Huh? Are they all real?.

“Friend, regarding this matter, we have found out that the Bathory family is the mastermind, or at least it was the other vampires they contacted who came to Seven Hills.”

The Bathory family?

Among the eight dukes, they were originally at the bottom, but because of their own purges back then, the Bathory family, which was a marginal player, was the best preserved.

This very convenience has allowed them to prosper to this day.

Furthermore, the Bathory family is also connected to Leicester.

"Friend, what's the deal with that vampire?"

Since Lester wasn't there, the dwarf elders immediately asked him.

Of course, if Lester were here, they would definitely ask directly; that's just how dwarves are.

Moen said directly:

"He's a stranger, named Lester, and the last vampire king. At least that's what he says."

"According to his intelligence, the second son of the Bathory family seems to be on our side, because he was the one who actively killed the rest of the royal bloodline and let him go as a stranger."

Upon hearing this, a dwarf elder immediately spoke:

"Regarding this matter, we have indeed received information that the Bathory family is pursuing the defectors."

"They even asked us to keep an eye out for them."

"If both sides match, then this should be the case."

Moen nodded and said:

"That's true in theory, but I still don't trust that so-called second son."

"Why, friend?"

Moen looked at the dwarf elders in front of him and said:

"The hierarchy among vampires is extremely strict, and it would be very difficult for a second son to accomplish all this. I suspect this is a setup they orchestrated themselves."

The dwarves asked in confusion about Moen's words:

"But why would they do that? Judging from the current situation, their target must be the last seal of the Blood Moon."

"But I can't think of any benefit for them in doing this."

"If it's to make us believe in the second son of a vampire duke, what can he do even if we bring him to Seven Hills after he's already been exiled?"

Moen also shook his head and said:

"I don't know either. We still have too little information. Have you found anything about the Pure White Dynasty?"

In that erroneous history, it was the White King who personally attacked the Seven Hills.

This led to a complete and irreversible decline.

Although great changes have occurred, what has arrived is not the Holy War Army of the White King and the Pure White Dynasty, but many fortresses of the vampires.

But Moen was still worried that something new might happen on the Pure White Dynasty side.

After asking each other for a long time, the dwarves finally answered Moen's question:

"We have been keeping a close eye on the movements of the Pure White Dynasty ever since you left, my friend."

"Unexpectedly, there was no response from the other side."

"At least we didn't find anything."

Moen raised an eyebrow and said:

"But this time, it must be related to them."

"Yes, but we are completely at a loss right now."

The vampires and the White Dynasty are powerful forces, while the dwarves are on the decline.

Whether it's intelligence or anything else, the dwarves are at a huge disadvantage.

After rubbing his temples, Moen asked:

What are your current plans?

"There's no good solution. Although dwarves from other regions have expressed their willingness to provide strong support, it's too late to help in the short term."

"The only thing we can do is to be prepared and attract as many other races as possible to the Seven Hills as witnesses to prove that we are morally sound."

Frankly speaking, whether or not one is morally justified doesn't really matter much, but the dwarves really don't have any good solutions.

Their target is definitely the seal of the Blood Moon; the dwarves won't hand that over.

After thinking for a moment, Moen carefully said:

"What if I told you that the well wasn't that important?"

"Friend, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, we can abandon that well."

"no!"

The dwarves naturally refused. Moen tried to explain, but before he could speak, the dwarves interrupted him, saying:

“Friend, we know you know a lot, and we know that most of what you say is true. However, the first six of the seven seals were found and destroyed.”

"This means they must have some way of pinpointing the exact location of the seal, yet even so, they still came to Seven Hills."

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I do know one thing: this will definitely protect the last seal.”

"So even if it's just for this, we'll pay any price!"

At this point, the dwarf elder gave Moen a deep look and said:

"So, my friend, you shouldn't have come back."

Moen looked down at the medal pinned to his chest.

The dwarf's hammer and his crown still gleamed.

“We are friends, so I had to come back!”

