“Archmage Beatrice?!" exclaimed the guard. "You dare lie to the Lyon dukedom?!”
“Oh, but she’s not,” I said, conjuring a copy of Beatrice’s disguise next to the cart. “Can’t you see the resemblance?”
When the illusion appeared, the guards quickly pointed their spears at it, only to become even more confused as they looked back and forth between it and the real Beatrice. I didn’t blame them. Perhaps when she was younger and thinner, Beatrice could have looked like her disguise, but that would have been 30 years in the past by then. Between the tears and the water orbs I had, helped her “drink” to keep her hydrated, her makeup was completely gone revealing face full of spots and wrinkles deep enough that even all the extra fat on her face couldn’t fill them out. The only real resemblance she shared with her disguise were the dull, blue eyes.
“Don’t play games with me!” said the guard. “State your identity! If you don’t tell the truth, you’ll have to answer to the Fist God, Sir Casimir, and he won’t ask as politely as me.”
“Oh, Casimir’s coming?” I said, as I dispelled my illusory hood that covered my face. “Is that the message you sent back to the castle just now?” The guards stiffened. “Good. He’ll be able to recognize us. We’ll just wait here until he arrives.”
My nonchalance at the mention of the Fist God left the guards uncertain, and a couple of them inspected the illusion and the archmage more closely to discern if we had been telling the truth. They remained unconvinced, but as we had not made any moves of aggression, and Casimir was coming, there wasn’t anything else they could do. They held their positions, spears pointed at us, as Beatrice cried silently in her cart.
She had tried to escape a few times, using her barely recovered [MP] to attempt a teleport or flight spell, but I had been ready, and disrupted all of them. I could have simply ordered her not to try, but her failed attempts were much funnier than if she were completely unable. She had since given up on that, and was merely waiting patiently for the time that I would let her go.
I sensed Casimir before I saw him. It was thin, and someone with a lower [Perception] than myself probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but there was a layer of aura suffused over the area that very gradually got thicker as the man approached. I recognized it as the [Sphere of Influence] skill used by aura users to sense things within their range. I didn’t have much use for the skill, since I could sense the same things using [Greater Detection], a combination of my physical and mana senses, but I had read about it being a staple skill for aura users. Much could be told about a person’s power simply by observing the size of their [Sphere of Influence].
There were so many knights and nobles at the ball projecting their own spheres that I hadn’t paid much attention to Casimir’s but with his and the guards’ being the only ones in my range, I finally got an idea of how powerful he actually was. 100 yards was considered an incredibly large range for a [Sphere of Influence], but from what I could tell, Casimir’s was at least twice that. Perhaps even thrice. Unlike Beatrice, it seemed that Casimir was deserving of his reputation. I had vaguely guessed that at the Ball, which is why I had maintained a respectful relationship with him, but now that I was witnessing it, I was glad of the decision I had made.
A few seconds after I sensed him, as I looked through the iron bars of the castle gate, I saw his hulking figure emerge from a side path and start walking down the main driveway toward us. He seemed to be walking slowly, but with the length of his strides, he quickly reached the gates, and looked down on us all. Before the guards could say anything to him, he spoke.
“Archmage Beatrice. Archmage Lucille. The duke is waiting.” He waved his hand and the gate slowly opened.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I wheeled Beatrice in.
“But- Sir Casimir!” exclaimed the guard captain. “Is-is that really Archmage Beatrice?”
“Yes,” he said.
“B-but. Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Well, um. Thank you for your assistance, sir.” The guard bowed deeply, towards the huge man, then backed away.
Sir Casimir turned and began walking back towards the castle, so I hurried to catch up and walk alongside him. Walking alongside him was difficult. He seemed to be moving very leisurely, but I needed to speedwalk to keep up, which was not fun while pushing the cart, even if I was letting [Telekinesis] do most of the work. I quickly gave up and just used [Levitate] on myself to float alongside him.
“So, Sir Casimir,” I started. “Can I call you Casimir?”
“Yes,” he replied without looking at me.
“...Thanks. Anyway, it seems that from your reaction at the gate that you already knew what Beatrice really looked like.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a shame. I was hoping that seeing you would be a bit more humiliating for her.”
Casimir did not react to that statement.
“So…” I said after a few seconds of silence. “What exactly did the duke want with me?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Nothing good.”
