Chapter 6 Prelude to Farming, The Vampire Clan Must Change <TOC> Chapter 8 The Vampire Clan's Path of Sustainable Development
Translator: SumTLMan
Otto Braun pondered for a moment before making a decision.
The vampire clan definitely can’t grow if it continues going down the same path as it was before.
There are still three years left until the arrival of the players. If the vampire clan continues unscrupulously preying on humans, then this embodiment of natural disasters will definitely be absolutely ecstatic to kill off each clan member one by one.
Besides, he isn’t a psychopath. It’s impossible for him to continue allowing his vampire clan to hunt down and kill off the humans like before. His heart wouldn’t be able to bear it.
His vampire clan, both in public and private, must change from now on.
If this was in the world of man, even a king wouldn’t necessarily be able to make any major reforms to their country… At every turn, the nobles and parties with vested interests will resist and fight back in the most violent way imaginable.
Fortunately, he is a vampire ancestor, and his vampire clan only has absolute loyalty to him, so making these reforms wasn’t a difficult task.
“Odis, notify all clan members to assemble in the meeting hall.”
Odis bowed his head respectfully and said.
“Yes, Father.”
Father, the corners of Otto Braun’s mouth twitched hard when he heard how he was addressed.
Odis, a bloodline descendant personally Embraced by Otto Braun, is a member of the second generation in the vampire clan.
There are only seven second-generation vampires in the entire castle. The rest of the vampire clan members were descended from these seven second-generation vampires.
Although there’s nothing wrong with Odis referring to him as Father, Otto Braun still has personal complaints to being addressed as such, almost breaking character when seeing a man whose face looks like he was approaching his forties calling out “Father” at him.
Brush~
A bat flies off as Odis heads down to inform the rest of the clan.
Otto Braun didn’t want to spend much time on the ramparts, so he transforms into a cloud of bats and flew directly into the hall located in the centre of the castle with the previous owner’s memories.
Flying in through an open semi-circular arch, a magnificently opulent hall with stained glass windows can be seen depicting myths about creation and vampire heroes.
The sculptures of vampires have smooth skin with bat wings and the iconic vampire fangs.
There are reliefs of all kinds depicting horrifying magic beasts. At the top of the hall, there is even a lifelike carving of a mythical fire-breathing dragon.
The hall produces a strong atmosphere which could be expected within western-styled churches.
Right in the middle of the hall, the cloud of bats disappears while Otto Braun’s figure reappears in their place.
Looking around at the exquisite architecture and decorations, his eyes flashed with a bit of appreciation.
This is worthy of vampires who are known for their elegance, the layout here is far more luxurious than even his mage tower.
Various antique vessels, highly artistic statues, elegant master craft oil paintings and even exquisitely hand-crafted carpets can be seen decorating the entire hall.
Just as Otto Braun looked curiously at the various oil paintings in the hall, he heard the many flaps of wings arriving.
Many vampires kept appearing in the hall with the entire vampire clan within the castle gathering together in less than ten minutes.
The 200 vampires who’ve appeared didn’t seem to be crowded in this large hall. The gathered vampires appeared elegant in every way, with the handsome men appearing polite while the beautiful women appearing graceful.
Although Otto Braun recalls such scenes in the original’s memory, his mood was still lifted when seeing so many handsome men and beautiful ladies gathered before his very eyes.
Sure enough, beauty is justice and a great feast for the eyes.
Down below, the vampires look on at Otto Braun sitting on his throne in awe and adoration.
The coercion from their bloodline makes them deferential to Otto Braun while his power brought them worship.
In the forefront, seven middle-aged men and women take two steps forward.
With these vampires behind him, the rest of the vampires bowed to Otto Braun who was still seated on the central throne.
“Good evening, Patriarch.”
Otto Braun stands up and nods slightly at the ones below him, imitating the haughty manner of the previous vampire ancestor.
Waiting until after everyone has stood straight again, he slowly begins speaking.
“I called everyone here today to discuss the future of our vampire clan.”
As soon as these words came out, the vampires at the bottom immediately froze, one by one looking at Otto Braun with curiosity in their eyes.
On a daily basis, Otto Braun was obsessed with studying magic spells and paid little attention to the vampire clan’s internal affairs.
For the first time in decades, the vampire clan has convened in such a solemn manner.
Dios took the lead in responding.
“Patriarch, please, if I may.”
“Father…”
His face was sombre. In front of other clan members, he rarely directly referred to Otto Braun as Father.
“Your Highness Ancestor, If you may.”
Although several other second-generation bloodline descendants were curious about Otto Braun’s actions, they all followed suit.
As the vampire ancestor, these were his descendants and Otto Braun held absolute authority over the entire vampire clan.
Even now, if the 200 clan members were ordered to attack Green City, which has tens of thousands of soldiers, they would not hesitate to carry out these orders at all.
