Chapter 3: Contract
In a narrow alley way, a figure wearing a tattered hood and robe was being chased by a group of what looks like the city"s guards.
As for why she was being chased, she was supposed to be a slave to be handed to the king. Of course if anyone knew of such matter, there would be a scandal, that"s why her existence was supposed to be a secret.
Conversely, there is no one in the city that would listen to her plea and will be accused of fallacy since no one will doubt the king. That"s she can only rely on herself.
She was only lucky.
She was kidnapped in her village and was chained by an [Anti-magic Chain] in order to rid her of her magic. There and then, she had lost the will to live and simply stare into nothingness. For weeks she stayed in a cage waiting for a buyer, that is…until yesterday.
A buyer came, and whether by good fortune or not, she was sold to the king residing [Drachedge].
While being handed to the corrupted guards controlled by the king to secretly buy her, there was a moment where the chains that bound her were removed.
Perhaps due to carelessness or because they thought she had lost the will to fight back, they removed the [Anti-magic Chain] first before placing the [Anti-magic Collar], in any case, that led to an opportunity.
She unleashed a powerful spell [Whirlwind] and blew away everyone surrounding her, using that moment, she was able to make a run for it. However, her pursuers didn"t back down so easily, they continued to chase her until she finally managed to lose them.
Now, according to the story above, she was supposed to be free already. So how come she"s being chased again?
Because even if she returns to her village, there"s no guarantee she"ll be able to stay there without getting kidnapped, rather, it was more like an offering. She was an offering that was sent to the slave dealers in order to let the village live.
And besides, there is no way to get in or out in the village because of the powerful gatekeeper.
So she thought of a solution.
In the first place, her village was prisoned in that cave guarded by the gatekeeper. And the root of their imprisonment was due to 100 000 years ago, when a certain king became obsessed with power and used their clan for it. The first slave was said to have a written contract hidden in the castle, if she can present it to
the church, their clan will no longer be hated and will be freed, at least, that was the plan.
As the current situation suggests, she failed to infiltrate the castle only to be seen by the guards and is now being pursued.
This was a good opportunity for the king, he can hide the fact that she was bought by him as a slave and treat her as a criminal who tried to infiltrate the palace. This way, he can mobilize the other city guards without bribing them to keep it a secret.
As a result, it was a lot harder to escape.
Even though she was the most exceptional in magic in her village, she was already running low on mana after so many hours of being pursued.
"[Wind Arrow]!"
"[Fireball]!"
The guards behind her started to attack with magic.
Having no choice but to conserve her mana, she used her own instincts to dodge the attack.
"[Earth Wall]"
At the cross road, an earth wall suddenly emerged and blocked the middle path.
Clicking her tongue she turned right immediately.
"[One Step Strike]"
"Kh-!?"
A guard behind her used a skill that allowed him to advance faster in a single step and strike at the same time which injured made a cut on her right arm as she barely dodged.
She ignored her wound and simply kept running, until she reached an opening.
She realized how wrong she were when she decided to turn right at that time and is now forced into an open s.p.a.ce, where many people walk about.
"Catch that slave!"
One of the guards shouted.
Now, as for why the guard knew she was a slave, it was because of a slip-up from the king. As expected, since he was too nervous that others might found out the truth, he accidentally mentioned that she was a slave.
Of course he didn"t say it was his slave, he quickly made an excuse saying that someone is after his life or treasures in the palace and used their slave to infiltrate so that they will be guaranteed that if she was to be captured, due to the collar, she won"t be able to say any information regarding who ordered her.
Well…she doesn"t actually have the collar but with the robe and hood, there was no way to tell, much less, in a chase.
And the king knows she can"t remove her hood.
It was a perfect cover up, as expected from a corrupt king.
"Whoever catches that slave will earn a reward from his majesty! Quickly capture her!"
As soon as he said that, everyone in the plaza showed excitement and enthusiasm.
"Uwoooo! An event! It"s an event quest!"
"Hey, it says here that even by partic.i.p.ating, you"ll be rewarded!"
"Haha, Screw you! I will be the one to capture that b.i.t.c.h!"
As soon as she ran past towards a person relaxing by the fountain, one of the people in the plaza had already brandished her sword.
"Ah…looks like it"s already impossible…"
She had already accepted her death and wanted to stop this unsightly resistance.
However, fate proved to be on her side once again.
