Chapter 628: An emergency?
You remember that plan about going to train? Well, that didn't happen.
The reason?
The King suddenly contacted the Vampire Counts for an emergency meeting. Alexios and Natalia were quickly dispatched at the request of the King himself, and soon they were all in a meeting room.
"My King, what is the reason for the emergency meeting?" Eleonor, accompanied by Rose, asked.
"We need to build another city."
"… Huh?" That was everyone's unanimous reaction.
"Vlad, explain things properly," Victor spoke with a frown on his face. Even though he was no longer a Vampire Count, ironically speaking, he held political power above a Vampire Count, even if normal Noble Vampires didn't know about it since virtually all of the High-Ranking Nobility knew of this fact.
Vlad looked at Victor and thought: 'I never expected to see him again so soon.'
"…Haah." Sighing visibly, Vlad began to explain.
"As you know, the Demon War has reached across the globe, many humans have died, and some Supernatural Races have been affected as well."
Everyone nodded their heads, indicating they understood.
"Recently, the Demons have been in a war of attrition with the Angels in ancient Russia and China territory."
"I don't know what happened exactly, but Diablo has stopped his decisive moves and is very quiet... And I don't like this silence. Diablo is a decisive being, and if he is silent, it is because something related to his plans went wrong ."
"Anyway, the damage caused by this war has already reached the entire globe. According to our previous meeting, I was trying to gain influence in some human communities and secretly helped tribes of Supernatural Beings who were my allies a while ago. "
"..." Everyone opened their eyes to this information. They never thought that Vlad was so active in the war.
"Except, a problem has occurred..."
"Specifically speaking, Yama happened."
"… Yama…? Are you talking about the King of Hell from Hindu Mythology?" Natashia asked.
"Yes. According to my sources, he was already in the Human World looking for something to do until recently. He's been seen going to countries on the continent of Africa for 'vacation' and causing chaos for Humans and Supernatural Beings alike."
"At the same time, in South America, in the Amazon rainforest, a group of Asuras were causing chaos and death, and as you know, the Asuras are Yama's subordinates."
"And this is where the problem for what I called this meeting comes in."
"I owe favors to some groups of Supernatural Beings in South Africa and the Amazon."
"In South America, we have a Race of women who are quite familiar with your lover, Victor."
"...." Victor was silent for a few seconds. He was searching his memory until he remembered something that happened hundreds of years ago where a group of Goddesses created a sacred place for women who men murdered.
"Amazons?"
"Correct."
"... But isn't that group being protected by the Divinity of the Goddesses? The Holy Land itself is also a hidden place, and rumor has it that their land is in another dimension." Natashia spoke.
"The corruption that exists in Hell is a terrible Energy. If thrown into the Earth, no defense will last long. There is a reason why only Holy Beings can deal with the beings of Hell." Vlad spoke.
"And the Asuras are, essentially speaking, Demons from another Hell."
"Vlad, you are not telling everything. Normally, corruption wouldn't be an issue, but I assume that because of the civil war, the power of the Goddesses has waned, and they are no longer protecting the Sacred Land, right?" Victor spoke.
"Correct. There is also the fact that half of the Goddesses who created that land are on this planet, billions of light years away from Earth." Vlad spoke.
"Aphrodite, Hestia, Hera, Rhea, Artemis, Athena, and Demeter."
"This was a land that these Goddesses created." Vlad finished.
"And Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter, and Rhea are on this planet." Victor continued.
"Which leaves only Artemis, Athena, and Hera as support, but as you know, a civil war is going on, and they are using their energy constantly..." Vlad added as he looked at Victor; the suggestion in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Ugh… This is my problem, isn't it?" Victor squirmed.
"...." Vlad just smiled. He was definitely enjoying the trouble he was throwing at Victor.
"You specialize in women, right? And half of the Goddesses mentioned are your Wives, so you deal with it."
"... Huh? I don't have that kind of relationship with the Goddesses."
"Yeah, look at my face and see if I believe you."
"..." Victor wrinkled his eyebrows.
"Please, Victor, I'm not a fool. How can a natural Playboy like you not touch the beautiful Goddesses? Are you doing the job right?"
'... So petty! Is this the King of the Vampires?' The girls in the room thought in unison.
'Well, he must be very frustrated dealing with Victor's bullshit.' Scathach thought with narrowed eyes. She didn't like Vlad's 'hint' about Victor one bit.
