After the parties finished their days of training, it was time to execute the plan.

The two parties went on one of the boats that would act as bait to draw out the vampire. Before they went on the boat, Elaria gave them a communication crystal ball the size of an egg.

“There might be a chance communication will be cut off from the outside world once you are in there. So, before you enter the ruin, make sure you signal us with this communication crystal.” She said as she gave Grillion the crystal.

“Have all of you remember the plan?” She asked.

“Yes ma’am.” Both parties answered.

“What do you need to do?”

Grillion answered, “First we will boat this ship and wait for the vampires to attack the fleet. Once they retreat, we will follow them and enter the ruin. Once inside the ruin, we will seek out the illusion formation to break it. Once the formation is broken, we will use the crystal to signal you to come and clean up the rest of the vampires.”

“Good. Steadfast in storms, unyielding in tides. May the sea grant you good luck.” Elaria tapped her heart twice.

She watched as the Adventurers boarded the merchant’s fleet they borrowed. It was a tough negotiation. In the end, the Adventurer Guild had to make a written promise note that if the mission failed, they would compensate the merchant for the full value of the ships and the cargo.

It wasn’t like the merchant provided them with the best ships either. The fleet was just a bunch of wood patches that would get torn down and recycled sooner or later anyway. There wasn’t anything awe-inspiring or noteworthy about the ships either. The merchant acted like these midsize ships that could barely hold twenty people were their lifeline when they were going to discard them anyway.

Why couldn’t those greedy pigs learn what a merchant truly is like from that Rufus boy? Elara clicked her tongue.

As the two parties departed, Elaria gazed at the calm sea with unreadable expression.

-----

Three hours later, on the fake trading fleet, Toby and gang were having the time of their lives.

“I caught a fish. Look, look. I caught a fish with a fishing pole. I’m fishing instead of having to jump in the water and catch them by hand. This is amazing.” Lukas held a big tuna with red horizontal stripes along the side of its body and red fins in his hands and showed it off to the gang. The fish was almost as big as him but couldn’t escape his grasp no matter how much it moved.

“Nice, from now on you are Lukas, king of the pole.” Toby laughed.

“Oh king, the mercy full king of the pole. May your bait be blessed and your pole hole true.” Tooth whipped out his mandolin and sang too.

Lukas excitedly raised the fish even higher while laughing cheerfully. “I’m Lukas, king of the pole.”

Grillion and Lily were looking at the three goofballs with calm smiles. Even the sailors who knew this might be one of the most dangerous trips they actively charged into couldn’t help but smile a bit as they watched those three mess around.

On the contrary, the other party that Voss led was being all doom and gloom, as they didn’t say anything to each other or go out to the main deck to see the sea at all. They simply stay in their rooms. Except for one.

“Hello,” The rabbit Mage approached the three while looking down at her feet.

“Oh my. Isn’t it the thorny flower we tried to recruit earlier? How may we be of service, my beautiful lady?” Tootha flipped his bang with his right hand, then took a slight bow.

“I’m sorry for hitting you earlier.” The rabbit Mage bowed ninety degrees, making her hat fall on Toby. “Ah.”

“It’s ok.” Toby crawled out of the girl’s hat, picked it up, then gave it back to her. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” She put her hat back on, then looked at Tootha. “Again, I’m sorry for hitting you when I didn’t know you were trying to recruit me. I thought you were one of the playboys who tried to seduce me. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

“Hahaha, being hit by a beauty such as yourself is no offense at all. If possible, I would like to experience it again.”

The girl backed two steps away from Tootha. “I know I’m beautiful, but please don’t harass me. I’ll hit you.” She raised her staff again.

“I don’t think that would work on him though,” Toby commented. “And I don’t think we have introduced ourselves yet. I’m Toby.”

“I’m Lukas. Nice to meet you, big sis rabbit.”

“Nice to meet you too, Toby and Lukas. My name is Rina Lumispring. As you can see,” She puffed her chest out and tapped her staff on the deck. “I’m a Mage. An Elementalist, to be exact.”

“Ah, no wonder I could feel the passion as hot as flame and as shocking as lighting from you. Such a wonderful gift.” Tooth sang her praise again.

