Ch.65Mining and the Vampire (6)

“He is currently away. He went to the alchemist’s residence for regular communication.”

So I had to wait. I could only nod at the words that followed. I couldn’t beat up someone who claimed to be cooperating, and there would be nothing to gain from it anyway.

“Make yourself comfortable in the meantime. I’ll inform the local collaborator.”

The local collaborator seemed to refer to the gangsters. When we headed to the lodging Edilum had arranged, gangsters were sprawled all around the exterior.

Gangsters wandering around, either high on drugs or selling them. We entered the lodging under their fearful gazes.

The lodging was a typical inn. The only difference was that the owner was a gangster, and those managing it were gangsters too.

It might have doubled as a red-light district, as lewd moans could be heard if you listened carefully.

It was when we sat down at a suitable table.

“The Red Beast, what kind of vampire?”

Islah asked.

Lorian, who was still deep in thought with a much more serious expression than before, couldn’t ignore the question.

“The Red Beast is… an elder of the blood clan.”

“What does that mean?”

“Basically, the blood clan is a family. And the young blood that makes up most of the clan are children, while those who have directly seen or heard the Father, or have heard it passed down, are the elders.”

Children and elders. It was an extremely explicit expression. One that left me with something to ponder.

It felt like they were trying to recreate the relationship between the Father and the clan, or distinguishing between the Father’s real children and those who weren’t.

But thoughts are just thoughts. Lorian erased his serious expression and said:

“The Red Beast is particularly an elder who has directly seen the Father. At the same time, he has served as the military might of the blood clan, assisting the Court Count for a long time.”

“Who is the Court Count?”

This time I asked. He was speaking as if it were obvious, but it was the first time I’d heard the name.

“The Court Count is the greatest elder of the blood clan. I thought you knew.”

Lorian seemed surprised by my question. I found his attitude rather unexpected.

I mean, how much would a livestock who’d been locked up in a cell all day know?

But Lorian didn’t notice my bewilderment.

“I’ll explain about the Court Count later. Anyway… it would be more accurate to hear it from the Red Beast himself.”

Lorian cut off the conversation and silently gazed at the interior of the inn. His expression was still complex, as if he had much to think about.

“Will this Red Beast vampire really cooperate with us?”

I recalled the conversation we had earlier. Edilum didn’t want to defeat the Red Beast Hertol.

Although he didn’t like being here and thought all this was meaningless.

Out of reverence for the blood clan’s elder, he couldn’t even consider the option of attacking and defeating him.

No, it’s a bit different.

Perhaps it wasn’t reverence but knowing his place.

‘Lord Hertol is considered equal to that Guardian Knight.’

Guardian Knight. Probably the female protagonist of the game.

She must have reached level 20 by now, a powerful figure completed with a build that prioritized efficiency.

If he was equal to such a being, even I, with my “Mortality,” couldn’t easily defeat him.

“Lord Hertol is busy traveling for the Father’s return. He will recognize the factor within you and consider it positively.”

That’s what Lorian said. While evaluating quite positively, he still couldn’t be certain.

Somehow our journey seemed to have become part of her desired “power building,” which made me feel uneasy.

I had come to collect resources for teleportation.

Feeling a bit annoyed, I rested my chin on my hand and turned my head, only to find two pairs of eyes following me.

“I hope so.”

I don’t dislike fighting. In fact, I quite enjoy it.

I don’t particularly prefer pain, but there’s a certain exhilaration that can only be felt during a fight.

It was the same when fighting Edilum. As my mouth was torn, teeth broken, and blood splattered.

I enjoyed crushing Edilum with my two fists.

It seemed like a sign of being controlled by power, but still.

“…I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed.”

Islah yawned, covering her mouth beside me.

She rubbed her eyes, stood up, approached me, rubbed her nose against my cheek, and then moved away.

“Good night.”

“…Oh, yeah. Good night.”

What was that just now?

If she had kissed me instead, I wouldn’t have been so confused, but Islah expressed affection like some kind of beast before disappearing.

Unintentionally having shown affection in front of someone else, I looked at Lorian with some concern, but she didn’t seem interested in questioning the scene.

Rather, it seemed like memories revived by that sight were eating away at her.

Like me, she rested her chin on her hand, looking at me with an indescribable gaze.

