Victors POV
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When Victor had heard that I had Eveleen go back to Alkmene, he was confused about why I would make such a choice. When I explained that it was better for no one to know what all went down before I came to the Silversun Kingdom, he seemed to understand.
"So you are traveling alone now?" He asked, taking a sip of tea that Arwan had brought him. Though Victor quickly shooed him away, not wanting to interrupt the conversation.
"No, I'm not," Lev replied, Victor's eyebrow raised in question, "I took on a student, so it's us two in addition to a new friend of ours."
"...I see…What's the name and identity of your new companions?" Victor asked again. I could get that he was worried, but even I thought it was a little over the top.
"My student's name is Sephtis, a werewolf, and our friend is Lorenzo…He was an adventurer whose party got whipped out by the attack of a unit from the Demon King's army, so I took him in."
"Thats rather unfortunate, give Mr. Lorenzo my condolences," Victor remarked, nodding, "And this Sephtis…what exactly brought you upon the idea of making him your student? This isn't a decision you'd usually make."
Lev thought for a moment, knowing that even as 'Saito Anzhong', he wouldn't make this decision. But then Lev thought back to the help he'd received from him…and how cute he was.
"He seems like a good person, and he's helped me quite a bit, so it's more of a form of repayment," Lev trailed off, thinking if the next thing he should've kept to myself or not, "And after hearing his past, I couldn't just abandon him."
When Lev learned Sephtis' past from his encounter with Inubat Sadira, he sort of felt a bit of a relation to Sephtis. His father worked him to the bone to make Lev his perfect successor, resulting in him developing some issues himself, so Lev wanted to help Sephtis as his friends had helped him.
"Well, I'm not going to pry into what you mean by that, but I will say this. Be careful with the people you choose to put into your circle," Victor said, his tone suddenly more serious than before, his expression matching.
"...Are you talking about the fact that I now have to deal with more than just the noble society of the Quare Kingdom?" Lev asked, confused about why Victor would just suddenly bring this up.
"Yes, I am. Now that you are engaged to Llyr De Vellamo, people's eyes are going to be on you even more," He sighed, shaking his head, perhaps getting a headache from the thoughts of having to clean up Lev's messes.
"His Majesty hasn't told the people of my engagement to 'King Fish', has he?" Lev wondered, shivering at the thought. Being judged for getting engaged to that man-child was the last thing he wanted.
"Haha, of course not! But people are bound to find out at some point, though, even if Llyr has yet to announce it himself," Victor laughed with a gentle smile on his face, one that would make any young noblewoman blush.
As Victor put that thought out there, Lev became deep in thought, resting his chin on his knuckles as he came up with ideas on what to do when that happens. Eventually, he stumbled on a path that wasn't the best for him but for his people down the road.
"Victor…Have an idea, and I need your genuine opinion on it…your opinion as my advisor, not my friend," He announced, sitting up straight with his hands on the desk in front of him.
"...Alright. But please, don't let it be anything too crazy," Victor sighed, shaking his head with a worried expression on his face.
"Ehh…It's just that, I think it might be best to announce it," Lev blurted out, jumping when he saw Victor's cold expression, "Wait, wait, wait! Hear me out!"
"Fine, please help me understand how you came up with this crazy idea that you can't take back once you do it," Victor tested, talking with his hands as he put on his signature intimidating smile.
"Mmmm, well, I think it will be a good political move. The Alkmene Kingdom pretty much is the rulers of the sea, who even the demon king is scared to mess with directly, and since I am an apparent target of his-" Lev started to say, but was cut off by Victor, who reminded him that he left a few important parts out.
"I'M SORRY WHAT?! Did you just say you are a target of the demon king?! What the hell did you do!?" Victor shouted, not knowing that the only things I did to warner the demon king's attention were being a good Lit. Colonel with my moves during my past battles.
"Okay, first of all, don't cut me off. Second of all, the reason why I got his attention as I did is because of my moves during our last battles. Finally, third, I learned this through Inubat, who offered me a place in the Demon army, which I turned down," Lev lectured, his eyebrow twitching as he got annoyed having to explain the second thing.
"Ahem, apologies, my lord," Victor cleared his throat as he bowed, then resumed, "It's good that you turned the offer down, but why? If you joined the Demon Kings army, your side would have an even bigger chance of winning, considering whoever's side you are on gets the power of a necromancer, the only class that can overpower a summoner!"
One thing to know about this world, is that there were main classes with quite powerful subclasses. The main classes were the ones you'd see in a typical RPG game, the other being the special skill books you'd find in mazes or the like.
Necromancer and Summoner were considered two of those special classes in this world, being a branch off of your general mage. They could both use magic, but only to empower their summons or themselves.
However, it was hard for the other classes to overpower the two, since they could control many powerful subordinates as they so wished; the stronger the summoner, the stronger the summon. And the stronger the necromancer, the more undead they could conjure and control.
The biggest thing that Necromancers had on summoners was that they controlled the dead, whereas the summons of a summoner always had to be living. So, if the two classes were to clash, the necromancer would naturally come out on top, since they could just keep on resurrecting their undead summons as much as they wished.
"Yes, I know that. However, unlike those pompous, rich, royal snobish bastards who joined the demon king's army because the demon king had powerful subordinates and they think they'd win and get away with leeching, but will still end up dying like the rest of us rich snobs, I actually have subordinates who ran away from the demon kings rule, so naturally, I'd want to be on the opposite side!"
