Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Is there something I can help you with?”

Ron had to sit up to look a little more formal. After all, from his current angle, he couldn’t see one of their faces.

Both of them had very distinctive features, the kind you wouldn’t forget after seeing them just once.

One of them had unusual long, white hair and blood-red pupils. She was also well-endowed with a fine figure, very much in line with Ron’s aesthetic tastes. However, her ghostly white, corpse-like skin and sharp gaze made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

The other one had a relatively dark complexion, and combined with the sharp points of his ears, he looked like he might be a Zor, though Ron wasn’t entirely sure.

”A Vampire Descendant. Now that’s a rare sight,” Aive said, sizing up the woman with the striking appearance in surprise. Even in Rose City, she had never seen anyone of this race.

Seeing a Vampire Descendant out here in the wilderness was about as unlikely as spotting an Asmo, a Divine Descendant. In fact, the latter was probably slightly more common, since they didn’t usually make a point of avoiding people.

”Rare, and very expensive,” the white-haired, red-eyed woman said with a nod of mock humility. ”The price these traffickers set for me was enough to buy five male Zor.”

”Silvia...” The Zor glanced at her, embarrassed. ”This isn’t the time for jokes like that, is it?”

”Ah, my apologies,” the Vampire Descendant woman said with a smile. ”I have a habit of speaking my mind. Please forgive me.”

”So, why come to me first instead of finding some clothes to change into?” Ron asked curiously.

”We hope that you will grant us the right to deal with this bitch,” the male Zor said, his eyes glinting red as he pointed at Bakoyannis. ”We are capable and knowledgeable. We can certainly be of use to you.”

”We’ll work as laborers, do menial chores, serve in the army—we’ll even sign an indenture contract for a few years! As long as you’re willing to sell us the right to deal with her, we’ll do anything!”

”No! I beg you, don’t do it!” Bakoyannis cried out at once. ”Let me go! You don’t want to make an enemy of Carolina! If you hand me over to these people and I’m killed, they will send wave after wave of people to make trouble for you!”

”There’s no benefit in letting you go, either,” Victoria said with a glance at her. ”Won’t you just go back, gather reinforcements, and send ’wave after wave of people to make trouble for me’?”

”No, I won’t! I promise!” Bakoyannis pleaded earnestly. ”I’ll explain the pros and cons to my superiors, tell them how formidable you all are, and persuade them to give up on this idea!”

”We might even be able to do business in the future!”

”You’re really dreaming,” Silvia scoffed. ”My respected benefactor, I would not question your decision, but even if your mercy extends to scum like this, might I suggest leaving her with some... indelible memories?”

”That way, even if you let her go, her backers will see the brand of your authority.”

”And what kind of memory do you think would be best?” Ron glanced at her.

”How about chopping off an arm? Or tearing off a leg?” the Vampire Descendant said in the gentlest tone, uttering the cruelest words. ”That will make them feel fear.”

”No, no, no! I beg you!” Bakoyannis shook her head frantically, looking at Ron in a panic. ”Please, I don’t want to end up like that!”

”Considering how you treated them, this is hardly excessive,” Aive said coldly, looking at the rotten, mangled flesh on Silvia’s and the Zor’s hands and feet.

”Let’s compromise,” Ron said after a moment’s thought. ”Your name is Silvia, right? A Vampire Descendant?”

”Or a Half-blood, Benefactor,” Silvia said, performing a mock curtsy since she wasn’t wearing a skirt. ”My mother was turned into a Vampire while she was pregnant with me, so I have the blood of both a human and the Blood Race flowing through my veins.”

”Good. Can you suck blood?”

”It’s how I make a living,” Silvia said, her red lips parting slightly to reveal a pair of sharp incisors.

”Excellent. Put two holes in her neck and drain 600cc of her blood as punishment.”

”As you command, Benefactor... er, pardon?”

Silvia obediently walked over to Bakoyannis and lifted her hair to expose her neck, but when it came time to act, she froze.

’Six hundred... cc? How much is that?’

”Suck until she goes into shock, then leave her here. Whether she lives or dies is up to fate,” Ron said, covering his face and waving his hand dismissively.

’I’m used to it, I’m used to it. Nothing to be done. I’ll just have to let this woman suffer a bit more and up the dosage.’

Silvia’s blood-sucking was highly efficient. Delaford quickly let go and jumped off Bakoyannis, letting her collapse to the ground in a dead faint.

”About 30 ounces,” Silvia said, wiping her mouth with satisfaction. ”Thank you for the treat. You are truly generous.”

”Well, since the benefactor has decided, I have nothing more to say,” the Zor said with a shrug, looking with satisfaction at Bakoyannis, who was in shock from blood loss on the ground. ”So, what will you do with us? Have you decided?”

”Shouldn’t you be going home?” Ron asked, looking at the slaves. ”I’ll take you back to the trading post and send you off with the next caravan that comes through.”

However, to Ron’s surprise, not a single one of the ten slaves cheered at his words. Their eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.

”It seems you rescued us out of the kindness of your heart, not as part of a pre-existing plan,” Silvia said with a smile. ”Then allow me to offer you a small hint: among all of us here, only two people know where their homes are or where their futures lie.”

”One is a Mercenary who was captured during a battle with the Carolina City-States, and the other is this Zor, Seymour.”

”Don’t count me. I came to the surface voluntarily, and I’m never going back,” Seymour said in a low voice.

”Then that leaves only one,” Silvia continued. ”You see, we aren’t newly captured slaves. We were the lucky few who escaped during the last slave rebellion. Bakoyannis’s orders were to recapture us.”

”Most of us were sold to Carolina as children. They had us study and work so we would fetch a good price in the future. As a result, we’ve long since forgotten where our ’homes’ are.”

”In any case, Carolina isn’t home. It’s a cage,” one of the slaves said, and everyone immediately agreed.

”You see?” Silvia nodded. ”That’s how it is. We have nowhere else to go. So, I was wondering if you might have any use for us, allowing us the honor of repaying you, serving you, settling down under your protection, and working for you?”