Chapter 17: The Overseer of Bucharest (4)
"Take care, Azrail… If you ever feel scared, don't be ashamed of coming back home. And make sure to visit every other day. Just contact us once, and Alice will come to Bucharest to pick you up..."
"Mother, how am I supposed to work as the overseer if I keep visiting the Underworld every other day?"
My voice wouldn't have been clear if it weren't for [Sound Magic] since it was impossible to speak properly with my face buried in my mother's bosom.
"C'mon, if you don't let him go, how is he supposed to grow up?"
"That's exactly what you said when sending Ajuka to a damned Civil War. Do you have any idea how worried I was back then?"
"That's not what I said... And the situation is different right now. Azrail isn't doing anything dangerous there."
Contrary to my father's statement, I believed that my visit to Earth was rather dangerous.
For others, at least.
"I know, but..."
My mother finally decided to release me, and my father continued.
"Make sure to take care of yourself, alright?"
"Yes, father."
I nodded.
"If you get into any trouble, make sure to contact us. There's no need to handle everything by yourself."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Don't pull any pranks on people who live there—it'd be troublesome to brainwash so many humans if they found out about the supernatural..."
"Yes."
"And be sure to visit whenever you're free, alright?"
Although I doubted I'd have much free time, I still gave my father a small smile. "I'll make sure to do that."
"Take care, Azrail!"
Out of the blue, Latia came to hug me.
"Weren't you tagging along?"
"It'll be hard to come back if I tag along with you."
I patted the back of her head, and after a minute, Latia released me from her hug.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying."
"What a crybaby."
"I'm not a crybaby."
I wiped the tears off her face.
"Sure, sure."
It was still a mystery whether Latia could sleep alone or not, but I decided not to tease her today.
After I wiped her tears off, Latia backed off and quietly stood next to my mother.
Sebas and Vanessa weren't here since they had already wished me goodbyes yesterday. From what Sebas told me, they had some work to do.
A few seconds later, my eyes met Alice's eyes, and she smiled and waved at me, not saying anything.
Everybody knew she'd teleport to my location right away if I were to even get a scratch, which was reassuring.
I smiled back at my favourite [Knight] and created a [Transportation Magic Circle] under me, connecting it to Bucharest.
"Let's go, Amy…"
I turned towards the maid who would accompany me during my stay in the human world to tend to things like laundry and food.
"Yes, Lord Azrail."
The maid stepped on the Magic Circle.
I waved at my family once, and after a few seconds, we disappeared.
---
[Bucharest, Romania.]
"My, if it isn't Lord Beelzebub's younger brother, Mr. Azrail Astaroth."
"It's nice to meet you, Sir Vasmo."
I shook the middle-aged man's hand with a smile.
"Honestly, I was surprised that the one who'll inherit my position is so young, but after seeing you with my own eyes, I can see why you got selected as the overseer at such a young age."
"Please. I still have a long way to go."
After we were done with the meaningless pleasantries, Vasmo showed me around the house, which would soon belong to me.
The house had five floors in total, but I planned on using only two of them, with one of them being the ground floor, which had my office in it, and the first floor where we would stay, so the rest would most likely be closed.
After all, I did only bring one maid to take care of the house, and she could only do so much.
Not to mention, it wasn't like I'd spend much time here, so it didn't matter.
While Vasmo and I had a chat, his servants were showing Amy around the house.
"Under this building, there is the Dimensional Train Station controlled by the Astaroth Clan. And opposite to that, this is where the Carmilla Faction's territory overlaps with us, and this is the Church's territory…"
"I see."
"Other than that, this place has been declared a neutral zone by all factions here. The exorcists of the Church will not leave their territory unless they have some business. The same goes for the Vampires."
Vasmo pointed at the large map on the wall, and I nodded.
"What about Rogue Vampires, Stray Exorcists and Stray Devils?"
"By the rules we've previously created, it is up to us how we wish to deal with Vampires or Exorcists who make trouble in our territory, and vice versa... If the problem arises within the Neutral Zone, it will be dealt with by whoever is the first to react."
"Hmm… Are there any prohibitions from going to their territories?"
