episode_0007

Of course, this street, littered with the corpses of the vampires I had just fought, was not an appropriate place to ask questions or hear answers.

I walked along, carefully supporting the girl from the Sanguis family who had collapsed.

On the other hand, he carefully placed the spear behind her shoulder and aimed it at her head so that he could stab her at any time without her noticing.

It seemed like she was still holding on to her senses, but I didn’t know when she would give in to her blood thirst and attack me.

If I didn’t need to get the information, I wouldn’t have taken this risk in the first place.

If you turn your head, you’re walking together, giving your shoulder to the vampire at a distance where your teeth can touch each other’s neck.

It was a situation that could have come out of some absurd joke.

‘Anyway… where should I flee?’

It was no exaggeration to say that the city was completely devastated.

If it were a normal war, they would have hidden in a dark and inconspicuous place, but against vampires, such a place could have been more dangerous.

“…that way…”

At that time, she stretched out her trembling hand and pointed to an alley.

“…Miss Rubia? It’s a dead end alley…”

I was worried that her symptoms might have gotten so bad that she couldn’t properly perceive her surroundings, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.

Through her explanation, I was soon able to find the hidden passage.

“… It was originally an evacuation route for the family members to escape in case something happened… Although I was the only one who was able to use it. ”

As the smell of blood and noise around her disappeared, her condition seemed to have improved, and she stood up on her own without support and continued speaking in a clearer voice.

She said that she had taken this evacuation route from the Sanguis family mansion to the street where we met.

To be exact, it seems that they tried to avoid it, but when they saw that the entire city had already become a vampire’s lair, they gave up and just hid inside the evacuation route.

However, he couldn’t hold out any longer without water or food, so he went out in the mood of gambling and ran into me.

“…What on earth happened?”

Externally, it was announced that this incident was a tragedy caused by the Sanguis family’s reckless behavior.

They were the ones who managed the waterways, which were the blood vessels of the entire city, and the main source of infection from which the current contamination spread.

It is said that they must have intentionally polluted the waterway in order to increase their power and aim for the throne of the empire while coveting the immortality of a race of vampires, or at least something went wrong and caused a major accident in the city.

“…my mother…my mother was sick.”

The story she told, as if she had no idea about such facts, was a bit different from his.

She said that one day, she and her sisters’ mother began to suffer from an illness of unknown cause.

As he was an influential figure in the city, my father tried everything he could to heal and magician, but none of them could restore his wife, who was gradually weakening.

Meanwhile, another therapist introduced himself and recommended a new treatment.

Since I had never heard of her name before, I didn’t expect much, but at the same time, there was nothing more to do and her mother didn’t have much time left, so there was no reason not to give it a try.

She spoke in a trembling voice, clenching her fists so hard that her fingernails dug in and blood oozed out, as if she still regretted that decision.

Her mother, who could no longer get out of bed, put the medicine on her mouth and came out of the room in good condition that evening.

Naturally, the entire family was overjoyed, and her father greatly rewarded the therapist and appointed her as the family doctor.

But soon strange things started happening.

It started with her mother.

After regaining her vitality, she soon showed strange behavior and appearance, perhaps because her vitality was too much.

She refused the food that the servants had carefully prepared for her, saying that she had no appetite. She stared blankly at the servants who actually brought the food, drooling, then turned her head in surprise.

Even though the entire mansion was covered with a thick curtain, he avoided sunlight to the extreme, saying it was too bright and locking himself in his room.

The color of his eyes gradually turned red, and his fingernails became longer and stronger, enough to leave deep marks on the marble table where he inadvertently scratched them.

And soon everyone in her family started showing similar symptoms. Including her.

One evening, when Ms. Rubia could no longer bear it and left her room to ask the therapist what the problem was, or to protest, she heard screaming coming from the dining room.

The first thing she saw as she ran away in shock was the sight of her mother grabbing the maid and biting her neck.

And at that moment, even before she could scream as she saw the blood flowing down the maid’s body, she felt something she could never forget, something she would never be allowed to forget.

thirst.

She also wants to drink that blood.

The moment I bowed down in disgust at the opposite sex who immediately returned, similar screams began to echo throughout the mansion.

Ms. Rubia said her memories after that were hazy.

The entire mansion was filled with nothing but blood and screams.

She hid alone in a secret passage, afraid that someone would rush in to bite her at any moment, or that she would rush in to bite someone.

I hope that the darkness and silence can protect her and suppress the inhuman desires that continue to rise.

“…What about now?”

I asked calmly, gripping the spear aimed at her a little harder.

“…I think it’s still okay, but… I don’t know. My mother seemed to have reason until just before that evening… Are you going to end me now?”

She looked at me with her beautiful but empty eyes and asked as if it didn’t matter.

In some ways, it felt like he was hoping to stab her right away.

It’s not unreasonable. My entire family has turned into monsters that crave human blood and flesh, and I am also changing in the same way, so I might welcome death.

“…If you try to kill me. Moreover, first of all, we need guidance to the end of this passage.”

It was the truth, but it didn’t say everything. Maybe she knows too.

However, she didn’t seem to have any intention of forcing me to ask for it, so she just walked in front of me again in silence.

After a long, long passage, we finally arrived inside the Sanguis family mansion, and it was dark and quiet.

