Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins

Shalltear couldn't say that she was displeased with the situation, literally she couldn't, going against one of the Supreme Being's judgment was nothing else than a sin. When Alucard suggested for them to take temporary shelter in the woods, she did nothing else than agree even if she did point out that her orders included meeting up with Sebas and Solution. On the other hand, she couldn't lie about the fact she was completely ecstatic with the fact that she would be spending some alone time with one of the Supreme Beings.

Alucard currently rested on top of a tree, this time with a lighter armor and a sturdier branch he was certain that the possibility of it breaking was greatly diminished. This specific tree looked over one of the roads that lead to E-Rantel, from what he could tell this wasn't a main road and since their target was criminals maybe it would be more frequented by criminals. This information was only obtained through quick scouting, even when he contacted Sebas the butler was unsure about such roads, in the end Alucard had to be the one to do the scouting. From what he knew Shalltear, was the strongest of the Guardians but even so she was lacking in many ways.

He couldn't help but feel the branch, where he was sitting, vibrate as someone else placed their weight on it, Alucard sighed internally knowing perfectly well who it was. Shalltear was fascinated by her master's way of sitting, he was perfectly balanced on the tree with his legs crossed and his arms resting in front. Just by seeing him like this she could feel absolute calmness, the exact opposite of what he was transmitting when they left Nazarik, was he possibly sleeping or meditating. If that was the case, she was truly sorry for what she was about to do, but as a woman she had to get something off her chest.

"Alucard-sama." Shalltear purred into his ear, carefully wrapping her arms around his neck

"Shalltear. Is there anything you need?" Alucard hissed, his eyes still closed trying to keep his composure, but his voice showed a certain hint of annoyance

"Yes. I find myself split between Ainz-sama and Alucard-sama. Ainz-sama is the crystallization of beauty, however there are things about his body that I find…troubling, as a woman." she continued, adding the last part because she wanted to show that whatever possible defect she saw in him was from her female side

"Is this possibly related, to the fact that I still have a body composed of flesh?" Alucard asked

"Y-Yes." Shalltear replied

When the reason finally became clear in his mind, Alucard had to place both hands on the branch and wrap his leg's around it to prevent himself from falling off. The fact that she had just come out and spoken of such things, shocked him, did she not have decency programed into her? Or was it a side effect from her loyalty, which prevented her from lying, so she had chosen to just speak a filtered version of the truth.

"I think I understand what you are saying…" he mumbled, his mind was still recovering

"You do!? I am so happy to receive something as precious as, Alucard-samas understanding." the small vampire cheered, her hold on his neck tightening

"Then…will I have my first time here?"

Hearing those words, Alucard started to consider just throwing himself off the tree, taking joy in the fact that Shalltear would go down with him. Truly this was Peroroncino's creation, it much like her creator lacked decency, and that was something Alucard did not want to deal with right now.

"Don't be ridiculous. I already have my brides." he argued back, even if he did not want to deal with her he also didn't want to risk upsetting Shalltear and having her be useless for the mission

"But doesn't, Alucard-sama deserve someone stronger, someone who can help him when he goes out of control?"

The Supreme Being's eyes flared open, like before they were glowing bright red and emanating pure anger, how dare she bring his mistake up again, she had no right to mention it. Internally he knew that in terms of being able to deal with him if he were to lose control, Shalltear could possibly do it especially when compared to his brides. However, that was not something he wanted to consider, the only way for this to work out was for him not to go berserk, which in his mind made her point mute.

"That is enough, Shalltear!" he roared, his elevated tone caused her to distance herself from him

"My greatest apologies, Alucard-sama." Shalltear said, her voice wavering as she lowered her head

"What kind of man, do you think I am? No, what kind of man would I be if had to choose my mates based on the fact that they could take a punch?"

Her superior had turned his head right, so his glowing eye could freely pierce through her body, in her mind she wanted to die. To have caused such feelings in a Supreme Being, what other way was there to atone for her sin than by using her own life. Should she offer her own life now, or making any other suggestion now only serve to further anger and insult Alucard, the only reasonable option was to wait.

"Look at me, Shalltear Bloodfallen." the fact he used her full name made her desperation grow, still she did as she was ordered

"Do you remember what I told you before we left?"

There was no need to ask, of course she did, the words were "I'll be counting on you, Shalltear.", how could anyone in Nazarik forget such a thing. For one of the Supreme Beings themselves, to so openly show need for a subject was something one could only dream off. These thoughts only served to further enlarge the pain that now dwelled in her heart, Alucard had placed himself in her hands, he who was of such grandeur that his presence alone was enough to lighten the way of Nazarik. Had shown to her a weak side, something she would have never expected, and with her actions she had attacked such side of him, no words could describe what she was.

