Chương 26: The Cogs of War

"Um. Sis? What is this system thing I am seeing?"

I look at Aurelia in confusion for a moment before responding.

"What system thing are you talking about?"

While staring off into space, Aurelia answered back.

"This square thing appeared, and it said something about system initializing. Then it is now showing my name and some numbers."

I stood there in silence for a moment as I processed what she had said. Does this mean that anyone I make a familial contract with also gains my system? I need to be more careful with these contracts.

"Does it show a kind of transparent box, and it has your name possibly something that says level?"

"Yeah, it says level 56. It even has my age…that's rude! My race also says…void human? Wait, so I am not a vampire lord anymore?"

"You can think of void human as a higher tier vampire lord. You also lose most of the weaknesses, like walking out in the sun, for example."

"That's awesome! With this, we can bring back the vampire race."

I could only give her a smile seeing how happy she was. She is definitely a better sister than that bitch was.

"Alright, let's go. We need to leave and head home."

She looked at me, and I could see tears in her eyes, starting to well up.

"I have a home again! Even though I am older, I feel like you are the bigger sister."

She grabbed me in a big hug and started to cry. I could only pat her on the back awkwardly.

"Let's get out of here, and I'll make you some food."

Since Aurelia had not used any of the teleporters, we had to make our way back up through the floors. Luckily, I had done this once before, and Aurelia wasn't weak either, so we breezed through them.

As we left the dungeon, I could see the guard's confused look. Walking through the town was fun as I got to see Aurelia's reactions to everything.

"You seem quite excited to see the town."

I said, looking up at Aurelia.

"Yes, it has been a while. The last time I was awake was during a war. I remember dying and then waking up in that dungeon."

"That sounds terrible. If you don't mind me asking, what war was it?"

She stays silent for a moment then gives me a response.

"It was war between the Demon Lords and the "good" races of this world. We were trying to help them leave this world because the humans ran a smear campaign against them and rallied the other races against them."

"I was with a Demon Lord named Orcus, where he commanded an undead army in addition to my vampire brethren. The human church had summoned what they called The Hero to fight us. Orcus was the first to fall, and I eventually fell to the same hero."

Seems like remnants of this old war are popping up more frequently. If my otaku knowledge is to be trusted, I would guess that we will see a second war reasonably soon. I also need to keep my eyes peeled for any future heroes. Just need to look for the typical ikeman surrounded by his harem.

"So, after you died, you just remember waking up in the dungeon?"

"Yeah, it was weird. I had some knowledge of where I was and how it worked in my head."

"That is weird. That raises some questions about these dungeons now."

Our chat continued like this until we reached the little hut in the woods.

"This is home for right now. My master is inside right now, and he will explain what's going on."

I open the door, and we walk inside only to hear a loud shriek from Aurelia.

"L-lord Asmodeus?! You're still alive?"

Asmodeus looks up in confusion to her outburst.

"Do I know you? Wait…you seem familiar. Ah! Now I remember, you were Lady Aurelia Bloodweaver."

------

In a room with a large table and several books lying everywhere stood a princess with a pink eyepatch looking over a map.

*Knock knock*

��Enter."

A scrawny, heavily scarred man with one side of head missing hair walked into the room.

"Ah, Skarr. Why do you bother me at this hour?"

The man fidgets with his hands, noticeably nervous about his visit to the royal tyrant.

"Your highness, I have reason to believe your sister is still alive."

The woman who was glancing over the map had now become visibly angry. In her rage, she grabbed the edge of the table and flipped it, hurling it to the opposite end of the room. She turned toward the frightened man, getting close to his face.

"You told me that trash was dead! What is she doing up and walking about!"

"My apologies, I confirmed she was dead myself."

"Tell me why you think that girl is still alive?"

"That is because I went to that frontier town where that so-called dungeon appeared. While I was there, I happened to see a girl who had a striking resemblance to your sister. After some investigation, I found that there is a high chance of it being her. She also goes by the name Lynn, not exactly hiding her original name very well.

Neira walked over to the single window in the room. The view it offered, overlooked the capital city.

"So, my dear sister is possibly still alive. Even if this girl is not her, I want to have her."

"Skarr, make preparations to visit this town. I think it is time it had a royal visit, also bring Delm in here. I would like to have a...conversation with him."

----

The pope was in a meeting room with a few other people from the church. They were sitting at a table, deep in discussion.

"That dammed emperor is blocking all attempts to investigate the Demon Lord." A man wearing a white hooded robe said.

"Your Holiness, I feel we need to change our plans and use the current hero." A pudgy round man sitting by the pope spoke.

The pope was in thought for a moment before he responded.

"You are right. Initiate the plan. Make sure it appears to be an act of the demons. Also, make sure there is evidence of their connection to the Empire. Have the hero summoning on standby in case we need it."

The cogs of war had begun to turn, and the fate of all creation was now uncertain.