"Haah, I could retort that you could ask your ex-wives that, but that would be low even for me and would also be disrespecting Jeanne and Morgana." Victor sighed as he ignored Vlad's gaze that hardened at the name of his ex-wives.
"Anyway, who are you going to help in South Africa?"
"Oh? Why do you think I would go to South Africa?"
"...." Victor rolled his eyes.
"You specifically mentioned the Amazons first because they are related to me, and you plan to send me there because there are probably more 'things' than just Asuras. As a 'King', I don't think Yama would be so reckless as to let his 'soldiers' act together by themselves."
"Whatever is in that place will need my attention or possibly Scathach's attention."
"Which leaves South Africa for you to deal with, and since you or Jeanne are the only ones who can 'easily' deal with a King of Hell, it's probably you who will."
"..." Vlad looked at Victor with a neutral face, but inside, he was sweating like a pig.
"You really had a good master," Vlad said.
"I didn't teach him that, I told him always to be attentive to details, but someone else taught him that more broadly," Scathach said.
"Look to the shadows, since the one who taught me this was not Scathach, but Oda Blank when he taught me the Art of being a Ninja."
"The lessons of Adonis' Masters are also my lessons... Even though that body hadn't been advantageous in the past, the lessons I received from Hilda, Agnes, and Oda still remain with me."
"..." Agnes looked at Victor with complicated eyes because, for a moment, she didn't see Victor but her ex-husband in front of her. Which was understandable; after all, the being that was once Adonis lived inside Victor.
"Are you losing yourself in your own identity, Victor?" Vlad used the name Victor on purpose.
"As a Progenitor, you understand how complicated it is. I understand I didn't live that 'life', but it's hard not to relate and treat that 'life' as if it were mine when I merged with it and have all the memories from him."
"... You are not wrong. I understand it is complicated, but you misunderstand the situation."
"What do you mean?"
"From the moment you merged, that was 'your' life."
"....."
"Take it as if at some point in the past you were 'Adonis' because that interpretation is not wrong either."
"When you referred to the lessons that 'you' received in the past from Oda Blank, you clearly referred to that as 'me', and that is correct."
"Knowing how to differentiate is good, but at the same time, you must accept these experiences as yours. Conflict is not necessary; acceptance is."
"..." Victor was silently absorbing Vlad's advice.
"Back to the point, what will you do in South Africa, Vlad?" Agnes spoke, this was a very sensitive and complicated topic for her, and she didn't want to hear it now.
Vlad looked at Agnes and understood the woman's intentions, so he spoke:
"I will help a people known as Asanbosam."
"... Asan-Asabo-... Huh?" Eleonor couldn't pronounce it correctly.
"Asanbosam is a group of Vampire Nobles who live in South Africa," Rose said.
"... Why would they go to live in that country? The sun is hot in that region of the planet," Eleonor asked.
"I don't know about that either since they are a very isolationist group," Rose answered.
"... Contrary to what you may think, the Asanbosam are not descended from Vlad's bloodline." Scathach corrected Rose and then added:
"They are descended from an Ancient Vampire Bloodline that predates even Vlad."
"..." A silence fell in the throne room, and shock was visible on the face of those who didn't know this; even Rose was no different.
"You really know a lot of things, Master." Victor smiled.
"Well, I traveled the world in training and found some hidden Vampire groups. I met this group in the past but was not allowed to enter their village, but through a friend I made there, she told me the 'basics' of their history, and that's how I knew they weren't of Vlad's Bloodline."
"... I thought all existing Vampires were descended from Vlad's Bloodline?" Natashia spoke, still in shock by this knowledge.
"Most are, but there are small groups that have survived the passage of time, small groups whose Bloodline predates Vlad's lineage," Scathach replied.
"The Title of First Progenitor is just a Title Supernatural Beings have bestowed upon me. It is a Title that rarely portrays the truth of a Race." Vlad began to speak.
"Each age, a Progenitor of a Race is born."
"So it stands to reason that before I was born, there were other Progenitors of Vampires."
"The only difference between them and me is that… I survived, and I created a strong community for my Race. I made the Vampires prosper and built a strong Faction while they failed to survive and protect their Bloodline."
"I won; they didn't."
"..." The people in the room didn't refute that. Vlad might be a lot of trouble, but that was an undeniable fact that no one could dispute.
"I am called the First Progenitor because I am the best known... And because this man has recently become popular." He pointed at Victor, who just raised his eyebrow.
