"Countess! Step aside! I’m going to teach this rebellious child a lesson today!" Count Dracula roared.
"If not listening to you makes me a rebellious child, then so be it! I will not surrender today, no matter what!" Jones roared back.
"How dare you speak to me like that!" Count Dracula extended his left hand, and crimson flames rose from his palm.
Dora, scared, quickly grabbed Jones’s hand, but he shook her off.
Flames also rose from Jones’s palm. He bellowed, "From today on, I will never lie again! Do whatever you want! Mother! Step aside!"
The Countess tried to approach Jones, but the dwarves all raised their weapons, causing her to step back and cling to Count Dracula instead.
"Dear, don’t do this! Don’t! He’s still young! It’s just a moment of..."
"Mother, I’m not young! I’ve been on countless battlefields! I know what I’m doing!"
"Can you shut up!" The Countess started crying. Count Dracula quickly supported her, glaring angrily at Jones.
"Sir, if you make a move, please believe, I will intervene."
"You can’t beat us, really. As a Hydra, I have basic judgment."
"I advise you to take the Countess and leave first. The little bat will be fine here. Maybe even better than you think."
"He’s an outstanding little bat, truly."
The nine heads of the Hydra spoke in unison.
The night breeze blew gently, swaying the branches and pressing the grass low.
The Countess sobbed as Count Dracula comforted her softly, still glaring at his son.
Jones, under the protection of the dwarves, stared back at his father.
Dora was tense to the extreme.
As for Susan, she stood there in complete shock, at a loss.
Both sides remained in a stalemate.
Adelle turned back and asked, "Should we go back and bring more people?"
"Young Master, we don’t even know who to help," the butler whispered in reply.
Finally, Count Dracula gave Jones one last look and said softly, "Countess, let’s go back."
"Okay." The tear-blurred Countess quickly nodded and glanced back at Jones, her eyes filled with helplessness and reluctance.
"Alright, Uncle." Susan quickly nodded.
At last, one side of the confrontation withdrew. The three turned into bats, flapping their wings as they slowly flew northeast. The Countess and Susan occasionally looked back, but Count Dracula never did.
Until their silhouettes disappeared into the horizon, Jones, as if all his strength had been drained, collapsed to the ground. The surrounding dwarves cheered instantly.
"Heavens! Can’t believe we are suddenly free! Hahaha!"
In the midst of the jubilation, Dora stood silently, helplessly watching Jones collapsed on the ground.
The nine heads of the Hydra slowly turned towards Jones.
Jones said softly, "Thank you, ma’am. Without you, I surely would have been taken away. And then, it would be like before, I would accomplish nothing."
"No need to thank me. Little bat, at least I know there really is a gold mine here, so he must be wrong. But you probably can’t go home for a while."
Looking at the night sky, Jones said somewhat blankly, "I won’t go back for now, there’s no point going back. I’ll go back when I’ve achieved something."
The tear stains on his cheeks had not yet dried.
A dwarf pushed his way in front of Jones and shouted, "Hey, let’s lift our lord up! Thank him for giving us freedom!"
Suddenly, the dwarves swarmed, lifting Jones onto their shoulders.
"No! Don’t! Alright!" Amidst the cheers, Jones finally smiled, though a bit reluctantly. Dora also smiled, standing silently beside him.
"Although I’ve given you freedom, I hope you won’t abandon me, after all, I still need you for the gold mine!"
"Of course! Not only that, we can let you delay salary payments! Hahaha, we all know you’re quite poor now!"
"Thank you! Thank you all!"
"It should be us thanking you!"
Who would have thought things would turn out this way?
Nobody expected it, but this is what happened.
The Hydra picked Jones up and tossed him back and forth in the air.
"Whoa—! Stop that! It’s terrifying!"
"Um, what should we do now?" Adelle asked.
"I don’t know either, Young Master," the butler replied, "It seems we are no longer needed."
"Should we go out and say hello to him?"
"I think it’s best if we don’t, Young Master. Nobody would be happy if others saw that just now."
"But I still have something to discuss with him."
"Maybe we can talk to him tomorrow."
"Alright." Adelle spread his hands helplessly, "Then we’ll talk to him tomorrow."
Adolf stood silently on a distant cliff, overlooking everything below.
"We can’t let the child stay with a Hydra forever, we have to find a way to bring him back home. Although he doesn’t seem to be in immediate danger."
"I know, but we can’t beat the Hydra."
"Maybe we can seek the Elder Council’s help."
"They won’t interfere in such matters. Besides, Jones is willing."
"So what should we do?"
"Let me think about it first."
In the night sky, three bats flew slowly.
The Countess was on the verge of tears, Count Dracula’s brows furrowed tightly. Susan flapped her wings, following behind them.
The Dwarf Village was still bustling with excitement, after all, something earth-shattering had just happened.
In the castle, it was quiet. Jones stood alone by the window, looking towards the Dwarf Village.
The blue moonlight quietly shone on him.
Dora stood cautiously by his side.
"Lord Jones, from now on, we can only rely on ourselves..."
"Haven’t we always been relying on ourselves?" Jones said softly, "Besides, who did Gray rely on? He didn’t have a father, and before he met me, didn’t even have a Guardian Angel, only a Bone Horse and a cat. Didn’t he still become the Lich King? And all Father wanted to help with, were things I didn’t want."
The enormous snake head appeared silently above Jones, its two eyes looking down.
Jones looked up at it.
"If you need any help, just say the word. I might not be able to help with other things, but if it’s a fight, I’ve never feared the Blood Clan."
"You can do it, little bat, come on. Turn this place into a thriving land. I can’t wait."
"Yes, ma’am. I will, ma’am."
The snake head quietly withdrew back into the darkness.
Jones and Dora remained standing silently, looking towards the Dwarf Village, watching the celebrations.
"A Lich can be a Holy Knight, a Lich can be a Saint, a hundred and fifty-year-old Lich can be the Lich King, why can’t I be a legendary Blood Clan Lord? Why can’t I become a member of the Bloodline Elder Council? Why must I conform to others instead of changing the world myself?" Jones gazed into the distance and said softly, "*All disasters stem from my timidity. If he can do it, I should be able to as well. If he is brave, I must not be cowardly. I should learn from him and move forward steadily. Instead of being like before, like a snot-nosed kid. Such a character can’t be the protagonist of any novel. I can’t lose to him, and I certainly can’t lose to my father. I need to change myself, I need... a new banner, a new life. The pain endured today is for the glory of tomorrow.*"