Ch.49Ready

Inside the department store, Aurel and Hwang-gu had been wandering around for quite some time before apparently getting bored and sticking close to my side with no intention of leaving.

Since they were children who normally stayed by my side anyway, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but Firin seemed to find it curious.

“Hey, how did the three of you become friends?”

“It was a fateful encounter!”

“M-me too!”

Aurel and Hwang-gu’s answers burst out as soon as they heard the question.

Firin looked at Aurel as if demanding a more detailed explanation.

Aurel, seemingly eager to talk, began explaining to Firin about the moment she met me.

“It was truly a fateful encounter… At that time, Charlotte was commanding werewolves when she came to our clan…!”

Commanding werewolves at that time?

Aurel seems to be misremembering the situation.

I wasn’t commanding werewolves.

I was merely heading to another vampire clan with his kind guidance.

Aurel’s outlandish explanation continued.

Firin seemed to prefer listening to Aurel’s explanation rather than silence, showing an attentive attitude.

“From the moment I first met her, I could tell. Charlotte was different from ordinary vampires, possessing tremendous power.”

“Oh… how did you know that?”

“Well… because she was beautiful.”

Firin tilted her head at Aurel’s explanation, but Aurel skipped over this part without explaining in detail.

“But at that time, my clan leader seemed to feel jealous of Charlotte’s beauty.”

“Jealous?”

“Yes, so she invited Charlotte to her room. I think she wanted to make Charlotte’s beauty her own.”

“And then?”

“Nobody knows what happened in that room. What’s important is that only Charlotte emerged from the room they both entered.”

“Oh, ohhhh…”

“There were no traces of battle left in the room. Not even a single drop of blood had fallen, I mean.”

“Gasp…!”

“Even though their leader had been defeated, the clan members didn’t even protest. Everyone realized it. Charlotte’s beauty and her powerful strength… that they had no choice but to follow her.”

I was dumbfounded by Aurel completely making up a story.

As I stood there with my mouth hanging open, Firin added encouraging comments, exciting Aurel even more.

“But Charlotte wasn’t satisfied there. Suddenly saying she needed to go somewhere broader, she brought only me among all those people to Seoul.”

“Wow…”

“I was chosen. So I decided. To dedicate everything I have to Charlotte.”

Aurel truly seemed to believe everything she was saying.

Her gaze toward me was so intense it felt like lasers might shoot out.

“Is this really true?”

Firin asked me with sparkling eyes.

Where should I even begin to correct this?

I mumbled as I reviewed Aurel’s story.

“Me too! I want to talk too! I’ll tell you about meeting Charlotte!”

While I was contemplating what to say, Hwang-gu raised her hand high and shouted.

Firin’s interest quickly shifted to Hwang-gu.

“I… I had lost my memory and was wandering the city!”

“Gasp…!”

“At that moment, my eyes met Charlotte’s as she was riding a bicycle…! Aurel was there too, so she’ll definitely remember. Right, Aurel?”

“That’s right! Meeting Hwang-gu was also fateful. A connection made while racing down a dark road with the huge moon in the sky as our light…”

“Whoa…”

Firin hugged her teddy bear tightly, wearing an expression of intense interest.

She sat right down in front of Hwang-gu and Aurel.

Seeing someone so interested in her story, Hwang-gu also became excited and started spinning her tail rapidly.

“Charlotte didn’t just pass me by. She took me in! And gave me the name Hwang-gu!”

Hwang-gu crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

Her large ears flapped as if recalling the memory.

She looked proud of her name.

“Charlotte tried to help me find my memories. We went to a nearby werewolf clan, but still my memories didn’t return.”

“How could that be…”

“That’s when those wicked humans attempted an attack. That’s when I realized that I lost my memories because of humans.”

“My goodness…!”

“Charlotte fought the humans for my revenge. The sight of her spreading her huge wings covering the sky was amazing.”

“That’s right! Charlotte tore apart all the humans to avenge Hwang-gu!”

Aurel added to Hwang-gu’s explanation.

Extremely excited, Aurel threw punches in the air.

Do these two really remember things that way?

I watched this ridiculous scene with my chin resting on my hand.

I wanted to see just how distorted their memories had become.

“After dealing with all the humans, Charlotte took me and Aurel and left the werewolf clan. That’s how we headed to Seoul.”

“Wow…”

“My memory loss must have been fate. Fate to meet Charlotte…”

“That’s so romantic…”

The three girls began to immerse themselves deeply in their own story.

Watching them, I sighed.

Only the end result was the same; the middle process was completely wrong.

