92 Chapter 92: The Elders of the Haecient Council

"Just a while ago, I did something bad to you, Tomoyuki-kun."

While I was accompanying Lilith back to the military base, Lilith suddenly spoke up. I was surprised by her unusually depressed tone, and hastily shook my head.

"Don't worry about it. More importantly, are you really all right with this?"

I had finally seen for the first time the political pressure exerted on her to marry a noble of high standing. Even though Lilith had informed me of her circumstances beforehand, it sounded so surreal, like something I had always read in a manga or light novel. To think I would actually see a political engagement play out before my own eyes.

I also admired Lilith's resolute resistance to Claire's heavy-handed imposition, but I had rarely seen the usually calm vampire queen this emotional.

"Furthermore, that butler…Claire McAlterize, right? Even though she's supposed to be a butler for your Scarlet family, she has quite the insolent attitude. As if she has no respect for royalty such as yourself. And she was strangely deferential toward Lord Bradley Kreuger."

I wasn't outraged only because Claire slighted me and picked Bradley's side, but also at the way she completely disregarded Lilith. That was no way to treat a queen…no, even if Lilith was not a queen, that behavior was still no decent way to treat a person. Never mind queen, I doubted a usual ojou-sama in a strict noble family would be talked down to and treated so disrespectfully either. Moreover, I had a feeling that the butler and Lilith had some other reason why they did not have an ordinary master-servant relationship.

This went beyond a "bad" relationship. The lack of reservation on both parties' part wasn't just something born from an intimate relationship either, but…from more insidious reasons, or so I suspected, but I couldn't put my finger on a concrete cause.

"Don't worry about it. Claire has always been like that since long ago. That aside, you really saved me by accepting the duel with Lord Kreuger."

Lilith smiled and glanced at me as I walked beside her. I swallowed when I found myself spellbound by those ruby, beautiful pupils of hers, and my heart skipped a beat. I coughed to cover up my embarrassment.

"Well, that's only to be expected. After being looked down upon like that, it'll be strange if I didn't accept his challenge."

I had my own pride, after all.

"But is it all right? A duel with those two…would the elders accept that?"

"Yes. After all, the most important thing in Haemorage is still strength, after all. As long as you defeat Lord Kreuger in proper combat, no one will have any complaints if I choose you over him. I will be relying on you then."

"S…sure."

"Even then, Claire-san seems to hold that Lord Kreuger in very high regard."

"Oh…that's right. You're not very familiar with the way things work in Haemorage."

Lilith nodded as she mused to herself. Turning to me, she launched into an explanation.

"The council, which is currently headed by my uncle of the Scarlet family, mostly comprises of the leaders from the four great noble houses, and under them are elders from the smaller but still major nobles of the Haemorage kingdom."

"Oh, so that's why she was so deferential to him…"

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I understood why now. Claire was a representative of the elders of Haemorage, and Bradley Kreuger was the heir to one of those elders. The council of elders, who held political power that surpassed even that of Queen Lilith Scarlet, was an existence that even the royal Scarlet family had to tread lightly with. It came as no surprise that a servant of the Scarlet family had no choice but to be deferential to them.

"Of the four noble houses, the Kreuger clan holds the most military power. This means they have the most influence in the council, second only to the Scarlet family. And my uncle obviously is not on very good terms with me, given how I was chosen in favor of him for the throne."

I smiled wryly at that. I could just picture the rage of an older man when what he thought was his position was snatched out of his grasp by a girl several times his junior.

"I see. So that's why she proposed the engagement with the Kreuger house. It's to solidify the Scarlet family's position and the alliance between the two clans, as well as to grow stronger politically and militarily."

"That must be Claire's intentions," Lilith agreed with a disapproving frown. "However, she's too naïve. She's playing into the hands of the Kreuger house and my uncle. I'm just a figurehead, and if I'm relegated to becoming the wife of the heir to one of the four great nobles, my uncle can easily call for me to relinquish the throne to him. Furthermore, she's allowing the Kreuger house to consolidate their power and lodge themselves firmly within the royal family with this marriage. They will only grow stronger and overshadow all the other noble houses…to the point where they might even dislodge the Scarlet family from the throne itself."

"Uh…I see."

No, I didn't. This whole politics thing was way out of my league. But I could see how marrying into the royal family would allow the Kreuger house to get a huge say in who got to succeed the throne, and increase their political influence overall. It reminded me of the Fujiwara house in the Heian period of ancient Japan.

