24: Chapter 24 Reporting and Returning

Afterward, Richard went to the Adventurers Guild.

The Blackstone City branch of the Adventurers Guild was much smaller than the headquarters in Blackwater City, but the layout was similar.

The stone-paved hall was filled with task commissions pinned to the bulletin board, and a few adventurers wearing leather armor were whispering and exchanging information in the corner.

After Richard submitted the completion voucher for the caravan mission and the employer's commission letter, he also explained the situation they had encountered on the road.

The guild verified everything within a short half hour, which was much more efficient than in Blackwater City.

Soon, a staff member handed him the reward of ten gold coins per person along with the mission completion record.

Next, Richard handed over the ashes of Count Morta to the Blackstone City Adventurers Guild.

"This is the Vampire noble we encountered on the road; after death, it turned into these remains."

The clerk who received him initially looked skeptical when seeing the pile of gray-black powder in the leather bag.

But Richard's attitude was very firm; there was no need to lie about such a thing.

After waiting for a moment, a high-ranking guild appraiser wearing a monocle personally met with Richard, spending an entire afternoon repeatedly verifying the magical residue of the ashes and the identity information left behind by the Vampire before its death.

The final result was that Richard's adventurer rank assessment was significantly advanced:

Originally, he needed to complete seven beginner tasks and one guild-designated task to be promoted to a Bronze-rank adventurer, but now he only needed to complete two more ordinary tasks.

To be honest, the guild was really stingy; there wasn't even a substantial reward.

Before leaving, Richard saw a special notice area next to the bulletin board, where emergency notices issued by the guild recently were posted.

Among them, three parchment notices were posted side by side, with the following contents:

A Silver-rank squad encountered a Vampire attack on the trade route.

A six-person novice squad was attacked on the edge of the forest and wiped out.

And a warning notice issued by the Adventurers Guild headquarters, reminding all adventurers that members of an unknown Vampire clan had been active along several major trade routes recently, with the guild rating it as high-risk.

"It seems we aren't the only ones in trouble."

Richard kept the content of the notices in mind, then put away the mission vouchers and the reward.

"This is not an isolated attack; it is an organized operation. What exactly is the purpose of this group of Vampires?"

After leaving the Adventurers Guild, Richard left the city gate alone.

Under the old oak tree agreed upon outside the city, he found Cecilia.

She still maintained the posture of leaning against the tree trunk, her veil wrapped tightly.

The moment she saw his familiar figure appear, she trotted over anxiously.

Richard said: "Liam isn't coming; he is still staying in the temple, scared out of his wits, and won't be participating in any more adventures."

Cecilia leaned against the tree trunk and was silent for a while.

Her voice was very soft, as if talking to herself:

"This is normal; too many adventurers give up, especially after such a painful experience."

She raised her head, her blood-red eyes looking back at Richard, and a bitter smile tugged at the corners of her mouth:

"So, now there are only the two of us left."

"Yeah, it doesn't matter." Richard walked over to the tree root beside her, sat down, and took the heavy money bag from his bosom, shaking it.

The crisp sound of metal clinking made Cecilia's eyebrows raise slightly.

"The Iron Oak Trading Company gave an extra fifty gold coins as a thank-you fee. Added to the mission reward, we now have enough money to redeem your sword."

"I will send the money back tomorrow to extend the redemption period; you will be able to get that sword back when you return."

He put the money bag away, turned his head to look at Cecilia, and then suggested:

"There is one problem left now... your new identity."

"In your current state, using your original name and identity to move about in the city is ultimately not very safe, after all, that surviving attendant and Liam know your identity as a Vampire."

"Fortunately, there are quite a few dark races in the Free Cities, whether they are half-breeds or Dark Elves from the underground; as long as you don't attack citizens on the street, no one will specifically come after you."

"As long as you change your name, take on a new identity, and control your feeding urges, it's not like you can't stay in the city."

Cecilia looked down at her hands and took a deep breath.

She clenched her fingers into her palms, her nails digging into her flesh, leaving a few shallow indentations:

"Change my name..."

She repeated it, her tone filled with bitterness: "Change my name and pretend nothing ever happened?"

Richard patted her shoulder and said: "We cannot change what has already happened, but as long as we survive, there will always be a way to solve things later."

"You will enter Blackstone City now, with me, and we still need to bury Val together."

"Control yourself well, Cecilia; I believe in your willpower."

Cecilia looked at Richard for a long, long time.

She looked at the walls of Blackstone City, watched the crowds coming and going at the city gate, and looked at the worn-out Gryphon family crest on the shield in her hand.

Then she stood up, pulled her hood and veil tight, and said in a firm tone: "Let's go."

In the public cemetery, the two watched as Val was laid into a coffin and buried in the ground; the red-haired female fighter was an orphan with no family, and only Richard and Cecilia were there to handle her funeral arrangements.

"Val, you were a brave fighter, a reliable comrade, and a lovely friend. I hope you can rest in peace."

"Rest in peace, my friend." Richard whispered sorrowfully.

Finally, Cecilia handed one of Val's keepsakes to Richard for safekeeping: the crow pendant from before.

After finishing, the two rented two adjacent rooms in a small inn and settled down temporarily.

Cecilia did not go out during the day; she pulled all the curtains in the room and wrapped herself in a blanket.

Richard went out every day to gather information, occasionally spending half a day in the Adventurers Guild, listening to the gossip among the adventurers and the latest bulletins from the guild staff.

Over the course of more than a week, all kinds of news sprouted up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Some said that a bishop from the Temple of Wealth personally dispatched the Order of Punishing Knights to eliminate the Vampires on the trade route.

Some said the Storm Temple sent a squad of high-ranking priests into the depths of the Black Forest, where they engaged in intense firefights.

Some said that several Gold-rank adventurers had uprooted a Vampire nest that had been hidden for forty years.

There was also a piece of gossip circulating in the exchange.

It was said that a member of the Free Cities Merchants Council was arrested at his home, and during the search, he transformed into a Vampire on the spot to resist, but was suppressed by the combined efforts of the Punishing Knights of the Temple of Wealth and the Storm Envoys of the Storm Temple, and was now imprisoned awaiting trial.

By the tenth day, the Adventurers Guild issued an official notice:

Following a joint operation by the Adventurers Guild, the Merchants Council, the Temple of Wealth, the Temple of Healing, the Temple of Earth, and the Storm Temple, the Vampire clans active along the seven major city trade routes had been basically cleared out.

One key figure was arrested, a number of Vampires and their derivative bloodlines were eliminated, and the safety level along the trade routes was upgraded to a normal level.

Richard told the news to Cecilia, who was resting at the inn; the two could prepare to leave.

On the road back to Blackwater City, Richard and Cecilia traveled with a small caravan.

The merchants took a few extra glances when they saw Cecilia's face, which was tightly covered by a veil and helmet.

But Richard just brushed it off with one sentence: "Facial injury, sensitive to light."

This kind of excuse was very common among adventurers, and no one probed further.

Throughout the journey, Cecilia displayed a level of self-control that surprised even herself.

When camping in the wild, she would leave alone to hunt beasts and drink blood; she was very cautious, and when she returned, there wasn't even a drop of blood on her veil.

She had slowly become accustomed to this new way of existence, although she still refused to acknowledge her new identity... a newborn Vampire.