Chapter 259: Lucian Foster... why were you here?

Leonardo and Lucian walked quietly down the basement stairs, finally reaching the bottom. Leonardo’s gaze immediately fell upon the women sitting on the floor, most of them still staring blankly into nothingness.

Leonardo’s expression turned grim. His fist clenched tightly at his side as he looked at their malnourished bodies.

Many of them had bruises across their faces, while a few others had injuries scattered across their arms and legs. Their bodies were covered by quilts, hiding what little clothing they had left beneath them.

For a few seconds, Leonardo simply stood there, his teeth gritting against each other.

The moment the women noticed the unfamiliar man standing beside Lucian, their faces suddenly turned frightened.

Several of them instinctively pulled the quilts closer around themselves, covering their bodies even further as their eyes shook with fear.

"Don’t worry about him," Lucian said calmly.

"They’re all here to help."

Everyone instinctively turned towards Lucian, and seeing him standing beside Leonardo, their expressions relaxed faintly.

But not completely.

They were still wary of the unfamiliar people and kept their guard up, especially towards Leonardo.

Leonardo noticed their reactions, but didn’t say anything about it.

Considering what they had all gone through, their behaviour towards him was only natural.

Still... he couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed by how easily Lucian had managed to calm them down with nothing more than his presence.

It seemed that this guy had gained a little trust from the captives... perhaps because he was the one who had freed them all.

The medical staff he had brought along with him slowly moved forward, and the moment they examined the condition of the women up close, several of them stopped...

A few gasped quietly.

"H... How could they..."

One of the female staff members immediately placed a hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened as she looked at the dark bruises and injuries, mainly concentrated around their necks and wrists.

Another woman clenched her fists, seeing the lack of reaction from a few of them.

"I hope they suffer for what they did."

The others remained silent, their expressions filled with sympathy as they looked at the pitiful women.

They had treated survivors since the dungeon outbreak began, but even they found it difficult to remain unaffected by this.

There was a difference between treating someone who had been injured while fighting monsters and treating someone who had been deliberately abused by other humans.

"Linda and Karen, will you take it from here?"

Leonardo’s voice brought their attention back. He looked towards the two women leading the female medical team.

There were a few other medical workers with them, but Leonardo hadn’t been able to bring too many.

It was already midnight, and the Association’s medical staff was stretched thin because of the large number of new survivors who had been brought in after the recent incidents.

Even so, he had brought as many as he could.

"Yes, Mr Leon."

Linda and Karen nodded before slowly approaching the captives.

However, despite them all being women, the victims still tensed, and their bodies began trembling faintly.

Again, almost instinctively, their eyes shifted towards Lucian and Kanna.

It was almost as if they were seeking reassurance from the only two people they considered somewhat reliable.

Lucian calmly walked towards them—surprising the medical staff with his lack of reaction to the situation—and reached towards them.

"Don’t worry... they aren’t going to hurt you," Lucian said softly, knowing the fear in their hearts, something that was almost impossible to remove.

"I’ve brought them all to help you get better."

One of the women looked at the others, then towards him.

"I-I..."

Her lips barely opened, her voice coming out strangely, almost as if... she hadn’t spoken for weeks.

Lucian lowered his hand, softly placing it on her head and stroking it.

Despite it not feeling smooth or silky, he didn’t move away.

He smiled softly, lowering his head towards her.

"Hannah... it’ll all be right. None of them is going to hurt you."

Hannah slowly gave a reluctant nod, trying to keep her trust in him, hoping that he too... wouldn’t break it like the others.

Though after a few seconds, a thought did strike her mind.

How did he know her name?

Seeing the hesitancy in all of their faces, Lucian tilted his head for a moment before gently speaking.

"It’s fine. They’re just here to help you with your injuries... nothing else."

"..."

The women remained silent.

"..."

Slowly, the captives looked back towards the medical staff, their bodies gradually relaxing ever so slightly.

