"Come." He gestured for Victor to come towards him.
"!!!" Victor's killing intent exploded and engulfed the entire king's castle. Victor's smile grew while the gloves on his hand began to glow madly.
"..." Just for a few seconds, all the princes gulped as they sensed Victor's killing intent.
The one who was suffering the most from feeling Victor's killing intent was the fourth prince, who was only 500 years old.
Unconsciously, Victor prevented his killing intent from reaching Ophis, and as Elizabeth and Lilith were close to Ophis, they too also felt nothing.
Victor rose up from the ground, and again, he ran towards the king.
He was now 5 meters away from the king.
The King snapped his finger, and soon an even greater pressure descended on Victor.
BOOOOOM!
Crack, Crack!
Sounds of broken bones could be heard as Victor fell to the ground again.
"HAHAHAHAHA~." Despite being broken all over, Victor laughed.
Despite his whole body being broken, he still started to get up.
Crack, Crack!
Every effort he made caused more damage to his body, but he didn't care.
"This man... he's crazy..." The fourth prince muttered.
The third and the second prince could not help but agree with their brother's words.
'Victor...' Although he was a hateful guy, Elizabeth didn't want to see him get killed. She looked at his master and saw her with an indifferent face.
'Why isn't she doing anything?'
"Father!" Ophis suddenly yelled. Her voice rendered the entire hall into a deep and tense silence.
"Father...?" Lilith didn't understand.
"..." The king raised an eyebrow and looked at his daughter. He thought she was talking to him.
Soon something occurred that left everyone stumped. Ophis teleports to Victor's side.
Not wanting to hurt his daughter, the king released the pressure.
Feeling a small hand tugging at his clothes, Victor turned his face, "Oh... Ophis, what is it, my daughter?"
"...Huh...?"
Everyone who didn't know about Ophis' relationship with Victor could only say that...
He just called the king's daughter 'my daughter'!?
"Father...Hurts." Ophis had never seen Victor so hurt, and this was very different from the fight he had with Tatsuya and Einer.
"Oh, this?" Victor's wounds began to regenerate at high speed.
"This is nothing, see? I'm brand new." Victor kneels down and strokes Ophis' hair, "Don't worry, okay? Just go back to your Uncle's side."
"B-But..."
"Please? I promise I'll play with you later." Seeing Victor's gentle gaze.
Ophis bit her lip and said, "Yes, Father..."
Ophis disappears and appears on Krishna's shoulder.
"Ophis only cares about her father... there is no love for her uncle."Krishna wipes imaginary tears with his hands.
"No.....Ophis cares about... uncle also."Ophis says as she hugs Krishna's head.
"hahahaha" Krishna pats her head and cuts his wrist to collect a bit of his blood and create a blood candy for Ophis.
"Here you go Little Ophis, Gift from uncle."
The blood's smell moves through the room surprising everyone.
One could say that if Victor's blood was like a 5-star hotel food then Krishna's blood was like a Mother's meal because Krishna's blood is practically nourished by mana all the time and mana is closer to the origin of every being than any progenitor or god could ever be.
Ophis took the candy, ate it and smiled.
She just took orders!? What the fuck is going on here!? The princes could not believe what they were seeing, and neither could the king himself.
'I received a report about this before... But I never thought they were this close.'
Seeing Ophis smile, Lilith can't help but open her mouth in shock, "Is my little sister who always seemed to be lifeless, smiling...?" Her interest in Victor started to grow again.
The princes were more surprised that Victor touched Ophis, and he didn't suffer anything! Everyone in the king's family knew about Ophis' special status.
Krishna's presence was mostly ignored due to... ego that grand ego that all vampires have... the same grand ego that has and always will bite them in the buttocks.
When Ophis returned to Elizabeth's side, Victor stood up. He cracked his neck a little and looked at the king.
He flashed a small smile, "I'm sorry, my daughter interrupted our business."
"…" Again, another uncomfortable silence descended around.
This man is crazy! He just provoked the king!? He will die!
"Heh" Scathach liked Victor's response.
