Return to the Royal Capital
“I have to find out where I am…”
So I started to explore the caves carefully .
I had come here through teleportation magic .
But there should still be a physical entrance somewhere .
After searching for some time, I found the entrance .
It was a very grand door made of stone .
And it was thoroughly locked with magic . It was probably the type that required a password .
But since I didn’t know the password, I would have to force it open .
“Hmm . ”
–click .
The magic itself was quite advanced .
But not too advanced for me . It only took three seconds .
I went outside of the cave and looked around . The scenery and terrain should tell me something .
“Judging by the terrain…those mountains are in the east…”
It was about a days journey towards the north of the last Vampire High Lord base we had destroyed .
And the High Lord base had been a days journey from the capital .
So this place was about two days away from the capital .
There were no towns or villages in the area . And it was far from any main roads . It was in the countryside .
“I see . ”
It was so far from where humans lived . That meant it was very unlikely to be discovered .
The dark ones would be able to run around as they pleased . Maybe this was their main base .
I closed the door to the cave . Then I changed the magic lock on the door with a new password . Now the dark ones would not be able to go inside .
Only Adventurers who knew the password would be able to enter .
After that, I used the teleportation circle to return to Marquis Mastafon’s mansion .
There was still some exploration left to do here .
There were piles of ash all around . The remains of thralls, most likely .
Some of the servants were only unconscious . These had only been charmed .
There were no servants that were completely untouched .
It meant that the whole Mastafon house had been controlled .
(I hope the Marquis and his wife are safe . )
The mansion was large . It would take time to search everywhere .
And so I decided to leave once .
The guards were unconscious . Guards could not be made into thralls .
After all, people like Shia would immediately see what they were .
And so I dragged them inside before returning to my own house .
Shia and the others greeted me .
“How did it go?”
“I killed most of them . But this is an emergency . Serulis . Go and tell Goran to come to Marquis Mastafon’s mansion in a hurry . ”
“Understood . ”
“Tell him that I’ve crushed another vampire base . He’ll be here as soon as possible . ”
“Leave it to me!”
Serulis ran off right away .
Shia looked surprised .
“You did all of that in this short amount of time?”
“Yeah . I’m going to return to the mansion now and search it . And I’ll need your help, Shia . ”
“Leave it to me!”
“Milka and Luchila . You two stay here with Lord Gerberga . ”
“Understood . ”
“Mister Locke . Please be careful!”
“Cluck . ”
“Groof . ”
As Shia and I tried to leave, Grulf wagged his tail and tried to follow me .
“Alright, you can come too, Grulf . ”
“Groof-groof!”
Grulf looked very happy . It was like he thought we were off to play .
But he was still a pup, so it couldn’t be helped .
Shia, Grulf and I returned to the marquis’s mansion and went straight to Philly’s room .
She looked at me and smiled .
“You’ve returned safely! I was so worried . ”
“Ah, sorry to keep you waiting . By the way, this is Shia and Grulf . My friends . ”
“Nice to meet you!”
Philly shook hands with Shia . She also grabbed Grulf’s front paw and shook it .
“I’m Philly Mastafon . The fifth daughter of the Marquis and a genius Alchemist . And this here is Tama . ”
“Ruff . ”
Tama wagged his tail . He seemed happy to see us .
When we finished this brief introduction, I explained the situation .
While I did this, Tama and Grulf were sniffing each other .
“I still haven’t found the Marquis and his wife . That’s the first thing I have to do now and I must be quick . That’s why I brought Shia and Grulf with me, because of their sense of smell . ”
“Ruff . ”
Tama barked surprisingly loudly .
He was finally able to bark loudly now that the servants were disarmed .
A very smart dog .
“Ruff-ruff . ”
Tama moved to the door and started to scratch at it with his paws .
Philly looked at him and said,
“Tama wants you to follow him . ”
“Is that right? Well, we’ll do that then . It may still be dangerous, so you stay here, Philly . ”
“Alright . ”
And so we left Philly in her room .
To be honest, it wasn’t really dangerous .
But I was worried that the Marquis and his wife would be in a tragic state .
And that was not something she needed to see .
Such were my thoughts as we followed Tama, who lead the way without hesitation .
And then he finally stopped in front of a certain room .
“Ruff . ”
“Does he want us to go inside?”
“Probably . ”
I tried using Search magic . There were no traps . And it seemed like there was no one inside .
I opened the door and it was an ordinary servants room .
“It doesn’t seem like there is anything here . ”
“Groof?”
Grulf was moving around and sniffing dutifully .
On the other hand, Tama walked on to the center of the room . And then he kept walking .
“Ruff . ”
“Right there?”
“Ruff-ruff . ”
I tried using Search magic again . And this time I found a hidden door .
It was heavily guarded by concealment magic .
Without Tama, even Shia and I, who were good Scouts, would have taken a long time to find it .
I deactivated the locks and opened the door . There was a very large room on the other side .
There was a bed, bathing room, toilet and other simple furniture for a house .
“Who are you, people?”
An elderly man and woman looked at us with shocked expressions .