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Chapter 10

"It's too dangerous, then, for us if we stay with him," said Lilac in private when they were on journey to Ashford, some hours after the blizzard stopped.

"I know it's dangerous with Ifrit, but his status as a monarch is not even proved yet. The hellhounds could have been wrong. Maybe Ifrit only had the same features with the real monarch and not even something Ifrit wanted either."

"Albreich, we're humans. He is not in our kind of problems here. Who knows what would happen if we are involved in his problems."

"And will you have the heart to leave him, after knowing that he's not a common hellhound anymore? I have a bad feeling that his ascension is not even a coincidence. Something big must've happened down there, and Ifrit knew everything."

"No, he's not, Albreich. Look at his face. Does it look like an all-knowing hellhound? He lost something and that thing is crucial for our survival because we're drawn in his problems. We need that proof to know if he's a threat or not."

"You can say that easily. The problem is, he got amnesia and he only remembered anything like family and friends. His past? No. His heritage? Gone with the wind. We can't force him to remember and for now, we must stay as normal as possible and try to cover him as a common Lycan. If nobody sees his tail, horns, and eyes, we will be alright."

"He has reptilian eyes, Albreich."

"I know. It's hard to conceal his eyes without illusionary magic, but Ashford had a kind of enhancements in a magical shop. I must hope it can conceal his eyes."

But when they found Ashford, the place was like a mess. Aside from the damage caused by the blizzard, there was some kind of an attack at the place, even some of the houses were destroyed and charred remains of the buildings were scattered everywhere in the snow. The inhabitants were also scarce. Most of them somehow abandoned their houses as it was, without even paying attention to their things. Most of the shops were closed, though some still open with small supplies.

When they saw Albreich's carriage, one of the inhabitants said, "Why, it's a trading carriage! It's been a while since having one of those in here. Oi, are you having some foods?"

"I don't have much, but guess is it okay? I have some dried meat and fruits."

"Every food is enough for us, trader. Dire times, these are...."A

Albreich knew his food reserve weren't enough for the inhabitants, and thus the man just gave them what leftover from Snohand he had to them, giving cheaper price than usual. Most of those buying the foods were elderly and children, with no young men buying the things. They sold out soon and as the crowd dispersed, Albreich said, "What the hell is going on here?"

"Some fire-using demon dogs started to make a ruckus in the town. They somehow came from the north. They didn't talk much, but somehow they were disgusted by the sight of humans and started to destroy everything. Their fire was hard to put out and like hell they burned up until the blizzard came. It was fortunate they didn't burn the warehouse or we will have to leave."

"The demons dogs. Where are they?"

"They ran away, and I don't know where they went."

"Goddamn it. Are they trying to find someone?"

"I thought they were trying to forcefully trying to find a particular person, but as far as I could see, they only want to destroy the homes and us."

"They never try to find anything or anyone?"

"How the bloody hell should I know? They talk with demonic language to each other, but not with us. And believe me, sir, they are not trying to find a person in particular because they blew up a bloody shed. Now please, sir. I must take these foods to my daughter. She's hungry."

"Don't worry. I've known enough."

"May your hunt be well."

Somehow, the man mistook Albreich to be a demon hunter, but nevertheless, he made a grin to him, Lilac, and Ifrit, without even stop to be suspicious on Ifrit. As he left them, Albreich scratched his head and said, "Man, this problem is bigger than I thought."

"What's wrong, Al?" said Ifrit.

"Hellhounds have a destructive instinct, after all. Those hellhounds destroy this place not to try to find you, Ifrit. They just want to lay waste like how a demon would."

"(Damn it...)."

"I know you feel responsible for what they have done, Ifrit, but you know that you're not with their side. Now, before some humans recognize your distinctive features, I need to find the magic shop."

But after waiting for a while...

"Guess nothing we can do about that, either. The place is a wreck, too."

"Wait."

"What, Ifrit?"

"How can you walk that fast? We only wait for a while as said."

"What do you mean? I only walk to a row of small shops from here. Where did you hear that?"

"A weird force that explains me about the accent?"

"You know, your creepiness exceeds even that of a demon. What are you, a paranormal?"

"Why?"

Albriech just sighed and moved into his carriage while Ifrit said, "(that human really is weird)."

But then, when Ifrit tried to move a barrel near him, he took a familiar hellish scent of fire and rock went into his nostrils, and thus when he turned his head, he snarled and started to produce his claws when he saw a hellhound, clearly hostile, was also ready in fight.

