Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 652 - Bloody Conflict
Chapter 652: Chapter 652: Bloody Conflict
Chapter 652: Chapter 652: Bloody Conflict
“Sit down! I’m not refusing to pay, I just don’t have the cash right now!”
Seeing the rundown man start to rant, Professor Higgins hastily grabbed his hand, trying to get him to sit down, obviously worried about attracting too much attention.
“Don’t even think about it!”
The vampire flung off the professor’s hand and even raised his voice:
“Pay up now, I won’t believe your excuses. If you leave by train, where am I supposed to find you?”
“I really don’t have money right now, but someone will deliver it tomorrow.”
The professor tried to persuade him, but the other party was not the least bit sympathetic:
“I’ll come back for you at eight tonight, if you’ve run off…”
He leaned in and whispered something in the professor’s ear, then stood up and walked toward the exit of the inn. He hadn’t taken many steps before he turned back to look at the briefcase that Professor Higgins was holding. Then he waved to the professor, signaling him to follow.
The two of them walked out of the Sicarl Inn together. Shard didn’t immediately follow; instead he thought about finishing his apple juice before leaving. If he couldn’t find anyone by then, he would lose interest in the matter.
But before he finished his drink, another person came down the stairs. It was Armand Benhart, the uncle of the vampire relatives Shard had saved in the Interstice of Life and Death.
Similarly, as soon as Shard saw him, a small, exquisite bat formed out of the red mist above Mr. Benhart’s head. Compared to the bedraggled vampire, Mr. Benhart looked every bit like a refined gentleman.
He was probably drawn by the previous argument, or he had been paying attention to this place all along, which is why he came down from upstairs and followed them out of the inn after they left.
Shard remained seated and unmoved, as if none of this concerned him. After finishing his drink, he finally got up and left.
From afar, he saw Mr. Benhart walking along the street to the east, but he didn’t go far before he turned into an adjacent alley.
Shard hesitated and did not follow, instead circumventing through another alley based on the terrain he had scouted nearby last time, weaving through the narrow spaces between dense apartment buildings, trying to get ahead and see where the early departing professor and vampire had gone.
During this time, seeing few people on the street, he “pulled” out a new coat from the inside pocket of his overcoat to wear, “stuffed” his hat into his pocket, and then “took” out a new hat to wear on his head. After hesitating for a moment, he even put on a mask.
But the outcome was quite unexpected, as Shard eventually saw Professor Higgins and the vampire in the trash alley behind the Sicarl Inn. He emerged from the east side of the alley while the leisurely Mr. Benhart appeared from the west.
Both of them almost simultaneously noticed the scene in the alley. The elderly professor lay on the ground while the disheveled blonde middle-aged man, with his mouth covered in blood, was holding the briefcase that originally belonged to the professor of linguistics, Carsonrick, a wallet that was clearly not his, and a pistol. He was trying to flee the crime scene.
“This…”
The disheveled man almost immediately noticed that there were people at both ends of the alley, and upon seeing Armand Benhart on the west side, he turned almost without hesitation, running in terror towards Shard, who was pressing his cap, on the east side.
“Get out of the way!”
As he ran, he waved the gun and shouted loudly, his blood-stained mouth indeed looking terrifying.
Shard looked up, and the vampire also saw the mask on Shard’s face. But before he could give it much thought, he saw Shard clap his hands together with a slap, then instantly spread them apart.
A dazzling arc of silver light was drawn between his palms, and in the next second, it shot out, cleaving the onrushing vampire neatly in two. However, when the corpse hit the ground, it left only a pool of blood and then scattered into a small swarm of bats.
The swarm of bats flew towards the west end of the alley. After passing over Professor Higgins on the ground, they only made it about twenty meters before they were forced to reassemble, transforming back into the disheveled middle-aged man within a cloud of blood mist.
“The racial talent of the vampire kind? I remember they’re very skilled with the power of flesh…”
Of course, although he evaded death this time by relying on the racial talent of his kind, the middle-aged man had reformed into human shape and was so gravely injured that he could hardly move:
“Save me, Mr. Benhart!”
Struggling on the ground, the blonde middle-aged man reached out to Armand Benhart on the west side of the alley. But the latter’s face was stern, silent as he approached, then shockingly stepped on the middle-aged man’s head with his boot:
“I kindly introduced you to a job and this is how you repay me? Do you know how much trouble this will cause me? Don’t you know the mission I bear in coming to this city?”
This was not a common language, nor was it any language Shard had ever heard, but luckily, he understood. There wasn’t much emotion in Benhart’s voice, but for a well-dressed gentleman to act like this, he was clearly angered.
Shard too entered the alley from the entrance, first picking up the briefcase, pistol, and wallet from a pool of blood, then continued forward and crouched down to check the condition of the Agent in grey gloves, “Professor Higgins”.
