Tarak, a great city bustling day after day with countless people hurrying to and fro.
Three men and women strolled leisurely along the well-maintained boulevard at its heart.
“...It is just as the rumors said. I heard vampires were in their heyday in the west, but now that I’m here, I can truly feel it.”
The high elf Lydia murmured as she looked toward an alley beside the avenue.
There, several mercenaries who had been harassing a street stall just moments ago had been dragged in by force and were receiving a harsh lesson.
Once it was over, they would probably only be released after paying a fine as tuition, as well as donating blood.
Turning her gaze away from the alley, Lydia brought the butter-roasted corn in her hand to her mouth.
As if she liked it quite a bit, her green hair, linked with a wind spirit, swayed gently beneath her hood as though dancing.
“It’s probably largely because this place borders the Kingdom of Thalia, where vampires are in power. I heard the Kingdom Alliance received a great deal of help from them. And Tarak, where the Hubert Company’s headquarters are located, is also the city with the most active exchanges with vampires.”
As if responding to her words, I Se-a, who had been scanning their surroundings with eyes tinged blue by mana, answered quietly.
In each hand, she held an assorted skewer and a bottle of something to drink.
Munch munch, sip sip.
—The two women busily moved their mouths along with their eyes as they looked in every direction.
Even as they continued their investigation of the city, they were thoroughly enjoying the unique food culture found only here.
“...Se-a, is that black drink really so delicious? It doesn’t suit my tastes at all.”
“It’s the best. So much so that I regret not staying longer when I came here last time. Ah, but they said this only started being supplied recently, didn’t they...?”
At Lydia’s question, I Se-a looked down solemnly at the drink in her hand.
This was a special menu item that had begun to be sold at “Dancing with Orcs,” a famous Tarak restaurant directly operated by the Hubert Company—
Cola.
‘I did hear that the Hubert Company handled goods from Earth... But to think they could go this far. Just what kind of unique skill does he have to make distribution on this scale possible?’
Thinking of the unidentified Awakened who must belong to the company, she clicked her tongue in amazement.
Of course, these products had not yet become fully popularized.
The supply was limited, there were restrictions on how much each person could buy, and the price was jaw-droppingly high.
The price of this one small bottle of soda was about the same as a full-course meal at a top-class restaurant, which said it all.
But such monetary concerns were nothing to I Se-a Pristine, the great archmage of the task force, a count of the Ajerion Empire, and one of Crown Princess Riley’s closest confidantes.
No, considering that she could taste the culture of Earth in this far-off otherworld, it could even be called an incredibly cheap price.
‘Haa— I feel alive. How long has it been since I last had cola?’
I Se-a sighed with an unconsciously softened expression and smacked her lips.
It had already been nine years since she came to Auterica.
Next year, it would be a full ten years since she had fallen into this land.
In such circumstances, once the essence of Earth’s civilization called cola was transfused into her veins, her mood began to soar as though oil had been poured into her rusted mind.
‘I’d like to buy a whole lot in advance and stockpile it, but it’s such a shame there’s a limit on how much you can purchase per day. I’d like to meet the supplier directly sometime.’
If he had an ability like this, he had to be someone fairly high up even in the Hubert Company, the greatest merchant group on the continent.
Naturally, his identity would also be thoroughly hidden, so meeting him would not be easy.
For all she knew, the company head Hubert himself might be an Awakened from Earth.
‘Well, I’m sure there will be an opportunity soon enough.’
If she revealed her own identity and requested an audience, that might be another matter, but as a member of the Hero’s party, she was secretly investigating the city, so she could not have a private meeting with a local notable.
Then, as she sipped her cola bit by bit, savoring it reluctantly, one fact suddenly flashed through her mind.
“...Sir Heinrich. Come to think of it, wasn’t the Hubert Company said to have close ties with the Main God Church as well?”
At her question, Heinrich, who had been following leisurely a few steps behind them, shrugged.
In order to conceal his radiant appearance, he was clad from head to toe in a suit of full-body armor that looked utterly ordinary.
“That’s right. We exchange various forms of assistance with one another. Above all, it was also a place where Sir Harley served as co-representative.”
“...That uncle was more capable than I thought. Just how many titles does he have?”
A member of the task force to save the world, the Fighting King of the Kalkos Tribal Alliance, the Mercenary King of the mercenary world, and co-representative of the Hubert Company, the greatest merchant group on the continent.
