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As the classes went on, Frank noticed that Ruby had never been noticed by anyone, not even Matsuo. And he mostly attributed this to his Stealth Mask. Due to Ruby being stuck into his body while being so small, it seems that she was affected by the Stealth capabilities, making her unnoticeable.
And it was not as if she was doing anything much, other than slumbering this whole time inside of Frank's shirt.
"Perhaps I should not have brought her here, it still way too risky… But she really doesn't want to separate from me as of now, and well, I wanted to bring her to Earth so she could know things around… I will present her to Matsuo today, after classes, of course," thought Frank.
After the first four hours of classes finished, Frank was slowly taking out his bento box, while Harumi went, as always, elsewhere.
Matsuo glanced at Frank as he rested his arms on Frank's desk.
"Before classes you were wondering why I was being like that with that dog, right?" asked Matsuo.
"Ah, yeah… Are you still keep going to call her a dog?" asked Frank.
"Yes." Said Matsuo.
"…Okay, do whatever you want, I guess…" sighed Frank.
"Anyways, I haven't introduced you enough to the clans aside from our own… Although I would have expected something like that from Harumi, she hasn't done anything at all…" said Matsuo.
"How much do you trust her in these things? She's often very silent," said Frank.
"Ah, well, I know her for some years already. She's one of the few Vampires I accept," said Matsuo.
"You… accept? And what about Erika?" asked Frank.
"No, that dog is not someone I would like to be a friend of, nor an acquittance. You see, Vampires and Werewolves were not clans that originated from Japan, they're foreigners that came out of nowhere a few hundreds of years ago and made Japan one of their headquarters… thing is, not even the leaders of the clans here can compare to the true Progenitor Vampires and Werewolves from Europe, but that's another topic," said Matsuo.
Frank sighed internally as he guessed what was coming.
"Sigh… Another infodump?" he thought.
"Anyways, when the Vampires and Werewolves arrived in Japan, the three Demon Gods that I explained you earlier were already defeated by the Gods of our country, but now after the war, our gods were weakened, and most of them went to slumber while leaving their descendants to form clans to protect Japan. Our clans were very weak back then, as we were still growing as a group and a family, and the ones that could put a fight against the Vampires and Werewolves were very few, for years, our clans fought for territory and supremacy, while also protecting the innocent lives of the people that these two races predated on,"
"Predated? (I already guessed that they might kill humans to sustain themselves… but it still quite shocking to hear it like this.)" asked Frank.
"Indeed, Vampires love to drink Human blood above everything else, the younger, the more delicious. Although they can drink animal blood, they would never satiate if it were not for human blood. And werewolves… well, they hunt humans for a sport, but also seem delighted by their flesh. Both of such desires seem to be the curses of those families, with all of their power also came to a lot of drawbacks…" said Matsuo.
"I think I now understand why you kind of resent them…" said Frank.
"Ah, you finally get it. Yeah, our clan has always strived towards the righteous path, towards bringing people to prosperity and to protect humanity from the dangers of the world, which includes… these clans. But after a certain war where our Great Ancestor participated and fought against the Vampire's Clan Leader, Clementine, and the Werewolf Clan Leader, Beowulf, she forced both clans to kneel and surrender. However, within her great benevolence, she could not simply dispose of them, and it was not simply because she pitied their cursed beings, but also because they were direct children of the Progenitor Vampires and Werewolves of Europe, if she were to kill them… they might come here to unfold even more Chaos to avenge the death of their children... Anyways, in the end, a peace treaty was made for the three clans, and it has been like that up until now. Oh right, Harumi is Clementine's adoptive daughter, while Erika is a direct daughter of Beowulf… You could call them princesses in a very twisted way," said Matsuo.
"That's… certainly quite the story. Is it fine for me to hear something so important?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, it's only common knowledge within the Underworld at this point, no worries. Anyways, even with the peace treaties, Vampires and Werewolves were given the authority to hunt for humans only to sustain themselves, and not for a sport nor enjoyment. But still, wouldn't you hate someone that keeps hunting down innocent people to sustain themselves? I come from a clan where we strive for righteousness and for the well being of people, and it honestly sickens me that such beings walk around as if they were normal people… even after weighing through their shoulders all those sins they had committed…" muttered Matsuo, his eyes suddenly opened as they released a sharp golden glow, he seemed quite pissed.
"That's… well, it is understandable that they do it if they need to sustain themselves. But I also understand how morally wrong this is…" said Frank.
"At the very least, the Vampires had divided themselves into two factions, those that still prefer to hunt humans for their blood like savages… and those like Harumi, that buy it in special blood banks where people willingly go sell their blood. Do you know that most of the blood banks across all of Japan are run by the Vampire Clan? They've even made a whole monopoly out of it," said Frank.
"I see… I guess that's why you don't resent Harumi… but about Erika…" asked Frank.
"Yeah… She is not like Harumi. That dog is a feral beast that enjoys and finds pleasure in hunting innocent people. Our treaty simply does not let us intervene in this regard. And because they need it to 'sustain themselves', they can do this every few months, although it had been moved to once per year now, to lower casualties to the minimum… But still, it is quite abhorrent," said Matsuo.
"…What? Do you mean… Erika has…?" asked Frank.
"Yeah. She has killed a ton of people. Innocents, actually. Her pack likes to hunt people at night near Akihabara, such as homeless, prostitutes, thugs, gang members… and drunk people…" said Matsuo.
"Well, at least they don't go into people's houses and kill families… But even if such people are within the lowest of our social class, this is still…" said Frank.
"Yeah, even if they don't go hunt the 'healthy population' it still sickens me. Such people are not inherently bad nor evil… It's… It's simply wrong…" said Matsuo.
"But you can't do anything about it, right?" asked Frank with a bitter smile.
"…Yeah, I can't. We cannot do absolutely anything about it. Which only… it only makes me even more frustrated. What are we even fighting for? What are we even protecting then, Frank? It's… It still baffles me that our Great Ancestor took such a decision. I mean, looking at the big picture, it is way better than having the whole Vampire and Werewolves families coming to Japan to completely destroy everything here… but still…" said Matsuo.
Frank sighed as he patted Matsuo's shoulders. He was a realistic person and completely agreed with the Great Ancestor's decision. This was way better than having Japan completely devoured by the powerful Progenitor Vampires and Werewolves, whose, according to what Matsuo implied, were just as strong, if not stronger than the Great Ancestor, who was already considered a Demigoddess… meaning that such beings were comparable to demigods in strength, if not higher.
Although Frank felt similar to how Matsuo did, he did not seem too recent Erika… yet. Although it was certainly weird to talk with someone who had taken the lives of so many innocent people.
"At the very least, we can work forward a future where such casualties can be set to a minimum," said Frank.
"…Yes, I guess I need to get the more realistic approach instead of crying and whining…" said Matsuo as he began to eat his lunch in silence.
Frank sighed for the last time as he glanced at the figure of the girl that brought so much mental discomfort to Matsuo.
"Yo, Frank! Matsu-chan! Huh? Where's Haru-chan? Ah, she must be drinking her blood at the bathroom, bawahaha!"
"…Erika," said Frank, greeting the playful werewolf girl.
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