Sure enough, she finally opened her mouth after Islah had disappeared to the second-floor lodging.

“Luvellin. I have… something I want to tell you.”

“Something you want to tell me.”

“Mmm, yes. No, something I need to tell you…”

There’s a strange air about this. When I made a dubious expression, her gaze met mine.

Her red eyes were deeply infused with bewilderment.

“It’s because of what Edilum said.”

“What Edilum said…?”

I wonder what she means exactly. When I made a puzzled expression, she studied my face for a moment before nodding.

“That, about being a concubine.”

Concubine. A word I heard before the mourning ended.

“Let me be clear to avoid misunderstanding, I have no intention of becoming your concubine.”

Well, I figured as much. I nodded without much emotion, but Lorian’s words weren’t finished.

“However… regardless of my will, there are things that must be done.”

“…Huh?”

“What kind of being do you think you are?”

What a difficult question.

But I could easily recall the answer she wanted. Having lived with my sister for a long time, “pleasing women” wasn’t a difficult task for me.

“A Father candidate.”

“Yes. You are a Father candidate. Meaning you could become the Father.”

A rather obvious statement. When I responded lukewarmly, Lorian became serious.

“In other words, when you become the Father… the revival of the clan depends on you.”

Regardless of my will, it was true. Seeing how desperately the three clans were searching for the Father, it seemed likely.

“So? I don’t have that kind of skill… what does this have to do with the concubine talk?”

“That’s exactly it. The fact that you don’t have the Father’s techniques or knowledge.”

So what?

“Therefore, there aren’t many ways to increase the clan’s numbers and revive it.”

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

“Yes, one of them is for a blood clan member who has become female to conceive the Father’s child…”

I stopped with my mouth open. My gaze suddenly turned to the woman before me.

Lorian.

Once an ordinary blood clan member, but now a woman due to a curse obtained from breaking some ring.

Her body is that of a woman. She could still be called a blood clan member, but she was different from the normally sexless blood clan.

That gave her one possibility.

The possibility of conception.

Lorian seemed to know this too. Her face reddened as she spoke. It’s hard to believe this was the same person who confidently displayed her beautiful body to the sexless, but Lorian desperately continued with a flushed face.

“I was already considering that possibility when Edilum mentioned concubines… and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since.”

Sentient beings are like that. Just as one becomes conscious of someone after receiving a confession, even without prior interest, Lorian became conscious of the possibility of being a concubine from the moment Edilum mentioned it.

But is it really necessary to go that far?

I’m not even certain I’ll become the Father, nor is there any guarantee I’ll act for the clan’s revival if I do.

I had such thoughts, but she didn’t give me a chance to speak.

“Thinking about it, I can’t say Edilum was entirely wrong.”

Honestly, until this very moment, it was a possibility I couldn’t have imagined.

Of course. How could I have thought that someone who was fighting us to the death until recently would suddenly talk about becoming my concubine?

So I was considerably surprised, but Lorian was serious.

“If you don’t inherit the Father’s techniques or knowledge, I will become your concubine.”

“What about my will…?”

“You’re saying strange things. Why would you refuse having a beautiful blood clan member as your concubine?”

“Are you okay with that?”

“It’s a small price compared to the revival of the blood clan.”

Lorian spoke proudly without any sign of embarrassment.

Indeed, the common sense of the blood clan was different from humans. I blinked blankly, and Lorian smiled gently before standing up.

“I’ll go to bed now too. Have a good night.”

And Lorian walked away. She seemed much more at ease, disappearing to the second floor with light steps.

*

“Lord Hertol has arrived.”

It was two days later. Edilum, who came while we were waiting at the inn without going out much, led us while receiving fearful gazes from all the gangsters filling the inn.

We headed to the mine, specifically to the office that had already been destroyed by me.

And in the office, which seemed to have been repaired and cleaned up, I saw something massive.

“Lord Hertol, I’ve brought them.”

“The rest wait outside. You stay.”

The Red Beast Hertol.

He was a man taller than me.

His forearms were as thick as the roots of an ancient tree, and his waist was like the massive trunk those roots connected to.

The other parts attached above were similar.

Thick, large, and strong. Just a glance was enough to know this giant would be tremendously powerful.

It had been a while since I stopped judging by appearances, but this being was an exception.

This was a monster.

