Corrupted blood lord

Teclos could not sleep.

For the next week, every time he lay on his bed at night, his eyes would just stay open, staring at the ceiling until the first light of morning crept through the cracks of the shutters. Whenever his body came close to giving in, the image of the open door, the blood, and the broken kitchen returned.

It instantly woke him up again, like a never-ending nightmare.

He could not storm Axel’s estate blindly. That much he knew.

Axel was not someone to be messed with. He was a monster wearing an old man’s skin. His senses, his combat experience, and his strength were too overwhelming.

So Teclos had no choice but to wait.

And watch.

Day by day, he gathered small pieces of information he needed to infiltrate the estate, carefully enough that he didn’t look suspicious or get noticed by anyone. He used his patrols with the Black Hounds as cover, taking routes that passed near Axel’s estate for brief moments before moving on.

He interchanged with different people from the Black Hounds, never telling them the real reason for that route.

When they searched for Saldia, he pretended to search with them. When they asked people questions, he pretended to listen while he was actually scouting Axel’s villa through his senses. When they moved through the streets, he let them believe he was simply checking alleys and asking around like before.

But every time they passed Axel’s estate, his dark sense brushed against the walls.

He counted guards and noted their patrol routes.

He noted who entered and who left the estate, and when.

Axel rarely showed himself.

When he did, it was always brief. A glimpse near the gate. A shadow behind a second-floor window. He never left his estate at all... which was a problem.

It halted his entire plan. The only thing he could do was carry on and observe silently.

To his surprise, Zamas was quite supportive and allowed the search.

The fat man helped more than Teclos expected. He sent word through his underground contacts, questioned informants, had drunkards bribed, had beggars watched, and had debtors threatened.

And still, no news of Saldia ever came back.

It was fine though, Teclos thought. Surely, once Axel left his estate, he would get his answers.

After a week, Zamas called Teclos into the back room.

Zamas sat behind his desk, fingers folded over his stomach, his usual smug smile nowhere to be seen.

Teclos stepped in front of him and greeted him.

Then Zamas sighed.

"Kid."

Teclos already knew he would not like what came next.

Zamas leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking beneath him.

"I’ll be honest with you... your mother might already be dead."

Teclos’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

Zamas didn’t sugarcoat his words at all and continued.

"Or sold off. Or moved out of the city. Or locked somewhere none of my people can reach. I’ve asked around. I’ve even spent a lot of coin to find her. I’ve had men lose sleep over this. Yet still nothing came up. This tells me that these guys were either really good at kidnapping... or worse, the big fish of the city, those that could easily wipe the floor with us."

His fingers tapped once against the desk.

"I can’t keep suspending work for you. And I can’t keep sending my people to chase a trail that might already be cold."

The words should have angered him, but they did not.

The next second, Teclos lowered his head. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Zamas blinked in surprise, as he didn’t expect that kind of reaction.

Teclos looked up at him, his expression tired but sincere.

"For helping me."

For once, Zamas seemed slightly uncomfortable.

"Khhmm."

"But I have to continue searching," Teclos said. "If you don’t mind."

Zamas studied him for a long moment, then waved one thick hand.

"Search if you want. I won’t stop you."

Teclos gave a small nod.

Zamas continued, "I’ll give you small jobs near the areas you want to check. Patrols, collections, messages. Things that won’t take much of your time."

Teclos bowed his head again.

"Thank you."

"Don’t thank me too much," Zamas muttered. "I still expect work done."

"I know. I will get it done."

Teclos then turned to leave, and just as his hand touched the door, Zamas spoke again.

"Kid."

Teclos paused.

"Don’t get yourself killed chasing a ghost. This might be more dangerous than we think."

He nodded again and then left.

The next day, his chance finally came.

Through his shadow sense, he overheard that Axel was leaving the estate that evening.

He made sure Axel was leaving by patrolling the area again. Teclos watched a carriage leave his estate with Axel on it and a few escorting knights by his side.

He followed them at the edge of his senses to make sure where the old man was heading, and sure enough, the carriage went through the gates and left the city.

It was now or never.

Teclos cloaked himself in darkness and vanished into the alleys.

He went straight to the Broken Crown.

The pub was as rowdy as ever. Falcon sat near the back with one boot on a chair and a cup of ale beside him, sharpening a knife with slow, careful strokes.

He looked up before Teclos reached him.

"Any news about your mother?"

Teclos stopped beside the table.

"I need a favor."

Falcon studied his face and immediately set the knife down.

"What kind?"

"I need a map of a villa in the city. Right now."

Falcon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"That is a very specific favor."

"I also need no one to know about it. Not Zamas. Not Derrick. No one. Just you and me."

Falcon leaned back and exhaled through his nose. He stared at Teclos for a few more seconds, then said,

"All right... but you owe me a favor in return now."

"No problem."

Falcon nodded and stood up. He went into the back room.

"Wait here."

Teclos remained by the table, nervous and twitchy at the same time, as he didn’t have any time to waste right now.

After a while, Falcon returned with a folded map.

"It’s an old layout," he said quietly. "So it might not be perfect. Rich bastards love changing things."

Teclos took it and immediately slipped it into his dark dimension.

"Thank you."

He turned to leave.

"Teclos."

Falcon’s expression was calm but serious.

"Don’t overdo it. If you need help, ask us."

Teclos nodded and thanked him once again. Then he rushed toward his home, where he prepared everything he had gathered throughout the week.

The ranger armor he stole from the smithy came first. High-grade, enchanted, and light enough not to make much noise when he moved around. It hugged his body beneath the cloak, reinforced in the right places without slowing him down too much.

Throwing knives, all stored in neat rows on his belt.

Smoke bombs.

A few small explosives.

The stealth cloak from the mercenary stash.

Finally, the claymore.

