Chapter 317: Strange.

"They say Hunters should learn about their game before capturing them. I am trying to do the same. I just got the order wrong, but I’ll work on that."

Lucian shrugged.

"A peculiar way of doing things, indeed."

Aurelia chuckled.

"I like keeping traditions flexible."

Lucian smiled. Aurelia then shook her head and—

"If you want information about Varek, I am not the best person to ask."

"You don’t know him?"

"I know of him."

She corrected.

"About the Contract, his exile, some of what happened afterward, but he was not important enough for me to study him."

"Makes sense."

Lucian nodded.

"You can ask House Arcelis."

She suggested.

"I’m sure they’ll love me asking questions about their disgraced rogue."

"Probably not."

Aurelia smiled.

"Fortunately, you don’t need to ask anyone."

Lucian raised an eyebrow.

"There is a public archive in the ancestral library."

"Public?"

"Public to recognized guests of the House."

Aurelia clarified.

"It contains House histories, genealogies, records of significant family members, major events, public accomplishments and certain records concerning those who disgraced the House."

Lucian’s eyes brightened.

"...why would they have something like this?"

Lucian frowned.

"I understand flaunting the accomplished members, but why would you mention those who disgraced the House?

You would think one would try to erase that stain from the family."

"Because they have nothing to hide."

Aurelia answered with a smile.

"Or at least that is what they want the world to believe. The entire World already knows Varek comes from House Arcelis, hiding it won’t make a difference. Mentioning him, on the other hand, would show the world that House Arcelis is upright enough to accept its wrongs and acts to right them.

It is a common practice amongst the Vampire Houses."

"Huh..."

Lucian nodded to himself.

That... did make sense.

"Does... House Veyr do the same?"

He asked carefully.

Aurelia just chuckled and nodded.

"We do."

"Hmmm."

Lucian nodded again.

"So the Ancestral Library would have information on Varek, huh."

"It would be quite detailed too. Varek was, after all, a direct descendant of the Arcelis main line. There will almost certainly be a section dedicated to him."

This time, Lucian stopped.

"...direct descendant?"

He repeated those words, making sure he didn’t mishear anything.

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded calmly.

Lucian stared at her for a good few seconds. For some reason, he never thought Varek was a direct descendant of the Arcelis Main Line.

"I always thought he was some distant member who came from a branch family."

"No, his bloodline was quite respectable, higher than Vespera’s, even."

"Oh?"

Lucian’s face changed.

He had seen how much authority Vespera held, Varek would have held even more.

"Huh."

Lucian nodded to himself.

Why would one even leave all that behind and form a Contract with a Demon? Just to get strong?

While Lucian understood the urge, the choice he made seemed... quite strange.

"To think one could go from a direct descendant of one of the oldest Vampire Houses... to torturing people inside a Spirit Trial for power."

"That is generally why House Arcelis considers this a great humiliation."

Aurelia shrugged.

"Well, that does make it a little easier for me."

Lucian shrugged as well. He then glanced at the Vampire again and—

"Where is this library?"

"Come, I’ll take you there."

Aurelia smiled and Lucian did not hesitate.

It was time to get some answers.

...

The Ancestral Library was... ridiculous.

Honestly, at this point, Lucian was expecting a giant waste of space since every other thing he saw in this Estate was like that but...

The Library was still beyond his expectations.

The ceiling was several floors high, there were countless shelves stretching all over the enormous halls. There were ladders, balconies and private reading areas.

"This is the public section?"

He questioned.

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded.

Lucian stared around again, then—

"Of course."

He nodded as he gave up.

Aurelia chuckled.

She guided him deeper inside, spoke briefly with one of the attendants, then led him towards the section containing Arcelis genealogical records.

"Varek should be somewhere here."

She pointed towards several shelves.

"...right."

Lucian stared at what could easily be a thousand books.

And Aurelia—

"I will leave you to it."

She excused herself.

"You aren’t staying?"

"I have things to do."

"You are abandoning me here?"

Lucian pouted with misty, pitiful eyes.

"I cannot completely give myself to you, now can I?"

Aurelia chuckled, Lucian pouted again, though this time, he didn’t say anything. Aurelia walked away, then, once Lucian was alone, he turned towards the shelves and—

"Well."

He sighed.

"This is going to be a long day."

Lucian then stretched his body and got to work.

Just like that, two hours passed by, in these two hours, Lucian read five books, maybe it was because Varek was a direct descendant, but the records about him were quite detailed. His birth, his parents, his position within the main family, his early years, his training records, accomplishments, his growing obsession with strength, several incidents where that obsession made him far better than his peers and...

Several incidents where that obsession caused problems.

And his Contract...

That was one such incident, the most highlighted one.

Varek trained harder than anyone else. Vampires have a gift, the power to grow endlessly. It wouldn’t be wrong if, from a certain point of view, it looked like the World itself favoured the Vampires.

But...

Even that favour... came with a cost.

Vampires grow endlessly with time, yes, but, in exchange, they cannot grow on their own. No matter how much a Vampire trains, other than improving their fighting techniques and honing their skills, there is nothing else they can work on.

And to Varek, a being obsessed with strength, that was like a curse.

He did not wish to repeatedly wait for Crimson Ascensions, he wanted more strength and he was willing to put in as much work as required.

The thing was—

No matter how much work he put in, he could not grow beyond a certain point.

At one point, even after training for more than 18 hours a day for an entire decade, he did not grow at all.

And that... was the breaking point.

The strength-obsessed Varek broke down and... chose possibly the single most shameful path.

Forming a Contract with a Demon.

Then came the consequences, his obsession took over him, he started targeting his fellow Vampires, until eventually he lost himself and was exiled.

The records even had information on crimes he committed after his exile, his known appearances, beings he killed, everything the world knew about him, it was all there in his records.

Lucian read everything, every page, every footnote, every reference he could find, in detail, then, he stopped.

He narrowed his eyes, went back, checked the previous book, then another, then another, then the first one, then he checked a few more reference books he found and...

The frown on his face deepened.

"That’s... strange."

He tilted his head in confusion.

Everyone knew Varek had formed a Contract with an Archdemon, it was written everywhere, every single book, every single reference that mentioned Varek had that information, some even called him the Archdemon’s Contractor, there were even mentions of how his Contract strengthened him through others’ suffering, how the pain he inflicted on others became his power but...

Why did... none of the records he read mention the name of the demon he formed a Contract with?

How did nobody know?

"Huh."