"Hmph!" a handsome looking vampire wearing extravagant articles of clothing, black and white along with golden embroideries, and a black jewelled necklace around his neck. Attached to his left chest was a badge with seven bats and a star, this was the unique crest all heirs to noble houses in the vampire nation had to wear at all times.
"To think you devils and the fallen angel would make us wait so long" The young man scowled at Masaru and the rest, although his eyes had a trace of excitement when looking at Shirone, Ulrika and Yui, his gaze was similar to looking at interesting toys he could play with.
'This guy...' Masaru glanced at the young vampire with a stoic face, he already asked Ophis to enter his soul space since he did not want to alarm the vampires of her presence. And right now he was feeling annoyed, he glanced at Azazel with a peculiar gaze.
'Aiya, this vampire would die soon if I don't stop him' Azazel smiled wryly looking at Masaru's dangerous-looking eyes, turning his gaze towards the vampire he said with a voice filled with indifference and coldness, "I'm Azazel, leader of Grigori. Who gave you the right to speak to me like this?"
"A-A-Azazel!? I-I'm sorry sir, I thought it was another group of migrants who tried to enter our country" The handsome man lied through his teeth to cover up his mistake, he naturally knew who they were but he did not expect that Azazel would become this fierce. According to the information, he gained this man should have been lenient, especially since he was pursuing peace.
"So you had people trying to infiltrate your country? And from the looks of it, they have been successful too" Masaru muttered nonchalantly,
"This!? Naturally, we managed to put them down, no one can enter our country without our permission" THe man spoke arrogantly when he heard what Masaru said, Masaru smiled but his eyes were incredibly cold.
"So you killed them immediately?" Masaru asked, hearing this question the young man was about to answer but another vampire stepped before him and placed his hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Sir Marius, please allow me to speak with them," The man said to Marius, the young man who was about to arrogantly answers.
"I will leave it to you then, Captain Andrei," Marius said while giving Masaru a glare before snorting as he turned around and leave.
"I apologize for Sir Marius Aldea's hostile response, we have been dealing with a terrorist who tried to infiltrate our country for a few years now," Andrei said while glancing at Masaru vigilantly, he knew Masaru was trying to bait Marius into saying something Masaru could use against him, hench he had no choice but to intervene.
"As for your question, we interrogate them first and them deal with them accordingly," Andrei said, his guard was up against Masaru compared to Azazel who reverted to his nonchalant attitude.
"I see," Masaru said while looking at the captain in front of him, from the looks of it. He was a captain of a squad of fifty soldiers, probably a border patrol captain. "We are here to respond to the invitation the Empress has sent us"
"You----? But I heard that the empress has invited a hybrid---" Andrei said but suddenly his mouth began shaking when Masaru released an intense killing intent towards him,
"I wonder if Empress warned you of never mentioning this particular word in front of me," Masaru said while glaring at the man, even the soldiers behind him flinched.
"Y-You... Are you--- Young Master Masaru!?" Andrei said with his face already white, becoming paler, with a trace of blue emerging from his face as his blood pressure increased due to fear. Naturally, he and everyone else was warned not to offend Masaru, at first they were nonchalant of this but now they understood why the sister of the Empress warned them so inexplicably.
'T-This... How dare he display killing intent towards me! I will have my family kill him when he steps foot in the country' Marius thought before calming himself, for the sake of getting what he wanted. He had to ensure that he learnt everything about his rival.
Marius was renowned as one of the geniuses of the Carmilla Empire and had always looked down upon everyone with his strength as an Ultimate Rank Vampire who was about to enter Godhood at the age of 120. He grew up with everyone flattering him, granted the best resources of the Aldea Family and could even feast upon virgin blood which many could only dream of.
"Since you know of me, can we proceed," Masaru said with a nonchalant attitude, he felt pressuring a mere captain of the border patrol would yield him no benefits and simply waste his time. Just a simple scare was enough for them to stay out of his way,
"Of-Course!" Andrei nodded vigorously before turning to look towards his squad, "Everyone gets into formation, we will be leading the guests of honour to the Capital City!"
