Chapter 48 - "If Only..." (3)

"Damn it…" I mumbled under my breath once the intruding trio had left. Then turned around and headed towards the servant's quarters to fetch Victor and Arwan, as well as to notify Diarmaid of the current situation.

"Diarmaid!" I shouted from across the hall. He turned around surprised to see me, then bowed slightly with a confused expression on his face.

"My Lord, what brings you to the servant's quarters?" He asked me, tilting his head and raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Hem," I cleared my throat and reiterated to him all of what went on in the Drawing room, then told him my reasons for coming over to where he was, "So I came over here to tell you to prepare a carriage for tomorrow, and make sure its comfortable, the other ones I rode in have all hurt my ass."

"My deepest apologies my lord, if I knew that those two had broken in I would have had them removed from the property immediately! But you can rest assured on that carriage, I'll get the most comfortable one prepared for you!" Diarmaid expressed, bowing.

"Pfft, thanks. But it's alright. I doubt that Llyr would've stopped there even if you had managed to get rid of him. If anything, I'm sure he would've come back with a giant sign and begged me to follow through with my promise." I laughed, making fun of him in a way.

"...Are you sure it's alright to talk about the King of Alkmene in such a way?" Diarmaid said, whispering to me with a look of worry.

"It's fine, it's not like he's here to do anything, plus he's in a foreign kingdom without being an envoy," I shrugged my shoulders and then started to walk off, "Anyways, I'm going to talk to Arwan and Victor, make sure you get what I just assigned to you done!"

I then walked off, waving at him over my shoulder. When I reached the knights' training ground I could hear the clashing of swords, I saw Arwan and the Guard Captain Alvaro training together, meanwhile, Victor sat on the paved walkway overviewing the combat area.

He was just watching them, his pale skin was glowing in the moonlight, which reminded me of the blood I had yet to give him. I sat down next to him, but he was so zoned out that he didn't even notice me lean forward and turn my head in his direction. 

Victor's eyes were glued to the movements of the two sparing knights' swords, his black orbs following each and every strike and slash, arc, and swing. Victor was exempted from training with the city guards, being more of my butler rather than bodyguard.

However, Arwan was required to, considering that he was hired later than everyone else and was still thought of as a baby compared to the other knights. While Arwan was indeed a swordmaster and by far stronger than Alvaro, especially since he was a dragon, he still had to undergo the training, to officially be recognized as my guardian knight.

"Lovely night out tonight, huh?" I said, looking up at the stars in the sky and startling Victor who hadn't noticed I was next to him.

'I suppose one good thing about being transmigrated into a pure fantasy world is being able to see the stars, and there is no pollution…I do kind of miss Nagoya though.'

"Yes, it is indeed…Sorry for not noticing you before," Victor apologized and agreed with my statement, looking at the sky for a brief moment before looking down at me.

"Heh, that's quite alright. But let me guess, you're feeling secluded from not having to participate in the training, huh?" I asked, looking back at him with a smile and tilting my head.

"I…Yeah, kind of," He admitted, looking down at the ground in silence for a moment, but then opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to.

"...Is something bothering you?" I asked, putting my knee up on the pavement and turning 90 degrees his way, but then saying with sincerity, "You can tell me, even if I am your master. No need to hesitate, you can spill out all of your troubles!"

"It's just…I want to get stronger, I feel so weak right now, like instead of me protecting you it's the other way around," Victor admitted, covering the lower part of his face with his hand.

"I see, and how does that make you feel?" I asked, and he just turned towards me with a confused face, "I'm asking because I'm trying to understand you, I can't help if you don't tell me why you're feeling that way."

"...Alright, it's because of Arwan," He finally admitted, looking away and blushing slightly from embarrassment, which made me burst out laughing, "Urgh, don't laugh at me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Haaa, but what about Arwan makes you feel weak?"

"Everything! His mana control, his strength, his sword aura. It all just makes me feel so inferior to him! I mean come on, I'm a vampire and a sword master, one the most powerful beings on this planet, I shouldn't be feeling this way!"

"Oh Victor, you aren't inferior in any way whatsoever!" I lecture, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look at me, "Dude, you're literally comparing yourself to a fucking dragon, of course, you guys are going to have a great difference in strength! That's natural."

I let go of his shoulders and tapped his chest, calling him an idiot and turning towards Arwan and Alvaro. Who are thankfully so engrossed in their spar that they didn't even notice me and Victor chatting, if Arwan heard he'd definitely tease Victor for life.

"Pfft, you are totally right!" Victor agreed and burst out laughing, "Here I am talking about wanting to protect you and grow stronger to do it even better but then breaking down in front of you!... Gods, I am so damn pathetic!"

"Hey, nobody calls my best butler pathetic ya hear me!" I chuckled, punching him in the shoulder and making both of us burst out laughing.

We joke around for a few more moments, Victor finally calming down enough and smiling a real smile.

"Haaaa, what would I do without you? My life was such i mess before I met you, do you know that?" Victor said, wearing a smile of nostalgia.

"Oh, how so? I don't think you've ever really told me about your old life, at least not enough for me to remember," I poke, trying to get him to open up more so I can set the right mood to give him the thing I planned on giving.

