Chapter 146 – This Won’t Do (2)

The sky overhead had turned into the deepest shade of grey possible before it turned completely black as raindrops drenched everything in sight. The area everywhere was surrounded by buildings… broken beyond repair.

Still, the people were forced to take shelter in these houses and covered their heads with whatever they could find so that the acid pouring down from the sky did not do much physical damage to them. But that wasn't enough to protect them indefinitely.

There were others around these people as well. But they were well armoured and the rain did not affect them all that much. Probably because those in armour were werewolves while those hiding were mere human slaves brought there to help in the construction of the new stronghold for the soldiers to stay in as they ventured in and out of the swamps.

Although Ashton was filled with more than a teensy bit of anger when he saw the humans being treated as expendable resources. But was he any different from the other werewolves at this point? After all, he too had slaves of his own and although he took good care of them, it didn't admonish the fact that he had slaves in the first place.

"Damn this place is nasty," Renee mumbled and promptly covered her nose, she wasn't alone, the others followed her lead as they had a sensitive sense of smell.

But Ashton was fine. It wasn't the first time he was subjected to the smell of rotting human flesh. Well, it would have smelled the same even if werewolves had died there, but after taking the living conditions of the humans into consideration, it would surprise him if the corpses did not belong to humans.

But before they could put much thought into it, a military officer made his way towards them to confirm the purpose of their visit.

"Histeria flowers eh? Good luck finding that shit here, haha." The officer scoffed but his smug look vanished the moment he saw Seven standing behind them.

Obviously, the officer did not know Seven but only a fool or a blind man wouldn't recognise the insignia engraved on his chest plate. As soon as the name saw Seven, the tone of his voice and demeanour, everything changed. He went from acting all high and mighty to their personal tour guide.

"What do you mean good luck?" Ashton asked the officer as soon as they were done registering themselves as new arrivals in the ruins of the city once known as Ethereal Falls.

The officer was not in the mood to indulge in random talk with a freaking child and was about to express his thoughts but Seven immediately unsheathed his sword and slashed it at the officer's neck, stopping a mere millimetre before he ended up chopping the head off entirely.

"Mind your language in front of Sir Ashton Bismark, 213th baronet of Lycania and my lord. This will be your one and only warning."

"M-My apologies!" The officer immediately asked for Ashton's forgiveness.

"Just answer the question…" Ashton sighed and Seven put his sword back in place.

"Sir… the answer to your question is right outside." The officer appointed out the downpouring rain, "Histeria flowers are known to grow in open fields. This ruined city was once the primary source of naturally grown histeria flowers."

He continued, "But ever since these damned acidic clouds shrouded the skies, everything was ruined and this place became a ghost town for night creatures to raid and feast. But thanks to the efforts of his highness and his brave knights we have been able to secure the town a few years back."

"I remember about it." Seven nodded, although he still had his face covered Ashton knew he was reminiscing about the past, "I was still a trainee back then but I remember our trainers talk about it. It was a blood bath."

The officer silently nodded along, "Since then, not a single histeria flower has grown in these parts. Therefore, when I saw that absurd request I couldn't help but laugh it off as if it was a joke to trick some fo-, I mean innocent beginners."

Ashton had a feeling the person wanted to call them fools but changed his words at the last moment. Still, Ashton could not get his words out of his head. Did that witch of a director had really pulled a prank on them was there a chance they could somehow find the histeria flower there.

However, after he had got to know who exactly the director was and how she knew his parents, it wouldn't surprise him in the least if she actually pulled a shitty prank on him.

'I just wanted to know what the fck was this sensitive information she wanted to share.' Ashton clenched his fists, 'I was hoping it would be some information regarding my parents but now… I don't think it is like that.'

"Is there no place where we could find those flowers?" Fae politely asked the officer, who seemingly got lost in his thoughts.

"There might be one place, but I would advise you to not go there."

"And why is that?" Baiter chimed in while Virgil played around with his gigantic hammer.

"It's a dungeon infested with terrible night creatures. As if it wasn't already enough of a challenge to take care of the beasts, we suspect the dungeon might be a maze. After all, whoever went inside there never came back out."

"So it's a kill box." Seven said before turning towards Ashton, "How should we proceed?"

Ashton thought about it while looking around his 'teammates'. Normally he would have taken them with him. But after what the officer had told him, he did not want to do so. It wasn't for some noble reason of not getting others involved for the sake of him.

However, Ashton decided to go solo because he wanted to go all out in the dungeon. If the beasts were actually as strong as the officer was saying, it would be a waste to not have a taste of them. Not to mention, he wanted to take out his frustration… in peace.

"I'll go alone."