Chapter 571: Little Witch.
"......" A hush fell over the place until Anderson turned to Victor's group.
"I'm 99% sure, but just to be absolutely sure… Who is this little girl?"
A tick mark appeared on Emily's forehead:
"I'm not a little girl! I'm Emily! Emily Moriarty!" She crossed her arms with a smug smile, "The daughter of Evie Moriarty, the witch queen."
Seeing that the silence still continued, she smiled even more triumphantly.
'Hehehe, did you see that? You were shocked, right? It's not every day you get the chance to be in my presence-'
"This is the first time I've seen someone proud to be someone's daughter," Victor spoke in a monotone as he removed his wrist from Lilith's mouth and put the gauntlet back on.
"Wha-"
"And don't reveal your identity to a group of strange people you've just met. Are you stupid?" He got up from where he was and looked at the little girl.
"Who are you calling stupid!? Your grandmother is stupid!" She stomped on the ground angrily.
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet her to find out if she's stupid or not." Victor shrugged. "
"O-Oh, I'm Sorry." Somehow she felt bad now.
A small, imperceptible smile appeared on Victor's face, but quickly Victor's eyes became serious:
"Tell me, little witch, can you help him?"
"...." Emily just turned her face away with a little glow on her cheeks and said:
"Take me to him. I need to diagnose him."
It was painfully obvious that the girl was being affected by Victor's good looks.
And all the girls except Morgana, who was looking at Lilith, couldn't help but roll their eyes at this, even though they completely understood the little girl's feelings.
They glanced furtively at Victor.
'He is definitely easy on the eyes.' They thought at the same time.
"Anderson, it's your decision," Victor spoke.
"..." Anderson just watched the girl with a serious expression looking for any kind of hidden intentions he always saw in witches.
Seeing that Victor was no longer looking at her, Emily muttered to herself for having fallen for his charm again!
'Ugh, this is a flaw, a disgrace. I need to hide this from my mother.' She couldn't tell her mother that the first time she saw the man she fell for his charm, that would be an absolute shame!
"Haah." Anderson sighed; he couldn't find anything. The girl just wanted to help, something unexpected coming from a witch, but he wouldn't trust that 100%.
As the saying goes, trusting a witch or demon was sheer folly.
But the desperate didn't have a choice, and from what he could tell, the girl's nature was better than the other witches he'd encountered before, which was somewhat surprising given who her mother was.
"Come on, I'll show him to you."
"Mm." Emily nodded her head.
The moment Emily left the room, Victor said:
"Keep an eye on her."
"...?" The girls and Edward looked at Victor in confusion.
"What is it?"
"She knew about us, specifically about me."
"She knew I would rescue Lilith."
"During the entire journey back, she showed no distrust of my actions, even though I spent some time wandering aimlessly. Upon entering this location, she was surprised by the numbers but not surprised by the Vampires and Werewolves teaming up."
"She is Evie's daughter; that is undeniable. Her eyes and appearance are quite like her mother, and the dress she is wearing may look simple, but it is a magic tool of the highest level. Only someone like Evie can do something like that."
It was ridiculous how much 'energy' was in that dress, and with his unique eyes, Victor could see it clearly. The girl was like a beacon of energy.
'She has a ridiculous amount of magic.'
"Aren't you overreacting? Have you looked in the mirror, Vic?"
"...." The girls and Victor raised their eyebrows at Edward.
"You are the embodiment of beauty now. Even I have some strange thoughts sometimes."
"!!!"
"B-Brother, I won't allow it!" Leona spoke angrily.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Leona!" Edward winced a little in disgust. He doesn't like that side, okay?
"And you girls, stop looking at me like that!"
"You guys know I'm correct. Victor's current appearance makes a good impression on everyone, and she's a kid. Didn't she feel safe with you or something?" Edward spoke.
"...I don't want to agree with Edward, but he's right about that, Vic," Mizuki spoke while ignoring Edward's grunt and looking at Victor:
"Aren't you overthinking it?"
"Girls and boys."
"Tell me, how am I known out there?" Victor asked neutrally.
Everyone opened their eyes wide when they realized what Victor meant.
"...A genocidal maniac, someone who invaded a country and killed more than 50% of the population of supernatural beings in that country," Mizuki spoke and added:
"Your reputation is terrible."
Victor nodded his head:
"Yes, she might know me due to her status as a princess. She should know that, but… It's strange that she doesn't display any reaction of fear or concern when she sees me."
"… You're right… But that could also be explained by your unearthly beauty." Jeanne spoke.
