CHAPTER 10 - King Umarth

*Rudolf's P.O.V.*

Two days passed, since I was humiliated by that bitch of Elaine and that filthy human; somehow, I had managed to escape from that bastard, But the blow I received from that dirty human damaged me much more than I thought, and the pain I felt at that moment was hellish.

The wise thing to do, would have been to stop somewhere, ask these stupid humans for help and rest for a few days; but I had been away for almost 5 days now, and I'm sure that Umarth was waiting for me "patiently", so it was impossible for me to stop now.

So, after i stole a horse, and I rode for day and night without stopping for more than 30 minutes, without closing my eyes; I believed that if I closed my eyes, because of the unbearable pain I felt, I would die. It's a silly thing to think, but I was under so much pressure, upset and in pain, that I didn't want to risk anything.

And at one point, I really believed that I was going to die, as as the hours and days passed, the pain in my chest increased to the point that I felt a tremendous twinge with every breath I took, my breathing became more and more labored, and a strange iron aftertaste hovered in my breath. 

I could feel it; yes, I could feel that now my time was near, I could feel that at any moment I was going to die. I was tired both physically and mentally, and I was really on the verge of collapse. But one thing was still keeping me alive: no, not my "love" for the King, or even my mission; no, what was still keeping me "alive" was the anger I felt for that filthy human and for Elaine; the anger was so much that it acted as an adrenaline, and in the most critical moments, it helped me stay conscious. 

"Y'all gonna pay for this...Y'all gonna pay for this..." were the only words I said for days, trying to remember who reduced me to this pathetic state. 

So, after interminable days of riding that stupid horse, I finally arrived before the gates of the Kingdom; I was exhausted, now I had no energy left, and the moment I saw the guards approaching me, I let go, unaware if I would wake up alive, or if everything I went through to get here was completely useless.

The only consolation I had at that moment was that at least, I would die in my beloved kingdom. 

--------

A ray of light hit me in the face, waking me up from the deep sleep I had entered; I didn't know what had happened, but the only thing that mattered to me at the moment, was knowing that I was alive; which in itself was good news.

Slightly disoriented, I looked around, noticing that I was in a hospital room. I had a lot of questions that were on my mind: Did Umarth already know about my arrival without Elaine? Would he forgive me? What would have happened to me? The mere thought of having to face Umarth terrified me, because in my mind, i was sure that he would kill me without hesitation. 

It was only at that moment, not knowing at all what was going to happen to me shortly thereafter, that I began to wonder why the fuck I had come back here to the Kingdom...

"... What the hell was I thinking? Why the hell did I come back here?" I hissed, beginning to shake like a leaf.

For a moment, I even thought of running away from the hospital and giving myself up dead, but immediately discarded this hypothesis, since, in addition to not being in top form, his "3 sons" would have scouted me out and killed me like a filthy dog; I felt like a poor and naive piglet in a slaughterhouse, that is, I had no chance to fight against my fate, and waited with inexorably for my hour.

While I was immersed in my thoughts though, a strange noise to my left caught my attention: sitting on the edge of the window, I saw a person watching me while peeling an apple. I was so overwhelmed with my problems that I didn't even realize that there was someone near to me!

I tried to figure out who this person was, but the sunlight coming from the window prevented me from seeing his face better; at that moment my body suddenly stiffened, as I believed that the man in front of me was Umarth;

"F...Father? I-Is that you?" I asked in a trembling voice, unable to look away from that figure;

"...."Father?" Hahahah! What the hell are you talking about, Rudolf! Do you think Father can be bothered to come here for a nobody like you?"

As soon as I heard that cheerful but at the same time annoying voice, I perfectly understood who that person was, I didn't even need to see his face;

"Thauron... what the hell are you doing here?!" I asked angry, but at the same time i was kinda relived, since at least for the moment, I would not be dealing with Umarth, thus having time to think about how to resolve this situation

"Eh? Can't I come and visit my beloved brother?" Thauron answered me, looking at me with a smile that I knew was fake.

