Chapter 275: Dragon Who Knew Carmilla

Victor arrived home shortly afterward and, the moment he walked through the front door, decided he had already done far too much for a single day.

He didn’t even bother looking for anyone.

He walked into the living room, took off his coat along the way, and simply dropped himself onto the sofa, letting his head fall against the backrest as he released a long sigh.

Between Anette, Vlad, the vault, Gram, and a Dragon who had tried to disintegrate him several times before agreeing to talk, he was beginning to feel that leaving the house was becoming far too dangerous for his peace of mind.

"Finally."

Victor murmured as he closed his eyes, enjoying a few seconds of silence.

The sound of footsteps coming from the staircase made one of his eyebrows twitch.

"So?"

Scarlet asked as she descended the final steps, already looking at him with obvious curiosity.

Carmilla followed right behind her, much calmer, although Victor could tell from her eyes that she was also waiting for an answer.

"How did it go with Chysis?" ℯℯ𝑙.

Carmilla asked when she reached the living room, approaching the sofa without hurry.

Victor opened one eye.

"Much better than I expected."

He shifted slightly, making room when Scarlet sat near his legs.

"And much more complicated too."

Scarlet immediately frowned.

"That doesn’t sound good."

She crossed her arms, clearly remembering that Victor had gone out specifically to get Chysis’s opinion about the engagement.

Victor let out a small sigh.

"Chysis voted in favor."

He raised one hand before Scarlet could start complaining.

"But wait, because that isn’t even the important part anymore."

Scarlet closed her mouth, although her expression made it very clear that this conversation would return to the engagement sooner or later.

Carmilla sat in an armchair across from him.

"What happened?"

She asked with more interest after noticing that Victor looked far more satisfied than someone who had merely secured a third vote.

Victor started from the beginning.

He told them about the conversation with Chysis, about the recommendation to accept the engagement as long as he could extract some real advantage from Anette’s proposal and, most importantly, about Vlad’s Vault.

He explained that Natasha, Serafall, and Chysis had all reached practically the same conclusion about what he should ask for as compensation.

Then he told them he had returned to Anette.

He spoke about the condition.

The access to the vault.

The authorization.

And then he reached the most interesting part.

"I went in there looking for Gram."

Victor explained, raising one hand as he remembered Vlad’s enormous collection.

"I found a bunch of old things, some techniques that are relatively useless to me, others that might be useful later, and I discovered that Rowena’s ring is dimensional."

Carmilla blinked.

"The ring is what?"

She asked, leaning slightly forward.

"Dimensional."

Victor replied as he showed them the artifact on his finger.

"There are around seven hundred and fifty square meters inside it, and apparently nobody knew."

Scarlet looked at the ring.

"Not even Rowena?"

She asked, seeming almost offended on behalf of the wolf herself.

"Not even Rowena."

Victor replied with a small laugh, remembering her expression when Fafnir explained the object’s true function.

Carmilla brought two fingers to her lips, clearly holding back a smile.

"She spent who knows how long trapped inside a dimensional storage ring without knowing there was an actual dimensional storage space inside it."

Carmilla commented, and for the first time in several minutes, her expression completely lost its seriousness.

Victor started laughing.

"That’s more or less what Fafnir said."

He replied before realizing that he had skipped over a very important part of the story.

Scarlet narrowed her eyes.

"Fafnir?"

She asked immediately, and the way her ears perked up made it obvious she had recognized a new name.

Victor remained silent for several seconds.

"Yeah."

He lifted himself from the sofa.

"I think it’s better if I introduce her."

Carmilla arched an eyebrow.

"Introduce her?"

She repeated, watching Victor place a hand over the ring.

"Yes."

Victor answered calmly while sending energy into the dimensional space.

"Because I got Gram."

The enormous sword appeared in his hand.

Draconic pressure spread through the room immediately.

It wasn’t hostile like it had been inside the vault, but it was still heavy enough to make Scarlet stand on reflex and Carmilla become instantly alert.

Gram was far too large to look comfortable in anyone’s hands.

The red-and-black blade seemed to absorb part of the surrounding light, while draconic runes across the metal pulsed slowly.

Scarlet stared.

"That’s the Dragon-Slaying Sword?"

She asked while her eyes traveled across the entire weapon.

"That’s the one."

Victor replied, resting Gram against his shoulder without any difficulty.

Carmilla seemed more interested in the energy than the appearance.

"She accepted you?"

Carmilla asked, and Victor could tell from her expression that she knew exactly what it meant for Gram to remain so quiet in his hands.

"After a few arguments."

Victor replied with a smile before lightly tapping his fingers against the side of the blade.

"Fafnir, you can come out."

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then reddish energy began leaking from the sword.

Fafnir’s spiritual projection formed beside Victor, first as an indistinct silhouette and then fully assuming her humanoid appearance.

Long golden hair fell down her back.

Black horns emerged from her head.

Her tail moved lazily behind her body.

The red dress Victor had created inside the spiritual space remained on her, now reconstructed from her own soul energy.

Scarlet remained silent.

Fafnir looked at her.

Her golden eyes quickly passed over the ears, tails, and the rest of the fox woman’s body.

Then they lost interest.

Scarlet noticed.

Her eyebrow twitched.

