Chapter 635 Questions from Royalty

Chapter 635 Questions from Royalty

"So, Princess Lina, what do you want from me?" Vicente asked as he sat down next to Lina on a stone bench in the Royal Academy's garden.

Her guards spread out around, monitoring the area, while the soldiers with the highest military rank stood very close to Vicente and Lina.

She wasn't bothered by Vicente's informal manner of referring to her and got straight to the point. "Well, we're here to deal with the matter of the 3rd stage vampire you defeated."

"What exactly do you want to know?"

She indicated. "Start from the beginning. When he appeared, why he was after you, and how you defeated him."

"You can learn that from anyone. The vampire appeared in the city in the middle of that afternoon along with his group.

Vampires are great trackers. I think he may have come to me because of my above-average talent. Fortunately, I had enough strength on my side to fight him off. Otherwise, I'm afraid a massacre would have taken place in this city that day."

"So you think he came to you because of your talent?" asked one of the Sky Sovereigns from that group standing near the two of them.

"That's my theory."

"There's no chance he followed you here during your recent trip?" Lina asked as she looked into Vicente's eyes.

"That I wouldn't be able to say. If it happened, it was out of my control." Vicente replied with a serious tone and neutral expression.

He could tell the truth, but this lie was much more convenient. It would allow him to show the provincial nobles the dangers of The Purification and make them more inclined to support his plans.

If the province or kingdom's powers knew the truth, they might have thought that the whole battle had happened because of a problem unconnected to the threat developing in the north of the continent.

That was the truth, but the truth was not convenient for alerting the powers of that region!

"Yes, the city was badly damaged. But it's not just me behind the reforms. All the influential families in Saltstar City have helped so far with coins and men.

Even though my group was the one to expose its powers the most that day and consequently caused destruction, the nobles and wealthy men of the city understood that blaming us for everything would get us nowhere.

They have businesses that would be damaged if the city continued to be destroyed for too long, so they all agreed to cooperate.

"That was good for you," Lina commented, seeing that as well as being strong, Vicente was also very business savvy.

If the city wasn't already halfway to its best, they could hold him responsible somehow. But since the vampire incident had caused almost no casualties and the city seemed to be doing well, there was no way they could hold this guy responsible for anything.

"What do you intend to do now?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Getting ready for The Purification."

The people around Vicente narrowed their eyes, seeing that this news had already spread. If Vice knew about it, then the nobles and rich men from all over the province must already be aware of the problem.

"Do you intend to join my family and become a noble?" Lina asked him in an offering tone.

"No, I wouldn't fulfill my responsibilities doing that. I'm already in the 4th stage, Princess Lina, but I don't intend to stop here. Soon, I'll have to leave the kingdom to hunt pentagrams, and when the other problem is solved, I'll have no reason to return to these lands. I'll take my family to a more affluent place."

"The consequences of The Purification could take decades or centuries to resolve—if they are resolved at all. The vampires' plan is to end the dominance of magicians on the continent. Anyway, becoming a noble of the kingdom wouldn't stop you from leaving if, eventually, our race manages to overcome this problem," Lina commented with a smile.

"That may be true. But it also wouldn't make any difference whether I decide today or in the future." He smiled back at her. "If it turns out that I'm here for that long, I might change my mind. But for now, that's my plan. Prepare my defense and leave the kingdom when the worst is over."

Vicente didn't know where he would be in five or ten years. He might not get very far, and the consequences of The Purification would be too terrible. But he believed that he would be strong enough, even amid the calamity, to leave the Seidel Kingdom and continue his life in the north of the continent.

The best way to escape a commitment today was to make these people hope to turn him into a subordinate in the future. As such, he pretended to be willing to change his mind depending on how things developed.