Wolf Among Sheep

"Young master, that's a dangerous place,"

"Soon, it won't be"

Draven's words stunned John but he failed to understand the full meaning of his words. John thought the young master was going to build something or offer something to improve the lives of mentally unstable people inside the asylum. However, he had no idea Draven planned to massacre the criminals hiding under the pretense of being mentally unstable.

The closer Draven got to the island, the creepier the island looked. John could see his own breath every time he exhaled. The chill air and the waves hitting the island gave off a spookier vibe to the island.

Still, the coins he earned were worth the risk of traveling to the island everyone in Port City avoided.

Except for the asylum, there was nothing on the island. It was relatively a small island with nothing but rocky shore and thirty-meter stone walls surrounding the asylum.

Rolled barbed wires sat atop the walls to prevent anyone from climbing up. The archers on each tower acted as additional security. When Draven's boat got closer to the mini pier built with marble stones, they were welcomed by two guards in completely iron armor.

John slowed his rowing as the boat slowly moved adjacent to the pier.

"Thank you," Draven climbed to the pier and nodded at John.

"I am here to interview the warden for the Daily News," before the armored soldiers could ask to state Draven's purpose, he told them the reason,

"Miss Palmela will be here shortly,"

Palmela from Daily News was a sweetheart to many men in Etheria. Countless men would die just to meet her once. But, unfortunately, Draven used their desire for Palmela to his advantage and tried to get into the asylum.

"Daily News? Miss Palmela?!" the soldiers blushed under their iron helmets.

"Where is the warden? I thought he would be waiting for me," Draven didn't give the soldiers any time to question him back. Instead, he overwhelmed the soldiers with rapid questions,

"Do I have to find my way to the warden or will one of you show me the way?" The soldiers felt completely overwhelmed by his authoritative tone and the way he dressed.

As far as they could tell, Draven was definitely someone from an influential family. The soldiers lost the courage to question him and the pressure prevented them from thinking clearly.

"This…this way, my lord," the soldiers quickly gestured at Draven to follow them to the steel gates leading into the asylum.

Draven calmly followed the soldiers and it was surprising for Margoth to see no soldiers guarding the main gate. But the lack of security made sense to him. The asylum wasn't a kingdom's treasury or a vault to guard them with high priority.

There was nothing but mentally unstable people on the island. Thanks to the Layne family, King Richard did not worry much about the gifted ones living on the island such as the Iron Bender. They were generous and rich enough to build each gifted one on the island a special room protected with various security measures which would prevent them from escaping the island.

To the outside world, no one had escaped the island. But only a few knew that The Clown was a resident of the asylum a long time ago. How The Clown escaped the island remained a mystery to this day.

The soldier pushed open the gate to reveal a spacious courtyard where Draven saw numerous people in white robes looking at the sky above. The courtyard was walled by a steel fence and watched over by the archers on top of the walls as well as the patrolling soldiers.

"AGGHHHH!"

"KILL HIM!"

"HUNGRY!"

As soon as Draven entered the asylum, some patients dashed at him and tried to reach for Draven through the gap in the fence. Ignoring the truly mentally disturbed patients, Draven looked around the building built with gray stones.

"GET BACK!"

The soldiers leading Draven shouted at the patients and slammed the fence to back them off.

"The warden's quarters is this way my lord," quickly the other soldier, pointed at the stairs leading to the upper floors,

"Hmm," Draven nodded and climbed up the stairs, turned a corner, and saw a wooden door that another two guards flanked,

"You can stay here or return to your posts. I will talk to the warden alone,"

"Yes my lord," one soldier's voice trailed away as he wanted to ask Draven something else,

"Yes, I will get you an autograph from Palmela. Now go,"

Draven knew what they were hesitating to ask. So he just gave them some closure by saying he would get Palmela's autograph, making them the superstars among their colleagues.

Poor soldiers had no idea Draven was lying to them. The soldier flanking the door frowned beneath their helmets,

"I am here to talk to the warden about the Daily News interview,"

"Oh? Wait here my lord," one soldier said before going inside the room.