"Well…" Victor started but then paused to see that Alvaro and Arwan left the grounds already, then continued, "Heh, believe it or not, I was actually an Ensign and a Marquis, only in the title though. That was around 300 years ago though, and the vampire king at the time was rather ruthless, so I ran away and roamed the world for a while, that was until I met you and swore my loyalty, even after all of the crazy shit you did."

When Victor said that, one of the original Lev's memories surfaced. It was Lev as a teenager and Victor, who also looked much younger, his jawline not as defined. The scene was of the two of them in a black and beige colored cloak, Lev's head was turned towards Victor as he hit it behind him and kneeled to Lev, raising his sword to him.

Lev was rather shocked, but took the sword anyway and tapped the sword on both of Victor's shoulders before giving it back and laughing about it. Lev looked so young and much more tanner, not as pale and sleepless, more life-like and happy.

'I wonder what happened to Lev to make him turn to villainy…so dead and depressed.'

"Yes, I was quite shocked when you did that, that it made me burst out laughing!" I reiterated as I saw the memory.

"Pfft, yeah, you teased me for weeks, going on and on calling me your servant and ordering me around!" Victor laughed and then sighed, looking down and mumbling, "...Oh how I miss those times…"

"...Hey, I have a little something for you," Victor looked up at me, puzzled, "You said you wanted to get stronger right? So I got this for you," As I pulled out the bottle of blood, Victor's eyes widened in shock and worry.

"M-My Lord! Where did you get this, what happened?!" He questioned me with worry, clasping my hand with the blood in his.

"Hahaha, no need to worry. I simply got injured back when I went to get that divine power with Arwan, that's all." I chuckled, brushing the whole thing off as if I had just gone for a walk on the beach.

"You say not to worry, but it only makes me worry more! I mean, I can only imagine how much you bleed to get an entire six-ounce bottle!" Victor expressed, worry spreading on his face, and causing him to stand up.

"Victor, I think you're forgetting about that regenerative ability of mine, so I wasn't at risk of dying at all, plus Arwan was able to heal me to where there isn't even a scar!" I reply, standing up as well and shoving the bottle in his hand while smiling.

"My Lord, I don't know if I can take this," Victor said, trying to hand it back to me, "I know I said that I'm trying to get stronger, but I would feel terrible taking your blood!"

'Haaa, he's being so annoying about this!'

"Dude, just take the damn bottle," I order, showing my annoyance with him, but he just shakes his head, "If you don't then I'll shove it down your throat!"

"Okay fine, I'll take it!" He finally gave in, then uncaps the bottle and downs the entire thing, "There, happy?"

"Yes, very much so!" I say smiling. I started to head back to my room before forgetting the main reason that I went to go and see Victor in the first place, "Oh! I almost forgot, I'll be going on a date with Llyr tomorrow, so you have the day off!"

"...I'm sorry, but what did you just say?!" Victor questioned with a glare, but I just ran off, him chasing after me.

***

After having told Arwan about the whole date planned with Llyr, and trying to keep him from assassinating the King and starting a whole ass war, I went to bed for the night.

However, I woke up the next day to the sound of arguing voices from outside my bedroom door. Instead of going up and seeing what all the raucous is, I ignore it and go right back to sleep…or at least I try to before a certain fish-man comes bursting through my doors.

"Honey! I'm here for our date!" Llyr comes rushing into the room, with the familiar footsteps of Diarmaid and Victor behind him.

"Your Majesty, please restrain yourself!" Victor lectures him before trying to push him away, back through my bedroom doors, "His Lordship is trying to sleep, you can't come barging in here at the crack of dawn!"

"Huh?! But my honey and I have a date planned today! He should be awake by now, getting ready to see me!" Llyr releases his delusions upon the two struggling servants, which makes both of them roll their eyes, "Dear, don't you see how these two barbarians are trying to separate us!?"

The blundering fish king finally manages to get free from Victor and Diarmaid, plopping himself onto my bed and leaning over me. I turn over onto my back, staring right into his heart eyes, and smiling face.

"King Llyr Vellamo, I would advise you to remove yourself from His Lordship's room immediately!" Diarmaid says in a dark voice, putting his hands on his hips.

"Now, why should I do that? If anything it's you who should remove your small presence from My Dear Lev's chambers, he is my soon-to-be fiancé after all!" He declares, sitting up and glaring at Diarmaid.

Finally being able to sit up and get a proper look at my surroundings, I see that the sun is currently rising from the horizon and that my two butlers are currently in their pajamas. This lets me know that is not yet for both them and me to start our days.

Meanwhile, Llyr is dressed in a tailcoat, suit pants, and a fancy button-up shirt with a ruffled tie. Which of course all matches the color of my eyes, and has the crest of my house on his broach.

Diarmaid and Llyr start to bicker, while Victor just sighs and brings over a towel and a basin of water for me to wash my face. After finally standing up, in my pajamaed glory, I waltz right over to the Finfolk and Demon.

"I think it's best if everyone leaves my presence for the mourning," I exclaim, throwing the both of them out of my room and Victor following obediently, then before slamming the doors right in their faces I add this, "For you see, this Lord doesn't like being woken up like this, and if I wasn't such a patient man I would've ostracized all of you by now…So begone and let me get dressed in peace!"

'URGGGHHHH, If only I had never agreed to that bloody date!'