“…Is he always like this?” Rina asked Toby and Lukas.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Toby nodded.

“Uncle Tootha is passionate.”

Lily floated toward the four while Grillion followed behind. “Greeting lady Rina, my name is Lily Valak. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes, my name is Rina Lumispring. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Lumispring? If I’m not mistaken, Lumispring is the name of one of the Haren clans. A clan specializing in poison that decided to retreat from the world for decades now. It’s rare to see a member of that clan out in the world.” Lily said.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“That’s right, I’m from that Lumispring Clan. I’m working as an Adventurer to show my clan that making and selling poison isn’t the only path for us. I refuse to live in seclusion to make poison all day.” Rina’s eyes blazed.

“…I see.” Lily paused for a bit. “I hope you will achieve your goal, lady Rina.”

“Hehe, you don’t have to call me lady this lady that. You’re making me blush.” Rina giggled as her cheeks turned red.

“And please call me Rina. Just Rina is fine. I’ll call you Lily too. Hehe. Will you be my friend, Lily?” Rina extended her gloved hand.

Lily didn’t respond right away, she simply looked at the hand in front of her.

“Ah,” Rina noticed Lily’s gaze and slowly pulled back her hand.

She tried to, but before she could, Lily shook her hand firmly and had a gentle smile. “It would be my pleasure to be your friend, lad… Rina.”

Rina stared at the hands grabbing her own in daze. Then, along with a blessed smile, she shook Lily's hand even harder. “That’s what I’m talking about, girl. Don’t be so modest.”

“Big sis, big sis, can I be your friend too?” Lukas asked as he pointed at himself.

“Of course you can. Come here.” Rina reached out with her other hand and hugged Lukas. The atmosphere between them was as peaceful and nice as it could get.

“The blossom of a new friendship that would last a lifetime. Such a beautiful moment.” Tootha took out a quill and a piece of paper. “I shall write down this union of fate in song.”

“So, what makes you come up here, Rina? Isn’t your team all down in the cabins?” Toby asked as he used [Insight] on her. From what he could tell, people didn’t approach one another without sharing similar interests. If someone approached another person out of the blue, it meant they wanted something.

Not only that, he had been having this feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong since they left the dock. He didn’t want to suspect the rabbit girl, but he had to be sure.

[Rina Lumispring – Mage Path – Elementalist – Rank. 3 – Lv. 21]

[Alliance: Neutral – Suggestion: Don’t try to flirt with the girl]

For the first time in a while, Toby wanted to facepalm so badly. But beyond that, he noticed that she was the second weakest member in her party since the archer and the shielder were both Rank 3 and had levels of 23 and 25 respectively.

Even so, she was stronger than most members of his party. All expect Grillion. Toby still couldn’t see the goblin’s rank and level.

“Yes, they are all down there. Such a bunch of party poopers.” Rina puffed her cheeks. “Here we are, in the great open sea, on a mission to rescue a city from the clutch of evil. But they have to be all “No, we have to prepare our gear” and “If you want to play, go and play with the children instead.” Jeez, who died and made them so grumpy?”

Lukas laughed when Rina dropped her chin while she mimicked the archer’s and the shieder’s voice, but in an exaggerated but quite funny way as she stuck out her chin and lowered her voice as much as possible.

“I see, quite a bunch of party poopers indeed.” Toby nodded. “By the way, what does that word mean? Party poopers.”

“It’s a word we used a lot in my clan. It means someone who doesn’t like to have fun and brings down the mood with their depressing statements.”

“I see, thanks for explaining that, Rina.” Toby smiled as Grillion glanced at him.

It seems like there is another place I need to visit that isn’t listed in the notebook. Toby thought.

Suddenly, Rina grasped. “You are doubting, aren’t you turtle? That’s why you are asking me all these questions.” Rina puffed her cheeks. “You’re a party pooper too.”

Toby was about to deny it but was interrupted by the yell of a sailor on the crow's nest and the ringing sound of his bell. “All hands on deck. They are coming, lads.”

There was only one target in mind when the sailor used the word 'they', the vampires.

