Tessa acted weird and did not want Arthur to know anything about what the vampire had told her. That only made Arthur's curiosity increase, and for that reason, he followed her.
With Arthur's power, following her would be impossible, but he was no ordinary vampire, and the inheritance from the Blood Monarch had many spells. Now that he had both parts of the inheritance, it was easier for him to learn such spells, especially with his blood essence.
He was there to be a spy, so the first spells he tried to learn were the stealth ones, which came in handy in that situation. One was an invisibility spell, but instead of using only mana, it also used the user's blood.
The blood would make the spell stronger, but Arthur would get weaker as time passed. Other vampires knew those types of spells too, but the one Arthur had was an enhanced version made by the Blood Monarch, making it stronger and decreasing blood usage.
"Where is she going?" thought Arthur as his body disappeared.
Tessa left the area where she and her servants lived and went to a different part of the castle. The number of vampires passing by them decreased until no one was around anymore, only Tessa and a vampire who looked like a guard standing in front of a watchtower near the castle's west wall.
"Did someone follow you?" the vampire asked, looking behind Tessa to see if he spotted something odd.
He looked toward Arthur for a second, but Arthur was quick to hide behind a tree; therefore, the man did not notice his presence.
"No, I don't think so."
"Good. Come in. Your father is already there."
She nodded and entered the tower while the guard stood at the same spot. Arthur wanted to go, but now it would be impossible.
"No way I can pass unnoticed against a rank-three mage. The duke will find me, and that will be my end. I should leave this place as quickly as possible!"
Arthur turned around and left, returning to where he came from. No one noticed his presence; now, Tessa and her father were getting more mysterious.
Were they trying to dethrone the person in charge of the Von Stein family? That would be hard, considering that person was a rank-four mage, way stronger than the duke.
"Unless they also have a rank-four on their side...."
Arthur had many questions, and even though he had no answers, he knew he would have them in the future. Why? He was under the duke's command in the army, and if he turned into someone loyal enough, the duke would grant him higher positions. Maybe allow him to enter that tower and learn what they were up to.
He returned to that bench where he found Tessa and waited for one hour, yet nothing. She did not appear, so Arthur returned to his room and meditated.
With the help of his blood essence and inheritance, Arthur's meditation went to another level, especially when meditating using the special chant the Blood Monarch created, allowing him to absorb mana way faster than ordinary folks.
"I am a genius!"
In a matter of three hours, Arthur jumped from the second circle to the fifth circle! If things continued like that, he was sure he would reach the rank of an Official Mage in one month, which was extraordinary. Not even his main body could increase its power that fast.
The more Arthur used the powers of the Blood Monarch, the more impressed and scared he was. Who exactly was that person? All the memories inside the inheritance allowed his avatar to become a genius, and honestly, Arthur was confident in reaching rank four with that avatar in two years at most!
There was also the Emperor Eye, which was one of the many Forbidden Eyes.
"The Blood Monarch is powerful, and he had one of these eyes. Who are the other users? They are certainly at the same level or even higher! I'm such an ant, it seems."
Arthur was happy with his training session and wanted to keep going, but a knock on his door made him return to reality.
"Who could it be?"
He got up and answered the door. It was a man wearing plate armor and had a sword on his waist.
"One of the vampire guards!"
The guard looked at Arthur and said, "we are asking everyone in the castle if they saw something strange. Did you see something strange?"
"Depends. Are you saying strange like what?"
"Like someone talking in secret, maybe a group of people wearing masks and tunics?"
It was a strange question, especially after Arthur had recently seen Tessa acting weird and meeting with people in private. Was the man referring to her?
"He does not know who the people are, and that is why he is asking," Arthur quickly realized.
"No, I walked around the castle three hours ago and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I have been inside my room ever since."
Arthur was a master at lying to others, so the guard did not sense anything strange about his behavior.
"Well, if you see anything, then let me know. I am sorry to bother you," the guard said, and then he left.
The guard did not stop after asking questions to Arthur but did the same to all the others in the castle. It looked like whatever Tessa was doing in secret; was no longer a complete secret.
Huge things were starting to happen in the castle, and Arthur had to get stronger to be part of them.
~~~~
"The shop and the employees will be okay, husband, don't overthink it," Wisa said.
While Arthur's avatar traveled to the vampire territory, his main body and his wives went to the dragon's mountains to reclaim their past glory and take control of the continent, thus stopping the upcoming war.
"I know, but what if the vampires tried it again, and after seeing I am not there, they will harm my employees."
"We set magical formations there, hired guards, and even warned the authorities about the vampires. Alessia and Jannet will be fine."
After his wives repeatedly stated the facts, Arthur finally relaxed as they made their way to the dragon's mountains. There, he looked for his dragon priests, who had the mission of going into the dwarven mountains, and spreading the Cult of the Dragon.
They were there, and there were not any dwarves around, which meant it was not that much of a success.
"What happened?" Arthur said.
Garry, Larry, and Terry did not know how to face Arthur after their failed attempt.
"Lord, the dwarves, did not believe in us, but I think if you go there, in person, and show them the dragons are back, they will certainly change their ways of thinking!"
"Fine, why not? Show me the way then."
Arthur left with his wives and the dragon priests, looking for the dwarven mountains, where the dwarves had a fortress, and the dwarf responsible for guarding the gate saw Garry, Larry, Terry, Nykka, Tarinne, and Yeva.
"You are all here again? Didn't I tell you we are not interested in this dragon fairytale?" the dwarf said.
Then, Arthur appeared from the skies in his dragon form, looking bigger than the mountain, roaring toward the dwarven fortress.
"Fairytale?" Arthur said, as his breath made the dwarf guarding the fortress entrance retreat a few steps.
"D-Dragon!"