Chapter 122: Simply a Forced Marriage

Chutian gritted his teeth as he stared at Dracula, thinking to himself: Damn it, I've spent my whole life conning people, only to be played by this old geezer today!

Although Dracula had lost his power, he had still tricked Chutian into signing a marriage agreement. How could this not infuriate Chutian? Gradually, Chutian’s hand drifted toward the hilt of the Blade of Judgment. Since Dracula was just an ordinary person now, what was there to fear?

However, Chutian quickly lowered his hand, as a thought occurred to him. "Hehe, is Mr. Dracula joking? For someone like you, pulling me out of the void couldn't possibly exhaust all your power. Besides, without any power, how are you maintaining a human form?"

"You are clever!" Dracula nodded in approval. "If you had made a move to harm me just now, you would already be a dead man!" With that, Dracula raised one hand and said proudly, "Even without any power, my martial techniques alone are enough to kill you!"

"I understand!" Chutian said, driving the Blade of Judgment into the ground to show he had no ill intent. A powerhouse's strength consisted of four parts: raw power, magical pets, speed, and technique. Dracula might lack power, speed, and perhaps even a magical pet, but the combat skills he had accumulated over his tens of thousands of years of life were definitely not something a magic idiot like Chutian could handle.

Dracula continued, "I saw Asino recently. He mentioned he was looking for Mackenzie on your behalf, and he told me about your situation."

"Hehe, I heard Asino even had a fight with you?" Chutian deliberately brought up his cheap thug, hinting to Dracula: My thug is stronger than you, so don't get any wicked ideas about giving me a hard time, otherwise...

"Indeed, I lost to Asino back then." Dracula certainly understood Chutian's implication, but he smiled with disdain. "Hahaha, Asino still doesn't know. Back then, I didn't use my full strength!"

"Ah?" Chutian was momentarily stunned.

"Sigh!" Dracula sighed, then pointed at the Blade of Judgment. "Before the duel with Asino, three-tenths of my power was drained by this blade. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lost."

"It drained your power?" Chutian frowned. "In my hands, the Blade of Judgment only provides me with power! And then makes me go berserk! What is the meaning of this?"

"First it makes the wielder berserk, and then it drains their power. I went through the exact same thing back then!" Dracula looked at Chutian strangely. "Though I don't know why, I can tell you that this blade has likely already begun draining your power!"

Chutian nodded blankly. The sudden disappearance of his Dragon language magic was probably the handiwork of the Blade of Judgment! "What should I do now? Should I throw this sword away?"

"I have no idea!" Dracula shrugged, shaking his head. "I studied this blade for a thousand years and never figured out its secret! Instead, it drained my power for a thousand years!" With a deep sigh of profound emotion, Dracula added, "Sigh! And now, the master of this blade is a good-for-nothing like you. It truly brings shame to its previous masters!"

Chutian was speechless. It seemed a great many people had taken to calling him a good-for-nothing...

"What, you unconvinced?" Dracula seemed to be reminiscing about his past glory. "Back in the day, when this blade was in the hands of the God of Judgment, I don't know how many rebellious gods were slain by it. The Blade of Judgment, hmph! It was originally created to judge the life and death of gods!"

Chutian clicked his tongue. Damn it, the origins of this demonic blade were indeed arrogant!

"When it was in my hands back then, through its berserk state, I even managed to escape with my life from Powell," Dracula said with a hint of complacency. "Asino could certainly never achieve that!"

What was there to brag about there? Chutian rolled his eyes. If escaping with one's life was considered a badge of honor, Dracula didn't have very lofty ambitions.

"Hmph! What do you know?!" Sensing Chutian's disdain, Dracula snapped angrily, "Across this entire continent, the maximum number of people capable of escaping from Powell with their lives is three—Mackenzie, Rashid, and myself!"

"Even Mackenzie can't beat Powell?" Chutian's eyes narrowed. Powell, that King of the Sea Monsters, was definitely a big catch. Heh, if he could ever manage to establish a connection with him...

"Never mind Mackenzie, even..." Dracula abruptly stopped himself. "Vladino, let's get down to business."

With that, Dracula produced the marriage agreement, waved it in front of Chutian, and said, "Now, I'll tell you why I want you to marry Julia!"

"Please go ahead!" Chutian wore a half-smile, assuming an expression of eager attention.

"Julia doesn't know yet, but just like me, she is not human! She belongs to the vampire bat clan!" Dracula said. "She and Locke are the offspring of myself and a human woman. However, Locke inherited his grandmother's bloodline and is a normal human, whereas Julia inherited my bloodline!"

A female vampire beauty? Chutian conjured an image of Julia's future appearance in his mind. "So what?" As a medical professional, he made a professional association: a vampire had married a human, and through genetic recombination, one child inherited the grandmother's genes while the other inherited the grandfather's. But what did that have to do with forcing a marriage?

