I didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation. Feeling a bit awkward and guilty at eavesdropping, I continued on taking an alternative route to return to my room. I began packing for the trip ahead, hopefully to get more pertinent information before I went to Ixia. While my priority was still to pay the lich lord a visit, I wanted to get an idea of what was going on in the vampire province.
Hopefully I would be able to get some useful intelligence so that I could immediately set the wrath of two legions upon the right enemies when I returned. Of course, I wasn't going to take it for granted that I might be able to rope Lindley into my side, but even if I had to make do without him, I would still need to know the state of affairs in Tyranvania.
I needed to know who my enemies were, exactly, and not just the ones that Claude, Valerie and Valencia told me about. While I appreciated their information on the five vampire warlords, I was also wary about the lesser nobles. The smaller conclaves who were gathering to eliminate me for their own prestige and reputation. Probably to ingratiate themselves with one of the more powerful nobles.
If that was the case, I was going to seek them out and flush them out with what resources I had at hand, rather than wait for them to attack. In order to do that, I wanted to gather firsthand information and infiltrate their conclaves. How I planned to do that, exactly, I had no idea.
Well, I will figure it out when I get to the city.
I had barely finished packing when there was a knock on the door. Valerie entered, followed by Stella. The vampire lady bowed her head politely.
"My liege, if you do not mind sparing some of your time, we have something to discuss with you."
I nodded. "Sure. What's up?"
Valerie spared Stella a glance, and then when the latter nodded, she turned back to me with a serious expression.
"I understand that my liege is a new vampire, just recently converted, correct?"
"Yeah." I nodded again. Valerie hesitated for a moment, and then she continued.
"So you will not be familiar with many of our practices, spells and magic."
"I won't deny that." Even though I had read as much as I could from the grimoires that Silvia brought to me when I was imprisoned in the dungeon of the previous Demonic Emperor's castle about half a year ago, I was aware that my knowledge of vampire lore, culture and arcane was terribly lacking. "I would appreciate it if you teach me more."
"From what I heard, you already have a firm grasp of blood magic and even shadow magic." Valerie nodded toward the whip and swords that I had secured to my belt. "Claude was very impressed by the way you handled yourself in a fight. Okay, he said that you used ice magic, but you have to be adept at blood magic to use something as capricious as Night Fang."
"You recognize this weapon?" I asked, surprised.
"I recognize all three of them. They are vampire weapons. How you came across them, I have no idea, but we have records of them in our archives. They are legendary weapons, having been lost for ages."
"I actually took them from the Demonic Emperor's treasury," I admitted. "Shortly after the castle fell to the humans and we were forced to escape."
"Ah, I see." Valerie giggled and nodded. "We did hear that you were imprisoned by his majesty the Demonic Emperor shortly after your transformation."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Yet you're still willing to help me?"
"Why not?" Valerie continued to laugh. "His majesty is dead. You are the new Demonic Emperor, chosen by the gods themselves. That crest you bear on your right hand is proof of that."
I knew it wasn't that simple, and that Claude, Valerie and Valencia had their own motives for helping me. The main reason was the tremendous benefits it would bring them if I were to be placed in power. Thanks to their assistance, I was obligated to reward them with positions of influence, and they would be more powerful than their current statuses.
Well, Claude and Valerie anyway. From what I picked up, Valencia wasn't interested in promotion. As the Blood Sword Demon, he had plenty of opportunity to be elevated past the rank of baron, but he had refused every time. Claude told me that his father-in-law was formerly a commoner who had risen to his noble rank through valor on the battlefield and his sword skills alone. Even so, he probably had something to gain by supporting me. Most likely he sought to use me to eliminate his enemies at the court.
An ex-commoner like him probably earned the ire of the supposedly more pure-blooded nobles, after all. Of course, this was all just speculation.
That was why I intended to go out into the field and collect information firsthand. As grateful as I was toward Claude and his family, I couldn't trust them completely. I had no idea who they truly were, having only met them for the first time yesterday.
But I didn't press the matter. Whatever motives they had, they surely wouldn't reveal them to me. At least not right away.
