Max's current beard was a lot like what the dwarves were equipped for handling and hence they had him looking prim and proper in no time.
The stylist carefully plucked all of Max's grey hair from his beard, only leaving the thick black hair before styling them in a sharp 'V' pattern and adding a conical ring near it's end.
He then shaved all the excess hair from his chest and the rest, giving him the dignified look of a gentleman once again, as that alongside the fake make up of Max Rajput where he added a scar to his face made him look very intense.
If there was ever a mob boss to be portrayed in some gangster film, Max would be the first choice of a director if they saw him in this look as alongside his beard, the scar and the red eyes, the very aura he emanated was terrifying.
" Commander Max…. While I do respect you, it's not your place, nor your authority to summon me to meet you like this…. " Jathi said in a raspy voice as he met with Max behind the alley of the barber shop.
Max smiled as he looked into Jathi's eyes giving the old man the creeps as he said " Well it's not me who wanted to summon you, I'm only doing this as a favour to Ravan "
At the mention of Ravan's name, Jathi instantly became restless. He had been wondering about the lord's whereabouts for a while now and it seemed like Max had the answers to where he was.
" Where is the lord? He hasn't been present for court in months, what is he doing that is so pressing? " Jathi asked, his desperation sounding through his vocal notes.
" Your lord is trying to save your ass is what he's doing.
I don't care much, but I guess he will be back in court tomorrow or day after by the latest " Max replied nonchalantly as he took amusement in Jathi's desperation.
" Oh, I see…. " The old man said as the flames of his doubts seemed to be extinguished knowing that his lord will be back soon.
" What do you want from me? "
" What I want from you is to tell me about the upcoming war and the immediate areas where the Bloodfall clan might be in conflict.
No scratch that, I don't trust your judgement, tell me everything, I shall personally decide where I'm required to fight and where Ravan can handle things on his own… " Max said as if he was making this sentence up on the fly, not confirming nor denying what he knew about the existing situation while asking Jathi everything he knew about it.
Obediently, Jathi began explaining everything that had transpired since Ravan went missing from action and the situation about Sebastian on the frontlines as well as the situation about the dark faction war in general.
" For the first few months, the information on the streets was that Lucifer was only attacking the Kingdom of Death out of personal vendetta. However, over the months the Savage King seems to have defected to the dark side alongside the Night King, and the war seems to be getting bigger and bigger.
Every vampire lord seems to have started amassing natural resources, weapons and personnel like crazy and internal strife has suddenly ended.
While I don't have information about things from the very top level, It seems like the bells of war are ringing… " Jathi said as he concluded his report.
Max fell into deep contemplation once he heard everything. It seemed like for now the news about the war and the defects were not common knowledge amongst the masses but once it spread there would be widespread panic and hoarding to start.
He would need to store grain and food in advance so that when the panic hit the streets he would be the biggest controller of supply and ensure that the commoners without much money to spare don't starve.
However, the bigger problem seemed to be everyone's perception of Ravan.
Asiva had told everyone he was working on some big project and his reputation had taken a hit as a result.
Now if he returned back home empty handed it would not reflect well on his reputation.
To maintain his dignity as a lord he first needed to make a big impact and show the results of his training. Only and only then could he return home with his head held high.
Thankfully he had found a solution about that through Sebastian.
His best friend had supposedly been on an expedition with him for a few months and had returned with some undead controlling treasure that helped him gain big victories in the border planets.
This helped improve his personal reputation massively, and hence if Max did the same it would also have the same result.
Deciding to only informally go back first only to meet Asiva and get his mask, Max decided to later immediately depart for the border planets and make a big wave by wiping it clean of Barbarians.
Not only would it win him brownie points with the vampire society and improve his worth before the big war. It would also allow him to fully flex his newfound powers in actual combat to observe what he was truly capable of.
" Very well, Thankyou for all the information minister Jathi, I shall make the most of it… " Max said as he disappeared into thin air right in front of Jathi.
Now that he understood the overall situation and was looking prim and proper, It was finally time to head back home and meet Asiva.
************
( Meanwhile back in the dombivili palace )
Asiva was sitting aimlessly in the royal garden, she could not focus on work anymore ever since she saw that imperial summoning and was spending her afternoon by staring at the beauty of the flowers planted in the garden.
She had no-one attending her except a single maid who was holding a hand fan to protect her from the afternoon heat as she sipped her iced tea.
At that moment, The maid by her side suddenly dropped unconscious beside her as before she could even react properly she felt a tight grip holding her body and a hand covering her mouth to stop her from shouting.
Asiva struggled immensely against that grip, her tier 4 strength being nothing to scoff at, but no matter how hard she tried she could not even budge an inch.
How could she have? The grip she was currently in was literally strong enough to move mountains-
Eventually a familiar scent wasped into her nose as she felt warmth from the grip that was holding her and realised it was not one with bad intentions.
Streams of tears began pouring down her eyes as she gasped for air, not daring to believe it might be him…..
" Missed me? "
A familiar soft voice asked her as all the mental defences she had built up to keep herself appearing strong crumpled in that instant resulting in a dam of steady stream of tears opening from her eyes.
He was here!
He was back!
Their separation was finally over!
—----
/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, good job everyone! ///