Chapter 43: 43. A Venomous Murder Plot

Feeling the warm rays of the early morning sun on her face, Fay opened her tired eyes. Her legs felt deathly numb, but she was happy. Her master's face was peaceful. Fay noticed that Varn and Thar were also slowly waking up looking around the car.

Fay was surprised that Walter had kept up his water cannon spell for an entire night, "Good morning Walter…" she said in a sleepy voice. 

"Good morning Miss Fay," he replied in a calm voice, "We will be arriving soon."

Fay looked out the car's window and looked at the illuminated landscape, "Sure enough, it's a wasteland." Fay murmured. All she could see was cracked mud covered in sparsely growing grass amongst the frost for endless miles. The occasional naked tree dotted the horizon, lording over the rest of the flora. 

Due to the dry climate and lack of rain, this plateau is an impoverished land with infertile soil. Nevertheless, the entourage moved forward at a moderate pace along a dusty road that ran alongside a slow-moving and shallow river. 

Up ahead in the distance, under the shadow of the looming mountains, a small forest that appeared as an oasis surrounded by endless barren lands could be seen.

Fay couldn't help being curious and asked Walter, "Walter, I am also planning to study water magic in the near future. How can you maintain the water cannon skill for hours on end?"

Walter kept his focus on his spell and driving the car but answered, "I have an A grade in both Mana control and my water cannon skill. Compared to my maximum power, maintaining the skill to move the car at such a pathetically slow speed is hardly laborious for me."

Fay would make more idle conversation, but Damien began to stir, his peaceful face suddenly changed to a bloodthirsty one. Without even opening his eyes, he murmured, "Bandits up ahead."

Damien made use of his unique skill set. With his lazy trait, he could practically sleep while standing up. So while sleeping, he made use of his concentration trait and had his clairvoyance skill running. He was worried that the knights surrounding him would make a move during the night, but they had been well behaved so far. 

Clairvoyance [D] - The ability to see things and events that are happening far away, and locate objects, places, people, using a 'sixth sense'.

As one of the essential skills in a Psychic mage's arsenal, he had been practicing it as often as possible. Hence it is already at the D grade. At the moment, he could detect living things within a thousand meters and directly look at things within a hundred meters. 

With every level up, his sight while using the skill improved, but currently, he could only see the outlines of things and no other details. 

Fay was startled and looked around, yet apart from the small forest in the distance, everything else was flatlands for miles. Not an ideal place to conduct a bandit attack. Looking down, she noticed Damien had a bloodthirsty grin on his face. 

It wasn't fear, but instead, it showed a hint of amusement. Fay relaxed her stiff body. If Damien isn't worrying, then neither would she. 

Damien opened his eyes and checked the location of the sun, "Walter, the bridge to the castle is from the east bank, right?" Walter glanced at a map situated on the seat to his left, and shook his head, "Regrettably, I have no idea, Young Master, I have never visited the Tarlington Fortress before."

Damien sat up and tried to remember the information from the game. Alas, he had never paid attention to such an unimportant detail while playing. 

"So about the bandits Young Master…" Walter asked in a concerned tone, "Should we notify the guards?"

Damien just laughed, "It's not the bandits I fear. It's these disloyal dogs surrounding us."

Thar nodded at Damiens statement, "I felt a weird sense of killing intent from them ever since we met them at the palace, well everyone except that dwarf Beldroth."

Fay chimed in, "erm, Beldroth is an elf, just a really short one. He is related somehow to the Princess, I believe." 

Damien agreed, "I assume Beldroth will stand by our side. From my guess, he was sent here to spy on me for the King. However, with his wind magic, he can easily make trips during the night to deliver information or escape me if necessary."

Thar looked out the window at the knights and said in a low voice, "So why did you call the knights disloyal? How bad are we talking?"

Damien grinned, "Every few hours through the night, we stopped to rest by the river. During this time, all the knights, without fail, except Beldroth, would sneakily take a pill with water. I suspect it's an antidote for a poison… and using Clairvoyance, I had a little sneak peek into one of their pouches and found only five pills remaining."

Thar's face turned grim, "You said they took one every few hours, then they only have a day or two to live at most."

Damien leaned back and closed his eyes, "I wouldn't be surprised if they teamed up with the bandits to deal with us."

Walter asked in a low voice, "Young Master should we try to escape? I can speed up the car…"

"No. This car cannot traverse the barren landscape at a high enough speed to escape the Wind Mages. This is a rare opportunity," flashing a bloodthirsty smile, "ranking up in the comfort of the home is a waste of time and takes too long. Why turn down the opportunity to fight when it arises?"

