Heki Stone, of all people, suddenly started calling himself the Dwarven King.

Something felt off to Ambrose. He hurriedly tried to scroll back through the chat history, but the Necromantic Codex only stored a pitifully small log. No matter how he tried to access the chat history, all he could see was Heki Stone's endless brags. Even by the time he reached the very limit of the storage, he still had no idea how this vampire had turned into the Dwarven King.

Left with no choice, Ambrose sent a message into the chat. [Megaman Tiga: What happened? Didn't I send you back to renegotiate with the Dwarf King? Did you start a rebellion?]

[Human-Hater: A rebellion? Would I need to resort to something so crude? A true intellectual needs no violence to take a kingdom. One need only tug gently at the threads of fate, and everything will fall into place. A lich who buries his head in experiments like you would never understand.]

Wow. What a smug tone. Dwarven vampires seemed absolutely graceless.

[Dullahan's Crown: Don't go asking about it anymore, Tiga. This guy's been showing off all day already. Don't let him keep doing it!]

That reaction only made Ambrose more curious. Just how had Heki Stone swallowed an entire kingdom whole? That might be something worth learning.

After thinking for a moment, Ambrose asked in a deliberately inquisitive tone: [Megaman Tiga: So what incredible method did you use to make the Dwarven King abdicate? You didn't… bite him and turn him into your blood thrall, did you?]

He meant it as a throwaway guess, but the chat went dead silent.

[Megaman Tiga: Hello? Why did everyone stop talking?]

[Human-Hater: How'd you guess?]

[Megaman Tiga: …]

[Dullahan's Crown: What? How'd you nail it on the first try? We spent forever trying to guess it…]

[Pale Little Skeleton: You're making us look really foolish!]

[Megaman Tiga: …]

An awkward hush settled over the group. Ambrose felt like he'd just ruined the mood, not only by interrupting Heki Stone's grandstanding but also making everyone else painfully embarrassed.

In hindsight, he supposed it was obvious. But who would have thought this vampire would be bold enough to bite the Dwarven King? Even if he was a legendary powerhouse, the king's guards alone could have nailed him to a wall a hundred times over.

And besides, even if the Dwarf King had been bitten, the affliction wasn't incurable.

A vampire's bite was no untreatable curse. It would be troublesome to deal with, yes, but not impossible. Even if the Dwarven King were turned into a blood thrall, breaking free would not have been especially difficult.

Given all these restrictions, no one had considered this possibility seriously.

Even Ambrose had only said it as an offhand remark.

Yet Heki Stone had, somehow, actually done it.

That was genuinely absurd. Burning with curiosity, Ambrose quickly asked, [Megaman Tiga: I was just guessing and got lucky. But after you bit him, how did you survive? The Dwarven King didn't nail you to a cross and leave you in the sun?]

Ambrose's lucky guess punctured Heki Stone's swagger. He dropped the act and explained, [Human-Hater: He volunteered. I returned with news of Hoffmann Ironfist's death and found the Dwarf King already at death's door…]

The Dwarven King's health had been terrible ever since the Lyon Empire began attacking the kingdom in earnest. He spent most of his days asleep, and when he was awake, he flew into uncontrollable rages that left him barely capable of handling state affairs. That was why Hoffmann Ironfist had taken full control, and all governance had fallen to him.

For all that the Dwarven King cursed Hoffmann Ironfist as useless, he knew perfectly well that the kingdom was only still standing because of him.

When he heard that Hoffmann Ironfist had died unexpectedly, the Dwarf King did not even have time to ask who had killed him before he spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

Heki Stone was stunned. He rushed forward to check on the king.

Perhaps because of the Dwarven King's violent rages, Heki Stone managed to walk right up to him without obstruction. The attendants at his side showed no reaction at all. They did not even try to tend to the king. Just like that, Heki Stone found himself face-to-face with the Dwarven King.

Stimulated by the scent of fresh blood, Heki Stone's eyes reddened, and his fangs slipped out despite himself.

No one knew what the Dwarven King was thinking, but he suddenly grabbed Heki Stone and, with the last of his strength, said, "Bite me. Turn me into a vampire."

Heki Stone did not dare agree at first. Turning the Dwarven King into a vampire would mean certain death if it were discovered. But the Dwarven King held onto him with a death grip, looking as though he would die aggrieved if Heki Stone refused.

