RISE OF EROS

It must be understood that there is not a single country in the entire continent that does not have at least a handful of master-level experts, meaning that for a country to survive it needs to have at least 5 experts of the same strength as Oliver.

This alone already demonstrated the strength of this vampire family, as this duchy is surrounded by 4 countries where there are powerful experts and even demigods and yet they are able to keep them at bay.

Andrew and his wives were surprised to hear this, as they never expected such monsters to exist on this small piece of land, but now everything seemed to fit together.

At first when Andrew heard that the duchy of Cannes served as a buffer zone for the surrounding countries, he imagined it would be a war-torn and dilapidated region.

However, that did not seem to be the case and that always seemed strange to Andrew and when he saw it he could not believe it. Now that he knew of the existence of the rulers of the place everything fit together.

If there were powerful beings in the Duchy of Cannes, the nearby countries could not do whatever they wanted and that was why this city could prosper so much. Still, it still surprised them that the rulers of the duchy are vampires and that they have the ability to exert pressure on 4 countries.

If all this was already surprising, when Oliver said that this was not the only thing he had learned, everyone focused their attention on him. Oliver who saw the serious expressions did not take long to tell them everything he had found.

The first thing is that the vampire family that ruled the Duchy of Cannes was not very large and among its known members there are 5. There is the current duke, his wife and their three children consisting of two women and one man.

Rumors say that the duke's father also lives in the family mansion, but no one has seen him, so they are just rumors. According to what Oliver learned, all the members of the family are older than a century, so they have experience and strength.

Although the source of the information he obtained is not entirely certain, Oliver learned that the duke has strength no less than that of a Master-level Expert, as does his wife.

The duke's eldest daughter is a peak super expert, while his second son is a mid-level super expert and the youngest daughter is a peak-level major expert.

When Andrew and his wives heard this information they were beyond shocked. 5 members and all of them are absolute powerhouses, but Andrew still understood that something was off and asked, "They are certainly powerful, but not enough to keep 4 countries at bay, is there something missing?"

When Andrew said this, Aki and Zany also realized this. If a country had to have at least 5 Master-level experts to exist, how could a small duchy like this keep 4 countries at bay with just that much strength?

Make no mistake, this vampire family is strong, but not enough to keep 4 countries like the ones around it at bay. Hearing Andrew's question, Oliver smiled.

He seemed proud that he noticed, as he hadn't given all the information on purpose. Oliver was always trying to get Andrew to be more detailed and cautious and that's why he put tests like this one out from time to time to keep him on his toes.

"It's good that you noticed, young master," Oliver said smiling, but seconds later the smile disappeared from his face and he seriously added, "According to rumors, it's all due to the Duke's supposed father."

Oliver paused again and continued saying, "According to rumors, the Duke's father is a vampire from over a millennium ago and his strength is that of a demigod, so that's why nearby countries don't dare to bother the Duchy of Cannes."

Andrew furrowed his eyebrows upon hearing this and couldn't help but say, "Aren't we crossing paths with too many hidden powers lately?" Oliver, Aki, and Zany laughed bitterly at the comment because although it seemed like a funny comment, it really wasn't.

The worst thing about it was that it was true. In Dunnas they had to fight an ancient family with a powerful demigod, who, although they were able to eliminate easily thanks to Fluffy, did not change the fact that he was a danger.

On their way to Rios they crossed paths with the caravan of the Limares family, who, although there was no one super powerful, the Limares family itself was a problem. Upon entering Rios they crossed paths with water elves and slave hunters, so they were later visited by an almost god of the water elves.

Now, they were in a city with an ancient vampire who seemed to have immeasurable strength, which was beginning to give Andrew a headache, since it seemed that this trip was plagued with events.

After lamenting for a while, Andrew continued to ask about what Oliver had encountered. He managed to learn about some powerful forces in the city, but it didn't seem like they could clash with them since they aren't in the pleasure business.

