The atmosphere at the funeral was sombre.
For the sake of presenting his body with honour, it was decided that his neck would be reattached to his body, however, despite the best efforts from the healers, the scar of Regus losing his neck was visible even after his head was reattached.
The first thing that one noticed when they came to say their final goodbyes to his body was the brutal way his neck was detached from his body as it was one of the most moral breaking events of a vampire's life.
One could not help but believe in Dracula's claim of racial superiority and unmatched strength when they saw Regus's cold body.
How could they not? When the supposed strongest representative of their race laid cold before their very eyes, while the enemy had effortlessly retreated.
If it was their first encounter and Regus was taken by surprise, his defeat would not have been as moral breaking as the one he currently suffered as Dracula had already spared his life once and Regus was supposed to be prepared for him this time around.
Through great effort, he had collected the Surya-Astra and had been training non-stop to tame its powers.
Yet, despite having a weapon that exploited the greatest weakness of his enemy, Regus fell short of defeating him which was a true shame.
There were no more excuses for his loss- he was just too weak and that was a hard pill for most vampires to swallow.
If they accepted that Regus was too weak, then the question about their own competency was bound to raise in their minds as in the end, none of them were as strong as even Regus, which was why when the various lords paid their final respect to the dead king their reactions varied greatly.
Some grit their teeth, some clenched their fists, some cried and some swallowed their dry saliva as nervousness, anxiety, fear, panic were visible in the eyes of the lord's that saw the visual of Regus's dead body.
As Max paid his final respect to the king's dead body with Asiva and Anna by his side, he felt like someone was glaring daggers into his back as he detected killing intent in the vicinity.
Upon turning, he was slightly surprised to see that it was Felix Aurelius who was throwing him the dirty look as he internally sighed thinking about what was going to happen next.
The killing intent of a mortal was not something that fazed Max as if he truly wanted he could probably stifle Felix's life with his aura alone however he did not want to appear like a tyrant on this sad occasion.
Undoubtedly it was a smart choice on his part as the second where he paid his final respects to the king and joined the side of the lord's that had already paid their respects, he was approached by Julia Caesar and her council of elders to talk in private.
Since this was a social event, their private talk could only happen at the corner of the room, out of everyone's earshots, however, keen listeners like Severus could still easily eavesdrop on their conversation.
The two of them going to a private corner did not go unnoticed by the rest of the room as frowns appeared on the faces of several lord's who wondered as to what unholy alliance was cooking between two king candidates at this dark hour.
" I'll be straight with you, Lord Max, since we have very little time before the council of lord's convene.
Initially, I had no intention of accepting your proposal regarding the merger of our clans, however, looking at the current circumstances, it's the understanding of the elders as well as myself that having a strong ally leading the clan is in the best interest of the clan during these tumultuous times.
We don't undermine the standing of the Bloodfall clan when we say this, however, except yourself and dombivli, the other planets and assets under the Bloodfall clan only amount to a third of what the Caesar clan owns.
Whether it be the size of our active armies, our treasuries or the development of our key territories, the Caesar clan far outsurpasses the Bloodfall clan in all areas, and hence it's impossible that we submit under you without putting guarantees that safeguard our own interests first- " Julia said as Max nonchalantly nodded his head as if he had already expected this much.
Both Anna and Asiva frowned as they had not yet been informed by Max about his decision to take the Caesar clan under his fold which is why the duo had no idea as to what was going on.
" Here is our list of demands, please read it and tell us if everything is acceptable to you, as I'm afraid that there is no negotiation room for these demands on our side " Julia said as she passed Max a sheet of paper with the demands of the Caesar clan listed within.
[ Demands for merger :- ]
1)The positions of prime minister, treasury minister, foreign minister and information minister must be held by Caesar clan members for the next 200 years.
2)The decision of deploying the full Caesar clan legions to war must be made only after consulting with the internal ministry, however, deployment of one or two legions to solve regional conflicts can be done at the will of the clan lord.
3) The resource allocation to both the Bloodfall clan and Caesar clan territories must be done in proportionate order of population and importance of the land and cannot be skewed in one party's favour.
4) The position of the clan lord cannot pass down linearly from yourself to the Bloodfall clan and needs to be decided through a combined vote of an independent successor council that has equal representation by both parties.
5) If the capital planet of this merged clan is chosen to be Dombivli, then the existing city needs to be expanded significantly to accommodate close to one million Caesar clan members as well as near 30,000 VIP quarters which needs to be funded by the Bloodfall clan.
6) The Caesar clan shall retain its independent name and identity and despite being a subsidiary clan of the Bloodfall clan, it will be allowed to govern its own members through its own system of governance.
[ This does not include national matters, but rather private family matters ]
7) This entire deal is void if despite merging, Lord Max is unable to become the next vampire king.
—-xx—--
As Max read the list of demands from the Caesar clan he could not help but click his tongue internally as the demands were much steeper than he expected.
Everything was coming at a cost. Whether it was the Caesar clan money, power or influence as Julia had placed checks and balances on them all.
By all practical means, the two clans were merging only on the surface as except the name change, Max was losing out a lot of autonomy in this deal.
With almost his entire council becoming foreign he was going to lose control over his own internal affairs as although he would be involved in the big decisions the day-to-day execution would fall under the duty of the Caesar clan.
By not letting him pass down the title of the next lord linearly, the Caesar clan blocked Kremeth Jr from taking the throne if he was not worthy of it which meant that the next clan lord might be a Caesar and not a Bloodfall as the two-clan dynamics might then flip on its head.
Overall, it was a carefully crafted proposal which would work smoothly if both sides remained honest and worked earnestly for one another, however, if one side planned to betray the other, the whole merger was bound to go side-ways as both sides held checks and balances over each other.
In a way, this wasn't how Max envisioned consolidating his power, however, he too knew that holding hands with the Caesar clan was his best shot at becoming King without much opposition.
In all fairness, he did not desperately need the Caesar clan's support as much as they needed his, as they were a declining power without a strong leader while he was on the rise. Which was why he decided to counter their offer anyway as he was not going to give into all these demands.
" Lady Julia, this is a very carefully crafted proposal and I understand that you might not be willing to budge on any of the points you mentioned below, however, there are two particular conditions here which I will not agree to.
Firstly, I'm not going to become the lord of a clan which I'm going to swear on protecting without the clan showing the same dedication towards me.
If I'm the lord, then the army should fall under my command, without any questions-
Secondly, I do not approve of the idea that my title as a lord cannot be inherited by my successors.
There should be no questions about that as whatever I'm doing today, it's to secure the future of the next generation.
If you can amend these two conditions, I'll gladly join the Caesar clan and together we will bring our clans to great heights, however, if you cannot, I will understand fully and assure you that this will not cause any friction between us even when I'm king" Max said with absolute certainty in his voice as he was clear in his mind that he was going to be the next king, with or without the support of the Caesar clan.