After breakfast, Dracula watched Kirie use necromancy to command undead servants to clean up.
He said to her, "Kirie, I'm expecting two guests soon. Would you mind making them some tea?"
"Understood, Lord Dracula." Kirie turned and headed for the kitchen.
Dracula slowly made his way to the Demon Castle's parlor.
He had just sat down when the system spoke in his mind:
[They've arrived.]
Suddenly, two glowing magical signatures appeared in midair, forming into human shapes. Two immense wills descended upon the forms.
As the light faded, two beautiful women stood before Dracula, eyes closed—one with a graceful figure and flowing white hair, the other petite and adorable with long green hair floating behind her.
The two women, still with eyes shut and goddess-like composure, spoke in unison:
"Savior from a different spacetime, welcome to our world."
Dracula half-lidded his eyes and lazily looked at the two dramatic arrivals—complete with background music and special effects.
"I mean… can we talk like normal people?"
The green-haired loli said nothing. The white-haired older woman replied solemnly,
"Traveler from another world, we've taken this form so that we might communicate more effectively."
Dracula sighed, then tapped his foot on the floor.
Suddenly, a force vastly stronger than both women surged out, locking down all energy in the room.
Without the magical support, both women yelped and plummeted from midair to the floor.
Incidentally, both had worn flowing Greek-style robes for that divine "goddess" look. As they rolled on the floor, parts of their robes slipped—offering an unintended glimpse of their "divinity."
Combined with Dracula sitting calmly in the shadows like a villain boss, the scene resembled the cover of an R18 doujin.
And just then—perfect timing—Kirie's voice echoed from outside.
"Lord Dracula, I've brought the tea~"
She pushed open the door… and was greeted by the hentai-tier tableau.
"Oh, so these are your 'guests,' Lord Dracula?" Kirie said coldly. "I didn't think you were this kind of man. Seems I'll need to… add a little something to their tea."
Dracula covered his face, despairing.
"So my luck stat really did get flipped… whatever. I'm too lazy to explain. Do what you want."
"Ugh…"
The green-haired girl groaned, holding her butt as she crawled over to the white-haired one.
She whispered, "What do we do now, Alaya? This guy clearly doesn't play along."
"Don't panic!"
Alaya (the white-haired woman) stood up, clutching her behind, straightened her robe, and put on a thug face.
"Hey punk, this turf is under my protection. You pay protection fees to be here?"
The green-haired one clapped beside her. "Yay! You're so cool, Alaya!"
Dracula watched them for a moment, then asked the system:
"Hey, these two are the ones managing this world?"
[Uhh… looks like it.]
The system sounded embarrassed.
"Can you get them to talk like normal people?"
[Okay, I'll try.]
Thanks to the system's intervention, Alaya and the green-haired girl, Gaia, finally sat down with Dracula at the same table and began speaking properly.
"This time, Gaia and I used our privileges to reach out to you, hoping you'd help us resolve a crisis in our world," said Alaya, sipping her tea.
"Oh." Dracula took a sip too. "Not interested."
"Hey! I haven't even explained it yet!" Alaya snapped. "System-sama, can't you restrain your host a little?"
[Well, you see, my prime directive is… to give the host maximum freedom, hahaha…]
The system dodged unconvincingly.
Dracula smirked. "Want to know why I said no?"
Alaya and Gaia both nodded.
Dracula waved his hand, and everyone in the parlor—including Kirie—was instantly transported into a vast space in the universe.
"Where are we?!" Alaya looked around in awe at the spiraling nebula not far away.
"Is that… the Milky Way?!"
Then, under the astonished gazes of Alaya and Gaia, Dracula extended his hand toward that swirling, spiral-shaped galaxy.
The vortex shuddered violently.
"No, don't do it!"
Alaya and Gaia leapt toward him from either side, clinging to Dracula's leg.
"My lord, please have mercy!"
Dracula lowered his hand. The four of them returned to the reception room of Castlevania.
"You see," Dracula spread his hands and said, "only those with power have the right to speak. That's a hard truth I learned long ago."
The two Counter Force avatars trembled.
"Now then, you may speak." Dracula crossed his legs. "As for whether I'll help solve your little problem… That depends on my mood. If I happen to be in a good one, I might fix it while I'm out buying games."
Gaia muttered through gritted teeth, "We already paid you in advance, Vlad the Third…"
"You dare bring that up again?"
Dracula grabbed Gaia's loli face and pulled. He summoned his stat screen, switched it to visible mode, and pointed to the glaring "E-" written there.
"You call that a reward?! I didn't dismantle you on the spot, and you should be thanking your lucky stars!"
"Ahaha, my lord, apologies—this child is still young and ignorant."
Alaya forced a laugh and quickly pulled Gaia back.
"Terribly sorry, truly…"
Dracula sat back down, smoothing out his irritation. Then he asked casually:
"Does your world have a lot of Heroic Spirits like Vlad the Third?"
"Quite a few," Alaya replied. "We created the Throne of Heroes. Any human who's left a lasting legacy and been remembered through history can be elevated to a Heroic Spirit. They exist outside the timeline and are only summoned in times of great crisis threatening the world or humanity."
"Oh? So basically, they work for you two."
Dracula's gaze turned condescending.
"But you didn't hesitate to sell out Vlad the Third. Do Heroic Spirits not have personal freedom? How black-hearted are you two as employers? Any chance you're related to someone named Huang He?"
Alaya responded calmly, "Heroic Spirits are born of humanity, remembered by humanity, and empowered by humanity. Naturally, they belong to all of humanity. In fact, for this particular crisis, Gaia and I had planned to assign a few Heroic Spirits to assist you."
Dracula snorted, but didn't argue. Or rather, he simply couldn't be bothered.
After a pause, he said, "Fine. I'll help you and Gaia deal with this mess."
Alaya and Gaia looked at him in surprise.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves."
Dracula raised a finger.
"I have one condition."
"Once I've dealt with your little problem, the Heroic Spirits assisting me—you'll grant them their freedom."