Between the mountain range and the coast, a land where thick fog settles. Going a little further down from there, the fog clears and a wide plain appears.
A plain without a single shadow is a terrain that vampires do not like. The lack of places to hide from the sunlight plays a part, but there is a slightly more historical background to it.
The Blessed Enge Plain. A land of blessing flowing with milk and honey for humans, but a wall of wailing for vampires. That land, where sunlight illuminates the earth, mild winds swirl, and nutrient-rich rivers flow, sent countless vampires into the blood of the earth in field battles.
No matter how powerful and excellent their regeneration, vampires with many weaknesses were merely tossed about on the battlefield where everything was poured out.
Flowing water, shining sun, a distance that could not be closed. It felt like they could kill them if they just reached out, but they remained out of reach. Vampires who advanced trying to forcefully catch them had their arrogance condemned by the blade of holy light.
The undying vampires retreated bearing the pain of a defeat that would be etched forever. It is hard to feel fear for the defeated. Vampires whose weaknesses were exposed to the whole world were eventually pushed back, and pushed back again. To one end of the continent, the Sea of Dread.
The foggy coastline was their paradise, but just as the world cannot consist solely of vampires, the Duchy cannot consist solely of foggy coastlines. A place where the mountain range running roughly across the land holds its breath. A place where rivers that found a gap flee to the sea.
The Eastern Plain, bordering the Military Nation.
That is where the most humans live, and therefore, where the most vampires stay. Because the plain receives plenty of sunlight, the vampires of the Eastern Plain maintain a classical way of life. That is, they sleep during the day and only wake at night to rule over humans.
However, the vast and fertile Eastern Plain reminds them of the nightmare of the Enge Plain, so vampires of Ein rank or higher do not wish to stay there very much.
There are many humans, but in comparison, there are few high-ranking vampires. Moreover, it borders the Military Nation. If they were to escape, they would surely cross the Eastern Plain.
Both vampires and humans thought so.
"...You are causing quite a bit of trouble."
Elzebut, who came under orders from the Progenitor, clicked her tongue. To think she could shake off hundreds of humans and vampires and traverse half the country, no matter how dull a vampire's senses might be in some aspects.
It cannot be explained by stamina alone. Her skills are admirably outstanding. Creating fake traces to cause confusion. Breaking through the perimeter and infiltrating among people. Surviving in forests and fields and finding the way. If she had not been proficient in even one of these many skills, she would have been caught long ago.
"Madam Elzebut. We found her."
Of course, even if she were proficient, it only amounted to buying a few days. Receiving the report, Elzebut unfolded her blood-red fan and covered her mouth.
"But this is as far as it goes. If the destination is limited, driving them into a corner is easier than twisting a newborn's wrist. Once they head for the plains, there is nowhere to escape."
Dogo has already gone ahead near the border. The Progenitor's concubine is not powerful enough to defeat the Elder and Ein troops and escape. Inside the firmly established fence, Elzebut's job was to calmly herd and catch the livestock.
Elzebut finished formulating the operation in her head and muttered.
"I must offer the concubine to the Progenitor and have my crimes forgiven..."
Elzebut, who had inadvertently muttered, stopped speaking and shut her mouth.
Elzebut had now escaped the Progenitor's control. Elzebut found complete freedom while retaining her power.
In other words, the fear Elzebut felt now was entirely her own.
The reason is simple. Elzebut recalled the form of her fear. The shadow of disaster, forged by the Progenitor's authority. The Progenitor's kin, created by combining the power, history, authority, and fear of vampires.
Staying by the Progenitor's side like a shadow, following behind like a child, yet its power and cruelty surpassed the Elders.
Elzebut could not attempt anything against that shadow. Because the shadow was Tirkanjaka's kin, but a being of a higher rank than any other vampire.
Primal fear as a living creature. The belief that no matter how much she struggled, she could not resist. Elzebut possessed the kind of fear a field mouse would have upon seeing a tiger. Her worn-out instincts crawled back up and screamed at her that 'that shadow' was something beyond common sense.
"...What was that?"
She had pondered for quite a long time, but no answer came. Elzebut headed to the place where the concubine was spotted, harboring an inexplicable anxiety.
A single windmill stands in the wide field. Unlike the other sea breezes that are blocked and pool up by the mountain range, the wind of the Eastern Plain blows unhindered and gently sweeps across everything in the field. The windmill was the work of insolent humans who used even nature's touch as labor.
