After bidding farewell to the hospitable elder, the vampires continued on their journey. At the entrance to the village, they were greeted by Gennady. He was the only one among their group who had been the first to drink human blood, yet held no leadership positions, assisting everyone in small ways and keeping a low profile under others' command.
This situation did not sit well with the mature man he had become, but he couldn't find a way to apply his talents. His former profession was currently unnecessary, and his cruel wife had long since killed any initiative in him.
"Good evening, guys!" he greeted.
"And a good night to you. Can't sleep?" one of them replied.
"Just woke up, and it's still day. I thought I'd talk to the leadership before the working night begins."
Alexander dismounted and handed his horse over to Sergey, then walked to the shore with Gennady.
"Sasha (Alexander), you understand that soon we'll need to start trading goods with the locals," Gennady said.
"That's still called trading," he teased.
"Well, what else would you call it? Isolation isn't possible, unfortunately. They simply won't understand us."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that."
"You wouldn't mind if I conducted some research to find out what the locals need and what they can buy, before Olga or Oksana set up production?"
"I think it's a very good idea, Gen (Gennady)."
"Alright then, with your permission, I'll conduct these studies."
"Yeah, just don't get carried away. We don't need a second Mengele!" Alexander joked.
(Mengele - referring to Josef Mengele, a Nazi criminal who conducted inhumane experiments on prisoners in concentration camps.)
Meanwhile, Maria, or as she was called behind her back, Mengele, directed many necessary and useful experiments on the vampires' violators. Some of these were quite cruel, but unfortunately, the vampires needed to know as much as possible about themselves and their abilities. Thus, the punished vampires formed a forced-volunteer corps of her test subjects.
Currently, she was already requesting permission to conduct experiments on humans, but hadn't yet been granted it due to the unpredictable results of her proposed experiments. For example, how would a person react to vampire saliva in their blood? Who knew! It needed to be investigated. Scary? Definitely!
"By the way, I suggested to Olga to find places for a couple of water mills. We don't need the mills themselves, but the water power will be useful. The current here is good," Alexander interrupted his thoughts, addressing his companion. "It seems like this idea slightly changed the village's plan, and she wants to approve it again."
"Yeah, thanks, I'll find her later."
Leaving his friend to sit alone by the shore, Gennady went off to his business, finally feeling useful and engaged in his usual tasks. There were now many plans and little time, especially since much of it was currently dedicated to construction.
Duke Kas, a young man of twenty-five, surveyed Savoyarde with interest. The northernmost barony brought in good income, but dukes were exceedingly rare guests here. It wasn't because they were at odds with their vassals. The perpetual goblin attacks in these parts should never have become a headache for the duchy's capital and should never have necessitated attempts to establish order here and ensure a safe environment for people. After all, if such efforts succeeded, somewhere ahead on the trade route would emerge a royal city benefiting from the caravans of the Northern Road. For now, however, all profits settled in the ducal treasury, and many generations of Kas did not want to change anything and had no intention of doing so. Hence, they tried to appear in the north of their domains as rarely as possible.
Receiving a message from the baron about a town army approaching from the north and threatening the duchy, the young man decided to visit the baron and check on his affairs. Things were dire. All reports from Savoyarde were accurate. The duke could only be grateful for his foresight, having given all necessary instructions beforehand and then riding out to visit the baron at the head of his retinue.
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