Chapter 516: Recklessness and Changes.
In one of the palace's waiting rooms, Victor and the three Countesses were waiting for Vlad to return since he needed to make some preparations for the meeting to begin.
"What you did was very dangerous, Vic." Agnes scolded him lightly.
Victor was currently sitting on the sofa with Natashia sitting on his lap. The Countess had her head lying on Victor's chest as she enjoyed her Husband's caresses.
Scathach was sitting next to Victor, looking at Natashia with an unpretty look. Unfortunately, due to her pride, she couldn't sit the way Natashia was now... Not when there were people around, strange people she couldn't let down her guard with.
Being in enemy territory made her apprehensive; it was a habit she'd developed since childhood.
On the other hand, Natashia wasn't caring at all. She just enjoyed her Husband's caresses, though she wasn't doing more libertine things because this wasn't the place for it... Even though she felt something big and hard touching her ass.
Something that made her insides squirm, practically begging him to come inside her. But she was a good girl, and she resisted that feeling and contented herself with her Husband's caresses.
"I know, but I won't make excuses." Victor nodded.
Victor knew. Excessive pride was not good. Scathach, his beloved Master, and his future wife had made a point of getting that fact into his head.
... But that didn't mean you shouldn't be proud, either.
As with everything in life, the key was balance.
Not too much or too little.
Everything, absolutely everything, must be balanced just as all things should be.
Victor was the same. He was proud and still the same man who openly challenged Scathach and Vlad Dracul Tepes.
And when Evie' ordered' him to do something and treated him with disdain, as if it were a fact, he couldn't help but retaliate.
"Haaah, luckily, you managed to get out of that situation with gray, 'harmless' words."
"Luckily, that bitch won't take it personally. She must have learned something from you too."
"That is not an important lesson. Everyone with at least 2 brain cells should know that teasing everything to everyone is a bad idea. Even though Evie has ridiculous economic power and unknown spells, she cannot become everyone's enemy."
"Balance is the answer."
"And although these beings like Vampires, Gods, and Werewolves don't mind paying, after all, they are wealthy; I bet everyone in their hearts is dissatisfied by the Witches' prices."
The Witch business worked like that.
If you wanted a mana stone to work with, they would charge you $10,000 for this low-level mana stone.
But if you buy a lot of mana stones, she would understand that you are trying to do something, and she would get greedy and extract more money from you, and the mana stone that was initially 10,000 dollars would suddenly become 100,000 dollars.
That's how Witches work, and it couldn't help but annoy a lot of people.
"Probably, she should know that, but because of your words, she's going to be more careful now…although…." Scathach glanced lightly at Victor.
"That was dangerous. We're not sure if the Witches are helping the Demons or not, and avoiding conflict with her is the correct answer."
"Mm." Victor nodded his head.
"It is mainly because of that, that I am willing to participate in the 'trial'. I will not be a hypocrite. Even though that incident was started by greedy Witches trying to profit from the situation, I was the one who committed the killing."
"I killed them all."
"Leaving aside who is right or wrong."
"I did this deed, and now the consequences are biting my ass, and I must deal with the consequences of my own actions."
"..." Scathach exhibited a small smile. She liked Victor's mentality. After all, it was the same mentality she had.
"But just because she's a little right, I'm not going to put my head down and accept everything she throws at me. I won't do that, not for her, not for anyone. It's not my style." The only people Victor would lower his head to were his parents.
The highest authority figure in his head.
Respect your parents, your blood. The people who raised you from a young age without wanting anything in return.
If his parents weren't worthy for Victor to bow his head to, who was? Definitely not some random God or a Witch who believed the world revolved around her.
That's his pride.
"Victor, do you remember what I taught you?"
"Of course, I will never forget your teachings," Victor responded naturally and added shortly afterward:
"If you can't fight an enemy, just turn all allies, and potential allies of those enemies, against him. Chaos is the only answer. Only in greater Chaos will we have more room to maneuver."
Scathach smiled kindly, and a little predatory:
"And you did it splendidly... As expected of my favorite disciple."
"Geh, look at this favoritism. What would your thousands of disciples think if they saw you like this?" Natashia commented.
"Who cares?" She spoke in disdain. She was not in the mood to entertain Natashia right now.
"Whoa, look at this bitch. She's not even trying to hide it now." Natashia snorted.
"Haah, I never thought I'd say this, but... Natashia, stop trying to cause Chaos."
"..." The two Countesses looked at Agnes with dry eyes.
"Those are definitely not words I would have thought to hear from you in the past," Natashia spoke.
"Indeed." Scathach confirmed.
"...." Only at these times do the two unite against her! Damn!
"Hmph." Agnes huffed. She wouldn't care anymore.
