Volume 3 - CH 7

Time passed in a twinkling of an eye, and it became night. It became completely silent outside. As if piercing through that silence, the goblins and werewolves began shouting.

Most likely, the vampire was here. Livia here in the room with me turned towards me. “Alright, please hide now lord Crest.”

“Got it. I’ll leave it to you now, Orphe.” Orphe nodded his head when I told him this. I could easily see from his expression that he was nervous. In contrast, Sufi was the very definition of carefree.

Next to Orphe, she was even able to let out a yawn. I wish she would be a little bit more nervous about this. I got in the hidden room I checked at noon. Livia and the others moved the bed to hide the entrance.

I shifted the floorboard slightly and stuck my head out. I could see the table and chairs prepared for the meeting slightly.

“Well then, Sufi and I will be fundamentally in the background for this, so we’ll be leaving the conversation to you Orphe.”

“…Yeah, I got it.” I could hear Orphe and Livia’s conversation very clearly. Everything is ready. Orphe sounded a little bit nervous. …Well, all I can do now is believe in him.

After a bit, there was a knock on the door.

“What?”

“It’s Vanya of the vampires. Would it be fine if we were to begin?”

“That’s fine. Enter.” Said Orphe in an intimidating voice. Looks like all that practice is bearing fruit. The door opened and Vanya came inside. I couldn’t see their face; however, I could see that they didn’t look particularly tall.

“Hasn’t it been a while, Veld. Your village has changed quite a bit since we last met.” Their voice was quiet young and cute. Looks like the vampire is a woman.

“I’ve taken over the south. There were some guys with house building skills there. I’ve made use of them.” I figured they would touch on the changes in the village. Another reason for renovating the village was to make it easier to control the flow of the conversation. Right now it’s going just as expected.

Vanya took a seat, and Orphe sat down to face her. I could make out their profile, so I sat tight and watched the situation.

“Even still, I didn’t expect things to develop this much. You have quite the good allies. …In any case, it’s clear that it wasn’t a mistake to lend you a hand.”

“Of course.” Orphe gave a response for now, but Vanya’s statement still had room for doubt. It wasn’t a mistake to lend a hand? I wonder what Vanya is thinking. She chuckled to herself with a great deal of leeway. “What?”

Orphe shot her with a voice full of intimidation, then Vanya bowed her head slightly. “My mistake. I just thought this conversation is going a lot smoother than last time. You spoke a lot more before.”

“…There was a lot more to deal with before. With that in order, I have some more leeway.” Orphe responded well to Vanya’s suspicion. Looks like his ability to improve has improved as well.

“So then, who are those two women?” Vanya asked about Livia and Sufi.

“They’re like the leaders that gathered the slimes and goblins. I’ve got the two of them to follow me to drag in their comrades. There are lot of enemies so it’s best to raise my military power.” Said Orphe following my script, to which Vanya nodded in agreeance.

“I see. I certainly saw it in the village, but you have a good number of different races here, which would be difficult to gather alone.” Looks like the vampire didn’t have any particular suspicions. Swiftly, Livia made a move.

“It’s good to meet you, lady Vanya. I am the representative of the goblins, the goblin queen.”

“I’m Sufi. A slime queen. Best regards.”

“Umu. I’m Vanya. I give you my regards as well.” Vanya responded amicably to their introductions.

“So then? What should we do now?” The goal this time was to figure out what Vanya was thinking. Vanya moved her feet slightly at Orphe’s question.

“It’s not what you’ll do now, didn’t we already decided that you will become our subordinates in exchange for the magic stones? Werewolves, slimes, goblins. Our war potential will go up quite a bit with all of them.”

“True, it will.” Vanya’s goal was exactly in line with one of our hypothesis’. We already decided on the response for this. Orphe paused his words, then hit the table.

It was loud enough to make me want to cover my ears, and the table itself seemed to scream. Then, “And, if I were to refuse?” Orphe’s voice resounded with coercion. A pressure that seemed to rule over the air of the room came out with Orphe’s word.

It was the conversation he practiced many times. …In response, Vanya probably also felt that coercive power. This is what’s needed to figure out exactly what the vampires are thinking. I listened carefully for what Vanya was about to say, then, “R, r-r-r-r-refuse!? Y, you can’t! Didn’t we lend you all that help!?”

A particularly pathetic voice resounded. W, what? I didn’t expect that sort of response. Vanya spoke in a panic. Suddenly I can’t feel any majesty from her.