Chapter 75

Joachim opened his eyes and stared at the man through the prison bars in front of him.

I dont know how my older brother gained control over everyone in the castle, but the security must be terrible if a suspicious-looking person like you can just waltz into a high-level prison.

The man who came to see Joachim looked as suspicious as hell. In a prison cell where not even a ray of light could shine through, the cloaked man covered himself from top to bottom. But the man did not reply. Instead, he hung the torch on his hand to a sconce next to him. Then the man stepped one closer to the prison bars. His body was huge. Compared to Joachim who was skinny and tall, the man was extremely buff, and he was about a head taller than Joachim. However, Joachim looked straight at him without a shred of fear in his eyes.

Thats impressive. Your eyes are not full of despair yet.

Stop saying nonsense and get to the point.

Joachim usually addressed everyone with respect and honorifics, but he dropped his manners and spoke roughly to the manthat was how shaken Joachims mental state was. The mans mysterious appearance also played a significant part.

Fine. The man didnt like talking for long. Dont you want to fix what has gone wrong?

What has gone wrong?

Im talking about the current state of the Dracul family. Do you seriously think the current state of the Dracul estate is normal?

There was no way Joachim thought the current state of the Dracul estate was normal. The Count was bedridden, the heir was only obsessed with power and controlled his vassals like puppets. Currently, everything about the Dracul estate was going wrong.

I cant say everything is going normally. But I cant believe such a suspicious-looking guy like you is worried about the state of the Dracul estate.

Of course, I have my own reasons. So, answer my question.

Then how would you fix it?

The cloaked man took out something from his body. In his hand, there was a marble the size of a half-closed fist. The marble was red to the core, as if it was condensed from blood. Joachim, who had hemophobia, scrunched his face. However, he didnt move his eyes away.

This is called the Bloody Vessel.

It looks like an ominous object.

But the effects are potent.

The man who had been talking in a monotone voice so far now had a sliver of excitement in his voice.

Absorb this into your body, and you will be able to obtain an enormous amount of power. Then you can pay back your brother who insulted and even tried to kill you, and all his obedient followers!

Joachim stared at the Bloody Vessel. As if the marble was calling to him, it reflected the light from the torch fire and shone temptingly. But the man was not able to get the answer he wanted.

I refuse. Joachims answer was firm, and he did not even hesitate. Under his cloak, the man twitched his eyebrows.

Why?

Because I dont believe in magical fairies that suddenly help me in my time of need. Im too old for that.

Are you hoping that someone will take you out of here? No matter how much you persist, your only fate is execution. Your life is over anyway. Why dont you try trusting a magical fairy?

If a fairys gift ends with just killing my life, I would take the chance without a single hesitation, but I don't know how it will affect the people around me. Joachim continued, From the first place, its already too strange that a fairy would give me this gift. Even in all the stories I read, no fairy is a huge, buff man covered completely in a cloak.

The man looked at Joachim. No, he stared at him. At this very moment, he wanted to break into Joachims jail and shake some sense into Joachim. But he couldnt do that. No, he shouldnt do that. It was okay to fail in changing other people to Demon People, but not Joachim. In his organization, Joachim was a significant figure in their future plans.

If everything was going according to plan, he would have been so angry at Biyom that he would have taken the Bloody Vessel without hesitation.

Everything was going smoothly in their main headquarters, but their plans in Ospurin went awry. Nobody imagined that Joachim and his task force would stop Igram in such a short period of time. According to the initial plan, Joachim shouldnt have been able to stop the spread of Igram. And during this time, funds and resources would stop coming from the Dracul estate; thus, Joachim would fall more and more into despair at his inability. At the same time, his anger towards Biyom would grow to an astronomical sizeto a point that when someone offered him enough power to commit his revenge, he would take it without reason or additional thought.

But because of that variable, everything has gone to waste!

Whenever the man thought about the unknown variable, Zich, he grew irritated despite his lack of emotions. On the other hand, they had to carry out this plan without fail. His job was to lead people on the right path when things were going amiss.

Are you not concerned that the Dracul estate will collapse at this rate?

Joachim did not reply. But even though his eyes were half-open, there was not a trace of hesitation in them. He looked like an ascetic that didnt waver in front of any temptations. However, the cloaked man did not easily back down.

You experienced all sorts of diseases since you were young, even diseases that have never appeared in this world and many of them at once. Didnt you think that was strange?

Of course, you thought it was weird. However, even after all that, you probably didnt think it was some sort of conspiracy against you.

Even if lightning struck down every village in the country and burned them all down simultaneously, most people would not think it was a result of a conspiracy. The most they would do was cry out to God in anger, and the reasoning for that was simpleit was because such a natural phenomena was impossible for humans to perform. No matter how great a persons master plan was, there was a limit to human ability.

But what if there was a human who could control infectious diseases however they wanted?

!!!

Even Joachim was shocked by this. He was about to deny that such a human could exist, but the words did not easily come out of his mouth. As soon as he thought that a human could possess such an ability, everything came into place and made sense.

Was it you guys?

No, not us. We are just providing some small assistance to that person.

The man was happy that Joachim showed a strong reaction. However, he showed no signs of delight and tried harder to mess up Joachims emotions.

It was your brother who directly collaborated with that human. But really, a power-hungry dictator is a fearsome thing to behold. The man continued, Just to kill his younger brother, he decimated so many villages with diseases.

Crunch.

When Joachim showed a reaction, the man felt glad; but he hid his feelings again and tried to mess up Joachims emotions even more.

