“And why would you do that?” Toby asked with skepticism at the vampire.

“I’ll be frank. I and many others don’t want to work under Minlam anymore. We are too tired of living a life of plundering from others for resources, only to dive back down to this depth like sewer rats. If I help you, I want your leaders to promise a place for us in Eldium.”

The vampire said with confidence despite being tied to a chair with vines while floating rocks and fireballs that could kill him at any moment. Completely different to how he was screaming, he already had a husband when Tootha was about to go ham.

“My fellow, what makes you think we need you to break the formation?” Grillion asked.

“I’m a Builder and I’ve built enough construction to know that this formation isn’t something a normal Builder, Scroll Master, or Illusionist could break. There is a special reason why we can control it, and I know that reason. I also know how to disable the formation since I’m one of the people who took part in creating it.” The vampire explained.

“We can’t trust a bad guy.” Lukas chimed in.

The vampire turned toward the boy and said, “You call us the bad guys, but it was you people of Eldium who hunted us down for no reason and pushed us to the point we had to hide down here. We only did what we had to do to survive.”

“That’s a lie!” Lukas raised his voice. “Eldium is full of good people, they won’t hurt you for no reason. I’ve been there long enough to know that. Only bad guys like you lie to make us the bad guys instead. That's what you always do. At least, from what I'm told.”

“What’s your side of the story?” Lily asked while still holding her floating rocks near his head.

The vampire told his story, about how they became refugees from Namonik, about how they arrived at Eldium, how the people welcomed them with open arms only to relentlessly hunt them down like filthy animals until they had no choice but to retaliate, and about how they tried to reconcile when they heard there was a change in the leader positions in Eldium. But that was just false hope.

“That’s weird,” Toby commented.

“Yeah, big bro Toby is right. There’s no way our master would do something like that. She is a good person. She didn’t even kill a Leviathan when it attacked us before. She only killed it because it was attacking the sailors.”

“Agree. The Guild Master doesn’t seem like the type.” Grillion nodded.

“I, too, agree. Even though I haven’t met Guild Master D’vanna for long, I can say for certain that she isn’t the type to attack a diplomatic corps if you sent them with the intention to negotiate peacefully.”

“I think we should just burn this guy,” Rina said as she increased the heat on her fireballs.

“My friends, please wait.” Tootha raised his hand and made a stop gesture. “Even though we are on opposite sides, I believe anyone should have the chance to redeem themselves. At least we should see for ourselves if this man is truly lying.”

He turned toward Lily. “My beautiful friend, can you check if this man has any malicious intention toward us?”

This caused Lily to frown and squint her eyes as she stared at Tootha.

“…Why do you think I can do such a thing?”

“Don’t be so alarmed, my friend.” Tootha raised both his hands up like he was surrendering. “A long time ago, I knew something just like you. I engraved into my soul every moment she and I shared. Her laugh, her smile, her hair, her scent, her warmth. I never forget anything. She is the only flower in my garden. That’s why, if she could do it, I’m certain you can too.”

He had a smile that looked like he could cry at any moment.

“…I will see what I can do,” Lily said before she put her rocks down. She then grabbed the vampire’s arm and mumbled something, causing barely visible seven-color light to shine on her hands, then disappeared just as quickly.

Lily looked at the tied-up vampire with a confused face as she said.

“He holds no malicious intention toward us. There was a bit of hopefulness directed at us instead.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” The vampire said.

“We can’t just trust our enemies that easily,” Toby told the vampire.

“What do you all want to do?” Grillion asked the party. “Personally, I think we should cooperate with him. Little Lily already confirms that he holds no ill intention and that what he said was true. Having him help us will not only spare us time looking for a way to break the illusion formation but also remove the danger of letting other vampires know we are here.”

“That’s logical. I will vote yes.” Toby said.

“I refuse to work with a bad guy.” Lukas voted no.

“You already have my vote.” Tootha smiled.

“It’s a yes for me.” Lily nodded.

