Chapter 193: 193

**

I didn’t know any exquisite and detailed torture methods like the people from the Order of the Crimson Cross usually resorted to .

However, I certainly knew how to set the similar kind of vibe .

Currently, dear Baron Lava was dangling upside down in the air . His maggot-like body was struggling ungainly from side to side .

Right below him was a dug-out pit filled with holy water . As for the chains tightly binding and hoisting the Vampire Baron up? They were manned by my skeletons, obviously .

“Let’s play a little game . ”

To bolster our terror-inducing atmosphere, I deliberately quoted a line from a thriller movie . Baron Lava flinched nastily and stared at me with trembling protruding eyes .

We were inside a completely closed-off space where only the pit of holy water was emitting enough light to illuminate the darkness away .

“There’s only one way for you to spare yourself from the suffering . And that is to answer my questions truthfully . ”

While saying that, I perused the list of names recovered from Baron Lava’s possession . It contained most of the people in the Imperial Family .

Rose Darina’s name was among them .

“And your answer is?”

“H-how dare a measly livestock…!”

I snapped my fingers .

The skeletons tasked with holding the chains let go .

Baron Lava’s body fell headlong towards the ground and plunged under the surface of the holy water pit .

His flesh burned away and he began screeching out a bizarre scream . Ashes and acrid smoke quickly filled up the space .

The skeletons grabbed the chains and pulled him back up .

Baron Lava was hoisted back up in the air and his burning flesh quickly regenerated . That unique-to-Vampires regenerative ability sure was something else, alright .

What I initially planned for was one of those water torture thingies, but somehow, it ended up as painful as an acid torture for the Vampire .

While suffering from asphyxiation and the pain of his flesh burning away, Baron Lava repeatedly screamed for mercy, begging me to spare his life .

“Do you know about Rose Darina?”

“I, I don’t…”

I snapped my fingers again .

Baron Lava was dunked into the holy water pit once more .

A series of the same actions repeated themselves in a cycle for a while . I had him pulled out, asked him a question, and when he said he didn’t know anything…

One more time in the drink, then .

Without taking a break, I repeated it over and over again .

If I failed to get any hints in this place, then it’d be a complete dead-end for me, unable to go anywhere fast . I had plenty of time to kill, anyway – at least, until the execution of my brother Ruppel, that was .

Three and half days of non-stop dunking later, Baron Lava and his beet-red face finally relented and opened his hole-mouth . “I-I’ll, tell, you everything… Every… thing… P-please, just, just stop…”

Only then did I break out in a smile .

**

I strode outside the closed-off storehouse found in the village of Rost .

In front of the building were the First Prince of the Lome Kingdom, Barus Victoria and his escorting knights, plus Charlotte on standby .

I shifted my gaze over to her .

She still had a rather dissatisfied expression .

I figured that her pride was still wounded by the fact that she fell under the illusion magic cast by the likes of a measly little baron-class Vampire, and also, she was probably feeling rueful about me managing to snatch up her prey before she could deal with it .

I addressed them, “I know where Rose Darina could be . ”

More correctly, the helper who was providing her with a safe haven .

The first person whose complexion noticeably perked up from my declaration was First Prince Barus . He obviously wanted to avoid the Theocratic Empire’s intervention in his kingdom’s affairs no matter what .

“D-does that mean that this incident being unrelated to the kingdom has finally been revealed?”

With my authority as the Seventh Imperial Prince, I could definitely withdraw the Heavenly Army dispatched to this kingdom . That’s what Barus was hoping for .

Too bad for him – I shook my head resolutely . The actual truth was the exact opposite to his hopes .

I replied . “Sorry, but it’s deeply related to your people . ”

To be more specific, Barus wasn’t related to Rose Darina’s case . However, the kingdom of Lome was . And by quite a lot, too .

Barus looked stunned by my reply .

“The one protecting Rose is none other than…” I glared straight at him . “…the dragon slayer, Raiden . ”

The First Prince of Lome shut his mouth and didn’t say anything for a little while . His complexion grew paler than a sheet of paper .

If what I said was true, then it would practically be the same as the Lome Kingdom sheltering Rose Darina . This revelation could even be used as a pretext for a full-scale invasion .

“B-but, please wait . Don’t you think something is wrong here?”

