Reincarnated into a New World As a Vampire

Chapter 49: A Lurking Shadow

With a single look, Aldritch infiltrated her mental space without much resistance, as he could feel his skill being effective.

Now, instead of using one at a time or differently, he had developed the habit of activating his 'minor compulsion' and 'hypnosis' at the same time, since their effects were similar and they served similar purposes with hypnosis being more diverse.

"You will answer all my questions without resistance because that is the right thing to do. You will not try to resist, and no matter how much you do try to resist, you will feel even more compelled to tell me everything."

Even though the assassin boasted of being trained to withstand any form of torture, it looked like her mental and psychological defenses were weak. People in this world seemed to not be guarded against these things, probably because this kind of power wasn't common and guiding against such powers would be difficult and people may just not have the means to guide against them.

Once Aldritch was done, he woke her up and began the questioning. With the effect of his skills, getting information from her was very easy and direct.

The assassin went by the name Lyla. She also happened to have dark hair and eyes and wore no makeup. She had an average height and quite the seductive body, leaning towards a lean physique, quite the same as Ingrid, just a bit better if it could be said so.

From what Aldritch understood after questioning her, she was a well-trained assassin and one of the best under the master she served. Her master, who is a noble, happened to be at the slave market when Aldritch and Ingrid carried out their business and was intrigued as to why he would order so many slaves.

For her master, who was well knowledgeable about the different powerhouses within the kingdom, Aldritch appeared to be a stranger, so his wealth was unjustified and he needed to be investigated. As for why he was so interested outside the fact that he didn't recognize Aldritch, Lyla did not know.

From her report, she had followed Aldritch all the way to the river and watched him do everything he did, driving her to conclude that he was a dark magician and part of the Red Gate Order, a notorious cult with nefarious ambitions who are known for their human sacrifices and many other evil and vile acts.

Under normal circumstances, Lyla would have reported back after such a major discovery, but she persisted and followed them back to gain extra information, like whether they would meet with other members who she can identify later or if they would head to their hideout, unfortunately, none of that was the case.

"Who is this master of yours? What is his identify?" He asked.

"His name is Argus, the second son of the Lionheart family. Even though everyone thinks less of him because he is unable to learn the techniques and fighting arts of his family, he is actually a magician, which is why he can't utilize mana like a warrior would. No one knows of this because he refused to enroll in the magic academy.

He cares a lot about everything and will crush any hurdle in his quest to rule the kingdom as its king and make those who oppressed him surfer."

"That's quite the main character storyline."

Aldritch thought of it briefly before concluding on how to go about things. He questioned her more about other things he needed answers to, like whether there were people in the kingdom who were skilled in magic patterning to the mind like creating illusions and mind control, and the only thing that matched that were witches.

According to Lyla, witches themselves were rare and not easily seen around and within the kingdom, they only existed in a particular noble family. There had been other witches, particularly in the Red Gate Order, but that was it. Apart from witches, no other people could cast such spells or known to even have such abilities.

'This world is so different from what I expected, the magic system seems to be a bit less impressive than I thought.'

Aldritch took some time to completely brainwash Lyla into acknowledging him as her real master. To make sure it was flawless, he made sure to learn a lot about Lyla's past so he could twist certain memories to create false ones that now became her new and true memories. He also learned that Lyla had a sister named Luna who was also an assassin, but that was beside the point.

'She's a rank 5, so her strength is definitely welcome. Thankfully, she has a weak mental fortitude, if not I might have died during this encounter.'

After a successful brainwash, Lyla was to report back to her master and act as usual. Being a skillful assassin trained in espionage as well, such a task was easy. Aldritch only hoped that the other assassins would not be the ones to see through her acting.

Once that was done, Aldritch let her go. He had other ideas in mind, but the mood left him soon enough.

For him to advance to the next stage of his plan, Aldritch needed to first get Ingrid to become a blooded vampire, so she wouldn't feel much of an effect from walking in the sun, and so she would be able to retain enough energy to not be too tired during the day if she doesn't sleep enough in the night.

Aldritch already tested it himself, he could still sleep during the night and walk during the day, it was just like messing up one's sleep schedule, completely doable.

'For that to happen, I would need a lot of blood.' Currently, there just was no way for him to get the amount he needed. If he wanted to use the slave route, it would require a lot of money that he no longer had, and if he wanted to just kill people, it would drag too much attention and he risk being caught before he increases his strength to a sufficient level.

'I would have to kill an entire city to get good results.'

"Maybe I'll have to make my way to the academy alone, I doubt it would make much of a difference if Ingrid was to take me, after all, she's a commoner too." He thought to himself.