"Before, I was called The Progenitor, but that Title changed to First Progenitor because another being like me appeared in the same era in which I rule."
"... Returning to the subject, you will go to South Africa and face Yama while possibly recruiting the Vampires to Nightingale, and my group will go to South America to help the Amazons?" Victor asked.
"Wrong."
"... Huh?"
"Eleonor and Victor, you two will create the new city."
"... Excuse me?" The two spoke at the same time.
"Eleonor has the power to shape and create land. Her Clan Bloodline was the one who made those mountains that separate the territory and keep the monsters from invading."
"Victor, I know that one of the powers of World Trees is to control Nature. I have seen this many times in the past, so you, as a Being that merged with a World Tree, should also have that Power."
"..." Victor didn't say anything, not denying or accepting those words.
"You can use that to create wooden houses. Take it as training since you probably haven't explored this Power much yet."
Vlad displayed a small smile, "You two, with those Powers, are ideal masons."
"...." Victor and Eleonor didn't really know what to say when their powers were reduced to just 'masons'.
"I presume that while Eleonor and I work as 'masons', Scathach, along with Aphrodite, will deal with the Demons on the Amazon side?" Victor asked.
"Originally, the Goddesses were supposed to help the Amazons in case of invaders… So yes, you are correct." Vlad didn't refute Victor's words.
"Alexios and his daughter will be responsible for evacuating the two groups. I'm counting on you, Alexios."
"Your wish is my command, My King." Alexios placed his hand on his chest and spoke respectfully.
"… Just out of curiosity, how many Amazons are there?" Natashia asked.
"There were over ten thousand Amazons last time I checked," Vlad answered casually.
"....."
"What about Vampires from South Africa?" Natashia continued.
"I think it's a community of a hundred members. It must have grown over time, but due to Vampire physiology, it couldn't have grown by more than two hundred," Vlad replied.
"...."
It was painfully apparent that Vlad was throwing the heavy lifting on Victor and his group.
"Vlad, spit it out. Why are you giving me 'allies' so easily?" Victor narrowed his eyes.
"... Eh? What are you talking about?"
Victor and the girls rolled their eyes when they saw Vlad's feigned attitude.
"As a King, the logical decision would be to invite the most numerous group of Supernatural Beings to your forces-… Oh." Victor started to explain but stopped when he realized why Vlad refused to go directly to the Amazons.
Vlad's smile grew wider when he saw Victor's face of realization.
"Victor? Do you know something?" Eleonor asked.
"Alucard, could you 'kindly' explain what you have discovered?" Vlad spoke.
Victor narrowed his eyes at Vlad, this old man was quite irritating today. Then, with a long sigh, he spoke:
"... The Amazons are a society ruled by women who have been murdered by men and exploited by them in the past. That hatred is ingrained in their culture; they see men as nothing more than breeding stock or something akin to cattle to exploit."
"Vlad doesn't want to touch that hornet's nest because it would take too much work - possibly years of 're-education' to make the Amazons useful to him, so he left this 'little problem' to a 'women expert' like me."
Vlad clapped his hands several times, "As expected of Victor, you really understand things."
Victor snorted and turned his face away. He could already feel the headache coming from dealing with this problem. He already had problems at home, dealing with several [thirsty] Greek Goddesses looking at him candidly, and now he had to deal with more than 10,000 bloodthirsty, man-hating women?
"Looking at it this way, I now understand why Vlad doesn't want Victor to help the women. He'd kill them." Agnes spoke. She understood very well Victor's attitude toward those who raised their blades against him.
"Scathach, as a woman, and a strong one at that, would receive a far better welcoming from the Amazons than a man," Agnes explained.
"Well, their Queen asked me to help them, not exterminate them." Vlad nodded, "And even though I owe them a debt, I don't really want to interact with them. These women are more trouble than the Queen of Witches."
"Correction... They are 100x more troublesome than Evie."
"Ugh…" Victor groaned in annoyance. If even Vlad didn't want to deal with these women, Victor could imagine their attitude.
"But! Since we have a 'women expert' who even made a deal with the Witch Queen, this job should be easy for him! After all, he even has half of the Goddesses who created that Holy Land in his group. It should be really 'easy' to control those women, right?" Vlad grinned widely.
'... He's really enjoying this a lot.' Everyone thought when they saw the smile on Vlad's face.
"Oh, just for context, Eleonor, you will make the land of the city, and Victor will make the houses with his Power to control Nature. You must not make the houses with earth."
"Why not?" Eleonor asked.
