"Explain yourself, Prioress! Who are these you brought to our sacred place!?" Those angry elves stared dagger. Their body shivered as they were afraid. Though all but one, and he was shouting fiercely with his question. "Pick your words carefully, or I'll put this arrow through that bear's head."
"C-Calm down, Commander…" The religious elf lady was a bit panicked. Even her mammaries turn rigid from the tension. "However… I doubt you can pull that off."
"Huh!?" From how shocked the commander looked, it was clear that this is the first time the Prioress ever belittled him.
"These two people are Hunters, they're sent by the Adventurer's Guild to help us with the vampires." The prioress carefully explained.
"Hunters?" The elves' guard went down for a brief second. "How do you know whether they speak the truth or not?" Then it quickly went up again. 'What the fuck are Hunters doing fighting vampires?' He thought to himself.
"They've shown us their [Adventurer's Badge]s—"
Seeing the situation might get dragged longer than needed, Dov stepped up before the lady and lifted his gloved right hand to the level of his shoulder.
"[Personal Skill]"
"[1st Act]"
"Night Coat."
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly all the bows and arrows raised by the dark elves went lit with purple flames, burning, gorging with power. Dov coated them with the immense of his magic.
"Is this enough proof to you, Commander?" He then monotonously asked.
"I-I see…" The elves got a bit relieved, yet scared. But it was enough to lower their weapons down.
Not just that Dov showed them dark magic, which vampires did not use (they use blood magic), but Dov also cast a [Personal Skill].
This set of skills is only used by adventurers, which they gained the moment they're officially pointed as one. Although they only get the first act of it. If they wanted to get more of those skills, they need to level up 10 times, to achieve the next act (2nd level 11, 3rd level 21, and so on).
[Personal Skills] are what made every adventurer unique, as each and every single one of them has it different even if they're born twins.
There is also a [Passive Personal Skills] which they gain every 25 levels (25, 50, etc.). But as the name suggests, they're triggered passively, so Dov can't use them as proof of his pledge to the Guild.
"But that still doesn't explain why you're here, Hunter." The Commander suddenly put his guard back up. "Why would a Hunter be hunting vampires? That shit is a Slayer's job." Slayer is one of the five adventurer's professions whose job is to fight monsters.
"Because the one pulling the string is a humanoid." That was a lie of course.
"Humanoid!? What do you mean?" A loud gasp could be heard from everyone's mouth. Even Celene barely managed to hold herself from acting surprised.
"It means there's a criminal who has been guiding them throughout their attacks." Dov convincingly explained. "Though the shrine wasn't the only one getting attacked. Just yesterday, Hazinite Bridge got raided with a significant amount of turned civilians."
"I'm sure you saw a lot of ghouls recently."
That was a bit of a gamble from Dov, thinking that the vampires also raided a couple more places to get an army going for them.
"Wha— how could this be…? What in Goddess' name is happening?" The Commander clenched his head as his guard got completely thorned off.
"I see you have a casualty in there Commander." Dov quickly redirect the attention they were gaining. "This might sound rude, but I need your view on what happened, so we can finally solve this case."
"Uh…" The Commander seemed really hesitant, this is the first time he ever worked with a Hunter, even though the whole world already saw them as a neutral international law enforcer.
But when he saw the hopeful tired face of his comrades, he know he needed this help. The vampires are just too strong for the dark elves who don't have a Protector among them at this moment.
"Fine. Come inside, Hunter. But don't disappoint us."
"As you wish."
As they were invited, the two Hunters alongside the Prioress walked closer to the scene of supposedly a murder. The Commander gets the door shut after they did, to avoid local suspicion, which can bring chaos and disturbance to the residents of the shrine.
"Before we start, I think an exchange of names should be in order." Dov suggested. "Codename: Night Bear, Veteran Hunter serving right under the All-father himself."
"My partner right here, Codenamed the Crescent Night (though it might change when she's no longer under my wing). She's quite large even for a lycan, but she has a gentle soul, none of you need to be alarmed by her."
"(Forget her, you're making me shiver.)" The elves whispered to one another. Though hearing that he's All-father's servant put them a little at ease.
Celene's height is always troublesome for her if they ever get indoors since most of the building on the continent has their ceiling built 3 meters above the ground, which is just about her height. If she encountered a lamp or decorations, she needs to avoid them or lower herself more.
"Ah yes… I've heard much about your name from the serving youth (soldiers). Hopefully, you're as good as the gossips said." The Commander commented. Dov just nodded at it.
"My name is Ikemba, the Commander of the dark elves army. I hold the highest authority when it comes to safety and warfare, also the oldest serving in ranks."
He introduced himself as he sat back to his commanding chair not far from the body. It's easy to see how powerful of a leader he is just by seeing how he poses and stares at the Hunters.
"Oh! I should probably introduce myself as well~" The Prioress seemed eager to join. "I am Emilohi, Mother Prioress of the Shrine of Consciousness, second only to the Provost regarding dark elves' religious mater."
"She's also the mother of our current Chief," Ikemba added. Hearing it, both Dov's and Celene's attention quickly got pulled towards her. They've found it, one of the crucial figures of their mission.
"Noted." Dov then walked closer to the body. "Now that's done, mind sharing what you know about the incident?"
"Not much sadly, we found her just recently, probably 10 minutes before you arrived." Explained the Commander. "The blood is still fresh, but we didn't catch any sign of life left on her…" How gloomy his face was told a lot about how close he is to the girl laying on the floor. She didn't seem to be breathing nor giving any pulse, but…
"The girl isn't dead Commander."