"(Wow, I thought royal senses are less sensitive than soldiers. You're different from any of your other families. Where did you learn to have strong senses from, hmm?)"

"(Are you doing all of these shits?)," replied Ifrit. "(What the hell are you trying to achieve from destroying the mortal beings?!)"

"(You really are not inside the royal family, are ya?)"

"(That hellhound back in the house was also saying that. What the fuck am I, huh?! I'm not even a prince! I live in a small rock house near a lava pit and I kill others for food! I'm not even a goddamn prince!)"

"(You are. Your name is Ifrit Schelkz, the fifth monarch of the Schelkz family and the firstborn of two males)."

This made Ifrit gasped. "(W...what?!)"

"(That's not important right now. You're just one problem to many things we will achieve. For now, die.)"

Without any warning, the mysterious brown hellhound lunged towards Ifrit, but his experience on a lunging enemy made him able to dodge it with ducking. Since the hellhound had a long tail, Ifrit pulled it down and he was smashed on the snowy plains. Without delaying, Ifrit tried to claw him, but he shot a fire toward Ifrit, stunning him momentarily. This gave time for the hellhound to bit his leg, where Ifrit made a strong inhuman roar.

"(Fuck! Get off my fucking leg!)" exclaimed Ifrit before forcefully pulling him out from his back leg. The attack made him limp and of course, fighting claw-to-claw wasn't an advantage with the leg condition.

"(Oh, what a nice, fresh, hellish blood)," said the hellhound while making a low growl.

"(You goddamn sick bastard!)"

Without waiting for more, the hellhound jumped away while Ifrit gave chase. His companions had rushed out from the carriage when they heard the shouts, but only found patches of blood.

"Oh no...they caught on him," said Lilac with a gasp.

"One hellhound stays here.... Oh, what a pain in the ass. Why am I so stupid to trust these idiots...?"

"You mean they're deceiving us?"

"The demons are trying to kill us, and so, they..."

"Oh, shut your mouth! Where are they?"

"This is not our business, demon hunter. It's your business."

"Albreich, it's no use arguing with these pitiful humans. We must find Ifrit before it's too late."

The trader was clearly disgusted by the townspeople's behavior, but nevertheless, he followed the trail of blood that was left by the hellhound. Unlike normal bloods, they had heat and it melted the snow under it. The fight was intense in Albreich's opinion, with hot bloods splattered on many surfaces.

"This is madness," thought Albreich. "I never thought those savages had strong knowledge. This is bad. If Ifrit dies, who know what will happen if hell breaks loose."

Albreich managed to find the two fighters, and he was relieved that despite of getting too much wounds, Ifrit was in advantage with the startled hellhound. Albreich was astonished on how he fought. He improvised everything around him, from wood planks to lamps, for the fight. Ifrit took a board and hit it to the hellhound's leg before head-butting it. Then, with a strong force, he used one of his hands to grab the hellhound and threw him to a jutting branch, impaling him.

The hellhound spat blood, and with a dying breath, said, "(Who train you to fight?)"

"(Survival to the fittest, as they all said. Tell me, who sent you? Why targeting me?)"

The hellhound wasn't able to talk much, but when he did, he said it with a mocking tone.

"(Hah, you'll know about it eventually.... Everything has been set into motion...)"

They hellhound made one last grunt before his head faced down. His body was in an unusual position, and as the tree branch broke, he fell over the branch, with his tail wrapping around it.

"(Son of a thousand bitches)," said Ifrit with a spat. He then noticed Albreich behind him and started to turn, but then he realized his body was also wrecked from the fight, and he threw out blood and fell to the side. Albreich came quickly to him, and realized that Ifrit was very hot.

"Oh no...this is not happening...."

Albreich hoisted the hellhound to his back while he walked back to the carriage, where Lilac was waiting. Without anything to see in Ashford, knowing very well that the place was devastated, they started to prepare for moving to another town for medical treatment. Lilac also saw that no inhabitants went out from the houses despite of the ruckus, but maybe because the problem wasn't disturbing for them, or maybe they didn't care at all.

Lilac fashioned a bandage from her bed sheet, where she tried to stop Ifrit's bleeding. The heat that came out from his blood was like boiling water and scalded Lilac's skin when she tried to close the wound. Though she managed to close it, Ifrit was still incredibly hot and he started to cough blood out from his mouth.

