Ch.61Expanding the Clan [2]

Taking over the Ice Prism clan, now Bbo-bbi’s clan, wasn’t particularly difficult.

First, I turned the clan leader into my subordinate, then devoured everyone who entered Bbo-bbi’s room, making them my subordinates too.

The same went for those waiting outside.

After taking over the hideout, I even devoured those returning from hunting.

It took exactly one day for an entire vampire clan of over 60 members to disappear.

“Waaah…”

Bbo-bbi stood before me with a tearful expression, sniffling.

She was crying because I had taken all the resources she had hidden in the clan hideout.

To others, I might look like a mean woman stealing a little girl’s possessions, but what belongs to my subordinates belongs to their master.

So I wasn’t being mean at all.

“Don’t cry.”

At that moment, Yeppi approached the sniffling Bbo-bbi and offered her a crayon.

It was like she was comforting her new little sister.

Bbo-bbi, who had been wiping her tears with her small, soft hands, stopped crying when she received the bright red crayon.

“This is…”

“A gift.”

“A gift…”

Bbo-bbi’s expression was ambiguous, neither smiling nor crying.

Yeppi took her away and they began drawing pictures in a corner.

“This is quite substantial…!”

“Hmm…”

I nodded at Aurel’s comment.

In the large safe found in the basement of Ice Prism’s—that is, Bbo-bbi’s—room, there were 100,000 credits.

It seems she had been pocketing money rather than arming her clan members.

I touched my cheek and poured the credits into my shadow.

Bbo-bbi’s hard-earned money would become clothes for my children.

“There were no witnesses, right?”

“No! Nobody saw us! There weren’t any visitors either!”

Hwang-gu answered energetically to my question.

I nodded and smiled slightly.

Rumors couldn’t spread about me devouring clans and increasing my subordinates.

To completely devour an entire clan without a single loss, I needed to move carefully.

That’s why I could only handle one clan per day.

“Hwang-gu.”

“Yes!”

“Go with Aurel and harvest some blood fruit.”

“Yes!”

Hwang-gu nodded at my command.

Then she ran out of the hideout with Aurel.

Today, I planned to stay here to train my new children.

I looked at Bbo-bbi, who was sitting on the floor drawing pictures.

Her tearful face was now full of smiles, and her mind was focused on the large sketchbook.

She’s already like this after less than 10 hours since her transformation.

In a few more days, she’ll probably lose all memories of her past self and name.

Just like Yeppi beside her.

“This one is gold!”

Yeppi confidently pulled out a gold crayon.

The soft girls watching her opened their mouths in awe.

“Wooow…”

Yeppi is my first subordinate. That’s why I gave her special treatment compared to my other subordinates.

The gold and silver crayons were privileges I granted only to Yeppi.

“Gasp…”

Bbo-bbi also showed interest in the gold crayon.

Looking down at her, Yeppi smiled victoriously.

“If you listen well to Charlotte, you can use it too.”

“R-really…?”

“Yes.”

I nodded as I watched them.

I could leave the children’s mental education to Yeppi.

I lay down on the soft sofa and closed my eyes.

***

The next evening.

As soon as the sun set, I left Bbo-bbi’s hideout and headed to Lionheart’s clan hideout.

This one was a space converted from a large gymnasium.

“Think we can do well this time too?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Aurel and Hwang-gu nodded at my question.

They were truly reliable children.

As I was smiling at the two, a vampire walked out of the distant gymnasium.

He had a large, muscular build.

I frowned at his appearance, which had no trace of beauty, but he was a future child who would be reborn as a soft and cute little girl once he became my subordinate.

I managed my expression and smiled lightly.

“What brings you here?”

His manner of speaking was as stiff as his appearance.

I twitched my eyebrows and opened my mouth.

“I came to see the clan leader.”

“Lionheart is absent.”

“Absent? Where did he go?”

“He went to harvest blood fruit…”

“Hmm… can I wait inside?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

I nodded at the gatekeeper’s words.

I thought he’d be as inflexible as his stiff appearance, but he seemed to have some flexibility.

Just wait a little, I’ll give you a form that suits your personality.

I licked my lips and followed his guidance into the hideout.

As I entered, I surveyed the interior.

The large space had been divided by partitions used as rooms.

There were about 10 people remaining.

When I gave Hwang-gu a look, she smiled broadly and spread all ten fingers.

That meant there were ten people left here.

“Please wait here… he’ll be back soon.”

The place I was guided to was a space converted from a changing room into something like a room.

Judging by the cabinets left intact throughout, they didn’t care much about interior design.

I sat down on a soft sofa.

