By the end of the class, everyone had demonstrated their magic proficiency. Ibram, being the good target practice, was already messed up by the end of the class. As a reward for ‘volunteering’, I unfroze him which caused him to slump down onto the floor unconscious.

Other than that, it seemed that the class was clean as every student here was capable of some form of advanced magic, which meant that the saboteur wasn’t part of this class.

Or perhaps I was wrong? After all, I am not an all-seeing god or something.

Whatever the case, the class was over and it was somewhat fun for me.

“Alright, class is over. I’m out.”

As I was about to leave, Boye approached me and said, “Sir, thank you for giving me pointers for my magic. I’ve been unable to break through for some time now, but to think that giving me a few simple pointers by using a government system as an example would actually help me achieve a breakthrough...”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s me, the amazing Boss.” I nodded in acknowledge as he praised me. Boye was apparently a defensive arts user so he was, sadly, the only one that didn’t participate in turning Ibram the Target Practice into a smoldering boulder.

“But what about the students that skipped this class?” he asked.

Oh, right.

“Inez! With me! Now!” I angrily shouted as I left the classroom with the obedient priestess following behind.

I walked around the academy searching for my missing students until I found them at a courtyard. I could hear Blackhair explaining his idea to his group of sleuths.

“Like I said, if we backtrack the path which the saboteur could have possible taken to the practice room…”

“Raymond is right. If we-...Teacher?!” the blonde swordsgirl Aera exclaimed as she noticed me.

I approached them with a choking aura and called out, “Do you brats know whose class is it that you’re supposed to be in?”

“Oh! It’s time for Mister Kaam’s Potion Class!” Aera answered brightly as if thanking me for reminding them.

“No! You idiots! You skipped out my class entirely!” I shouted.

“Eh?! He’s right! We forgot about Advanced Magic Class!” Blackhair gasped. “We… we were doing what you ordered us to do!”

“Ho? And did you make any progress?” I asked as I glared piercingly through his slowly crumbling face.

“N-No… but…”

“Look, kids. I don’t care about you, but my employer Yomi would start babbling and bothering me if she finds out that a good portion of my class went missing,” I began explaining.

The group of students were quiet for a while, then I chuckled softly. “Inez, do you know what’s the weather like tomorrow?”

“It’s predicted to be quite sunny tomorrow, Boss,” Inez answered with a confused expression on her face.

“I heard that the surrounding forests in Cahalot are quite dangerous, isn’t it, Inez?” I casually asked.

Inez’s eyes suddenly started glowing as she caught on. “O-Of course! I heard that there’s many beasts in the forests that would rip limbs apart, Boss!”

“Ah… it would be dangerous to bring poor helpless students there, but as you know, I’m a very powerful mage myself, and you’re also capable of reattaching limbs or handle even the most serious injuries, am I right?” I once again asked.

As Inez’s unusual excitement started to go up, the students’ nervousness started to skyrocket.

“B-But Boss… haaaah...Master Yomi might... haaaaah... not like it!” Inez pointed out while breathing hard. I feel like she’s strangely excited about this.

I shrugged. “Oh no, my lovely assistant. You see, if I pass it off as training for the interstate games, it’s hard to reject this idea.”

“W-Wait! You’re not planning on sending us to unexplored forests, right?” Aera protested.

“Oh please, I had already sent you and the heroes’ party to the forests in Angolia for training, right? Besides, are you saying you have no faith in my capabilities?” I countered.

In truth, my companions had already sent me reports on the forests surrounding Cahalot. There wouldn’t be much problem controlling such a ‘dangerous’ forest.

“Wait, if you’re going to be sending us to the forest, what about the rest of the class?” Blackhair asked.

“The entire class will be going to the forest for practical training,” I answered with a snicker. “It’s just that, the students will be divided into groups to take on different types of monsters, and a certain group of misbehaving brats would be tasked with handling… the hardest monsters.”

The blood on the faces of the students drained as I hinted their punishment.

“That’ll be all. I’ll see you all in class tomorrow for gathering.” I bobbed my head then paused before asking, “Ah, by the way, has anyone seen my assistant Lard?”

“He’s over there, teacher. Sleeping.” Blackhair pointed at a bench where Lard was sleeping like a homeless hobo.

“Should I wake him up, Boss?” Inez asked.

I shook my head then left the courtyard for my room. “It just happen so that I need some live bait tomorrow.”

.

.

.