I Se-a and even Lydia were impressed by this unexpected side of a man they had only thought of as a gluttonous madman who laughed his head off at all times and places.
“In any case, we can’t make exceptions for anyone right now. No one knows what lies in another person’s heart.”
He trusted Harley, but he could not yet fully trust the organization known as the Hubert Company.
Besides, hadn’t it been quite some time ago that he had served as its co-representative?
He could not be certain that his former business partner had not changed his mind while Harley had been summoned to the task force and was roaming the world.
“Wouldn’t it be most reasonable to suspect those vampires for now? In fact, until just a few years ago, people’s perception of them was no different from that of monsters, wasn’t it?”
“Mm, that was true. Until the vampire king named Heinz appeared, their urge to drink blood was something that simply could not be helped. And the lycanthropes, who were treated similarly to vampires, recently attacked our Elven Kingdom and were wiped out.”
After moving to a nearby alley, they naturally began an interim meeting.
Before they knew it, secret barriers had formed around them, perfectly blocking not only the sound within but even their presence.
“Ah! Of course, I know that Sir Heinrich was active in accepting them... But no matter how much the vampire king united them all, established rules, and brought them into the light, there is no such thing as perfect control in this world. It could be a vampire who still hasn’t been reformed and was living in hiding...”
“I find the Hubert Company a little suspicious as well. As we walked around this city, I could feel that their influence was truly beyond imagination. If a major problem were to occur, wouldn’t there be a high chance it would come from them?”
And the ones mentioned most in that meeting were the vampires and the Hubert Company.
Of course, since this was only an interim meeting held not long after the investigation had begun, it was closer to brainstorming and did not hold much significance, but for Heinrich, the taste in his mouth could not help but be somewhat bitter.
He was Heinrich, saint of the Main God Church, while also being the Vampire King Heinz II, and also the grand merchant Hubert.
‘Well, I was going to think of this as a vacation anyway, so should I just play along? Later, I can put a few cursed items from the Demon Realm in a suitable place.’
Several days passed after they arrived in Tarak.
Each day, Heinrich split up from the two women, who had eaten delicious food and become filled with motivation, and they each investigated the city.
Of course, since the saintess had been the one to start this matter, they were not the only ones mobilized for the mission.
The Inquisitors of the Main God Church, who had secretly entered through the Tarak Temple at just the right time, also began moving in the shadows.
However, because there were far too many vampires, their investigation could only proceed sluggishly.
Unlike in the past, they could no longer simply subjugate vampires indiscriminately, so confusion kept arising throughout the investigation.
To begin with, what they were trying to find was an “unknown threat,” and they did not even know exactly what it was, so it was unavoidable.
The Inquisitors had spent their entire lives believing vampires were the enemy.
‘...Should I wrap this up around now? Seeing everyone struggle for nothing makes me feel needlessly sorry.’
It was evening, not long before he was supposed to reunite with his companions.
Having found a suitably secluded place, Heinrich fell into thought alone.
If it was something the saintess could detect, it had to be fairly dangerous, but using something high-performance for this felt a bit wasteful.
‘Right, since it’ll be sealed and erased immediately anyway, it doesn’t necessarily have to be permanent. If I take something of appropriate quality and fill it with plenty of Hella’s magic power so it lasts a few days...’
But then.
—Saint! I found it!
With a gentle breeze, Lydia’s voice flowed into his ear.
—It really was a vampire! Here, at the Hubert Company’s...!
Her voice continued urgently.
But before she could even finish speaking, it was abruptly cut off.
‘A vampire? And the Hubert Company at that?’
Heinrich frowned.
The same was true of Heinz II and Hubert, who were in other locations.
“Mullo Brocoslac. Immediately determine the situation of those dispatched to Tarak and report.”
“The company security team is to assume special-class security status and gather at the main building! Contact each Tarak branch and check for anything abnormal!”
But their confusion lasted only a moment.
The two avatars immediately began to move.
And they were not the only two to act.
Flaaash—
“Great Blessing: Wings of Radiance.”
Together with a brilliant radiance, a pair of enormous wings of light spread out from the back of the plain full-body armor.
Flutter—
Whooong!
With a single flap of those wings, Heinrich’s body soared high into the sky.
Like that, he rose at once into the high air above the city, and a bright gleam appeared in his golden eyes as he looked down below.
‘Where is it?’
It was not the Hubert Company headquarters.