Turning towards the Kobold, who had been quiet for the entire conversation, "Varn, you will follow me outside, place yourself between myself and the knights."

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Thinking back on Varn's abilities…

[Varn Yddryr]

[Kobold]

Schools of magic:

[Wild Magic (B)]

Primordial Mana Manipulation [C] - "Manipulate the raw and untamed mana around and inside you."

Chaos Vortex [D] - "Creates a swirling ball of wild affinity mana that destroys other mana on contact. Can be thrown."

Chaos Zone [F] - "Creates a domain of wild mana around the caster, reduces the effectiveness of incoming spells, and enhances wild mana spells."

Damien nodded at his plan to place Varn between him and the mages, "Since I have suitable weapons, my combat potential has skyrocketed. However, I will still require assistance dealing with so many knights. From my estimations…" While looking outside the window, Damien said, "they seemed to be around the C rank mostly, but I can feel the aura of one or two B ranks amongst them."

"Look here-" Damien said, directing Varn's eyes at a young woman and an older looking man, "-those two are B ranks, keep them busy for me while I dispose of the small fry."

Varn weakly nodded, he had witnessed death before, but he was a sheltered Prince of the kobolds. He had never participated in a life and death battle before. Noticing Varn's meek behavior, Damien handed him a card.

It was silvery grey and covered in complex blue runes. "This is enchanted with a 'deflect' rune. It will automatically defend against a life-threatening attack but will consume a large amount of mana.

Varn took the card and admired it, treasuring it like a second life. He quickly placed it under his shirt. 

Damien leaned forward and beckoned everyone to get in close. Then, in a low voice, he said, "The plan is this." he pointed to the floor as if enacting out a battle scenario, "When the car begins to cross the bridge, the bandits will notice us and come out. If my guess is correct, and the knights are indeed planning to kill us, this would be an opportune moment to attack, as we will be trapped between a rock and a hard place…"

"I will walk towards the bandits with the pretense of negotiations. Varn stays near the car and behind me. The signal to attack the knights will be when one of them loses their head," Varn opened his mouth to speak, but Damien continued, "you will understand what I mean when it happens. Anyway, once the fight starts, I will ascend to the skies above. Varn, you stay on the ground and disrupt the B grade mages with your wild mana."

Damien then turned to Thar, "Your metal magic is still at the C grade, and rune engraving will not be useful for combat, same with you, Fay. At the moment, you only know a single spell above the C grade, and that's a cleaning spell." 

Fay let out a sad sigh, but Damien added with a grin, "Once the fight starts, feel free to attack some injured knights with your water cannon spell. It will level up quickly when used to kill others. Here take this…" Damien handed Fay a life-saving card, and she wrapped it in cloth and casually placed it between her breasts.

Damien then sat back, and everyone else followed, "Walter, your job is to protect the car and its occupants the best you can. If things turn south, feel free to flee with Thar and Fay." Walter nodded from the front seat.

A few minutes of pin-drop silence followed as everyone mentally prepared themselves for the potential battle ahead. 

Eventually, the car reached the forest, the road continued onwards through the trees and led to a large clearing. In the middle, surrounded by the forest, was a large lake. In the center stood a beige-colored castle. It had a single tall tower on the eastern side overlooking the lake. 

On the western side of the castle was a single bridge that was the sole walkway across the calm lake. Although from its intimidating walls, Damien could agree with it being called the Tarlington Fortress, the final bastion that protects the realm from the vampires, it was clearly made with one purpose in mind. Absolute defensive power."

Not a single spot was wasted, as battlements lined every wall. Despite the castle's smaller size, compared to more luxurious ones made for Kings, Damien thought this was the most fortified and intimidating castle he had ever laid his eyes on.

The entourage followed the river that was fed by the lake and moved onto the lone bridge. It was around two carriages wide and made of a sand-colored stone. At the far end was the fortress gatehouse, with its magically enhanced portcullis slowly rising.

Out walked a group of men and women of varying ages. They looked ragged with messy hair and worn-out clothes. Beldroth noticed the Bandits and stepped forward, "This is property of Duke Nightshade. Please vacate the premises immediately!"

Seeing the defiant look on the people's faces, Beldroth turned and knocked on the car's door, "Sir Damien, how do you wish to deal with these squatters on your land?" he asked with interest. Beldroth wanted to see how a noble vampire could tolerate humans inhabiting his future house.

Opening the car door, Damien stepped out into the chilly January breeze. With the sun high in the sky, above the castle and not a cloud in sight. Damien couldn't help but smirk as he felt the knights behind him slowly closing in and encircling the entrance.

Damien grinned, showing his fangs, and murmured, "It's showtime."