Chapter 272: A point of change.
Memories... What defines memories?
Are they merely the result of a set of cells in your brain that are capable of recording and storing information? Are those memories...?
Or perhaps it has something to do with the soul?
Are your entire life experiences, everything you have lived through, your entire existence, engraved in your soul? Is that what memories are?
Or is it something simpler?
Blood...
An interesting substance that circulates throughout the body of a living being.
Blood....
What is Blood?
If you asked a scientist this, he would say while lifting his glasses:
"Blood is a special type of connective tissue that stands out for presenting itself as a red and viscous fluid. It is characterized by having a liquid matrix (plasma), in which the cellular elements of the blood (red blood cells, leukocytes, and platelets) are suspended."
Blah, blah, blah.
"A boring answer, right?"
"...." Victor was floating in a sea of blood as he stared blankly at a giant red circle in the sky, and in that red circle was a being completely covered in darkness, floating while displaying a big smile on his face.
Victor's expression was apathetic, and it was as if he were dead but at the same time alive.
"I have a better answer..."
"..." Victor continued to look at the being.
"Blood. It is a divine bargaining chip for beings like us."
Vampires...
"Indeed." The being exhibited a small smile.
Quake, Quake, Quake.
Victor's inner world began to shudder.
"By utilizing blood as a medium, we can do amazing things."
"And what we're experiencing right now, is one of those 'amazing' things."
The being looked at the sea of blood that stretched for thousands of kilometers and thought; 'How long will it take to digest all these nutrients?'
'Just how much has that tree absorbed?'
Suddenly, a man came out of the sea of blood that Victor was lying on.
Cough, Cough.
He coughed up blood in the sea and looked around with a startled look:
"Where am I!?"
"Oh? Someone survived... That's surprising."
"!!!?" The man was startled by the sudden voice and looked towards its origin. However, when he looked at the being, his whole body was literally paralyzed with fear.
"Just be absorbed by us. Why are you resisting?" The being pointed its finger at the man, and soon the surrounding blood began to engulf the man again.
"Noooooooo!"
The man tried to resist, but in the end, it was a meaningless struggle.
All that was left was for him to be absorbed by the sea of blood.
As the man's voice faded, a small glint in Victor's eyes began to appear.
"Oh? You finally woke up, I was getting worried that our wives would kill our Maid."
'Maid? Since when did I get another maid?'
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes as he heard what the being said, "They are my wives, not yours, you son of a bitch."
"...As jealous as ever, didn't I already say we're a set? I am you. And you are me."
"Fuck you, don't look at my wives, or I will kill you."
The being displayed a shocked expression, "You would kill yourself out of jealousy for your wives...?"
"Without a second thought." Victor's response was instantaneous.
"...." This level of jealousy was already far beyond normal beings... The being couldn't help but think.
"Anyway, why did this place become like this?" Victor rose and stood in the sea of blood.
"That's your fault, you were too greedy."
"Huh?"
"You literally drank the blood of every being that the strange tree killed."
"...?" Victor put his hand on his chin and started to think, and soon he began to remember what he felt when he bit into the fruit.
"Oh, I remember now."
"My memories are fuzzy, but I remember what happened."
"Have you lost the memories...? Wrong, it seems your mind has sealed the memories as a form of protection."
"...Well, that's understandable, you literally absorbed the memories of multiple vampires, each of which were over 1000 years old, so there's no way our brains and souls could handle all that load."
"We have to be satisfied that our souls were not torn apart."
"Umu, Umu. As always, your instincts are very good. Who would have thought you would-."
"Shut the fuck up." Victor appeared next to the being and slapped him across the face.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
He fell into the sea of blood.
"What was that for!?" The being came out of the sea and screamed angrily as he looked at Victor's face, which had several veins pulsing with anger.
"You talk too much, are you sure you're me!? Summarize what happened in less than 10 words!"
"...." The being did not believe what he had just heard.
"Can't you be more patient?"
"Patience is a virtue I do not currently possess."
"..." The being stared at Victor's face for a few seconds, and then a lightbulb appeared over his head:
"Oh, I understand now. You're horny."
"..."
"Umu, it makes sense, you've absorbed a lot of blood, and all that blood was from vampires who haven't seen a woman in thousands of years."
"..." Victor's eyes gleamed with a menacing look.
Whistle, Whistle.
"Look at that beautiful bird." The being turned its face and began to observe the landscape.
"...Just stop messing around and tell me what happened."
"Hmm? I do not know either."
"...." Victor looked at the being with an expressionless face.