"In any event, I am here to propose a way to help your lady." Valerie inclined her head toward Stella. "She is still human, which might not be appropriate for someone who you wish to take as your consort."
I almost told her that I didn't intend to take Stella as my consort, but remembered that if I did so, I would be putting my companion in danger. So I held my tongue and listened.
"Have you heard of the blood contract?" Valerie asked.
"Actually, I have," I replied with a slight nod. It was mentioned in one of the tomes that Silvia gave me to read when I was in the dungeon. I had trouble deciphering its true nature because it was worded in pretty archaic language, but I at least knew the gist of it.
Thankfully, that also meant that Valerie wouldn't be able to trick me or bullshit me with some faux blood contract.
"It's a vow undertaken between two individuals by exchanging their blood with each other and creating a bond."
"That is correct." Valerie looked impressed. Then she cocked her head to the side. "And it is not just blood that is being shared, but also power. It goes beyond just inheriting vampire abilities, like you evidently did when drinking Archduke Vincent's blood. This is an intimate contract between two people who have a very close relationship."
"I see. And you propose that I form a blood contract with Stella?"
"That is correct." Valerie paused and studied me. "I'm not sure how much you know about the blood contract."
"Just superficial knowledge. What I told you earlier is the full extent of what I know."
"Hmm. Then I will furnish you with a more in-depth explanation. The blood contract I am suggesting is the most powerful and intimate one." She glanced at Stella. "When you exchange your blood with each other in such a manner, you will bind yourself to each other for eternity. Meaning you will only ever be able to drink blood from each other. You will no longer be able to drink blood from anyone else."
"A vow of commitment." I did read about this. Now the archaic script, which I had difficulty comprehending the last time I read it, finally started to make sense. "Something like marriage."
"Correct." Valerie turned to Stella. "As long as the both of you are willing, I can teach you how to form it."
I also stared at Stella. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"I have no objections binding myself to you, if you will have me."
Well, I had a lot of objections, to be honest.
As if she sensed my skepticism, Valerie quickly interjected.
"The benefits of this blood contract is that the two of you will become a lot stronger than previously. You might even gain access to a familiar."
Yeah, but at what cost? This went way beyond marriage. Once you entered this contract, there was no divorce. You were stuck with each other until death. It was literally till death do us apart. All that for strength and a familiar?
As important as strength was, I wasn't going to throw myself into a lifelong commitment with a girl I hardly knew (and lifelong for vampires was pretty much eternity). It wasn't that I didn't trust Stella, but I didn't love her. Plus the disadvantages of being only able to drink her blood and no one else's far outweighed the advantages of unparalleled strength. What if we got separated? What if she died? What if I died? What if she or I fell in love with someone else?
Speaking of which, I recalled that I would be able to summon a mystical familiar for each blood contract I established. The more vampire knights I made a contract with, the more familiars I would be able to summon. However, this would mean an unequal relationship. While I could theoretically drink the blood from any of the people I made a contract with, I had to provide blood for all of them. They could only drink my blood, and not blood from each other. Not unless they formed a contract with each other.
Okay, so the blood contract was not as limiting as I first thought it would be. Even so, it put Stella at an extreme disadvantage and I wasn't sure I wanted that.
Shaking my head, I sighed and turned to Stella.
"You know, if you only wanted to become stronger, and you're willing to forsake your humanity, I might as well just turn you into a vampire without this blood contract bullshit."
"There is that route, yes." Valerie nodded. "It won't give as much power as a blood contract, but certainly a vampire's physique is far stronger than a human's."
"I see." Stella looked downcast for a moment. As if sensing something, Valerie then excused herself.
"I'll let you discuss this among yourselves for the time being. Let me know once you've decided."
"Sure. Thank you." I bowed my head slightly, received a bow in return, and watched her leave the room. Then I turned back to Stella, who was looking disappointed.
"Do you…not trust me?" she asked. Then she coughed. "Well…it's only natural. We've only known each other for less than a month."
"Do you seriously not understand the implications of forming a blood contract and binding ourselves to each other, where we're only able to drink each other's blood?" I asked. Stella hesitated and nodded.
