After receiving the quest update, Maria frowned because only 75% of the quest had been finished.
She had already successfully captured and interrogated the man, swallowed up the entirety of his forces and land, and yet, only 75% of the quest was finished?
"...Why isn't it finished yet—Ash, did you kill him yet?" Maria questioned after thinking about it.
She didn't see the baron's body so she wasn't aware of whether or not that vampire was still alive and breathing.
Ash flinched before he quickly reported, "My Lady, I was going to spare his life if he wanted to serve you, but if it isn't—"
"Ash, I don't need a person who betrayed their own Lord on my side. Especially if that Lord was your brother..."
"..."
"Get rid of him—actually, wait!"
Maria had a better plan in store for the baron. After hearing Ash's report on what happened to his brother, it turns out that Baron Russo had betrayed his previous lord, Ytula Garm, in order to take his position.
The vampire had killed everyone in his previous lord's family and had only missed one person which was Alexa Garm, the young vampire that Maria had picked up who turned out to actually be Ytula Garm's daughter. In other words, Alexa was indeed Ash's niece.
Maria didn't care about the betrayal since she had some subordinates like the first 5 of her followers who had betrayed their lord in order to live, but Russo, he had betrayed his lord purely because he coveted Ytula's position.
Ytula was especially vulnerable since he had lost his strongest backing which was his blood brother so many people were eyeing his position. Russo had deceived Ytula for a long time by helping him repel all of his enemies only to him in the back once his guard was down.
Maria didn't want to keep such a deceiving and conniving person next to her. Also, since she had taken in and decided to take care of Alexa because the little girl was so cute, it was only natural that she would be repulsed by the person who had deprived Alexa of her happiness.
"Call in Alexa. She'll now have her chance for revenge," Maria said with a slight smile.
Amara bowed to her lady's words and quickly left the hall to look for Alexa. The young girl was probably out on the castle's training field so she quickly headed that way.
Ash widened his eyes and smiled before replying, "I'll immediately bring the baron here then."
*****
The baron and Alexa were brought into the audience room together and when Alexa saw the baron, she immediately displayed her hostility towards him. It seemed that she didn't, or perhaps couldn't, forget about the person who had backstabbed her father.
The baron immediately tried to appeal to Maria once he saw her and completely ignored the little girl who was openly hostile towards him.
"M-My Lady, it's such an honor to be within your presence! This lowly one is willing to serve you," Russo immediately said as he knelt down on one knee.
Maria smirked at him before turning towards Alexa and asking her, "Alexa, do you know this vampire?"
Alexa was seething right now and she forgot to reply to Maria's question. Her eyes were glowing red and a red aura began to slightly envelop her body.
"Alexa?"
"Eh? Uh, w-what is it, big sis?" Alexa snapped out of her trance and immediately replied after Maria tapped a finger on her head.
"I asked if you know this vampire."
"I-I do..."
"I see. Well, I plan to spare him. Are you okay with that?"
"Eh? Uhm..."
"Thank you for your graciousness, Your Majesty!" Russo immediately spoke up in thanks after hearing Maria's words.
Alexa's already pale face began paling even further when she heard her big sister's words. There was sadness and a feeling of betrayal that passed through her heart but Maria's next words immediately flushed those feelings away.
"I plan on sparing him, but do you?"
"Huh?"
"I won't do anything to him, but...are you willing to do the same?"
"Uhm...i-if big sister doesn't want me too..."
"I can't dictate what you can't and can do. So tell me, what do you want?"
"...Kill..." Alexa mumbled.
"What's that? I couldn't hear you."
"KILL!"
Maria turned around and saw Ash already making his move. Just before Alexa charged at the baron, Ash quickly swept out with a blood blade and sliced off the baron's arms and legs.
"GAAAAAHHHH!!"
By the time Alexa reached the baron, she had already formed a large blade with her blood magic and immediately cleaved down on the baron's head. Her attack was a bit weak so she wasn't able to immediately decapitate the baron so she repeatedly swung at his head, neck, and face.
The baron's bloody cries reverberated throughout the hall but Maria indifferently watched the scene of her berserk little vampire sister continue to cleave down on the baron's bloody and mutilated head.
"Ugh, isn't this pretty graphic?" Maria turned her head away as the scene had begun to look too gruesome to watch.
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Alexa continued to slash apart the baron's head with her blood-created sword and soon enough, the baron's screams started dying down as his life force slowly began to fade away. Maria found it rather distasteful that even until the last second the baron had been trying to plead for mercy before he started cursing at Alexa.
Once all the noise died down and Alexa had stopped her rampage, Maria finally turned around and took a quick look at the bloodied little girl. She couldn't help but notice a peculiar red aura slowly seep into Alexa from the baron's body.
She didn't know what had changed, but after giving a quick look at Alexa status window, she noticed that the young girl had jumped 20 levels above her previous level.
The little girl quickly turned around to face Maria and she quickly knelt down on all fours.
"Y-your Highness, th-thank you for letting me have my revenge!"
Alexa's voice was still quivering in excitement. Her previous bloodlust still hadn't dissipated and a system window popped up in front of her.
