Chapter 105: Kidnapping the Duchess
"Lady Linda, things have already been decided. Sorry to tell you, but I am quite forceful when times need me to be."
"Are you sure you are not a High Noble?"
"Unfortunately, I am just a poor Bounty Hunter with some etiquette education from my old mentor. Nothing I could boast in particular, unlike a Duchess like yourself."
"So you know, I am not holding on to that Title at all, so it is irrelevant what you are telling me. In so many years that I stayed hidden in the Slum, I learned to let go of certain things, and become a new person."
"Does the child know his identity, history?" asked Vlad while looking at this blonde woman, beginning to think about his own identity which was left down in the Seas.
Links and hints that he might have a connection with the Kaysang Kingdom, being a Prince of the Siloriel Family.
Still, he wasn't in a rush to confirm this information being preoccupied with finding the Keys to the Great King Atlas Mausoleum, a calling far more important than the identity of the former individual called Charles. It was great knowing he had leads to follow, with the centrepiece being the Golden Medallion Necklace piece that he was always wearing.
Linda kept her silence, only looking at Vlad with a direct expression, breaking out the silence when he was about to mention something.
"Please, do not get involved with my family. It's been 12 years since that incident, and Amadeus was only 2 years old, just an innocent baby. A young man like you knows nothing about raising a child, so I would like you to keep quiet."
"..."
For some reason, this comment from Linda made Vlad frown, as if it hit a nail on a personal level, reminding him about how much of a failure of a father he was to his children, four children with two separate wives, all of them coming into being in tumultuous times, where he could just give them the bare, bare minimum of his time.
"If I offended you, my apologies." said Linda who noticed the mood swing, turning sour and dark for the calm and collected young man.
In those moments she couldn't read this man at all, his reactions were not something a young man in his 20s would even be able to release, it looked as if he was a mature adult who experienced life, and her words hit him where it hurt him the most.
"Nothing personal. I always appreciated mothers doing their best for their children, and when I am sane, there is a soft spot for you, Virgin Mary's in my shattered heart." mentioned Vlad with his tone clearly hurt while pointing using his thumb at his heart.
"I didn't expect for a young man like you to be hurt by my remark. Does that mean, you'll leave me and my son alone?"
Shaking his head while looking at the blonde woman with interest in his eyes, finding the way she spoke her question rather playfully, but it was all in his dark, twisted mind.
"My Lady, stop trying, but if you wish, you can continue. It's been a while since I've been in such situations."
*Sigh* "My son really brought the Devil into my house."
Then from nowhere in Vlad's mind, the legend of a figure in his first life resurfaced from the vast quantity of works he read in his both lives. It was the story of Saint Theophilus who made a pact with Satan, the equivalent of the Devil if one was to interpret the story, in order to get a higher position in the Church.
A wide grin that he tried to hide, where laughter started crackling up from the stern and collected Dracul.
"My Lady, I can tell you this from a legend I've read, the one who makes the pact with the Devil is saved in the end, after gaining the most from his deal with Satan."
"I hope so, since I believe I have no chance of getting you from my home even if I take my sword. I'll just infuriate the Devil and make it harder for my son."
"My mood is rather generous on this day, so nothing will come to you. Anyway, see, we can have a conversation like adults without freaking out. You understand your position and even submitted, which is the first step in recovering your former dignity and elegance."
"I've thrown it away the moment I saw my family being destroyed and I had to run for my life with my baby boy. Abandoning everything behind."
"They are still there, deep in your bones. Even your son has some of that elegance when he is fully focused on playing music. By the way, are you aware your son has eaten a Devil Fruit?"
"I do, but to not scare him into telling the story about the Devil Fruits, I just told him it's a blessing."
"Lady Linda, you sure are an overprotective mother, but I guess this is the beauty in having a mother, precious beings that would do everything for their children."
Entertaining this discussion with Linda about Amadeus's devil fruit powers, the woman slowly realized that Vlad wasn't a repulsing person, and instead was a person you could hold and develop a broader subject, and in a way, she even gained some tips on how to deal with young adolescents with ages ranging from 10 to 14.
Hours passed, and the initial tense atmosphere in this shack vanished, especially when the cheeky curly blonde boy appeared in the main room, unable to hold his curiosity to see what was happening in the shack.
He noticed his mother and Vlad drinking some tea, which made him jump in and ask for his own tea cup.
Not rejected, he joined like a curious kid in the conversation of the adults, finding out that Vlad was talking about his experiences as a Bounty Hunter, leaving him with a constant string of questions to Vlad.
Vlad only pushed the forehead of the boy with his index finger, afterwards telling him advice in life.
"Patience, boy. You need to learn patience if you want to become someone great in life."
"Well … sure. Ohh, do you still want to learn this instrument?"