Victor smiled at this sight. Even though they appeared to be 'fighting', it was pretty clear to them that they were enjoying these exchanges of words.
In a way, Victor was the one who most understood the emotions of living beings. He was, after all, a great manipulator, and no matter what…
The Seven Deadly Sins will be the primary source of action of these powerful beings, with the main ones being Greed, Lust, and Envy. Those Sins ruin a being or even a Kingdom.
The Gods liked Evie's figure, and she was hot in every way. No one could deny that.
The Gods were jealous of her thriving business.
The Gods were greedy about this enormous piece of cake.
Why so much focus on the Gods? Because they're the ones most likely to act against Evie.
Werewolves definitely won't act, and neither would the Vampires. After all, they were, in some ways, the biggest consumers of Witches' products...
But if something like an attack were to happen, they would definitely go after perks that would fall both on the side of the Gods and on the sides of the Witches.
Although the Gods liked the products of Witches and found them attractive, they had their own technologies and means of making their societies prosperous, so they did not need Witches in 'theory'.
Take Olympus as an example. Just how many rare treasures, weapons, and items did it have?
Ambrosia, the Divine Weapons of The Three Great Gods, Flowers of The Underworld that are ingredients for some spells.
Hephaestus himself was a traveling merchandiser; the man could do anything.
Witches had the 'handiness' of making everything more 'accessible'. While the Gods had real valuable products.
Because of this, the Gods and Witches were the ones who most traded between the two sides.
And... Conflicts tend to generate because of this.
The story Victor told Evie was obvious to everyone:
I'm not your enemy, and I never have been. However, all greedy beings that want your products are your enemies. I am just one of the 'fourth' merchants who will acquire everything in the end.
The fourth merchant was him, Nightingale, and possibly the Wolves, maybe even the Demons?
'Fufufu, I wonder how all this will unfold.' Everything could end up on the floor, but at the same time, nothing could happen.
'I wouldn't be surprised if Witches had all the Gods' dirty secrets, secrets that even the Gods don't want to be revealed.'
'... But the question is... Will the Olympians care?' The images of the Greek Gods... Frankly speaking, it was not good in the international community.
Even the Norse had a better image than them, which said a lot. After all, the Norse were just as bad as the Olympians.
All Mythologies had some kind of rot that they did to Supernatural Beings.
... What about humans?
'Humans, huh...' Victor thought.
Honestly, nobody cared. Even though the Gods' attitudes towards humanity had improved from the past, they still held humans in disdain.
Humans were the weakest race, and that was not a doubt but an undeniable fact.
Even when humans were strong, it was due to 'tools' the Gods provided or powers they found.
This was not due to the natural power of humans.
Take the strongest unarmed human and ask him to fight the strongest vampire, who is also unarmed.
Honestly, that wouldn't even be a fight, the difference in basic stats was just too big, and there were few things they could do with just skills.
Without raw power, everything was meaningless.
'Although they are not strong, they are ingenious, and that ingenuity should not be ignored.'
Proof of this were the achievements of current humans, an entire society, globalization, and various martial arts techniques that were the basis of inspiration for Scathach to create her techniques.
Even the woman Scathach respected the most was a human once.
'Because there is weakness, they try to compensate for it with other things. So they evolve, they have the 'potential'... Potential that the creator gave.'
In comparison, Vampires? Still stagnant in time.
Werewolves? In the same backward society where the King is elected by force.
Gods? Do you really need to talk about them?
Only the Witches were doing well, and the reason for this was that if you took away their Magic, they were still human. Progress was in their blood, and they were the most evolved of all the factions.
'Although they completely ignored the Science and Mathematics of humans.' Victor was not a Magician, but he had read several Magic Books in the past with the possible thought of perhaps trying to use Magic.
He read when he wanted to occupy his mind during the period he was stuck on Earth for a long time, and despite not being able to practice, it was interesting.
'If I'm not mistaken, what was the most basic spell?' Victor thought about the first book he read, and then the answer came.
'Hahaha, it was the spell that looks like it came out of an MMORPG game.'
'What was the pronunciation again? If I'm not mistaken, they speak an ancient language... Latin?'
"Murus." A black magic circle appeared on top of Victor's hand, which exploded into light particles as the Magic failed.
"......." The room was utterly silent. Even the Countesses who were talking to each other had to be silent because of what they had just seen.
"V-Vic-." Agnes, Natashia, and Scathach herself stuttered a lot.
At that moment, footsteps were heard, and Vlad entered the room with a stoic gaze.
"Preparations are ready."
The four present looked at Vlad with the same shocked look.
"What?" Vlad asked with a strange face.
"Nothing." The four said simultaneously as if they were synchronized by a machine.
........