When I reached my room, I wearily tore off the barricade from my doors, then opened it cautiously. Unlike last time, it seemed that the amulet worked and Ellysa was stuck sitting on my bed. She had her arms crossed and was loudly arguing with Satel.

When she saw me, she happily opened her arms then cried, “My love! It’s finally good to see you! You see? I am behaving nicely while I am stuck with this vile and repulsive creature!”

I turned to the ‘vile and repulsive creature’ and Satel responded, “This hairy talking shark keeps throwing insults at me as if that is all the vocabulary she could fit into her tiny blood-lusting brain.”

“Naive mortal fool. Do not speak to me ever again. Only my dearest could speak to me like that!” Ellysa harrumphed as she turned away.

“If this goes on, I’ll kick both of you out,” I warned.

“NO!” Ellysa cried.

“You don’t have to do that, Boss.” Satel stood up from the chair she was sitting on and raised a letter from her hands. I took the letter from her, and read through it quickly.

“Looks like they found one of the lieutenants of those undead-hunting order knights, huh?” I commented.

“Yeah. Since you tasked me with leading the war against the Order, I will have to supervise them for some time,” Satel said.

Although I ordered Satel to lead, my companions were currently scouring the lands in and around the Sorcerer City States, so she had the leeway to come back here whenever she thought that she wasn’t needed.

But, to me, the reason I chose her to lead the hunt against the order of undead hunters was to let her bond with my other companions, rather than just clinging on to me like a baby stuck to her mother.

“Anything serious from the others?” I asked.

Satel shook her head, then prepared to leave. “I’m off, Boss.”

“Mm. Have fun.”

“Have fun, he says…”

Finally, Satel left, but not before leaving her lamp shade on my desk.

“Now, what do I do with you?” I asked as I turned to Ellysa.

The vampire queen crossed her legs, then put up a cheeky expression. “Hehe. It would have appeared that we are finally alone to discuss our inevitable endless future together.”

I snapped my fingers when an idea popped up. “Lucia, come here.”

“You called for this one, your lordship?” A little girl wearing a black-and-white uniform rose up from the ground where my shadow was at while doing a curtsy bow. Ellysa’s eyes popped out as she faced her former thrall eye-to-eye.

“Lucia?!” Ellysa exclaimed.

“Ah! Queen Ellysa! It is a pleasure for this one to meet you!” Lucia politely bowed at her while Ellysa looked like she was about to die from popping a vein in her head.

“You! YOU! YOU!” The vampire queen reached out in an attempt to strangle my maid, but unfortunately for her, she was too weak to do anything.

I rested my hand on Lucia’s head and said, “Ah, good. You remember her, the vampire thrall that I cut out from you.”

“What is the meaning of this, my dearest?” Ellysa turned to me with a bright smile that looked forced.

“Lucia is currently one of my pet projects. I’m trying to turn her into a vampire lady,” I explained.

“W-What?! Are you trying to make an enemy out of the largest and strongest undead faction in the western continent?!” Ellysa shouted with a worried look on her face.

“You’re part of the Vampires of the Western Continent, aren’t you? What will you do?” I asked the dwarven queen.

Ellysa knit her brows together, and pondered deeply in silence. “Could you enlighten me on what your goal is?”

“You know how the vampires are supposed to have some kind of leader called the ‘Vampire Matriarch’, right? I was wondering if I could have Lucia be the matriarch and force all vampires to stop sharpening their teeth,” I answered.

Ellysa looked at me with disbelief until an idea had hit her. “W-Wait! If you wish to turn her into a vampire lady, it would take a lot of effort!”

“Yes, that’s true. I have already accepted such a problem.” I nodded.

“B-But what if you already have a vampire lady? So all you need to do is turn her into the Vampire Matriarch!” Ellysa continued.

“Well, that would make my life easier. But it’s not as if I could just pick vampire ladies off trees like elven potatoes, can I?”

Without answering me, Ellysa pointed on finger at herself. I tilted my head, then she gave me a big smile while pointing at herself with both of her hands. When I didn’t say anything, she began shaking her fingers repeatedly at herself.

“Wait… you want to be the Vampire Matriarch?” I asked.

“Indubitably so! I also know the method to become one!”

“Wait, there’s a method? I thought you just have to make a vampire be ridiculously strong…”

Ellysa shook her head, then began explaining, “Do you know why the position of ‘Vampire Matriarch’ is vacant?”

