Chapter 572: Mommy's Girl.
Emily returned to the room where Victor was and was surprised to find a woman with blonde hair wearing a French Maid dress there.
'Who is she? She wasn't here before... Hmm? Traces of Magic?' The Magic Circles in Emily's eyes flickered slightly, and she saw:
'The Spell of Silence? Oh, they were discussing something in secret.'
"How did it go?"
Emily looked at the owner of the voice and almost pursed her lips.
Wearing a black Victorian suit, with short hair and violet eyes, the man looked completely different from the warrior she'd seen before.
'Outside of armor, he's even more handsome! Not that he didn't look handsome in that armor... But, by Holy Magic, it's unfair for someone like this to exist.' She narrowed her eyes more when she saw the state Victor was in.
Specifically the women around him.
The silver-haired woman, the Werewolf, was lying on the couch with her head on his left leg, and the female Vampire with the features of a Succubus was sitting beside him as she thrust her voluptuous body onto his.
The blonde Vampire was sitting at the back of the sofa, and the Japanese woman present was seated next to the Succubus with her legs crossed while drinking tea served by the blonde Maid standing beside her.
That was the perfect image of a King and his Harem. In her entire 12 years of life, she'd never thought she would see something like this.
'Gaahh, I'm so jealous!' She was very precocious for her age, but the reason for her envy was something else:
'My Mother has to get this man for herself by yesterday! If I have a father like that, I can brag to all my 'sisters' when I'm formally introduced... Wait, actually, this will cause problems for my Mother!... But... He's so handsome, and those thirsty Witches won't mind.'
A society run by women was cruel, especially one run by greedy Witches. Although they despised men, they still wanted the attention of a handsome man to be 'better' than their 'friends'.
Typical female competition crossed beyond the matters of Race and existed everywhere, and as Witches were practically human women, this had not been lost.
Though it didn't happen that often, after all, most Witches were busy with their research and experiments that took up whatever time they had, it still happened during occasional encounters where several Master Witches joined in.
They showed off their 'toys', be it Magic, beauty, or achievements, attempting to one-up their 'friends'.
'Speaking of women, where is the Vampire princess?' She looked around and found Lilith sleeping on another couch. The Magic Circles in Emily's eyes glowed a little.
'Appraisal.' A simple Appraisal Spell that told the user the complete state of a being. Despite seeming simple, it was a Master Level Spell that only Master Witches could use.
'She's fine... Progenitor blood works in miraculous ways on other Vampires, huh.'
"Little Witch?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"... Eh? Oh... Hmm." It took her a few seconds to snap out of her stupor and form a coherent thought.
"Thomas is out of danger; the problem was simple to solve." She spoke honestly.
Victor only displayed a small imperceptible smile. He already knew about Thomas' condition through his favorite Maid Kaguya, who had been watching everything from the shadows, but even so, he asked the question. The reason was simple; he was still testing her without the girl even noticing.
'A kind girl. Young, intelligent, proud, and cunning, but kind nonetheless.' The important trait that Victor was after was kindness.
'She seems to have grown up in seclusion. She has all the makings of a Princess who grew up in solitude, but she is much smarter and more cunning than an ordinary Princess. The Queen trained her well.' That was Victor's assessment of the Princess.
"Heh~, as expected of The Witch Queen's daughter."
"Umu, umu." She crossed her arms and nodded several times with a satisfied smile on her face; it was evident that she was pleased with the compliments.
'Cute...' Jeanne, Mizuki, and Leona thought simultaneously; they had a soft spot for cute things.
Morgana was too busy enjoying Victor's caresses to care about anything else.
"Now, what should we do with you?" Victor asked in a neutral tone.
"If possible, I want to go back home."
"That is understandable," Victor spoke in a gentle tone with caring eyes that made the girl's little heart flutter wildly.
"But we have no way of contacting your mother, and Arcane is completely closed right now." He commented casually.
"I-I have a way to contact my mother."
"It's emergency Magic she taught me for times like these." She finished shyly.
He spoke with the same gentle smile, "Contact her; I'll be waiting, just don't take too long. We're still in enemy territory, after all."
"Mm." she nodded her head with a bit of embarrassment and crouched down on the floor as her finger started to glow, and she began to draw something on the floor.
