"The Stigmata Skin guild's training ground is full of new things.
Kayne has set up a table here, and once it's time to train in swordplay, he sets up two little clay doll magical statues and has them spar.
At first, the hunters gathered around and watched mostly, but gradually everyone realized that the sword skills of the two little demonic statues were both very powerful, so some people followed suit.
Kayne didn't hide anything from them, letting them learn as much as they wanted, and sometimes when he had already mastered a sword skill himself, he would take care of some hunters who were slow learners, ordering the magical statues to repeat the drill until the hunters had all learned it in a decent manner.
"These are all ancient Valenvian sword arts, ah, some of the sword moves have been lost in Constantine, I can't imagine that they are still circulating in Lomonia."
One day Baldwin got free and came to inspect the guild and exclaimed when he saw the two little demonic statues.
He wasn't too surprised that Kayne had built the magical statue, as the boy's magical talents were well known to everyone.
He just instructed Kayne that no one outside of the guild should ever know about the little demonic statue, after all, it was a forbidden art.
It also puts to rest the idea of your son building an equal-sized demonic statue to train in swordsmanship.
And the ambitious plan to imitate the giant demonic golem in the ruins would have to be put on hold for the time being.
After chatting about swordplay at the training grounds, Baldwin called Kayne, Hector, Evelyn, Lenka, and the other elite hunters to the Guildmaster's room, where they gathered to discuss the vampire concentration camp.
"Now that a good half of the vampires have moved into the camps, some of the remaining ones are in some of the more important jobs within the city of Constantine, and no suitable replacements can be found for a while." Chief Hector said.
"Well, these can take their time. When these guys are all taken care of, I will also call my cousin nephew from the old family to Constantine, this young man is quite capable and has taken care of the old family's territory. When the time comes, we can train him to be the new lord of Constantine." Baldwin said.
"The Master is going to go to a concentration camp even after he steps down as Lord?"
"Of course, there's at least something to do there, and if you let me out in the open, aren't you afraid I'll actually turn into a man-eating vampire?"
The hunters laughed.
Baldwin followed with a few laughs, then said, "Besides, I think Kayne's plan is quite interesting, if we can open up safe hunting grounds in the ruins of Old Valenvania, we can get a lot of rare materials. The guild can then be further developed."
They had already discussed about this matter many times. The hunters were very much in favor of this plan, the only problem now was that the battle power of the ordinary hunters was not enough, fighting young demonic wolves and the like was a bit of a stretch, and if they encountered adult lion and scorpion beasts, sub-dragons and other magical beasts, it would be very difficult to avoid casualties.
However, since they could let go of their good life and come to the guild as vampire hunters, these people had the realization that they would bleed to death at any time.
Not to mention that this is not a gentle world by nature, even a farmer planting in the field could be attacked by wolves or magical beasts, not to mention hunters who deal with vampires all day long.
In a sense, vampire hunters are also outlaws.
However just as the hunters were talking and starting to talk about the hunt, a man knocked on the door and came in with a message.
"The Vicomte de Niels died at home this morning."
This Viscount was involved in the ball incident and was turned into a vampire. Usually keeping a fairly low profile, he hasn't moved to the camps yet because he hasn't dealt with which of his children to make the heir.
"And, it seems he was decapitated with a silver sword."
The news surprised all the hunters present, and they only interrupted their meeting to rush to the scene of the incident.
Waiting at the scene was the Viscount's eldest son, Tull, who was visibly upset to see a group of vampire hunters arrive, but since the leader was Baldwin, the new Duke of Constantine, he couldn't say anything.
"This isn't the Viscount's home, is it?" Baldwin asked.
"Father bought this small building when he had to move out of the house and live on his own for a while." Tul said, leading the crowd to the small building.
As soon as he entered, he saw a white cloth spread in the foyer, which, when lifted, showed a pale, black, headless body lying underneath.
"Where's the head?"
"It was like this when we arrived, but, looking at the scars, we can be sure it was the father." Tul said.
The Viscount was also a knight when he was young, so he was left with quite a few scars.
"Also, Your Excellency, my father's body is in this state because ....."
"Well, it's the traces left by the Silver Poison, your father was turned into a vampire."
"Indeed, Your Excellency, this matter concerns our family's honor, could you please ask all the hunters to keep this matter quiet?" Tuor asked with a face full of despair.
If this matter were to reach the church, their family would likely be treated as heretics and then stripped of their knighthood.
"Well, don't worry about it, it won't do us any good to talk about it." Chief Hite comforted.
"But the Viscount's head must be recovered; the murderer took this, perhaps to threaten your family." Baldwin said.
"Uh, I understand."
"Who has the Viscount been associating with lately? Where has he been? Any suspicious behavior?" Chief Hector asked.
Tull then said as much.
He went into great detail, yet there was no valuable information.
Viscount Niel has kept a low profile since he was converted, as evidenced by the fact that he dedicated a small building and stayed away from his family.
He's been so busy with the heir apparent lately that he basically hasn't seen any outsiders.
"Only the day before yesterday, father went out alone, without any entourage, and I don't know who he met."
Baldwin was about to press the matter when Hector whispered quietly in his ear, "The day before yesterday was the day the blood potions were distributed, and I saw the Viscount with my own eyes."
And extrapolating by the time the Viscount went back and forth, he just went to get a tablet of blood medicine and went back without seeing anyone again.
Edward glanced around the foyer for a moment, then asked, "Was the door open when the viscount was found?"
Tull nodded, "It was open."
"Looking at the position where the Viscount fell, it is obvious that he was decapitated straight away just after opening the door, and the murderer came with a very strong purpose to kill. No household belongings were lost, right?"
"No."
Edward listened and nodded, not asking for anything else.
After a while, he pulled Chief Hite aside and said quietly, "The murderer brought a silver sword specifically to assassinate the Viscount, and only took away the Viscount's head when he was done, do you think the murderer will be ...."
"Could there be a traitor in the guild?" Chief Hector said in unison with him.