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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 8

The two transformed into their Werewolf forms and followed the man without allowing him to get too far away from them, all the while making sure to stay unnoticed.

After a while, they saw him approach a decaying building in the woods. Its thick stone pillars were wrapped in vines, and the roof was densely covered with ivy. Or maybe it was actually the plants that were supporting the house instead of stone, the girls thought to themselves.

And the man they were following went into the building. As Emma and Luna approached the building, a very particular smell hit their noses. It was the thick, sickening smell of human males. It seems that there are actually quite a few people inside of this house.

They crouched outside of the house while remaining vigilant, and after a while, they heard voices coming from inside of the house, so they immediately hid themselves in the nearby bushes, concealed their presence as best as they possibly could and continued to listen to the voices of the men.

* * *

When Elmer entered the house, the eyes of everyone inside rested on him.

「How was it? 」

One of the heavy knights asked anxiously. In response to his question, Elmer shook his head sullenly

「The highways are filled to the brim with Artuk soldiers. At this rate, we will not be able to move anywhere from here. 」
Elmer removed the headgear he wore in order to disguise himself and he threw it onto the floor.

「I did not expect the Werewolves to turn to Vilar Constance for help. 」

「You did not expect it? 」

At Elmer’s words, a lone heavy knight approached him. It was Franz, the vice-captain of Elmer’s unit.

「I thought we all knew that this was well within the realm of possibility. 」

「Maybe so, but still… Vilar Constance started acting way too quickly. 」

Elmer said that to excuse himself.

「Moreover, it seems that Theo Cornero is leading the search for us. 」

Hearing that name, everyone in the house erupted into an uproar, because after the humiliating defeat at his hands during the battle of Selvis, there is no way that any of the heavy knights of Waldrind is ever going to forget that name.

「After that battle, I heard that he handed his title to his subordinate Lord, Lassic David, and chose to become a vassal of Vilar Constance… 」

Franz bit down on his lip.

「I heard rumors that he was just a wandering Lord, but that was actually a cover up for him being a close aide to Villar, and now the Earlof Artuk has sent out Theo Cornero, Siluca Meletes and two of his other contracted Mages in order to usurp the thrones of Clovis, Selvis and Folvis! 」

Cried one of the other heavy knights.

Franz also heard the rumors that were circulating about the Earl of Artuk and his current entourage. If those rumors are going to turn out to be true after all, then that would mean that Theo Cornero must have already gained Vilar Constance’s trust and had his achievements recognized by him.

「If it is really Theo Cornero who is searching for us, then he might find us here sooner or later. 」

Franz turned to Elmer.

「This forest is nominally the domain of the Constance family, but it is ruled by a Vampire King who is also an Artist. This is a place that not even the soldiers of Artuk or Werewolves will enter because they are too afraid of it… 」

Elmer said confidently.

「And the Vampire King Dimitri is our ally. 」
* * *

At that moment, outside the building, the twin werewolves pricked up their tails, but no one could have noticed that.

「Did you hear it? 」
Whispered Emma, who was listening to their conversation outside the building.

「Yes, I heard it loud and clear. 」

Luna also whispered back to her sister.

「I didn’t quite understand what they were talking about though. 」

「I didn’t understand it either. 」

「But at least we found them. 」

「We found them alright. 」

The two face each other and smiled. That was the point of them venturing to the first in the first place, so their mission has been accomplished successfully.

「The Vampires are on their side… 」
But immediately after that, their expressions have stiffened. They did not understand much of what the men were saying, but that one piece of information was the crucial one that they needed, so the next step that they needed to do…

「We have to let Siluca know about it. 」

「Yes, otherwise they are going to be trapped and have their blood sucked! 」

The two nodded at each other and turned around to leave this place… but then they let out voices of surprise, because there was a woman, and she was standing right before them without them even noticing her.

「I didn’t expect two puppies to wander into a place like this. 」

The woman laughs mysteriously.

As soon as they have seen her, they instinctively knew that they needed to escape, so they scattered both to the left and to the right and wanted to run with all their might… but they could not do it.

「I won’t let you escape… 」

When the woman spoke these words, the vines growing around her stretched out like tentacles and entwined themselves around the limbs of the twins, causing them to fall onto the ground and let out a high-pitched squeak. They tried to break themselves free from the vines by tearing them off, but much to their terror, the vines proved to be surprisingly strong and elastic.

「Be quiet now If you don’t want to die… 」

The woman looks down at the two of them and said coldly.

They were horrified.

Emma and Luna have been playing pranks on the other Werewolves ever since they were young pups, for which they have always been scolded by their mother, their brothers and their sisters. Having them all yell at them was scary too, but that was an entirely different kind of terror in comparison to the woman that was standing before them right now.

Their bodies were frozen in place and their throats felt numb, preventing them from uttering even a single word. All Emma and Luna could do was shed tears and tremble in fear.

Because now they knew exactly who the person in front of them was.

* * *

Siluca walked swiftly down a narrow path that snaked through the dark, dense forest.

She had Theo ride her to the castle of Baron Eugen, where she spent the night, waited until dawn, and then made her way to the Vampire King’s castle in the Forest of Eternal Darkness.

Due to its ominous name, the trees in the Forest of Eternal Darkness were distinctly different from the rest of the trees in Artuk’s regular forests. Theor trunks were narled, the branches twisted, and the leaves were all black and dry.

Even the light of the sun shining throufg the canopy above her head felt somewhat strange and unnatural. Even though the sky was cloudless and clear today, the sky in the forest itself was red like the color of the setting sun. It was clear to Siluca that she was now in a place where the naturallaws of the world have been heavily disturbed by Chaos.

Siluca took out her magic wand and confirmed the fluctuations of Chaos within the miniature Chaos Globe that is embedded in it… and tehn she suddenly came to a stop.

「I can’t believe the chaos density in this place is this high… 」

The numerical value of the Chaos Level indicated by the Chaos Globe in her magic wand has reached 8 out of 10 levels, which was abnormally high considering that the usual concentration of Chaos was at level 2 or level 3 at worst. Even in the Magic City of Elam, which has a relatively high concentration of Chaos, the usual level of the Chaos concentration should not be higher than level 4 or level 5 at worst.

With such a high concentration of Chaos, it should not be surprising if any possible Chaos Disaster happened at a moment’s nortice here.

(This is a magical place alright, no two ways about it.)

It’s safe to call it a magical place.)

As she continued walking, she saw a village. A village where people who serve the Vampire King lived. The buildings are normal, but they still have a different impression than in the rest of Artuk, and Siluca soon realized why was that.

She did not hear any people taling, nor there was any livestock in sight. Moreover there was not a single child running around. It was so quiet that it almost seemed like an illusion.