Soon after, Michael transported everyone back to the Nation of Reborn. Lilith was once again surprised at his ability, but simply just reasoned it to the fact that he was the 'chosen' of Gaia.
Once they were there, all the Vampires were taken to the church of the Iron Maiden, where they were warmly welcomed by its loyal believers: the Vampires who were already there, and some humans and demi-humans who started to believe in the religion.
"Amazing! You have done a great job," Lilith praised as she ran her hands through the mural on the wall depicting the first creation of the Vampires. "Progenitor, does this not feel familiar?"
Kuno shook her head. "Please call me Kuno. That's my name."
"As you please, progenitor Kuno."
Hestu and Viperion then came out of their rooms wearing a robe made out of a metal-like fabric reminiscent of stainless steel. Then, they gave a tour of the whole church to the Vampires.
"This place is more than adequate for now," Lilith said. "But we are going to need a lot more space to accommodate the Vampiric race." "All of them?" Michael asked her.
"Yes. We must build more churches, a lot bigger than this one, reaching through the far corners of the world."
"Hehehe... I like the sound of that," Fudge muttered.
"We must spread the Iron Maiden religion to the rest of the world," Lilith said, with urgency in her tone. "I still couldn't believe that I was almost led astray by those humans."
Those robed figures would have had the Vampires wrapped around their fingers if Michael wasn't there to intervene.
The fact that they had a blood crystal artifact meant that they could
make any Vampire believe in their words, therefore easily tricking them to do their bidding. Lilith almost fought Michael, a chosen of the Goddess! If something happened to him, it would have been a crime worthy of a punishment worse than death.
"Do you know who they were?" he asked Lilith.
"They presented themselves as a group of people wanting to form a bond with us Vampires. They sought me first, as they knew that my status as a Royalblood will allow them to much more easily control the Vampire populace."
"Why?" Michael asked.
She looked at Michael. "Do you not know about New Sparta?"
As soon as Fudge heard those words, he suddenly jumped up. "Oh... hehe... Master, I forgot to tell you something..."
It seemed that while he was busy with his Darkwood farm, there were major developments in Metropolis that he wasn't aware of!
He was completely clueless about everything.
"New Sparta?"
Lilith nodded. "We were approached by the Draconians, asking us to partake in their new region. They intended to gather all Beastfolks in one place so that instead of us having to visit humans, they in turn would have to visit us.
The other Royalbloods have accepted their invitation, taking with them the majority of the other Vampires. I was the only one who refused, as I thought that staying in one place would do us no good in our search for our Goddess."
Michael stayed silent as he processed the information.
ChatJK5, what do you think?
[It seems that the Draconians wish for entertainment.]
Entertainment?
[Yes. By straying off the path towards Metropolis, the Draconians are giving a chance for other territories to take the spotlight.
They are issuing a challenging Metropolis and the other human civilizations: entertain me.
By earning the Draconians' attention, one would have the possibility of earning millions of Sand Dollars circulating in their economy.
If I were in other people's shoes, I would most certainly want to enter New Sparta as fast as possible..]
Even though ChatJK5 explained it really well, he still didn't get the motive behind this move.
[The most probable answer would be that it is purely for entertainment value.]
Really?
[Due to their natural strength and dominance over all the other species, Draconians have a tendency of being unpredictable. They easily feel bored and want to satiate that boredom with excitement by creating chaos whenever possible.]
Michael didn't believe that all of this was purely just to relieve the Draconians' boredom.
But regardless of their motivation, it was clear that they commanded the respect and authority of the other Beastfolks. From this moment forward, all the other tourists would be funneling towards New Sparta, rather than Metropolis or any other territory.
This disrupted his plans. However, this was also an opportunity too
good to pass up.
Fudge seemed to have picked up on his thoughts after seeing his
facial expressions.
"Master... do you want to go to New Sparta?"
"You read my mind," Michael replied. "Would it be possible to just go
there?"
Fudge nodded. "Master, Alaric and the other Major Factions have already arranged for everything. Those from different territories and cities will have their own regions in New Sparta. And Alaric has already dedicated a space for the Reborn company."
It seems that the others already had a head start ahead of him. Most of the companies had probably already finished their set up in New
Sparta.
"Lilith, can you help me in New Sparta? I'm planning on going there."
Lilith nodded. "Of course. It is imperative that I tell our brethren that we have found our Goddess and our Progenitor."
The fact that he had a Royalblood Vampire with him would certainly help him in establishing the Reborn company there.
"Fudge, tell me everything there is to know about New Sparta."
"Here's what I found out, Master..."
Fudge then began giving him the spiel about what Alaric and the others talked about in the meeting while he was gone.
It seemed that this New Sparta wouldn't be like a city or a formal
territory.
Since it was just recently made, everything was made out of wooden barracks or simple stone buildings.
But even though everything would be made easy, it seemed that most humans weren't allowed to create their own territories.
New Sparta was meant for beastfolks, which meant that humans
would only have a fraction of the territory dedicated to themselves. If they wanted to build a store or a restaurant, then they would have to have the express permission of the beastfolks living in those region.
But of course, since there would be a lot of people aiming to get those spots, things would eventually turn into a competition of sorts on whoever could get the beastfolk's attention the most.