Chương 170: Enslaved Mermaid
Vol. 3 - Chapter 14 - Enslaved Mermaid
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The moment of uncertainty for the guards belonging to the Grailly House was upon them, from their former belief they would once again successfully extort the citizens of the city under their lord, was shattered by the appearance of two young men, one older than the other and another creature that was similar to a flying cat who was flying watching over them.
The guards were in disarray, and with some who took command over the raiding group, they began organizing to take on the newcomers who opposed them.
"Goges, what's going on? Since when did such strong people reside in these backwaters? We need to retreat and inform the Captain of the situation here."
Saying that the group of armored guards that numbered in fifty heads could see from a distance as a man wearing a black suit and wielding a longsword that had a crimson color walked casually toward them.
"That person … It is him. He was the one who killed most of our brothers. Be careful. He is a dangerous person." called out a guard who began trembling when he saw Vlad approaching their group.
"RETREAT! We will see if he has the guts to attack the castle. Abandon all raiding plans." called out the one seeming to be the leader of this group.
"What about the rest who didn't reach this place?"
"Doesn't matter, just retreat now!" shouted the man who saw Vlad's emotionless face and crimson-black eyes, which made him tremble in fear when he glanced at them in the distance.
"NOW!" repeated again the man, barely able to contain his trembling.
Immediately the group reacted and began running back toward the castle, while Vlad remained the same, strolling toward the castle, while from the air he heard Aerius' voice.
"Boss, do you want me to slow them down until you reach them?"
"Leave them be. They will lead me to the rat nest. Just focus on the ones who didn't manage to escape." ordered Vlad in a calm voice, continuing his journey toward the castle.
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Robert and Aerius, on the other hand, were moving quickly, with speed the citizens of the city could barely comprehend, such was the case of the middle-aged man with scars on his face and the innkeeper who exited the tavern to check on the situation in the city.
The scream of pain, agony, and fear coming from the guards who terrorized their lives was a weird sensation, but it was a signal for the remaining citizens who began to exit their houses timidly and watch the clean-up.
When Robert would pass by, a gust of wind would blow on their faces and bodies, pushing them back some steps, but whenever they would sense that gust of wind, a scream of agony would appear.
"SPARE US, LORD! WE SURRENDER!" shouted the guards from different locations, but Robert and Aerius didn't stop, continuing their purging.
Robert, who arrived in front of a guard, cleaving him in halves, said with a cold voice looking at his disemboweled corpse.
"Have you given a break to those poor people who just tried to live their lives in peace? I got my orders that being [Total Annihilation], no one will escape the wrath of the Royal House."
Minutes passed, and after 30 minutes of cat and mouse game, Robert slowed down, returning to what seemed to be the square of this city, where he walked toward a dried artisanal fountain and started to recover his breathing and energy from the intense movements he unleashed upon those deserters.
"Young man, who are you?"
When this question appeared, Robert turned his face toward the one asking and noticing it was the innkeeper and the scarred middle-aged man, along with many other citizens who gathered their courage to follow the lead of the innkeeper.
"My name is Robert Voss, disciple under your Royal Prince, Vermilion Vlad."
"Our Prince?" asked the innkeeper, confused, before an old lady took out a newspaper that she gave to the innkeeper, saying with a trembling voice.
"Lord Joram, there was this piece of paper that dropped from the sky. I managed to get one before those bastards appeared and picked up the paper. Could it be that this young man refers to this person in the paper?"
The innkeeper, still confused, took the newspaper and stared at the front page that the old lady whose frail hands still trembled pointed at. Reading the title of the cover and watching the picture of the young man that looked familiar, he also began trembling, asking Robert again.
"Is the other young man really our Prince? The King is also alive after everything that happened in the Kingdom?"
"That is right, human, we are members of the Royal House." called out Aerius, who was in the hands of the young lady who changed into some simple, rugged clothes while holding Aerius at her chest, walking forward to the group.
"A talking cat? What is going on with this day? Have we finally reached heaven and escaped from all this suffering?" asked some people before the young lady holding Aerius told them with a calm voice.
"Grandma, this isn't a talking cat. Instead, he is Sky Guardian, Ziz. Ahh, sorry, Lord. He is called Aerius."
