After adding Florence to his Friend list and inviting her into the guild. Jack left their coordinations to Jeanny and John. He walked out of the place and asked Sinful to continue bringing him to the city hall.
The city hall was indeed hard to miss. It was a gargantuan building similar to the real world’s cathedral. The fact that a Vampire’s administration place was copying the previous world’s house of God worship was an irony.
When he wanted to enter, the soldiers barred the way.
“Commoners are not allowed here,” the soldiers said.
Jack produced his Themisphere kingdom faction nobility badge and showed it to the soldiers. “My name is Storm Wind. I am a Viscount of Themisphere. I’m here for an official visit under the order of Prince Alonzo, the third prince of Themisphere, to meet with Caleb Lucien and deliver my prince’s message.”
The soldier checked the badge, before saying, “Wait here.” Then one of them went inside, presumably to announce Jack’s visit.
“You are a Viscount of Themisphere?” Sinful asked with admiration in his tone.
“Yeah, like I said. I’m on a quest,” Jack replied.
“Not a normal quest, I see.”
The soldier who went in soon returned. “All right, you can go in. Follow the soldier inside to meet Master Caleb. Do not wander around.”
Jack thanked the soldier and went in. When Sinful wanted to follow, the soldiers stopped him.
“Only the Themisphere’s Viscount is allowed. You have no business to enter,” the soldier said.
Sinful called to Jack, “It’s all right! I will wait here.”
Jack turned to him. “Are you sure? You have already shown me around. There is no need for you to intentionally wait for me. You can go do your things.”
“It’s okay. I’m free anyway. I will wait. Hey, how about we add each other as friends?”
“Sure,” Jack said and sent him a Friend invite.
Jack said goodbye to him and walked in following a soldier who had been waiting inside. The soldier took Jack through several luxurious rooms with Gothic style. They soon came into a large hall where two men were standing at the other side. The soldier excused himself and left the room, leaving Jack with the two.
One was a middle-aged pale man. The other had his back to Jack, Jack couldn’t see his feature, but his long silver hair was rather striking. Both of them wore imposing noble suits. Jack did not doubt that both of them were native Vampires. After learning mana sensing, Jack no longer need to use Inspect to know that someone was dangerous. These two natives had much higher levels than him.
Jack approached the two. From the way they acted, it seemed like the one with his back to Jack was the one in higher ranking, the middle-aged man assumed a deferential attitude to the man, so Jack assumed that long-haired man to be Caleb Lucien.
“Greetings, Master Caleb Lucien,” Jack said to the man.
But unexpectedly, it was the middle-aged vampire standing by the side who answered, “You must have had a long journey here. I assume you have a letter from Prince Alonzo for me?”
Jack used Inspect on them.
Caleb Lucien (Special Elite Vampire, High Elder), level 60
HP: 360,000
Horatio Maxius (Rare Elite Vampire, Archaic), level 70
HP: 840,000
The long-haired man was Horatio, while the middle-aged man was Caleb.
‘Assumption is truly not good,’ Jack admonished himself.
He couldn’t help but gulp, this long-haired vampire was as powerful as Garland Thunderhand. The long-haired man turned around. To Jack’s surprise, his face was that of a very young man. If judging only from the face, Jack would say that their ages were supposed to be similar.
“So, it is prince Alonzo’s champion, we have been waiting for you,” Horatio said. His voice was melodious, his eyes were captivating, Jack couldn’t help but feel he had trouble looking away under this young vampire’s stare.
“You did?”
Seeing Jack’s uncertainty, Caleb made an introduction, “This is Master Horatio of the Maxius family, the ruling family of Sangrod Empire. Master Horatio is the third son to the patriarch of the Maxius family, Marcus Maxius, who to other countries is also known as Emperor Marcus.”
‘Shouldn’t that make him a prince then? No wonder Caleb treated this young man with such reverence,’ Jack thought. He quickly made a polite bow and said, “Forgive my rudeness, I am not aware that I will be meeting Your Highness.”
