Chapter 386: A sister she never knew.
"Correct." The sound of a Katana being unsheathed is heard.
"And that rule also applies to you, Grandfather… Wrong, Former Commander, Otsuki Yoichi."
"Or do you prefer what humans call you, Nasu no Yoichi, the hero of the battle of Yashima?"
"..."
Yoichi's eyes were now quite serious, and dangerous. He didn't even seem to be looking at his own granddaughter, it was an involuntary reaction, his granddaughter's words reminded him of a memory he wanted to forget.
"Don't call me by that name." He sighed once more, and in the blink of an eye he calmed his emotions: "Haruna... And I know you're angry-."
"Angry…?" Haruna's eyes gleamed in a dangerous tone:
"Wrong, I'm really pissed off."
She removed something from her breasts and threw it in her grandfather's face.
The man raised his hand and took out a roll of document, a roll he had hidden in a place where no one would find...
From under his bed.
Well, he is quite a respected existence as a Great Commander. He was the first leader of the army that Haruna was now in command of.
It could be said that he was the first commander and founder, so no one would dare enter his room, not even his son or daughter-in-law had done something like this before.
...But, he completely forgot that his granddaughter was a walking piece of insanity, she was a lot like him when he was young...
She was so alike it left him with a bad taste in his mouth sometimes. He blamed the gods for this tragedy, who would have thought his granddaughter would inherit his worst qualities?
'...Ugh, I miss my other granddaughter who had a weird personality but was better behaved.'
And it's not like he just hid under his bed, it was in a pretty hidden place from his bed, near his weapons, and hidden with his special Youki.
In the eyes of any ordinary, weak Yōkai, they will only see the western swords he got as a gift from his friends abroad.
"Why did you hide that I had a sister? And that this sister of mine I never knew had a daughter?" she asked in a neutral tone.
It all started with the familiarity she felt with Ophis, she could feel the same thing she felt when she looked at her grandfather.
The feeling of familiarity...
And she found it strange, because even if that Vampire girl was from her family, why was she outside of the Clan? One of the Clan's rules is that any child must remain in the Clan until they reach the age of maturity.
But when she thought that that little girl was the daughter of the King of Vampires, she might understand a little, after all, the King of Vampires is said to be one of the strongest existences out there, and probably, he wouldn't let his daughter be raised somewhere else.
But in the end... All this was Haruna's own speculation, she didn't know the truth, but she knew of someone who might know the truth.
And knowing he might have an answer, she confronted him, even if he denied it with his evasive words and deceptive way of speaking, she had proof, and she had no patience for the little fox game her grandfather liked to play.
"..." Yoichi looked at his granddaughter for a long time until he sighed, and stood up.
"Come with me, I'll show you something." He walked to the door on his right, and opened it, then started walking.
"..." Haruna continued looking at her grandfather, until he left the room, her ears fluttering a little, she sheathed her Katana, and started following the man.
The two walked through several long corridors which were devoid of any life, it was quite clear that there were no Yōkai here.
Suddenly her grandfather stopped walking, and turned to the wall, and soon he started walking again.
Haruna found this sudden change strange, but soon her questions were answered as her grandfather literally walked through the wall.
'...an illusion?' Haruna narrowed her eyes, and then followed her grandfather.
When she walked through the wall, she found herself in a completely different location.
"Wha-..." She opened her mouth in shock, she immediately realized it wasn't an illusion, but some teleportation magic or something?
She looked around and saw that she was in a forest with plenty of life, squirrels jumping around, deer, birds.
Everything looked so…peaceful.
She thought that if there was a paradise, this place would definitely be one.
"This place was created by the King of Vampires, Vlad Dracul Tepes, and his faithful subordinate Alexios Alioth."
'Alexios?' The woman thought of the blond-haired man who always had his eyes closed.
"The Alioth clan is a very special clan."
"You know Witches, right?"
"Mm." Haruna made a sound of confirmation as she followed her grandfather.
"Witch magic runs through the veins of Clan Alioth, but with one primary difference."
"Their magic is exclusively dedicated to the powers related to time and space."
"Even if they had the Witches' magic, their Clan cannot learn any other magic other than something related to time and space."
"They are an irregularity, even among Witches."
"It's like their bloodline is only allowed to learn this kind of magic."
"...Magic in men? It is possible?" She saw clearly that Alexios was a man, but how could he use magic?
"No one ever said men couldn't use magic." Yoichi flashed a small smile.
"Although, calling the Alioth Clan's powers Magic is essentially incorrect."
"???" He wasn't making any more sense to Haruna.
"At first, maybe his powers were derived from magic, but as time passed, his powers evolved and became something else..." Yoichi thought of Alexios' eyes that seemed to contain an entire galaxy.
"These days, his powers are closer to a unique ability rather than Magic, something very similar to our powers."
"At the behest of the King of Vampires, Alexios utilized these powers, and isolated the space of an entire island. No being without Alexios' own authorization cannot enter here, not even the Gods..."
"And in doing so, he essentially created something like a tiny dimension… a piece of paradise." Yoichi stopped walking, he leaned against the side of a tree, he crossed his arms, while looking at a location:
"A piece of paradise dedicated only to Vlad's beloved wife so she could rest in peace."
"..." Haruna looked towards the top of the hill, and in that place, she saw the grave of a tomb.
She walked slowly to this tomb, seeing the name carved in traditional Japanese:
"Otsuki Hana."
