"Bloodslave marks…"
Autumn took a deep breath before revealing the most important information.
"…are marks left by Vampire bites on the bodies of the Infected - showing that the culprits were different Vampires. They do not match the bite marks or scent of any Vampires with VampIDs who regularly enter and exit Harmony Town."
"The Bloodslave marks on the bodies of the Infected were created at widely different times. The oldest one dates back a whole decade, while the most recent was from three months ago."
"At this point, everything spiraled into chaos. The Vampires and the humans started blaming each other. Vampires accused humans of being too willing - offering their necks to foreign Vampires for love, thrill, or simply for money - any excuse would do. Meanwhile, the humans suspected that maybe even the noble, well-mannered Vampires of Harmony Town… might have received blood from outsiders."
At this point, Ethan's face turned beet red as he recalled the night he'd practically forced that small-framed Vampire girl to drink his blood. Still, he had enough presence of mind to jot down the word "Bloodslave" in his mind map.
Felix, meanwhile, puffed out his cheeks in a sulky pout as he glanced at Autumn - clearly, the boy had already figured out the nature of the Bloodbound bond between Ethan and Autumn… and who the Master was.
"The final part of Spring's report was a comparison of the frenzy and appearance of the Infected. Based on photos and video footage of their transformation into Feral Vampires, he proposed the hypothesis that perhaps all of them had received blood from a single Vampire."
"So Spring recommended that the Council focus on identifying the Vampire who had given those Bloodslaves blood - triggering their transformation into Infected. That's why the Council ordered all Vampires over the age of fifteen to join night patrols around town. But after Felix was attacked by a mysterious Vampire, most families locked their kids indoors - no more patrols. In the end, only Royce and I were left to continue the hunt… You already know some of what happened after that."
Autumn fell silent, lost in thought - and the mood in the room sank into a weary hush.
Ethan felt like his brain was about to explode as he stared at the mind map he'd drawn. It now looked like an ancient tree with countless branches - each one representing a massive amount of information.
It seemed the events happening in Harmony Town were already far beyond Ethan's understanding. And if even the Vampires themselves were mentally fried, what could a human like him possibly do?
Well, at least the first step of his investigation could be considered somewhat complete. Ethan had managed to get a rough overview of the situation in Harmony Town. Now came step two - he needed clearer data.
"You guys! Can I ask how many Vampires there are in total in Harmony Town?"
The Vampires glanced at one another at Ethan's question.
"Sorry, Ethan. We're not allowed to disclose detailed population information about Vampires in Harmony Town - or anywhere else."
"That's okay, Autumn. You don't have to answer. I can kind of sense who might be a Vampire, and how dangerous they are… through my Bloodbound mark."
"Bloodbound… I think I get now why they're so rare. They're still human, but they have sharp senses - eyes, ears - and can detect Vampires from a distance like some kind of radar. They're way too dangerous if we can't control them. I heard that back in ancient times, hunting Bloodbounds was a favorite pastime of the nobility."
Felix's fangs glinted under his thin lips as he spoke. His eyes turned toward Ethan with clear hostility - he seemed to be trying to spook him.
"Hey kid! If you ever time-traveled back to that era, you'd be logged out for good. The nobility would hold purges from time to time, y'know. Camellia's Library even has an old cookbook with recipes for stewing the hearts of weak Vampires."
Royce ran his finger across his neck in a slashing gesture toward Felix, and only then did the kid lower his eyes.
"Alright! Next question. What percentage of Harmony Town's population is aware of the Vampire Community's existence?"
As Ethan asked, he also jotted down more notes about the cruel 'pastimes' of Vampire aristocrats.
"Bro, when Vampires and humans signed the 1945 Covenant - promising peaceful coexistence, cooperation, mutual respect and protection, and to maintain the secrecy of the Vampire Community - Harmony Town was just a tiny place with around 2,000 residents. Over the next 80 years, waves of migration from surrounding regions caused the population to multiply. Naturally, the size of the town expanded significantly along with it."
It seemed Royce had a particular fondness for history. He jumped in to answer before Autumn could, and she sulked into silence - looking both adorably pouty and a little pitiful.
"But the memories of the fang-bearing guardians of this land have faded with the passing of older generations. The descendants of those who signed the Covenant - and the new migrants to the town - see the tales of Vampires as nothing more than folklore or fairy tales. That said, there is still one human family that has preserved and passed down their memory of the 1945 Covenant through many generations. The position of Elder representing humans in the Council has always belonged to a member of this family."
"Another Nguyen family, huh? So Elder Fidelis - 45 years old and pretty hot-tempered - turns out to be from that family, right, Royce?"
"Wait, bro! How do you even know his age and personality?"
Ethan made a note in his notebook about how Vampires handle sensitive information. They always skirt around the truth - neither confirming nor denying - even when you guess correctly.
"Then do you guys know the total number of humans who are Bloodslaves in this town?"
"If we did, that'd be amazing, Ethan. Spring would round them all up in an instant. But… aside from Vampires manipulating them into forgetting the bite, Bloodslaves themselves are reluctant to report it. No one wants to publicly share their 'experience' with a Vampire."
"Okay, Autumn. So how many total Infected is the Ancient Fortress currently holding?"
"I'm not allowed to give specific numbers. All I can say is, the incident at the Field Hospital caused us to lose five Infected, and raised the number of Feral Vampires eliminated to ten."
Autumn didn't help clarify the numbers at all. Well, at least Ethan had picked up a rough estimate by eavesdropping on the argument between the Elders.
So… it seemed this was as far as he could get with hard data, thanks to the Vampires' unwillingness to cooperate.
It all felt so murky and uncertain.
But wasn't the goal now much clearer?
Ethan told himself.
The goal now was simply to identify the Vampire who had fed blood to those Bloodslaves - causing them to become Infected.
Ethan may have been just a human, but he'd happened to witness both Vampire attacks in Harmony Town.
(Wait - wasn't that more like really bad luck?)
The first time, he was the one who discovered Felix's 'corpse' on September 1st - his throat torn open, heart crushed.
The second time, Ethan saw Royce get attacked in a dark alley on September 26th. That time, Ethan himself became a victim of the mysterious female Vampire - leading to Autumn's serious injuries as she tried to protect him.
But were those two attacks committed by the same person?
That's it! Ethan now needed more information about Felix's attack. Since the kid woke up after lying unconscious for over a month, it seemed no one had questioned him properly.