Dante walked calmly, holding Nagasawa's hand. Despite his initial thoughts that she might be nervous, she seemed surprisingly composed, though she almost let go to walk ahead.
"How many idiots this time?" Dante asked Skyla, who was walking in front. She turned back calmly and commented, "There are three. Usually, Vlad and Liza like to send groups to ensure nothing goes wrong. Knowing that old man, he probably sent them even before contacting him." Skyla said casually, carrying a tray with a teapot and some cups.
Dante had taken a bit of time, after all... He had resumed drinking Nagasawa's blood while waiting for Skyla to bring the tea she promised to prepare. "What the hell is in that tea? I mean... They are vampires, could it be blood tea?" Dante wondered. Unlike him and the valkyries who had the original vampire lineage, the other vampires came from Vlad.
"I hope it's not any Silverbloods." Dante murmured as they continued walking. "Why do you hate them so much?" Nagasawa asked, not fully understanding Dante's disdain for that vampire count family. "They are disrespectful. I met them when I was young, and they tried to impose things on my dear Valentina. I don't like them." Dante said simply and directly.
Nagasawa accepted his explanation perfectly; honestly, he was quite reasonable. In Nagasawa's perspective, those who want something must offer something in return; asking and demanding are out of the question. To her, asking anything from that demon—well, that crazy vampire—was completely understandable.
Besides... "Were you jealous because they interacted with her? Or was it their looks?" Nagasawa questioned. She understood his point but also knew that he wouldn't be so irritated to the extent of remembering names unless they had made a significant impact. It was strange he knew their names without issue, considering he often didn't bother remembering those he didn't care about.
Skyla, ahead of them, was trying hard not to burst out laughing. Finally, they reached the entrance, and Skyla entered first, followed by Nagasawa, with Dante bringing up the rear.
"Skyla, I will punish you later." Dante murmured just for her, causing her whole body to tremble and almost making her drop the tray.
When Dante entered the room and saw those three vampires... a massive flashback hit him, taking him twenty-four years back to when he was just a baby, newly introduced to the vampire world. "Damn." He cursed as he adjusted his appearance slightly. He had been suppressing his demonic traits, presenting himself as a common vampire, but here?
Screw it, he was going to unleash his full power to see if these bastards showed even a bit of respect.
In front of him were three vampires trying to contain their emotions, but just seeing Dante's horns... they trembled slightly.
One of them was an old acquaintance, a royal representative... "Asta Silverblood, it seems you didn't die," Dante said to him, one of the Silverblood family members. That man was tall, about 1.90 meters, but he seemed small compared to Dante. His silver hair was almost white, showing that many years had passed, and he was more mature than when they first met.
But he still wore a suit that covered his muscles.
Dante looked to the side, seeing his companions... Two silver-haired vampire women, the future vampire countesses, "Arieta and Ranni, I imagine you've grown a lot. When I first met you, you were quite striking girls." Dante said, smiling. He had nothing against them, despite the man before him once looking at his mother with very "affectionate" eyes.
As Dante fixed his eyes on the three, he felt something extremely strong calling out to him from them.
"Oh." He said, drawing attention to himself. "So, we have a dragon here? What a funny sword, staring at me so hungrily. What do you want? A fight?" Dante questioned, looking at Ranni, who remained silent but felt her whole body burn for a moment, coming directly from the sword she carried.
"Huh?" Ranni said, startled. "Oh, you didn't think that sword would stay calm, did you? Who's in there? A spirit? I should have brought Voralith; she would love to see a dragon... It must be a spirit since there are no living dragons in Nightsphere.
Probably in the Human World, you might find one or two... Well, I say that, but I have two dragons with me." Dante said, smiling while crossing his legs.
"D-Dragons? You have live dragons?" Ranni stammered, finding it absurd beyond comprehension.
"Hm? I'm the fucking Demon King; I have whatever I want." Dante replied flatly. They couldn't quite process what was happening in front of them.
