flstandardbreds Chapter 160 Arrival at Mohan County (9)
Chapter 160 Arrival at Mohan County (9)
Three days later, Ed had gathered his men, and Zephir also went with him.
Michael couldn't go with them because he had to help Freya with government affairs.
Zephir had completed the Glory Knight Ceremony and was now the highest-ranking member of the Royal Knights. Saminos had left behind a lot of messes when he was in the Knights.
Zephir had dealt with a number of cunning individuals over the past few days, completely purging the Royal Knights. He had promoted his deputy to Knight Commander, and during his absence, the new Knight Commander would manage the Royal Knights.
Ed has told Zephir in detail about vampires. Although he cannot accept the existence of vampires in this world for a while, he is very angry when he thinks about his sister Neve being captured by vampires.
There were ten vampire hunters traveling with Ed this time, and with the father and son, there were twelve of them.
Croft Castle is located in Mohair County in the southern coastal area. The Vampire Guild there has received the news and decided to go to Croft Castle first to find out the situation.
Croft Castle was part of the Egbert family's estate, a family that wielded considerable influence in the area. Their family excelled in trade, and thus accumulated considerable wealth.
Mohanlshire - Jacques Tavern.
A bearded man wearing a straw hat and holding a cigarette butt in his mouth was squatting outside the tavern. Next to him stood a tall and thin man with a long mustache.
"Hey, Frank, are you really not going to Croft Castle?" The bearded man spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, stood up with his hands on his knees, and then leaned his back against the wall outside the tavern.
Frank, the tall and thin man, stroked his curly beard and said in a hoarse voice, "No, I never like rich people. They make money with dirty intentions."
"Then you may not be able to drink in Jacques' Tavern anymore. The wheat beer you often drink is also made with money from the Egbert family." The bearded man was called Hans. He crushed the cigarette butts on the ground with the toe of his shoe. There were several crushed cigarette butts by the wall.
"The rich will find ways to take money from our pockets, but at least they let us get delicious wheat beer." Hans smiled and looked at the towering castle peak in the distance.
That is Croft Castle, which is built on a hill and has mostly gray-white walls. It is the center of the Egbert family. Every Christmas, the Egbert family members return there to celebrate the festival.
From the highest point of Croft Castle, you can see the entire county of Mohanlal.
"Hey, you two, don't leave garbage in my tavern! Clean up all the garbage for me!" Santali, the owner of the tavern, pushed the door out with a mace. She frowned and stared at Hans with disgust on her heavily made-up face.
Hans quickly reached out to stop Santali and kicked the crushed cigarette butt toward Frank. "Oh, Santali, beautiful lady. Don't be so rude. Be careful that the mace might hurt you."
Frank looked at Hans's actions speechlessly. He took out some copper coins from the purse on his waist, then pushed Hans away and said, "Santali, this is my wine money."
Santali snorted, walked over, took all the copper coins and put them in her apron pocket, and asked, "Hans, where are yours?"
"Um...my...my wages haven't been paid yet. I'll give it to you when I get them." Hans leaned back, watching the spiked mace gradually approaching his face. Hans turned around and ran while shouting, "Santali, I remembered that I haven't collected the clothes at home. I'm leaving now."
Santali rolled her eyes at Hans's back and said, "You have money to smoke but no money to pay for the wine, cunning Hans."
"I'll pay for him, Santali." Frank knew that Santali would definitely let him pay for Hans's drinks, so he just spoke directly.
Santali smiled and took Hans's wine money. "Frank, you'd better stay out of it with Hans. The men in the Green family are not good people."
"It's okay, Santali, I'll make him pay me back." Frank smiled.
After Santali collected the money for the wine, she returned to the tavern. Frank turned and looked towards the location of Croft Castle, his eyes gloomy.
------
It was four days later when Ed and his group arrived in Mohan County.
They came to the largest vampire hunter guild in Mohan County, and Zephir found that everyone in the guild wore a variety of silver weapons around their waists.
Ed noticed his gaze and said, "The most basic requirement to become a hunter is to have your own silver weapon."
Zephir retracted his gaze and nodded slightly, "So do I have it?"
"Go pick out your own weapons from the warehouse," Ed said in a deep voice. He then asked the people behind him to sit down and rest. He brought Zephiel to the front desk and said to the woman with brown curly hair, "Hello, I'm Ed Green, who delivered the message a few days ago."
"Hello, Mr. Ed. I'm Salina, the head of the Mohair County Guild." Salina smiled, opened a drawer nearby, took out a form, and placed it on the table. "This is the contract. You need to sign it and pay 5,000 silver coins."
"So many!" Zephir was surprised.
"Because this mission is very difficult, we need to ensure that every vampire hunter participating has no worries," Salina explained in a friendly manner. "Hunters also need to survive."
Ed picked up the quill and signed the contract without hesitation. He had brought a lot of money with him this time. As long as Neve could be rescued, no matter how much it cost, Ed was willing to spend it.
Ed handed the purse containing 500 gold coins directly to Salina. He asked in a deep voice, "Where is that kid Hans?"
(Off topic - 1 gold coin = 10 silver coins)
After receiving the money, Salina said, "He's at Jacques' Tavern."
"How much information do you have about Croft Castle? And Neve, how do you plan to find out about her?" Zephir asked from the side.