"Good girl." said Aerius as he buried his head in her bosom, purring a bit while his face showed that he was in bliss.
Robert gave Aerius a sharp stare, but he didn't bother to stop his perverted antics, knowing that this mythical creature had weird hobbies of messing around with beautiful girls. Later he saw Aerius tell the girl to walk toward Robert, which made the girl shy when she approached Robert.
"You can take a seat."
Aerius gave Robert a mocking smile before the young man began telling the crowd some information, filling them in with the current situation of the Kingdom and how their future would change compared to when they were under the oppression of the noble house. This made the people scared for the future, but hearing Robert's assuring and calm voice, they began believing his words.
Such a situation was when someone gave you a chance, showing you that there was still a way to see the light of day, and obviously, they would grab on this chance with everything they had.
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On another part of Grailline, Vlad, who was approaching the Grailly Family Castle, could see that on top of the gates, men armed with firearms and crossbows took target on him with a man wearing noble clothes staring at him from the top of the gate.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU BASTARD! DO YOU KNOW ON WHOSE TERRITORY ARE YOU TRESPASSING?"
"Ohh, I really don't know. Can you tell me whose territory this belongs to?" asked Vlad, who still continued advancing casually, staring at the noble on the gate with icy eyes.
"OBVIOUSLY, IT BELONGS TO GRAILLY HOUSE! NOW BACK OFF, AND I WILL LET YOU LIVE TO SEE THE DAY OF TOMORROW."
Shaking his head at such response, a crimson-black aura surrounded him, as if something was bound to happen to change in him, to which the noble gave the order to start the volley of shots.
"NO MERCY! KILL THE BASTARD!"
*Gun-fire*
Following the order, the gunfire was roaring from the top of the castle walls, along with the crossbow bolts whistling with their fast speed, targeting Vlad's body from the distance. Their morale was high in those moments, but soon when they saw the bullets and bolts impacting Vlad's body, breaking off without even causing a tear in his clothes, confusion and terror captured their minds.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW CAN HE STILL BE ALIVE AFTER ALL THESE GUNSHOTS?! FIRE AGAIN!"
Reloading their firearms and crossbows, the guards once again sent a volley of shots in Vlad's direction, but the outcome was the same chilling one, with Vlad continuing walking like a ghost in their direction.
The guards suddenly heard a cold, menacing laugh that shut the mouth of their leader, the son of Count Grailly, and from their eyes, the black-clothed young man with crimson-black eyes vanished, making it seem truly like a paranormal phenomenon.
"Could it be that we were shooting at ghosts?"
"No way! It is exactly that person who we warned you about! He killed most of the guys sent to raid the city." said the one who led the group who retreated when Vlad was moving in their direction inside the city.
"THEN WHERE HE IS?!" screamed the noble at his men, staring at them with hateful eyes, but his expression turned confused when his guards started pointing their gun at him.
"WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? IF YOU KILL ME, EVERYTHING WILL BE LOST. OUR CHANCE OF GAINING BACK WHAT WE LOST WILL NEVER COME! MY FATHER LEGACY WILL NOT BE CLAIMED IF I DIE!"
"Boss, don't move! Behind you!!" said the men with trembling voices, making the nobleman feel fear for his life.
"What's behind my back?"
"Death. You are indeed your father's son. Even your facial expression when facing fear is the same." said Vlad, who got behind the nobleman's back when the latter turned his body.
Panicking, the nobleman took a handgun in his hand, trying to threaten Vlad, but he was too late, getting his throat captured by Vlad's hands which began placing pressure on his fragile neck.
The guards began another volley of fire shots up close, trying to end Vlad with 100% certainty of their accuracy, but they could see how the bullets were stopped by an invisible force, dropping on the ground while some got squashed by the force impact.
"Conventional weapons no longer work against me. However, who knows, there could be something that might shatter my [Exoskeleton], but you are just wasting precious ammunition and money by firing your bullets at me."
"WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" asked the leader of the guards with a loud voice watching with fearful eyes as Vlad was strangling his young master.
"The master of this lands. You might not have met me, but I am sure you got to meet my army. It seems you are some deserters from the Civil War who escaped death. But, let's hear your story too."
