Abium followed Hooper and others outside and soon stopped as he arrived near the entrance door. Then, he turned his head and looked at a guy who had just walked in.
"Two rooms for five days." A cold voice came from that guy.
He had brown hair and tall stature and looked around 40 years old. He covered his lower face with a red scarf and wore a black double-breasted suit. He also had an emerald pendant on his neck, which gave Abium a sense of familiarity. Although Abium didn't see his face clearly, he felt that guy's voice was familiar.
"Sir, this way," Hooper interrupted his thoughts and started walking towards the right side.
Meanwhile, Abium also retracted his gaze and followed Hooper while thinking.
'I'll check on him later.'
First, he had to confirm whether his friend Nicolaus, Umi and Lady Fennelis were safe. After a few seconds, Abium walked with those four adventurers into an old single-storied house at the end of that Elm Street and soon frowned.
'Blood!' His sharp sense quickly detected the presence of blood in the air.
Without delay, he scanned the whole building and soon saw an entrance to some secret underground chamber on the other side. But what stopped his footstep was that he saw two figures lying on beds in the underground chamber while the other three figures stood near them.
Quickly, Abium entered the single-storied house, fastened his footsteps to the secret door, and opened it hastily. Following that, he walked downstairs through circular stone stairs and reached the dark underground secret chamber in a minute. Only two magical lamps hung at the two ends, giving a dim light to the surroundings.
After reaching the large hall-like chamber, he turned his head towards where the two beds were placed and soon saw two humans lying. Both had pale faces as if their blood were drained entirely, and they appeared to be on the verge of death.
'Goodness. Umi and others are safe.'
Abium finally breathed a sigh of relief as he confirmed Umi, Nicolaus and Fennelis appeared safe and slowly looked at the two people's faces.
A moment later, he noticed a familiar face among the two and got confused.
'Woman?' He narrowed his eyes.
That woman wore a grey shirt and pants and appeared in a coma state. She had pink-colored wavy hair, hooded amber eyes, a hawk nose, and an oblong face.
'Lady Roysia? What happened to her?' Abium's face turned solemn as he arrived near the bed while startling others. Nicolaus, Umi, and Fennelis also noticed Abium's arrival and instantly greeted him.
Meanwhile, Abium waved his hand and asked.
"What happened to Lady Roysia? Why is she here?"
At the same time, he touched her hand and ordered Azolla to scan Roysia's body.
"We came to this Keris kingdom together under her sister's request, Abium. A month ago, she and three other adventurers went to Taiga sloth woods to check for clues about my husband but got ambushed by the holy knights.'' Fennelis said in a frustrated tone. She thought there wouldn't be any danger in that mission and sent them on a reconnaissance mission. But she didn't expect Holy Knights to roam inside the forest.
What made her feel more frustrated was that she didn't even understand why they attacked Roysia and the other adventurers! As Fennelis was gritting in anger, Nicolaus started talking.
"Lady Roysia said that she had no idea why there was a squad of Holy Knights roaming in the woods. Although four of them got ambushed, Lady Roysia and this adventurer successfully managed to escape. But after they returned to the city, we noticed both of them became sick all of a sudden and appeared to be slowly dying."
Abium felt that the Holy knights' actions were a little strange this time and got more confused.
At that moment, Azolla spoke in his mind.
'Someone cast the 'Blood Drain' curse spell on both of them, kid. Most probably a Blood-Sucking Beast or a Vampire.'
'Is there a way to cure it?' Abium asked.
'Only a Light Priest could help her dispel the curse, but I don't think any priest will be willing to help a stranger. In the worst case scenario, the priest might accuse everyone of colluding with a demon.' Azolla paused for a moment and soon added.
'Well, I once heard that Light God Welo was once a Vampire and the Vampires still have a high position in Light Church. So, it's better to avoid making contact with them.' Azolla's words caused Abium to frown.
'Do you mean the Light Church's dominance over Easica continent was still there during the ancient times?' Abium asked with puzzlement.
'Dominance? Welo is not a god of this plane, so only Mother Nature Goddess dominates this plane. Although those fanatics seem to be spreading their faith all over the Easica plane now, his true body won't be able to enter our plane. If he dares to enter forcefully, then he will have to face the wrath of our World's Will. Kid, I will tell you a truth that must be kept secret from everyone. Three High-Gods rose from this plane. If a foreign god tries to invade our world with his true body, they will definitely return to our world and stop him at all costs. As for how foreign gods' influence came to our world, it was all because of our Mother Nature Goddess. She was the one who asked for their help to repel the invaders from the Abyss and Hell during the ancient war. After that war, those gods used that opportunity and started spreading their influence in this plane. You already heard a similar answer from that necromancer woman, right?'
Abium nodded and asked further.
'Who are the other two High-Gods?'
'It's better for you not to learn anything about them, kid. If you learn more about them, they will also learn more about you. So, you must never try to find out any information about them.' Azolla instantly warned him and soon changed the topic.
'First, just find a way to dispel the Blood drain spell's effect.'
Abium face turned grim as he heard those words.
'Hmm, should I kidnap a priest and threaten him to cure her? Nah, those Light Priests won't yield to my threats. Moreover, that Bishop Piers is not a person I should casually offend. Although his strength is not as strong as mage Sean, he must be stronger than a normal second-tier mage.' Abium mumbled to himself and then fell into deep thoughts.
'Is there any potion formula that could nullify this Blood drain spell?' Abium started to recall all the information about potions and soon nodded as he remembered a potion name.
'There is a potion called Red Lily potion which could cure most of the low-level Vampire spells. But I don't think I can get the main ingredients to make potions. Well, to concoct that potion, I need a few drops of Baron Level Vampire's blood and a branch of ghost weeds.' Abium instantly dismissed that idea as he thought of those two main ingredients. Getting a few drops of Noble Baron Vampire's blood? It would take a long time even to track those Vampires. Even if he had the potion ingredients, Abium knew these two wouldn't be able to hold on for a few more days.
'If that Bishop is not here, I would have easily been able to bribe one priest to cure both of them. Well, that left with the last option. I have to seek help from the Nature Temple priest using money.' Abium thought to himself and suddenly froze as he suddenly remembered something important.
'It has something to do with Bishop Piers's death... In the past, I heard that mysterious necromancer somehow managed to kill him using a strange light spell inside the Taiga sloth woods, which caused a great commotion.' As Abium was thinking about that past incident, his eyes suddenly squinted.
'Using the same light spell to kill this Bishop?... Wait!... Why do I feel like I had seen that a necromancer used a light spell before?' His eyes instantly widened as he suddenly remembered those two Holy maiden zombies and became stunned.