Only then did Heki Stone realize he had no way out. If the Dwarven King died, all responsibility would fall on him. Had the kingdom been stable, he might have had a chance to plead his case. But now, with the realm on the brink, no one would give him that opportunity. He would naturally become a scapegoat. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

After a few seconds of hesitation, Hekki Stone bit into the Dwarven King's neck. After taking two mouthfuls of blood, he slit his own wrist and poured vampire blood into the king's mouth.

The ritual of vampiric transformation was that simple. Exchange blood and establish a blood pact, and a new vampire would be born.

The effect was immediate. Once transformed, the Dwarven King regained his vitality at once. His bodily ailments vanished without a trace.

He wasted no time. He began to drink deeply from the nearby attendants, ordering Heki Stone to join him and slaughter every living servant in the room.

After he had drunk his fill, the Dwarven King completely shook off his grave illness and looked positively invigorated.

"It has been a long time since I stood on my own strength," he said to Heki Stone. "This feels very good."

Then, he told Heki Stone to clean up the aftermath.

[Human-Hater: The attendants' deaths were trivial to deal with. The real problem is the Dwarven King. I don't know what kind of backlash will result now that he's a vampire, but now that he's my blood progeny, we're on the same side. I'm basically the Dwarven King myself.]

After reading all this, Ambrose asked curiously, [Megaman Tiga: A blood thrall is also immortal. Why turn him into a vampire instead? Wouldn't it be better to enslave him directly?]

There was a huge difference between a blood thrall and a vampire. The former could never escape their master's control. The latter were more like artificially cultivated blood kin: still influenced by innate affinity, but far more independent. Vampires were individuals in their own right.

[Human-Hater: I wanted to, but in the end I didn't dare. Like you said, a vampire's bite can be cured. Turning him into a blood thrall would only allow me to control him temporarily. If he found an opening and broke free, I'd be dead. Making him a true vampire lowers the odds of betrayal, unless he wants to go back to being a terminally ill dwarf waiting to die.]

Ambrose was speechless. In the end, it all came down to a lack of nerve.

Heki Stone had passed up an incredible opportunity.

Still, that was his choice. Ambrose had no intention of passing judgment. He simply pressed on. [Megaman Tiga: Then the terms of the negotiations we decided on will still be valid, right?]

[Human-Hater: Of course. The elves abandoning all territory is already the best possible outcome for the dwarves. Hoffmann is gone, but the Dwarven King has regained his lucidity and has agreed to your conditions. In a couple of days, he will personally come to sign the armistice.]

At least that was good news. As long as the peace talks succeeded, everything would be worth it.

As for whether the Dwarven King would later silence Heki Stone for good…

That thought made Ambrose quickly give Heki Stone a warning. [Megaman Tiga: Even if the bite makes him fond of you, someone like that could kill his own wife without blinking. Be careful. Don't get yourself killed.]

[Human-Hater: Relax, I'm well aware. I've already gone home. You know, I just finished excavating a massive underground city. It's a labyrinth down here. Killing me won't be easy. I've also prepared several teleportation circles. In a pinch, I'll jump straight to the other side of the continent and vanish completely.]

A cowardly vampire, indeed. Heki Stone was nothing if not thorough.

With that settled, Ambrose quickly messaged Alabastra, explaining Geronimo's situation and asking how much the dragonkin might be willing to pay for this mutated dragonborn.

The result disappointed him.

[Pale Little Skeleton: I doubt anyone would be willing to pay for that half-dragon. At the end of the day, he's not a true dragon.]

[Megaman Tiga: But he can transform into a giant dragon, and his legendary boon is extremely special.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: Plenty of beings can turn into dragons. Just because druids can do so doesn't make them our kin. Besides, do you think we dragons lack for legends? From what you described, his boon might even go out of control, and it's contagious. I guarantee no one will want that. In the end, we dragons only care about true dragons. How is this mutated freak any different from a kobold sorcerer?"

It was a ruthless answer difficult to argue with.

There were indeed countless hybrids carrying dragon blood. Dragons usually only bothered to breed, not raise their young. Geronimo was nothing but a blasphemous aberration in their eyes. If not for his tenuous connection to the Dragon Queen, Alabastra would probably have told Ambrose to crush him outright.

That made things awkward. He had even planned to sell Geronimo to the dragonkin first, but they wanted nothing to do with him. It had all been Ambrose's own wishful thinking.

That left only two options. If even the Goddess Shara turned up her nose at him, then he would have no choice but to sell him to Lyon.

"Hey, I didn't want to break my word. The dragons just don't want you."