Raymond felt his head dizzy, as if he were lying in the chaos of an uncivilized world.

"Am I going to die?" In the middle of the night, he tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not hold them open, like an exhausted explorer who fell into the desert knowing that he was about to collapse if he did not drink water, but could not find water.

Time passed by his weakened senses, and he thought that when he could open his eyes, he would see the door of the Dead Realm facing the soul of the dead, and then when he suddenly felt a wet illusion on his face, he seemed to hear a little girl kneeling beside him and whimpering softly.

The little girl's voice was so familiar to his eardrums that he listened carefully for two seconds, and then remembered a half-fairy girl named Tina, and suddenly his consciousness suddenly became awake for some reason.

Then he opened his eyes vigorously.

Then he saw Tina's tearfully smiling face looking down at him from above his sight, tears falling down her fair cheeks and dripping down his face.

"Ti... Graceful? Raymond opened his mouth with his mouth open, his eyes confused, only to find the little girl put her wrist to his mouth as he spoke, and a warm liquid from his throat flowed into his airway.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" Not surprisingly, he immediately choked, and his back, which was lying flat on the floor, even bounced twice with his head because of a violent cough.

"Brother Raymond, are you awake?" Seeing that Raymond woke up, the tears on Tina's face seemed to be immediately washed away by the sudden surprise.

"Tina, am I fainting?" Raymond blinked in confusion, "Wait, your hand?" ”

Soon, his eyes swept away, and he immediately found a bleeding wound on the wrist of the half-goblin girl who had placed it next to his mouth, and a curved sword placed next to the little girl, the unsheathed blade seemed to have forgotten to return to the sheath after someone had "self-harmed".

Seeming to be afraid of being scolded, after feeling Raymond's gaze, Tina immediately withdrew the hand that was still bleeding from Raymond's mouth, and hurriedly covered her hand and explained: "Ah, that, Tina heard that the blood of the fairy can be used as a substitute for life medicine in a crisis, so she fed it to Raymond's brother to drink, and now it seems that the effect is not bad, haha...... Ah, don't worry, although Tina is a half-goblin, and the purity of her blood is only half that of a pure-blood goblin, the healing effect of goblin blood is always there, and it's great to be able to help Brother Raymond. ”

When the words fell, she smiled stupidly, wanting to fool herself around, but Raymond could see at a glance that the blood on her face was much paler than before, and she looked like she was anemic with more natural abilities than before.

He raised his hand and patted his forehead with some reproach, then reached out and pulled Tina's hand over with a cut wrist.

"Brother Raymond?" Tina leaned forward, startled by Raymond's actions.

"Don't move." Raymond gave her an order, then picked up his sword from her side and cut off a corner from his own clothes and wrapped it around her bleeding wrist.

Raymond didn't dare to say how skilled he was at wrapping bandages, but he had experienced a lot of battles and at least knew the basic bandaging skills, so he quickly used the fabric cut from his clothes to wrap a fairly acceptable circle around Tina's slender wrist, successfully stopped the bleeding from the gap in the little girl's wrist, and then looked her in the eye and said, "Let's go, let's go to Arroyo." ”

"Is Arroyo's brother here too?" Tina withdrew her thin forearm from Raymond's hand, looked curiously at the fabric Raymond had wrapped for herself, and then looked up at Raymond in some surprise.

"Of course." Raymond picked up the scabbard of the curved sword from the side, and then stood up on his knees, "If he doesn't come, I will look down on him for the rest of my life." ”

With that, he twisted his head, moved his neck, retracted the sword into its scabbard, lifted the scabbard to his left hand, and without discussion, stretched out his right hand to take Tina's small hand and leave the alchemy laboratory, which he was not personally interested in.

At this moment, Gascoll's body suddenly moved. Raymond immediately sensed the slightest movement, and immediately turned his head to stare at the old vampire Count who was supposed to be dead.

He figured that Gascoll was dead, after all, he hadn't heard of vampires surviving even if their hearts and brains were destroyed.