"I mean, I am you, so my knowledge is limited to your knowledge. How can I know things you don't?"
"...And what was that story about blood being a bargaining chip or something?"
"Oh, that's a memory you have, but you don't have access to it."
"…Huh?"
"It is a memory of those who inherit the blood of the Night King."
"Just as dragons are born with the magical knowledge of their predecessors, something similar happens to those who inherit the blood of the Night King."
"…And what is this information?"
"It's not a big deal, it's just basic information about the races that make up this world, things like how long a dragon sleeps, how many boyfriends the goddess Aphrodite has had, etc."
"It's useless knowledge, basically, it's the 'common' sense you don't have right now."
"And this information about blood was apparently common sense in the past, but I don't know if it's used these days."
"Hmm..." Victor continued watching the being with an expressionless look.
"Hey, no need to look at me like that, I'm you, and you're me." His smile grew.
"If you are curious about this information, I can tell you, but it will take a long time, you know?"
"Ugh..." Victor didn't have the patience for this right now. He literally had a massive headache, and he was feeling like he'd gone to school with a migraine.
He ran out of patience when that happened.
"Hahaha~, you just need to get stronger, and the day we become one, and you don't need to wear those gloves anymore, you'll learn everything I know."
"Just how many years will this take…?" Victor sighed.
"Who knows? 500 years? 1500 Years?"
"Our power is very great, it all depends on your willpower!"
"Willpower?"
"As a certain man who wears a green jumpsuit said."
"If training 1000 times is not enough, you just need to increase it to 5000 thousand times." His smile grew wildly:
"And if 5000 times isn't enough, you just need to train 1 million times."
"It all depends on your willpower!"
"Youth!" He shouted so loudly that the whole world seemed to tremble at such a voice.
"..." Victor looked at the being with an expressionless face:
"I'm sure he didn't say that, I remember seeing it with Ruby."
"Who cares about small details?"
"We're just supposed to do this, what's up? Are you afraid of getting hurt?"
"Oh?" A vein popped in Victor's head.
The two displayed the same smile, as a silence fell on the place until...
"We just have to do it, right?" The two spoke at the same time.
And soon, the world around Victor began to break.
...
Victor opened his eyes.
"Bitch, what did you do to my Darling!?"
"Spit it out!"
"Hmm... Well... Sniff."
"Spit it out!"
Five women were surrounding a tall woman with long red hair and pointed ears, as the woman who looked like an elf was leaning against the wall with a frightened face, while the five women stared at her with a menacing gaze.
She looked like a college freshman who was getting bullied by the older girls.
"...." Victor ignored this chaos, for the time being, as he looked around and realized he was in Scathach's mansion.
Kaguya, Eve, Bruna, and Maria were sharpening some swords and blades while looking at the elven looking girl.
Scathach, Natashia, Sasha, Violet, and Ruby were 'interrogating' the new girl.
"You woke up."
Victor looked to the side and saw Eleanor, and Roberta, who had a gentle smile on her face.
Eleanor was sitting on a chair, and Roberta was beside her.
"What is this chaos?" He pointed to the women who were 'interrogating' the elven girl.
"It's your fault." Eleanor pointed.
"..." He had no defenses for that accusation.
"Fufufu, they are so focused on the new Maid that they have completely forgotten about you, master."
"...New Maid?"
"Yes, master. You have achieved the feat of turning a tree, specifically speaking, a Dryad into a vampire."
"..."
"Behold, she is the world's first Dryad-Vampire hybrid!"
"....."
Victor just kept looking at Roberta with a dry gaze.
Cold sweat broke out on Roberta's face, "Your gaze hurts, Master... I'm just trying to liven up the situation." She turned her face away and pouted.
Sigh...
Victor took a long breath.
He ignored everything around him and started to organize his thoughts.
'Okay, I gave her my blood, and because of that, did she evolve? Or she was turned, right? And in return, she gave me a fruit that contained the essence of all the beings she killed, and because of that, I fainted because I couldn't take the overload of memories.'
'Normally, this wasn't supposed to happen. It just happened because I can see the memories of the blood of the people I suck.'
'Consequently, she is not to blame. And in the end, I did all this because I was interested in what could happen if I fed that tree.'
'Who could have imagined that the tree was a Dryad?'
"…Now that I think about it, where is the Big Guy? And what happened to the tree?"
"Oh, the gorilla is lying in the garden... He was beaten by Scathach."
"..." Victor made a prayer sign and prayed, 'Rest in peace, Big Guy.'
"ROAAAAAR! I didn't die, motherfucker!"
