Earth’s Vampire (1)
In truth, I had encountered vampires themselves a few times as Hans.
There had been one just a little while ago, when we raided the factory, hadn’t there?
But Heinz had been in the middle of a deal then, and that guy had only been at the Servant rank, so I hadn’t paid him much attention.
If I needed information, I could just read his memories, so I hadn’t felt the need to go through the trouble of keeping him alive and facing him.
That was why I was flustered at suddenly coming face-to-face with a vampire from another dimension.
And one who was probably stronger than Heinz, at that.
I had no choice but to be on guard.
“Well, I’ll introduce myself first. I’m from ‘Nocturnia.’ It’s been about five years since I returned to Earth. As for my name… for now, call me ‘Gamma.’”
A handsome appearance, a friendly smile, a sociable way of speaking.
He looked at me with beautiful black eyes that gleamed faintly.
“Heinz. As you guessed, I’ve only just returned to Earth, and where I’m from is…”
Now that things had gone this far, there was no point pretending not to know anymore.
Just as I was answering comfortably with that thought in mind, I realized something was strange.
My mental power, which had grown rapidly all this time, surged in an instant, accelerating my thoughts.
For a moment, the time around me stretched out, and space slowly came to a halt.
‘Why am I answering so readily? To someone I’m seeing for the first time, whom I haven’t known for even five minutes? Because he introduced himself first? Is there any guarantee that all the information he gave was true?’
The instant suspicion arose, 「Mind Hub」 detected a sense of foreignness.
A supernatural power was burrowing into my mind.
It had seeped into natural emotions, so I hadn’t grasped it right away.
‘His likable appearance and behavior, and the way he naturally guided the situation so I would answer, kept me from feeling anything was off.’
Even 「Clear Mirror, Still Water」 hadn’t been able to defend against it completely and had only managed to detect the discomfort, so its level was quite high.
I didn’t know whether he hadn’t used it openly because that was the limit of the ability, or because he was being cautious for the sake of activating it covertly, but…
‘A mental manipulation-type supernatural ability. Is it his unique skill? Or an ability as a vampire?’
In my mind, I raised my guard against him.
What mattered was that I had been in the middle of answering.
My name was only an individual designation anyway, so it didn’t matter, and having just returned was nothing more than part of my cover.
Without showing my wariness toward him, I decided to hide my dimension of origin for now.
“…I came from the ‘Dotmere’ dimension. I don’t know whether I’m the first or whether it simply hasn’t been revealed yet, but I couldn’t find any information on the internet.”
“Hmm, so that was it after all.”
In the flow of time that had returned to normal, I continued speaking calmly.
Gamma didn’t seem to have noticed anything, merely nodding as he looked at me with his gleaming black eyes.
“I’ve met quite a lot of vampires myself, but this is the first time I’ve smelled blood like yours. Isn’t it fascinating? There are countless dimensions, and many of them have vampires, but the characteristics of their blood are all different.”
Well, I suppose that would be true for other races as well.
Continuing, he looked me up and down as if observing me.
“A vampire of Dotmere, huh. Come to think of it, what sort of position did you hold there? The standards differ from dimension to dimension, you see. With your level, I imagine you must have been treated fairly well.”
His eyes glimmered.
Once again, I felt the foreign power burrowing into my mind.
I did not resist it and played along appropriately.
“Well, I was about a mid-level officer.”
“Oh, that dimension must have been quite high-level. But to build up that much power, you must have fed quite a bit too. It must have been rough.”
“When it was necessary, I didn’t go out of my way to avoid it.”
And the conversation continued.
Perhaps he had always been talkative, because he kept opening his mouth without pause.
“I’m a curious fellow, you see. Do the vampires on your side have any characteristic abilities? I heard that vampires somewhere possess regenerative abilities close to immortality. I truly can’t help but envy them.”
He, too, was telling various stories and acting as if we were exchanging information, but he never actually spoke about himself.
I gave excuses that would not arouse suspicion and naturally avoided the conversation.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen any other vampires, so I don’t really know what’s different.”
“Ah… that makes sense. You did say you haven’t been back long.”
