Before me was the undead lord, Bony (current true name: Thanatos), my fourth familiar. Since I had experience with the process this time, only someone much stronger than me could tell that it was a familiar, and since that type of person didn't exist around here I thought I could at least get a couple decades of peace. Well honestly, just the two decades I got was too much to believe at first, but I had hoped that the trend would continue for a little longer, but I guess not.
It didn't look like the visitor I sensed could see through the undead lord, but I was sure that her presence was going to bring trouble.
"I see, this is bad."
After listening to the undead lord's report, my suspicions were confirmed. It seemed kind of late to be asking about that incident, but for an immortal vampire maybe two decades was same as just the other day. However, based on these memories they wouldn't normally be this straightforward. In which case, is there a secret objective?
"Hmm, could this be a ploy to make you get careless and slip up?"
"That might be the case, my lord."
"Ha..., you may leave. Keep an eye on her for now."
"Yes, my lord."
After I watched the undead lord leave, I sighed while shaking my head. Even though I didn't restrict its ability to think, it wouldn't counter any of my ideas.
'I wonder if the contract was too strict this time.'
Since I only needed to make the undead lord loyal, I put 'absolute obedience' as one of the contract terms, but it seemed that it was emphasized too much.
"Oh well, not much point thinking about it now. Jeanne."
"Yes, master."
On my right, appeared a beautiful woman with an hourglass figure in a tight dress and a loose black robe. Her hair now went down to her waist, so even though her face remained the same she showed obvious growth. Furthermore, she put a lot of effort in creating and using barriers so she was much better than I was and could keep up a light isolating barrier that made her invisible for as long as she wished. However, whenever I asked why she decided to focus on the Barrier skill, she would always change the topic. I never planned on forcing her to tell me, but I was curious.
"Send a message to Ein, I want to ask him some things. Call back Brad as well."
I was still able to use telepathy with all of my familiars, but both Brad and Ein were in places where my message could be intercepted through that method.
"Yes, master."
Jeanne bowed and then vanished from my sight. I waited a little longer for her to leave the room before fully relaxing into my chair. I didn't need to put up much of an act in front of Jeanne, but it was something I ended doing unconsciously. I guess that's what two decades of habits does to you.
'Status Check.'
[******* (Elios)
Race: Forest Dragon's Kin
Strength: 999
Agility: 999
Dexterity: 999
Defence: 999
Skills: Assimilation (Unique) | Curse Magic (MAX) (Rare) | ...]
It's strange. Excluding the time I experienced from memories, my mental age was almost 50, and yet, there was still a special feeling in my heart whenever I saw the name that I received from the Forest Dragon, Aura. My true name could only be said in dragon tongue, while my demon name was apparently a reference to a legendary human. It was the sort of name that I could ridicule without restraint but get upset if someone else made fun of it. After all, this was the last gift she gave me before leaving this world.
...
"Ha..., that's enough depressed thoughts. I should keep an eye on that visitor as well."
I first created the strongest barrier I could use for protection, and then closed my eyes. After gaining complete control over my soul and fully digesting the souls I had, my comprehension of the soul allowed me to unlock Soul Magic, which gave me the ability to do a lot of crazy things I didn't think would be possible before.
For example,
"Astral Projection."
After a slight discomfort, I felt extremely calm and free, as if there was nothing to bind me, not even gravity. In this floaty state, I looked back at myself. Since I rarely looked at a mirror, this was the first time in quite a while since I had last seen my body.
This might have been personal bias but with my light green hair and red-purple eyes, I was pretty sure that I was at least as handsome as those famous actors that I saw in my past life. And this was just me being humble because I was sure my exotic look would be very appealing.
...Wait, did I just take a good minute praising my own face?
"I need a hobby."
'Like seriously, when I'm not testing my powers, studying magic or sleeping, I need to find something fun to spend my time on. Like reading, there should be books here, right? I should ask Bony about it later.'
"Right now I need to hurry up and find that bloodsucker."
I had the layout of Bony's castle memorised so it didn't me long to find Isla. When I found her, she happened to be walking down a hallway and for some reason stopped at a certain window. The view was the same no matter which she looked through, a barren desert illuminated by the blue moon, so I wondered what she was looking for. But when I saw her use her finger to wipe the glass, I quickly guessed what her action was for.
'She wouldn't, right?'
My idea seemed hard to believe so I doubted myself, but she proved that I was right.
"Hmph, how dirty. I know undead don't care about decorum but can't you at least properly clean up when you have a guest?"
Since I was technically the true master of this castle, I felt slightly offended by her comment. She wasn't wrong about the fact that regular cleaning was neglected, but I really felt the urge to say that no one asked her to come here.
"My apologies, we didn't have time to finish preparing for your arrival, I'll arrange for the cleaning to be done right away."
I was pretty sure the lich that followed her was upset, but it still answered politely with an unflustered air. It was a good thing it was undead, because I had a feeling that a normal person would soon lose to their irritation when dealing with the mother-in-law act that Isla was putting on.
The next few hours went just as I predicted. Isla would walk around and criticise anything she could think of, from the placement of the furniture to the ghastly appearance of the servants. And every time she found fault with something, Farrow had to take responsibility for it. The time when she literally told him that his bones were making too much noise when he walked was especially fun-, I mean hard to watch, but he still handled it without showing any emotion.
'I should have Bony give him a reward for this, he deserves it.'
By the time she 'reluctantly' ate dinner, which from the perspective of someone from modern society was basically an all-you-can-eat buffet, I still hadn't figured out her objective. If she had come to investigate then she seemed to be acting too frivolous, but if I disregarded the chance that she was truly on vacation then it was likely that she herself was a diversion. However, with the information I had she didn't sound like the type to take the short end of the stick.
'Hmm, I'll just wait for Ein to contact me so that I can find out more.'
Thanks to the Parallel Thought skill that I unlocked during the years, I could leave part of my attention on her, while returning the rest to my body. I wanted to get straight to sleep, even if I would still be watching her in my dream, but when I came back I found Jeanne standing near my body, well my barrier to be exact.
'Guess I'll stay up for a little longer.'