“Outside the city on a small mountain about 8 kilometres northeast there lies some ruins. My late husband although only having the peerage of Great knight, his family had specialized in relics and knowledge of the forgotten kingdoms.
They were esoteric in nature and kept odd records, various things happened and his dying wish was for me to promise not to destroy the damn cathedral, the only building partially left standing.
No God resides there and none of the temples here have anyone with the power to sanctify it and claim it for their own God.
In the vicinity of the temple the precious flower Luna Lily grows, and although I've advised incessantly for no one to go there, but surfs and the people living in the slums risk going there because there are plenty of places that will pay a few silver for a small bundle of the flower.
3 months ago a group of necromancers and dark mages occupied the temple and attempted to corrupt the land in hopes of presenting it to one of their Dark Gods!
When I received word I immediately intervened and me and my knights slaughtered them all. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time and they had already began their ritual.
Since then I've had to send my stronger knights to clear out the cathedral and it's surroundings every two weeks or so. Their aura helps keep the lesser spirits at bay so they've been able to keep from being possessed.”
After having the knights that picked me up from the inn, walk out of her shadow and carry everyone who was recovering off somewhere, Lady Rose was going over what had occurred to warrant the stewards initial hostility towards me.
Hearing their side of the story I honestly couldn't blame them, mages who control the undead, when discovered are usually killed before they can grow into power.
From what she says at least that's how it is in the majority of Human, Fae, and Beastkin Kingdoms. Which left me wondering how anyone even obtains the class in the first place.
That's why you won't find any major mages guild with an undead faction. Taking this into consideration I couldn't help wonder one, why she was explaining all this to me while I'm still alive, and two, what would the citizens of this world do when the players arrived and necromancers showed up in the thousands.
I gave a small smile at that, unfortunately the Viscountess misinterpreted my action, thinking I found what she said somehow amusing.
First she scowled deeply, but a sly smile soon crossed her face. She lightly tapped the side of her nose.
“hehe Sir Alucard, although you smell of Demonkin, but under that you also give off a familiar scent as well.”
That last part she finished with a deep purr. My face darkened a few shades and I couldn't help but squint at her. When she saw my expression her smile widened and she continued with her words.
“Could you perhaps be one of our beastkin as well, maybe even a feline race?”
She ever so subtle fluttered her eyelashes trying to make the question seem innocent. She was mocking me. I hadn't said anything but I had noticed that the city guards and the knights that I've seen all seem to be Beastkin with feline as their bloodline base.
“You say you're exiled from a far off land, but you don't have the strong scent of any of our beastkin on you. That seems a bit sad, by chance.. Are you maybe the bastard child of a noble? Mother a concubine maybe?
Were you exiled because you just luckily happened to be born with your father's noble blood, didn't want you fighting your elder siblings or the first wife's children for his noble title?”
My eyes widened in surprise!! Her face and smile lit up at my reaction, there was even a trail of electricity that arched through her hair.
Stolen novel; please report.
I was honestly surprised by how wrong she was. Was this the system filling in pieces of my back story for the people of the land?
No that wouldn't be necessary.. on the outside I made my face get darker in reflection to her amusement of it all, but I was actually laughing very hard on the inside, she was just wrong.
“She made up a story that made the most sense and ran with it! Oh this was gold! Now I don't really need to explain too much of why I was exiled this is a perfect excuse!”
I couldn't help but revel in the feeling of this small victory. I gave her a small nod confirming that she had guessed mightily right but was choosing not to say much else. I also found satisfaction in the fact that to her, I was but a small child and probably seemed like I was pouting about the situation.
I couldn't tell her my father was the scion of one of our demon nations 7 vampiric true ancestor bloodlines. That he has been having children with various species in an attempt to create a child that could act as a vessel for their God.
If I told her my mother was a human that was bit by a Therianthrope and infected the baby she was carrying with its bloodline I know the Viscountess would be even less inclined to believe me.
Who would believe that a father would birth his weak willed baby with no ego or sense of self into a pool of blood from sacrifices that had been possessed by said Demonic God in an attempt to have said God possess the vessel immediately through the blood ritual?