Suddenly Masaru, Shirone, Yui, Ulrika and Azazel was surrounded by the soldiers while Andrea led them into the carriage they arrived to pick them up, naturally, Marius climbed into the carriage as well believing he would have the chance to seduce the girls that came with Masaru.
"Can I have the pleasure of knowing the names of the three beautiful girls?" Marius said while speaking with a voice enchanted with a charming effect, even his ruby coloured eyes pulsed with a faint red glow for a moment as he made eye contact with Shirone, Yui and Ulrika.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he saw their attention was grasped by him, it became even wider when their jaws began to drop making him feel that they were in awe of his appearance and had fallen for him.
"Disgusting" Shirone muttered, her initial shocked face turned into a disgusted face looking at Marius as if he was the worst kind of a turd to ever exist in the world.
"Eh!?" Yui cried out in shock, before shaking her head with a wry smile. "I definitely don't want to get acquainted with you" 'Because you would die soon, our hubby is very protective of us. And possessive' She thought feeling happy, even seeing Masaru's cold eyes she felt especially warm.
"You are an heir to the Marquis Family Household Aldea?" Ulrika said with a questioning tone before shaking her head, "My fiance over here, is the heir to the ArcDuke Family that would be promoted to a King Class in the future... Are you even worthy?"
The three girls knew that the young man in front of them had ill intentions, and knowing that he wanted to harm Masaru made them especially ruthless. Even if the peace talks failed, they did not care since they had faith in Masaru who could deal with the aftermath.
Although, the true reason was that they did not want Masaru to waste his time with someone so insignificant as this man, hench they decided to ruthlessly reject him.
"..." Marius was shaking with his eyes widen, his white face became paler at the words spoken to him before it became instantly red, blood veins emerging from his eyes becoming bloodshot as he glared at the three girls who spoke with him in such a manner. 'These tramps! They dare to speak down on me just because their current Fiance is of a higher rank noble!? Hmph! I will show them when I challenge him and dismantle him in front of them'
'And even if they beg me to take them, I will not take them! I will simply give them to the elders of the family to enjoy' Marius thought, his imagination allowed him to calm down while smiling sinisterly looking at the girls, he did not notice the cold eyes of Masaru who was quiet throughout the entire exchange.
'Aiya, I best prepare to negotiate with Tepes Faction' Azazel thought while shaking his head, he already felt like giving up on Carmilla if the rest of the faction nobles was like this young man. He would rather spend his time researching his sacred gears than wasting his time on idiots. He preferred idiots like Issei, that was slightly entertaining.
Carmilla Empire Capital City, buildings built with a western theme, stalls selling modern products and technology. Yet there are still stalls selling ancient products like Voodoo dolls, cursed nails, unholy products to counter holy artefacts. It was quite the mess since one could not figure out if they entered an ancient era or a modern one.
The difference in status was quite apparent, commoners wore tattered clothes. Even those who wore cleaner or newer clothes had stolen them from the humans they had hunted, while the nobles and those working as officials of the empire wore much better articles of clothing.
The outskirts buildings appeared much withered, traces of buildings collapsed could be seen from how crude the patchwork was done. While the buildings closer to the centre of the city became much more detailed, sturdy and cleaner, the racism of the vampires was much stronger.
Yet no one appeared to be bothered, even commoners who wore beggar clothes looked at Masaru who glanced out the window of the Carraige with disdain.
"This treatment..." Yui muttered feeling bothered, yet her sympathy instantly flew away when she noticed the disdain looks from the commoners, "Just what is going on?"
"Laws of the jungle, that's how the vampires live," Masaru said while smiling at Yui wryly, "The commoners would not complain of their treatment as this was going on for centuries, but they relieve their frustration and inferiority complex by looking down on other beings who are not vampires."
"Isn't that simply too arrogant?" Shirone asked, Masaru gently patted her head with a wry smile.
