Inside the Odra family's villa, Emlyn met a fellow baron, Kasimi.
This "prime" vampire was Nibais Odra's representative.
"I'm a baron too, and I've only recently come of age..." Emlyn muttered internally, rising from the sofa in the living room and bowing to the other.
"Good evening, Lord Baron."
Kasimi was about to speak when his nostrils suddenly twitched, and his gaze shifted to the wooden box at Emlyn's feet.
"The smell of blood?"
While expressing his suspicion, he seemed to think of something and, after a moment's deliberation, added,
"Have you hunted another target?"
Emlyn smirked and shook his head.
"No."
Then, before Kasimi could ask, his smile deepened.
"Not one. Two."
Two? Kasimi, resembling a middle-aged gentleman, was taken aback. He watched as Emlyn bent down, lifted the wooden box, and opened the lid.
During this process, Emlyn's facial muscles twitched slightly in pain, as these actions had aggravated a wound on his right hand.
Suppressing any change in expression, Emlyn lowered his arm and tilted the box forward, exposing its contents fully to the other vampire baron's view.
Two charred, bloodstained heads were tucked side by side among old newspapers, flanked by two heart-like translucent objects—one bright red and vibrant, the other dark red bordering on black.
This visually striking image met Kasimi's eyes, causing him to raise his head in surprise, stare at Emlyn in astonishment, and blurt out,
"You did this?"
Although he could only immediately identify one of the heads as belonging to Galis Kevin, the two sets of "vampire" Beyonder characteristics were unmistakable!
Emlyn set down the box, let his right hand fall naturally, subtly shaking it once at his side, then responded with a smile.
"Of course.
"It's like this: after I received the 7,000-pound reward last time, I purchased a certain baron's 'inheritance' at a Beyonder gathering, and with it, I advanced in Sequence.
"I didn't want to financially satisfy the murderer hunting our vampires, but I also didn't want to see this 'inheritance' fall into someone else's hands. Besides, the seller wasn't necessarily the hunter."
Taking this opportunity, Emlyn revealed that he had already become a "baron," and every word he spoke was true.
This was a technique he had learned at the Tarot Club.
I already knew you were a baron. Did you think your frequent purchases of various spiritual materials and study of potion books could escape our notice? If not for certain factors, I would have called you in for questioning long ago. What surprises me is that given your combat skills, your lack of a single mystical item, and your desire to only buy dolls, even as a baron, it's impossible for you to have easily hunted two artificial vampires without making a big commotion. Even I would have to make thorough preparations and gather detailed information to have a chance. When none of us were paying attention, Emlyn had become this powerful? Kasimi Odra muttered to himself inwardly before forcing a smile and saying,
"So it's like that.
"Emlyn, why did you keep it hidden before? Don't you want the other vampires to address you as Lord Baron?"
Emlyn glanced at the other vampire's expression, then raised his chin slightly and said,
"I was just about to tell everyone when this hunting competition came up, so I thought I'd give you a surprise.
"Kasimi, I've successfully hunted three followers of the 'Primordial Moon,' and you only set me five targets. Does that mean I've won?"
He eagerly changed his form of address from "Lord Baron" to "Kasimi."
Kasimi's eyelid twitched, and he chuckled, saying,
"Yes, that's right. You don't need to worry about the remaining two targets; let Ruth Bathory and the others handle them. That way, they can still receive some consolation prizes."
Having said that, Kasimi felt he had come across as too cold, so he hastily asked with concern,
"Are you hurt?"
"Just a little scratch." Emlyn lifted his right arm and flexed his fingers.
To be honest, in tonight's hunting operation, the worst injury he had sustained was the one he inflicted on himself after teleporting out of East Borough—gouging his skin and blood vessels to smear blood on the cover of "Lehmanno's Travel Notes."
Kasimi couldn't find anything to say on that topic, so after a few seconds of silence, he said,
"Congratulations on winning this hunting competition. You'll have two rewards.
"First, if an opportunity to become a viscount arises within the clan in the future, you'll advance directly to the final shortlist and receive free ritual assistance.
"Second, you'll receive a mystical item. It's a ring personally crafted by the Ancestor in ancient times. Although it contains no divinity, it has very powerful and mysterious abilities. Since the Ancestor didn't name it, we all call it 'Lilith's Ring.'"