Chapter 9

Finally! He was able to do it! After so long! (Two days.) "This is so cool!" Lennix exclaimed as he rode atop a shadow horse, his excitement evident. 

"Honestly, how are the two of them related?" Karin muttered, glancing back at him. "He has to be adopted or something, right?" she continued, watching Lennix's childlike enthusiasm with mild disbelief.

"Master Lennix, while we understand that you're happy, perhaps you should act in a more dignified manner to avoid embarrassing yourself," suggested Clarissa, riding in front with her usual emotionless tone. 

Mari giggled, looking at Lennix with bright eyes. "Uncle Lennix is so cute!" she said, her voice filled with innocence.

Lennix, hearing Mari, calmed down slightly, though his grin remained wide. "I'm so glad you're having fun riding a shadow horse, especially after an entire man came out of me last night," deadpanned the black knight riding beside him.

"Mate, you make it sound so dirty," Lennix responded, shaking his head. "Besides, wasn't that man the one who was sucking on your mana the whole time yesterday and the night before?" he added, raising an eyebrow.

"And you say I make it sound dirty," the black knight shot back, glancing at Mari. "Come on, man, we have a kid here."

Mari looked confused as she turned and looked up to Clarissa. "Aunt Clarissa, what are Uncle Lennix and Uncle Knight talking about being dirty?" she asked innocently.

"I've been promoted to uncle?" the black knight asked aloud, pointing at himself in surprise.

"Don't listen to them, Mari; they're both idiots. If you listen to them for too long, you will become an idiot too. And you don't want that, do you?" Clarissa asked, her voice as stern as it can be.

Mari's eyes went wide with fear before she quickly shook her head. "No, I don't want that!" she said, covering her ears to block out the conversation between the vampire and the knight.

"Oi! Don't lie to her!" Lennix exclaimed, waving his fist at his maid.

"Yeah! Let her listen to her uncles!" the black knight chimed in, readily accepting his new title.

"Every child needs a positive figure in their lives like us!" Lennix declared, his voice filled with pride.

The black knight nodded along, adding, "Mmm, mmm."

"And while we are idiots, Mari's too smart to be infected by our stupidity!" Lennix continued, his chest puffed out with pride.

"Righ—" the black knight began to agree before realizing what Lennix had said. "Wait, what? Don't lump me in with you! I may not be the smartest, but I'm nowhere near your level of dumb!" he protested.

Meanwhile, Karin silently wished she could free her hands to cover her ears. *Why do they have to be so loud?* she thought in annoyance.

"I mean, you left me and Mari to wander around Treasurehold by ourselves, sooo are you sure you're not as dumb as me?" Lennix asked, flashing a fanged smirk as the black knight looked shocked—or at least as shocked as one could while wearing a full knight helmet that hid their face.

"You little... you two begged me to let you do that in the first place!" the black knight exclaimed, sounding exasperated.

Lennix shrugged, the smirk never leaving his face. "I don't know, mate. You should've had more of a hold on us. Letting us go without a functioning adult wasn't exactly the best move."

The black knight made a series of flabbergasted noises before managing to sputter, "You're an adult! That's literally what you said when I first denied you two going off alone!"

Lennix looked away, still grinning. "You misunderstood what I said just now. Yes, I am an adult, but I'm not a functioning one. That's the part you're missing," he explained, his tone dripping with mock innocence.

(Technically, he's correct—being undead does make him a non-functioning adult by definition.)

The black knight, clearly done with Lennix's nonsense, turned to Mari in desperation. "Mari! You have to side with me, right? I'm not as dumb as Lennix, and yesterday's chaos at the city wasn't my fault, right?" he practically begged.

Mari tilted her head, a finger on her chin as she considered. "I don't know... it was dangerous to let us go by ourselves," she said innocently.

The black knight stared at her, stunned. "Mari?" he called out, his voice tinged with betrayal.

"I mean..." she began, but Lennix motioned for her to stop. Quickly catching on, Mari covered her ears. "La la la, I can't hear you, or else I'll turn dumb!" she avoided the conversation entirely, leaving the black knight looking even more dejected.

Feeling thoroughly betrayed, the black knight turned to Clarissa. "Come on, Madam Clarissa, you have to side with me, right?" he pleaded.

Clarissa glanced at him briefly before turning back to the road. "I can feel my brain cells dying as I listen to your conversation, so from now on, I'm tuning both of you out," she replied coldly, then proceeded to ignore them entirely.

Running out of options, the black knight turned to Karin. "Uh, Karin?" he asked hesitantly.

Karin turned to him, and if looks could kill, he'd be dead ten times over. "Die," she said flatly, her eyes promising nothing short of murder.

Clarissa shot Karin a glare that again if looks could kill, Karin would be deader than Lennix's sister, (That's fucked up!) as Karin quickly looked away, her earlier threat evaporating under the maid's gaze. The black knight, now feeling completely abandoned, let out a sigh. "Maybe I am as dumb as you, protecting people that will betray me without any remorse."

Lennix, clearly pleased with himself, rode up beside him and gave him a consoling pat on the back. "There, there. Don't feel bad. Now you're part of one of the most exclusive groups of people on Aetheria," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The black knight sighed again. "As if I wasn't rare already," he muttered under his breath.

Lennix's ears twitched, his superhuman hearing picking up on the mumble. "What was that?" he asked, his tone curious.

"Nothing," the black knight replied quickly, shaking his head before riding out in front of the group. "Get a move on, all ye traitors! So that I can rid myself of thee!" he ordered in a dramatic voice, causing Lennix and Mari to burst into laughter.

Meanwhile, Karin sighed in annoyance, and Clarissa offered no reaction at all, her focus entirely on the road ahead as she was completely serous about ignoring them.