Infiltration

Neria and I went to the duchy capital and what should I say her mood was on a level in which I could not see how it could be worse.

After I returned from my interrogation and told her what I found out she questioned me some details and then it slipped me where I went over the night and since then she only looked at me like I was the worst scum

"Dammit, I only went there for research not for, that, okay Neria nothing happened except that I killed a mad vampire and by chance crushed the local criminal organization but nothing else I swear by Vida" I tried to explain myself but she seemed not to listen and only replied

"Now that I think about it the Champion Bellwood was said to be followed by many women whos feelings he later accepted or so I heard it. Hey, Val, you don´t intend to be such a hero do you?" Neria can be quite scary if she is angry but I would rather run into a Pure-Breed than want to be the target of her wrath which I actually was right now

"Okay fine if you don´t want to listen to any of my explanations then fine I go to the capital with you or without you choose now," I said to her taking all my courage together and she looked at me with cold eyes

"Of course I come with you we are partners aren´t we?" she said with a voice like ice

, Ok now I totally messed up' I thought and prepared our departure, Hopefully, I can calm her on the way'

After we reached the capital I slowly had broken the ice but I hope we can soon clear this since I can´t stand these eyes anymore they´re so devoided of humanity you could call them demonic and if you consider that I carry a demonic sword with me and her eyes can scare the crap out of me I don´t want to know how it feels if she would let her wrath freeway

"I understand why you went there but you could have at least told me beforehand" Neria complained

"Are you serious?!" I shouted in disbelieve

"We are partners so it is only natural you would inform me of such a thing," she said while looking away

"And you would just let me go?" I asked skeptically

"If it´s for work yes. But I also know you aren´t a man that would go to such places for entertainment but still please inform me beforehand" she said and smiled at me

"Fine next time I say something," I said to her while my mind swore another thing, I will never tell her if I have to go to such a place firstly she would surely make a ruckus that could go down in history and secondary if I look at her face who knows what would happen to the district´

"So where do we have to go to find that vampire what was his name again?" Neria asked and I let out my breath out of relief

"The Vampire is named Capiro and according to my information his hideout is directly next to the temple of Alda to be more precise under it" I answered her question and she stopped

"Your joking no one would be dumb enough to build his hideout right next to the enemy," she said in a tone as if she thought I would kid her

"From another perspective, it´s actually a genius move would you search a vampire directly next to Alda's temple?" I questioned her and she frowned

"This is either an idiotic vampire who thinks he is untouchable or a genius who knows he won´t be found there" she muttered

"Correct so now let´s break into Alda´s temple and smoke this guy out," I said smiling

"Stop smiling it´s getting creepy" Neria complained to me and we started a discussion about it to the point I threatened her with the Skull Mask I got from the Dungeon and after that, we started making our preparations to search for Capiro

In the night Neria and I went into Alda´s temple and went into the catacombs which were strictly guarded by fanatics that had looks on their face as if they would await an attack of a monster army

"This is actually quite difficult" I muttered and Neria commented

"If this isn´t worth a skill I stop believing in the gods" she joked

"I think it was named [Silent Steps] if I remember correctly" I answered her seriously to which she shook her head as if she would expect me saying this

We kept evading the patrols as good as we could but sometimes we had to knock some of them out luckily I was faster than they could react and their bodies could be hidden quite well in this labyrinth of corridors

"Where the hell is this dammed bastard?" I cursed

"And you´re sure that he is here? Have you ever considered that you got false information?" Neria pointed out but I was sure he had to be here right under the nose of Alda´s believers

"Where do you think is the most guarded place within the temple?" I asked her and she looked at me perplexed

"You can´t be serious with this can you?" she slowly began doubting my sanity

"Let´s go to the sanctuary if he is somewhere then there," I said with my heart in it and yeah I slowly grabbed after the end of the robe but I know my luck regarding cliches and flags so why not let it work for me?

We went all the way to the sanctuary and man this was damn well guarded

"Neria do you know what the heck they are guarding here?" I asked her and she went into thoughts for a moment

"If I remember correctly a Sword of Bellwood," she said

"Oho, this is quite something" I answered and we went further into the deeps of the temple

I got a bad feeling the closer we came to the sanctuary but I ignored it as good as I could and then we stood before the room where the artifacts were stored it was decorated with golden patterns and showed a battle of Bellwood against the Demon King´s Army and even though I disliked this dumb person I had to admit his deeds and accept that this pattern was worth of them

"It´s quite frustrating" I murmured to myself

"You know we can´t change the past no matter how hard we wish for it all we can do is to change the future," Neria told me

"Wasn´t it me who said that to you during the time you slipped out of the village and followed us on a hunt?" I asked her regarding a matter that happened long ago

"Yes, yet I could tell by the look on your face what you thought. You can´t go back in time to fight them and change the past" Neria looked at me with a determined look on her face

"I may wish to see how strong he really was. But my thoughts weren´t about that I simply had to admit his deeds against the Demon king that´s all." I said to her

"Then it´s good" she replied and we slipped into the artifact storage which was heavily guarded

Yet we somehow managed to pass them and went to the place where the secret hideout should be and in the end, it seemed the criminals told the truth it really was right next to the sanctuary I touched the wall which separated both rooms and used my Earth-magic to let it crumble before me making an opening through which we went.

"Oh my dear servants, the day of our rule comes nearer every day let´s build our kingdom." a masked man in a fancy robe told to a giant group of masked people apparently we weren´t noticed yet. And the robed man which I suspected to be Capiro continued his speech and I slowly grew sick of this crap he spoke

"Neria do you have any complains?" I asked her

"Not really but it makes me happy that you even ask" she answered and I shot an arrow created ba my sword´s bow form towards Capiro yet he evaded it effortlessly

"Who have we here? A rat coming into a cats home?" he asked arrogantly and I stepped out of the shadow

"Nope just a dhampir that wants to be a hero. So can we start this game then?" I replied smiling and our gazes met each other.