The nonchalant way he said those words caught me off guard. Until that point, I hadn’t heard him say anything of substance, so when his first real words were a subtle dig at his employer, it forced me to quickly reevaluate my opinion of him. Before I could say anything else though, we had reached the entrance to the castle, the doors opening automatically as we approached.
The interior looked mostly the same as it had when I came here five years prior, though there were a few paintings here and there that I thought looked new. Unlike the first time however, we were not alone in the foyer. There were two young ladies standing at the top of the balcony looking down on us as we entered.
The one on the left wore a light pink nightgown, and had straight blonde hair and blue eyes. While she was pretty, there was nothing particularly eye-catching about her, though that may have been a product of who she was standing next to. When I looked at the woman on the right, I nearly did a double-take. She was, by far, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had pitch-black, wavy hair, full, slightly downturned lips, long eyelashes, and mesmerizingly bright green eyes.
I considered myself to be an attractive woman, but even I couldn’t hold a candle to her. I examined her as closely as I could without being too obvious, but couldn’t detect any signs of illusion, or other magical cosmetic enhancement, and judging by her nightgown and loose hair, she was probably preparing for bed and wasn’t wearing any makeup either.
“You must be Archmage Lucille,” said the beautiful woman softly. “Casimir said you would be here. I am Ophelia Lyon. I would come down and greet you, but I’m afraid I’m not dressed up properly to greet guests.”
“It’s no trouble,” I replied. “It’s my fault for arriving so late.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” she said. Then she yawned.
“Greetings, Archmage Lucille,” said the blonde woman. “I am Princess Jocelynn Ravel.”
She curtsied politely, and though she smiled at me, there was something unsettling about it. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, though. It looked like a normal smile, but there was something buried deep in her eyes that I didn’t like very much.
“Good evening, Your Highness,” I replied with a short curtsy of my own.
“So, is that Archmage Beatrice then?” asked Ophelia sleepily, nodding toward the cart.
“That is correct,” I said, grinning.
“Fascinating,” she replied with a soft smile. “Well, this has been an interesting, but we really must be getting to bed. Thank you for the tip off, Sir Casimir. I’m glad I came out to see this. Farewell, Lucille. Beatrice. Stop by again when I haven’t been dancing for the past four hours, and I’d be happy to hold a real conversation with you.” She yawned again.
“Farewell, Lady Ophelia. Princess.” I nodded towards them as they turned away.
Princess Jocelyn gave me a small wave and another unsettling smile as she turned, leaving me with conflicted feelings about her. She had done nothing to me, so I had no real reason to dislike her, but ignoring my intuition would be foolish. I would need to be wary around her if I ran into her again.
“Follow me,” said Sir Casimir as he started walking up the stairs to the balcony where the two ladies had been standing.
I floated behind him, with Beatrice still next to me, now having fallen asleep after using all her energy crying. I guess she must have felt that now that we had reached the manor, she would be safe. Unfortunately for her, I still hadn’t finalized my orders after Thralling her, so I would need to have another… conversation with her before I let her go.
Casimir led us through the familiarly unfamiliar maze of halls and stairs toward the duke’s office, but when we were what I guessed to be about halfway there, he suddenly stopped.
“The room Archmage Beatrice usually stays in is over there,” he said, pointing down a hallway.
I considered for a few seconds.
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“No, it would be better to talk to her and the duke at the same time,” I decided.
He nodded, and without a word, turned to continue leading me deeper into the castle.
“Casimir,” I said a few seconds later. “What is the nature of your contract with the duke?”
“My family owed him a debt. I became a Lion to earn money to pay it off.”
“So, as a Lion, are you obligated to protect the duke?” I asked.
“If I believe his life is in danger,” he said.
That was exactly the answer I had hoped to hear.
“Excellent. Then I would like to inform you before we actually meet the duke that I have no intention of killing him.”
He simply nodded and continued to walk along, and with that, I knew that I had received a guarantee that he wouldn’t interfere. Everything he had done since I arrived indicated that he held no affection or loyalty toward the duke or Beatrice. He invited Ophelia to witness Beatrice’s embarrassment, and was now telling me the exact conditions that would force him to act. As long as I didn’t kill the duke, which I did not plan on doing, he would not stop me.
