Chapter 71 - Margaret Rain

The remnants of the battle began to be sorted out. The women in the village of Port Biram show their independence. Without disgust or reluctance they collected the remains of the slain Shadows in a large kiln. They would burn the bodies.

They were used to burning corpses because death happened quite often in their environment. That was the safest way, the body would not rot and cause disease. However, because Shadows' body was large, they cut it into several pieces.

Valerie sat resting while watching the villagers work. She held a crystal glass in her hand which contained the donor's blood. Valerie needed it to heal her wounds. Raphael's blood was effective, but only human blood could quench her thirst. Valerie also felt her stomach feel more comfortable after drinking it.

The day began to turn to night. The incident happened in the evening, the sun was still shining even though the light was weak. That was not the nature of the vampires including Shadows. The sun's rays will weaken all vampires. If today's incident happened at night, they might have been stronger. If only Raphael had come late, she might have died. Or worse, she could have been kidnapped along with Brianna to be impregnated.

That was disgusting, Shadows were indeed only created from male Vampires. They didn't breed easily. Ordinary Shadows also never thought about making offspring because all they knew was killing. But Shadows type C was smarter. They could made plans and didn't attack blindly

It's just, why were they targeting noble girls? Though they could more easily impregnate ordinary vampire girls. They lived scattered everywhere and were not protected as tightly as the noble vampires. Was it because they wanted pure-blood vampire girls?

Or was there another agenda?

"They really hate vampires, both Avalons and Florentia. I think they want revenge by hurting the pride of noble vampires. They want to impregnate the daughters of powerful vampires as a form of ridicule and tarnish their name. Besides, those Shadows wanted to increase their numbers," Caesar made preliminary conclusions. He had been involved in the affairs of the Shadows type C since the beginning of their appearance. He had interacted and fought with dozens of them.

"You guys can't possibly let them breed right?" Valerie felt goosebumps at the thought of the mental stress those poor girls would endure if Shadows got them pregnant. She didn't know what their child would be like. Valerie also doubts that the girls could love the child.

"No, we've been given permission to kill them. Although there's an emphasis that we should bring some of them back to Avalon base alive," Caesar responded.

"Are you okay?" Caesar continued.

"It's a shame, because I'm not strong enough to face them. But I'm fine," Valerie felt disappointed at herself.

Caesar was silent for a moment, he looked at Valerie gently but he was no longer friendly enough to her. He kept his distance. Valerie should be one of her targets. Prior to the incident with the Shadows, he was looking for a cursed weapon thief and killer of Gunther. Now that person was right in front of him but strangely, Caesar no longer wanted to kill her.

"Why?" Valerie noticed Caesar's wavering expression.

"I should have killed you," said Caesar coldly, Valerie immediately alerted. She must not forget that there was a reason why she was afraid of Caesar Petrovsky. The girl immediately backed away.

"Why? Is finding and killing me your mission?" Valerie was still wary.

"Yes, of course. Even if Avalon didn't tell me to, I probably would. You killed one of my mentors, of course I should hate you," Caesar replied coldly. Valerie swallowed her saliva in nervousness. Caesar shouldn't be so desperate to attack her, right?

"It's a war situation, I was just doing the natural thing. Targeting high ranking enemies is common in war situations right?" Valerie folded her arms showing that she wasn't intimidated.

Caesar laughed, there was a faint sinister aura in his smile.

"General Gunther must not have been in a good condition when you killed him," Caesar guessed. Valerie was silent, not wanting to confirm or deny it.

Valerie got up from her seat and walked away from the Avalon commander.

"You can't possibly kill him when he's at his best," Caesar continued.

Valerie stopped walking and turned to face him.

"What are you trying to say, sir Petrovsky?" The girl was a little defiant.

"Killing you right now won't give me the pride or satisfaction I want. You're just beautiful but not strong enough. You still need to practice more," said Caesar again.

The tone of his voice has already changed to Valerie. It was different from when he had only known her as Lady Valerie. But instead of being emotional and wanting to kill her, Caesar was now more neutral and spoke calmly to her. The aura of horror that the girl had caught when she first saw Caesar Petrovsky confronting Raphael—was nowhere to be seen at this time.