Gamma smacked his lips in disappointment.
Not missing that opening, I asked a question first this time.
“By the way, Gamma. You said earlier that you’d met many vampires. How was that possible? Don’t tell me you went around finding them one by one like just now? We vampires should have to stay hidden at all times since we’re treated as fiends, shouldn’t we?”
“Hmm…”
At my question, he looked at me in a peculiar way, then soon nodded.
“Well, you’re not wrong. But we’re not criminals, so we can’t just keep hiding forever, can we?”
He grumbled that none of them had become vampires by choice in the first place, so wasn’t this treatment too much?
“If we want to survive, we have to stick together. I belong to an organization where vampires gather, the Blood Alliance. I’m Level 6.”
“Blood Alliance? Level 6?”
“This isn’t a good place to talk. Follow me.”
Perhaps he had finished assessing me to some extent, because he suggested we move elsewhere.
Or maybe he thought someone like me could be subdued at any time.
The place we moved to was a sports car parked on one side of the road.
He got into the driver’s seat and jerked his chin toward the passenger side.
Vroom—
Once I got in, Gamma started the car smoothly and set off.
“Where are we going?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to see it for yourself than merely hear about it?”
“…Are we going to the Blood Alliance headquarters? How can you trust me?”
At my words, he let out a snicker.
“First of all, it’s not the headquarters. You could call it a kind of branch… In truth, there isn’t really anything that could be called a headquarters. It’s closer to a cell organization.”
Though it wasn’t a perfect cell organization, either.
Adding that, he sank into thought for a moment before continuing.
“Just think of it as like-minded people cooperating with one another in each region. Rather than a cell organization, it may be closer to a relay station. The groups gathered like that are called ‘Crews.’”
Well, even if they had formed a group, they were fiends who had to hide in ordinary times, so they probably couldn’t gather openly.
“And what do you mean, how can I trust you? Aren’t we all in the same situation? We should help each other when times are hard.”
Gamma spoke with a warm smile.
They were quite moving words.
If not for the supernatural power that was still continuing to burrow into Heinz’s mind even now.
‘Come to think of it, I feel like there was someone who said the same thing before.’
Malcolm, who had now become a reliable comrade, flashed through my mind.
Helping each other when times were hard—indeed, they were good words.
“And there’s one more thing you should know. I said I was Level 6, right? On Earth, ‘levels’ are the standard used to indicate a vampire’s standing.”
Since everyone called things by their own standards in their respective worlds, when they all gathered on Earth, they had difficulty communicating with one another.
“There were places that divided them by the five ranks of nobility, and places that used terms like True Ancestor and Apostle. For reference, in Nocturnia, we classified them by chess pieces. I was a Bishop.”
So at the time, powerful vampires representing each region had gathered and agreed upon the “level” system.
“To be precise, it was in Europe. Back then, there were particularly many strong vampires over there. The system established on that side was naturally imported, and we ended up applying it too.”
Though their roots had split off to suit the characteristics of their respective dimensions and lands, there was one trait all vampires shared.
That was the “vampiric factor” contained in their blood, the foundation of vampire power across all dimensions.
The level system was what measured the concentration of that vampiric factor and divided it in detail.
“We’re here. Everyone lives separately at home, and this is just a place we use when we gather occasionally, so it’s a bit small.”
The sports car entered the parking area of a splendid three-story house.
It seemed this guy’s sense of money was different from mine.
“Let’s go in. There’s a device inside that can measure vampiric factor.”
Gamma looked at me with gleaming black eyes and grinned.
Perhaps he no longer intended to hide it, because the supernatural ability that had burrowed into my head began to run rampant.
I only realized it now, but it seemed that having a long conversation was the condition for him to strengthen his mental manipulation.
‘No wonder he was so talkative. Thanks to that, I did gain a lot of good information, though.’
“What are you doing? Move quickly.”
Did he think the situation was already over now that we had come this far?
Without resisting the force compelling my actions, I obediently got out and followed him inside the building.
‘Even with 「Blood Magic」, I only sensed the barrier after entering the building. The level of concealment is no joke.’
