Chapter 586: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Victor, who was walking towards the main room to talk with Haruna, suddenly stopped and opened his eyes wide.
Not just him, the Maids who were faithfully following their master, along with Scathach, Ruby, Lacus, Siena, and even Luna herself, who were all surrounding Victor, stopped moving and opened their eyes wide in shock.
"Oh?" Scathach raised an eyebrow.
"... W-What is it?" Lacus stuttered in shock.
"This feeling…" Victor placed his hand over his heart.
A feeling of peace and comfort hovered around the group; it was the same feeling that Victor had when he was alone with his family.
Victor suddenly felt immense gratitude coming from Aphrodite and happiness... pure, sincere happiness.
The connection they had transcended time and space; it didn't matter if Aphrodite was far away, he could still feel her emotions.
"Darling... That's..." Ruby, who was next to Victor, murmured gently as euphoria and happiness of almost orgasmic levels were being felt by Ruby and Roxanne herself, who had an even deeper connection with Victor.
"Yes… Aphrodite did something." He displayed a gentle and loving smile. The goddess was growing in his heart every day, and she had become practically irreplaceable at this point.
"What did she do...?" Siena narrowed her eyes with a visible frown, but that changed to a serene expression, "This feeling, these sensations, this is… comfortable."
With the same smile on his face, Victor said:
"It doesn't matter what she did."
"..." The group looked at Victor curiously.
"Aphrodite would never do anything that would harm us, and that feeling… It's the same feeling I had when I received Aphrodite's own blessing."
"But... Unlike Aphrodite, I don't feel a connection to the goddess who gave me this blessing. It's like...-"
"If the goddess had blessed the whole family." Ruby muttered, "A goddess just blessed our entire family."
"Specifically, all the people that Victor considers 'family'," Ruby added. Knowing the goddess and her attitude, Ruby knew the goddess would always do something for Victor, and Victor only.
Consequently, this action would benefit the whole family because they knew how much Victor depended on his family.
"Is that why I feel this? Are we family?" Luna asked in a somewhat incredulous voice.
Victor raised an eyebrow at Luna's unbelieving tone and looked at the white-haired maid:
"You are like a daughter to Scathach, and you always help my wife. Of course, I consider you my family."
Only a disbelieving expression was seen on Luna's face.
'I? Daughter of Scathach?' It may not seem like it, but Luna had insecurities on this subject. After all, Scathach never addressed training or anything like that, and she never made anything clear about her feelings toward Luna.
Because of that, the maid didn't know how she felt about that statement.
Since Victor appeared in the life of Clan Scarlett, the women have been happier, and the matriarch herself, the leader of the Clan, has also changed a lot.
And despite feeling jealous about it, she also felt happy. After all, the people she had the most consideration in this life for were happy, and that was enough for her.
But... Even if she thought like that, she was still a noble vampire, a selfish creature. She wanted more; she wanted to be part of the Scarlett Clan and be something more than a simple Maid.
'Why did Scathach never use the Clan ritual on her? Was it because she had no potential?' Those kinds of thoughts couldn't help but pop into her head from time to time.
Victor, who was watching all of Luna's body language, just narrowed his eyes. He was a man who saw beyond the lines and understood what was going on just by looking at the woman's reaction. However, even without this supernatural ability of observation, he also had empathic powers derived from the 'love' blessing of Aphrodite, so he could feel what Luna was feeling; after all, this emotion that Maid was feeling now was due to love.
She was suffering because of 'love'.
Victor looked at Scathach as the older woman met Victor's gaze, and as if she had some kind of mind-reading power, she understood Victor's intentions and turned to Luna.
Observing the state of her Maid, she narrowed her eyes, annoyance showing on her face.
Understanding what was happening, she looked at Ruby, her daughter, who was watching everything, understanding Scathach's message even without looking at her mother.
Ruby was observant by nature, so she understood what was going on and what her mother wanted.
'Looks like the conversation I had with her in the past wasn't enough.' This wasn't the first time this had happened. Ruby remembers that the maid was always unsure of herself.
'Did the invasion of demons affect you that much? Or was it this incident where she realized that Victor thought of her as family?' Remembering Luna's past, Ruby thought the second option was more likely.
