Lord Of Puppets

(Thauma had warned them? This is truly something I didn’t expected?) – thought Ariava.

"..."

(Then again, maybe he wants to form a real relationship with the empire?)

(...Heh... Interesting.)

"Anyway, I think Thauma maybe on to something." – said Ariava.

"It would be for the best if you increase your personal security."

"Especially around Porai."

"I’ve once tested her and saw how powerful she is."

"She won’t go down easily."

"However, if the enemy found out about her existence, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they prepared something to take her down."

"True... If they really take down Porai now, then we won’t be able to obtain the identification device." – said Korwan.

"It wouldn’t be surprising if right now they even have their assassination force coming for her."

"..."

"Anyway, it is great that the situation in the Warmur kingdom has been resolved."

"But is it possible for you to return to the Gorjy empire as soon as possible?"

"..."

"No." – replied Ariava.

"!?"

"What?! Why not!?" – asked shocked emperor.

"It is true, that the situation with the corrupted nobles and pathetic royal family has been dealt with, with the new king being born and what not." – replied Ariava.

"But those bastards made WAY too big of a mess."

"These corrupted nobles were straight up destroying their own nation."

"Not only that, there is also that demon incident."

"When they were about to lose, these bastards used countless number of people as sacrifices in order to summon several strong demon that caused destruction."

"Worst part about this was the fact that these guys couldn’t really manage at controlling them, causing the demons to go on the uncontrollable rampage."

"There is also the whole civil war that happened."

"Simple put, the entire Warmur kingdom is rough shape."

"Meaning, that they could end up easily getting conquered by anybody."

"If the Warmur kingdom gets attacked and gets conquered, you can probably imagine what could happened, right?"

"..."

"So... You are saying you cannot return just yet back to the empire?" – asked the nervous emperor.

"Unfortunately, this is a matter of choice." – replied Ariava.

"I can deal with these traditionalist vampires for you and find out who is supporting them."

"However, if I were to do that, the Warmur kingdom could end up defenseless."

"And again, if they get attacked, there is no way they will survive this."

"Then... Why don’t we just make alliance with the Warmur kingdom?" – asked Korwan.

"Bad idea." – replied Ariava.

"It will really look like the empire was truly behind the whole rebellion and this could damage your reputation."

"And right now, the reputation is one of the things you need the most."

"So? What will be your choice?"

"..."

(If the Warmur kingdom falls, it could result in the massive war getting triggered.) – thought the nervous emperor.

(But again, we don’t know this time who our enemies are.)

(And the longer they continue their rampage, then it will become way harder for the vampires to become official citizens.)

(Not only that, she also said that the dungeon master’s worries were onto ’something’?)

(Does she thinks that he may had really figured out the enemy motive?)

(...Their targets is definitely not the dungeon.)

(We made sure that the security there is way higher and even if anybody breaks through, we will find out about this immediately unlike before.)

(If that is the case, they cannot target the dungeon... Which leaves only US as the possible targets.)

(They are going straight for the head of the empire?!)

"..."

"Do you think that we can bolster the security of each of one of our top members?" – asked the emperor Gustav.

"We could do it." – replied vampire Korwan.

"However, if the dungeon master’s theory is truly correct, then it wouldn’t be surprising if their assassination force is already on the move."

"But they wouldn’t truly make a move now, even if they had reached one of their targets."

"The reason is simple."

"The timing."

"If they kill somebody, then every other target will be alarmed."

"They will probably aim to eliminate each of us in specific coordinated time frame in order for the all other of their targets wouldn’t have time to react."

"But if they realize that you had realized, they may just go for it and assassinate as many high ranking figures as possible." – said Ariava.

"Even if they wouldn’t manage to slay anybody from either one of your families, the loss of the high ranking figures would still deal a blow to the empire."

"And if the news of these high ranking figures were to spread that they had died because of assassination, then it could cause all sorts of negative reactions amongst the commoners, as well as the nobles who would fear for their own life."

"..."

"In other words, no matter the choice we will pick, there will be a sacrifice." – said the emperor.

"Pretty much." – said Ariava.

"Not only that, don’t forget that the Korwan there is a duke rank vampire."

"Meaning that he is naturally strong."

"Yet they are aiming to eliminate him?"

"Two possibilities."

"They have enough power or some means of exterminating him."

"Or they have a duke rank vampire of their own who could fight on the equal terms with Korwan... Or maybe even overpower him."

"..."

(FUCK!) – thought vampire and the emperor.

(What the hell do we do?!)

(We can now start preparations to counter their possible main plan... But there is no way we all will be able to survive this! Not only that, we don’t have real confirmation if they are truly planning the assassination!) – thought the emperor.

(Still... We need to get rid of these traditionalist vampires before make even bigger mess.... But then again, if the Warmur kingdom truly gets attacked right now, then it could truly cause a massive war to occur!) – thought the vampire.

There wasn’t a choice between.

They need to choose.

Do they risk the destruction of the Warmur kingdom after it had been pacified, which could also result in the war?

Or should they focus on their new foe as soon as possible and make sure that the empire will be not wounded by the schemes of their yet unknown enemy?

Both decision were important.

Both have benefits.

But also, both have terrifying possible consequences if you don’t pick specific choice.

And the worst part?

There is no time.

This is different compare to having to choose between Ariava remaining in the empire from the shadows and Ariava going to the Warmur kingdom in order to conquer it.

This time, they had a choice A, which they know what it means and does.

And choice B, which they had nowhere near understanding off, since they don’t even know WHO the enemy is.

They only know that they have large number of vampires on their side, they have somewhat recreated the camouflage device used by the vampires of the empire and that they have access to some powerful teleportation magic that allows them to transport a large number of troops inside of the empire, allowing them to completely bypass their boarders and security.

"..."

"I think Ariava should return back to the empire." – said the emperor.

"!?"

"Wait! Are you sure about that?! If the Warmur kingdom falls then war maybe truly unavoidable!" – said Korwan.

"The enemy we are currently dealing with is clearly also aiming for the war!" - replied Gustav

"They are doing the exact same shit that the Warmur kingdom did before! EXACT THE SAME THING!"

"Sabotage! Destruction! Before then declaring the war!"

"They are doing the fucking same thing!"

"It was also the same with those terrorist!"

"They are not sabotaging us to only weaken our nation!"

"No! They want to make us weak enough so they can attack us and conquer us!"

"No matter which fucking choice we will pick! The war will happened to matter what!"

"This is the retarded reality we are currently in." – said the emperor as the vampire couldn’t really figure out what to say himself regarding the emperor stated... As he himself realized that the situation was truly that.

The reason why the empire was faced with so many sabotages as soon as it was born was because the other nations wanted war and destroy the empire.

"But the empire now stabilized somewhat and recovered from the effect of the sudden construction." – said Korwan.

"Not only our citizens have easier time, but also our military force is getting upgraded at the good pace."

"We also have the dungeon providing us with additional forces."

"And yet the enemy is still making their move?" – replied Ariava.

"The emperor is right."

"Based on what I’ve heard, the enemy is playing this smart."

"That means they know what they are doing."

"And they probably knows that the empire had stabilized and advanced a bit."

"The fact that they are attacking means that they are either fully desperate, just how Warmur kingdom was."

"Or they have prepared something that could destroy the empire and the reason why they are doing this now was because they weren’t ready yet."

"Either way, this is a straight up repeat of the Warmur kingdom... In the row... Wow. The same fucking shit happened in the row?"

"..."

"Anyway, my point is."

"Can you survive on my own and deal with this disaster on your own?"

"Or am I truly force to come back and lend you a hand."

"You have to give me answer, now."