The toad jumped from one part of the ground to another while trying to not be squashed by the people in the market who were going everywhere and anywhere they wanted without a sense of following one proper direction.
Durik didn't turn back, he didn't want to turn back and therefore he jumped and flopped away and into the crowd wanting to get back where he had come from. He didn't dare to look behind at the worry that he would be killed for coming in sight in front of Lady Grace twice now. Worse, he had been in her bag all this time.
The black market appeared different in his eyes right now.
Now that he didn't possess the eyes of a human nor of his turned vampire self, he had green eyes of the toad that turned his vision somewhat greenish. And this very vision made it difficult for him to flop as quickly as he could. The ground was wet and not loose with mud that made it easier for him to move quickly.
When he found an opening, Durik took it without a thought. Going to the corner where people didn't walk, he wheezed for air with the way he had run away after Lady Grace had discovered him in her own bag. It was a piece of sheer luck that he was in a crowded place for her to be able to catch and kill him. At the same time, it had been pure bad luck to end up with her. Lady Grace was the last person he wanted to be around.
Today was not his day and this year was the worst of the worst he had ever had to experience.
How did he end up turning to a toad? Asked Durik to himself who already knew the answer to it. He wanted to quit right away! No way was he going to stay here like this forever!
At the same time, the butler stood in his place. Unmoving as he thought, didn't one of them tell that the spell would fade in twenty-four hours? Hmm...if that was so, he didn't have to wait for Lady Penelope to find out the reverse spell. All he now had to do was wait for the remaining hours to go by so that he could be free.
Something very evil came to his mind.
What if he just went away from here? To never go back to the Quinn's and to go where he came from. He could restart his work. It wasn't like the Quinn could do anything when it was Lady Penelope who had turned him to a toad.
He wondered what to do with the information he had found out from Lady Grace and that Ververte man. It was alright, Durik told himself, Lady Grace would be caught in no time. There was no need for a low servant like him to worry about it. The vampiress deserved it. If he weren't wrong he had heard from the others on how bad she was and she was only turning worse. Apparently the shame of no fangs had not sunken in and instead of redeeming herself, the girl was plotting another plan.
While Durik was sitting in the corner with his two hands in front of him and the other two hind legs making him sit, his already large toad-like eyes turned wider when he caught what his eyes showed.
It was some of the people in here who were walking in the crowd. For a normal person, it would have looked like normal people walking but through his slimy green eyes, Durik noticed the number of men and women who walked here who donned a skin of black scales, similar to the black witcher who had turned him to a toad.
Durik couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Never in his life had he come to see these many creatures of the black witches in one place.
There were at least more than twenty to thirty of them making it look like this place was a lair of black witches. The black market was not a safe place but that wasn't all, there were some creatures who looked different as if their skin was made of silver that shone even without the need of sunlight falling on them.
What creatures were there? Asked Durik to himself in question. All he knew was that the land consisted of the humans, witches, and the vampires and he had never heard of these shining creatures. The way they moved was similar to water or more like jelly-like. Their appearance changed every once in a while that worried him.
He stared at them for some good minutes until his head turned to the person who was sitting next to him. Upon seeing the woman, Durik's heart almost stopped beating because the woman was already looking at him. And this woman was not a human but a black witch.
He didn't blink as he stared at her. He told himself to calm himself. It wasn't like the black witch knew who he was. He was a toad right now so she would have no clue. It was a whole different matter when she went to grab him and Durik quickly jumped from there, flopping as fast as his legs could carry him right now.
The black market was not safe!
It was a place filled with witches and other creatures.
Thinking about the time he had come here two or three times of work, his skin crawled thinking about it. What he wasn't able to see as a vampire he was able to see it as a toad and God only knew how many times he had come across the black witches without realizing it before.
It was time for him to leave this town and land. He didn't care about the money because he could always earn it again. He would join the household of a human. A family who was rich and would pay him a lot. He pondered for some time as he walked in the forest. Which place had the most humans? At that question, he answered,
"Mythweald!" he answered to himself. That was right, Mythweald was popular where everyone knew that the land was widely dominated by the humans and had no vampires or witches there.
Thinking that was the direction he had to go, Durik started to move towards the road where the carriages were parked.
"I bought the clothes from the side shop there. I cannot wait to wear them again," said a woman who was fat in physique. The woman's cheeks were chubby and pink in color.
"Did you hear there is going to be a ball next month? It isn't that far. Maybe you can save the dress for it," said another woman who was the opposite when compared to the first woman in looks.
"I plan to buy another one for it. My husband has enough money that I don't need to hold back," laughed the chubby woman.Durik who was listening to their conversation wondered if any of them was going to travel to the land of South. All he needed was a trip there and he would finally be free.