Desolate World

"They are still alive. We have found them. Elo sent me to tell you that there are no traps along the way to the nest. We also found the kidnapped refugees. They are left alive," The man reported his team's finding excitedly.

Noah was glad. He thought the vampires had killed the rest of the kidnapped refugees before they left, but it seemed they had another idea. He had guessed the vampires' intention by leaving them alive. If not wrong, their purpose by doing so was to make chaos in the internal of refugees.

After all, their transformation could happen at any time. And admitting such hidden dangers into the crowd would make many refugees unsecured. However, the families of the transforming ones would definitely refuse to give up their family members. Not after they knew that their beloveds' transformation was curable.

With two opposing parties inside the refugees, the controversy couldn't be avoided. Worse, both of them had arguable and solid standpoints. Such a situation would make the unity of the refugees crumble.

Even Noah didn't know the right solution. Learning from Nila's case that made him griefing even until now, he couldn't just give up on them on one hand. But, he couldn't leave hidden dangers among refugees either.

'Such a situation wouldn't occur if there is a healer among us. Sigh…,' Noah complained inside his heart.

However, even when he was in the Caraga Kingdom, healers were very rare. They were even rarer than 4 leaf clovers, or maybe rarer. It's not because the kingdom lacked the training manual. The condition occurred because the talents of magic casters were rarely found in society.

'There must be a way. I believe God must provide us with a solution somewhere. It is just that we haven't found it. It was the same with the javelins and the ropes. The solution is definitely there. We just have to find it,' Noah thought.

Maybe because Noah was silent for some moments, one of the men called his name, "Hey… Noah. Is there a problem?"

His voice woke Noah up. After that, Noah shook his head and said, "No, I just thought of something. Let's go!"

As he wanted to lead the others to go, he realized that the man who just told him the news was standing still. Noah then realized that he still had something to say.

"Anything else?" Noah asked.

"Uh… actually, we didn't only find the kidnapped ones. We also found some other 'people'," He said while emphasizing the word 'people'.

Noah frowned. He then asked, "What do you mean?"

***

After a few minutes of walking in the darkness only with torches as the lighting, they met the bank of an underground river. They had to walk along the bank carefully because it was pretty slippery.

After that, they arrived at a spacious area that was full of mushrooms growing on the ground. There were paths that split the mushroom field as if they were deliberately created as roads.

The question that appeared in Noah's head was, 'Do vampires eat mushrooms?'

That would be too funny if it was true. But it shouldn't be true. The most possible answers should be that it was the 'people' that the scout had talked about who cultivated the mushrooms. It made him eager to meet them.

After crossing the mushroom field, they finally entered an area that should be used by the vampires as their nest. They found many torches were placed on stalagmites or some natural pillars. Oddly, they were placed rather low. There were also some crafted things that resemble tables and chairs at some corners.

They also found some pickaxes, sickles, and hoes placed neatly on wooden toolboxes. If not because the handles of the tools were too short, Noah would think once again that the vampires were farming.

They then entered deeper and they saw some smaller room-like areas that should be dug. The ceilings weren't too high. But, they should be the vampires' dwellings, as everyone could smell some blood odor although so light from small cups that seemed to be left behind in some rooms. The vampires should drink blood with them.

There was some simple furniture that should be used by human-size creatures made from wood. A torch was installed on the wall of the room. On a table in a room, there was melted wax from a candle. A vampire who liked to read should have lived in it. Noah and the others didn't find anything valuable in them.

After walking deeper, they saw a row of iron bars enclosing an area like a prison cell. Some refugees that Noah had ordered to scout were there, seemingly having conversations with whoever lived inside the cell.

Noah approached them with the others. They then stopped the conversation after realizing that Noah had come.

One of the men then welcomed Noah and said in a low voice, "Noah, they are detained here. Victor, Evra, Cody, and the rest of the kidnapped men are detained here. We are waiting for you to decide how to handle them. The women are detained in a different cell not too far from here."

Noah nodded, he then patted the shoulder of the man and said, "Good job, let me talk to them."

The man nodded and gave him a way.

Noah then approached the cell. He could see dozens of men were placed in a pretty large room. However, because there were too many people inside, it looked cramped.

He could also smell a mix of the iron-like odor of blood and other kinds of odors such as urine and feces from inside of the cell. It made him uncomfortable. Some people that came with him even wanted to vomit.

Holding himself from the nausea feeling, He examined the condition of the men inside. All of them were in the process of transforming into vampires.

He had anticipated it, so he didn't show any reactions. It was just that he felt bitter. They were people who he knew. They had fought together from escaping the battlefield, traveling inside the forest, and resisting the monsters and vampires.

Seeing them being locked in the cell and little by little transforming into vampires made him sad. Most of them became thinner and paler. He couldn't imagine what they had experienced and felt all this time.

The people inside the bars were silent, as if waiting for what their leader would say to them. Noah knew that they were waiting, so he decided to talk about what he was thinking.

"Guys, you need to take a bath," Noah said lightly with a serious look.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

***