Using his [Conqueror's Haki] to pressure all the guards on their knees, with the young nobleman in raised with his left hand, he gazed with his frigid eyes in the nobleman's eyes that it resulted in the young man pissing himself.
"Pathetic."
Turning his attention at the guards, without wasting furthermore time on his busy schedule, he asked them something, which quickly created a commotion.
"If anyone of you tells me everything they know about Grailly House and the wrongdoings of this family, I will spare their life. However, remember this, you have one minute to think about it before I start to slowly kill you one by one."
More chaos ensued in the kneeling guards who started to shout at Vlad, wanting to be the first ones to talk about Grailly, and with a wicked smile on his face that the nobleman saw, his trembling intensified, beginning to try moving to get away from this Death Grip.
"Stop moving if you don't wish to suffer more than you are in right now."
After saying that, he started picking at random the guys who wanted to talk about Grailly, and swiftly they began sharing things about, from badmouthing the dead Count and the young man in his mouth to even sharing things, they got ordered to complete for Grailly House.
When one would end, another would take over, filling Vlad with information that his keen senses could tell were true since their mental state collapsed, acting upon instincts to get away from death.
After 30 minutes of storytelling from the guards, he asked if they still got something more to share, but this left the guards gazing at one another until the guard leader, who still had to say something, gritted his teeth and opened his eyes.
"The bastard has exotic slaves. He got his hands on some mermaids that he would enjoy by himself."
"Fishman race? Those are 70.000.000 𝔅, and you tell me this greedy bastard got money to buy one?"
"It is true, Lord. The treasury of the castle is still full of money."
"I see, now, guys, I want each one among you to tell me who is the person committing the most gruesome crimes against the citizens of Grailline. Rapists, killers, and so on. Same condition as before, anyone who talks will escape with their life intact."
The guards who heard Vlad say that started with hateful eyes at him, releasing the trap he spread out, capturing all of them. If they answered, they would confess their guilt and be punished. If they shut up, they are still going to die. It was a vicious circle that began eating at their minds.
"Something's wrong, guys? Don't tell me all of you committed such crimes?" asked Vlad looking at them with a confused expression, before he began laughing evilly at their conflicting minds.
"Deserts, traitors to your motherland, people who don't deserve to be called citizens of Kaysang, who placed their brethren in a hellish place of survival worrying about the next day. No need to tell me anything. I can tell from your faces, all of you are guilty since the moment you ran without surrendering to my soldiers."
"Hahaha, fuck you, Vermilion bastard. You will not escape from the wrath of all the people you and your people killed."
"I don't have to escape from nothing. I will just live with the conscious that I ended the lives of some rabid dogs, nothing more, nothing less."
Saying that Vlad sent a stake from his hand, which pierced the heart of the guard leader who cursed him, bringing his name into the frail. After impaling the guard head, he shifted his attention on the nobleman who by now even shitted himself from his fear of death.
"Don't kill me. I am a noble. You can't kill me!" said the nobleman with the chance Vlad offered him.
Shaking his head, wishing to hear at least some remorse, yet there was nothing inside this person. Clenching his hand and placing some strength, the guards who were kneeling who by now were brought into an abyssal place, unable to get up because of the invisible pressure washing over them, heard the sound of their young master's neck shattering.
With more strength in his grip, Vlad decapitated the nobleman using only his grip, throwing his lifeless body to the ground.
"So easy to take the life of an ant, correct? Then why haven't you thought about your actions when you were killing innocent people? You armed men, slaughtering women and children? Your own brethren? Scum, go rot in hell and say my greetings to Hades."
Summoning two [Blood Marionettes], he began slaughtering every guard in his face, turning the castle gates into a blood lake, and dropping down from the gates, he began killing the guards that he froze in place with his [Conqueror's Haki], no longer asking questions.
He turned back into the Impaler, the fearsome monster of the battlefield that looked at life as an insignificant aspect, cleaving life without caring for their feelings.
However, once he entered the castle and saw the civilian servants who by now were on their knees, hitting the floor with their head, saying with trembling voices
"Spare us, master. We didn't harm anyone from the city or wrong anyone. Our role is simply to be servants to this castle."
