Records Of Barton's Fantastical Events - Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Chapter 28 Outside Barton, Outside Grande

The Great Dane opened the door of Zach’s office, his round eyes looked at the two people who were sitting at the front and back of the desk looking at him, and realized something. He turned around, went to the stairwell, and walked to the second floor. When he came down again, he was no longer a Great Dane but ‘James Rance’. He had casually put on an old coat, and walked into the office barefoot.

Shape-shifter Jim seemed to like James’ appearance very much, no, actually this sentence is wrong. He seemed to only appear in these two appearances. After living in Grande for more than two months, no one has seen him changing into other forms other than the Great Dane and ‘James’.

Zach raised his lips, “Jim, what’s your original name?”

Original name? Shape-shifters have countless forms, and countless names. There is no such thing as the original name at all!

“Shougong.”

The shapeshifter answered this question that was not supposed to have an answer.

Zach raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Jim who was expressionless, “This is a beautiful name.”

The werewolf couldn’t understand the name of Jim, he couldn’t even pronounce it, let alone understand the ‘beauty’ of its meaning. Benjamin frowned, “Focus, Zach, focus.”

Zach smiled slightly, brought a chair by the side desk, let Jim sit down, and then spoke: “Jim, we want to ask you something.”

Jim looked at the two of them, but didn’t answer. This is the temperament of this shapeshifter, so the other two didn’t mind it.

“We, Grande, have lived in Barton for too long. As you can see, we have no contact with the outside world. We want to know what happened in the outside world in the last decade.”

“You want to know the real purpose of Papa Midnight.” Jim asked a question in a declarative tone.

“Yes!”

Jim’s eyes looked somewhere, motionless. This is the expression when he is thinking.

After a while, he seemed to organize the language.

“I don’t know much.” Jim’s eyes looked in two directions, Zach and Benjamin. This weird focus can only be achieved by the shapeshifter.

“In the past ten years, I have lived in the central part of the Federation. Then, suddenly, cremation appeared, and people (nonhumans) began to disperse into the east and the west.”

Jim looked into Zach’s eyes, his pupils shrank slightly: “The central part is controlled by the Camarilla vampiric sect. They tried to prevent the cremation from spreading, but they failed.”

Zach didn’t show any expression and continued to listen to Jim’s narration.

“The west is controlled by The Sabbat vampiric sect, so I chose to go east. However, many things have changed. Cremation became popular throughout the Federation, and some high-level people began to abandon their territory.”

Both Zach and Benjamin frowned. The rejection of cremation was one thing, but it was a bit strange to abandon their territory for the treatment of human corpses. After all, there are not many nonhumans who like to play with corpses like Papa Midnight. Vampires don’t have to wait for someone’s funeral to be completed before making descendants. It is not a bad thing to let the dead rest in peace and not be called by the living. It’s not a good thing to be a ghoul…

The emotional “if” that the two had said earlier seemed to have become reality.

“Why?”

Jim paused for a while and looked at Zach emotionlessly. This was how he asked, ‘Are you asking me? ‘

Jim skipped the question and continued his narrative.

“The nonhumans are divided into two parts, those who want to stay and those who want to leave. So both parties began to recruit.”

Zach and Benjamin glanced at each other. Recruiting means conflict. It’s like the original truth that the Federation concealed under the shadow of history. The thirteen clans of vampires had captured enough manpower from the original empire before they came to this new continent to open up colonies.

“So when the rumor appeared, ‘Barton is an ownerless paradise’, I came here as soon as possible.” Jim finished his narrative.

Where the nonhumans, who wanted to leave the federation, would go was not Zach’s concern. He has gotten what he wanted to know.

Papa Midnight came here to recruit, the blood of Spell, and the last descendant of Toreador.

Heavy footsteps came from the stairwell next to them.

Anthony smashed open the side door of the office and seemed a little surprised when he saw ‘James’. The bones of ‘James’ squirmed and turned into a Great Dane, leaving only the clothes on the ground. He shook his body, glanced at Anthony, and moved his limbs, and left the office.

Anthony had a sullen face, his shoulders hunched awkwardly, and his combed bangs were scattered on his forehead, revealing his awkward hairline. There were bruises on half of his face, torn scratches on the coat, and bloodstains on the skin inside.

The mayor of Barton stood in his office, breathing heavily, pointing his finger to Zach as if he wanted to say something. But even after he waved his arms in the air for a long time, he still couldn’t say a single word.

“Ann! (Anthony’s name)” Ian also rushed into the office, but just as he wanted to get close to Anthony, he was pushed away by him.

“Don’t come near me!” Anthony said to his brother who looked exactly the same as when he was young, “You stay away from me!”

Zach looked at the two brothers, a little confused as to who should he help.

Benjamin stood up and left the office pretending that he didn’t see anything. This was something that was outside ‘Grande’, and it really had nothing to do with the werewolf.

