123 The not-immortal Blacksmith II – godly exploration and undead extermination

26th of Arah

Sam, Molly, and Hesh stood in the square of the small village. Well, more of an abstract oval than a square, Hesh observed. Sam and molly were talking to the elder of the village.

"The lord of the village is a vampire!" The elder exclaimed.

"Alright." Sam replied. "Does he burn in the sunlight?"

"Yes, he gets sunburns." The elder responded.

One well maintained eyebrow raised, Molly asked, "…but he doesn't burst into flames?"

"No?"

"Does he sparkle in the sunlight?" Hesh asked, squinting at the elder.

"…why…Why would a vampire sparkle in the light?"

Hesh breathed a sigh of relief, "Well that's good at least." To which Molly gave a withering glare.

Sam squinted at the man, "Does he have an aversion to garlic, or holy water?"

"No?"

"Extra pointy K9 teeth?" Molly asked. "Drinks blood?"

"No more pointy than normal." The elder said. "And dear gods no, that would be disgusting!"

After a few moments of silence, Sam asked, "So, you're telling us that the man who lives in the big, dark, scary, mansion on top of the hill, with the constant lightning storm swirling around it is a vampire; but you have no proof of it?"

"He wears black clothing and a black cape with a red lining!" The elder pronounced. "And he tells everyone he is a vampire!"

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Sam, sarcasm dripping from his voice, looked at the elder, "Why didn't you start with that?"

-

Mil, Sarah, and Pendleton sat around the evening campfire. "So where is that abomination now?" Maximilion asked Sarah.

"Seems like he's heading west." She replied. "What's your problem with him, anyway?"

"You mean aside from him killing my mortal form at a wedding?" Mil asked in reply. "Because he goes against the natural order of things, I suppose. That and I killed him some…13…15…17… times and he didn't stay dead?"

"You did what?" Pendleton and Sarah yelled in unison.

"What? He had disparaged the name of my lover of the time." Mil said. "What else was I supposed to do? I challenged him to a duel; he gave me choice of weapons so I said swords. I stabbed him through the chest, turned to walk away and he said "Is that all you've got?" It was very upsetting to me!"

"So," Sarah chuckled, "You tried to kill Maxwell the unkillable Heretic, how many times?"

"Like I said, somewhere between thirteen and seventeen." Mil said in a very quiet voice. "Then I hired the assassin's guild to kill him."

Eyes wide and mouth agape, Pendleton finally spoke, "Is…is that why the guild has a "Do Not Accept" notice in all of its branches above Maxwell's picture?"

Mil frowned, "Yes. And how do you know about that?"

Pendleton gave an almost cute snort, "Never you mind."

-

The three Heroes sat in an uncomfortable booth at the sorry excuse for an Inn in the village. Before them sat three half empty bowls that the proprietor had called stew, but had more in common with a weak broth. They stared at each other over the awful meal.

"What do you two think about this supposed vampire?" Sam finally asked.

Hesh snorted, "I think someone has delusions of adequacy. I just don't know it it's the elder, or the lord."

Snickering, Molly spoke next, "This place is on the map, so I think we should investigate. I just don't believe the lord is a vampire. A mad scientist? Sure. A vampire? No."

"At least he doesn't sparkle in the sun." Hesh quietly remarked, and was immediately punched by Molly.

27th

A misty moist morning dawned over the small village where the trio of heroes had spent an uncomfortable night. "Inns are supposed to be comfortable," Hesh groused, "But this place was the exact opposite!" Molly and Sam nodded.

The heroes escaped the Inn's owner, missing what smelled like a foul breakfast, and entered the village oval. An oval that was beginning to stir as residents began setting up stalls for a market. As they walked through the freshly growing market, they overheard a couple people talking.

"Poor folk. Got hornswoggled into staying at the Inn last night by the elder." A woman said.

"I think we should run George out of town for a few days, and burn his wretch of a place to the ground. Last time I ate there I was sick for a week!" Another replied.

A couple dozen minutes later the party found themselves at the eastern edge of the village, looking up the lonely dark road to the top of the spooky hill that was crowned by the "Vampires" mansion.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.