This time when the girl wasn't looking at them, Victor looked at the girls and Edward with solemn eyes, except for Morgana, and they all nodded as if confirming Victor's suspicions.
[She knew that Arcane was closed. For someone who was kidnapped before that happened, she seems very aware of things going on.] Kaguya spoke.
[The probability that a Demon told her about this is pretty high.] Eve spoke.
[If so, should she have reacted more worriedly, or was she trusting her Mother?] Roberta asked.
[Remember that the daughter of someone like The Witch Queen must not be normal. She would have been raised in a special way with all available resources; she must have an excellent acting level.] Maria added.
[No matter what level of acting, she is still a 12-year-old girl, even with reasonable emotional control, she should have shown something when she learned that her house was in a state that had never been seen before.]
[Roberta and Bruna are correct.] Victor butted in on the conversation.
[Master?] The aforementioned two were surprised at their names being called out so suddenly.
[If she'd found out from a Demon that Arcane was closed, she would have been worried or displayed similar emotions, and even if she was good at hiding her feelings, I highly doubt she would be good enough to control her body language. And when I asked that question, I didn't see anything in her body language. She was utterly calm, as if she already knew this from a reliable source.]
A hush fell over the shadow world, and in the real world, everyone was watching with curious eyes what Emily was doing.
[... As Ruby says, it stinks, stinks of Witchcraft.] Roxanne spoke.
The Maids nodded; it was obvious something was up.
Victor's violet eyes just looked at Emily, and although he didn't show any emotion in his gaze, for those that knew him well or had a connection with him, amusement could be seen in his eyes.
Carefreely drawing the Magic Circle, Emily suddenly stopped her finger, and her body shook a little.
'Fuck! I forgot I was supposed to wait for my Mother's signal! I fell into his rhythm!... What should I do now?... For now, just keep drawing.'
Even though her face was neutral and apparently calm, her body language said otherwise.
Fixing her hair a few times, her eyes twitching a little, tiny drops of sweat falling from her forehead, and an apparent decrease in the speed of drawing the Magic Circle.
All of this was being watched by Victor, and even though his empathy didn't work well on her because of the wards on the girl's dress, he could read the girl like an open book.
He knew she was worried and nervous.
But even seeing these signs, he didn't say anything and just watched everything, acting like he didn't understand anything:
"Little Witch, what happened? You slowed down the drawing." He asked in a worried tone.
The girls around and even Edward rolled their eyes inwardly at his perfect performance. If they didn't know about it beforehand, even they would have been fooled by now.
"O-Oh, it's just that this part needs a lot of attention, a Teleportation Matrix." She stuttered a little at first.
"I see." Victor readily accepted Emily's excuse, which made the girl sigh internally with relief.
Once again, she started drawing, some time passed, and the image of a Magic Circle that could fit a person was easily visible.
"... You said it was a Teleportation Array. How does that work?"
"..." Emily stopped drawing and looked at Victor with a raised eyebrow; her face said, why do you want to know?
Victor just laughed and raised his finger up, soon a small black Magic Circle appeared:
"As you can see, I also know how to use Magic, and I am quite curious about this Art." This time, he was entirely sincere.
'... It's true; my Grandmother Blessed him.' Emily had only seen her Grandmother once in the past, and just once was enough to open up her world and understand how vast the paths of Magic were.
Although her Grandmother's specialty was Alchemy, she was still well-versed in other areas of Magic.
'Now that I think about it, that time he used Lumos, he used all of his Mana, but he didn't get tired like Witches usually did... That's because Magic isn't his main power; it's just a Blessing?' She remembered her Mother teaching her about the Blessings of The Gods in the past, and she knew that, as it was something that could be given, it could also be taken away.
Emily turned her attention to the Magic Circle and started drawing the final parts again:
"This is a Teleportation Spell that is linked from point A to point B. My mom has point A, and I just need to position point B so I can go back home anytime."
"Oh, it's different from Natalia Alioth, then." Victor looked at Natalia.
Emily stopped again and looked at Victor. Following his eyes, she gazed upon the blonde Maid she'd first noticed when she'd arrived.
Shock could be seen in her entire body language, even if it didn't show on her face.
