The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 544

Chapter 543
Bram: It’s all for the plot.

Bram Stoker lay leisurely on a hotel chair, a thick ancient book resting on his lap as he flipped through its pages. A full glass of red wine sat beside him. After a while, he closed the book and set it aside. He propped himself up, raised the wine glass, and angled it towards the sunlight. The liquid within was not clear, but rather viscous. Under the light of the sun outside the window, black substances that seemed alive flowed within the transparent red liquid. These were tiny, dark specks resembling parasites.

Bram swirled the glass with satisfaction and tapped it with a finger. Stimulated by the external force, the black tendrils inside writhed and gathered. The less clear parts clumped together, shrinking into a date-sized red sphere with a few black tendrils pulsating like blood vessels. “—Still not concentrated enough,” Bram commented.

He took out a glass test tube from his pocket and added a few drops of blood. The blood floated on top of the wine, looking like a pool of oil. Then, he cut his own wrist and added more blood. The two types of blood mixed and sank downwards. The condensed “heart” shattered again under the impact of the external force, dispersing into the wine.

“Alright, let’s take a break,” Bram said leisurely. “Have some lunch, and we’ll continue later.”

In the corner of the room, a hulking elder troll, his upper body bare and covered in runes, knelt before the fireplace. Hearing Bram’s words, he silently began to tidy up. He placed the black herbs back into his herb pouch and gathered the leeches, placing them into a bottle. Then, he added a transparent, oil-like liquid to it. He rose silently, his hunched back exuding an imposing aura. His back and abdomen were covered in scars, and the muscles in his waist and back were taut like ropes. His face was aged and gaunt, his tightly clenched jaw and neck bulging with muscles, resembling the sinews on a sailor’s forearm.

“You, while you’re free, might as well help me track Eivass using a curse,” Bram said with a smile, leaning on his knees. He tossed a large paper bag filled with golden fried chicken to the elder troll. “Consider it payment for your meal… Eat first. I’ll talk, you listen. —Don’t worry about causing trouble; this matter doesn’t concern you. It’s a good opportunity to tell you… about your future whereabouts. That way, you’ll be a bit more at ease.”

He watched the elder troll devour the fried chicken and raised his wine glass with a smile. “The Ancient Kingdom of Anxi, you know of it, right? There’s a Lord there named Adler. Known as Generous Adler.”

“He currently needs a reliable curse-casting mage. And in Anxi, anyone you invite could be a spy from another city. Therefore, a Troll shaman from the Southern Continent is exceptionally valuable…” As he spoke, he suddenly drew a simple rune in the air.

The elder troll’s entire body turned red, as if a light had been lit beneath his skin—like seeing the red from the back of your hand when a flashlight shines from your palm. His muscles convulsed in pain, and in a visible blur, his entire body shrunk. He spat out the fried chicken he had just eaten in one gulp—not vomiting, but fearing he would choke. Yet, even so, the elder troll made no sound… even as his neck straightened and turned red, he emitted no cry of pain or plea for mercy.

“Tsk.” Seeing this, Bram clicked his tongue, clenched his fist in displeasure, and ended the punishment on the elder troll. He tossed the half-empty bottle of red wine to the elder troll and leaned back casually. “If you follow him, you won’t be able to endure the hardship. Although Anxi is short on supplies, compared to the Church, the Lord’s surroundings are not much worse. Even though it’s in the desert, it’s not that hot—there are ice makers to maintain the temperature.”

“Although you are old, I can still give you potions to extend your lifespan. If you want women, there are plenty. All races, even Elves can be arranged. If you like animals, Gryphons, Pegasus, perhaps even Dragons… The Lord has everything, and can procure anything for you. Rather, that place is the homeland of Goblins.”