"You daughter...?" The king's voice sent shivers through the princes and his subordinates who were present.
'It's decided. He's dead.' That's what everyone thought.
"Yes."
"Kid-" The king was going to say something, but he stopped when he felt his whole atmosphere of Victor change.
"Hey, Vlad." He smiled at the king as if he were talking to a childhood friend who hadn't spoken to each other for a long time...
"…" What is this feeling? What is this unsettling feeling? That's what all the princes thought.
'Victor... My stupid disciple, I didn't bring you here for you to kill yourself.' Scathach ignored what Victor suffered a few minutes ago, why?
She went through the same thing in the past when she was a naive and arrogant young woman. So when she caught a glimpse of the 'top', she finally had a clear path to follow and get stronger. She hoped that would happen to her disciple too.
"Have you ever been asked this question before in your long life?" Victor's glove's magic circles began to glow brightly.
"A noble and brave warrior once asked me, are you an honorable fighter or a monster cursed by god?"
"..." The king's eyes narrowed a little
"Hearing the noble warrior's question; Do you know what I answered?" Victor's body began to lose shape, and he turned into something dark. He turned into an entity, the only thing that could be seen was his big smile and blood-red eyes.
"Yes, I know." The king spoke, and for the first time, he displayed a small smile on his face.
"…" All the king's sons were in shock when they saw their father's smile.
The king's answer took the smile off Victor's face. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn't stop the enchantment now that it had started.
"I am a monster created by god."
"You are a monster created by god."
The two spoke at the same time.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"You passed," Vlad spoke in a neutral tone as he held the Greatsword's bloody blade with one finger.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~" Victor laughed a lot. He looked very happy.
Why was he happy? The answer was simple. The moment he attacked the king, he had a glimpse of what he wanted, a vision of the 'top'.
He finally had a clear goal.
Of course the top that he saw was nowhere near the true powerhouses that are going to be in this messed up world.
"..." A deadly silence fell in the king's hall, and all that could be heard was Victor's demonic laughter.
They couldn't process what had happened in front of them; everything was too fast.
This man... Wrong, Victor morphed into something that appeared to be close to a vampire count form. He then created a full-blooded Greatsword and suddenly appeared in front of the king, and all they heard after was the sound of an explosion.
'Good, he seems to have seen it.' Scathach nodded in satisfaction.
The king lifted his finger slightly, and suddenly Victor flew towards where he was before. His whole body was cut and broken, but he didn't care. He just continued:
"HAHAHAHAHAHA~" Laughing.
Vlad sat on his throne again, leaning back comfortably while resting his head on his hand, and soon his whole appearance was covered by darkness again.
Krishna caught him and brought him near to cast various healing spells on him.'
Seeing Krishna casting spells so easily and half of those spells were like nothing they had ever seen.
Sensing the silence of the place, Scathach looked around and spoke with an annoyed face:
"What?"
"N-Nothing." All the princes and princesses spoke at the same time.
Except for Ophis, who was looking at Victor with concern. Suddenly Ophis looked toward her father and muttered,
"Evil Father."
"O-Ophis..." Lilith and Elizabeth stuttered a little. Although she spoke in a low voice, everyone present heard her words.
"..." A small invisible sweat fell from the king's face. He didn't expect this kind of reaction from his youngest daughter. He glanced at Victor thinking, 'It's that kid's fault, huh?'
Finished sucking his master's blood, Victor started to feel a little better. His wounds were regenerated, and soon he got up.
"Did you see?" Scathach asked.
"Yes, I finally have a path to pursue… But it's still too far away... Far, far, far away..." Victor finally understood something.
'For vampires, the barrier of time is absolute.' That's what he understood. Why?
The king, despite having stopped training and despite never trying harder to get stronger, was still the strongest.
The reason? He is the oldest vampire alive, and his status as the Progenitor of an entire race granted him many benefits as well.
A monster of flesh and blood sat on that throne.
