A Walk with Eternity-Chapter 34: The vampires’ hospitality

With the sky slowly dimming and the moon taking its place behind the night clouds, the town of vampires slowly came alive. This was the time for them to be out in the open to bask in the moonlight. Nonetheless, it wasn’t the only thing lighting up this entire town. Mana-powered torches were lit and glowing, offering unharmful sources of light to the vampires roaming around.

The town looked old, yet it’s being preserved quite neatly. The architecture of the buildings weren’t quite like any that you would see in the capital, as it looked ancient and huge. They’re all similar to small mansions that nobles own in the capital, only a little more unique and dramatic.

This town looked small from above the canyon, but it’s actually about the size of the capital... Syvestian thought to himself as he looked around. Vampires were starting to fill their surroundings. They were looking at the group with curious and sparkling red eyes.

Syvestian could feel stars being thrown at his face, but he gave it no attention. He was merely observing what he could do to help improve the quality of life here. Kian’s lies had him actually considering helping the town by donating some of his inventions.

"The town is quite lively tonight..." Dolunay commented, looking around. She looked surprised at the amount of vampires around, some of them are young children and teenagers. She hasn’t stepped foot here for nearly eight years. Throughout the years, their population must’ve increased significantly, under Lysander’s leadership.

Before him, it used to be declining.

"Yes, but it’s just another night for us. It’s been alive for the past few years now..." Reene started with a small proud smile on her face. "Our lord has done everything in his power to make sure our race remains increasing."

The group paused for a moment.

Hold on... something felt wrong with that statement, Kian thought to himself and glanced at the others. From the look of their faces, they seemed to have the same thought as he did.

"Where will we be resting?" Syvestian asks in curiosity as they’ve been walking around for about an hour already.

"Since you are guests, you will be staying at the marquisate estate, Lord Redridge’s mansion," Reene responded with a high-pitched voice, different from how he responded to Dolunay earlier. "The lord is currently out of town and may be arriving in a night or two."

What? The group’s brows knitted in confusion. Cimmerian himself was more confused.

Is Lysander... free from his shadows?

Syvestian, on the other hand, was starting to feel suspicious.

"Oh, is that so..." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Within a few more minutes, they arrived at the front gate of the mansion. Even from outside the tall gates, one could see the hovering tower behind the small mansion itself. It was a gloomy mansion, but nevertheless, it was neat and beautiful. The tower was no different, and it looked more haunted.

"How eerie," Ezio commented, following a shrivel down his spine.

"This looks more gloomy than it did before..." Milera says with a cold sweat.

I have a bad feeling about this... Dolunay thought to herself as she took hold of Kian’s sleeve. Kian, understanding why she was acting this way, took hold of her hand instead. Kian also glanced towards Cimmerian to check on him. And he could tell that Cimmerian was trying not to show how anxious he is at the moment, but a cold sweat trailed on his neck.

By the main entrance, they were welcomed by servants. They kept their heads low in respect to the town keepers and the unexpected guests, some male servants took their horses and led them to the stables. Just from the look of their features, all of them seem to be vampires themselves.

The Redridge Clan are proven to be quite... racist, all because of their tragic past. They refuse to let any other race enter and wander mindlessly around their town. Isolating themselves from the world, they are extremely independent on their own. However, being in the lands of the Slora Empire, they are still people of the empire. The emperor refused to leave them alone and established two agreements with them.

One of which is the annual visitation from the imperial palace, and the other is acknowledging that they are people of Slora. The emperor had a plan to remove all roots of racism forming within the clan. Thus, he started with having them acknowledge themselves as Slorian people and teaching the next generations that they are a part of Slora.

And it did work... in a sense. The vampires were slowly opening up to the world, especially when their young lord had been brought back by the Imperial people themselves.

"Please feel at home. The servants will lead you to the guests room to rest for a while. You’ve travelled quite far..." Reene says as she faces them. "May I ask, how long did it take you to come here? Normally, we would have been notified in advance about the annual visit."

"Oh," Kian started. "We made the decision to come about a day and a half ago, and we took off only three hours after that."

The vampires froze in shock at what they heard. But it should’ve at least taken four days to get here on horse though?!

But Kian and Syvestian only smiled at them.

"Well, we were in quite the rush, so..." Syvestian says as he observes the interior. It was within his expectations. Normal, but neutrally colored and beautifully constructed. Not too fancy or too much in the eyes.

"Nothing much has changed huh..." Kian comments, as he felt the sense of nostalgia just looking inside the mansion they used to stay during their training period as kids. "Either way, can we take a visit at Lysander’s tower?"

The tension rose as all eyes turned to Kian for his question. What? Is there something wrong with the tower? The group thought to themselves as the vampires were acting strange.There was a long awkward silence before Syvestian stepped in to interrupt.

He turns back to Reene. "Thank you for welcoming us. If it doesn’t take too much of your time for tonight, can we ask you to escort us for the inspection by an hour after midnight? Would that be alright?" he says.

Reene’s expression brightened at Syvestian’s suggestion, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course, Lord Syvestian, we would love to!" Reene cheered, the other four town keepers noticeably looked excited at that. "Then, we’ll take our leave and let you rest for the night."

Not long after that, they were finally given their time alone together.

"Well, that was... something," Milera mumbles as she enters a room with all the others. Ezio was the one to close the door and leave the servants out to sort the other rooms they will use.

"Lysander is alive and well huh..." Ezio then turns his gaze back to his friends.

"Yes..." Kian begins. "Just like what Sir Tadeas mentioned."

Tadeas Knightidale is the emperor’s external aide, and was often the one who represented the Imperial Family for the annual visit. When he’d heard that Lysander was trapped, he revealed something strange to the group.

"But... I talked with Lord Redridge just last year during the annual visitation..."

Tadeas was sure Lysander was present, but Cimmerian was certain that Lysander was trapped somewhere. Now that they’ve confirmed it personally from the town keepers, this adds as another problem they will need to think about.

Syvestian clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"How troublesome."

I can’t believe he gave me more things to worry about when he’s not even here. I swear to the gods, I’m slapping Lysander the moment I see him, Syvestian thought to himself as he sighs sharply. He faced the others and all of them were already watching him with straight faces.

He raised a brow at them. "What are you looking at?"

They all then avoided his gaze and hid their smirks, containing their snickers at how annoyed he looked.

He’s overthinking again, Ezio thought to himself, shaking. Milera smacked his shoulder but could barely contain her laugh as well.

Stop it, dumb cat. He’s going to feel embarrassed, Milera thought.

I can’t believe he’s losing his temper over this, Kian thought to himself.

For starters, they know Syvestian as someone calm and collected. Or better yet, very nonchalant. He may oftentimes get a little extreme with his actions, impulsively beating the life out of some people, but he never showed annoyance or anger.

Maybe the thought that Lysander might actually be in danger and that he doesn’t know how to move is what’s making him panic a little, Dolunay thought, simply smiling.

I thought he would go straight to the tower without asking permission, but I guess still has some manners in a way, Cimmerian thought and sighed to calm himself.

"It’s nothing, nothing at all," Kian responded, trying to bring down his smiling face. "What are your plans now?"

Syvestian simply smiles.

They froze, smiles turning upside down.

They knew what that smile meant, and just knowing exactly what it is brings shivers down their spine.

Oh, of course that’s his solution.