“Getting rained on in the Southern Continent, bitten by insects, gnawing on tree bark every day… Is that interesting? So we’re not enemies; this is about mutually beneficial exchange. I’m sending you to a better place and earning some travel expenses along the way. And don’t always keep that stern face…”

“From another perspective, you’re going to Anxi anyway. That place is far from the Church. Even if you commit something here, no one will pursue you there. Originally, in that place… if you commit something, you just hide in the desert; put on a white headscarf and sneak into another city. In any case, news between cities doesn’t flow. They can’t even catch their own criminals, let alone you.”

“This is the meaning of a Curse Master. If people cannot be caught, there must be a means to punish them. Whether they are truly cursed to death is irrelevant; the key is that it looks intimidating, and that’s what keeps people in line…” As he spoke, Bram sized up the silent elder troll before him. If the old fellow stood upright, he would be three meters tall. Even in the Church, where Elves were common, he would undoubtedly be considered tall. His body appeared lean but not weak. His withered skin and taut muscles made him look as dangerous as a Werewolf.

“…I came specifically to find you because your reputation in the Southern Continent is widespread,” he said with a slight smile. “You killed your own father, your uncle, all your brothers, and your cousins. You killed so many people, yet the Beast Song Tribe prospered under your hand… And all of this, at its root, is because you were once a Slave of the Star Antinomy people.”

Upon hearing this, the elder troll suddenly raised his head, his sharp, Scarlet pupils resembling those of a hungry wolf in the wilderness. But Bram showed no reaction. “Yes, I’ve heard your past. You were once sold to Star Antinomy and learned the Star Antimony Language through self-study. You served as a Ritual Assistant to your master, stole his ritual spells and curses, then you killed him and took a small boat back to the Southern Continent by rowing—a twenty-eight-day drift.”

“After all, you ‘studied’ in a civilized world and have insights unlike your ignorant kin. Now, over sixty years have passed, you are old and have retired from the position of tribal leader… When I interviewed you before, you provided me with excellent material. I must say, the Novel with you as the protagonist sold very well in Iris Flower. They used this Novel to satirize the Star Antimony people for buying Slaves, and to indirectly mock the violence and untrustworthiness of Trolls. My writing is excellent, vividly describing the dangers of your twenty-eight-day voyage at sea. Of course, I know you survived that month by fishing. But to highlight human nature and plot conflict, I made you flee with your companions, and then, out of hunger, you ate him.”

“…Barbie Wood was not killed by me,” the elder troll suddenly said. “Nor did I eat her.” This was the first time he had spoken, his voice aged and hoarse. “I told you before, she fell into the water accidentally. The waves were too big then… I was too hungry to catch her.”

Bram pressed his hands down. “I know, I know. But this way, it’s not very plausible… Reality is unreasonable, but novels strive for plausibility. If you kill off an important character who has been written about for a long time due to something like a storm, readers will find it too simplistic.”

“But that’s the fact…”

“This is for the sake of story tension. You wouldn’t understand. In conclusion, you ate your The Lovers… —She wasn’t my wife, and I didn’t know her before.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a one-day marriage. In conclusion, you ate her, it was very painful and you were very determined. This shaped you into a formidable figure. In Anxi, you have considerable prestige. You could even be considered a Synonym for Troll shamans.” Bram’s lips curved slightly. “That’s why someone came looking for me to buy the ‘protagonist archetype’. And that’s how I had the chance to introduce you to such a good place to work, old friend. That Lord saw this Novel and wanted to invite you. For your own safety, it’s best if you cooperate. Let’s synchronize our stories. The exaggerated claims I made, you acknowledge them; they are all for the plot, expressing the author’s emotions. Anyway, besides you and me, no one else knows it’s not true…”

As he said this, he suddenly shuddered, his entire being immediately becoming serious. Like a spider whose web has been disturbed, he shot up from the sofa, his entire form turning into a gray stream of light as he flew towards the interior of the house. But at this moment, time around him began to slow down. The noon sunlight receded, and everything within the room grew dim. The crimson wine glass also dimmed, its contents seeming to turn black. Dim Yellow light permeated the surroundings. Bram’s fleeing form was suddenly frozen in mid-air!

(End of Chapter)