"No, we are free to roam around in each other's territories as long as we don't cause trouble, but of course, we cannot go near the Church's main base or the Vampire's main residence unless it's for a pre-planned meeting. The same goes for them, as they will only visit this place when they have something to discuss."
"It seems like things are hanging by a thread."
At my words, Vasmo chuckled.
"It's not that bad. All we have to do is mind our own business, and everyone lives happily. But the Church and the Vampires are always at odds, so there is no need to mind them."
"Is that so?"
"Although..."
"Is something wrong, Sir Vasmo? You seem rather troubled."
"How should I put it… Do you remember the problem with the Rogue Vampire I mentioned earlier—the one who has been creating a lot of Undeads in this territory?"
"The one I asked you to leave for me, yes. Is there something wrong with it?"
"Not that, but within the past year or so, several Low Ranking Vampires from the Tepes Faction and Dhampirs from the Carmilla Faction have been disappearing at an alarming rate, so much so that the Pure-Blooded Vampires who never cared much about their servants are actively looking into this matter…"
My eyes narrowed at those words. "To think something like that happened…"
"Thanks to the disappearances, the two factions have been on much worse terms than ever, so I will advise you not to bother with them."
"That sounds rather troublesome..."
"Indeed, it's giving me a headache just thinking about it."
"Rest assured, I will heed your advice."
Vasmo smiled at my polite behaviour, handing me a bunch of documents.
"These are some of the Pure-Blooded Noble Vampires from both Carmilla Faction and Tepes Faction... It also contains information about their general abilities and strengths. But even after all these years, I could only gather this much intel. Those vampires are a lot more secretive than any other faction."
"Thank you for your hard work."
For the next minute or so, I skimmed through the documents.
"What about the meeting I proposed with the representative of the Carmilla Faction?"
"Ah, yes. At first, the Carmilla Faction didn't seem interested in the new overseer, but after learning that you were Lord Beelzebub's younger brother, they agreed to a meeting."
"So they don't wish to meet the new overseer, but the younger brother of Ajuka."
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, and seeing that, Vasmo commented.
"You don't seem angry."
"Why would I be angry?"
"Because they're looking down on you."
"I'm not that short-tempered."
And I wanted to see a Pure-Blooded Noble Vampire for myself before taking over as the overseer.
After all, to me, this was more of an interview than a simple meeting.
"And that was why we decided to…"
Amidst our conversation, the door opened, and Amy walked inside, accompanied by Vasmo's servants.
"Master, the guests have arrived."
"Alright. Invite them in."
'Why didn't they simply—Ah, right…'
Pure-Blooded Vampires couldn't enter a building unless someone invited them inside.
It was a weird default setting.
Vasmo and I walked over to the overseer's desk, and he proposed.
"How about sitting on the seat of the overseer while greeting our guests?"
"Don't mind if I do."
Vasmo grabbed another chair and placed it next to the overseer's, gesturing for me to sit on the overseer's chair.
Suddenly, I was reminded of the reality of being a 10-year-old child since it was hard for me to reach the table properly.
Curse you, my 152 Cm tall body.
"Master, we have brought the guests."
The door opened, and the maids guided four Vampires inside. From how it looked, two of them, the males, were guarding the other two females.
Well, the Carmilla Faction is female-dominated, so it wasn't out of my expectations.
My eyes turned towards the two female Vampires, no longer paying attention to the bodyguards.
The first one was a little girl, a bit shorter than me, who had a doll-like appearance. The colour of her skin resembled a corpse, but even then, her face was beautiful, with long wavy blonde hair and deep red eyes, although they weren't as good as mine.
She looked the same age as me, unlike her partner, who looked like someone in her mid-teens.
The other female vampire had sleek, long silver hair, like a work of art, neat and incredibly pretty, with red eyes that were deeper than that of her partner, but they were still no match for mine.
"My..." The little vampire with navy blonde hair smirked ever so slightly. "I knew that the new overseer was the younger brother of one of the Four Great Satans, but I never expected someone this young. Could it be that the Devils are shorthanded these days?"
Hearing her comment, Vasmo frowned slightly, while the silver-haired female vampire looked a bit worried, glancing at her partner.
"That's rich coming from someone who is even shorter than me."
I smiled at the little vampire.
"If you consider height to be a factor when it comes to negotiations, then I must say that you're still a child. And even though I look like this, I am far older than you."
