Chapter 414: The highest degree ofheresy
Noble Vampires.
Unlike Vampires Slaves who, in the literal sense of the words, were dead,
Vampires Nobles are different.
They are alive, they can reproduce, and they are essentially immortal as long as they aren't destroyed by targeting any of their weaknesses.
These being the destruction of the heart and the head, the Hunter's magic, fire, and sunlight.
Another of their most notable weaknesses would be, they cannot enter a person's 'domicile' unless invited, a weakness that is easily resolved by destroying the house.
Or they feel emotions more intensely than all beings.
If they love something or someone, they will love it/them very much.
If they feel they have been betrayed, the hatred for that betrayal will be felt much more strongly than usual.
They are quite problematic because of this nature of theirs.
Vampires are creatures of the night whose diet is mostly made up of blood.
Can they eat other things?
Yes...
They can, but it tastes awful. Have you ever thought about having a delicious crispy burger made with the best meats in the world, only for it to taste like shit?
Or eat a pizza made by one of the best Italian Chefs and taste like rotten fish?
It's horrible, right?
Noble Vampire society is centered on Nightingale, a large city divided into 4 territories whose leaders of these territories are called the four Vampire Counts.
Clan Scarlett, responsible for war affairs.
Clan Adastreia, responsible for the defense of the territory.
Clan Fulger, responsible for Nightingale's domestic affairs. They are the ones who manufacture, and sell blood crystals and other types of blood-derived food, the Clan that feeds all of Nightingale.
Snow Clan, responsible for all of Nightingale's economy, without the Snow Clan's permission, you could not do business in Nightingale. They are also responsible for Nightingale's domestic and foreign policy.
In some ways, Clan Snow and Clan Fulger are the Clans that have the most influence in Nightingale, and you can often see them working together.
As the affairs of the two clans are intertwined, they maintain a friendly attitude towards each other.
And... Yes, Nightingale was a city, a city that had grown to the size of a country, and even after growing so much, the lazy King didn't have the decency to change the name.
Because of this, the entire territory of the Vampire King is called the Nightingale.
Nightingale's hierarchy is divided in this way.
At the bottom of the social class are Vampire Slaves, humans who have been turned into Vampires by Vampire Nobles through the 'ritual' of subordination.
As the name implied, they are slaves, and are usually used to do heavy lifting, or in the worst case used to fight each other just for the fun of their respective masters.
Slightly above the Slave Vampires are the humans who 'sell' their blood in exchange for support from the Noble Clans.
In exchange for resources like money, help with their businesses, food, influence in the human world, etc.
These humans must give their blood in a fixed 'period' of time, of course, the amount of support given to these humans depends on the quality of their blood.
Normally, who controls and manages this market is Clan Fulger and its allies, but it is also not uncommon to see other Clans doing the same action.
If a clan wanted to have a personal human to provide blood for them, they must ask permission from the ruler of their territory.
If the Clan is located in the territory of the Snow Clan, they must ask the Snow Clan for this permission.
The same applied in the other territories.
Next up in the hierarchy are the Vampire Nobles who are the common citizens of Nightingale, followed by the Vampire Barons.
For you to become a Vampire Baron, you just have to create a Clan and that Clan be accepted by the Snow Clan that handles Nightingale's internal politics.
Because of this, these two positions are treated as 'ordinary' citizens.
Of course, there are Vampire Barons who have more influence than other Barons, but in the general scheme of things, they are treated as subordinates.
It is a very similar treatment to government officials in the human world.
Soon after come the Vampire Counts who need no comments and introductions.
And on top of the Vampire Counts is Duke's post.
This post is given to the King's relatives.
But most Dukes have no power in Nightingale.
And at the top of the pyramid is the King of Vampires.
This is the 'Nightingale' seen from the outside, the common sense that everyone knows.
The common sense that Anna and Leon know.
The two knew that this was not 'reality' because their son is also a Count, and they knew that with the entry of a new player, the politics of that place must have changed somehow.
'And... My son is inviting me into this world.'
Anna and Leon wouldn't lie, they were interested.
They were interested in looking good, and living for 'eternity'.
They felt an interest in rejecting humanity.
Who wouldn't?
Humanity was overrated.
If you had the opportunity to reject your humanity and become something more...
Wouldn't you do it?
The answer of most beings would be: Yes!
"I would, I wouldn't even think twice." That's what most would say.
Only snowflakes turn down such an opportunity.
And these are the same thoughts as Anna and Leon...