"Arrogance is a trait ingrained into the bones of the vampire. Which is why I am hesitant to deal with them, but not all of them are like this" Masaru said while thinking of his meeting with Cicily and Empress Carmilla back when he was on a mission for Khaos Brigade. "It's best you girls ignore this kind of gaze"
[Master, Zhao Hai said he arrived with the mercenary group] Ulrika reported to Masaru using telepathy, matters related to Hiei could not be openly discussed.
[Tell him to stand by, I will speak with the Empress and Cicily and arrange for them to join the war. But remember, we will only be doing this to get paid and expose our capabilities as a mercenary group more] Masaru responded, although he was trying to make use of his secret group to lure out Qlippoth to investigate them. He knew if he could get them to make a move, he would be able to grasp a core member.
"We're here," Marius said with a snort, "This will be your guest house, my servant will notify you when the Empress is ready to meet you"
Masaru glanced outside seeing a rundown house, although it did not look bad compared to the outskirts but this was definitely not what an empire would prepare for guests to visit. especially guest with equal of greater power. "I see"
Masaru glanced at Azazel nodding his head, this was to indicate to Azazel to keep quiet. Although Masaru did not ask questions, he was quite sensitive to the situation around them. The fact that this young man, an heir to the Marquis family was not reprimanded for his attitude towards the guests of the Empress, showed something was going on.
Just when everyone except for Marius climbed out fo the carriage, the door was immediately slammed shut "Go!" Marius called out to the driver who nodded reluctantly, with a shake the driver guided the horses to gallop to the noble district.
"To think this empire would have internal problems while dealing with a war" Azazel muttered while caressing his chin, yet he did not feel disturbed at all. He glanced at Masaru "What do you intend to do?"
"Well I will investigate, I never met this man but his hostile attitude towards me is too unnatural" Masaru muttered, normally he would have already killed someone with such an attitude since his status and prestige in the supernatural world allowed him such privilege to a certain degree. But he was curious, just why was this man like this towards him?
Masaru knew he could kill the man anytime he wanted, but he rather figures out the mysteries behind the reason before making his choice. Who knows if he killed someone who was controlled, that would make it no different from killing innocents.
[Kuku, The game is afoot.] Drago muttered while appearing quite excited, [Time to play detective!]
'You noticed it too?' Masaru responded to Drago while ignoring the words this crazy dragon said,
[Yes, although I have to admit the person who did the sealing is an absolute genius but it's worthless before the Divine Grimoire and your Codex Formulae powers... Who would guess it that they would try to create it...] Drago muttered vaguely trying to act mysteriously,
[Big Sis, Grandpa has lost his mind again] Byakko said ruthlessly while looking at Drago with contempt, she loved her grandpa but absolutely hated how he acted like a child having an eight-grade syndrome.
[Cough! How ruthless! But I love it] Drago said without caring, he enjoyed the thrill pain, both Physically and Mentally. Just that the reason for it, is yet to be discovered.
'Well, since we already discovered it. Can I count on you to sense the rest of them? I wonder if there is more' Masaru asked,
[Fufu, you can ask this big sister since I have nothing else to do] Genbu said with a sweet voice,
[No! I will do it!] Another voice filled with dignity responded, the sound of her voice immediately felt warm, filled with grace and dignity of a divine being.
'I will count on you, Su---' Masaru responded,
>\/<
"Well, allow me to fix things" Masaru said while glancing at the manor that had no servants, the place appeared to be clean but it was more half done, with dirty hidden under the carpets, and blindspots not cleaned.
"Divine grimoire" Masaru called out affectionately at the Grimoire, it immediately appeared before him.
It was a metre tall, half a metre wide and three metres thick. It was an absolutely abnormal appearance for a book, but this was not it's true to size since Masaru knew just how much knowledge that was recorded inside the book. "House Fairy: Spring Clean!"
Upon chanting the keywords, light particles emerged from the cover of the grimoire showing no signs of stopping even after hundreds of light particles filled the entire hall. Masaru glanced at the particles and noticed the humanoid fairy with two rainbow-coloured wings enveloped in the light sphere all glancing at him curiously.