Fujiwara no Michinaga, in particular…by placing himself as regent, he was able to place his grandsons on the throne while ruling Japan from behind the scenes. For centuries, the Fujiwara family dominated the Heian court and wielded indisputable power by marrying into the royal family. Placing adolescent or child emperors on the throne, the grandfathers would name themselves regents and make the political decisions, alienating the adult would-be emperors and stripping them of their office and power.

Undoubtedly the Kreuger house was planning to do this to cement their hole over the royal court and dominate the political scene.

And all this when war is staring right at us in the face…

Some people were so selfish and ambitious that they didn't care about anything other than their own desires.

Well, I'm guilty of the same thing as well…

To condemn others for what I myself did would make me a hypocrite. But I was fine with being a hypocrite.

"Yeah, I will help you," I promised Lilith. "I'm not smart enough to follow all these politics and stuff, but as a historian, I know the disastrous consequences of what will happen if we allow these nobles to get their way."

The Heian era ended violently when the Taira clan had enough of the Fujiwara politics and took matters in their own hands by pulling a coup d'etat. The imperial court, weakened after centuries of corruption caused by the Fujiwara clan indulging in their political intrigue and thirst for power, fell to the military might of the Taira clan, and Taira no Kiyomori himself became the regent by placing his grandson, the Antoku emperor, on the throne. Despite the fall of the Fujiwara clan, they were replaced by yet another tyrant.

I wasn't sure of the new Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, who crushed the Taira and replaced them as the new ruler of Japan, was much better.

From what I see, I think Lilith-san makes for a great ruler. I'm sure most people would prefer if she stays on the throne.

Since I wasn't very knowledgeable about the political and social affairs of Haemorage, I could only come to that conclusion based on my own experiences. Perhaps I should find out a lot more. I decided to ask Lieutenant Benjamin Burado and Sergeant Marko about the current state of Haemorage and the political happenings tomorrow.

That said…

"I believe in you. You're the hero who defeated five of Evelyn's Chosen. I don't see any problems regarding the duel. In fact, I think you'll take both Lord Kreuger and Claire completely by surprise."

Lilith placed a finger on her chin as she spoke, and smiled.

"Furthermore, I also have my pride. You will not be doing the fighting alone. I am supposed to be the strongest vampire knight in Haemorage, after all. I have my own reputation to protect. I will not allow those two to insult me and my partner."

"Yeah."

Even though she said that, I was concerned about our opponents' strength. As I said, I couldn't afford to underestimate them.

In terms of strength, I doubted the opponents this time were in any way comparable to the 3rd Blood Knights company that I annihilated in combat a few days ago.

On one hand, one of the strongest former vampire knights in Haemorage who was selected from countless candidates to serve the military-focused Scarlet royal family as a competent bodyguard and commander.

On the other hand, the third-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, who was from the esteemed noble house of Kreuger, known for producing generations of skilled warriors.

Even if I were to pair up with Lilith, who was the strongest and first-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, it would still be fairly tough to fight against those two opponents unless I went all out like I did against my former classmates.

That said…

There's no reason for me to hold back, right? With those condescending attitudes, those two were just asking for me to kick their asses.

The only danger was me underestimating their strengths. Furthermore, there was something that Claire mentioned that bothered me.

"That person's ability as a vampire knight has increased over recent times. During the invasion, he had secluded himself for training. I'm afraid he's no longer the same vampire knight you fought against during last year's tournament. He has improved by leaps and bounds."

Would it still be accurate to estimate his strength based on what I saw off Lilith's ability? Was it possible that he had surpassed Lilith during his secluded training? If he did, then we couldn't afford to underestimate him.

"We should still be careful. We don't know what tricks they might pull," I warned. Lilith stared at me, and then nodded.

"You're right. We shouldn't get carried away and underestimate them. Even if we've fought against Evelyn's Chosen, those two are still quite formidable opponents that might possibly be on par with them."

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Never mind the Demon Lord…the powerful demon nobles required the heroes to group together in parties just to defeat them. It was quite possible that both Bradley and Claire were individually more powerful than Evelyn's Chosen. And now that both of them had banded together…

No wonder Bradley was so confident that he could slay ten Evelyn's Chosen by himself…

Well, I had reached the point where I could defeat eight of them at once, so I was no slouch, if I might say so myself…

"You aren't angry, huh…"

As I was lost in my thoughts, Lilith suddenly made that statement.

"Huh?"

"Normally, you would get angry when you are dragged into such a duel. Even though you're not my real lover…"

"No…it's something I decided on my own, after all."