Regrettably, he was dead, and the bite marks on his neck were the fatal cause.
“Sir, is this your friend?”
Mr. Benhart asked, still stepping on the disheveled vampire’s head, across half the alleyway, from Shard who had just stood up.
“You could say that.”
Shard replied softly. Although they had met in the Interstice of Life and Death before, Shard had been much more powerful then than now, and Mr. Benhart clearly didn’t recognize him.
“May I ask him a few questions?”
Shard gestured towards the vampire being stepped on, and Mr. Benhart nodded.
“Of course, you can.”
“First, what did Professor Higgins commission you to do?”
“Necromancy! A corpse at the Necromancy Police Station; we agreed on a price of 500 Gold Pounds! He paid 300 in advance and promised to settle the 200 owed today!”
The weakened Vampire Kind barely managed to speak.
To Shard, this price was of course unreasonable, but for ordinary people who couldn’t touch mystical powers, no amount of money would be too much for them to accept.
“What did he ask the spirit?”
“I don’t know. I was only responsible for performing the necromancy and sending the spirit away. I wasn’t there when they talked.”
“Why kill him?”
“I racked up a ton of gambling debts at the underground Roder Card Casino. If he didn’t pay me in cash today, I would be in big trouble. I saw him carrying that briefcase all day, so I thought I could exchange what’s inside for some Gold Pounds…”
Just as Shard thought, the Agent in the gray gloves had died ultimately because he used the powers of Supernatural Creatures to gather information.
“How did he get in contact with you?”
“I introduced him.”
Mr. Benhart, standing on a head, said in a heavy voice:
“Your professor friend and I stay on the fourth floor of the Sicarl Inn, occasionally smoking together. The professor suddenly told me last week that a friend of his had died, but there were secrets that hadn’t been shared in time. So, out of kindness, I introduced this guy, but it ended up costing the professor his life.”
The boots stamped down hard once more, and the Vampire Kind underneath barely had the strength to moan.
“Sir, if you have no objections, I can offer you some compensation,” Mr. Benhart said politely.
This was not because the Inner Ring Vampire was afraid of Shard, but because the Vampire Kind and other Exotic Species are considered even more dangerous than Academy Ring Sorcerers by the True God Church. Now, in broad daylight in a bustling area, they surely couldn’t afford a fight, so offering some compensation in exchange for keeping the secret was well worth it.
“Compensation?”
Shard shook his head and pointed at the down-and-out middle-aged man underfoot:
“What about this guy’s life?”
“Very fair.”
The boot heavily crushed the head, and the body didn’t even have a chance to leave a single word of last wishes. Mr. Benhart shook his head, took out a small bottle from his pocket, and sprinkled some powder. The Vampire’s clothes and body slowly “melted” into the muddy ground:
“I’m a foreigner; I don’t want to attract too much attention in this city. Since Coste broke the rules, I think the price of his life is a fitting end for him.”
Shard nodded and looked up to the sheets hanging above Trash Alley. He flicked his hand gently, a silver glow cutting the clothesline and causing the sheets to flutter down, conveniently covering the body of Professor Higgins on the ground.
He pretended to crouch down, folding the sheet over and over before bunching it up and tying it behind him as a bundle.
This was to prevent the other party from seeing through the secrets of the Arcane Technique “Toy Making”:
“So, Mr. Vampire, as you can see, what Professor Higgins did was likewise unclean, so let’s consider this matter closed. I’m not interested in you, and you shouldn’t disclose anything about this to anyone.”
“That’s fair.”
Mr. Benhart nodded:
“I came to this city with my nephew, and have no intention of clashing with local powers; let’s consider the matter closed.”
But then Shard reached into his pocket, pulled out a roll of notes sealed with a paper strip, and threw it over to him from a distance. The rolled-up notes flew across Trash Alley and were firmly caught by Armand Benhart.
“The 200-pound necromancy balance, I’ve paid it on behalf of the professor,” Shard said.
In this way, he could consider the briefcase his own, having already paid for it.
The middle-aged man in the black top hat smiled, did not refuse the significant sum, and slipped it into his pocket. Then he took out a business card and skillfully flicked it towards Shard, a movement accomplished with the help of Basic Sorcery “Object Movement” and expert technique:
“After such an incident, my nephew and I can’t stay here. We will move to a place in this city which has forgotten what dignity means, living amongst our own kind. If you ever need anything, you can find me at this address. I think no one would refuse to have one more friend.”
“Indeed.”
Shard glanced at the business card, which turned out to be from a local winery. The card didn’t belong to Mr. Benhart; it seemed to belong to a local Vampire. After pocketing the card, the two men nodded to each other and silently left Trash Alley through opposite ends.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
Besides the pool of blood on the ground and the sparrows standing on the clothesline, no one would know what had just taken place here.
