The First Vampire

Winterfell City welcomed another dwarf envoy.

This was Count Anka’s third mission in a short period, but this time, he wasn’t alone.

Accompanying him was the eldest son of Marquis Dawson, Count Falcon Dawson.

Unlike the unreliable Wells, Count Falcon, as the eldest son of Marquis Dawson, truly carried the demeanor of a Dawson Family heir. Moreover, he was steady in his actions and highly respected by Marquis Dawson.

Clearly, this mission indicated that the Dawson Family was no longer willing to let the Menam family negotiate with the St. Hilde Family alone.

Of course, this could also be considered as evidence of the close bond between the Menam and Dawson families, thwarting the conspiracy of their enemies.

As for the actual intentions of these two dwarf families, perhaps only the parties involved knew.

However, seeing this scene, Colin decisively hidden himself away with Vera, leaving Scholar Doan to deal with the dwarf envoys.

He knew that with both Dawson and Menam present, the negotiations would not make any meaningful progress.

Thus, Scholar Doan spent the entire day chattering with the two dwarf counts. It seemed like a fierce debate, with continuous back-and-forth arguments, but in the end, they didn’t reach any consensus upon reflection.

Although Count Anka and Count Falcon Dawson were annoyed, they were helpless because Scholar Doan always maintained a friendly and positive attitude as though he genuinely wanted to reach an agreement with the dwarves, but couldn’t reconcile some conditions for the moment.

At the banquet, the Angler couple, who had been absent throughout the day, finally appeared.

Count Anka and Count Falcon Dawson approached them to hassle them, but they didn’t get any meaningful responses. Colin kept saying, “Talk to Scholar Doan, he can fully represent the St. Hilde Family.”

With no other choice, both dwarf counts decided to give up and secretly planned how to deal with the seemingly friendly but actually troublesome Scholar Doan the next day.

The night grew deeper, but a certain area of Winterfell City’s southern district suddenly became lively.

This place used to be a desolate area, but now, numerous rudimentary tents were densely set up.

A circle of thorny barriers was set up around the tents, and a sign was posted at the entrance—Captive Camp.

In the battle of the Ben Liu River, the Golden Lion Legion had defeated Dawson Family’s large river-crossing army, capturing around fifteen thousand prisoners of war.

After entering Winterfell City, these dwarf prisoners were placed here. Other than providing them with daily meals to keep them from starving, no one had come to deal with them.

But tonight, it seemed like someone important had arrived in the camp.

“What’s going on? What happened?” The dwarf prisoner Howen asked his comrades in a low voice.

“I don’t know.”

He asked around, but he didn’t receive a precise answer.

As Howen was wondering, he suddenly heard cheering in the distance as if they had received some great news.

“What on earth happened? Are they letting us go?”

Howen was anxious and wanted to figure out what was happening but couldn’t squeeze to the front.

But not long after, his squad leader ran back excitedly, announcing, “The St. Hilde Family and the Dawson Family have come to an agreement, no more war! We can go home!”

“Really…really? Can we go home?” The sudden joy left Howen somewhat unable to believe it.

And his dwarf comrades beside him had already begun to howl in excitement.

“When are we leaving? Tomorrow?”

“No, they will let us go in a moment!”

“So soon!”

With an excited heart, Howen couldn’t wait to leave this place that brought back such terrible memories.

As expected, after a while, the gates of the captive camp were fully opened, and under the orders of the officers, the dwarves formed orderly lines and slowly moved out.

On the way, Howen saw the figure of General Tumu.

As a fifth-level warrior, General Tumu had a high reputation in the Dawson Family army, but after being captured, he mysteriously disappeared and no one knew where he had gone.

But his reappearance at this time gave the captive dwarves a great sense of relief.

Although they had been short of food these days, the dwarf prisoners still picked up their spirits and moved forward according to the orders of the Golden Lion Legion.

As Howen was in the queue, looking around, he realized after half an hour that they had already reached the city gate.

The open city gate seemed eerily deep under the night sky, but to the dwarf prisoners, it was the gate to hope.

Once he had left Winterfell City, Howen finally confirmed that he had been saved!

Outside the city gate, a weapon dispensary was set up.

Every dwarf prisoner passing by it would receive a weapon.

Howen also got a long knife; even though he probably wouldn’t get his leather armor and bow and arrow back, a long knife gave him a bit of comfort.

The atmosphere among the troops gradually grew enthusiastic, with some dwarf prisoners even singing war songs, celebrating their rebirth.

Tonight, the stars were sparse, an endless darkness shrouding the land. It was unknown what was waiting for these dwarf prisoners in this dark night.

Howen joined his comrades in singing war songs too, stepping lightly, and the hunger that had been plaguing him all this time temporarily disappeared.

Suddenly, the column of troops in front of him stopped.

In the dark, the military order was not communicated smoothly, causing a bit of disorder in the queue of dwarf prisoners, which was quickly suppressed by the officers.

“What happened?” Howen’s heart suddenly went up to his throat.

“We’ve encountered sentinels from the Menam family,” the squad leader comforted.

Only then did Howen breathe a sigh of relief, and excitement immediately followed. This meant that they were now very close to the Dwarf Camp and might soon be getting hot food to eat!

Just as Howen was engrossed in his fantasy about food, and drooling at that, there was sudden disorder in the front again.

“What’s the matter now?”

“I’ll go see what’s going on at the front. You all stay here and don’t run around!” The squad leader instructed before leaving to check out the situation.

Howen had no choice but to wait patiently, but the hunger that had disappeared suddenly returned, more fierce and unyielding than ever before, making Howen almost uncontrollable.

As time went on, the queue of dwarf prisoners still didn’t receive the order to move forward.

And the patience of Howen and the others quickly wore thin in this seemingly endless wait. Feelings of restlessness and anger gradually spread among the captive troops.

“Why aren’t they letting us go home!”

“Why aren’t they letting us go home!”

Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of them.

Howen was on the edge of exploding and just saw the squad leader coming back angrily.

“Captain, what’s going on in front?”

“The Menam family is not letting us into the camp!”

“Why not?”

“They said they received no news about releasing prisoners, and their family envoy is still in Winterfell City. They haven’t reached an agreement with the St. Hilde family.”

“Bullshit! We are all back, how could there not be an agreement? If there was no agreement, would the Golden Lion Legion let us go?”

Just as Howen was seething with anger, the disturbance in front of him started escalating. The intense sounds of fighting and screams of pain started reaching them.

“We want to go home!”

“We are not enemies!”

“We want to see Marquis Dawson!”

Who knows who incited this but the dwarf prisoners were confronting the people from the Menam family. Their arguments were getting more and more intense, and things were slowly getting out of hand.

Bang!

The ground suddenly trembled as General Tumu hammered the ground violently and roared:

“Who dares to block me!”

Once he was done speaking, he was the first to charge into the ranks of the Menam family’s army.

His actions were like a spark of fire falling into hot oil, sparking a giant flame instantly!

The dwarf prisoners who were exceptionally agitated due to the long hunger and wait completely exploded. Under General Tumu’s leadership, they charged at the Menam family’s positions.

The night was deep, but the slaughter had quietly begun.