Supported by her maid, Lady Lavina—who had been continuously replenishing her divinity—soon finished her self-healing and stood up.
I found myself thinking once again how fortunate it was that she was a priest.
If she hadn’t been a priest... ugh. It would have been too horrible. I could see a terrifying timeline just from imagining it.
From now on, I really need to control my strength properly.
"I'm ashamed that I said I was fairly sturdy... You are far, far stronger than I thought, Benefactor..."
VV.
- Lady Yuyeon's trait << Showing strength that exceeds imagination every time
- The thing is, Lady Yuyeon's full power isn't even captured by the broadcast...
- On Earth, you need to control your strength, though...
As the shock had not yet fully subsided, Lady Lavina trembled with unfocused eyes.
Because pain intense enough to cloud the mind couldn't be healed, not even alongside the physical body.
"...Benefactor. That brainwasher will appear again. It's a vampire that can't be killed by dying just once or twice..."
"Oh. That's right. It seemed like it could revive."
"To be exact, it revives by using other vampires as sacrifices. All the vampires in this banquet hall are connected to it as sacri— ugh...!"
"!"
Lady Lavina, who had staggered for a moment, gritted her teeth and regained her balance.
"I have to... move again. I can't stop after coming this far..."
"I don't mind, but fighting in that physical condition would be too much."
"......I see..."
Even if I kept filling her with divinity, I wanted to discourage fighting in this state of accumulated mental fatigue.
I wondered if I couldn't relieve the fatigue accumulated in her mind through a maid's care.
I had activated it, but I wasn't sure if it was actually triggering.
"I... again... after coming all this way, only holding you back..."
!!!
Seeing Lady Lavina grow increasingly dejected made my chest ache.
Since I held the largest share in destroying her body.
"I'm sorry. It must have hurt terribly because of me."
"...It was good..."
"?"
- ?
- What does that mean?
Even I—flexible as I am—couldn't understand it.
I stealthily put some distance between myself and Lady Lavina.
"Ah, no, I'm fine...! I misspoke...!"
"I see..."
"It hurt! I was scared!"
"I see..."
Just when had Lady Lavina become like this?
I felt so powerless, unable to empathize with her.
Her face reddening, Lady Lavina tried hard to explain herself, then fell silent again.
Silence. More silence.
The longer the silence lasted, the more her face seemed to redden.
- (Reading the room... Guardian con)
Lady Lavina, who had been fidgeting with her fingers, broke the silence with a face that couldn't possibly turn any redder.
"W-well, Benefactor... I've thought about it quite a lot..."
"?"
"P-perhaps... just this once, a shot... Ah, never mind..."
"!"
A splendid maid misses nothing.
I had definitely heard the word "shot." I could also tell that the following word would be "gun."
Unlike the holy sword, which required fighting at close quarters while risking injury, a shotgun could end combat with just a click.
Even in her current state of accumulated mental fatigue, she could maintain high combat effectiveness.
She had sworn off shotguns to maintain her nobility as the last priest of Sereubein, yet the fact that she tried to speak of one meant...
Couldn't it mean that, relying on the devilish charm of the shotgun, she wished to fulfill her responsibilities as a priest with her own hands?
Lady Lavina handed me the shotgun she had been holding, trembling.
"Please forget it... I will absolutely, absolutely never handle a shotgun...!"
"?"
"If it's to be of help to you, Benefactor, I might have no choice but to handle it...!"
"???"
"If it's to avoid holding you back and fulfill my responsibility as the last priest of Sereubein, I might have to use it...!"
- I can see right through you, Laviravina...
- Sigh... Lady Lavina. Shall I help you again?
- (Wait...? Priest con)
- (I'll help...! Priest con)
- Argh, the chat is going crazy again
Or was I wrong? It felt somewhat different.
This was almost as if... she was waiting for me to suggest the shotgun first...
