Crimson and Furs

Chapter Twenty One: Survival Discussion

Viscount Luther sat on his chair, his right hand tightly gripped around the black pen as he scribbled away something on a piece of paper on the desk. His red brows were knitted together and his lips thinned as he wrote with all manner of seriousness. After some seconds he was done writing and he dropped the pen on the desk, staring at the piece of paper.

"My business empire have grown larger over the past few months and I'm compelled to leave this city," Viscount Luther said to himself.

As a wealthy and successful business man he was always busy expanding his business empire. Due to his commitment to his work, his business became very successful and had more profits than losses. He was currently the wealthiest noble in Canada and among the top ten in the whole world.

Well, in reality his success and wealth didn't actually stem entirely from his hard works. The Viscount Path was a very interesting Crimsone Path which gave one a variety of unique abilities. The ability which really made the Viscount Path that way was the ability to have sufficient luck in whatever one did. Once a Crimsone became a Viscount, he would begin to experience luck in his daily life, his business succeeding greatly and his wealth increasing. This was why all Viscounts were rich and actually took on noble titles as viscounts.

"My business empire is going on smoothly and I don't need to worry about that now," Viscount Luther said to himself. "What I need to really worry about is protecting my family. That's the foremost thing I should do."

Several decades ago before Orpheus was born, the Rodolfo family had actually lived in the Crimsone Empire which was hidden out of the human world. His father had been a Viscount like he as now and had held the noble title then. The Crimsone Empire had been very peaceful and successful. There were Crimsone Counts, Dukes, Princes, Princesses and other nobles who walked across the land. No other Cursed could breech their territory as it was well protected. Everything had been so peaceful till one fateful day when the Duke revolted against the King with majority of the Crimsones. He had even had the support of powerful Witches who helped him kill the King. The whole Crimsone Empire was torn apart, several Crimsones killed in the process. Even Rodolfo, his father was killed in the process.

Thinking about the whole thing Viscount Luther couldn't help but sigh. He remembered his wife who had been heavy with pregnancy and was delivering during the chaos. After the delivery he wanted to escape with his wife but she refused. Even though she was very weak she decided to stay behind to fight off the enemies. Many of the Rodolfo family stayed behind to help her and that was how they all lost their lives. He was already a Viscount then but there was nothing he could do to help at all. He escaped with what was remaining of the Rodolfo family.

"To protect my family what I need to do is to become powerful myself," he said bitterly. "That way what happened sixteen years ago will not repeat itself."

He stared at the glass window and saw his reflection cast on its surface. He stared deeply at his reflection as he said, "I'm not powerful yet. I'm still weak."

He became a Viscount at the age of 50 and ever since then he hadn't been able to Conclude in other to advance. He had been thought by his late father that Conclusion was to successfully finish Harmonizing a Cursed Path and prepare to advance. He had adhered to this well-known norm of Harmonizing but he hadn't been able to Conclude for decades. Now he was 105 and he was still a Viscount. Well, he wasn't the only one stuck at being a Viscount. There were majority of the Crimsones who were stuck at the Viscount Path for centuries without advancing. This was because they hadn't found a way to properly Harmonize and Conclude.

"I've being creating potions for decades now," Viscount Luther was still staring at his reflection. "I've been running businesses and behaving like a viscount noble. So why haven't I still Concluded for decades now? Have I not been Harmonizing properly?"