But...
"...why a Vampire?" Anna and Leon spoke at the same time.
"...What?"
Leon and Anna looked at each other and waved at the same time.
"We will not refuse, this power is a gift, but can we choose something else?"
"... Excuse me?" Victor still felt deaf.
"I mean, being a Vampire is cool and all, but..."
"We'd lose our taste buds!" Anna interrupted Leon.
"...." Victor and Ruby looked at Anna with a stunned look, their brains had completely stopped working.
"Burgers, pizza, soda, fish, beef, pork."
Anna started drooling as she imagined all these foods, and somehow she was getting hungry.
"I don't want to spend eternity just drinking blood!"
"..."
"Don't look at me like that, you're going to tell me you don't miss eating a fat picanha full of fat."
"A picanha is so delicious that when you bite into it, you feel like you're going to nirvana~."
"Damn, just talking about it is making me hungry!"
"..."
"Pfft..." Aphrodite put her hand over her mouth to try to stop herself from laughing, that's the stupidest reason ever.
"...Because of that, you don't want to become a Vampire...?"
"Yes!" She spoke with surprising conviction.
Sigh...
Victor took a long breath as he placed his hand on his brow.
"If I'm not mistaken, you said that there were other races of Supernatural Beings, right? For example, Werewolves..."
"...Wha-." Ruby couldn't believe what her father-in-law was suggesting.
"I think Werewolves would be cool, they shapeshift, live a long life, have strong bodies, and most importantly, they have a healthy diet."
"Indeed, indeed... The smell of a wet dog can be washed away with a lot of bathing... Wait, in a way, being a Werewolf has more advantages than being a Vampire, right?"
"..." Ruby for the first time in her life was looking at Victor's parents as if they had committed the highest heresy.
Instead of choosing Noble Vampires, beautiful and more honorable beings, they would rather choose a wet dog!?
What the fuck!?
"Anna, have you forgotten that Werewolves depend on an Alpha to become strong? I think those are their main weaknesses, they cannot live independently as Vampires."
"...But they can eat picanha and drink beer..." Anna muttered.
"Ugh..." Leon's barbecue uncle's spirit was hit.
"And it's not like we're going to become a Supernatural Being to fight or anything, that job we leave to our son, we just want to enjoy life." Anna couldn't imagine fighting.
All her life, she fought with words, and the only violence she used was a slap in the face and multiple kicks to the ball from sassy men.
But that was all...
The way her son fought was just too surreal for her.
"Whoaaa, that's definitely a bum's phrase."
"Shut up, I'm retired, I want to enjoy life!"
"You're not retired!"
"My son practically forcibly retired me!"
"…Eh?" Victor was surprised.
"But I did not do anything?" He played innocent, and with his Adonis skills, he could do it as easily as breathing.
But who was he talking to? With a woman who was an excellent lawyer, and his mother.
Just by the status of 'mother', she could already know him easily.
"Don't lie to me, I've already noticed the 'little' odd occurrences, humpf." She snorted.
"Therefore, we chose a third option." Leon suddenly spoke ignoring what Anna said.
He was very excited to transform into a Werewolf, he always thought Werewolves were cool, he wanted to repeat that scene of Werewolves howling at the moon on top of a building that movies always did!
"We want to be Werewolves... Or some Supernatural Being that can eat picanha..."
"....." Victor felt a headache.
His parents really were privileged.
Many people in the world couldn't have the kind of choice that they had.
Only the most 'privileged' had that kind of choice.
... But Victor believed that was one of the perks of being his kin.
After all, he couldn't turn his parents into Werewolves, but he knew people who could.
But... He really didn't want to ask his teacher, or friends to turn them into Werewolves.
Because as a 'Beta', the two would be total servants of the 'Alpha'.
With those thoughts in mind, he looked at Aphrodite:
"Aphrodi-emon, help me~." His eyes glowed a violet glow, his expression was gentle, and he had a visible flirtatious look on his face.
He was trying to take down the Goddess of Beauty!
"...S…S-Stop looking at me like I'm a cat that can solve all your problems!"
He almost made it!
"Tsk."
"You just clicked the tongue didn't you!"
"It's your imagination."
"Ugh, you're very shameless and hypocritical, you know? Until a few hours ago you were calling me thot or looking at me like I was a threat, but now you are asking me for help!"
"This and that are different things, and you are still a Thot."
"Ughnyu." She clenched her fists and bit her lip as she made a strange sound.