"I take it that you remember?" Alucard's tone suddenly became softer

"Y…Of course I do. How could I not…" he raised a hand to stop her

"You took a while to reply, I guess you were thinking about what you had done. Am I correct?"

"Yes." Shalltear, lowered her head in absolute shame

"Shalltear, I don't know how you handle your more primal side, you certainly do seem to have a better control over it than I do. For that I see great value in you…" even with the nature of the situation, she decided to interrupt

"But I can't! I go into a Blood Frenzy whenever I get too excited during combat…"

Alucard rose his hand once more, even so Shalltear could sense that he didn't seem to be as angry as before, his eyes had gone back to normal and his face looked infinitely kinder than before.

"It's preferable than my situation. I fear that combat is not the only thing, to set me off."

He fell into silence, his plan was to try and regulate his mental state through meditation and rigorous training, meditation could be done anywhere with the right conditions, training not so much. With Shalltear acting the way she was, even meditation would be impossible, but seeing her state now he almost felt bad for the poor girl, he had gone overboard once more and she did not deserve it.

"Please punish me, Alucard-sama. It is the only way I can atone for my great sin. If you wish I will even take my life…" a small flare from his eyes stopped her mid-sentence, she had once more angered him

"I don't want any of you to die. Not while I can avoid it. But if you want, maybe you can help me quench my thirst." a ray of hope illuminated Shalltear's face

"I have many items that can be used, in this sort of situation. I use the myself, I can give them to you Alucard-sama."

"I don't want any, I also have some of those myself, but I don't wish to waste them now. Go hunt me something. Preferably bring it back in one piece, without drinking from it yourself, and make it nonhuman. You have 5 minutes and for the record I'm partial to deer."

"I will do so immediately." Alucard gave her a nod, before she disappeared

The sun was already going down and Alucard was starting to wonder if deciding to have a trial run at finding criminals was a bad idea. Luckily for him he heard someone approaching from the opposite direction of the city, seeing this as the possible vindication of his choice, he looked down from the tree. Three horsemen appeared on the road, the one in front stopped his horse and the others did the same, taking in their look they were wearing several pieces of cheap looking armor and had the overall look of thugs. Alucard did not want to judge these men by their looks but he had little hope of any of them actually knowing Martial Arts, however they could be good test subjects.

"Why did you stop?" asked the bald man with a scar across his eye

"The horses are tiered and it's still a long way till our destination, we should stop here." the one in front said, he had long black hair tied up in a ponytail

"I agree with Sirius." spoke their other companion, he was wearing a hood

"Fine." growled the bald man

With that they turned in the direction of the forest in front of Alucard, a grin distorted his face as he through of the ways they could go about doing this, these men looked like trash as it is so using them wouldn't be that wrong. The vampire slapped himself, he couldn't think of them like that, he had been human once even if that had changed, he should treat them as humanly as possible and make things as quick and painless for them.

"I have returned, Alucard-sama." Shalltear announced, appearing on top of the branch with a deer in her hands

"Get down! It's going to break." Alucard cried out, jumping down

"My apologies." she said joining him under the tree, she bowed and extended the deer to him

"Thank you." Alucard said, placing the deer over his shoulder

"However, I have a question, how many of us are currently in this forest?"

"Four, Alucard-sama, me and two of my vampire brides." Shalltear quickly replied

"You plan on feeding all of us with only one deer?" the Supreme Being gave her a sarcastic smile

"N-No."

"Then go get two others. And be as discrete as possible while you do so, our prey as entered the forest."

Shalltear didn't have time to reply, Alucard was already sprinting through the forest at amazing speeds on his way to their hideout. The hideout was an underground cave, one that from what Alucard could conclude was not of natural creation and have at one time possibly been inhabited by something, that was now gone so it was perfect. He arrived at the hole that lead to the cave, it was currently covered by foliaged so it wouldn't be discovered, using his free hand he pushed it aside and jumped inside. The lack of a light source was not a problem for him or any other vampire, so he could see the two vampire brides that were at the opposite end of the cave.

"Alucard-sama." they said, bowing before him

"Here, this is for you two." he growled, dropping the carcass at their feet

"T…Thank you." they replied

"Don't mention it. When Shalltear returns, tell her I went out scouting. Also, if necessary say that I was the one that allowed you to have that."

Just like that he was gone, Alucard jumped from inside the cave and directly into a nearby tree, he had to admit outside of his mental instability this body made his work so much easier. From this distance, he could perfectly see the newly lit fire emanating from the other side of the forest. Jumping from tree to tree he quickly made his way towards the road, just before he arrived there he went back to the ground doing a silent landing as best he could, followed by stealth fully approach their camp. Alucard took not to keep his distance from them, the reason their horses there could be the chance they would peek up his presence if he made too much noise. The men, had lite a fire in the center of their camp and were now preparing the tents that would be their home for the nights, all and all it was a very basic set up. What got his attention were the necklaces they were all wearing, they all had a copper plate on them, for some reason this didn't get his hopes up of them knowing martial arts.