The last thing Oliver told them was that the city's pleasure district is large and not much different than its counterparts in other cities. There were several leaders in that district, but nothing that was different from other places.

Pleasure districts are similar everywhere. It is divided into regions and each region has leaders. Going against these leaders leads to trouble, but Oliver had already researched the leaders of this district and only the most powerful ones posed a threat.

With this information, Andrew didn't waste any time and went out with Oliver, Aki, and Zany to see if there were any establishments for sale in the pleasure district that they could buy to establish a Heavenly Palace.

Since Oliver already knew the leaders of the pleasure district, he told them the best places to avoid having to clash with someone too powerful. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a suitable establishment.

It wasn't that there were no establishments for sale, but that they were either too old or too small. Andrew wanted a relatively large establishment, as he thought that this city had a lot of potential, so he wanted a special Heavenly Palace and for that, he needed a lot of space.

While there were establishments that met his requirements in terms of size, the structures were very old and would practically have to be demolished and rebuilt.

It wasn't that Andrew was against it, but that would take a lot of time and he didn't want to spend that much time on this project. After walking through many streets of the pleasure district, they returned to the inn without any luck.

After ordering food, they began to chat about what had happened on their shopping trip, but their chat was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger falcon.

Andrew was surprised when he saw the falcon and quickly got up to see the message, as he had identified that this bird was sent by his wives in the Dunnas Palace and the first thing that came to his mind was that something bad had happened.

Aki, Zany, and Oliver also thought the same and followed Andrew a little nervously. Andrew took the message off the falcon's leg and began to read it. Although he started nervous, as he read a smile appeared on his face.

The other three noticed this and Aki being the most curious approached to ask, "What happened?", to which Andrew replied while handing over the note, "Castor and Vala are having a baby."

"HAHA, did the brat finally do it?" exclaimed Oliver with clear joy. He and Castor had developed a good friendship and Oliver could be considered Castor's teacher since he had trained him since he arrived, so they both have a lot of appreciation for each other.

Andrew was also very happy because Castor is his foster brother, and although they do not share blood, their bond goes beyond blood, so, finding out that Castor would be a father made him infinitely happy.

"Well, it seems I'm going to be an uncle," Andrew said smiling, to which his two wives laughed at how silly his words sounded. Andrew seeing his wives laughing feigned annoyance and hugged them tightly trying to reprimand them.

While the three of them were playing, Oliver suddenly said, "Young master, now we have to find a place faster, so we can go see the brat." Hearing this, Andrew stopped playing with his wives and nodded seriously.

It's not that anything bad would happen if they didn't come back, but Andrew still wanted to see his brother and sister-in-law at this special time, just like they were with him when his wives were pregnant.

With this new mindset, they went to rest and would look for a suitable establishment the next day. What they didn't know was that in the sky an old man in elegant and neat attire was watching over them.

His hair was silver, short, and well-groomed. His skin was a little pale, but his build was strong, you could see that his body was trained. There were some wrinkles on his face, but he still looked young and his red eyes stared at Andrew.

As he looked at Andrew, a voice suddenly came from behind him, "I see you noticed him." The red-eyed old man did not move at all as he replied, "It seems you already knew about him."

"It was a coincidence. He helped one of my boys with some hunters and I met him," said the voice behind the red-eyed old man. At that moment, removing his gaze from Andrew, the old man turned and faced the old man who spoke to him.

If Andrew saw him he would be surprised, because it was the Elder Elidyr, the old demigod-level water elf with whom they had spoken on the ship. "Long time no see Elidyr," said the red-eyed old man, and the Elder Elidyr replied, "Almost 2 decades Zaros."

The two old men looked at each other with some tension, but after a few seconds their expressions relaxed and they began to laugh, as they approached and hugged each other like brothers. Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire

If someone saw this scene they would be surprised, because they were not only two old men of more than a millennium hugging each other, but also two demigods of legend level, that is to say, two of the most powerful existences on the continent.