Chapter 58: Tooth

"A tooth of that noble vampire."

"How did you obtain this?" Ian asks.

"Aneer. That greedy merchant is very sly. He didn't mention that he sold off the corpse to a certain sentinel family. As for this tooth, I risked my own life and stole it from the corpse itself."

'Aneer actually sold the corpse?'

"You betrayed your master?"

"I-I hate him. He is a very cruel master who only thinks about his own fortune. We, beastkins would only follow the strong one and that human is clearly not him."

"After the beastkin lost the Mialan war and surrendered to humans their fate was sealed at that moment." Ian blatantly states the fact. He also notices Jora's pupils changing it's shape into vertical slits like an animal.

"Then, how are we going to use this to find the element?"

"That blade was stuck in the vampire's corpse for a very long time. Surely, it got stuck in the corpse." Jora gives a rough explanation.

'Nobles. They are the true eternal kings of the vampyer race. They do not age. They do not sleep and they never get tired. A truly terrifying species which feasts on other races. There are many sub-species of vampyers and a noble stands at the top. Due to their eternal life, their corpses take hundreds of years before properly decomposing. That is why a corpse of a noble is always burned to fasten the process.'

"Now, Sir Ian this is my humble request to you. Please inject your mana into this tooth." Jora offers the tooth to Ian.

"May I ask why can't you perform this?"

Jora looks away avoiding eye contact. "Sir- Actually." Jora slowly unbuttons his corset and takes off his shirt.

Secretly, Ian summons his magic circle at the back of his hand.

Jora has an overall well- defined body with low fat percentage. Ian eyes turn cold as he sees the collar on Jora's neck. Jora's entire body is covered in black markings all leading to a black circle on his chest.

"Slave contract?"

Jora nods silently.

"For how long?"

"Till my master dies. These marks, all of them were melted on my body using an iron rod at a very young age." Jora turns around and there are hundreds of whip marks on his back.

Surprisingly, there is no pity in Ian's eyes. "So, you can't use magic?"

"Yes, this circle restricts my ability to use mana. Therefore, I want Sir Ian's help to inject mana into this tooth."

Once again, Jora offers the tooth to Ian and this time Ian takes the tooth and injects wind element into the tooth. A small breeze comes out of nowhere. The haystack flows in the air. The tooth is slowly glowing green.

"HAAA!" Ian increases the mana output but there is still no resistance. Jora looks at the tooth in hope, he starts to pray in his mother tongue. The tooth is now fully glowing green.

CRACK! The green glow disappears as the tooth cracks.

WHOOM! The tooth glows in purple hue.

"Ugh!" Ian's hand burns, he drops the tooth on the ground.

Jora quickly picks up the tooth, his hands are burning but he doesn't care. "HAHAHAHA! The prophecy was wrong! Our grandmaster had the power of the forbidden element! Not the humans or the vampyers! Us! The beastkins! Our dark times are over now. Now we will rule-"

A trail of white smoke comes from Ian's index finger; he slashes at Jora and cuts his neck. The attack was a miniature version of Ray's spell.

THUD!

The tooth burns in bright purple light before evaporating in the air.

"Blame your false god who created your pitiful species, at the end we were chosen by the Great sage. Not you. I shall pray to the Horizon that you would be one of us in the next life." Ian prays.

Few minutes later, Ian steps out of the room with blood-stained clothes. He walks out of the complex like nothing happened. While walking, he taps something on his watch.

"Son?"

"Father. I have found some good intel on the Chamber Family."

In the federation sanctuary.

Rick is sitting on his desk. The weather is nice, not too or not too cold. Just perfect. Rick leans back and yawns.

"Hello, Prosecutor Rick." A female employee greets Rick.

"Ah! Hello, officer Mira. You finished your meeting?"

Mira is a female federation officer working in the public security department, she is an excellent mage specializing in long range. Mira is wearing her usual uniform which is long navy pants and a dark yellow coat which extends all the way to the floor, on top of a white t-shirt, she stands at around 5.11 ft tall.