Ian, who was pushed away by Anthony, had red eyes, and his nails had pierced his palms in his clenched fists. Under extreme anger, he ignored the werewolf’s passing.

The iconic fangs of vampires opened and closed with a sharp shout: “Do you want me to stay away from you? ! You want me to fuck off? ! Again? ! You!” Ian was almost roaring: “It was you who made me look like this! You!”

“I was trying to save you!” Anthony also roared! “You are my elder brother! How else was I supposed to do? ! Make you rot? ! Is that what you want! ! I should have let you rot on the battlefield! It would be much better than now! Look at yourself! What are you? ! You are a monster!”

Zach stood up from behind the desk, and the scene before him was the repetition of the scene 13 years ago, except that Anthony was no longer young and the location was no longer a battlefield.

“Anthony!”

Zach’s voice seemed unusually abrupt in the quiet office, because now in the air, there was only the sound of the suppressed breathing of the two collided.

The power of time should not be underestimated. Time represents growth, and growth means that when history repeats itself, people will not let the event develop the same way.

Zach didn’t want to lose Ian again. But does Anthony want to lose his elder brother again? Seeing his torn and crumpled suit, the label of ‘Korcyl’ appeared from time to time between the undulating chest, Zach didn’t think Anthony would want it.

“I am a monster?” Ian was no longer roaring, but filled with chills. He pointed to himself, “You created this monster.”

Anthony’s eyes have softened, and a middle-aged man’s soft eyes will only make people sad. When he saw his elder brother who was still as young as before, he seemed to have forgotten his ‘growth’, and only until now did he just remember it. However, it seemed too late.

“Now, it’s up to you to destroy this monster.” Ian looked at Anthony and raised his hand.

In the open palm, a golden medal lay on the palm. When the two were still in the basement, their conversation was not so intense yet, and they were still in the polite stage of ‘what are you doing lately’, and the two brothers were even joking with the purple heart medal.

‘This is yours.’

‘No, this is for you.’

Now, Ian picked up the medal, pinching the edge with both hands, holding it in front of him.

“Ian!” Zach walked out from behind the desk, “What are you doing!” But Zach was too late.

The sharp nails pierced directly through the medal representing the honor of the owner, and as Ian separated his hands from the middle. The medal was torn apart in the sound of metal cracking!

One thing that is overlooked here. The growth only appeared in Zach and Anthony, but Ian had slept for thirteen years. People who live in their sleep will not grow up.

Zach’s fingers retracted as soon as they touched Ian, and sparks burst out of Ian’s skin without warning! In the crackling sound, flames swept through Ian’s body in an instant!

How to define a person’s legal status in a certain area? let me tell you: Birth certificate, death certificate, funeral records.

Now, let’s cross out the funeral record. Because when these records no longer belong to the public information of the municipal government and become private records of the funeral home, their effectiveness is erased. When Old Hank and Old Grande wrote Ian Anthony on the recorded memo, they couldn’t predict what would happen thirteen years later.

Birth certificate, death certificate. Those two certificates that do not have the words “Barton City” on them have no meaning to Ian Anthony. In these records, he is a dead person that no longer exists, and he was unable to be recognized by Anthony, the mayor of Barton, as a legal citizen of the Federation.

The only reason why this vampire can walk safely on the land of Barton City is that the Federation passed the Purple Heart Medal to his younger brother, Ann Anthony because Ian Anthony could not accept the medal.

As long as the medal is still there, the definition of ‘brother’ still remains, and the connection between Ian and Anthony remains. This is Anthony’s land, and his elder brother is qualified to set foot in it.

But when the medal is no longer there, this is what happens after the connection is cut: Vampires who are not qualified to set foot in the land controlled by people of Inan descent will burn to ashes!

In order to protect their territory, Inan Shamans, who inherited the lineage of Papa Midnight, planted the power against the evil invaders in the blood of all Inans!

Laws and definitions are always changing, and the only constant is blood!

“Anthony!” Zach dodged the flames and bumped into the solid wood desk, pushing it backwards! He yelled at Anthony: “Invite him!”

There were two erect flames in Anthony’s eyes. He gasped while looking at the flames in front of him.

“Anthony!” Zach rushed to this friend, grasping his shoulder, “What are you waiting for! Invite him!”

In the flames, the skin was completely peeled off and turned into fly ash, and the large muscles were constantly melting. Ian moved his lips as if to say something. The face buried in the flame also seemed to make a certain expression, but no one could see what it was.

“Invite him!”

Zach, with his back to the flame, gave the final order to Anthony!

“You can stay at Barton.”

Anthony said after his vision was occupied by red.

When Zach turned his head, his eyes had returned to light green. He hugged the collapsed scorched black body and turned his back to Anthony. His eyes also became cold, and there was a red light beating deep in the pupils.

“He needs to rest.” Zach looked at Anthony who was still standing blankly in the office and said. After saying this, he held Ian, who started to heal himself and left the office.