#167
At that time, in the west (3)
When Diana, who was at the center of the incident, pretended to know someone, the eyes of those present naturally turned to one spot.
To the tall man draped in a robe, slowly walking out from the crowd of onlookers murmuring and surrounding the area.
And those who had been trashing the shop were no different, affected by him as well.
The large man who first noticed his approach snorted and strode forward.
“What are you? You seem to be an acquaintance of that mister over there, but we are exercising our legitimate rights···.”
The large man, already menacing-looking, scrunched his face even further and growled threateningly.
But Heinz, without responding to those words, quietly tilted back the hood of his robe.
Then, black, silk-like hair cascaded softly down, and skin so pale it was nearly white was revealed outside···.
Sharp eyes containing ruby-like, blood-red pupils quietly gazed at the man before him.
“···So···. U-uh, so···.”
Overcome by an unknown sense of pressure that crashed down in an instant, the large man stammered unconsciously and gulped down dry saliva.
Heinz had revealed only his presence to step forward, and his aura was still concealed by ‘Existence Negation,’ but the difference in status that faintly manifested was more than enough to overwhelm those present.
It was no joke—he now possessed the ability to kill everyone here with nothing but his will.
And at that bizarre atmosphere, the other busy-moving men began to approach one by one.
“What is it? What’s going on··· Huh, could he be a noble?”
“H-huh? I-is he?”
At his comrade’s words, the large man finally understood why he had unconsciously shrunk back and nodded awkwardly.
Indeed, Heinz’s noble atmosphere made it obvious to anyone that he was a high-ranking person, and upon closer inspection, the seemingly modest robe was clearly a luxury item made of the finest materials.
He was a mere thug; of course, he couldn’t help but instinctively shrink before such an opponent.
“Ahem, well··· my lord? Just so there’s no misunderstanding, we are legally licensed by the authorities to conduct our business.”
“We lent money but couldn’t get it back on time. Yes, yes.”
“If you check with the guards over there··· Huh? What? Where’d they all go?”
They hadn’t even confirmed his identity yet, but their survival instincts, sensing something unusual, immediately made them lower their posture.
Murmur, murmur—
Not only them, but among the surrounding onlookers, people began to scatter one by one.
After all, the whims of the powerful could see one struck by stray sparks simply for standing nearby.
“Hmm.”
In that atmosphere, as if doused with cold water, Heinz looked at the thugs with cold eyes and slowly thrust his hand inside his robe.
And what his hand pulled out···.
Clink—!
A heavy purse collided with the floor, and a loud metallic sound echoed in all directions.
At the same time, everyone’s gaze turned to the purse that had fallen on the ground before the men.
“Put everything you’re holding right back where it was and get lost.”
At those words, the man closest to the purse cautiously picked it up and checked the inside.
His eyes widened in an instant, and he unconsciously gulped down dry saliva.
The casually thrown purse was filled to the brim with gold coins.
An amount several times greater than what they had lent··· no, even including the grossly inflated interest.
To think he could toss aside such money so casually—the eyes of his companions in the back flickered with greed at the sight.
They exchanged glances among themselves and furtively looked at Heinz···.
“Oh my~ Thank you, my lord. Truth is, we’d prefer cash too—it’s less of a hassle!”
“A-ah, he’s right. What are you all doing? Hurry up and put everything back!”
···They immediately tucked their tails and began bustling about again.
Just by standing still, the atmosphere that overwhelmed the surroundings, his splendid appearance, expensive attire, and the purse of gold coins tossed like alms.
Mere thugs like them—if they tried any tricks on such an opponent out of needless greed, they might end up torn apart.
Bang, crash—!
With the situation having changed so abruptly, while Diana’s family stood there with blank expressions, the men who had quickly finished putting things back offered awkward smiles and slowly backed away.
“Then we’ll be on our way, my lord. We only came because we hadn’t received the money owed to us. Right?”
“T-that’s right~ We’re not robbers! We’re just receiving fair compensation.”
“Ahem—hey, mister? We’ll lower the interest next time, so please use our services often, yeah?”
As if they had never caused a commotion, they tucked away the purse and scurried off toward the back alley.
With looks of sheer glee at their unexpected windfall.
But.
‘Of course, I have no intention of letting them go just like that.’
Watching their retreating figures, Heinz subtly raised his head to meet the eyes on a certain building’s rooftop, then lightly jerked his chin toward where the men had disappeared.
Rustle—
And at the same time.
The black shadows ruling the city began to move in secret.
He was not so benevolent as to bestow money upon such scum, no matter how wealthy he was.
***
“Th-thank you··· thank you. *Sniff!*”
“Oh dear, how can we ever repay this kindness···.”
“Mister!”
“Bwaaaah—!”
What happened after went without saying.
It became a sea of tears and a commotion, and only after quite some time did Heinz finally calm them down and have them clean the ransacked shop, after which he immediately headed for a quiet alley.
To receive a report on the separate instructions he had given in secret.
“Lord, the initial investigation results are in.”
Thanks to the city’s vampires being fully mobilized and giving their all over this matter—they were on edge due to the Lord’s sudden visit—grasping the full story was not difficult.
In fact, it was simply a matter of beating those thugs and following the trail upward.
‘As expected, I had a feeling something was off.’
And the results were exactly as he had predicted.
‘You mean you didn’t sense any aura of illness from Rapi? ···Rather, it might have been poisoning.’
Even if a child ingesting something toxic could be chalked up to carelessness, it was unnatural to call it a ‘critical illness’ and demand a large sum of money.
