The third feast of 3

The second day is cloudy

(Today I will make up yesterday's unfinished diary)

I never imagined I would be able to spend the night in the Dark Castle.

Yesterday we arrived at the castle, but the Duke was unexpectedly absent. We waited there for a long time, and when it was almost dusk, we realized that we might not see our master today, so we decided to take our leave. But the one in charge—a young, beautiful, and lovely young lady—kept us both to stay for the night. She promised us that we could spend one night as guests and maybe the duke would come back in the evening.

This seems to fit a legend of a church that says that vampires cannot move in the sun, and that sunlight can greatly weaken or even harm them. Therefore, during the day, vampires sleep in a coffin and do not get up until dark. When I secretly discussed this with Donnie, he laughed and replied that it was a complete rumor. For every time he used to visit the Duke, he had met him during the day.

I had doubts about the identity of the young lady (her name was Léa), and Downey replied that he didn't know the identity of the other party. But he believed that Leia was the mistress of the castle.

Anyway, I chose to stay in the end. As Donnie had told me before, this dark castle looks like a tall tower on the outside, but you don't feel it at all when you stay inside. The interior of the castle is a very large space, with rooms neatly arranged. In terms of the internal living area, the entire castle is only two or three floors, which is no different from an ordinary castle. As for other places, my vigilance outweighed my curiosity. After all, this is a vampire's castle, and it's best to keep it from causing trouble.

I saw a lot of women living here. In addition to some of the maids, there were other women. If Downey is right, these are all slave girls that vampires bought or gifted to vampires and are also his food. Downey secretly told me that the Duke had a unique hobby. Aside from these young and beautiful virgins, the Scarlet Duke had little interest in anything else. In terms of personal preferences, he doesn't like money (I think this means that he doesn't care much about money), jewelry, etc., and only likes beautiful girls. If a stranger wants to win the duke's favor with a gift (like the caravan that brought me to Sivania, for example), then he had better buy two beautiful slave girls and send them over.

Donnie reminded me not to approach them. I agree with this suggestion.

In the evening, when it was almost time to go to bed, suddenly there was a word that the Scarlet Duke wanted to see me. To be honest, I was taken aback. Because it was sudden, I wasn't mentally ready to meet the vampire. So I guess I must have seemed less natural at the time. When I walked into the living room, Donnie was already there talking to the Scarlet Duke. His voice was so loud that I could hear him bragging for me—blowing me like no other. Although I had a little confidence in my craft, Donnie was a little too much to make me even more uneasy.

Then I met the vampire himself. Unlike the legendary (and what I expected) image of the blue-faced, fanged, evil and terrifying, the Scarlet Duke looks no different from an ordinary person. He is slightly taller and not stout, but he does not give the impression of being thin. There were no fangs on his face either. While we all know that the most obvious specialty of vampires is the fangs that protrude out of the lips, the Scarlet Duke has no fangs. Because I watched his mouth very carefully (which in retrospect was really stupid, thankfully the Duke didn't care), and he didn't see fangs in his mouth when he needed to open his mouth wide to pronounce.

When I was seated, the Duke turned the conversation to the shipyards. He and I discussed several technical issues in shipbuilding. To my surprise, he seems to be familiar with the shipbuilding industry...... Because of the knowledge he showed in the discussion, the few questions he asked, even made me a little scrambling. I didn't even feel like I was talking to a vampire, but to a business competitor, a skilled peer. I thought I was supposed to give vampires a lesson (I would have had a little confidence in my professional craft), but in reality, things quickly turned upside down. It was under his guidance that I took a math class, a surveying class, and a woodworking class.

When this conversation was over, the vampire brought me a stack of drawings. I couldn't resist my curiosity and opened it to look at it, and it turned out to be a building drawing of a shipyard, as well as a few blueprints of the ship. I must say that I have never seen such a shipyard and never seen a ship of that kind. But just the first glance hooked me. It's a design that is beyond common sense, but it's ingenious and unusual. It made my heart beat uncontrollably violently.

While talking, I had a wonderful feeling. Although I couldn't find anything unsettling about the vampire (as I mentioned earlier, he looked exactly like a human), I instinctively felt a sense of unease. I believe it's not my delusion, but that there is some disturbing trait in vampires. It was not until I got up to take my leave, when the Duke and I had that ceremonial farewell handshake, that I realized what was disturbing me. It was the Scarlet Duke's eyes. I've never seen eyes like this. He smiled goodbye to me, but there was no smile in his black eyes, which were lifeless than death.

The vampire, or the Scarlet Duke, exudes not the breath of a living person, but more like a machine, a puppet. He's laughing, he's moving, he's talking, but his every move is completely lifeless. Maybe it was just my psychology, so I didn't even dare tell Donnie about it.

Thankfully, we all know he's not human, he's a vampire.

(Many pages were torn out in the middle of the diary, and I don't know who tore it off.) ）

Seventeenth day rain

Summers in the south are exceptionally hot. Today's heavy rain has finally made people temporarily escape the poison day.