Character Quest Generated! Quest: A Young Vampire's Revenge Rank: C Description: Help Alexa Garm exact her revenge! Main Objective: Kill or let Alexa Garm kill the vampire, Baron Russo! (Completed) Rewards: Intimacy with Alexa Garm elevated to [Intimate] Optional Rewards: Alexa Garm's Class Change: Berserker (Condition: let Alexa Garm kill Baron Russo personally) (Completed)
Quest Cleared! Intimacy with NPC: Alexa Garm has changed from [Amiable] → [Intimate]! NPC Alexa Garm has changed classes from [Squire] → [Berserker]
"Oh, isn't this quite nice~" Maria hummed happily before gesturing towards one of her maids and saying, "Give Alexa a quick bath and have her come to the castle's front gate! Also, have someone deal with the baron's body and clear away the bloody smell in this hall!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" Kisha immediately stepped forward and led Alexa out of the hall while Ash offered to deal with the body.
"I'll deal with the body."
"Let Amara do that. Ash, you're coming with me! We're going to go hunting after Alexa's had her bath!"
Ash nodded and the two quickly stepped out of the hall leaving Amara to deal with Baron Russo's corpse.
*****
While Maria was busy doing her things, back on the starting planet where everyone was still at, the main scenario of the game had finally been revealed after the first commemorative event had finished.
Every player guild and organization was actively participating in the game's first main scenario story quest.
The main scenario quest of Universe Tale was unique to each planet. Every planet had its own main scenario quest but this was the first scenario quest for the entire game so the rewards were lucrative.
Quest: Faction Alignment Rank: Main Story Descriptions: Tensions between the two main factions of Planet Eur are now at a breaking point due to the influence and contributions of the adventurers who had suddenly descended into the world. Either choose a side or remain neutral, either way, you will be forced to participate in this world's all-out war. Common Rewards: Level +10, Planet Eur's World Equipment Box (10), Gold Guild Rewards: Guild Center Level-Up Pass, City Creation Tablet Special Rewards: World Transportation Gate (Coordinates: Unknown)
The Main Scenario quest of Planet Eur was currently being led by the Fallen Angels guild and due to their active participation, the planet's [Dark Faction] was currently in the lead.
Due to the common rewards of the quest which every member of the faction which completed the world's main scenario quest would receive, many Guild Alliances had been formed. The alliances were formed so that the guilds in the alliance would be able to swiftly progress through the main scenario quests but the Fallen Angels who had yet to create an alliance were the in the lead.
This was mostly because they had received the abundant rewards from the game's first-ever event quests. They had received many equipment sets, weapons, gold, and levels. Many of Earth's businesses eyed the guild covetously due to their large lead in the game.
Many reached out to try and form a business deal with the guild, but thanks to Maria's father, Corinthos, who already had an agreement with the guild, they had quite the thick shield to prevent them from being taken advantage or threatened by the many other corporations that were eyeing them so that they could dip their hands into the cybereconomics of Unitale.
Talks about how great the turnover for the companies and corporations that invested earlier on in the game was going around the world's business sector. There were even some people who were getting rich overnight from buying and selling in-game items.
All of this didn't matter to Maria or the Fallen Angels guild at the moment, especially for Lisbet and her friends who were only playing the game because they just wanted to have fun and not be bothered by those real life issues.
Inside the headquarters of the Fallen Angels guild, Ama and the guild's other executives were currently having a meeting a discussing about their next course of actions.
"How's the quest progression?" Ama, the Fallen Angels' Vice Guild Leader, asked.
"We're progressing through smoothly with the new sub-quests [Hella's Support] and [Dark Adonis]," One of the guild executives reported.
"Good, I received some news from one of the spies we planted in the [Light Faction]. The Golden Lion guild and the Justice League guild might try and interfere with the [Dark Adonis] quest. Tell the players who are participating in the quest to stay alert."
"Should we assign some players to guard them?"
"No, that will only attract attention. I'm sure they also have spies within our guild," Milya said.
"I think we should track down their intercepting forces and have some of our guildmates go and block them. We keep the fire away from Lisbet, Z, and the rest who are progressing with the quests," Ama spoke up and said after thinking about it for a while.
The Fallen Angels was a guild that accepted both Light and Dark faction players. They had a neutral standing but the guild had decided to progress with the Dark faction's Main Scenario quest since they were originally a dark faction guild.
It actually didn't matter which faction's main scenario quest was taken but because Lisbet was originally a dark faction player, she had taken the dark faction's main scenario quest and was able to quickly progress through the quests which resulted in the guild taking the dark faction's side.
The players couldn't take any main scenario quests from the neutral faction so they still had to pick sides.
Most of the neutral guilds and player organizations saw that the dark faction was ahead because of the Fallen Angels so they took the dark faction's side instead of going over to the light faction. No doubt this was due to the allure of the main scenario quests' common rewards.
Since it would be received by everyone, all of the neutral guilds who were still sitting on the fence naturally joined the dark faction since they were much farther ahead of the light faction.
"Go and create the teams and have them wait on standby until we get more information on those who are trying to scheme against our guild."
Once Amanda issued out her orders, the guild immediately began to get busy. She couldn't help but envy Maria who was now on another planet and enjoying herself. All of Maria's friends had already received an update from her regarding her situation.
When they found out she was on another planet, they were naturally surprised so when they saw the special rewards from the main quest, Lisbet and the other naturally wanted to claim it for themselves so that they could quickly hop on over to Maria's planet.
Amanda was about to lean in her chair and stretch her legs but before she could do so she suddenly received an urgent whisper from Lizzy.