The moment Victor gave the order to Hilda, orders to restrict the trade in and out of Nightingale with the Yōkai and those involved with them…
The Witches were the first to move.
And just as Victor expected, they immediately discovered the problem and tried to solve it.
They didn't even try to negotiate with Victor or anything like that. After all, there was no need for that.
Victor's intentions were evident with this move. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the market knew what he was planning.
And it wasn't like Victor was trying to hide it either. On the contrary, he'd purposely made his intentions clear by explicitly targeting the Yōkai and their associates.
That alone was a clue enough to know where to look, especially if one took the time to investigate the Yōkai people, they would discover the incident involving Agnes and a specific branch of the Yōkai.
Couple that fact with the fact that Victor blocked a large sector of Nightingale trade,
They thoroughly understood his message.
He was basically saying:
"Give me that man."
It was an arrogant message. He was basically making every supernatural being in the world his errand boys.
Many were irritated by this attitude; others found it interesting.
Others didn't care and thought about the pros and cons.
It didn't matter to Victor in the end. He knew the man who did that to Agnes would be at his door in a few days.
The choice was obvious from the start.
A Vampire Count responsible for exploring new lands and who was apparently quite close to the Snow Clan and other Vampire Count Clans, or a random man who'd offended the Snow Clan Countess?
The Witches obviously chose Victor. It was more advantageous; thus, they pressured the Yōkai to hand over the man who was apparently the leader of the Arachne Clan.
A Clan of Spider Yōkai.
Of course, the Witches' intentions were pretty obvious to Victor. They wanted to be on Victor's good side, and because of that, they did this 'favor' for him.
They put so much pressure on the Yōkai Clan that the Yōkai representative himself had to move or they would lose everything, which was why this man was in front of Victor now.
A man known as Genji.
A rare Yōkai, a Yōkai that could garner many followers.
Genji, the representative of the Yōkai, was a nine-tailed fox.
Victor knew about Genji through Adonis' memories. He was a man who'd traded several times with the Snow Clan.
'He was a cunning man who had a terrifying eloquence, to the point he'd even caused some small problems for Adonis in the past.'
But for Victor? He was nothing.
Unlike Adonis, Victor was strong, and strength could also be used as a tool to make these types of people obedient.
Seeing the smile on Victor's face and how he was sitting, tiny drops of cold sweat started to fall from Genji's smiling face.
He felt as if everything was in the palm of this monster; 'That's not what I heard, wasn't the new Count supposed to be someone more impulsive?'
Like a cunning fox, Genji believed he could convince Victor to forget about this problem, but he changed his mind when he saw the new Count's violet gaze.
This wasn't the look of a naive man; 'Is he truly 21 years old?' But, on the contrary, he couldn't understand how someone that age could have that look.
He felt like he was looking at the man he'd often dealt with in the past.
"Did you bring what I ordered?"
"Yes." Genji looked back, and his subordinates nodded. Soon a man who had several spider legs behind him appeared, being held by two crow-like Yōkai.
The man was restrained by cuffs that appeared to be made of some unique material, and he was looking at Victor with a hostile gaze.
"Hilda."
"YY-Yes?" Hilda, who was lost in her thoughts, was surprised when Victor called her.
"...?" Victor looked at the woman strangely.
Cough.
Hilda coughed and assumed a neutral expression, and then she spoke:
"Yes, it was that man."
"I see..." Victor slowly turned his face towards the group of Yōkais, and gradually, the skin on his face began to fade, turning into pure darkness.
Gulp.
All the Yōkai gulped when they saw Victor's face; even the Arachne man lost his hostile gaze.
The group of Yōkai's blinked their eyes as if in sync, and before everyone knew it, Victor was in front of the man.
"... On that day."
"You made the wrong choice."
Darkness began to spread through Victor's body and covered his entire being.
"W-Wait, I didn't mean it; I just-."
"Silence." Victor's eyes gleamed blood red. The feelings he'd felt earlier when he heard what this Yōkai had attempted took over his body.
Feelings of anger, feelings of disgust, feelings of possession.
As if a supernatural force had taken hold of the man, his mouth was clamped shut.
"A worm dared to try to touch my wife?" His eyes were lifeless.
The entire left side of Victor's body began to distort, and several eyes and teeth began to grow, and soon a demonic beast's head was formed.
"Become dog food."
"HMMM, HMMMM-!" The man tried to say something, but nothing could escape his mouth, as if his lips were sewn tight by an immovable force.
The beast opened its mouth wide, showing the world all its sharp teeth, followed by it swallowing the man's entire body.
No trace of man's existence was left behind.
"...." All the Yōkai looked at Victor with dark faces of pure terror.
And not only them but even the members of the Snow Clan reacted like that. The only people who were indifferent to Victor's actions were Kaguya, as she'd seen this sight many times in the past, and Hilda, who seemed to have understood Victor's intentions despite being shocked by what she had just witnessed.
Yes, she understood, but she had a doubt:
'...My wife, huh?' The way he spoke was so natural that, for a moment, she didn't question it. It was as if she was watching Adonis... But at the same time, it wasn't Adonis.
"..." Hilda didn't know exactly what had happened to Adonis, as Agnes and Victor himself hadn't said anything.
Even Oda seemed to know something, but he didn't tell Hilda anything.
But Adonis' sudden disappearance, the way Victor looked like him at times, and Agnes' condition, gave Hilda several apparent clues as to what happened.
'...But that kind of skill is only possible for Progenitors...' Hilda opened her eyes a little in surprise when she remembered the skill that Victor had just used.
'No normal vampire, no matter how talented they were, could shapeshift like that…' Hilda narrowed her eyes; the pieces were starting to fall into place in her head.