Through Hubert, who was there now, he was grasping the situation in real time.
As though peering through a microscope, every element of the city was analyzed at a glance according to the conditions and neatly organized in his mind.
‘The assailant is a vampire. The location is someplace connected to the Hubert Company.’
His mind grew complicated.
He had never imagined the problem would actually be a vampire.
And in this very Tarak, a place he had thought he had firmly under control!
What kind of disgrace was this?
‘Think later. Solving the problem comes first.’
His thoughts accelerated and time slowly began to slow, but he needed to save even this brief instant as much as possible.
Lydia Granwood was the strongest in the Elven Kingdom after Harris.
She was a talent expected to soon reach transcendence.
Naturally, the fact that a contact attempt made by someone like that had been forcibly cut off was by no means good news.
‘Just a little more...’
But fortunately beyond measure,
He had one ability he could use at times like this.
The privilege “Authority of the Monarch,” which allowed him to check not only the forces under his command but even the conditions of their members.
Of course, Lydia Granwood was not a subordinate but a comrade to both the high elf Harris and Saint Heinrich, so he could not directly determine her location. However, there were plenty of people under his command in this Tarak.
-Hubert Company
- Tarak Main Branch
And after rapidly scanning their statuses in accelerated time, even mobilizing his other avatars—
‘I found it!’
He finally discovered them.
└Status: Danger (Serious Injury)
└Status: Confusion, Fear
└Status: Unconscious
└......
Status messages that, at a glance, belonged to people in danger.
In addition, the location information they all shared was meaningful.
└Location: Kingdom of Tulk, Aonia County, Tarak ??? ?? [View detailed coordinates]
Coordinates that did not display properly, marked with question marks.
This was a phenomenon that occurred when one was inside a hidden world where location information overlapped.
‘With this, it’s one hundred percent!’
The wings of radiance spread across Heinrich’s back shone once more.
Immediately after, his body dropped toward somewhere like a meteor cutting through the darkness.
The exact location was not displayed, but he already knew with certainty where he had to go.
After all—
└Name: Miropa (Hubert Company Sponsored Individual)
└Name: Aron (Hubert Company Sponsored Individual)
└Name: Rafi (Hubert Company Sponsored Individual)
└......
Most of the names of those caught up in this incident were extremely familiar.
Especially one of them, whose face he saw every day.
└Name: Diana (Secretary to the Head of the Hubert Company)
A girl who, in a way, could be said to have been born under the most unfortunate fate in all of Auterica.
A human being who had grown exhausted from misfortune that came to her at all times and places, only to finally find hope and become able to look toward tomorrow.
With a hardened expression, Heinrich plunged down into one of the Hubert Company’s employee residential districts.
He drew the holy sword at some point, raised from it a sword of light like a colossal pillar, and using “Spatial Slash,” cut down everything blocking his way.
Slaaash—
From the sky to a single point on the ground.
Everything along the diagonal path of the falling meteor was sliced away.
The air, as well as sound and light, and even...
The flimsy barrier that divided space and defined its own world.
Kwaaaang—!
A small world collapsed.
At the same time, the ordinary-looking everyday scenery from outside changed completely in an instant.
An old woman covered in tattoos had collapsed while vomiting blood, a tiny girl had fainted in her arms, a boy was hugging them with a tearful face, and behind them, citizens were huddled together, trembling.
“Saint!”
Standing at the very front, facing off against someone, Lydia called out in welcome.
As if she had never expected him to arrive so quickly.
Having landed on the ground, Heinrich slowly straightened.
At the same time, his wings of radiance spread wide as though embracing the world.
A blazing aura spread in all directions and enveloped the wounded.
‘That one is...’
The knight of light who had descended upon the earth looked sternly at the cause of this incident.
Standing before the girl collapsed on the floor, the young boy glared at him with his face deeply twisted, as if everything had gone wrong.
That face, which looked to be in his early teens, was one Heinrich had seen once before.
Not in person, but through a composite sketch drawn long ago.
“I’ve finally found you. Temiran Maclear.”
“Tch! What the hell kind of bullshit is this? Things go wrong, and now of all things, even the saint shows up?”
The boy vampire, Temiran Maclear, grumbled while spitting out crude words that did not match his appearance.
He was the only son of Kayla Maclear, vice president of the Republic of Zefia, who had gone missing more than twenty years ago.
And he was the second apostle prepared by the god imprisoned in the abyss.