Chapter 7: The Remnants of Aiden

“Hey, Sheriff.”

Hank the Elder’s tone sank, thick with obvious displeasure.

“Don’t interfere with my business. The horse is mine, and I can sell it to whomever I please. That’s my right.”

All the Sheriffs’ attention was glued to Tulia, paying no heed whatsoever to Lyon’s so-called “nonsense.”

“Hank the Elder! Don’t be foolish! Are you trying to break the Town’s rules?!”

“Rules?” Hank the Elder repeated, pausing his hammering, bending over to rummage through his toolbox.

“That’s right! In the Kingdom, Vampires aren’t welcome! We’re not like those Empire folk who mingle with foreigners!”

“So that’s what this is about…” muttered Hank the Elder, as if finally understanding, though his hands never ceased their work.

“Decades ago, Aiden City was nearly turned into a ghost town by Vampires. Do you know how many people died?”

He slowly straightened, something new in his hand—not a tool, but an old-fashioned Badge, its edges worn smooth with age.

“But these rules were made before the village ever grew into a Town. I imagine you youngsters who came later don’t know that, do you?”

For the first time, he lifted his gaze, sharp as a blade as it swept over the tense Sheriffs.

“Cut the crap! Pick up your money and get lost!” The Sheriff brandished his Magic Wand, trying to bolster his own presence.

But Hank the Elder seemed lost in memory, his voice low and steady: “This Town… was founded by those who escaped from Aiden City. After that attack, people lost their homes, lost their loved ones… They took root in this land like wild grass.”

“So what?!”

“The City sent an Inspector to uncover the truth, and those who colluded with the Vampires—the Director—were executed.” Hank the Elder stroked the Badge in his hand, “That Inspector… was a frail-looking woman. She divided all the City Lord’s Mansion bounty among us survivors.”

“Later, the Kingdom sent the Knight Order to take over Aiden City, and those Nobles and Directors who sided with the Vampires were also put to death. After that, the Inspector disappeared. No one knew where she went.”

“A few years later, the Inspector appeared again.”

He paused, his voice abruptly chilling, tinged with suppressed anger: “But after it was all over, those who saw her again felt no gratitude. Instead, they whispered behind her back… They picked up clubs and stones, trying to drive that woman out of the temporary camp.”

“When people saw her again, she was ragged, gnawing on wild beasts out on the wasteland.”

Hank the Elder’s voice wasn’t loud, but it struck every heart like a heavy hammer.

“That look was no different from a Vampire who preys on people. The only difference was—one eats humans, the other eats beasts.”

“I may be old, but the older I get, the clearer those young days are in my mind. That woman was no different from us—a human being.”

“I don’t know what turned her into someone bearing the blood of another race.”

He paused, a trace of pain flickering in his clouded eyes.

“But people… all they saw was the foreign blood under her skin. They forgot who uncovered the truth and brought them justice. Forgot who used that money to help us build this new home… To the benefactor they should have knelt to in gratitude, they raised clubs and hurled stones!”

The Sheriff’s brow furrowed, unable to understand why Lyon was suddenly dredging up these ancient grievances.

Since the old man was a Town elder, perhaps he was just confused for a moment. The Sheriff forced down his anger, but his voice grew harsher:

“What are you getting at?! No matter what happened before, now, I am responsible for the Town’s law and order! Stay out of this!”

What answered him was the heavy scrape of metal.

Hank the Elder silently set down the old Badge, then from beneath the counter, he suddenly yanked out a Portable Mana Cannon—crafted from dark metal, its core a Mana Crystal glowing eerily in its heart!

What made everyone jump was that the charged barrel was aimed squarely at the Sheriffs!

“I’m just saying,” Lyon’s voice was terrifyingly calm, a stark contrast to the weapon’s intimidating presence, “some Vampires did not choose the darkness willingly. Even if they bear foreign blood, their hearts are still human.”

The Sheriff’s face went instantly pale. Though his Magic Wand still pointed at Tulia, he couldn’t help but shriek, “W-what are you doing?! Are you insane?!”

“As you see.”

Hank the Elder’s finger rested on a certain switch on the cannon’s body. Intense energy began gathering at the muzzle, humming with a low, menacing thrum.

“Stop! Hank the Elder! Do you understand what the consequences will be?!” The Sheriff’s voice trembled with fear.

“Roughly,” Hank the Elder replied lightly.

“Don’t be stupid! The Constabulary and I will never let you off for this! You old fool!”

Faced with their threats, Hank the Elder paid no mind. The cannon’s glow only grew more blinding. He lifted his gaze—his eyes were those of an old wolf, cornered and ready to bite.

“I’ve got one foot in the grave already, doesn’t matter to me. But you… are you sure you want to go to hell with this useless old man?”

His cold, unyielding words shattered the last of the Sheriff’s bravado.

“St-stop! We’ll… we’ll leave! Stop right now!” He all but screamed it.

“Then—” Hank the Elder’s voice suddenly soared, like a wolf’s howl, “Don’t interfere with my business!”

For the first time, the Sheriff’s death grip on Tulia broke. He stared hard at Lyon, jaw clenched so tightly his face twisted with fury and humiliation. Finally, he squeezed out a single phrase:

“…Take the horse and go.”

“Thank you.” Tulia’s voice remained even.

Simple words, nothing more needed.

Though Tulia didn’t quite understand what was going on, now wasn’t the time to ask.

She wrapped Lisbeth in her coat, nimbly mounted the horse, ignoring both sides’ tense standoff. She guided the horse to Lyon’s side, curious what he had to say.

“Thank me?” Hank the Elder sneered, his eyes never leaving the Sheriffs, the cannon unmoved. “No need. If anything, I should be thanking you. Decades ago, in the ruins of Aiden City, I should have thanked you then.”

He paused.

“When you used the City Lord’s Mansion bounty to help us build this village… I was one of those refugees.”

Not just the Sheriff, but several deputies behind him looked stunned—some even lowered their Magic Wands unconsciously. Maybe their parents had survived that disaster, too.

Who could say?

“I still remember what you looked like, even now.”

Lyon’s voice took on a faraway, nostalgic note. For the first time, his gaze landed truly on Tulia.

“Hair white as moonlight, eyes blue as the deepest sea, a unique jeweled pendant at your chest, and that Magic Wand at your waist that you never parted with…”

His gaze held no fear, only the weighty complexity of a lifetime.

“And this face—see it once and you’ll never forget, no matter how many decades pass. You haven’t changed a bit.”

He sighed lightly, voice filled with endless emotion.

“As expected, Vampires… never grow old. Truly… enviable.”

Tulia, too, remembered those old days, when Sophia turned her into a Vampire and she escaped Aiden.

Starving, she hadn’t wanted to kill, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t recall a name from her past that matched this old man.

“Your name?”

“Lyon Hank.”

His tone snapped back to its previous gruffness, but his arm trembled imperceptibly:

“Go, quickly. I’m old—my arms can’t take it, and this thing… won’t last much longer.”

Under the mixed gazes of shock, confusion, and lingering fear—

That tall steed carried Tulia and Lisbeth past the frozen Sheriffs like an arrow shot from the bow.

They raced along the Town’s stone road, dust trailing behind, soon vanishing at the road’s distant edge leading out to the countryside.