Ejay kept turning his head around, until it nearly fell off, observing his companions that had just returned.

"Hey, hey, what do you have around your necks? I also want one!" Frei staggered only to crumble down onto his bed while still breathing quickly and glanced at their clueless companion.

"Trust me, you don't." Frei responded while trying to calm down his breathing.

"What have you talked about with Victor? And why is Ratel the only one who appears normal?" Ejay asked, he noticed right away that Ratel was the only one who returned without a collar, looking unfazed.

"Come Ejay, we have a mission." Ratel grabbed him and they left the room without delay, despite Ejay's protests, as he wanted to find out what had happened first.

  Frei met eyes with Nitarja and immediately bowed his head again. they too had their own mission. By sheer coincidence, they had been left alone in the room and their mission was to learn eight dark spells until midnight.

  By pure coincidence, they received only a single book from Victor that they would have to share. Frei did not have to be a genius to see that Victor was playing with them.

  Frei dragged a small table from under the window, placing it in front of his bed and put the book on it, watching Nitarja who sat down next to him. Frei gulped and opened the book on its first page and they began staring absentmindedly on its first page.

  However hard it was, they had to suppress their desires and try to learn the spells, because they knew quite well what would follow if they were to succumb to their instincts, neither of them wished to continue what they had experienced the last night.

  The letters in the book melded one into another and Frei began imagining how would he repay Victor when he had finally leveled up enough for his schemes to turn into reality.

  As a consequence, they had not progressed one bit and a servant came in at noon, bringing them their lunch, two glasses of blood that had been probably extracted from some animal. Before she left, she extended her right hand and smiled.

"Master ordered me to take away your collars." She said and both of them took the magic items off and handed them over in a daze and followed the servant with their eyes until she closed the door behind her.

Nitarja and Frei glanced briefly at each other, knowing all too well what was bound to happen now, as they could not think about anything else.

"We won't be able to learn a single spell unless we. . ." Frei started, finishing the sentence was not necessary, as they both were in the same state of mind.

"Yes, it is unavoidable for the mission." Nitarja's breathing quickened and her hand began to slowly move in Frei's direction.

  The next second both of them jumped at each other like wild animals in heat, as they both had been teased for too long, their rationality overshadowed by their desire.

* * * * *

"Eh?!" Ratel looked at Nitarja and Frei when the two of them returned from their mission. a wide grin appeared on her face when she noticed that her companions had no longer collars on their necks and they were cuddled against each other, looking at a book in front of them. Noticing the silly expressions on their faces, she immediately put two and two together.

"Hey, guys, so you have been finally released from your chastity!" Obviously, Ejay had been told about their predicament and was not going to be silent about it.

"Yeah Ejay, no need for discretion. Shout it out of the window that we are not cuckolded any longer." Nitarja growled at him, but it sounded softer than when Ratel did it, Frei considered it quite cute.

"See, Victor is such a good master. He had put you together with your true love!" Ejay turned at Frei and laughed, jabbing him with his finger.

"Idiot, just shut up already." Frei's eyes looked at the ceiling while he put his hand on his forehead.

"And . . What about . . did you . .?" Ejay began to do something with his hands the meaning of which none could identify.

"Yes, we fucked and I made it to the heaven multiple times over and over again with our bodies wildly grinding against each other, is there anything else you want to ask about using your incomprehensible hand signs?" Nitarja seemed to fully switch to her second personality and Ejay took a step back, not used to her more straightforward self.

"E-Eh, no. That is an exhausting explanation." Ejay stopped talking at once while Ratel fought back an outburst of laughter.

"Sadly, we have not been able to learn any spells today. We have completely failed our mission, what a shame." Frei sighed, but had no regrets at all.

"What a pity, indeed. Frei, Nitarja, Ratel with me." They had not noticed when Victor entered, but he stood in the door and the situation form yesterday began to repeat like in a replayed movie. Following him out of their chamber, they again arrived to the same place and stared at the single chair and bed. The sheets had been changed and everything had been cleaned.

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  All of them were uneasy when Victor looked at Nitarja and gestured with his right hand in the direction of the chair. With a heavy sigh, she dragged herself to the chair and sat down. Next, Victor thew Nitarja and Frei their collars and they put them on with trembling hands. Although they were unwilling, they knew it was meaningless to resist. Victor smirked and while looking at Frei, he pointed his finger on the bed. Frei turned around and began walking to the bed like a dead corpse.

"Good, this is not bad at all." He suddenly heard Victor and turned his head to look at him.

"Go, sit on the bed, all of you." Surprised, they lined up at the edge of the large bed, sitting next to each other while Victor sat on the chair while staring at them with his red eyes.

"That went much better then expected. Most of the people I have done this with plead or protest and I have to repeat my commands to make them do it again, but you can control yourselves quite well, despite not wanting to do it again." Victor spoke with a smile.

