Chapter 318

Vampires were predators. They knew how to keep their food alive. Bringing them so close to death while feeding on them with their heightened senses. It was possible for Ashley to instinctively know when to stop himself before the elf died from loss of blood. After a while of rest the elf would regain his energy and the vampire could restart the process once again.

This happened over and over as the pirates continued to travel east towards Drethia Kingdom. Elas felt like his mind was going crazy. His entire body shook where he lay. He could hear the sound of the vampire's footsteps as he paced the merchant cart back and forth.

"Hm~ Hm~ Hmm~!" Ashley's quiet humming could be heard. The tune was peaceful and almost seemed a bit joyous.

Meanwhile,

Vorbuk had no idea what was going on inside the merchant cart that had the captive elf, Elas. The wolf sat down next to Prince Leo and Sebastian. Only one other person was present inside the merchant cart up front with them; Captain Cory.

"Elas probably trained under General Vulen closely for a long time. He works closely with him so his skill was probably from training directly under him." Vorbuk thought Elas reminded him of General Vulen when fighting.

Prince Leo still recalled their encounters with General Vulen thus far, "Do you really need to compare this elf with General Vulen?"

"We will have to take care of the general some time. This elf is our best chance at finding out what he is planning to do." Vorbuk tried to explain to Prince Leo.

The prince understood clearly that they would probably cross paths with General Vulen again. His mind knew what his heart wished it did not. General Vulen always came after the wolf from the beginning. If they came across him in the future it meant that something bad was going to happen.

If he is planning something it probably involves him going after Vorbuk again.. Prince Leo worried.

The wolf's ears flicked as a few messages began to show up after a while of riding in silence. A familiar voice delivering the words to him in the back of his mind. It was brief but Vorbuk felt like he saw a flicker of light in Sebastian's eyes as he avoided looking in their direction.

[ Mission Completed: Defeat The Enemy Knights ]

[ Elas's will to fight has been broken ]

What did Ashley do? Vorbuk thought as soon as he saw that message. The quest given to him had been completed the moment the will to fight from Elas was broken. Thinking about what Ashley might have done to break the elf gave him goosebumps.

[ Should I answer that? ]

The voice sounded like it was really going to explain everything that Ashley was doing to the elf.

DONT! I do not really need to hear that! Vorbuk panicked slightly as he tried to stop the system from giving him details. Accepting the fact that he had to torture the elf for information was different from being comfortable with it. In fact the wolf was extremely uncomfortable with the decisions that he knew he must make for the sake of everything he cared about.

"Pfft." A sound came from the direction towards Sebastian to the right of the wolf.

Was he holding back a laugh? Vorbuk thought to himself.

Sebastian quickly cleared his throat. He shifted the position he was sitting so that he was leaning more relaxed against the wall of the merchant cart where he sat. It looked like he was calm but internally his heart rate was nervous. The man seemed nervous about being caught laughing.

"What are you laughing about?" Prince Leo was the one who blurted out the question.

Sebastian looked at the prince carefully before responding, "I was merely relaxing."

"There is a town up ahead as we start to enter Drethia's borders." Captain Cory cut into their conversation to inform them as they were getting closer to Drethia Kingdom. It was important that nobody lost focus.

Prince Leo turned to look at Captain Cory as he could not ignore the information, "Will we be resting there?"

"Rest? Hah-!" Captain Cory found the thought of considering staying in that town rest. Nothing inside of Drethia Kingdom was safe from risks. "You could consider it true that we will be staying there."

"Was there something wrong with what I asked?" Prince Leo felt offended by how the pirate reacted to his question.

Captain Cory pointed towards the direction of the town and said, "No matter how simple a place may be to the outside world; when you are inside Drethia never underestimate a place. It could get you killed before you realize you walked into a nest. You should learn to sleep with one eye open, your highness."

Prince Leo flinched from the cold look in the pirate's eyes. He knew he had to be cautious in trusting someone who was a pirate. They were criminals. If it was not because they needed the pirate's help they would have never worked together.

"I know a place we can hide out for a while to get some rest before moving further. It is a risk to take a human there but..." Captain Cory pondered while looking over the prince carefully, "I think that might work."

Prince Leo was confused as he asked, "What might work?"

"The beast could probably pass as a werewolf because his scent is similar to one of us. Werewolves and vampires will have little difficulty getting closer to the capital of Drethia because they are the dominate races in Drethia. Werewolves are rare but do show up because they can hold their own against the vampires. Humans are a different story.. you are no better then food for them." Captain Cory explained to the prince as simply as possible.

Prince Leo thought about it and asked again, "What do you need me to do?"

Captain Cory smirked as he replied, "You and Sebastian will need to play along as servants to either Vorbuk or Ashley in order to blend in."

"What?" Prince Leo froze.

"I would prefer it greatly if I do not need to rescue you if vampire slavers catch you when they realize you are not controlled by someone already." Captain Cory stated.

I am not acting in that role with that vampire! Prince Leo wanted to shout as he quickly thought. Vorbuk would be alright I guess...

"But do we really need to do this?" Prince Leo asked.

Captain Cory nodded, "You only have to put on an act in front of people. The slavery in Drethia is heavy because of the vampires. They are out of control since they follow the god, Chynir. When it comes to feeding they will catch anything weak on their lands that is not already owned by another vampire or someone of equal standing such as the werewolves."

Vampires and werewolves were on par with each other in strength. The vampires would not carelessly antagonize a werewolf without reason. Therefore werewolves in Drethia who owned slaves did not need to worry about vampires touching them. It was out of mutual respect for the werewolves who lived inside of Drethia even if the two kingdoms did not get along.