- Ang ang ang, Lavina wants a shotgun ;;;
- I want to be helpful... I need a shotgun ;;;
- If only I had a shotgun, I could help my Benefactor T^T
- Ugh, you crazy viewers, seriously
- There must be something about the Priest class... My friend became a priest and changed like that too;
"???"
What the heck. I was getting the feeling more and more that I had to give Lady Lavina a shotgun.
"Lady Lavina. How about you just use a sh—"
"♥...!"
"?"
"Hah!"
Lady Lavina's eyes went blank for a moment.
I could tell what she wanted, but it felt a bit wrong to play along.
Lies are bad, after all.
I wanted Lady Lavina to speak honestly.
"Lady Lavina. You like shotguns. Just use one."
"I... I do like them, but I'll refrain as much as possible now... It makes my mind go strange... Unless it's a really, really special situation..."
As expected, she refused. She seemed ready not to accept it without a suitable excuse.
I took out another shotgun for now.
"How about this. It's a double shotgun."
"U-uh. Two shotguns..."
"You like it, don't you?"
"I-I'm fine. I'll decline. I can't use a shotgun for my own selfish desires..."
I hadn't expected her to refuse twice. I took out one more.
"What about a triple shotgun?"
"Benefactor...! Are you testing me? Are you tempting me...?! I won't fall to such temptation!"
"But your body is honest."
"...Hah!"
Lady Lavina reached for the shotgun, then started and handed it back, squeezing her eyes shut in prayer.
"Please grant me the grace of the shot—ugh, that's not it. The prayer, uuugh..."
"Lady Lavina."
It was truly amazing willpower, but at the same time, foolish stubbornness.
To think she'd lie, denying and turning away from the path that could make her happy.
Just what was this so-called nobility?
I didn't want to see Lady Lavina fighting while enduring pain.
I didn't want to see her deceiving herself, crushed by heavy responsibility either.
So I placed the shotgun in Lady Lavina's hand and whispered.
"I want you to be happy, Lady Lavina. Using a shotgun would make you happy, so I don't know why you won't speak honestly."
"W-well, it's because my mind goes strange..."
"How is being honest going strange? I liked honest Lady Lavina. At least you looked happy without any lies."
"Ugh... th-that's..."
- The foolishness was kinda cute
- Seeing her happy is way better than watching her die every day
- Lavina mode << It means she was really, really fucking cute...
How heavy it must have been.
With the pressure of being the last priest of Sereubein weighing on her shoulders every moment, she must have been unable to honestly pursue her own happiness.
The reason she'd sworn off shotguns wasn't a personal one, but because of her sense of responsibility as a priest.
"I wish you would be honest in front of me, at least. I know there's a heavy burden on your shoulders, but your life is your own, Lady Lavina."
"......"
"If there's something you want to do, you should do it. If it's the path that makes you happy, I'll help you. If the burden on your shoulders is too heavy, I'll help you carry it. You just need to speak honestly, Lady Lavina."
Whether handling a shotgun made her happy or not.
At my whisper, Lady Lavina's lies began to break.
Lady Lavina plunged into my embrace, burying her face, and wailed out her true feelings.
"B-Benefactor... I... I love shotguns so much...! I don't want to go back to when I didn't know about them...!"
"You don't have to go back. I have as many shotguns and as much ammunition as you need."
"But I'm scared... The more I use them, the more my mind feels like it's going strange...!"
"I told you. It's not going strange; it's being honest. Ah, but trying to solve everything with a shotgun is not allowed. Everything is best in moderation."
Pat, pat.
I tidied Lady Lavina's hair, soiled with blood and dust.
As gently as possible. If I messed up controlling my strength, her head might be crushed.
Maybe her hair would fall out. Should I just not tidy it? But I still want to tidy it.
Lost in thought, I felt vampires approaching from all directions.
"Lady Lavina. You want to use the shotgun, don't you?"
"...I want to use it...!"
"You've become honest."
