Drac knew exactly what he had to do. Slowly he started making his way to the back of the caravan, and soon he went out to pee in the trees. No one batted an eye, nor did anyone care. With ease, he was able to slip away and so he started making his way back, towards the carriage.
Running after such a long was refreshing, but his mind was occupied by the carriage. He knew what he had to do, if those guys really knew about a way to the Hograve Continent, then he needed to know. Seeing that the leader was mumbling about killing the girls after he had reached the continent, meant the people inside the carriage were sort of key to get to the island.
And he was sure that his persuasion power would be enough for them to hand over the carriage and the kidnapped woman as well…
As he got to the carriage, he started to hear muffled screaming. He slowed down and took out his sabers from his satchel. Although he had yet to learn how to properly wield them, he could still get the best out of the soldiers with his speed alone.
He sneaked closer to the carriage, hiding himself in the dense forest around him. Before attacking he wanted to listen to the conversation that those people were having.
"YOU BITCH!" he recognize the leader of the soldier's voice, "You almost got us caught. I would fucking skin you alive, or better let my men have their way with you. But I will let you out with a warning,"
Then he heard whimperings, both the hostages were terrified of something, "You and your daughter are not getting any food for the night. Starve! And then maybe you learn how to follow orders," the man said, and then he jumped out of the carriage.
One of the soldiers approached the man, "Boss, what are we going to do? We have to get this carriage to the nearest blacksmith. Only then would we be able to get this thing fixed,"
The leader sighed, "I know.. I tell you what, we would to split up. Someone would stay here, with both of them. While the others would take this carriage to the village. We would regroup here, in two days,"
"Who should we leave behind?" the soldier asked. "Those bitches and these dogs… That simply won't do. We cannot trust these criminals,"
Criminals? Drac then went back to his memory and started thinking about the faces of the soldiers that he saw. He couldnt tell that those guys were criminals, as they were all well-groomed, and looked like proper soldiers. But the fact that one of the soldiers just straight away cursed at the old man in the caravan now did seem suspicious to him.
"We have to do something and fast.." the leader said, "If someone realizes that these bitches had been kidnapped, they would surely have someone look for them,"
"Would they?" the soldier asked. "Even with the state of the capital? I dont think anyone would come looking for them,"
"Their name holds power, my friend. They are the descendants of a Marquis. I am sure that some fucker out there would surely notice their absence,"
Now that is interesting. We have two last descendants of Marquis before us… Does that mean that Kaisel and his gang have some hands in this? He thought.
He realized what he needed to do. Immediately he pushed himself up and took out his sabers from his waist's sheath.
He started walking up to the soldiers, out in the open. When someone saw him, coming towards them with his weapon out, they called out for others. But that was the last thing that they did, he immediately lunged toward the man and cleaved his head clean.
Has my power increased by that much? He was surprised by how little force he had to apply in order to kill a man. Better yet, his speed had increased significantly as well. The others started making their way towards him, but he only greeted them with a cold face. These guys were not worth his time.
It took him merely a minute or so, to kill about 6 grown-up men. He was surprised by how much power he was able to exert. The problem came when amidst his frenzy he forgot that he needed the leader of the group alive. He might have killed the man easily, but by doing so he lost the opportunity to get the information as well. Now, his only source of information was the women inside..
When he opened the carriage door, he saw that there were no seats in the luxurious carriage. In place of seats were the bags of supplies.
It seems that these guys were planning to go on a very long trip, he thought as he mentally counted the supplies.
Then he looked at the hostages, lying in their underwear were two women. The younger one looked as if she were in her teens, she had short black hair with light brown eyes. The other woman looked like she was in her late twenties, and had ocean-blue eyes, fair skin, and hair up to her shoulders.
They both looked at him with fear, before he could as them anything, he heard the sound of murmurs. He closed the door of the carriage and went to the door. He saw that there was a group of people making their way towards him. He looked back at the bodies that were littered around the carriage, and then at the people approaching.
"Fuck me," he mumbled and then acted fast. He started hauling the bodies one by one and started dumping them inside the carriage. The women screamed as he threw the first body on them, but the gags in their mouths managed to dampen their screams. By the time he had shoved all the bodies inside, he was hardly able to listen to muffled sounds. So there was no way that the people from the caravan would be able to.
Those people asked him when he needed their help, but he politely declined and they went their own way.
I need to get them to a quiet place, I cannot risk being here. Also, the blood from the bodies was littered outside. With a chance that someone might have spotted the blood, he needed to get out of there, fast.
He looked down the carriage to see that the axle of the carriage was broken. Luckily, he had something in his satchel that could help.
The device he used was kind of like a blowtorch, but if used correctly, he surely could join the pipes together. His plan worked, but he understood that this was just a temporary thing. This axel would not be able to sustain the strain for long.
Immediately he got to work, attached the horses to the carriage, and started driving it…
After an hour of ride, he finally stopped the thing near a creak, away from the King's Road. There was a swamp nearby as well, where he would be able to dump the bodies. He opened the carriage and started taking out the bodies. The women, who were now covered in blood and grim, looked at him with fear.
He got into the carriage with a knife in his hands, "Now. I will ask a question. And you will tell me the truth. Lie, and you would realize how lucky were you when those guys had you under their custody. Do you understand?" the old woman nodded.
He removed her gag, making her cough, "Your name,"
"Victoria,"
"Full name,"
"Victoria Hammel Jonia," she said, he realized that Jonia was the family name of a Marquis family.
"Why did these guys abduct you?"
"We hired them so that we could return to our Family House. But in the end, they abducted us so that they could get money out of us,"
This made him slap her across her face, and then he put the knife on her neck, "Try that again. This time, tell me the truth."
She hesitated and then said, "They wanted a way to Hograve Continent. And we could get them to the continent,"
"How exactly did you manage to achieve that?" he asked.
She hesitated again, so he pressed the knife a little bit, making some blood trickle down her neck. Feeling the cut she said, "My daughter… A friend of Marquis wanted to take her under his apprenticeship. That man is an Alchemist from the continent. He would be coming to our family house to pick her up,"
He turned towards the daughter and looked at her from top to bottom, wondering whether the woman was lying or not. Hograve Continent is said to be very far from Alanor Kingdom, so he was having a hard time understanding, why someone would send a ship for a girl who was still wet behind her ears.
This time he removed the gag from the daughter's mouth and asked, "What is the difference between Yellow Butterscotch, and Yellow Livintail?"
The woman looked at him as a deer caught in front of a headlight. He waited, but she didnt speak, making him realize that he had been lied to, "You bitch. You dare to lie to me?" he said.
With his free hands, he grabbed the neck of the older woman. With his grip, he started choking her, "Didnt I say that if you lie to me, then I will fucking kill you. Did you take me for someone who jokes around,"
"No no no no.." The daughter exclaimed, "The difference is that one produces white Silky Oakmilk, while the other produces Green SilkyOak milk," he stopped choking her.
He let the mother breathe, and then turned to the daughter, "Hmm…" he mumbled, "That is correct,"
He then stared at both of them suspiciously, and then said, "Alright. Here is the deal for now." He said. "I will take both of you to your family castle. In return, I need a passage to the Hograve Continent. I will protect you with anything that comes our way, and in my payment, I just need a safe passage."
Both the women looked at each other, unsure of what to say, "Do we have a deal?" They didnt say anything, for a second, but then the daughter asked. "Who are you?"
"I go by the name of Drac," he then removed his mask, and showed them his face, "But you better know me Adui Hampshire…"