In short, Aurel and Hwang-gu were scamming Firin.

I briefly considered telling the truth, but they seemed so happy among themselves that I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere.

I could just quietly tell Firin later.

I looked out the window, waiting for the sun to set.

***

In this world, the sun can only be up for 6 hours a day.

Though it was a very short time, it felt extremely long to me as a vampire.

After that long time passed, the sun set and night arrived.

That meant it was time to leave the department store and return to our original place.

“Everyone wake up~”

I clapped my hands to wake the deeply sleeping children.

Firin, Aurel, and Hwang-gu were sleeping while hugging each other.

They seemed to have become quite close while talking.

Hwang-gu was the first to wake up.

She opened her eyes wide, jumped up, and shook her head vigorously.

Flap-flap-flap!

Her large ears flapped noisily.

Next to wake were Aurel and Firin.

“Al-already evening?”

“Gasp…!”

It was evening, but for vampires, this was morning.

I nodded and left the department store with the children.

“Um, Charlotte…!”

“Yes?”

Hwang-gu suddenly called me.

When I turned my head slightly, Hwang-gu was looking nervous while handing me something.

When I held out my hand, a long strap landed on it with a soft thud.

The strap was connected to Hwang-gu’s red collar.

“What’s this…?”

“I, I prepared it in case you’re uncomfortable when riding on my back.”

I silently looked at Hwang-gu.

Indeed, it was a bit uncomfortable without a handle when Hwang-gu ran in wolf form.

But still, how could she…

“W-would you like to pull it once?”

“This…?”

“Yes…! We need to test if it’s sturdy.”

It seemed Hwang-gu planned to use this leash as a handle.

If she was okay with it, who was I to argue…

I nodded and pulled the leash slightly.

“Hek…!”

“…Are you okay?”

“P-pull it harder, please.”

Is this really okay?

With a worried expression, I pulled the leash again.

Whoosh-!

“Heek…!”

When I pulled strongly, Hwang-gu approached and hugged me.

Her fluffy hair rubbed against my chest.

Hwang-gu smiled and nodded.

She seemed satisfied with the sturdiness of the leash.

At that moment, I noticed Firin and Aurel looking at me with strange gazes.

Especially Aurel’s gaze was intense.

“Ahem, ahem…”

I did it because Hwang-gu wanted it, but it was quite an awkward situation.

Clearing my throat, I gently pushed Hwang-gu away, and she made a disappointed face before beginning to transform into a wolf.

And so Hwang-gu transformed into a magnificent wolf.

At that moment, Hwang-gu started coughing and collapsed on the floor.

“Hwang-gu!”

As it turned out, the collar size set before transformation couldn’t withstand her wolf form.

I hurriedly loosened Hwang-gu’s collar.

“Are you okay now?”

In wolf form, Hwang-gu couldn’t speak.

She wagged her tail vigorously to answer.

The current state seemed just right.

After all preparations were complete, the three of us climbed onto Hwang-gu’s back.

Aurel was at the front, then me, and Firin was last.

Sitting close behind me, Firin hugged my waist and whispered in a small voice near my ear.

“Your tastes are quite intense…?”

“T-tastes…!”

She seemed to have misunderstood after seeing Hwang-gu and me.

I frowned and strongly denied it.

Carrying three girls including me, Hwang-gu ran very fast.

Was it because of the leash handle?

Hwang-gu’s speed was faster than before.

It seems she had been running slowly before for fear we might fall off.

“Huff huff huff!”

Tap-tap-tap-

Somehow Hwang-gu seemed excited.

After returning to Seoul Station on Hwang-gu’s back, we gathered all clan leaders and explained what had happened.

Of course, excluding the fact that there was a human who could turn vampires back into humans.

There might be another traitor tempted by that information, so I planned to release information selectively.

“I think we need to capture all the humans this time.”

Prix said after hearing the whole story.

Other vampire clan leaders were nodding as well.

It seemed they planned to capture human users alive and drain their blood until death.

Eventually, all-out war with humans was decided.

Each clan leader had unwavering confidence in their victory.

I also began preparing for all-out war with humans.

To do so, I needed to greatly strengthen my forces.

I used credits obtained from dungeons to get armor for my subordinates.

Since armor was expensive, not everyone could wear it.

In the end, armor was assigned in order of strength.

The first to receive armor were Aurel, Hwang-gu, and Yeppi.

The three girls smiled as they looked at the black spandex-material armor that clung tightly to their skin.

The underwear-type armor that stuck to their skin dug into their soft flesh.