Chapter 55: Paranoia is in bloom

Yima stared at Lucius. The vampire had his infuriating smirk, and looked like he had not seen battle. The Slime party was not with him, and the elf was running out of patience.

"Where is that receptionist?" Yima snapped. Had Lucius betrayed him. Let the rat go and hide in the island chain of the North Sea?

"Probably committing international crimes against nature, in order to protect Yaranhold," Lucius said with a shrug. "He has a soul harp now. I doubt he knows what he even has."

"A soul harp?" Yima's eyes widened. Those picked their wielders. It was not a coincidence that Thomas had gotten his hands on one.

"Yes, a soul harp. I remember when Alen had the same, before he died. What did you charge that poor bard with, back then?" The vampire looked unconcerned, but his party members were sending their guild master concerned looks.

"Theft," Yima deadpanned. "He stole away in the night with it, and ran. I take it, he didn't make it that far?"

"Still smarting that it didn't pick you?" The smirk became wider, Yima wanted to punch his second in command.

"That is of no concern now. In that summoning book, you gave him, what was the highest summoning rank?" Yima asked.

"SSS, funny that now, that he has a dungeon core to be challenged in his stead, he can pull it off, no?" Lucius went pass Yima, and sat down on the floor next to a campfire. "If you want my opinion, we should head back to Orestria. No one has ever made it through the Alchemist's Lair when the core refused to let them."

"It is good that I don't need your opinion, Lucius," Yima snapped. "Show me the book you gave him. You said he returned it?"

Lucius shrugged again, and pulled out the summoning book from his bottomless bag.

"Here, mind the sharp edges," Yima snatched the book, and listed to the SSS ranked section. Human transformation. He bit his lower lip. They didn't have much time. The new bosses would learn how to use their limbs, and then they would be a menace.

"Listen up, everyone. We have rested long enough. Now is not the time to lick our wounds. What is coming for us is SSS ranked. All those who are a rank lower than B are to get back to Orestria," Yima commanded. He didn't want meaningless death on his hands. His guild was not full of cannon fodder.

The weaker adventurers stood up from their seats, and lined up in formation. Then, they moved out. When the last one of them made it pass the tunnel, a rock blocked the way out.

Yima ran to it, forcing mana into his fist and punching it, but found that it did nothing.

"He is watching, darn him," Yima growled. He turned to Lucius, who was looking as unconcerned as ever.

"Did you drink any blood when you were there?" Yima asked him, marching up to him.

"No. Yima, the dungeon is his. You can't possibly think that he can't see what is happening. I doubt that..." Lucius's words stuck in his throat, when screaming was heard from the other side of the rock.

"You doubt he will attack the weak? Do you think that some affection for the guild persists? Does it sound like that, Lucius?" The elf screamed at him. Lucius closed his eyes and prayed until the screaming stopped. All the while, Yima's fists were balled. This was on him. He had thought that Thomas will be the same pacifist as always, whose only concern was losing weight.

"We have to push on," Yima spoke. He sent Lucius a final look. The vampire was still too relaxed. The elf disliked that. The old fear that Lucius would gut him in the dark returned, although if someone asked him, he couldn't tell why that was.

The mockingbird looked around, and Thomas saw through her eyes. The screams had been fake, of course. The mockingbird was something else. The mana signature of the people on the other side was masked, and the bird was releasing pheromones that smelt of blood.

The guild moved out of their positions, and prepared to march towards the core room, from where Lucius had come. On the other side of the blockade, the lower ranked adventurers saw the light of day again. Ready to report that the higher ones had been slaughtered on the other side.

Lord Lester Vermont was frowning at the screen.

"Did you really have to be so underhanded?" He asked Thomas, who was looking through the eyes of the bird even now.

"There is no other way. I do not want for anyone to die, apart from Yima and Lucius. And, even then, if Lucius can be spared, then all the better," Thomas told him. Now, when the tides were dire, his many fantasy books and their conspiracy plots were coming in handy. He had a plan. He just hoped it worked.

"You will lure the higher ranked ones in the core room, and then what?" Lester snapped. If left to him, he would have sicked the mobs of the dungeon at the adventurers.

"The king needs to be resisted, but not by us," The siren told him. "You have noticed that my voice is hypnotizing, right?"

Lester nodded.

"Well, that gave me the idea. For the higher-level adventurers, Yima's will is much the same. After Yima's death, they will look to Lucius. Did you notice something about him, when he came?" Thomas wanted for Lester to work it out himself.

"He is no attack dog. Too laid back by far," the lord's eyes widened. "You are going to offer him a deal?"

"He won't pass up the chance to become a guild master, with a puppet king under him," Thomas knew Lucius well. They had played chess together. Lucius liked to appear harmless all the time. But he was a vampire. The man was anything but harmless.

"Divines preserve us, this is madness. You will hand Kaien to the Blood Court," Lester collapsed in his seat.

"Not the Blood Court, to the Blood Bane," Thomas stopped paying attention to the noble after that. The mockingbird wanted a soul, and it took everything he had not to let it eat their one ticket to getting out of this mess alive.