The person relaxing by the fountain from before is, for some reason, now in front of her. What"s more, this person repelled the other guy"s sword.
"W-wha-!? What do you think you"re doing huh!?"
Not just the player that attacked the slave, but everyone in the plaza was surprised and didn"t move, including the city guard from before.
However, the slave no longer cared as her full concentration was at the hooded person that protected her.
"Why?...Why is this person protecting me?...Just when I was about to accept my death…So unfair…"
The tears that were held back ever since being captured started to flow again.
The person removed his hood which revealed his pure white hair and brandished his sword.
"W-who…are you?..."
Unknowingly, she had uttered those words that were supposed to have been in her mind.
At this, he simply turned and revealed a challenging smile, as if he"s going to take on the hundreds of people surrounding them.
However, what shocked her more was his next words.
"Just wait for a moment princess, I"ll take you to your father soon."
As he said, she was indeed considered as a princess, the princess of the pure blooded vampires, Freya Lytton.
However, there shouldn"t be anyone that knows of this outside of that cave.
+ + +
"Well, that was all said and good but…how am I to deal with this?..."
Lucas, who uttered such cool words before is now in deep trouble. After all, he"s facing a hundred of players here all by himself.
"d.a.m.n, and I even showed my face! What the h.e.l.l am I thinking!!!??? To think my inner chuunibyou would show itself now of all times!!!"
That is, Lucas actually had a severe case of chuunibyou, however, even if it is said that he"s a chuuni, he was more of the closet type since he"ll only go full chuuni in his mind or when he"s alone.
Since he was in a game, he had lost sight of reality and so, his body moved on its own. Or more like, his body moved first before his brain.
It can"t be helped, after all, if he took the time to think, then Freya would be dead by now.
Yes, he knew she was Freya, the daughter of Sebastian. As for how, it was because their family is the only one that had silver hair within the pure blooded vampires. Also, if it had been a player that chose to have silver hair, then the guard won"t be referring to her as a slave.
"Argh whatever! I don"t have to defeat all of them anyways!"
Lucas decided to just stopped thinking and use his instincts
"Let"s do this! [Dragon Claw]!"
He readied his left arm and as he did, a black transparent huge ma.s.s appeared in parallel to his arm. Looking closely, that huge ma.s.s resembled a certain dragon"s arm which was about 10 human heads in diameter.
"Oooooooorryaaaaa!"
"E-eh? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!????"
Feeling as if it was his own arm, he swung his left fist with an open palm and like that, swiped the dumbstruck players in an arch in one go.
"Oh? Looks like a fun skill. Come on, let"s take this chance and escape!"
It seems that even Freya was affected by the unbelievable spectacle that he displayed just now and wasn"t moving.
Since he didn"t have time, he just pulled her to his chest and carried her with a princess carry.
"K-kyaaa! W-what are you doing!?"
"Sorry, I"ll explain later. For now, let"s get away from here."
By sightseeing from earlier, Lucas had already grasped the town"s layout and found places to hide himself if the need arises.
"Never thought I"ll need it though…"
Anyway, he went for the closest one. It was an abandoned building by the edge of the city. Since there isn"t that much place he can hide, that was really the nearest hiding place.
Actually, he was surprised to find things like an abandoned building in the game, much less, in a town.
Once they reached the two story building, they went inside to settle in.
"We should be safe here…for a while anyway."
"T-thank you very much…umm…"
"Lucas, I"m called Lucas. You are Freya right? Freya Lytton?"
At Lucas" question, she revealed her face from the hood. In contrast to her little sister Lilith, who has an energetic kind of aura, Freya was more like her mother.
Calm droopy eyes that make one calm, however, unlike her mother, Freya seemed to have the same feel as her father, that strong leadership kind of feeling. Though Lucas didn"t talk to Lilith that much, he suspects that she too has that king of aura.
Even with her haggard look, she can still be called a beauty.
"Y-yes, that I am…how did you know?"
"I met your father, well, I actually just got out from your village so I actually met all of your family."
Upon these words, mixed emotions surged inside Freya.
She doesn"t know if this man is at all trustworthy, even though he just saved her a while ago, it can be just a plot.
Also, meet her family? That should be impossible.
After all, that cave in which her village is imprisoned is guarded by a fearsome gatekeeper, a dragon.
"You don"t have to worry about Denneth. Your family"s safe. And your little sister was also able to avoid being chosen as a slave."
