episode_0044

“… ”

Seria was silent when I answered that Vladimir was alive.

It must have been a completely unexpected answer.

If you’re alive, why haven’t you come to see me yet?

A thousand years is by no means a short time.

Even for elves, who are said to live an infinite amount of time by human standards, a thousand years seems like a very long time.

Elves are like that too, but what about a race called vampires?

Although I don’t know everything about that race, I can at least know that the time was not a short period of time.

If he was alive in the first place, one cannot help but wonder why he has not yet appeared.

but…

“Really… ?”

Seria asked me with an expression that showed she had finally seen hope in my answer.

Beyond the fact that this was nonsense, it was clear that he wanted to meet me again.

‘I never thought it would be that bad… ‘

In the past, I wasn’t a child who expressed affection so directly.

Rather, it would be better if he was irritated because he couldn’t eat me by making a tick, but he was never the type of child to express pure affection in this way.

‘Has your personality changed because you haven’t seen each other for such a long time?’

It’s such a burden that I feel pathetic for not being able to tell the truth to a former colleague who expressed such pure affection.

It might have been easier to talk to him if he had treated me like a colleague on the surface like before, but I’m at a loss as to where to start explaining this.

“To be precise, it means that there will be life.”

I added an explanation.

At least he will be alive. Ceria narrowed her eyes at my ambiguous answer.

“If that man is alive, do you know where he is?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you that. I don’t know either.”

To be honest, I still worry about it.

Should I tell them that I am Count Vladimir, or is it better to hide it for now?

In my mind, I was warning that if I didn’t say something now, there would be no turning back, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth.

No matter how much I worry and promise… I didn’t have the courage to reject that heavy love.

If it had been anyone else, if it had been someone I didn’t know, I could have easily rejected it, but Seria was different.

Because he was the first friend and colleague I made when I came to this world.

“… Are you by any chance looking for Vlady too?”

I shook my head.

“… ”

Ceria looked worried for a moment.

He said that Count Vladimir was actually alive, and he seemed to be contemplating whether the answer was true or not.

Seria, who had been groaning for a while, soon opened one of her eyes and asked once again whether she had really risked everything and whether it was true that Count Vladimir was still alive.

Now that I had even said no to that point, I answered that I could promise with everything I had.

If he said that, I had no choice but to believe him, and on the other hand, he looked happy and glad, and on the other hand, I felt conflicting emotions, like he was sad that he still couldn’t meet me.

“Still, what… It feels a bit better to hear that the guy I thought was dead is alive… He suddenly disappears without a word and there is no news… ”

I disappeared without saying a word.

At least I was so sad that I couldn’t go home, so if I had just said I would sleep for a while, things wouldn’t have changed so much… Even if I say that…

‘Who on earth would say that they are going to sleep for a while after sleeping for a day or two…? ‘

I had no intention of sleeping for a thousand years.

Don’t people go around talking to other people while they sleep?

It’s not unusual to just tell the people you’re with, but you’re staying at each other’s houses, and now that you’re feeling sleepy, you go to your friend’s house and tell them you’ll call it a day and leave?

There is no crazy person like that.

Above all, who is crazy enough to sleep for a thousand years?

There is no way for a dragon to do such a wasteful thing unless they are a dragon whose time is so rotten that it is impossible to spend time without even sleeping.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you where it is.”

“No. You and Vlady both have their own reasons, so they probably don’t want to talk about it. It’s not like I can’t understand it.”

I was relieved to see Seria answering coolly.

As soon as I heard that I was actually alive, I was worried that he might get angry, but fortunately it didn’t seem to be that bad…

“Of course… If I meet him, I’ll have to catch him and lock him up so he can’t go anywhere again.”

“… ?”

“Oh, sorry. My true feelings have come out. But if I don’t do that, it seems like it will suddenly disappear at some point.”

No, that doesn’t happen…

Disappearing for a thousand years was not my intention, it was truly an accident.

Who would have thought that while I was sleeping for a moment, I would suddenly awaken as a transcendental person and a thousand years would pass by?

If I had known that would happen, I would have said that I would have to sleep for a thousand years.

I felt like saying that and asking for leniency for this, but it would seem strange for me to bring up such a story since I am not Count Vladimir himself…

I couldn’t say anything and just smiled and told him to cheer up.

‘You must never be caught… ‘

Fortunately, Seria seemed to believe what I was saying.

Since I showed blood magic that was comparable to or even better than that of Count Vladimir, I could not help but be convinced that he was his disciple just by looking at his power and level.

The disciple is saying that, and you won’t believe it.

That’s probably why, on the one hand, they are so relieved, but on the other hand, they are angry at me.

‘I’m screwed… ?’

Cold sweat runs down my back.

Even now, I am seriously worried about having to reveal that I am Count Vladimir. It would be better for me to be discovered while hiding far away.

If it turns out that you were lying right in front of them…

‘It was a really big deal back then… ‘

You will have to accept all that terrible anger.

‘Isn’t there some way… ‘

No matter how much I thought about whether there was a way to naturally reveal my identity without making Seria angry, I couldn’t come up with a proper answer.

How could such a convenient method be found?

“I’m going to make you spit out everything that happened. Aren’t you curious too? If you were a disciple, I think you would have suffered a lot because your teacher disappeared.”

“What, what… yes… ”

To Seria’s question, I smiled awkwardly and answered yes.

“Really? So shall we become allies? Let’s find Vlady together.”

I thought as I looked up at Seria, smiling brightly and holding out her hand to make an offer.

This moment is the biggest crisis of my life.

‘… ‘

There’s no answer.

The best I can do right now is to either let them know my identity right away, or to hide it by naturally giving it a good reason so they don’t get angry and get caught.

If there was a good reason, Seria wouldn’t be so angry.

The question is, where on earth is there a good reason for that?

‘Oh, I don’t know.’

I am not confident in revealing my identity right now.

If it were someone else, I would have been more confident in saying this, but I didn’t have the courage to reveal in front of a woman who was gnashing her teeth that she would lock me up as soon as she saw me or make me spit out everything that had happened so far.

It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly.

If anyone were in the same situation as me, they wouldn’t be able to open their mouth.

‘help me… ‘

I thought as I sipped my tea seemingly without any problem.

Please someone save me…

* * *

“Ha… I wonder if I have ever felt this comfortable in the last thousand years.”

“I’m glad to hear that… Ha ha ha ha ha… ”

“Why do you speak so awkwardly? Looking at the bulletin board, I heard that he speaks in a very confident and old-fashioned way.”

“… ”

It’s because of you, bitch.

“Okay then, I’ll just leave. Anyway, I’m here to talk about the top manager, so it might be hard to stay for long.”

“Uh, um… ”

I wish I didn’t see it.

If it had just been a friendship, I would have revealed it casually, but I wonder how it ended up like this…

“Ha… ”

As I watched Seria leave in the distance, I sighed in frustration.

I was wondering what to do next, but soon shook my head.

‘Let’s prepare for the world’s greatest magic tower competition…’ ‘

If I think about this too much, my head hurts.

Since I’ve already deceived you, there’s no room for me to redeem you anymore.

Let’s leave it to the future to worry about how to reveal it naturally and with as little pain as possible, and for now, let’s prepare for the World’s Best Magic Tower Tournament.

Because this is the only way to leave behind this anxious feeling.