Chapter 164: Traitor
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"This…this is too dangerous!" Anfey said. He looked very gratefully at the man.
"That is part of being a mercenary!" Ozzic said, laughing. "Shansa Empire had publicly challenged us. This problem is all of ours together. We must band together against this common threat."
"Well said," Anfey agreed, nodding. "Then I won’t hold back my request. We do need help. Why don’t I send some mages to assist you?"
"There is no need for that. My Dragon Riders mercenary group isn’t big, but we have been working together for a long time. We all trust and rely on each other. If there are some new people, we may not work as efficiently. Don’t worry, we can handle this," Ozzic said, with a wave of his hand. "Time isn’t on our side. I will head out immediately."
"This soon? You came all this way, you must be tired. Why don’t you rest a bit before leaving?"
"We will rest after we defeat the Shansa army. By then, even if you want me to leave I won’t," Ozzic said, grinning.
"Alright. Be careful," Anfey said slowly. "If the Shansa army outnumbers you, don’t engage them head to head. Try to stall for as long as possible."
"I understand. I am not stupid enough to do something like that," Ozzic replied. "You have to start your part of the plan soon."
Anfey nodded.
Ozzic did not say anything else. He left town quickly with his men. Christian stared at the departing men, then turned to Anfey and asked, "Don’t you think there’s something strange about them?"
"Not really," Anfey said with a smile. "But we have to remember that we should never let our guard down. They chose their timing very well."
"They must have a motive. What would it be? Do you think they genuinely want to help us?" Christian asked.
"We will find out soon enough," Anfey said. He turned to Riska and said, "Bring Feller with you and keep an eye on them. Suzanna, you are responsible for their safety. Come back when it’s getting dark. Don’t approach them."
"Alright," Riska nodded and said.
"Anfey!" Sante walked over and called. Behind him was a werewolf. "He wanted to speak with you."
Anfey glanced at the werewolf, then turned and told Suzanna, "Three of you, go right now. Be careful."
"Don’t worry about us." Suzanna smiled sweetly.
After the trio left town, Anfey walked over and sat down on a piece of stone and waved the werewolf over. The werewolf walked over timidly.
"You want to talk to me?" Anfey asked softly. Normally, werewolves were very fierce creatures, even the female ones were fighters. They had given the original residents who were trapped in the tunnels two choices. One was to leave town, the other was to work for Anfey. He would provide protection to the residents no matter which decision they made.
Most residents had lost the will to fight and chose to work. There were two werewolves who encouraged the residents to fight, and Suzanna had to kill them in the end. This timid werewolf did not fit the usual werewolf image, and made Anfey curious.
"Yes. I have something I want to report," the werewolf said and glanced around.
"Sante, go check the tunnels and make sure nothing unusual is going on," Anfey said, waving his head. "Christian, stay."
The rest of the group began making their way to the tunnels. Christian walked closer and said gently, "What is it? You can tell us now."
"If you tell you, can you keep my sister and I safe?" the werewolf asked, its eyes sad and desperate.
"Of course! Don’t worry. We will keep you safe."
The werewolf took a deep breath and said, "Katuru has a secret vault in the tunnels."
"Katuru?"
"He was the old leader."
"I see," Anfey said with a smile. He thought it was a big secret, but it was nothing more than a werewolf’s private collection. Seeing the living conditions of Moramatch’s residents, Anfey did not expect Katuru’s treasure to be shocking. "Christian, go with him and find the vault."
Christian nodded.
"My lord, what you promised…"
"I am a man of my word. I will protect you and your sister."
"But my lord, if they find out that I was the one who spilled the secret, they will kill me."
"They? Christian, how many werewolves are still here?"
"Four. He must be talking about the other two. There is one female that must be his sister," Christian said with hushed voice.
"Do they know about the vault?"
"All the werewolves do. The others left to find backups. We were left to guard the vault."
"Then why did you tell me about the vault?" Anfey narrowed his eyes in disdain, but he was able to hide his sentiments well. Even though werewolves like this were beneficial, if this werewolf could betray his own kind, he could betray Anfey and his companions as well.
"Because they are terrorizing my sister."
"Can’t you protect her?"
"I’m too weak to take on two of them," the werewolf said, lowering his head.
"Unbelievable," Anfey said slowly.
"Yes, my lord! I couldn’t take it anymore and this was my last resort." Seeing that Anfey understood him, the werewolf appeared very grateful.
"Christian, kill the other two werewolves." If the werewolves had second thoughts and were not planning on working with them, there was no use keeping them alive. "Don’t worry," Anfey told the werewolf. "Dead men tell no tales."
"Thank you, my lord!" The werewolf sank to his knees, satisfied with Anfey’s decision.
"If your kind finds backups, will they contact you?"
"I am the only one they could contact."
"There was just a group of mercenaries here. Dragon Rider mercenaries. Do they look like backups your people speak of?"
"No way. Humans would never fight for werewolves," the werewolf said.
"You’re saying the backups must also be werewolves? As far as I know, this is the only place werewolves reside within the Country of Mercenaries. Where are they going to find backups?"
"That…that I don't know, my lord."
Anfey frowned and was about to ask another questions. Christian poked his back, and Anfey sighed. "Alright," he said. "Go wait for us by the tunnels. We will be there in a few moments."
"Yes, my lord." The werewolf bowed and left quietly.
Anfey waited for a few moments, then turned to Christian and said, "Did you discover something?"
"Anfey, remember the orcs?"
"You’re saying they’re looking for a sanctuary?" Anfey asked, quickly making the connection.
Christian nodded.
"I don’t understand. If the werewolves have a sanctuary, why did they stay in the Country of Mercenaries? Why did they stay in Moramatch?"
"Maybe waiting for more werewolves to appear," Christian said after a few moments of silence. "From our point of view, the werewolves here live a difficult life. For the werewolves, maybe this is a place where they could observe and learn more about humans."
"Makes sense," Anfey nodded slowly and said.
"I began to have my suspicions a few days ago when I was cleaning out the tunnels with Feller."
"About what?"
"I talked to you about it, but you weren’t paying attention," Christian said. "After you enter the tunnels from the main entrance, there are nineteen major tunnels. Every tunnel has a built-in cave large enough for more than a hundred people. There were ample food and weapons as well. One was more than enough to contain all of Moramatch’s population. Why did they build nineteen tunnels? To prepare for war? To expand their territory? I don’t think either of those are the right answer."
"I see what you’re talking about. You’re saying that those were built to prepare for the mass migration of werewolves from the sanctuary."
Christian nodded. "Katuru is just a small part of this. I feel like the real leader is somewhere in the sanctuary. Band of Brothers mercenary tried to get the werewolves out of Moramatch a few times, and every time the mercenary group suffered great casualties. I don't think we are more powerful than a major mercenary group. Maybe it was because we attacked at the right time, when the town was relatively empty."
"God…" Anfey frowned and shook his head. "That werewolf must have known this as well. Why did he tell about the vault? Isn’t he afraid of retribution?"
"If we keep the other werewolves, who will know?"
"We can…"
"Orcs, beasts, savages, and elves all believe humans are the worst and most sly of all creatures. They would not believe us."
"That means we can't just kill the other werewolves."