Chapter 508: So it begins.
"Now that the girls have arrived..." Victor assumed a serious expression and said:
"Vlad, they'll be the backup if things go to shit."
"...." Vlad narrowed his eyes.
"Do you think someone will attack Nightingale?"
"I don't know."
"..."
"But I won't leave anything to chance. My family lives here, and I will protect them."
"...." The three Countesses smiled slightly. They thoroughly understood that the 'family' he spoke of was not just the people close to him but also their Clans.
"And to be honest, you have a lot of enemies…just like I do."
"…The Ophis incident, huh."
"Even now, The Witch Queen is trying to contact me," Victor added.
"I'm keeping her at bay with the excuse of pretending her calls are scams or other random reasons, but there will come a time when she will lose her temper."
"...not even The Queen can't touch you here. You're a Vampire Count." Vlad spoke in a severe tone.
About this specific incident, Vlad guaranteed to help Victor. After all, everything he did was to help his daughter, and he would be ungrateful if he didn't do anything.
And if it wasn't for Victor, Vlad would've stepped in the moment he found out what those beings did to Ophis... The urge that he'd had to erase that small country from existence was enormous.
Victor, in a way, was the lesser evil. He took care of everything and punished only the culprits.
"We both know that's not true."
"Even so, Witches will not take actions that harm their relationship with Vampires."
"And it's understood that if you hadn't intervened, I would have... and things wouldn't have been pretty." Vlad's eyes glowed slightly blood red, and with only a tiny slip of his killing intent, everyone in the room, excluding Victor, the Countesses, Ophis, Nero, Morgana, and Jeanne, broke into a cold sweat.
"Vlad, who is The Witch Queen?"
"A powerful woman and-."
"She's a greedy megalomaniac bitch." The two spoke at the same time.
The two shared the same smile while ignoring the shocked faces of several people present.
"Witches don't just openly intervene in faction relationships because they don't have as many powerful beings as other factions in the grand scheme of things."
"Yes, The Queen is powerful, and so are her daughters. She may have some Witch Masters specialized in specific Spells."
"But you don't win a large-scale conflict alone... Even my Master isn't capable of that."
"...." Scathach was silent. She didn't refute Victor's statement because she knew it was true. She didn't have the strength to fight an entire Pantheon or one of the Great Factions alone.
Yes, she could hit The Inquisition, but if The Inquisition's God or his minions acted, she'd have to back off.
Trying to get along with The Inquisition? Impossible. They were enemies, and because of that, Scathach dared to invade the place. It's not like it would further damage their already frayed relationship.
"The great power of Witches is their economic power and their connections," Natashia added.
"And they can do many things indirectly with those connections, even hurting Nightingale's business without the blame falling on them. So it's quite possible." Agnes was the one who added. She was used to the witches' schemes.
Something Victor knew all too well because he had Adonis' memories.
"I'm already taking care of it. They won't interfere with business and Nightingale." Vlad added for the two Countesses.
"Oh?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you think they haven't come knocking on your door yet? It's because I'm preventing it."
"This situation will not harm Nightingale."
"I'm keeping you on short ends with the threat I spoke of earlier, if it wasn't you, it would be me, and the situation would be worse."
'Of course, my friend's 'encouragement' also helped this situation.' Vlad thought inwardly.
"...I see... So I have to deal with her, huh."
"Yes, you must at least talk to her and 'answer for your crimes' against her people and receive 'your due punishments'."
"Hmm..." Victor stopped talking and started thinking.
Nero looked at Agnes:
"Why does my father have to answer for his crimes? Hasn't the situation basically been resolved?"
"... It's to keep face," Agnes replied.
"Huh?"
"All the factions know they cannot judge Witches by their laws or kill a Witch, or you will have a problem with all Witches. These punishments can vary depending on the situation. It can range from an economic blockade to total annihilation. It all depends on the 'enemy'.
"But since this current situation involves large factions and powerful beings, The Witch Queen has been left without movement."
"Therefore, Victor has to face The Witch Queen, and he must be 'judged' and 'lose' something."
"Probably these bitches will use this 'judgment' to try to boost her reputation," Morgana spoke with venom in her voice.
"Something like: "Jeanne made quotes with her hand and said, "Look at how we judge a Vampire Count! Look how powerful we are!"
"But, of course, the King won't let that happen, right?"
