Chapter 240 Visitors from Moses Port
Before Joey Rachel's family returned to Moses Port, the news that there was a vampire lurking in Leo's family had already spread among the upper class of Moses Port.
The background of the Leo family suppressed the spread of the "rumor" to a certain extent, but the upper class of Moses Port was still in panic when they learned the news... You have to know that although the Leo family is a civilian, they are in charge of 40% of the shipping business in Moses Port on behalf of Count Odysseus, and they often go to social occasions. There are countless upper-class people who have met and dealt with Simpson Leo, who was "rumored" to be killed by the undead Innadri.
"Are there still vampires in Leo's family?" became the most concerned issue among the upper class in Port Moses. The home of Cromwell, the local parish bishop, was crowded with visitors.
As the focal figure during the "Vampire Crisis", Bishop Cromwell is not in a very good mood...
"Who on earth spread the news?!"
After finally sending away the inquiring guests, Bishop Cromwell flew into a rage in his own prayer room.
Reverend Bert and Rachel's family were still in Innadri, so it was impossible for them to spread the news - Reverend Bert, who could only contact commoners, and Rachel's family, who were originally commoners, had no channels to talk to the nobles.
Miss Phoenix, who was visiting Innadri, would never allow rumors that would damage the Leo family to spread - the Leo family was the private property of Count Odysseus! Who didn't know that Miss Phoenix was Count Odysseus's most trusted, closest and beloved daughter?
"Who else could it be, Your Excellency?" said another old woman in a court robe sitting on the sofa, with a chill in her voice. "It can't be anyone else except Lee Gene."
Bishop Cromwell's expression suddenly became a little ugly...
The idea of dumping the trouble of Joy Rachel on Innadri was pushed by Bishop Cromwell, but the Inquisition disagreed. The Inquisition prophet Carida, who was now sitting on the sofa, believed at the time that the affairs of Moses Port should be resolved by Moses Port itself, and should not be arbitrarily handled because of Cromwell's personal grudges with some individuals.
Moses Port is a large and prosperous diocese. The tithes received by the church each year are five times that of the Innadri Diocese, and are not inferior to another diocese in the territory of Odysseus. Why should we make things difficult for the Innadri Diocese?
But... Cromwell didn't know how to explain this kind of doubt... especially in front of the Inquisition priest and prophet Carida.
The disguised identity of the vampire must be related to the aristocratic circle. This is the experience of the church in hunting vampires for thousands of years. Bishop Cromwell is not willing to let the Inquisition use this to connect with the nobles of Moses Port.
The court should just do its job as a knife. Why does it need connections?
Hire those undead who are good at dealing with dark creatures to come to Moses Port. They can be sent away by paying a sum of money. But once the Inquisition becomes powerful, it will not be so easy to suppress it!
The Church of the Fiery Sun allowed the Inquisition to grow powerful. Not only did the Holy Land become a one-man show for the Inquisition, but the entire church became the Inquisition's private tool. Which sect would not take this as a warning?
Bishop Cromwell's inner thoughts were shameful, so the only choice he had was to vent his anger on Lee Gene, who had betrayed him.
The prophet Carida rolled his eyes inconspicuously, and stood up holding the hem of his robe: "It is not a good thing for people to be unsettled. Your Excellency the Bishop should consider how to calm their hearts."
Only after the troublesome and gloomy old woman left did Bishop Cromwell stop his meaningless cursing.
But his anger towards Lee Gene was not so easy to eliminate. He sat down and drank a sip of tea, and couldn't help cursing in a low voice: "This stingy old bastard!"
Lee Gene was indeed trying to monopolize those undead who were fearless and extremely good at dealing with disasters and dark creatures. At least that was what Cromwell thought.
The Port Moses Parish also has a backlog of unresolved cases, including three unsolved cases with disaster numbers.
You should know that Moses Port is a big city with a population . The total population in the parish exceeds four million, which is twice that of Innadri.
Not to mention the economic aspect, Innadri is not even worthy of carrying shoes for Moses Port, which has a mature shipbuilding industry.
There are more people and more things to do. Although the church in Moses Port is larger than that in Innadri, there are more than a hundred night watchmen alone, as well as the Inquisition and the Church. It is a headache to resolve all the unresolved cases... not to mention the major events with disaster numbers.