Hoping that Lady Lavina, now honest with her feelings, would be happy, I pressed a shotgun and ammunition into her hands.
"Good. Then don't hold back and fire away."
"......!"
- Yeah yeah, press the happiness button
- (You do it too! Sharpshooter con)
- (Be happy, Maid con)
Afterward, thunderous roars began to resound.
Taking advantage of the chaos, I stored the holy sword in subspace.
VV.
***
The center of the banquet hall.
At the fountain with the best view of the red moon, blood reconstituted and took form.
The vampire J, who had regained form by using the blood of its kin as a sacrifice, immediately reflected on death.
It was a habit unique to the revived, who had gained the ability to review feedback by treading upon death.
"Hmm."
Han Yuyeon. A monster too strong to be called human.
She destroyed the detached force sent to the Sereubein supply base and the main force sent to the forward base single-handedly.
This maid, who had even defeated the Blood General favored by the Master—how on earth was she to be dealt with?
First encounter.
When they met at a place where a sorcery formula had already been prepared, all preparations were shattered by Han Yuyeon's light footfall.
She obtained the feedback that resistance by force was absolutely impossible.
Second encounter.
She tried to read Han Yuyeon's psychology and brainwash her through prolonged conversation, but the brainwashing itself didn't work.
On top of that, she had to die once more from the shockwave of a mere finger flick.
She obtained the feedback that Han Yuyeon's mind couldn't be touched.
Unable to accept this part, she reviewed the feedback a bit longer.
Those who maintained a mental barrier by some means usually couldn't have their thoughts read at all.
But hadn't Han Yuyeon's thoughts felt quite transparent?
As if she were keeping her mind open without any particular wariness.
"Her mind is open, yet brainwashing doesn't work?"
"What sort of contradiction is this?"
Most frightening of all was the thought Han Yuyeon had transparently revealed before flicking her finger.
Just as the Master simply wished for humanity's destruction.
Han Yuyeon purely thought of simply wishing for humanity's preservation.
"Fortunately, avoiding humanity's destruction is easier than I thought."
The moment she realized the meaning contained in that pure thought, J gazed at the door of the audience chamber.
Though she didn't think the Master would lose... she also couldn't picture a scenario in which Han Yuyeon lost.
J, reflecting on herself, who could no longer blindly believe in the Master's victory, and her own incompetence in being unable to deal with Han Yuyeon, finished her feedback.
"Master. Please forgive your incompetent servant."
Though Han Yuyeon couldn't be stopped, there was one thing left that could be done for the Master.
Kill Lavina, the last priest of Sereubein, and neutralize the holy sword.
"Tsk. I should have killed her somehow before Han Yuyeon arrived..."
There was no time to blame incompetent subordinates. I was equally incompetent.
Before all spare lives were exhausted, before Han Yuyeon reached the audience chamber, killing Lavina somehow was the duty of one who is a servant.
The method to kill Lavina was simple.
If Han Yuyeon could be made to use her power two or three more times near Lavina, Lavina would die too.
Han Yuyeon's weakness was that she was so strong she couldn't distinguish between friend and foe.
Lavina's weakness was that despite holding a completed holy sword, her own skill was lacking.
Since she had confirmed that right before dying, Lavina's entire body had been shattered by Han Yuyeon's shockwave, killing Lavina shouldn't be difficult.
So, sending attacks again and again to kill Lavina... she felt something strange.
"Lavina still isn't dead...?"
How is that possible?
Her divinity had definitely hit rock bottom, and I saw with my own eyes her entire body being shattered.
Even if Han Yuyeon had a means to resurrect Lavina, it should be difficult to exert full power right next to her...?
How was Lavina, who was clumsy even at swinging a holy sword, still alive?
And why was she getting closer?
When the thunderous roars heard from afar had approached within reach, what J saw was—
"Ee-hee-hee...♥ H-hee...♥"
It was Lavina, grinning from ear to ear with a shotgun—not a holy sword—in her hands.