Chapter 323 - Everyone Has Their Own Circumstances
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The two Vampires captured by Zehe were named Caedmon and Cassandra, and their ages were less than one hundred years old, often considered younglings between the Vampires of Thanatos.
As we entered the Resistance Headquarters, we encountered a big group of citizens, the majority being horse and sheep/goat centaurs, who usually are the ones designed to farming villages like this one.
There were also a couple of strong centaurs who used to be knights serving the previous King, who was still loyal to him and his daughters up to this day.
A large centaur with the lower half of a big and black-colored horse, and his upper half of that of a well-trained and muscular man wearing iron armor, he had long black hair with golden eyes, his voice was firm and intimidating.
"Jerold…! What is the meaning of this? Who are these people…? Vampires?! Did you bring those bloodsuckers in here?!"
"Wait! Look, the young lady is safe…"
"Huh? Who are those centaur women…?���
"C-Could it be…!"
"Impossible…"
"It's them! The Twin Princesses!"
"My eyes would never deceive me, they are Sofelaia and Sofarpia!"
Several other centaurs and beastmen approached our group, admiring Sofelaia and Sofarpia's appearances, especially their young-looking faces, who haven't changed even when they evolved.
"Everyone, we are back" Said Sofarpia, with a confident smile.
"We are sorry for leaving you all for so long… It is time to retake the Kingdom that belongs to us! The Kingdom that our ancestors Morpheus worked so hard to create!" Said Sofelaia
"Oooh! The Princesses are spirited! But how did you survive?! Where have you been?!" Said an old-looking Goat Centaur, with a long white beard and white goat-like horns.
"It wouldn't have been possible without the assistance of our Master, the one who saved our lives…" Said Sofarpia, moving her glance towards me.
"Well… you see… for a time, we were abducted and made into slaves…" Explained Sofelaia as she began to talk about their misfortunes until they met the group of my subordinates that helped them out and beat the nobles from Athetosea that had them captive into slaves.
"It can't be… You have gone through so much… Unbelievable…"
"But if the two princesses in person are saying that, it must be right"
"The ones who led our Kingdom, the direct descendants of our King!"
"Thank you so much, Kireina-sama! Without your help, our princesses would have never found hope, even less a way to come back to their Kingdom!" Said the old Goat Centaur man, whose name was Medastus.
"Indeed… These are amazing news, and that you and your companion can capture two Vampires alive… It is impressive, I apologize for my disrespect earlier…" Said the strong black-colored horse Centaur, whose name was Agamocles.
"It is fine~ We have come here not only to bring your princesses back but to beat the menace of these Vampires and put a stop to their true intentions…"
"True intentions?" Asked the goat man.
"Indeed, these bloodsuckers are not just wild criminals with hunger, but come from the Demon Kingdom of Thanatos, they're using their Vampire Family as spies to diminish the strength of the Kingdom while destroying its structure, nobles, and the royal family from the inside… Later on, a large army will come, and everything will be lost forever, they plan to use the citizens as cattle and the plantations and main cities as vassal nations…"
"I-Impossible…"
"To think that we have been settled up from the start!"
"Lady Kireina, Zehe, Brontes, and Rimuru, do you have any suggestions or plans over retaking the Kingdom? What about the princesses?" Asked another old man, this time having the half of a small horse, a Pony.
"Well, yes, and it involves these two little bats… I guess it's time to make them talk"
"These bloodsuckers?"
"But Lady Kireina, the Vampires would never speak! Their loyalty towards their masters is supreme, they would prefer death! Torturing them will be for nothing as well, as they have high regeneration capabilities… Even if we cut all of their fingers, they will regrow in a matter of hours! You see…" Said Agamocles.
He told me that he had already captured a weak Vampire in the past, but even after torturing him endlessly, he never spoke, and they ended up killing him with a holy water-covered stake to the heart.
"Well, torture would be certainly entertaining, but my methods are… harsher if I say so myself"
"H-Harsher…?"
"Do you have some kind of method, Lady Kireina?"
"Indeed… In my King- village, I was praised as an Illusionist… I was born with the talent for Illusion-Attribute Magic… Observe"
"Illusion… Attribute Magic?"
