Chapter 254

Slaves one by one made their way away from the fight towards King Micah and Duke Heket. Impossible to tell the slaves apart between criminal and captured civilian everyone was cautious in their actions towards each other. Though the bandit leader was incapable of marking slaves personally. The mark was not something that anyone could place on their own. Vorbuk felt uncomfortable the more he thought about it. That meant that the bandit leader worked for a slavery merchant.

What slavery merchant would be daring enough to grab regular people as well as slaves? Vorbuk pondered that question as he watched Prince Leo finish releasing the last slave. He could also hear the fight had calmed down from the direction Bredret was in with the bandits.

"That's the last of them." Prince Leo said as he wiped sweat from his forehead with his wrist. Dealing with the chains used on the slaves was not easy for him. They were heavy and laced with a magic to ensure the captured could not easily break them. Whoever the bandits worked with was someone who wasn't afraid to spend money in order to make it.

"Bredret seems to be done tying up the bandits as well," Vorbuk responded as he watched the prince plop down on the ground in front of him. The prince's back against the cart's back wheel. "What are you doing?"

"I'm exhausted." Prince Leo sighed out heavily as he thought back over everything they had gone through in the span of a single night. He wanted to relax with the wolf but instead they had been busy dealing with many crazy things. His head began to hurt as the stress flooded his mind.

The wolf glanced over in the direction of the startled slaves. He could see King Micah helping care for their wounds regardless of who was wounded. As a king who cared deeply about his kingdom it was impossible for him to be cold towards others who were wounded and innocent in front of him.

Is it due to his deep belief in peace and equality among the races? Or is it due to the heavy burden he grew up carrying due to his own race that he pushes himself to be so kind? Vorbuk wondered if King Micah really was as gentle as he seemed. Could he be putting up a front for others because of his own insecurities?

"We should probably feed them for now. The bandits should have food in the supplies they were hauling along with them." Vorbuk said as he thought about how weak the slaves looked. The bandits naturally hauled around supplies with them as they were moving with the slaves. Portions they received were small from the bandits as they only gave them enough to keep them alive as products to be sold. However the bandits would usually take proper care of themselves so the supplies they traveled with when transporting slaves was still enough to ensure everyone had a proper meal while they thought about how to deal with the situation.

The prince understood the meaning behind the wolf's words as he glanced over as well to get a good look at the slaves conditions as they were being cared for by King Micah. He seemed to have a lot of experience in aiding the weak and wounded. It was natural since he spent so much time at the front line whenever something major happened in King Micah's Kingdom of Cista. Opening his mouth he could only agree with the wolf, "If there isn't enough food we can probably gather some fish from the lake and build a fire."

It was a moment when Daryl's cooking as they traveled flashed through Vorbuk's mind. They had often ate what that man cooked for them, "He would be useful right now."

"Pardon?" The prince asked as he tried to hear what the wolf was muttering.

"It's nothing." Vorbuk replied casually as he erased those memories from his mind at present.

"Things have been dealt with but what should we do now?" Prince Leo asked while thinking, "Daryl will probably be out looking for us so if we wait here he should find us easily considering..."

The mess that was left behind while chasing Bredret on the horses would surely lead Daryl and the knights to their location. It would not take long for them to realize that Vorbuk and them had left the palace. They are probably in a panic by now considering the festival was an important event for Vorbuk to attend.

"I suggest we relax and wait here," Bredret's voice cut through the conversation between the prince and the wolf and as they turned their heads they could see him already drinking some of the alcohol that he had found on the bandits while beating them up, "Less work for us that way."

Vorbuk sighed at the sight of Bredret smiling. The dragon was eager to take the easiest way out of the situation. Less work for the dragon made Bredret feel delighted. If the knights would come to them it meant they did not have to go through the trouble of dragging them back to the guards themselves. It meant he had less work to do!

"I should get started on gathering the food for everyone. King Micah can hand it out while he is helping them with their injuries while I gather everything together." Prince Leo said as he stood up and started to walk towards the carts.

The wolf followed him from behind and spoke, "Should we take them back to the palace?"

"Who? The-" Prince Leo was about to speak.

Vorbuk spoke up before the prince could finish, "The slaves."

"That's..." Prince Leo pondered over the matter, "We could have them taken back and deal with the matter later."

Vorbuk nodded as he found the matter serious. If he took them back to the palace he could have the slave merchant Damien deal with them. The problem was who would take them? Some of the slaves caught by the bandits were regular people who had been caught. It was impossible to know for certain who was captured and who was a real slave.

Vorbuk's gaze slowly slid in the direction of Bredret.

Should he be called Lazy? Or unmotivated? Vorbuk could not decide how to take Bredret's personality. It was as if the dragon hated doing laborious tasks. However Bredret still took things seriously when he did work for the sake of those around him even if he didn't want to admit it. The wolf felt like he could sense how much Bredret cared about those around him but at the same time he knew he couldn't say anything about it.

There was a slight hesitation in Bredret as he watched the prince walk away to start working on the food. Prince Leo did not want to make the slaves wait much longer. He could rest when things were done with. The important thing in front of him was making sure everyone was taken care of and fed.

The dragon did not like showing how really cared so Vorbuk did not say anything. He only sat and watched as the drunkard dragged out dried food from the carts that the bandits had stored away for travel. Taking the food towards King Micah he tossed it on the ground without a word and turned away to search for more. He wasn't interested in the labor of dragging the bandits back but the dragon still aided the prince in making sure everything was distributed properly.