"Your Majesty, the problem is serious! We have to gather the troops and prepare for battle against the Demon Lord!"Those words escaped from Alfred"s mouth. He was now in the throne room before the Emperor. His journey back to the capital was taxing for his mind. He barely slept and every time he closed his eyes, he would wake up soon, full of sweat. All his dreams were nightmares. Finally, he reached the capital and the first thing he did was to come here to warn the king.
The whole room was silent after his words. All the people looked at him strangely. They couldn"t understand the situation at all. What Demon Lord? What was he talking about?
"What do you mean by those words? What demon lord?" Finally, the Emperor reacted, asking in a doubtful voice.
"I was chasing after vampires that came to the city. The royal magician and a few knights were with me to help. We tracked them down and finally managed to catch up to them, but who knew that the Shadow Lord was there, too? At first, we sealed him. Then we started to fight with his companions, but the Shadow Lord was able to escape from the seal! He slaughtered everyone! Only I barely escaped from there!"
The room was once again in silence. After a few moments, there were whispers all around. The Emperor frowned after seeing this. It seemed like there wasn"t anyone who wanted to question Alfred. Those officials were useless, thinking about benefits and never helping. In the end, he sighed.
"So, why should we prepare troops? It is obvious that you provoked him, that we can understand, so the Shadow Lord will be after you, not after the entire empire."
His words were logical. The Shadow Lord would be furious with Alfred, not the whole empire. Why should they prepare for the war then?
"Your majesty! The vampires were already in the border city once! If they weren"t planning anything, why would they be there? Moreover, the Shadow Lord himself was leading them! Why would he lead them to one of the cities? I"m sure he was planning something! We must be prepared for the worst!"
Alfred was panicked now. He wanted to eliminate the vampires, but he was scared of Richard at the same time. Richard"s power was too big. If he wasn"t able to move the heart of the Emperor and gather troops, he was sure that the Shadow Lord would come for him at the end. He still wanted to live, so if he was going to live, he would have to kill this powerful enemy, or else he wouldn"t be able to sleep in peace for the rest of his days!
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"Your majesty, I think our Hero has a point. Don"t forget that he is the strongest human that we have. That is a reason to protect him. If we want to protect him, we will need to fight with the Shadow Lord when he comes after him. The second point is about the Shadow Lord"s movements. As the Hero said, he was seen in one of our cities. We need to gather troops and prepare for the worst, or else it will be too late once something happens."
An official spoke at this moment, making everyone look at him. When they heard what he said, they couldn"t help but nod their heads.
"Fine, gather troops and prepare for battle. That Shadow Lord, even if he doesn"t attack, we will need to fight him sooner or later. We will start another crusade against him. Send people to the elves and dwarves and ask them for their help. It"s time we eliminate the vampires once and for all."
The Emperor"s words were shocking. Even Alfred looked twice at him. How was gathering troops for defense changed to gathering troops for attack? But that was good, too. That way, Alfred could be at ease.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
***
It had been almost a month since Richard and the others started the journey back to the castle. Erin was still unconscious. Though Richard wasn"t worried about her, he couldn"t stop but feel some uneasiness in his heart. Why was she still not awake? What was going on? Usually, it would take for a normal vampire around 10 days of sleeping before they woke up from their transformation. But Erin was still like this after almost a month.
Richard couldn"t help but look down. Erin was in his embrace, sleeping peacefully. Her cheeks were slightly rosy, her eyes closed and her breathing even. There was a strand of hair that was on her face. He couldn"t help but reach out with his hand and move it behind her ear.
"My Lord, we are almost there. The castle should be in our sight in a little bit of time."
Anna said from the side. Even though she was sure that Richard knew, she was trying to distract him a bit. She could see Richard"s gaze on Erin. There was deep love and worry in his eyes. Richard looked at her but didn"t say anything. After a few moments, his gaze turned to the front. Anna couldn"t help but sigh in her heart.
In this past month, there weren"t many conversations. Everything was carried like a routine. Traveling, eating, sleeping and traveling again. The only distraction she had was Seth. Anna enjoyed to tease him all the time. Even though he was a bit dumb in the relations between a man and a woman, he wasn"t bad. She didn"t know why, but she was attracted to him. That"s why she asked Erin to spare him back then.
Thinking about it, she couldn"t help but turn around and look at him. Seth saw her movements and turned his head sidewise, evading her gaze. A slight blush crept on his cheeks. Her lips curved upwards. Sooner or later, he would fall in her trap. Why was he so stubborn?
Seth fell gooseb.u.mps all of a sudden. He couldn"t help but shiver. What was going on? The weather was warm, why did he felt like that all of a sudden? Was there someone or something watching him? He looked around and locked gazes with Anna. Her smile gave him more shivers. What was she planning to do again? He saw her moving her lips, but no words came out. He tried to read from her lips and almost fell. What she said was "I will be waiting for you tonight".
Henry looked at that exchange with an indifferent expression. He was already used to it. In the past month, even though they didn"t interact much with each other, he could guess some things on his own. Finally, his gaze moved back to the front. The castle was now visible. The journey was on its end, at least for now. What would await him in the future?