Picking up Girls With My System

The situation inside the castle was chaotic, with servants, vampire guards, and those with higher positions running around, gathering in front of the castle's gate.

Arthur saw many important figures — most he did not know, but he captured a glimpse of duke Mikael among these vampires.

Everyone was scared to face a rank-four mage, so the strongest vampires inside the Von Stein family castle joined forces and waited for the mysterious figure.

Arthur was not one of these 'strongest vampires' of the castle, but he was still there, just like other servants and weaker vampires were also. Everyone wanted to see exactly who the mage was with the courage to look for a fight with the Von Stein family.

"I share the same feeling, too," thought Arthur as he tried his best to squeeze himself through the crowd, getting as close as he could. It would be dangerous to be in that position if a fight broke out, but Arthur did not think someone would try something.

The Von Stein family had two rank-four vampires, so it did not matter who the mysterious mage was. It would lose.

"Call you leader here. I want to chat," someone said outside of the castle.

When that voice echoed through the castle, people realized it was a man, a human man, but Arthur had more information about it than the others.

"I know this voice…. Who is it?"

It felt like shit for Arthur to know the voice but not remember who it belonged to.

"Let me pass. Excuse me," Arthur said, pushing some of the servants to the side to better look at the person who just spoke.

The servants would get angry at first but would keep their cool after seeing it was a vice-captain, someone with at least a degree of authority inside the castle.

Slowly, Arthur found room to get closer to where the crowd was, and when he saw the man, he could not believe it! It did not look the same as he remembered, but it was clear who the man was.

"The crazy man on that island!"

When Arthur got stuck on an island, which he later discovered was a gigantic turtle, there was a man there, someone that named himself the 'Demon Emperor.' Everything about that man was weird, and Arthur could not sense his power back then, and the man suddenly vanished.

Only Arthur, Jane, Wisa, and Sybille had not seen that man. Then, after they broke the barrier, there was a chance the man had escaped after centuries locked in that place, but as no one saw a thing, Arthur thought everything was nothing but some craziness in his mind.

It turned out that was not the case, and that man, the same one he had seen on the island a long time ago, was there in front of the Von Stein castle.

One of the servants had said to Arthur, 'he is a rank-four mage too,' but Arthur did not believe that was the case. He never saw a rank-five mage and thought there was no way someone like that was there, but something felt different about that man.

He could be a rank-four mage, but he was different from the others, and Arthur had no idea why. After the man asked for the leader of the Von Stein family, he used his aura to scare away all the vampires who had the thought of challenging him and to call out the rank-four vampire before he lost his patience.

A vampire came flying with a crimson robe, long nails, and long gray hair; its face looked old, as if it had been living for thousands of years. That was one of the two rank-four vampires, not the leader that always appeared in public, but the ancestor of the Von Stein family.

"The strongest vampire, peak rank four! The other rank-four vampire is probably his son or something, and it is not as strong as this old vampire," thought Arthur as he analyzed that vampire.

If they sent the strongest among the two, it could only mean the person screaming outside was not so simple. The ancient vampire looked at the man and said, "Malak Grand Phyloc, the Demon Emperor. How are you here?"

There was a hint of fear in the ancient's vampire voice, and when he spoke his name, some whispers could be heard. Few people knew that person — only the ancient beings were still alive to have met the men, meaning only the other rank-four mages could know Malak.

"I escaped the prison you and the other rank-four mages architected long ago. Tell me, are you afraid of me?"

"Afraid of you? Nonsense."

"Really? Then let's fight to settle things. Right here, right now."

The vampire and Malak gazed at each other for a few seconds, but a fight did not break out.

"Why are you here, Malak? What happened to you was long ago, and if you restrain yourself, we will not lock you up again."

"Restrain me? I was ruling this continent, looking to get peace and a better life for everyone, yet you and all the other filthy rank-four mages did not want to lose your precious power, so you locked me up on that island!"

Malak yelled at the vampire, and as Arthur heard the things he had to say, he felt like it was similar to what the Blue Rose Order wanted to achieve.

"Tessa said they had a ruler already; was it him?"]

After Arthur thought about the possibility, he looked around to see if Tessa or someone he knew from the Blue Rose Order was there, like most of the castle was, yet there was no one. It was like Malak was there to distract the vampires…

But the order had not said a thing about this in the meeting they had a few moments ago. Were they trying to keep a total secret, even for the members of the order?

"I am only a low-ranked person here, so it makes sense they did not tell me everything."

The vampire crossed his arms and said, "correct, that's what happened! This continent is not a place for a single person to rule. Maybe if you had the power to go against all of us, we would give you the leadership, but no, you cannot go against us alone! Are you looking for something else here? If not, then get the fuck out of here!"

~~~~

"Are you sure it's in here?" Tessa asked Milton, who was with her, breaking into a room no one should be able to go.

"Yes, I am sure of it! Let's go quickly while he is busy dealing with Malak!"

Their plan was something only a few members of the order knew about, as that was the only way to keep a secret from everyone; Malak was the person Tessa said would rule the continent after they dealt with the Von Stein family, but that was their plan initially.

Rumors spread throughout the continent, and Tessa had her contacts in many places. The rumors said the dragons were back, and after Tessa heard such a thing, Malak went looking for the only dragon he knew, Selen!

Selen had left the dragon valley to look where the dragons had stored the lost techniques from ancient times, just like she told Arthur. On her journey, she met Malak, someone from her distant past.

"I want to rule the continent with you," Malak said to Selen.

They were lovers once, and that is how he knew her.

"I am afraid I have no saying in this. Our lost lord returned, and he is the person in charge now. You can talk with him if you want," Selen said.

Malak came to know Placidusax, the legendary Lord of the Dragons, was back, but he had lost his powers and was only at rank three for now.

"I am working with someone to bring down the Von Stein family, the vampires who are trying to conquer the continent. I know an ancient friend with a treasure Placidusax may like," Malak said.

"Oh?"

After that conversation, Malak decided to step away from the leadership and give it to the dragons again. The dragons ruled not only the demon continent, but the world and Malak knew they were a species known to be righteousnesses. Also, in the long run, the dragons would get stronger than him and have a better reputation.

Tessa and Malak made a plan; Malak had to distract the vampire while Tessa stole something from its room.

They were looking for an item that would benefit Placidusax, and it was inside the ancient vampire's room!

"Let's go, Tessa; time is running short!"

"Here, it's here. I got it!"

It was an ordinary-looking wooden box with nothing special about it, but Malak knew it was a treasure Placidusax would not resist! After Tessa and Milton got the item they were looking for, they left the room and looked for a place to hide it.

~~~~

A loud bang echoed as a table was destroyed by an old vampire's palm.

"Where is it? How it's not here?"

"Father, calm down. Even if someone stole the item, they would not be able to use it; only the dragons have a way to open up the box."

"Y-yes, you are right. And normal dragons cannot open; it must be a specific dragon who is not among us anymore."

The duo father and son calmed down, but little did they know the dragon, who was supposed to be dead, was not, and a box that should remain closed would open up!

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