Just when she was worrying about such things, Lucas a.s.sured her.
She doesn"t know why, but for some reason, she knew she can trust those words.
As she kept thinking why, she suddenly noticed the sword Lucas wielded.
"[Draughtbane]!?"
"Hm? Ah yes, your father gave it to me as well as these clothes when I settled things with Denneth."
Now she knew why she can trust him.
[Draughtbane] is a family heirloom that her father supposedly hidden in order for the demi-vampires not to notice.
In fact, she herself has only seen it once as a child. But she can still remember the warmth she felt when her father wielded it in front of her.
And she also felt that same warmth right now, looking at Lucas.
"Now then, I still have about 8 hours in real life until I get ready for school…so I have about a whole day to spend here…"
Lucas calculated his schedule as he looked at the time in his vision.
There"s a 3 day travel time between [Drachedge] and the cave"s entrance. He can just go in the same way he did before but he really didn"t know the exact location of that hole. Also, since he knows that it was already blocked, there"s a high chance he won"t even recognize it if he does remember.
He also hasn"t set this town as his resurrection point yet so he can instantly go there if he really wanted.
But that would mean not playing for a whole day and 3 days in game. Freya also can"t possibly reach the cave the same way.
"If it comes to this, I"ll just skip tomorrow as well."
By not going to school tomorrow, he can have about 4 days in game, of course he still have to go eat his real lunch and dinner but that will only last for a few minutes.
He can"t afford to leave Freya alone too long so he needs to stay in game.
Right now, in Lucas" mind, he wonders since when has the game been that important to him but shrugs it off immediately as it will only hinder his actions if he kept thinking about it too much and decides to just trust his instincts.
"Anyway for now, how did you manage to escape? You should"ve been chained with an [Anti-magic Chain] right?"
"Y-yes, actually, what happened is…"
And thus began Freya"s story how she escaped.
Listening attentively, what piqued Lucas was about the first slave"s written contract and decides to ask for more info.
100 000 years ago, it would seem that the pure-blooded vampires are actually a respected race throughout the world. Even the high priests of that time were said to have friendly relations with them.
However, a certain king saw them as a means for power.
He went and asked the Vampire Lord to turn him into a vampire, to give him strength, power, and an immortal life.
The Vampire Lord declined saying that there is a reason why each race has its own uniqueness. That they were never meant to wield powers of a different race.
The enraged king went back to his kingdom and contacted an a.s.sa.s.sins Guild. The a.s.sa.s.sins Guild presented to the king a contract which cannot be broken, should it be broken, the side that broke it will be cursed for all eternity.
The king signed it and hid his own copy somewhere no man can find it. The contract, as stated, was to kidnap the Vampire Lord"s daughter and bring it to him saying:
"If I cannot have that power, then I shall pa.s.s it to my child! The power of both a Human and a Vampire!"
It seems that the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild placed an illusion of the daughter that she was simply touched by some unknown disease and was forced into deep slumber so neither the Vampire Lord nor anyone had known that she was kidnapped.
And thus, the first slave was taken and the first half-breed was born.
Having been blinded by l.u.s.t for the beautiful vampire, the king repeatedly raped her again and again. Soon, the demi-vampires grew large in number and were unable to control themselves any longer.
Different from pure-blooded vampires, the demi-vampires cannot control their thirst for blood. They killed their own father. And their mother took charge.
Blinded by rage and revenge for the humans that took her away from her family, she ordered her sons and daughters to completely ma.s.sacre the humans in the kingdom. Soon enough, the church finally saw vampires, as a whole, a threat and discriminated them.
The Vampire Lord, finally having discovered the illusion of his daughter was also enraged at the humans that kidnapped her, but, his anger was only directed to the king that was no more.
He knows he has to stop his own daughter, but the church doesn"t know this and simply treated both sides as evil vampires.
Then came the first holy war which was won in the end by the church.
Both sides of the vampires were forced to retreat, however, that too was only for a few moments.
The demi-vampires found out that they cannot reproduce and their only way to increase in number was their Queen, the only pure-blooded vampire in their midst.
For a while, they used this method and have men of other race succ.u.mbed to her.
However, the Queen died. Killed by one of her own child. This child gained control and ordered for war against the pure-blood vampires.
This of course, Lucas already knew the result and decided to not ask any further.
"So this contract…is somewhere here in Drachedge?"
