Chapter 36: Northrop City

"Honestly, she's not ready yet," Valerie told me. "I have trained her the best I could, but a week or so simply isn't enough time."

"Yeah, I would have left her here for a few months, if I were to be honest," I admitted.

"No." Stella shook her head firmly. "We don't have that kind of time. And I'm not letting you go to the island of the undead alone. I'm following you."

Valerie looked at me helplessly and I shook my head. Stella could be stubborn if she wanted to.

"On the bright side, her fundamentals are solid, she has excellent swordsmanship and she has gotten used to moving around with her new physique." Valerie sighed and relented. "Stella will still have trouble using blood magic, but other than that, she shouldn't have a problem. Besides, she will be getting plenty of practical combat experience, and that can only be good for her."

Stella bowed deeply. "Thank you very much, Lady Valerie. I am very grateful to you for teaching me so much."

"Not at all." Valerie sounded rueful. "You were an excellent student. My only regret is that I couldn't spend more time tutoring you. Just remember to continue practicing what I've taught you. Perhaps his liege can also continue with your education."

"I will do my best," I said. "But what blood magic I learned is all self-taught, stuff that I've read from books. I don't know how useful they would be. And you are right, Lady Valerie. The best thing is still constant practice."

"Indeed," Valerie agreed.

Then Claude stepped into the room, holding a parchment. He beamed when he saw us.

"My liege, my dear, and Lady Stella. I've succeeded in chartering a ship. All that remains is for you to travel to Northrop Harbor, and you can begin sailing to Ixia right away. My contact there has arranged for a highly competent crew. They should be able to ferry you across the northern glacial sea safely."

"My thanks," I replied, lowering my head gratefully. "How about the news regarding the vampire nobles?"

Claude grinned. "It is as you have foreseen, my liege, there were at least six nobles who have one missing. A marquis, a count, a viscount, two barons and a baroness. As you have instructed, we have sent invitations to the military regiments under them. We have received quite a positive response from many of the vampire soldiers."

"Excellent."

"I'm still very surprised and impressed that you managed to eliminate an entire conclave on your own." Valerie held a hand to her mouth. "I could scarcely believe the news when you returned. You truly are an amazing individual, my liege."

"Nah, that's an exaggeration." I waved her praise away, but Valerie would not relent.

"How did you pull it off, my liege?"

"Honestly? Subterfuge, deceit and infiltration. Assassination. You'll be disappointed to know that I made use of underhanded and dishonorable methods."

"Not at all." Valerie shook her head. "You were up against a superior number of enemies. For you to have singlehandedly wiped six vampire nobles on your own – even if they were all lesser nobility – is an impressive feat. Nobody would have expected you to challenge them directly in open combat and prevail."

"Subterfuge, misdirection and assassinations are just as valid a tactic as any in war," Claude agreed. "Besides, these enemies planned to assassinate you, probably making use of similar underhanded means. There is no need to treat them with honor."

"Ha ha, I guess."

I wasn't going to argue against them. But Claude had a point. I still remembered how those bastards from my previous party backstabbed, abandoned and tried to murder me. So they couldn't complain if I murdered them back, right?

Do unto others what you want others to do unto you. if you didn't hesitate to betray and kill others, you shouldn't complain when others betray and kill you. Then again, the world was full of hypocrites who only wanted things to go their way.

Thinking about them made the rage swell in my heart. I was getting impatient. I wanted to strike out at Miranda already. But in order to do that, I needed the help of a lich.

"All right, let's set out!"

At my command, I left Claude's castle and embarked onto my carriage. Wolfe was tethered to the carriage as usual, excitedly waiting for me and Stella. He had gotten bored over the last couple of weeks, having been forced to run about the courtyard when he tried to stretch his muscles. A dire wolf like him required quite a lot of exercise.

"I'll be relying on you again, Wolfe," I told him as I reached out and stroked his fur.

Stella also got on, accepting my help to be pulled into the carriage. We glanced out and nodded to Claude and Valerie, who were waiting to see us off from below.

"I'll leave things here to you," I told Claude. He grinned.

"Yeah, I'll have all these new regiments brought under our fold by the time you get back. Thanks to you, we've practically doubled the military force under our command in a matter of days!"

"It still won't be enough to contend with the warlords, though," I said. Claude waved my pessimism away.

"It's still a good start! A week ago, if you told me that we would be doubling the size of our army and eliminating an entire anti-Demonic Emperor conclave, I would have snapped your hand off." he then cocked his head. "Besides, you're coming back with a second legion, aren't you?"

"Not exactly. As I told you before, I'll only be negotiating. If everything goes as planned, I will still have to bring him the goods before he will finally be willing to take my side. The whole process may take months."

"Hah! Gaining an entire legion as an ally in a matter of months? Waiting is a small price to pay!" Claude reached up and clapped my arm. "Good luck, my liege. I will see you when you return. Raucon will be waiting there for you in Northrop. He should have the crew ready and handled the payments. If not, tell them to put it on my tab and I'll settle it."

"Will do. Thanks again."

Then Wolfe pulled the carriage and we vanished off into the day.

*

We reached Northrop City, which hugged the northern coastline and was home to countless ice floes and fishing industries. Known for the massive harbor, which was large enough to be a town on its own, it was a vampire city that was locked in cold winter for half of the year. Not only that, it was famous for having an entire month of no sun.