"Earth houses are very… Primitive. It's fine to do that in an emergency, but living in those for a long time is a big no, and these women are 'guests', so a minimum of respect is required."
"..." Eleonor nodded, understanding Vlad's thoughts. She also wouldn't want to live long in an earthhouse, even if it was molded with her power. The feeling was not the same as living in a house of wood or concrete.
Vlad looked at Victor, "Alucard, the houses don't have to be as complex as what that Witch did in the Snow Clan city."
"They are guests, but luxury is not necessary."
"..." Victor nodded, understanding what Vlad meant.
'Basically, don't spoil them too much, huh? Let them take care of themselves.' Victor thought.
"Before making any decisions, I will speak to the Goddesses about this matter… If the answer is yes, where should the new city be built?" Victor asked.
"Where? What a silly question. Of course, it will be in the territory of the Snow Clan." Vlad spoke.
"Ugh." Agnes groaned in annoyance. She could already see the mountain of paperwork she would have to do.
"I refuse! I don't want to deal with a bunch of bitches who think they're superior to everyone else! My Clan and I already have our hands full with the Humans and Supernatural Beings currently in the new city!"
"I don't want to deal with this shit!!"
"..." Everyone was speechless when they saw Agnes' outburst, 'She really spoke with all her heart just now.' Everyone thought at the same time.
"But-." Vlad tried to talk to Agnes and convince her.
"I refuse!! Wasn't I clear enough!? I refuse!" Agnes practically screamed.
"Ugh…" Natashia put her hands over her ears; the woman had a high-pitched scream.
"If you force me to do this, I will burn everything down! Fuck the city, fuck these problems! Everything will turn to ashes!" Agnes threatened, and no one doubted that she would do it.
"I support Agnes. I don't want to deal with this shit." Victor said since he didn't want his Wives to waste any more time on paperwork. They needed to train.
"Why don't we make a city next to the Royal Capital?" Victor suggested softly.
Vlad winced visibly at Victor's suggestion.
"Definitely not! The Royal Capital is a place where everything is supposed to be civil. I don't want these women here, and that would be a stupid political move, not to mention their hatred of men," Vlad spoke and quickly proposed:
"What about the Fulger Clan?"
"I refuse. Due to our recent agreement, we have our hands full, planning how to improve society as a whole." Natashia didn't want to deal with that shit either.
"The Scarlett Clan? As women, they would respect Scathach a lot." Vlad spoke.
"I abandoned my territory." Scathach quickly spoke.
'Good thing I left my territory, or I would have to deal with this shit.'
"...."
If Scathach won't go, then... Everyone in the room looked at Eleonor and Rose.
Seeing the group's gazes, Eleonor and Rose looked behind them for a group, but when they saw no one, they broke out in a sweat like pigs in a slaughterhouse as they pointed at themselves.
"Us?"
"Ohhh! This is perfect! Strong women lead the Adrasteia Clan, so they won't be able to complain much about this setup."
"Wait-." Eleonor was going to refuse, but she heard Victor's voice.
"Actually, that's a good idea. We have those monsters close to Clan Adrasteia, too, so we can use the monsters as 'severe re-education'."
"...." She looked at Victor as if she'd suffered a catastrophic betrayal.
"We can group the Amazons and some men from Clan Adrasteia to go on an expedition together. Maybe with that, they will lose a little of their ego." Vlad said, "That's a good idea."
"In extreme cases, we can just throw those bitches to the monsters. The trauma and desperation of imminent death will fix them right up." Victor added.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, huh?" Vlad spoke.
"Umu. As expected of you, you understand well." Victor nodded several times in satisfaction.
"Then it is decided! The new city will be made close to Clan Adrasteia but at a very considerable distance." Vlad made the decision.
"E-Eh!? Wait! You can't decide that-"Eleonor was going to complain again, but Victor's voice was heard.
"20 KM is a perfect distance. That way, Eleonor can hide her Clan secrets well, and by making the Amazons a subordinate 'village', the Amazons will completely depend on Clan Adrasteia for support." Victor added.
Eleonor looked at Victor with a death stare. 'At the very least, he's trying to ease my Clan's burdens, even if he threw me under the bus.'
Soon an argument ensued, with Vlad and Victor exchanging ideas while Eleonor looked at the two of them with blank stares that surpassed even Natashia, Agnes, Violet, and even Aphrodite.
For the first time in history, the two Progenitors came together for a single purpose.
Their sanity.
.....