Shalltear dropped the two fresh deer corpses inside the cave before she herself entered, what she saw inside surprised her, the two brides were in the middle of feeding on the deer she had killed for Alucard.

"What are you two doing!?" she hissed, ready to behead them

"Alucard-sama said, that we could have this one." one of the brides replied

The True Vampire sneered at them, she had placed so much effort into getting that one specially for him, it was the healthiest one that she had found with the time Alucard had given her. Looking at the other two, they didn't look nearly as good as that one, should she perhaps go find another one, her idea quickly came to a halt when Alucard jumped into the cave.

"Good work, Shalltear." he said, with a truly grateful smile

"I am unworthy of such words." she argued back with a bow, an attempt to hide the sudden heat that rose to her face

"Nonsense. Now sit, eat, we still have things to do before we meet up with Sebas and Solution."

Alucard grabbed one of the carcasses and sat on the floor resting against one of the cave walls, Shalltear did the same but sat on the opposite side with some distance from the Supreme Being. Alucard was the first one of finish his meal, limiting himself just to drinking the blood, he then threw the body aside letting the others know if they wanted to eat the meat they would be free to do so.

"Now, Shalltear, I want to lay down some rules before we get to actually hunting martial arts users." the female vampire who still had her teeth dug into her meal simply nodded

"First, no mentioning of names unless you are given permission to do so, or you are a 100% certain that that person won't have the chance to tell it to others. Second no unnecessary killings, specially of humans…" Shalltear politely spoke

"Why? They are so fragile." she sounded like a child that had a toy taken away by a parent

"Think of it like this, we are not here, we can only reveal our presence to others when the mission calls for it. Large numbers of people going missing, will eventually start to create suspicion and we are not yet at the stage to begin making enemies. Understood?" she nodded in reply

"Also, no use of unnecessary violence. Whatever we do will be as quick and as painless as possible." he paused

"Are you finished, Shalltear?"

"I am. Alucard-sama." the female vampire replied, using a handkerchief to clean her lips

"Let's move out. You will go on ahead and intercept them head on. Simply appear near their camp, see how they react and ask them if they can use martial arts. I want to see if you are able to get them talking." having given her the necessary instructions he began to move towards the exit

"What if they attack me? Or try to touch my body?"

"I said not unnecessary violence, self-defense is allowed. You two stay behind."

Alucard chose to stay on top of a tree near the camp, Shalltear made her way through the ground, looking down at the female vampire who was calmly approaching the men, without using any kind of stealth what so ever. Perhaps he should have told her to be more careful, not that these humans looked that strong, still at the moment not being cautious wasn't an option.

"Good evening." Shalltear said, making her presence known

"Who's that?" asked the man wearing a hood

"A girl in the middle of the woods…" their leader mumbled, his hand going to the sword to his left

The maniacal laughs of the bald man filled the air, he stumbled up from where he was sitting gripping tightly in his right hand a glass bottle, Alucard placed a hand on his temple dealing with drunk people was always a mess. Now a drunk person and an inexperienced Shalltear, things could only end well he only hoped she would end him fast and without much pain.

"Now…lady why don't you help us, adventurous out?" the bald man asked, in a slow and dragged tone

"Victous, let her be!" Sirius commanded

"What!? We've been traveling for weeks, I believe we deserve a little compensation."

He was now at arm's length from the female vampire, his shaky hand began to move towards her, his objective was clear and sickening. The man's eyes went to the girls face for the first time, her eyes were blood red which sent a chill down his spine, but it was easily shadowed by the hot embrace of alcohol. Not only that, but her smile was so warm, so inviting, Victous's thoughts ended there, pain overwhelmed his senses when the lower half of his arms fell off.

"What the hell! You bitch!"

Being fueled by liquid courage, the missing limb did not stop the adventurer from using the bottle in his other hand to try and hit the girl. Shalltear sighed lightly and taking into account Alucard's words ended the poor fool, by beheading the man with another swift blow, Victous did not go down right away his body stumbled back a few steps before collapsing.

"Oliver stay back!" Sirius ordered, unsheathing his sword, and charging

"Stop." said an unfamiliar voice ordered, the tone was calm yet it was definably a command

Sirius darted to where Oliver was, much to his horror the young man was being held by a hooded figure, the figure had his right arm wrapped around the boy's neck and in the left-hand Oliver's sword being now directed at its owner's neck.

