Understanding Agreement

“Khehehe, hehehehe.”

[Vampire Count] laughed unpleasantly.

“You seem very happy?”

“I can’t help but laugh.”

The reason for the laughter must be the Bloodstained Dagger.

If I know the identity of the Bloodstained Dagger, I can guess the identity of the right leg.

No, I could be sure.

The Great Devil of [Blood].

Vampires. It seems they have already secured a large number of the Great Devil’s Sealed Bodies.

Since the Bloodstained Dagger is the left arm, and the right leg has joined, the Bloodstained Blade is overflowing with the Strength of Blood, writhing on the surface.

[Vampire Count] looked at this and disgustingly liked it.

“Are you happy that you’re one step closer to the Progenitor’s Resurrection?”

“You knew?”

“Of course.”

I casually aimed the Bloodstained Dagger.

“Perfect timing. I also wanted to resurrect that Progenitor guy. Cooperate.”

“…? You’re asking me to cooperate?”

“Don’t you want to?”

“It’s what I’ve been hoping for.”

[Vampire Count] bewilderingly accepted the offer.

“I don’t know what your intention is, but I will gladly accept your foolish proposal.”

“I don’t know if you should say it that way. I might not help?”

“I was too talkative. I understand. I’ll cooperate. If you know that all the Sealed Bodies are gathered, there’s no need to offer sacrifices. Wouldn’t that be better for you too?”

“Well…”

It’s better if there are no sacrifices.

I didn’t have any particular thoughts,

but I went along with it.

“Instead of helping, no one should get hurt. Even if the Progenitor is resurrected, you guys won’t be there at that time. It’s better for you to watch the Resurrection alive, right?”

“…I understand. I will accept your proposal, who possesses two Sealed Bodies.”

Amel looks at the hand [Vampire Count] extended.

Is it asking for a handshake?

I shook it.

“I’m Caria. I look forward to working with you, even if it’s just until the Progenitor’s Resurrection.”

“Okay. Then guide me to the next Sealed Body.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’?”

“I can’t decide everything on my own. If you give me some time, I’ll persuade the others, so you go back and wait.”

“No way. Just guide me. Then I’ll break through whatever you’ve prepared and absorb the Sealed Body into this dagger. Isn’t that all we need to achieve anyway?”

Caria makes a troubled expression.

Is there something troubling?

If you just tell me the location, I can finish everything in less than an hour.

Since she couldn’t come to a decision easily, I gave her time as Win seemed to have returned.

“Okay. Think about it for about 30 minutes.”

“No, with the others…”

“Time is precious. Actually, even without you, I can find the others just like I found you. So think carefully.”

“….”

Caria falls silent and is lost in thought.

Amel dropped herself onto a nearby chair.

‘Win, you’re here?’

‘(You noticed?)’

‘I’m starting to get a sense of it.’

‘(You’ll never know.)’

‘What will I never know? Never mind. Tell me what you found out. Why does Blood look the same as Dream?’

The right leg in the glass tube was said to look exactly like the human form of [Dream].

I only saw it for a brief moment, but that female form was very pretty. Her features were so radiant that you could tell at a glance that she was beautiful.

‘(It’s the opposite. Dream imitated the appearance of Blood.)’

‘Dream did?’

‘(Cappuccino found out after eating the core of Dream. Dream imposed the image of the strongest person it had experienced on itself.)’

‘…That.’

‘(Yeah. It’s similar to Cappuccino’s… the way Dream Frog infiltrates other people’s Dreams and takes away their victories.)’

To summarize, [Dream] was borrowing the face of the strongest being it had ever encountered.

‘(Dream has existed for quite a long time among the Great Devils, and even when Sealed, it roamed freely through Dreams.)’

‘(It seems it was used like a communication network for the Great Devils who were Sealed tightly and couldn’t do anything even when they woke up.)’

‘(But the fact that it was imitating the appearance of Blood means that…)’

Win’s words trailed off with a sense of foreboding.

‘(Ah… it’s already come to that.)’

Win read my memories.

It found out that I had absorbed the right leg of [Blood] with the Bloodstained Dagger.

Win let out a disappointed sigh, perhaps because it read that I had said I would help Caria and had no intention of reversing that decision.

‘(By the way, you said you wanted to fight the Great Devil. But do you know what it takes?)’

‘(To awaken Blood, you need Blood. You need the sacrifice of the same Vampire rather than a human. To resurrect a human with Magic, you need to sacrifice a human, an elf if it’s an elf, and a Dwarf if it’s a Dwarf.)’

‘(That’s because it’s the material needed to construct the body. That’s why they’re recklessly increasing the number of Vampires, saying they need sacrifices.)’

‘(I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.)’

‘(In other words, she’s mass-producing useless Vampires because her high-ranking officials don’t want to die.)’

‘(I’m asking you, if you’re going to release the Sealed Body and fight, rather soak the Bloodstained Dagger with their Blood and resurrect it now.)’

‘(You can’t win against a complete Great Devil on your own, can you?)’

‘That’s why I was thinking of calling the kids.’

‘(Please consider the situation. You’ll be able to fight to your heart’s content later anyway when you become the commander of the Great Demon Extermination Knights.)’

That was also true.

‘(So right now…)’

Win whispered.

At that moment, Caria approached, as if she had made a decision.