"That's not to say we're going to dismiss Victor's warning. As everyone knows, he has a pretty keen eye." Morgana spoke after breathing a sigh of relief when she saw her daughter's condition improve.
"..." Everyone nodded their heads.
"Don't make it too obvious. Just keep your guard up, and try not to reveal too much about yourself."
"The girl is not bad, and I can tell that she is good-natured. Although she has ulterior motives in helping the wolves, they are not the main reasons that move her, just the consequences of her actions."
"Help the heir of the wolves, so they owe her a debt, huh…" Leona spoke.
"They would owe her a debt whether she intended that or not. The point is that the main driving force behind her action is kindness." Victor spoke in a gentler tone. He had been watching the girl since he first saw her, and he was honestly surprised that Evie's biological daughter was like that.
'I guess everyone has their masks, huh.' Once again, Victor was given an example of this, that not everything is what it seems, and because of that, despite having said that to Evie at the meeting, he really had nothing against her.
He's lived a big enough life that he doesn't judge someone by the first encounter.
"… How can you sense someone's kindness, Vic?" Edward asked, confused.
"I am an empath. The blessing of love allows me to feel the emotions derived from love."
"And all emotions of a being are derived from love, even hate."
"Love becomes hate, hate becomes love, by hating someone you can come to love them, as long as that emotion ends in the emotion of 'love', I can feel it."
"......" An awkward silence fell in the room.
"Isn't that very overpowered?" Edward couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, and I have the weakest version of that. Now think what Aphrodite can do with the full concept of love."
"......" Everyone felt a shiver down their spine when they realized how dangerous the goddess of love really was.
"Anyway, did you send the information to the others?" Victor asked in a serious tone.
We got the message across with Natalia's help. Scathach, Natashia, and Agnes already know what's going on, and all our allies are probably already aware of our movement."
"… Scathach must be very angry, Vic," Mizuki spoke, feeling a chill in her spine; interacting with the woman normally was already scary. She didn't want to see her angry. She already saw that once, and only once was enough. That memory scares her even today.
"I can handle her, don't worry. The worst thing that can happen is that she'll just rip my guts out."
'It was amazing how he could think of it as normal.' Everyone thought at the same time.
"And my actions, despite being risky, were essential. I do not regret them." Victor looked at Lilith and then at Morgana.
"Lilith is safe, and that's all that matters."
"Vic…" Morgana murmured. Only she knew how hard she'd been holding back from throwing herself at the man in front of her.
Victor chuckled gently, which left Morgana feeling even more in chaos. Then, he turned his gaze to his group.
"We need to get out of this place. The longer we stay here, the more chances the demons will find us."
"..." Everyone nodded their heads.
"What are our next steps?"
Gathering all his magical energy that felt like the size of a large cup now, he muttered:
[Silence]
The whole place was silenced.
[Kaguya, seal off the location.] An extra precaution because of a certain witch.
[Yes, Master.] Shadows shot out from Victor's feet and covered the entire room, completely isolating everything, and soon thousands of red eyes opened.
"I can't get used to this sight. It's honestly disturbing. I know it's the maids, but still." Leona muttered.
Mizuki and Edward couldn't help but agree with her.
Ignoring Leona, Victor began to speak:
"Now that Lilith is safe, the objective has not changed. We need to understand the depth of this war, and I think rescuing Lilith is not a big issue in Diablo's scheme."
"What do you mean?" Jeanne narrowed her eyes.
"Once Vlad knows that Lilith is okay, the demonic contract will lose its meaning, and it will automatically dissolve, correct?" He looked at Morgana.
"Yes, demons can all do horrible things, but our contracts are absolute, and they are completely fair."
"You can't trust a demon, but you can trust your contract, of course, as long as the contract is read over and over again and you notice you don't have a problem."
Victor nodded and continued:
"While Vlad is no longer restrained by the tool that holds him, he probably won't do any drastic actions in the war."
"..." Jeanne and Morgana narrowed their eyes.
"I got to know the past Vlad through Adonis, and I got to know the current Vlad through my interactions with him. I honestly believe that Ophis has changed him since that event in Japan, but... something has changed. Even if Lilith is not as loved as Ophis, he would do something. The Vlad I know would do it."
It may not seem like it, but Victor watched Vlad a lot. The man was, after all, his opposite, an example he didn't want to follow in relation to his family.
"Which means-..." Just as Victor was about to finish his reasoning, someone interrupted.
"He's after something only Diablo can offer, and the devil is offering him that something," Jeanne spoke in a voice full of disdain.