“Children, stick to the plan. We are bodyguards for the fleet. We will only chase after them after they flee.” Grillion reminded the party, and Rina, of what they had to do.

Just then, Voss and the other two kicked the door leading to the lower deck and took their position. Everyone nodded their heads and moved to positions assigned to them during practice.

Toby and Lukas took the starboard, the right of the ship. Voss and the shielder took the port, the left side. Lily stayed in the middle of the ship with Tootha and Rina to provide long-range attacks. Grillion stood next to the captain by the helm and provided support when needed. Lastly, the ranger agilely climbed up to the crow's nest to take her vantage point.

It was supposed to be the best formation they could think of, something that would keep them safe, but Toby kept on having a nagging feeling in his stomach that just wouldn’t go away. As he scanned the deck one more time, his eyes fell on the so-called Hero.

That’s it. That’s why it was so strange today. That guy hasn’t antagonized us even once. What is he planning?

But before he could dwell deeper into that thought, the ship they were on shook as if they were forcefully stopped all of a sudden.

"We have been hit by [Floating Water Platform] the vampires are coming.” A sailor yelled.

Oh, so that wasn’t my unique Skill. Toby thought as he saw figures emerge from the deep blue.

They weren’t at all what Toby expected when he thought of vampires. He was expecting pale-skinned people with sharp fangs and claws. Or at least, the vampires would glitter under the sun or something. Not that there was any sun to work with that day. To see just normal people with purple eyes dressed in bikinis and shorts jump on the ship was quite disappointing. They didn’t even super jump or turn to bats or fog to get on the ship. They just threw hooked ropes or used magic to float themselves up. They were more like pirates than vampires.

There was Tootha, of course, but maybe the bard was just an exception since, well, he was Tootha. But it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Give me all your valuables if you want to live.” One of the vampires, a man with a bald head and a black bandana with a banana image on it, pointed his machete at the captain and yelled. He wore a simple brown short with two green lines at the edge of it while being bare-chested. There were wounds on his body, but none looked like they came from blades. They looked more like burns and big bullet wounds. On his waist was a thick, milky white sash that looked more like a fashion statement rather than something functional. Something he hung on his stash was glimmering.

[Minlam Hathel – Warrior Path – Babarian – Rank. 3 – Lv. 29]

[Alliance: Enemy – Suggesion: Attack from afar with magic attack]

It doesn’t look good, we might need to buy some time. While everyone took their stand, Toby asked. “Hey, can you guys walk on walls or something?”

“Huh?” The bald vampire turned toward Toby as he made a dumb-looking face.

“I mean, if you don’t have fangs, don’t have claws, don’t glitter under the sun, can’t turn to fog, can’t turn to bat, can’t walk on walls. What’s the point of being a vampire?” Toby asked.

“Uh… we don’t need to breathe." The bald man said unconvincingly. “And we do have fangs, see.” He opened his mouth wide and pointed at his fang.

“Do you drink blood?” Toby asked again.

“We don’t have to drink constantly, but drinking blood does help us become physically stronger for a bit.” The bald man answered.

“Oh, that does seem cool.”

“I know, right?”

Once again, the people on Toby’s side looked at him like he was the weird one. How was it weird to want to collect more information on your enemies? Wouldn’t the best source of information be the enemies themselves?

“Can you hypnotize people to force them to give their blood to you? That sounds like a usual tool to have as a vampire.”

“Hypnotize? No, lad. We don’t do that here. If we want to have someone’s blood, we either drink from our enemies or drink from someone who gives us consent.”

“You need consent to drink blood? That’s weird.”

“That’s not weird.” The bald man squinted his eyes. “Blood from our enemies tastes bland like water, but blood from people who give us consent is like a mix of honey and iced Pippa fruit. Sweet with a dash of sting when it comes down your throat. You don’t know how good it is until you try it, lad.” He nodded as he crossed his arms.

“Boss, boss, why are you discussing our drinking culture with them?” The guy behind him asked.

“Oh right. Ehem.” The bald vampire fake coughed. “Give me all your belongings or I’ll…”

Before he could finish, the archer on the crow's nest shot down a rain of glowing green arrows at the vampires.