How to Live As the Vampire Lord

“T-this is…” Count Hisain shouted while clutching the armrest of his chair. His hands were trembling.

It was due to the contents of the letter he had just received from his son in Demiere, Grigon.

“This… how does this make any sense? He dares…!” Count Hisain shouted while shuddering with anger.

This incited a battle of loyalty between his subjects.

“You cannot stand idle! Even if he is the king of another country, how could he dare to harm the knight commander of our nation?! The late Sir Carmier was a glorious sword of our country! You must complain to the King of Maren as soon as he arrives at the castle!”

“What nonsense is that?!” Count Hisain roared, and the nobles shrank back in their spots.

Why was the count getting angry at them? The nobles were bewildered by the unexpected response. Count Hisain pointed at the nobles before continuing, “Are you all out of your minds? Do what to the King of Maren regarding Sir Carmier? We should be grateful to him for letting the matter slide like this!”

“Ah…”

“I-I apologize.”

The nobles shrank back even further. They had forgotten in the rare anger of their monarch that even though their lord—Count Hisain—was petty and miserly, he wasn’t incompetent by any means. On the contrary, he was a very capable monarch. The nobles of the countdom, as well as the monarchs of foreign countries, admitted that a huge reason for the Hisain Countdom’s current success was thanks to his financial management ability and political sense.

“It might have been a different story if he succeeded, but since he failed and even died, don’t you all know that we have nothing to say to the King of Maren even if we had ten mouths?”

“…”

“Moreover, Sir Carmier knew the King of Maren, but the King of Maren had no idea who he was, right? They can put an end to this matter by expressing their regret. How do you think they will react if we try to protest this issue?” Count Hisain continued.

They would obviously question why a knight of the countdom had blocked the way of a monarch coming to provide help to the countdom. That would place the Hisain Countdom in an even more difficult position. If Carmier had been left alive but defeated, the matter could have been attributed to a misunderstanding and concluded with a laugh and a smile, but the initiative had been passed onto the King of Maren with Carmier’s death. It was truly sad and upsetting that a knight of the countdom had been killed, but Carmier’s death had planted the seed for an even bigger problem. After all, he had died an extremely disgraceful death.

“…”

The nobles were riddled with even more questions and curiosity as they waited for the count’s wrath to subside. If he wasn’t upset about the death of his beloved knight, Carmier, then why was he so angry? However, the nobles were quickly freed from their curiosity.

“Grigon! That fool! I can’t believe you just gave them all the supplies! You should have restored Sir Carmier’s honor and made a deal with them while considering the countdom’s position!” Count Hisain exclaimed.

He was upset that Grigon hadn’t grasped both the honor and the practical interests of the countdom.

“On top of that, the entirety of the Knights of Dawn even became slaves to the king? Dammit!” Count Hisain even burst into undignified words in his fury. However, the nobles could not find any words to say. They all knew how much the measly count had invested in the Knights of Dawn. In short, the countdom’s honor had been tarnished to the ground, and Grigon had led them to suffer massive losses due to his inexperience.

“We can’t stay still like this. We must contemplate how to deal with the King of Maren when he arrives. We need to make sure to minimize our loss however possible,” Count Hisain said.

In a way, he was acting very brazenly, but the nobles of the countdom could only desperately think of ideas. Even if Count Hisain was brazen and shameless, he was showing an exemplary attitude as the monarch of a nation. The first priority of a monarch was the interests of their nation. No matter what others said, it was commendable for a monarch to focus on the interests of his nation regardless of their predicament.

“According to the letter, it seems that the King of Maren still feels a small sense of responsibility for the death of Sir Carmier. Let’s take advantage of his guilt and—”

“My lord! A letter has arrived from His Excellency the Duke of Viseche!”

“Huh?!” Count Hisain’s eyes filled with surprise at the unexpected news. Like the other monarchs and nobles of the region, Count Hisain greatly respected the Duke of Viseche. To be exact, Count Hisain found the Duke of Viseche rather difficult, unlike those who greatly respected and treated Duke Viseche due to the duke’s seniority. It was because Viseche was family with a former pope in their bloodline. They were a highly prestigious, religiously distinguished family, while the Hisain family had been expelled from the Holy Empire. Count Hisain dreamt of reinstatement both day and night. As such, he had no choice but to be very wary of Duke Viseche, who had a great presence and voice in the papacy. Thus, he was highly surprised but anxious to see why Duke Viseche had sent him a letter.

“Let them in. Quickly,” he said.

Soon, the delegation sent by Duke Viseche entered the palace.

“The rightful monarch of the countdom…” The representative of the delegation politely greeted Count Hisain before holding out a gilded letter.

“This is a handwritten letter from His Excellency the Duke for Your Excellency the Count.”

“Oh…” Count Hisain’s expectations grew even greater as he received the handwritten letter of Duke Viseche, who was a hegemon in both politics and religion in the nearby region. Count Hisain opened the letter with slightly trembling hands, then began to eagerly read the letter as if he was afraid he would miss a letter.

“…!” Soon, his eyes grew even wider with surprise. His hands trembled even more when he finally finished reading the letter and raised his head. The count took a blank gaze at the nobles, who were staring at him with curious expressions, then read the letter again from beginning to end.

He finally raised his head once again.