If there was anyone I hated among the Darksold, this had to be him, since behind that smile and that cheerful voice, there is in truth the greatest son of a bitch that can exist, a sadistic piece of shit that would have no qualms about even killing a newborn; he is the first of Umarth's "adopted sons", and in some way, he can be considered as the faithful knight of Umarth;

"Well, anyway..." - Thauron said again, while biting the apple and sitting in the chair next to my bed – "How is it possible that you failed AGAIN such a basic mission? It's okay that you're untalented, but that's too much! Do you really want to die? I'm worried about you, seriously...."

Even if he said so, I could read in his eyes the happiness of seeing me in such a complex situation; since I joined the Darksold house, he and I had always hated each other, because of the fact that I, who in his eyes was a useless insect, had been decisive in the destruction of the Blueheaven and the Greenolds; Thauron did't take this well, and since that day, every situation for him was good to denigrate me or to get me in trouble; if I could, I would have killed him a long time ago, but in addition to the fact that that idiot was a genius, killing him meant to face Umarth, and well, I didn't feel like it in the slightest.

At that moment, his words pissed me quite a lot: if he knew what kind of situation I had come across, he wouldn't be as witty as he is doing now; I would have liked to tell him the worst slures that i had in my mind, but doing it meant playing his game...

"... I have nothing to say to you, Thauron. Thank you for visiting." I said calmly, turning the other way.

"Okay, I get it..." the first of Umarth's sons said in an angry voice, slowly heading towards the exit of the room;

I thought I should finally not have talked to that idiot, but he stopped on the edge of the door, and then turned around and looked at me with a smile that didn't promise anything good;

"Hey, Before I forget... Our father had been patiently waiting for you to wake up for a week now! You know how much dad hates to wait, and most importantly, you know how much he hates the fact that things don't go as planned! So you better get up and go asap to his room, before he comes here, hehe! "

"W-What..."

Without adding more, Thauron left the room, leaving me alone in my problems; I thought I had been in a coma for about 2-3 days, but a week was way too much! 

I knew his character, since I had been close to him for a long time now; therefore, I was certain that Umarth was now furious, and that in all probability, I was a goner..

[DAMN!] I thought frustrated, throwing a violent fist on the bed, smashing the axes that made it up: just when I thought I was 'safe', my life was put at risk again.

*****

A few hours passed, and although I was scared to death, I knew that making him wait further was even worse, so I left the hospital, and then headed to the great Castle of the Darksold; as I walked, I passed through the center of the capital, Eledwen city, and I noticed that the massacre and destruction we committed a month ago had not yet been "cleaned"; on the streets, the soldiers of Umarth had executed those who were even only connected with the two destroyed families, then leaving the bodies impaled and tied in plain sight on the streets; the smell of corpses was extremely strong and biting, so much that I began to tear as catastrophic as the situation was; on the streets, once well-kept and clean, now there was only dirt and blood.

In the distance then, I looked from afar at the place where the Blueheaven Castle once stood; I looked at it briefly, and then turned around and walked without stopping: it was their fault if they had been destroyed, I had nothing to regret or anything else, since I hated everyone, from the lowest of the Blueheaven to my real father; If he had not been hell-bent on going against Umarth and his ideals, today they would all be alive and we would all live happily...

After several minutes of walking, I finally arrived in front of the gates of the great Darksold mansion; as soon as the guards saw me, they made a quick bow, then opening the doors to enter the Umarth mansions. As I walked in the garden leading to the front door, I could already feel several glances watching me; they were looks of disappointment, hatred, contempt.

Already at that moment, I felt extremely uncomfortable, but I could not do anything about it, since I had failed for the umpteenth time, no matter how or why;

As soon as I opened the doors of the task, waiting for me was Umarth's butler, Klauss, who as soon as he saw me, made a quick bow toward me; Klauss, in addition to being the only butler of the castle, was also Umarth's right-hand man, and he was the only one who knew of the secrets that he did not even tell his children...

"Hello sir. I'm happy to see her in good health..."

Although words of 'happiness' came out of his mouth, his eyes and expression were cold as ice, showing me his indifference towards me;

"Thank you, Klauss..." - I replied with just as much indifference, trying to stay as impassive as possible, so as not to show my fears to them – "Is my father in his room?"