'She's from the Alioth Clan!? That explains why she suddenly appeared here.'
Looking back at the Magic Circle, she spoke:
"...Yes, Clan Alioth has more specialization in the domain of Space and Time, so they don't need it." She couldn't contain the envy that seeped into her voice.
Which caused Victor's smile to grow as he understood something about the little girl.
'She is indeed a Princess of The Witches. Although, unlike the other Witches, who would be looking at Natalia with greed right now, she is just jealous. Which means that she is completely confident in her personal abilities and is just annoyed because somewhere inside her, she believes that the Alioth Clan's capabilities in Time and Space are superior... She must have heard about them from her Mother's stories, huh.'
A few minutes passed, and Emily finished the Magic Circle.
'Now that I've come this far, I can't stop, or that would raise suspicions. I'm counting on you, mommy!' Then, suddenly, she realized that she was in this situation because of her Mother: 'Ugh, I'll never accept a mission again. I'm going to be locked in my room forever!'
Watching the completed Magic Circle, Victor made sure he remembered the steps of creating the entire Magic Circle. Of course, he couldn't understand the glyphs, the letters, or the meaning of each drawing, but that didn't matter. He would remember everything.
"I will call my mother, so please don't do anything to her."
"Hahaha, Little Witch, if it were so easy to harm your mother, she wouldn't be so feared."
"... That's true." Confidence and pure arrogance could be seen in Emily's smile. She was indeed a Mommy's Girl.
Emily turned to look at the Magic Circle as her eyes started to glow, and the Magic Circles in her eyes seemed to come out of her eyes for a few seconds and project themselves in front of her face.
Suddenly the Magic Circle on the ground started to glow, and in the next moment, a woman wearing a flaming Crown appeared.
Curvy body, and a proud posture, she carried the charm of a Leader, the Leader of a Faction.
Evie Moriarty, and in her hand was a long staff that seemed to be made of the same materials as her crown.
The moment Evie appeared, she looked at her daughter, and that look, though it seemed neutral and indifferent, held so many meanings that Emily understood all of them.
Emily couldn't help but look away from her Mother in embarrassment; she seemed to be saying 'I'm sorry' to her.
And that look made Evie sigh internally. She couldn't be mad at her daughter; it was impossible. She was her love, after all.
Unlike her daughter, she didn't show anything in her body or expressions. Seconds later, Evie looked at Victor, and her gaze widened in surprise.
Even Evie couldn't control her expression, as she completely ignored the other women. The man was simply too conspicuous not to be noticed first.
Which made Victor smile even wider, and for everlasting Magic! That expression was hateful! Evie quickly controlled her expression, and nothing could be seen, but inside she was in chaos.
'He got even more handsome!? What the fuck!?...' Thoughts started racing through her mind, and she concluded something: 'APHRODITE!! That bastard Goddess loves this man so much!?' Her eyes glistened slightly, and she tried to analyze Victor but couldn't. His entire existence had a great barrier protecting him, a barrier much like that of the Gods.
'He is using his Blessings to shield foreign eyes.' She was internally shocked by this knowledge, the man had changed a lot, and she had seen him not even a short time ago!
'Ugh, I now understand why my daughter failed... That Victorian suit suits him...' Evie quickly shook her head inwardly and ignored her last thoughts.
Unlike her daughter, she wasn't naïve to let her guard down because of the man's appearance.
Emily, who was watching Evie and Victor staring at each other as if they were having a staring contest, was very excited. Her eyes were shining like stars.
'That's it, Mother! Catch him! Let's go!'
... If Evie knew her daughter was rooting for her, she would be delighted, but if she knew why the little girl was rooting for her, Emilly would definitely get her ass spanked later.
"Alucard, I didn't think I would find you so soon." She could lie as easily as she could breathe.
Victor displayed a small, gentle, and seductive smile that made Evie unconsciously activate the protections of her clothing, protections that were similar to her daughter's clothes:
"Evie... Evie Moriarty, we need to talk..."
"T-Talk?"
"Mm~, a long talk~. Alone, of course."
"...."
Evie hated herself for it, but she couldn't help but feel her heart leaping in anticipation…and a faint feeling of dread. Aphrodite had created a monster.
....