"Y-You c-can," Fiona muttered quietly.

Hearing her words, Linda gave her a gentle nod.

"Thank you, sir."

Saying that to Lucian, they all began their work, moving carefully and making sure not to frighten the survivors any further.

And while they did that...

Leonardo instantly turned towards Lucian.

"So..." he narrowed his eyes.

"Care to explain what you were doing in this isolated place at a time like this?"

Lucian, however, instead of answering, simply smiled.

"What I was doing... is none of your business."

"It isn’t, but finding a warehouse filled with kidnapped women... I find it strange to believe you just came across it, Mr. Lucian."

Leonardo’s expression turned extremely serious as he looked at Lucian with suspicion.

"Lucian Foster... tell me, why were you here?"

Lucian found his skepticism amusing, but still, he had no intention of giving any explanation.

"Try to find out for yourself."

"..."

Hearing the lack of any positive reply, Leonardo’s expression darkened, but even then, there wasn’t much he could do.

Especially because of the contract he had signed earlier due to his grandfather, which had placed certain restrictions on Lucian, especially against doing anything harmful to him.

Otherwise... he might have resorted to stricter measures to get an answer out of him.

But there was no point in forcing the matter right now.

The women were finally receiving treatment, and they had been freed from their kidnappers and torture.

"Whatever your reasons were..."

Leonardo took a slow breath and looked towards the survivors again.

"I appreciate that you protected the victims and called me."

"Oh...?"

Lucian felt slightly disappointed seeing him back off so easily.

Still, he nodded, even though the reason he had protected these women wasn’t exactly as noble as Leonardo might have imagined.

Leaving them here would be stupid and impractical, especially after seeing the Status Windows of a few of them and noticing their potential...

He thought keeping them alive and on his side was a much better choice.

"Anyways..."

Leonardo decided to change the topic.

"Are you sure there wasn’t anyone inside the warehouse when you came here?"

"No, I didn’t see anyone aside from them."

Lucian said this while pointing towards the women who were currently being treated.

He casually leaned against the wall, both hands comfortably tucked into his pockets.

"Not even a single person...? Not even in the other warehouse?"

Lucian gave a small shrug.

"You’re free to check for yourself."

Leonardo stared at him for a few long seconds.

He still felt a bit suspicious, but seeing what Lucian had done for these women...

Perhaps he really hadn’t seen anyone.

Why else would he even bother hiding them...?

Leonardo eventually let the matter go for the moment.

Meanwhile, Chloe, Fiona, and a few of the other women who had been unconsciously listening to their conversation couldn’t help but glance towards the man.

Or rather... the vampire, who was now wearing sunglasses, apparently to hide his blood-red eyes.

Despite knowing what had happened earlier, and even knowing the real truth about the men who had held them captive, none of them uttered a single word or even tried to expose anything.

They didn’t know what had happened to the criminals.

But all of them knew one thing, which was...

A short while ago, Lucian had dragged the Boss away with him above the basement, and even the blood that had been spilled had been magically absorbed by the vampire... something that still looked too surreal to them.

They had no idea what Lucian intended to do with them, perhaps even spare them—though, after seeing how the vampire had nearly killed the Boss earlier, that possibility felt very unlikely.

Yes...

They wanted revenge.

Some of them wanted to kill those men.

But they couldn’t.

They didn’t have the strength. Some of them couldn’t even stand properly without their bodies trembling.

And Lucian, despite not telling them much, had said one thing that was still stuck in their minds.

"Their deaths won’t be painless."

That was enough.

Perhaps they shouldn’t have felt happy about hearing something like that... but they did.

Yeah, they didn’t really care if their saviour vampire tortured those men, didn’t care if he tore them apart, or even if he fed their bodies to the crows afterwards.

If he did... they would probably be grateful to him.

Because after everything those bastards had done to them, mercy was the last thing they wanted for them.