Otto Braun was extremely satisfied with the vampire clan’s response as he thought.
‘It seems that I’ve still underestimated the weight of my identity as the vampire ancestor in my clan.’
After a few moments of deliberation, he solemnly said.
“My children, my bloodline descendants, do you know that the vampire clan is about to usher in it’s ruin and death?”
Ruin and death?
These cruel words sent off thunderous waves throughout the hall.
Is this true?
Odis looked at Otto Braun with surprise on his face, his deep blue pupils thick with incomprehension.
The vampire clan is hidden deep within the distant mountains, and the clan itself isn’t weak at all. Adding the layer of protection from Otto Braun, their powerful vampire ancestor, who could destroy their present vampire clan?
He thought, ‘The only group around who can dare claim to be a threat would be Green City’s army.’ As he pondered ‘Could it be that Green City’s army has found traces of our vampire clan?’
Odis shuddered at the thought as his fingers slightly trembled. He hadn’t directly participated in the war between the vampire clan and Green City a hundred years ago, but he had bore witness to the tragedy of the aftermath of the war.
“Patriarch, please tell us why.”
Although the vampire clan members in the hall were shaken and incredulous, no one dared to speak out and question the statement aloud.
Because it came from their spiritual pillar. If it wasn’t their vampire ancestor who made this bold statement, any other vampire who would make such claims would’ve been torn to shreds by now.
Otto Braun’s handsome face remained cold as he asked.
“Lucy, come and tell me how many humans our vampire clan has taken away from the nearby mountains in the past ten years.”
Lucy, a female junior mage with a level as high as 9, is the youngest among the surviving seven second-generation bloodline descendants… She is just over 100 years old.
Lucy rose from the group of seven as her long purple dress full of classical charm trailed along the floor.
Her beautiful golden hair and purple dress formed a sharp contrast. She appeared to be in her early thirties with her every move full of aristocratic charm and enchanting any who may gaze upon her face.
Although her beautiful turquoise eyes were somewhat puzzled, she still answered Otto Braun’s question seriously.
“Father, since the vampire clan has ceased producing bloodline descendants under your orders 20 years ago, the number of humans we have plundered each year has remained fixed.”
“In the past decade, our holy clan has needed to hunt nearly 3,000 humans for food each year.”
Three thousand per year, thirty thousand in a decade.
Otto Braun made a somewhat unnatural expression upon hearing this figure spoken aloud from his bloodline descendant below.
After coming into contact with the people of this world, he couldn’t treat these living breathing people as NPCs inside of a game.
Every person has their very own blood, flesh and soul.
More than thirty thousand people have become food in their mouths. Even though these people have nothing to do with him, the impact of their deaths still affects his conscience.
Additionally, this group of vampires doesn’t seem to understand the concept of sustainability.
After plundering the humans, these vampires just exploit the humans as a food source without recognizing the fact that the plundered humans can create additional value. Meaning there is no recognition of sustainable development.
It’s like heading outside and catching hundreds of chickens. But instead of raising the chickens to lay eggs, they’ve just been killing off the chickens without ever realizing there was a more sustainable path. In the end, this leads to a huge waste of resources.
The vampire clan must change.
“Yes, that’s why the nobles of Green City and the mages from the Mage Guild have detected our presence.”
“I’ve even received news that Green City is ready to launch a military campaign to encircle and suppress us, just like the war that happened a hundred years ago.”
Whoa~
There was a great uproar amongst the crowd.
No one doubted whether Otto Braun’s statements were the truth, and the vampire clan members who remained calm had immediately became noisy at once.
Everyone present knows that once the Green City army really began their march into the distant mountains, there was no way they could stop its advance.
Although most of the vampire clan members present had never experienced the war which happened a hundred years ago. After listening to first-hand accounts of the war, no one ever wanted to go through the experience of being surrounded by tens of thousands of soldiers.
After Otto Braun finished speaking, his eyes were still cold as his expression became unspeakably grave.
Regardless of the already panicking vampires below, he continues speaking.
“Green City has an army of over 50,000 men, 20 senior mages and 3 grand mages.”
“If they lock onto our trail and track us down, there’s no way the castle can hold them off.”
Even the seven second-generation bloodline descendants couldn’t argue after hearing this statement.
Odis was the most anxious as he hurriedly asked.
“Patriarch, then what shall we do now?”
Otto Braun didn’t answer immediately, still speaking in an unhurried but extremely oppressive tone.
“The situation goes beyond that. Even Green City’s own transcendent mage Locke Harte who was personally involved in the war against the vampire clan 100 years ago has already noticed our presence.”
“Survival or destruction.”
“Death or rebirth.”
“We are about to face a choice.”
Chapter 6 Prelude to Farming, The Vampire Clan Must Change <TOC> Chapter 8 The Vampire Clan's Path of Sustainable Development