The Progenitor's concubine was inside that windmill. According to the report, upon noticing the pursuers' presence, she let out a deep sigh, went inside the windmill, and calmly took a rest.
Elzebut nodded.
"Was she called the King of Humans? She has dignity for someone who was once a king. I like that she doesn't become pathetic with useless resistance."
"What will you do?"
"We must receive her. Since she is the Progenitor's concubine, we must serve her without a single flaw... No."
The Progenitor's concubine, unlike the Progenitor, is human. There is no harm in making a good impression. Elzebut, who had committed a crime, decided to send the Ein away and go to the concubine directly.
"I will attend to her myself, so step back."
"As you command, Madam Elzebut. I will now withdraw to report to the Duke of Red Blood."
The Duke of Red Blood's Ein, Count Erte, bowed deeply and withdrew. There was not a single breach of etiquette, but Elzebut was uncomfortable with Count Erte, the Duke of Red Blood's underling. It was because, although he claimed to be assisting Elzebut, one of the great Elders of the Duchy, he was essentially there to monitor her.
"How dare..."
However, it was difficult for Elzebut, who had rebelled against the Progenitor, to raise her voice about it. Elzebut glared slightly and trudged toward the windmill.
Inside the windmill, a deliberate human presence was still felt. The concubine still seemed to have no intention of running away. Thinking that the matter would be easily resolved, Elzebut briefly adjusted her attire in front of the windmill and spoke.
"Concubine. Your humble servant has come to attend to you in person."
There was no answer, but the presence remained. Interpreting the silence as agreement, Elzebut moved her blood energy. The blood flowing along the floor seeped into the wood.
Having taken control of the door, Elzebut opened it without lifting a finger.
"I will enter, risking discourtesy. As the concubine is also..."
However, the scene inside the windmill was slightly different from Elzebut's expectations.
The concubine was there. But not alone. In front of the concubine stood a magician without a trace of presence. As if something had greatly offended him, the magician, who was frowning deeply, glanced at the uninvited guest, relaxed his expression, and muttered.
"It wasn't just the fake who was fooled. Another idiot has crawled in."
Elzebut held a momentary doubt. According to the report of the observing Ein, only the concubine had entered that windmill. Yet now, some magician was sitting in the windmill as if he were the owner.
Not knowing Elzebut's identity, the magician spoke with an extremely arrogant attitude.
"I don't know whether to be thankful that there are many idiots in the world, or to despair that I have become one of them. Ah. Am I ultimately only fit to be the King of right-handers, a framed figurehead?"
The lamenting man didn't seem to care about Elzebut at all. It seemed he had no idea where this was or whose safety it was.
To not recognize an Elder in the Duchy. Even for a high-nosed magician, wasn't he too ignorant? Elzebut decided to carve a lesson into his body. Though he would never live to recall that lesson.
"Bow your head. I have no business with you."
The blood that had spread everywhere bloomed like a flower. Before the magician could even react, the swirling blood flowers wrapped around him and exploded. Without even watching the red flesh dropping down, Elzebut turned her gaze to the concubine.
"Please forgive this humble servant for showing you an unsightly scene. However, I could not leave a human who dared to be rude in front of this humble servant and the concubine alone..."
"Concubine? I don't know what you're talking about, but that guy is a fake mimicking Huey's appearance. Not the human you were looking for."
From behind Elzebut, the magician's voice was heard. He should have clearly been crushed to death by the blood flowers, but Elzebut doubted her ears and looked at the place where the flowers of blood bloomed.
The magician was unharmed. Even though the blood flowers bloomed, even as they wrapped around his body and tried to consume him as nutrients, not a single hair on his head was hurt.
No, it hadn't even touched him in the first place. The flower buds that swirled up and wrapped around to the right looked more like they were protecting him rather than attacking him. As if obeying him.
The red-haired magician was completely relaxed, without a single ounce of a sense of crisis.
"I don't know if an Elder is looking for a doppelganger mimicking someone else's appearance. But that's not it. You too are an ordinary person like me. Well... I am more outstanding than you, though."
He hadn't not known the Elder. He had known and ignored her. Even if the magician was high-nosed, he was not foolish enough to easily throw away his life.
Which meant that this magician was confident he could protect his life from Elzebut.
