Americano (3)

“Americano is too bitter.”

Aureli put down the cup with a slight frown. The ice cubes clinked against each other.

A sigh mixed with dejection burst from Erica’s lips.

She couldn’t understand.

Why she was doing this now.

Drinking coffee casually in a cafe with a wanted Ranker classified as highest risk level?

Isn’t she a hunter of the Association? An almighty Ranker. A rising star.

The person who had forcibly explored her defenseless body and thrust fangs into her just a few days ago seemed to have no particular thoughts about it now.

She kept spouting meaningless words like “Do you like sweet things?”, “I think I like bitter things,” and then suddenly put on a serious face.

She took out a notebook filled with dense writing, showed a few drawings, and started kindly explaining about Erica’s, her own, body condition.

“Are you feeling any pain anywhere? Headache? Or heart palpitations?”

“…No.”

“That’s good.”

Good. Ah, yes. That’s really good.

“I wasn’t in my right mind then, so I thrust in without thinking about after-effects, but it seems I was right to trust your regeneration stat.”

I see. That’s important. After-effects.

“To put it simply, think of it as misaligned gears. The blood-sucking act is the result of unnecessary nerves being awakened in the evolution that the Dhampir species goes through.”

“Dhampir?”

“Ah, a mix between vampire and human.”

Erica nodded vaguely. It was because she thought she should show at least minimal interest since the other seemed to be trying hard to explain something.

“This is an extension of what I briefly explained then.”

Saying that, Aureli put down the notebook.

“Now it’s the part you, who have become the subject of my blood-sucking, need to pay attention to.”

Erica suddenly felt her throat burning. She sucked a sip of the cafe mocha in front of her through the straw. It was sweet.

Seeing whipped cream on top even though she didn’t remember asking for it, it seemed she had lost her mind since entering the cafe with this suspicious girl in a coat.

An Association hunter entering a cafe with a wanted awakened one.

Right, a wanted awakened one. In other words, a bad woman.

A villain, that’s right. A villain.

Do villains come to cafes and drink Americano?

Suddenly her thoughts stopped. It was a meaningless thought.

“Think of it as being bitten by a venomous snake.”

“Pardon?”

Before she could think “What is this about now?”, Aureli slightly parted the side of her lips to show her fangs.

“It’s a metaphor, in the sense that something enters the bloodstream when the fangs pierce the skin.”

Aureli waved her hand in the air to create a blue outline. It was a simple model of that place above Erica’s collarbone where she was bitten that day in the abandoned building. And two small glowing round marks caught the eye.

Erica suddenly felt sick. Is this losing her first time?

“Ha.”

I’ve finally gone crazy.

As if not caring about Erica’s feelings, the modeling started to move. Blue magic power derived from the two teeth marks flowed into the blood vessels.

“In that way, the mana channels in your body accept the blue droplets and they flow to your heart. This is the series of processes happening inside your body even now.”

Incomprehensible graphs and charts fluctuated.

“However, we don’t know right now if it’s a level of magic power you can handle.”

“What happens if I can’t handle it?”

“…It will hurt?”

Erica snorted.

“So we’re going to do various tests.”

“…Tests?”

Aureli smiled fishily. It was ominous.

“I told you before, didn’t I? That you’ll have to engage in battle.”

The ice cubes clinked.

“It means you’ll play along with my hostage situations.”

A laugh of disbelief escaped Erica.

She was so dumbfounded that her thoughts nearly stopped.

The situation is that she’s sitting side by side in a cafe drinking Americano and cafe mocha, being asked by a criminal to play along with her hostage situations.

Aureli tilted her head. It was a face Erica wanted to punch.

“Is it strange? But it’s an unavoidable process. There’s nothing better than this to quickly adapt to the magic power that’s started accumulating in your body.”

She stretched her fist slightly into the air, pretending to be cute.

It wasn’t cute at all.

“What if after-effects hit you belatedly while you’re slashing and stabbing with Gates or wanted awakened ones?”

“So you’re saying I should stop you from killing people now?”

“That’s right!”

A faint smile faced her.

“You have to kill me someday, right?”

The blue eyes shone clearly. Her own figure was reflected in them. The air currents subsided and the surroundings quickly became quiet.

Erica didn’t avoid her gaze.

Yes.

It was those eyes.

Marbles like opals that you can’t see an inch ahead.

At their first meeting, in subsequent meetings, and even now.

Aureli was busy toying with her, throwing out the goal of killing her and taking justice hostage.

When asked for a reason, she only spouts strange words like “Because you’re pretty.”