"Yeah, the meeting went well. The higher ups were being a bit annoying but Alexander handled them."

Rick smiles in an awkward way and chuckles. "Oh, It's Alex. You know, he is super talented."

"Exactly. He knows how to handle people."

"He sure does. Haha." The conversation quickly dies creating a weird situation.

"Uh. Rick, are you free tomorrow? We have to do a survey in the Spring Street. Alex and I-"

RING!

Rick's watch rings loudly. "S-Sorry, I have to take this."

Rick taps on his watch to pick up the call. "Hell-"

"GET IN MY OFFICE! THIS INSTANT!" Chief yells.

"Yes!" Ricks hangs up. The yelling was clearly heard by Mira.

"Haha. Chief seems to be in a bad mood. About tomorrow-"

"Don't worry. You seem very busy. We will manage it somehow." Mira quickly turns back and leaves.

"Wait-" Just then, Rick's watch rings again. He clicks his tongue as he sees Chief written on the screen. He declines the call and stands up in frustration.

Few minutes later, he is standing in front the Chief's office door. Rick tightens his tie before knocking. "Coming in."

Suddenly Rick is overwhelmed by the large amount of mana present in room. Still, he stands straight and sees Chief sitting on his desk but there is someone else sitting in front of the Chief, Rick couldn't see his face.

"Chief, you called?" Rick asks. Chief looks up and signs Rick to come closer. With heavy footsteps, Rick goes and stands behind the Chief. He finally sees the face of the person.

"Sir Ken! It has been so long. How are you?" Rick immediately bows his head in respect.

Ken chuckles. "Come on. You are not my apprentice anymore. No need to bow."

"Yes sir. Did you come here to meet us?"

"Well, an old colleague of mine asked me to come."

"You mean Chief?"

"I did not call him." Chief immediately declines.

"I thought you had grown up. But you still the same bratty kid."

"Shut up."

"Heh."

"Chief, what is going on? Why is our teacher here?" Rick whispers in Chief's ears.

"General sent this man to assist us in the tomorrow's knight succession tournament. Originally, he gave us the mission to overview the tournament and make sure everything goes smoothly. But the sudden vampyer outbreak which happened few days back made all of the Sentinel families obnoxious and the general suspects that our plan will not go as planned."

"That's why that old man sent me. To handle the Sentinel families as well as those pesky bloodsuckers." Ken grins widely.

"This is going to be a headache." Chief whispers.

"I heard that. Anyways, listen. I got a new apprentice recently. He has a great potential. His name is L-"

"Nobody cares." Chief cuts in. "Back to the main point, Rick I called you here because I made a few contingency plans and I want you to hear this too. So the thing is-" Chief explains all of his plans for all possible worst outcomes.

"Any questions?"

"No." Both Rick and Ken answers unison.

"Good. Now this is unrelated to the tournament. But I need to keep an eye out for a special person."

"Oh? Who is this? Is he someone important?" Ken asks.

"I will share you the details of that person after I confirm that he is present in the tournament."

Ken nods.

"So, teacher. What have been doing all this time?" Rick asks.

"Nothing much. I become an instructor for a private academy."

"You? A former intermediate knight and a veteran from the red border, now teaches kids in a classroom?"

"Laugh all you want. But I have been enjoying life recently and I got my eyes set on a new apprentice."

'Who is that pitiful child?' Chief wonders.

"ACHOO!" Karl sneezes loudly and wraps blanket around himself. 'Tonight seems a bit cold.'

Even after few hours Karl isn't asleep yet. Ian's words are constantly repeating in his mind. 'You don't have enough time.' Karl opens his eyes and sees Leonard standing in front of me.

"Fuck off."

'You said that you would help me.'

"I did."

'You said everything will be fine.'

"I did."

'But look at her. Why couldn't you save her?' Zena's dead face appears in Karl's mind. 

'You couldn't save her. You will lose in the end. Let me do it.'

"No."

'Let me do it.'

Leonard keeps on repeating these words but Karl ignores them all.