After seeing Carissa's condition, Lucy guided me to a room on the opposite side of the tower from the bloody door. It was her room.
Last time, I just visited her on the large balcony because she had expected my arrival. So this time, I got to take a look at what the Vampire leader's room looked like.
The interior was just like what I imagined from a Vampire's room. It was dark.
Even so, I could still see a little bit from the light that seeped in from the bright Border City.
Red wallpapers with flower designs covered the wall and ceilings. There was no magic lamp at all, mainly because a Vampire didn't even need light to see in the dark.
Many pieces of furniture that looked like they belonged to the Victorian era on Earth adorned the room. From a black closet in the corner, a round black table with two small chairs, and a bed with curtains in the middle of the room, put close to the wall, to the red carpet in front of the bed.
"It's a nice room." I praised as I looked at Lucy, who walked toward the glass door that led to the balcony.
The Vampire girl stopped after she opened the door and turned around, her lips curled up a little.
"Thank you. I designed it myself." She said, "Let's sit on the balcony, Arthur. I know that a human is uncomfortable in the dark. I have a few questions and some information you might want to hear."
She walked to the balcony and went to the bench facing the Border City. Glimmer lights from the reformed Underground City reflected on Lucy's red eyes.
I approached and sat beside her, looking at the Border City together.
"It becomes beautiful." She muttered in a daze. Her lips curled up like a crescent moon. "My decision to hand over the rule of this city to you that day wasn't wrong. I am glad the other Leaders also agree… with only one of us becoming a real slave." She added.
'Real slave?' I thought as I listened to what Lucy had said, 'Ah, she meant Raven.'
Still, to think that she praised me for something I didn't do was a bit strange. The Border City changed because of their hard work and Beatrice. I just told the primordial Succubus to change the city.
From fixing the road to changing the patrol time to further optimize the safety of people. That made people, especially Nobles, who heard the news visit Border City instead of other Underground Cities if they wanted to find prostitutes after having enough Virtues to cleanse their Sins.
'There are still a few things to change if I want to get the Queen's full support, such as making access to this city easier with recorded [Teleportation Gem].'
For now, though, I could only say that I didn't deserve any credit for the change.
"I didn't do anything."
"No." Lucy retorted as she shook her head.
"If you don't take action, we will still watch each other and have no desire to improve this city's condition. For us, this is just a living space, and we only care about our own subordinates. Never did we think to fix the road and make this place better."
That made sense. The four leaders were watching each other before I took over. They didn't want to spend any Gold to make others benefit from it.
For example, if Nina fixed the road to her establishment, the Succubi prostitution would benefit from it as the visitors would need to pass that district before arriving in the center of the Border City where Nina's hotels were located.
Then if the Succubi were the ones who fixed the road, Nina and Beastkin would benefit from it. Raven Group would also get more people to muggle, increasing their profit.
And Lucy mentioned that this city was just a living space for people like them. The question was, why didn't they just move to the Sin Kingdom? The cave behind this tower was connected to that country.
There, they wouldn't need to worry about having Sins. Due to the magical border's influence, people didn't release an unpleasant aura in the Sin Kingdom even if they had Sins point. Instead, they would appear more charming and charismatic.
But raising that question was stupid. They should've known about it. Lucy should've known it better than me. She was the one who kept people from entering the cave that was connected to the Sin Kingdom, after all.
The way they called 'For us' meant the people living here couldn't adapt or had something different from normal people and couldn't live outside.
"Is that so?" I simply said that and rested my head against my hand, "So, what do you want to ask me?"
"It's related to this city," Lucy said, looking at me with her blood-red eyes. "What do you plan to use this city for in the future? And how will you implement it?"
'My plan for this city…'
That was a good question.
At first, I planned to take over this city so I could go to the Sin Kingdom easier. But I just needed to wait for Duke Blacktomb's invitation now. Then I used it to trap and make rumors about Princess Carissa.
My main goal of taking over this city had been achieved.
But that didn't mean I had no use for this city. Instead, this city became more precious for my future plan. I asked Beatrice to make this city better to anticipate something like this in case I wanted to fool Nobles and Royalty.
That paid off with Carissa's incident. I could hope for the Queen's support with Border City's current condition.
"I will use the Princess to get the Queen to ascend to the throne. Then, I will get her support if possible. That's why I need those Vampires as scapegoats."
"So you want to make this city better," Lucy concluded with a nod. "And you said you didn't do anything. You're being too humble, Arthur. Act like someone in your position and brag about it."
"Hahaha…" I could only laugh lightly as Lucy said that.
"After that, what do you want to do? Open this city for outsiders?" The Vampire girl asked seriously.
This was her real question. I had already planned for this too.
"No, we will keep our identities as Underground City. There are many people who need a place like this. Don't you think so?"
"I do." Lucy nodded in agreement. Her expression loosened as her lips curled into a smile, satisfied with my answer.
As I expected, they didn't want to open this city to outsiders. Visitors who just came to visit for nightlife were different. They were just a source of money.
The outsiders she talked about were new residents who weren't approved.
We went silent for a while after that. Then, Lucy suddenly spoke
"The information I talked about… It's about the cave behind me."
"Hmm? The one that leads to the Sin Kingdom?"
Lucy nodded at my question.
"There are people trying to walk past the magical border barrier from there. I chased them away with my subordinates because they didn't bring the necessary preparation. It happened yesterday."
"Huh?"
