Richard was seething now. Erin"s decision had really irritated him. That man had almost killed her, and she made him her blood slave at the end? He just wanted to go there and kill the guy. The only thing stopping him from killing Seth was that the man really had some skills and could be useful to Erin. That wasn"t so bad of a choice for a blood slave. That"s why he didn"t interfere with their conversation.He felt people coming in their direction. As he looked, his face became twisted. Alfred was coming through one of the streets in their direction, followed by a group of guards. Richard looked back at Erin"s direction and sighed. He wouldn"t kill the hero for now. That could be done in the future. He leaped off the roof and arrived next to the girls.
"Let"s go, it"s time to return to the castle."
"What?!" Erin was surprised Wasn"t that too sudden? Why did he want to return to the castle so early?
"The people of the city already know that there is a vampire here. If we want to stay, we have to find another Inn too, and you just got another blood slave, which is good progress for the time being. I have something to take care of in the castle too, so it"s better to return now." Richard glanced at Seth while he was speaking. His eyes narrowed for a moment and part of his aura came out, but then he relaxed again.
Seth felt like suffocating. The man in front of him was really strong. He was sure that the man could kill him just in a moment. Who was he? Was he the guard of the princess? "Why did I even accept this task in the first place?" Seth started to regret. He had thought that it would have been a lot easier to just kill a half-vampire and capture a magician, but now he realized that he was totally wrong.
"What about the slave traders?" Erin really wanted to find them now.
"They are already dead. As soon as they came out, I killed them." Richard shrugged. "Alright. let"s go now."
Erin looked back at the others, but they were silent.
"Alright, let"s leave the city then."
They all walked out of the mansion, following Richard"s lead. He was going in the opposite direction of Alfred. If they met with the hero now, Richard was sure to just kill him on the spot. But in his opinion, that man could be useful in the future to make Erin even stronger.
Lyse was lost in thoughts after all this happenings. So the demon lord"s name was Richard? Wasn"t Richard just next to them? Was he the Demon Lord? She never questioned that before, but she started remembering Anna"s att.i.tude towards him. He must be the demon lord, and it looked like he came here to help Erin with her training. That really surprised her. For a demon lord to personally come and help someone with training, it was something very few people would believe. Still, the truth was just in front of her eyes.
The fact that Richard was the Demon Lord actually made her relaxed. She had no doubts about following the group anymore. They were nice to her and even helped her out of that situation. That was enough to make her believe in them.
In half an hour the group was finally close to the walls of the city. Seth was following like a puppet, still in disbelief at what happened so far. A new life was waiting for him and that fact made him apprehensive. He would have to follow that girl from now on. What awaited him in the future? That was something he really wanted to know.
"Wait, what about the clothes from the tailor shop?" That question was really random, but Erin felt like giving money and still not getting what they paid for was really not good. After all, those clothes were expensive.
"Don"t worry, Erin. I went to the shop today while you were sleeping. The clothes are in the bag." Anna smiled at Erin. Her master was really kind-hearted and easy- going. Just a few minutes ago they were in a battle to the death, now she had someone who almost killed her, as her blood slave and the only thing that was in her mind was actually the clothes? Was this important at that moment? She really wanted to laugh.
"Alright then, it would be a shame if we just paid without getting anything at the end."
They finally crossed the wall, unnoticed by the guards. The forest was now lying before them.
***
Alfred was now in front of the mansion. The whole place was silent which wasn"t surprising after so many men were sent out for hunting a slave. He waved his hand and the guards started to enter one after another. There was no one at the gates which was quite strange. Alfred went inside and started walking through the corridor. Cold air came rushing at him and he started to shiver. His teeth chattered from the cold. He had a bad feeling about this and his pace quickened. Finally, he came to the place where Lyse was fighting.
The corridor was still fully frozen. He saw the frozen people and sighed. It seemed like he was too late. He started pa.s.sing them one by one, looking at the scars from the chains on the ice and at the end, found the man who had been pierced through by the ice spike. He skirted around him and came to the next room. A man was lying there too, pierced from behind with icicle again. There were traces of other magic in the air, but he wasn"t sure what types of magic they were. After all, he wasn"t an expert in magic.
"Sir, there are only ten half-elves in the warehouse. Everyone else is dead. What should we do?" A guard reported to him.
"Take them for interrogation. They might be able to tell us something. Look for more clues regarding what happened here."
"As you command." The guard saluted him and went to carry out his orders.
"Once again we are too late. Sooner or later I will catch you. Henry should be here by tomorrow. Once he comes, the search will be even easier." Alfred muttered to himself and prepared to leave the mansion. There was no point in searching there anymore. The magician and the vampire were not here.