Diary 1

Six days sunny

Everything is ready to stop. I am going to leave this hometown that raised me and embark on a journey to a distant place!

I will record my mood here today so that I will not forget it as time washes away.

It must be said that leaving my hometown is not a momentary impulse, but a result of careful consideration. Or, it is a result of no choice. Rather than saying that the shipyard I am running is not well managed, it is better to say that I have gone bankrupt. I have not been able to sell a boat for four months. A month ago, I have dismissed all my employers because even I have not had any work to do for a long time.

Since I became an adult, I have inherited my father's shipyard and his craftsmanship and skills. Not only that, I can proudly claim that my craftsmanship is more than my father. This is because I have grown up in his factory since I was a child. The first toy in my memory is a deformed wooden board that was taken off from the boat. By the time I was able to work, I had been studying with my father for many years.

When I was young, I thought I could carry forward this craft... Judging from the situation at that time, who could say that this was impossible? There are boats everywhere, right?

But unfortunately, my situation is worse than the worst year my father has encountered. Now I can be sure that I can no longer maintain it. If I hold on, it will make no sense except to increase my pain.

If the tragedy I am facing now has a beginning, it should be the tax increase order a few years ago. The King of the Ryans (although I was born here, I must use this title, because even if I admit it, no one would admit it) ordered new taxes for foreign residents nationwide to meet the growing military expenditure needs. My factory unfortunately became a victim of this tax increase. For every ship built, or every transaction, I had to pay an additional tax increase of nearly a gold coin. In this way, the tax I bear is equal to half.

I don't want to carefully recall the unfair treatment I have suffered in the past few years. I want to describe it in one sentence, that is, taxes and taxes. It seems that I own such a shipyard, which makes me look like a rich man? But if I were really a rich man, why would I have to work hard to work hard in the shipyard myself?

Here, I must thank my dear cousin Donnie (hey, I really hope I didn't thank the wrong person). At the end of my journey, he suddenly asked someone to send me a letter. In this letter, he strongly advised me to go to Sivania.

In my mind, Sivania is simply another world. Not to mention anything else, it is a remote and closed place on a single map. Moreover, the legendary place is now ruled by vampires, where humans live a dark life. The people of Sivania are foolish and painful, and they may be regarded as food or a silence of some complex potion by vampires anytime and anywhere.

But Donnie strongly recommended it to me. In his letter, he said that all the rumors about Sivania were not credible, because Sivania was prosperous and flourishing. The newly built ports there urgently needed a shipyard as a supporting facility. If I could get there in time and obtain permission from the Blood Duke (the name of the vampire who ruled Sivania), it would be difficult for me not to get rich. In his letter, he emphasized that time is an opportunity. If I was a step late, then perhaps this opportunity would disappear and a hill-like gold coins would fall into someone else's pocket.

I showed this letter to a few friends. They agreed that I could not go to the place where the vampire ruled. Because vampires - undoubtedly - are evil and despicable, and full of hatred for humans. They thought that Donny might have written this letter when he was threatened or abducted. If I went there, my life would probably end here.

But in fact, I was desperate. As I said just now, my shipyard is over. If I can't find an income as soon as possible, my family and I will soon be hungry. A drowning person will desperately try to grab a floating straw, and I am the drowning man now. What can I do? I can hardly know anything except shipbuilding. Even if I can change my career to be a blacksmith, a carpenter, or something, I am too old. There is an old saying that "an old dog can't learn new tricks." Although this is cruel, I have to admit that it is really difficult for me to learn other craftsmen (although these crafts are somewhat similar to shipbuilding). Even if I change my career, I may only be the craftsman with the most craftsmanship and the most meager rewards. Besides, I do love the shipbuilding industry.

Based on this consideration, I decided to take a risk. Of course, I couldn't bring my family with me, because if this was a trap, it would at least hurt me alone...

(The following are some traces after being soaked in water. The ink is diluted by water, making the handwriting impossible to see clearly. The bottom of the entire diary was wet with water. It is obvious that people who got this diary do not know how to cherish it)

17th day rain

The journey is boring, lonely, and full of longing and anxiety for the future. I took a caravan like a young man with a speculative and uneasy mood. Although this is my first time traveling far away, this journey is really unremarkable.