"...Wow. I…didn't know you thought of it that way. I'm truly surprised, my lord, haha. Never have I been more proud to be your loyal butler and closest subordinate than I am now!"
"Hmph, well, naturally! I am the greatest necromancer in this poor world," Lev scoffed, straightening his clothes, huffing about how proud he was of himself, "But back on topic!"
"Right…You were saying how the Demon King was too scared to mess with the Alkmene Kingdom himself, and that's why it's best to announce your engagement to King Llyr?" Victor summarized, trying to remind himself of what the two of them had been talking about beforehand.
"Yes, and on top of that, Llyr has strong subordinates and allies backing him. And, since he seems to have a pretty strong and weird obsession with me, I doubt he'd be willing to let me go or let anything happen to me," Lev finished for him, pointing out the things he figured out over time, "though it urks me to have to marry that man."
"Hmmmm," Victor thought for a moment, trying to think of other options, "Couldn't we just ask the Empire for help? With Arik Lorcan being a summoner, I'm sure he could send one of his subordinates as a bodyguard."
"No, we can't ask him to do that. That would put us in the Empire's debt, which is the last thing we want. Plus, I highly doubt Emperor Arik would be so willing to send one of his subordinates and have to waste summoning another just to fill their spot," Lev rejected, leaning back in his chair in frustration.
"Pffff, modern politics is hard," Victor sighed, making frustrated noises with his lips. Crossing his arms and leaning back, a copying habit he got from serving Lev for so long.
"Ugh, I suppose getting married to Llyr is my best bet-"
"NO, DON'T GET MARRIED TO THAT BASTARD!" Oryn and Arwan shouted so loudly as they burst through Lev's office that the entire manor, Lev, Sephtis, and Lorenzo could hear.
"You two, what the hell are you doing!? GET OUT!" Victor yelled out in anger, shooting out of his seat with an angry expression and gritted teeth.
'Great, Lev resorrting to this tactic was annoying enough as is, but now I have tweedledee and tweedledum interrupting his Lev's decision making!' Victor thought, silently cursing the two in his head.
"PFFT, it's fine, Victor, let them speak," Lev ordered, making Victor sit back down, "Now then, turn me around so I can see and speak to them."
When Victor turned the magic communication device to face dumb and dumber, Lev was surprised to see the state of dumber. Oryn's hair was a mess; he had strands sticking up in certain places, making you almost miss his giant eye bags.
"My, Duke Casilda, you look worse for wear! Are you alright?" Lev asked reluctantly, worried about what he might get for a response.
"...No, I'm not," Oryn blurted out, his lips quivering as if he were about to cry, "You have been missing for months! I've been so worried that I could hardly sleep!"
"...Damn…Um, I know you have some feelings for me, and I'm quite flattered, but I can't reciprocate," Lev shot him down, feeling a little bad for the guy, but he just genuinely couldn't see himself and Oryn in that way.
Oryn stood there for a moment, looking as if he were about to cry. Right as it seemed like he was going to finally get the courage to say something, some noises were heard on Lev's side of the call.
"Mmm, apologies, but it seems like I'll have to cut our call short today. Victor, I'll get in touch again to talk more about this matter. Oryn, out of respect for you, I will think more on this marriage deal, so try your best not to cause so much raucous," Lev demanded, waving as he cut the call, leaving the two bodyguards and the duke in a room by themselves.
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The three of them were silent for a few moments before Oryn let out a sigh and threw his head back, laughing sarcastically. Arwan shot him a glare from beside him as Victor stared at him angrily, teeth gritting.
"You damn psycho, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Victor exclaimed, anger written on his face as he stood up, knocking his chair onto the floor behind him.
"Pfft- hehehe…Haaa, you lot should be grateful," Oryn snapped, a condescending grin appearing on his face, "Had I not appeared just now and burst through the door with Arwan after hearing that ridiculous comment, you both would be on your way to the Alkmene Kingdom to deliver King Llyr the news."
"Grateful? Don't give us that crap!" Arwan shot back, surprising Victor at his suddenly loud demeanor, different from his quiet obedience that he usually wears, "We all know that there is no way in hell His Lordship would actually carry through with that plan!"
"Is that what you think? HA! How ignorant! Once S-...Lev comes up with a plan, he isn't one to change it, unless he's forced to, do I did you one solid by making him think about it first," Oryn crossed his arms and slightly tilted his head up, the grin still spread on his face.
"You speak as if you know him so well, when in reality, you do not," Victor cut in, storming over and grabbing Oryn by the collar, "I have served his lordship for a millennium, I know him better than anyone else! He is always one to listen to reason, so do not speak as if that place by his side was yours. You are an outsider, so stop sticking your medlesome, prying nose into his business!"
"Watch yourself, vampire. Thats a duke's collar you just grabbed. With this, if I truly so wished, I could have you imprisoned. So if you want to not cause any trouble for your precious Lord, I suggest that you let go," Oryn threatened, squeezing Victor's wrist.
"Do what you wish, but either way, Lord Lev will never see you in the way you wish for him to," Victor shot back, releasing Oryn as he continued to glare at him.
"Pfft- That may be the case now, but he'll realize one day that he and I are meant to be," Oryn laughed with mania, straightening his clothes, then turning to leave, "Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have some business I must attend to."
And with that, Oryn opened the doors to Lev's office and left, leaving the fuming Arwan and Victor behind. After a few moments, Arwan punched the wall, cursing, then left the room, leaving Victor standing there, looking at the ground with a look of fury.