Taming My Vampire Servant

They snuck out of the mining area and proceeded to Precious Inn.

"Good evening- Oh…" Fiora's greeting was cut off as soon as she saw Lucius pulling Ivory's arm with a serious face as they walked swiftly with heavy steps. Behind them were Lycus and Sigmund who hastily followed them.

Fiora wondered what was the matter. She wanted to know if she still had a chance with Lucius, and if she could trust Ivory's words when she cheered for her. She also desperately wanted to know Lucius' true feelings for Ivory. With her overthinking, it crushed her spirit, and she just sighed in frustration. 

In Lucius' room, he let go of Ivory and yelled, "What the hell were you doing in that place? You know how dangerous it is!" he clenched his fists in extreme anger. "What if you got caught and fought them? They're all castle knights, so they all possess magic! Don't be too reckless just because you have Sigmund and Lycus!"

"Please do not shout at me, Lucius," Ivory responded. "And calm down-"

"Calm down?! Hah! You expect me to calm down?" he took a deep breath, and turned his back on her. "I know you do not want me to meddle with your life, but I couldn't help it. I do not want to lose you. You are my sis- closest friend."

The silver-haired young woman furrowed her brows as she stared at Lucius' back. She knew how kind-hearted he was, and she knew that he genuinely cared for her. "I apologize, Lucius. But do not worry, we spent a week observing them, so the risk is lower."

Nobody saw how Lucius' lips trembled in fear, and his eyes teary-eyed. Yes, the risk would be lower because they had planned it wisely, but what if there was a very little chance of failure and it happened unexpectedly? What if he and his mother lose her once again? The blonde young man definitely wanted to fulfill his promise to protect Ivory.

"Lucius?" Ivory called. "Are you still listening?"

"I… apologize, but I… I am not really feeling well. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

She responded, "Apologies once again if we hid it from you. I promise, next time we go to the mines, I will not forget to tell you."

Ivory did nothing more. Although she was worried and wanted to ask about Lucius' condition, she chose not to ask him further to let him rest. She left Lucius alone in the room, and together with her Servants, they went to her bedroom. 

As soon as Sigmund closed the door, he asked Ivory directly, "So… What did you do to piss off the rich boy?"

"Am I really at fault here?" she rolled her eyes at him. "Wait, how did you know that we're not okay?" and sat on her bed.

"We've been observing you two since last week," Lycus was the one who answered. He kneeled in front of her, "Apologies if we did not ask-"

"It's alright, Lycus," she smiled at him. "Now… I'll replenish your mana first, so-"

"Hey, it's unfair," Sigmund crossed his arms. "Why does Lucius always replenish first?"

Ivory chuckled, "We replenish mana faster," she then stroked Lycus' head with gentleness, and he moved nearer to her. 

"Master, thank you," Lycus uttered and smiled at his Master. He took her left hand and sniffed the back of it, while feeling her soft hands stroking the top of his head.

Sigmund stared at the second Servant as he replenished his mana. He's his Master's mysterious Spirit Servant, and for some reason, he still couldn't trust the guy fully. He's just thankful that he was not a flawed one like him who had human desires, or else there would be a war to fight for Ivory's attention.

He had encountered a lot of Spirit Servants, and they all had different ways of how to replenish mana. He had seen a dog deity Spirit Servant and a jasmine flower Spirit Servant sniffed their own Masters for the same cause. 

But sniffing the Master for mana replenishment was not only applicable to some of the Servants of the Spirit Class. 

"Lycus, did you know..." Sigmund suddenly said mindlessly, "...that if you had wolf ears, I'd think you were a Werewolf Servant."

And his statement made Lycus pause in replenishing his mana. 

There was a moment of silence. Ivory rested her hand on Lycus' shoulder when she stared outside the window. It was as if the weather was adapting to what happened earlier that night. She wanted to see the beauty of the moon, but the sky was moonless, and the view outside looked so empty. Small balls of ice suddenly began hitting the window and the howling of the wind could be heard outside. 

Ivory pursed her lips, guilty that she had been hiding his second Servant's identity from Sigmund. Lycus almost did not accept the Vampire, but because the Werewolf was more perceptive of her feelings, he gradually accepted him as time went by.

