Chapter 2225: Sorrow of Blood

Chapter 2225: Chapter 2225: Sorrow of Blood

Because there were outsiders present, Mr. Benhart could not conveniently explain to Shard that in fact, during the God Summoning at Midshire Fort last autumn, if they hadn’t failed to find that sword, that sword would actually have been the best ritual item to symbolize the Vampire Kind.

"Are you sure that sword is in this city? I know more than half of the same clan in this city, but I haven’t heard a thing about this."

Mr. Benhart asked. John Flynn, sitting opposite at the table, put down his wooden wine cup; the wooden cup hitting the table made a dull ’thunk’ sound:

"I’m very sorry, we can’t say much about the source of our information, but that sword is very likely here in the city. On that point there’s no doubt at all."

Shard did not ask why the people from the New World Mutual Aid Society were looking for the Vampire Kind’s Holy Sword, but in his view, this clearly meant that John Flynn and his companions also knew about the Sword of Light. Even if they couldn’t possibly know as much detail as Shard did, they must at least know something.

After that, the four of them continued exchanging information, but no longer touched on anything so confidential—only the movements of cultists, the whereabouts of the Light Worshipper Training Association, secrets of the Seven Great Families, and even the situation of the local Church.

They settled that day’s lunch right there at the Spider Inn. Once matters were discussed and settled, the handwritten notes each side had made were returned to the other, to prevent them being used for Divination. The two from the New World Mutual Aid Society left first. Shard could tell that Mr. Benhart was weighed down with worries, so he didn’t hurry to leave either.

And once Mr. Benhart had thought through everything, Shard followed behind the silent Vampire Viscount and went with him to the sewer morgue only a few hundred meters from the Spider Hostel.

The morgue on Monday afternoon was very quiet... in fact it was quiet every day, and especially quiet at night. At the moment only Mr. Ptolemy Albert was working in the morgue. He was still wearing the same brown robe he’d had on when Shard first met him; hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned his head to glance over:

"Oh, it’s you. Give me a moment, I’m almost done with this corpse. This unlucky fellow sneaked home after an affair and got his heart stabbed straight through with a dinner knife by an enraged woman. Tsk tsk, smashed up like this—really not something you see every day."

Shard and Mr. Benhart didn’t wait long. Once Mr. Albert had washed his hands, he met them in the office. The coroner also saw that his fellow clansman’s expression was dark, and the question he heard clearly went far beyond what he had expected:

"Ptolemy, did you know that Sorrow of Blood is in Moon Bay?"

The coroner’s expression changed dramatically:

"What?"

He widened his eyes and then shook his head in Bewilderment. Mr. Benhart tried to read something from his face, but found nothing at all.

"After the Order settled down in the Sixth Era, we spent close to a thousand years searching for that sword. Though we have long since fallen silent and no longer think of fighting Humans for the Material World, the importance of that sword to us—you can’t possibly not understand. What exactly do the same clan in the Moon Bay Region think they’re doing? First they collaborate with Heathens to Desecrate our bloodline, and now they’re hiding this Holy Relic—do they intend to establish a new Order of their own?"

Faced with such severe accusations from Mr. Benhart, of course the coroner didn’t dare admit to anything. But thinking carefully, he realized that in the more than ten years he’d lived in Moon Bay, he truly had never heard a single rumor that Sorrow of Blood was here locally.

Shard didn’t speak at all, simply watched them discuss the same clan in Moon Bay. Before leaving the morgue, Mr. Benhart handed Mr. Albert a copy of the list in which he suspected the local same clan of cooperating with the Dragon Feast Cult, hoping he could pick out a few dubious names from it.

By the time Shard and Benhart stepped back into the Sunshine, it was already past two in the afternoon, and the latter still looked deeply troubled. They boarded a carriage at the street corner, and after the middle‑aged Vampire Viscount asked Shard whether he had time to "take a walk by the river," he had the driver head toward Herring Street, which was quite close to where they were now. The driver probably only earned the basic starting fare.

After getting off the carriage, they stood side by side at the railing on the riverbank, looking out over the broad river and the nearly completed Moon Bay Bridge further downstream:

"Mr. Watson, it seems the water here in Moon Bay is even deeper than I thought."

Shard said:

"If you had a cigarette dangling from your mouth when you said that, it’d probably make you a lot more attractive to those inexperienced young ladies."

The simple joke did a lot to ease the mood. Armand Benhart sighed:

"Sorrow of Blood, Sorrow of Blood—how could it be here?"

While he was over there sighing and groaning, Shard gave a brief explanation about this round’s Chosen One and the matter of the "Sword of Light", but the Vampire Viscount didn’t care about any of that. He wasn’t ambitious, had always tried to avoid getting dragged into trouble; right now he simply couldn’t understand what the local members of the same clan were up to:

"Since it involves that legendary Holy Sword, I suspect that among the local clan members who can’t be trusted, there are probably more than just one or two. I don’t really like saying this, but at this point I’m even a little afraid to trust Ptolemy. He’s a decent man, but this matter... I just can’t figure it out."

