The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 84: Apologies & Trophies

Briefly, Keran wondered if she had accidentally stumbled into some sort of illusory technique placed by a random cultivator.

I mean, of course that was the only way that the current scenario could make any sense, right?

Her mother? Apologizing? Sincerely??

This had to be some sort of fever dream, or even a marijuana induced hallucination.

"Wipe that incredulous look off your face, it irks me terribly." Ayame grumbled.

"S-Sorry, mother, I just..wasn't expecting you to say something like that so suddenly."

'Or at all…'

"I feel like you are thinking something insulting."

"It's your imagination!"

Ayame ran her hands through her hair as she let out a deep sigh.

"Well… something like this was long overdue. I thought I may have been just a bit too hard on you for too long and… I realized that maybe you stoked a bit of an inferiority complex within me.

Ever since you were a child, you have never been dissuaded by failure or embarrassment, and you've always continued to give things your best effort even with all of the odds against you.

That's… a quality that I think I may have had myself a long time ago… but I lost it."

"M-Mother…"

"But I think that this new encounter with your betrothed has sparked something familiar within me after quite a while. Maybe now we can both be hopeful, hm?"

Keran smiled at her mother as if she were a little girl again, and temporarily blinded her with the shining light of her radiance.

"I would like that. I think you would be a lot prettier if you smiled a bit more, mother!"

"Oh? Do you think Taira would think so as well?"

"You're pushing it, you old hag."

"You brat!"

-

When Keran came out of her mother's throne room, it was hard to tell exactly what kind of mood she was in.

Though her face was scrounged up into a frown, her footsteps were light and bouncy as if she had just heard some great news.

Taira would have asked exactly what had happened to elevate her mood so, but before he could do so, Keran grabbed he and Enyo by the handing started to pull them through the castle.

Eventually, the trio ended up inside of a library that was lined with rows and rows of dusty old books.

She moved them to a very specific bookshelf deep inside of the room, and ran her hands along the wood of a very specific shelf.

When they heard a clicking sound, the bookcase trembled a bit before it sank into the floor at their feet.

Just like at the ruined Ascalon castle; there was a long stone corridor that led to a small room with many different items stored inside.

A desk sat directly in the center of the room; situated between a wall of cultivation manuals and another one with weapons so old that they were no more than decorations by this point.

Since kitsune specialized mostly in Arcane arts, there were also a few texts that provided insight on that specific field in the hopes of furthering one's depth of knowledge.

On the furthest wall at the back of the room, there were several thick books lined with detailed historical accounts of the divine foxes way of life and various deeds.

Coincidentally, these were also the ones that Keran's mother, father, and grandparents all had to study as part of their upbringing as Garou royalty.

"Haaa, it's been a while since I've been down here!" Keran sat on top of the wooden table within the room and crossed her legs.

She looked around fondly as if she were remembering all of the long and painful hours she spent reading every history book within these four walls.

"I used to hate it down here. I'd have to spend hours at a time memorizing these texts over and over."

"But you did it?" Taira released Enyo and immediately went to the wall with cultivation techniques first.

"Of course I did... if my progress was ever unsatisfactory then my father would not allow me to visit you."

Taira paused midway flipping through a manual and Keran could swear that she saw his tails twitch just a bit.

"I see then... I'm glad to know that I was a sufficient motivator."

"You were the only motivator... then and now."

Taira looked at his wife out of the corner of his eye to see if she was going to say anything about this, but he found her floating in the air on her back, with her nose in a history book.

'These girls... trying to understand them will be the death of me.'

Taira chose not to respond in the moment and instead focused on the large bookcase in front of him.

His eyes scanned the rows and rows of knowledge and he was slightly mesmerized by what he found.

Judging by the titles alone, every technique seemed to be very profound and contained an incredible depth of wisdom.

Several manuals were immediately able to catch Taira's attention.

The first was a breathing art dubbed 'Breath of Thoughtful Night'.

The second was a nine step scythe art named 'Immortal Harvesting'.

The third was a kusarigama art called 'Unseen Asura.'

However, the last four arts were unlike anything he had ever heard of before.

"Little wolf...What are 'Bloodline Arts'? " he asked.

Keran immediately sat up on the table, looking elated that she would actually get to show off a bit of her knowledge.

"It sounds crazy, right? These are body arts that can not be understood or even attempted by one who is not of a specific race.

Apparently, there are latent powers within certain races that can go entirely unnoticed unless they are subjected to proper stimuli through breathing techniques.

As far as we know, only the kitsune and dragons have been in possession of anything like this, as most races can use their additional abilities without issue or real training.

We can only assume that their powers were that much more devastating and profound than anything we could have seen before."

As Taira read over the titles, he was having a hard time disagreeing.

'Myriad Curse Art.'

'Dream Devouring Art.'

'Malefic Illusion Art.'

As Taira looked over the last booklet, he realized that it was a bit special from the rest.

"This... looks like a dual cultivation method."

Keran's cheeks became slightly pink and her eyes took on the usual hungry nature they got whenever Taira and sex were concerned.

"Right... though it isn't widely known, there are some who say that both male and female kitsune behaved similarly but different to sex demons; as they fed on the energy of those they tricked or seduced into sexual contact."

Taira and Enyo's eyes met in midair, and they both caught each other smiling possessively.

It was easy to tell that they were both developing extensive plans for how it would be used.

'I was miserable at first, but these rewards are definitely worth the headaches I had to suffer through.'

"How long can we be in here?" He asked.

"These things technically belong to you now, beloved. So you can spend as long as you want reading them and even take them with with us if you like."

Taira looked around and scanned the bookshelves and weapons.

While he didn't want to take everything here, there were definitely a few items that he felt could be better utilized outside of this bunker.

And if he was honest, he also wanted to spend a bit of time cultivating and trying to understand the new arts he'd collected.

As he thought about what to do, a slightly embarrassing sound escaped his stomach.

*growl*

His usual icy expression broke into one of embarrassment, and he finally remembered the gnawing sense of hunger that he had been pushing out of his mind ever sense earlier.

"I…"

"Beloved."

Looking up, Taira watched as Keran pushed her hair to the side while exposing her collarbone.

"Are you… hungry?"