Chapter 576: Unsettling Events and Settled Grudges

Nikolai waited for the combat maids to arrive.

Several vans and trucks with fighting personnel from the Volkov and Moonlight Alliance arrived. Though the majority were from Fenrir and Volkov, some vampires from the Tepes family came as support, which shocked him, though, as Vladimir hadn’t contacted them for the longest time.

“Patriarch!” One of the maid leaders saluted him. “What are your orders?” She resembled Leona, at least when he met her a few months ago. Before increasing her blood purity thanks to his black blood. Sharp, chirpy and confident.

“There are five points. I’ve marked them on the map. I want you to have at least ten combat maids and fifteen to twenty soldiers at each point.” He tapped his pad, sending the data to her handset. She glanced at the information for a few moments, then immediately saluted him and trotted off with a bounce in her step.

’Really, the Volkov maids are the best.’

He’d already increased the training for the males to form a butler unit to support them and increase their chances of finding love.

After he fell for Leona, he changed the Maid’s ranks.

So only the top two maid groups would serve the Patriarch, while the other eight groups gained more freedom and opportunities.

Leona would have overall command, but during smaller missions, the eight groups would instead listen to a military officer trained by the Volkov family for decades. It was to avoid future issues, or the case where a Patriarch isn’t suited for such a role.

In that case, the two maid units would become his elite guard and keep him safe.

With the humans and others already gone, Nikolai’s stress levels dropped rapidly; however, as he was checking the first black gate, a mysterious black car approached.

The car was expensive, at least worth a couple of hundred thousand, maybe even a million itself, with tinted windows likely bulletproof and small armoured modifications that the Volkov vehicles had.

’Who is this?’

At first, he was confused, worried whether he needed to drive his wives to safety or prepare to fight. The maid corps all gathered with their submachine guns trained on the car as it came to a stop and lingered after cutting the engine.

“Halt! This area is under the control of the Volkov Estate!” The Maid from earlier spoke on a megaphone, her eyes sharp and focused on the car.

But the door flicked open, and an elegantly dressed male slipped out casually. His pale skin and sunken black eyes were familiar to Nikolai as the handsome man scanned his surroundings until their eyes met.

“Son-in-law.”

Vladimir Tepes.

A man Nikolai once hated, the cause of half his life’s troubles and anguish. But. Now his mother returned to life and married all three of his daughters. Nikolai wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

’I would have done the same, if not worse, for my babies.’

Just thinking about Viktoria, Dhalia or Elizabeth having any issues caused his chest to tighten and his mood to collapse.

With natural grace, Vladimir stepped towards Nikolai quietly, dragging his eyes across the nervous maids whose rifles shook slightly when facing a Patriarchal-level enemy.

Although Nikolai was A Great Elder, he could sense that this old man had made a breakthrough.

“Nikolai Volkov, Patriarch. Husband of my three beloved daughters. You’ve exceeded my expectations.” Vladimir spoke with a deep, emotionless voice, but there was a slight undercurrent of rage when he mentioned his daughters.

However, the next moment, the cold old man suddenly smiled. Yes! The miserable vampire king smiled at Nikolai. “But you also saved them and protected them where I failed to do the same; you have my respect. Young Patriarch.”

Many of the Volkov and Fenrir troops appeared gobsmacked; the rivalry between the two clans was massive, even after Nikolai married Selene. Thanks to Vladimir’s words, which rippled through the area, granting waves of amazement.

“Uncle, no. Father-in-law…”

“Don’t be so stiff, I have many things to seek your forgiveness for.” Vlad’s forlorn eyes glanced to the car protected by fifteen maids and curled his stiff lips into a grin. “And those girls, too.”

Something felt off; it wasn’t bad or eerie, but instead, somehow, Vladimir’s aura lacked the same sharp, tingling feeling Nikolai remembered. He didn’t scowl at him or even insult his lineage.

“Let me help you deal with these corrupted gates, son.” With the raising of his arm, hundreds of vampire knights appeared. These were powerful existences, equal to the level of an Elder, the men who protected the Tepes high-ups and leaders for decades, centuries! “These are the idle knights of my clan. I am sure you can use them; their lords have all accepted you and your future children as their next leader.”

“But why?”

Nikolai thought Vladimir hated him; he also hated the old man because of the past. But he didn’t want to let that get in the way anymore. If he could improve the future of S-City, why linger on petty grudges with his father-in-law?