"At this rate he won't survive the flesh wound," said Lilac. "Please, Ifrit. Just please hang on for a while."

"Darn it! I thought those assholes were only sick and hungry. I never thought they were in league with the demons because of a goddamn fear. Just look what have they done to this young hellhound!" "Albreich, stop. You can't blame them on this hellhound. It's not even our problem, too."

"If this is not our problems then why are we trying to save Ifrit, huh? That hellhound just wants to give destruction to the humans and this hellhound saved them. Why can't you just grateful?!"

"He's the one that gave us this problem!"

"Then leave him on the road and see if you care!"

Lilac suddenly got stunned by that angry remark. It's true that she knew Ifrit was the source of the problem for them, but after developing a feeling, throwing him out like a dying dog wouldn't be an option for them. First, she would be guilt-ridden for it, and second, if Ifrit was alive, he would feel betrayed and tried to kill them the best he could. Thus, Lilac relented and said, "I...I'm sorry, Albreich. You're right. He's one of us now."

"Good that you understand. Now that we know our enemies, this poses a problem to us. It's good that they won't know about this carriage after Ifrit killed that hellhound, but if more come to us, we won't survive another chance."

"But, yes, Albreich, but without decent weaponries we won't stand a chance against them. Look at what that single hellhound did to Ifrit. Humans are not made to battle these creatures."

"Yes, it is true. But first thing's first. Some of the carriage stations around this region have a medical center in case the traders got a problem. I don't know if they can treat a hellhound, but we don't know if we try."

"And I doubt they want to treat a demon, let alone touch him."

As they reached a carriage station, it was midnight, and as Albreich predicted, the station had a small medical center, but then, there was only one doctor that was in duty, and it started to snow again. The doctor quickly helped the trader in taking the hellhound and reached a bed, or more to a wooden operating table.

"He's bleeding fast," said the doctor. "A strong cut through the abdomen. What the hell are you two doing, huh? Hunting bears?"

"There's no time to talk, doctor. You have to save this..."

"Don't worry. I know how to deal with hellhounds."

This made Albreich gasped. "Wait, you know this wolf is a hellhound?"

"What's wrong with you, man? Are there any wolves with white hair and stripe-motif fur? Now, that aside, stop talking to me while I'm helping this young hound. Oh, and when he wakes up, tell him that I must borrow something from him."

"Are you telling me you're borrowing a demon?"

"It's a rare chance, you see, and I don't want to miss any of it."

"Well, suit yourself, buddy. I don't want to know."

After both Lilac and Albreich went out of the room, the female Lycan suddenly broke down and, in a panicked state, said, "Oh, do please tell me Ifrit is alright?"

"I'm not very sure, Lilac, but I believe that a doctor with a good knowledge on a demon can help him."

When he knew it didn't comfort Lilac at all, he embraced the younger woman and slowly said, "He won't leave us that easily. I'm sure of it."

An hour had passed since they helped Ifrit getting into the medical room, and Lilac started to get very anxious, which took Albreich's attention. Just some hours ago she was very cold against the hellhound, but now, she somehow cared for him, as if he was something that's very important for her. When Albreich offered his mug of hot chocolate, he realized the Lycan was shaking hard, almost spilling the hot content. Yet, when Albreich wanted to help Lilac to strengthen herself, a loud bang from the door startled both of them, with Lilac making a yelp.

"How is he, doctor?" asked Albreich with sudden jerk from the wooden chair he was sitting on.

The doctor put out his glasses, and while cleaning it, he said, "His body will survive the injury. Most of them had already regenerated when I saw it, but of course, being wounded by a hellish creature made it a critical wound. It was fortunate he was a hellhound. The wound was hot enough to burn humans. Now, he's out of danger, but I must tell you something."

"We're all ears, doc."

"I don't know if hellhounds worshipped their horns like dragons or goats, but I must take a portion of his horn for an alchemical potion I made for him to drink."

"Wait a second, doc, what did you give him?"

"A potion, of course. I wanted to try it on him since from the description it's too hard for a human since it's hell-brewed and have a demon's horn as an ingredient. That aside, he's sleeping like a good doggy."

Lilac, upon hearing what the man said, turned her head to Albreich and made a troubled expression. The trader just sighed and said, "Let's just hope that hellhound isn't angry on losing a horn."