Legacy World 4.22 I'll Be Good Now

"Hold up, are you really Lord Vlad? What's with the way you're behaving? You're creeping me out." Raven said with a slightly disturbed look on her face.

He frowned and looked at her sharply. "Got a problem?"

Raven relaxed now that he was speaking in the familiar ice cold tone. "I wouldn't have one if you gave me your title of demon lord as well. Why would I only want your duties?"

"You can have it for all I care." He said dismissively, then turned his attention back on Vanora.

"You'd have to die." She raised an eyebrow as she stated the obvious.

"Feel free to try." He casually remarked while placing his arm around Vanora's shoulders, but he found his arm going through air instead. Vanora had disappeared from her spot, faster than anyone could blink. He turned around and found Raven entangled with Vanora a safe distance away from him. Anger bubbled up inside him. The whites of his eyes to turned black. She dared to insult him by stealing his girl from right under his nose. She also had her dirty paws all over Vanora.

Raven stood behind Vanora like she was holding Vanora hostage. Her right hand framed Vanora's face and tilted her face towards hers. Her left arm circled around Vanora's waist. /So she's the reason behind Lord Vlad's recent behaviour./

"Let. Her. Go." The slow command that was filled with the threat of death interrupted her time with Vanora. Her body involuntarily obliged. She had barely gotten to to study Vanora's face. What surprised her more was that this was the first time Vlad used this power on her. She never did anything that warranted it, that was until now. She had underestimated the significance of this girl.

/Shi-/ Before she could properly form a thought, she received a punch to her gut, then to her face. Teeth flew out. She skidded across the ground and coughed up blood. Her cheek swelled up fast. She looked up to find Vlad staring down at her with a look that could kill. /This aura... I can't move. He has grown stronger!/

"I'm only sparing your life this time because we're long time acquaintances. Try this again and you'll lose your sorry life." 

Vlad wrapped his arm around Vanora's shoulder like he had intended to from the beginning, then faded from sight. At the same time, the colours and hell beings returned to the surroundings. The hell beings around Raven jumped away in shock, forming a clear circle around her. They gawked at the bloody and sorry state she was in. How did the vampire whom they witnessed thrashing angels after angels just a moment earlier, get so badly injured? Who did it? Was it friend or foe? However, no one dared to approach her, much less ask, for she was known to be unfriendly and hostile.

/I really fucked up. I overstepped my boundaries this time./ Raven thought to herself sullenly.

Just as she thought of leaving, a devilishly attractive succubus fearlessly went up to her.

"I heard someone mention Lord Vlad's name earlier. Is there any news of him?" Her big and bright hopeful eyes were well framed with thick and lush lashes. However, her looks did not help her case with Raven.

/It's that desperate fool./ Raven was not afraid to show her thoughts on her face. For as long as she could remember this succubus, she was always hanging around Vlad or staying in his vicinity. Her goal was clear for anyone to see. Even Vlad would have been able to tell, if only he paid her any attention. Knowing Vlad, it was mere wishful thinking on the succubus' part, especially now that he had that hell fire girl by his side.

Raven got up then headed away from the crowd.

"Raven?" The succubus prompted again.

"I don't know." She replied curtly.

"You didn't ask them about Lord Vlad?" Disappointment was clear in her voice.

Raven's veins bulged and she clenched her jaw. /She's useful in this war. She's still useful. Don't kill her./

"Then who were they?"

"I don't know." This time, the restraint Raven showed was obvious enough for the surrounding hell beings to take a step or more back.

"How could you not know?"

When Raven did not reply anymore, the succubus frowned. Thinking that something was fishy and that Raven could be hiding something, she hounded Raven. "It was them who made you like this, right? They must be really strong. They could be connected to Lord Vlad in some way, you know?" Understanding that this was a provocation, the hell beings took another step back. The succubus' love and obsession with Vlad made her blind and reckless. However, her questions were to their benefit. So, they eagerly watched on for entertainment.

Raven glared at her and her hand flew to the succubus' throat too fast for her to react. A thin red line stretched across the succubus' neck and a trickle of blood left the wound. "Watch your mouth. Know your place." When the succubus failed to respond, Raven further threatened, "Or do you want your face rearranged?"

The succubus' senses returned to her and she shook her head.

Raven peeled her eyes away from the succubus. She would love to teach her a lesson and vent her anger, but it would be wiser to leave that for after the holy war. With how temperamental and volatile Vlad was, he could abandon the war again. After a few steps into the cluster of trees, Raven disappeared into the shadows.

After Raven disappeared from sight, the succubus openly sulked. She lost her only lead. Vlad was her ideal man. Her dream guy. Her Prince Charming. She sorely missed his presence. Whenever he was around, her eyes would only follow him. When he was absent, he seemed to take the colours of the world away with him. No amount of attention showered on her by some other guy, hell being or human, could give her the same feeling. No amount of being loved, affectionately or passionately, could stop her from fantasizing about being in Vlad's arms instead. She just had to have him. 

