The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-160

Chapter 160: Blu-what?

The two middle-aged men outside had typical Caucasian looks; sharp noses and pronounced eyes. Their blue-grey eyes carried with them an unspoken sense of pride. Their hair was a shade of greyish-brown and they were at least 185cm tall. Their build was strong as well as soldierly, and they were clad in fitting, black suits. The suits were supposed to make them look smart and dignified instead, they looked more like goons from the underworld. It was hard not to imagine them having tattoos all over their body as well as a few battle scars here and there.

Both of them looked almost alike; both in physique and appearance, almost like a pair of twins. One of them had a scar near his eyebrows that probably served as a differentiation. As they saw Hao Ren open the door, both of them spoke almost at the same time, “Does the countess live here?”

Hao Ren was perplexed for a moment, and he wondered why were there so many foreigners in this ungodly part of the Southern Suburbs. The word “countess” did not immediately click and he asked, “Perhaps you’ve gotten the wrong address? We only have nor… Wait! Are you looking for Vivian?”

He suddenly recalled that there was indeed a countess at home but, her current situation did not even come close to being worthy of the title.

“Seems like following the bats was the right choice.” The two strangers glanced at each other. The one with the scar then smiled at Hao Ren, baring his fangs. “You look like the owner of this shelter. We heard from our younglings about you. We are the Ebbens. You could say, we’re old ‘friends’ of the countess. Is she home to meet us by any chance? She may still recognise us. Oh, and of course, we come in peace today. Please, do relay our message to her.”

The Ebbens! Hao Ren had almost forgotten about them. When Casar and Ewan left, they mentioned that they would be reporting what had happened here, and the Elders would be visiting if it was possible. But, he never thought that they would pay a visit this soon, and the Elders of the tribe were these two middle-aged foreigners?

“Mr. Landlord, who’s at the door?” Vivian asked as she noticed that Hao Ren had been standing by the gate for a good while. She then walked up to see what was going on. “Is it for the utility bills… Uh…you two… Why do you look so familiar?”

“Forgetful as always, Countess,” The scarred stranger said as Vivian showed up. An alarmed look flashed across his face as the vampire spoke but, he quickly hid it behind a hearty laugh. It was as though he was just visiting an old friend. “You really don’t remember us? The Ebben Twins, the ones you had taken so much care of.”

Something slowly dawned on Vivian as she wiped her hands on her apron. “Ohhh… Ohhhhhhh… You two! We fought before. I remember now. What are you two doing here? Trying to get beaten up again?”

The two Ebbens looked at each other with a slightly dumbfounded look. The one without the scar then spoke, “Some time back, the younglings of our tribe told you that the Ebbens would be sending the Elders to visit the countess so, here we are. No plans to fight this time.”

Vivian furrowed her brows, “You two are elders now? Both of you are barely a thousand years old, right? Where have those ancient ones gone? Jaeger and uh…Akry if I’m not wrong?”

The scarred one’s face turned dark in an instant. “Elder Jaeger was assassinated by demon hunters 500 years ago. The other one is Ackeriy not Akry… Elder Ackeriy tried to look for the sirens a hundred years ago and he has disappeared without a trace. So now, both of us are the ranking members of the tribe… Sigh…well you are indeed an old acquintance of the Ebbens, no harm telling you that.”

“Things have gotten that bad?” Vivian was surprised. She softly nudged Hao Ren by the shoulder and said, “Mr Landlord, let them in. They are guests after all.”

As the Ebbens stepped into the house, Hao Ren locked the gate and the door shut. He was conflicted. This scene where Elders of the strongest werewolf tribe visiting one of the oldest living vampire… it happened so unceremoniously. There wasn’t even a letter. The werewolves were dressed up like businessmen to keep their cover, the clothes totally at odds with their feral self. They even took an illegal taxi to their place. As they walked in, Hao Ren caught sight of a rickety junk at the far end of the street. This was supposed to be a monumental event but, it was so…abrupt; very unlike a meeting of two werewolf titans. From this scene alone, one could tell how far the supernaturals on Earth had fallen.

The two strangers caught Lily’s utmost attention. As she stared at the duo, she started jabbering with her head slanted, “I heard that you two are werewolves from the Ebben Family? We are distant relatives then…”

She was still insisting that she was a special type of werewolf.

“This is…” the scarred werewolf gave Lily, who was in a funny pose a weird look. Noticing it, she quickly popped her ears and tails out. “I’m a werewolf too! A special type!”

“Oh, so you’re the one Casar was talking about. Funny how they almost lost their lives for you. Lily, right?” The scarred one had a slightly surprised look on his face. He then whispered to his partner, “I remembered Casar only mentioning that she’s an idiot. I never heard she had issues with her neck?”

“Perhaps, he missed it that time?”

“Looks pretty obvious to me…”

“What are you two mumbling about?” Vivian muttered as she stared at the two werewolves whispering to each other, displeasure written on her face. She placed a pot of tea on the table. “Here, have a drink. This is my first time serving tea to a werewolf. Take it as my sincerity to talk business.”

Lily perked up instantly, “You always make tea for me though…”

“Quiet, that’s milk tea, you milk-tea-drinking simpleton.”

The two werewolves were expectedly surprised by the scene. They never thought the ruthless countess would treat them with any courtesy at all. Vivian then pointed towards her companions. “This is the landlord, Hao Ren, the one over there is Lily, an oddball werewolf, and this is Nangong Wuyue, a siren. The one sitting by the window with the papers is Y’zaks, a demon. These are the people living in this place.”

“Wait up!” Hao Ren said as he ran into the room and brought a pot out. Lil Pea was draped on the side of the pot, looking at the two strangers curiously. Hao Ren pointed at the little mermaid using his chin. “This is Lil Pea, a mermaid.”

“A mermaid? Isn’t she a siren?” The scarred werewolf looked on in surprise. There were no pure-blooded mermaids on Earth, and stories of mermaids came from the sirens hence, the question. He then pointed to himself. “Let me introduce myself. I’m one of the Elders in the Ebben Tribe’s Elder Council. You can call me Bluphlei Ebbens…”

Hao Ren had just placed Lil Pea on the table, and almost dropped the pot in his hand when he heard the name. “Blu-what?!”

“Bluphlei Ebbens,” the scarred werewolf said seriously. “What’s wrong with the name?”

It took Hao Ren a lot of effort to not go, “Pffft”. He guessed only the Chinese would know what “Bluefly” actually meant. It was probably a very common name overseas so, he quickly composed himself. “Ugh, nothing… And the guy over there?”

“Blushedt Ebbens,” the unscarred one answered.

“…”

Bloody hell, after a Bluefly, comes a Bluesh*t?

Years later, Hao Ren could still remember how much effort he took to keep a straight face. If it was not for the fact that these two werewolves were almost a thousand years old, he would have really thought that the two were just testing him for laughs. Who the bloody heck names their child, “Sh*t”?

Then again, these werewolves were already ancient by human standards, and there was even one named Farquer… Hao Ren decided that it would be better if he did not ask any more questions about their names.

Translator’s Thoughts

Seraphica Seraphica

The author wrote their names as Bluefly and Blueshit in reference to the Lanxiang Vocational School (山東藍翔高級技工學校) in Shandong province, China but I figured to give them slightly more dignified names.

蓝翔 literally translates to Blue and Soar (Fly) and was a shortened name of the school.

The word 翔 also apparently carries the meaning of shit in Chinese internet slang. Hence, Blueshit Institute of Technology.