“Walk us through the events that led to you murdering the late King Croshutes with Blood Magic.”

This was a very direct question asked by the Prince’s aide who glared daggers at me. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but it seemed like they were either forcing a different reality or they truly didn’t have all of the facts of the situation. I chain-smoked my way through this interview. The room was already foggy when a soldier entered stealthily and sat a small potted plan down in the corner. Seems strange.

“Let’s clear something right now. I do not use or know any blood magic—“

“Were you not seen regenerating your entire skull and various parts of your body, similar to the Blood Magic Spell, Full Restore?”

I was a little confused at the question because it was not a secret that Undead and especially vampires could regenerate even if mine was a bit over-powered. There was a trap hidden somewhere, but I wasn't sure where it was. I looked over at Leyara who was stone-walled and offered no help.

“I mean, you do know that I wasn’t the only one there and that vampires have natural...- “

“Vampire! The Sea of Leaves is aligning themselves with the undead now!?”

There was a trap. I didn't realize it at the time but based on the smug smirk of the Prince, they had hoped for this exact answer. I still wasn't sure why it was a bad thing, but I would soon.

“This goes into direct violation of the Treaty of Non-Aggression signed by our countries centuries ago. How do you answer that?”

Now it was my turn to get angry. I couldn’t understand how they were spinning this so much so a bit of truth was needed. The malice in my voice was not well hidden.

“If I am not mistaken, it was your mother who was working with the filth from Vinitak and the blood mages. Your father was protected by a personal guard of Blood Mages and was actively sacrificing Folioran captives when we showed up. That seems like it directly violates the Treaty of Non-Aggression."

I had no idea what the treaty was, but ultimately fuck this show tune. I knew that the queen was an elf so the diss at Vinitak was an intentional jab. I couldn’t stop while I was the aggressor.

“Also, who was the witness that claims to have seen all of this? Make them apparent.”

“I saw it myself and there were no blood mages present. You are an undead liar to top it all ---"

My eyes roared to life as the red glow intensified with my anger. I made sure to wrap my voice with a bit of Mesmer for this next part. The already thick tension could have been cut with a sharp stick.

“I am many things, but a liar is not one of them you geriatric shoe namesake buffoon. Where were you that you have seen all of this? You had to be hidden like a coward to not see the maids stealing the silver, the personal blood mage guards your father had, or your mother and her entire platoon of Elven warriors on the parade grounds. Speak!"

Prince Croshutes turned pale as the Mesmer hit him and he was immediately caught in his lie. Everyone else present flinched as the room vibrated with unseen power. The plant that was placed afterward even shook in fear. Turned out it was clearing the smoke from the air and depositing pellets near its base of gray-black soot tar from the smoke. Leyara shot me a look indicating I had clearly overstepped using my powers on these people. I cut the Mesmer off but it was too late for the Prince.

“I wasn’t even there!”

The prince clapped his hands over his mouth as he realized his mistake. His aides began to look increasingly uncomfortable as they just lost all of the upper hand they showed up with. The Prince and his aides shared a look before abruptly standing and turned and left. After they left, the room was silent for what seemed like an eternity. The King's face grew redder and redder as veins began bulging from his forehead. An eruption was imminent.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! They even turned and ran like the children they are! Bwahahahahaha!”

King Rulard roared with laughter at the spectacle made by the reversed interrogation and the fleeing Prince and his entourage. Everyone else sat uncomfortably as the King’s mood could hardly be contagious and no one wanted to be caught dead as the tension was still palpable in the room. Leyara did a facepalm at the turn of events. Her boyfriend had no political tact and her father thought it was hilarious.

“You aren’t so bad after all. Damper was your name?”

“Vampir…”

"Right, Camper, so what you did there will go down as the worst and best possible interrogation ever in the history of the Sea of Leaves. We knew they were lying thanks to my little sweetheart here, but your absolute destruction of their nonsense was priceless!"

The King still felt a certain way about me I could see based on his intentional butchering of a rather simple and ironic name. Nonetheless, I was going to count this as a victory and hopefully the start of a more positive relationship with Leyara's father.

“Look into that treaty and see if aligning ourselves with Shrimper here really does put us in violation. They already violated it by using Blood Magic and aligning themselves with the wicked Vinitak, but still no reason we can’t be in the right when we start calling in our allies.”

“Allies?”

"Well sure, see Angleton is a powerful country due to all of the tradings they do and a large portion of that are the goods they get directly from us. We've known that that wicked witch of a queen was pulling the strings over there for some time and working as an agent for the Elves, but we never got involved because it wasn't our business, but with confirmation of their interference with our people and their other infractions, we can call in our other pacts."

Aides began pulling maps out and laying them onto the table. This was turning into a real strategy meeting but not the actual one that was coming later, but I was pumped as a military nerd anyways.

“The protectorate to the northeast has been having secret dealings with Vinitak for years and with Angleton being a center point of trading they are also involved. LaPoint pretty much does whatever they want but magical mercenaries are a pain in the ass no matter. The Irveludians don’t mess with anyone and our allies to the north can be called in to cut out the middle man of Angleton and open their country to full trade with the Sea of leaves.”

“You hadn’t done that this whole time in case something like that happened?”

“Of course. Our life spans may not be much greater than a human, but we still know how to play the long game and the Limithian Grand Duchy knows how its played also as they produce a great number of magic crystals and have to date limited their quantity and quality to us. Trade still makes the world go ‘round kid.”

“I see, so you open trade and they remove restrictions and both countries prosper and have a reason to fight with one another. Very shrewd. Awesome.”

“Exactly, now get out of my military building and go have some fun and enjoy the city when it is alive and brimming with energy. You there, Swartens, take Tree Trimmer here and show him the sights.”

“That isn’t necessary father, I will take him myself.”

“Errr… well I guess if that’s what you want to do, but I expect both of you back here at the same time tomorrow for the War Council. We are going to need Hand Stamper's abilities in the upcoming conflict."

“You know his name is Vampir, but we will be there in the morning. Thanks, daddy!"

She reached down and kissed him on the cheek as she grabbed my hand and led me out of the room. Her overt behavior towards Vampir not going missed by any present. Everyone raised a brow, but then instantly cleared any thoughts, expressions of emotion as the king's mood soured instantly.

“I think I hate that fucking guy…”

The king’s words matched his face and no one said anything else about the matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Vampir Darkness

Date of Birth: Reign 23rd in the year 3015

Title: Undead Lord – Designated as a country in the Sea of Leaves

Race: Vampire

Hair: Black

Eyes: Red

Current Value: 239.9 million Gold Coins, Approx. 149 trillion Gold Coins worth of Invisibility Potion, Resurrection Token

Magic Pocket: Pretty much one of everything (verified), Undead King’s Crown and Sword

Powers: Mesmer, Animal Transmutation, Super Strength, Mach 3 Speed, Immunity, Regeneration

Magic: Source (Custom) Magic, Folioran Magic, High Magic

Weaknesses: Holy Water, The Sun, Leyara’s Smile, Interrogations

Strengths: Sword Fighting, All Magic (Except Holy), Casidhe’s Magic (Sometimes), Dog, Leyara, Bellant, Undressing Leyara, Dressing Himself, Ruining Interrogations