"Of course. The only one who can judge Vampire Counts is The King and only The King," Vlad spoke in a neutral tone.
"Ugh, this is complicated." Nero muttered, "If he doesn't have to do it, why should he? It's not like they can do anything."
Nero might be brilliant for a kid, but at the end of the day, she was still a kid, and world politics wasn't one of her strong points.
"This is important so that a precedent is not set," Agnes added to the girl.
"A precedent?" Nero raised an eyebrow.
"A precedent that any being who kill the Witches would go unpunished... This is significantly important to the Witches, and they won't give up on it."
"Not even by Vlad's threat. If this is not resolved, Victor will become the enemy of all Witches."
Agnes turned to face Vlad and said:
"And Vlad can't help Victor with that because he would jeopardize Nightingale's business." Agnes agreed with this decision from a political point of view, but that didn't mean she liked it.
"...I did my best, andI lessened the damage, but going beyond that will harm Nightingale."
"Business has continued, and it will no longer be Nightingale's problem but Victor's." So, in short, Vlad took his ass out of the fire and told Victor to deal with it all.
'Having my country harmed is something I, as a King, cannot allow.'
"..." Agnes raised an eyebrow, and that slight reaction had many meanings, meanings that only Victor understood.
"Mah, mah, no need to make that face Agnes."
"I made my decision back then, and the consequences are biting my ass now."
Victor patted Ophis' head and added:
"Although, I don't regret that decision." Victor snorted in disdain.
So what if half the Big Factions wanted his head on a pike? He would not change his actions or regret it.
"Hehehe~"
Looking at Ophis's smile, Vlad felt slightly complicated.
"A word of advice, old man."
"...What?" Vlad replied.
"Putting the country first is good and all, but don't be blinded by it. If it were anyone other than me, I am sure that person would feel betrayed."
A silence fell on the place.
Alexios couldn't help but nod slightly imperceptibly. That was a warning he would give his King too when they were alone.
Vlad narrowed his eyes, "Interesting... You talk like you're a third party now. Are you feeling this way right now?"
"Of course not." Victor rolled his eyes:
"From the beginning, I didn't expect your help or count on your help, so I have no feelings of betrayal about it," Victor spoke in a simple, easy-to-understand tone.
Yes, he expected help from his Wives. They would somehow move to help, but that was it. He only expected support from his Wives, not Vlad.
As far as he could tell, he had a status quo relationship with Vlad, and they just didn't hit each other because of the little girl beside him.
"You did what you had to do as King, which might be an attitude I disagree with, but who cares what I think? After all, you're The King. Not me."
Instead of worrying about the way Victor spoke those words, words that could incite some sort of rebellion, he asked curiously:
"You disagree with my actions?"
"Yes. For one simple reason…Allies."
"At the end of the day, people, allies, and subordinates are what make The King what he is. If a King is willing to 'sacrifice' his 'ally', he is not a good King."
"...."
"Because at the end of the day, when the shit hits the fan, only your most trusted, closest allies will help you get through the problem."
Vlad opened his eyes wide.
"So yes. Don't fuck over your allies. After all, I wouldn't be surprised if one day those same allies turn traitors because of certain actions and decisions you made for 'the good of the country'." Victor chuckled lightly.
Silence... That was what followed when Victor finished speaking, and once more, he was leaving people who didn't know him well speechless.
Though the people who knew him only displayed small satisfied smiles. They had looks that said:
'Look at him! That is my disciple/husband/Master/father/friend!'
Each of those present who had a relationship with him thought of this phrase in their own context of their relationship with Victor.
Again imperceptibly, Alexios nodded as if agreeing with Victor's words, while he had a look that said:
'Good! Tell him that! He needs to hear this!'
Satisfaction... That was the expression on Alexios' face now, even though no one saw it as everyone was focusing on just Victor and Vlad.
"I see... I'll keep that in mind."
Again, an expression of shock passed, but this time it was only for Vlad's subordinates and Vlad's own children.
Did he really learn anything from that? Impossible.
"So you think I'm not a good King, huh."
"You really like to draw your own conclusions, huh. When did I say that?" Victor laughed.
"I just said that I didn't agree with this one singular decision, and then I expressed my opinion on the matter." Victor flashed a sly little smile.
"Anyway, let's get to the main subject, and forget about 'my' problems for now."
"By the way, thanks for the help; although I didn't need it, I won't be stingy about acting like a child and denying help for free," Victor added.
