Chapter 143 – Clean the trash
A huge commotion rose in the city as the giant tree suddenly broke through the surface, sending citizens into a panic. Crowds of people screaming and running for their lives filled the streets in seconds.
However, a whole battalion of city guards with multiple investigation squads arrived within just mere minutes locking down the area and evacuating commoners.
What they saw on the spot was a tree branch that rose from underground, straight in the middle of Holywell Street. The Street got its name from the leftover well from the previous human era that was excavated with the city construction. It was decided to leave it as a historical monument, building the street around it. However, right now in its spot was a huge gaping hole that led deep underground and the tree branch that broke through the ground under an angle looked like a massive spiral road leading to its depth. Moreover, they could hear screams and noise coming from within that hole.
If the information that led the city guard to be mobilized was right, then this spiral road undoubtedly led directly to the accursed Black Market Dungeon, that hid under the city, giving headache to the Archduke for decades.
Soon people started to rush out of the hole that the knights quickly rushed to arrest. A fight broke off, with many criminals deciding to resist them and try to escape. Even though several of them managed to slip away while the knights were still reorganizing, the ever-growing contingent of city guards that kept rushing to the scene from all nearby streets finally managed to suppress all attempting to escape the scene criminals and took control of the dungeon entrance.
"Investigator squads one to five, with me! We're going in!" Ordered Commander Beatrix with a loud voice shortly after she arrived with her team. "City guards battalion blocks the area. Arrest everyone that comes out of the hole, without exception. Noble or not, I don't care! They walk out of that hole they are criminals!"
""Yes!"" Echoed the voices of knights all around her as the armed men and women moved to act on her orders.
"Commander Beatrix!" Called a man's voice as she was hurriedly organizing the infiltration team. She turned around to gaze at the man that called her and immediately stood at attention.
"Royal Investigator Belmont! Northern Region Investigation Corps, Field Commander Beatrix Reporting. We are…."
"No time for protocol, Commander. Continue with your work. However, my knight, under Sir Frost's command, and I will be joining you on the infiltration team if you don't mind." Said Lord Belmont walking up to the silver-haired woman followed by a team of knights behind him.
"Of course, sir! This is an honor to participate in a mission with you." Said, Commander Beatrix.
"Sir Belmont! My name is Tara. I am Commander Beatrix's best student." Said a young woman from the side.
"Best student?" Said Ron behind her. "Girl you are forever number two after this great me."
"Enough you two. It's not the time for this." Said their teacher with a strict voice, shutting them both up. "If you are ready, sir, we are moving out." Added Beatrix turning back to Lord Belmont.
"Well then, let's go clean some trash down there." Said, Lord Belmont.
*****
"How the hell, did the city guard react so quickly?" Asked Samantha as she was running down the streets of the city after Noah that led them away from the commotion of the Black Market Dungeon entrance appearing behind them.
As Doonpine opened the exit for them, they got out of the dungeon the quickest. Mixing with the terrified crowd on the surface, they slipped behind the city guards' blockade right before they reorganized around the area of the dungeon entrance, successfully getting out of the dungeon without being noticed.
Unlike them, everyone else that was going to leave later would be met by a battalion of armed men and a fortress-class magical barrier they were no doubt already erecting in a hurry. As it stopped all physical objects from passing without approval, even if someone used a stealth skill they would not be able to slip through. With this, all who were still inside were trapped with this block post as the only exit. It could be said they were all royally fucked.
"That's because I warned them in advance." Said Noah turning back to look at her with a smile seeing Samantha and Kate watching him with dumbfounded fake faces disguised with his second skin illusion skill, looking like some random citizens they ran by in the city.
"What? That place is evil, there are hundreds of people held there against their free will, tortured and humiliated. I had a chance to do something about it. So I used it." Said Noah, shrugging.
"You think someone would thank you for being a hero? If your involvement is exposed the very nobles that rule this city will hunt you down. Why do you think it was so popular? There are just too many dirty bastards that are ready to use it. Humans are trash that doesn't deserve your kindness. Even if you dispose of the black market they will make new ones. Greedy trash that parasites on human society will always pour in to fill the void. There is no end to it. What you did was useless. We could just leave in silence instead of risking being caught by the knights standing on the guard." Said, Samantha.
