It was a plate. A somewhat luxurious ceramic plate, but still just a large plate nonetheless.

The plate might have stood out in a normal household, but it looked quite natural within the palace.

However, I sensed some unusual magic coming from it.

“Serulis. How long has this plate been in here?”

“Not long. A maid brought in some snacks on that plate.”

I inspected the plate carefully.

There was a magic circle carved into the back of it. It was of the teleportation variety.

The magic circle was an incredibly advanced one and would have been difficult to make.

Not only that, but it was still alive.

If I allowed some magic to flow in now, I might be able to use it to go somewhere.

However, I would not do such a thing while I had no idea where it would take me.

“Serulis. I would like to talk to this maid.”

“I understand.”

Serulis was about to run from the room, but I stopped her.

“Shia should go with you. She might be a thrall or infected.”

“Then I will go too!”

Shia and Serulis ran out of the room.

Serulis knew the maid’s face. And she could fight as well.

However, I was worried about how she would handle someone who had been charmed or was one of them.

It would be better for a vampire professional like Shia to go with her.

“Now…”

I turned to the vampire that Goran was holding.

“A lesser?”

“Looks like it. Well, I doubt anything but a lesser could move about within the city.”

There was a barrier around the city that prevented stronger monsters from entering.

Even lessers were restricted, but they could still be active if they used numerous charms and amulets.

The three lesser vampires were now bound up by rope.

Arch Vampires were able to transform into mist, which would have allowed them to escape.

But lessers could not do that, and so ropes were enough to keep them from escaping.

Goran was trying to question them, but they did not answer.

“Let me try then.”

I activated some illusion magic towards the three lesser vampires.

It was an illusion I had learned from Luchila.

The illusion was that of a Vampire Lord. The one that I had killed with Shia.

The Lord jumped into the room we were in and beat Goran and me to the ground.

That was the illusion that they saw.

And then the Lord said,

“You should feel ashamed for getting caught so easily.”

“We-we are terribly sorry.”

They didn’t even question how a Lord was inside of the royal capital.

I had succeeded in putting them under a state of recognition obstruction.

It was much more difficult than just showing an illusion.

This was what Luchila had done to Serulis.

However, my magic was too powerful, and so it did not work on me.

“Who are you working under?”

“The 6th ranking Lord officer.”

“Ah, that one.”

I didn’t know who it was at all, but I made the Lord answer anyway.

“And what reason have you for coming here?”

“We have come to get the God Fowl…”

“I didn’t hear about this. The High Lord gave me an important task, and you lot have ruined it.”

The illusory Lord said as he glared at them.

The lessers quivered and replied,

“Bu-but the 6th ranking officer said that his orders were directly from the High Lord.”

“As you know, the 6th ranking officer has many human thralls, and many of them have infiltrated this palace.”

That was some very important information there.

It was frightening to think that they had infiltrated the palace.

“The High Lord gave the order? Then there must have been some mistake. I will have to go and talk with the 6th ranking officer. Where is he?”

“Yes. Uh…”

The lesser vampire told me.

It was near a village that was an hours walk from the city.

“Can I go and meet him if I use this magic circle?”

“Yes, that is how it was created.”

“I see. By the way…”

I attempted to get more information out of them.

However,

“UGHHAAGGHH!!”

The three lesser vampires started screaming in pain at the same time.

Then they coughed up blood before becoming completely still. At last, they turned into ash, with only the magic stones remaining.

I deactivated the illusion.

“That was an impressive illusion. Those vampires couldn’t stop talking.”

Goran said with admiration.

“I just copied Luchila’s illusion. Sorry for not telling you about it.”

“No, I do not mind! It is an honor to have you copy my work. And you did it better than me.”

“Cluck-cluck!”

Gerberga seemed very excited.

Luchila tilted his head to the side.

“Still, why did they turn into ash all of a sudden?”

“They had probably swallowed some poison that would kill them after a certain period.”

Goran said as he inspected the ashes. I suspected that Goran was right about that.

“Goran. I think I’m going to go and kill this 6th officer or whatever he’s called.”

“You what?”

“I’m going to teleport before the portal is closed.”

“Then I will go with you.”

“No, you have to protect the palace. It seems that there are other subordinates of this 6th ranking officer here as well.”

“I see. Very well.”

Just as I was about to jump into the circle,

“I caught her!”

Serulis and Shia had returned. They had captured a single maid.

They had put some cloth in her mouth so she could not bite her tongue, and her hands were tied behind her back.

It must have been Shia’s idea.

“She is not infected.”

Shia was able to tell them apart. Then the maid was likely under the vampire’s charm.

It was hard to tell from the outside whether or not that was the case.

“If it is Charm, then she can be cured.”

Shia seemed relieved.

If it wasn’t Charm, then it would be nearly irreversible.

But Charm could be treated.

“Though, it will require an incredibly skilled healer…”

“We should call one over at once.”

Serulis was about to run out again, by I stopped her.

“Wait a second. Apparently, there are many others who are under the vampire’s influence.”

“Re-really?”

“Yes. And so you two should focus on protected Lord Gerberga.”

“Understood.”

“Leave it to us.”

“I’m going to go and kill this 6th ranking officer.”

If you killed the Vampire Lord who was controlling them, then the Charm effect would die off and the servants would turn into ash.

So it was best to just defeat the Lord.

I poured my magic into the magic circle and activated it.

And then I jumped into the teleportation circle.