The little vampire smiled back.
"And if you link a person's age to their intelligence after living for so long, I must say that all the years you have lived for were in vain. Although I am still a child, there aren't many people who have better qualifications than me to oversee a territory."
Both of our smiles widened slightly, contrary to our partners.
Vasmo and the silver-haired Vampire seemed worried, frequently sending each other apologetic gazes.
"Why do you look so worried? It was just a greeting of sorts."
I turned towards the silver-haired vampire, who still seemed like she wanted to apologise for her partner's behaviour, while the little vampire turned towards Vasmo.
"No one here will take it to heart, so please, relax." After those words, the little Vampire continued and introduced herself. "I am Elmenhilde Karnstein. It is an honour to meet the younger brother of Satan Beelzebub, Lord Azrail. Please feel free to call me Elmen."
Vasmo seemed surprised by her introduction.
Well, his reaction was natural.
Karnstein was the ranked one household within the Carmilla Faction, and there was no data available on her in the documents he had given me, similar to the silver-haired vampire.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Elmen."
Elmenhilde smiled at me, and after a second, I turned towards the silver-haired vampire, who just stared at me with a weird expression.
No, she wasn't getting wet while blushing after seeing me, a ten-year-old boy, but rather, she seemed genuinely dumbfounded about how I had such a conversation with Elmenhilde.
Was she daydreaming during a meeting?
"Ahem!"
Noticing my reaction, Elmenhilde glanced towards her partner, faking a cough.
"Ah!"
The silver-haired vampire snapped out of her thoughts, looking a bit embarrassed, and she hurriedly introduced herself.
"My name is Millarca Vordenburg, a member of the House of Vordenburg under the Carmilla Faction. It's an honour to meet you, Lord Azrail."
'Oh. So that's how it is…'
This girl was simply an airhead.
"Likewise, Lady Millacra."
Elmenhilde and Millarca sat across me and Vasmo.
As one would expect, Elmenhilde faced similar difficulties in reaching the table as me.
Her five seconds of struggle was quite enjoyable.
It wasn't hard to tell that they had already discussed how Millacra wouldn't speak anything after the meeting began, and Elmenhilde spoke.
"First, congratulations on becoming the Overseer of Bucharest."
"Thank you. Would you like something to drink?"
Naturally, the only drink for vampires was blood.
In case they agreed, Vasmo had already prepared fresh blood before the meeting began.
"While I appreciate the gesture, it will save us some time if we directly move on to the important topics."
Elmenhilde declared, and surprisingly, our thoughts were moving in the same direction.
Millarca looked like she wanted something to drink, but the moment she was about to ask, Elmenhilde stopped her with a sharp glare, making her shrink back into the chair.
"About the agreement the Devils previously had with the Vampires, I would like for it to continue that way without any changes."
"Indeed. That will be the best for both of us."
Elmenhilde nodded at my proposal.
It'd be tiresome if we were to go over the agreement once again, and honestly, there was nothing that'd benefit me in it.
"Now, Lord Azrail, there is something we must talk about with you."
"And what would that be?"
"I take it that you must be aware of the disappearances that have been happening within the Carmilla and Tepes Factions."
"Yes."
"In light of these recent events, we would like to conduct a full-scale investigation within the Devil's territory, and I hope you will be kind enough to cooperate with us."
"In short, you believe that the culprit is either hiding in the Devil's territory or is a Devil himself, right?"
"I love how understanding you are, Lord Azrail."
Elmenhilde smiled, revealing her sharp fangs.
Millacra continued to glance at her partner every once in a while, not forgetting to give me an apologetic smile.
Honestly, it looked as if she was having a hard time.
"But if you are willing to go that far, you must be confident that the culprit is not from the Tepes Faction, right?"
"Indeed." Elmenhilde nodded at that question. "The Carmilla Faction and the Tepes Faction have been against each other for generations, but something like this has never happened before… After a thorough investigation on both sides, we concluded that it was not something that the Tepes Faction had done."
"Then, what about the Church? We all know that the Church has been on odd terms with Vampires more than the Devils, at least in this city."