As I mentioned earlier, I was pretty mad at being looked down upon. But I wasn't going to respond with insults – actions spoke louder than words. If I wanted to prove them wrong, I was going to show them the errors of their way and the foolishness of their arrogance in combat, not in verbal banter. I was going to crush them, not with words, but with the tanks of the Imperial Guard…I mean, with my magic and techniques.

"Thank you. I will express my gratitude to you in advance."

I regret nothing. Now I could die happily. Having a beautiful girl thank him was the stuff of every guy's dreams.

"Don't thank me yet. Wait until we actually beat those two first. And besides, they pissed me off. I'm gonna kick their asses."

Lilith smiled at that.

"Yes, please do. I would appreciate it very much if you do that."

*

That night, while we were strolling back to the military base, a meeting was being held in Haecient.

At the edge of a round table, which was illuminated by a magical chandelier, seven men and women dressed in formal clothes or military uniform took their seats.

The ancient-looking man who sat at the head of the table was Sebastian Scarlet, the uncle of the current queen of Haemorage, and the head of the council of elders.

Beside him was a wizened old man who served as prime minister, and another millennia-old vampire who was the vice-commander of the Haemorage army and second in military rank only to the queen herself.

The remaining four people were the most influential Dukes and Duchess, who were also known as the four great nobles.

The family heads of prestigious families which governed the territories of Haemorage for a long time, these vampire elders had lived for untold millennia and were truly ancient. Unbelievable power shimmered in their aged eyes, barely contained by their deceptively youthful bodies. Despite appearing in their primes, the youngest of them was over a thousand years old.

The atmosphere in the room was so tense, so saturated with killing intent that any of them could cut the air with a knife.

"I wonder…how many years has it been since we were all summoned here like this?"

A handsome man with long, white hair spoke up, amused. His cheerful question broke the tense silence, allowing the occupants in the room to relax just a fraction.

"Five years?" the dark-haired man with inky, black eyes replied with a grin. "Not long enough for me to forget your faces. But I've been so busy with business that I've forgotten to keep up."

"Putting that aside, I suspect you've summoned us all here for a reason, Scarlet-sama?"

Ignoring the dark-haired man, a gentleman with refined features and a dignified air turned his blood-red eyes to the red-haired leader of the council.

Sebastian nodded and then glanced at the vice-commander of the army beside him. The general cleared his throat and glanced at his notes.

"Yes. Just yesterday, Queen Scarlet and I received a report from his majesty Emperor Regis himself. The intelligence department in Helsfort received news that the human kingdoms are aiming at one of our most sacred tombs."

"The tomb of my ancestor, Alucard," Sebastian put in, his crimson eyes glinting in fury. "They wish to trespass, violate and steal from it, the insolent bastards."

"Ah…"

The final noble, a lady in night-colored robes and a veil around her beautiful face, nodded as she contemplated Sebastian's words.

"But I doubt it's the humans who came up with this outrageous plan on their own. It must be the Evelyn's Chosen who planned this."

The general nodded.

"That's right. Or so our intelligence believes."

Hearing that, the dark-haired man sighed.

"Those Evelyn's Chosen just won't leave us alone, will they? I heard rumors about some Emperor of Humanity killing all the royal families of the various human kingdoms and taking control of all humans, uniting them under his rule."

By now, all the nobles had heard of Kobayashi Kenji's plans to invade Morten and exterminate the demon race. They also received the news that Haemorage was one of the ten domains that Kobayashi sought to annihilate in his quest to reach the final, secret demon territory in the far north of Morten.

If he succeeded, never mind Haemorage…the whole of Morten would be doomed. The demons would be hunted down to extinction by Kobayashi's fanatical zealots. And Kobayashi would inadvertently unleash a horror that Restia had never seen, if he continued to indulge in his greed to "clear the secret level."

"I see. So you need us to help protect the ruins, correct?"

The gentleman with refined features concluded. The general nodded bitterly.

"Yes. But it's not just that. Emperor Regis has requested that we also send an expedition to investigate the ruins. Queen Scarlet has given permission for that, but in response to his other request, which is to recover ancient weapons to use in the war against humans, she said she would defer…"

"…to the council of elders," Sebastian finished grudgingly. "My niece at least has the decency to consult us before making such a momentuous decision."

The dark-haired man laughed.