"Is there such an Attribute?"
"I think I've heard of witches who used it to brainwash young men in the past…"
I opened the palm of my hands as I approached the struggling Vampires, a thin semi-transparent magic smoke of a light pink-color appeared, enveloping the two, a floral and sweet scent could be smelt in the air.
"Please, move away a little bit if you don't want to be affected as well"
"Y-Yes…"
"Alright…"
"Impressive…"
The centaurs and beastmen moved away as I lowered my torso a little bit, and glanced at the two vampire's scarlet eyes. As my own crimson eyes intercepted with them, the pink smoke finally worked and the two entered in a trance… Well, the man, named Caedmon, resisted a little bit.
"Uuagh! I-Illusion Magic…?! To… to think that you have such advanced spells…! Uaaaagh! My head! My heeeaaaaddd!!!"
It seemed that he had [Illusion Resistance] at a high level, to be expected of a Vampire, they're hypnotizers and illusionist as well, so them having such skill wouldn't surprise me.
The thing is that it wasn't an immunity, so I only infused more Mana into my spell and it ended up bypassing this barrier.
"How about you have so pleasant thoughts and tell me everything~"
"Yes…"
"I will tell you everything…" Said the two.
The other centaurs gasped, with their eyes wide open.
"S-She really hypnotized two Vampires?!"
"W-Who exactly is she?"
"She must be a very experienced witch… She is also a fairy, so she has lived for hundreds of years to have such powers…"
"Is that right, Princesses?" Asked the old goat centaur.
Sofelaia and Sofarpia looked at each other, and then Zehe gave them a slight glance.
"Hmmm… Y-Yeah" Said Sofarpia.
"Indeed… Lady Kireina is a very experienced Witch, she is very… old, despite her beauty"
"Oooh! So that's how it is!"
"I see; I see"
"She must have lived for various years in seclusion"
"That must be right, then the other blue lady must be another witch? Maybe part of her group of witches?" Asked Agamocles.
"W-Well, yes, she is Lady Zehe, she doesn't talk that much, but she is a very reliable Shadow Attribute Witch" Said Sofelaia.
"I see! So that's why she can use the shadows with such mastery… Witches are really incredible"
"Just like Lady Kireina, she must have lived for hundreds of years!"
"I bet she has lived for at least three hundred years to attain such mastery in magic…"
"Indeed"
Wait, are they calling us old hags?! Sigh… I don't really care, but Zehe looks… rather angered.
Zehe glanced at the centaurs with an angered look, showing off the fangs in her lower jaw, poking from her mouth, she seemed incredibly scary.
"Hiiiiiii!"
"S-Sorry for assuming your age, Lady Witch!"
"Please don't curse us…!"
The interrogations went smoother than I thought, Caedmon and Cassandra ended up spilling everything. We got to know why their motives, the true intentions behind the head of the Vampire Family, and also some basic info about Thanatos, the powerful demon families, the "Greedy" Queen, their conflicts with the Azuma Empire and the history behind them conquering so many small demi-human Kingdoms.
"If what they speak is the truth… Then the Thanatos Kingdom is doing this for their prosperity?" Asked the old goat centaur.
"It seems so, the Thanatos Kingdom needs to constantly conquer other small Kingdoms every few years to replenish food and other resources for their population and citizens, living in such harsh environment doesn't let them raise cattle and vegetables easily"
"It annoys me… Lady Kireina" Said Agamocles.
"Why is it?"
"It makes it sound as if they were the good guys! As if they were doing things because it was the right thing to do! They had done horrible things to our people! Unthinkable things…! And now they come and said that it was for the greater good of their Kingdom?! Bullshit!"
"Agamocles! Calm down, don't treat the Witch like that!" Said the old goat centaur.
"It is fine, Medastus san… Indeed, Agamocles… Even though all of you have suffered greatly because of them, they are doing things for the better of their own families, their people, their children, and their wives… Life is not black and white, there is no good or evil, it's always grey. Everyone has their own problems, families, and lives, you may see them as enemies and pure evil, but they have their own families to take care of, their children, wives and houses, friends and companions, just like you"
"Lady Kireina… I… B-But…!"