And all in all who would believe said child survived, was rescued by his mother who sacrificed more than 700 levels of her power to have them both escape and have been fleeing the pursuit of my father's men since?
Well that was the story I gave to the company anyway, hehehe I threw in a few things about a half brother I grew up with, and how our mother abandoned us with his father's tribe. Making sure I added that I was abused there and made my escape a few months ago which is why I didn't materialize anywhere close to my “kin” of any kind.
I was a Dhampir alright, a Dhampir that was a Vampire, mixed with Blood Fiend Leopard, Human, and the blood of those 13 possessed sacrifices..
When I wrote the character outline up, it had been passed up the corporate ladder because the technicians assisting the AI wasn't sure if this was possible. Finally someone at the top had them change a few codes around and it was approved.
Honestly I didn't think it would be an issue when I wrote up the finer details, we were told our job is to surprise the AI and do whatever we can to affect the world it was creating. I figured helping create a unique bloodline fell into those parameters and with that my job would officially be done and I could use my time in-game as I pleased.
I hadn't taken into account maybe i should write something that wouldn't made me look so damn suspicious!! But thankfully with the Viscountess backing up this story who would doubt it?
“Oh! Where are my manners? That must be such a touchy subject for youu~! How rude of me to pry at old wounds!”
The Viscountess gave a devilish grin ever so slightly at the end of her statement. She quickly put on a much more serious face and continued leading the one sided conversation.
“Well you are still young, and as you know, Nobles regardless of the country are usually given a bit more privilege than the common folk.
I won't dig any deeper into your background or even send a messenger to the capital reporting more necromancy sightings, and in return you could stay in this remote city and help take care of a few things whenever the occasion arises.”
This time her devilish smile was in full display, I'm sure she's used this smile many a times on naive young men and women alike to help push whatever agenda she was running.
As I was thinking of declining her and making a mad dash to the next city a prompt appeared.
*Ding*
Quest
Grade: Unique
Details: Viscountess Rose is impressed with your demeanor and character. Although she feels your background is a little sketchy she's very thankful for the lives of her children.
She believes your talents are useful and that given time she will be able to hold influence over you unlocking the secrets you hold.
Give Lady Rose a Satisfactory answer.
Reward: [Affiliation: Gentleman of Dancing Forest City] [Title: Gentleman] [Fame: +10] [Infamy: +4]
Failure Penalty: [Title: Wanted] [Blacklisted: Myriad Quartz Kingdom] [Fame: +2] [Infamy: +10]
Reading the quest window pissed me off, I couldn't help wondering if if she was playing at some typical Tsundere character. I'd hardly heard anything from her in regards to the fact that her children were in the clear now, and yet the system is saying she's very happy.. who could tell?
I am wondering how I ended up in the whole “I really like you but I still have to do my job” scenario. I hadn't given much thought to how the people of the land would react to my necromancy class since I knew I had demon heritage and that when the players arrived necromancers would be a common occurrence.
The thing is if I accept her offer and become a member of this kingdom's nobility I couldn't help wondering how it might hold me back in the future.. on the other hand it was starting to get to me that I hadn't found another way to increase the level of my [Noble] class.
Gaining an affiliation while doing a few errands here and there would help me level pretty easily, but why would I gain fame and infamy? I could understand one or the other, but both?
Looking at the quest penalties cast a shadow over my heart.. I came here to live my life as I please, build something unique for myself, Chase a dream maybe.. But whether I agree or disagree my future is already in the hands of another…
At that time I balled my fists up but I gave her my approval, I swore to myself that I wouldn't be weak for long and that I won't be trapped here forever. This time could also be looked at as a kind of protection period, at least for four months anyway.
After that the breach in the void and the warriors descending from the heavens will shake the land up and who knows if this remote city will survive the chaos.
That's one of the things i'll be waiting on today, Lady Rose said the notary would come to my room a bit past noon. After the documents were signed the quest would officially be complete!
That brought me to my next thought, I looked over towards the empty corner near the door and Said aloud.
“Appear!”