Chapter 513: Plots happening underneath smooth words.
"Grrr, you took me out of that comfortable spot and brought me to this-…"
Roxanne's eyes gleamed dangerously.
"Nice place... You can at least treat me kindly."
"Fufufu~, I heard that recently you've just been eating bananas and not working. Maybe I should tell Scathach-."
"Cough, don't be mean, I'll do my job properly... Just don't call that... That... Monstrosity..."
"How ironic coming from a Demonic Gorilla." Victor rolled his eyes.
"And she's not a monstrosity. Just look how beautiful she is." A giant screen appeared near the gorilla and the Maids, which showed Scathach walking around like a queen.
Victor looked at the gorilla with disdain.
"Do you call this beautiful woman a monstrosity? Are you blind?"
"...You have questionable tastes; that's undeniable." The gorilla nodded like a wise old man and added, "Even if you go to the psychologist now to fix your problem, you will only drive the psychologist mad, meaning the psychologist will need another psychologist."
"Sanity is overrated."
"Madness is the only answer."
"Pretending to be the joker won't help you out of this."
"...." Victor huffed and stopped communicating.
"Is this gorilla getting smarter, or is it just me?" Maria asked.
"I mean, he's connected with me. If I learn something, he learns too... And I've spent a lot of time reading books."
"Isn't that cheating?" Eve muttered:
"He basically learns everything you learn."
"Hmm…maybe?"
"Is this a one-way street, or can the gorilla do that too?" Bruna asked curiously.
"Everything I learn, my Queen learns, and everything my Queen learns, I learn too. That's how a symbiotic relationship between a Guardian and a World Tree works." The gorilla spoke as he crossed his arms.
"What he said." Roxanne laughed.
"... Doesn't that mean that Roxanne is smarter than she conveys? Why does she act like this...?" Kaguya asked.
"Knowledge is knowledge. It doesn't completely shape someone's personality, my Queen, from the beginning, has always been carefree, but when she needs it, she can act seriously."
"...." The maids looked at Roxanne and saw her humming around.
"Hmm~Hmm~."
"Hard to believe," Bruna spoke while she was still hugging Roberta, who was starting to calm down.
"Indeed." All spoke at the same time.
...
Arriving where the other guests were, everyone's attention went to the group that had come.
"Oh? Shiva, we haven't seen each other in a while." Seeing his friend, Vlad flashed a small smile and walked toward Shiva.
"It's really been a while." Shiva flashed a neutral smile and greeted his friend.
"How are things going in your Kingdom?"
"Everything is as usual," Vlad spoke with the same small smile on his face.
"...." Shiva thought his friend was lying for some reason, but he quickly ignored it. He had known Vlad long enough to know that few things threatened his friend.
Soon the two started talking.
Victor looked around, and just as the guests were sizing him up, Victor was doing the same.
His gaze stopped on Haruna and became a little more gentle.
'Haruna...'
"...." Even though she didn't change her expression, Haruna's ears twitched a little, and her tails began to dance mesmerizingly behind her.
'Fufufufu, and to think that Haruna would react like that-nya...' As Haruna's oldest friend, Kuroka could identify Haruna's emotions.
His gaze changed to the Angels as he looked at them curiously, but he soon changed his target. Just looking at the Angels made Victor uncomfortable, and he couldn't feel anything from the Angels. It was like a veil was protecting them.
While looking at beings with six Angel wings was interesting, there were still individuals that drew Victor's intrigue more than them.
Victor shifted his gaze to the Witches, specifically the taller woman with the Crown.
'Her, huh.' He made sure to engrave the woman's appearance in his mind, something that wasn't too difficult as she was very unique.
If Evie's gaze at Victor had been annoyed before, it was now confused and somewhat curious but still mildly hostile:
'What does my mother want with this man? Why did she bless you?'
'It's hard to tell her body language, but why is she looking at me all confused?' Victor thought for a moment but soon understood.
'Albedo... Moriarty, huh... It looks like the 'Chaos' Witch is somehow related to the Queen, maybe her mother or something?'
The judgment of the host of this place was absolute, few things escaped his omniscience, and if he said that Albedo Moriarty blessed Victor, it was because it was true.
And it was driving the Witch Queen completely mad with curiosity. Why was her mother, a woman she hadn't seen in a long time, interested in this man? What did she see in him?
Not even her daughters had that blessing! She couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal.
'I must keep an eye on him...'
"Mother..." Alice was also curious now. Unlike the other Witches, the 'daughters' of the Queen were privileged to know the Queen's history.