That exchange of looks from Ruby, Scathach, and Victor only lasted three seconds, long enough for people who didn't have anything distracting them.
Fortunately, only two people understood what happened. First was Kaguya, who was always watching her master's every move like a hawk watching its prey; she must be ready in case she needed to serve her master with anything that was needed after all.
She was, after all, striving to become a perfect Maid.
The other person who understood what happened was Roxanne, who had a deep connection with Victor. Due to the recent large scale blood absorption events, her powers were starting to grow, and as a world tree that dealt with negativity, she could sense these kinds of feelings in other beings as well.
But unlike a human who, if they had the same ability, could go crazy at any moment, Roxanne was different. She wasn't human; she was a world tree. These feelings she accepted as normal and didn't think much about it.
She had her own sense of self and instinctively knew what her feelings were and what they weren't.
"Anyway, put that matter aside for now. I'll go ask Aphrodite what happened when I get back. Let's go on; we have a meeting to go to." Victor didn't wait for an answer and started walking as the group followed, Scathach and Ruby always staying at Victor's side.
Halfway there, Victor asked curiously:
"Ruby, did you contact Okama to work with our witches?" Victor thought curiously about the subordinate he got the day he went to Japan.
Ruby narrowed her eyes when she saw Victor bring up this subject, but seeing Victor's small smile, she understood that he had a plan. After all, this was supposed to be a Youkai secret.
"Yeah, the nine-tailed fox is doing an excellent job."
"Did we manage to locate the bastard that ran away that day?"
"Not yet... But he has nowhere else to run with the world in its current state. Maybe he's been captured by some demon?"
"Hmm… It's possible, but he wasn't supposed to be weak, right? He was a nine-tailed fox, after all."
"Without being in his homeland with the Youki, his strength has been drastically reduced, even though he can produce that energy thanks to his species... It's still debatable whether he's compatible with demonic dukes."
"I taught you that a fight is not about power play as if it were characters from a video game. Several factors interfere in a fight, whether they are mental, climatic, or personal. Demon Dukes can be strong, but even they are subject to this rule. Look at Sitri; he lost to Violet because he underestimated the woman and her potential."
Victor nodded. He remembered that lesson; it was a lesson he never forgot since even if he was weaker in 'power' in his base form, his 'qualities' were very harmful if used correctly. Because of this, he was confident enough to fight someone stronger than him.
"...Mother, do you know about video games?" Pepper asked in surprise.
"...." Ruby didn't comment further, but her own look of shock was proof that she hadn't expected her mother to know that.
Lacus and Siena remained quiet since they didn't want to incur their mother's wrath.
"Humpf, are you calling me old? I know what a video game is. I just have no interest in it."
"As a devoted mother, how can I not know about what my daughters like to do? Wouldn't I be a failure of a mother if I didn't know this simple fact?"
Scathach's daughters broke into a cold sweat. They really knew how 'devoted' their mother could be; their own bodies tremble just remembering Scathach's 'dedication'.
Flashbacks of guts coming out of their stomachs were remembered by all the sisters, and again their bodies shook.
Victor just smiled helplessly when he felt Ruby's emotions and saw the girls tremble:
"Am I the only one who likes to spar with you?" Victor asked as he looked at Scathach with a gentle smile and a twinkle in his eye that almost made Scathach twitch her legs a little.
"It seems so. My own daughters reject my training, shame..."
'Haah~. How I love that look.' Her insides were starting to get hot again, and her eyes glowed blood red as the urge to drag Victor to a random training ground and fight until she was covered in each other's blood was overwhelming.
'Control yourself, control yourself.' Scathach took several deep breaths to calm her feelings.
Not just the Scarlett sisters but even all the Maids looked at the duo with dry and speechless gazes. That torture definitely cannot be called training!
Yes, they cannot deny that this was the ideal method to train the vampire's regeneration, combat sense, and instinct... BUT! That carnage definitely cannot be called training!
Yes, they accept that it's efficient, but they definitely don't like it! Who likes to have their guts thrown out of their body?
Scathach and Victor are crazy to like that!
"Back to the point, Ruby."
"Hmm?" Ruby looked up with curious eyes as she saw a magic circle on Victor's fingers. The moment that magic circle disappeared, strange energy spread around the group.
