Leo and Vayne come down from the carriage to see who were shouting, it turns out to be a man with an eye patch along with 5 other bandit like mobs.

"Hey old man if you value your life then leave all your valuables here!"

Leo look at them with uninterested expression, "sure, catch." He said as he pulled a small flask of glowing cyan liquid then toss it to the eye patched man.

Midway through the air the flask glow brighter then burst into a blinding light, temporarily blinding Vayne's vision.

Vayne rapidly blink and wipe his eyes trying to restore his vision, as he do that scream of pain and wailing could be heard from the group of bandits.

After a while there was only silence and he could smell a faint scent of blood in the wind, forcing his eyes open Vayne could make a blurry image of a single person surrounded by red and even more red.

"Oh your vision recovering already? I estimated you would take longer than that, anyway I took care of the pest. now why don't you get back into the carriage and rest also seeing as our Coachman have already fled I will be taking over his position." The figure said before moving closer.

As his vision get clearer Vayne manage to catch a glimpse of the red he saw before he was urged back inside the carriage by the figure, those were blood and mutilated human parts.

As the carriage move once more he could only sit while hugging his knees. Sure he were killed once but remembering the bloodbath from before still chill his spine, he still think that killing another intelligent being is a bit too much.

After that incident the Leo didn't stop the carriage other than for the occasional rest and camping at night, event is there is low level monster he quickly dispatch it leaving nothing for Vayne, not even occasional herbs by the roadside.

Every once in a while Leo would give couple alchemy lessons but the lessons were awkward, even after a couple of weeks Vayne still can't get the bloody images out of his head when he sees his teacher.

"And so if you add mandragora's roots extract it could amplify the burning effect of... Hey are you listening to me boy." Leo said as he lightly tap Vayne's head with a stick.

The latter just nod his head.

"Sigh... Look kid, I know you probably still thinking about those pest from before so let me tell you something, this world isn't as kind as your little group of kindergartens.

If you don't kill those pest they will only return with stronger force next time, by then you might not have any means to fight them back."

"But even so is it necessary to turn them into such sorry state?" Vayne raised his face looking straight into Leo's eyes.

"You may not notice, but at that time they have more men in the treeline waiting for an opportunity to strike. What I did was nothing more but a message for them." Leo answered him before patting his head.

"It's already late, why don't you go and rest now" Vayne nodded at his suggestion then went into the carriage.

When he is alone leo sigh, the boy wouldn't survive in any organization with his current mindset especially because he doesn't seem to notice much else other than what he's focusing on.

Then he thought about what his lady told him to do, "don't let him go down the dark path huh..."

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Somewhere southeast of Elmeria, underground

Shadows engulfed a large segment of dirt then when it's cleared away all that's left is a large empty space with only a crystal pod in the center and a blob of shadow beside it.

The blob move to the nearby wall then stick itself to it, the wall then melts away at a fast pace creating an almost natural cave corridor.

"Soon, it'll be done." Echo a voice within the room.

"Soon, the new dungeon shall rise!"