"Locke can be left in peace to live as an ordinary person. Julia, however, is different." Dracula's expression turned solemn as he said, "I am going to duel someone. If I lose, our entire vampire bat clan will become slaves to that person!"

"If you lose, Locke being human won't matter, but Julia would also become a slave," Chutian picked up the thread. "If Julia becomes my wife, she will no longer be considered a member of your clan, but a member of my House of Vladino. In that case, win or lose in your duel, Julia will not become a slave!"

"Exactly!" Dracula nodded approvingly. "That is why I must marry Julia off!"

"Just now you said you have completely lost your power..." Chutian stared at Dracula. "Then why go through with the duel?" He then added, "And why did your power disappear in the first place?"

"That is none of your business!" Dracula replied coldly, shaking his head. "You only need to know that you owe me your life, and now I require you to repay it through Julia!"

"Fine, I won't ask!" Chutian shrugged indifferently, then asked, "Mr. Dracula, I am already engaged to Princess Selina of the Caesar Empire." He paused awkwardly. "If I am to marry Julia, I'm afraid His Majesty Luddi III won't agree! This... hehe, can you give me a reason to convince His Majesty?" Obviously, young master Chu was about to start extorting someone again.

However, Dracula didn't fall for Chutian's routine. Pulling a long face, he said, "You just need to tell him that Julia is the granddaughter of a Tier Ten magical beast!"

Julia was Dracula's descendant. Although she was currently only a Tier Two professional, sooner or later the bloodline within her would awaken. By then, the Caesar Empire would effectively possess a Tier Ten magical beast! That alone was enough to convince Luddi III.

"One last question. Why did you choose to marry Julia to me? Wouldn't anyone else do? Besides, in the eyes of a Tier Ten magical beast like you, I'm just an insignificant human who is completely unworthy of a Tier Ten descendant like Julia."

"Heh heh!" Dracula let out a strange laugh and uttered something incomprehensible. "If you were merely a humble human, I would never have used my final strength to save you. Furthermore, even if I had to kill Julia with my own hands, I would never marry her to you!"

***

The next day, in front of Locke and Julia, Dracula announced the marriage between Chutian and Julia. Then, telling his grandchildren that he was going to visit an old friend, he departed.

At the westernmost edge of the continent, in Potter Town of the Grand Duchy of Rohl, the Steel Roar Mercenary Corps was in the midst of a mission.

"Julia, Andy, hurry up!" Locke excitedly called out to Chutian and Julia. "Once we finish this mission, our mercenary corps can upgrade to Tier Two!"

"All right, Brother, we're almost done moving them." Hugging a large box, Julia hurried along behind Locke. Moving cargo—this was the sort of mission a Tier One mercenary corps like Steel Roar was restricted to taking!

The siblings worked enthusiastically, while Chutian followed behind in low spirits, eyeing Julia, who hovered somewhere between a woman and a girl. Having inexplicably acquired a future Tier Ten magical beast as a wife left young master Chu feeling both amused and exasperated.

Although the Caesar Empire had issued a continent-wide proclamation requesting nations to search for Chutian's whereabouts while guaranteeing his safety, Chutian certainly didn't dare walk straight up to the King of the Grand Duchy of Rohl and announce that he was His Highness Vladino.

The hunt for Vladino across the continent was only intensifying. Bounty missions for Chutian were even displayed brazenly on the notice boards of the Mercenary Guild. And while the Caesar Empire wanted to put a stop to it, they were powerless to interfere with affairs on the opposite side of the continent and the operations of mercenary organizations.

Under these circumstances, Chutian wondered whether walking in to see the King of the Grand Duchy of Rohl would result in him being treated as an honored guest and escorted back to Caesar, or treated as mere prey to claim a bounty.

"Hey! What are you staring at?" Locke noticed Chutian's fixed gaze on Julia and snapped angrily, "Kid, even if Grandpa agreed to marry Julia to you, I certainly haven't!"

"Stop talking!" Julia blushed and pulled Locke back. "Brother, let's hurry to the guild and turn in our mission!" With that, Julia dragged Locke away from Chutian's side.

Inside the Mercenary Guild of Potter Town, Locke stared with glowing eyes as the emblem on his mercenary badge shifted from a single small sword to two. He slapped the counter and demanded of the elderly mercenary clerk on duty, "Hey, what kind of mission pays the most right now?"

Lately, the Steel Roar Mercenary Corps had taken on quite a few jobs, but they were all the lowest-tier chores like guarding estates or finding lost children. As a result, despite working hard for half a month, the three of them had only earned a single gold coin! Thus, as the leader, Locke dreamed of landing a lucrative mission.

"There are plenty of well-paying missions," the old mercenary didn't even look up at Locke. "Your mercenary corps' rank is too low to take them!"

"Huh?" The old mercenary suddenly froze. Pulling out a magic scroll, he sized up Chutian and muttered to himself, "He looks rather familiar..."

Damn it, trouble was brewing. Chutian's guard went up instantly, because the magic scroll in the old mercenary's hand was flickering with Chutian's magical projected image!