The First Pope - Chapter 117
Chapter 117
Among the younger generation of the Wolf Race, Hanni's aptitude was quite exceptional. Given time to grow, her future strength would be no less than that of a Wolf Race elder or even Joanna. But no matter how talented she was, she could never defeat a Second Generation Vampire.
Hanni's resistance was quickly suppressed by Avira. Her collar was forcefully torn open, exposing her fragile neck to Avira's view. Delicious blood was within easy reach. Licking her lips, Avira leaned in closer. Her scarlet eyes glanced over casually, meeting Hanni's gaze, which was filled with fury.
There was nothing but anger in those sky-blue eyes. The shyness, panic, and confusion—all the reactions Avira enjoyed—had vanished.
The previously famished Avira suddenly lost all interest. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and released Hanni's wrists.
The sudden freedom was somewhat surprising to Hanni. But before she could ponder why Avira had let her go, she worried Avira was plotting something else. She immediately spun around and restrained her, instinctively placing her sharp claws over the position of Avira's heart.
Avira lay on the ground without any resistance. She merely glanced at the sharp claws piercing her chest before turning her head away, looking thoroughly uninterested, as if she were sulking.
Her reaction, in turn, left Hanni at a loss. She looked at Avira's profile, and the hand pressed against her chest trembled. Warm blood stained her fingers, and she snatched her hand back as if she had been burned.
"…What are you doing now?" Hanni released Avira with a complicated expression. Seeing the bloodstain on her chest, she guiltily hid her hand behind her back.
If her hand had gone just a fraction deeper, it would have touched Avira's heart.
Avira caught Hanni's small movement. Her eyes narrowed, and she suddenly sat up from the ground, raising an eyebrow. "Are you afraid?"
Seeing Hanni's anxious look, the gloom in Avira's eyes dissipated somewhat. She curled her lips into a smile, craning her neck to see the hand Hanni was hiding behind her back, and mocked her bluntly, "You're overthinking it. You think you can kill me?"
Even if she let Hanni hold her heart, she could still kill her in the final second. This little wolf was still too young.
Seeing that she had returned to normal, Hanni silently got up, preparing to put some distance between them. Before leaving, however, she hesitated for a moment and decided to warn Avira. "You should leave quickly. My mother is also in the territory. She'll detect your presence."
Avira was a Second Generation Vampire. Hanni didn't want to see Joanna clash with her.
"Are you worried about me, or are you worried about your people?" A black chain wrapped around Hanni's leg. Avira beckoned with her finger, and the chain dragged Hanni to her side.
Hanni frowned as the chain pulled her to the ground. She turned her head angrily, about to demand what Avira was trying to do, but before she could speak, Avira had already climbed on top of her. A familiar fragrance wafted into her nose, making her lower her head uncomfortably.
"Are you still angry that I let Talia go in the Elf Territory?" Avira pinched Hanni's chin, forcing her to meet her gaze. Her tone was unreadable as she spoke.
Hanni averted her eyes and mumbled, "You Vampires are all the same anyway."
Avira stared at her for a moment, then suddenly said, "Then I'll go apologize."
Hanni was stunned. "Apologize?"
"I'll go apologize to Cynthia. Is that not enough?" Avira leaned over to kiss Hanni's cheek, guiding her hand to her own waist. The feeling of hunger surged in her heart again. She stared intently at Hanni's neck, her eyes burning, but her tone was incredibly pitiful. "She's an elder of the Lasombra. If I don't save her, my sister will scold me."
Avira eagerly pushed aside Hanni's hair, then lowered her head and bit into her neck. The delicious blood eased her anxiety. As she fed, she mumbled indistinctly, "…I really did miss you."
The pain of fangs piercing skin was nothing to the Wolf Race. Listening to Avira's muffled words of affection, a thought suddenly arose in Hanni's mind: if only Avira were just a human girl and not a vampire. The arm wrapped around Avira's waist slowly tightened. Her sky-blue eyes lowered slightly, hiding the conflict and confusion within them.
After Cynthia led the Magic Dragon to the Capri Plains, the Slade Sea Region and Ochester returned to peace. Following the battle with the Sethite wizards, the God Race began to recuperate. The reconstruction of the cities was left entirely to Susan. Once a pampered city lord, she now ran around with the knights day in and day out, getting quite tanned, but she didn't mind at all.