She sat in a seiza position, joined her hands together, and paid her respects.
"..." Yoichi flashed a small smile, even though his granddaughter had inherited his worst qualities, she also inherited her father's best qualities.
He was a very honorable man and devoted to his family.
And for that reason, Yoichi would never tell her that her sisters body is not buried in this paradise, that all this was just a way of trying to give a place of peace to her sister's spirit.
Yoichi knew that if he told his granddaughter this, she wouldn't rest until she had her sister's body back... If there was still a body.
For better or for worse, she was very loyal to her family, and not having her sister's body buried in her homeland, even if she had never met her, would make her even angrier.
After five minutes of silence, Haruna spoke:
"How did she die? Was it just like my father...?"
"...I wish it were like your father, at least I would have the strength to go hunt the bastard."
"...." Haruna narrowed her eyes slightly, her grandfather was definitely not weak, he couldn't create a clan, and techniques that would pass from generation to generation if he was weak.
"But unfortunately... She died differently." Yoichi kept looking at his granddaughter.
And he thought he had two options now, he could tell the truth, and warn Haruna of the danger, which she would probably ignore and prepare to fight this being.
Or lie I would say her sister died of natural causes.
He debated his two options for a few seconds, but... He decided to be honest, she wasn't a child anymore, and despite being afraid of losing his other granddaughter, and only blood family left, he still thought the truth was best.
"She died, an Elder God killed her."
Haruna's eyes gleamed slightly with a black hue:
"Elder God?" For a moment, she thought of the Japanese Gods, the more powerful Ancient Gods, but she had a feeling it wasn't them.
"They are the Native Gods of the world in which Nightingale, the home of the Vampire Nobles, reside."
"...Vampires." She narrowed her eyes, it looked like everything was connected with Vampires again.
"Yes." Yoichi pulled away from the wall, and continued, "I don't know the exact details of her death, only the King of Vampires knows. He was with her the day it all happened."
Yoichi still felt annoyed when she thought about it, like her grandfather, she had a right to know what happened, but... Even to him, the Vampire King didn't say anything, and just remained silent.
Even after using various arguments, even after telling Vlad to his face that this was all his fault, the old monster remained silent.
And what could this old fox do about it?
Force the Vampire King to speak?
That in itself was an impossible task, he wasn't considered one of the most powerful existences for nothing.
If the old monster didn't want to talk, no one could take the information from him.
"..." Haruna could sense his bad mood, and she understood that he wasn't lying about that.
Another silence fell over the place.
And while the silence remained in place, the noise of nature could be heard, the noise of the wind, the sight of the sea in front of her, all this was very beautiful.
But even this landscape couldn't improve Haruna's mood.
A mood that was worse than ever.
This whole situation irritated her.
The fact that her grandfather hid the existence of her sister, and his granddaughter, the fact that he knew that her sister died, and the person responsible was not dead, the fact that her grandfather, instead of looking for a means of revenge as he did with her father, he just stood there, stagnant, while drinking his tea.
Haruna's face distorted, her sharp teeth clashed with each other, she clenched her fist tightly, she was trying her best to calm down but couldn't.
Sounds of teeth grinding together can be heard.
And that caught Yoichi's attention.
He could already imagine how his granddaughter was thinking, she was so predictable to him, why does he think that?
He must just imagine himself in Haruna's place.
What if your younger self found out they had a sister, and that sister died at the hand of some being, and your grandfather didn't seek revenge and hid it from them on top of that?
How would he feel about this?
It was easy enough to imagine that he would get even angrier.
'She's acting better than me...' But he couldn't help but praise her internally, if it was his old self, he would have already lost control of his anger.
"What about my niece, why didn't she grow up in the Clan?"
"At Vlad's own request, he said that she would be better protected in Nightingale."
Vlad may have his issues with being a parent, but in terms of protection?
He was the best option. He had an entire army of Noble Vampires who would do anything at his request, not to mention connections with beings of power, Alexios' very existence was also a guarantee that Ophis would grow up safe.
A decision that proved to be correct because despite the problems Ophis had regarding her absent father, this decision resulted in Ophis meeting Victor.
And because of that meeting, the little girl in the future would gain yet another super powerful father who would be willing to burn the world for her.
Despite disagreeing with some points that her grandfather said, she would not make a fuss about it. The decision had already been made, the milk had been spilled, and it's no use crying over what has passed. She just took it as a learning experience, and a source of information.
"I see..." Haruna got up from her position.
"Is this place somewhere on Earth?"
"Yes."
"How big is this place?"
"It's the size of a small island, I don't know the exact size."
Haruna looked at the mountain on the horizon.
And she saw that that place was the furthest from the little paradise that had been created in honor of her sister.
"..." The muscles in her feet twitch a little, and with an impulse, she lept toward the top of the mountain.
In less than a few seconds she landed on top of the mountain and looked around.
And as expected, the entire northern forest of the island was made in honor of her sister, but the other areas were untouched, and nature ran wild.
She flexed her foot muscles again and jumped towards where she was looking.
At the moment when she would fall to the ground, she used her Youki, and landed smoothly.
She tossed her hair to the side, and said:
"I will use this island as a base of operations."
"..." Yoichi's eyes narrowed.
"The entire northern area of the island will be isolated, preserved, and protected. Whoever sets foot in this place will be killed."
"I will use the south, east and west as a base of operations-." Not waiting for Haruna to finish speaking, Yoichi spoke with a strong disapproving tone:
"I disagree."
