be easy to escape notice.
The guild worker then picked up one report from the table.

“This was what confirmed it.”
“Ah, that.”

It was the report that Tor had written, based on what he heard at the beastkin settlement. As it also said that vampires were intelligent, understood human language, and had high combat ability, it did support the rumors.

“In Crambarrow, an organization that wants to live in harmony with vampires was formed. At this point, nearly everyone in Crambarrow believes that vampires would do them no harm. No one had ever seen one, and since no one was attacked, we did not issue any hunting requests. In a way, you could say that the city united to protect the vampire.”

As it was defeating powerful monsters for them, it was better to leave it alone. Tor would have likely made the same decision.
Euphie then picked up the report and read it eagerly.

“So this is the report that Mr. Tor wrote. It is very easy to read.”
“I was suddenly told to write that, and it was quite difficult. After that, I stopped telling the guild whenever I traveled to unknown territories, and… Ah, forget that I said that.”

Tor stopped as he remembered that there was a guild worker right there.
The guild worker laughed and returned to the subject.

“However, the matter with the vampire changed about two years ago. The amount of drained monster corpses we found in the forest increased suddenly. And then the numbers went down again around a year ago. And then it was livestock that started getting attacked.”
“The number of deaths went down?”
“We think the reason is that there were fewer monsters living in the area. At least, that is what the reports say. There were only seven reports in the last year. As for livestock, there were three about a year ago. Six months ago it was two. But last month, there were four attacks.”

The twins, who were reading the report, raised their heads.

“Could the number of vampires have increased?”
“It is possible. However, the real problem is the damage to the livestock.”

In a world that was overflowing with monsters and magitec beasts, farm produce and livestock were even more important than they were on earth.
And Crambarrow relied on importing most of its food, and so they could not allow what few livestock they had to be harmed.

“However, the people here have seen the vampire as a protector for many years, and this did not change. If anything, they believed that it was a different monster, and worried for the safety of the vampire. The request to solve the vampire case was the result of the farmers, including my parents, banding together.”

The guild worker said with an apologetic expression. Tor nodded.

He had guessed as much when looking at the request sheet. Opinions on the vampire here were divided.
Harmony and expulsion.
Whichever side he took, he would make enemies. And so Tor was relieved that he had refused it.

Just then, Mailey noticed something and opened her mouth.

“The landlords run the government in Crambarrow. What is the Barrow family’s view of the matter?”
“That is the part that complicates things…”

As if to cut the guild worker off, a young man’s voice rang from outside of the magitec car.

“I’m sorry. I am Riskinan Barrow, leader of the Blue Blood clan. May I speak to you?”

The young man shouted after seeing how thick the armor of the magitec car was.
If his name was Barrow, then he must be from the Barrow landlord family.
But why was he a clan leader? And why had he come here in person? Tor looked at the guild worker with a suspicious expression.

“…If he is from that family, we cannot ignore him. If you do not wish to meet, you can go upstairs and keep silent.”

Tor said quietly to the guild worker, who had become very pale.

Next Chapter

On The 10th Year The Transferee Who Gave Up Returning Finally Becomes The Protagonist