Blood House

We made our way to the Mallory House. A half hour walk or so as me and Lilith tried to figure out where she lived, remembering our track was quite hard since this kingdom was that large for us. Either way, we stood at the gate of the house.

"Talk about a house. Hell, it's even right next to the sewer line." Korbyn said, admiring the home. "…all that poop and stuff probably goes to the line faster than others…"

"Can you for once in your lifetime act your age?" Elena rolled her eyes. "You middle aged elf." The two Elves have been bantering to each other the whole walk here. It seemed like the two were at each other's throats while talking about who was supposed to clean the room they stayed at and what they needed to do for the rest of the day.

Just hearing about them bantering did give me some insight about how things operated in their forces. It seems they operated more like what I'd expect from a military force in my old life. Comparing that to Prusha was like…comparing a small local police force to the national guards.

Anyways, brushing their bantering aside, something seemed off about the Mallory home.

Besides the front gate being opened, the whole house was eerily quiet. I mean, it could usually be like this considering there's just two servants who are doing the work. It didn't look like anyone had been outside the house since we left yesterday…But something seemed off.

"Well…Guess we head ourselves in then." Kale went on to open the gate further. "Let's make this quick."

Following behind Kale, we all stood at the main door as Kale began to knock on the door.

"Is anyone awake? Sorry if this is disturbing you all, but I would like to speak with Adam Mallory!"

Elena and Korbyn looked around the house, trying to see if anyone would be passing by the windows. I tried to listen to see if I would hear anyone's steps.

There was none.

Kale let out a sigh before again knocking on the door. "Are you sure this is the right house?"

"Yeah! I'd remember the place I took food from! Especially if it had some good cheese wheels!" Lilith said, surely confident in her answer. Kale gave her a look of disappointment as he went in for another knock on the door.

However, the door slowly opening on its own was not a part of his plan. He quickly looked at the door, his brows raising in suspicion as seemingly no one had opened the door.

"…Elena, Let's stop arguing and get to work…" Korbyn said in a low tone. The dark skinned man held the handle of his curved sword, his face turned serious. Elena simply nodded, her eyes narrowing as she watched Kale slowly open the front door even more.

"…Adam Mallory?" Kale called out. Once the door was fully open, I peered inside. Nothing seemed particularly off about the main floor, it looked just how I saw it when I first came here. I looked up to the second floor to see if anyone was up there, but found that no one was around. However…Amelia's room was open.

"Don't think anyone is home." Korbyn said as he looked inside. "Perhaps they all left the house together?"

All of us entered the house, looking around the first floor. Elena and Korbyn entered the kitchen, Kale stayed around the entrance and eyed everything before looking at me and Lilith.

"Can you see if Amelia or Claire is here?"

I quickly nodded, Lilith followed behind me as I led my way up the stairs and towards Amelia's open door. I was about halfway there when Lilith stepped ahead of me and started to lead the way.

"I should be in the front, that way you get a chance to cast your spells." Lilith looked at me. "I can handle whatever."

"I don't think anyone is here, Lilith." I frowned at her. "Although…don't you think it's strange that everyone hasn't said anything?"

"Maybe Korbyn was right? They all left?"

"Maybe. But why would they leave their doors open and unlocked?" The two of us gave each other a concerned look before proceeding forward. As we walked towards Amelia's door, Lilith pulled out her short sword.

I watched carefully as Lilith pushed Amelia's door open.

"Amelia?" Lilith said, making her way into the room. I followed behind her, checking the corners and then eying something on the ground in the middle of the room.

A golden bracelet, a dove engraved into it. It looked like someone dropped it? Lilith gave me a worried look, she went on to pick it up and held it between us.

"This is…?"

"It's a bracelet…Probably Amelia's." I looked around the empty room. "Did she drop this?"

Lilith then gasped. "Was she kidnapped?! Again?"

"No, that can't be…" I tried to reassure her, but an odd scarier feeling crept through my mind. Did someone actually manage to get them when we left?

"L-let's head downstairs. Maybe Kale will help figure this out."

As the two of us walked our way out of the room, I noticed a large stain that was on the floor. As Lilith walked out of the room, I knelt down to inspect it. Looked like it was new…I wasn't really a detective or anything, but this…kinda smells like blood?

Something bad happened here. Blood smelling stain, a dropped bracelet, no one in the house?