“Have you decided?”

“I’ll guide you.”

Leaving the Minor Witches in the workshop, I followed Caria out into the street.

Caria, using a parasol to block the sunlight. Leaving the Witch’s house and walking down the street, her posture was very elegant.

Now that I think about it, she was a noble, right?

If you’re a noble, are you all like this…

…Not all of them are.

The way the noble ladies walked flashed through Amel’s mind.

Their hips swayed from side to side.

‘(That’s all to seduce men by acting coquettishly.)’

‘Is that so?’

‘(What is elegance? In the end, it’s something you learn to seduce others. It’s to show off to others. Honestly, what would you use elegance for if you learned it?)’

To save face?

Still, if you’re elegant, many people will follow you.

‘(Depending on the era, it was a basic requirement for marriage. Just looking at this makes it clear that the reason is to make men like you, right?)’

‘Isn’t it a matter of the family’s prestige?’

‘(I know better than you do.)’

Well… Amel, a modern person, had nothing to say in response.

Anyway, I followed Caria.

‘(Amel.)’

‘Why.’

‘(There’s something I want to ask her, so lend me your mouth.)’

‘….’

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“What are you curious about?”

The honorifics changed.

The tone also became refined.

“What were you plotting in the workshop?”

“We were preparing to offer sacrifices to the Progenitor. We needed as many sacrifices as there were missing Sealed Bodies.”

“Then, by any chance, was all the liquid in that glass tube Blood?”

“Oh my.”

Caria shrugged.

“Are you going to punish us?”

“No way. It’s not like someone I know was caught.”

“Thank you for your generous words. We were diluting Blood with a special solution and absorbing it into the Progenitor’s Sealed Body. If we just injected Blood normally, it would spit it out.”

“It seems like it has very picky tastes.”

“It’s high-class.”

I bet it’s high-class.

And,

I stop.

“Before I tell you the location, would it be okay to try to persuade them first?”

“Hmm…”

‘(It’s okay to persuade them, but ask them to tell you all the other locations.)’

Amel put what Win wanted to say into words.

“The locations…”

“You can do whatever you want if you can kill me with Strength.”

Caria didn’t know that Amel was Anonymous.

She just knows her as a Hero who is much stronger than herself.

It’s okay to mistakenly think that she can win if she gathers the Vampires and defeats them.

Caria falls into thought, turning around.

People pass by Amel and Caria in droves. It was noisy and bustling, but the silence between them was desolate.

It was quieter because it was noisy.

Sweat dripped down Caria’s cheeks.

“Okay. Follow me.”

“….”

Just tell me the location.

“I’m not completely sure yet whether you will resurrect the Progenitor.”

“I know. But whether you believe it or not, I have no intention of persuading you of such things. It’s troublesome, a waste of time, and there’s no way to prove it in the first place.”

“That’s right. From my perspective, accepting your proposal is nothing short of a gamble.”

The reason she made the choice to believe was because she saw me absorb the right leg of [Blood] into the Bloodstained Dagger without hesitation.

The fact that I absorbed it even though I knew gave credibility to the statement that I would resurrect it.

“Still, is it okay if I ask you just one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Why are you trying to resurrect the Progenitor? There’s nothing good for you if the Progenitor is resurrected, is there?”

“You’re asking that now?”

“…That was a slip of the tongue.”

Caria entered a building.

The building was quite large.

It was three times larger than the surrounding buildings, and there were an unusually large number of people in neat attire like merchants gathered there.

No, they are merchants.

As Amel entered the building, she could hear the word ‘trade’ in the words coming from around her.

They sell something taking advantage of the competition.

People want something.

What sells well.

Such stories were being exchanged in the hall of the entrance.

“This way.”

“….”

“This is the Gospel Guild. I guess you’ve never been here before?”

“I had no reason to come.”

Caria went up to the 2nd floor, the 3rd floor, and finally reached the top floor, the 5th floor.

The hallway was short.

There were only 3 doors in total.

The innermost room.

As I entered there, along with the room that occupied half of the 5th floor, the sound of something being written, ‘scratch, scratch,’ was laid down like background music.

Inside the room, there was a long desk on the left and right, and a man there.

A man dressed in luxurious clothes and managed luxuriously, like a high-ranking person, was flipping through documents and signing his name with a pen, ‘scratch, scratch.’

Then he glanced this way,

and the man silently opened his mouth.

“Caria, it’s unlike you to make such a sudden visit. What brings you here? It can’t be a normal matter.”

“Yes. Something really urgent has happened. Our lives and missions are at stake, including yours and others.”

“….”

The man stops writing.

The man looks at Amel.

He instinctively noticed the relationship between the urgent business that Caria had come for and Amel.

He sent his gaze, which had been on the documents, to Amel and placed his clasped hands on the desk. He exuded an atmosphere like a powerful person, looking down on his subordinates from above.

“I am Glaize Bubble, the guild master of this Gospel Guild. Seeing that Caria has personally brought you here, you don’t seem like an ordinary guest. So, what is the business that you have come to me for?”

“And he’s the Count of Bloodia.”

Caria added an introduction.

“Bloodia?”

“Didn’t you know? We call the same beings as us Bloodia.”

I didn’t know.

You weren’t a Vampire?

Glaize’s poker face hardened.

The sound of him racking his brain to understand the situation could be heard.