“…”

“A Vampire told you all these, didn’t he? How can a Vampire know about the whereabouts of the Second Crown Princess Consort, and also her relationship with Raiden…”

Barus’s question that seemed to go on for a bit gradually petered out towards the end . His jaw went slack from the mental shock as he grew quieter .

That’s because he had finally realised the truth .

Raiden, Rose Darina, and the Vampires…

“After all, they are all connected to each other . ”

Indeed, they were all co-conspirators, that’s why .

**

The skeleton horses pulled our carriage along . The escorting knights were moving alongside our vehicle .

I was busy recalling what Baron Lava had told me earlier .

-Rose Darina, she was our informant . Not only did she give us information regarding the Theocratic Empire, she even helped us to get in touch with the blood-creations .

Rose’s role was to act as the connecting bridge between the Vampires and the nobles who wished to become Vampires themselves to enjoy an everlasting life .

Unfortunately, Baron Lava also didn’t know all the details .

That was solely down to the fact that even though he was a Progenitor Vampire, he had lived most of his life inside a dark cave somewhere, and this would be his first time being involved in a mission after receiving his peerage .

Baron Lava confessed to some other things as well .

-Also, the command of this mission has been taken up by a marquis .

‘Marquis’ . It wasn’t a noble rank found among human societies but a ‘peerage’ system the Vampires used to denote one’s station among the pecking order .

-Raiden Behemoth . He is the Vampire Marquis in charge of this mission .

I slowly swept my head back while recalling the rest of Lava’s words .

-Because he wanted it, it was easy to turn him into a Vampire .

Two conditions had to be fulfilled in order to become a Vampire .

One, the blood of a Progenitor was a necessity to turn someone into a Vampire . And the other one was you wishing to become a Vampire and offering up your own soul as the price .

If the subordination contract was successfully formed, then you’d live on as the ‘servant’ of the Progenitor Vampire .

When Raiden’s age reached around eighty years old, he felt his physical body grow rapidly weaker . The days of his advanced age were stained by the persistent pain brought on by the grievous wound he suffered during the life-or-death battle against the dragon in the distant past .

And to someone like him…

-Rose Darina seduced him .

Rose gave him a way to ‘live’ again . To live a false life, and to live for all eternity .

She helped him be reborn as a Vampire that possessed the power to deny natural death itself .

-His majesty, the Vampire King, acknowledged him as the powerful human who had hunted a dragon down . As such, his majesty personally shared his own blood with Raiden, raised the latter’s status up to the Progenitor, and granted the peerage of marquis .

-Okay, fine . Where is Raiden, then?

-I really have no clue about that! The marquis usually sends out his orders through communiques . I am merely a puppet on a string, tasked with carrying out his orders! That’s all!

After getting the answers to some of my questions, I took care of Baron Lava for good .

While we rode on the carriage, I racked my brain trying to understand what the Vampires were angling for here .

But why would they? And how come?

Why were the Vampires still shielding Rose Darina even now?

Shouldn’t she be like a disposable pawn for them?

Maybe Rose still had some other uses left or something?

I couldn’t figure it out .

However, there was one thing that kept popping up my mind – the black-haired ‘maidservant’ that stuck around Rose Darina .

During the banquet in Humite, Ruppel abruptly asked me about that woman for some reason . But when I checked her out through [Mind’s Eye], she didn’t seem all that remarkable, and neither was she someone blessed with extraordinary talents .

Even then, Vampires were providing shelter to both her and Rose even now, so that could only mean that the two of them still had their uses left .

I swept my hair back again .

Back to square one, was it?

My new task was to locate this Vampire named Raiden . But how was I supposed to find out where he hid himself inside the kingdom of Lome?

Still, it wasn’t as if all available avenues had dried up .

For instance, the First Prince of Lome was sitting right before my eyes – I definitely needed Barus’s help here . After all, not many people out there would have as much in-depth knowledge in the current state of the Lome kingdom as him .

That’s why I…

“But how could this be…!”

I shifted my gaze over to Barus . He was staring outside the carriage with a face full of despair .

Even my brows were furrowed all by themselves too . A familiar but still disgusting stench began stabbing my nose in the next moment .

What greeted our travelling group as soon as leaving the forest’s highway was the sight of a devastated cityscape .