— — — — — —
Faced with Leticia's "apology", Ryo simply nodded, then asked. "So does that mean you're finally willing to put on the bunny ears?"
His tone carried a hint of teasing, but there was also a trace of sincerity. He clearly wouldn't mind making that happen.
"…Huh?" Leticia didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She was weighed down with guilt. This was not the moment for playful flirting.
Leticia sighed helplessly and tried to explain. "If it weren't for my personal affairs, the community wouldn't have been forced into a passive position… We wouldn't have had to reconcile with Ouroboros, or let them seize leverage over us…"
Before she could finish, Ryo waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, alright. Why do you always jump to the worst conclusions?"
He smirked faintly.
"Why not think of it this way? Maybe I just took a liking to Lamia and wanted to claim the last pureblood of your Little Garden knights."
"…"
Leticia's eyes widened in shock.
But she quickly steadied herself, letting out a quiet, resigned sigh. "If you were to properly take Lamia as your wife, I... wouldn't necessarily object."
"You're way too open-minded about this. Shouldn't you be fighting me on it?" Ryo was genuinely surprised.
Leticia shot him a slightly reproachful look.
"I have confidence in that child's charm."
'Child? Charm? What kind of sick bastard does she think I am?' Ryo grumbled to himself, then let out a self-mocking chuckle.
"Alright, yeah, that was a pretty terrible joke. I won't pretend I'm a saint, but I'm not that bad, Leticia. Anyway… Ouroboros using your sister to hold us back actually works in my favor."
"…?" Leticia looked up at him, puzzled.
To her, this was clearly a disaster.
Because of her family, the community had been forced to compromise with a former enemy and had even fallen into a disadvantageous position. The guilt was eating her alive.
If not for her, Arcadia wouldn't be stuck in such a passive situation.
That was why Leticia blamed herself so much.
But Ryo clearly saw things differently.
And now, he tried to make her see it from another angle.
"Leticia," he said quietly, "you seem to have forgotten what I gained in another world."
She froze for a moment, then frowned.
"You mean… the racial concept of vampires?"
In Little Garden, the ones who held dominion over the concept of "vampire" were only Leticia herself and the First Lamia.
As the last purebloods, the two of them essentially grasped the origin of the vampire race.
Unless it was beings like Draugr or Strigoi, who had been granted fragments of the vampire concept, or exceptionally powerful individual vampires, no vampire could defy the united will of those two.
And Leticia already knew that her sister had transferred most of her spirit authority to her daughter, Lamia the Second.
If Ouroboros wanted to use adult Lamia to restrain Ryo, they would have no choice but to keep the young Lamia by his side, under his command.
Once that happened, the entire vampire race would effectively fall under Leticia's control.
And Leticia herself… was under Ryo.
Which meant the vampire race would become Arcadia's private army. Practically an exclusive race under their command.
Such a thing was exceedingly rare in Little Garden.
Take the giants, for example. They were divided into Titans, mountain giants, Ymir's lineage, each branch controlled by different god factions.
A race like vampires, with minimal fragmentation and a complete racial concept held by a single community, did exist.
But the number was pitifully small.
Across all of Little Garden, you could count them on your fingers.
And that included races that had already gone extinct. Communities that held a complete racial concept were just that rare.
"Exactly. The racial concept." A faint smile played on Ryo's lips, tinged with amusement.
"In the old era, 'vampire' was practically synonymous with 'monster.' Their origins were varied, but two main lineages mattered."
"One came from the Little Garden knights. The other came from the vampire-type demons."
"The former originated from the World Dragon. They were created as wardens to oversee the stability of the life evolution system."
"The latter originated from Lilith. They belonged to the demon race, weapons she forged to oppose the one from the Cross. Compared to your Little Garden knights, their lineage is actually less complete."
"As for other variants of vampires, they're too small in scale to form a true racial concept. Even their strongest only reach the five-digit ranks."
In Little Garden, racial concepts were both the easiest and the hardest things to form.
Easy, because once a race produced a four-digit being, the concept could take shape.
Hard, because the one forming it had to gather over ninety percent of that race's faith, or truly dominate ninety percent of its population, and then complete it through large-scale rituals.
Those conditions meant only small-scale races could realistically achieve it.
For larger races, it was nearly impossible. At best, you'd get fragmented concepts, like forest giants or fire giants, not the entirety of "giant" as a whole.
Complete concepts—like "giant," "elf," or the most impossible of all, "humanity"—were beyond reach.
Or rather, anyone who tried had already died.
Vampires managed it only because of the era they were born into.
In the age of dawn, a time of constant war, the Little Garden knights stood as the only massive vampire faction. Before beings like Algol created branching vampire species, they conducted a grand ritual and consolidated the racial concept, passing it down through their royal line.
A unique concept born from a unique era.
In today's Little Garden, such a feat was nearly impossible.
No god would allow a single individual to control an entire race and monopolize all its faith and achievements.
Because history had proven one thing: Holding an entire race's faith and achievements was the fastest path to ascending to the three-digit ranks.
That was also why Little Garden had "racial concepts," but not their higher forms like racial authorities or dominions.
Because the next step beyond a racial concept… was—
"Creator?"
Leticia's expression shifted, stunned.
"…Are you planning to make me the Creator of the vampire race?"
.
.
.