“I heard from Horatio it’s because the last one died without naming a successor.”

“In the vampire world, naming a successor is essentially passing your blood to a heir. The blood of a Vampire Matriarch must be transferred literally, from vein to vein. But you only need a drip of blood to complete the succession.”

“Wait. You need the blood… from someone that no longer exists? Now, I may not be the smartest Archlich around, but I’m sure as hell know that’s simply impossible.”

Ellysa raised her head, then cross her arms. “As I said, the Undead Republic of Gravia is the biggest enemy of the demons AND the vampires for a good reason. For the demons, it’s because they are the biggest southern nation blocking their tea party of hell.”

I had forgotten that the fairies call massive continent-wide genocide a ‘tea party’. I’m glad Satel is remotely sane.

“What does the vampires have to do with Gravia then?”

“Simple. Gravia holds the last vial of a Vampire Matriarch’s blood. They’re the ones that killed the last matriarch, you know?”

I knead my head as I felt like a headache was starting to brew.

“So… you need my help?”

“Yes! I have the strong belief that, unlike my kin, you would be able to acquire that vial from those filthy Gravians!” Ellysa looked at me with sparkly eyes and high expectations, like a princess expecting a large stuffed toy for her birthday.

“I might be able to. But still, I want the matriarch to be directly subordinated under m-...”

“I, Ellysa, pledge my essence of undead to serve unconditionally, willingly, and proudly under the one and only Lord Archlich Boss!” Ellysa suddenly proclaimed.

“W-Wait! Did you just pledge to me?!” I angrily grabbed Ellysa’s head.

“Of course!”

“What about your kingdom that you worked so hard?!”

Ellysa casually waved her hand as if it was such a bother for her. “The dwarves are nothing but mere toys for me. If you wish, I can abandon my throne entirely.”

I sighed then gave up. “No need. Hold still.”

From my hip, I took off my sword, Fatebinder, then placed the tip of the blade against Ellysa’s chest, where her heart would be. I sunk Fatebinder deep into her, but the blade simply passed through her harmlessly.

As her essence of death tugged at me, I felt invisible hands grabbing onto the vampire’s heart and slowly pulled Ellysa’s being to me. An invisible bridge slowly formed between me and her, and I could slowly feel Ellysa surrender her authority to me.

The hierarchy of the undead was a strict unspoken system which all undead instinctively understood. Ironically, it was in the society of the undead where pledges and vows of services would be taken more seriously than in a knightly and feudal society such as Angolia.

“I, Lord Archlich Boss, accept your undying pledge.” I slowly removed the sword as the bond between me and Ellysa solidified. Despite the fact that my sword did not physically cut into her, the blade was still wet with blood.

Ellysa looked at her hands, then smacked her lips as if she was tasting an exquisite piece of cake. Breathing in, then slowly exhaling, she took her time getting used to being under someone else’s authority.

“I feel as if… I… am somehow alive?” Ellysa murmured in bewilderment.

“I hope you do not regret your decision. You are stuck with me forever, or until I somehow die… as in die die. Not die as in be an undead,” I said.

“I… I…” Ellysa was starting to stammer as she placed her hand against her chest.

“Ellysa? Are you alright?” I asked as I tilted my head.

“Once again, you are under my thumb, Lucia, you traitor! Obediently be my pet!” Ellysa shouted as she pointed at Lucia, then laughed without restrain, baring all of her sharp teeth.

“Ah well. Sorry, Lucia. Looks like you’re stuck as my maid, I suppose,” I said as I scratched the back of my head.

“Please do not apologize to this one. This one would rather serve as your lordship’s personal attendant than to rule over the vampires.” Lucia bowed with a smile to me.

“Ah. That’s good, then,” I replied as I turned to the cackling idiot on my bed.

I smacked Ellysa’s head then told her, “The reason why I need a Vampire Matriarch is to stop the vampires from sharpening their teeth. Lucia already has such nice looking set of teeth, so by my decree, she is your senior. Therefore, you have no choice but to learn proper hygiene from her, and to respect her.”

“WHAT?!”

I smacked Ellysa once more. “Don’t ‘what’ me. I am your Boss. For now, I’d like you to keep it quiet as I sleep.”

As I shoved my newly subordinated vampire lady off my bed and onto a chair, I laid down on my bed. Ellysa was still grumbling but other than that, I finally had peace and quiet.

For one reason or another, it seemed that many of my plans had progressed nicely.