In other words, thirty days of night. Fortunately, we didn't arrive in such a gloomy time. Unfortunately, we weren't able to avoid winter.

"Cold…" Stella mumbled, her breath coming out in a white fog. She rubbed her hands together, and despite wearing thick gloves and a large coat, she was still shivering from the low temperature. She snuck an envious peek at me. She was probably wishing she had an affinity with ice magic like me.

Too bad she was unaware of the problems that came with that. While I was virtually unrivaled in ice magic, I couldn't use any other magic except blood and shadow magic…and even shadow magic could only be cast through Nocturne. Once again, I resented Miranda.

That must be why the Hero party decided to get rid of me. They compared me to the multi mage and decided that I was trash for only being able to wield a single element. Hence they deemed me expendable and decided to dispose of me.

Unfortunately, the fact that they were able to defeat and slay the previous Demonic Emperor without my help was evidence that they truly didn't need me. And I couldn't use the excuse that they robbed me of my power to augment Herman's light magic and Hero abilities or some bullshit like that. Not that such a convenient method existed. And if it did, why the fuck would they stop at me? They might as well wipe out almost the entire party to turn Herman into a god-like entity – imagine if he gained Miranda's magic powers, Yvonne's archery skills, Bradley's swordsmanship, Alan's assassination skills, etc. – all of those concentrated in a single individual. He would truly be a cheat character.

Shaking my head and forcing the gloomy thoughts out of my head, I glanced along the snowy street and scanned the addresses. I was looking for the one Claude had given me. It would be the office and home of Raucon.

"There."

I had Wolfe pull the carriage to a stop. Hopping out, I stroked Wolfe's fur and instructed him to stay here. With Stella following me, I stepped onto the porch and rapped my knuckles on the door.

A chubby vampire in a red coat and a stylish sailor's hat stepped out with a grin. He took in the view of me and Stella and did a clumsy bow.

"Roland Raucon at your service. You must be the lord that Claude sent? And his lady?"

"My aide," I corrected. Ever since Stella's transformation, she was more confident of being recognized as my knight and aide rather than as "my woman." So she didn't correct me and instead maintained her dignified posture. Raucon took note of the sword by her side and nodded.

"Ah, of course. My apologies. Please, inside."

When he shut the door behind us, he immediately bowed again.

"My liege," he said and rubbed at his pale cheeks. "It's an honor to serve."

I understood why he had only addressed me as such when inside the house. We had no idea who was watching us outside, and Claude had instructed him not to give my identity away. At least not until my position was more secure.

"Not at all. The honor is all mine."

Raucon chuckled. "Claude is correct. You're very modest. I wasn't sure what to expect, but you are very different from most nobles."

"To be frank, I'm not a noble."

"Ah, but you are one now." Raucon gestured toward the couch. "Please, take a seat. Sebastian! Get our guests some refreshments!"

The elderly butler bowed crisply before disappearing into the kitchen. He would return later with some glasses of blood.

"I'm not going to waste any time," I began after sitting down. "I plan to visit Ixia right away."

"Of course." Raucon's head bobbed up and down. "I have already hired a crew. Hardened sailors, the lot of them. They have plenty of combat experience against the undead."

Stella raised an eyebrow at that. "Are there…conflicts between the vampires and the undead?"

Raucon laughed. "Unofficially? Yes. It's not that we don't get along with each other, but there are always territorial disputes. Not to mention, the lich lord prefers to keep to himself. He doesn't really welcome visitors. I'm not sure how he will react to your arrival."

"He will have no choice but to receive me," I replied and glanced at my gloved right hand. Then I grinned. "Not to mention, I have a business proposition that he will be interested in."

"Good, good." Raucon nodded and accepted a glass of blood from Sebastian, who had returned from the kitchen with a tray. "I'm sure Captain Cooke will get you there safely. Even among vampires, he and his crew are known for being particularly vicious."

"Can they be trusted?" Stella asked, her tone suspicious. She knew how I had been betrayed by my previous party – in fact, she had also experienced betrayal of her own, her knight regiment in Bravia having raped and murdered her sister before trying to do the same to her. That explained her caution.

"Cooke and his ilk are mercenaries," Raucon replied. "They are loyal only to money. However, they do have their own reputation to preserve, and they stick to their own code of honor. Mercenaries who are notorious for backstabbing their employers will not receive a lot of jobs."

That was true.

"However, given the nature of your mission, you must understand that not many mercenaries are, how do I put it, audacious enough to accept it. The more honorable ones, those with a great reputation, they avoid Ixia. And for good reason. It's a very dangerous place. Only the most desperate and…shall we say mentally unhinged, would accept this task without a second thought."

Stella stiffened. "Then…"

"But I do not think Cooke and his crew will betray you if you're worried about that. They have a reputation for being vicious fighters – they will sell their lives dearly to get you to your destination and back here. And being vampires, they are hard to kill." Raucon leaned back, amused. "I'm sure you know that already, though."

"Good." I took a sip of blood. "So when do we move out?"

"I can have everything ready by tomorrow morning, if that pleases you, my liege."

"That will be great." I nodded. "The sooner the better."

"Then it will be done."

"Thank you."

"Not at all." Raucon then turned to Sebastian, who was waiting faithfully in a corner. "Sebastian, prepare a room for our guests. They will be staying for the night."