Damien lazily sat in the car with his eyes closed. He felt his body rapidly trying to repair his wrecked mana circuits. The pain was intense, but he managed to control his expression. Imyrll was still sleeping in the front seat but Fay had woken up. She kept shooting Damien glances for an unknown reason. Could she tell how much pain he was in despite his facade? Or maybe his sleeping face is just too handsome?

As the car passed through the streets many residents stopped to stare at both the magnificent metal carriage and the tired knights that flanked the sides of the carriage.

One kid on the street pointed to the carriage and asked “Mom why is there water coming from the wheels?” a tired woman carrying a bundle of laundry on her back didn’t even bother looking and just replied, “Don’t be silly, water doesn’t come from carriage wheels.”

“But mom! There is water coming out of the wheels and onto the street!”, the mother let out a tired sigh, “Freddie please stop being loud okay? Mom’s already under enough stress without your constant talking.” The boy just lowered his hand and looked dejected at the floor.

The elves guarding the car just shot the boy a weary smile and continued their escort towards the palace in the distance.

***

A knocking could be heard “Come in.” a powerful voice responded. A butler soon entered the room and bowed “My King, Princess Emilia is requesting an urgent audience.”

Edward Greentail looked up from his paperwork with a surprised face. “My Precious Daughter needs to see me? Send her in right away! Why even ask me, she is welcome inside at any time!”

The butler just shook his head at his master's obvious favoritism, Prince August would be denied from an audience without a second thought but Princess Emilia could come whenever she pleases? This is the King's office! People cannot enter and leave as they please! He stood to the side and allowed a fidgety girl to enter the office.

“Father, there's a big problem.” The King looked at his adorable daughter and chuckled in his heart, “Which noble is pestering you for marriage now? I will beat them up personally!” he said before laughing at his own joke.

“Um no Father it's a bit more serious.” The King’s playful mood vanished, what could be more serious than some bastard noble trying to pursue his lovely daughter?

“Do tell.” He said and Emilia obliged, “So I received some news that a person knew Luna Runes…”

The King’s face lit up! This was a big opportunity, “So where is this person?”

“That's the issue… the person was attacked on the way to the city. I had my knights escorting him at the time.”

The King tensed up “So he's dead?”

“No! It’s just that the situation is rather complicated…” Emilia said while fidgeting with her dress, she seemed very distressed and worried she would be scolded.

Edward put on a friendly face and said in a calm tone, “Emilia my dear, I could never be mad with you, tell Dad what happened.”

Emilia let out a deep sigh and explained “Father, Captain Beldroth suspects the man is a vampire, and likely a Noble one as well. Beldroth said the vampire could fly and destroy over a hundred zombies and a necromancer by himself with just waves of his hands…”

Edward's calm face instantly changed to one of confusion “There's a vampire within our borders? A vampire hasn’t been spotted in the human world for over three hundred years, is Beldroth sure the man is a vampire?”

Emilia nodded her head “Very sure.”

“So where is this vampire right now?”

Emilia's nervous look reappeared, “He’s about to arrive at the palace Father, he also said he will collect payment as he felt my escort was a neglect of his safety.”

Edward just leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. ‘Vampires are savage creatures that live in the mountains, they only know murder and lust. The main reason we never tried to be diplomatic with them is that they have nothing to offer. They only have magical knowledge regarding blood magic and they don’t export any goods other than dead bodies.’

‘Although I must show him some respect since he's royalty… we would survive an invasion from the vampires but we would sustain huge losses in the process.’

“Alright I will meet him when he arrives, you should come as well since this is your mess,” Edward said in a calm tone and Emilia nodded in agreement.

***

Edward sat on a comfortable sofa in a meeting room. He decided against using the throne room as that would be inappropriate when meeting with other Royals. No Royal would accept being looked down upon by another ruler. Therefore this meeting room was chosen for the first-ever diplomatic meeting between a king and a vampire.

The room was surrounded by high-grade guards that were extremely loyal to the crown. They guarded the Royal family members from within the shadows at all times.

Edwards was rather nervous, he had read the records of Kazimir Nightshade who was a monstrous being, it took 3 kingdoms and a team of A-grade mages to kill him. Edward doesn't know the backstory of this vampire but he is interested to meet one.

Call it bias but he predicts a human with fangs and claws to walk through the door, snarling at him and looking at his daughter with a gaze of lust. Then the vampire will either attack them or demand blood slaves as payment.

Edward had rather low expectations of this meeting as a diplomatic meeting has never been held between a kingdom and the vampires from the Kazimir mountains.

Emilia was nervously tugging at her dress beside him. Soon a knock was heard and the door to the meeting room opened. Both Edward and Emilia turned to look at the entering vampire with curious gazes.

A man that almost didn’t fit through the doorframe entered. He was wearing a perfectly kept wine red suit, his short and messy white hair hung over his blood-red eyes. His face was deathly pale but it seemed to match his chiselled jawline.

What really caught Edward by surprise was the man’s movements. He walked calmly and orderly. His face was relaxed and almost indifferent instead of the expected hostility or lust that Edward had expected.

Tagging along behind the man was a young woman with straight black hair, ocean blue eyes, and a white dress. She also had the temperament of a noble that had gone through a lot of training. The difference is her movements seemed practiced and calculated whereas the vampire's movements were natural as if his body was designed to walk that way.

The man gracefully sat down on the other side and his gaze alone made Edward tense up. ‘What a strong aura… only the king of Oshal made me feel so helpless and that man is a dual A grade mage, how powerful is this vampire to release such pressure?’

“Greeting King Edward Greentail and First Princess Emilia Silvermoon, My name is Damien Nightshade, 3rd in line to the throne.”