Cromwell knew that if he honestly asked Lee Gene to borrow troops (undead), Lee Gene, who had a grudge against him, would definitely ask for a lot of money. When Rachel's family, who were suffering from the vampire mark, took the initiative to ask for help in Innadri, he naturally went with the flow...
He never expected that Li Gene would take over the matter and then backstabbed him, and there was a high possibility that he would report the matter to the Holy Land - this was very unfriendly.
Bishop Cromwell became more and more angry as he thought about it. He put the cup back on the table heavily and said, "I don't believe you can really handle everything!"
The angry bishop summoned two trusted priests, gave them some instructions, and then let them go.
After sending away the two trusted priests, Cromwell put on his cloak again, called a coachman, and headed for a mountain villa outside the city of Moses Port.
On the third day after the winter festival, on a small passenger ship sailing to the town of Newin.
The captain who once warmly entertained the vampire Simpson Leo was unaware of the semi-public secret in the upper class of Moses Port. He still worked hard for a living as usual, trying his best to please every distinguished guest who spent a lot of money to book a first-class room.
He took the most handsome young man in the crew to enthusiastically serve meals to the customers in the first-class rooms. He racked his brains to find some flattering words to try to leave some impression in the memory of these distinguished guests. He was still in high spirits even when he was sent away by the servants. The price of the rooms where nobles had stayed could be appropriately increased. The captain did not care much about his face in the face of real money.
After delivering meals to the first-class cabins, unlike the energetic captain, the handsome crew members accompanying him looked a little frightened.
"Captain, did you hear it just now? There seemed to be some strange noises coming from the third room." The doubtful crew member returned to the kitchen and dared to ask the question in a low voice.
"Stop talking nonsense! If people outside hear you, you'll be in big trouble!" The captain was horrified and quickly lowered his voice to teach the ignorant young man a lesson, "Listen, the person living in that room is a respected baron, a big shot in our Moses Port! Do you believe that a butler from his house will claim that you are an idiot who doesn't know etiquette? Forget about finding a job in Moses Port in your life!"
The crew member turned pale with fear and quickly shut his mouth tightly.
The next day, the passenger ship docked at the town of Newin . When the baron, who lived in the third first-class cabin, got off the ship with the help of his butler and valet, he casually asked the captain who came to see him off: "Where is the young man who looked so energetic yesterday?"
"That unlucky kid was blown by the cold wind when he was washing the deck at night, and now he is sneezing in his quilt." The captain nodded and bowed.
"Really? This young man is not as healthy as he looks." The baron smiled casually and led the people off the boat.
The captain kept bowing and did not straighten up until the guests got on the dock.
Although he had no chance to interact with the nobles, he had been running passenger transport on the Barcelo River for many years and had heard many rumors about the nobles.
Just a look that lacks respect, or even an attitude that is not humble enough... is enough for the nobles to easily throw someone's life into the abyss.
When the Baron disappeared, the captain straightened up by holding onto the handrail. His old face, which always wore a lewd and flattering smile, showed a rare complex expression: "That kid has heard too many superficial compliments and got carried away... Even if he thinks the guest is scary, how can he let others see it?"
The captain's whisper was so soft that the sailor and the first mate who were very close to him could not hear it clearly.
A young lady who had just walked down the gangway, wearing a flat hat with a ribbon and a long skirt that covered her calves, seemed to have heard something. She tilted her head slightly and glanced vaguely towards the second floor of the passenger ship.
"Hannah?"
The woman who had walked onto the dock before her turned around and greeted her.
"Coming." The young lady in the flat hat with a ribbon smiled brightly and quickly followed the woman.
"It's very risky for a young lady like you to travel alone, Hannah. Let my cousin take you to the city. He happens to be going to the city as well." The woman seemed to be very familiar with the young lady and said with a smile, "I won't go with you. It's a rare trip back home, so I should spend more time with my mother."
Beside the woman, a young man carrying three suitcases smiled and nodded at Hannah at the right time.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Duke." Hannah said a little embarrassedly.
"You're welcome. You've given us so many delicious cookies during the years you've lived in our house. I haven't had a chance to thank you yet." Mrs. Duke looked very straightforward. She waved to her cousin generously, "Put your luggage here and we'll take care of it. Go and rent a carriage."
"Okay." The cousin put down the suitcase, looked at the beautiful Hannah for a moment longer before turning around to call a taxi.