Her problem was how and when would Sigmund accept her Werewolf Servant. Knowing that he's not an ordinary Servant and had human desires leading to his possessiveness and stubborn behavior, it led her to a decision not to make him upset. He'd be difficult to deal with if he lost control like the last time.

The troubled Master was already thankful to the heavens that the two were trying to get along, and she did not want them to fight. She also knew she needed them to uncover the mystery behind the Dark Mana and to take down King Yama and his comrades.

'I'll tell Sigmund someday,' Ivory thought. She still couldn't reveal to Sigmund that the remaining Werewolves after the late King Ulysses Silverblade's death had a deal with the Goddess to let all remaining Werewolves live separately from their Masters and look like humans. They also traded their superb hearing and wolf ears to be independent, and in Lycus' case, he wouldn't get back his because she's not his original Master.

Ivory then faked a laugh, making Lycus look at her in confusion. She said as she touched Lycus' head, "Lycus is... an oak forest spirit."

Sigmund raised his brow, "What, is he a deer or something?" he chuckled. "He's obviously not a Werewolf without wolf ears. I was kidding."

Because Lycus was facing Ivory, Sigmund did not notice how worried his face expressed. The second Servant stared at Ivory's face as he let her play with his long, silver hair. Although he was bothered that she had to lie to her first Servant, he was quite happy that she's protecting him.

Afterwards, Lycus left the room because Ivory needed to rest and sleep. It was another tiring night, and what's more, she had that heated discussion with Lucius. As she laid down the bed, she kept on thinking how weird it was for Lucius to snap like that. Last year, whenever she did something wrong, he wouldn't yell at her, and instead say, 'Well, just don't do it next time'. He seemed different for quite a few months already, but she couldn't remember exactly when he exhibited such behavior.

"Isn't Lucius acting too weird?" Ivory asked Sigmund as he let him lay beside him on the bed.

Tucking themselves into the thick, cotton blanket, he told her, "He's not acting weird, Ivory. If I was in his position, I'd be angry too," he faced her sideways. "You're one reckless woman."

Ivory also turned sideways to face him, "Am I?"

"Don't even ask," he caressed her face and stared at her beautiful light blue irises. "You're the prettiest reckless woman I've ever met."

The shy Master turned beet red upon hearing those words from him. If he's a normal human, she's sure he'd be a playboy!

He chuckled upon seeing her dumbfounded expression, then placed his hand on her waist. He pulled her onto him, "Before you forget, give me your blood, Ivory."

"Ye… Yes, I almost forgot. Where do you want to bite?" she asked shyly. For some reason, she's as gentle as a sheep whenever she is in bed with her beloved Vampire.

…

The following day, Lucius waited for Ivory in the lobby of the inn. While waiting, he spoke to the young man who took over Fiora's shift. The brown haired guy was wearing a black vest on top of a clover green muscle shirt, beige knee-high trousers, and a bandana on his neck.

His name was Gerhalt, and he lived just across the road, in front of Precious Inn. 

"Do you know any miners around here?" Lucius asked him. At the moment, he knew he needed to gather more information about mining in Topazeon.

"Almost every man in town does mining," Gerhalt responded. He ran his hair through his fingers and leaned on the long table. "I mine too, but only in the summer season."

"I see… I want to know who among the townspeople mine in winter."

"We're not crazy enough to mine in winter, unlike those castlemen!" he sighed. "I don't know why they work hard to mine in such an extreme condition. Although the townsmen volunteered to help them, they refused."

"What kind of ores do they excavate?" Lucius asked him curiously.

"I am not sure… but I heard they process their ores inside the castle."

The blonde young man raised his brow. 'How suspicious,' he thought. Well, this shouldn't be too shocking now because everyone inside the castle is truly suspicious. He questioned, "Aren't you angry at them for taking precious ores from your mountains? I mean, they can be an extra profit for you."

"I heard from the inventory office that they never took the ores that we usually sell," Gerhalt then remembered something, "Oh, I have a friend who worked in the inventory office before. Once, he peeked at the cart that the castlemen pushed. He said that what they took seemed like coal, which is of little value compared to our usual ores."