"Yes, he's in his room. Please follow me."

Together, we walked over the large staircase that separated the ground floor from the floor where the rooms were located, which were more than thirty bathrooms excluded; Umarth's room was at the back of all the other rooms, and as we headed towards that large and immense door, I felt the breath become heavier and heavier: i thought I would be able to keep my wits about me, that I would manage not to panic, but evidently the terror I felt for Umarth was much deeper than I could have imagined. 

Arriving in front of Umarth's room, Klauss knocked on the door 3 times, to verify if Umarth was awake;

"... Let him in."

Klauss opened the door, signaling me to enter; for a couple of seconds I hesitated, but then I thought about everything that had happened, and although he was certain that he would punish me anyway, maybe I had some chance not to be killed.

So, I entered his room, full of accolades, trophies and with the heads of beasts coming from the beautiful dungeons on display, beasts that he himself had shot down. As soon as I set foot inside, Klauss slammed the door shut, and at that moment, it was as if I had ended up inside the cage of a bloodthirsty beast.

I raised my head, and in the middle of the room, where his desk was located, I saw Umarth sitting in his sumptuous chair, intent on reading a book carefully; his expression was not that of an annoyed person, but I still had to be careful, since with my "father", nothing was certain.

"Feel free to sit on the chair."

The fact that he was so calm made me a little strange, but I stepped forward, since I was there by now and there was no escape; first, however, I took off my shoes, since because of the beautiful purple carpet that covered the entire floor of his room, he hated it getting dirty.

After doing this, I headed to the chair, sitting in front of him; I thought he would start asking me questions about the failed mission, but instead, Umarth spent more than two hours reading that damn book page by page, while I was there, waiting for him to look at me, as the pressure began to play tricks on me, putting me in such an agitation that made me completely pathetic.

At the same time, however, a certain sense of anger grew inside me: true, I had failed Elaine's recovery on several occasions, but it was thanks to me if Umarth felt so strong and powerful today; it was thanks to me, if Umarth got rid of the Blueheaven and the Greenolds... I expected at least a little gratitude...

"Sorry for the wait..." Umarth said, finally closing the book, looking straight into my eyes – "It's a not bad book, coming from a human author... you should read it, son" the man said, scratching his eyes slightly.

"I'll take it into consideration, father..."

Then, the silence dropped again for a few seconds; I couldn't understand what the hell Umarth was thinking about, and this scared me a lot, while I was sure that looking at my tense face, Umarth understood what situation I was in, judging by the fact that in his expression I read a note of annoyance and disgust towards me.

"... Rudolf. You are an important member of this family, you have done important things for me, and I am grateful for that. But my patience has a limit, I don't accept that a member of my family fails a mission so many times, and that he returns at home diyng..."

Umarth got up from his chair, and after putting his hands behind his back, he began to walk around me slowly; as he walked around me, I expected at any moment to be hit: for this, I closed my eyes, because I expected to die by now.

Then, however, they walked away from me, passed his desk and headed towards his large window that showed a breathtaking view of the snowy Alps.

"In these weeks, I've been thinking about what punishment to give you, since the urge to break your head has passed me over and over again... But, as weak as you are, I'm sure that little girl wouldn't be able to do you such great damage, even though she's very talented. So I'm sure during the chase, something unusual happened. So before giving you any type of punishment, I want to hear what you have to say."

[Thank You Father! Thank you!] That's what I wanted to say, since that way, I had a chance to be able to save myself; but I didn't want to be any more pathetic than I hadn't done at that moment, and so, I tried to stay composed, despite the happiness.

"Of course father, I'll tell you everything...huh?"

Suddenly, I felt a strange presence behind my back; I turned around, but I didn't see anyone, and that strange presence I felt suddenly disappeared; that I had imagined everything?

"I'm listening to you" – said Umarth, effectively interrupting my thinking – "Don't waste any more time, you know I don't like it..."

"O-Of course..."

