"And that's why my family is in decline, even though it was my father himself who helped found this kingdom."(Rose)
Once she finished, everything fell silent.
It was just her and me, because Iris had fallen asleep at some point—Rose's story had been long and detailed—and was now drooling on the table.
Roselyn just smiled bitterly at the sight, and for my part, I began to process the information.
I found it interesting how this kingdom works.
In short, it's a demonic kingdom—as Iris would say, a bit cliché.
Since it's based on a monarchy with hierarchies ranging from baron to archduke, with the demon king at the top.
Thanks to her explanation, I confirmed some things that until now had been mostly conjecture.
One of them is that just because there are ten kingdoms doesn't mean there are only ten races; in fact, there are many, even hundreds.
But when the Age of the Gods ended, most sought out those they fit in with best.
There were beings whose population was so large that they founded a kingdom on their own, like humans.
But some needed several dozens of races to found kingdom, like the beastmen.
The kingdom of Amarillys, as I had thought, each type of beastman is, in and of itself, a race very different from another.
The same was true of the demons; there are many different races united under the name 'demons'.
But in the case of the demons, it wasn't based entirely on appearance, but on their lineage.
Apparently, the nobles of this kingdom all have the blood of beings running through them who, during the Age of the Gods, ceased to be considered mortal.
Having that lineage meant that, even though they aren't a single race, they share similar characteristics, such as horns and somewhat unique skin colors.
Now, vampires do indeed have that lineage within them, but they don't resemble the rest of the demons.
In fact, to many demons, vampires are more like humans or a type of bat beastman than demons.
But they aren't the only exception. Besides them, there are other races with that peculiarity; some resembling inhabitants of realms other than that of the demons.
But, despite their dissimilar appearance, they undoubtedly carry that lineage within them, so there's no room for debate.
However, something was going on with the vampires: the inhabitants of this kingdom reject them to some extent.
Although it is an era of peace, that doesn't change the fact that many tacitly hate one another, and vampires, being so similar to humans—one of the demons' greatest enemies during the Age of the Gods—are not very well received among the demons.
But what matters is lineage, so if the vampires were high-ranking nobles, this problem wouldn't exist, and they would receive more respect than rejection.
And in fact, there are some.
In this kingdom, there are two families in which a vampire rules: one is a barony and the other a marquisate.
One consists of low-ranking nobles and the other of high-ranking nobles.
But to the public, there is only one low-ranking house.
Because the high-ranking family, the D'Aubignys, remained anonymous
The reason for this is that within their family there was a specific profession that was inherited.
A very powerful profession specializing in stealth and lethal attacks.
It was the profession of an assassin and potentially the most powerful among demons.
They were literally the kingdom's top assassins, whom many nobles employed, whether for internal or external tasks.
And that was why they had remained anonymous.
She told me all of this—which were obviously state secrets—easily, and the reason wasn't just because of my "Fool's Mask" and "Madman's Reason" abilities.
The main thing was that all of this was a thing of the past.
While it is true that her lineage originated who knows how long ago in the Age of the Gods, since the beginning of the Age of Peace and the founding of this kingdom, Rose's father was the only one with this profession.
He was a powerful being who helped found the kingdom and, in fact, was already very old, over seven hundred years old.
But when he finally had a daughter, she did not inherit his profession.
This is not unusual; professions are not always inherited, but it is very likely that they will be.
It is known that at least one in five children has the possibility of inheriting exactly the same profession as their parent.
In this world, holding onto powerful professions is very important for powerful families.
According to what she said, her profession was a variation of her father's; in fact, it was potentially one rank higher, but it lacked her father's signature skill.
And that skill was the foundation of the cambat art that was her family's most important legacy.
So everything came to a standstill with her.
But it didn't matter because her father was there—though that didn't last, since not long after Rose came of age, her father died under mysterious circumstances.
She never found out how it happened; only after he gave no sign of life for over a decade was he presumed dead.
Rose had no siblings, and there were no collateral branches of her lineage or profession.
That caused the prestige her family had been building to begin to decline and head toward destruction.
In my opinion, Rose's father was not a good leader, making everything they built revolve around him or an heir—something difficult to produce in their race.
Their power had fallen so much that one of the archdukes, who was one of the D'Aubigny family's strongest supporters, stopped backing them.
This meant that those who held a grudge against them were no longer afraid and turned against them, accelerating their decline.
As the sole heiress, Rose took charge, doing everything she could to prevent the worst.
She eventually married into a family that got along well with hers and wasn't afraid to support them in their difficult situation, and she had a son, who fortunately did inherit Rose's father's profession and skill.
With the birth of Rose's son, her family could rise again, and so it was.
The archduke—who was obviously guided by self-interest—began supporting them once more.
And those who had attacked them once again feared the day the "bloody dark demon"—a name far too cheesy for my taste—would rise again.
The D'Aubigny family. They were back in vogue among the upper classes and received a great deal of support, as if people were investing in the future, including marriage proposals from powerful families for her son.
She accepted a particularly firm one that gave them a lot of stability.
They were once again at their peak, and their future was limitless; her son had even begun fulfilling orders.
But at their peak—and perhaps precisely because of that—her son and her husband died.
It was supposedly an accident, but she still doubts it to this day.
But at least, just before that incident, her son had gotten his wife pregnant, and Rose's grandson was born.
Unfortunately, in this case, he inherited his mother's profession.
It was a powerful profession, but not the one needed to keep the D'Aubigny family afloat.
This led the archduke, who acted out of self-interest, to withdraw his protection once again.
Fortunately, however, word of her grandson's profession did not spread, which caused many to remain cautious and refrain from attacking them again.
However, others took the archduke's actions as confirmation and returned to the attack.
She, in charge of the family and completely alone, had to do everything to prevent the decline and eventual destruction of her house once again.
Yes, her situation was a mess and explained the persecution, but even so, after quickly reviewing and analyzing everything, I noticed something...
She's not telling me something important.'
She wasn't lying to me; she was omitting a key point.
And I couldn't allow that.
I put on a slightly indignant face and tapped the table lightly.
Thud!.
"Ah! I'm paying attention!."(Iris)
The thud made Iris jump and respond almost reflexively, just like back in our school days.
Anyway, I ignored her and stared intently at Roselyn, silently telling her that I might get angry again if she wasn't honest.
"Miss Roselyn, I believe I asked you not to omit anything if we're to reach a satisfactory resolution."
"Haaah~ I see you really are capable."(Rose)
"Were you evaluating me?"
"...You could say that. Honestly, I don't think you can be of any help. I told you my situation so you'd understand how impossible it is. I think it's best if you keep Iris here and prevent her from getting involved."(Rose)
"I also think that would be an excellent solution."
The only good thing about this woman is how reasonable she is.
"Hey, you two, don't go agreeing on that. Besides, Honey, you said you'd find a solution to Sister Rose's problem."(Iris)
Iris obviously didn't like our agreement.
"I didn't say anything like that. I just said I'd try. Now, I know your situation is anything but simple... but I think I have an idea. Still, first of all, I need to understand things more thoroughly, so, Miss Rose, please continue."
"Oh, honey, you really did it! Sister Rose, he may sound like that, but it means he's already thought of something. Your family will be saved from destruction." (Iris)
"R-really?"(Rose)
"Yes!"(Iris)
"I haven't promised anything. I just said I have an idea, and, as I've already told you, I need more information. Come on, explain to me how you actually managed to prevent your family from being destroyed."