"You should be less harsh on your niece, Scarlet-sama. She makes an excellent queen. Wasn't she the one who saved Haemorage from Evelyn's Chosen and the human armies a couple of weeks ago? She has served our kingdom very well. I wouldn't want anyone on the throne."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired man's tone. His message was clear. He did not approve of Sebastian's attempts to try to snatch the throne from Lilith.

"Enough squabbling."

The gentleman spoke up with a frown. He glanced at the seven seated on the round table.

"The question is whether we should approve of whether we should recover such weapons. It has always been taboo to disturb these tombs, but to defend them from these wretched humans, it seems we have no choice but to break into them ourselves for the first time in centuries."

"I don't see why not," the lady spoke up. She glanced at Sebastian. "But this is the tomb of your ancestor, so of course I'll respect any reservations you have."

Sebastian smiled bitterly.

"The tombs aren't sealed, and to defend them, the Haemorage military will have to enter the tombs and take up defensive positions to protect it from outsiders and trespassers. Plus there were ancient secrets concealed inside the tombs…secrets that not only Emperor Regis, his majesty, wants, but secrets that would benefit our kingdom as a whole. If we were to retrieve these technologies, we will be able to drive the human armies out of our lands, and even Morten itself. We'll become a major power within the Demonic Alliance."

"So it's decided?" the dark-haired man asked. "We investigate the tomb and recover whatever technologies and weapons hidden in it after repelling the invaders?"

"Sounds like a plan," the gentleman agreed. "I have no objections to it."

"So who will do it?" the veiled lady asked, glancing at the general. "I presume the military will be sending out a regiment to secure the tomb, and then to investigate it?"

"Yes. Queen Scarlet herself is leading a military expedition to the tomb, to protect it from Evelyn's Chosen. She says that it's her responsibility, especially since the revered Alucard-sama is her ancestor. There will be several regiments accompanying her, including a small battalion from Helsfort. The battalion does include a company of vampires from Haemorage, though…"

"Ah. The Hero Slayer. If he's going, then we shouldn't have to worry about Evelyn's Chosen."

"Please wait."

Everyone turned to stare at the man with long, golden hair, when he suddenly spoke up. He had been so silent the entire time that everyone had forgotten that he was there.

"It will be embarrassing to always rely on an outsider to protect Haemorage. While I am grateful to the Hero Slayer, we cannot always selfishly depend on him every single time one of Evelyn's Chosen come to invade us. I would like to send my son."

"…Lord Kreuger?"

The man who wore a steel ornament on his military uniform and emanated a regal air of intimidation was known as William Kreuger.

"My son is the third-ranked vampire knight in Haemorage, and one of the most promising warriors of his generation. I'm sure he will make a very valuable military asset. Not to mention, he has very strong leadership skills and he has refined and polished his skills during his seclusion of training. I would like to make up for the time we missed the defense of Haemorage a few weeks ago by dispatching our forces to defend our borders this time. And as you know, my son has a wealth of experience in combat over the centuries that makes him more than qualified to be the commanding officer. Of course, with your permission, Scarlet-sama."

Sebastian Scarlet glanced cautiously at William Kreuger, who was displaying a fearless smile as he bragged about his son.

Even though he had received news from his butler, Claire McAlterize, that she was planning an engagement between his neice and William's son, he couldn't afford to ignore the dark rumors that had been circulating about.

Even among the four great nobles, the Kreuger clan owned unusually vast territories, and there were whispers that he had been amassing a private army behind the scenes – an army that he held back in reserve even when Haemorage was in danger of being conquered by the humans.

However, on the other hand, the fact that he did not mobilize that supposedly hidden private army when Haemorage was in danger of falling could be evidence that those rumors were in fact nothing more than unfounded rumors.

"We cannot afford to expose her highness Queen Lilith to danger. Please, leave this matter to this subordinate."

"…understood."

Sebastian finally nodded and consented to William's suggestion, not because he was truly concerned over Lilith's safety, but because he had no reason to refuse William's proposal. There were no demerits to him, after all.

Right at the very moment, William smiled, exposing twinkling white teeth. It was as if he had been waiting for this instance.

"However, for this important task where I'm likely to lose not only the vampire knights of my territory, but also my son and his treasure weapon, aside from war funds, soldiers and equipment, I think I would also like to have a certain reward."

"That's…"

As expected, even Sebastian was taken aback by William's boldness.

"Please grant me full authority over the Haemorage Army…of course, second only to her highness, Queen Lilith. I would like you to give me position of General when my son accomplishes this mission."

His eyes brimming with ambition, William brazenly issued his request.