Chapter 140: Trouble with the Business?!
"Now, now, young lady. I assure you, we can deal with this in a friendly manner. Those pathetic thralls tried to stop me, a noble, from meeting with their owner... However, it seems that even you are not the true owner, since you do not carry their scent."
The man opposite her was an elder from a family of monsters. Ludwig Adler, the uncle of the current heir and in charge of his business.
Recently, the Adler clan spread to the east from central Europe—their first aim after gaining the help of the human leaders was land and buildings. This is how their family dominated many of the smaller kingdoms in the Middle Ages.
"What do you mean by that comment, Sir Ludwig? I am the one who runs this company, and I don\'t see any issue with our efforts in securing that land near the port."
"Heh! A dirty squire dares speak to a real noble in this manner! If I didn\'t need to keep a low profile, you would be on your knee\'s begging for your life, you little vampire bitch!"
\'This wrinkled old fuck!\'
Though Sarah wanted nothing more than to kill this bastard, she knew that if he wanted to. He could kill her easily, like snapping a twig. Thus, she could only send a message to Nikolai.
\'I didn\'t want to get him involved... this pasty-looking old man, after all the work I did to earn his praise!\'
[To Nikolai]
Forgive me, master... I didn\'t want to contact you for the business.
However, a fucking old man who looked like a corpse broke in and attacked our girls. No one is dead, but he won\'t leave, and I cannot defeat him.
"Hmph, so you\'re going to contact your little master. Good, don\'t make me wait too long, girl. I have little patience!"
Not that Ludwig Allder was a rude man, but he was the same as Sarah. The previous heir is nephew started losing power after a new and talented member of their bloodline awakened a hundred years ago.
Now that they were ready to take part in business and the family, his nephew was in danger of being deprived of his noble title and killed.
This was why he was harsh with his words, but he didn\'t hurt the girls too much. An elder-class monster could easily kill those weak thralls who barely transformed a week ago.
\'Dammit, I\'m useless! And even now, he still has to help me—can I ever stop hiding behind his back?\'
A few tears appeared in her eyes as she felt useless, forced to act inferior to this old man, yet causing Nikolai problems made her feel even more irritated.
\'I guess I am just a burden to him...\' However, while she was thinking of herself, something was happening around the city.
***
Not long after leaving the dungeon and planning to go for a meal, he received the message. Thus, he asked Lisa to help him sort the issue out, and then they would eat something.
A pair of shadows moved along the rooftops as if carried by the wind itself. In truth, Nikolai and Lisa were running several times faster than the world record holder. His hand held her soft paw as she transformed halfway to keep up with his speed, their bodies catapulting between buildings to save time.
"An old man..."
"What? Waaaah!"
Their bodies fell down several floors before landing with a bang. The impact caused them to bounce before rolling across the cracked concrete just a single block away from the place Sarah used for her company. It wasn\'t hard for someone like him to find, given that he could sense her general location when focusing.
While in pain from hitting the ground at such a high speed and accidentally dragging Lisa down with him. The pair saw Sarah\'s office from the opposite rooftop; she was sitting opposite a pale old man with grey hair and a listless atmosphere.
"He doesn\'t look like a good guy..." Lisa muttered as they prepared to jump across the emergency stairs along the wall of Sarah\'s building.
"Well, he\'s a monster, so he shouldn\'t. Why are there ghouls in this city? A ghoul never comes to a vampire\'s territory usually."
The hatred between Vampires and Ghouls goes way back, stemming from the medieval times when these undead species competed over land to rule. It eventually spiralled into endless conflict and hatred that only seemed to grow worse by the year. As for where it began, no one remembered or cared.
[Ghouls are an artificial type of monster created from the corpses of vampires. The first ghouls appeared two thousand years ago after the mad saint Alfredo Báthory began his experiments related to the soul and blood.]
\'So you\'re saying that it\'s our families\' fault these monsters exist? No wonder the other vampire families hated us...\'
[Tehe~ we have always been a unique family!]
[However, Nikolai... Alfredo was originally just trying to bring back his lost consort, the woman he had loved since he was a young child. They spent more than a thousand years married but died during the last great war between monster races.]
\'I don\'t care! Look what trouble it\'s caused!\'
"Are you ready to jump, Lisa? Hold onto me tight!"
