“I appreciate your offer, but it isn’t worth even considering.”

Ariella shook her head, refusing my suggestion.

I could guess the reason well enough myself.

“...Is it because of that grand duke’s offer?”

“You know perfectly well, yet you still ask.”

The grand duke had made Ariella a promise.

That they would help her grow to the point where rebuilding the Karshtein Bloodline was possible.

“As you know, I want to become stronger. So, so much stronger—so strong that no one can interfere with me at all. After I become that strong, I want to build a kingdom of my own and become its queen.”

That was why—

when I first met her, her thralls had called her “Your Majesty.”

I got it, more or less.

As the first step toward achieving her dream on this small patch of land, she’d decided on that title first.

“Haven’t you gotten stronger pretty fast even under me? Even that grand duke looked shocked, asking how you’d managed to grow this quickly.”

“I won’t deny your help. No—honestly, I’ve even thought that without you, this level of growth might have been impossible. I was fated to be unable to endure the sun. If I were attacked while the sun was up, then before I’d had time to build my forces, I would have had no choice but to be helpless. But your Legion protected me from the daytime.”

“Then.”

“But there is no sun in this land.”

I looked up at the sky beyond the window.

Not just the sun—an enormous blood-red cloud filled the sky, blotting out even moonlight.

“Your support is regrettable to give up, but isn’t the one who best knows how a noble grows... the strongest among nobles?”

“......”

At that, I frowned and spoke.

“Can you really trust that grand duke so easily?”

“Who knows? Still, according to the rumors I heard, there were stories that the Grand Duke of Melchiorn was violent and stupid, but not stories that they were the kind of person to stab others in the back. More precisely, the assessment was that they simply weren’t that kind of person to begin with.”

“And what if those rumors are just flat-out wrong? You felt it this time too.”

“Well, that’s true. But.”

She looked at me—

then, as if reminding me of what I’d said, she wiggled two fingers on both hands.

“[To survive, you have to take risks.] ......”

“That’s...”

“Wasn’t that something someone used to say all the time?”

When I stood there, speechless, she smiled and continued.

“One way or another, you’ve been a great help to me until now. At first, I had complaints, but thanks to you, I was freed from that strange voice. And I was able to build my strength safely. For that, I’m grateful.”

“Then.”

“So! Even if it means I take on a certain amount of risk, I will help you return to the Legion. But.”

The smile faded from her face.

Ariella spoke in a firm, resolute tone.

“After that, what happens is for me to decide.”

“......”

“I’m no longer bound by a pact with you.”

If she was going to say it that far—

there was no point pushing any further.

“......”

“......”

The conversation ended like that.

For a moment, only silence drifted through the spacious mansion.

I stared blankly outside.

Far away, I could see countless monsters squirming about.

And then, a little later—

‘...Is that preparation finished?’

From the distance—

I saw Luor approaching, cutting through the mass of monsters.

I didn’t know exactly what they’d been preparing, but since the grand duke had said they would support Ariella’s growth, there was a good chance things were about to get busy.

We might not get another chance to talk about this again.

“...Just one more thing.”

...If that was the case.

Looking down through the window, I spoke evenly.

“You have more to say?”

“Yeah. The reason you want to stay here is because this is the path where you can become stronger, right? You said you want to be queen.”

“That’s right.”

“Then.”

I rose to my feet.

I walked over to Ariella, who was sitting in her chair, and looked down at her as I spoke.

“If following me would make you stronger, then would that change things?”

“...What did you say?”

“You said the one who knows best how a noble becomes stronger is a strong noble.”

To be honest—

I said that because I genuinely didn’t know.

Sometimes, in a unit, you run into people like that.

An ace who’s razor-sharp at their specialty and their job—

but for some reason, they’re absolutely terrible at teaching a junior.

“That grand duke’s support could be worse than you think, or not helpful at all. That can happen, right?”

“...It doesn’t seem very likely.”

“Sure. Let’s just assume.”

I bent at the waist.

I brought my eyes level with hers, looked straight into them, and asked,

“If being under me makes you stronger than being under the grand duke...”

“......”

“Then what will you do?”

At my words—

Ariella stared at me blankly, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Well... that would be...”

She smiled faintly.

“Depends on what you do.”

“Ha.”

***

“As you know, the grand duke intends to support your growth to the fullest extent.”

A noble arrived at the mansion not long after.