Moreover, if they were rushing about trying to raise that money immediately after hearing those words, it meant someone had vouched for the credibility of that diagnosis.
‘And it was all a trap? ···One that even involved feeding poison to a child?’
And the one who had directly harmed Rapi, introduced a healer they had bribed in advance, and ultimately connected them to loan sharks was none other than—
The educational instructor who, after meeting Diana at the tutoring center, had been teaching her accounting separately.
“Hah—how dare they pull such a stunt in my domain.”
Naturally, the vampires had already apprehended that healer, the instructor, and even the government official for interrogation.
But thinking about it, such injustices probably hadn’t occurred only this once.
They were likely problems that occurred frequently in various places, known or unknown.
‘It’s probably the same on Earth. The issues are so tangled that it’s not something Hans can simply resolve by hunting violent criminals like beasts.’
Many praised the Hahoe mask, but he was not a god.
He could sufficiently deal with criminals wielding irrational violence, but complex societal problems were best overcome using the laws and systems they themselves had created.
‘But here, the Kingdom of Thalia, is different.’
Strictly speaking, unlike on Earth where he was merely a member of a vigilante group, he was the de facto ruler here.
The king and nobles, already stripped of all decision-making power, were nothing but scarecrows; the final decision-maker and ruler was none other than Heinz II, the leader of the ‘Hybrids.’
Therefore, while preparing for the vampires’ transition into the light, there had been much contemplation over methods of governance.
The most important thing was the procurement of blood.
No matter that the vampires had come under Heinz’s command; due to the limitations of their species, blood-sucking was an unavoidable issue.
‘To maintain immediate combat strength, and to sustain Blood Gate and similar sorcery techniques, securing large quantities of blood is essential.’
And the best method for this was to use the criminals of each city as blood suppliers.
They had been doing so until now, but after this incident, he felt the need to implement it more systematically and on a larger scale.
‘And as I’ve already experienced on Earth, criminals are beings that can never truly be eradicated.’
This was the very definition of a win-win and the best method of coexistence.
Of course, it would be no different from hell for the criminals, but as always, he couldn’t care less about their human rights.
He organized his thoughts and headed back to the grocery store.
Since he had decided to keep Diana by his side and watch over her, he needed to speak with her further for now.
“Ah, you’re back, mister!”
“Diana. Could you talk with me for a moment?”
He called her aside from among the busily moving family members, then subtly informed her of the information he had gathered and how he had dealt with those who had orchestrated the scheme.
She already knew that Heinz was a vampire, after all, and this was to observe her reaction and better gauge her temperament.
But at the story he brought up, Diana showed no particular interest in the fate of those men and was wholly occupied with blaming herself.
“···It’s all my fault. I should have noticed when they approached the children excessively. And afterward, I bought the children lots of tasty things and let my guard down···. Also, when Rapi was sick, I did smell something strange, but I was too foolish···. Uuu···.”
In truth, no matter how good her nose was, there was no way a fourteen-year-old girl working at a grocery store could identify a poison by its scent.
But she felt intense guilt that she had been the reason the instructor approached her in the first place, that she hadn’t responded properly when he schemed against Rapi, and that she had failed to properly recognize the abnormalities afterward.
Even as their family’s fortunes declined, Diana had always harbored regret toward her family, withering away with the mindset of a sinner.
Thinking that they had come to harm because she had greedily reached for learning beyond her station.
Heinz lightly patted the head of the now-sniffling Diana and tilted his head slightly.
‘Hmm, I thought she’d express anger or rejection toward them. Is she indifferent?’
Upon hearing that Heinz had dealt with the culprits, she seemed to have shut them out of her mind entirely.
A reaction based on the belief that he would have taken care of it properly.
“···*Sniff*. I’ll pay back the money somehow. It must be no small amount. I was foolish and ended up indebted to you again···.”
“Did you say you were studying accounting and commercial law?”
Diana forcibly swallowed her tears and opened her mouth, but Heinz ignored her words and changed the subject.
“Huh? Yes···. That was the cause of all this.”
“Then how about working under me to pay off your debt?”
He had intended to keep her by his side anyway, so if she was trustworthy and a useful talent, it was all the better.
Capable workers were always welcome.
“Uh···.”
At Heinz’s proposal, her eyes went wide, and her mouth opened and closed.
Of course, the answer to that was already decided.
Had she not been learning precisely for that goal?
“However, there is one problem. If you work under me, you must leave this place.”
“That’s only natural! I’ve already prepared myself.”
“If you wish, I can support your family in settling there as well.”
“···I’ll talk to them about it. Since they went through quite a lot borrowing money this time, they might actually want to go somewhere else instead···.”
With their mutual understanding aligned, the conversation proceeded without a hitch.
Then, Diana suddenly asked, as if curious.
“But where will we be going? The capital, Tallaria, after all?”
Her eyes sparkled with a hint of excitement.
The capital of a nation was, after all, a place no different from a symbol of national prosperity, so it was only natural for the still-young Diana to harbor a vague yearning for a place she had never been.
But Heinz’s answer was something she had never expected···.
“We’ll stop by the capital once, but it is not the final destination.”
“Huh? Then where···.”
Seeing Diana’s bewildered face, he faintly raised the corner of his mouth.
“The Kingdom of Turc, the city of Tarak.”
“Whaaat?!”
Not moving to another region, but emigrating to another country.
Of course, traveling to a foreign land was no easy task, but there was no need to worry.
The complicated procedures would all be handled by his subordinates.
After all, power existed precisely for times like these.