Noah's smile slipped away from his lips as he gazed at her listening to her thoughts. She was exposed to too much evil in her life. Far more than him, living his good life in a noble family. Even if he was not loved, he was fed, cleaned, dressed, and educated. These girls however lived through experiences he did not want to imagine. And all they cared for were each other. He understood why she was angry at him, even though he could not agree with her. However, Noah wasn't sure whether he had the right to judge her for that worldview or even argue about it. His own system has proved to him on several occasions that his view of the world was overly naive and skewed into a rosy happy way, while it was a lot darker and unforgiving. So he just kept silent without answering.
Samantha glared at him waiting for his disputing her words. She was ready to be loathed or despised by him for her disregard for human lives. She didn't really think he did anything wrong but lashed out at him to see what his true thoughts and feeling were toward such people. After all, she was doing these heartless, evil things herself just recently. When they met back in the brothel in Greenville town she thought he was just an innocent bystander. But he actually knew of her evil deeds all this time. It bothered her greatly that he was so gentle and loving with her back then, knowing what she was truly like. Was he just playing with her back then? Was it just an act? If so why he helps her now? What was his true feelings? She decided to provoke him with her harsh words just to see his reaction and try to judge what his true intention toward her was.
"You are right. This world is full of trash. But should I wait for others to start cleaning it? I don't need someone's praise. If I dispose of some trash in my close proximity I will feel better. That's the only reason I need to fuck them over. Well…I also had an ulterior motive. I needed a favor from the Archduke. He got a crime smackdown of a century and I got a pardon for a crime of my one important person. So I did a good thing that made me feel better and gained something from it. Isn't that enough?"
Samantha watched him silently for a few seconds before turning away not wishing to discuss this topic anymore. Time and time again this boy a few years younger than her surprised her with his world view.
/Then why are you helping me?/ She thought in her head. /You know full well that I am the same trash as them. Maybe even worse than them. Why do you try to help me then?/ She thought averting her eyes depressed. /Do I even have the right to be helped by you?/
"Anyway. We've got to save Lilly as soon as possible. You know where that bastard took her, right?" Asked Kate, changing the topic as she saw the strange mood of her friend.
"Yeah, but we need to find transport if we want to catch up with them." Said Noah.
"They are out of the city?" Asked Samantha, coming out of her thoughts.
"Yeah. It looks like they are going to a small village to the south of the city." Answered Noah.
"Wait. Let's turn back. We passed a place where we could steal some horses." Said, Samantha.
"No, we are not going to steal horses." Said Noah.
Samantha opened her mouth to say something but Noah's next words stopped her.
"Horses are too slow. I have another idea." Said Noah. "We just need to reach those trees." He added pointing ahead of them.
"What can go faster than a horse?" Asked Kate, but a few moments later regretted it.
"Have you ever ridden a giant spider monster?" Asked Noah with a smile.
*****
When Noah returned to take Priscilla and Dryad's sisters for his plan, Tessa had a chance for a small talk with him. She pleaded for his forgiveness as she confessed to the deals she had with the underworld and dark association, as well as the problems they might face because of that.
However, instead of fury and lashing out at her as she expected, Noah just kissed her and promised to take care of it. Besides he already had thought on how to deal with Archduke.
He then asked Tessa to speak with her friend Cassandra and let her contact the Archduke as she already had dealt with him and asked her to be an intermediary between him and Archduke, which Cassandra was too happy to agree to help with.
After the ball Lord Belmont and Archduke were supposed to visit the Threadweaver mansion for an in-depth investigation of Guardian Theressa Threadweaver and interrogation of the Tamer she announced as her true mate. As they were not ready to have a bout with two guardians at the Vespertine mansion they walked away to prepare for the chance if the battle broke out.
However, while Lord Belmont was busy investigating the chain of corruption and disinformation that the dark association used to set up Tessa to get to her pseudo-core, a new important piece of information reached the Archduke's ears. The news of a big event within the Black Market and the increase of the traveling merchants' visits to the North Region Capital city as well as noble houses suspicious activity in the city vicinity. Sensing possible trouble, he decided to postpone their visit to the Threadweaver household and decided to preside over the operation of Black Market infiltration all over the city, which unfortunately brought no result.
The call he received from the Vespertine household at that time was very unexpected and seemed suspicious. Yet the information they were provided with proved to be extremely valuable.
