Chapter 169 - Mauleon Might As Well Be A Vampire Prince

This extremely terrifying sensation made the mayor tense all over, with chills occasionally running up his spine.

Even though the mayor, out of selfishness, didn't want the city or the Holy Ritual Church to send a large number of personnel to investigate, he had no choice but to as he had to prioritize saving his own life.

"No problem, but you need to commission Mr. Engineer to repair the bridge first. Otherwise, the reinforcements from the city won't be able to arrive smoothly," Dekan said with a serious expression. He appeared particularly professional.

"But what if the bridge gets destroyed again?" the mayor asked anxiously.

He was very worried that just after the bridge was repaired this time, it would break again should they blink an eye.

At this moment, Mauleon smiled and approached the mayor, handing him a document with a price list and saying:

"You can choose our warranty service. For an additional 300 holy coins on top of the basic bridge repair cost, we will guarantee that this bridge will be repaired whenever it breaks within a year."

"This..."

The mayor thought for a moment.

This time, he could reluctantly take out another 500 holy coins from the town.

But if the bridge broke again in the future, even he wouldn't dare to take money like this again.

Ignoring whether the town's reserve could withstand it, if he were to repeatedly use the excuse of repairing the bridge to extract funds from the town, then when the provincial authorities checked the accounts at the end of the year and saw several large expenditures for "bridge repairs" in a row, it would be easy to suspect him of "abnormal extraction of public funds" and then launch an investigation.

This was something the mayor absolutely did not want to happen.

"Alright, let's add the warranty service," the mayor agreed with a pained expression on his face.

This time, he had to pay an extra 100 holy coins himself.

But as long as he could get through this smoothly, it was worth spending the money to avoid disaster.

Mauleon quickly produced a new contract for the mayor, wearing a business-like smile as he waited for the mayor to sign.

"After you make the payment, our guild will repair the bridge for you within two days."

"Two days? No way! That's too slow!" the mayor exclaimed hastily.

In two days, his town might be finished.

"Then you can choose the expedited service."

"Expedited?"

"Yes, if you pay an additional 300 holy coins, we will have the bridge repaired by nightfall today. At the same time, we will use the guild's flying wyverns to swiftly send Mr. Priest back to the city so he can bring reinforcements for you."

"..."

The mayor was very hesitant. This expedited fee also had to come out of his own pocket, undoubtedly putting his life on the line.

Just as the mayor was hesitating…

"Mr. Mayor, please remember, the vampires operate at night. You wouldn't want the entire town to turn into dry corpses by tomorrow morning, would you?" Dekan whispered with a solemn tone.

This made the mayor's face instantly pale a few shades; even his fingers twitched slightly.

With a determined look, he said to Mauleon, "It's a total of 900 holy coins, right? Wait for me to bring them to you."

Then he hurriedly left the church.

...

"This old guy sure has a lot of hidden holy coins, even though what I saw last time in his attic wasn't cash," Mauleon chuckled sarcastically, watching the mayor leave.

This time, the corrupt mayor was going to pay 400 holy coins out of his own pocket.

To come up with such a sum in one go, the mayor must have had a secret stash that no one knew about.

"Looks like we can still suck a bit more blood from him," Dekan nodded, clearly satisfied with the mayor's wealth.

"You two... meow..."

Teacher Cat felt like it had witnessed both a fake vampire and two real vampires today.

"Teacher Cat, it's your turn to take over next," Dekan said.

Mauleon chuckled.

Teacher Cat: "?"

"Why are you just standing there?" Seeing Teacher Cat looking so leisurely, Dekan crouched down and poked Teacher Cat's head.

Teacher Cat: "Why are you poking me, meow!!"

"Quick, go follow the mayor and find out where he hides his stash!" Dekan said.

If this time they only swindled the mayor for 100 holy coins, the mayor could likely offset half of it with the 200 holy coins he embezzled last time.

But this time, swindling the mayor for a whopping 400 holy coins, the mayor must have gone to his hidden stash to come up with such an amount.

"This, this is not right, meow! I'm a teacher, how can I do something like this, meow!" Teacher Cat hid its tail behind its back, showing strong resistance to Dekan.

"Let's put aside the talk of the luxurious seven-day tour of the Holy Kingdom. Isn't it good to find the hiding place of this corrupt mayor's ill-gotten gains? As a noble priest, I have an obligation to investigate thoroughly!" Dekan's words were firm and powerful, leaving Teacher Cat bewildered.

How did this guy's speech suddenly become righteous?

The logic seemed sound.

Then Dekan simply pushed the bewildered Teacher Cat out of the church and shouted, "Teacher Cat, please teach us what justice is all about!"

"Meow!"

Teacher Cat spun in place, seeming to go through a rapid internal struggle, and finally ran out of the churchyard to track the mayor.

Dekan: "Once we finish up with the remaining Mission Objective 2, we'll help the mayor clean up the attic and restore his integrity."

Mauleon: "But do you have any leads on Mission Objective 2?"

Mission Objective 2 was still locked.

Its relevant clues were likely in the city.

During the first three days of the mission, Dekan and his group mainly stayed in the small town.

They also hadn't found a way to contact the other challengers, so their intelligence was completely lacking.

"I have a bit of speculation. I think Mission Objective 2 is about uncovering the vampire count hidden in the city," Dekan said confidently.

After successfully completing Mission Objective 3, he had drawn quite a few conclusions.

Since Mission Objective 2 was hidden, it meant that it was unlikely to be a progress-type task like "explore a certain percentage of the map" or "collect a few clues” because those tasks didn't need to be hidden.

The need for concealment must involve confidential information in the Mission Objective.

For example, Mission Objective 3 explicitly mentioned the name of Marquess Roderick and revealed the existence of this hidden boss, so it needed to be hidden.

Therefore, it was likely for Mission Objective 2 to contain the true name of a vampire, and its identity should be a regular boss of this Shadow World event.

So Dekan boldly speculated that Mission Objective 2 was probably about finding a hidden vampire count in the town!

Dekan smirked, saying, "This vampire count is probably still foolishly plotting the Resurgence of Marquess Roderick."

Mauleon adjusted the glasses that originally belonged to the engineer, saying, "Since this vampire count is still so enthusiastic, shouldn't we squeeze out the remaining value? Otherwise, it would be a waste."

Dekan replied, "As expected of you, always talking about maximizing profits."