A massiveness that gave me the intuition it could easily topple Nerilmeius, the necromancer who had the strongest physical strength among those I’d fought.

That was the beast. The martial faction, the only one in the blood clan deserving of a barbaric title.

“Lord Hertol, we…”

“Enough. I want to see and judge such things directly. Only Edilum stays, the rest go out.”

He wanted to have a private audience with me after ordering Islah and Lorian to leave.

Well, not exactly private, since Edilum was there.

“No. I don’t know what you’ll do to my Lu.”

When Islah objected, he tried to reassure her politely.

“I promise I won’t harm him. If necessary, I’ll swear on my blood.”

His white hair, swept back, hung like a lion’s mane at the nape of his neck, and his red eyes were unusually full of power among the blood clan.

If he had claimed to be a shapeshifter, I would have understood, given his powerful appearance and incongruously polite manner.

Lorian seemed surprised by such politeness.

“Islah, it will be fine. Swearing on blood means…”

“He could die. Really, it’s okay to step back.”

He even swears not to harm me. Though I don’t know much, swearing on blood seems to have actual effects.

He goes that far just to have a private audience with me. Thanks to this, I could somewhat understand the character of the giant called Hertol.

Even after Islah withdrew with dissatisfied eyes, and Lorian followed, that impression didn’t change much.

“Alright, I’ll become your ally.”

The explanation didn’t even get lengthy.

What I conveyed was simple.

That I had the Father’s factor, that I defeated Nerilmeius with that power.

And that I had died and come back to life twice.

After hearing all that, he casually said he would become our ally.

It was surprising. Isn’t that too cool?

I was even prepared to show my Mortality, but didn’t get the chance.

But more outrageous than that was his answer when I asked for the reason.

“I can feel the Father’s energy, so there’s nothing to prove. The original purpose of the research was to create a vessel for the Father to contact us… it’s simply a success. I knew it would succeed.”

“Is that enough?”

“Of course. There’s no falsehood in what I’ve seen and felt with my own eyes. Complicating things with calculations doesn’t suit my temperament.”

Words that didn’t match someone who had just mentioned “research.” I couldn’t hide my dubious expression, and Hertol chuckled at my reaction.

“You’re cautious. A good virtue. As the Father should be.”

With such praise, I couldn’t keep questioning. I tried to hide my skepticism while rubbing the back of my neck.

That was the end of the conversation. It barely lasted over 5 minutes.

I withdrew, and Edilum, seemingly sharing my sentiment, approached Hertol with an ambiguous expression.

Well, good is good. Having an ally isn’t bad, and this might be the original story of this DLC.

As I tried to suppress my uneasiness, it was then.

“Lord Hertol, have you finished your business with the alchemist? May we return?”

Hertol paused at Edilum’s subtle request to return.

Is the business not finished yet?

That’s how I judged the situation, but.

No.

Something felt off. An inexplicable ominousness.

“…Lord Hertol?”

“Right, that’s right. I was going to meet the alchemist.”

He soon extended his hand toward Edilum’s head.

It felt ominous. Something was wrong. The moment I realized it, various scenes flashed through my mind.

Someone’s death.

Deaths I had overcome. My heart heats up, and a non-beating heart throbs, spreading power throughout my body.

[Mourning]

[Time Remaining: 60 seconds]

Power that transcends life and death.

The ominousness I felt now was similar to that.

But something was different. I couldn’t articulate exactly what, but it was definitely different.

Before I could identify exactly what was different, a crisp sound rang out.

Crack!

A sound like fruit being split. Simultaneously, Edilum, now headless, slowly collapsed.

The blood clan member who wouldn’t die despite my beating had died. By a monster who now glared at me with burning red eyes.

Our eyes met. As I reflexively raised and crossed my arms.

The world shot forward, leaving me behind. It passes at tremendous speed, leaving only me.

No, that’s not it. I’m the one being shot.

When I came to my senses, I was rolling on the ground between Islah and Lorian.

“Cough…”

Involuntarily spitting blood, I sensed it.

Hertol was being controlled.

As I raised my head, Hertol walked out of the completely destroyed office.

Absorbing the blood spurting from Edilum’s body, and spewing like a waterfall from his mouth the blood he had sworn on.

Soon, a red trajectory blazed as he charged toward us.