Chapter 123: The king's plan.
"In that case, don't you want to be a Count?"
"…" Scathach narrowed her eyes when she heard what Vlad said.
"A Count? Similar in status to my master?"
"Yes."
"..." Victor's eyes sparkled with interest.
Seeing this, the king's smile grew a little.
"Wait, Father!" First Prince Theo awoke from his stupor and spoke.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" He looked at his son.
"N-No..." Theo flinched under his father's gaze, quickly returning to his seat.
"Question." Victor raised his hand. He completely ignored the king's children, except for one little girl, Ophis, who was beside him before he knew it.
"..." The king looked at Victor.
Seeing the difference in treatment, the first prince's heart was flooded with jealousy.
"What does a Count's job entail exactly?"
"...." Again, everyone was silent.
The king looked at Scathach with a look that said, 'Woman, did you educate your disciple?'
Scathach looked at her disciple, "Victor, didn't you go to school?"
"I've studied, and I know the vampire counts are responsible for a large part of the territory of this world, and they control several small noble clans as well."
This was also one of the reasons that Victor did not accept being a nobleman since he would never accept being a subordinate of someone weaker than himself and that he does not respect. His pride would not allow it.
Victor put his hand to his chin. He was gathering the information he'd learned:
"The territories of the Vampire Count Clans are divided into North, South, East, and West."
"The southern territory belongs to Clan Snow, my wife Violet's clan. It is responsible for the negotiation/control of the economy of this world."
"The northern territory belongs to Clan Scarlett. My master is responsible for matters relating to war."
"The territory of the West belongs to the Clan Adrasteia. They are responsible for military defense and consist of a Clan of strong warriors specialized in defensive warfare."
"The eastern territory is responsible for all domestic affairs of this world. They belong to Clan Fulger."
Now that Victor has stopped to think better; 'Is this some kind of war strategy? Is this old man planning a war?'
Separating the important work for each group was a common process that happened in wars.
"…Hmm, boy. You're wrong, the eastern territory belongs to the Horseman Clan." Alexios Alioth spoke.
"For now, that is." Victor displayed a big smile.
"Oh? You seem to be 100% sure of what you're talking about."
"Well, my mother-in-law, Natashia Fulger, said she would regain everything she lost, and the way she turned out… she seems to be quite motivated. I think you'll get a request for a rematch from Clan Fulger against Clan Horseman."
"..." First prince Theo reacted a little to Victor's words, but he quickly regained his composure, but that small detail didn't escape Alexios' eyes... Although he had his eyes closed.
"...Natashia?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, then looked up for a few seconds, and soon the vampires that were hiding disappeared, and he returned his gaze to Victor a few seconds later.
A man in completely dark clothing fell to the king's side, and soon he spoke in a low voice into the king's ear. Strangely, despite everyone present being vampires, no one could hear the man's words.
'Is he wearing any enchanted equipment?' Victor thought it was very likely his speculation was correct.
"Interesting." The king displayed a big smile, "You are correct, Victor."
"Oh?"
"Former Countess Annasthashia Fulger just eliminated some insects from her Clan, and she's on her way to the royal capital now."
"…"At this point, the princes and princesses were feeling like those actors who were just hired as background characters and extras… Except for Ophis, of course, who, at some point in the conversation, claimed Victor's shoulders as her 'throne'.
"Well... That was fast."
'As expected of her, I think? After all, she mastered the power of lightning.' Victor thought.
Feeling a weight on his shoulders, Victor looked up, only to find Ophis sitting there, looking down at him.
'When did she get here?'
"Father."
Victor displayed a gentle smile, "Hey, Ophis. Are you comfortable up there?"
"Mm, I am, Father."
"..." The king's eyes twitched a little each time Ophis called Victor 'Father.'
"Hmm… I think she's going to visit her sister." Scathach suddenly spoke.
"Why do you think that, Scathach?"
"She's eliminated the bugs. Now she's going to want someone she can trust to clean up all the mess and get the Clan back on track."
"..." Despite not having said anything, the king thought that it was very possible that this would happen.
"... Returning to my previous question, what does the work of a Count entail?" Victor asked seriously.
"…" Does this man have dementia? Didn't he just answer his own question? The princes thought.
"…" The king looked into Victor's eyes, he exhibited a small smile of approval; 'Has he noticed? No… I think he just deduced something, but he's not sure.'
The king looked at his children, "Leave."
The king's order was absolute, children or not. And, as if they were used to it, all the children left without much complaining.
Though the expressions of some of the princes were not pretty. They felt that the king was treating Victor in a special way, and they didn't like that.
What was the difference between Victor and them!? They were his sons! That's what they thought.
'Disappointing. They didn't learn anything from this demonstration, I even prepared everything for them.' The king thought when he saw the faces of his sons.
The princesses didn't think much about all this. They were merely interested in Victor, Lilith especially so.
Elizabeth just kept thinking; 'That man, he got stronger again… No, what he showed before wasn't his true power… this is the real Victor.' Her spine quivered as she recalled Victor's demonic appearance.
"Come on, Ophis," Elizabeth called her little sister.
"Yes." Even though Ophis didn't disobey her father's order, she looked at Victor with a sad face.
"Hahaha~, no need to make such a sad face, you can visit me anytime you want."
Ophis's face cleared as if being lit up by the sun, then she smiled gently,
"Mm."
