Chapter 175: Infamous Scammer
Seeing that Artorius showed no signs of refusal, Morgan knelt down and crawled toward Artorius with her buttocks in the air. Everything seemed so romantic and warm.
But, the next moment...
"Your Majesty."
Agravain's voice came from the door.
"We have received new information."
"..."
"..."
"Come in..." Artorius said calmly, gesturing to Morgan with his hand to dress properly.
Agravain, as usual, walked in with a stern and expressionless expression.
The future marshal of the empire, currently the head of intelligence, seemed strangely irritated. Morgan glared at him with resentment, as if she wanted to blast him into smithereens.
While she had never been fond of him, this level of dislike was a first for Agravain, and it left him feeling perplexed and thought:
'What did I do to provoke her...?'
'Forget it.'
'Women have always been unreasonable.'
Why Morgan was displeased with him wasn't the main concern.
As for the recent explosion and the emperor's recovery of another girl with Artoria Face, Agravain was curious but knew it wasn't his place to worry about. So, he brushed it off.
What he needed to focus on was the True Ancestors.
After investing nearly all of the empire's resources into monitoring the influence of True Ancestors within the borders and conducting investigations, he had come to some unsatisfactory conclusions.
These inhuman monsters held too much power within the Reverse Side. The likes of the Wandering Sea, Atlas Academy, and even the Empire's carefully planned Illuminati were currently no match for the True Ancestors.
A terrifying presence named 'Brunestud of the Crimson Moon' dominated the True Ancestors as a whole.
In this era, Crimson Moon as the Ultimate One of the Moon and Gaia as the will of Earth had not yet reached a point of open conflict.
The Counter Force—Gaia, still treated Crimson Moon as her best friend and guardian, just like Chen and Talulah when they were children or like Ayanami Rei and Ikari Shinji before the time skip. {T/N: Chen and Talulah from Arknights; Ayanami Rei and Ikari Shinji from Evangelion. Female Gaia?}
After the Age of Gods came to an end, the gods who were like the 'sensory organs of Gaia' had sadly retired. Some holed up in the Reverse Side of the World, while others simply perished.
It was clear that Gaia, who attempted to use the gods to protect herself against her enemies, had failed. Not to mention, among these gods, there was a large number of so-called 'Greek gods', many of whom were unimpressive and disappointing. Who hasn't heard of their famous reputations and deeds?
Getting beaten up by the Velber, intimidated by humans, and seeing that in every timeline, her own end was imminent, Gaia, in her despair, welcomed the so-called gentle demon king.
Crimson Moon, the most infamous scammer in Nasuverse, had descended. Despite having Velber 02 and the spaceship of Artoria Species plugged into her ass, she shamelessly scammed the naive Gaia.
Artorius was deeply disgusted by Crimson Moon's behavior of pretending to be a duck while trying to whore chickens.
'How shameless!'
As Artorius reviewed the series of intelligence reports provided by Agravain, combined with his own memories, he quickly conjured up an image of Crimson Moon, the world's top scammer.
A confident, golden-haired beauty with a face almost identical to Arcueid Brunestud. She would smile gently at the naive Gaia and say—"Don't be afraid, I'll protect you", which led Gaia to be deceived and exploited.
What made it even more astonishing—no, contemptible, was that such things typically happened between members of the opposite sex, like Artorius and, certain women in the past.
Yet, Crimson Moon, being a woman herself, managed to live off other women. Artorius couldn't help but admire her for that.
Back in the day, when he had wanted to learn certain techniques, he should have gone to Crimson Moon instead of seeking out Medb.
The former was a technical genius, while the latter relied solely on physical talent.
'No, actually, I despise her. How could I admire someone for being so skilled at being a freeloader? Even less for wanting to learn a thing or two from her.'
Artorius quickly thought that to himself, all the while praising Agravain.
"Sir Agravain, you truly live up to your reputation. You've gathered all this information on the True Ancestors in such a short time."
"How could that be?" Agravain replied calmly, even though he found the emperor's words somewhat amusing. "These are just the most basic pieces of information."
"Hmm? In that case..."
"The reason I've come to see Your Majesty is because we've found 'that being' in Orleans."
As Agravain said this with a meaningful look, he set aside the less important documents and presented the crucial information to Artorius.
"..."
After reading it for several seconds, Artorius was taken aback.
Eclipse Princess of Black Blood, also known as the Black Princess—Altrouge Brunestud.
In a way, she was like Crimson Moon's 'daughter' or rather, a vessel.
Though considered a failed creation, her strength was still not to be underestimated, surpassing most True Ancestors. In this era, Arcueid had probably not been created yet, making Altrouge the top-ranked True Ancestor under Crimson Moon at the moment.
She held the dual identity and power of a True Ancestor and Dead Apostle.
In the timeline where the original events took place, where Zelretch defeated Crimson Moon. The two sisters, Altrouge and Arcueid clashed, leaving both injured.
But unlike the energy-efficient form, aka the 'Loli' form that she once was, the current Altrouge was in her prime as a mature woman.
Elegant and noble, shrouded in darkness and mystery, all the words that described the 'good' side of a vampire could be applied to her.
Wrapped in these splendid and beautiful attributes, she concealed the monstrous nature of a creature that fed on humans, fooling those foolish enough not to see through her facade.
That was one of the annoyances of vampires.
"That woman, she is in Orleans right now." Watching Artorius flipping through documents in silence, Agravain explained. "There is evidence indicating that she wants to do something."
"Do something..."
"Creating offspring, expanding the vampire influence, and swaying nobles or important officials—surely, it's not a task for a key figure of a princess like her." Morgan expressed her dissatisfaction, stating her opinion beside Artorius.
"Indeed... continue the investigation, we must find out what this woman is plotting." The Dragon Emperor issued a command. "Pause the operation to set a trap and exterminate the vampires in Orleans, we don't want to alert her!"
"As you wish, Your Majesty!"
Agravain immediately responded while bowing and swiftly left.
Seeing Agravain depart, Morgan cheerfully prepared to slip under the table again. But Artorius had lost interest in such activities.
"Let's continue this later tonight."
Artorius unceremoniously pushed Morgan aside. After all, there was a terrifying monster hiding beneath human skin in his city.
Altrouge bore a mission from Crimson Moon and malice for the empire, even for all of humanity. With such a 'being' existing in his domain, Artorius couldn't sleep or eat in peace.
What was she doing right now?
What were her plans?
Destroy his empire, control it from the shadows, or sacrifice all of Orlean residents to summon the Velber, or something else entirely.
Artorius didn't know for sure, but it was undoubtedly something evil and insane. So, it had to be resolved as soon as possible!
'When necessary, I must take action myself.'
Artorius thought to himself while hunched over a desk with his clasped hands covering his mouth and chin.
'After all, she's the terrifying princess of the vampires, second only to Crimson Moon in strength. Ordinary people can't deal with her.'
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