Vampire (2)
The Ajantu branch of the vampire clan Brokoslak.
It was the force that effectively ruled Ajantu, a small city in the west of the Kingdom of Talia.
And I had become a vampire of that force.
“But there’s surprisingly little to do...”
Several days of education had ended, but no one gave me any particular instructions.
The entire city had already been operating under a system established long ago, so everything ran on its own, and the vampires only occasionally had to oversee whether the organizations under them were doing their jobs properly. ‘They’re a long-lived race, too, so they’re laid-back about everything.’ They must have accepted me in place of the vampire who had died this time, but rather than handing anything over, they simply said I would learn as I went.
Until special orders came down, I was free to do as I pleased, as long as I didn’t expose myself too much to the humans in the city.
Thanks to that, I was able to go out in the evenings and talk more with the siblings, but if I did that too often, I would leave a trail, so I had to keep it moderate. ‘Is my only choice to draw attention with Hans and leave the city, like I first planned?’ At first, I had thought it might not be bad to be with the vampires, but these bastards literally regarded the humans of the city as livestock. ‘I expected as much from the moment they started bringing blood to the mansion.’ And in their own way, they were being careful, saying they were controlling the population.
Even to me, who was reluctant to drink blood, they said everyone was like that at first and that I would get used to it with time... ‘As expected, I can’t stay with these bastards for long.’ As someone whose mind had not been tainted by vampirism, being with them was simply uncomfortable.
I was merely enduring it while waiting for the right time to come.
That was when Wirak, the pureblood of Ajantu, summoned all the vampires.
“What could this be about all of a sudden?”
“Who knows? He almost never summons everyone like this. How many years has it been?”
The thirty or so vampires who usually lived scattered throughout the city gathered one by one in the mansion’s lobby.
“You’re the lesser blood who inherited blood this time? You’re lucky.”
“Tch. What could Lord Wirak have been thinking, accepting such a lowly thing...”
Because of that, people I was seeing for the first time often picked fights with me.
They looked exactly like nobles steeped in a sense of superiority. ‘They’re just like the image of vampires I had in mind!’ As I was simply watching them with curiosity, Wirak entered the lobby.
“Greetings, Lord Wirak.”
“It has been too long. Please command us in anything.”
The vampires flocked to Wirak and fawned over him.
It seemed the status held by a pureblood was even higher than I had thought.
“Since it seems everyone is here, I’ll get to the point.”
After receiving their greetings appropriately, Wirak climbed the stairs in the lobby and began to speak.
“The fragment of the Immortal King held by those Oath of Reversal bastards has disappeared.”
Murmur, murmur.
—At his sudden words, my body flinched without my realizing it, but fortunately, everyone around me had grown noisy, so no one looked at me strangely.
“Ah, you wouldn’t know, would you? In a small village nearby, some black magicians were hiding a fragment and maturing it...”
Rosilica, who had somehow come to stand beside me, quickly whispered information I already knew.
“Quiet.”
The murmuring around us fell silent at Wirak’s single word.
Rosilica, who had been beside me, had also moved away before I knew it and was focusing on Wirak atop the stairs.
“It was last confirmed heading in the direction of this city. But at some point, its traces vanished completely. It may have entered the city, or it may have simply passed through.”
Wirak stopped speaking and slowly looked around.
Then, when his eyes met mine for an instant, he stared at me silently for a short while, but soon turned his head. ‘Whew, that made me nervous.’ “We will begin a search with the possibility that it entered the city in mind.”
Wirak ordered us to report immediately if any suspicious circumstances were discovered in our respective areas, then dismissed us.
“What is this all of a sudden?”
As I left the lobby, Rosilica approached my side, grumbling.
Seeing how she greeted the other vampires, she seemed like a social butterfly, so was she deliberately trying to look after me?
“Hehehe~ It’s partly to pitch myself to a newcomer whose blood preferences haven’t been set yet. I’ve got my eye on a muscular man. How about sharing a drink next time?”
“I’ll pass. I don’t think that’s to my taste.”
I firmly refused with a look of disgust.
Rosilica merely shrugged once, without the slightest sign of disappointment.
“But this is troublesome. The fragment of the Immortal King should have been a matter the clan lord was interested in and personally ordered.”
“Really? But the black magicians must have kept their security fairly tight, so how did we know about it in advance?”
“Who knows~? Grunts like us just have to do as we’re told.”
It seemed I wouldn’t be able to get any more information from Rosilica.
The moment I thought that, I immediately realized it had been a hasty judgment.
“Because of that, the other fragment our clan possessed was brought all the way here and sealed away too.”
“What...? There’s another fragment of the Immortal King here as well?”
I looked at Rosilica in surprise.
“Yeah. Something about stealing their fragment once they matured it and fusing them together, or whatever. I don’t know the details~.”
But Rosilica merely twirled her hair around her finger and answered as if it were no big deal. ‘Is this girl perhaps of a higher status than I thought?’ When I narrowed my eyes and stared at her, Rosilica chuckled and waved her hand dismissively.
“Actually, I was assigned to Ajantu along with the fragment a year ago too. There’s no way this little city would need this many vampires in the first place, right?”
Now that she said it, that was certainly true.
Three pureblood vampires who seemed roughly on the same level as the black magician Malcolm, and over thirty lesser bloods who seemed clearly stronger than the black magician’s minions. ‘And if you add in the servants and slaves I haven’t properly identified...’ It was indeed an excessive amount of force to be holed up in one small city on the outskirts of the continent.
“Originally, they say only Lord Wirak and about fifteen lesser bloods were in this city, but because of the fragment, reinforcements were sent like this. And now all the effort until now has gone to waste.”