Standing before Ariella, Luor spoke.

“The best way for a noble to grow is, of course, to newly take strong thralls under one’s command and to continually acquire high-quality blood. The grand duke even said that, if it were up to them, they would like to hand over their own thralls as-is, but...”

“They would already be beings made from the grand duke’s blood. My fighting strength might increase, but it wouldn’t help my growth.”

“Yes. And so, we intend to support you by another method.”

Bang.

“As powerful thralls, and at the same time as excellent blood providers... we will present you with outstanding prey.”

When Luor clapped, the enormous monsters that had followed behind spread their hands.

Paper was clutched in their palms.

A large map unfolded before our eyes.

“At present, under the grand duke’s command, we are proceeding with the conquest of this land. The areas marked in red on this map are our territory.”

At that, I looked at the map.

And I couldn’t help being a little surprised.

‘...More than seventy percent is painted red.’

This land called China is vast.

Considering that the land my Legion and I have been scrambling to secure is about half the Korean Peninsula—

this place is a gigantic landmass dozens of times larger.

And they had taken control of more than half of it.

The red light spreading outward from the center covered most of the land—

and now, it seemed only parts of the outer edges remained.

“...I knew that much, but I’m a little curious. Why are you so set on occupying this land? Territory is better the wider it is, but you seem to be rushing.”

“We do not know that far ourselves. We simply follow the grand duke’s orders.”

“Hm...”

Unlike us awakened ones, it didn’t seem like monsters would gain any particular benefit from occupying this land quickly.

Whatever the reason, they were conquering ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) it in a hurry.

Staring at the map, I murmured,

“...Looks like the occupation started from Beijing.”

“Mm? Ah. That’s right. This land is where we first set foot.”

Judging by the areas the red had spread into, the vampires led by Grand Duke Valarak had first set foot in Beijing—

and spread outward in all directions from there.

‘...With strength on the level of that grand duke, normally they should still be sealed even now.’

Something surfaced from my memory—

but it was so long ago that I couldn’t recall it clearly.

‘...?’

As I kept staring at the map, I noticed something strange.

“The south... seems to be advancing more slowly.”

From the capital, to the east, west, and north, almost everything was painted red—

but in the southern direction, quite a bit of land still remained.

“...Tsk.”

When I pointed that out, Luor frowned and spoke.

“Even if it is so for now, that side will be occupied before long. In the end, it is only a matter of time....”

“...?”

“In any case, that is not what matters. Please look here, Count.”

Luor pointed at the map.

Inside the red-painted territory, there were still places left unpainted here and there.

“Following the grand duke’s order to expand our occupied territory as quickly as possible, our main force left areas that seemed difficult to capture for later, and occupied other places first.”

“Then those empty spots...”

“Yes. Places our main force passed by after judging them difficult to capture.”

No matter how strong nobles were, Ariella had said most of them were low-ranking nobles.

And since individual strength wasn’t particularly outstanding—

they would struggle quite a bit against enemies they couldn’t simply overwhelm with numbers.

Holes scattered all over the map.

There were even a few holes not far from here.

“As it happens, a special task force was going to be dispatched soon to finish occupying those areas. The monsters ruling places like that tend to be quite powerful.”

“...Telling me about these places means...”

“Yes.”

Luor bowed his head to Ariella.

“We would like the Count to clear those regions.”

At that—

Ariella’s brow pinched slightly.

“I was told I would receive support for my growth. I did not think I would be ordered to clean up after what other nobles failed to do.”

“Ah... my apologies. It seems my words left room for misunderstanding.”

After saying that, Luor stretched a hand toward the window.

“Of course, there will be no situation where the Count must handle bothersome work.”

“...?”

“Did I not say a special task force would be dispatched to subjugate those regions? Those bothersome tasks will be left to that task force...”

Outside, I could see countless troops lined up in formation.

“The grand duke’s knights will take care of it.”

I couldn’t help frowning as I looked at them.

Because—

‘...That’s—’

Lined up in front of the building, monsters that looked absurdly strong.

From the mana they were giving off, the baseline was green—

and the monsters standing at the very front were even giving off blue mana.

“Ha. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

And.

A man leading that force. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Staring at him, I scratched at my chest and my head and muttered,

“I didn’t think we’d meet again this soon.”

Because the man glaring up at us from below the mansion—

looked painfully familiar.