A burst of good-natured laughter immediately filled the hall.

It's been a long time since long-legged people have been so to their liking.

"Okay, you're still the same old you. It's just that this time you're really difficult to deal with."

Moen asked about the dwarves' helplessness:

How much support can the dwarves from other regions provide?

"You should have seen many soldiers with different uniforms on your way here; those can be considered your entire support force."

"Although we now occupy one of the best mines, we are still in a state of great decline. We can't even muster a single legion from our peak."

"The population difference is not that much."

Technology, culture, wealth, and population are all lagging behind in all aspects compared to the past.

Dwarves make no attempt to conceal the plight of their race from their true friends.

This isn't about asking for help; it's just that I feel there's no need to hide things from my friends.

Of course, other people will get angry if they say someone is dwarf.

But as they talked, one of the dwarf elders said:

"However, they also told us that Duke Bathory is supposed to host a gathering of vampires in two days."

"I heard that he will summon all the vampire nobles who have come to Seven Hills. If we can sneak in, we will definitely get a lot of inside information."

"The only problem is that we really can't think of any good ways to sneak in."

Asking a dwarf to disguise himself as a vampire is really asking too much.

Surely two dwarves can't just stick together and sneak in, can they?

Moen, however, asked with a subtle expression:

"Is this news confirmed?"

"We've checked, and it's definitely true, but we can't infiltrate it!"

As they spoke, the dwarven elders, realizing what was happening, all turned to look at Moen.

"I can sneak in!"

Since it's a gathering for the great nobles of the vampire clan, how could Moen possibly not be able to get in?

Is there any nobler than Moen within the vampire clan?!

Chapter 212: The Pinnacle Feast - Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader (6k words)

Vampires love to hold parties, just like human nobles.

However, whether they are vampires in anthropology or humans in vampire studies is unclear.

Both sides claim that the other side stole their skills.

However, some dwarves believe that they stole the elves' knowledge, but the elves seem to dislike holding parties.

But that's not important; what's important is that it's a gathering for the great nobility.

Therefore, this gathering, known as the Pinnacle Feast within the vampire clan, has a very strict vetting mechanism.

All eight dukes will be present at the event.

This is a distinguished figure equivalent to the Twelve Golden Flowers Lords.

Although few people believe that the vampire dukes, who are constantly changing in rank, can truly compare to the Golden Flower Lord who follows the Eternal King.

But at least nominally, the two are equivalent.

Those who could serve as foils to such figures were at least counts or nobles.

In order to sneak into this grand event.

Moen had also started preparing well in advance.

We didn't bring many people, just two.

Although Bahrain said he could follow him on stilts to protect himself.

But after thinking about it, Moen felt that it was not only too ridiculous but also more dangerous.

Therefore, Moen firmly refused.

However, before leaving, Moen left a letter for Bahrain.

The two people Moen brought were handpicked from among only two available candidates.

Honestly, if it weren't for the requirement for the number of attendants this thing requires, Moen would have preferred to come by himself; that would have been the safest thing to do!

But there's nothing we can do; some idiot added a minimum number of attendees to the Grand Feast.

Moen thought about it carefully, and then realized, "Ah, it's still myself!"

Honestly, that's really stupid.

With the help of the dwarves, Moen and his two companions successfully arrived at the Bathory family's mobile fortress.

Moen looked up at the enormous castle before him.

So many years have passed, and nothing has changed; it's still the same as I remember.

It perfectly matches Moen's imagination of the vampire castle.

The castle's spires pierced the sky, casting long shadows in the moonlight. The walls, covered in moss and vines, added to its desolate atmosphere.

Moen, who was essentially revisiting the same place, didn't react much.

The two people behind Moen were feeling a bit weak in the knees.

Especially Lester, if he hadn't been on drugs, he would definitely have collapsed to the ground right now, just like when he first heard the news.

Even though he had taken several bottles of high-grade tranquilizers, Moen could still feel a slight tremor in his body.

In comparison, the current head of the Heather family is much better off.