"Anyway, tell me your thoughts."
"…Huh?" She woke up from her stupor and looked at Victor.
"Are you asking for my opinion?"
"You are the 'oldest' person in the room, your advice is appreciated."
"...."
'Oh? This is rare, my Darling is putting up with her presence better than I thought... As expected, is it because of his mother? He really is mama's boy, huh?' Ruby flashed an imperceptible little smile when she thought about it.
'But... This and that are different.' Her eyes turned cold and calculating, she didn't let her guard down in front of the Goddess of Beauty.
"Why are you opening your mouth like you're a Koi fish?"
"H-Huh? ... I mean, I'm just surprised."
"Hmm, I see... So what's your opinion?"
"Hmm…" Aphrodite started to think, and in less than a few seconds she said:
"Why don't they become my priests then?"
"Priests?"
"It's a similar position to the Saint of the God of the Bible, or the high-ranking beings of The Inquisition."
"I can recruit them as my priests, and give them some of my blessings, with that, they would gain eternal youth, and a Superhuman physique."
"They're human, but...eternal."
"That sounds like a good idea! Hurry up and-."
"...." Victor looked slightly at his mother, and the woman was silent, for some reason, she couldn't ignore her son's gaze in a conversation like that.
She was supposed to be the authority here, did you know? She is the mother!
But she is aware that these Supernatural matters were best left to her son and daughter-in-law.
"...What's the catch?"
"Catch?"
"The downside."
"There are none."
"Huh?"
"I will only bless them with my Divinity, and give them the Ambrosia of the Gods, so they will have a body that will never age."
"…didn't the Ambrosia grant an immortal body?" Ruby asked.
"That's a myth, they could be called 'immortal', but it wouldn't be true immortality, it would just be eternal youth."
"The only true immortals are the Gods." She spoke with a cocky smile, but that smile broke when she heard what Victor said.
"Oh? I will call Lilith to test if this is true-."
"Cough, the only true immortals are the Primordials, they are essentially concepts of a Pantheon." She quickly corrected herself.
"Interesting..." Ruby was silent as she thought of something.
"..." Looking at his mother who was getting impatient, Victor asked:
"What blessing are you going to give them? The blessing of beauty like me?"
"...Hmm, I can't do that, I used all my beauty blessings to bless you. If I was going to use it on someone else, I'd have to withdraw your blessing."
'And that's something I don't want~.' She smiled to herself as she felt the connection of her blessing to Victor.
"In that case, you must withdraw my blessing-."
"I still have other Major Divinities like sexuality, love. And I have Lesser Divinities for the perpetuation of life, pleasure, joy, and war."
Aphrodite interrupted Victor casually, and continued:
"From my current Divinities, I can give them life, pleasure, joy and war."
"Oh? Why not sexuality and love?" he asked curiously.
"Well... That could cause trouble..." She scratched her cheek as she looked away.
"...." Victor narrowed his eyes and his eyes intensified.
Aphrodite broke into a cold sweat when she saw Victor's gaze, she realized he wouldn't leave her alone until she explained:
"Look, blessing mortals with Greater Divinities is just asking for trouble, you of all people should understand that."
'The blessing of sexuality would make the being that was blessed to be in heat all the time, and to give this blessing to a couple is to ask one of the two die of Snu Snu.'
'And the blessing of love would make the being love everything and everyone, one look at a stone on the street? She loves that stone! She was going to be a love freak.'
If the individual does not have very good self-control, these blessings will only become curses.
'It's not a good idea to give it to them.' Aphrodite was getting her wits about her.
"…And why did you give this blessing to me?" He looked at her with a serious look.
"I was young." She could only say this:
"And you were already beautiful, adding some more beauty is not a problem~."
Victor knew that the 'you' she was talking about wasn't him, it was Adonis.
"Question..." Ruby held up her hand.
Aphrodite looked at Ruby.
"If they earn your blessing, how likely are the Gods to visit them?"
"Well, it's pretty low, it's not like I have a temple that I need taken care of or anything else, and in the modern world, it's quite rare for the Gods to give blessings."
"But the probability is not zero, right?"
"Yes... I think it would be around 80%"
"…in which world is that 'fairly low'?" Ruby asked with a twinkle in her eye.
"..." She was silent.
Sigh.
Victor sighed:
"Are you sure you don't want to be Vampires?"
"..." Leon and Anna look at each other and nod:
"We refuse!" They spoke at the same time.
"..."
...