"Drop your sword." Alucard said, Sirius did not argue

"First name? Yours and his." the figure asked, motioning to Oliver

"Sirius and Oliver, respectably." the leader of the group replied

"Let me begin with apologizing for the death of your comrade. I hope you understand it was simply self defense. Are you all right?" Alucard's head motioned towards Shalltear

"Yes, A-Master." she replied, remembering that he had instructed her not to use their names, her answer made him smile lightly under his hood

"Now, Sirius I'm going to be honest with you, we are now around here and are looking for martial arts users. Would you know of any?"

"I know of Gazef…" Sirius began, he was surprisingly calm given the situation, this told Alucard this man was no mere fool

"Already know him, next."

"From what I heard there is Peter Mauk, leader of the silver class adventurer group, here in E-Rantel…" Sirius paused, when he saw the figure shift slightly

"Like I said, I am new here. Explain what is an adventurer and the class."

"Adventurers belong to a certain and they take jobs depending on their classes. The classes are represented by metals Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mythril, Orichalcum, Adamantite. We are Copper, which is the weakest."

"So Admantite, is the strongest?" Sirius nodded

"Any other martial arts users?"

"No. That's all I know."

Sirius was certain there were others he knew off, but he could only tell him the one's he was certain of having heard of being able to use martial arts. Know that he had answered this man's questions, he could only hope he would be merciful enough to let them go, but seeing what had happened to Victous he wasn't very hopeful.

"Peter Mauk, you say? Interesting…Then this is where we part ways Sirius, I have to say this was very educational. For your cooperation, you will receive a quick death." Alucard said

"Wait! I answered your question's, at least let Oliver go, he is still young!" Sirius pleaded, Alucard was surprised this man truly was decent

"What do you think we should do?" Alucard's looked at Shalltear

"They know of our present and have seen my face, we should kill them." she replied, with a cheerful smile

"You do have a point. Take comfort that it will be painless."

Alucard dropped the sword, his right arm that was tightly wrapped around the boy's neck moved with a quick yet assertive motion, Oliver's neck was instantly broken. He moved with a blur in the direction of Sirius, the man had no time to react before his neck was also broken.

"So, cool." Shalltear said

"Go get your brides, we leave in 10 minutes."

"What will you do now, Alucard-sama?"

The reason Shalltear asked, was because he was still looking over the bodies and from the exposed part of his face she could almost see a certain hint of sadness.

"Do as I have instructed."

Shalltear bowed and went back to get her subordinates, Alucard sighed and thought of what he was going to do to them, especially Sirius and Oliver. First thing he did was free the horses and extinguish their fire, he could only hope they weren't that well known adventurers. Burying them would only be a waste of time, so Alucard limited himself with wrapping the bodies in the cloth that was going to be used for the tents, then he left the bodies to their fates.

Shalltear arrived while he was just finishing dragging the bodies under a tree, even if she thought this to be strange she did not question it, she had committed too many mistakes as it is.

"I have contacted Sebas, he says we can use Gate to move to his current location." she informed

"Let's move out then."

The Guardian bowed and opened the portal, Alucard was the first to walk in, followed by her and finally the two brides. They arrived in an alley, it was dark and had little room to move around, especially with the quantity of people emerging from the portal, in the darkest part of the alley Sebas was waiting.

"Shalltear stay behind." Alucard commanded, just as she was about to exit the portal

"Alucard-sama." Sebas greeted

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Sebas. Is it not risky for you to come meet me here?"

"There is no reason for worry, I made sure no one notice that I had left."

"I take it that Shalltear and I are supposed to work with you and Solution. Correct?"

"Yes, Alucard-sama. We are working on information gathering, we will be staying here for a few more days before leaving. Shalltear is supposed to come with us."

"Then we will keep to the plan. Isn't staying here as well?"

"He is. He actually left today on his first mission as an adventurer."

"Is that so?" Alucard asked, sounding surprised

"Yes, he left with a group named Swords of Darkness."

"Dammit." Alucard hissed

"Is something wrong, Alucard-sama?"

"That group, I was considering going after their leader, but seems I will have to change my plans. No matter, anything else you would like to report, Sebas?"

"No, mi lord."

"I'll be going back then, when the time comes to leave contact us."

"I will."

Alucard waved him goodbye and left through the same portal he had arrived from, Shalltear and her brides were waiting on the other side. He was originally planning on going after the group, so they would be leaving this area, but now it seems like staying in this forest could give them more opportunities.

"You two." he suddenly spoke up, looking at the brides

"Make them look, like they were attacked by an animal." Alucard motioned towards the corpses

"As you wish, Alucard-sama."

"Then go back to the hide out and wait for our return."

"Are we going somewhere, Alucard-sama?" Shalltear asked

"Hunting, Shalltear."