Hearing them, the intensity of his eyes lessened, walking past them, leaving a frigid wind behind his track as if he was the bringer of death.
'I am in total control of my mind. I only kill those who can't redeem themselves. Now let's see what those greedy bastards have accumulated after all these years of tormenting the poor, and lastly, take the mermaid those guys mentioned.'
"Tell me who among you knows this place the best?"
"I am the chief chamberlain of this castle, Your Highness." replied an old man with a clean chamberlain uniform, wearing a monocle on his right eye.
"Interesting, you guys know about me?"
"It would be disrespectful not knowing about you, Your Highness. We tried to stay informed with everything and found from those bastards about the Civil War, and along with the newspaper that dropped from the sky, we found the real truth. Thank you for everything you have done, and our apologies for everything you have suffered to return back to Kaysang, leading our country from those desolate moments."
"I see. Raise up and relax. I will not question your sincerity. First, take me to the place those scum kept the slaves they bought from the underworld market." said Vlad, where the old chamberlain tried to rise on his feet, but he struggled, to which Vlad walked toward him and gave him a helping hand.
"Thank you, young man. With my age, I can barely use my muscles."
"Hm, everyone has their time old chamberlain, even I will become an old person, and struggle on my feet just like you. It is normal to help the elderly in their time of need. Let's get going. The rest of the servants gather up inside the main room of the castle because I want to hear your stories."
"It shouldn't be a problem, Your Highness. Have you heard him? Better gather the others who are hiding and present yourself in the main room. Now, follow me, Your Highness."
Giving the servants his instructions, the servants felt slightly better, relaxing down when seeing the young man act calmly and even help the chamberlain get on his feet.
Vlad walked with the old man toward a part of the castle on the base floor, where he opened a room leading to the basement. Starting to climb down the stairs, the old man gritted his teeth, struggling to even walk down the stairs, to which Vlad took notice, and using his blood powers, he rose him up, levitating close to him.
"What's happening with my feet? I can't feel the stairs."
"Relax, I am holding you with my powers, so you don't struggle so much that it will harm you."
"Ahhh, I've grown old."
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On the other hand, inside the basement, in a small glass tank, a woman whose face was bruised, whose upper body and fishtail like lower body was full of knife wounds, opened her black eyes when she heard the footsteps on the stairway, starting to tremble a bit, before taking some deep breaths, saying to herself.
"I will survive this nightmare. I have to be strong."
However, a new voice she had never heard before told her after she ended saying that.
"Indeed, your nightmare is over. Your resilience inside this nightmare you have lived has proved worth."
"Who?? I can't see you."
Soon, the torches in the basement were set ablaze, revealing to the mermaid inside the glass tank a young man with jet-black hair and crimson eyes that looked at her with a saddened gaze while beside him the old chamberlain was flying beside the young man.
"Don't worry, little Kaia, everything will be fine. You will be safe now." said the old man who looked at the mermaid with sad eyes.
"Old Gero, are you alright?"
"Child, why bother with this old man. I am happy to see you alright, and for the fact, nothing bad happened to you last night."
Vlad walked toward the naked mermaid, who had a gorgeous figure, which seemed to be ravaged by the wounds on her body. Seeing her raven black hair and black eyes, he stopped in front of the glass jar, gazing at her, while she also observed him.
"Are you here to do the exact thing those cursed humans did to me?"
"Calm down. I am not here to fuck you or play with you. I am way above such animals who can only think about sticking their dicks into a hole. Ahem, let me ask you something. Can you survive if I take you out of the water tank?"
The mermaid shifted her gaze at the old man, who nodded at her, giving her a signal that everything was fine, to which she, while trembling, told Vlad.
"I can survive even without being in the water for a long period, however, I still have to moisturize my body."
"I see, that's good. What about that collar on your neck? I heard that some slavers like to put those collars which explode when they are forced out."
"That is correct, human. If there's no key for my color, I will be chained here."
"Well, not really. Here, let me get you away from here. Don't panic." said Vlad, activating his blood powers to wrap the mermaid in a veil before he punched the glass tank, shattering the tank into small pieces.