Vlad just nodded. He had several thoughts running through his head right now.
"The meeting is tomorrow, and only the leaders, in case the representatives, can enter the meeting place."
"If that's the case, why are you taking us too?" Agnes spoke and then continued:
"You, of all people, don't need that much firepower."
Vlad didn't answer; he couldn't. It's not that he didn't trust the people present, but this topic was based on something without evidence, and it was just a suspicion of his, so he was silent.
But during that silence, Scathach and Victor seemed to have discovered something.
"Oh, they are bold." They spoke at the same time.
The two immediately looked at each other and laughed sensually and amusedly, demonstrating their connection.
"What? Did you discover anything?" Natashia asked.
"... Later." Scathach and Victor spoke simultaneously, and then they both looked at Vlad.
"What is the chance of that happening?" Victor asked.
"40%"
"Oh? You are not sure?"
"Without concrete information, I can't be sure of anything, so it's better to be sure," Vlad responded neutrally.
"Even with Alexios, you didn't find anything?" Scathach raised an eyebrow.
This time it was Alexios' turn to speak.
"Something interrupted my vision... Something powerful, I didn't get anything beneficial."
Yes, everyone was now curious about what they were talking about.
Scathach and Victor narrowed their eyes simultaneously, and their expression was not good at all, and of course, seeing them like that attracted everyone's attention, including Vlad.
"What are your thoughts?" he asked curiously and in such a strange way.
The two really were similar, as if they were a copy of each other.
The noticeable difference was that one had the potential to become what the other was while the other had already achieved Mastery.
But the similarities were there. It was like they were the younger and older versions of each other. Simple to say,
They were brilliant...
And Vlad didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
"This stinks... This whole situation stinks." Then, finally, Victor spoke. He had no evidence to back up his thoughts, since he just felt that slight sense of danger.
Something Scathach felt as well. In the woman's experience, it was as if she were stepping into some beast's territory completely unarmed.
Scathach nodded in agreement:
"Everything is very strange. I wouldn't be surprised if the meeting itself was a trap."
"…And on what basis do you have to arrive at that conclusion?"
"Instinct." The two spoke at the same time.
"...." Vlad was speechless, but he didn't completely deny the thoughts of these two beings.
"We need an escape plan if things go terribly wrong."
"Alexios, I want to take Natalia with me."
"...." Vlad raised his brow, but soon he opened his eyes when he understood what Victor was planning. He didn't need to think too hard. He just needed to look at Victor's shadow.
Even though he couldn't see them, he knew there were several beings in his shadow.
'The Blank Clan... And to think that he found someone so compatible that they can remain in his shadow as long as necessary.'
Vlad didn't propose the same method for the single, simple reason that his shadow... It was simply too powerful.
Unlike Victor, he was a fully mature Progenitor Vampire.
"…Can you protect her?" Alexios' words were simple, since he immediately understood Victor's plan as well as the Vampire King did.
And Victor understood the reason for the question. After all, Clan Alioth was the most desired Clan for a reason. The power to manipulate Space was very coveted.
"No one will touch a strand of hair on her head. They will have to get through three Countesses and me for someone to touch her, and above all, she will be in the safest place in the world." Victor chuckled lightly.
"...In this case, I allow it."
"Thanks."
Vlad coughed lightly and caught everyone's attention, and then he spoke:
"On preparations for defending the realm." Vlad snapped his finger.
And one of the King's 'eyes' appeared beside Morgana and gave the woman a scroll.
"Burn the scroll when you're done."
"Okay." That was all Morgana said before she looked at the plan and passed it on to Jeanne.
"Jeanne and Morgana will act as backups, I don't know what you've planned, but they should cover most of the missing parts."
"…Do you believe so much in their strength?" Unfortunately, even though they'd regained their former strength, they were still not at the level of a Pillar Clan Head, the Vampire Counts.
What Vlad didn't know was that not only did they regain their former strength, they'd become stronger, especially Jeanne, who remembered who she really was.
"Of course, if I didn't believe it, who would?" Victor spoke in a serious tone with a slight smile on his face.
The women mentioned couldn't help but display small smiles.
The meeting progressed smoothly. The Countesses and Count talked about their plan and what to do when they went to the meeting place.
Everyone was serious and, at the same time, relaxed. The preparations were ready.
All that was left now... was to dive into the lion's den.
....