Both Edward and Emilia were stunned. He was easily the noblest person they had ever met yet he was a ruler over those creatures in the mountains? His voice was like a calm breeze that seemed uninterested in the boring affairs of the mortal world. How could this man be a vampire?

Edward quickly recovered and nodded to Damien “Welcome to Kassinki 3rd Prince Damien Nightshade, it's rather rare to meet a vampire in person so please ignore any difference in culture,” he said with a smile.

“I heard you are here looking for an explanation due to my daughter's negligence of your safety.”

Damien cast a glance at Emilia who blushed under his gaze. He then spoke with his calm voice.

“I have indeed, I will happily take Princess Emilia’s hand in marriage as compensation.”

Edward almost exploded with rage but managed to contain himself. He would never hand his daughter over for such a minor thing, especially to a vampire. Although this vampire has a better temper than the records suggest he is still a monster.

He put on his best business smile “That would be rather inconvenient Sir Nightshade… I could consider any other request but that one.”

Damien's calm and noble aura vanished. His smile turned into a slight frown, “King Edward I am a reasonable man but if I don’t receive something of equal value then I expect my proposal of marriage to be agreed upon.”

Edward was suffering under the fierce gaze of Damien but responded “Although I respect your position in both society and as a mage, I don’t believe you qualify for my daughter's hand in marriage. As the 3rd prince do you even have any political power in the Kazimir mountains? Why are you in the human realm in the first place?”

Damien tapped his chin in thought and replied, “My position in Kazimir is of no concern as the vampires will never be trade partners with the human realm even if I was to become its King. I found them to be vulgar and unintelligent creatures so I left for a better life, I have come to the human realm to teach magic.”

Edward frowned hearing that the vampires are still the same even after hundreds of years. ‘But the vampires only know blood magic? What could he possibly teach? Wait, didn't Emilia mention Luna Runes?’

“I know many things,” Damien said with a mysterious smirk as if he read his mind. “In fact, I would argue I know everything there is to know about magic.”

Edward scoffed, “A rather bold claim.”

Damien stood up and began walking towards Emilia. Edward gave him a confused glance but his eyes widened in horror “Guards stop him!”

Ten men in black appeared from thin air and rushed towards Damien with daggers. They all had B grades in various dagger and assassination arts. The area around Damien shuddered and warped for a second as a dense field of Psychic mana appeared.

The guards all met an invisible barrier that was impossible to get through. They tried to move but their bodies just stayed in place. They all felt Psychic mana take control of their clothes and start to invade their mana circuits, their own mana quickly defended against the attack but this man’s mana was very dense and pure!

Edward watched in horror as Damien placed his hand on Emilia's head and closed his eyes.

She let out a slight yelp and clutched her head in pain. After a few seconds, Damien opened his eyes, removed his hand, and went back to his seat, completely ignoring the guard's miserable attempts to hurt him.

“What did you-” Edward screamed at him but was quickly cut off by Emilia suddenly exclaiming “Oh my god, it's Luna enlightenment!” Her excitement was extreme and she was jumping up and down with joy.

“Father, I know how to get to the B grade in Luna magic now! It was always about the cycle of the moon, how did I never think of this before?”

Edward was baffled. What had just occurred?

Emilia suddenly ran up to Damien and gave him a bow “Please become my master!”

Edward quickly interjected, “Wait what happened, why?”

Emilia turned around to face her father “Dad he used telepathy and showed me the endless expanse of space, the cycles of the moon, how the sun used the moon as its messenger during the night. He even showed me the runes of B-grade spells and how to learn them! All in just a few seconds!”

Edward just sat there in a daze, ‘Since when was enlightenment so easy to pass on? How does he even have enlightenment for Luna magic?’

“Guards stop, Damien is an honoured guest!” Edward shamelessly proclaimed.

‘I need to tie this man down to the kingdom somehow, someone with this level of magical knowledge cannot be let go of so easily!’ He took a sideways glance at Emilia, and although she seemed excited he still refused to accept a marriage agreement, there had to be another way.

Suddenly the girl who had been silent the entire time that sat next to Damien spoke up, “Master, weren't we planning to head to Oshal soon? How can we stay here with this Princess?”

Damien grinned at Fay and nodded his head. “If a marriage is impossible I have little reason to stay here… Oshal offered me a much better deal.”

“Oh, what was the deal?” Edward asked cautiously.

“They offered me the position of Duke,” Damien said without a trace of deceit on his face.

Edward carefully thought over the offer. Giving the position of Duke was no small matter, It gave him villages, land, and most importantly the right to have a private military force.

He had some wasteland to the north with only a small farming village that was currently without a Duke, there was also a castle on an island in the middle of a lake in that territory. It has been abandoned for a long time but was likely still usable with some repairs.

With a slow nod, “I can also offer you the position of Duke here in Kassinki.” The land was practically worthless as it bordered the Kazimir mountains and was frequently plundered by vampires for blood slaves. The land was unusable for farming and there were no discovered mines in the area.

Emilia then said, “Will you be my teacher then?”

Fay interjected again “Master if we live so far away how can we travel here to teach her? Also considering we almost died on the way here, without guards we would be helpless!”

Damien nodded in agreement with Fay’s words.

Emilia was still on a high from the enlightenment and could think of nothing else than making Damien her teacher, she had been stuck in her magical studies for too long, she finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. If he was indeed to die while travelling to teach her it would be too tragic.

With great hesitation, she said, “I could give you the car… and some guards.”

Damien stood up and clapped his hands. “It's a deal!”

Both Edward and Emilia gave each other awkward smiles, did they just get scammed?