For a moment, the fear of the unknown made him re-vigilant, and Tina reached behind him again, put her right hand on the hilt of the curved sword, and put on a posture that she could draw the sword at any time, ready to fight.

The young swordsman who was protecting the half-fairy girl had prepared for the worst, but to his surprise, the "resurrected" Gasco did not attack him after getting up, but tilted his bloody head, clapped his hands at him with one eye rolling, and praised, "Very wonderful, Raymond." I have seen the swordsmanship you have displayed against Gascol, and I admire your potential. ”

"Gascol?" Raymond stared at the guy who was in a strange mental state, and immediately realized something, "No, no, you're not Gascol...... Who are you? Why do you know my name? ”

"I am Cosette of Raven Valley, the queen of vampires, and the master of the Bloodmoon Castle." Someone attached to Gascoll replied.

"Cosette? The Vampire Queen? Hearing the other party's self-introduction, Raymond was a little surprised, but quickly calmed down, "Queen of the Blood Clan, what are you looking for me?" If you want to avenge your vassals, then come ahead, I'm not a soft bone to gnaw on. ”

"No, Raymond, you misunderstood my intentions." In the next second, Cosette's words reached Raymond and Tina's ears through Gascoll's voice, "Instead of wanting to hurt you, I want you." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Raymond, there is a limit to human abilities, and you must have learned one thing in the battle with Gascol, that is, the more powerful the power, the more difficult it is to be carried by the human body, unless it surpasses the human body."

"So what?" Raymond raised an eyebrow at the Blood Queen who was in another place through Gascol's body, "What the hell do you want to say?" ”

"Give up your human identity, Raymond." The Queen of the Bloods replied with an ugly smile on Gascoll's face, which had been slashed by the curved sword, and said, "Then, become a noble Blood, and gain the power you deserve, as well as the titles, domains, wealth, and glory of the Dark Nobles from the Queen of the Bloods." Literally, I crave you. ”

"Hmph, the glory of the dark nobles." Raymond grinned disdainfully, "I don't have any stupidity in my heart, and I want to kill you with a sword right now, Ksette." ”

"I can understand what you're thinking." In the face of Raymond's indifferent reply, Kset's tone was not in a hurry, "However, I also know that betraying your compatriots is not too difficult for you humans, but it is not very easy to make up your mind quickly. Gascoll's body is very weak, and in a moment he will be on his way to the Land of the Dead. What I say to you, you can take a little more time to think about it, after all, your potential in the field of swordsmanship should not be dragged down by your race in vain, but should reach a higher ceiling, right? ”

“…… I know my swordsmanship, and I don't have to worry about you, an evil vampire. Raymond frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then made a reluctant refusal.

"Well, then, I await your arrival. If you have figured it out, come to the Valley of the Ravens, drink my blood from the Dome Clock Tower of the Blood Moon Castle, and become my most faithful servant. However, Cosette didn't seem to care about his resistance at this time, and there was still a kind of confused confidence in his words, "Of course, if you can't bear your girl, then just bring her along, as long as you want, I will help you train her to be your favorite slave, and she will always love you, no matter how you treat her, forever, hehehe......"

"Poof!"

After hearing Cosette's laughter, Raymond finally pulled out the curved sword in his scabbard and slashed Gascoll's head out of his neck with a sword in a few steps.

After losing the medium of communication, Cosette's voice then disappeared like a broken thread, and Gascoll's body fell to the ground again limply before the eyes of Raymond and Tina, and more blood gushed out from the section of his neck, exacerbating the already strong smell of blood in the entire room.

"Brother Raymond......" Seeing the swordsman's young man's anger erupt again for some reason, Tina shrunk her neck in a little fear, swallowed her throat, and then mustered up the courage to gently call Raymond's name.

Raymond stared angrily at the headless corpse lying in a pool of blood at his feet for a few more seconds, his shoulders trembling and gasping for a few breaths, and after a while, he restrained the nameless fire that burned in his heart and looked back at Tina, who seemed to be frightened by the sword he had just made.