"If I had been born 1000, no, 3000 years ago, I feel like I could put up a decent fight against him, sigh… it's really a shame." Despite that being said, Victor couldn't imagine living away from his wives, and if he had been born 3000 years ago, he wouldn't have found his wives...
"Knowledge..... that is all I need now knowledge of spells" Krishna smiled as he closed his eyes.
"This is just an objective not a goal and I will achieve it." Krishna chuckled as he set an objective or a smaller goal in his mind.
"HAHAHAHAHA~" Vlad Tepes, the king of vampires, the vampire who is respected by everyone, was laughing a lot now.
"…" Seeing their father laughing, Vlad's children's brains came to a halt. They couldn't believe what they were witnessing.
'This must be a dream!' they thought at the same time.
"Master..." Alexios Alioth didn't know how to feel either when he saw his king lose his composure.
Vlad ignored everyone and said, "This is the second time anyone has said this in my entire existence. Isn't that right Little girl."
"Tsk, don't call me that, Old-man. And I was young at the time."
"You're still young to me."
"That's because you're a walking bag of bones." Scathach held up her middle finger.
"Oh, Master said that in the past too?" Krishna asked.
"Yes, she was a lively girl."
Krishna just looked toward Scathach and smiles..... for some reason that smile pissed Scathach a bit so she just punched him in the gut.
Cough....
"You're talking too much, stupid disciple." Scathach's eyes glittered dangerously.
"Well, you guys seem to have a good relationship."
"...Y-Yes." When he caught his breath, he said, "I love Scathach so much." He displayed a gentle smile.
'Heh always wanted to say that since the day I read it'
[Host.... you are hopeless]
'oi!'
"...W-Wh." Scathach was taken by surprise.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" The king laughed even louder when he saw Scathach's confused face.
A vein popped in Scathach's head, "Stop laughing! I'll kill you!"
"I invite you to try. Many have tried in the past, but none have succeeded, HAHAHAHAHA~!"
"..." Just what is this chaos? Am I dreaming? Maybe the sun is rising in the west? Or perhaps even Hell has frozen over?
The princes and princesses were still trying to process what was going on in front of them.
Despite being born with the best genes, their information-processing ability was currently worse than an ant.
"T-This Mother fucker." Scathach wasn't happy at all.
"Originally, I wanted to bring you here to see what kind of man married the heiresses of Clan Fulger, Snow, and Scarlett."
"... Eh?" That was the reaction of the princes, then all the princes except the first and the second one looked at Victor with unveiled hatred.
"Oh?" Victor's smile grew. He wasn't someone who ran from conflict. The king was someone he had no chance of winning against; that much was obvious. But what about his children?
One thing Victor was sure of was that he could easily win against the third and fourth princes. They reeked of weakness, but did Victor care? Of course not. He just wanted someone to play with, and these two seemed to have some feelings for his wives, and that was a big 'NO' for Victor.
Seeing Victor direct his crazy smile in their direction while also remembering the earlier feeling of oppression, the third and fourth princes broke out in cold sweat.
'Forget it. It's not worth it. There are a lot of fish in the sea, let's forget about it.' The two thought at the same time.
"Tsk, cowards." Victor was disappointed and soon lost interest.
"Did you call us just for that?" Scathach asked.
"Yes." He displayed a small smile.
"..." Scathach wanted to punch that old man in the face.
Well, the king wasn't honest. Initially, he had thought the three clans were uniting and planning a revolt or something along those lines. However, from what he found out through his subordinates and seeing Scathach and Victor in person, he understood that this wasn't the case.
"Originally, that was my plan, but I changed my mind." The king looked at Victor.
"Victor."
"Yes?" Victor looked at the king.
"Don't you want to be a noble vampire?"
But am I not one?" Victor didn't understand the question and remembered that his wife had said that when they first met.
"It's not that. I'm talking about being a full-fledged nobleman. You'll have your own Clan, you'll be able to create subordinates, and you'll be able to build your own influence."
"Oh. Cool."
"What do you think? Do you want to be a nobleman?"
"Eh? Hell no. I prefer to train."