“Aren’t you aware of it yet?” Vladimir’s expression seemed pleasantly surprised. “Lord of the Moonlight Alliance, the first complete hybrid, son of the most powerful werewolf in my generation and the most fearsome female vampire. With the bloodline of two royal lines, married to the Tepes clan, the Fenrir clan, not to mention those other girls whom you’ve tricked into your bed. All with their heirs on the way.”

The facts hit Nikolai harder than just knowing them.

He didn’t really feel these things in his day-to-day, but looking at the mix of werewolves, vampires and a few nekomata and foxes who appeared recently to take care of Kumiko, Risa and the others.

’Have I already become a big shot?’

It was quite a realisation.

“That’s why, Son. We have an eternity for me to make up for my actions, but right now.” Vladimir took a deep breath while taking out a strange item from his pocket. “The city, our home, needs me to swallow my pride and put you and my grandchildren first.”

Nikolai grasped the item, which was a cold key with a skull tip.

“This is?”

“The key to the Tepes Winter castle. Once a tomb, or rather a prison, it’s now yours. Treat it as you will, Lunaria and Selene used to enjoy playing in the gardens there in the summer heat, call it a late wedding gift.”

What the cheap old man hid was that this was also a sign of the Patriarch of the Tepes clan.

After regaining himself thanks to his lovely wives, Vladimir arranged an emergency meeting, and despite the fierce resistance, gave reason for Nikolai to become the secondary leader of their clan and outlined his qualifications.

Three Tepes princesses and the ability to purify their blood.

The old men were over the moon, thanks to Dimitri, Anastasia and Ivan, who helped him.

“I see, then I won’t be polite, Old Vlad.”

“Tsk, don’t get too cheeky, boy. I can still whoop your ass.”

“Heh, I bet my mother would love that.”

“…Tsk!” Clicking his tongue, Vladimir turned away and gave an order. “Blood Knights, take my daughters back to the Volkov estate. Fifty of you protect them and the Volkov estate from now on. This kid is your new master. Do not fail me!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

The blood knights were primarily women, but there were some males mixed in.

Because males were treated as precious existences in the past, when blood purity came into question, a daughter would also leave the family to join another family. But a boy would be part of their clan for good.

Even the small clans clung to this belief.

“Phew.”

Nikolai appreciated an adult being here; the security he felt with another who could fight off the strongest of enemies was excellent. He watched Vladimir, who gazed at his daughters being driven away, not blinking once.

’Oh?’

Selene glanced out the window and met eyes with her father.

It might have been the first time that Nikolai saw Vladimir show such deep and genuine emotions so openly.

“Old man, you could have joined them.”

“Cut the crap, Nikolai. We both know this situation is dangerous, more than the damn Nosferatu idiots. This situation is something that could wipe out the entire city if these gates aren’t dealt with somehow.”

“I’m glad you’re not stupid.”

Somehow, Nikolai thought that Dimitri and his father would just shrug this off. They both loved to fight, and although it was a biased opinion. He valued having Vladimir here, watching the blood knights joining the combat maids and soldiers. He wondered what happened to the Knights of Volkov.

’A person can only have a single squire or knight at any given time…’

If someone wanted to promote their squire to a knight, then the previous knight would need to be slain or transferred to another lord. A Lord referred to someone above an Elder, which meant that the Tepes clan had more than one hundred Elders and above.

Sarah could become a knight if Nikolai wanted.

But he wondered if making Brian a squire, along with Ryan, might be a more useful task. Now that he could use his blood properly. Then he could set Sarah free, and she would become a high-level hybrid without the need to serve him.

’She wants to be a business goddess; this is something I should discuss with her.’

After all, many of the people in their company were at a mature level and could serve as a minor combat force to protect Sarah and her family.

“Forget it…”

Nikolai became sentimental after meeting Vladimir, but the issue at hand was the fifteen or more gateways that were currently dormant. However dormant they might be, they could erupt at any moment and turn this city into ruins like Pompeii.

With this thought, Nikolai turned back to Vladimir and focused.

“Father-In-Law! Can you handle the largest gate, just north of David’s auto trading factory?”

The old man raised his arm, and with a swish, transformed into a flock of bats, fluttering towards the auto factory.

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