Chapter 85 85 – Negotiation With Grigori Tepes [2]

Grigori being mad was a bit outside of his expectation. But he understood where the Vampire lord came from.

His words could be easilyy misunderstood as a threat, while what he gave to Grigori was a mere warning.

"Even if you're the Ruler with massive strength, I won't allow you to threaten me or my territory."

From this, however, he learned a little about Grigori's personality. The Vampire lord's subordinates outside also seemed to respect him greatly; at the same time, they also feared him.

The Vampire lord could be described as a mafia leader with a bigger gun in his pants.

"That's not my intention," Kai replied calmly, looking straight into Grigori's eyes, not wavering a little.

So what if the Vampire lord was angry and looked scary? In his life, Kai had always dealt with a scary old man with an anger issue. Without him noticing, as time passed, his mind was trained, and he built immunity to fear.

"This creature I spoke about was something that didn't care about territory. Just coincidentally, this creature's main body is awakened in Romania, so I am here to pursue it. I have no slightest intention to bring harm to Romania."

"What kind of creature is it? Let me tell you something. I am not in the mood to joke around right now. If this creature is that scary to the point the Ruler is gracing this country with his presence, then I should've heard about it at least once."

Grigori still didn't pull back his Spirit Power. Ibaraki was now glaring at the Vampire lord, displeased with the Grigori's blatant disrespect toward Kai.

[Ibaraki, hold your anger.]

Amber secretly sent the message to the Oni girl through their connection with Kai.

[Kai needs the Vampire lord's manpower to find the Boogeymen.]

[But!]

[If you attack him, then we will need to find the Boogeymen manually without anyone's help. Everyone in Romania will look at Kai as if he's the villain. The Vampire lord has the power to do that to our Master. He's the lord of this country. So, hold yourself.]

[Ugh… A-Alright.]

Kai was relieved when he heard their conversations. He was about to hold Ibaraki himself if she lashed out at the Vampire lord and made the situation complicated.

Indeed, just as Amber had said, he needed the Vampire lord's manpower to get information about the Boogeymen's location. It would make everything faster and easier.

"You must've heard of this creature before, Vampire lord." Kai looked at the red-haired man seriously. Everyone was anticipating Kai's answer, except for his companion.

Everything went silent. The might of the Vampire lord's Spirit Power couldn't be felt anymore as everyone had already gotten used to it. The bottles that fell because of the blast when he released his Spirit Power were still rolling around in the ground.

Then, the silence scattered when Kai continued.

"It's the Boogeymen."

A crack could be heard from the glass in Grigori's hand as he froze, retracting his Spirit Power back into his body. The atmosphere changed; it became as silent as it could be. Diana and Liana sucked their breath. They weren't loud, but they could be heard because of the silence.

Then there was a confused Liliana. She looked back and forth between Grigori and Kai for the first time before her gaze settled on Kai and asked.

"The Boogeymen?" A clear voice full of curiosity rang out. "What is that? Why are you guys going silent so suddenly?"

Kai was about to answer her, but unexpectedly, Grigori talked first.

"That, my daughter…" He stopped in the middle of a sentence and heaved a sigh while putting the cracked glass, which was depleted of its content, down onto the table. "A creature who almost destroyed our family ten years ago when you were still a child."

That revelation surprised Kai too.

'So that's why that old man said Romania's vampire would help me. It wasn't because of my title, it is because of this reason.'

Grigori's emotion changed as he leaned his back against the backrest.

"Ruler, are you sure about this?" He asked with a rather cracked voice. "Didn't you defeat that demon back in Oni Village?"

"I did defeat the Boogeyman."

"Then–"

"But that's only its fake body. Even so, some parts of Oni Village were destroyed because of our fight. If the main body was there… I believe the destruction would be more than that."

"…"

Grigori fell silent as he fixed his posture. His expression looked like he contemplated this hard enough.

Then a voice rang once again.

"Can't you just beat him again, then?" She asked, looking at Kai. "If you are indeed the Ruler who is as strong as what Father told me, can't you just kill these Boogeymen or something?"

A vein popped up on Grigori's temple as he heard what his daughter had carelessly said. "Listen here, my daughter. Boogeymen are not like random creatures or Malices. This is a creature born from people's fear. Its power is comparable to a natural disaster. Not only that…"

The Vampire lord stopped as he glanced at Kai.

"Just as he said before, Boogeymen have a lot of fake bodies. Finding its real core is a pain in the ass. And when it notices our movements toward it, then its fake bodies would show themselves to wreak chaos."

"Is that so?" Liliana's response was dry, as if she was not interested in this, even though she was the one who asked. She crossed her legs and turned her head away like a bratty little girl.

"You…"

Even the Vampire lord seemed to have enough with his daughter.

"Diana, Liana, take Liliana out for now. I have an important talk with the Ruler."

"Yes, Dear."

Liana and Diana rose from their seats and approached Liliana. The girl looked pissed off as she jumped from the couch and stormed out of the room while grumbling about stupid dad and something.

Peace finally returned as Grigori heaved another sigh. He looked at Kai with a tired gaze as he straightened his posture.

"Let's talk from the start. What do you need from us? Tell me about it."

Kai smiled. Finally, they talked at an even ground, with Grigori willing to listen to him seriously. All this time, the Vampire lord had the upper hand because there was no benefit for the Vampire lord even if Kai offered something.

Now, the danger from the Boogeymen acted as a trigger for the man to change his mind. The fact that Boogeymen had almost destroyed Romania's vampire family 10 years ago was a pleasant surprise for Kai. It made the discussion advance faster and didn't stall at the beginning.

The chance for Grigori to lend his man just increased rapidly. So he told him.

"I need manpower."