"Sure, but take me slowly. I am quite old."
"That's for sure, if you managed to survive mom's relentless questioning, you are old. I always crack into giggling when she gets all serious with me."
A remark that the mother heard from the opposite part of the shack since she went to make some pastries for the guest, which wasn't needed at all. Yet, she did choose to do this for obvious reasons, she wanted to see and hear the interactions between Vlad and Amadeus, and judge if this black-haired man was a good influence for her son.
The sound of music started engulfing the shack, and not long with that, all sorts of profanities were thrown from the neighbours surrounding the shack who had no ear for music.
Yet while it was daylight, no one reacted violently, it was just words, all until by nightfall something happened that made Linda who was enjoying the music of her son to panic.
There was even a guy who started knocking on the shack door, almost breaking in, which showed to Vlad a new face to young Amadeus who tensed up, contemplating about something while his green eyes got cold and murderous.
"Relax. No one will hurt you and your mom with me around." added Vlad who placed his large hand on the young musician's head, while getting up from his seated position and walking in a crouched manner to open the door.
"WHORE! Tell your stupid worm to quit annoying us, or I'll break his h …."
It was a man with tanned skin, black hair, and holding a bat with various nails at the end tip, whose smell was reaching of drugs and alcohol.
Before he could even react to the apparition of the black-haired man who was wearing an expensive white shirt with a gray scarf, black vest and black trousers, his throat was grabbed by the Grim Reaper.
"Your voice was the loudest from all those guys throwing injuries to Linda and Amadeus. Now, let me tell you how we will solve this dispute."
"L-L-e-et g-ooo!" said the man who dropped his weapon, being raised in the air by the strong hand of the giant human.
Amadeus rushed toward the window, but got held back by Linda who took him in her arms, but the scene of the tall man who towered over the scum, causing Linda a lot of lost nights filled with terror of thinking if she should kill the person or not, made both son and mother speechless.
The young musician heard Vlad's frigid tone as it spread around this area, which was followed by a cold air that wasn't natural at all.
"Usually I don't even bother with scum like you, because I understand the decision of the Royals in enclosing you like pigs. You are just dispensable cannon fodder, and a source of organs for the Underworld Traders."
Without showing any mercy, Amadeus and Linda heard the neck cracking sound of the person Vlad was holding by the throat where from the shattered pieces of the glass, she saw an emotionless expression of the man she already considered a Demon, the Devil of the Legends that was told in the children's story.
Then, he followed suit by disappearing from his formal location along with the dead body, utilizing his ghostly speed to reach the "Dump" of the Royal Guards where he butchered the dead vermin into pieces without a single droplet of blood to stain his clothes.
"This will be a reminder for all of the people living in this shit stained droplet of water and the Royal Guards. Heh, it is unlike they would even be bothered, but at least I managed to relieve some of my frustration."
Moments later, Amadeus felt another strong frigid wind that touched his face and curly hair, with Vlad's magical return being played in real-time, right in front of him.
"Mom … I'll follow Lord Dracul! I know that you struggle with a secret that you don't want to burden me with, and maybe that is the reason you don't like mister Vlad, but you've seen it too, he is someone who genuinely wants to help us … Well, I guess is me who he wants to help more."
Linda grabbed Amadeus by his curly hair and twisted it a little bit. "Your manners, child. Hah, and since when did you know I am hiding something from you?"
"I dreamed about it, in the night I eat that Devil Fruit … The night where I've seen you running with me in your arms, and with a Castle burning in the distance. Bad people follow after you."
"I-I can tell you the truth, my child."
"Mommy, trust me, I am no longer a baby."
Vlad had a dignified gait, holding himself tall as he approached the shack of the Lithén Family, but when he reached the entrance door his expression crumbled when he needed to crouch down.
"Lady Linda, you really had to build this shack so small? "
"I didn't foresee a future where a man who is taller than an entrance door would step in my home. Also, what happened with that man, Hicks."
"Simple, ended his excuse of a life. This will make those restless rats quiet down, and I guess eliminate a pair of eyes who met you two."
"There was no need to kill that pitiful man."
Vlad waved his hand dismissively while in his crouched position, returning back to the main room, and getting a seat on the same location he warmed up, looking at the mother and son, and telling them casually.
"Prepare your belongings and pack things up since I will move you out from this place. Afterall, I promised young Amadeus that I would take him out from this Slum, with his mom included."
"Right away, Lord!" called out Amadeus excitedly, rushing toward his small room, leaving out Linda to step toward the black-haired man.
"It seems I have no way out, but I guess my baby boy is no longer needing my protection."
"Indeed."
The mother and son didn't spend a lot of time in packing things up, after all they didn't have much to begin with, and yet the amount they managed to gather amounted to two bags he had to carry in his excursion to Yehimal Mountain.
