?Chapter 267: Maid and Witch.
"I see, this is definitely something I can't make a decision on..." Kaguya spoke in a neutral tone after Selena finished talking about what she came here to do.
"…" Selena just smiled when she finished explaining what she came here to do.
The two women had been talking for two hours now, and in the meantime, Selena had explained everything she wanted to do with the Count himself, and throughout the explanation, she'd always had a professional smile.
Of course, during the conversation she had with Kaguya, Selena made a point of making an isolation area for the two women to talk without people intruding on their conversation.
In a way, Kaguya enjoyed talking to Selena.
She managed to have a civil conversation with someone, something that hadn't happened in a few years.
How can she say… Is it fresh air? She didn't have to deal with crazy people like Scathach or people who didn't respond through dialogue but with their fists.
Kaguya could clearly tell that the woman was not lying, and everything she said was true.
Yes… True for them… In this specific case for witches.
Kaguya saw no benefit in accepting the witches' deal since everything the witches were offering her master was something they could get from other witches, yes...
The price her master would pay was greater.
But who was Victor? He was a new count who was responsible for the exploration of this world. Literally, he stank of money… Witches could smell Victor's money from thousands of miles away.
Several witches could make huge discounts just for that fact. After all, what Victor was offering was far too 'delicious' for these greedy witches.
So there was no need to accept Selena's deal in particular, especially considering she didn't trust someone who was the daughter of the witch queen at all.
'Unless… The queen or even this woman in front of her did something that prevented their master from doing business with other witches in retaliation for not accepting a proposal coming directly from the witch queen's daughter.'
Kaguya was not stupid, she may be a Maid, but she was a Maid who had literally been trained in everything from international politics to how to properly wash a dish. She had spent several years honing these skills all for the sake of becoming a perfect Maid, a Maid of Clan Blank who served Clan Snow.
And this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with witches either. So she clearly understood that there was more to this plan than Selena was letting on.
'And those things she's not telling could be something very bad for Master.' Because of this, she couldn't make a decision, but if her master were to ask her opinion.
She would reply, 'Refuse. This 'cooperation' is not worth it.'
"…." The two women were silent.
Each had their own thoughts on this situation.
Selena, in particular, was waiting for Kaguya's reaction. But, to be honest, she clearly understood that the benefits she was talking about for Kaguya were 'few', and all witches could offer that to the new count.
But… These were just the initial 'benefits'.
She still had three more cards she could use.
She'd been ordered by her own mother to do everything she could to ensure the new Count Alucard's cooperation, and when her mother said so...
It just meant one thing.
'She's asking me to sell myself! That bitch!' A vein popped in Selena's head as she remembered her mother's words.
Yes, no matter what Selena had to do, she must make the new Count of Vampires a new business partner.
Which means she must use any business 'tactic'.
And she might even sell herself, her entire body, to Count Alucard to do as he pleases, and she'd have to accept all of his perverted demands for the sake of the contract.
Selena wanted to avoid this outcome at all costs, she didn't want to have sex with a vampire, never! She was not a fucking whore!
She was a witch of the highest order!
'Ugh' Just thinking about it made her even angrier.
'… But it's okay… If it means my sisters' survival.' She clenched her fist a little in frustration.
Unlike vampires, and werewolves, witches lacked one thing in particular...
A territory…A great territory.
Yes, they had a ridiculous amount of features. Yes, they had a monopoly on basically the entire market.
But… They still lived in the human world…
They were not the same as werewolves, and vampires, races that had a long history, and territories on other worlds, territories so large they could even be called planets themselves.
Witches were a relatively new faction since they only started to come together around the 15th to 17th century, and the trigger for all of this was…
The infamous witch hunt that took place around this time…
This was the turning point for the elder witches to gather their kindred and help them…
And history proved that this was the best decision possible. The queen of witches, Selena's mother, managed to bring an entire community of suspicious women into a single kingdom with her charisma and strength.
Her ideas of becoming something of a mercenary Witch Kingdom were strange at first, but history proved it worked.
Nowadays, no faction of the supernatural world could live without the witches' products.
After all, they 'simplified' the lives of these beings a lot.
… Of course, there were powerful beings who didn't like that, but they didn't dare to do anything for fear of retaliation. Witches just had too many connections now, and if any faction attacked, that faction would disappear from the map forever.
… And will probably become specimens of experiments for the witch queen.
Vampires have Nightingale.
Werewolves have their own territory called Samar, the promised land.
A realm of hostile weather, a realm where the sun is always present for 38 hours, a realm that only exists for 4 hours at night, and when night falls, temperatures drop below freezing easily.
The Angels have Paradise.
Demons have Hell.
The gods of mythologies like the Olympians and the Norse have their own Pantheons as well.
… But what about witches?
They had nothing!
They just had a hidden kingdom that was somewhere on Earth... And that kingdom was suffering a population crisis.
Why?
There was literally no more room for new inhabitants, so they needed a place just for themselves.
But... even with all the witches' resources...
This was an extremely difficult task, exploring the cosmos, dimensions, and realms in search of a place for witches was an extremely complicated task.
And it required a ridiculous amount of resources and magic.
You couldn't just snap your finger like Clan Alioth, and voila, you've found a new world.
Not to mention an absolute fact... Witches were still human, it's not just anywhere they could live peacefully.
Yes, they had ways of living longer, they had the magic they do, they could adapt any environment to their liking.
But keeping that kind of magic forever was impossible, and there was no such thing as infinite resources or infinite energy.
Because of this, they needed a territory with conditions so that they could live peacefully.
And of all the realms, the Vampire's territory was the most survivable for human life.
If you ignored the monsters, the endless night, and the strangely evolved fruits, Nightingale was basically an almost Earth-like planet.
They just needed to make a few tweaks here and there, and... Voila, they'd have new territory, and all this done without spending a massive amount of resources!
Selena's eyes sparkle at the thought of their new kingdom, 'I can finally have a bigger room! A field of search!! A big and long pool! A barbecue grill!'
"Selena?"
'I can have a big bathtub to do my morning baths, I'll want a dog too.' The woman was utterly lost in her thoughts.
"Selena!?"
"…Huh?" She woke up from her stupor and looked at Kaguya with a shocked look.