"What about you, Master?" Treegan inquired with a troubled look on his face.
Earlier, after receiving permission from Rein, the King had distributed the pills from the black jar to everyone in his group.
However, by the time the last of the group, General Espren, had accepted his share, the jar had been emptied.
This left nothing for the King who was equally famished as the rest of the group.
The conflict on everyone's face was clear after hearing Treegan raising his voice to bring this to their attention.
They alternated their gaze between the pills sitting on their palms and their King who stood with an empty jar in his hand.
King Zander sighed when he saw their troubled looks before shaking his head.
He could still control his hunger, unlike them, and hence had already decided to refrain from taking any from the very start.
"I can hold off for longer." He assured them that it would be alright for them to consume the pills without him.
They each had received two pills which should be enough for them to last for another few days.
However, Treegan did not wish to fill his stomach when his Master would stay hungry.
Therefore, he was prepared to share his pills with his Master when someone interrupted him.
"You can have this…" A soft voice echoed from a corner.
Rein had been released from the General's hold already and had even stretched his muscles to relieve some of the tension caused due to the huge man's strong hold.
Watching the others frown because one of them did not get the pills, Rein had another offer to make.
Hearing this voice, the others turned in its direction and found the young stranger fiddling in his pocket.
It was the same pocket from which the black jar had come and this time, Rein fetched the clear jar instead.
A crimson powder was seen tumbling around in the clear jar that Rein was shaking to bring their attention to it.
King Zander had seen this jar earlier but Rein had only asked for the black one to be removed so the chef had tossed the clear one back inside.
Now, while Rein displayed the jar with its contents clear for them to see, the King had his eyes fixed on it.
"This works just fine." Rein's mutter reached their ears.
In the next second, while they watched, the now free Rein, turned and ran in the other direction.
This left the others' mouths gaping as they watched their earlier hostage fleeing away in a haste.
'We did restrain him by force.' General Espren shook his head that they had scared their savior away.
King Zander too was left speechless when Rein ran like the wind and his head whiplashed in the direction that he had fled.
As they watched, the sounds of the footsteps running in the other direction came to a halt at a distance but Rein was already out of their sight.
A few seconds of utter silence ensued before the sounds were heard once again.
However, this time, the thuds created by someone running were growing louder instead of diminishing with time.
This made King Zander frown as he continued to gaze in that direction only to see that Rein was once again visible.
This time, however, he was running towards them and he was not alone.
Treegan had been glaring in the direction that Rein had left but now his eyes widened at seeing him return.
The figure heading their way was already tiny but looking at the huge bags he carried made him look even smaller than before.
'One, two…' King Zander counted the number of bags in Rein's hands and the count ended at four.
Two in each hand, the young vampire seemed steady even while carrying these great loads.
Rein's feet came to a halt before them as he dropped his baggage on the ground before them.
Once he was done, he turned around, and only then did they discover the existence of a much bigger, fifth bag that had been on his back.
The backpack fell to the ground with a loud thud which made the sand rise, making him cough for a second before he stopped.
Rein did not look at their gawking eyes but bent forward and started rummaging through the luggage.
Having found the thing he had been looking for, he rose and his icy blue eyes sparkled with joy.
King Zander could not blink for fear of missing a single sight as he stared at the man who had run away but came back of his own accord.
Under everyone's stupefied gaze, Rein held the item up in his hand to show it to the rest.
"Water bag?" Treegan muttered upon observing it for a second.
In Rein's hands was a leather bag that was often used to carry water during long journeys.
The bag seemed full but there was no way that they could know what was truly inside.
Rein nodded immediately to approve of Treegan's answer before fishing out that clear jar from his pocket once again.
Everybody watched in absolute silence while the youngster struggled a little as he tried to transfer the crimson powder into the water bag.
The opening was small but Rein did his best to not let any of the powder spill and fall to the ground, wasting it on the process.
Once half the jar was emptied into the water bag, Rein handed the jar to the chef who helped him screw the lid back on.
With just the bag in his hand, the young vampire first sealed it shut before shaking it vigorously.
It took him a good few seconds to complete whatever it was that he was up to before he stopped.
"You can try this." He revealed before extending the water bag in the King's direction.
The others had not yet consumed their pills and seeing this strange boy they had met today, offering their King something suspicious only made them leer at him.
Even King Zander made no movement to accept what he was offering.
This made Rein pause for a second as though he understood what was wrong before nodding his head.
Just when everyone thought that he would take the water bag back, Rein undid its seal before bringing it to his lips and taking a large gulp straight from it.
With his head raised to drink from the bag, his neck was visible in all its glory before the other thirsty vampires.
Even the subtle movement of his throat was magnified in their eyes and the sound of the gulp was loud as well.
The moment the opening of the water bag left Rein's lips, their eyes shifted upwards and caught sight of a crimson liquid that cascaded down his chin.
That single drop made a striking contrast to the young vampire's pale skin and even paler hair.
As the rest watched, the youngster raised his hand and wiped the liquid clean by rubbing the sleeve of his robe against his chin.
Just this simple sight was enough to make them gulp their salivas.
They could not understand what it was but they were unable to take their eyes off of him.
He was doing something as simple as wiping his lips and chin yet their eyes remained glued to him.
They were hungry as it was and the sight of Rein, who they had just noticed was as pretty as a girl, doing something so sensual was making their body temperature rise which was a difficult task for a vampire by itself.
Realizing that Rein was oblivious to the changes he had brought in his surroundings, King Zander shook his head at his innocent ways before glancing at the water bag in his hand.
'He wants me to drink from it too?' He thought to himself as his golden irises narrowed at the item in Rein's hand.