Rosilica said with a sigh that we would be busy for a while.
And those words were not wrong.***
“Ah~ My skin burns if I go outside during the day.”
Rosilica grumbled as she adjusted her parasol.
Starting the day after the summons, we had to take turns spreading throughout the city even during the day to check for abnormalities.
“It is... definitely a bit unpleasant.”
I adjusted my wide-brimmed gentleman’s hat with a gloved hand as I answered.
It wasn’t as if sunlight dealt any particular damage, but the feeling of having my power restricted was not pleasant.
“I don’t think we’ll discover anything now just by doing this.”
“It can’t be helped~. Because of this, even Lady Pirita, a pureblood, has taken several lesser bloods and started searching outside the city.”
Well, since I had already swallowed it and sent it to Earth, doing this would be completely useless.
As I smiled bitterly and muttered to myself, I realized the situation wasn’t that bad. ‘One pureblood and some of the lesser bloods have left the city.’ Wirak was searching the entire city while controlling the remaining lesser bloods.
Which meant. ‘There is only one pureblood guarding the fragment right now!’ And in one more day, I would be able to summon Hans. ‘I can create chaos according to the original plan, steal the fragment to grow Hans, and at the same time give those bastards a big screw-you! I absolutely have to do this.’ Now all that remained was to determine the fragment’s location, but I couldn’t get Rosilica’s help with that.
“I don’t know~? After we came to the city, it was hidden separately in a place only the purebloods know, just in case.”
It was said to be in preparation for the possibility that the main base might be attacked.
And until now, two purebloods had apparently been guarding that place continuously. ‘Ah, there’s no way to do this.’ Things had seemed to be going well.
Just as I was thinking I might have to give up on the other fragment after all.
“Um... I think I know where that is?”
There was a way.
“What? Diana, how do you?!”
“Eek!”
Startled, I grabbed Diana by the shoulders.
It was early evening, and I had come to see the siblings’ faces and chat with them when I casually tossed out a remark without much thought.
That the vampires had hidden something dangerous in the city, and that I didn’t know where it was.
“Well, I told you before, didn’t I? That I avoided places where vampires were, and places that smelled dangerous.”
“Don’t tell me?”
“Yes... About a year ago, I smelled vampires giving off an incredibly thick scent of blood, and something else—I don’t know what it was, but it smelled extremely dangerous.”
Diana smiled awkwardly, saying she had run far away the instant she sensed the smell.
“It was such an intense smell that I still remember it. After that, I never went near the area.”
“Ah! I remember too, Noona! You told me absolutely not to go near it!”
Diana stroked Aaron’s head as if he had done well, then glanced at me.
“If you need it, I can guide you there.”
It was the very offer I had longed for, but I couldn’t nod carelessly.
“It’s okay. If it gets dangerous, you’ll protect us, won’t you, Mister?”
“...Yeah, then I’ll ask you to take me only nearby.”
I nodded to Diana, who spoke firmly, and patted her head.
As expected, good deeds would come back to you one way or another.
The next afternoon.
Today as well, I wore my hat and came outside to search for the fragment of the Immortal King. ‘Of course, the fragment I’m looking for is the one the vampires have hidden.’ I walked slowly down the street and arrived at the meeting place.
Diana was already there, waiting.
Diana met my eyes once, then began walking down the street without saying anything, and I followed behind her at an appropriate distance.
It was something I had instructed in advance.
I had no idea how the vampires would be keeping watch around the fragment, so I couldn’t just approach carelessly.
Diana walked for a long while without letting her gaze linger in any one place. ‘It’s far from where she used to live. She really did run far away.’ She must have sensed that dangerous smell and settled as far away from it as possible.
Once we entered a certain street, the frequency with which Diana sniffed increased.
She must have been sensing the smell from here.
How much farther did we go like that?
Diana, who had been walking naturally, glanced at a building on one side.
For about three seconds.
Then, as if it were nothing, she turned her head and passed by. ‘So it’s there!’ A building in an ordinary residential area, incomparable to the splendid mansion where the vampires resided.
Another fragment of the Immortal King was hidden there.
But I, like Diana, also moved on while leisurely looking around, as if I had no interest in that place at all.
Though my senses picked up nothing, there was undoubtedly something there. ‘Now I just need to set the date for the operation. I found the location, and Hans can be summoned. Before some other variable appears, as soon as possible!’ As the sun began to set, after some time had passed, we gathered again at Diana’s dwelling.
“Phew, I thought I was going to suffocate. Even smelling that again was really...”
“You did well without showing it. You were a huge help. Now we need to set the execution date.”
I comforted Diana, and after a moment’s thought, declared at once.
“Noon tomorrow. When the sun is high in the sky.”
If possible, I would have liked to start right now, but since the sun had already set, I decided to aim for the next day. ‘Both vampires and undead grow stronger in darkness, but the degree to which they are weakened by the sun is on a completely different level.’ I didn’t know about a pureblood, but the combat power of the lesser bloods would be nothing to expect much from.
Even the pureblood would not be able to unleash their full strength.
I prepared the siblings as well while devising a plan for tomorrow.
“We don’t have anything to pack separately. We can leave at any time.”
“Good. Then tomorrow...”
After telling the siblings the precautions and parting from them, I headed toward the mansion while looking around the city.
The place where Heinz had died and where Heinz II had become a vampire.
Tomorrow, I would leave this city. ‘Of course, after taking everything worth taking! Come to think of it, there were a lot of expensive-looking things in the mansion.’ I licked my lips with my tongue, my eyes gleaming.
The more money one had, the better, wasn’t it?
Laughing foolishly to myself, I entered the mansion.
And time passed.
The sun rose.────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────