So, I started telling everything, from the meeting with Elaine, to the intervention of that monster, who had made me evoke bad memories that I thought I had now erased. As I told the story, Umarth's gaze was focused on my every single word, and so I had to be careful not to say contradictory or meaningless things.

"So... are you telling me that this Ron meddled in our mission, and that it was the one who reduced you to that pathetic state ..?"

"Y-Yes father, that's exactly how things went..."

Umarth remained silent for a few seconds, with his gaze fixed in the void; after a while, he closed his eyes, and returned to sit in front of me; in his eyes I saw disappointment, but at the same time, the anger I saw in him before had somewhat diminished; which was good for me, because it meant that he believed me, but at the same time it was quite strange.

"Well, it all makes a lot of sense now... but tell me, in your opinion, who is stronger between me and this human?"

"W-Well, of course you my Fa-?!"

Suddenly, his gaze suddenly became furious, practically taking my breath away and making me jolt into the chair a little.

"Don't tell me bullshit, tell the truth... You know I hate lies."

[D-Damn.. and I who thought by doing so I would please him...]

"S-Sir, my words are to be taken with a pong, but I believe this human being is definitely stronger than you..."

Umarth looked at me for a momont: I thought he would be furious, but he caught me off guard, when he began to laugh out loud.

"AHAHAH! Well, I didn't expect anything less from the kingdom I want to annihilate!" - said Umarth, who laughed to tears - "Well, If it was so strong, then it was impossible for you to finish the mission! Well, if that's the case, we should use another method to catch that stupid girl...."

[W-What?!] - Umarth had stressed me for weeks about Elaine's capture, and now he was like... he was ok about my failure? It was definitely strange in his behavior, to the point that I wondered if he had not hit his head during my absence; 

"I see you confused" – Umarth said, probably noting my perplexity – "What do you want to know? You want to know the reason why i'm laughing, or why I'm not worried about Elaine?"

"...Both"

"Well... as far as Elaine is concerned, let's say I had the feeling that something was going to go wrong, and although I'm definitely disappointed with your results, let's say that this time you wasn't really lucky."

"Ah, got it..." I said to the man, giving a little sigh of relief: this time too I had managed to escape from the dead!

"Anyway, father... I didn't believe humans could be so strong... and yet, we are more talented.."

Umarth looked at me disappointed; I didn't know what I said wrong, even tho i thought my question was good!

"... Rudolf, do you know the story of the humans?" 

What kind of question was this? Why was I supposed to be interested in such a thing?

"No sir, why this question?"

"I imagined that a person as dull as you didn't know the history of the earthlings, but I don't blame you, it's a normal thing..." said Umarth, who, in one of the drawers of his desk, pulled out a book with a leather cover and a black color, and then started reading it.

"You see, according to ancient texts, thousands of years ago humans were not at our level, not even at the level of orcs or dwarves; they were a barbaric and backward people, denied in the use of any kind of magic, and unlike the other races, they were not even able to control any elements. They were such a weak population that they were enslaved by the elves, who used them to work their lands and for the lowest jobs. They were inept, incapable, a people who should not be able to free themselves from our hand, but then something changed."

This was a story I had never heard; of course, I considered humans scum, but even enslaved... feeling that at one time those shits were miserable slaves, it made me fantasize about what we could do to that scum one day; but I was intrigued by the story, wanting to know what the hell had happened.

"Humans, seeing us use magic, began to learn in great secrecy the magical arts and the control of mana in search of revenge.. all this without properly teachings. However, this process lasted several hundred years, as the difference between humans and us elves was like day and night. The elves, who had softened, not only stopped improving, but over the years they became weaker and naiver, not realizing that in the meantime, humans were setting up a frightening army. And it is so, that in the most total naivety, human wizards of enormous potential took over, destroying the elf colonies. That day, moreover, also coincides with the beginning of the millennial war."

"And do you want to know the funny thing? It is that Eledwen, our 'myth', our legend, sided with the humans along with his children and his followers, betraying his own people!"

"W-What? What kind of story is this? Eledwen... did he betray us?" I said completely upset, unable to believe what I felt at the time: why the hell did Eledwen help such an inferior race?

