Chapter 71: Raising Rank 2
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[Name: Lina Hellsing]
[age: 20]
[Rank: Ordinary]
[Race: Vampire]
[Evolution: Blood Sucker]
[Racial Skills: {Blood Manipulation Lvl 1} {Minor Compulsion Lvl 1} {Healing Factor}]
[Loyalty: 98]
…
Looking at her rank, she was still the same as before, no changes, but she had gained one skill, just like the others in the same rank. Aldritch couldn't help but notice that her blood manipulation was still level one… she probably hadn't even tried to practice it, it may even be possible that she had no idea she had the skill.
The one thing Aldritch didn't expect to happen so easily was her loyalty increasing even more, but even then he was glad to see it. Seeing it so high, he felt a sense of even deeper connection with his subordinates, especially Lina and Olgud.
While Aldritch was busy with Lina's stats, he didn't notice that she was now fully awake and aware. Creeping up to him slowly, Lina pounced on Aldritch like a child, wearing a happy expression on her face.
At that moment, Irritation rose within Aldritch, but mere moments later, it disappeared as he stared at Lina who looked at him with the eyes of a puppy looking at its owner.
'If she was more feminine, maybe this would be more charming.' Aldritch thought to himself as his lips curled up on one side.
"Come on, get off me now, you're not a child." Aldritch said softly, intending not to send the wrong impression.
Lina blushed a little, resisting the org, she separated from Aldritch. Just then, Lada entered the room looking for Aldritch. She casted a suspicious look at Lina, then she looked at Aldritch briefly and instantly almost bit her tongue. 'This little girl sure moves fast. What does my lord see in her anyway?' Lada thought to herself, thinking back on everything Lina had told her.
Of course, Lina seemed to have made it a sort of duty to tell every new female vampire about her exploits with Aldritch. It was either that or she was easy to get information out of.
'I need to kick her out of the picture so I can have my lord all to myself… ahh~'
"Lada? Are you done with the assessment?" Aldritch asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Yes, lord." She said, with a soft smile on her face, subtly casting a telling glance at Lina who kicked up the meaning immediately. Instead of feeling oppressed, she smiled back at Lada, showing a bit of her teeth… more like tamed fangs.
Aldritch who was unaware of what was going on was wrapped in another thought.
'Lord?' Aldritch didn't quite follow, he wasn't sure when everyone had made the decision to change his title to lord instead of master.
"Of the 16 new vampires in the family, 10 are normal people with no particular strength, though, some of their backgrounds are noteworthy, like the girl who is the princess of the Olianir Kingdom, and the other who is the daughter of a noble of the neighbouring Vencoast Kingdom. It also happens that the Bamana kingdom is at war with both of these kingdoms.
As for the remaining six, three claim to not be from this world, which I am yet to confirm, while the other three are prisoners of war sold off as slaves in the end, they are not even from the ongoing war, but from several years ago." She reported.
Aldritch took in all the information, clearing up what to do with it.
He had checked all their loyalties and confirmed that they were all above 60, so at least no one would be trying to rebel, definitely not soon.
"I suppose you've found someone for Olgud already?"
"Yes, I did so immediately." She answered.
"Good then. Bring them to the yard alongside some of your best subordinates, let's test their capabilities." Aldritch ordered, to which Lada left to arrange immediately.
A couple of minutes later, once Aldritch was completely done, he left the underground room. Lina and Olgud followed Aldritch to the yard some minutes later to see the, well, spar, that was going to happen. Aside from that, they were also curious about the new family members.
Lada made sure that seats had been prepared for Aldritch to sit on while he watched the little contest about to begin.
Lada brought four girls to face off against the six new vampires. Most of the people under her were specialized in stealth and such, so naturally their fighting style was of such. Going against someone who used a more direct fighting style would naturally be disadvantageous for the one fighting in a concealed manner.
"Hmm, he looks strong, her too." Lina said, to which Olgud nodded in agreement.
They were looking at Rindher and the lady who stood furthest away from him. Unknown to Lina and Olgud, these two were the otherworlders Lada spoke of.
One after the other, Lina could tell that they all were powerful, but when she compared them with the girl that attacked them in the hallway, she couldn't say who would win. There was the fact that she hadn't actually seen anyone there fight, but she didn't seem to be considering that.
"They are ready lord." Lada said to Aldritch who was still standing.
He gave some kind of command, and immediately, all the slave collars and shackles lost they effect and opened, falling to the ground that instant, even then, no one tried to run… or at least that was what Aldritch thought.
In truth, he was monitoring the loyalty of the new members closely, seeing if anyone would drop. One of them dropped by just one, but just some seconds after Aldritch released their collars and shackles, he tried to escape.
Before he could take up to four steps, he collapsed to the ground as a sharp pain assaulted his chest. His hands gripped his chest tightly, but there was nothing he could do.
"Bring him back into line." Aldritch said.
Once he was brought back and laid on the ground in his unconscious state, Aldritch spoke "Do your best in this test, or else, you'll be let go like the two from before."
His words instantly put fear in the hearts of the vampires before him. They saw before their very eyes how the ones who became ghouls turned to dust and ashes and the wind blew them away, no one would want such a fate.
Aldritch saw the look in their eyes, something akin to anger, or frustration, he couldn't tell, but no one looked happy at all, which was understandable.
"You all were slaves, remember that, you had no hopes, no future. I brought you out of that pit, and what's better, I am giving you an opportunity to follow and serve under me. Whether you are worthy or not to be under me depends on what you show here… Begin."
After Aldritch was done with the short speech, Lada took control of the matches. The girls she brought to fight the new vampires would normally be at a disadvantage being regular humans since it was night time, but the compound had lighting scattered around, giving the place some ambience with little dark spots. As for the girls, they had means to see in the dark, so the fighting ground was even.
Rindher was the first to step forward, but just as he took another step, Lada gestured for him to return, calling forward another person. It was no secret that he was the strongest amongst the new vampires, so he didn't really need to get tested to begin with.
The one who was called forward faced off against one of the girls.
The fight begun, and from the way things were looking, the man was losing badly. The girls fought in an unconventional way to begin with, so their fighting style was difficult to follow and predict, at least not right away. As for the man, he fought using quite the solid technique, but he was too rigid and ultimately that was his major drawback.
In the end he was defeated by the girl with a short sword to his throat before he surrendered.
After the man returned to the side where the others stood, the girl he fought with remained in the fighting space waiting for her next opponent. Again, Lada selected one of the people from that world to fight the girl. The man stepped up, but was ultimately defeated by the same girl, in the same way.
This repeated itself with her next opponent, leaving just the last person from their world to compete against her.
Once he stepped forward, Lada's eyes squinted as if focusing on a target, something Aldritch noticed.
"What is it?" He asked.
"This one is not like the others before him, he's different." She stated plainly.
Aldritch listened to her before turning back to watch the match about to unfold keenly. Well, he already knew that this person was, after all, he could see their stats now that they were vampires in his family. He wasn't so curious as to whether or not he was strong, but how he fought.
Once the match begun, the girl rushed at the youngman just as she had done the rest before him, aiming to pressure him and then defeat him.
The first thing that should have given it away was the fact that the youngman was calm and unassuming any stance, anyone should know this is a red flag… or at least Aldritch recognized that character all too well, after all, it was something he would definitely do when facing a weaker opponent.
'He definitely is different.' Aldritch thought to himself.