Horatio waved him off. “I never really care for formality. Please, just refer to me as Horatio. Please sit.”
After the three took their sit, Horatio said, “It is surprising to have a human outworlder managing to cross countries while still below level 50.”
“I have a very good steed,” Jack replied. He then took out Prince Alonzo’s letter and handed it to Caleb. “This is the letter from Prince Alonzo.”
After reading the letter, Caleb gave it to Horatio. Horatio studied it for a while before he said, “Rivalry between siblings is sad. But it is also almost unavoidable in a family with power. I myself had been in rivalry with my brothers and sisters for hundreds of years.”
“Hundreds…?”
“You seemed surprised. How old do you think I am?” Horatio asked.
“Uh… you look twenty-ish…,” Jack answered.
Horatio smiled. “We vampires retained our appearance once we are turned. I was made a vampire by the patriarch of the Maxius family seven hundred and fifty-six years ago.”
“That… is a long time… You are made?”
“Yes. Vampires are made, not born. But we might as well be, we become something else entirely when we do. Only the human race can be made a vampire, but not all humans had the possibility to. Certain traits and blood conditions were needed. Those who didn’t qualify will simply die or turn into mindless ghouls. My father, my vampire father to be exact, the patriarch of the Maxius family, had seen the blood potential within me and thus choose me to be his third son. As a ruling family, he didn’t make that decision lightly. Nowadays, before turning a human into a vampire, the subject has to go through a series of examinations and rites to avoid unnecessary casualties. Yet, the probability of one becoming a vampire is still very low, that’s why our population is very few despite we can live a long life.”
“I guess the population of vampires exploded when we outworlders appeared,” Jack joked.
“Outworlders are not real vampires,” Horatio said. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean any disregard. We have observed outworlders who appeared in this country. Although they shared some of our traits, there are some significant differences. For one, they were not made as we native vampires did. They came into this world already a vampire. Another difference is, they grow old.”
“They do? But how can you tell? We only arrive in this world less than four months ago.”
“Although it is just a minute change, we can still tell,” Horatio said with a smile.
“I see. About turning into a vampire. Have you ever tried turning a human outworlder into a vampire? Is that possible?”
“We are not sure. You are the first human outworlder we meet. Now that you pique my interest, how about you give yourself for us to experiment with?”
“Uh… I… Please forget I said that.”
Horatio laughed. “Enough about my race. Let’s talk about the formal matter. Let me tell you the truth, it is I who have Caleb to talk with Mason about an alliance. As a third son myself, I understand Prince Alonzo’s plight. But although I am sympathetic to his cause, there is another reason why I am looking for this alliance.”
‘Here we go,’ Jack thought.
“I need access to the Themisphere kingdom,” Horatio said.
“You want to visit our country?”
“No, I need someone to help me search for someone in your country.”
“Someone? Who?”
“A traitor of the Maxius family, Aubelard Maxius. He had fled from Sangrod around one hundred years ago. We have no idea where he is at the moment aside from he should be in Themisphere. Considering the location, it will be bad if we send our forces to search around. The Themisphere kingdom might see it as an act of aggression. But if the third prince’s champion could help us in this search, then that will be helpful.”
Jack then heard a notification telling him that he had been offered a quest, Search for Aubelard Maxius. It had S difficulty.
‘Great… Now I have to search for one person in the whole kingdom. Heck! I haven’t even traveled the whole kingdom yet. Where am I to begin? I won’t even be surprised if this quest is categorized as SSS difficulty,’ Jack lamented in his mind.
As Jack thought about his predicament, Horatio pocketed Prince Alonzo’s letter. “Once you returned with news, I will give you a reply letter to Prince Alonzo. Complete with the Maxius family’s seal of approval to announce our support. I will await your good news.”
‘In other words, there is no deal if I don’t deliver,’ Jack thought.
