The First Vampire

Ice Rock City.

In an ordinary tavern to the west of the city, the atmosphere was lively and cheerful.

Wooden tables and chairs had been haphazardly moved to the edges of the hall, the cleared space in the middle had become a makeshift dance floor. Passionate and boisterous Northerners were enthusiastically flaunting their clumsy dance moves, gulping down the spicy and refreshing barley beer.

The tavern owner was directing several attendants to continuously bring out a variety of food and drink from behind the bar, the flames burning in the fireplace driving away a touch of early spring chill.

Ding-dong

At the sound of the crisp doorbell, a young man dressed in purple clothes, wearing a red soft hat, and flashy in his attire, walked into the tavern.

He had a waist harp slung over his shoulder, that was the instrument bards loved most.

Upon seeing the young man, the crowd in the tavern cheered. He seemed to be quite familiar to them.

A guest boisterously clamored, “Respectable Mr. Bard! What story do you plan to bring us today?”

The young bard took off his red soft hat, raised his chin, and strutted arrogantly to the middle of the dance floor. He asked in a dignified manner, “I have a good story, but do you have a fine wine worthy of it?”

“What do you mean we don’t have fine wine?” The crowd heckled in unison, all turning to look at the tavern owner behind the bar.

The tavern owner helplessly shook his head, reluctantly fetching an exquisitely packaged bottle of red wine, and shouted, “Three silver coins! Remember to help him pay the bill!”

“We know, our gratuities are always generous!”

“But the story must be captivating, or else I won’t pay!”

“Hurry, hurry, what good story do we have today?”

Amidst the urging of the crowd, the bard collected the fine wine passed over from the tavern owner at a relaxed pace, tilted his head back, took a gentle sip, and then blissfully closed his eyes.

It wasn’t until the crowd’s clamor intensified that he opened his eyes again. As if still savoring the taste of the fine wine, he swayed and fiddled with the waist harp in his hands.

Amid the crisp sound of the harp, the tavern gradually quieted down, the only sounds were the crackling of the charcoal in the fireplace.

The guests took their seats one after another, patiently waiting for the bard’s performance.

“Today, I bring you the story of Viscount Angler’s expedition to the Troll Empire.”

“Wait, wait!” A guest immediately interrupted, “We have heard the story about the Viscount’s expedition to the Troll Empire so many times these days, can you come up with something fresh?”

“Right, right! Otherwise, don’t blame us for not helping you pay for the wine!”

Hearing the noisy crowd, the bard hummed impatiently, saying, “Of course, I will not tell what you already know.”

“So what are you going to tell?”

“Today, I want to tell the story of how Viscount Angler killed the Troll Emperor, do you want to hear it?”

“Hear it, hear it, hear it!”

Everyone suddenly quieted down.

Although the news of Colin’s expedition to the Troll Empire had already spread throughout the streets and alleys of Ice Rock City, some details had not been revealed. At this moment, the bard claimed to know the details of the most dramatic scene of this expedition. Of course, everyone was interested.

The bard cleared his throat, plucked the strings again, and began to chant:

“It was a morning of heavy wind and snow,

Outside the Troll Royal City, Dark Cavalry’s forces were pressing on its borders.

The wicked Trolls were hiding behind their decaying Royal City,

Dared not face the cutting edge the Dark Cavalry.

The embodiment of justice, the invincible Viscount Angler,

Challenged the cowardly Troll Emperor to a duel ”

“A duel?” A voice suddenly interrupted the bard, “How did I hear that Viscount Angler was inviting the Troll Emperor for a conference?”

“Huh?” The brows of the bard immediately knitted together, “Who interrupted me?”

The crowd also turned to look at the source of the voice and saw two middle-aged men sitting across from each other in the corner.

Under the dim light of the candle, their faces couldn’t be seen clearly, but their voices were very unfamiliar.

“Hey, you two strangers without manners, you’re not welcome here.”

There was a sudden clamor among the crowd, who wanted to drive away the two strangers who were disturbing their story listening.

The tavern owner walked over with a frown, about to scold them, but his tone softened a lot when he saw the rather fancy clothes on them:

“Apologies, gentlemen, but I ask that you leave as soon as possible. I don’t want any trouble.”

The two strangers looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t give the tavern owner a hard time and threw out a few silver coins as they got up and left.

The owner of the tavern picked up the silver coins and sighed in his heart–

What generous guests they were.

So, he turned around and scolded the tavern-goers unhappily: “You bunch of jerks, you just scared off two big spenders!”

The tavern-goers again made light of the issue and promised to support the tavern owner’s business, persuading him not to worry about the two strangers anymore.

Coming out of the tavern, the younger of the two strangers said to his companion: “Sir, I’ve heard yet another version.”

“Yes.”, replied the older stranger with a smile,” Hehe, now there are five or six versions of the story about how Viscount Angler killed the Troll Emperor.

Some say he was killed in a duel, some say he was killed with a sudden attack during the conference, some say he was ambushed after the conference, and some say he was ambushed by the Black Cavalry disguised as Troll captives ”

“I always feel that someone is intentionally spreading these different versions, probably to hide the actual course of events.”

“But why would they do this? Killing the Troll Emperor is such an honorable thing, why hide the specifics?”

“Perhaps, the means actually adopted by Viscount Angler  are a bit vile.”

“Probably. But in a battlefield, anything goes and there is no vile or not vile.”

“Viscount Angler is still young after all, I guess he still wants to build a glorious image for himself.”

“Hehe, young ” The older stranger shook his head, it was not clear what he was denying,” Let’s go, we have been roaming in Ice Rock City for so many days, it’s time to meet this remarkable Viscount Angler.”

“Yes, sir.” replied the younger one.

The two strangers made their way to Red Fort.

By now it was quite late, the guards stopped them: “Who are you?”

The older stranger shrugged off his cloak, revealing the Golden Lion badge on his chest.

The guards were taken aback: “You, you are an envoy of the St. Hilde family?”

“Don’t you recognize me?” The stranger moved forward a few steps to let the torchlight illuminate his face.

The guards looked carefully for awhile, they all felt this person looked familiar.

Suddenly a guard remembered and shouted: “St  Duke St. Hilde? Is it really you? Wel  welcome to Red Fort!”

“Duke?” The rest of the guards finally woke up from their dreams and hurriedly bowed in salute.

Duke St. Hilde waved his hand and said with a smile: “Where is Colin? If he hasn’t gone to sleep yet, let him come to see me.”

“Yes, yes!” The guards hurriedly welcomed Duke St. Hilde into the Red Fort, and at the same time, one of them rushed to the lord’s bedroom.

The Northern Duke had quietly arrived in Ice Rock City.