"In the history books, Eledwen is seen as a hero, one who saved the earth from his own destruction from some evil Elf, but in truth, he is a cowele dog who betrayed his own homeland! And do you know what's the worst thing about all this?"

"No father..." I said, beginning to question everything I had been told since I was a child...

"It is that we Elves have gathered humans in their miserable situation, we have educated them, we have taught them that in this world there are hierarchies to be respected, yet, that people of barbarians have allowed themselves to bite their owner's hand without a minimum of recognition!" - concluded Umarth, pulling a punch so strong as to break the table in two; -"Unacceptable... Don't you think?"

"Yes, a lot..." I replied, enraged by what I had heard... How did they dare to do such a thing to us, their saviors?!

"What's worse, is that all this happened out of our negligence!" – Umarth replied screaming, snapping to his feet in anger – "Do you know what the difference was between us and humans? It is that we, in our pride and complacency during the peace period, have forgotten the meaning of training hard, and this reproduces in our current kingdom, which is so pathetic that we are forced to live in this small kingdom, while the earthlings, although they don't have our talent, have trained hard for millennia of years, reaching the levels we know today... Normally, we elves should be stronger than those worms and dwarfs, and yet, how do you explain that there are so many talented humans? It's the result of years of hard work and suffering!"

As I listened to his speech, I began to tear: I remembered why I decided to follow Umarth: his ideals, his conviction and his ways of doing things were very similar to mine; what I felt at that moment was so beautiful that everything doubt i had toward him was erased in a instant.

"Humans and dwarfs do not deserve to live on this planet! They are miserable traitors who deserve death! We have to take our people to their trees, when we were the ones who dominated the world without anyone being able to stop us! And that's why I chose you to become my son, because I see in you the me I was once! So, will you help me with this task, or will you still get in my way?!" Umarth concluded, putting his foot on top of the now destroyed desk;

At that moment, while the sunlight made the image of Umarth even more magnificent, In front of me I saw Umarth like the savior of our Kingdom; the one who would save us from this daily injustice, the one who had the charisma and the strength to be able to guide us, someone for whom I would die, without thinking twice;

I got up from my chair, and without wasting time, I bowed before him, ready to swear eternal loyalty to him: if before I had doubts, now they had been completely wiped out.

"Father...no, my lord, I will follow you all the way into the world in order to make you happy!"

"Good!" Umarth replied, who judging by his face, seemed satisfied with my reaction;

"Now listen to me carefully: catch Elaine now is very dangerous: If Elaine stayed with the man who rescued her, which is very likely, then it would be dangerous to go after her, since it cannot be ruled out that the man has contacts with the higher ups.

-Elaine knows everything about our plan and what we have done, so it is likely that the Republic of Mykotos knows everything by now..."

"... And that's a problem right?" I said to Umarth, looking down and realizing what my failure had entailed;

"Well... maybe" Umarth said, in a calm voice, giving a slight smile – "You see, as I said before, it's possible that this Ron has connections with politicians who work closely with the capital. But at the same time, it's been more than a week since you came back to Lorien, and if Elaine had revealed everything, I don't think the two of us would be here talking today, do you? So it may be that Elaine didn't say anything, or that Ron has no interest in getting involved, judging by the fact that he let you go.... So, at least for the time being, it's best to let Elaine go for a while and use Plan B...." Umarth concluded, with a serene face, almost satisfied with what he had just said;

At that moment, I wondered what the plan B was, since he never told to me about a plan B; I wanted to ask him, but I had the distinct feeling that if he wanted to make me a part of this plan B, he would tell me without any problems; so I decided to stay in ignorance, thus avoiding that Umarth could lose his temper;

"So now? What's the next move, my lord?"

"I was hoping you would ask me! in fact, I had in mind to entrust you with a very important mission, much more important than capturing that little girl: I want you to go to the "Slum-Kingdom" to recover something that belongs to me."

Hearing that name, a kind of gasp came to my heart; I was ready for anything to satisfy him, but set foot in that foolish kingodm was something I hadn't taken into account in the slightest!

Umarth in the meantime closed the black book he was holding in his hand, and then threw it at me;

"Do you see that book I gave you? Well, that book should enclose the history and secrets of our people."