They didn't change their clothes, just presented their bags to Vlad who effortlessly picked them up.
"This is all, mister Dracul. Be careful with my bag because I also packed the Heirloom of my Lithén Family, Lorelei, a sharp weapon that can easily take lives."
"Not mine, madame."
{I feel the aura of a Cursed Sword from that bag of the woman.}
'Does it have a voice like yours?'
{Very unlikely. By the Human Standards, as you've read those books talking about swords, I am a Supreme Blade, maybe even above those blades, but that should be enough about me for now.}
'The user makes the weapon, not otherwise. Remember this, Anathema.'
{I will remember it …}
"Mister Vlad, my pack doesn't have much, just some clothes that you probably would throw in the garbage and my instrument and tools."
"Smart."
Going out from the shack while holding two bags in his left hand effortlessly, he waited for the mother and son duo to make their way out, taking their time to look around the environment that housed them for so many years.
There wasn't much emotion in their eyes, clearly they had mixed feelings about the Arcadia Slum, especially Linda who had to struggle a lot to protect herself and Amadeus, keeping her body pure, unblemished by the dirt of this place, not needing to sell herself to earn her existence.
"Amadeus you grab on my shoulder, and get a seat there, while your mother will be held in my arms."
Linda wanted to reject the instructions, but seeing how nonchalant her son acted, quickly grabbed the man's shoulder and hopped up, seated on his Clavicle.
"Mister, you really are strong. All muscles. I hope I also get like this, to have luck with the girls when my music doesn't work."
"To reach this much, you need to train like a Knight, daily. You also need to be careful with what you eat. Anyway, I'll explain it to you another day."
Turning along with the young boy who made himself comfortable by wrapping his right arm around the man's neck, touching around to be shocked by how strong even the neck was, akin to a statue, only the mother was left, clearly conflicted by the idea of another man rather than her dead husband to touch her.
Stuck in her contemplation, from nowhere she let a sound of surprise, akin to a young maiden who was new to such experiences of skinship.
"KYAA!"
"Good one, mister. Mom is rather shy, so you either outargue her, or take her by surprise."
"Let me off, you, you …, you Picodrian Pirate!"
"Hold tight, boy."
Looking down at the blonde woman who really needed a hot bath, he took a lot of satisfaction seeing this beauty struggling in his arms, igniting some primal instinct into him that he lowered down when he kicked hard in the ground propelling himself in the air, making both mother and son to scream from this unique experience they had.
"WHOAHOO! I am flying! This is better than in my dreams!"
"Because you still didn't experience the real deal."
"Ahhhhh, I am in the air!
He started dropping toward the ground on purpose to give some heart palpitations to the mature lady, bouncing back when he kicked multiple times in the air, reaching closer and closer to the stars that left Amadeus dumbfounded.
"Look, mom! The whole Arcadia is in front of us. It's so beautiful! We missed out so much."
"..."
Linda had her eyes closed, unable to keep her eyes opened when Vlad was propelling himself higher in altitude, but when she reached a constant altitude maintained by Vlad's stable kicks, her eyes opened to the stunning scenery of Arcadia City lit by the oil lamps, seen from the side of the Slums that was picked black, only the outpost of the Royal Guards at the Gate with the Slum being the sole source of light.
"FAREWELL DIMWITS! ONCE I MAKE ENOUGH MONEY I WILL MAKE OUT OF THE SLUM AN LARGE BUILDING WHERE PEOPLE CAN SIGN WITH MANY INSTRUMENTS!"
Linda looked up at her son with a sharp look since she heard her son call out some profanities, but then his giggle put her at ease, there was nothing bad in revealing your anger by swearing at the ones who mistreated you, and injured you.
"Hope that some of you, sad people, manage to live in peace." remarked the woman in a quiet way, before the shadowy figure in the air started flying over Arcadia City.
Vlad's figure was noticed by some people who were gazing at the night sky, but it was something they dismissed when they failed to see him at the same location again. Nonetheless, over the night the mysterious appearance of a being in the sky, stirred the imagination of the Arcadia Citizens.
Not the same could be said for a black-haired woman who was relaxing at the terrace of the tallest building in the whole of Arcadia, watching the serene sky filled with stars.
"Don't tell me … That person moving toward me is Vlad?"
Moments later, the cry of a youngster she never heard before, confirmed her initial thought.
"Mister Vlad, this ability of flying is even crazier than my dreams! You better teach me that, okay? You have to teach me! Just imagine, a flying musician mesmerizing all the beauties of a city. What stories there will be about me."
"Ohh, hi, beauty! Sorry if I disturbed you."
Vlad landed elegantly in the terrace of his 5* Hotel Room, placing down Linda and Amadeus who instantly noticed the black-haired beauty, greeting her like how his mother taught him, with a bow.
