Chapter 43 – Situation Worsens
Early the next morning, Zwei, whose sleep quality was severely degraded, yawned and staggered downstairs. Before he even arrived downstairs, he found Tio standing on a stool in the simple kitchen.
“Young Miss, I can take it from here. You should rest and wait for breakf—”
Before Old Vita could finish speaking, the earthen tableware in Tio’s hands fell to the ground and shattered to pieces.
Scratching his messy bedhead, Zwei took a few steps forward and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, Lord Aldric.” When Old Vita saw Zwei coming downstairs, relief washed over his pitiful face. “Please persuade the young lady. She says she wants to make breakfast.”
While speaking, Old Vita repeatedly glanced at the pile of shattered earthenware he had swept to a corner. At this rate, even if Tio managed to prepare breakfast, they wouldn’t have any tableware to serve it with.
Zwei approached Tio. As if aware of her mistake, the girl meekly lowered her head, waiting to be reprimanded.
However, Zwei only lightly patted the girl’s silver hair and said, “Tio, I accept your kind intentions, but cooking needs to be practiced slowly. You can’t master it overnight. How about you stop practicing for today and come have breakfast with me?”
The little girl first looked at Zwei in surprise. Afterward, though, she revealed a sweet smile and nodded vigorously. “…Mhm.”
Zwei was similarly surprised, as this was the first time he had seen Tio smile. However, he quickly snapped out of his daze and asked Old Vita, “Speaking of which, where are Old John and Alyssa?”
“John went to pick up his cart and buy some supplies for the journey afterward. The other young miss followed after him.”
Seeing that the others had taken his words seriously, Zwei hummed in satisfaction. He then sat at the table and looked out the window while waiting for the two’s return and Old Vita to get breakfast ready.
Compared to yesterday evening, Byk Town was much livelier now. Even though Old Vita’s house was off an alley, Zwei could still hear vague sounds of hawking and bargaining.
Vampires were nocturnal creatures. Moreover, sunlight had a deadly effect on them. Hence, they were mostly inactive during the day, and civilians wouldn’t need to worry about them.
In fact, compared to vampires, the walking corpses, which would appear abruptly and bite others, posed a much greater danger during the day.
About 20 minutes later, the smell of breakfast wafted into the air. At the same time, however, Zwei suddenly felt something was amiss.
The noise outside had become livelier, but this kind of liveliness was different from the earlier bustle. Instead, it sounded more tumultuous. He could even hear screams and curses.
Just as Zwei was about to head out to investigate, a knock came from the door, along with Alyssa’s voice.
After opening the door with Mage Hand, Zwei immediately asked Old John, who stood behind Alyssa, “What happened outside?”
“Lord Magician, the mayor has ordered the sealing of the town. Leaving Byk Town is now forbidden,” Old John replied honestly. Due to this lockdown, he was also barred from reclaiming his hogtooth and cart. “According to what I heard, after the mayor reported the vampire incident to Horador City, he was instructed to prohibit everyone from leaving the town until the church’s priests arrive.”
“Teacher, don’t you think it’s strange?” Before Zwei could speak his mind, Alyssa followed up on Old John’s words. The girl with her blond hair tied into pigtails ran up to Zwei and said, “It takes two days to get from here to Horador, four days for a round trip. Meanwhile, the vampire appeared only two days ago. However, the mayor said that he already received a reply this morning. This is so strange!”
Chuckling, Zwei tapped his knuckles on the little girl’s forehead, only stopping after the little girl covered her forehead and made a cute “awww” sound. “Dummy, don’t underestimate the communication ability of magicians. With the help of specific magic devices or rituals, even Apprentice Magicians can communicate with other magicians across long distances so long as they have sufficient mana and control.”
Given Byk Town’s prosperity and how close it was to becoming a small city, it wouldn’t be strange if the town’s mayor had managed to recruit a Basic Magician.
“What’s more, even if there are no magicians here capable of communicating with magic, the average town would have tamed messenger kites (birds similar to messenger pigeons). Their flight speed is much faster than our travel speed. They can easily make a round trip within a day.”
“Is that so?” Alyssa, who was holding her forehead, still had some doubts. As a girl who had never left the village, she found the concept of communicating using magic or messenger kites beyond imagination.
Now that Zwei knew the cause of the chaos outside, he relaxed slightly and said, “In any case, let’s eat breakfast first. After breakfast, Alyssa and I will pay a visit to the mayor’s house.”
As soon as Zwei said so, Tio approached him and stared at him in silence with big, watery eyes.
“…Okay, okay. Tio will go too.”
In a sense, Zwei found soft approaches like this the most difficult to handle.
Regardless, with Zwei’s identity as a magician, the town mayor would most likely make concessions out of respect.
However, what Zwei didn’t expect was that the vampire had actually attacked the mayor last night!
Fortunately, Byk Town’s mayor was a magic swordsman who had fought orcs before on the battlefield. Moreover, he had even achieved a third-class merit there. Hence, at the cost of some heavy injuries, the mayor had successfully repelled the vampire.
When Zwei met with the mayor, the latter had a pale complexion, and bloodied bandages covered his chest, a testament to the fierce battle last night.
Meanwhile, after getting attacked by the vampire, the mayor was determined to prevent everyone from leaving Byk Town until the team from the church arrived. Even magicians wouldn’t be allowed to leave.
Although it might be possible to persuade the mayor if they revealed Tio’s identity as the local lord’s daughter, Zwei felt that doing so would lead to even bigger problems. Hence, he still decided to keep this matter a secret for now.
“Sorry, Lord Magician, but even if you are in a hurry, I need to take responsibility for the townspeople’s safety. I cannot let that beast continue with its evil acts. Please understand.”
Since the other party had already made his stance known, Zwei had no choice but to leave first.
“Teacher, what shall we do next?” Alyssa asked worriedly.
Zwei stroked Alyssa’s golden hair before succumbing to Tio’s envious look and stroking her silver hair as well. “I asked Old Vita just now, and it seems Byk Town has its own chapel. We’ll take a look there first. Who knows? We might come across clues about the vampire.”