'No more spreading secrets, huh?' Ruby understood Victor's intentions. 'My husband seems to be doing something behind the scenes... Oh, he's showing confidence for this alliance, huh... After all, in the current location the group was walking in, only trusted Youkai members could enter, and by speaking about it with a loud voice, Haruna would definitely know about it.'
[Silence.]
Ending the silence spell, Victor continued:
"With the recent events at the Vatican, The Inquisition will be reborn with new strength."
"Were our spies still available?"
Ruby remembered those two hunters she had made a contract with a long time ago. 'Who would have thought that they would be so useful?'
"Probably, Yes."
"Probably?" he asked curiously.
"Yes, I don't know if the angels will be able to identify and break the contract we have."
"… Precaution is necessary, huh."
"Yes, we can't trust his information 100% until we're sure the angels don't know anything and they're still 'loyal' to us."
"Haah, so much work to do." Victor sighed. He wondered how much time off he had now that the war had just begun.
"… Indeed." Ruby also sighed with the same thoughts as Victor.
"Daughter, did you send your subordinates to Nightingale?" Scathach asked; she didn't bother talking about sensitive subjects, just like her daughter, she saw Victor's actions.
"… Not yet, for now, they are in the human world."
"It can't stay like this, you know."
"Yeah, but we still don't have a hidden place to keep them, and I don't want to bring them to Nightingale to let Vlad's spies know about them."
"The Snow Clan is not safe right now."
Scathach nodded, she shared the same views as her daughter, but it wasn't wise to leave them in the human world.
"What about the Fulger Clan?"
"I do not trust Hecate." Ruby was honest.
"..." Scathach just raised an eyebrow.
"We can't hide someone in Clan Fulger if Hecate doesn't know about it, and if I ask Natashia to hide that fact from Hecate, Unnecessary distrust and friction will be generated, something I want to avoid." Ruby knew this matter could be resolved if she asked her 'sister' for help.
But she couldn't risk these unnecessary frictions. The current situation was delicate, and when she made her moves, she needed to think as much about her allies' feelings as her goal.
It is worth mentioning that this was very stressful for Ruby herself.
'Thank goodness I have my husband to give me love and comfort. With just that, I feel like this is a small problem.' She remembered the small moment she had a few hours ago when Victor arrived in Japan.
'I'd rather have him fill my womb with his seeds while tying me up with those ropes, but beggars can't be choosers… And this isn't the ideal time for that.' her expression didn't break.
"And that's a strength I want to keep completely hidden even if that person is Hecate."
Victor didn't comment on this. He had similar thoughts to Ruby; even though the woman proved several times that she was allied with Clan Fulger, she wasn't exactly allied with Victor and Clan Scarlett.
In the end, she was still a witch with legitimate affiliations with the witch queen. She was not an underground witch like the ones Victor and Ruby had under control.
Victor lifted his finger up, and with a flick of his fingers, the magic he threw around the group was undone. Why would he do that?
They arrived at the meeting room.
Ruby adopted a cold, neutral expression back in her ice queen 'mask'.
A mask that all members of Clan Scarlett knew how to make, even Pepper herself, who had a personality like a bright sun.
Passing through the door, Victor's eyes glowed blood red for a few seconds when he saw the woman with long black hair wearing a black kimono with nine tails waving behind her, causing a hypnotic effect.
Sitting in a Seiza posture, she was the perfect description of 'Yamato Nadeshiko', noble, kind, and stern.
The woman opened her eyes slowly, and those obsidian eyes met blood-red eyes.
Victor was delighted when he saw those eyes flicker slightly in shock when she saw what he looked like. 'Just like Kaguya, she seems to like this outfit, huh.'
Currently, Victor was wearing a simple black kimono with golden stripes. Incorporating the adage, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Victor, with Kaguya's support and her absolute pleasure, dressed completely according to the local culture and tradition.
The reason?
Beauty was also a bargaining tool... And Victor knew that this was his strongest weapon, even the witch queen herself was shaken by this unfair beauty that completely demanded the attention of the opposite sex.
"G-Guests, please be seated... We have a long conversation ahead of us."
....