A minute later, we finally reached the familiar doors, and this time, I was glad they were so oversized. If they were normal-sized, it would be difficult to get Beatrice inside. Casimir opened the door and stepped aside, and I floated Beatrice’s cart in first, keeping myself hidden behind it.
“Don’t leave that spot,” I said to her, activating the geas.
“What is this?!” came the duke’s angry voice.
Ignoring it, I floated the cart above one of the couches, then opened up the bottom so that Beatrice fell out. With a loud crack, the couch collapsed, and the obese archmage woke with a start, her flabby limbs flailing around in confusion. Then, I moved the cart over to the other couch, and canceled [Telekinesis] entirely and destroying the other couch. Meanwhile, the duke watched with a mixture of bewilderment and horror.
“Hello, Duke Lyon,” I said cheerfully. “Long time no see.”
His mouth opened and closed uselessly a few times before he finally found his voice again.
“Sir Casimir! Apprehend her at once!” he shouted.
“No,” responded the giant.
“W-what?! You dare disobey me?!”
“Yes. I am an independently contracted adventurer with no obligation to follow your orders.”
“You are obligated to protect me!” shouted the duke.
“Only against threats to your life,” said Casimir calmly.
“This undead bitch is a threat to my life!”
“She said she is not.”
“And you believed her?”
“Yes.”
At that, I laughed out loud and though his face did not show it, I am certain that Casimir was also enjoying the situation.
“W- b- you-!” sputtered the duke.
“I will be taking my leave now, my lord,” said Casimir, closing the doors.
“Stop! Get back here!” said the duke.
Before the door had finished closing, I cast a powerful wave of [Dispel] across the room, and then cast [Hold Person] on the duke. After our last meeting, I would be surprised if he didn’t have an emergency alarm or two installed somewhere in the office. I also cast [Wall of Silence] around the room to prevent any of our conversation from escaping.
“I heard you wanted to see me,” I said, walking towards the duke, using [Telekinesis] to toss the table and armchair aside. “Well, I’m here. What did you want?”
The duke said nothing, but I felt him trembling within [Hold Person].
“I imagine it must be important, to have sent a level 94 archmage to deliver the message. Oh yeah, were you aware that Beatrice is only level 94, and not 100 like you said she was?”
The duke glanced down at the also trembling archmage, but still did not say a word.
“Were you going to offer me a position with the Lions? I’m afraid I’ll have to decline that offer. I still don’t want to work under you. Or maybe you were so moved by my declaration to hunt the Demon Kings that you wanted to offer me your support.”
“If you harm me, you will not be able to handle the consequences,” he warned, trying to sound confident.
“Oh, it’s ok. I don’t plan on harming you.” I summoned a knife from [Greater Inventory] and walked towards the immobile old man.
“Get away from me!” he shouted. “I mean it! Harming a duke is a serious offense! Not just the Lions, but the Royal Knights will be getting involved! You won’t be able to get away!”
“But I’m not harming you,” I said innocently, as I grabbed his hand. “In fact, I never touched you. You just got a papercut.” I slid the blade gently across the webbing between his thumb and index finger, then siphoned the blood droplets that emerged into my mouth.
[Create Thrall] lvl 48
Current Thralls: 7
Available Thrall Slots: 41
You have consumed the blood of [Human] Louis Lyon. Would you like to add a Thrall?
[Yes]
[No]
Yes, I thought.
The duke’s body relaxed, and his face became blank, with his fearful eyes replaced by a glassy stare.
You have acquire [Thrall] Louis Lyon
[Details]
[Create Thrall] lvl 48 -> 50
You have unlocked a new option for [Create Thrall]
[Details]
I didn’t plan on using him for anything important, so I ignored the [Details] prompts and went straight to switching the control type to geas. Immediately, the life, and fear, returned to the duke’s face.
“Do not move from that spot. Do not attempt to call for help. Do not do anything that would cause harm to me, directly or indirectly. The same goes for you,” I pointed at Beatrice.
I released [Hold Person] from the duke, but, with the geas I had just given him, it changed little about his position.
“Alright, here’s the deal,” I said. “You’re a real pain in my ass. You’re an idiot, and and asshole, and I’ve gotten on your bad side, but you also have a lot of power, so there’s not a whole lot I can do about it. And that’s why, neither of you will say a word about what happened here. You will not tell anyone that you have become my thralls. You will not even hint at having become my thralls.