"Then keep the investigation going. Isn’t it getting more and more interesting?"

Shard, on the other hand, was quite relaxed. He rested his wrists on the riverside rail, shoulders slightly slumped, at ease as he watched the steamboats moving along the water:

"If we report this to the Order in Velindale, what kind of response do you think they’ll have?"

"Rage, and then they’ll send me more money and supplies. Our Deity has already given an oracle: we are no longer to get involved in matters of the Chosen One, and must not come into conflict with any ’God Summoner’. So even with intelligence about the Sorrow of Blood, the chance of them sending more people is very low."

After saying this, he gave a brief introduction to that "Holy Sword":

"The Sorrow of Blood, rumored to have been born in the late Second Era. Its first owner was a Vampire Kind who wasn’t particularly powerful. The sword’s First story is tied to a male of the Vampire Kind and a Human woman—everything in between you can easily imagine—but ultimately, through a series of coincidences and misunderstandings, in order to protect her Hometown, and to protect the one she loved, the Human woman offered herself as Sacrifice, surrendering her soul to calm the Rage of a being whose name could not even be recorded. When the Vampire Kind returned from his journey and learned what had happened, he used the congealed, putrid blood in his lover’s Corpse to forge that Sanctity‑stained blood‑red Longsword, and then, by some unknown means, actually managed to Sealing that Evil existence with the sword in his hand."

Mr. Benhart let out a sigh:

"An originally ordinary Longsword thus gained special Power, and later even became a Relic. In the Third Era, members of the same clan used it to defeat an Ancient Evil Spirit, which made the sword’s name resound far and wide. Only some incidents in the Late Fifth Era caused the Sorrow of Blood to slip from our Order’s control. The sword has three Traits: opposing Evil, opposing creatures of Flesh and blood, and creating Sealing. Among them, ’creating Sealing’ is this sword’s most unusual Trait; I think that Trait is tied to the sword’s own origin story."

He then added:

"Among Sage-Level Relics, its effect isn’t considered particularly strong, but fortunately its Negative Traits aren’t strong either—just let the sword regularly drink the user’s blood. I’ve never seen the sword with my own eyes, but it’s said that on the Red Moon’s Moon Full night, the one holding the Sorrow of Blood can feel the inner pain of the sword’s First owner... How could it have ended up in Moon Bay?"

After that, the two of them simply stared at the river for a long time without speaking again. Shard narrowed his eyes lazily, enjoying the not‑so‑abundant Sunshine, while in his heart he was picturing the cat at home sprawled on the living‑room windowsill, basking in the Sun.

In theory, every Vampire Kind in Moon Bay was suspicious, but Shard did not doubt the Mr. Benhart at his side. After all, Shard knew his background and identity, and knew that under the oracle of the Vampire God, all Vampire Kind from Velindale would no longer interfere in matters of the Chosen One.

That being the case, the Holy Swords appearing in Moon Bay now numbered three in total: the Night Watchman, the Sword of Glory, and the Sorrow of Blood. But this in itself didn’t prove anything; the Mist veiling the situation ahead was still thick, and the Outlander still couldn’t see what the current landscape truly was.

Gaa, gaa, gaa~

A Crow flew in from who‑knew‑where and landed on the treetop of the riverside street tree beside them. Mr. Benhart turned his head to look at it, thought of something, and actually shook his head with a hint of relief. Shard, meanwhile, recalled the doctor saying that the Demon’s true body this time was a Crow, but clearly that thing wouldn’t show itself here so easily.

"You’re right, let’s keep investigating."

Mr. Benhart said softly, and imitated Shard’s posture, clasping his hands together and resting his wrists on the rail:

"The Investigation into the same clan will continue. Once I’ve finished narrowing down the list, we’ll go pay visits together. As for Ptolemy... I trust him very much, but I’ll still investigate him separately. After all, doesn’t that sort of thing always happen in stories? The murderer is actually right beside you."

Shard chuckled:

"People of the Faith Dragon, people who Chase the Light, the seven surnames that govern the city, and the guests from the New World—everything tangled together in a mess, and we can only grab one loose thread to Investigate. Take it slow; I’d bet we’re not the ones in the biggest hurry. And instead of spending a huge amount of Time screening suspicious targets, it’s better to first determine those who can be trusted completely. You understand as well as I do: when it comes to investigating Vampire Kind, it’s not convenient to let the Earl’s side get involved, so we’ll need help from your clan too."

Mr. Benhart nodded to show he understood. The two of them watched the river in silence for quite a while longer before Shard took the initiative to speak:

"Mr. Benhart, this city really is beautiful."

"Yes, the City of Wealth truly is lovely..."