Their investigation found the secret paths inside the small noble family house that led to one of the Black Market entrances, right where they were told they could be found. The mansion search has also given them all the incriminating documents to prove this house's guilt. However, the most valuable part that this "anonymous tip" given to the Archduke led to, was finding a few more houses that worked in the same pattern and finding proof of their guilt. In a day, the tip Archduke received led to more arrests and dungeon entrances being found than they managed in months on their own.
The tip of a corrupt city guards officer led them to reveal a few more traitors in their battalion.
With this information, Noah gained enough credibility for Archduke to listen to his offer seriously. Yet even then he was incredulous at the information Noah provided him later with.
The most astonishing point of the information Noah provided the Archduke with indicated that he had the ability to contact him from within the Black Market, providing real-time information about what was going on inside it.
Investigators tried many methods to infiltrate the Black Market in the last decades. Sending undercover agents or bribing some of the criminals that had access to it, proved to be the ticket in one direction. As if that place had a hound's nose on traitors, all who tried to contact the outside to report what they found, disappeared to never be found again.
Which made the offer proposed by Noah very attractive. Archduke decided to risk it. If this worked out, the benefits would outweigh the cost, which asked of him practically nothing. All he had to do to seal the deal was close his eyes on Tessa's past involvement in the underworld deals.
The importance of Noah's information was immeasurable for Archduke, so the source would have to be protected. To prevent any leaks of the source, the only people that were aware of their deal were him and the Royal investigator Lord Belmont.
The commotion in the dungeon that Noah reported, as Archduke predicted, would lead to crowds of people chaotically escaping from the dungeon. Which would undoubtedly lead to a commotion on the surface. If he placed his guards right and ordered them to be on the lookout for any commotion near the known dungeon exit points, they would be able to arrest and later investigate the people involved with Black Market in mass.
The sudden news of the dungeon's imminent collapse, however, changed everything. This news provided by Noah was especially valuable and shocked every city guard and investigator. There was no doubt that everyone suspected that their Archduke had finally found a way to infiltrate the Black Market. Yet even then the information of the collapse of the dungeon sounded untrustworthy until the chaos began.
This shocked Commander Beatrix immeasurably. Yet she suspected that the Royal Investigator's involvement had something to do with it. It was very suspicious how they got such credible information up to the exact street where the hidden entrance of the dungeon was, that no one could find for decades.
She was in awe of the Royal Investigator's ability and greatly interested in the methods he had used to achieve what she failed at for years but this no doubt made her look incompetent. Which is why she decided to plunge into the dungeon filled with hundreds of the most powerful criminals of the Northern Region in the first row. She felt that she had to prove herself in the eyes of her Archduke. This was a dangerous mission. Among the enemy they would be facing would not be only ruffians and black market guards, there would also be elite fighters of mercenary and assassin guilds that terrorized the North region for decades. No doubt many of them would choose to go down fighting than in the noose later.
What she did not know was that both Lord Belmont and Archduke, both felt incompetent in their own ability just like her. A young man that barely reached his adulthood achieved more than they did in the century leaving them just the job to clean up the trash. Were they even worth their pay?
*****
"Why does this bitch have to ride here, dear?" Asked the Vampire woman sitting in the dim carriage moving through the road south of the Northern Region Capital City.
Theron that sat silently in his thoughts moved his eyes from the draped window of the carriage through which he could barely see the outside world and gazed at his fiance. Something flashed through his eyes as they moved from her face to the bound and gagged Lilly sitting on the couch across from him before then back to the gorgeous Vampire woman in a skimpy overly revealing dress. He looked at her from head to toe and she noticed that there was no usual infatuation that he looked at her with, so she leaned over revealing her deep volley to him.
"There's plenty of space in the servant carriage or baggage." She purred gazing into his eyes with her usual slutty demeanor that she behaved as when she wanted to receive something from him.
Theron smirked silently at her, making her happy that she could have her way again. Theron could hardly say no to her wishes when she showed off her sexuality to him.
He leaned back into his seat and negligently yanked the drapes away from the window letting a bright beam of sunlight into the carriage interior. The girl hissed from pain as the sun touched her bare skin that her slutty dress barely covered.
Theron however, as if ignoring her exclamation and jumping up from her seat to evade the direct sunlight, looked from the window turning his head from side to side as if checking whether there was anyone nearby. Then he yanked the drapes back sloppily leaving a wide space that still let the sunlight creep inside and knocked loudly on the carriage wall, signaling it to stop.
