Chapter 396 - A split group
With everything settled in the auction house, there were a few more things they needed to do before leaving the town of Zrey. Jack carried Rachel in his hands as the whole group followed him outside. When they all left, everyone was in for a huge surprise for when they had entered the auction house, it looked a lot different now exiting it.
They all stood outside lined up looking at the reformed front entrance, all the stalls that used to be there had disappeared. The land that was once green was now black with ash, and the most surprising thing was the fact that everything was quiet. The sound would often echo in the underground city but not right now.
"Ray, did you do all of this?" Jack asked.
"I may have... rushed things a little?" Ray said.
The others turned to him and looked at Ray differently than before, he was a king, an adventurer and also someone who had high levels of advanced magic.
'Did he hold back in the auction house for fear of hurting us all?' Steven thought.
It now became clear why Jack was travelling with this man, and with the two of them, they could probably do great things for the land of Bronzeland.
In front of the auction house, Jack dug up a burial for Rachel. The group had a couple of minutes of silence to show their respects for her and the teenegers along with the kids still hadn't stopped their tears.
The werewolves and Steven headed off to the Dem mansion, there were still captives left underneath, and perhaps they could find a few more things as well. While Ray decided to stay behind with Katy and the others at the auction house. There were a lot of valuable items that had been left behind, including the king tier crystal, which would possibly be a great help when creating Jack's new weapon.
As Steven and the other wolves walked through the entire city, they realised everyone had really up and left the place. They couldn't imagine what they had seen to cause them to all suddenly leave like that.
As expected, when they arrived at the mansion, they were still wolves underneath tied up. Ten females in total and a few kids who were a little older than Rachel. Not old enough to be sold as fighters just yet, or perhaps ready to be sold in the next auction.
The two groups once done with everything they needed to, had met up just outside the north exit. There were a total of three carriages, including the special one that Ray had brought with them. Each one was filled with equipment and gold from the auction house. Katy was in charge of riding the special vehicles while the rest of the ex-slaves stayed in the back with the goods in the other carriages.
Then finally, Steven, the five werewolves and the rest of the werewolf slaves had arrived. Some of them looked vastly sick and half beaten, the fear was still sunk deep within their hearts, and when they saw Katy and the others, some of them started to hide behind Steve.
"Humans…No take them away." A female said. Scared for what they might do.
"Don't worry, they are with us, they helped save us." Steven kept telling them in hopes of trying to reassure them, but years of abuse from humans wasn't going to fix them overnight.
The two groups stayed a distance away, while Steven and the others went to meet up with Ray and Jack.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Jack asked. "I have already asked Ray, all of you are free to come to the Redwing kingdom. We don't discriminate, and we can protect you all. It would be nice to catch up with my brother again."
Steven then looked at the scared werewolves behind him, even if what Jack was saying was true, it would be nearly impossible for the others to adjust, which left him with only one choice.
"I think I'm going to head back to the werewolf camp," Steve replied. "And take them with me."
"But, didn't you say you had an argument with him? How you both thought differently, and that's why you left in the first place." Jack said, trying to convince his brother to think otherwise.
"It's true, but his cruelty was only to humans, if I bring them to him, I know they will feel safe, and honestly after what had happened here today? I can't blame him. The extent of what our father had done was worse than I expected, and the humans seem to be crueller than I first thought. I know you want me to come with you, but I have made up my mind."
His brother was stubborn, even when they were kids, and Jack knew that. Even now, the only reason he was still in Zrey was because of this stubbornness, he was selfless and wanted to save them all, and in the end he kind of achieved that.
"I understand."
Steve, then pulled out what looked like a strangely odd book and handed it to Jack. "As a thank you for helping me and the others, give this to Ray, it should come in handy. It goes into detail about how the yellow armour was made. I made a copy myself, but It seems like this place was special to our kind at one point. The yellow armour was originally made for the wolves and not the humans. Still, I think it will be a great help."
It was time to make a decision, both Jack, and Steve had announced to the group where they would be heading off to. They could travel with Ray to the Redwing kingdom, or with Steven, to the unknown but where there were more of their kind.
Of course, Katy and the others were always going to go with Ray, so this was a decision for the wolves. Surprisingly, the first ones to act were the five wolves who were at the auction house, each one of them walked over to where Jack was standing. They didn't say a word, but after feeling and witnessing Jack's power, they felt like they needed to follow him.
Not only that, but Jack was the one who had been able to break their seal.
Of course, the ten Wolves, including the children with them had decided to go over to Steven's side. They knew nothing of Ray, or Jack, but just knew that on the other side they would be going to the kingdom with other humans.
The ones that seemed to struggle were the two teenagers, Claire and Zinc, as well as the kids and middle-aged women who looked after them.
The first to decide was the middle-aged woman, she walked up to the two boys, and lifted them while walking over to Jack's side.
"You two are coming with me, I'll look after you no matter what." She said.
She didn't give her reasons why, but Steve knew. The women knew a little too much about where he would be going.
Then it was time for Zinc and Claire.
"I think I'm going to go with Steven." Zinc said.
"What, but don't you remember the stories he used to tell us? They were cruel, they didn't care about people's lives."
"But look what happened to Rachel!" Zinc shouted. "Maybe he was right, I don't think I can trust humans ever again." Zinc said as he walked over to Steven.
Claire desperately wanted to go over and pull Zinc back, but she couldn't. She could see he seemed to have changed after this experience. He wasn't the same happy teenager in the cave she had spent the last few months with.
"Maybe one day, you will change your mind." She said with a tear in her eye as she went over with Jack.
With that, the two groups left the cave and set off on their way. Not knowing if their paths would cross again, but Steven knew deep down they would.
'Jack, I have done this for you, dear brother, you might not know our wolves' past well but I do. For whenever there are two alpha wolves in existence, there has always been a war. I will do whatever it takes to protect you brother. No more of our family blood shall be spilt.'
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