"That's not how the world works!" Ranni screamed internally. She couldn't voice this because... well, the last time, the Vampire Queen was impaled. While Ranni was lost in thought, seemingly talking to herself, Arieta touched Asta's shoulder, and he nodded.
"We're here to—"
He was interrupted by Dante, "Yes, the king of vampires blah blah blah Dracula blah blah blah wants to meet with me, or is it the other way around? I mean, whatever, I just want to see what the old man wanted. Sending his daughter as a messenger was dirty; he knew I wouldn't refuse because she's an old friend... or enemy? Well, I never considered that anyway."
Asta sighed and raised his head to face Dante. He glanced at the two women and... an excruciating fear coursed through every vein, every tiny pore, every cell trembled in fear just from looking at those women. The reason? Well, Dante didn't want any man looking at his wife and maid. Just glancing at them triggered an invincible murderous pressure on his shoulders.
"Fufufufu," Nagasawa laughed like a mature woman. She hugged Dante from behind the armchair and said, "Dear... don't be so mean," she whispered, and his pressure ceased.
"Ah~~ Fuck... It's even worse the second time~~" Asta said, falling to his knees, panting. "Fuck! This shitty family! Why do they keep sending me here!" Asta screamed internally, seeing the story repeat itself. "The vision was even worse this time..." Asta murmured.
What vision, you ask? Valentina's murderous intent once showed him a world torn apart by bodies, rain of blood, and herself seated on a throne of corpses. But Dante's...
A demonic throne mounted on a pile of bones, devoured and destroyed bodies, various demons being killed, souls floating and eaten by demonic hounds, the ground formed of dead people crawling toward him, and the sky raining, a storm of red lightning bathed in a thick rain of blood. The same scene as before, a sanctuary with a man sitting at the top, a sanctuary made of carnage.
"Ah, shit." He muttered.
"Respect is important when speaking to someone important, Asta. You don't need to look at my women when you're speaking directly to me." Dante said, crossing his legs. "Come on, get up. Are you tired?" Dante questioned, and the man used all his strength to stand up. "There, good boy, now sit over there. Let's have a talk." Dante said, his eyes glowing red.
"What the hell is this feeling... What the hell is this?" Ranni questioned, seeing that Dante was somehow familiar, like something was about to click into place.
"Calm down and listen to him. This man... he is the most important man in this world." Ranni heard from her sword, the angelic and distant voice like a whisper of her last moments. She nodded and decided to heed the voice's advice.
"There better be a good reason for pulling me from my time with my wife. I'm sure I asked the old man to arrange a time to speak with me." Dante said, adjusting himself better in the armchair, which seemed almost too small for him. Skyla felt it was the right moment and began serving the tea, which, when poured from the teapot, was a bubbling red liquid.
"I think I should take over this conversation, Uncle." Arieta said, and he nodded. He realized that Dante didn't like him much, so he stood up and switched places with Arieta. She had much more class than that strange old man.
"Your Highness, we have a message from the Vampire King directly for you." Arieta said, looking directly into Dante's eyes. That was really good; it caught his attention and interest. After all, the man kept paying attention to everything but never looked directly into Dante's eyes. "She's much more respectful, I like that." Dante said.
"Of course, I'd love to hear what my great friend Vlad wants to discuss with me," Dante said, smiling at her. Everyone felt the complete shift in the atmosphere. "Fuck, if he wanted to talk to a beautiful woman, he should have just said so! I didn't want to deal with this from the start!" Asta screamed internally, only for himself to hear.
"As you know, we are from the family of the Vampire Countess, Carmila Silverblood. However, we are not affiliated with the clan. We are messengers chosen by the king himself... In other words..." She was abruptly interrupted.
"You're observers, infiltrated agents in Silverblood. Seriously, Vlad thinks this is less obvious?" Dante said, completely shattering their facade.