Baron Shire stood stunned for quite a while. He even closed his eyes and rubbed them before finally confirming that he was not dreaming. Then panic spread across his face.
"Sir Jonester? You! What are you doing here?"
Mulan smiled and mocked him.
"I never imagined you had such unusual tastes, Shire. You actually enjoy sleeping in a coffin."
"I..."
Baron Shire wanted to explain, but realized there was simply no explaining this bizarre situation. Before he could decide what to say, Mulan grabbed him by the collar and hauled him out of the coffin with one hand.
"I gave you plenty of dignity in front of the servants of the Baron's Residence, and I had no intention of exposing you in Shire Town. But you pathetic fool actually catered to vampires. You're a disgrace to the nobility of Dierjia!"
"We had such a pleasant conversation today that I thought I might make a good friend in Shire. I never imagined you'd sink this low, much less plot to breed werewolves within the empire. Do you know what crime that is, and how it's punished?"
Mulan was almost nose to nose with the terrified Shire.
"You'll suffer the harshest punishment, but even after enduring tremendous agony, you may not die right away. Your vampiric traits give you a high tolerance for injury. You'll suffer, but dying won't come easily. As long as they avoid your vital points, those old wizards can torture you until you break, over and over, studying your bones and organs right before your eyes..."
"By the time they finally torture you to death, a year or even longer may have passed. And even then, your soul won't escape. It will face still crueler torment, confined in some little glass bottle and taken out for study whenever