"…" HE REFUSED!? Everyone wanted to scream now.
No one, absolutely no one, refuses an offer from the king... Only, Scathach can do that, but that's because she's crazy.
Wait... Victor is her disciple, and he is the madman who attacked the king.
He's crazy too!
"Eh? But you will have time to train." The king was taken by surprise.
"Don't lie to me, I've seen Siena's work. That woman spends more time working than training."
"If I'm going to live like this, I prefer to train with my master."
"…" Somehow, the king was getting a sense of Déjà vu now. He felt he had received a similar response in the past.
He thought for a moment and then remembered a memory.
"Hey, little girl. Do you want to be a nobleman?"
"Eh? Hell no. I prefer to train." A younger Scathach spoke.
'Oh, they are very much alike.' Somehow, the king managed to convince Scathach to become a noble. He said that if she became a noble, she would fight many strong opponents, and the younger Scathach easily fell for that bait.
'Hmm... The situation is the same, but different at the same time...' The king thought while looking at Victor. 'It would be a shame for someone with this potential to be on the loose…' Suddenly the king had a brilliant idea.
"In that case, don't you want to become a Vampire Count?"
"A Count? Similar in status to my master?"
"Yes."
"..." Victor's eyes sparkled with interest.
Seeing this, the king's smile grew a little.
"Wait, Father!" First Prince Theo awoke from his stupor and spoke.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" He looked at his son.
"N-No..." Theo flinched under his father's gaze, quickly returning to his seat.
"Question." Victor raised his hand. He completely ignored the king's children, except for one little girl, Ophis, who was beside him before he knew it.
"..." The king looked at Victor.
Seeing the difference in treatment, the first prince's heart was flooded with jealousy.
"What does a Count's job entail exactly?"
"...." Again, everyone was silent.
The king looked at Scathach with a look that said, 'Woman, did you educate your disciple?'
Scathach looked at her disciple, "Victor, didn't you go to school?"
"I've studied, and I know the vampire counts are responsible for a large part of the territory of this world, and they control several small noble clans as well."
This was also one of the reasons that Victor did not accept being a nobleman since he would never accept being a subordinate of someone weaker than himself and that he does not respect. His pride would not allow it.
Victor put his hand to his chin. He was gathering the information he'd learned:
"The territories of the Vampire Count Clans are divided into North, South, East, and West."
"The southern territory belongs to Clan Snow, my wife Violet's clan. It is responsible for the negotiation/control of the economy of this world."
"The northern territory belongs to Clan Scarlett. My master is responsible for matters relating to war."
"The territory of the West belongs to the Clan Adrasteia. They are responsible for military defense and consist of a Clan of strong warriors specialized in defensive warfare."
"The eastern territory is responsible for all domestic affairs of this world. They belong to Clan Fulger."
Now that Victor has stopped to think better; 'Is this some kind of war strategy? Is this old man planning a war?'
Separating the important work for each group was a common process that happened in wars.
"…Hmm, boy. You're wrong, the eastern territory belongs to the Horseman Clan." Alexios Alioth spoke.
"For now, that is." Victor displayed a big smile.
"Oh? You seem to be 100% sure of what you're talking about."
"Well, my mother-in-law, Natashia Fulger, said she would regain everything she lost, and the way she turned out… she seems to be quite motivated. I think you'll get a request for a rematch from Clan Fulger against Clan Horseman."
"..." First prince Theo reacted a little to Victor's words, but he quickly regained his composure, but that small detail didn't escape Alexios' eyes... Although he had his eyes closed.
"...Natashia?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, then looked up for a few seconds, and soon the vampires that were hiding disappeared, and he returned his gaze to Victor a few seconds later.
A man in completely dark clothing fell to the king's side, and soon he spoke in a low voice into the king's ear. Strangely, despite everyone present being vampires, no one could hear the man's words.
'Is he wearing any enchanted equipment?' Victor thought it was very likely his speculation was correct.
"Interesting." The king displayed a big smile, "You are correct, Victor."
"Oh?"