This caravan was planning to go to Sivania. However, this was not because of the original intention of the team members, but the request of the senior executives of the Chamber of Commerce. Yes, although this caravan is not large in size, it belongs to a very influential chamber of commerce. Therefore, the people in the team are as uneasy and fear as I do. Now the whole world knows that Sivania is ruled by vampires (everyone calls it the Blood Duke, but this title should not be its real name). This alone can make people involuntarily feel fear. Who would like to die on the territory of a vampire?

But the senior officials of the Chamber of Commerce do not think so. Based on the small amount of information I got from the gossip and chat with the employees in the team, I am sure that Sivania has many unique specialties. This makes it a profitable area for merchants. Besides, vampires are evil monsters, but not completely irrational beasts. Even according to the records of the church, there are a large number of human life in Kalean. From this, it can be seen that although vampires are aliens, their rule should be similar to humans.

My words comforted those unlucky people. They were different from me, not because they were desperate to try adventures, but because of the pressure from the superiors. A coachman who had been able to talk to me secretly told me that the reason why the Chamber of Commerce did this was because of a rumor that several Chamber of Commerce had obtained the privilege of doing business from vampires. But considering the infamous domineering and evil vampires, the senior officials of the Chamber of Commerce finally decided to send a small team to try the waters first. This caravan was the one who was unfortunately selected. For them, whether they could do business was second. The key was to understand the overall situation in Sivania - if possible - it would be better to talk to the vampires.

I was a little surprised to find that the caravan's main goods were furs from the north and some metal utensils.

...

Twenty-sixth day rain

Maybe I accidentally missed it before. It could be a sleep or a drunken word. In short, everyone in the caravan now knows my origin. Some words go through time and in the end, some of my relatives have become a service under the vampire. Many people, including the leader of the caravan, come to me to get close to me. Although I don’t want to deceive anyone, since this misunderstanding can help me get better treatment, I don’t need to correct this mistake.

But then again, I still don't know what Donnie is doing there. In that letter, he vaguely mentioned that he lived well in Sivania and decided to live there for a long time. In this regard, he could indeed become a vampire's subordinate.

By the way, I have to remind myself that I must pay attention to the term "vampire" in the future. I believe that the one in Sivania would not like this title. However, I was curious to find that no one knew his real name. Vampire must have a real name, but the people in the caravan knew nothing. They knew the secrets of many churches, one of which was that the vampire who ruled Sivania was already the last vampire in the world. It was precisely because of this that the church did not take any decisive measures. Because occupying Sivania was already the limit of this vampire, he could not make more threats.

Of course, the vampire defeating the King* team in the previous war was also an important factor. In short, vampires are the kind of opponent that is difficult to deal with, dangerous and troublesome, but the threat is very limited. Therefore, no matter who it is, they are unwilling to destroy an enemy that is not too threatening but difficult to deal with with huge casualties.

It is precisely because of this that when we mention "that vampire", we refer to the only one, the Blood Duke. His real name is not obvious.

...

Twenty-three days sunny

Today, my long journey was finally about to enter the last part of the road. Before leaving for the child, we had been resting in Mir City for two days. The caravans were all in good shape because the news inquired in this city was beneficial. We (because of the previous rumor, the caravan leaders invited me to join us) visited another local chamber of commerce branch (the two chambers had a very good relationship), and got a lot of "trusted" information from there.

Now we can be sure that vampires are not the kind of unreasonable monster. In fact, vampires are a very rational ruler. It is a rumor that vampires feed on the residents of Sivania, because vampires are completely uninterested in the blood of ordinary humans. Therefore, ordinary people like me, even face-to-face conversations with vampires are not considered as a risk of lunch.

Vampires only like the blood of beautiful virgins aged twelve to seventeen. Except for people who meet this condition, others can treat vampires as ordinary lords.

In fact, according to those in the chamber of commerce, Sivania is well built now. The roads are spacious, life is stable, and the city is prosperous. The vampires have fulfilled their duties as a ruler. But they have also made warnings. Unless necessary, we should not go to the vampire's own territory, but to the territory of his subordinates, the lords he enthroned. Because all these subordinates who serve vampires are human.

We also heard a lot of rumors from the streets and in the taverns. Although there are many rumors about Sivania, at least some commonalities can be summarized from them. At least the statement about the food of vampires is very unified. All legends point out that vampires do not drink the blood of ordinary people. But it imprisons thousands of girls in its dark castle... Strictly speaking, his food is too abundant, so every once in a while, a group of girls who are older or less outstanding are released from the castle.
Chapter completed!