"W-What?! Then this is..."

"That's right. That book is "Valde Orum"... Or rather, that's what that fool of your biological father tried to make us believe."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You see, that book you keep now is a semi-fake; much of the things that are written inside are true, but one detail is completely false, a detail of great importance concerning the death of Eledwen and the birth of the three houses... For years, the Blueheaven and my father have kept this "little" detail hidden, and only when I discovered the truth, that that coward of your father, Arvedui, ordered someone very familiar to you to hide the real book, taking it with him right into the Slum-Kingdom, away from prying eyes..."

"...Someone familiar to me?" I asked Umarth; I thought that besides Elaine, there were no other members still alive, who the hell was he talking about then?

Umarth gave a small smile, and pointed with his index finger to the book he had just thrown at me; I looked at the book, and I noticed that there was a photo that protruding; I took out that photo, and I immediately noticed that photo portrayed a person; it didn't take me long to understand who the person he was, making my blood boil with anger; how could I forget the face of the one who since I was little, did everything to make my life hell?

"S-So.. you are telling me that this prick is alive?!" I said in a trembling voice, forcefully tearing the photo in two.

"Heh, I was surprised too... I have to admit it, your father was smart like the devil..."

As he spoke in a calm voice, Umarth approached me, pulling out of his pocket a small glass ampoule, containing a strange pitch-black liquid;

"Listen to me carefully: don't let your "trauma" stop you from failing this mission, because this time I won't be magnanimous; I want you to now take the first ferry available to the Slum; once there you will look for your grandfather and make sure you find him. I'm sure he will be wary of seeing you there, so do everything to make sure you can get into his graces, and once you can find the real book, use this poison to kill him. I repeat, if you fail this time too--!"

"I won't fail." I said with a resentful voice, taking Umarth by surprise, but he didn't seem angry about it, on the contrary, he seemed almost amused to see me like this; When my biological father said his father died, I was very happy about it, because that man, more than any other living being, deserved to die for what he had made me go through.

At the same time, however, I was a little bitter in my mouth, since it had always been my dream to be able to kill him with my own hands. 

"I see you determined" – said Umarth smugly, who turned around and then headed to the large window of his room – "Then I won't hold you any further; so don't let me down, my son..."

"At your orders, my lord..." I said in a firm voice, and then got up and headed for my room: at that moment, I was like a machine without any emotion, ready to carry out any kind of order; the hatred I felt for those two earthlings and for Elaine had gone into the background, since at this moment, the fate had given me the opportunity to balance my past, I would not miss such an opportunity, for nothing in the world;

[I'm coming to get you, damn Blueheaven!]

*Rudolf's end P.O.V.*

------

Umarth observed the beautiful landscape in front of him, thinking of everything that had happened in recent years, and that they had brought him here, in the room that once belonged to his father, although for him, it was but a mere pebble in his street.

He was satisfied with what he had managed to achieve in such a short time, and he was satisfied to see that everything was proceeding smoothly, although the Elaine case was still open; he really wanted to recover Elaine right away, but due to Rudolf's continuous failures, he was forced to use the "B" plan, although he hoped to use this plan for other matters; he was not so happy to show his terrible ace up his sleeve, but at the very least, further trouble would have been avoided.

But this small inconvenience, for Umarth, was not serious, as he, in his future, saw nothing but the conquest of all of Earthland.

"...You sure that you can trust that guy?"

Suddenly, a female voice interrupted Umarth's thoughts;

"Oh, I forgot about your presence in the room..." said the patriarch of the Darksold who, turning around, looked at a point in the room where apparently no one was there.

"Apparently", as a few moments later, a woman's body began to appear slowly, which was entirely covered by a purple toga, with her face covered by half by the huge hood placed on her head, which covered half of her face, while the other goal showed her chin, lips and curly dark orange hair;

"I don't understand why you didn't kill him..." said the woman crossing her arms, with a tone of voice that showed a little of her disappointment with Umarth's behavior, who in response gave her a small smile;

"Well... Your job was to check if he was lying, right? So I believe that the fact that you didn't say or do anything, means there's no need to worry, he's not a traitor..."