“Then I vote yes, too. The more, the merrier, I’d say.” Rina laughed as she dispelled her fireballs.

“But… but…” Lukas looked at the others like a lost puppy. “He’s one of the bad guys. How can we work with one of the bad guys?”

Toby sighed, “I don’t want to teach you this too soon. The world isn’t black and white Lukas. Sometimes, to get what we want, the best solution is to be flexible and don’t get tied down by separating sides like that."

Lukas looked downcast as he dropped his ears, shoulders, and tails.

Lily hugged the boy, “I’m sorry, but this is the best way. You’ll have to learn how the world works eventually.”

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

The boy didn’t respond. He only looked at the ground. This caused Toby to let out another sigh.

“What’s your name, my good fellow?” Grillion asked.

“Edter.” The vampire said as vines slipped off from him.

“Please show us how to destroy the illusion formation, Edter.”

“Not so fast. I will tell you how to do so when you can get me to meet with your leaders. Unless I have a guarantee that we can have a place to live in Eldium. I will not help you.” He stood up, straightened his back, and told them.

“That might be difficult, Mr. Edter. We don’t have that kind of authority.” Lily said.

“Yeah, we are just Silver Rank Adventurers. We can’t just drag the top brasses from the City’s Hall and whack them until they agree to let you live in the city.” Rina added.

“What if we ask the Guild Master?” Tootha asked.

“I think we can let him meet master Elaria and let her decide what to do.” Toby nodded.

“By Guild Master, I assume you are talking about the Adventurer Guild Master,” Edter questioned.

“Yes. I believe we can get you to meet the Guild Master but nothing more than that.” Grillion told Edter.

“…How much influence does she have in the city?” The vampire asked cautiously.

“Don’t know about that, but she got us these Items from the City’s Hall and got those ships from the Merchant Guild. So, I’m pretty sure she’s a big shot in the city.” Toby answered.

Edter didn’t say anything. He only held his chin as he fell into silent contemplation.

“Can you guarantee I can meet your Guild Master?” He asked after minutes.

“That we can guarantee.” Grillion nodded.

“…Ok, can you use whatever Skill that let you appear from thin air again once I arrived at the formation’s energy source?” Edter asked.

“No, it’s a one-time thing.” Lily shook her head.

“Then if you still fear that I will tell other vampires about you, one of you can come with me while the other waits inside the tower, away from prying eyes,” Edter said before he tapped a few times on the door. With a mechanical clicking sound, the door opened.

Edter picked up the guard on his back and went inside. The party followed him soon after.

Toby As the last one entered, Toby got shocked by two things he noticed.

First, the inside of the tower had a design eerily similar to a church from Earth. Dim bluish light from outside peered through four stained multicolor glass windows on each side, creating a picture of blurry seven-color light. Every window had symbols of all seven Elements on them – a red-orange bonfire for Fire, an azure wave for Water, a white cloud for Air, a brown rock for Earth, an emerald tree for Wood, a radiant yellow ball for Light, and a black fog for Darkness. The high, curved ceiling echoed their footsteps only made the atmosphere feel heavier, as if they were merely insignificant lives in front of nature. The faded white walls with patches of black merged with columns that looked like mini towers themselves, with cravings of arms stacked on top of one another to reach up the sky.

Twenty rolls of long, barely rotten, black-brown wooden chairs separated into two columns lay there as if waiting for the tower’s followers to return. At the far end of the hall on their left, there was a headless statue of some humanoid being draped in a Roman toga with multiple arms of young, old, middle-aged, male, and female from all kinds of races – Anthrals and Primalis alike – all mangled, mixed, and twisted into each other and reaching out toward the sky like some kind of sick tree branches. Behind the statue was another stain glass with the image of a two-layered sun. From a certain angle, it looked like the sun was the statue’s halo. But it didn’t look divine. Not one bit.

Toby didn’t know if he should feel impressed by the architecture or creeped out from the imagery.