Lucas actually had a lot of questions, like why did her own child kill her? Or why was he not told of this before? But Lucas decided it was not important at the time and asked for the real point.
"Yes, actually, the current King of [Drachedge] was actually a direct descendant of that king from 100 000 years ago. He will definitely have the contract with him."
"Hm? What makes you so sure? I mean, not to sound pessimistic or anything, but why can"t he just destroy it? If no one finds it then he won"t be troubled right?"
"Ah actually, the contract says that should it be broken, he/she will be cursed for his/her entire life and that this will be pa.s.sed to the first born of every generation."
Lucas was surprised, of course, with this curse, he will definitely have the contract with him.
But he was also surprised how she knows all this.
"How come you know so much?"
"!? A-ah, well…That"s what I was only told by my father s-so…"
Although he felt it suspicious, Lucas decided not to pry any further.
"Anyway, if that is the case, then I"ll help you retrieve it."
"R-really!?"
"Haha, count on me. In the first place, I"m already a criminal because of earlier. Might as well stick to the end."
"I-I"m really sorry about that…"
"Eh? N-no, it"s fine really. I"m already aware of what will happen anyway. And if we clear your race"s misunderstanding, then the one in the wrong here is definitely that trash king."
Lucas didn"t expect his joke to be taken seriously so he immediately waved his hand indicating he didn"t mind it at all.
"Anyway, rest up first. We"ll begin our counter attack afterwards."
Lucas wanted to say he wanted to continue tomorrow morning, but it was already afternoon here in the game and he wanted to make use of the night when sneaking into the palace.
Also, with the sun down, Freya would be able to walk more at ease rather than continue relying on her cloak and hood to hide in the sunlight.
"Warren, can you do me a favor?"
["Hm? Ah, want me to survey the palace?"]
"!?"
It would seem that Freya was also able to hear Warren"s voice.
Actually, Warren has been with them since the start, though, with his quiet and calm nature, he has kept quiet for a while and just listened in.
He"s actually the type that couldn"t care less for this kind of situations and just be an observer, but he does try to answer and be of service to those that can see or hear him. After all, they are the only ones he can talk to in a long time.
With that, he decided to show his face in Lucas" shadow.
"Ah, this guy"s name is Warren, he"s a [Phantom]."
["Greetings n.o.ble vampire. I"m sorry if I startled you a moment ago, I simply thought you can"t see me"]
"Uh, n-no, I"m sorry for being startled like that…"
"So Warren, can you do it? With your abilities, recon should be a simple walk-in."
["Yeah. Then, I"ll be off. Let"s pray no one from them has the ability to see me."]
With that, Warren disappeared into the shadows and traveled through shadows towards the heart of the town.
Freya also quietly rested as she leaned on a wall near her.
As for Lucas, he decided to finally use his new skills.
"I have 5 Skill point left from before. Now I just need to gain 20 to unlock [Hide Presence], I shouldn"t have spent all on weapons mastery when I didn"t have the weapon…well, no use crying over spilt milk."
[Hide Presence] is a skill that belongs to the [Basic Scouting Skill Tree Book] along with [Trap Appraisal] and [Enemy Appraisal] that Lucas has.
Appraisal Skills are Pa.s.sive, meaning, you use them without consuming MP and are mostly always activated.
Normally, Appraisal Skills are also always activated, however, the player"s brain does not recognize them since the player isn"t always focused on a single object. By focusing one"s eye, the brain also focuses and the information becomes readable. Also, by focusing, the level increases faster than when not focused.
In Lucas" field of vision, a few windows kept popping out as he focused on different materials inside the abandoned building.
NameOak WoodRankGDescriptionCame from an Oak tree. Heavy, strong, light colored hardwood.
NameGravelRankGDescriptionA loose aggregation of small water-worn or pounded stones.
And a bunch of other materials discovered by Wood and Ore Appraisal.
There didn"t seem to be any metal and the s.p.a.ce is practically empty so there wasn"t anything the other appraisal skills can discover.
Also, as the skill was still low level, there is only a name, rank, and a basic description. The idea is that more information will be released when the skill level gets higher, well, Lucas viewed it that way.
As he thinks of that, he shifted his focus on the robe Freya was wearing.
NameTattered RobeRankGDescriptionA robe that was not taken care of properly.
"…What useless description…"
Well, that description was really already obvious from the name and the appearance so of course it was useless.
Next, he turned his vision to his own equipment.
