The Fallen Vampire-Chapter 262: Taira Is Scheming...

"They just... want to solidify their image...the people, and t-the other leaders of light... accuse them of harboring impure intentions.

They believe that if they are to legitimize their ascendancy to the throne, then it’s best to do it by accomplishing a sweeping victory and purging all of.."

"Hey, Taira, can you make him stop drooling? It’s real off-putting and getting on my nerves quite honestly."

Ja’Zaki poked at the human envoy who was little more than a shell of his former self.

Baro’s eyes had lost their light and focus. His jaw, as Ja’Zaki impatiently pointed out, was hanging open slightly as he spoke. It looked like every muscle in his face was permanently asleep.

It would have been amusing if it didn’t border on horrific and disturbing instead.

After seeing such a complete loss of self for the first time in an exceedingly long time, Ja’Zaki couldn’t help but keep stealing glances at Taira.

With abilities this advanced, the implications were more than a little frightening.

The fox could erase whole Chapters of memory from your life, and you wouldn’t even remember it until he told you to.

’Been a while since I’ve seen compulsion this strong... might not hurt to brush up on that training of mine, just in case.’

"I think we’ve gotten the gist already."

Vermeil tapped Baro on the forehead, and his body crumbled back into his seat like a house of cards.

In a swift motion, she leaned back against the table. "So... Where do we go from here?"

Vermeil noticed everyone seemed to be taking their time responding- leaving her with a sinking feeling as to why.

"Should I just leave, and.."

Ayame gave Vermeil a thump on the head that mirrored the one she had just given to Baro. "No. I wouldn’t have asked you here if I was just going to ask you to leave."

Vermeil’s eyes watered. "Mommy-In-Law...!"

"Hug me and I’ll kill you."

"Boo..."

Aja had been going over the missive with a fine-tooth comb while sitting to herself quietly.

She finally placed the paper back onto the table and stared in a specific direction.

Taira pretended he couldn’t see her.

She stood up and glided across the room to stand right in front of his face and made herself impossible to ignore.

"...Do I even want to know why you’re staring in my face like this..?" Taira asked without looking down.

"Probably not... No, definitely not." Aja corrected.

"I’ll take your word for it then." Taira sidestepped his best friend.

She moved to block his path.

"I’m going to bite you." He threatened.

"Yes, well, listen to what I have to say while you do it, would you?" Aja held out her arm.

Unsurprisingly, Taira didn’t bite her.

"I think you should go to Creedos." Aja suddenly said.

"Maybe I should have bit you."

"And take members of your cult with you."

"I definitely should have bit you." Taira nodded.

Aja was convinced that he still might. "You have an army of highly trained assanbosam—ones blessed in the art of compulsion and currently training in stealth underneath your banner."

She held up the missive again so that Taira could read it for the third time. "I would bet my collection of rare manuscripts that the Round Table will be in attendance if we sent you as a representative."

The ’Round Table’ is the name four the ruling bodies of the races of light. The equivalents to the heads of the fallen.

Two of them have been around since Taira and Aja’s day. The others are only a couple hundred years old.

"The Heroes won’t miss the chance to make some sort of spectacle with whoever we send, and you can-"

Taira politely cut her short. "Your plan, while well-spirited, is flawed from beginning to end. You know as well as I that the Family Bloodlines all have artifacts and do exercises to resist compulsion."

"Yes, but now the only ones capable of compelling them have been dead for centuries.

Those trinkets will probably be sitting in a glass case somewhere, and if they aren’t, then I highly doubt you wouldn’t be able to take them.

And as for that exercise, if they’re even still practicing it... then I’m sure you could put together a curse or two to help with that?"

Taira was surprised at his best friend. Aja was rarely this expressive over anything.

If she was putting forth this much energy into formulating a plan, it had to be because she really believed in it. She believed in him.

It is true that Taira was normally resistant to doing things that he felt were unnecessary.

However, this was different. Acting here could greatly change the tide of the future of the fallen race. It could be a first step to ending the war.

Taira couldn’t compel billions of people to stop hating each other all at once. But he could compel the leaders of said people to slowly implement change within their respective parliaments.

He could divert their focus away from important or vulnerable Fallen territories and push them towards dead ends or places where their side would have a strategic advantage.

The only reason he hasn’t thought of attempting this before now was because it simply just wasn’t feasible.

The former human king was the only ruler who was basically an ornamental figurehead.

He cultivated, but his talents were not necessarily legendary or anything to write home about. Rather, he was painfully ordinary.

He ruled not as a pillar of strength, but as one of wisdom and guidance instead.

The other three members of the Round Table had the strength that he seemed to lack. They were rumored to be on the peak of ascendancy.

Though Taira wasn’t exactly sure how true that claim was... he placed enough stock in it due to the ages of the rulers and their time spent cultivating.

Power aside, the history of the vampires in this world is long and bloody.

In the days of Dracul Ascalon, the ruling families built four castles with magic arrays fused into the walls. No vampire or shadowy fallen of any kind could step foot in there.

It was so long ago that he doubted anyone still remembered that function aside from the royal scholars.

But if the humans were planning on inviting an envoy from the fallen, then naturally they would relent and deactivate the array.

Rather than having to find a way to sneak into four castles, they would be invited into one where all of their targets would be assembled for them like ducks in a row.

Who knew when an opportunity this good would come again?

There were of course risks associated with this plot. But the potential upsides were far too good.

It is ingrained within an assassin to be a stickler for details. A lapse in information and preparation leads to failure.

Taira could get all of the knowledge out of Baro that he so desired. He could stay here and strategize with Aja until he was blue in the face like her.

But was it the right time?

Were his people ready for an undertaking so bold and full of consequence as this?

If it were only him, Taira wouldn’t care. At the very worst, his existence would be revealed to the world at large. He was fine with that.

But the thought of his people being on the line gave him pause.

After what had just happened at the summit, he hesitated to say that they were fully ready. Even now, he and Aveena were only 1/5th of the way through their training.

He also had to consult with her. He couldn’t jus volunteer their forces like this without having her present.

"Taira..?" Aja poked him in the forehead after a long silence. "What do you think?"

The slight twinge of hope in her voice was not lost on him. Perhaps that was what softened him. He knew what he had to do.

"...Give me three weeks."