“…?!”

The nobles were surprised to find that Count Hisain looked as if his very soul had escaped from his body, even though he had been filled with determination and urgency just moments ago. Count Hisain parted his dry, chapped lips in the unexpected silence.

“We will need to cooperate as much as possible…”

“What?”

“We will cooperate with His Majesty and do whatever he wants. Gold, silver, treasures, anything,” Count Hisain continued.

“M-my lord?” The nobles were in disbelief. Count Hisain was a miser who valued gold as much as his life, so why was he acting like this all of a sudden?! Was there perhaps a spell imbued in the letter that beguiled the reader?!

The nobles were shocked and confused into silence. Count Hisain continued in an excited voice, “Only His Majesty can restore and reinstate my family and our countdom! The long-cherished desire of the countdom can finally be realized, sirs!”

“…!!!”

Why had Count Hisain become such a stingy miser? Why did he resort to wearing the clothes of his father as a monarch, forcing clothes on himself that were much too small? Everything was for his family’s religious reinstatement. It was all because of his lifelong desire to prove his family’s faith by donating large unimaginable amounts while trying to avoid doing anything to garner the church’s disapproval. It was also a long-held will of his family.

However, even his channels of dialogue with the Holy Empire were blocked, so Count Hisain had long been frustrated. However, the solution to the issue was contained in Duke Viseche’s letter.

[The King of Maren is someone who has been blessed by a high priest. He has also received an invitation to the Holy Empire. If you treat him well, I am certain he will convey your situation to the papacy. Moreover, I will also represent your position with all my strength. However, it is on the condition that you will join the coalition that I will head along with the King of Maren. The reason is simple. It will be impossible to communicate with the papacy as just the Hisain Countdom. However, it will be possible in the name of the union.]

The plan was also more feasible than anything else. Count Hisain muttered the phrase written at the end of Duke Viseche’s letter in excitement.

“If you cannot win by yourself, then unite…”

It was truly a wise saying.

***

After achieving a great victory on Mount Felipoa, Eugene set a destination for Byrne, the capital of the Demiere region where Grigon was situated.

Grigon shed tears of gratitude as he thanked Eugene for completely resolving the monster uprising in just a few days. He looked as if he had already forgotten the supplies and food that had been robbed from him. Grigon didn’t only resemble his father’s miserly temperament, but he was also evaluated as a highly competent governor. He knew how to position himself and what to prioritize as a leader.

He could once again collect food and supplies to recover what was lost, but the lives of the countdom’s people and the stability of Demiere weren’t something that could be bought with money. In fact, there was no money to be made unless Demiere was stabilized. Grigon was well aware of this fact as the future count, and he was sincerely grateful to Eugene. As such, he decided to give Eugene a small piece of advice.

“My father is different from me, Your Majesty.”

“…?”

Grigon lowered his voice and continued, “My father will never do anything to make a loss. Although they say I take after my father, I am only a firefly to the sun. So be careful when you negotiate with my father.”

“Thank you for your advice,” Eugene responded. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but he nodded for now. At the same time, he felt curious and slightly nervous as well. How extreme was Count Hisain truly—if even his son would say such things? Even though Eugene was an absolute, transcendental being, the problem of money was altogether different. Eugene was an honorable knight who simply wanted to receive fair payment for his services, so he had no intention of taking others’ wealth and property like a bandit. Of course, if his opponent played dirty tricks, he wouldn’t play nice either.

‘But Count Hisain is supposed to be a master of trickery, right?’

That was why he could have gathered enough wealth to shock even the imperial family of the Roman Empire.

‘Well, this kind of competition is quite nerve-wracking.’

It wasn’t a battle of steel, magic, and mysteries. Eugene was mostly unmatched when it came to a contest of power, so he actually looked forward to facing Count Hisain. In particular, he wanted to achieve a perfect victory since he had to head to Petrucca soon after meeting Count Hisain. After rekindling his fighting spirit, Eugene set out for Count Hisain’s castle with the expedition and the Knights of Dawn.

Four days later, Eugene arrived in the City of Vienna, the capital of the Hisain Countdom. It was a journey that should have taken two or three days more, but Eugene had journeyed in a hurry. Therefore, the clothes and armor of the expedition’s members and the Knights of Dawn were caked with dirt and dust. It was obvious to anyone at first glance that they were tired and exhausted from a tough fight and a long journey.

‘The effect won’t be so great if they look all shiny and new, right? We need to show everyone that they worked hard.’

It was human nature to feel more empathetic to those who looked tired and exhausted. Moreover, the gratitude of the public would only multiply when they saw how worn-out the benefactors of their nation were. It was unknown whether it would be useful against a master of trickery, but Eugene had prepared a surprise attack in his own way.

He sent an envoy to the castle once he arrived in the city. However…

“Your Majesty!”

Edmund shouted after quickly returning from the castle as an envoy.

“Yes. Did you let them know that we arrived? Can we enter right away?” Eugene asked.

“Ah, yes. But…” Edmund hesitated.

Eugene inwardly clicked his tongue.

‘Tsk. As expected, is he that formidable as an opponent?’

“All the nobles, including His Excellency Hisain, are waiting in front of the gate. But they have prepared twice as many gold bars as they initially promised. I can’t imagine what all of this is about…”