"It is because even after thoroughly investigating their side, we couldn't find a single trace of an exorcist being in our territory... And even if they were behind it, I fail to think of any reasons that the Church would wish to abduct people from the Vampires' side unless they have completely abandoned their so-called faith."
Elmenhilde wasn't wrong about that.
Those from the church would rather kill vampires on the spot rather than kidnap them.
Not only was it extra work, but it served no purpose.
"Hmm..."
"With the Tepes Faction and the Church out of the picture, that leaves only Devils..."
By the process of elimination, huh?
"Very well. But while the Carmilla Faction completes its investigation, you must keep your servants in check and make sure that they don't take their food supplies from our territory. We already have enough on our plate thanks to the Rogue Vampire creating an unnecessarily large amount of undead in our territory."
"Of course..." Elmenhilde giggled lightly and elegantly placed her right hand on her chest. "While the investigation goes on, I will personally be the one in charge, so please rest assured that there will be no extra trouble for you to deal with."
"I will leave it to you, then. How long will the investigation last?"
"The Devil's region is quite large, so how about five days?"
Anything more or less than three days was unreasonable after considering the size of this territory.
"How about two days?"
"Four days."
"Three days."
"I guess we have a deal then, Lord Azrail."
We smiled at each other.
"I look forward to working with you."
"Likewise."
After saying that, Elmenhilde got up from her chair, looking at Millarca, who was still sad about not getting anything to drink.
"Well then, this is all I have to say. It was fortunate that I was able to meet you tonight. Above all else, I thank your great kindness of allowing a meeting like this to happen, Lord Azrail."
'She might be able to help me with that…' With those in mind, I smiled at Elmenhilde. "Indeed, I am glad that we were able to meet like this tonight."
"Then, I will be seeing you tomorrow."
Elmenhilde walked outside the room, followed by the two servants.
Watching her partner leave, Millarca turned towards me and bowed slightly.
"I apologise for my partner's disrespectful attitude."
'A vampire cinnamon roll...'
"Please don't worry about it. As for the drinks, I will make sure to get you some the next time you visit, okay?"
At my words, Millarca instantly brightened up.
"Yes!"
After bowing again, she left the room, catching up with her companions.
"Millarca is surprisingly decent compared to Elmenhilde. It makes me wonder if they are of the same species or not."
That was my honest opinion.
However, Elmenhilde would be far more useful for me compared to the airheaded vampire.
While I was thinking about the best course of action, Vasmo, on the other hand, had his own set of worries.
"I've never seen someone negotiate with such a sharp tongue. But are you sure about the investigation? What if the culprit is indeed hiding in this territory? It'll get even more troublesome if that is the case."
"I am sure that isn't the case."
Vasmo seemed troubled at my easygoing attitude, and he got up from his seat with a small sigh.
"Well, Bucharest is your territory now, so I'll leave it to you."
"Are you leaving already, Sir Vasmo? I would've preferred if we could talk more over a meal."
"We will, but maybe next time. I already booked a train to the Underworld."
"Missing home, are we?"
"It's been a while since I've been to Underworld, so I'm a bit nervous."
I chuckled, getting up from my seat.
After we were done with the goodbyes, Vasmo and his servants teleported away, leaving me alone with my maid, Amy.
"Amy."
"Yes, Lord Azrail?"
"Go prepare my room. After that, you can rest. I'll be back in a while."
Amy looked at me for a few seconds and bowed.
"Yes."
After Amy left, a [Transportation Magic Circle] appeared under me, and I looked around the room before disappearing.
.
.
.
"Well, this place certainly hasn't changed."
Appearing inside a dimly lit room, I looked around with a happy smile.
"Great Sage, switch on the lights."
The scene in front of me was rather fun to watch.
Several hundreds of individuals from various species, like Devils, Half-Devils, Reincarnated Devils, Youkai, European Monsters, Angels, and Fallen Angels, were asleep inside separate glass containers filled with a greenish-blue fluid, several needles digging into their flesh on various body parts.
"Finally… I can use these places without needing to worry about returning home..."
It was the base floor of one of my two laboratories within the Human World, while the other two were in the Underworld.
These labs were what I had been working on for almost three years now.
As for this specific room, it was called the [Engine Room].
Every piece of equipment in this facility was powered by the life force of these creatures, and that was all thanks to the spell I had previously created.