"Former Countess Annasthashia Fulger just eliminated some insects from her Clan, and she's on her way to the royal capital now."
"…"At this point, the princes and princesses were feeling like those actors who were just hired as background characters and extras… Except for Ophis, of course, who, at some point in the conversation, claimed Victor's shoulders as her 'throne'.
"Well... That was fast."
'As expected of her, I think? After all, she mastered the power of lightning.' Victor thought.
Feeling a weight on his shoulders, Victor looked up, only to find Ophis sitting there, looking down at him.
'When did she get here?'
"Father."
Victor displayed a gentle smile, "Hey, Ophis. Are you comfortable up there?"
"Mm, I am, Father."
"..." The king's eyes twitched a little each time Ophis called Victor 'Father.'
"Hmm… I think she's going to visit her sister." Scathach suddenly spoke.
"Why do you think that, Scathach?"
"She's eliminated the bugs. Now she's going to want someone she can trust to clean up all the mess and get the Clan back on track."
"..." Despite not having said anything, the king thought that it was very possible that this would happen.
"... Returning to my previous question, what does the work of a Count entail?" Victor asked seriously.
"…" Does this man have dementia? Didn't he just answer his own question? The princes thought.
"…" The king looked into Victor's eyes, he exhibited a small smile of approval; 'Has the other boy already told him? No… I think he just deduced something, but he's not sure.'
The king looked at his children, "Leave."
The king's order was absolute, children or not. And, as if they were used to it, all the children left without much complaining.
Though the expressions of some of the princes were not pretty. They felt that the king was treating Victor in a special way, and they didn't like that.
What was the difference between Victor and them!? They were his sons! That's what they thought.
'Disappointing. They didn't learn anything from this demonstration, I even prepared everything for them.' The king thought when he saw the faces of his sons.
The princesses didn't think much about all this. They were merely interested in Victor, Lilith especially so.
Elizabeth just kept thinking; 'That man, he got stronger again… No, what he showed before wasn't his true power… this is the real Victor.' Her spine quivered as she recalled Victor's demonic appearance.
"Come on, Ophis," Elizabeth called her little sister.
"Yes." Even though Ophis didn't disobey her father's order, she looked at Victor with a sad face.
"Hahaha~, no need to make such a sad face, you can visit me anytime you want."
Ophis's face cleared as if being lit up by the sun, then she smiled gently,
"Mm."
"..." The king's eyes were trembling a lot now.
Ophis teleported towards the ground and soon walked beside Elizabeth.
When all the king's children left, the man said, "Before I start explaining, I first need to know."
"Do you intend to become a Count or not?"
"...Ugh, can't I decide later?" He was curious to know what this 'secret' was, but he didn't want to accept something without knowing what he's getting into.
In fact, Victor was a little confused now, 'why is this man being so generous to me...?'
There is no free lunch in the world. Victor understood that, because of that, he was cautious.
"You can not."
"Ugh..."
"Give it up, old-man, he's very cautious."
"Learned it from you, huh?"
"Actually, it was with his mother."
"I see…" The king puts his hand on his chin and starts to think about something, then suddenly an idea comes into his head.
"Victor."
"Yes...?" Victor somehow felt awkward when he saw that smile on the king's face.
"If you accept the role of a Vampire Count, one of the privileges I will give 'exclusively' to you is…"
"IS...?" Why is he doing so much drama? Does this old man like drama?
He smiled, "I will remove the rule that a Vampire Countess cannot marry another Vampire Count, this is an exception made exclusively for you!"
"...?" Victor didn't understand this strange privilege. In fact, he had several doubts in his mind; 'Was there such a rule before? I do not remember.'
But after he thought about it carefully, he thought it was obvious that this kind of rule should exist. After all, if two Counts decided to get married, the power the couple would have in vampire society would be too great.
"Just accept the position it comes with no detrimental condition and the money helps you in becoming independent and not remain a mooch on your wives..... The hidden condition is also what we were going for anyways."Krishna says nonchalantly as he looks at Victor.