It had been so ti, but Professor Burns looked even more vigorous. He must have been younger than Bishop Parrold and Papa Oliver, so he never gave the impression of a frail, aging man.
"How was your trip?"
He greeted Jenkins with a cheerful laugh, and the two walked side-by-side into a nearby tavern. There was still so ti before the gathering, and there was no point in standing around to talk in the chilly night air.
They chose a round wooden table against the wall. Since the professor hadn't had dinner yet, he ordered a plate of roasted vegetables for himself—quite a treat to have in the winter.
Jenkins stuck to his usual: a cup of hot tea. Fruit juice was too expensive this ti of year.
"The trip went smoothly enough, but I did run into so very interesting things," Jenkins said. "Have you heard the legend of the Kren Treasure?"
"When I was young and studying in Bel Diran, I heard my teacher ntion it."
He looked up, realizing what Jenkins was implying. "You found it?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Sage," the professor lanted, "why do you always favor this young man?"
He recited the line in a low, operatic tone, then chuckled to himself. "It must be quite a story. We can discuss it in detail when we have ti."
"Of course. Oh, and I have your docunts and souvenirs at my ho. You can co straight to my place after the gathering."
"Excellent. This will be my first ti visiting your ho, won't it? Young people these days are truly remarkable. I was still living in the faculty dorms at the university until I was thirty."
Jenkins hadn't noticed the tavern's na, but it seed like any other ordinary tavern in the city. Although so of the patrons looked shady, at least no unlucky thief had dared to approach the two n by the wall.
Jenkins took the opportunity to ask the professor's opinion on the moon. He, too, was aware of the period in history when only a single blood-red moon hung in the sky, but he knew nothing of the story behind it.
"These are matters we needn't delve into," Professor Burns advised. "Ancient secrets are often connected to indescribable, terrifying entities. I imagine the moon is related to this as well. Oh, that reminds of sothing..."
He carefully set down his spoon and gestured for Jenkins to listen closely. Jenkins imdiately placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.
"I rember you once asked if other worlds exist beyond our own. I've recently been looking through so rather hard-to-find docunts, and I did indeed find so interesting information. Besides the 'Magma Hell,' 'Forest of White Bones,' and 'Sea of Eternal Damnation' you ntioned, I found another interesting place-na on an ancient stone tablet that chronicles stories of exotic species."
Jenkins's overcoat was draped over the back of his chair. On the table, the ears of the cat lying there twitched twice.
"The Bloody Fortress."
He breathed the words carefully, then leaned back and made the sign of the holy emblem over his chest.
"That stone tablet was severely damaged, but the general story was about the vampire species searching for their ancestral holand. I thought you might be interested in that."
"It is indeed interesting."
Jenkins nodded thoughtfully. The 'Bloody Fortress' was likely another world ruled by so sovereign, probably occupied by a specific species, much like Magma Hell. And the blood coins among the Sin Coins very likely corresponded to that place.
"So, are vampires real?"
he asked again.
"And are they like the ones in the novels?"
Novels about vampires were wildly popular at the mont. Half of them were adventure stories about demon hunters, closer to traditional thrillers, while the other half were erotic tales, said to be quite common in the boudoirs of young ladies in high society.
"Don't believe that sort of thing," the professor scoffed. "While the vampire species is humanoid, their appearance is by no ans pleasing to the human eye. They are creatures as terrifying as demons; it's just that demons want souls, while the vampire species wants blood."
He waved his hand in annoyance, evidently having heard about such novels from his students. Though he was open-minded, he had a very low opinion of those who wrote erotic fiction.
"Furthermore, the vampire species has no weakness to garlic or silver. Their aversion to sunlight is real, however, but it's more like our distaste for the stench of a garbage heap. Of course, a few small details are true, such as their power coming from blood and having no shadow in the sun. The second floor of the Secret Trace Library in the Hall of All Things has so information, under the 'Exotic Species' classification."
Jenkins nodded slowly and subconsciously stroked the cat's head. It quickly squeezed its eyes shut again, only relaxing when it realized Jenkins was just petting it. Then it cracked one eye open to watch him.
"So, is it possible for the vampire species to appear in Nolan City?"
"I can't answer that question."
The professor wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief from his pocket. "They don't possess the gift of mimicry, so their appearance would easily give them away. If they really appeared in the city, they would obviously be discovered right away, wouldn't they? Even if they wear veils and hats when they go out, there's always a chance of accidental exposure."
As the two were leaving the tavern, two drunkards at the entrance suddenly started fighting. One of them nearly collided with Professor Burns as he passed, but the professor shoved him back with a single hand.
The two n then crashed into each other and fell in a heap like bowling pins.
With the arrival of winter, traveling at night had beco increasingly difficult. As they left the tavern, they saw a dark cloud drifting in from the northern sky. By the ti the abandoned hospital was visible in the distance, sure enough, a light snow had begun to fall.
Once again, they climbed over the fence, and that intensely oppressive feeling washed over Jenkins. This was the first ti he had brought Chocolate here. Because he was dressed so warmly for the season, hiding a cat was no problem.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten to instruct Chocolate to be absolutely quiet. That Corpse Gentleman had always given him a very strange feeling. He had t his fair share of demigod-level Enchanters, but whether they were healthy, weak, half-dead, or fully dead, none of them felt as uncanny as this Corpse Gentleman.
Adding to that was what he had recently learned from the huntress about her opinion of this place. His sense of apprehension deepened.
He made his way to the small building that led to the morgue, passed through the dilapidated corridor, and descended the stairs to the basent. It was the sa as always: the Enchanters who had arrived early were leaning against the walls, while a lone Sealing Room Candle stood in the center of the room.
The professor and Jenkins stood together beside a broken hospital bed, feeling the utter cold of the place. An abandoned hospital would naturally have no steam pipes; Jenkins even suspected that back when it was decommissioned, the large-scale installation of steam pipes hadn't even begun.
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