Taming My Vampire Servant

The crowd of knights strived hard to block the path towards the Crown Prince and his visitors. But they were struggling because as much as possible, they should not hurt the maidservants under the prince's orders. The only goal was to make them unconscious, then bring them to the prison. The more experienced knights, who were under Xenos Joltane's supervision, knew what to do with people like them. 

The knights of Silverblade Castle are Chosen Ones as well, but they did not pass the hard battle test to be Royal Knights. If they fail, it's either they quit or continue being a knight. If they choose the latter, they would train and retake the next battle test. They are of a lower rank, and unlike Royal Knights who directly report to the Royal Family, knights report to the Royal Knights. 

As the commotion went on, Sigmund and Xenos rushed to where Ivory and the others were. Although Sigmund wanted to burn them all, he was asked not to lay a finger on them. Royal Knight Xenos casted Earth magic, his mana's dominant element, to hold the maidservants' feet. Seconds later, a giant bear with a very thick golden white fur and  six golden horns came running in great haste, knocking down one-fourth of the maidservants unconscious.

"Bavin, great timing," Xenos told his Beast Servant. He then gave orders to the other knights to bring all the unconscious maidservants to the prison beach. They would be brought later to the back shore of the Sanctuary to be cleansed.

"This will be a tiring night," Xenos sighed, then with his Beast Servant, they tried knocking the others unconscious as well.

When Sigmund successfully reached Ivory, she told him, "I thought I said you should not leave Valios?" Ivory used Air magic to push back the maidservants who were trying to approach them while she talked to him.

Sigmund was also pushing them back. Some of them casted balls of fire, but the Vampire, a master of that element, only caught it with his enchanted hands, making it dissipate into thin air. He chuckled when he told his Master, "What can you expect? I am a stubborn one."

Lucius, on the other hand, kept his Golem Servant in an inactive state because it might crush the maidservants' bodies due to its size. His Servant's type and his mana's dominant element was also fire, same as Ivory's. 

The blonde young man noticed his friend's bleeding back, "Ivory, your back… You're wounded!" He stopped blocking the maidservants and instead wiped the blood dripping from her deep wounds with his handkerchief.

"It must be when I was thrown on the thorny rose bushes a while ago," she gave a reassuring smile. "I am fine, don't worry," she then looked at the moon above them, then her eyes glowed.

Lucius gaped in awe as he saw the narrow lacerations slightly glowed when the moonlight shone on them. Slowly, the skin was pulled inward, and the wounds got smaller until there was not a scar left on her skin. "Ivory… You-"

Suddenly, a maidservant almost reached him at his back, fortunately, Prince Jirou knocked her unconscious. "What are you doing? Save the chats for later!" He noticed that the maidservants were all looking at him even though they were fighting the others. "Focus and don't let them harm you. They might be sent to kill me."

Ivory asked as her feet moved backwards, meeting the prince's eyes, "Why would they? Who would dare kill you, Your Highness?"

"My younger brother, Jaquin," he balled his fists. "Father challenged him that if he could kill me, he'd accept him as the new Crown Prince."

"What a scum of a father you have- Oh! I mean… How sad," she furrowed her eyes in dismay.

She remembered what Wolfram told her back then in her oak forest dream, that the current king, Yama Dragonicus, was actually a traitor. He was the reason why the people of the kingdom turned their backs from the late king. Even though Ivory hated the Crown Prince's overbearing attitude, she felt pity for him. It somewhat reminded her of her relationship with Katie, who despises her. However, it was more pitiful and must be hard because the prince doesn't only have an ambitious younger brother, but also an evil father.

When all the maidservants were knocked unconscious and the knights brought them out of the rose garden, Ivory and the others felt relieved. But all of a sudden, a shadow blocked the moonlight. There was a huge creature with large wings and long tail flying around.

Prince Jirou looked up and frowned. "He's here," he uttered. It seemed like his brother came to kill him himself. Out of worry, he grabbed Ivory's arm and made her look at him, "Get all of your friends out of here. This will be a violent battle."

"What about you?" asked Ivory.

"I have to face him," he sighed, then caressed Ivory's cheek. "I need to kill him in order to hold my position as Crown Prince. I want to see you become my Royal Knight, and the Queen of this kingdom."

