Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 66: Search
The shouting outside woke Rona’s wife. Wrapped in warm clothes and holding an oil lamp, she opened the door and walked toward the cowshed.
“Dear, what’s going on?”
“Vampire!”
Rona quickly got up, ran toward her in the firelight, and said with lingering fear.
“There’s a vampire in the cowshed!”
“Vampire?”
Rona’s wife held out the oil lamp toward the cowshed, her face puzzled—there was clearly nothing at the entrance.
To find out for sure, she decided to step closer to the cowshed.
“Be careful!”
Rona followed closely behind, hiding behind his wife.
“The vampire might still be in there.”
She held the lamp inside first, and the two cautiously stepped in. By the dim firelight, they looked around the shed. Aside from a few cows mooing from being disturbed, there were no suspicious creatures in sight.
“What vampire? Are you sure you didn’t drink too much and imagine it? Ugh! You reek of alcohol.”
Rona’s wife looked at him with clear disgust and pinched her nose with one hand.
“Huh? That can’t be right.”
Looking around, Rona began to doubt himself—maybe he had been seeing things.
No—he snatched the oil lamp from his wife’s hand and quickly walked to the cow the vampire had been crouched over earlier.
The cow was still lying on the warm hay, sound asleep, seemingly unaware it had just been fed on.
“What are you looking for now?”
His wife asked impatiently.
“Don’t talk—I’m looking for evidence.”
Holding up the oil lamp, Rona carefully examined the cow’s body. Soon enough, he found two small puncture marks with traces of blood.
These were clearly bite marks left by a vampire—proof that he had indeed seen one earlier.
“Come and look. Aside from a vampire, what other creature could leave bite marks like this on one of our cows?”
His wife walked over and let out a curious “Hmm?”
Rona then noticed a nearby window had been left ajar, only loosely closed. He walked over, opened it fully, and looked outside.
It was pitch dark. The vampire was already long gone.
However, in the snow outside the window, there was a line of small footprints leading toward the Sky Mountains. Beyond a certain distance, they were too faint to see.
Turning back, Rona said to his wife with a serious expression, “We have to report this to the lord immediately. A vampire came to our cowshed!”
…
Lord’s Castle
The next morning, Owen finally received a report from his guards that a civilian claimed to have seen a vampire.
To deal with the matter, he urgently summoned Viscount Jarvis, Clive, and Lusha.
Seated at his desk, Owen called Winston and rubbed his forehead in frustration.
They had just managed to fend off the first wave of undead, and now something like this appeared inside the town? This winter was anything but peaceful.
Once connected to Winston, Owen relayed the vampire incident to him through their mental link.
[A vampire? Are you talking about the kind that’s afraid of garlic, silver, holy water, and crosses—and combusts in sunlight?]
Owen paused, confused by Winston’s question.
[If they had so many weaknesses, we humans wouldn’t have been beaten by vampires over 600 years ago…]
“…The ghost army was completely routed.”
“Oh? So what are vampires like on your side?”
On this side, according to legend, vampires are extremely powerful—likely with unlimited lifespans. They also possess a certain resistance to magic, to the point where even elemental spells might not deal significant damage.
What’s more, it’s said that a few especially strong vampires have unique abilities, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.
All those things Winston mentioned earlier—garlic, silver, holy water, and crosses—aren’t actual weaknesses of vampires here. And they don’t combust in sunlight either, though their power is somewhat diminished in daylight.
Because of that, vampires usually prefer to move around at night for safety.
That said, even during the day, vampires are still powerful—not something ordinary people can handle.
Their only true weakness is faith-based magic.
[I see. That’s very different from the vampires on our side.]
[You guys have vampires too?]
Owen asked.
[Yeah, in novels, movies, and such.]
…Right. Owen shouldn’t have asked that question.
The two of them continued to discuss possible countermeasures until the three summoned individuals arrived at the castle.
Viscount Jarvis and Clive bowed before Owen. Lusha, not wanting to stand out, followed suit, although his movements were still a bit stiff.
“Someone ran into a vampire in their cowshed last night.”
Owen said directly.
“What?!”
Clive’s eyes widened in shock.
“Are we sure they didn’t see wrong? That’s a creature of legend!”
“I’ve already sent the guards to investigate. They found suspicious bite marks on one of the cows. The footprints left behind were mostly covered by last night’s snowfall, but it’s said the creature fled toward the Sky Mountains.”
After hearing this, Clive looked even more puzzled.
“If that’s really the case, then why is the person who discovered the vampire still alive? Once discovered, wouldn’t a vampire normally eliminate witnesses before escaping? It’s unbelievable.”
That was indeed a puzzling point.
Given how vampires are forced to operate in secrecy nowadays, they would normally kill to keep themselves hidden. Eliminating witnesses and fleeing would be standard behaviour.
“I don’t know either.”
Owen said.
“That’s why I called you all here.”
Viscount Jarvis suggested.
“Since it’s a vampire, should we seek help from the Church?”
“Mm.”
Owen nodded.
“I’ll personally visit Bishop Flynn at the church shortly.”
Lusha didn’t know much about vampires, but if the town’s safety was being threatened, that meant his people were in danger as well.
For the sake of his clan’s safety, Lusha had to act. He stepped forward and volunteered.
“You want to hunt down that vampire? Our tribe has people skilled at tracking prey. I can send them out to search for its trail.”
“We definitely need to track it. We can’t let a vampire continue roaming free in Bianshu Town. Then I’ll count on your people to assist us, Chief Lusha.”
Owen responded.
“No problem.”
Lusha said, thumping his chest confidently.
Owen then issued a series of orders to the three of them in response to the vampire incident.
First, to Clive:
Owen instructed him to post a public notice in the town square informing the people that a vampire had recently been sighted and urging them to stay home at night and avoid unnecessary outings.
Clive was also told to organize his men to go door-to-door checking on each household, making sure no one had been attacked. He was also to tell the townsfolk that any leads or information should be reported to Town Hall immediately, with rewards offered for verified reports.
Second, to Viscount Jarvis:
Owen ordered him to select four men from the sharpshooter unit to join the lizardmen trackers dispatched by Lusha, and head toward the Sky Mountains to search for vampire traces.
The sharpshooter unit members were experienced hunters and well-versed in tracking prey. They couldn’t spare too many people right now, since undead threats from the north still had to be watched.
Additionally, patrols in Bianshu Town needed to be strengthened, especially at night, to ensure the safety of the citizens.
Jarvis would be responsible for arranging rotating shifts between the militia and knight squads to carry out night patrols.
Finally, to Lusha:
Aside from sending people to help search for the vampire, he was instructed to reinforce the security within the lizardmen residential area.
Once all the orders had been given, the three promptly withdrew to carry out their assigned tasks.