A human's lifespan was short. In her limited life, she wanted to seize every opportunity to change the fate of humanity.
The war of resistance against the Vampires would surely last a long time. Susan didn't know if she would live to see that day, but before her life was spent, she had to unite humanity into a single force, rather than letting them remain like scattered sand.
Therefore, the plan to establish a nation had to begin.
In a semi-open garden, red and white roses bloomed in competition. A member of the God Race, dressed in a moon-white robe, held a pair of golden scissors and was carefully trimming the flower branches. Her sleeves were rolled up a few times, bunched at her forearm to reveal a delicate, fair wrist. She wore a beautifully woven floral wreath on her head, and her long silver hair cascaded smoothly down her back, elegant and noble.
The branches under her hand were being trimmed a bit too casually, but this didn't affect her cheerful mood.
"Have you made up your mind?" Cynthia placed a trimmed rose into a nearby basket, then glanced sideways at Susan, who was sitting at a table drinking tea. She said with a smile, "Managing a country is different from managing a knightly order."
The teapot on the table had gone cold. Although the water in the cup was still warm, it had clearly been sitting for a long time. Susan took a sip without complaint and then nodded seriously. "I've been thinking about it for a long time."
"How will I know if I can do it if I don't try?" Susan paused, then added with a smile, "Besides, there's no one else more suitable than me."
This was something only she could do.
Cynthia smiled faintly and said in a gentle voice, "I will help you."
If humans wanted to survive on this continent, they had to change their current scattered state. Otherwise, even if the Vampires were driven out of the Sitatul Continent, the living space for humans would remain just as narrow.
The Elf Race and the Wolf Race wouldn't treat humans as prey. The Sitatul Continent was vast, and they didn't mind coexisting with humans. But whether humans could live a stable life like they did during the age of the gods ultimately depended on themselves.
Susan tightened her grip on her cup and smiled gratefully at Cynthia. The God Race's power was already stable, yet Cynthia was still helping them. Susan was truly grateful to her in her heart.
"If you establish a country, you can't call this place the Slade Sea Region anymore." Cynthia set the scissors aside, then picked up the basket full of roses and sat down across from Susan. She asked with interest, "Have you thought of a name for the country?"
Susan nodded. "My father's name was Grut Jones, so I want to call it the Gru Empire."
If her father had met Cynthia during his lifetime, this country might have been established much earlier.
"The Gru Empire," Cynthia repeated, then slowly nodded in praise. "A very good name."
Susan lowered her head and smiled, swirling the cup in her hand. She thanked her again, "Thank you, Cynthia."
Cynthia looked up at her and shook her head with a light laugh. She fiddled with the roses in the basket, chatting idly with Susan.
The gentle morning sun slowly rose to its zenith, and the sunlight began to grow intense. Susan wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, glanced at the sky, and thought of the still-unfinished city reconstruction. After a few more words with Cynthia, she hurriedly departed.
After Susan left, Cynthia also picked up her flower basket and prepared to leave. Compared to a city teeming with life, Olivia preferred the wild, nature-filled forest. So, she had only stayed in Cynthia's bedroom for one night before revitalizing the forest outside the city the next day, creating a bridge-like structure as a place to rest.
Cynthia had no particular requirements for where she lived; inside the city or out in the wild were both fine. It was just a pity that her bedroom, lively for only a day, had become deserted once more.
The roses in the basket emitted a rich fragrance. Cynthia walked out of the city and into the forest where Olivia was. The withered trees in the woods were once again cloaked in green, and the cracked earth underfoot had become moist and covered with fresh green grass. Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew past, lifting Cynthia's long silver hair behind her. She stopped, her gaze shifting from the forest scenery, her brow furrowing slightly.
This aura is…
"Hanni?" Cynthia turned her head toward a certain direction and called out, raising an eyebrow.
A large white wolf ran out from behind a tree and stopped a few meters from Cynthia. She lowered her head and greeted her hesitantly, "Cynthia…"
Cynthia looked her up and down and asked, "Why are you here?"
She knew that Hanni had returned to her territory with Joanna, and she had heard from Olivia that Helen had forbidden their clan from going out.
The white wolf's claws scratched a few marks into the ground. She stammered, "I snuck out…" As she spoke, she glanced behind her.