"?!"
A surge of emotions welled up in his heart.
Though he told Sarah not to involve him in the business, that didn\'t mean he would neglect her when in trouble. He could see it from here. Her face was not good. That\'s why Nikolai wouldn\'t let her suffer for much longer!
"Here we go!"
Nikolai braced himself before taking a dash before leaping towards the emergency exit.
Lisa held onto him tightly, her face red hot as he embraced her tight, crushing her body against his to make sure she stayed on target.
At the same time, he concentrated hard on keeping control of their body weight. After all, it wasn\'t hard for Nikolai to send them both smashing into the alleyway floor below.
As they flew through the air, the wind hit Lisa\'s face directly, which caused her to open her eyes. Lisa couldn\'t help but feel wonder at the beautiful city from dozens of metres in the air.
"That\'s amazing!"
"We are gonna hit the wall, bite down!"
The building came up quickly to meet them both, and Nikolai slammed both feet against the wall before the impact caused his knees to bend and the wall to crack.
In fact, the entire structure of the building shook under their impact. However, despite landing so dangerously, Nikolai kept his balance. Even Lisa, who experienced such movement for the first time, held on to Nikola\'s chest.
"Fuck that was close..."
"Haa... so exciting.... I think I almost pissed myself."
Lisa pulled her face from Nikolai\'s chest shocked that the building they were on a moment ago was now on the other side of the road.
"Well... I\'m not really into watersports."
"You?!"
With a dry laugh, Nikolai carried Lisa towards the balcony of Sarah\'s office. He could enter the fire door, but he felt irritated, and the adrenaline from jumping across the roofs made his blood boil with excitement.
***
Inside the company building, Sarah was losing her patience. How dare this wrinkled fucker keep ordering her around like a slave?
Finally, just about when she became unable to take any more of his bullshit. The door slammed open, not the one inside but the one from her balcony. Then she heard a fierce and familiar voice that made her feel warmth and comfort.
That was until she saw the woman in Nikolai\'s arms.
\'Who the hell is that woman?!\'
"You wrinkled fucking corpse!" Nikolai\'s shout caused the room to become frozen. The old man\'s face became sour, his eyebrow twitching while Sarah looked desperate to hold her laugh in.
"Master..." Stay tuned to m v l e m p y r
A murderous look filled her gaze as she glared at the female cat in his embrace. A similar look to the one Nikita used to give Selene when they met.
"You did great, Sarah. Leave it to me now."
"Ah.... thank you... but."
\'Who is she?\'
However, the important issue was, of course, the old man.
Nikolai threw Lisa behind him, but she seemed fine as she landed on the sofa and got comfy. Her long legs kicked out as she watched the old man and Nikolai sizing each other up.
"May I ask who you might be, young man." Ludwig Adler\'s tone was different from before—rather, it became quite polite and neutral.
Nikolai looked at Sarah with a stunned gaze. \'Is this really the guy who caused trouble?!\'
She reacted with her arms in the air as if to say. \'How the hell would I know?!\'
[Well, of course, he would treat you differently. The ghouls have never treated the Báthory clan as their enemy, even after so long. It seems this old fellow is one of the more obedient members of their clan. He can sense your bloodline, and that\'s why he changed. Even his clan heir would show you respect.]
"I am Nikolai, Báthory Volkov. I believe there has been a misunderstanding between us."
"You are correct. It is I who have done you wrong, Sir Báthory. I should have never jumped to conclusions."
His voice held little hostility compared to before; even he realised how wrong he was. Just as he noticed, the young woman opposite him carried a strange bloodline; thus, he mistook her for another vampire clan.
Although most ghouls hated the vampire species due to their constant conflicts over land, it seemed his mother\'s words were true.
Nikolai now understood that some ghouls would avoid conflict with the Báthory clan. However, he wouldn\'t go easy; after all, this elder on a rampage hurt his thralls and made Sarah terrified.
"How do you think we should settle this matter?" Nikolai tilted his head, lifting Sarah from her chair and sitting her on his thigh while leaning back.
\'This way, he won\'t treat Sarah badly in the future.\'
"Well, I have an idea..." Ludwig Adler leaned forward with a wide smile.