My shipyard is finally fully built. I braved the rain to walk around my new shipyard today, and it was a really nice feeling. Those ingenious machines are fascinating. I knew that I would soon be able to do a great job and carry forward my family's ancestral craft.

Yesterday, Donnie sent someone to send the shipyard's bill, but I don't care about it. Because I came to West Vania almost empty-wallet. Such a me, of course, could not provide any funds for the construction of the shipyard. The entire shipyard investment consisted of two parts, one for the Chamber of Commerce and one for the Scarlet Duke himself. According to the terms of a contract, the Scarlet Duke will own a quarter of the equity, the Chamber of Commerce will own half of the equity, and the rest of the equity will be left as a "top share" to the head of the workshop, that is, me.

In other words, from a commercial point of view, this shipyard does not belong to me. I'm just the person in charge, and I own a quarter of the equity for the time being. Of course, I really shouldn't complain or anything. It's a hundred times more magnificent than the shipyard I used to own. It is capable of processing and building (and this is the most important thing) any kind of ship known, and it is capable of building the type of ships that the Duke gave me that I have never seen before.

Of course, Downey assured me that the so-called "equity" was just a conventional gimmick, just a commercial habit. As long as nothing happens to me, I can definitely own this shipyard for the rest of my life. I believe he is telling the truth, because so far, I have advanced my dividends for three full years. If I want, I can even advance it for five years.

There is a reason why I need so much money, because I have to buy a mansion in the new town to live in. Because I know that I can't stay at Downey's house for a long time. In addition to this, I also have family problems.

In fact, something unexpected happened. Recently, I got the news that I don't know what the road is about, and the fact that I came to Sivania (especially to serve the vampires) has been known by the people of my hometown. I'm sure it could have been a rumor from a few of my good friends (because I talked to them about Donnie's letter to me), or maybe my family accidentally slipped it out (especially my wife...... Hey, women are like that), in short, the whole thing caused a lot of turmoil. Some of my old buddies have sent letters to inquire about Sivania, and hinted that they would like to come here too. You know, after the closure of my poor shipyard, these old lads have not had a very good time.

Anyway, the problem at the moment is that I have to scrape together a considerable amount of money to get my family here. After all this time, I've come to believe in the fact that vampires aren't as evil and weird as they might think. On the contrary, as a ruler, he appears enlightened, just, and full of wisdom.

If there's anything I find disgusted here, it's probably the pirate ships. It is clear that the Scarlet Duke and the pirates came to some kind of agreement, agreeing that they would use the ports of West Vania and that stolen goods, including prisoners, would be sold here. It was also a significant source of slave origin in the West Vania region. But I also admit that these wicked pirates are obedient and harmless sheep on the seas of West Severia. This was certainly not because they were by nature, but because of the Duke's great force.

Now, the Duke's subordinates have created some giant undead creatures that can fly (I am now able to accept the existence of these undead creatures with non-human bones, even if I meet a dark mage on the road, I will not make a fuss, which shows that the environment still changes a lot for people). Using their strength, the Duke's subordinates were not affected by the diaphragm between the sea and the land. Even the fastest ships can't compete with flying creatures in terms of speed. I've heard rumors of a group of pirate ships plundering off the coast of West Vania being overtaken by a giant undead the next day and then wiped out in a brutal massacre.

Speaking of which, I must mention a small thing, the first order my shipyard received was actually from the Dark Mage. Now, I think that all the dark magicians of the world (or those who intend to become black magicians) have gathered in Sivania. Because every day on the streets, you can always meet one or two black magicians. Maybe after getting along for a long time, I slowly accepted their existence. In fact, they are also not as paranoid, crazy, and sick as the legend says. When greeting them, they will also respond politely. When dealing with them, they will also pay the bill with real money. I haven't heard of any way they've harassed the cemetery outside the city—at least I didn't find any signs of dead manship there. That's why I didn't hesitate to accept the order, and it wasn't until much later that I realized something was wrong. May the gods forgive me.

Vampires, however, are very strange when it comes to matters of faith. Everyone knows that the Church of the Gods has been working hard to get rid of the vampires and set foot in Sylvania. The matter is completely public. But even so, the vampires allowed the Church of the Gods in the Star Fields to exist in Sivania. Just "allowed", of course. The church doesn't have any privileges here, and the vampires aren't stupid enough to let the high priests who can use magic come over. Of course, local priests are careful to avoid vampire-related topics. If they spoke to the believers about this, especially incitement against vampire rule, they would soon disappear from the city.

Anyway...... My new life is about to begin......

(The following part is completely soaked with dirty water, and the handwriting is illegible.) Judging by the journal's appearance, it must have been accidentally thrown away by its owner and ended up in the hands of a grocer. Because all the empty spaces were jotted down some messy and messy information. Let's say "four bowls" or something. ”