As the gatekeeper said, Lionheart returned quickly.

Like me, he entered the room with two vampires on either side.

He slightly frowned, as if this meeting was uncomfortable.

“What brings you here?”

“I wanted to talk about what happened then.”

“Hmm…”

Lionheart’s expression softened at my words.

He sat across from me and opened his mouth.

“Are you thinking of redistributing?”

“Hmm, that’s not it…”

When I trailed off and shook my head, Lionheart’s expression soured again.

“Then why did you come?”

“Well…”

I watched Lionheart’s reaction.

His arms and legs were relaxed, and he was sighing while looking up at the ceiling.

Now’s the chance.

The vampires standing on either side of Lionheart to assist him looked slightly tense, but the main target was defenseless.

I immediately lunged forward.

Tap-

Right after, Aurel and Hwang-gu rushed forward as if following me.

The two girls first shattered the jaws of the vampires standing on either side of Lionheart.

Crack-!

Crunch-!

The eerie sounds rang out clearly.

Red blood spurted out belatedly as the vampires’ postures collapsed.

Simultaneously, my hand wrapped around Lionheart’s neck.

Thud-!

Lionheart staggered greatly and fell backward.

He frantically waved his hands, but his body was restrained by the black shadow that emerged from my body.

The operation had to be swift and precise.

I needed to finish before the keen-eared vampires noticed something suspicious happening inside.

“Come out!”

Right after my command, dozens of snow-white girl arms emerged from the shadow restraining Lionheart, then bent his arms and legs in opposite directions.

Crack-!

“Mmph…!”

Lionheart writhed as if in pain.

With his mouth covered by my hand, I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

But isn’t he overreacting?

I turned my head to check on Aurel and Hwang-gu.

“Yah~”

With a cute shout, Hwang-gu shoved a large book into a vampire’s mouth.

His arms and legs had already been broken and were pointing in strange directions.

Aurel was doing something similar.

She had cut off the arms and legs with her katana, then stuffed an arm into the opponent’s mouth.

The vampire was just shedding tears without any resistance.

I needed to finish the job before the smell of blood leaked out.

I spread both hands and put the three vampires into my shadow.

Lionheart groaned as he watched the shadow devouring his body.

He thrashed about with a pale face.

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

The shadow that had devoured the three vampires spat out three large eggs.

It didn’t take long for those eggs to hatch.

Crack-!

Three girls emerged from the cracked eggs.

“Hueek…”

“Hueeeng…”

“Huek…”

The children sprawled on the floor looked around in confusion.

I looked at Lionheart and opened my mouth.

“From today, your name is Wawr.”

“W-Wawr…”

“Yes, from now on, when someone asks your name, you answer ‘Wawr.'”

“W-Wawr…”

It was a name that suddenly came to mind when I saw the name Lionheart.

Wawr, doesn’t it suit her well?

“Isn’t it a pretty name?”

I looked at Hwang-gu and Aurel as if seeking their agreement.

“It’s a perfect name!”

“You’re amazing!”

The children praised me with sparkling eyes.

I shrugged and smiled.

“Hehe…”

“I… I… what is this…”

Wawr seemed to still have difficulty accepting her transformation.

I clicked my tongue at the sight.

You should have behaved better from the start.

I didn’t want to turn fellow vampires into my subordinates either. But to defeat the boss, I needed various skill builds.

Devouring the former Lionheart’s, now Wawr’s, clan wasn’t difficult either.

Using the same method I used to devour Bbo-bbi’s clan, I turned all clan members into my subordinates.

Over two days, the number of newly acquired subordinates totaled 120.

That meant I now had a total of 161 soft troops.

I materialized all my subordinates and lined them up in the spacious gymnasium.

Seeing them standing like this, it felt like watching an elementary taekwondo class.

“The children are so pretty.”

“Because they take after Charlotte.”

Hwang-gu and Aurel seemed to like the children too.

The two girls smiled pleasantly as they looked at the children.

“Everyone, rest comfortably. We need to move again tomorrow.”

At my command, the children sat down on the floor.

Some of them took out crayons to draw pictures.

“You, you are…”

At that moment, Bbo-bbi and Wawr’s eyes met.

Wawr opened her mouth wide as if instinctively sensing something, but Bbo-bbi just tilted her head.

“What’s your name…?”

“I’m Bbo-bbi.”

“Gasp…”

“And you?”

“I’m… I’m… Wawr…”

The two girls looked at each other’s faces.

After some time had passed like that,

Bbo-bbi offered Wawr a crayon.

“Want to join?”

“Ah, ah… yes!”

Wawr nodded and smiled brightly.

I’m glad they seem to get along.