NameThe NocturnalRankDDescriptionA set of clothes made by the pure-blooded vampires.
"Hm? So you can also identify it as a whole? Let"s check the different materials."
Lucas was surprised he was able to identify his clothing as a whole set, maybe it was because it was an NPC made set or you can actually view them that way as part of the system, anyway, he started focusing on the materials instead.
NameDracula Bat LeatherRankEDescriptionLeather dropped from a Dracula Bat.
NameOwl FeatherRankDDescriptionFeather dropped from a Crypt Owl.
NameAlpha Grey Wolf PeltRankDDescriptionPelt dropped from an Alpha Grey Wolf.
NameEbonyRankCDescriptionHard, durable, black gla.s.s-like substance that is said to be the petrified blood of the G.o.ds.
NameSilverRankCDescriptionA precious shiny grayish-white metal.
"Silver?"
Lucas was yet surprised by the appearance of the silver window which popped up along the ebony window as he focused on his shoulder guard.
"So that"s why it isn"t black? It has silver plating on it? But why?"
Well, for whatever reason it was, he can just ask them when they get back.
After appraising all items and everything he can get information with, he had only gained 9 [Skill Points].
Only Metallurgy and Item Appraisal managed to reach Intermediate level. He was also able to conclude that the higher the rank of the object appraised, the higher experience they get, newly appraised objects also give high experience.
Anyway, he still 11 points short to get [Hide Presence] and he has run out of object to appraise. So he decided to finally try painting.
+ + +
Meanwhile, back to the plaza where Lucas and Freya just left.
"Was that…the guy in that movie?"
"I bet, he"s not wearing the [Beginner"s Outfit] so I didn"t realize but…that sword was in the movie…"
"…That skill was too awesome…"
There was unrest from the crowd that just confronted him.
After all, they were never the bad guys here, just players that complied with the quest given. Not only that, but the quest came from the city guard directed by the king.
Who would even doubt that?
It is practically common sense that they should be in the right here actually. If that slave really did sneak inside the palace then she was the criminal.
But with the appearance of the [White Haired Adventurer], they"ve grown confused.
They witnessed him risk his life to save the pure-blooded vampire race before. They also know that they come in peace and the demi-vampires are the real enemy as told in the movie.
But the rest of the humans in this world don"t know that.
"Screw this, I"m going to catch that b.i.t.c.h, and earn the reward. White haired adventurer or not, he"s going down."
"What did you say!? I"m with the white haired adventurer in this. The quest from before must have been a chain quest and this is the second quest. I won"t let you get that slave."
"Hoh? Wanna die along with him then?"
"If you can."
And thus, the group was divided into three groups. Those who"s against Lucas, those for him, and those that no longer cared and moved on.
Of course Lucas was unaware of all of this and so is them being unaware that Lucas will simply sneak in the palace with Freya alone so there is really no need for getting allies, but they will be good to keep those against on hold. At least, that"s what Lucas would"ve thought if he did see this situation.
+ + +
While the two opposing sides clash in the plaza, Pearce, Lilianne made Trask can"t help but be confused as well.
After all, it was already all over the web that the [White Haired Adventurer] was seen in [Drachedge] with a screenshot photo of Lucas brandishing [Draughtbane] while protecting Freya.
"For someone that kept reminding them not to reveal him, he revealed himself rather flashily…"
"Fufufu, he really does keep on surprising you. I should"ve told him to start in [Cyle] so we could"ve partied together…and who"s that girl anyway?"
"Haha, getting jealous Ms. Bristow?"
"N-not at all Sir."
Lilianne pouted as she can"t really reply anything impolite to her boss.
"As they say…is it really a quest?"
"But the only quest he has now is [Denneth"s Revenge]…he even ignored the [Escaped Slave] Quest."
Pearce replied as he scratches the back of his head not being able to make heads or tails out of the situation.
"Well…we can only ask Lucas once he logs out so be attentive. Call him immediately once he goes offline and ask the situation, if it"s interesting, ask the same offer as before."
As Trask ordered, the two bowed in acceptance and went back to their stations.
With the two gone from his office, Trask relaxed himself on his chair and sighed deeply.
"Hmm…with him busy…I don"t think he"ll accept the interview after all."
Trask sighed once more but then changed to a mischievous smile immediately afterwards.
"Well, that doesn"t really matter actually…he will still run towards me for help in time."