Jack found himself in a different place. He looked around in confusion. He was in some kind of a basement.

He was still wondering what had happened. The throne room had mana all around the place. He sensed where the hostile traps were, but he didn’t sense anything from the trap that created the veil which moved him into this place.

He was still battle-ready. He had his king badge in his hand, but what if there were more traps in this place?

“There is no need to be alarmed. You are safe here,” Jack heard a familiar voice.

Horatio appeared out of a shadow in a far corner. The Book of the Damned which Jack gave him was hanging beside his waist. That book was tied to a chain that was linked to Horatio’s robe. As Horatio approached, Jack sensed strong mana from the chain. It won’t be easy breaking that chain to steal the book.

Horatio was level 74. It had been more than a year since Jack gave the Book of the Damned to this vampire. He was level 70 then. A four-level increase in that time frame was extremely fast for a native, especially one with such a high level. Jack wondered if it had anything to do with the legendary artifact that was hanging on the vampire prince’s waist.

Jack still had his swords at the ready as Horatio came near.

“I told you already. You are safe. I mean you no harm,” Horatio said.

“Your father tried to kill me,” Jack said. “Or capture me, I don’t know. He is just not friendly.”

“I know. That’s why I laid a special teleportation spell in the throne room and hid it with a concealment spell.”

‘Concealment spell? Is it like the one that hid Greed’s rune diagram outside his sanctum? Maybe that’s why I didn’t sense anything from the trap,’ Jack thought.

“I eavesdropped the discussion between my father and that outworlder woman,” Horatio said. “That’s how I know they are luring you here to deal with you when you have no allies.”

“Allies?” Jack remembered Leavemealone then. “I came with my people. They are in danger. I have to save them!”

“It’s too late now. By the time you return there, the battle is already over. Don’t worry. I know my father. He will keep those people alive to lure you out. I do not doubt he has already activated an enchantment that places this capital under lockdown. You won’t be able to use Town Return Scroll or other teleport functions to leave town. You need to lay low for the time being.”

Jack didn’t worry about the lockdown. He had Pandora who should be able to break through, but he needed to settle the matter with Sangrod otherwise his army couldn’t proceed to Palgrost.

“… You said you knew about their plan and prepared spells to help me?” Jack asked. “How do you know I will step on your prepared spells?”

“I placed it near the exit. I know you will be running for the exit once my father reveals his intention.”

“I walked past that trap when I entered the throne room. It didn’t activate then,” Jack said.

“If I bring you here before you talk to my father, you won’t know my father’s treachery. Will you believe me then if I told you he meant you harm?”

“This means you can see what transpired inside the throne room?” Jack asked.

“The spell that brought you here is special. Yes, I can see what happened in that room. I activated the teleport spell manually once I saw you approaching.”

“Why do you help me?”

“Because I need a powerful ally,” Horatio answered.

Jack heard a notification then. He had received a quest offer, Help Horatio Ascend the Throne.

Horatio continued, “Have you heard about what my father did these past few weeks?”

“If you are talking about him executing your brothers and sisters. Yes, I’ve heard about it,” Jack said.

“Well, there is not much love between us, so their demise is not truly a loss. It was a problem though, because we vampiric brothers and sisters had one thing in common.”

Jack stayed silent instead of asking Horatio what he meant.

Horatio smiled. He resumed, “We all hate our father. We can be said to have been his slaves for hundreds of years. We have grown old enough to break away from his psychic influence, but his hold on this dominion is too strong. We can’t be free as long as he still rules. To end his reign, all of us brothers and sisters have to work together. But now, we are the ones being ended before our revolution has even begun.”

“How many of you are left?” Jack asked.

“Three,” Horatio answered. “The first prince, Rain Maxius, and Marcus’ seventh daughter, Lili Maxius. The three of us have influence over several big clans in the empire. My father can’t just execute us without strong evidence. If he does that, we can rebel with the support of those clans. We might not win, but Marcus won’t have it easy as well.”

“So, you need the support from another country’s sovereign,” Jack said.

“That, and also preventing my father from handing you to the outworlder woman will delay him from getting the evidence,” Horatio said.

When Jack gave him a questioning expression, he said, “The outworlder woman was the one who had been providing evidence of our attempted rebellion. She left the ones who are the most influential, Rain, Lili, and me, in exchange for your capture. If you are captured inside that throne room, the deal is complete. Marcus will be given the evidence to take us three down.”

‘So, this is all Master’s doing,’ Jack thought.

The disruption within the ruling power of the Sangrod Empire was also a good distraction to stop Marcus from bothering about the situations that happened outside his empire. In this way, it was less likely for Marcus to interfere with Master’s invasion of Palgrost. It was killing two birds at the same time. Jack couldn’t help but be impressed by Master’s planning, or maybe this was John’s mother’s planning.

“By the way, I want to warn you. Capturing you is only one part of the deal,” Horatio said. “The other part is to stop your army from going to Palgrost.”

𝔫𝒐𝑽𝑒𝗅𝑵𝔢xt.𝐂𝚘𝑀

Jack received a message from John then.

“Hey, expert. I guess your meeting with the Sangrod Empire didn’t go so well. We are now looking at a Sangrod army barring our way. They are telling us that we are trespassing on their territory, even when we are clearly inside the Jagara region. They told us to turn back. Any attempt to proceed further will be considered an act of aggression. Should we engage them? But their number is not that far different from ours. Even if I’m confident we can win, engaging them will seriously reduce the number of troops we bring to Palgrost.”

“Shit,” Jack uttered.

“What should we do?” Peniel asked.

Jack sent a message to John to stand down but not retreat. The Sangrod army shouldn’t do anything as long as they didn’t proceed. The deal was simply to halt Themisphere’s army march. Jack didn’t think Marcus would want to waste his army for nothing.

“What is your and your sibling’s original plan to take down your father’s regime?” Jack asked Horatio.

“Are you willing to help us?” Horatio asked back instead of answering the question.

“If you succeed, who is the next line for the throne between the three of you?”

“We can decide that once our father is taken care of, but I have an edge my two siblings don’t,” Horatio said while tapping his Book of the Damned.

“I see. In that case, I want your word! When you become the sovereign, you will ally with my country to defeat Liguritudum and its allies!”

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