Cynthia followed her gaze. Avira was sitting on a tree branch not far away, her legs swinging leisurely. When her eyes met Cynthia's, her red lips curved slightly upward.
"Elder Avira." Cynthia gently placed the flower basket on the ground, then took out the Light Crystal to toy with it. She said with a half-smile, "Long time no see."
"It seems the Sethite wizards' attack didn't have much of an effect on the God Race." Avira raised her hands and clapped, nodding with an appreciative smile. "Congratulations, Cynthia."
"The God Race truly continues to surprise me."
She had never expected that the God Race could grow from a race as weak as humans to its current state.
And it was all because of the woman before her.
The image of her drawing the Forest Goddess's longbow back in the Elf Territory was still clearly etched in Avira's mind. The power of Light… it had been a long time since she had seen it.
A smile touched Avira's lips, but her eyes were dark and profound, devoid of any mirth. This chess piece was always exceeding her expectations.
"Elder Avira surprises me as well. Are all Vampires so lacking in the spirit of an alliance?" Cynthia tilted her head up slightly, as if she hadn't noticed Avira's deep gaze, and said jokingly, "I thought the next time I saw you, it would be at Elder Talia's side."
The two of them seemed to be joking, their tones light and gentle without a hint of hostility, but Hanni felt inexplicably nervous. Worried that Cynthia and Avira would start fighting, she quickly interrupted them. "Avira is here to apologize, Cynthia."
Cynthia was slightly taken aback, her gaze toward Avira filled with astonishment. "Apologize?"
Hanni nodded repeatedly and told Cynthia everything about how Avira had come to find her and their conversation. Avira frowned as she listened, wanting to interrupt several times, but seeing the large white wolf earnestly explaining on her behalf, she could only suppress her displeasure, purse her lips, and turn her head away.
Apologize… Why had she said something like that just to please this wolf? How embarrassing. If the others in the clan found out, who knew how they would mock her.
The word "apologize" was indeed incredible when applied to a Second Generation Vampire. After hearing Hanni's explanation, Cynthia's expression was a bit strange. She looked up at Avira, pondered for a moment, and said with a curl of her lips, "If Elder Avira's apology is sincere enough, I might consider forgiving you."
She appeared tolerant and magnanimous, but Avira, who had long understood Cynthia's character, knew that this "forgiveness" would certainly not be that simple.
Avira snorted coldly, remaining motionless on the tree branch.
Hanni looked at Cynthia, then at Avira, and couldn't help but urge, "Didn't you come to apologize? Hurry up."
Seeing that she still wasn't moving, the large white wolf simply ran to the base of Avira's tree and stared up at her.
Avira was silent for a moment, then clicked her tongue and jumped down from the branch. She walked up to Cynthia but didn't mention the apology at all. "That was just a small, unpleasant matter. It won't affect the cooperative relationship between us, right?"
As she spoke, she gave Cynthia a flirtatious wink.
"You call that a small, unpleasant matter?" A flame a hundred zhang high appeared without warning between Avira and Cynthia. Olivia's icy voice caused the temperature in the forest to drop abruptly. She walked out from the depths of the forest, her pale green hair bathed in sunlight yet seeming to be coated in frost. "If I were to kill you here, would your sister Samantha also think it was a small matter?"
Avira was forced back a few steps by the flames. She turned to look at Olivia, the smile completely gone from her face, her eyes dark. "Her Majesty the Queen Olivia's temper is as irascible as ever."
"Irascible?" Cynthia turned her head to look at Olivia, her eyes gentle. "I don't think so."
"If the Elf Race had attacked the Vampires, causing countless casualties among your people, you would also be furious upon hearing an elf say such a thing in front of you." After speaking, Cynthia thought for a moment, then shook her head with a smile. "No, that's not right. I forgot that you Vampires have always been cold-blooded and selfish."
She raised a hand to her chin, pondered for a moment, and let out a soft laugh. "Perhaps you would understand if the Elf Race had seized the Vampires' position as rulers of the Sitatul Continent, even trampling and enslaving you."
The position of absolute ruler was what the Vampires valued most. They could do without it, but they would never allow others to compete for it.
The flames licked at her, but Avira only summoned a barrier to envelop herself and did not retaliate. She hadn't come here to fight. Avira glanced at Cynthia and said in a flat tone, "That would indeed be a very unpleasant matter."
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