"You are right. It is quite the…momentous decision to make. It's not something either of us can make so lightly." She clenched her fists. "However…I need to grow stronger. As I am right now, I cannot help with anything."
"You have helped me plenty," I assured her. "Strength is not limited to physical prowess, magic spells and combat ability alone. You've helped me stay on track and provided much-needed advice. Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far."
Stella glanced outside the room. "It isn't enough."
I closed my eyes briefly and sighed. "Look, if you really don't mind discarding your humanity, I'll make you a vampire. The blood contract thing…it can wait. It's not like it can only be done now or something."
"True." Stella took a deep breath. "The truth is…I'm responsible for you. I thought that if you just drink my blood alone, no one else will be forced to give you their blood."
In other words, she wanted to take on the burden of supplying me blood alone, to prevent any more "victims."
"…lady, I would rather not do that. Imagine if you get killed, or we are separated for long periods of time. What do you think will happen?"
"That…" Stella trailed off, and then looked sheepish. "You're right. I didn't think this through."
"Also…" I growled. "Stop behaving like some heroine in a trashy story whose sole purpose is to throw herself at the protagonist. It's kind of annoying to see all these flat, one-dimensional cardboard cutouts who tag along with the main character because the author for some absurd reason feels the need to give him a harem. Have more self-respect, lady. You don't exist solely to serve me or for my pleasure. You're a real, living person. You should have your own goals and aspirations that don't revolve around the main character. Live for yourself."
"Sorry." Stella looked chastened. Then she frowned. "My goal is to be an excellent knight. And I can't do that if I'm not strong enough. Also, I think your dream of coexistence is a good one, and I want to see it happen too."
…okay…but do you really have to discard your humanity to become a great knight? Well, it was her choice. If she had already made her decision, then there was nothing I could do to persuade her. I could only minimize the danger.
"I'll go call Valerie." Then I paused as a vivid and traumatic memory ran through my head, which was enough to make me shudder. "Blood contract or not, when I give you my blood and turn you into a vampire, you still have to be careful."
I still recalled the unimaginable pain I suffered during my transformation. It wasn't just the regeneration of my lost limbs. It was the agonizing process of having my body destroyed and rebuilt at the cellular level. That sort of trauma wasn't anything just anyone could face.
Honestly, if I hadn't been on the brink of death and was so desperate to survive, I would never have taken the chance and forced myself to drink Vincent's blood. Now that I thought about it, I realized just how lucky I had been. There was less than a ten percent chance that I would have successfully turned into a vampire.
Well, given that there was a hundred percent chance that I would have died otherwise, I had little option but to risk it. However, there was no real, urgent reason for Stella to take such a massive risk and I told her as much.
"There's a high percentage that you might die from the pain of transformation. And there's also a good chance that you'll turn into a ghoul instead of a vampire. A mindless, eternally hungry monster without any magic, whose only thoughts is to feed."
"If that happens, I'll be relying on you to kill me."
"That's not the point…"
"I know what you are trying to say. But I am prepared for the danger." Stella looked at me determinedly. "I'm sick and tired of not being able to do much. Whether it was against Duke Bradley's knights back then, Bradley himself, or even the vampires…I need power, or I'm little better off dead."
"Don't ever say that," I told her sternly. "The moment you're dead, everything's over. Your priority must be to survive, no matter the cost. Live to fight another day. As long as you're alive, there's always hope. So you must never think so little of your life. You shouldn't recklessly throw away your life like this. You are no use to me dead, whereas if you are alive, I don't care how physically weak you are, there are still many other ways for you to contribute."
"I understand." Stella met me with steely eyes. I could see that she had already hardened her resolve. "And I wish to contribute as a knight. I wish to be able to stand by your side and fight."
I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded.
"Fine, I understand." I went to open the door to call for Valerie. Turning back to Stella, I narrowed my eyes. "You had best survive this."
Stella smiled and held up a hand, as if to make a vow.
"Don't worry," she assured me. "I won't die so easily. Not until I've honored my oath as a knight."