Lord Of Puppets

The time has passed.

And yet?

No new massive vampire incidents occurred.

That meant one thing.

Thauma warning about the distraction, which vampire Korwan used to deduce a possibility that the enemy was aiming for the head of the nation....

Was indeed correct.

The target of these new enemies was the highest-ranking members of the empire.

After realizing that this prediction was correct, the meeting was called forth where high ranking members of the empire, be it vampires, nobles and even empiric family had gathered in order to discuss this problem.

"And the things ended up freaking hectic." – said the emperor as he was beyond tired after the meeting has ended... But had yet another meeting in the throne room.

"Well, no surprise there." – said the beautiful tall woman in long dress and with green hair as well as orange eyes as she sighed in worry.

[Empress of the Gorijy empire – Pendera Warmin]

"We straight up told everybody that they are currently target of the assassination. Who wouldn’t be nervous and scared after hearing such revelation?"

"Korwan said that the enemy cannot just assassinate us from the get go. They need to make a preparation where they can assassinate us all at once or within short period of time, all in order to make sure we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves." – said the muscular woman in military uniform as well as dark green hair and sharp orange eyes.

[The first princess of the Gorijy empire – Endera Warmin – The first child of the emperor.]

"Still, we should prepare ourselves for possible war." – said the man with brown hair and orange eyes.

[The first prince of the Gorijy empire – Erwin Warmin – The second child of the emperor.]

"The enemy is definitely aiming to attack the empire."

"True."

"Now that we know about their objective, there is no way they could properly succeed in carrying out their assassination."

"However, there is a good chance we may have few casualties... The enemy shown how prepared they were."

"They knew we would have to reveal the existence of the vampires to the public." – said emperor Gustav.

"Meaning everybody who hid from the vampire side, including also high-ranking figures would also end up showing up."

"And if we didn’t do that and kept trying to use the original plan, things would only end up far worse."

"..."

"Still, we don’t exactly know what they are exactly planning to do."

"Like, do they have something that will keep us distracted again? Or are they just straight for the assassination?"

"I don’t have fucking idea."

"..."

"Still, that Witch Of Mad Lust is back again, right?" - said Endera.

"Why don’t we use her already."

"Well, that is a problem." – said Erwin.

"That woman is a pure monster, but the problem is with the aim."

"We need to know where we sent her or the enemy will strike us in worst possible moment."

"Her ability to mind control is truly terrifying AND useful."

"In the worst case scenario we could use it against the panicking people in order to calm them down and hunt down the culprit."

"...And I’m worried also about their ’assassination attempt’ as whole."

"What will they do?"

"We had already incident with Warmur kingdom straight up summoning demons."

"If the enemy were to do that again, then it will look like Warmur kingdom is behind it again."

"Obviously that would be a bullshit."

"But again, I’d say we should prepare for them having some kind of rough approach."

"...Should we then request the dungeon and our factories to produce more detection oriented golems? We need to increase our detection security." – said Endera.

"..."

"Speaking of that dungeon, I wouldn’t be surprised if they attacked it again." – said Erwin.

"It would cause too big of a destruction and they would also sabotage our nation military strength."

"But isn’t the dungeon far more protected now? We shouldn’t-"

"Duke." – said emperor Gustav before princess Endera could finish speaking.

"Duke rank vampire."

"Remember, we know how powerful vampires can be."

"And the traditionalist vampire faction? They have a lot of powerful vampires."

"Erwin worry is correct, both regarding the possible attack on the dungeon and the rough assassination attempt."

"We should be ready for anything."

(The lack of information is really fucking bothersome... Like for real.) – thought annoyed emperor.

(Still... There is one thing that bothers me more.)

(WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHO THE FUCK THEY ARE WORKING WITH! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!)

The situation was tense to say the least.

The higher ups of the empire knew that they lives were in danger... But even worse was the fact that they didn’t knew where the enemy were or who they were.

...

But something wasn’t right.

More days had went by... And yet? The enemy didn’t made their move.

This was confusing to say the least.

Was it because everybody had their guard up after the incident with vampires? Or maybe is also because the reveal?

But... Something was clearly off.

"Hm..."

(They told me to stay here just in case... But isn’t the current situation off?) – thought Ariava who was using a black-haired teenage form while eating at the bar.

(I’ve thought something would happened before I’ve gotten here or when I was heading towards the capital... But they are not making their move now?)

(There is no fucking way it is over.)

(I know what kind of savages the traditionalist faction of vampire race are... And yet.)

(Quiet.)

(The capital city is still affected by the news, even the ’underneath’ where the people gossip outside of unwanted gazed, they are still speaking about vampires.) – thought Ariava as she was listening to the people in the bar talking about vampires.

(The opinions are divided... But still, there is noticeable distrust that stands out.)

(...Still, somebody is pulling the strings.)

(The traditionalist faction is 100% a puppets here, being made to dance without them knowing.)

(The traditionalists are impatient and prideful bunch... But if the reward is tempting enough, they would fallow you.)

(I don’t think their sole goal is exterminating the adjustment faction.)

(Nah.)

(These bastards wouldn’t do it only for it.)

(If anything, they would act all on their own and get squashed.)

(... It ain’t Thauma this time either, since the announcement gave them perfect opportunity to attack.)

(Invasion isn’t it either, since they had a GOOD time to launch the attack.)

(Thauma’s worry and Korwan theory seems to be the right.)

(But by now? Their opening is slowly fading away.)

(If they launch their attack later, then it will be obvious that it wasn’t vampires of the empire.)

(...Are they preparing for the war?)

(No. They had opening before... Or maybe they didn’t?)

(Maybe they were observing the situation in the Warmur kingdom, thinking that empire was involved?)

(But that would only make even LESS sense!)

(...Not only that, but it seems situation in the Warmur kingdom is somewhat... Quiet.)

(My puppets reported to me few things, like chaos after the war and what happened after I went missing... But so far? Nothing major.) – thought Ariava as she stood up and left the bar, but when she went out in the street, she instantly disappeared in the next moment and found herself on top of the roof, observing as the city was "peaceful".

(There are no hidden hostile vampires in the city either.)

(Those camouflage devices of theirs cannot fool my senses.)

(And yet... Nothing.)

(Just what are they playing at.)

<> - {{Ariava is narrating}}

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𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

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<<...The situation is truly challenging.>>

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<<...I know what they are.>>

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