Second, despite being soaked under the sea for close to a century now, everything here didn’t show that much damage from being corroded by seawater, unlike the houses outside. If the chairs weren’t in such a state, Toby could argue that this place was never submerged in the first place.

Everything here just feel… off. What is that creepy feeling? Toby thought as goosebumps appeared all over his body.

“What is that thing?” He couldn’t help but ask Edter.

“Huh?” Edter turned back after he laid the guard down on one of the chairs. He followed Toby's gaze toward the statue. “That statue of a tree? I don’t know. It had been here ever since we got here.”

“That does not look like a tree. Those are clearly arms.” Toby turned toward the vampire and said.

Edter tilted his head and looked at the statue again. He frowned and squinted his eyes. “No. That clearly is a tree.”

Feeling something akin to ants crawling up the back of his spine, Toby looked at the statue again. To his horror, the twisted abomination of… something he saw turned into a normal apple tree made from white marble. Each of its leaves, branches, and fruits was craved with such intricate details that the white light from the window behind it made it look like it was a divine tree.

Toby snapped his head toward the columns. The arms woven together turned into vines.

“What the fuck?” Toby couldn’t help but say what he was thinking out loud.

“Is something wrong, little Toby?” Grillion turned back and asked when he noticed Toby’s curse.

“…No, it’s nothing, gramps.” Toby shook his head. “Let’s finish the mission and get the hell out of here.”

“Come over here,” Edter called the two of them toward the mini-map on the floor he created using dirt from outside. It was a detailed map of the whole ruin with three spots marked with X on it.

“That’s amazing,” Toby said.

“Thanks, I’m a Builder so this much is expected,” Edter said casually, but his chest was puffing out a bit and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“We are here, at the spire.” He pointed at the church-like tower they were in. If the ruin was divided into three pieces, then they were in the middle of the North piece. “We need to destroy the energy sources to break that magic protection over there.” He pointed at the marks in the Southwest and the Southeast, then he turned back and pointed at the statue.

“You can see that protection formation for yourself. Press on the apple on the bottom right, and the floor should open behind you. That’s the way toward the illusion formation. I only know two ways to enter, either use the stone mask that Minlam carries with him everywhere. Or to destroy the protective formation’s energy source.”

After Edter said that, Lily and Rina got up and went to the creepy statue.

“I know you’re a Builder but you know quite a lot around here, don’t you?” Tootha said.

“Most of the restoration and new buildings around here were done by me after all. I was also one of the people who made that protective formation.” Edter answered.

Lily and Rina came back, shaking their heads. Rina added. “We can destroy it, but that would alarm every vampire here. We will be swarmed to death before we can do anything.”

“Not to mention you will have to use so much Mana that your Skill will most likely break the floor and burry the way. You can use your spells, but if it hasn’t been turned into a Skill then I don’t think it’s strong enough to break the formation.”

“How different is it from breaking the power sources?” Lily asked.

“Without the power source, the protective formation will simply disappear. We tested it before and came up with the solution of putting the power source far away so we can have time to surround the invaders. The weakness is that to make a stable Mana connection, we had to rely on the canals. To put it simply, as long as you followed this and this canals to the edge of the air bubble, you will find the Mana crystals.”

“What do we have to do to destroy the crystals?” Toby asked.

“You don’t have to. Just pull it out from the stone tablet.” Edter paused. “The problem is that both locations are guarded.”

“If it’s just one bad guy like with this tower, then it’s no problem,” Lukas said.

“Unfortunately, it’s the opposite. The Mana crystals' locations have many guards because we want invaders to think that those are the source of the power of the illusion formation or the air bubble should any of them find their way into our home.”

“Any suggestion, my good fellow?” Grillion asked.

“Yes, quite simple, actually. Since you all can’t go out in the open anymore, I just need to go to one of the Mana crystals myself and replace it with a Mana crystal that was almost out of Mana. As for the other crystal.” He turned and looked at Toby, which caused everyone to look at him also.

As the center of attention, Toby sighed. “Do I need to do everything around here?”