"You know what? You are right. It's too confined here with all of us sitting here right, Taur?" Said Theron looking at his Tariaksuq friend seated near him, who gazed back at him silently with a raised eyebrow, surprised at his sudden strange mood.
"Someone should fucking walk instead of sitting here." He said with a cruel snide on his face.
Then he slammed the carriage door open making his fiance yell in fear, but the fear soon changed to pure terror when Theron grabbed her by the hair and pulled her toward the door as she screamed in a terrified voice and wailed begging him to stop.
"STOP STRUGGLING" He ordered with Nosferatu's authority, making her calm and allow herself to be dragged by the hair out of the carriage.
Theron threw her out into the bright sunny day outside, where she immediately screamed from pain like a pig on slaughter as her white skin quickly blistered and started to smoke, starting to char within seconds. She rolled on the ground as if to douse the fire but there was no blaze that burned her body. Every spot she turned to the sun quickly charred and started to smoke.
Then her pain lessened as some clothes hit her covering her. She quickly grabbed at the cloth pulling it over her already mostly charred body, yet it still let a bit of sun through so she kept smoking as overcooked meat on a strong fire.
"I've had quite enough of your bitching, slut. It seems you need a reminder of your spot." Said Theron walking out of the carriage into the daylight, squinting slightly at the brightness of the outside but feeling no more than a slight discomfort from standing under the sun. "Who do you think you are, bitch, to stand between me and my goals? I gave you everything you have, whore yet you think I owe you something?" He said sitting down on the hunches near the whimpering woman laying on the ground and grabbed her by the chin lifting her face toward himself, holding her firmly to not allow her to break free, while exposing her face to the sun, letting her skin be burned and scorched.
"You, a mere decade ago, turned trash that I picked on a sidewalk. Garbage that still has pain reflexes in your body and can't look at the sun for even a minute. You think you have the right to order me around?" Kept talking to Theron as she shuddered and jerked from the pain of her burning flesh.
"Since when did you take it in your dumb mind that you have any right to be my future queen equal to Cassandra? Nosferatu, whose blood run inside me, as she turned me herself. A woman that can outshine the sun in the eyes of all other vampire households across the human realm. You dare to sour my relationship with her thinking you are some diva? You think you are worth more than trash because you have a pretty face? You think you can disobey my orders? You think you can endanger the mission I give you by sending incompetent fools to supervise the tasks instead of doing it diligently yourself? Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"I am sorry, I am sorry. Please forgive me." Wailed the woman as the smoke kept raising from under the cloth that covered her.
"Forgive you? I am not angry, slut. I am disappointed. Times and times again you failed my expectations, failing the simplest tasks I gave you. You can't even hold your hunger long enough to not ruin merchandise. You know full well, we tried to sell those bitches for the money, yet you dare to torture and break the bitch until we barely get a half-price offer from the auction house. They did not even want to take her for an auction at the beginning. Do you know what embarrassment I felt at being looked down on by that trash human servant that managed the auction house? Do you even realize the shame you made me go through? I've had enough of you bitch." Said Theron grabbing the corner of the cloth that covered her and starting to pull it off of her.
"No! No! Please! PLEASE! No!" She begged miserably but he was relentless, yanking the cloth that she desperately grabbed at and pulled it out of her hands with fingernails that came off her fingers together with the cloth. Then he turned at the shocked and horrified servitors that stood at the side exiting the carriage as they stopped.
"Stuff this trash into the baggage compartment, I don't want her to ruin the interiors." He said, turning back to step inside the carriage glancing at the emotionless expression on Lilly's face.
Servitors quickly picked up the scorched woman making her whimper and cry even stronger as her muscles exposed from under the burned-to-crisp skin were grabbed by their sweaty from fear hands and put her in the box at the back of the carriage finally stopping her torture as the sun could not reach her inside the leather baggage crate. All they heard were silent cries and whimpers of the tortured woman, who would no doubt feel pain for weeks as even with the vampire's regeneration scars like that would be hard to heal.
"Now it feels more spacy here, don't you think?" Said Theron smiling at the bound woman across from him. "Let's go!" He said knocking at the carriage wall and the carriage started again.
"Taur reminds me to throw away the trash when we get back." He said with an uncaring voice as he felt Taur looking at him from the side feeling unnerved. This was what he wished to achieve. Seeing his cruelty these Tariaksuq would think twice before plotting behind his back.