After saying those words, Uhl stopped moving as all the light in his eyes vanished. Arthur kept staring at the man with a blank expression. Nobody could read what was going through his head at that moment.
‘They’re not human?’ Arthur thought to himself. Those few words hit him hard. They were very simple and even could be considered harmless, but, Arthur immediately saw the deeper meaning they carried.
This entire time, Arthur saw Finlay and Serko as two innocent children. They were from the dwarves, but they were still sane creatures that had feelings and thoughts just like humans. Arthur didn’t really differentiate between humans and these two kids because there wasn’t really that much difference, to begin with.
Yet, now he understood one thing, a very small detail that he had missed this entire time. Uhl, Van, and Imor were not like him. They didn’t see the two dwarves as human or even close to that. They saw them as something inferior and a threat to them.
Once he realized that fact, everything made sense. The way they immediately attacked them and the way they were ready to kill them without hesitation. This could only be the case if they saw Finlay and Serko as mere monsters just like every other monster they hunt down in their missions.
‘… You have to be kidding me. But, why is that the case? They aren’t that different from humans?’ Arthur rubbed his face with a tired look on his face. He was disappointed in what he discovered.
Something told him that this encounter was giving him a snippet of what he was going to witness in the future.
“If this is how they treated two children… Then, what about the other dwarves imprisoned under that wall?” Arthur muttered with a frown. The Divine Realm was finally starting to show its ugly side… A very ugly side.
What made it even worse for Arthur was that this wasn’t the first time he heard about it. He didn’t forget his main goal for heading to the capital this quickly which was to infiltrate the bastion where all the beastmen were held.
‘On one hand, there are the Dwarves imprisoned under the wall… And on the other hand, there are the Beastmen imprisoned in a massive bastion and all of them are under the control of the Last Empire. This can’t be a mere coincidence.’ He mused.
Even if one would argue that the humans were the victims of these other races and had the right to imprison them to stay safe… How could it be this gruesome? There were also the weird things he heard from Van about a curse and a doomsday of some sort. It didn’t make sense at all.
‘It seems that it’s highly likely the humans’ fault this entire time… But, I can’t tell I see it with my own eyes.’
“Arthur!”
At that moment, he heard someone call for him. Looking up, he saw Finlay approaching in a hurry.
“Are you ok?!” The kid’s eyes were filled with worry. Arthur shook his head and put all those thoughts away. Whether the dwarves were being oppressed or not, Arthur didn’t regret saving these two kids. They were innocent and didn’t deserve to be treated in such a way.
“I’m fine. What about you? Did he hurt you?” Arthur asked as he patted the boy’s head.
“No, I’m not hurt. But… Serko…” The boy turned to look for his friend.
It didn’t take a second for someone to appear from afar. “Finlay!!”
“Serko?!”
The other dwarf rushed toward his friend and hugged him tightly. Not that far behind him, Herculia, Danny, and Emmy arrived near Arthur. He checked their conditions with his eyes before he asked. “Did you get rid of him?”
“That annoying scum is dead. It was a little tricky though. We had to be careful.” Emmy replied.
“Are you ok?!” Meanwhile, the two children were busy with each other.
“Mm, are you ok too?”
“Yes. Thanks to Arthur and Isla! They saved my life!”
“Herculia, Danny and Emmy helped me too!”
As the two made sure that the other was safe, Arthur watched with a small smile before he looked up.
“Did you kill him?” He asked Isla when he saw her approaching him. The girl had her sword in her sheath and she looked rather fine except for some small scratches and burns.
“He’s dead.” She nodded. “It was a tough battle.”
“Same here. These mercenaries are no joke. They are very strong.”
“Yet, they don’t seem like they’re particularly special amongst the royal mercenary. My guess is they’re just a common mercenary.” Isla replied.
“I figured that too. But, this isn’t good news. Now that we killed them. What are we supposed to do?”
Arthur didn’t know whether killing these three mercenaries was going to make them criminals or not. The last thing he wanted was to be chased by the government for something he did.
“We should just bury them in the snow,” Herculia suggested.
“Burying them is a good idea. But, I doubt nobody would notice that they have gone missing.” Danny replied.
“Eh, who cares? In the end, we just have to move away from this place and stay lowkey. Nobody should discover that we did it.” The big man shrugged.
“Herculia is right.” Isla nodded. “We should bury them and leave this place now before anyone could notice.”
“Wait, before you do that,” Arthur interjected. “I have to consume their blood.”
“…”
“Don’t look at me like that, these are all free stat points. I can’t let them go to waste like that.” Arthur shrugged when he noticed the weird looks the others were giving him. He knew that Blood Eater was quite the eerie ability, but it was equally powerful as it always pushed him ahead of everyone else.
If the cost of that was a few weird looks, he was ready to pay it with his eyes closed. With that, Arthur stepped forward and approached the first dead corpse. Upon using the ability, all the blood in the mercenary’s dead body formed as a sphere in the air and entered Arthur’s body through his hand.
[Ding]
[You have absorbed the target successfully.]
[Absorpiton efficiency 18%]
‘Hmm… No stats. I guess that makes sense, he’s a little under-leveled.’
Arthur had noticed that in some cases when he is considerably stronger than his foe, Blood Eater doesn’t give him extra stats and instead stores that blood and waits for more of it to fill up and then gives him the extra points. That meant that he had to kill more and more under-leveled enemies if he wanted to benefit from them in anyway.
Moving to the second corpse, he absorbed it.
[Ding!]
[You have absorbed the target successfully.]
[Absorption efficiency 18%]
[+1 stamina.]
‘So it required two dead bodies to give me one point of stamina. Man, this is really getting harder and harder.’ Arthur sighed as he absorbed the last dead body which gave him nothing as he expected.
“Ok, let’s bury them now.” Arthur turned around and said to the others.
“… I’m never getting accustomed to that ability of yours. You’re like a goddamn vampire.” Herculia muttered.
“Yeah, I am basically a vampire. But, I don’t have to suck them with my teeth.” Arthur laughed.
“Creepy vampire.” Emmy snickered.
“Hey! I heard that!”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about~”
“It’s not the time to joke around.” Isla stopped them as she approached the first corpse and lifted some snow before she threw it on top of his body. “Help me.”
“… Yes, ma’am.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