"Clean" Masaru muttered before he opened the inventory installed in his bracer taking out a large bag filled with sweets, there was no more words required to be said to the fairies whose eyes sparkled at the sight of sweets. They immediately scampered throughout the entire manor.
What was broken, was restored anew.
What was dirty, was cleaned.
It was only a couple of minutes the fairies managed to clean the entire Manor before grabbing the bag in Masaru's hands eagerly, they all squealed out thanks to him before they all dispersed into particles together with the bag of sweets entering the grimoire.
"So that is the true form of the grimoire?" Azazel asked while studying the grimoire intently, yet despite what he tried to use to probe the grimoire, it all failed hench all he got was that it appeared to be an ordinary book. "It must be an amazing artefact higher compared to God's System! Even the system could not block my probings like this book"
'Heh' Masaru smirked inwardly, he knew Azazel was capable but there were things even super beings like him and Ajuka could not study. If Ajuka said that studying the grimoire was impossible, then naturally even Azazel would not succeed so fast. And compared to Azazel, Ajuka tried for many years and still failed.
"Fairies are so cute!" Yui commented,
"They took the sweets" Shirone sulked, Masaru chuckled while patting her head before handing over a bag filled with snacks making her instantly revert to a happy face.
'Just like a cat' Masaru thought while glancing at Ulrika who pouted,
"I was about to try out Annihilation maker to create some monsters to clean the house" Ulrika muttered, yet a single tap on her forehead by Masaru made her incredibly happy. The three girls knew that Masaru felt happy with their desire to support him.
"Since the Manor is clean, I will set up a transmission formation," Masaru said while glancing at Azazel, "Should I link Grigori to it as well?"
"Please, since I can't allow the fallen angels to appear that we are not supporting the alliance. Our appearances in each event have only me or Barakiel which is not good enough" Azazel muttered,
"Nin Nin!" Ophis appeared while stretching out her head by the doorframe looking at everyone,
"The house is big" She reported before walking over to Masaru grasping his hand, Masaru smiled warmly before leading everyone into the manor.
"Masaru... Why did I sense a dragon sealed inside that man?" Ophis asked, Masaru glanced around him noticed that no one heard her question. This action caused him to be surprised, this dragon goddess's EQ was evolving each and every day to the point she understood what to say in front of others and what not to say.
Masaru felt even happier seeing how this dragon goddess was growing out of her emotionless personality, he answers her while caressing her hair "That is what I will investigate" Masaru answered while Ophis nodded expressionlessly, she completely trusted Masaru and knew he would always answer her curiosity towards things.
>\/<
"Empress, the guests Azazel and four devils have arrived," Marius said nonchalantly while standing in front of the empress, even most of the nobles did not stop the boy from being disrespectful towards the Empress, sneering happily at the empress who became a puppet for them.
Elmenhilde clenched her fist tightly causing her nails to pierce her skin, her eyes glowing bright red as she shivered. Before she could move forward, a beautifully delicate hand grasped her shoulder, just as Elmenhilde was about to turn around asking who was insolence to stop her. Black hair, darker than the night skies, with purple, highlighted strands mixed between appeared in her sight.
"Keep Calm, for now... We can only count on him" The young girl spoke while glancing at the scene in front of her, even Elmenhilde could faintly feel her hand shaking due to rage.
Marius smiled happily when the Empress nodded at him nonchalantly before he turned towards the lady behind Elmenhilde, a peculiar smile formed with his lips.
"It's been a while, my fiance. Cicily Carmilla" Marius spoke shamelessly, his eyes filled with lust and obsession. All he desired now was to take this girl here and now and break her, make her into his loyal dog who would allow him to do whatever he wanted.
Apologies, took yesterday off to rest. Working twelve days straight is quite hectic in this time.
Will try to catch up as soon as possible,
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Complete Noob is only a noobish writer after all