Chapter 26 - First Client

"How's the progress of the exploration?"

A deep voice coming from an old man asked. He appears to be in his eighties, he has long white hair and a black robe around his body as he rests on his chair.

He is currently facing the peaceful grassy backyard of his old mansion. There's a small fish pond and old statues displayed and most of them were already filled with moss.

It seems that it wasn't being taken care of regularly.

"Sir Torstein, aside from the two vampire castles we've taken, we've discovered three more castles not too far from them… However, we've confirmed that the owners of those castles are all Noble Blood… I'm afraid that we'll need a few more A-Rank Awakened to help us."

A bald man wearing a black tuxedo answered. He has a large frame appearing like a bodyguard of the old man.

"Noble Blood… Have you discovered what rank are they?"

"We haven't confirmed yet, but they should be above the rank of a Baron… They could be at Viscount or a County… However, based on the size of their castles, they shouldn't be at the Rank of a Marquise."

"Hmm… Is this report made by Sylvia's team?"

"That's correct, Sir Torstein."

The old man then went silent after hearing this. He is one of the founding members of the Saint Torido Clan. Their headquarters is located at Flushdenn City and their guild is currently the strongest one within the city.

They have four A-Rank Awakened as their core strength and more than thirty B-Rank as their main force.

Within Flushdenn City, no one would be able to surpass them at all.

Right now, their guild has control of 13 Arcane Worlds and one of them is even a High-Class where vampires are living. This high-class Arcane World is causing a lot of trouble to them and they couldn't even explore the 10% of the land at all!

They could barely hold on to the entrance on the other side. Luckily, they managed to purchase a decent Artifact from a different Arcane World that allows them to create a powerful ball of fire.

This fire creates artificial sunlight which greatly deters the Thralls or Newborn Vampires…

Because of this Artifact, aside from the nobles, they would only have to worry about the presence of the Vampire Knights, Vampire Hunters, and Shadows who are vampires that were not subordinate to any noble blood.

Torstein sighed after realizing that it is taking too much time to find what they wanted in the Arcane World.

In truth, they have suffered a lot of casualties in this place already. They previously have six A-Rank Awakened but they were now left with only four because of this cursed world.

If not for the potion they are looking for, they wouldn't want to waste their time in this Arcane World and they will only enter this place when they already have S-Rank Awakened in their midst.

It was said that only Vampire at the rank of Marquise would have such a potion but unfortunately, they wouldn't make a transaction with them unless they gain enough reputation. This is why they have started conquering the Vampire Castles that they could find.

"Very well… Just let Sylvia command all the Arcane Explorers."

"Yes, Sir… Would you like me to start another recruitment? We can consider giving more compensation to the D and C-Rank Awakened. If we increased their payment by another 30,000 Ains, those hesitating Awakened would surely jump on it." The bald man suggested.

His name is Glenn and he can be considered as the old man's secretary and bodyguard.

He tried to provide a good solution since they truly need more people to defend the Vampire Castles that they've taken control of.

Torstein nodded at the idea. Money is not a problem with them right now. They have 12 more Arcane World that is generating a lot of money on their side. Increasing the compensation by a little amount can probably attract more Awakened to join their side.

However, the problem with this is that the other guilds would surely become curious about their desperate actions. It wouldn't be surprising if they started coveting their Vampire World once they discovered it.

The old man can only sigh in the end but still ordered the man to continue with the recruitment.

Knock! Knock!

"Sir, there's a young man outside of the mansion asking to meet you." Another man looking like a bodyguard reported.

However, it was Glenn who replied.

"Can just anyone meet our Master? Tell me his name and his affiliation…" The huge man said imposingly.

"Y-yes, Leader Glenn. We confirmed that his name is Cyril Vermont. He's not registered as an Awakened. However, he mentioned that he has something that Sir Torstein would be interested in…"

The poor guard answered immediately. He didn't really want to come here and report the presence of the young man. However, his intuition tells him that he was not an ordinary person.

He also didn't want to make a bad decision since the master of this mansion has been very good to him and his family. If the man truly possesses something that would interest his master, then he would regret it for his life.

In the end, he can only let them decide about it.

"Did he tell you what it is?" Glenn asked.

"No, leader… He said that Sir Torstein wouldn't want to make this public. However, he mentioned that Sir needs this immediately before it's too late."

This time, Glenn glanced at the old man he's been serving for many years. It appears that the information about his granddaughter was leaked... or was it a different matter?

He saw Torstein have his eyes closed as if he was thinking whether to meet the young man. He couldn't blame him, this is very suspicious but if they miss this opportunity, they might regret it...

After a few seconds, the old man opened his eyes and looked at him directly. He seemed to be quite excited as he gave his command.

"Hohoho~ Let's see what he brought then… Bring him in."