Universe Tales: Virtual Log of the Fallen One

Russo thought he heard wrongly and was about to ask the young lady again about her absurd demand, but it was like Ash knew that the vampire didn't understand the meaning behind his lady's words and directed his extreme killing intent on him.

The vampire baron immediately stiffened up and only nodded hastily in reply to Maria's words.

Maria clapped her hand happily and said, "Yay~ Well, let's discuss how many of your 'lives' you'll be paying~"

"..."

Maria thought hard and long before she quickly decided.

"Ash, can you go get me his ledger? I'm pretty sure he has it somewhere... maybe in the study?"

Ash stepped forward and handed her a thick book, "Here it is, my Lady. It was on his body and I was able to get it after I 'shook' him for quite a bit..."

"Good work, Ash!" Maria took the ledger and immediately began reading its contents. A few moments later she finished and looked up at Baron Russo with a thick smile.

"Hmm~ so as per our previous agreement, I'll be taking everything, okay?"

"Y...Yes..." Russo had no choice but to answer in that way once he felt an overbearing pressure weighing down on his body.

"Great! Now, I'll let you go since I don't want you. Ash, you can take care of him~"

Ash bowed and said, "Yes, my Lady."

"You two seem to know each other, so please go ahead and get reacquainted. Metil, you go round up the citizens and go inform them about the change in masters. Yura and Theo, go to the villages and get Markus and Emil as well as the inhabitants over there. Bring them all to the town's plaza!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" The 3 vampires replied in unison before dashing out of the manor.

The baron couldn't understand how those 3 unruly ex-followers of his had been tamed to the point where they were practically like dogs to the young lady before her.

Just a simple order like that was promptly executed by them without any complaints or delays. Back when those 3 were under his command, just giving them an order would result in them talking back or delaying the task by using some kind of excuse.

In the end, the vampires all valued strength. If one wasn't overwhelming more powerful than the other, they wouldn't be so obedient. Baron Russo concluded that the reason his powerful ex-subordinates were acting so submissive, was because the young lady in front of him was powerful, overwhelmingly powerful.

What more there was his former master's brother there with her, Vampire Duke Ash Garm, the one vampire who was said to be the most powerful among all others and was next in line as Vampire Lord.

Vampire Duke Ash had left a significant mark on his and many other vampires' minds before he had suddenly disappeared. Even the current Vampire Lord who everyone thought was just a puppet to the one behind him wasn't a match for Ash.

Of course, the vampires didn't know that Ash was weakened due to his sealing, but they were all low-ranked vampires of knight and baron nobility. Even though Ash was weakened, his strength would still be above them.

Only the higher-ranked vampires would be able to tell that Ash was weaker than his former self. It was a large liability, but the only person who recognized who he was, was only Baron Russo Glemen. The other subordinates didn't recognize Ash one bit, but they revered him due to his strength.

After hearing that he wasn't wanted by the little lady, Russo quickly made up his mind to change allegiances and try to appeal to the young girl, but it was too bad that Maria and Ash had different plans in mind for him. Ash wanted to interrogate the vampire who was once his brother's subordinate and find out what happened to him.

Maria was also of one mind with Ash due to her quest. She didn't know the art of interrogation and she for sure didn't know about torture. Since it was troublesome to deal with, she left the baron for Ash to deal with.

Maria waited for her other subordinates to report to her and it didn't take long before Metil came back.

"My Queen, your subordinate has come back. I have finished rounding up all of the citizens and the remaining soldiers. They are waiting patiently for you now."

"Well, that was fast! Looks like you are competent," Maria praised. She stood up and exited the mansion.

Before leaving, she didn't forget to address Ash who was left behind with the baron.

"Quickly finish things here. I want to head back quickly and start rebuilding."

"May I suggest we—"

"I'd rather sleep in my own house! Get the things done and quickly head back."

"Yes, my Lady."

"Mhm," Maria nodded before heading out with Metil.

They quickly got to the plaza and Maria informed everyone that their 'masters' had changed hands. She didn't want to force any of the citizens to follow her, but because both she and Ash wanted to stay low for a bit, she threatened the reluctant and loyal ones with death if they chose not to follow her.

This action of theirs wasn't exactly low-key, but Maria decided they were only going to do this once. She wanted to wait until Ash had fully recovered before they began acting in a high-profile manner.

They didn't want to alert the Vampire Lord just yet, but this was the only way they could quickly gain more hands to help them rebuild their faction's town.

After Maria successfully acquired everyone from the barony, her quest immediately updated.

*DING*

[Vengeance and Justice Quest Updated!

Sub Objective 2: Gather 200 followers! (307/200) (Completed)]

Now that she had acquired all of the barony's citizens, she began buying up the things she needed from the city's shops.

The citizens were all told to get ready to move but some of the storekeepers had to stop because their new master had suddenly stopped by to shop.

Maria's original objective of coming here and taking over the barony was to acquire some furniture to decorate her new house. She went to the furniture store and bought a bed and a few other things using Blood Gold.

The owner of the store was rather surprised since he thought that she could have just taken it from him because she was now their lord but Maria had something else to say to that.

"I don't treat my people badly. If you serve me and perform well, you'll naturally be able to live well~"

"Y-yes, milady...I'll keep that in mind," The shopkeeper quickly replied.

Maria nodded and went around the town vising some shops that were about to close down and bought a few other things.

It was deep into the night when everyone was finished getting ready. Maria didn't forget to leave behind a few people to guard the town. She wanted to take everything, and that meant literally everything.

She wanted all of the houses and buildings in the town to be dismantled and their materials to be brought back to her town where they would use the materials to rebuild the place.

Maria was surprised that Markus and Emil were able to complete their ambitious task despite them returning with a few injuries on their body. She gained a new level of trust for these 2 and decided to leave these 2 behind with a few others to guard the town.

She left behind a few of the craftsmen here so they could begin dismantling the town's buildings. The only problem now was how to fit all of the migrating people into her town when there weren't any houses there for them to live in.

Maria hadn't thought this out very well when she ordered them to migrate from this place, but she tossed the thought to the back of her head.

"Hmmm, we'll just deal with it once we've gotten back there. I mean, most of them are vampires. Maybe they don't sleep at night?"

Maria was both right and wrong. Although most vampires became active at night, there were still some who slept at night and became active during the day.

Once Maria and her newly acquired citizens arrived back at the ruined town, everyone immediately became busy. She didn't need to order it but the people started cleaning up the town.

The craftsmen got to work while some of the ordinary people began clearing up the dirt roads, cleaning up some debris from the broken down buildings, and other such menial tasks.

Maria was watching over them from the balcony of her still empty house and thought, 'Hmmm, how diligent~ I didn't even say anything and they've all started working.'

The vampires didn't forget about her earlier words where she would let them live well if they performed well. Once they arrived at the ruined town, many were a little pensive at first, but when they felt the strong aura of the Blood Fountain, which was tens—no, hundreds of times better than their previous lord's Blood Fountain, surge and envelop their bodies, everyone thought that this was Maria's test for them.

She had provided the benefits up front, and now, she wanted to see their performance. At least this was what many of the citizens, who heard her previous words, thought. They informed the people around them and it snowballed into the current scene where everyone was working to rebuild the town as quickly as possible for their new master.

They all saw that the young lady who was their master wasn't a vampire-like them, but she provided them with something most, if not all, low-ranked vampires yearned for, a high-ranked Blood Fountain.

"Everyone! Let's finish things before sunrise!"