The week passed quicker than ever before. Ever since his conversation with Lucifer, Ashton was solely focused on getting stronger and as a result... there were frequent visits to the Black Market. Under a different guise, obviously. However, the exp he received for 'defeating' his opponents was minuscule and barely put a dent on his levels.
Ashton then thought of buying skills, but it was as useless as making Baiter admit to the absurdity of his name. For starters, it was difficult to find something that complimented his existing skillset as for the weapons... well there wasn't anything that attracted his attention.
Even the 'Grimoire' and Skill book Ashton had in his inventory were more or less useless to him. Mainly because he wasn't a creationist, thus he wasn't able to use the skill book for himself.
Secondly, the secrets inside the grimoire were hidden behind a condition. A condition which Ashton could call nothing but ridiculous. In order to open the grimoire in the first place, he needed to have at least 300 intelligence.
Even with Grim reaper's set on, his intelligence could only get to the 110 mark. Which meant... his plan of getting stronger using the resources available to him was a bust.
As days passed things had calmed down a bit in the academy. Ashton's team was making sure no one was doing something they shouldn't have. As for the interrogations were concerned, some professors had quite a few things to say.
While Ashton wasn't paying attention to the interrogations, most of the professors who he had seen smiling were evading his question. However, the moment he got serious about it, flood gates opened.
Names of multiple high ranking noble families came forward. Most prominent among them were the Gruntas and a few others. Their motive? To establish themselves as royalty by using the disarray in the higher society to their advantage.
To say that Jonathan wasn't pleased to hear all this crap would be an understatement. Yet, it seemed his bloodlust had died down a bit. The Gruntas were punished, but as for the professors of the academy, only the director or the council of representatives from the Five werewolf kingdoms could punish them.
As for Rose... she hadn't spoken a word to anyone. Not even Ashton. It seemed she was hiding something but wasn't going to tell anyone about what was going on inside her head.
All in all, things were getting a bit boring for him. However, there was one thing he had been looking forward to. The meeting with the unknown person. Ashton was more or less sure the director was dead. Even if she wasn't she would be on the verge of dying.
"Dead or not, I have to find her..."
***
At the same time on the opposite edge of the city, something weird was going on. The news of the director's disappearance had been made public so that anyone having any information regarding her could come forward.
No one came forward with any information, but instead, some troublemakers did. The fabled academy of Contingent had a sister academy. An academy where the heirs of small vampire kingdoms learned more about their own strengths.
Since they had a volatile relationship with the werewolves, and also that their day cycles were different, they hardly ever mingled with the rest of the city. There was also the fact that the vampires studying within the academy had everything readily available within their campus. From blood to weapons, everything.
However... some within the academy were there to do more than... study and grow. They were there to spy on their fellow werewolves and wait for an opportune moment to strike.
You see, despite agreeing to remain peaceful with each other, both the werewolves and the vampires had grudges they couldn't let go of. Grudges that had ruined countless families and friendships.
One such person was standing in the middle of a dark room, surrounded by seven holographic screens. Each screen was showing the shadow of a person, but their faces were hidden.
"I assume your plans failed... Countess Camila." A voice echoed in the darkroom, "I had high hopes for this... plan of yours. But alas... I was being too optimistic."
"Enough of your crying Vritra." Another holographic person sighed, "Let the countess speak for herself. We can reserve our judgement for later."
"There's no need to protect me, Lady Zara." The white-haired lady standing in the middle boldly stated, "My plan to ruin the werewolf academy failed and therefore it's only fair that I face the consequences."
"As much as you want us to hold you accountable, it simply isn't in our interest to do such a thing." yet another masculine voice was heard in the chamber, "If anything, it would only deter us from finding a way to get rid of those rabid bastards."
"I don't think that would be possible anymore." Camilla responded, "At least not in a sneaky way. Our alliance with the conundrum helped us a lot. They gave us the information we could never imagine getting our hands on... but that's all they could do for us."
"What do you mean?" Zara asked the countess.
"Before taking down all of the empires, we need to take over Lycania and I'm afraid we won't be able to do so without engaging in an all-out war. Ever since the Conundrum's betrayal, Jonathan has been carefully eliminating anyone that could potentially have a link with us."
Camilla continued, "I'm afraid he already knows more about us than we know about him. If we don't attack him now, he'll come at us with full force. He could even persuade a couple of other kingdoms to join in destroying Vania."
For the next couple of minutes, no one spoke. All of them were busy reflecting on the problem by themselves. Then someone seemingly of higher standing than all of them spoke up.
"waging a war without a proper reason might enrage the overlord. If that happened... he wouldn't hesitate in killing us all to reinforce his decision of peace with the other races." The man spoke in a hoarse voice, "But if... a werewolf was to kill his nephew studying in the academy... then even he wouldn't disagree waging a war."