Return to the Royal Capital

“I have to find out where I am…”

So I started to explore the caves carefully.

I had come here through teleportation magic.

But there should still be a physical entrance somewhere.

After searching for some time, I found the entrance.

It was a very grand door made of stone.

And it was thoroughly locked with magic. It was probably the type that required a password.

But since I didn’t know the password, I would have to force it open.

“Hmm.”

–click.

The magic itself was quite advanced.

But not too advanced for me. It only took three seconds.

I went outside of the cave and looked around. The scenery and terrain should tell me something.

“Judging by the terrain…those mountains are in the east…”

It was about a days journey towards the north of the last Vampire High Lord base we had destroyed.

And the High Lord base had been a days journey from the capital.

So this place was about two days away from the capital.

There were no towns or villages in the area. And it was far from any main roads. It was in the countryside.

“I see.”

It was so far from where humans lived. That meant it was very unlikely to be discovered.

The dark ones would be able to run around as they pleased. Maybe this was their main base.

I closed the door to the cave. Then I changed the magic lock on the door with a new password. Now the dark ones would not be able to go inside.

Only Adventurers who knew the password would be able to enter.

After that, I used the teleportation circle to return to Marquis Mastafon’s mansion.

There was still some exploration left to do here.

There were piles of ash all around. The remains of thralls, most likely.

Some of the servants were only unconscious. These had only been charmed.

There were no servants that were completely untouched.

It meant that the whole Mastafon house had been controlled.

(I hope the Marquis and his wife are safe.)

The mansion was large. It would take time to search everywhere.

And so I decided to leave once.

The guards were unconscious. Guards could not be made into thralls.

After all, people like Shia would immediately see what they were.

And so I dragged them inside before returning to my own house.

Shia and the others greeted me.

“How did it go?”

“I killed most of them. But this is an emergency. Serulis. Go and tell Goran to come to Marquis Mastafon’s mansion in a hurry.”

“Understood.”

“Tell him that I’ve crushed another vampire base. He’ll be here as soon as possible.”

“Leave it to me!”

Serulis ran off right away.

Shia looked surprised.

“You did all of that in this short amount of time?”

“Yeah. I’m going to return to the mansion now and search it. And I’ll need your help, Shia.”

“Leave it to me!”

“Milka and Luchila. You two stay here with Lord Gerberga.”

“Understood.”

“Mister Locke. Please be careful!”

“Cluck.”

“Groof.”

As Shia and I tried to leave, Grulf wagged his tail and tried to follow me.

“Alright, you can come too, Grulf.”

“Groof-groof!”

Grulf looked very happy. It was like he thought we were off to play.

But he was still a pup, so it couldn’t be helped.

Shia, Grulf and I returned to the marquis’s mansion and went straight to Philly’s room.

She looked at me and smiled.

“You’ve returned safely! I was so worried.”

“Ah, sorry to keep you waiting. By the way, this is Shia and Grulf. My friends.”

“Nice to meet you!”

Philly shook hands with Shia. She also grabbed Grulf’s front paw and shook it.

“I’m Philly Mastafon. The fifth daughter of the Marquis and a genius Alchemist. And this here is Tama.”

“Ruff.”

Tama wagged his tail. He seemed happy to see us.

When we finished this brief introduction, I explained the situation.

While I did this, Tama and Grulf were sniffing each other.

“I still haven’t found the Marquis and his wife. That’s the first thing I have to do now and I must be quick. That’s why I brought Shia and Grulf with me, because of their sense of smell.”

“Ruff.”

Tama barked surprisingly loudly.

He was finally able to bark loudly now that the servants were disarmed.

A very smart dog.

“Ruff-ruff.”

Tama moved to the door and started to scratch at it with his paws.

Philly looked at him and said,

“Tama wants you to follow him.”

“Is that right? Well, we’ll do that then. It may still be dangerous, so you stay here, Philly.”

“Alright.”

And so we left Philly in her room.

To be honest, it wasn’t really dangerous.

But I was worried that the Marquis and his wife would be in a tragic state.

And that was not something she needed to see.

Such were my thoughts as we followed Tama, who lead the way without hesitation.

And then he finally stopped in front of a certain room.

“Ruff.”

“Does he want us to go inside?”

“Probably.”

I tried using Search magic. There were no traps. And it seemed like there was no one inside.

I opened the door and it was an ordinary servants room.

“It doesn’t seem like there is anything here.”

“Groof?”

Grulf was moving around and sniffing dutifully.

On the other hand, Tama walked on to the center of the room. And then he kept walking.

“Ruff.”

“Right there?”

“Ruff-ruff.”

I tried using Search magic again. And this time I found a hidden door.

It was heavily guarded by concealment magic.

Without Tama, even Shia and I, who were good Scouts, would have taken a long time to find it.

I deactivated the locks and opened the door. There was a very large room on the other side.

There was a bed, bathing room, toilet and other simple furniture for a house.

“Who are you, people?”

An elderly man and woman looked at us with shocked expressions.