[Life Force Conversion]
[Category: Custom Spell.]
[Usage: Converts the target's Life Force Pure Magical Power. However, to use this spell on someone other than the user, the target must be unconscious. When activated, the user would have control of the target's Pure Magical Power created by the Spell, along with their natural abilities and equipment.]
Without any prior knowledge of how souls or life force even worked, it took over two years of hard work to create this spell.
And as I'd expect of myself, the results were truly wonderful.
During the last couple of years, I realised how Demonic Power worked.
Demonic Power worked based on imagination regardless of how powerful the spell was, and it wasn't impossible to do practically anything with it.
Yeah, anything.
However, there was one catch.
The consumption of Demonic Power was outrageous for even the simplest of tasks, no matter how much control one had over it.
For example, a devil could think about appearing in another place, and it would happen, at least in theory.
In reality, though, a simple task like that would require so much Demonic Power that even an Ultimate Class Devil wouldn't be able to accomplish it.
That was where the Devil's Magic System came in. It reduced the required amount of Demonic Power to accomplish a certain task with the help of magic circles and formulas to assist someone's imagination, so much so that even Low-Class Devils could teleport between places.
On the other hand, Clan Traits were simply magic frequencies embedded into a Devil's Demonic Power that made it easier for them to achieve a pre-determined effect without requiring outrageous amounts of power.
The more I researched and learned about our race and technology from the past, the more I realised how much more entertaining it would've been to live in the same era as the God of the Bible and Lucifer.
But that didn't mean I disliked this era.
"Hmm…"
My eyes landed on a Reincarnated Devil inside the glass container, and a smile appeared on my face.
I was grateful that Ajuka was such a nice guy, not even placing a tracking spell on the Evil Pieces.
All of these creatures were handpicked by me, with one of the criteria being that no one would exert much effort in their search.
Within the last few years, I poured all my energy and time into collecting appropriate subjects to work with in the future.
The years I spent studying the available knowledge of magic at the Astaroth Clan's library, practising [Transportation], [Mind Control], and [Stealth] magic until perfection rather than learning or developing combat-oriented spells, was all for building a place like this.
Even if someone were to find one of my laboratories, which was nearly impossible, all of them had a self-destruction mechanism in case someone came inside without my permission.
After looking around for a few seconds, I walked towards a wall, and just as I was about to hit it, the walls spread open, revealing an elevator.
"Great Sage, take me to the [Darkness Magic] research lab."
The elevator started moving, and soon, it halted as the doors opened again.
This time, the floor wasn't nearly as big as the Engine Room, and it only had around three hundred people inside.
Half of them were inside glass containers similar to the Engine Room, while the rest were on different beds, held in place by limb restraints.
Naturally, all of them were the people who had disappeared from the Vampires' factions.
Yes. The reason I was so confident that Elmenhilde wouldn't be able to find the culprit was simple.
I was the so-called culprit.
"Well, before we begin, Great Sage, show me my status."
[Answer. Understood, Master.]
+
[Azrail Astaroth]
Innate Ability: High IQ
Demonic Power Nature: ---
Unique Skill: [Great Sage]
Combat Strength: Peak High-Class
Status: High-Class Devil
Title: ---
[Essence: A Curious Knowledge Seeker(?)]
Common Spells: [Language] [Transportation] [Summoning] [Elemental Demonic Power: Fire, Lightning, Wind, Water, Ice] [Demonic Bullet] [Audio-Visual Communication] [Defensive Barrier] [Binding] [Appearance Manipulation] [Mind Reading] [Mind Control] [Sound Barrier] [Dimensional Storage]
Custom Magic Spells: [Gravity Magic] [Clean] [A Corpse Never Lies] [Sound Magic] [Way of the Wind] [Life Force Conversion] [Darkness Magic]
+
"Hmm."
Except for my combat strength, nothing much changed in the last year or so.
Oh, well.
There were better things to think about than my status.
"First, I need to catch up with the progress made when I wasn't here."
For the next three days, I'd be quite busy 'helping' Elmenhilde with her investigation.
After all, that was my duty as the Overseer of Bucharest.
---
Words: 4,158.
A/N:
Right, since there's no picture for Azrail, I picked up one I found on the internet.
Image.