Elzebut unfolded her folding fan. Even if he blocked the blood flowers, that was merely a light greeting. However troublesome the magician was, could he surpass the immortal vampire? Elzebut reached out her arm toward the magician.
Then, the concubine stopped her.
"Do not attack."
Elzebut asked, holding the folding fan.
"Is he an acquaintance?"
"We do know each other... but 'he' doesn't know 'me'."
"That means you are not close."
The stopped folding fan moved elegantly. Following her fingertips, a massive flow of blood coiled like a snake. Now that the Progenitor had been freed from the shackles of blood. In terms of the ability to control blood energy alone, the most powerful existence in the world was Countess Elzebut.
Elzebut, wreathing the blood energy that would fill the windmill around her hands, stared at the magician.
"Then it should be fine to kill him."
After Elzebut swung her folding fan, blood flooded. Power that would be too excessive to use on a single person targeted the magician.
The windmill shook violently. Just the passing of the blood flow turned the gears, causing the windmill, which should have turned by receiving the wind, to instead generate wind.
The blood flow that swept across the pillar and gears wrapped around the magician and swept him away entirely. The blood spun round and round as if it were a snake, crushing the magician.
A waterfall swirled, grinding away a fleshly body. If the goal had been destruction, it would have been more than enough.
"...Hmm?"
However, the magician was still unharmed.
The blood flow was still swirling with great force. The power was the same. But it never reached the magician.
As if an invisible force was enveloping the magician. Elzebut figured out what the magician's power was.
"Unique Magic Path... You had something to rely on."
A magician who completes his own ideology acquires a Unique Magic Path. The power to enforce one's own laws onto the world. Since difference usually means separation, a Unique Magic Path generally possesses the power to block external attacks.
However, that is merely the result; as Unique Magic Paths are all different, the ways to overcome them are also diverse. Elzebut raised her blood energy with the intention of filling the windmill.
Then, the concubine stopped Elzebut.
"Stop. Madam Elzebut. Attacking him is meaningless. In his Unique Magic Path, the world of right-handers, all attacks will miss and strike somewhere else."
Remembering the concubine's presence, Elzebut hastily withdrew her power.
The windmill was already on the verge of breaking; if she used more force, even the concubine would be caught up in it. If she injured the concubine here, Elzebut would become a single meal for that 'shadow'.
'...But, even if it's a Unique Magic Path, it's not a simple barrier.'
However, apart from that, Elzebut felt a strange sense of alienation. It felt less like something was blocking her blood energy, and more like an endless frustration of advancing into a distant void where she could never reach.
It was different. Not a difference in kind like power or rank, but rather it felt like the space they existed in was fundamentally different from the start. Feeling uncomfortable, Elzebut glared at the red-haired magician.
'He won't be able to harm this humble servant. But if you ask whether I can break through that Unique Magic Path and harm him... it seems impossible in a short time. Where did such a being appear from? Of all places, at the location where the Progenitor's concubine is?'
The person who could give that answer was right nearby. Elzebut asked the Progenitor's concubine.
"You have a bizarre existence by your side. Concubine, who is that thing that came to find you?"
Hilde, disguised as Hugh, was not the concubine Elzebut was looking for. However, having served as the Yingkui in the Military Nation, she could reveal the identity of the red-haired magician. Looking at the magician who had once thrown her country into chaos, Hilde repeated.
"The hope of the Military Nation. A comet that burned brighter than anyone else. Then... the worst criminal who eventually fell to the ground."
A few years ago, three talents who would become the hope of the Military Nation appeared in Hameln. A pure power of the Military Nation, neither a remnant of the Kingdom nor a minion of the Saintess. When talents that seemed to prophesy the brilliant future of the Military Nation were born, everyone paid attention to them.
It was 'him'. The one who received the most attention in Hameln.
A weakling with only a sharp mind was not needed in the Military Nation, and women with outstanding qi were secretly common. However, a genius of magic born from a barren land was powerful and precious, born with the power to change the history of the Military Nation.
The one who was expected more than anyone else. A rookie who mastered standardized magic to the extreme in the Military Nation, which lacked mystery, and pioneered a Unique Magic Path himself. A reborn mystery.
However, his overly immense talent became a poison, and he ended up as the worst criminal who betrayed and left the Military Nation.
"The fallen comet, Colonel Lankart. He was once 'my' comrade and friend... a magician."