Therefore, they knew about the Queen's only blood relative, Albedo, a former Witch who was Evie's teacher.
Evie gestured with her hand, and a small magic circle appeared.
[Keep an eye on him, even more than before.]
The venue host really managed to draw a lot of attention to Victor. If before the Witch Queen had a slight interest, now... She wouldn't let him go that easy.
Victor's eyes then fell on the Gods, discovering that Shiva was… unfathomable?
Unlike the other beings who appeared to be hiding behind a veil, Shiva was simply unfathomable, and he couldn't get anything. It was as if he were looking at the immensity of the vast ocean.
'... So strong...' Even without doing anything, Victor's instincts rang danger signs through his mind. It was the same feeling he'd had when he first gazed upon Scathach and Vlad when he'd first started training.
He then turned his attention to the two bearded Gods.
Zeus was looking at him with a rather annoyed look, as well as a hint of... Lust?
Victor shivered slightly:
'Really? I expected it, but really?' Victor felt like rolling his eyes, and once again, he internally thanked Aphrodite.
Something he hadn't expected to do in the past. The Goddess really was helping him a lot, and he'd be foolish not to acknowledge that.
On the other hand, the red-haired God was looking at him, but his gaze would go to Natashia every now and then.
And that look… Victor didn't like it at all.
"...." Natashia gently touched Victor's arm.
"... Don't mind it. Those worms always tried to pester me, but I always refused."
"Heh~."
Before, Victor had no reason to have a bad impression of the red-haired bearded God. But now? He definitely did now.
"It happened long ago and never even crossed my mind till now."
"...If you weren't from the Fulger Clan and the Vampire Faction, what would they have done to you?"
"...." Natashia was silent. It didn't take a genius to understand what would have and would still happen if that were the case. After all, this was very common at the time, and now. Even Agnes and Scathach did it.
The strong took advantage of the weak. That was the rule.
The weak had no right to ask for anything.
"And I'm not thinking about the past. I'm thinking about the now." Thor's gaze and body language gave all the answers for Victor to know he hadn't given up, which also applied to the man beside him.
The God who even looked at Victor with lustful eyes.
Victor was irritated by this, and upon learning the details of Natashia's past, the woman just poured gasoline on the fire.
The man was looking at his wife with lustful eyes, which was reason enough to kill many people.
At least for Victor.
"So possessive~, fufufu~, I love it~" Natashia hugged Victor lovingly.
"…is it okay to do this now?"
"Fufufu~, I'm just a mother-in-law hugging her beloved son-in-law. There's nothing wrong with that~."
"And the broadcast has probably ended, and it won't come back until we're done with the meeting."
The rumor that Victor was with Natashia was just that, a rumor. And no one outside their circle would ever discover what had happened between them in the Adrastea Clan.
"If you say so..." Victor laughed kindly since he didn't really care. He didn't feel like announcing to the world about his conquests or anything like that, they were his wives, and for him, that was enough. The rest was just irrelevant.
Feeling a fierce glare on his body, Victor looked in that direction and saw the King of The Werewolves.
Victor's smile grew, and seeing that smile, Volk immediately understood Victor's personality.
And he couldn't help but smile too.
'Hahahaha~, and I thought that woman was the freak of her race. It turns out that the new Progenitor is like that too.' It was worth mentioning that Volk was mildly happy. He was always good at finding a 'kindred spirit' with the same tastes.
"Hmm? Oh? Anderson." Victor turned away from Natashia and walked towards the Wolves with easy steps.
"...." Scathach and Agnes looked at this with a subtle gaze.
Victor and Anderson clapped each other's hands in a firm handshake as if they were old friends.
"Hey, Alucard, you keep getting attention as usual."
"It's not my fault. It was this guy who decided to reveal things he shouldn't." Victor rolled his eyes. Despite having received Aphrodite's warning, he didn't expect this guy to reveal so much.
'Although it was quite enlightening... Gaia, Nyx, and Albedo, huh?' Victor wondered what these women saw in him to give him their blessing.
Nyx's case was pretty obvious as she was the Mother of The Night, and he was a Progenitor of The Vampires, a Creature of The Night... But if that was just that, Vlad and Volk would also have that boon.
So he couldn't understand, and he also had that unknown name that Victor couldn't understand.
"It always surprises me how easily he makes friends," Natashia spoke.
"He fought Anderson once, and friendships can be made through fighting." Scathach spoke, then returned to look around again with a bored expression while still remaining on guard.