"Of course, who would want to?" He laughed briefly and Frei felt and unpleasant feeling wash over him when he imagined the last night might repeat again.

"It is time to have a little chat with you. You are new and it might be too soon, but judging from your actions, you are probably ready." Victor took a deep breath and fidgeted on a large pillow, as he was preparing for a long speech.

"For you to understand, I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a ruthless vampire, Lilian was her name. She lived in these walls under Count Waldhaiss and had more than fifty lesser vampires under her. Some said that it was too many, but she ruled with an iron fist and her subordinates were the most disciplined group of lesser vampires in the county." Victor sipped from a glass filled with red liquid that had appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

"At that time, there was an uprising in one of our villages, Grant, we have lost control over it and the Count decided that a vampire of Lilian's caliber was the best solution for the problem. He commanded her to take the village back from under the control of humans. Lilian ordered her well disciplined servants to take the village and reestablished control over the area in a record time, everyone prized her actions, an exemplary vampire indeed." Victor took another sip from his glass, a thin line of blood remaining on his lips.

"And then The Silverback Brigade attacked the castle of Count Waldheiss, killing six vampires including Lilian, one hundred and seventy two lesser vampires and forced the Count to flee his castle." He licked the blood on his lips staring coldly at his three subordinates in front of him.

"The Silverback Brigade?" Ratel blurted out, almost interrupting Victor, but he did not seem to mind.

"Yes, Lilian's subordinates were dumb and forced the villagers into obedience by simply killing many of them. But we are on the border, you have surely noticed that inside Waldorf, there are many beastkin roaming the city. The bloodlines mix and in Grant village, a group of mixed blood relatives of your kind used to live. Well, before Lilian happened." Victor was looking at Ratel.

"The Silverback Brigade functions under angels, it is a special brigade of warriors made of badgers like you, but only those that have silver claws and fur, rare specimen that appear from time to time. When blessed with holy magic and given the support of angels, it is a formidable force that not even our vampire Count can hope to stand against. Lilian unknowingly caused a massacre of their relatives living in Grant, provoking a punitive strike that nearly destroyed this castle. The Count had almost lost his position that time, as Morgul, the Ageless himself had to come to push back the brigade." He leaned his head against the back of the chair as he was about to finish his tale.

"The conclusion is that we prefer cooperation since that time. Yes, I can order you to do whatever, but what would be the quality that you execute my orders with then? I do not need dumb puppets, no matter how carefully I give you my orders, there is always room for an error. You have to be competent, not brainwashed, we can summon undead for that role."

"Now you see how what I have said corresponds to this?" He looked at the three who looked at each other not knowing what to expect and made a gesture with his hand in their direction.

"Throw me the collars, we won't need them anymore." Surprised, Nitarja and Frei quickly took off the collars like they were infected with some disease and threw them to Victor, who caught them with his hand.

"I cannot have a scenario where you defy my orders and so I have to repeatedly punish you and punish you again until your brain leaks out of your head when you defy me, turning you into my personal machines. By what you have done now, you have persuaded me that I can talk to you without using extreme measures and you do not have to be tortured into obedience at which point, you are useless to me anyway." Victor finished his drink and looked at the silent trio that was clearly thinking about what had he just spoke of.

Frei lowered his head in thought, how was this an NPC? Frei suddenly realized that there was nothing artificial in Victor's behavior. Would be there a time when the difference between an NPC and a player vanish?

"In other words, you can have either dictate, or creative solutions, not both." Victor said and only solidified Frei's opinion.

"So, you want to . .. to cooperate with us?" Frei's eyes opened wide, in his wildest dream he would not have imagined Victor saying what he had said.

"Of course I am still your superior, but you need to understand that our relationship is mutually beneficial." Victor stood up from his chair.

"And you could not have said that sooner?" Ratel asked bluntly, almost overstepping her bounds as a servant.

"No, I needed to see what you are made of, and frankly, I think your experience might become an amusing memory as you continue to live your very long lives. Maybe, you might want to even repeat it in the future, just ask for them if that comes to pass." Victor showed his canines and dangled the collars in his hand in a provocative manner.

"He is really a pervert, are all long-lived beings like that?" A thought flashed through Frei's brain.

"Go, that is all." Victor waved them away with his hand, forcing them out of their dumbfounded state.

"Fuck me, a vampire democrat." Nitarja blurted out when they exited the chamber, Frei was clearly not the only one who could not believe his ears and eyes.

"He is more like an open minded chieftain." Ratel gave her opinion.

"The spells, you have one week." They heard Victor's voice from behind them, before they reached the end of the corridor outside his chambers and Frei saw his quest log updated.

Quest Log

Frei had a lot to think about, but he still could not accept Nitarja being a slave to Victor. However, the vampire was much better than he had expected, he had just showed them an exemplary carrot and a stick approach.

"He is good, I have to be more careful."