The carriage squatting outside the dock waiting for passengers soon arrived next to the guests who were willing to pay to rent the carriage. Mrs. Duke first helped Hannah into the carriage, then ran to her cousin who was stuffing luggage into the back of the carriage with her skirt lifted up, and said in a low voice: "You must seize the opportunity, O'Neill. There are not many single young ladies like Miss Hannah who earn more than 60 gold coins a year in the whole of Moses Port!"
Cousin O'Neal nodded vigorously and shyly.
Soon, the carriage carrying the cousin of Mrs. Duke, a married woman from Newing Town, and the generous single female tenant drove out of Newing Town.
The Baron's servant went to the local coachman's shop to rent a large carriage pulled by two lizard horses. While Miss Hannah and O'Neill's carriage was still on the road, the Baron's carriage had already entered the city.
The carriage did not go directly to the Gold Coin Church on St. Joseph Street, but changed lanes midway, entered the central city area, and stopped in front of a family's mansion.
"Oh, my God, Norman!"
The owner of the mansion, the baroness who had been widowed for many years, heard the servant's report and excitedly left the private tea party she was hosting. She ran to the main door with her skirt lifted and opened her arms to the baron who got out of the carriage.
"It's been many years, Mrs. Virgil." Baron Norman seemed a little excited and hugged the Baroness happily.
Mrs. Virgil happily brought her husband's good friend Baron Norman to the tea party and introduced him to the ladies of Innadri.
Moses Port is not far from Innadri. The noble ladies of Innadri have heard more or less about Baron Norman's family background, and they welcomed the visitor from Moses Port.
After some pleasantries, Baron Norman took the initiative to say, "My dear ladies, I heard that a young man from Moses Port was mistaken for a vampire when he came to visit Master Adams of Viscount Darcy's family. Did you know about this?"
The ladies who gathered together because of the tax reform were of course aware of the vampire incident that caused a stir in the Granser district last week. They complained privately that the people from Moses Port had caused trouble for Innadri, but they certainly could not say that in front of the nobles of Moses Port, and they all looked at Mrs. Virgil.
"Who knows what's going on!" Mrs. Virgil did not hide her dissatisfaction with the City Hall and the new Lord Charles Rex at all, and said meaningfully, "It is said that the guest of Darcy's house is a vampire and killed a fire servant in the Adams Club, but no one has seen the body of the servant, let alone seen the 'vampire' kill someone!"
"Oh? Could it be that the church has been deceived?" Baron Norman's attitude became serious.
"It's hard to say. Those undead spirits were that..." Madam Virgil obviously didn't dare to mention the name of the man in the City Lord's Mansion. She only pointed in the direction of the City Lord's Mansion vaguely, "They were brought out from Tarantan. What is Tarantan? It's a horrible place full of terrible monsters! Who knows if those undead spirits from Tarantan can even fool the church?"
"That's right!" said another noblewoman who had a good relationship with the Darcy family. "I don't believe that Master Adams would deal with vampires. Who knows, this matter is a conspiracy to hurt the reputation of the Darcy family!"
Baron Norman's expression suddenly became strange, as if he was a little disappointed and a little anxious.
After negotiating with the ladies for a while, Baron Norman politely declined Mrs. Virgil's invitation to stay overnight, found a hotel in the central city to stay in, and arranged for his butler to go out on the street to inquire for news.
The news about vampires that I got from the citizens was quite bizarre...
After all, the general public in this world does not have many entertainment activities, and any event, no matter how logically rigorous, will change drastically after being circulated several times, not to mention the undead killing vampires, which is a rare event that most people would hardly hear of in their lifetime.
Baron Norman stayed in the hotel for one night hesitantly, and the next day he sent his servant to inquire about the news about the Tarantan ghosts.
The news we got back this time was a little more normal... After all, the citizens of Innadli would always unexpectedly run into undead on the streets every once in a while. In front of the "victims", regardless of whether the undead could hear or understand what they were saying, the citizens did not have the courage to do excessive "artistic processing" on them.
However, this "normal" still sounded incredible to the outsider Baron Norman: "Are those paintings on the inner city walls the creations of the dead?? They also understand music? They can play music with pumpkin iron sheets and wine bottles?"
After repeatedly confirming from the servant that these were indeed the original words of the local citizens, Baron Norman felt his headache getting worse...