"That's not the point... the thing is that although he didn't lie, it doesn't seem reliable to me."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about this..." - replied the man, while in his face, an almost evil smile appeared – "Once he completes this mission, you'll see that he will change... I'm sure."

"How do you say that?" Said the woman, rather skeptical about what Umarth said;

"You see, he's like me: I too, before becoming what the man you know today, i didn't really know what to do: I didn't know if I was really ready to cut off all the relationships with my family, in order to realize my dreams of conquest. He is in a similar situation, that is, his subconscious does not allow him to do what he has to do: but once he kills his grandfather... then he will become like me! A machine of destruction!"

The woman, watching Umarth laugh out loud, she realized two things: the first, was that in truth he didn't care about Rudolf: he put him in complicated situations just for the sake of seeing how far the boy would push, and in the case, hold him tight, since he would find in Rudolf the perfect gallop ready for anything; second, while Umarth spoke, she realized that the man in front of her was more dangerous than she could actually imagine, and that perhaps, her "boss" had hurt to trust such a dangerous man and calculator. If it were up to her, she would probably have killed Umarth, she would have been more than able to, but it was not up to her to decide this, and she just had to follow the plan.

"Anywhat... what's so special about that book you're looking for? If you want, we can get it back..." said the woman, intrigued by the task that Umarth entrusted to Elaine's brother;

"Hey... You don't want to know, believe me..."

Suddenly, Umarth released his murderous aura, trying to scare the woman; to his surprise, however, the woman was not intimidated, practically ignoring the danger coming from the man

"... You from the Slum are dangerous people..." - Umarth said with a sinister grin; - "Anyway, these are not things that concern you, woman. Let's say it's a matter of 'family'...

[Futs...] The woman thought; The woman understood that there must be some kind of spell in that book, since Umarth had told Rudolf that thanks to that book, he would get closer and closer to his dream. This or... something even more dangerous.

But then the woman thought deeply about what she heard Umarth say, and she realized that if the man really did not want her or her organization to stick their noses into the book business, then Umarth would be very careful not to talk about it in front of her; Umarth was a strange man, too unpredictable and dangerous, and at that moment she could not understand what was going through his mind.

[Maybe... the book is just a way to distract us to his real goal?] The woman thought, beginning to believe that the book, perhaps, didn't really contain anything.

"Well, I'm going" said the woman, who at that moment, knew she had a lot to discuss with her boss, once she returned to the Slum-Kingdom;

"Open the portal."

Suddenly, in the middle of the room, a huge space-temporal fracture appeared, which gave off an icy cold air and emitted an annoying reddish light;

"Before leaving..." - said Umarth, thus stopping the woman, who already had a foot inside the portal – "When will you finish with that little "commission"? You know, I have to retrieve a lost sheep..."

"It will take months." said the woman, understanding what the man was referring to – "It's a difficult process to complete, but our doctor is the best of all Earthland...So, we'll let you know." Concluded the woman, who once she passed through the portal, disappeared into thin air, as she had appeared.

"Months, huh?" Umarth said snorting, throwing himself on the ground; he hoped he could have them a little earlier, but he wasn't in a rush: he wanted to create that sense of security in the mind of the girl, he wanted to make her believe that she was safe by now...

And only at the most opportune time, that he would catch her without her being able to do anything about it....

"Elaine... you are mine!" exclaimed Umarth, with a smile that would make even the devil shudder....

END OF CHAPTER 9 – KING UMARTH

Author's notes.

1. 

Character Name: Umarth DarkOld

Alias: King Umarth

Age: 47

Physical appearence: Tall, with a muscular build; he has long, cascading black hair, blue-colored eyes, and various scars scattered throughout his body. He has a well-groomed beard of the same color as his hair. 

2.

Character Name: Klauss Darksold

Age: 80 years old.

Physical characteristics: tall, slim build, gray hair and elegantly cut with a carryover; always serious and attentive look, has sea blue eyes, and wears well-groomed mustache with tips that tend to go up; he always wears elegant dark gray clothes.