"Croft Castle is owned by the Egbert family. If you want to enter, you need an invitation from the Egbert family. However, we can't receive the invitation, so our guild has bribed the servants who will go down the mountain to buy groceries."
"Neve is indeed in Croft Castle. She seems to be working as a maid there." Salina briefly told the news she knew.
She advised Zephir, "It won't be easy to take her away. Because Neve is under surveillance."
"Okay, thank you, Salina." Ed patted Zephir's shoulder. "Let's go and find your uncle Hans first."
"Thank you." After Zephir said this, he was taken away by Adra.
Inside Jacques' Tavern.
Hans was sitting with his back to the tavern door, playing drinking games with the people at the table.
He was having fun when he suddenly felt someone watching him from behind.
Hans grinned and turned to see who was so bold as to scare him from behind.
His face fell as he saw Ed standing at the door.
"Hanels!" Ed shouted with full energy.
Hans came down from the table, picking his ear with his little finger, and walked over with a somewhat impatient look, "Why did you come to Mohan County?"
He looked at Zephir behind Ed, his eyes lit up, "Oh, isn't this Michael? He's grown so big!"
"Uncle, I'm Zephir." Zephir curled his lips and said helplessly.
This uncle still can't tell him apart from Michael. It's obvious that his face is different from Michael's.
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry. Zephir, uncle will treat you to a drink, don't mind it." Hans scratched his head and said with a smile.
"Forget it, Hans, you don't even have enough money for drinks, and you still want to treat people to drinks?" Santali's voice sounded from the side, with a hint of mockery in her tone.
Hans pretended not to hear Santali's words and put his arms on Ed and Zefield's shoulders respectively. "Let's go talk outside. It's too noisy in here."
The three of them sat down at a small table outside the tavern. Hans folded his hands behind his head, leaned back in his chair, and said nonchalantly, "Tell me, Ed, what are you doing in Mohanl County?"
"Uncle, didn't you receive the news? Neve was captured by vampires and is now in Croft Castle." Zephir couldn't help but ask.
Ed's face didn't look very good. He didn't expect that Hans still often hung out in the tavern and didn't even care about the tasks issued by the guild recently.
"What?! Neve is in Croft Castle?!" Hans said in disbelief. He sat up straight and looked at Ed, "Why didn't you tell me?!"
Ed rolled his eyes speechlessly, "Everyone in the Mohair County Guild knows."
Hans, "..."
"Uh... well, I only know that there is that thing in Croft Castle." Hans raised his hand and touched his nose.
"You've lived in Mohenl County for so many years, how much do you know about Croft Castle?" Ed asked with a sigh.
"I haven't been there, so I wouldn't go there. But the Egbert family is very low-key, and they are the type that make a lot of money quietly. Usually, when their butler comes down to buy food, he won't communicate too much with people." Hans told what he knew. He recalled that when he was strolling on the street before, he met the butler of Croft Castle several times.
They bought vegetables and meat in cartloads, and they bought a lot.
Others saw this and thought that there were so many people in Croft Castle that so much food was needed.
"When are you going to take action?" Hans looked at Ed.
"Wait until their people come out to buy ingredients next time." Ed replied in a deep voice.
The next time will be in two days. The steward of Croft Castle will come down the mountain to buy food every three days. He has already come down once today.
Inside Croft Castle.
Sidse sat on the sofa in the study, holding a letter in his hand.
The document stated that an eyewitness claimed that Quillon had captured a half-blood vampire near Croft Castle. When he arrived with his men, he only found the half-blood vampire's body in the cave.
That mixed-blood vampire had been sucked dry.
There are also provocative words left by Quillon in the cave - no one from the Egbert family can escape.
This is undoubtedly a declaration of war on Sidse.
Seeders crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it on the desk. He stared at the white candle on the desk with a sullen face.
The curtains in the study were drawn tightly, not letting in any sunlight.
Sides didn't expect that Quillon would dare to issue a challenge so openly. He would never let Quillon, the traitor, go.
But first, he had to send a message to Cedric in the royal city.
Sidse picked up a quill and wrote about Quilon on a brand new piece of paper. Then he stood up and walked to the door. He opened the door and said to the butler Joey who was standing outside, "Joey, seal the letter on my desk and send it to Prince Cedric."
"Yes, Your Highness Sids." Joey leaned forward slightly.
"Where is Neve now?" Sidse raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows and asked.
Joey replied respectfully, "Ms. Neve is in the kitchen right now, preparing lunch with the maids."
"By the way, tell the humans in Croft Castle not to go out at night starting today." Sidse thought that he couldn't let Quillon continue to capture people here, especially humans.
Quillon brought two young monsters with him. Although they sucked dry the blood of a mixed-blood vampire, the most useful thing for them was human blood.
There are also vampire hunters in Mohan County. If Quillon attacks civilians, it will definitely attract the attention of vampire hunters.
He could only capture people near Croft Castle because there were also many vampires in Croft Castle. He knew very well that the Egbert family would not seek help from the Vampire Hunters Guild.
After explaining everything, Siddes returned to his bedroom.
Just waiting for night to fall, he led his men to conduct a thorough search near Croft Castle.
He didn't believe Quillon could get away with it.