"La la la la la," the man's voice echoed through the palace as his singing reached anyone within a hundred meters. His voice was indeed impactful; as he passed, the maids bowed, paid their respects, and treated him like royalty. Well, in a way, he was the most noble man in terms of titles—he was the true King.
His firm steps continued through the long corridors. "This place has become more... welcoming?" Dante mused aloud, noticing that... "These maids are really diligent, even though I'm a Demon King, they still treat me with dignity. Is that fear or respect?" he thought. But for Dante, it didn't matter much; he didn't need anyone's approval.
He continued walking, looking for a woman who apparently wanted to speak with him, since she had come to meet him in person. "What does that pesky vampire want this time? It wasn't enough to become friends with Sara, now she wants to leverage that to talk to me? What a joke..." he muttered, opening the massive oak door.
"Tsk, I hate this," he said, his voice echoing throughout the place, seeing not only Elizabeth inside the room but also Sara and Nagasawa, who quickly looked at him. "Tsk, trouble," he said, looking directly into Elizabeth's eyes. "You two, I'm sure I asked you to stay with Eldrax," Dante said seriously.
"Voralith is taking care of her, after you left her alone and she had panic attacks, irresponsible," Sara's furious words made him raise an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" he questioned, but...
"When you finish this nonsense, go talk to that child. She's afraid you'll abandon her," Nagasawa said coldly, very different from her usual strong self—she seemed distant.
"Cough-cough," Elizabeth cleared her throat to draw attention to herself, as the atmosphere in the room was tense. Dante just sighed and disappeared, reappearing seated at the office table. They were in Aldria's old room, with the women seated on sofas. He sat on the table, staring at Elizabeth.
"Say what you want," he spoke coldly, his concerns now focused on Eldrax, not whatever Elizabeth had to say.
"There are... problems regarding the Vampires," she said a bit dejectedly. "It has nothing to do with me. If that's all, leave. I have many things to worry about," he said, serious and curt. Eldrax was indeed the priority, not some vampire-related nonsense he never cared about in his life.
He was supreme above all Vampires, his mother was the Blood Sovereign, the most feared woman. He had no time to care about foolish bloodsuckers.
"Yes, it concerns you and Valentina. After all, you are Vampires," Elizabeth said, but... Dante didn't let her continue. "As far as I know, we're Vampires who don't follow the orders of your dear old daddy, so we have nothing to do with your problems, Elizabeth Tepes." Dante smiled at her, a cold smile.
Dante genuinely didn't care about all these important people who wanted something from him; he just wanted to live his life in peace.
"The Vampire Counts are trying to orchestrate something against you and Valentina," Elizabeth said. Dante looked at the woman, and the pressure in the room stopped... Gravity inverted, and everything began to sink into the floor.
Elizabeth was startled and nearly fell to the ground. If not for her strength, she would probably be dead from the pressure Dante exerted in the space. "Calm down," Sara's voice echoed like a chant, using her Sacred power. "Explain this before I go directly to the Vampire continent and use everything I have to wipe out the four clans," Dante said. He had the power to do so.
Of course, Vlad still existed, but he could cause a commotion.
"Calm down, darling. You know brute force doesn't solve anything," Nagasawa said. It was almost comical to hear her say that, but...
"They've been trying to turn my father against Valentina recently," Elizabeth said. Everyone looked at her, and... "You've got to be kidding me, right? What a ridiculous problem!" Dante exclaimed. "How can a Vampire King, a Progenitor, be pressured by mere Vampire Counts?!" Dante shouted. It was indeed an uncomfortable situation.
If it were someone like the Dwarf King with low combat power, the Fairy Queen paying for her crimes, or even the Werewolf King who is still at war, that would be acceptable, but... Vlad Dracula Tepes? No, this was madness.
"I'm not quite sure what my father is thinking, but politics aren't resolved by brute force," Elizabeth said, and Dante looked at her with cold eyes. "Yes, they are resolved with force. I don't know what the old man is thinking, but he must be out of his mind to even consider betraying my wife," Dante said. After all, they didn't know, but the current Valentina...
was much stronger than the Valentina of ten years ago.
"What does he want exactly? I'm sure you wouldn't waste your time coming here for nothing. Despite being your savior, we don't have a close enough friendship for you to come here without orders from Vlad. Tell me what he wants," Dante questioned, needing a broader view of the situation.
"You're really smarter than I expected... My father wants Valentina to create her own clan. Even though my father is theoretically immortal due to longevity, he can be defeated and doesn't trust the current Vampires. He wants to dismantle the 'Scarlet' clan system for greater control," Elizabeth said. Dante just laughed. "What nonsense...
Your father already has absolute control over your race. Don't come at me with that," Dante laughed. What could he say? He had some knowledge about Progenitors.
But you know what? He thought of something and decided to follow her lead... "The clan name will be Alucard," Dante said with a mischievous smile. After all... "This will be fun," he thought, because he didn't need to follow anyone who truly cared about this. He was a Progenitor, and no one had the right to speak over him.
Dante knew only three progenitors: first Vlad, though he didn't know him personally, he had heard things from his mother, like the control of souls and the equivalent exchange between blood and soul. This alone made him someone beyond expectation, but there was also the fact that he could transform anyone into a Vampire, regardless of their race—elf, dwarf, or fairy, any consenting race.
Unlike Dante himself, who couldn't control this, he could only create a being from scratch, whereas Vlad could create and transform. This is why Dante wasn't a Race Progenitor, but a Dimensional one. He didn't know much about other progenitors besides himself. Lilith was an example; she was the progenitor of demons, but could she do anything beyond creating demons? Dante didn't know.
"A-Alucard?" Elizabeth trembled. Of course, Alucard was Dracula spelled backward, just that was... "Why are you offending the Vampire King? I mean, using his name backward..." Sara questioned, still in the room, listening to Dante and Elizabeth's conversation. "Hm? Who cares?
We're doing him a favor. That bastard doesn't want to turn against Valentina; he wants to clean up his house's trash," Dante said, and they all opened their eyes in surprise. "He'll agree to the name, you know why? Because it doesn't matter to us, the sovereigns," he commented with a smile. "Besides, it's less of a headache. I'm sure those Counts might want to attack you later, creating a sixth clan.
That means more privacy for us," he said, but his goal was... "And we can make a big house. After all, we should get an increase in land, right? That Crimson Mansion plot is too small, now that we have two dragons," Dante smiled.
Elizabeth couldn't say anything; she just... looked at him. That man... was so... handsome? She was a woman of few words and hardly cared about relationships, but at that moment...
the way he was handling her father, a progenitor that many feared... "Why is he... so..." She thought, her eyes observing Dante so deeply that...
*BONK*
"Ouch!" she cried out as she felt a strong blow to her head. "Why did you do that?" she shouted at Sara, who still had her fist on her head... Well, Sara had several reasons for this but again, she struck another blow
*BONK*
"Ouch! Again!? What did I do?" she shouted again, and Sara looked deep into her eyes. Elizabeth saw only a vast spiral abyss. "Desire my husband again, and I'll turn you into golden dust," Sara said, extremely serious, to the point her hair slightly lifted, and the tips turned golden. Elizabeth shivered a little in fear.
"Stop it, dear, you're being overly obsessive," Dante said with a smile. After all... he loved it.
"I need to go now, I still have matters to resolve" Dante said and kissed Sara on the forehead, followed by Nagasawa who got up to accompany him "I'll go with you"... she said and Dante nodded, they both left the room leaving Sara and Elizabeth alone
Nagasawa explained about Eldrax's situation and everything they had talked to her about to try to calm her down... He wasn't happy with how that situation was going, he felt really bad.