Chapter 437: Going Upstream For Investigation
"So, what should we do with the vampires? Do we kill them?" Graham asked.
"Idiot. If we"re going to kill them, we don"t need to rescue them in the first place. Put them in a cell for now, and wait until they wake up," I said.
"But we don"t have a prison cell," Graham said.
"But we can build it. Ask Celestine, Kayla, or Angela to build one. Also, just in case, put them in separate cell so they won"t be able to drink each other"s blood. Meanwhile, you and Shelia will come with me," I said.
"We"re going somewhere?" Graham asked again.
"We will be looking for any clues of how the vampires ended up drowning to this place. If there are any monsters over there, we will kill them. It will be dangerous if somehow, a powerful monster is nesting nearby," I said.
Maybe, after being scared of Andro"s intimidation, there"s a monster who didn"t escape too far, but instead, it is staying nearby and built a nest. If it"s a smart one, I can threaten it to bring Andro back here if it will cause trouble. And if it"s a weak monster, I can just kill it. Though I doubt a weak monster can drown dozens of vampires.
We have fished out about thirty-five vampires including the female Vampire Duke. As for the rest, I don"t know if there are any Vampire Marques or other lords. But I doubt they will cause trouble to us since they have lost.
Even when some of them drank the blood of their own kind and become many times stronger, they still lost against us.
Whoever drowned them into the river won"t be any average monster.
"Wait, I"m coming as well!" Angela said as she flies and follow me.
With this, we have four people checking on the area. And we are among the strongest of everyone here. Won"t the defense of this place be much weaker?
Since we have several other expert level mages, I think they can protect themselves if the vampires are trying to attack, or if there"s other monsters attacking. It should be fine, but won"t it be too much if we"re fighting the enemy upstream?
Well, the sooner we stop the danger, the better it is.
So, we decided to have two of us run on foot, while the other two flying. The two running are obviously Shelia and I, while those who are flying are Angela and Graham.
Although I can see the surrounding with Divine Vision, it"s still better if there are other people watching with me. Especially since Shelia"s sense of smell can reach even further than what my eyes can see. She can even find something that I can"t see. Like the remaining smell of whatever attacking the vampires, and where they went. I hope that"s the case so we can find them and kill them right away.
Since we built the river quite long, it"s still a bit distance from the lake. But we can cover that distance in a short moment.
The four of us were moving at the same speed originally, but when Angela speed up little by little, the rest of us refuse to lose and raise our speed as well. Even Shelia transformed into her wolf form, which is much faster than her werewolf form.
Graham is the last one even when he has all twelve wings out. In front of him is Shelia and I, with me in front of her just a little bit. And with quite a distance, Angela is in the first place.
After breaking through, she"s the fastest among us. Though not as fast as Spot, her speed is already amazing. She"s flying while being boosted with fire magic as well.
"Stop!"
I told everyone to stop as soon as I see multiple trails of footsteps. Probably, this is where the vampires are drowned. Though I didn"t see any monsters nearby.
"Is this where they were drowned?" Angela asked.
"Probably. There are multiple foot steps going into the river, but never leaving the river. Though there are some who didn"t even get close to the river," I said.
"Sniff… I smell the vampires we captured. But there are other scents that is both familiar and unfamiliar as well. Probably, the ones who did it are other vampires," Shelia said.
"Angela, Graham, look around and see if you can find anything," I ordered the two of them.
They both fly away leaving only Shelia and I behind.
"Do you smell anything else?" I asked Shelia.
"Just vampires. They smell like blood," she replied.
Let"s check on the area first before returning. I don"t think we should chase after the attacking vampires. But as long as we know where they were coming from, we can go there anytime we want.
"Roy, I found where the trails end. The vampires must have been flying," Angela said as soon as she returned with Graham.
"As long as we know the general direction, it"s fine. We can also ask the vampires we caught the location of the vampires," I said.
"…Master, you are thinking of the vampires we caught like fishes," Graham said.
"I am. They are coming from the water after all. Now, they don"t have a place to return to. I think that"s the reason why Albert wanted to meet them. He must be preparing a place for the vampires to live," I said.
"Really? Won"t they stay in the village along with the other monsters?" Angela asked.
"I don"t think that"s the case. Especially after they fought with us. If the others are not a species that we have fought before, it"s still fine. But now that we have fought, there is hatred between us. My guess is that Albert will bring them into our world and live among humans," I said.
After guessing Albert"s intention, the four of us racing back to the village. This time, as Graham and Shelia prepared from the start, the standing this time is different.
The first place is Angela, second is Shelia, and third is Graham. That"s what they think as they race back to the village.
…they forgot that I can use portal and travel there instantly. So, I waited for the three to return after grabbing some fruits. The fruits that the elves are growing are sweeter than those farmed by humans. I like them.
And when the three returned, they are shocked to see that I am already waiting for them. and then they remembered that I can use portal.
"…this is why Daniel and the kids don"t like to play with you. You are cheating," Angela said.
"It"s not cheating. There"s no rule in playing after all," I replied.
Though when Daniel said he didn"t want to play with me because I cheated, my heart was shattered. It took me a while until I fixed my broken heart.
I guess it"s time to report to Albert. He"s with the other kings right now.
"Yo. I have returned," I greeted the kings.
"How is it?" Albert asked.
"There were footsteps. And Shelia smelled the scent of vampires other than the vampires we caught. Seems like that Vampire Queen or her army is fighting them near the river," I said.
"And when they drowned, they disappear? Why?" Albert asked.
"Don"t know. Probably because they know vampires are creatures that can"t swim."
"Do you really think that the vampires can"t swim?" Albert asked.
"We can ask them once they wake up. I bet they will say that they can"t swim. They should be able to survive underwater, but they sink like a rock underwater. Do you want to bet?" I asked.
"…no thanks. You"re rich, and you"re asking a king for a bet. I don"t know how much money you will ask for betting," he replied.
There goes my chance to get more money.
But still, do I really think that vampires can"t swim? Maybe if they learned it, they can swim. But seeing so many of them drowned and get carried over here, I want to believe that they can"t swim.
After all, it"s funny to see a species that cause us quite a trouble to have such obvious weakness. And if they really can"t swim, just Carmen alone is enough to defeat all of them.
Which mean, just in case the Vampire Queen is attacking us, we can just ask Carmen alone to fight the Vampire Queen and her army.
"So, you know where the enemy is coming from?" Albert asked.
"I think I can guess the general direction. But I need to go there first to confirm it. And we can just ask the vampires soon," I said.
We"re right in front of the cell of the Vampire Duke while enjoying the feast. And I know that this female vampire is already awake and pretending to be sleeping. She must be thinking that she"s in the worst situation since she"s being imprisoned.
Since she was drowned, let"s wake her up by splashing water on her face. Well, it"s more like pouring instead of splashing.
"Cough! What are you doing!?" the vampire shouted.
"Since you have been awake for a while already, you must have noticed that we"re going to interrogate you, right? You will answer our question or I will drown you all into the lake."
Let"s start the conversation as joyful as possible by threatening the vampire.. It is joyful to me at least.