It was a well-made weapon, with runes etched along the blade that were the reason he had taken it. They could help mana flow more smoothly through the steel, sharpening the edge of any aura poured into it.

He strapped it to his back and unfolded the map.

Axel’s villa had two underground rooms marked beneath the main structure.

One storage hall.

One sealed chamber.

Teclos stared at that second room for a long time.

If Saldia was anywhere, it would be there.

Outside, daylight was already dying. The last traces of the sun bled across the roofs, and night started to creep in between the streets.

Teclos checked everything one final time and wrapped himself in darkness.

His entire presence sank into the shadows, erasing him completely.

He reached the gate but did not reveal himself or approach the guards.

He moved through blind spots, across the wall, and slipped past the lantern light. Not even the guard captain noticed him or anything strange.

Axel’s estate waited in the dark once he passed the gate.

Teclos reached the outer wall and crouched, watching the patrols. The security in Axel’s estate was way more potent than the Morholt estate, with more guards, runes, and better patrols.

But it was not perfect.

He crossed the street and leapt, landing silently on top of the wall before dropping inside the garden. It was quiet.

Teclos kept his head low and moved fast through the shadows. Even when guards passed close enough that he could hear the leather creak around their armor, none noticed him.

He reached the main door and lockpicked it with a darkness key replica.

The lock opened and he slipped inside. Avoiding the servants, he beelined toward the underground rooms.

The first underground room was far from ordinary.

Chains hung from the walls. Iron tools lay neatly arranged on a long table. There were chairs with straps, hooks in the ceiling, and old stains scrubbed so often they had become part of the room.

Teclos’s face hardened.

Axel had sick secrets. That did not surprise him, but to think that he wanted Axel to be his master back in the day.

He searched this shitty room anyway because it could hold clues to Saldia’s kidnapping.

There were books on pain, poison, anatomy, and interrogation. Small jars lined one shelf, each labeled carefully. Hair. Teeth. Nails. Preserved eyes floating in a cloudy liquid.

Teclos stared at them for a moment, then moved on.

Other than that bastard’s sick hobby, he found nothing.

He went upstairs.

The villa upstairs was, in contrast, elegant. It felt almost peaceful.

Expensively decorated carpets covered the floors everywhere. Polished floors. Paintings of landscapes. Servants’ quarters arranged neatly near the back. The guest rooms seemed... untouched. The dining hall was clean.

Teclos left everything exactly as he found it.

But room after room, he came up with nothing.

A terrible thought began to creep in.

What if Axel was innocent?

What if Teclos had wasted a week chasing the wrong trail?

What if Saldia had been moved somewhere else while he watched this house like a fool?

His jaw tightened.

No...

He continued.

He checked walls, wardrobes, portraits, under beds, inside couches, behind shelves, beneath carpets. He looked for secret doors, hidden compartments, anything.

But the house felt clean, besides the torture chamber down below.

Now only one room remained, and that was Axel’s study.

Teclos summoned his dimension and took out the rune dissolver, but then he changed his mind, as it would leave a trace that someone had been there. He then took out an enchanted lockpick that could silence the alarm and entered carefully once he opened it.

The room smelled faintly of ink, old paper, and expensive tobacco. Shelves covered nearly every wall, filled with rolled-up parchments bound in dark leather. A massive desk sat near the corner, carved from black wood and polished until it reflected the dim light from the window.

Behind a glass vitrine stood a collection of skulls.

Human.

Orc.

Elf.

Lizardman.

Even a few smaller ones Teclos could not identify.

Each skull had a tiny plaque beneath it, written in neat handwriting.

Names.

Dates.

Locations.

Presumably, people and monsters that Axel had killed himself.

Teclos stared at them with disgust, then turned toward the desk.

Papers were spread across it in ordered stacks.

Contracts.

Reports.

Names.

Targets.

He searched the drawers.

He checked the bookshelves next, pulling each book slightly, feeling for mechanisms, hollow spaces, hidden latches.

He pressed against sections of the walls.

"How?"

He couldn’t believe it. How could there be nothing at all?

Was his intuition truly that garbage?

Had Axel been playing with him just because he could?

Teclos stood in the middle of the study, fists clenched, then his eyes drifted back to the papers on the desk.

He read them again, for the last time, to see if he had missed something.

Names of people.

Assassination contracts.

And finally, a clue appeared before Teclos as he saw the seal stamped on one of the letters.

His blood went cold.

The Count?

Axel was working under the Count himself.

Teclos carefully lifted the document and scanned the contents. His eyes read the parchment and widened.

Axel was not just some hired killer fulfilling contracts in the inner city.

He was working directly for the Count.

Teclos searched the rest of the papers with renewed focus.

Most had nothing to do with Saldia.

Then he found an inventory addressed to the Count. He had previously just skimmed over it.

At first glance, it seemed useless. Wines. Poisons. Weapons. Rare books. Stored materials. Medical supplies. Preserved specimens.

Then one entry stopped him.

It was an herb, a very specific herb.

The same herb Saldia had clutched when she was dragged from the house.

Not only that... the entry seemed fresh.

Teclos stared at the name of the herb, and his fingers slowly tightened around the paper.

’I knew it.’

It was not exactly proof, but it was enough for him.

Axel was, in fact, connected to his mother’s disappearance. And what was worse, she seemed to have been kidnapped by the Count himself, seeing as she was not here...

Teclos folded the list and placed it inside his dark dimension.

Then he looked toward the window, where the city stretched beneath the darkening sky.

He finally had a direction to go off of, and chances were, she was alive, seeing as the Count was the culprit, or at least seemed to be the culprit.

He had a good reputation. He was regarded as an honest and upright man... so surely he wouldn’t have killed her or sold her off, Teclos hoped.

There had to be a reason as to why he took her.