Meanwhile, Vanora was back in the bathroom of the inn, while Vlad was temporarily away from the establishment like usual. BaoBao had always updated her of Vlad's whereabouts, so she knew that Vlad had been sourcing her clothes and food elsewhere. However, that was all she knew, even after so long.

Recalling the way Raven held her made her hair stand on its ends. She rubbed her arms to calm herself down. /That was faaaar too close for comfort. Who'd have expected that?/

[Vanora, I'm a little concerned about something...]

/What is it, BaoBao?/

[If I predict future events according to your assumption that events in the book WILL happen, one way or another... With the way things are going now, wouldn't Raven and Rosa clash with you instead of Angela?]

/He could still be avoiding the area wherever Angela is fighting at. After all, we haven't met her, right?/

[Ah! That's true. So you're saying the plot will still progress as it is?]

/Mm./

[Alright then!] BaoBao decided to trust in Vanora's judgement. [But... Please, still be wary, okay?] He still could not shake off the feeling that his predictions gave him.

Vanora smiled forlornly. The way BaoBao trusted her but still worried about her reminded Vanora of her family. /I will./

Vanora got out of the bath and got dressed in the fresh new clothes provided for her. While they ate, it was decided that they would continue the day without sleep. It required some pushing from Vanora. Vlad eventually gave in because of her recent good behaviour. Vanora suspected that there was also another factor at play. Even though she was not looking at him, he was within her peripheral vision, so she caught him fidgeting every now and then as though he was uncomfortable. This has been going on from the moment they returned to the inn. 

When she was almost done eating, he finally opened up his mouth to ask her sheepishly, "Are you not going to say anything about me being the Lord Vlad I told you about?"

"What's there to say?" She replied flatly.

"Isn't it lame and disappointing that someone like me turned out to be the mighty cold and menacing Lord Vlad?" He smiled wryly. 

"Yeah, you're lame alright. Disappointing too." She replied dispassionately. However, it was enough of a blow for Vlad. His heart dropped. His face fell. He had never been bothered by what others thought of him. It was simply easier for him to act according to their wishes and expectations, than have everyone question if he was sound in his mind and answer all the other speculations they would have. It was also fun to be able to do whatever he wanted under a disguise. He never knew that he could feel as insecure as he did in this very moment. He did not even have the presence of mind now to reflect on why her opinion of him mattered so much. 

Vanora peeked at his crestfallen expression. She grinned a little, then let out a very short and soft laughter that made Vlad wonder if he had hallucinated it. She quickly recovered her flat expression before elaborating, "It's lame of you to toot your own horn."

He recalled the times when he praised "Lord Vlad" to the high heavens and his face turned bright red.

"It's disappointing to know that I'm serving a highly irresponsible demon lord. I wonder if life will be chaotic in the future when the war is over." She pretended to sigh lightly.

He sat up straight as he declared his newfound diligence to Vanora. "Then I'll be as diligent as you are from now on! Don't you worry!"

"Oh? How do you intend to do so?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I'll obediently handle all the administration every morning and lead the army from noon on." He answered seriously.

"Which persona are you going to use to lead the hell beings? As 'Derek'?"

"No longer!" He frowned and pouted. "Enough with 'Derek'. I want to hear your sweet voice calling out my name instead."

[PFFT.] BaoBao barely held back his laugh.

Vanora did not know what was laughable about what Vlad said. To her, his answer was a confirmation that the plot was reverting back to normal where he would lead the army as himself and not as Derek.

"So, Lord Vlad, now that I'm done, shall we get a move on?"

Vlad grinned with satisfaction. He really liked it that she was addressing him by his real name now. "Drop the Lord. Just call me Vlad. Also, since we're on the topic of recovering my identity..." His black hair started turning butter blonde and his red eyes became so black that it was difficult differentiate his pupils from his irises. "This is how I really look." 

Vanora blinked twice, unsure about how she should react to it.

[It's only a change of colours! He doesn't look that much different! Since we had to identify him based off the description of a book, I get it if WE didn't recognise him when we first saw him. But how did the people who know him fail to recognise him?]

/Maybe they never really dared to look at him closely when he shows himself as the demon lord. Also, it may be the drastic difference in the way he behaves as 'Derek' that drives others to believe that he "can't be" their demon lord./

[Emotions clouded their perception and judgement?]

/You could say that./

"Vanora? Do you not like how I look?" Vlad prompted.

Vanora realised that she had gotten distracted from reacting to him. "It's fine either way." She added a shrug. She could not help but act a little kinder with how strangely unconfident he sounded.

Vlad smiled wryly. He should have known better than to expect some form of reaction, much less gushing, from Vanora. "I was thinking that I can start on my work immediately. You can nap while waiting for me to be done. Is that alright?"

She did not see anything wrong with the idea, so she agreed to it. If it was any other day, however, she would have to think twice. It would mean wasting time doing nothing, while waiting for him to be done.

He approached Vanora, then circled his arm around her waist, taking his liberties with her as usual. It happened so many times that even BaoBao started to overlook it.