Draven waited patiently for a few minutes until the soldier opened the door,

"My Lord, the warden will see you now," Draven nodded and entered the cozy room. The room was brightly lit with light orbs. The room was packed with books and book racks. When he stepped into the room, Michael saw a gray-haired man with a goatee sitting behind an oak table scribbling something on a parchment with a quill.

After rolling the parchment, the warden looked upwards to see Draven walking towards him.

"Why didn't I receive any letters about this interview?" the warded asked with a thick accent,

"What? It must be some sort of mistake. We sent the letter months ago and they told me to meet you. Look, they even gave me your payment,"

Draven placed the pouch containing the rest of the coins on the table,

"Eight hundred now and two thousand after the interview,"

The man was stunned and then, Margoth saw a glint of greediness in his eyes. The warden took the pouch and weighed it in his hand,

"Hmm. It must be a mistake on my side then. Who do you want to interview again?"

The warden's lips curved upwards, revealing the gold canine tooth. It wasn't new news to Michael that the warden was a greedy bastard. As a matter of fact, the warden was one of the richest nobles in the entire Veland. When Draven was a superhero, he heard the warden was supplying mentally challenged patients to villains to be used as lab rats.

"General Iron Bender," The warden creased his brows,

"How do you plan to interview someone who had long lost his ability to talk?"

"He can blink right?" Draven smirked,

"I assume yes or no questions only?"

Draven nodded,

"Can I meet him now warden?"

The warden finally stood up, showing his fat belly and picked up the tree from one of the drawers. He then put on his fur coat before walking around the oak table.

"Let's go,"

The greedy bastard didn't even ask why Draven didn't bring any parchment or quill with him. Instead, the warden was delighted about the free two thousand coins he was about to make by literally doing nothing.

Draven nodded and followed the warden behind.

"My Lord,"

The two soldiers placed their hands on their chests and stood straight when they saw the warden. Then, giving them a stern nod, the warden led Draven through the corridor to the metal door at the end.

Just like the two guards before, the soldiers flanking the metal door saluted at the warden as he placed his palm on the door. However, as soon as the warden's palm touched the metal door, Draven heard clicking noises coming from the other side followed by glowing chakras on the door.

When the glowing chakras faded, the metal door slowly opened with creaking noise to reveal the hall brightly lit with blue torches. The square hall had lines on glass rooms; each room contained a person dressed in blue robes.

Unlike the patients in white robes, the blue-dressed ones looked calm, composed, and surprisingly creepy. As soon as Draven entered the hall with the warden, many grinned like the devil.

"Behave yourselves assholes," the warden snickered,

The criminals shouted back something but heard nothing because of their glass rooms. Each room was built only to let the air in and out through tiny holes in the ceiling. This resulted in the rooms being almost soundproof.

After agitating the criminals, the warden grinned. Draven said nothing but followed the warden walking past the criminals in the glass box.

"All these evil souls, waiting to be eaten," Draven could literally hear the sound of a stomach rumbling in his head. Its obvious Margoth was hungry for souls but he had to wait,

Eventually, after passing twenty or so glass boxes, the warden and Draven reached a room where Draven saw a messy-haired old man sitting on a wooden chair. His room had no metal items whatsoever. The room had nothing but the old man, one wooden table, two wooden chairs, and a bed made of marble stone.

"How do you feed him?" Draven asked curiously,

"Once a week, we get a maid to clean him and feed him,"

"Hmm," Draven nodded, feeling no pity at all for the old man. Of course, the old Draven would have, but the current one couldn't care less.

"If you may warden,"

"We will close the glass door once you're inside. I'll place a soldier outside. When you're done, you can knock on the glass and the guard will let you out. Also," The warden stepped closer to Draven,

"You can't bring any metal objects with you inside. So stay still," The warden didn't wait for Draven's permission but began to search. Fortunately for Draven, the sword was fitted perfectly into his gauntlet making it undetectable.

However, when the warden finished searching him, he creased his brows,

"Where is my payment?" The warden looked like a pissed-off cat,

"Miss Palmela will bring you personally warden. She wanted to thank you in person,"

"Really?" The warden changed his expression so quickly as a wide grin replaced his previous growl,

"I'll look forward to it then," the warden nodded before placing his hand on the glass. Just like earlier, several golden chakras appeared in the mirror and then, it slowly moved up until there was nothing between Draven and General Iron Bender.