"I know, that doesn't mean that they cannot be forgiven… I've been sent here to protect you and get rid of them, even if they have families and people waiting for them at home… I don't care, as I have my own as well. And all of you do as well, right?"
The centaurs looked at the ground, thinking. Some were ashamed about their own lives, while others were remembering their families and those who were killed by these Vampires, even if the Vampires themselves also had families, children, and wives, they had to protect what was theirs.
"It's true… We can't just forgive them all out of a sudden because they have families like us!"
"We need to prioritize our own happiness and our own lives… they are enemies to the Kingdom…!"
It seems that Caedmon and Cassandra had a family of their own, Cassandra had several young sisters she took care of, while Caedmon had a wife and a son. They were doing this so they would earn their worth and feed their families.
The Master of the Vampire Family was named Aleksandra, and she was a highly evolved Vampire with the Title of Elder Noble-Born Vampire. Caedmon and Cassandra were half-demons and converted into Vampires to gain strength and work in the family. Cassandra was a Half-Succubus and Caedmon a Half-Shadow Lord.
It seems that the Goddess of Blood Agatheina is highly involved in the Vampire's movements and plans, and she directly instructs Aleksandra with tasks to complete, rewarding her with relics and precious items.
Aleksandra is planning to gain merit with her work, which was directly tasked to her by the current Thanatos Kingdom "Greedy" Queen, and slowly rise in the ranks, probably changing her Vampire Family into a Royal Family by marrying her daughters and sons with royal family members and slowly make her children get involved in politics, until the next King or Queen is elected and end up being a Vampire.
Although Aleksandra thinks that this is her plan, I think that it is just her Goddess, Agatheina, the one moving the strings from the back, slowly brainwashing her into desiring power over everything. The Goddess perhaps wants to convert the entire Thanatos Kingdom into a religious church for her and only her, so she can gain more Divine Energy and raise in the ranks of the Gods…
Well, this is just a conjecture I came out with my split minds and my mental skills.
In the future, if I plan to conquer Thanatos as well, insiders would be useful, and these two may work… But I need to convert them into my side, and the loyalty they hold with their Family Head is ridiculously strong, and it's related directly with their bloodline, after becoming a Vampire with Aleksandra's blood, they gained unparalleled obedience and a small obsession with her, although it is not romantic like the one with me and Alice, and perhaps the other Dhampirs I've converted like Yisu.
I contemplated the idea of biting their necks and drinking their blood, forcefully converting them into my side. I could also just eat them…
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[Bestiary]
[Black Cats (Beastmen)]
One of the descendants of the Great Goddess of Beasts Ova, when she mated with several Human Champions and produced new races of demi-human with beast features.
Their founder is the ancestor of all Feline-Type Beastmen, Maeralya, a woman who was said to have the features of all feline animals and monsters, her beauty was like that of a sphinx and her strength like that of a lion.
She led her children, who were born in different shapes and forms but always belonged to the feline-type of animals into her own Kingdom, the Kingdom of Moonfang.
Black Cats were descendants of one of her children which were born with small, flexible bodies and black fur and eyes, they didn't possess much physical strength, but had outstanding speed, flexibility, and the ability to partially control lightning.
Black Cats are talented with stealth classes like Thieves, Assassins, Spies, Ninjas, Kunoichi, and Hidden Weapon Users. Some are talented in Thunder Magic, becoming powerful mages. However, all of them share their frail and small bodies, compared to the other races like Lionmen or Tigerman, they are weak and often ridiculed.
Nonetheless, there was once a Black Cat Champion named Kuro, that awakened his ancestor's bloodline, he became a powerful fighter and controlled Lightning as if it were his own limbs. By combining this with the Throwing Technique and the Dagger Technique, he was able to destroy its enemies with lightning-powered dagger projectiles and other hidden arts.
These Arts were passed down to his descendants, which later on developed these techniques and named them as [Lightning Dagger Arts].
Nowadays, Black Cats are rare as normal citizens, but they are often raised by Noble houses as spies and assassins, and by using the Arts passed down by the Black Cat Champion, they can be deadly combatants of the night.