Victor's abnormal development.
Strange powers that normal Vampires shouldn't have.
'... This... This is impossible.' She was in a state of disbelief, but for the first time, she decided to observe the man that Violet, the heir to the Snow Clan, had chosen as her husband, more closely.
Victor internally smiled when he saw Genji's expression; he'd achieved his goal.
...Yes, he didn't expect to say those words in his anger, but he was going to pretend he hadn't said that. Luckily no one was commenting on that either.
As stated earlier, force was also an effective negotiation tool that, if used efficiently, could become much more terrifying than a simple display.
"Genji."
"Y-yes?" The nine-tailed fox awoke from his stupor and looked at Victor with obvious terror in his body and expression, but he quickly tried to control his tumultuous emotions.
"You did a good job." Victor flashed a small smile.
He turned and walked towards the ice throne he'd created previously.
"…Huh?" Genji looked at the man's back in disbelief; 'Did he just praise me?' He was perplexed.
"..." Victor sat on the throne, supporting his head with the hand of his right arm, and looked at Genji with a neutral look:
"Tell me what you want."
Gulp.
Genji swallowed again; 'That look, it was like he knew what I was going to ask for.'
Genji tried to calm down, displaying a fake smile, and said:
"What are you talking about, Count Alucard? I just came here to fulfill your request."
"Hmm...weird." He looked at Genji with a bored expression:
"I thought you would ask me to spare the lives of this man's Clan members."
"!!!" Genji's body visibly shook, 'How did he know?'
Victor flashed a small smile, a smile that made the nine-tailed fox's entire body break into a cold sweat:
"Don't worry; I'm not a demon. I wouldn't slaughter an entire Clan because of one member's mistake..."
"I..I see..." Before Genji could be wholly relieved, however, Victor continued:
"Of course, the situation would change if everyone in that man's Clan supported that man's attitude and actions."
A look of horror abruptly fell on Genji's face, but he quickly tried to rein it in.
"But I'm sure that's not what happened here, right?" Victor's smile sent chills through Genji's entire body.
'Monster!! Just how much does he know? That information shouldn't have been leaked.'
By eating Genji, Victor acquired quite a bit of interesting information. Apparently, the Arachne Clan wanted to 'approach' Agnes through questionable means. The act of provoking Agnes in the middle of the meeting was just a mistake by the man himself.
The initial plan was to use a 'good impression' talisman, and in doing so, Agnes would get a good impression of the Arachne Clan and support them. Through various future encounters, they would attempt to manipulate Agnes with these strange techniques,
And make her fully support the Yōkai, thus creating a small 'influence' in Nightingale.
Needless to say, Victor was quite annoyed by this information.
"Y-Yes! The Arachne Clan knew nothing! He acted of his own volition."
"..." Victor looked at Genji with a neutral look. Several thoughts went through his head. Then, slowly, he started to look at the other Yōkai who were accompanying Genji, making a point of observing them one by one.
Genji's subordinates gulped when they saw Victor's violet gaze upon them, the image of the man being swallowed by that monster still very much visible in their minds.
'He knows... He knows... Fuck, I knew this wasn't a good idea.' Victor's silence and his neutral gaze were making Genji's entire existence shudder.
"I see… That's good news. Thank you very much for visiting, you can go now." He spoke with a gentle smile.
"H-Huh?" 'We can go?' He felt strange since he had already been getting ready to fight for his life.
"Guards, show our guests out." Victor ordered the Snow Clan guards outside.
The guards entered the mansion and responded, "Yes!"
"..." The Yōkai looked confused at each other, but they weren't going to miss this chance to run away from this place.
Genji was the same. He made a simple gesture of respect and walked towards the exit. When they were about to pass through the threshold between being trapped in a mansion with a monster and freedom, Victor said:
"Oh, I forgot to say something."
Victor's voice startled the entire group.
"...Tell your boss, she should be careful with whom she chooses to be her enemies." He flashed a gentle little smile.
"Wha-."
"Give 'her' my message."
"!!!" Genji's entire face visibly trembled when he heard the way Victor spoke and his underlying meaning.
'How does he know about her!? Someone leaked information!?'
Slowly, Victor's face changed to a serious, sharp expression. A part of his face seemed to have disappeared and turned into pure darkness whose only visible part was his eye:
"Nightingale is not your playground."
"Stick your 'divine' paws elsewhere."
"Or I will ensure The Crimson Nightmare repeats itself…"
Victor's eyes slowly changed to blood red, and a big smile that showed off all of his sharp teeth was displayed on his face:
"And this time, it will be many times worse than what happened in the past."
The Crimson Nightmare was a beautiful event. An event that happened when Victor's beloved master, Scathach Scarlett, went to Japan and wreaked havoc, chaos, and destruction throughout Kyoto.
Thousands of Onmyoji mages died that day, and it was also this event that Abe-No-Seimei, Mizuki's master spirit, received a trauma, a trauma that triggered every time Scathach was mentioned.
This event was dubbed as The Crimson Nightmare,
An event that weakened the Yōkai faction considerably as it wasn't just Onmyoji who were massacred, the Yōkai were as well.
A dead silence fell on the place, and no one dared to speak a word. Everyone was too terrified. The man was just sitting there, doing nothing at all, yet that was enough to cause psychological terror to all the Yōkai.
"...I..I will ensure your message is delivered."
Victor's entire face changed to a neutral expression, his darkness receding, while he flashed a smile as if he were welcoming a guest:
"Good." Victor raised his hand, a red power covered his hand, and soon he made a gesture with his hand.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Genji."
BAAM.
The door closed.
