The throne room of the Ninth Family Castle remained silent for a moment.
Eventually, Muka was the one who broke the silence.
"Faye Dallum," she replied. "Welcome back to the Vampire Settlement. I trust you had a good reason for bringing a Human into our midst?"
Sergeant Faye looked at Muka with an unsettled gaze, like she was well aware that she was very likely either walking into a disciplinary hearing, or a public execution.
One of the Vampires gritted their teeth, his face morphing into a look of rage.
"Our leader asked you a question, newbie!" he snarled. "Answer him!"
Muka raised her left hand, silencing the man.
"Worry not, Faye," Muka replied. "As the one in charge of maintaining order in the Settlement, I will not throw you in a cage merely for breaking one of our laws. Please, explain your reasoning for bringing her here. Based on your explanation, I will decide which punishment, if any, is warranted."
Sergeant Faye let out a deep sigh, then she hardened her resolved.
"Leader Muka, this Human is already aware of our existence," she replied. "She just doesn't know that she knows yet."
A silence fell across the throne room.
"You want to elaborate on that?" the same Vampire asked, tilting his head with a look of confusion on his face.
Sergeant Faye focused her sole attention on Muka.
"Leader Muka, do you remember how I told you that I tried using the Influence Skill on that boy who was in close relationships with the Vampire on the base?" she asked.
Muka nodded.
"Yes, of course I do, Faye," she replied. "You told me that the boy seemed to…immune to the Influence Skill, and the effort had only resulted in you unintentionally leaking information about the Settlement, correct?"
The eyes of the Vampires around Muka all widened in shock, and they all turned to her.
They had never heard of a Human being immune to the Influence Skill.
Resistant, perhaps. But not straight-out immune.
Sergeant Faye nodded, her face hardened.
"Correct," she replied. "Ever since then, I've believed that was a clerical error on my part. I still believe that, but now for a different reason."
Muka tilted her head.
"And what reason is that?" she asked.
"Me using the Influence Skill to obtain information about the boys wasn't the wrong decision," Faye replied, before glancing down at Shizuka. "I merely used it on the wrong person."
The room became silent again, as the gathered Vampires took in Faye's words.
"Faye," Muka replied. "You still have yet to tell me who that woman is."
Faye's face tensed.
"This is Hikiko Shizuka, my Leader," Faye replied. "Like me, she is another Sergeant on the base, as well as a close personal friend of mine.
Faye paused for a moment.
"She is also…the older sister of that very boy who was able to resist the Influence Skill," she replied.
Muka remained silent for a moment.
Then, she turned towards one of the Vampires.
"Go take this…'Shizuka' to one of the unoccupied rooms in the castle," she ordered. "Watch over her, and alert me the second she regains consciousness."
The Vampire had a look of annoyance on his face.
It was clear that he didn't want to babysit some Human, but in the end, he was compelled to follow the orders of his Leader.
"Yes, my Leader," the man replied with a boy.
He walked across the throne room over to where Sergeant Faye was.
Faye looked at him for a second, before eventually letting him take Shizuka from her arms.
The others all watched as the Vampire took Shizuka away, carrying him out of the room.
Once he was gone, Sergeant Faye walked up to Muka's throne, and bowed on her knee.
"Leader Muka, I've known Shizuka for a few weeks, and one of the main things I've come to realize is that she quite the over-protective sister," she replied, before looking back up at Muka. "However, this 'over-protectiveness' has proven to work out in favor of my…investigation."
Muka placed the index finger of her right gauntlet on her helmet where her chin would be underneath it.
She remained still for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought.
"Proceed," she eventually replied.
Sergeant Faye nodded.
"During the first night of the term, which was roughly about three weeks ago, Shizuka went to go follow her little brother, Hikiko Tsukuru, alongside the Talen boy, who was with him," she explained. "At the time, all she had told me was that the two boys had managed to defeat a boy who, on paper, should have been much stronger, leading me to, at the time, find her words quite…unbelievable."
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
"Shortly before my arrival here, I used the Influence Skill on her to see if I could gleam any…additional information from her about what she had seen that night," she replied.
Muka remained silent for a moment.
"And what did you find out?" she asked.
"After the two boy's victory, something…strange happened to the Talen boy," Sergeant Faye replied. "Something that sounded identical to the painful process when you turned me on Pioletic."
Muka leaned forward in her throne.
"That girl watched the Blood Ritual take place?" she asked.
Sergeant Faye nodded.
"Yes, my leader," she replied. "She just doesn't know that's what it was."
One of the other Vampires let out a dismissive scoff.
"Oh, please," he replied. "Leader Muka has already confirmed that there was no Vampires assigned to this…'Military Base' of yours! So how did this…this…'Talen' boy even undergo the Blood Ritual in the first place?! What, did he just spontaneously turn into a Vampire?! There hasn't been a single record of such a thing happening in the history of the Vampire Settlement!"
All around Faye and Muka, the other Vampires murmured with agreement, believing that such a thing was impossible.
However, Muka seemed…suspiciously quiet.
"Maybe not," she replied.
The murmurs came to an abrupt, sudden halt.
Immediately, all eyes turned to Muka.
"Leader Muka, with all due respect, you can't honestly expect us to believe that you're buying this…fairy tale?!" One of the Vampires sputtered. "It's pure nonsense!"
Muka turned to face the Vampire, and he felt a cold sweat run down his back as he peered into the red eyes of her helmet.
"I think you may be forgetting about something," she replied.
The Vampire gulped.
"Wh-What is that, my Leader?" he asked, stammering.
Muka continued to stare at him.
"Not every single one of the 13 Families currently has a leader who is counted among the Vampire Council," she replied.
The Vampire's eyes widened in shock as he took in Muka's words.
It was then that Sergeant Faye began to hear whispers among the other Vampires.
"That's right," one of the Vampires replied. "Didn't one of the Vampire Leaders flee the Settlement generations ago?"
"The Tenth Family," another muttered. "Yeah, I heard about that, too. Apparently, the Leader went mad and killed another Leader before fleeing as a fugitive."
"No that you mention it, I've always found it odd how their castle has always been dormant," another replied. "But…If a Vampire did flee the Settlement, wouldn't he have been tracked down and dragged back here long before now?"
Muka raised her right hand to silence the voices.
Sergeant Faye looked at Muka with confusion.
"My Leader, what's going on?" she asked.
Muka was silent for a moment.
"It seems that the Leader of the Tenth Family who fled the Settlement ages ago..may have finally chosen a successor," she replied.
The Vampire who had first spoke up turned to Muka.
"But, if that was true, wouldn't the boy have been turned before he arrived at this 'Military Base'?" he asked. "He would have already been a Vampire, not spontaneously go through the turning process at some random point days later!"
Muka didn't answer him right away.
"If it were any other family, you may have a point," she replied a few moments later.
She then turned to him.
"However, you and I both know that the Tenth Family has always been…an oddity around the Vampire Settlement."
She looked up towards the ceiling.
"And the Ability possessed by their Family is unlike anything anyone outside of that castle has ever seen," she replied. "Only they truly know the exact inner workings of that Ability."
Sergeant Faye raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What makes the Ability of this 'Tenth Family' so special?" she asked.
Muka looked at her.
"It is unlike any other Ability out there," she replied. "In fact, it is the closest thing to 'magic' in all of existence, and throughout the lines of the various Leaders within the 10th Family, they have used this very Ability to accomplish a great many things that most would consider to be…unnatural."