Free Vampire Hunter D: Dark Road Part Three

world.
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    III
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    â€œYou’re not going to answer me, are you?” the baron said, extending both arms and stretching his back. “To be honest, I’m afraid to hear the reply. I’ve never felt this way before. The stench of blood wafts from your body—the Duke of Xenon’s been destroyed, hasn’t he?”
    The figure in vermilion stood up.
    â€œIn which case, it’s my turn next. But before we do that, there’s something I’d like to look into.”
    Rapping his walking stick against his shoulder, the baron proceeded into the depths of the cavern. Looking back, he turned his gaze to Gordo and Rosaria and said, “Though I’ve moved away, the two of them remain in just as much danger. Wait until I’ve attended to my business.”
    Though there seemed to be something placid about the man, D knew the power that lay within him.
    Halting before the furthest rock wall, where the light didn’t even reach, the baron rapped on it with his stick.
    â€œAh! There’s an X mark. Uncle always was a philistine. If he had to leave a mark, he could’ve made it something a little more difficult for people to recognize. Apparently, he buried something here.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” D’s left hand inquired.
    â€œAccording to family legends, a certain weapon.”
    â€œA weapon?”
    â€œUncle oversaw the training of elite combat personnel and the development of weapons at the Sacred Ancestor’s palace. He was a man blessed with a great sense of humor. Thanks to this, it suddenly occurred to him as he was working under the Sacred Ancestor that he should create something utterly preposterous. In other words, he invented a weapon to destroy the Sacred Ancestor.”
    For a moment, another sound dominated the cavern, where the roar of the cataract alone had held sway: a sound known as silence.
    Then, the hoarse voice said with appreciable amusement, “You’ve got a twisted family.”
    â€œHad he shown it to his acquaintances, I suppose he would’ve been considered an impressive man, but he was actually rather timid. After creating it, my uncle grew afraid. However, he didn’t have the courage to destroy his creation. He thought about a place to hide it but quickly grew uneasy, having the feeling that wherever he concealed it, he couldn’t keep it safe from the eyes of the Sacred Ancestor. Then, after giving up drinking even the blood wine from Efferis, he came up with the perfect hiding place. After melting the ancient human ruins, he used the very same location to conceal the proof of his treachery born of an outlandish joke—quite an inspiration, wouldn’t you say?”
    His walking stick came down on the little mark. Cracks raced out in all directions, and a hole the size of a grown man’s head opened.
    â€œDon’t move, D. Stay right where you are,” the baron said in a friendly tone as he shifted his stick to his left hand and thrust his right into the hole.
    â€œEh?” he exclaimed, tilting his head to one side and knitting his brow at a strange sound on the other side of the hole—that of something being caught and torn.
    â€œOw!” he groaned, pulling his arm back out. But the limb he extracted was cut off at the elbow.
    â€œIt should’ve been enough to simply bury the weapon. He really was quite perverse,” the baron cursed, roughly thrusting the stick he held in his left hand into the hole. A scream rang out, but it was quickly silenced.
    The baron stuck his right arm in and pulled it out again. From the elbow down it was back to normal. But then, that’s why he was an immortal Noble.
    Inserting his hand into the hole once again, he strained to twist his face in D’s direction as he said, “It’s in there. Now, what do you think I intend to do with it?”
    The Nobleman broke into a grin.
    â€œI’ll use it on you, of course. My uncle