"...?" Victor looked to the side and saw the giant gorilla, who was hurt all over.
"You suffered..."
"This is your fault! Why did you faint!? You were just eating!"
"Oh, you can talk normally now."
"Listen to me, damn it!"
"...Darling..."
"..." Victor turned his face and looked at the women, as he displayed a gentle smile, and said, "Sup, Girls."
Rumble, Rumble.
Two golden rockets flew towards Victor and hugged him.
"...Sniff, I was so worried..." Sasha was almost crying.
"..." Natashia just nodded as she hugged him tighter.
Without giving Victor time to say anything, Violet and Ruby also did the same as Natashia and Sasha.
"Darling! You fool-. You..." Violet's face began to be drenched in tears, and soon she hid her face.
"...Idiot... You promised me not to do anything reckless..." Ruby spoke in a melancholy voice.
"...I don't remember doing-..."
The eyes of the four women gleamed dangerously.
"..." Victor stopped talking and displayed a solemn face, with a gentle smile:
"I'm sorry..." He knew the girls' emotional state was chaotic now, so it was better to just accept it all and let them cry silently.
"..." Scathach got up from the bed and looked at Victor in silence. She had some things to say, but she didn't find the right moment for it and just stayed silent.
'Stupid disciple, you will pay for making me worry.' She clenched her fists tightly, but seeing the sight in front of her, caused her to relax her fists a little.
Sigh…
'I'm glad you're okay…' She thought inwardly.
[Master...]
Victor looked at his Maids, and seeing the faces of his Maids, he showed a small, sad smile.
"...Well..." This is going to be a long night...
…
Eight hours later.
Victor spent eight hours talking to the girls and comforting them; he did all this with a smile on his face.
A hateful smile that made Sasha, Ruby, Natashia, and Violet angry.
'He doesn't know how worried we were!? How dare he!!'
But Victor wasn't doing this out of spite... He just loved this situation too much.
Some might find it annoying, some might find it a waste of time... Cough, Cough... Vlad...
But Victor?
He loved it. Just knowing the girls were worried sick caused his heart to hurt.
He can't help but hug them all and stroke their heads!
He gave a lot of affection to his wives, and especially to his master, who was in a bad mood.
She was ignoring him!
Scathach was ignoring him!
He couldn't accept that.
Because of that, he used the tactic that always worked, he approached her like a true assassin who trained in the art of stealth, and he made several training promises.
...God help him when this woman gets her claws into Victor and starts training him...
Even though it's Victor we're talking about, so he's going to do it with a smile on his face.
And he even bought a sports outfit for Scathach to train him.
He wanted to see those defined abs of hers! And the outfit she wore to training six months ago was very old-fashioned!
If she's going to train him, let her do it in a sports bra!
He didn't put his maids aside either.
Especially Eve, Kaguya, and Maria...
They were so worried about him, so he made sure to spoil them too.
Although Roberta didn't show it, she was also worried, but it wasn't her way to show it openly, and because of that, Victor just talked to her normally, and he noticed that she became more stable.
And after all those hours of pampering the girls.
A problem happened.
In the garden of Scathach's mansion.
"Sniff... Sniff... I'm sorry, Master." A woman with long red hair, taller than he was, was crying like a child.
"It's okay, it's okay, it wasn't your fault. It was my fault, okay?"
"... Eh? It was not my fault?"
"Yes, so you don't have to feel bad, okay?" Victor felt awkward comforting a woman who was taller than he was.
"...Okay..." Her ears drooped sadly.
"..." Victor brought his arm close to Dryad's head and started stroking her head.
"Hehehehe~" Her ears started to twitch in excitement.
... 'So cute!!!!'
"...She may look like that, but she's a kid, you know?"
"...?" Victor looked at Big Guy, who was eating bananas cross-legged, and he was completely recovered.
"Her race takes thousands of years to mature. If it weren't for you and your blood, she wouldn't have become an 'adult'."
Chomp, Chomp.
Victor looked at the banana Big Guy was eating, "Have you been tamed, mother fucker?"
"... It's just your imagination." He turned away and continued to eat.
"...."
"Anyway, why can you talk now?"
"I could always talk, didn't you talk to me before?"
"Yes… But, you're talking now! Everyone understands you! You became a circus gorilla!"
"Who is the circus gorilla, motherfucker!?" he roared.
"Explain yourself!"
"Tsk, I am her guardian. If she evolves, I will evolve too, because of that, when she matured, I also matured together."
"... I see..." Victor touched his chin and started to think.
"Oh, I became a vampire too."
"...." Victor's entire world froze, and his brain stopped working.