As I calmly took in the impression while following Gamma, he suddenly stopped in place ahead of me.
Following his frowning gaze, I saw six people and three people standing inside, facing off against each other.
From them came the distinctive scent of blood unique to vampires.
But from one among them, just like Gamma, no scent came at all.
“What is going on here?”
At his appearance, the group of six brightened.
At the same time, among the three opposite them, the one standing in the middle—a woman from whom no scent of blood came—whipped her head around to look this way.
“You’re finally here, Do Hansu. I’ve been waiting a long time, you know?”
“Hoo, call me ‘Gamma Do.’”
“Sure, sure. Mr. Gamma Do, you know why I’m here, don’t you?”
She walked up in front of Gamma with irritated steps.
Thanks to that, I could see her face head-on…
‘Even taking into account that she’s a vampire, this is the first time I’ve seen someone this beautiful. No, is it? I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before…’
She was an incredible beauty.
There was no way I would easily forget a woman with that much charm.
I was mulling over the strange sense of déjà vu when it happened.
“Yes, Jin Soran. I don’t know what business brought you here, but barging in like this is rather rude, isn’t it?”
“Ha! Barging in? Rude? If you hadn’t unilaterally ignored me, I wouldn’t have come all the way here on purpose to see that disgusting face of yours!”
Watching the two argue, I furrowed my brow at the feeling that something was about to come to mind but wouldn’t.
That face and that voice. I hadn’t seen her outside somewhere, so that meant the internet…
‘That’s right! Orchid. She was an internet broadcaster. Capture images of her went around the communities a lot because she was pretty. I saw her a few times back then.’
There were slight differences, perhaps because she had changed her impression with makeup at the time.
When I finally remembered, the frustration vanished and a sense of mental satisfaction washed over me.
While I was feeling pleased inwardly like that, I realized at some point that she had been looking at me.
“You’re someone I’m meeting for the first time. Who are you?”
A question asking my identity.
But I couldn’t answer her.
Because the control of my body had been taken from me by Gamma’s supernatural ability.
‘I can refuse it if I want to… but for now, should I watch the situation a little longer?’
“He’s my guest. He has nothing to do with you, so mind your own business.”
Gamma quietly stepped in front of me and snapped at her.
But she did not back down either.
“You know why I came here, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Would you explain?”
“You’re going to keep playing dumb to the end?”
Jin Soran ground her teeth as she looked at Gamma.
“You’re kidnapping vampires and doing something to them! This time, I hear you took a Crew member under our protection. Did you think I wouldn’t know?!”
‘I see. He was a guy who had been deliberately capturing vampires from the start.’
Jin Soran and her two companions heightened their momentum and pressured him.
In response, those who seemed to be Gamma’s comrades joined this side, and the standoff formed again.
“For your information, we informed our Crew that we were coming here, so if we don’t return, it’ll be reported to the higher-ups immediately. You know what happens then, don’t you?”
She and her companions were fewer in number, but their momentum did not fall behind Gamma’s gang.
Of course, all three of them seemed to be around the same level as Gamma.
Rather, Jin Soran seemed stronger than Gamma.
She must have brought only elites and stormed in without warning, having made up her mind from the start.
“The person beside you is someone you kidnapped this time too, isn’t he? What on earth are you scheming?!”
“Hoo…”
Gamma glared at her with his eyes narrowed, then let out a sigh.
Even if he ordered me to deny it, it would only create an unnatural scene instead.
He did not have the ability to issue commands to my mind.
“Tch, you impudent brat, not knowing your place…”
“Aha~? So you’re finally going to show your true colors?”
As Jin Soran readied herself to fight, the comrades standing behind her also prepared for battle one by one and raised their energy.
“Fine, it can’t be helped. Catch that bitch. We’ll use her as material.”
“Ha! You think I’ll go down so eas—, kuhup!”
Crack— Boom!
At the sudden ambush, she spewed blood from her mouth and was sent flying.
And then.
The companion who had been guarding her back from behind… no, the muscular man who had been her companion slowly lowered his fist.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────