"..."
Eleine's normal eyes opened largely when she noticed the appearance of those dirty guests brought by her leader, and for some reason when she saw Linda she didn't feel threatened like when Vlad interacted with Catherine Esthil."
"Vlad, who are they?"
"Long story. For now help me settle them down, but before that, start with a bath."
"A bath? Mom, is that thing you told me about that we couldn't afford in the Slum?" asked Amadeus, curious about what Vlad was referring to when speaking with Eleine, only to be susshed by Linda, who entered in enemy territory.
Then with the voices that were heard at the terrace, Titania and Bonney also walked, only to be surprised by the appearance of two guests who weren't something they thought Vlad would ever bother to pick up … beggars.
"You girls are still up this late?"
"If you refer to 11:30 PM late, we are still up because we were wondering if someone pickpocketed you, and you started chasing them around this large city." mentioned Titania, which was instantly surprised by Amadeus who stepped forward to glance at the Fairy, making all the crewmembers interested at the sharpness of this dirty beggar boy.
"No way, no way! A Fairy?? Miss, turn me into a handsome charming Prince! Pretty please!"
Titania slapped playfully the young boy's reaching hand, flying towards Bonney's head and looking back with a judging look.
Linda couldn't help but place her right hand over her face in shame for the antics of her son who was overly curious about everything new going on in his life.
"Manners, boy, manners. You don't just go and grab a young lady forcefully." remarked Vlad who walked toward Amadeus, flicking his forehead, later on presenting the mother and son to his group.
"The young boy is Amadeus, my new musician, while the shy lady in the corner is Linda Lithén. They will be our new family members from now on, and the decision is final."
"Ahem, greetings, my lady. Quite the pleasant night, just like your smile." greeted Amadeus, the pink-haired girl who was in the same age range as him from his observation, while showing his cheeky and ambitious side for the beautiful by extending his hand for a handshake.
On the other hand, Bonney looked at Amadeus with mixed thoughts, but to not act like a cold bitch with these new guests that were brought directly by Vlad, she returned the gesture by grabbing some of his fingers in a handshake, before stopping.
"Come boy, stop acting like a puppy and come with me. You expect the girls to like you when you are like a stinking pig?"
"Damn! You are right. Come, mister Vlad, show me around this large Palace of yours."
"No you foolish brat, you take a bath first."
When the two boys left the scene, Linda couldn't help but apologize for the sudden entry.
"Young Ladies, I am sorry for disturbing your night. I didn't expect him to actually take refugee in this exact place."
"Don't stress yourself, madam. Let's also give you a bath, since we can't have you in that state." said Eleine who was closer to Linda, a sentiment shared by all three girls who introduced themselves to the lady.
In no time, she found herself overwhelmed by the care the girls showed, and with a sophisticated watering system for the bath, where one had hot water on tap, three baths changed around until the tender milky white skin of a mature beauty was being revealed.
The shampoo of the girls, who brought their bags from the Harbor in the Hotel, was making wonders with the dirty hair of the lady, slowly transforming it into golden hair that would make most ladies jealous.
The realization hit Eleine who was assisting in cleaning Linda, turning her step by step back into her former past, Duchess Lithén, but the shy, respectful, thankful remarks of the woman for a reason lowered her jealous personality.
Linda even started weeping with mixed emotions when she saw her reflection of herself in the clean hot water, taking by surprise the girls who didn't know the whole story of this beautiful mature woman. Yet, she started sharing some information with them, mentioning to them why Vlad brought her, thinking it was because of the Cave.
A youthful voice that commented from outside, vanquished the sadness in the girl's bathroom.
"Mister, do women always take so long to wash and clean? You've got me done in 15 minutes, and while I agree that you didn't have to get so rough on washing my dirt off … the rest was quite pleasant.
Meanwhile, they are still at it, leaving us to stare at one another … women are weird."
"You'll get used to it with time. There's a whole ritual for them, while for us … is just basic cleaning."
"Right. Do you mind if I train with the instrument? A small courtship for that girl … Bonney."
"Bad choice, you are still not ready, and besides, she is like my daughter. I don't agree for a vulgar brat like you to ever touch her. Not even a patch of skin."
"Hmph! The same applies with mom, if you ever think about doing something funny with her, I'll cut your thing off."
"Mama's boy, you can't even scratch me. If I touch you ever so slightly, you'll cry that you've got a scratch on mommy."
"You wish. I took revenge on all of the bastards who punched me for playing music in the center of the Slum. But they don't know who did it."
"My, my… Mysterious."
The girls looked at one another, and with Eleine's sarcastic remark, everyone started laughing.
"Men always think about flaunting who is better, like a contest between peacocks, but the child still needs to learn more before facing the adult."