Your brother is the one who joined forces with a person like that. A powerful persons obsession with power is truly scary. And the man continued, I mean, he burned down several villages to ashes just for the sake of killing one person: his own younger brother.

Crack!

A chilling sound rang out of Joachims teeth, but the man continued speaking.

But you didnt die like he wanted, so he released the epidemic even in Ospurin. Even a guy blinded by power wasnt crazy enough to burn his capital city to the ground, so he released a weaker infectious disease such as Igram. And in the meantime, he tried plotting against you, but all his plans were completely ruined by your victory against Igram. In the end, it seems like he decided to use all means possible and finally imprisoned you.

Joachims haggard-looking face looked even more drained than before.

How about it? Are you still not going to change your mind? If Biyom Dracul becomes the Count, the hell you experienced will continue. Since he is a pig who is only greedy for power, the rest of the world will soon join this hell. Its definite. Are you going to throw away your one and only chance to change reality because of some anxiety?

Didnt you say that you helped my brother?

We worked out of necessity. Its not like we are going to be collaborators forever. Besides, the period for us to work with your brother is over.

Joachim stared at the Bloody Vessel that the man was holding. If the man was telling him the truth, this matter would not just end with a power struggle for the Counts position. The mans words were difficult to believe, but if Joachim thought about everything he had gone through, they didnt seem so far-fetched.

The man urged him on.

What are you going to do? Take it? Or leave it?

It almost seemed like a snake was darting its forked tongue at him. Joachims eyes shook. He thought for a moment and was about to say his decision when

That looks like a great item. Could you give me a chance to buy it?

Flinch!

The man jumped in surprise. He placed the Bloody Vessel inside his robe and heightened his senses towards the area where he heard the voice. In the entrance, hidden by the darkness, he heard footsteps. A moment later, the owner of these footsteps entered into the torchlight.

Mr. Zich? Joachim was surprised to see someone he didnt expect at all.

You dontseem well, sir, Zich commented cynically after seeing the state Joachim was in.

How did you?!

It was frustrating to see how everything was progressing, so I forced myself in.

F-Forced yourself in?

It didnt seem like Zich had entered by normal means, and Joachim wondered if Zich had really jumped over the castles gates by his own might. Listening to Zichs way of speaking, it didnt seem like he used a peaceful method to get in.

Sir Joachim, I have a lot to say, but I will have to push my conversation with you a bit later, Zich said and looked towards the robed man, I need to speak to someone else first.

Are you Zich?

Yeah, Im Zich. Are you the leader of the assassins?

The mans demeanor, aura, and everything was different from the ordinary assassins Zich had seen. The only similarity he shared with the other assassins was that he wore a dark robe that stuck to his body like his own skin. The robed man didnt deny Zichs claims.

If you are talking about the assassins who ambushed you, yes, you are right. I have greatly troubled you.

You are taking words out of my mouth. They dashed towards me continuously like moths to a fire. You should have sent more skilled ones.

A vein popped out of the mans head, but his robe hid it. The man didnt show his agitation and replied back flatly, Are you here to save Joachim?

I heard that someone was about to fall into a devils trap, so I came running, Zich said.

Zichs eyes pointed at the mans chestspecifically, the Blood Vessel in its grasp.

But, you know, I have an interest in that thing called Bloody Vessel. Could you explain it to me too?

Even if I tell you, you wont know.

Dont be like that. Dont you have compassion for me who went through all kinds of troubles because of your attacks?

You dont need to know.

Come on, just tell me.

Please?

Hey.

Zich sighed after seeing the mans tightly shut mouth.

Your companions werent like this.

What? the robed man finally responded.

I saw guys like you at Suol. I realized it thenthat you all were going around trying to corrupt people. Let me seewhat should I call you guys?

Zich stroked his chin and looked like he had just naturally thought of something. Should I try calling you Demon Maker?

The mans eyes turned sharp, but Zich wasnt bothered.

Yeah, Demon Maker sounds good since you are an organization that makes Demon People. And the person you are trying to corrupt into becoming a Demon Person is Sir Joachim over there.

At the mention of his name, Joachims eyes widened in surprise.

I think the first step of your plan was to make him absorb the Bloody Vessel.

Zich noticed the robed mans hands flinch. The man looked like he wanted to fling his fist at Zich in that instance. However, the man endured and didnt say anything.

Tch. Its annoying to deal with someone so unsociable. The last guy I talked to was a blabbermouth and responded to everything I said.

The last assassin leader had been someone who Zich could have some fun and converse with, but the assassin leader in front of him right now seemed like he was a different type of person.

I wont learn much from this guy.

Since things like torture didnt work on people like them, Zich had to extract information from each and every word they said. Thus, Zich tried to make it his standard to talk as much as he could while fighting these assassinsespecially their leaders. However, it seemed as if this mans personality was naturally reticent.

Then, they heard noises from outside the prison. It was the sound of many footsteps. As if the owners of the footsteps were wearing armor, Zich, Joachim, and the assassin heard the loud, chaotic sound of iron clacking against each other. Joachims expression darkened while the mans expression brightened up in contrast. Both of them thought Biyoms troops were making their way down to the basement.

However, that wasnt the case.

Sir Zich! Hans shouted.

We have secured the surroundings around this prison.

Joachim and the mans faces flipped. Zich smiled widely at the man.

Why is your face like that? As you wanted, I bought you some time with useless conversations. Isnt this what you wanted?

You!

The robed man couldnt find the right words to say.

Its obvious why a poor talker like you would grit your teeth and endure my provocations to let me continue. You were probably waiting for your reinforcements to arriveare you shocked that my reinforcements came instead? Zich mocked as he continued, How was that sweet moment of hope?