Vol. 2 Chapter 59: Dracula Loses Motivation Again

Dracula opened a portal and returned to Castlevania with a bunch of girls—and two eldritch gods who had somehow snuck into the girl group.

Once home, he played video games for a while, waited for the girls to finish washing up, then took a nice hot bath himself and promptly passed out on his bed.

He slept straight through from the early morning hours until mid-afternoon—completely skipping lunch. Kirie came to check on him once in the morning and again around noon, but since he was dead asleep, she left him be.

When Dracula finally woke up, it was already around 2 p.m. He yawned, stretched, then dozed off again for a short nap. After lying around for another half an hour, he finally managed to change out of his pajamas into regular clothes... only to stay in bed.

Then, the scent of food wafted into his nose. He turned his head and saw that someone—most likely Kirie—had placed a food tray on the table in his room. She had even applied a temperature-maintaining barrier to keep the food warm.

After silently calculating the distance between himself and the table, Dracula let out a sigh, snapped his fingers, and called out,

"The World!!"

A platinum-colored Stand appeared beside him. Its 20-meter range was just enough to reach the food on the table. Floating over without complaint, the Stand brought the tray back to its lazy master.

Dracula lazily opened his mouth. "The World, feed me."

When Kirie came up to check on Dracula around 2:30 p.m., she found him still lying sprawled on the bed, while an invisible hand spooned food into his mouth—and with its A-rank speed and B-rank precision, even caught the bits of food that fell from the corners of his lips.

Kirie sighed.

She had lived with Dracula long enough to recognize this for what it was: his "Stand" ability. And clearly, he was using it to avoid doing even the most basic tasks.

"Dracula-sama," Kirie said calmly, "if you've finished eating, please get up. Nero and Mordred are both waiting for you in the lounge. If you keep being this lazy, Elizabeth's nickname for you might just become your official title."

Dracula nodded while chewing.

Kirie left his room, went downstairs, and returned to the lounge. Everyone in Castlevania had gathered there because Nero had announced she was going to teach Mordred how to become a proper emperor.

Ten minutes later, a portal opened up directly above the couch, and Dracula fell right onto it. He immediately slumped into his signature slothful sprawl.

"Dracula-sama, just how lazy are you?" Kirie asked. "You couldn't even walk down the stairs?"

"Spare me…" Dracula weakly waved his hand. "Wasn't Nero going to start teaching Mordred? No time to waste, let's get to it already."

"Indeed, let's begin." Nero stood up. Today she wore her classic red formal dress and placed her hands on her hips as she stood in front of Mordred.

"Mordred, do you know what the most important quality of a leader is?"

"Uh…" Mordred scratched her head. "Uh, well… noble character? That's gotta be it! Father had noble character, and that's why so many knights followed her!"

"…I think they were just into her," Dracula mumbled from the side.

Kirie subtly smacked him.

"Wrong! Mordred," Nero announced. "Totally wrong!"

"Eh? I'm wrong?" Mordred looked confused—bless her simple mind.

"Of course you're wrong. If noble character is so important, then why is someone like Gilgamesh—clearly a tyrant—ranked higher in leadership than King Arthur?" Nero continued,

"Listen carefully. The most important quality in a leader is having something that others can believe in. It could be character, ideals, or even self-interest. A successful leader knows how to leverage those things to make people obey, to act on their words."

"Ooohh…" Mordred nodded furiously, scribbling something in a little notebook. Dracula guessed she had no clue what she was writing.

"Look at the King of Conquerors—he turned his ideals into something all his followers could embrace. That's how he inspired loyalty, even after death. And as for me," Nero puffed up, "in the first half of my life, all of Rome was willing to die for me."

"…Oh." Mordred clapped and asked, "So Nero-oneechan, what should I actually do?"

"Well…" Nero thought for a moment, scanning the crowd of onlookers before her gaze landed squarely on Dracula.

"I've got it! Try to get someone here to do something for you. That's your first test as a leader. Start with Dracula."

"Okay!" Mordred trotted up to him.

Dracula remained slumped on the couch.

Mordred took both his hands and asked in a cutesy, daughter-to-father tone, "Dracula-san, I want some juice. Could you get it for me?"

"Get it yourself," Dracula mumbled. "Oh, and grab one for me too."

"Okay." Mordred nodded obediently and ran off to the fridge Kirie had recently stocked. She came back with two cans of juice and handed one to Dracula.

"Good girl," he said, patting her on the head. His Stand popped the can open for him.

"Hehehe…" Mordred grinned, clearly happy to be praised.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

[This kid's hopeless.]

The exact same thought ran through the minds of all the girls watching.

"Mordred, come here." Nero pinched her brow, trying to stave off another headache. "That was completely wrong. A leader doesn't just do whatever someone tells them to!"

"But… but that was Dracula-san…" Mordred looked utterly lost.

"It was my mistake, choosing the wrong target for your first attempt…" Nero glanced around at the rest of the room's inhabitants.

She paused when she saw Kirie, then shook her head.

Next, she considered Kiyohime—nope, that girl only listened to Dracula and Kirie. Same with Elizabeth.

Finally, Nero's gaze settled on Jeanne.

Mordred ran over to Jeanne.

"Jeanne-san," she asked sweetly, "can you get me something to eat?"

"Sure," Jeanne replied with a bright, gentle smile.

"…That was way too easy," Nero muttered. "This doesn't feel like training at all…"

"Well, she is a saint," Dracula commented. "She's probably used to fulfilling any request that sounds remotely wholesome."

Sure enough, when Jeanne returned with the food, she gave only half to Mordred and kept the other half for herself.

"This won't do! Absolutely not!" Nero yelled, glaring at Mordred, who was happily munching away.

"Mordred! There are three Servants in this Grail War who've been summoned as actual leaders. Go out and observe them. Follow them quietly and learn how they command people!"