As if it was a balloon filled with water before being blown up, the water had a delay in spreading around the basement, only leaving out the mermaid that was fully covered by Vlad's blood veil.
"Lord, please don't do something which will trigger the collar. I don't wish to die. I have a family waiting for me at home."
"Shh, it will be fine. I will set you free to return to your home." replied Vlad in a calm, soothing manner, walking toward the wounded, naked mermaid, raising her up from her lying posture, before he started observing the collar, respectively the key holder.
"That's such an old-fashioned mechanism. However, I have no idea about the mechanism which triggers the explosion." commented Vlad, casually gazing at the Kaia, and using his blood powers, he began introducing his blood into the key mechanism before he solidified, taking the shape of a key.
"Ready?"
"No, I am not." responded the mermaid, feeling afraid of a possible failure.
"Sorry, nothing I can do about it." said Vlad turning the key of the collar, unlocking it from her neck without activating the bomb inside the collar.
"It got off so easy?"
"Indeed, it didn't even prove a challenge. Now let me give you some treatment before I take you outside." said Vlad, placing the collar inside his coat pocket.
"Lord, who are you? I have never seen a human like you."
"Heh, no need for flattery. From what I have read about you, merfolk and fishman, you are similar to humans. Also, you can call me Vlad, Kaia."
Saying that he lowered himself, touching the mermaid on the knife wounds she suffered, using his blood powers to increase her regenerative functions, before raising her face to look closer at her, and activating her regenerative ability to heal back her bruised face.
"The stories about you mermaids are true. You really do possess the power to smitten any weak men with your beauty."
"Ahh, my body hurts. What have you done to me?"
"Kaia, don't be rude to the Prince. He is using his powers to heal you. Look at your wounds. They are starting to close up."
The mermaid lowered her eyes on her tail and could see the knife wounds she suffered close up at naked-eye speed, leaving her shocked. She felt Vlad caress her face, turning her attention on this young man, asking him with a quiet voice.
"Are you the one called Blood? The one Grailly would constantly curse in fear."
"Right in the flesh. It will be fine now, every one of you, merfolk and foreigner slaves in my Kingdom will be released. I will give you the chance to return home."
Kaia began to shed tears, wrapping her arms around Vlad, starting crying with every single emotion she held in herself, to which Vlad could only pat her back and console her.
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After taking Kaia in his arms, he walked toward the main room, where the servants of the castle awaited quietly, whispering the worries of their future that was in Vlad's hands. However, when they saw Vlad arrive holding in his hands the mermaid slave, they got silent.
"Lower your anxiety. I am not here to bite you. Instead, I want to have a talk and settle down the problems of this region before I return to Sagletius."
"Ask anything you wish to know, Your Highness. As long as I remember and have recollections of certain events, I will try to reply."
Nodding his head, he started asking some simple questions about their lives as servants to Grailly House, if they had some tragic past with the nobles here, if they had families, and so on. To which he got confirmation that they had families, but outside of the region and the pay they would get was decent enough to maintain their families.
They shared their memories of the Count, and his son, about how the Countess died in her early days of the marriage with the Count, since then, with the Bloody Massacre, the Count became ruthless, no longer caring about the power of the Royal House that would constantly check on the nobles.
"It was like how I believed. With the decadence of the Royal House, the destruction of the Royal Guard, the noble houses who took part in the coup turned out tyrannical, caring more about their pockets instead of the well-being of the people."
"Something like that, Your Highness." replied the old chamberlain with a disappointed expression.
"Well, your situation shouldn't be the only one. Thanks to this, I know what to expect from the other regions under the nobles who found their end in the Civil War. Now, old Gero, can you take me to the treasury?"
"I can, but I don't have the key to open the safe. Right, you don't need a key."
"Correct."
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A/N: New chapter, aren't I killing it with daily updates? But something that intrigued me is the fact that I remembered the song Murmaider of Dethklok when writing the scene with the mermaid.
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Anyway, I hope this chapter will soothe your desire for killing. Until with the next one since this one is a set-up for something interesting.
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Share the story, comment keep me entertained too, and lastly, vote for the story, this project of mine is not something to be unranked. Otherwise, shame to all who reads and doesn't vote for my story. Like really shame on you.
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