"That's something I can agree with." Natashia nodded and looked at Agnes, who had a slightly complex expression on her face.
"Agnes, what's going on?" Natashia asked.
"... It's nothing..." She gripped the sword a little tighter.
Natashia narrowed her eyes as she felt the temperature around Agnes rise.
"Agnes, talk to me. You're Victor's wife now and my sister."
"...." Agnes looked slightly at Natashia. Complicated feelings aside, she felt touched by the crazy woman's gesture.
"Haah... This damn Dragon is quite excited after feeling several strong people around."
"I'm having trouble controlling it."
"... I see; well, even if it's just a sword, the Dragon's will is still alive. For a Dragon, fighting strong opponents is the best thing for them. That's normal... how about-." When Natashia was going to say something more.
But Scathach interrupted, saying. "Let me help you."
She lifted her Spear and lightly touched Agnes' blade as cold air left the Spear's tip and entered the sword.
Soon Agnes began to feel her control getting easier.
"...Thank you, Scathach."
"You welcome, fufufu~."
"...." Agnes just looked at Scathach with a strange look.
'And to think that she would become so easy to get along with….' She looked at Victor, who started talking to Anderson with a neutral look.
'It's his fault, huh… And to think that one man could unite the three Vampire Count Families so completely.'
That being said, it was not like they were enemies or anything. After all, their heirs were childhood friends.
But the three Families had never been as close together as they are now.
"Everything is fine when it's in the family, huh..."
"Fufufufu, it looks like you're starting to understand." Natashia didn't know what Agnes had been thinking, but upon hearing her muttered quote, she had to say her piece. She felt like she was bringing someone into her ideology.
"Humpf, don't get used to it. I just thought of it casually."
"Yeah, yeah, sure~."
"Hmm? Hey? You got stronger." Victor's smile grew.
"Our fight was quite… enlightening. I realized I had to improve more." Anderson chuckled lightly.
"Heh~, interesting. When this is all over, how about a fight?" Victor asked.
"That's something I would never refuse." Anderson laughed lightly.
While Victor was talking to Anderson and ignoring the existence of Fanir, Volk's First Son,
The man himself was looking at Victor.
Unlike his father and brother, Fanir was the one who knew the most about Victor.
'...This is the enemy of our organization, huh.' Previously, he had received information from one of the Leaders of the organization he belonged to, Niklaus.
And from that information, he'd learned that the Wolves he'd lent to man were all killed by one individual.
And coincidentally, that individual was standing in front of him now.
"Hmm?" Anderson stopped talking when he felt his brother's gaze, and he opened his eyes slightly wider as if he had forgotten something.
"Ah, I forgot to introduce you. This is my older brother, Son of the same mother, Fanir."
"This is my friend, Alucard."
"Do you have Vampire friends now, Anderson?" The man spoke with apparent disdain, "As expected of the Family's failure."
"......" A silence fell around, and Victor just looked at Anderson.
"...Whoa, is he the one with the dick up his ass?"
"Indeed, you know how it is, being the First Child and all. It's mandatory that you be born with a dick in your ass."
"..." Veins bulged in Fanir's head, and he looked at the two men with an annoyed look, but the two men just ignored him.
Anderson just did his duty. After all, he had an education.
And Victor had no interest in Fanir. Although, the slightly hostile vibe the man gave Victor was somewhat dubious.
'What did I do to him? This is the first time I've met him, right...?' Victor was a lot of things, but he wasn't a fool.
His strongest point today was his capacity for politics and observation; in short terms, he could read between the lines.
From the moment he'd entered this place, he marked in his head the faces and names of people who clearly had slightly hostile attitudes towards him.
And most of these people he'd never seen before in his life.
Which could mean several things; they already knew Victor.
Victor had offended them in some way in the past.
Or there were some cases like Gabriel, who just didn't like beings like Victor.
'Although, in this case, the brother is much more expressive than the Angel Michael.' Of all the Mythologies, the Myths of Angels and Demons was what old Victor knew best.
The tales were famous.
Lucifer rebelled and became the King of Hell, and Michael became God's new representative.
Some things may have happened differently in reality, but Victor believed that the essence of events had remained the same.
"Oh, let me introduce my father..." Anderson continued the introductions, turning his head towards his father, and saw the man in Vlad's group and Shiva.
"Well, looks like that will be for later."
"Hahaha~, don't worry, we'll talk later. No need to rush."
"Indeed… Oh, Victor, do you want to visit my land Samar in the future?"
....
