"Hmph! Giving attention to a little girl?!" Nagasawa huffed beside Dante, who was holding the nameless little girl with one hand.
"She's cute," Dante said. He had a certain weakness for cute little girls... the biggest example being Eldrax, who was... Well, undoubtedly quite spoiled by Dante whenever possible, but well... "This is an unknown girl!" She almost shouted, but she knew this reckless man wouldn't care about that.
"This place has a strange atmosphere... It's different from most places I've been, what could it be?" Dante said out loud, completely ignoring Nagasawa, while following Rose, who was apparently tasked with leading Dante to... Vlad.
Despite the good lighting, it still messed with his vision, with completely dark areas contrasting with the black and gray brick buildings, black-painted fences, and all sorts of details always focused on darkness... He could feel a certain danger in the air. Not that it mattered, because the only real danger he felt was coming from Rose, who was... Nervous.
The city was elegant, a blend of dark fantasy from grim cities with a Victorian touch of luxurious buildings. Dante could see all kinds of vampires passing by; even the simplest ones seemed busy with their work and daily lives. Of course, many of them looked at Dante—how could they not?
They sensed the Aura he emitted, the invisible pressure he carried was so immense, surpassing even some of the Vampire Counts, and with that woman guiding him, he could see people hiding in their homes, sheltering and securing themselves in case something happened... But...
"A Scarlet..." They whispered as he passed by. Why? Because no vampire had red hair... It sounds funny, but only Valentina had red hair in the entire vampire world, a unique trait among vampires... That city... Was just...
Chaotic? In Dante's view, it seemed disordered but beautiful at the same time.
"Well... For someone who lived reading novels and then walked among supernatural beings... I was quite mistaken, supernatural societies are really different." Dante thought. He still had some memories stored of various things he wanted and had read, and many had become reality, but...
"I guess that's what happens when a society is born." He said while looking at the broad back of the woman ahead of him. Okay, it wasn't broad, but Dante was in a reduced form just to hold the little girl's hand.
"Don't think too much about the stares, they're like that..." Arieta said. She was also accompanying the group. Asta stayed behind, but Ranni and Arieta continued to follow Dante. After all... They had to show that they had completed their mission to the King himself, so it was better to follow them and ensure that under no circumstances would anyone blow anything up...
Dante may forget, but his Wife/Mother is still Valentina Scarlet, the most dangerous and irrational Vampire Countess this world has ever seen. It's natural that everyone looks at him with a mix of fear, respect, and curiosity. To him, Valentina is a "cute little strawberry," a loving figure he cherishes so much, a devoted wife he loves with all his might.
But to the other vampires, Valentina is the worst nightmare that ever existed, a destructive and relentless force that haunts their very existence.
She is the living legend that inspires fear, the monster that even vampires dread encountering on their darkest nights. The duality between the image Dante has of his wife and the reality she represents to others is disconcerting. He sees in her a sweetness and affection that are exclusively his, while others see only the chaos and destruction she can unleash with a simple gesture.
As they continued walking, Dante and the group witnessed a situation... Idiotic, to say the least...
"Don't touch me, you inferior bitch!" one vampire shouted at another, who retorted, "As far as I know, the street is public, you worm!" The first one seemed like a grumpy adult, and the second, a reckless young man...
"They're so..." Nagasawa murmured. "Idiotic. Kakaka," Dante said, laughing a bit at the situation, which made the two look at him quickly with angry eyes. "Are you laughing at us?!" they both said in unison, as if ignoring everyone around them and focusing only on Dante and Nagasawa... A mistake, indeed.
"What are you laughing at?!" they said again, and Dante just smiled... Well, he looked like a normal vampire, of course. He had already gone back to wearing his regular clothes without the black armor. So, he looked like a normal vampire... And these idiots were so blinded by rage that they didn't even notice his hair color...
A hard thing to miss, considering Dante always wears black clothes, and his hair is such a pure red that it grabs attention everywhere.
"This happens often, doesn't it?" Dante asked Rose, who kept walking. "Ignore those cockroaches," she said, resuming her pace, with Arieta and Ranni continuing, leaving those idiotic vampires behind but...
"You bastard!" the two shouted and charged at Dante. "How cute," Dante said before simply unleashing his aura in front of them, causing the two to collapse to the ground as if gravity were crushing their entire bodies... The three women looked back, and the wounded, crushed vampires looked at the group...
"C-c-countess..." The word came out trembling, malformed, from the vampires' lips. The fear was palpable, an overwhelming presence that seemed to take over the atmosphere. Valentina Scarlet, the Countess, raised an eyebrow, assessing the beings in front of her with a mix of disdain and annoyance.
"So many people in the world to pick a fight with... and you choose a Scarlet?" she questioned, her voice dripping with cold sarcasm. The impact of her words was immediate and brutal. The vampires, already trembling, began to... wet themselves in fear... in the literal sense of the word.
"S-S-s-s-s-s-Sc-c-carlet???" The words stumbled and fell from their mouths, panic overtaking their bodies. The terror was so intense that, in a moment of absolute despair, they not only lost control of their bladders but also their consciousness.
One by one, the vampires fainted, collapsing to the ground, completely defeated by the fear that the mere mention of the name "Scarlet" brought to their minds.
"Sometimes, I wonder... Why don't I know about things like this?" Dante murmured, looking at the women around him. There was unease in his gaze, a shadow of doubt that haunted him. "Why do I feel like my reality is a lie? My Valentina isn't even that scary..."
"Ah... you're so innocent..." Rose paused, letting her words sink in. "You don't see what others see. To them, Valentina isn't just a powerful vampire; she's the embodiment of fear. What you just witnessed... these vampires fainting from pure terror at hearing her name...
that's not an exaggeration. It's the reality for anyone who knows her true nature. You might not fully understand, but 'your Valentina' is feared, and with good reason." She said, resuming her walk.
"..." Dante really couldn't understand... I mean... killing only 3.8 million people in a war isn't that much, right?