"Please accompany us to the local government headquarters. We'll talk in a more comfortable place." Julian nodded toward the building he and two of his companions had come from, as he felt Vicente's aura.",

Vicente nodded in agreement, while Aria, Daniel and Frank looked at him, each of them impressed by him in their own way.

"Venerable Fuller, how was your trip to Redvein? I hope you didn't have too many problems." Aria smiled at him as she walked side by side with Vicente.

Looking at this mature woman with blonde hair, Vicente said. "Nothing that was difficult to deal with. However, I ran into a situation that I confess I didn't expect. I stopped a group of monsters from taking humans as slaves. I hadn't seen anything like that on my travels."

Frank sighed and said. "Unfortunately, it is happening. The monsters divide us into three categories, Venerable Fuller. The first is those marked to die and become monster food, the Living Baits.

The second category refers to those who are of value to monsters and vampires, such as professional and mid-level magicians. They are called Darkness Captives.

Finally, there are those who are targets of the vampires and must be allowed to live in order to feed their magical essence. The monsters call these types of Rare Jewels.

Those you saw being taken by the monsters were Darkness Captives, marked to be enslaved and serve the forces of darkness."

Julian nodded in agreement and said. "It wasn't like that until a few months ago. They just seemed to want to put us against the walls of our cities, banish us from the free territory of the state.

But four months ago, we started hearing reports from survivors who saw groups of monsters taking people. Some of the city's seers then prophesied that there are cities not only in the empire, but throughout the region, where magicians, Darkness Captives, are being exploited by the monsters.

These magicians live as slaves, producing whatever artifacts and resources the monsters command. From weapons to pills to even formations."

"This is very serious!" Vicente commented in a solemn tone, not expecting the situation to be so bad.

Monsters alone were already dangerous and difficult to deal with. If they had proper weapons, resources to regain their strength and even strengthen themselves, it could become even more difficult for the magical community to deal with the unfolding disaster!

"It really is terrible." Daniel agreed, his expression deeply serious. "Unfortunately, it wouldn't be easy to deal with them. Those cities where the Darkness Prisoners are, are the same ones where the superior vampires are stationed.

In the case of the empire, that city is the capital, and there are said to be more than half a dozen 4th stage superior vampires living."

Sky Sovereigns superior vampires were as strong as or stronger than Mid-level Paragons of the human race. That's just considering a single superior vampire of that level. If we consider more than half a dozen of them, then even a High-level Paragon, or even a Beginner Archmage, could be endangered by going up against such a group!

Most of the remaining Paragons in the Kenyth Empire were Low-level 5th-stage magicians, so facing those vampires in the capital was out of the question.

Even though they were aware of what was happening in their own state, this group and other survivors from cities similar to Redvein had tolerated the strengthening of the monsters with the help of weapons and resources produced by slaves.

"How many superior vampires live in the capital? Do you have any idea?" Vicente asked, realizing this was his destiny and mission in the empire.

The group entered an area of the government where there were sofas and chairs around a coffee table where they could talk more quietly.

They settled in while someone ran to get Vicente something to drink.

Aria replied to Vicente. "We can't say for sure. Most of what we know comes from hearsay and the visions of seers. So maybe we only know a fraction of the truth, or that we know everything.

We estimate that there are between 6 and 10 Sky Sovereign vampires of the superior type in the capital. But there must be more vampires there, Earth Sovereigns and Mages."

There weren't many superior vampires. If there were 10,000 of them on the entire continent, that would be a high number, close to the historical maximum the race had had in its long tradition.

Sure, there were many inferior vampires, but since they weren't as strong and couldn't produce new vampires, their numbers were hardly considered in conversations like this.

'The north of the continent is completely under the control of the vampires led by Demien Bloodthorne. So I imagine that a good portion of the 3rd and 4th stage vampires are living in the center and south of the continent.' Vicente thought to himself as a beautiful woman poured tea for him and his fellow 5th stage partners.

'Assuming that there are 3,000 level-two vampires on the continent, more than half of them must be in the south and center of the continent. There must be about 30 cities like the empire's capital in this region, which could mean that there are over 50 superior vampires in each city.'

"I see... You must be right. There must be that many vampires with Sky Sovereign cultivation." He muttered before sipping his tea, imagining that besides these superior vampires, the weaker vampires, the inferior vampires, there must also be powerful monsters in these posts.

"Besides them, there must be 5th stage monsters in the city, right? I imagine that if we travel near the border of the central and northern regions of the Polaris Empire, there might even be Archmages in cities like this," He guessed.

"That must be the case. We couldn't spy on them at that level, given the difference in strength between our seers and our targets, but we believe that to be the case." Julian agreed with Vicente's judgment.

"Well, I'll attack the capital of your state and test the enemies." Vicente decided. "But before that, I'm going to help this and other cities with the potential to join my Sentinels of the Order. I hope you can help me in the next few days with materials, men, and information."

"We will do our best, Venerable Fuller!" The four agreed with smiles on their faces.