"..." The king's eyes were trembling a lot now.
Ophis teleported towards the ground and soon walked beside Elizabeth.
When all the king's children left, the man said, "Before I start explaining, I first need to know."
"Do you intend to become a Count or not?"
"...Ugh, can't I decide later?" He was curious to know what this 'secret' was, but he didn't want to accept something without knowing what he's getting into.
In fact, Victor was a little confused now, 'why is this man being so generous to me...?'
There is no free lunch in the world. Victor understood that, because of that, he was cautious.
"You can not."
"Ugh..."
"Give it up, old-man, he's very cautious."
"Learned it from you, huh?"
"Actually, it was with his mother."
"I see…" The king puts his hand on his chin and starts to think about something, then suddenly an idea comes into his head.
"Victor."
"Yes...?" Victor somehow felt awkward when he saw that smile on the king's face.
"If you accept the role of a Vampire Count, one of the privileges I will give 'exclusively' to you is…"
"IS...?" Why is he doing so much drama? Does this old man like drama?
He smiled, "I will remove the rule that a Vampire Countess cannot marry another Vampire Count, this is an exception made exclusively for you!"
"...?" Victor didn't understand this strange privilege. In fact, he had several doubts in his mind; 'Was there such a rule before? I do not remember.'
But after he thought about it carefully, he thought it was obvious that this kind of rule should exist. After all, if two Counts decided to get married, the power the couple would have in vampire society would be too great.
"Vlad, I'm already-" he was going to say he was married.
"YES! He accepts!" Scathach suddenly yelled, looking a lot more excited than usual.
"Eh...?" Victor looked at his master.
"...Pftt," The king almost laughed again; 'Can she be any more obvious?' The king thought humorously.
Feeling the gazes of the men in the room,
Cough.
She coughed, pretending nothing happened.
"I mean, this is a good deal, Victor, you must accept." She looked at her disciple with her eyes glowing blood red.
"Huh? How is this a good deal?"
"Think, Victor. Think."
"…" Why is she imitating me?
"In the future, your wives will become Countesses, and how can you, an unstated vampire, be able to marry them?"
"..." Victor thought that was a good point.
"And, if you become a Vampire Count, you'll be able to fight stronger people. After all, you can expect a lot of people challenging you to steal your title. And you'll be able to travel around this world more freely, considering you'll have a lot of money."
"..." Again, Victor thought she was correct.
"Think about it, as a Vampire Count, you are recognized by everyone as a strong being, and consequently, various supernatural beings will come after you to fight." Scathach didn't know why, but she felt this was a great opportunity. Victor must accept! For their sakes!
"What do you mean, various supernatural beings?"
"Not only are there vampires, wolves, and witches in this world, Victor. Think. You've seen one of these beings in the past in your fight with that general of hunters."
"Hmmm…" He started to think, and soon he remembered the appearance of an old man:
"Are you talking about that old man?"
"Yes, they are heroic spirits summoned through Magic. They are strong. I, Scathach Scarlett, can guarantee that."
"Interesting," Victor remembered that old man. Despite having done almost nothing, he seemed to be very strong.
"And if you become a Vampire Count, you can turn whoever you'd like into a servant, as long as the target is a virgin, of course."
"I'm not interested in subordinates, for me, Kaguya and Yuki are enough."
"Ugh." Scathach started to think of something, and soon something popped into her head, "With the authority of a Count, you can find easier ways to give immortality to your parents."
"..." Victor's eyes turned serious.
Initially, Victor thought about turning his parents into vampires, but because he was still getting used to everything in the beginning, he forgot the basic rule, only virgins can become vampires.
And his parents were definitely not virgins.
"I accept."
Scathach's smile widened, and she made a silent victory gesture, not even knowing why she was so happy.
Victor was convinced. He definitely didn't accept the proposal because his master was too cute now. It definitely wasn't because of that. He could even swear to god...
Who does he want to fool? That's why he accepted.
His parents and his wives' motive was also a trigger, but seeing Scathach's reaction now, he finally understood something:
'She likes me.'
It's not as if he was oblivious to these feelings, but he never considered it deeply. After all, she was his wife's mother, and also his teacher, and his mother-in-law...
But the affair with Natashia changed his mind. Unconsciously, he began to consider this when he heard what Natashia said:
"Do you want to practice a trio with a mother and daughter?"
He also understood another truth; 'She doesn't seem to understand these feelings.'
'Ahh~, why do I have such a cute master, who is also so troubled?'
Victor already had a headache as he thought about future problems.
"Hmm?" Victor looked at Vlad's smile.
A vein popped in his head; 'That old man!'
Suddenly, he heard Vlad's voice in his brain.
[Don't think too much, Victor. The proposal is not bad, I'm not trying to deceive you or anything like that, I wouldn't need to negotiate for you if I wanted to do that]
Victor thought it made sense. After all, if the king really wants something, who can oppose him?
[And you have to take care of this little girl, even though she is a monster with unimaginable strength, she is a child inside when it comes to relationship matters.]
"…" Victor felt that Vlad was right again.
[Stop being a pussy! You are to blame for making her feel like this. You have a beautiful woman in front of you who is basically a perfect wife. Marry her, have some kids, and take responsibility! HAHAHAHAHAHA~]
Hearing Vlad's laugh, several veins began to pop on Victor's head. 'This bastard just wants to have fun!'
.......
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