Victor noticed too and wisely decided not to say anything.

Then Fafnir looked at Carmilla.

This time, her expression changed.

She spent several seconds analyzing the vampire’s face before narrowing her eyes slightly.

"You’re that Vampire who was betrayed by the Vampire King?"

Fafnir asked while studying Carmilla with far more interest than she had shown Scarlet.

Victor immediately turned toward Carmilla.

"You two know each other?"

He asked, genuinely surprised that this was the first thing Fafnir had chosen to say.

Fafnir shook her head.

"Not personally."

She replied without taking her eyes off Carmilla.

"But I wandered the world long enough to know the names of most truly powerful creatures who existed back then."

Carmilla remained quiet while Fafnir continued analyzing her.

"She was one of them."

Fafnir finished, finally crossing her arms.

"We never met and never exchanged a single word. But it would have been difficult not to hear about her."

A small smile appeared on Carmilla’s face.

"It is an honor to know that the great Greedy Dragon Empress has already heard of me."

Carmilla replied while giving a slight bow of her head, treating Fafnir with a level of respect Victor rarely saw her offer so quickly.

Fafnir seemed to accept it naturally.

"Although I imagine what you heard wasn’t exactly pleasant."

Carmilla added, her smile becoming slightly more uncomfortable as she remembered the person she had been back then.

"I was rather... problematic."

Fafnir immediately nodded.

"You were."

She answered without the slightest concern for softening the words.

Carmilla closed her eyes for a moment.

Fafnir continued:

"Most of the stories I heard about you involved monstrosities, massacres, and attacks against humans carried out in the most grotesque ways imaginable."

Fafnir spoke with the casual tone of someone merely repeating historical information, either not noticing or not caring about Carmilla’s increasingly embarrassed expression.

Scarlet slowly turned toward Carmilla.

Victor did the same.

Carmilla maintained a rigid expression for several seconds.

"I was an overly active teenager."

She replied, adjusting a strand of hair as though that were a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"And I was hanging around the wrong people."

Victor stared at her.

Scarlet did the same.

So did Fafnir.

Carmilla opened her hands slightly.

"It was a long time ago."

She added, clearly realizing that absolutely no one had accepted her justification.

Victor started laughing.

"’Overly active teenager’ is an excellent way to summarize historical atrocities."

He commented while resting Gram against his shoulder again.

Carmilla shot him a look.

"I matured."

She replied with dignity, although the faint redness in her cheeks showed that she was genuinely embarrassed.

Fafnir shrugged.

"I don’t judge."

She said while looking at Carmilla again.

"Humans called me a monster simply because I liked gold too much. Being judged by inferior creatures never interested me."

Carmilla seemed to like that answer.

"Perhaps we really can get along."

She commented as she relaxed into the armchair.

Victor looked between the two and nodded, satisfied.

"At least you already know of each other."

He said while looking first at Fafnir and then Carmilla.

"That’s much better than starting with two complete strangers trying to figure out who the other person even is."

Fafnir only gave a small nod.

Victor then lifted Gram.

"Anyway, now I have this."

He spoke with obvious satisfaction, still finding it difficult to believe that he had entered that vault intending to obtain a sword and had left with much more than he ever expected.

Carmilla studied Gram for a few more seconds before looking directly at Victor.

"So that new connection I felt in the contract came from her?"

Carmilla asked, finally connecting it to the subtle change she had sensed in their blood bond.

Victor nodded.

"Yes."

He replied while lightly touching the side of the sword.

"Fafnir and I made our own contract. It isn’t exactly the same as ours yet, but she’ll be staying with us from now on."

Fafnir glanced sideways at him.

"You say that as though I moved into your house."

She commented, despite literally being projected inside his house at that very moment.

"You kind of did."

Victor replied while pointing at Gram.

"Your house came with you."

Fafnir made a small grimace.

Victor ignored it.

"Anyway, I hope you all get along."

He finished while returning Gram to the ring.

The sword disappeared, but Fafnir remained projected inside the room thanks to their newly formed bond.

Carmilla looked at her.

"I have no problem with it."

She replied calmly, and she genuinely seemed sincere.

Then her eyes slowly moved toward the other side of the sofa.

"My problem would be more..."

Carmilla began, but allowed the sentence to die as she looked at Scarlet.

Victor followed her gaze.

Scarlet was sulking.

Her ears had lowered slightly, and her tails were gathered around her body.

She avoided looking directly at Fafnir, but every now and then her eyes slipped toward the Dragon before returning to Victor.

Carmilla sighed.

"Well, you know what the problem is."

She concluded, crossing her legs while clearly finding the situation at least somewhat amusing.

Victor looked at Scarlet.

"Scarlet."

He called while approaching her.

Scarlet turned her face away.

"Hmm."

She replied with absolutely no desire to cooperate.

Victor stopped in front of her.

"What are you sulking about?"

He asked while trying to catch her eyes.

Scarlet kept looking away for several more seconds.

Then she pointed at Fafnir without even looking at her.

"Another beautiful woman."

She replied, clearly displeased.

Victor blinked.

Scarlet finally turned toward him.

"Another beautiful woman to steal you away from me."

She finished with such a serious expression that Victor couldn’t immediately decide whether he should laugh or try to calm her down.