"Kota!" I heard Kale yell in the house. I quickly got to my feet, making my way down the stairs. The smell of copper lingering in my nose as I finally met up with everyone else.

"What'd you guys find?" Kale asked, Looking at Lilith's hands. "A bracelet?"

"Looks like it has The Mallory insignia." Elena spoke out, pushing her glasses up. "All noble families in Ozoth have an insignia of their own."

"I…Found a stain in her room. Smelled like copper…" I added as well. "Someone was bleeding in there.

"Look, she dropped it in her room! She must've been kidnapped or in a hurry!" Lilith gave Kale a concerned look. She then held the bracelet close to her chest.

Kale narrowed his eyes, his gaze faced the center door that led to Adam's room.

"…let's check that room." He said, walking his way up the stairs to the door.

Elena and Korbyn followed beside him, forming a triangle of sorts as kale proceeded to open the door. Following behind the three, me and Lilith tagged behind them.

We didn't see much of the room, but an audible gasp from Elena made me tense up. The three adults then spreaded themselves in the room just as me and Lilith entered it. I noticed kale's serious expression, he was looking at something. Korbyn also shared the same expression and gaze while Elena had a much more disgusted look on her face. As my eyes shifted to what they were looking at, I heard Lilith give out a gasp as well.

"Oh no…" I heard Lilith say as my eyes finally laid on what was being looked at.

On the couch, where I saw Adam sitting before we left, was a body. Blood stained the couch itself and the floor beneath it, the body's chest seemed to have been punctured as there was a gaping hole in it that seemed to have even punctured the couch itself. But this wasn't just anyone's body. I recognized the smaller frame of it, even with its shriveled form. This wasn't Amelia or any of the Mallory members.

It was the Mallory's servant, Roul.

"No…" I found myself spilling that out. "Roul…"

"What the hell happened here?" Kale said, kneeling down to examine the body. He studied the body momentarily "…a puncture wound by a blunt object."

"That's the Mallory Servant, Roul." Lilith inputted.

"Looks like he was drained in the same fashion as Mandy does." I also inputted my thoughts.

"If they drained Roul…why wouldn't they have transformed them into a monster?" Kale asked, standing back up.

That…I wasn't sure of. Why wouldn't Mandy make Roul into a monster?

"Kale…The stone." Lilith said, pointing at him.

Just within the blonde man's pouch, a green light brimmed within it. He quickly pulled it from his pouch and looked at it. "It's blinking…" kale quickly looked around the room. "Kota, didn't you say that Adam had a stone similar to this?"

I took a look around as well, looking at the bed table where I last saw it.

It wasn't there.

"It's…not here anymore. Someone must've take-"

"So…it was you three all along." A cold voice bellowed.

Everyone in the room immediately turned to the voice, which was right behind me. As I turned, I saw a large man. His metallic arm reached towards me, ready to grab me. His iron mask covered his face, yet I could see forms of steam or smoke rising out of it. It was Victor, and just from his waist…I saw a green aura emanating from it.

"Kota, move!" I felt Lilith yank me backwards, her sudden movement sent a couple of feet backwards. Lilith quickly switched into battle mode, her dragon eye activated and she went in for a slash at the tall man.

Victor quickly made his move as well, his large stature couldn't let him in the room. Still, he managed to swing his arm towards Lilith. He was fast, fast enough for Lilith to only be able to react in such a short manner. She blocked his swipe, only to get flung across the room and hitting the wall.

"Yet, you withstand Mandy's siphon. You are different. Which makes you a threat to her plans. Elimination is the safest option." Victor said in a deathly tone. "I will not allow you to leave alive."

Jesus Christ, what the hell is up with this guy?! Where'd he even come from?! I thought we checked the house? We were literally just on the first floor.

Not trying to think about that, I fired my dry ice spell as fast as I could. The white ball of ice formed within seconds as I shot it right as his metallic arm. As it impacted, it spreaded instantly across the arm. Crackling and intense amount of cold emanated from him as he suddenly couldn't move his arm.

"Hrngh! You damn brat!" Victor hissed through his mask as he pulled his arm back.

"Kota! Get back!" Elena shouted, suddenly I saw her whip sword blades zip past me. They snaked their way towards Victor, hitting him right in his chest. The impact seemingly punctured him and sent him flying down the stairs, blood spraying as he fell down.

"Kiddos! Stay back!" Korbyn yelled, Both him and Elena quickly ran out to the first floor. But not before stopping and looking back at Kale. "So much for no violence! Kale, we got to subdue this guy!"