"You didn't hear anything just now...... That madman is all fart, you just have to forget about it. He pursed his lips and swallowed, successfully rescuing his anger when facing Tina, and then also put away his sword and walked quickly towards Tina, "Alright, let's go." Arroyo is still waiting for us, and we will go to him. ”

As he spoke, he walked up to the half-fairy girl, raised his hand and rubbed the girl's bright silver hair, took her hand and took steps into the corridor outside the room.

……

The back of Raymond leaving the room with Tina becomes the last scene that Cosette sees through Gascoll's vision. After this second passed, the Queen of the Blood Clan, who was thousands of miles away in the banquet hall of the Blood Moon Castle, also opened her eyes from the luxurious chair she was sitting on, and her gaze casually swept to Angela Brad, the vampire maid who was waiting next to her, and gently raised the corner of her eye to signal that the latter could speak.

"Your Majesty, Lord Gascoll's body should be completely destroyed, and my innate abilities are no longer able to establish a spiritual connection between you and him." Raising her gaze to meet Cosette's gaze, Angela respectfully reported her difficulties to Her Majesty.

"It's okay, what I wanted to convey to that kid has already arrived, and he'll figure it out one day." Cosette waved her hand pleasantly to show that she didn't care, and then lifted her thin, white and immature hand that was almost as white and immature as Tina, and reached out to Angela, gently choking her maid's chin from below, and gently stroking the latter's face, as a sign of her master's affection for her servant.

Angela's cheeks quickly turned red, and she buried her head a little shyly.

After giving his maid a small reward, Cosette moved his gaze from Angela's face back to the front of him, looked at the vampire nobles sitting on either side of the banquet table, and then looked at Kilrivers, who had the lowest rank among them, with interest, and asked him in a half-inducing tone: "Kilrivers, your teacher died in battle just now, and he has taught you many techniques in battle, as well as the grace and demeanor that a blood nobleman should have, Even the innate ability is very coincidentally the same as you. Now, do you feel anything in your heart about the sacrifice of your teacher, Gascore? ”

"Sadness, and regret." Kilrivers closed his eyes, was silent for a moment, and then opened his eyes to look at Cosette and replied, "I am saddened by the teacher's death, and at the same time regret that he could not continue to be loyal to His Majesty...... But as a knight of the Bloodline, I will not forget the ideals of my clan, and the regrets of the teacher will be filled by me to Your Majesty. ”

"Poof...... Good boy. Cosette burst out laughing, thinking that the younger Blood Sir was very cute, but he did not forget to compliment him as an elder to show his satisfaction with his answer.

You know, although she is just a petite little girl on the outside, her actual age is so tall that she doesn't know where to go, so it doesn't sound strange that she called Kiel Rivers a child to the other blood nobles present.

But then again, Cosette's attitude towards Gascol's death, in addition to reflecting the open-mindedness and optimism that Her Majesty should have as a king, also secretly gave some of the old-school nobles present a potential warning, that is: "Don't try to contradict the current king, you self-righteous vassals." ”

Among these old-school nobles, Earl Albert, who ruled the funerary plains in the southern part of the Crow Valley, thought that he was probably one of the admonishments, because he and many of the Counts of the Blood Clan, including Gascole, were military nobles of the older generation in terms of seniority. At that time, the previous vampire king had not yet died, and the near-immortal life of the Bloods meant that they were active dating back to the beginning of the Fourth Age, making some of them who have survived to this day not fully approve of the current Bloodline Queen, Cosette, such as Gascol.

Earl Albert is an old vampire lord who knows in his heart that the ambitions of the dark nobles in power struggles are sometimes no different from those of humans who they see as bugs, rats, and prey, and that Cosette will not forget to govern his kingdom by all means when dealing with many trivial matters inside and outside the Dark Alliance.

He knew that his Majesty was far from being as innocent and lovely as she looked on the outside, but he had always been very good at judging the situation, and he was much smarter than many of his peers in Cosette, and had always been recognized and obedient, thus winning the trust of many nobles of his generation that Cosette could not get.

Therefore, from his sensitive political sense, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that Earl Albert is a qualified minister.

Whether as a nobleman in the dark, or in the realm of men. (To be continued.) )