“You will also not do anything intended to cause harm to me, directly, or indirectly.” I glared at the duke. “That means no more assassins, no more sending your little pets, or your big pets to try and intimidate or capture me, no more attempting to blackmail me with my race. Nothing. You got that?”
Beatrice nodded frantically, while the duke did so much more reluctantly, apparently receiving System messages informing him that he didn’t have much of a choice.
“And, a few bonus conditions. I’ve already given a few to Beatrice, so now it’s your turn, Louis. You will not neglect your children anymore. You will give them as much attention and affection as children should get from their father. Even if you have important work to do, you will never prioritize work over family.”
The duke’s face turned sour, and he made no moves of acknowledgement or denial. Having given them the conditions, and applied the geasa, there was no longer anything left for me to do. I could humiliate Beatrice more, but I had already grown bored of that, and I didn’t want to stress the duke out too much, or he might have a heart attack and die before my geasa had a chance to do any work. That made me think of one last thing, though.
“Oh, and neither of you will kill or harm yourselves to attempt to escape my control.” I looked back and forth between the two. Neither made a sound, or a move. “Good. You may now move from your positions if you wish. I’d love to stay but- no, I wouldn’t love to stay, actually. This place sucks. Goodbye.”
And with that, I walked out of the room. Closing the doors, not so gently behind me. It was only once I was outside of the doors that I realized that I wasn’t entirely sure how to get out of the castle again, and there was no sign of Casimir. I started slowly retracing my steps, making my way towards the staircase at the end of the hall and going down. As I was making my way down, I noticed the sound of someone breathing at the bottom of the staircase.
I cautiously made my way down, trying to figure out who might be waiting for me, only to be surprised when I saw Princess Jocelynn leaning against the wall. Looking in my direction.
“Archmage Lucille,” she said quietly.
“Princess,” I responded. “Is there a problem.”
“No, not at all. I just thought that you might get lost on your way back out, so I came to escort you.”
She smiled with the same unsettling smile as earlier, and I immediately put up my guard. There was no way that what she had just said was the truth. She definitely had ulterior motives. Hopefully, it would be that she simply wanted to have a private conversation with me about something. Her father, the king, and the duke were obviously not on good terms, so she might be trying to recruit me. It was possible that her intentions were more innocent, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the case.
“Thank you,” I said politely. “This place is very large.”
“Yes, I got lost the first few times I came here as well,” she said, still smiling. “Here, walk alongside me. I’ll show you the way.”
I fell into step next to her as she started walking down the hall, my senses on high alert for any sign of danger.
“This may be a bit of a rude question,” she said in a whisper as she leaned toward me. “But is it true that you’re a vampire?”
I nearly let out a sigh of relief at the question. I had been so worried, when it was just a girl who wanted to gossip a bit.
“Yes,” I replied. “But I don’t like advertising that fact, so please keep it to yourself if you can.”
“Of course,” she said excitedly. “And did you really subdue Archmage Beatrice? How did you manage that when you only just became an archmage?”
“Beatrice is a fool, and a liar. Did you know she’s actually only level 94, not 100 like she claims to be?”
Jocelynn gasped. “She is?”
“Yes. Feel free to spread that fact around. She also put all her points into useless stats, so even though she is a higher level than me, I have better stats. I am also smarter, and a better mage.”
“Wow!” she said, eyes sparkling. “You must come over to my palace sometime so we can have tea. I mean- well- not tea. Maybe I’ll have tea, and you can have a fresh cup of blood.”
“I may, if I have time,” I lied.
“Oh, would you?” she exclaimed. “It would be so lovely if-”
As she said this, she reached for my hand. It was a gesture I had seen many times from girls begging their friends to do things. There was nothing inherently wrong with the motion, but as she made it, time seemed to slow, and I had a strong instinctual feeling that I should not let her grab me. It confused me, because till then, she had done nothing to indicate that she might be dangerous.
Still, I was not one to ignore my instincts, so I swiftly moved my hand away, instead grabbing her by the wrist. That was apparently the wrong move, because as soon as my skin made contact with hers, I received a System notification.
[Pride] has nullified [Demon King]’s [Memory Reading] skill