She couldn’t understand.

That’s why she wanted to know.

Whatever Aureli had carefully hidden behind there.

She inwardly vowed.

She would definitely uncover it.

“Alright.”

That’s how she answered.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds.

It’s an enjoyable time.

A cozy seat in a quiet cafe.

Cafe mocha and Americano.

Sweet and bitter.

I was grateful enough to feel that she listened to my words better than expected.

When I brought up the topic of blood-sucking, I thought I’d hear abuse and curses, but that wasn’t the case either.

At most, she just glares at me and says “Alright,” burning with competitive spirit.

Well, what can you do?

When I say I’m going to kill people, can you not stop me and endure?

You can’t.

Yes, absolutely not.

Although it was a conversation that wasn’t really a conversation, with me asking something and her giving brief answers,

I enjoyed even this moment.

It was a life looking at death, but feeling alive was truly an indescribable emotion.

A corner of my heart tickling, a fluffy feeling.

What am I, getting so excited over things others consider trivial?

Villain. Erica always called me that.

It’s better than low-grade words like trash or crazy bitch.

If that’s what she thinks, should I become that?

As someone mixed with countless things, I still don’t know well.

I was just wandering.

After parting with Erica, I leisurely walked the night streets.

Though parting just meant disappearing without even saying goodbye.

Because of that, I could enjoy enough time to be active until late at night with the leisure left over.

“Kyaaak!!”

These are presences I could feel continuously from the cafe.

White uniforms with emblems of two large swords.

I swung my arm to deflect all the bullets, then dug into them and thrust my knife in until I felt resistance.

Screams rang out, and I lifted the face of the woman who had just collapsed.

“You’ve worked hard to come this far. You’re from the Union, right?”

“You, urgh…!”

When I inserted the blade deeper, something spurted from her mouth.

How dirty.

“I was waiting for you to come. Or are you not here yet? Was I just testing the waters and came out to greet you first?”

This isn’t the picture I wanted.

“I wish you’d all come at once and die for me. I hope you feel the difference and run away.”

As soon as possible. So I can focus on Erica.

When I pulled out the knife stuck in the woman’s abdomen, another groan rang out. Blood poured out and filled the area.

“It seems I’ve appeared in an unfavorable situation.”

And what suddenly dyed the red swamp was thorny vines. The air currents shook and wind blew.

I twisted my side hair and turned my posture.

“Is that so? This is the scene I always face.”

Getting used to something made one a species beyond human.

The robe shook and made a strange sound. Seran let out a dejected laugh.

“You’re still the same. It’s a festival of commotion and disorder.”

“Wow, I agree on that point. It’s too noisy.”

“This isn’t why you saved the human realm, is it?”

I didn’t know he could make such a face. It was suppressed fire.

“For all that hatred to be directed at Aureli-nim, I think you must feel wronged.”

“As I endured, light came. I’m barely depending on it.”

Though it was late.

“Ughk…! Wh-What is this bastard…! Kyaak!”

Before the man could finish speaking, a huge spear was stuck in his back. Seran shook his head and trampled on his head.

“The spirit realm is normalizing. But here, nothing has changed. It seems I took a break for nothing.”

“Looks like you’ve dealt with the small fry?”

Like resistance forces against the new government.

“They’re nothing but worms. The pleasure of sweeping them all away with this one spear was indescribable.”

The thin, long spear flashed. That’s pretty cool.

After a moment of silence, Seran took out a glass bottle from his bosom. Red beads clinked and made a refreshing sound.

“Are you giving me this again?”

“Of course. I think even this much is not enough for Aureli-nim.”

Well, I wonder if he’s just trying to entice me with these precious beads.

The violence hidden behind those vast eyes is enough to make me clap when faced directly.

“Is that so?”

“You’re the savior of the human realm, so isn’t it natural?”

“I wonder? If we’re being specific, I’m more of a blood-stained savior, right?”

To dissolve the spirit extermination troops at once, I needed the countless blood of hundreds of people too.

“If left alone, they were destined to be annihilated. Saving tens of millions with the sacrifice of a few hundred, it’s natural to be hailed as a savior.”

[You’re not in a position to say such things, are you?]

“Haha. I did my best. I never dreamed they would have the audacious idea of invading the human realm.”

I think it doesn’t make sense in the first place that a Spirit King couldn’t control thousands of extermination troops.

The spear stood straight up and tapped the ground. Space distorted and cracks formed.

“I hope to see you again next time. These small fry are bothersome.”

The robe shook violently and disappeared.

It was quiet.