Caesar was still dangerous, no one knew what he was going to do or what plans were running through his brain at the moment. But Valerie knew that Caesar didn't think she was worthy enough for him to kill.

"If you really want to kill me—"

"No, I told you earlier. Once you're stronger and able to fight against me—I'll look for you," Caesar smiled at Valerie.

"In any case, I still have unfinished business with you, Lady Valerie," Petrovsky nodded and left her. Valerie couldn't be careless. The truce did not mean Florentia and Avalon had made peace. Caesar was still his enemy. Right now they just happen to have the same opponent, namely Shadows type C. In the next meeting, maybe he will try to kill Valerie.

But right now there was something more important. Valerie had to do her duty as a Florentian knight. She was not officially on duty yet, but she could still contribute to Florentia. Now she was in Port Biram, the birthplace of one of the most talented engineers the earth had.

She was not a vampire, she was just a human with a genius brain and skilled hands. The girl's name was Margaret Rain. An orphan who tried to protect her village from all threats. Her skill had been proven by her success in trapping Caesar Petrovsky—a commander of Avalon. Caesar didn't want to talk about it. He didn't kill the villagers out of respect for Valerie's request.

The villagers only meant to defend themselves. They knew that Caesar was an Avalon from his uniform. There was a bit of luck behind Caesar's capture. It was said that he was asleep when Margaret and other villagers put handcuffs and silver chains around him.

"Hey," Valerie greeted the girl. Margaret had a wary look in her eyes and was not at all friendly. Her long, straight black hair was quite enviable. Her skin was a little dark and her body was a little tall.

"What do you want, vampire?" She said a little sarcastically.

"I want to praise you, you designed the defense system in this village right?" Valerie smiled at her.

"Why do you care?"

"Because there aren't many vampires who can be like you. Then you use simple but very effective equipment. If you only fight ordinary Shadows, you won't have any trouble. But it's different If you face the Type C Shadows. They could only be faced by commander-level vampire knights and above. Like Sir Petrovsky or Raphael Chastain," Valerie explained.

"Oh, so they are the commanders?" She responded. Her gaze turned softer. She was quite happy that Valerie was flattering her.

"We've been doing this for years. Port Biram is on the border. We don't have many vampire knights guarding around here. So we couldn't help but fend for ourselves. We've never asked a duke or landlord around here for help. But recently, since we found out that something could be stealing livestock and kidnapping our citizens without being detected — we ended up reporting it to Duke Delacroux," Margaret explained.

"If we could handle it ourselves, we wouldn't have asked the vampires for help," Margaret said coldly.

"Lady Margaret, imagine what you could do with more sophisticated equipment, an unlimited supply of gunpowder and the finest silver bullets," Valerie said.

"I might be able to build a better fort at Port Biram," Margaret thought.

"Yes, you can do it. Besides, did you graduate from a certain technical university? Because you're so talented at this," Valerie complimented him again.

"Me? No, I'm self-taught. I read a lot," Margaret shook her head.

"If you go to college, you can become the best engineer on this earth,"

"That costs too much. College is only for vampires or humans with a lot of money," Margaret grimly said.

"Don't you know, if you work for Florentia, they will ensure the safety of your family and provide the best facilities?" Valerie teased him.

"What? That's bullshit, all the sons of this village who go to war are not given enough money and facilities," Margaret laughed disdainfully.

"Yes, but only if they are ordinary knights. But if it's for you, Lady Margaret, you will become one of Florentia's mainstay engineers working directly with the generals. You will be respected. Port Biram will receive special protection from Florentia and You will also receive abundant facilities," said Valerie again explaining. Margaret's eyes widened when she heard that. The offer was too good for her. It's unbelievable.

"There's no way I'd get that position? I'm just an orphan girl from poor Acheron!" Margaret shook her head vigorously.

"No, lady Margaret. Listen, I am the daughter of Duke Dubois of Lapella. We have the best universities in the world. I can guarantee you, give you a scholarship and make sure that Florentia will build a guard post around port biram.. Only if you take an oath of allegiance to Florentia," Valerie continued again, making an offer that was hard to refuse.