Judging by how many original vampires Jim had awakened, Quinn just couldn't put the idea out of his head that he might have woken up Richard. However, no matter how much Quinn thought about it, he just couldn't piece together what Richard was trying to do, nor what his goal could be in all of this?
But most importantly… just whose side was Richard supposed to be on?
"I'm assuming that was not all you wanted from me?" Dwight continued the conversation. "Even I would feel bad to reward you with just a simple history lesson for what I have asked of you."
With the most prominent question out of the way, it was time for Quinn to make some requests or suggestions, and he was just hoping these would go as well as the rest of the conversation had.
"Indeed, it concerns the men that came with Paul. I know you originally promised me that their lives would be spared as long as I managed to fulfill my mission, but I'm afraid that deal will not be honoured with a new King. I'm sure you never intended to just let them go back to the Human World after everything happened in the first place, right?"
Now that the conversation seemed to relax a little, Dwight's posture was less stiff as he replied.
"Asking for that would have been outside of what I could have offered. Returning two hundred or so men is bound to raise questions, even if we did erase their memories, not to mention it would be near impossible to check that all the details inside their heads had disappeared. However, there is actually a leader who is famous for her ability to erase her targets' memories with a hundred percent certainty."
This was news to Quinn, he had heard that erasing just part of someone's memories was already hard, especially a large chunk of it could be dangerous to the user. With how long they had stayed, Quinn had honestly thought the only option would have been to erase their entire memories.
However, Quinn had already witnessed the effects of turning someone into a black slate with Cia. All these people had their own families to go to, as such it was too cruel to do that to them.
"I'm guessing it's a leader's ability?" Quinn asked, not letting his personal emotions show.
"Correct, Cindy, the second family's leader can remove memories, or more precisely she can reverse one's memories up to a certain point. She could make it so those men only remember up to the point when they were handed their mission, without remembering anything about the Vampire World or ever encountering you."
"Nevertheless, I can't just release them back to the Human World. Kazz has been tracking you and most likely has already reported to Bryce that you haven't achieved much. Our word means a lot to us vampires, the King's word perhaps more so than anyone else's."
"Right now, many believe the only reason you and Paul are complying is because of them, so giving up the hold we have over you would result in a bigger rift then there already is."
"But we don't have a lot of time." Quinn argued. "Once a new King gets elected, won't they just use this very same excuse? That the deal had been between me and the old King?"
"Then what would you suggest, I'm open to any solutions?"
Regretfully, Quinn had been forced to consider such an outcome, so he had already gone through the options with Paul.
"You're afraid that they would tell others about the Vampire World because they're human, so what if we make them into vampires. After they turn I would like to accept them into the tenth family. You asked me to help you, but as you're aware my family is currently at its weakest. We've been attacked, and I can't exactly do much with just ten vampire students and the few companions I brought along this time, now can I? I need to rebuild our strength and we need people for that!" Quinn insisted, not shying away from laying the guilt onto the Royal Vampire knight.
Dwight stayed silent for a while and relaxed back in his chair until he was finally ready to answer. "That does sound reasonable. I should be able to use the attack on the tenth family's castle as justification for giving you more people. However, that still leaves us with the problem that turning all two hundred will be impossible by yourself. Other vampires can only turn one or two at most, and with how little people you have… Still, I can allow for the humans to live in your inner castle area, without being turned, but I suggest you do this as soon as possible."
"Once the others learn that you have humans there… well, it will be like dangling a steak in front of a lion."
Two hundred people would now be added to the tenth family, and although he didn't have to worry about their lives being lost now, he still would have to worry about the possibility of the tenth castle being attacked in the future.
Thinking of those in his family, and what Dwight said earlier it made him think about something.
"By any chance, you said that her ability worked by not erasing the memory but by reversing them. Do you think a person's memories could be reversed to before they had been removed, in a way, returning their lost memories?" Quinn asked.
"… Theoretically? I would think it would work, but I don't know the ins and outs of the ability. You would have to ask Cindy, since she's the one with the ability." Dwight could tell that it was the last request Quinn had.
Of course Quinn would have liked to ask for more support and help from Dwight, but they needed to also keep their relationship a secret, which was why he could only do so much.
Before leaving it looked like he had one more thing to say.
"Cindy should be willing to help you. She already has the support from a lot of the other leaders so she will help you to gain your favour, but remember what I said Quinn, don't trust anyone!"
"The King will go into eternal slumber in two weeks. Use this time to strengthen the tenth family and find out whatever you can! We will meet regularly and I will start the process of sending those captured over to you."
Quinn had found out what he needed and had managed to solve the issue with the human prisoners, overall the meeting could be called a success.
Still, he couldn't help but feel bad that they had no choice in the matter. He just hoped they would agree that anything was better than death, especially since Quinn planned to make good on his promise to return them to their family one day.
'Are you thinking about letting Cia see the second leader Cindy?' Vincent asked. 'When I said there was one in the world that could possibly return her memories, she was the one I was referring to. I just never thought we would be in a situation where they would need a lot more from you then you do form them.'
"I ruined her life."Quinn sighed. "It's hard for me to look at her, since I can see how much pain she is in. I thought that maybe after a while she would forget about everything, but even now she plans to go back to Pure in hopes of finding out more about her past."
Quinn grimaced as the thought crossed his mind that they were quite similar. In a way, he also had been obsessed with his past, only that he had tried unlocking the book his parents had left him, hoping he might learn just a little bit more about them.
"She saved us from the demon tier beast and has helped us a lot. I think the least I can do for her is allowing her to choose what she wants to do."
Exiting from the castle, the Royal Guards checked Quinn over again. Although Dwight was a higher rank then them, Quinn could see that even when he left the room they checked him before he was to go up.
'I guess they're only loyal to the King.'
After the check was done, Quinn started to leave the castle, but while doing so he walked past someone unexpected. Quinm paused for a second, as he heard the sound of something hitting the floor.
It was a cane, but he was aware that the man holding it didn't need it.
Walking past him, Bryce had but a small smile on his face.
"No matter how much you seem to have grown on the outside, you are but a human child." He whispered, knowing full well that Quinn could hear him.
'That old man is crazy." Vincent proclaimed. 'If he wants your vote, he's doing a terrible job at it!'
'It's ok, we should ignore him for now. If Bryce wants to go to war, then I will happily show him that the Dalki are not the only thing these old vampires have underestimated!'
*****