Every place where light could come in was covered with thick cloth, and the only sound that echoed through the house was that of us opening and closing the passage doors again.

Even the heat and noise of the burning city outside seemed unable to enter this cold and silent space.

But visitors to the mansion will not find peace in such silence.

In that darkness and silence, there were corpses and dried blood stains everywhere.

The bodies were all dried and twisted as if all the blood had been sucked out of them, but Miss Rubia, who had known most of the people working at the mansion for a long time, had a distorted expression as if she recognized their faces.

I quietly stopped her as she stretched out her trembling hands, muttering names I didn’t know.

I still have to move now.

Soon we could tell from the blood stains on the floor that some of the bodies had been dragged in some direction.

When she lowered her voice and asked where that place was, Miss Rubia answered that it was a banquet hall used to welcome distinguished guests.

As the smell of blood grew stronger as I headed towards that place, I felt like I could at least know what the most recent food was on the table there.

“..ugh.. ugh…”

The scent of blood seemed to be stronger than the streets outside where corpses were strewn, and Miss Luvia’s back, which had been struggling to maintain her composure until now, was seen trembling slightly.

Nevertheless, the reason she hasn’t lost her mind yet is because there’s something to find there.

When we finally entered the banquet hall, we saw numerous corpses piled on a long table to greet many guests.

However, the person sitting alone in front of the dinner party, despite his thin body, kept muttering and tapping his fingers on the table nervously as if he was dissatisfied with something.

“Neither this… nor this… nor this… What is the problem?”

Without even knowing that someone new had entered the banquet hall, he was endlessly thinking about something and looked so enthusiastic that he would not dare to be disturbed.

“Hildras!!”

Of course, it didn’t matter to the only survivor of the family who lost his family at his hands.

Her body, which had lost vitality, seemed to gain strength again with a sudden burning emotion.

Rubia Sanguis called out to him, who had once been the family doctor, with such fierce anger that it seemed as if she would tear him apart at any moment.

Only then was he startled by the roar calling out to him, breaking out of his private contemplation, looking around and spotting us beyond the pile of corpses.

“…Lady Rubia? oh my god! You’re safe! I’m so glad!”

And she greeted us, or more precisely, her, with a bright smile on her face.

With such a calm attitude and a genuinely happy appearance, even Miss Rubia, who had initially expressed her anger, seemed to freeze for a moment, unable to understand his appearance.

Of course, the absurdity soon returned to greater anger.

“Thank goodness you’re safe?! Don’t be funny! Are you planning to turn away now?! It’s all your fault!!”

“Of course.”

The therapist, who affirmed her accusation as if it were natural, nodded and continued speaking.

“What?”

“That’s why I said it was fortunate. So far, this is Lady Rubia’s only achievement in the entire city!

Among my family, there has never been a vampire who has maintained her sense of self and reason so perfectly as you!

Like so many failures out there, they are just monsters with an instinct for blood!”

Hydras sighed and continued, as if a scholar was lamenting the ruin of his research.

“What on earth was the problem? I obtained vampire blood that had been purified as pure as possible, and injected it in small portions to prevent sudden overflow…

Suddenly, everyone is letting go of reason… In the end, I resorted to testing on as many samples as possible, but there was little success.

Meanwhile, I confirmed that only Lady Luvia was successful, and she was no longer in the mansion!

How sad it was… But you came back like this.”

He had a smile on his face, as if he was truly happy.

“If you help me, this time it will be truly perfect-”

Of course, his words did not last until the end.

This is because Miss Rubia rushed over and grabbed his neck.

“…you…”

Are there any words in human language that can properly convey her emotions right now?

Her anger reached its limit, her eyes glowed red, and an inhuman power strangled the man named Hyldras menacingly.

Considering the vampire’s grip strength, it wouldn’t be surprising if his neck broke right away.

“Ah… please be careful. Because you don’t want even a scratch on your precious body.”

However, that man named Hyldras continued speaking as if nothing was wrong even though he was being strangled.

As if that voice wasn’t coming from that miserable body.

“You’d be surprised to know how much my sponsor paid to get his hands on such a lady.”

“! Miss Rubia! Get away from him right now!”

However, immediately with a breaking sound, his neck in her hand was broken.

It wasn’t something she twisted. As her panicked expression showed, his neck had turned on its own and broken.

And the dead body bubbles and melts.

Homunculus, an imperfect life form created by alchemists.

It was nothing more than a puppet, but it served its purpose, tying Miss Rubia’s hands and feet with its melting body.

“Hmm?… Oh! It’s you! Liber! A silver-level adventurer who has recently become famous! My sponsor also shows a lot of interest in you.”

The real alchemist who was walking into the banquet hall then turned his gaze to me and said.

“…”

“Seeing as you didn’t seem surprised, I guess you already guessed it? is it so. That cleverness is also why he pays attention to you.

Moreover, since you have already risen to the level of a silver-level adventurer… it will not be long before the Catenis family officially recognizes you. Katenis will be proud too.”

There have been several moments like this while living in this world.

Moments when I see what the character I raised has done and is doing to this world.

There are moments when you see for yourself what the ending phrase means, that the empire of slaves exists for only one person.

I grabbed the spear and swung it towards his smiling face.

Just like it was in every such moment.