Ivory was speechless as she let the medium blue-eyed prince touch her face. Sigmund saw this, and he immediately called out to her, saying they needed to go. 

She only nodded in response to the prince's statement, because she couldn't even cheer for him.

The silver haired Master then asked Sigmund to carry the unconscious Arcea, while the three of them ran away from the garden. At a distance, she took a final glance at the prince, and she saw a dark smoke surrounding him, an indication that their battle had already started.

Five boats that could carry ten people each were lined up on the beach at the back of the Silverblade Castle's prison. Each boat had six unconscious maidservants and four Royal Knights. Ivory, Lucius, Areca, Sigmund, and Xenos rode a different boat. 

They all headed towards the back shore of the Sanctuary, where wooden torches were lit and were aligned on the coast. Upon seeing the arrival of six boats, Priestess Althaia asked for the presence of more disciples. She would need more to help her with cleansing and eliminating the Dark Mana within them. Lycus was asked to guard the Sanctuary for a long while as they did things below the cliff.

When the boats were anchored and the knights were about to carry the maidservants, Althaia stopped them and told them that she would just use the boats like a magic circle to trap and cleanse the Dark Mana. The knights got down, as well as Ivory and her group. 

"Miss Ivory, please come here," the priestess gestured for her to come closer.

When Ivory got near her, she gave a confused look, "Is something the matter?"

"I will teach you something useful," she grabbed her hands and placed them on one of the boat's front. She made her grip it with all her might. "I will teach you how to cleanse Dark Mana."

While Ivory was being instructed by Priestess Althaia with drawing the sacred symbol and with how she could incorporate her Silverblade mana onto the boat, they were watched by the three men from afar, while Arcea was on the separate boat, still unconscious.

"I wonder why Ivory Sprucemint is very close with the people in the Sanctuary," Xenos opened up. "She even looks similar to some of them, including the Priestess."

Lucius and Sigmund stayed quiet as the Royal Knight kept on talking about it. They knew they should be cautious with people under the King's command.

The Royal Knight noticed this. He felt like the two were hiding something important from him. "Who are Miss Sprucemint's parents?"

"Mrs. Anne and Mr. Gordon Sprucemint," Lucius answered. "They're from Greensteid Town."

"Ah, I see," he responded. When he was thinking of what else he could ask, one of the knights called him. He excused himself and walked away.

"So, rich boy," Sigmund said, then sat on the stone behind him. "Any news?"

"About what?" he raised his brow.

"About… that."

Lucius paused for a while and tried to remember what he was referring to, before he answered, "No, not yet. But once we return, I will find out about your condition."

"That punk Lycus wouldn't tell us who Ivory's parents are. He kept on telling us that her father didn't want to reveal himself yet. I suspect they know about my situation. Either her mysterious father, or her mother who he said was once a Royal Knight," Sigmund uttered. "If Lycus said that Ivory's family did something wrong before, then perhaps that's the reason why I am such an odd Servant. Can you also use your connections to find out who Ivory's real parents are?"

"That-" Lucius avoided his eyes. "I don't know how I'll be able to find his father…" a bothered expression showed on his face.

Sigmund narrowed his eyes as he saw the change in the blonde young man's expression. Did Lucius already know something?

"Rich boy, if you already know something, spill it, will you?" he requested. "Let's not drag this on for too long."

He shook his head. "Apologies, Sigmund," he turned his back on him and then walked towards the knights.

Meanwhile, the boats started glowing and blinding lights formed on the side. When the maidservants went conscious, they went berserk, but they could not get out beyond the boat. 

Ivory followed Priestess Althaia's instructions, and she held onto the end of the boat. The other disciples also did it with the other boats, and all at the same time they murmured their enchantments. It might hurt so much for the maidservants, but they need to do it in order to prevent them from harming more people.

When the cleansing ritual was done, Royal Knight Xenos went to one of the boats and asked a conscious maid, "Can you tell me what happened before obtaining the Dark Mana?"

The woman hesitated for a while. But seeing his intimidating gaze made her say, "We prayed in the Oracle's tower..."