CHAPTER 131: FOUNDING OF ‘OPHIUCHUS’ (1)

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-The Next Day-

Delia ran off to her Dorm room after she and Caius shared a kiss yesterday. She glared at him as she ran, but most of her anger seemed directed inward. She couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to be so swept up in the moment.

Caius had smiled at that and then visited Arlette. Or at least he had tried to visit Arlette but she wasn’t in her office. She must have been in her Private Residence on the Academy grounds and, without the luxury of a Portal Gate to make the journey, and with the Hellsingers already around to ferry him home, he had left her be.

But he hoped today would be different.

The Entourage of Carriages stopped at the Lochxen Gates and Caius stepped out of the one he was in to walk into the Academy grounds on a weekend for the first time. He walked to Arlette’s office door and gave it a few knocks.

It clicked and swung open inward, causing Caius to breathe a sigh of relief as he walked in with a light smile on his face.

He closed the door behind himself and leaned against it as he studied Arlette’s face. She was sitting on the edge of her desk, her arms folded beneath her breasts and her eyes on the door like she had been eyeing it, waiting for his arrival.

"You’re here," she said.

"I am," Caius said, "We should get going now. We have quite a way to go."

"Where exactly are we headed?" Arlette asked. It was a question she should have asked before now.

The day Caius had told her about this journey they would be taking, she had been too wrapped up in her sheer disbelief of the idea and then she had been swept up by the kiss they shared and the things that followed. And yesterday, she simply hadn’t been sure she even wanted to know.

"The Leopold Estate in the Acheron Capital," Caius said.

Arlette’s eyes widened a bit and then they returned to normal before her brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed.

"The Leopold Family?" she said, "The Merchant Nobles? They founded ’Ophiuchus’?"

Caius smiled lightly.

"Do you doubt it?" He asked.

"Yes," Arlette answered immediately.

"Why? They don’t seem like the type?" Caius asked.

Arlette raised her shoulder and let them drop as though to say, ’Well, yeah’.

"Give it a bit more thought," Caius said with an encouraging wave of his hand.

It wasn’t that the Leopolds were too small to warrant such a possibly dark secret. It was slightly the opposite in fact. They were too big a name. They commanded almost every single Merchant Trade in the Acheron Capital and thus controlled most of the Merchant Trade in the entire Empire.

The contributions they had made to the Imperial Family had been so massive that they essentially bought themselves the Title of Duke with the land and renown to go with it. Still, they opted to stay in the Capital, seemingly content with simultaneously dedicating their time to expanding their already flourishing business.

They were still awarded an incredible amount of Land of course and while they couldn’t be granted a Duchy within the Capital—as the entire territory was to remain under the exclusive command of the Imperial Family—they still amassed a sizable Martial force. The force helped them maintain their businesses.

And who needs taxes when you take in so many millions from businesses?

"Huh," Arlette said as she tapped her fingers against her arms.

The more she thought of it, the less ’ridiculous’ she found the idea to be and the more she saw it having true merit.

Soon, she could see just how ’Ophiuchus’ tied into the Leopolds’ Mercantile hold. Away from the illustrious name and buried so deep underground, the Criminal Organization could serve the Leopold Family’s interest in many indirect ways. With all the tasks she had undertaken for ’Ophiuchus’, Arlette had become privy to some inner dealings of nobility. Just imagine how much the Leopolds had and how much they had used that to their advantage.

Thanks to ’Ophiuchus’, there were likely so many Noble houses commanding massive territories—the right to which they had exempted themselves from when they decided to remain in the capital—that the Leopolds could have under their thumb.

...

Leaving his Storage ring behind in Arlette’s Private Residence so the tracking on it would continue to show he was still within the Lochxen Academy grounds, Caius was now seated beside Arlette as she drove her Carriage out of a Gate only available to Professors and was soon on the road and traveling into the Acheron Capital proper. Their destination, as Caius had said, was the Leopold Estate.

Caius had of course known she had a carriage of her own. The thought of doing any of this would have been pointless without it.

As she drove, Caius told Arlette all she’d like to know. I.e exactly how ’Ophiuchus’ came to be.

Many, many, many centuries ago, the Leopold Family was led by a man named Kerwin who was obsessed with Magical Enlightenment. With the considerable wealth their family possessed at the time—humble compared to what they had now—he believed he could do what no one had ever been recorded to have done in the history of human or even humanoid existence; Reach the Twelfth Circle.

The Twelfth Circle had so eluded even the greatest of geniuses that many were soon believing it was a Myth. The thing was, everyone who did reach the Eleventh Circle was sure there was something beyond it. Sure, a lot of them believed it had to be power reserved for the gods, but still they believed it existed. They refused to admit they had reached the zenith.

Kerwin was still at the Eighth Circle when he neared the end of his lifespan. A good Four Levels away from the mythical peak he was targeting and there was really no chance he’d get there.

Advancing to a Magic Circle increases one’s lifespan and grants you a second wind to try for the next breakthrough but Kerwin was still far from even touching the barrier to the Ninth Circle.

So he sought an alternative to grant him the time he needed to achieve his goal. He found one with Vampirism and it took quite a bit of work and months off the rest of his lifespan to actually draw the attention of a Vampire that he could speak with and request to be turned.

In return for the immortal gift he was asking for, Kerwin offered up the entirety of the Leopold Family. What the Vampire would do with it was apparently not any of his concern so long as he was turned and made immortal.

The Vampire accepted the offer with red eyes gleaming and turned Kerwin so he now had the leader of the Leopold Family under his command as his spawn.

Alas, before there was even a calm to follow the completion of the turning, their hideout was ambushed by none other than the Mages of the Leopold Family. The Vampire Creator called Kerwin to help him fend off the multitude of attacks and, as a spawn, the head of the Leopold Family could not resist the order.

But he didn’t have to.

He was held down by multiple Mages and kept out of the fight long enough for his Vampire Creator to be killed.

In his final moments, watching as his new Spawn was simply held down and not killed as he was, the Vampire realized he had been tricked. Kerwin never intended to keep his end of the bargain and give the Leopold Family up.

This was always meant to be a double cross and biting his tongue at how foolish he was to be tricked, he breathed his last. His advantages as a Vampire were useless in the face of such sheer numbers and prior planning.

From that moment on, Kerwin Leopold was a Vampire without a creator.

With no strings to tie him to the agenda and orders of another, he now had eternity to do what no one had been able to; Reach the very peak of Magical Enlightenment.