"...Yes, that's the only thing I can think of. Of course, it's just my guess."
"That assumption may be closer to reality than you think, Victor," Morgana spoke in a tone similar to Jeanne's.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Vlad wants revenge on someone, those responsible for the death of his ex-wife, Ophis's mother, Otsuki Hana. If Diablo offers him something that can achieve that goal, his actions can be explained."
"...." Victor raised his eyebrow at that. In Adonis' memories, he only saw Hana once, which was from a long way off, and just like Haruna, she was a beautiful woman.
Upon learning this and connecting the dots with the events of Diablo, Victor understood:
"The Chinese pantheon destroyed… Thousands of divine equipment useless to Diablo…" His brain started spinning at high speed, and he gathered information from the Chinese pantheon that he and Adonis knew and soon opened his eyes wide:
"The Chinese pantheon was known for their ingenuity. They could make god-quality items that could be used by mortals. Mortals risked dying if they were weak, but they could still use them…"
"Vlad is like me. We don't have the same blood, we're different, but we're progenitors, and we don't have 'concepts' within us to become a god. Essentially speaking, we're just very tough Mortals, so if anyone can withstand these items, the progenitors can."
"Diablo lured Vlad by promising to give Vlad 'something', and Diablo only used Lilith as collateral." The more Victor thought about it, the more plausible things became.
"......" A silence fell around as everyone was deep in their thoughts.
"Jeanne, Morgana, is this possible?" Victor asked to be sure. After all, who knew Vlad better than his ex-wives? Although they weren't that close, they were close to Vlad long enough to understand the man.
The first to speak was Jeanne:
"It is possible. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is true."
The sound of grinding teeth was heard all around, and these sounds led everyone towards Morgana, who had a murderous expression on her face.
Her face was completely distorted, her mouth showed her sharp teeth that were grinding with each other, and her eyes glowed blood red.
"!!!" Edward flinched, slightly scared at the woman's expression. That wasn't a woman; it was a bloody demon!
"Fucking bastard!"
As the saying goes: Even God fears an angry mother. Now a demon mother? Even Lucifer himself would be afraid.
"All this for the sake of revenge. He sacrificed something he had now for something in the past!"
[Kaguya, suit.]
[Yes, master!] Kaguya responded enthusiastically. Only she knew how much she loved this part.
Darkness covered Victor's body, and his clothes changed from full armor to a black Victorian suit. His long black hair had been shortened and reverted to its original hairstyle.
Victor approached Morgana and pulled her into a hug.
Morgana took a deep breath and smelled Victor. Feeling this scent that she had come to love, she began to calm down even more.
Victor stroked her head and began to speak in a gentle tone:
"Calm down. I won't say I understand Vlad, I've never lost anyone, and I don't know what that feeling feels like, and I don't want to know. That's why I always fight to protect everyone and keep everyone safe."
"But one thing I can be sure of, if any of you died, I would probably act a lot worse than him."
Victor had his back to the others, and no one could see his eyes turn so deep a black as if they were a black hole. Only Jeanne, who was in front of them, saw it.
"... You should not." Morgana squeezed Victor's chest:
"Sacrificing what you have for something you've lost, that's wrong. That's not the way to deal with grief."
"I know. That's why I have you, right?" He lifted Morgana's face and looked down at her.
"And in the unlikely event that happens, I will rely on you to make me come to my senses."
"...." Morgana felt that she was going to get lost in those dark eyes. She felt that she was going to fall into an abyss, an abyss that, honestly, she was very willing to jump into.
"... And when I come to my senses... Those responsible for this unlikely incident will burn."
"Everything will burn. Everything will be lost."
The tone that Victor used sent chills through everyone without exception, even Morgana. It was an absolute tone as if it was an immutable truth.
Like the forces of nature that cannot be avoided, Victor's tone carried this morbid weight.
"That was how Vlad should have handled the matter and not put his daughter, his own blood, in danger." Then, as if someone had clicked a button, the pressure, the heavy atmosphere, and Victor's face completely changed and formed a gentle smile, and a colorful atmosphere took their place.
Seriously, the way he changed moods from one second to the next was very uncomfortable.
"…Are you calmer now?"
"Mm." She nodded, still lost in the man's eyes.
"...." Jeanne, Mizuki, and Leona just shook their heads. The woman was already entirely in Victor's clutches.
'...A Yandere of the highest rank...God, what have I gotten myself into?' Leona thought with a slight shudder and then added with a strange smile that left Edward a little scared, 'Not that I am complaining.'
.......