"Wha—" All the elves in the room got thunderstrike by Dov's word. The Commander even jumped from his chair. "You're not jesting right?"
"No. Well not completely." The Hunter added. That ambiguity turned everyone tense. "A vampire's bite won't kill a lady, but it'll turn them depending on the state of their maidenhood."
"Hmm..." He went back to his seat "Nneka here just celebrated her coming of age this afternoon, so that means…"
"She'll turn into a vampire."
As Dov said it, the whole room just found a sparkle of hope in their eyes. Sure she will no longer be an elf just like all her comrades and family, but at least she's alive. Also, it'll be a huge advantage for them if they have a vampire on their side.
"Dov, she's turning pale," Celene observed.
They saw her skin slowly losing its brown color, but it was still very fair and smooth. Meanwhile, her grey hair turned pitch black, darker than the night herself. From this moment, Dov knew she won't turn into a ghoul.
*!?*
Her belly suddenly moved, showing a sign of breathing. Then she started vibrating, shaking profusely as if she was being possessed. A high-pitched scream suddenly broke, and the entire room (except Dov) quickly covered their ears from how loud it was.
At the intense moment, the masked Hunter walked toward her, and shoved the area between his thumb and index into her mouth, without taking his glove off.
The girl went silent and stuck her fangs into his palm. Like a baby she sucked his blood, slowly getting calmer and calmer. The elves removed their hands and watched how Dov nonchalantly tame their turned friend, while the eerie blue eyes on his mask just stared gently at her.
"I wonder what made the vampire just leave a cute maiden like her here lying around." Celene curiously stared at the healthy turned vampiress.
"She knows why," Dov said as he removed his blood-covered hand from her mouth. "But not now, she's too weak to talk. I suggest you rest her, and we'll discuss this again when she's up to the task." He then looked at the Commander, as if saying it's him who should do it.
"Understood." Ikemba nodded. He seems to thrust Dov more now that he saw how calm he handled the situation. "Until we meet again."
Both Hunters head to see themselves out through the front door. But before they could leave, Mother Prioress called to them, "Do you two have a place to stay the night?"
"Unless this shrine has an inn, I guess we'll camp outside the black wall," Dov stopped his footstep.
"Then how about staying at my house? It's only a couple steps away from here."
Her offer quickly got the Hunters eager. They look at each other, surprised by how easy it was. Far too easy.
"We gladly take your offer, Mother Prioress," Celene replied to her. No way they'll miss the chance to get into their target house.
"Just Emi is enough, no need to get that formal with me." She smiled sincerely, clearly happy with the Hunters' presence.
"Well then Emi, please… lead the way," Dov said.
With that being said, the three make their way south, closer to where the core of the shrine is. When they travel to the Commander's Office, they were traveling through the outer part of the city, where the magical energy wasn't immensely powerful.
But now…
"Dov— this is too— much."
Celene froze before Emilohi's house's door, as the mist power got enhanced by the shrine's magic. She felt like she was about to pass out from how high the lust piling in her body.
"Here." Dov suddenly gave her a strap of pills. "This will help you calm down."
They're sedative to lower someone's excitement. Most adventurers who travel Lustmist with no intention of having intercourse used it. However, they'll need an antaphrodisiac if a demon or dark elves use a seduction spell on them.
"Wait, you have this all this time!?" Celene yelled in surprise.
"Only for the case of emergency." Dov firmly replied. "That thing is expensive. Do you even remotely know how hard it is to fight a spell created by someone as powerful as the Shaman!?"
Celene went silent hearing Dov's tone went up a bit. Her face went pouty. She then carefully took a pill and handed them back to the Masked Hunter.
"Save it. But be wise with how you use it."
She quickly nodded at his instruction and opened the portal to her [Inventory Ring]. She put the pills there and stood still for a while, letting the drug slowly calm her body.
"Will she really be okay?" Emilohi gazed in worry, her hand stopped just at the door handle.
"Don't worry, lots of my colleagues used it. She'll be fine." Dov assured.
"Well if you said so, then... come in~"
The Prioress opened the door and invited them into her house. She turned on the switch next to her front door and light began to emit the entire room. It was surprisingly mild and yellow, which is uncommon among the residents of Lustmist who uses purple lamp.
"By the way, I only have one room left is that okay?" Emilohi seemed a bit troubled now that she sees how hard Celene fighting her lust. She's not accustomed to people refusing to just succumb to it, and letting themselves engage in animalistic acts.
"No need to worry, Emi. We're used to sharing a room together." Celene tried to assure.
"But that's outside Lustmist..." She just can't help it.
"We'll be fine, Emi. We're both adults and professionals." Dov backed her.
"You-you're right... alright, follow me."
Setting aside her worries, she then lead them through the hallway till they met a room with all kinds of stickers painted in multiple colors patched to its door. The signature pattern of different races can be seen on these stickers.
"Here it is!"
Emilohi opened the door and turned the light on. Now the sight of numerous bunch of stuff could be seen filling every side of the room. Although the floor was spacious enough even for Celene to lay and spread her arms open.
"Sorry it's a bit crowded, it was my son's room. But now he's living in the Shrine Hall with his fiancée." The Prioress awkwardly smiled, totally forgetting the mess left in this room. "Do you want me to clean it first?"
"No need, Emi. We'll adjust just fine..."
"(Just fine indeed.)"