"On it! You lead the way now!" Kale said, running to the door. However he stopped for a moment to turn to me and Lilith. "Kota, make sure she's okay. Once we get this guy, we can interrogate him about what the hell is going on."

I quickly nodded at him, turning around to help Lilith who was still recovering from her hit. She struggled to get back to her feet, leaning against the wall she had been thrown against. Her left eye gleaming a hot red color when I approached her.

"Tch…that hurt." Lilith grumbled out. "How's he so fast?" She then Allowed me to assist her, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her to her feet as a support. "Is everyone else fighting him?"

"Yeah, just relax. You took a big hit. Let me heal you real quick." I placed my hand on her injured arm and chanted a beginner healing spell. Even from here, I could feel the heat emanating from her left arm. "…is that arm going to be a problem?"

"No, no…I got it. Just got heated from the hit I got."

The sound of blades and wood cracking echoed from the door. Those three must be giving Victor an issue, considering his arm was frozen at the moment.

"So Victor was following us with the stone…"

"Is that the big tall guy's name?" Lilith asked me, to which I nodded.

"Him and Mandy are the ones behind our attack. It's obvious now, they took the Mallory family stone and took them somewhere!" I was trying to piece it all together. Mandy was somewhere in the kingdom, we just needed to pinpoint where they were! Wait, how the hell were we supposed to find Mandy? The forces of Ozoth couldn't find them, so how could we?

"Boy, oh boy…Look at who's here? Looking for your blue haired friends?"

I jolted at the voice, a feminine voice that came from Adam's bed. My eyes drifted to it, and made eye contact with Mandy. The pink haired boy smiled devilishly as he played with his bo-staff, spinning it around before he playfully hopped off the bed and jumped right onto the couch with the body of Roul.

How…did Mandy get in here? Have they been here this whole time?

"Whew…you know this old wrinkly guy was difficult to kill." Mandy let out a giggle as he proceeded to put a hand on Roul's arm. His blue icy eyes beamed at me and Lilith, his smile widening even more. "So glad you two decided to bring those two back to their home where I could easily get them. Aw, if only you two weren't distracted by my boys. This whole thing just got so much easier!"

"You!" Lilith angrily said, pushing herself off the wall. "You took them!"

"Of course! I'm not going through all that trouble to just not get them!" Mandy laughed, his smile widening. "Hah…I mean, I wasn't really in it for the money or the weird family issue that was going on. Just gotta do my job and it'll be all done.

"…Family issue?" I caught those words as he said them. "You know Adam…Do you know about the Mallory's family problems?"

"Of course." Mandy's hand pressed harder onto Roul's body. His face mocked me with a fake pout. "Don't you remember what I said to you, cutie? You don't know half of what's really going on. I mean, Who else would've given me that boring ass rock to kill his kids?"

My guess was right.

"You…I knew it." I gritted my teeth in anger. "I knew you were plotting something with Adam! What the hell do you want with Amelia and Claire?!" I gripped my staff, Incongruity and aimed it at Mandy. "Where are they?!

Mandy Ignored my outburst. "Tsk, tsk…I thought this was going to be a much sweeter reunion." As he spoke, I saw a mana flowing through Mandy's hand and into Roul. The old dwarfs body began to twitch and move. "It's a shame, really. Kind of a buzz kill, if you ask me. Let's spice it up!"

Roul's body morphed, spasming out of control as the dwarfs' body grew thin and long. Body contorted and slowly morphed into a snake-like form, His arms and Legs looking like they've melted all together to make this hideous form. His jaw morphed as well, looking more disembodied and snake-like as well.

"Now…I guess I should say why I even showed up here. I should've mentioned it in the first place! Oops!" Mandy raised his hand and poked himself in the cheek in a playful manner. "She wanted me to."

She? Wait…Didn't Mandy talk about someone telling her about me in Prusha? Who was this person?

"Who?" Lilith asked, already ready to fight. She held her Fire king style stance, her dragon eye brimming a bright red. "Answer us!"

"Well…My beloved goddess! Arael!" Mandy said with a smile. He then raised his hand, pointing at us. "Now Roul, Let's make this battle a foursome!"

And within an instant, Roul's dead body was under Mandy's control. Slithering the room and heading right for me.

Mandy is working for Arael. The Goddess who led me and left me to die.