Chapter 26 - Volume 2

Volume 2, Chapter 13: Children of the Night, Part 3

Hey, Yurushia here. I’m a little troubled at the moment.

“What should I do, I wonder…?”

I sipped the cold and bitter tea while surrounded by the considerably narrowed [Blackness].

That’s right. I haven’t moved an inch from that place.

Well, actually I moved a little bit, to release those kids, I wonder if they’ve managed to escape?

Being in this [Blackness], I can’t tell what’s happening outside.

All the same, my hypothesis was able to be validated, a little. The light from the [Light Spirits] isn’t limited to only being [White]. Maybe to someone they recognize, [Light Spirits] can also be [Dark Spirits].

If that theory is right, holy magic should be able to use [Fear] just like [Dark] magic by the use of spirits.

Well, that’s all good, what should I do now? I couldn’t believe the Vampire-chans went off looking for me like fools.

All of you, you’re surprisingly serious about this.

“It can’t be helped… Should I just proceed?”

I’m a bit worried about those kids’ situation.

I think that if they seriously run, they can succeed in escaping, but it’s not my responsibility, you know?

You know, because I’m a demon.

“…Gugyo~”

In the mansion’s hallway, I reflexively crushed together a maid vampire and a bowl with a clap.

I got a little startled.

Thanks to the fact that vampires turned into ash when they died, I thankfully didn’t get dirtied with blood. Well, if it gets dirty, I can just use [Purification] and get clean again, but I’m glad that my dark blue dress won’t get dirty in the first place since it might get [Bleached]

“… But, whatever.”

Seriously, this mansion is huge…

How long and how much did that Count fill his pockets before moving here, this mansion is bizarrely big for a noble governing the countryside.

Or rather, I wonder if land is cheap in this territory…?

In the large mansion, there was a floor under the huge chapel. Rather than to a basement, the stairs I found a little while ago led to a wide cave.

Since there were about a thousand [Runts] in there, I only looked briefly, before returning.

The thing that attacked during the inspection must have been one of those things called [Runts]. Though they could move through sunlight, I don’t feel like they’re as powerful as a vampire.

It’s a blessing that Noel and Bree-chan haven’t figured out what their true identity was, either.

Really, those vampires are way too bad at hiding their [Presence] and [Smell]. From the moment they become a vampire, they saw themselves as [Strong], they indulged in their ability too much.

Learn a bit from the example of this weak demon and live modestly.

But really, there are too many vampires here… dozens of strong servants out in the field, and thousands of them are in here as well, how bothersome.

I’m an incompetent Demon with nothing but a ridiculous amount of magic power, after all.

Since even dozens of bodies can only summon a lesser demon if they’re good, I can be at ease, to some extent, but since my summoning is almost fully self-taught, there is no compelling force, so the lesser demons are frightened and don’t come out.

“… A dead end… or not, there’s a room.”

I walked through the pointlessly large mansion when I sensed a [Scent] on the stone walls and floor.

A dark-red chain is hanging from the wall, I can see some odd tools, it this a torture room…? What a naughty hobby… Where’s the fun in tormenting weak human beings, right?

“Oh, what’s this…? Is that you, Miss Yurushia?”

I heard that voice from the only exit in the torture room.

… At long last, the prey’s been caught.

“Good evening, Countess… Umm, sorry, I forgot your name.”

“… It’s fine. That name of a Countess isn’t my real name.”

“I see…”

I look at what the Countess brought with her.

“That… where did you pick that up?”

The Countess was dragging Noah on the floor by his neck with one hand, holding Christina in the other, Christina had multiple fang piercings in her throat, and her overflowing blood was being sipped.

The Countess licked up the blood with her long tongue, the laughed in ridicule.

“I picked them up. Although I thought that I would have to settle with bad-tasting children, this girl has a reasonably good taste.”

The Countess intentionally tried to provoke me.

Given the fact that the attendants that I had brought along with me were being toyed with, I should have been getting angry and losing my calm.

But those words that she said to me…

“Yeah… I completely agree.”

The Countess’ face flinched at my unceremonious reply.

Her face regained its [Composure] after a brief moment.

“As expected of a [Saint-sama]… you’re remarkably composed, unflappable even…”

The wife seemed to have misunderstood me.

She is just like Millaine, doubting me. However, due to the arrogance of the [Strong], instead of trying to make me surrender by force, she was trying to force my heart into despair with words.

“Fufufu… Humans are strange, you know? Hidden in the blood of humans with strong emotions is something sweet… Your blood, the blood of a saint, I wonder how sweet it will be…?”

Now I get it…

The vampire doesn’t know. That the [Sweet] taste is the [Karma] in the soul of a human.

Christina… to think you had such strong [Feelings].

As I stared at Christina being silently, cruelly feasted upon, the Countess, in her good mood, threw Christina and Noah to my feet like garbage.

“Since their taste has become thinner, I’ll return them… you guys.”

At the voice of the wife, the maids in the back threw out two small things held in the same manner.

Ninette… Fontaine… I see… none of the four were able to escape.

“Haha, are these children still alive? Do you want to know, Saint-sama? How about you use that holy magic you’re so good at to heal them?

The Countess said with a sneer, as if she thought I was silent out of fear.

Then I realize.

These four children, they’re faintly breathing. But saving these children with holy magic is something that can’t be done.

Even if the flesh of these kids is healed… there’s practically no [Soul] left in them.

The vampires unconsciously change the souls dissolved in human blood into their power. Why would they want it? You could guess when you looked at these kids.

As each [Soul] had been mostly sucked out, the thinned-out soul would seek something to fill it and was [Altered], causing the body and even mind to transform.

The victim of a vampire is a vampire, not because of a curse or the transmission of a disease, but because the soul is altered.

So vampires, seeking their lost [Soul], would seek out the [Blood] of human beings which had their souls dissolved in.

As living things died, their [Souls] would rapidly disperse into the [World]

After being dispersed into the world, the [Soul] does not have a destination, even if the body was healed, the [Soul] would not come back. That’s why [Holy Magic] doesn’t contain any spells like [Resurrection].

If I leave these children alone as they are now, As soon as they stop breathing, they will become vampires.

The children really can’t be saved…

But… that’s why I asked them. Not as a human, but as a [Demon]

“Do you guys… want to live…?

Said plainly with simple words. My whispered [Demonic] question reached into the core of their beings.

At those [Words], the vacant pupils of the four children moved slightly… I treated it as [Acceptance], the [Contract] for their [Souls] signed.

“… “Let There Be Light” …”

As I cast the holy magic, the Countess’ smile deepened. She knew that these children could not be saved with holy magic.

But I was saving these kids not with the children’s’ [Souls] or [Feelings].

Cautiously… I deployed multiple spells at the same time.

The vampires did not disturb this [Holy] looking [Magic] ritual.

“… In accordance with the contract, I bind these [Souls] as tribute, show yourselves…”

What I used was a composite multilayer summoning formation. The small magic formation had layer after layer of superimposed summoning formations, I could only draw it using pure magic, it was a far stronger formation than that incident.

There was no compulsion in my call. But… there are some things that only I can call. Now… come on out~

“By the order of the Golden Beast (Me), the Demonic Princess… come, Demons!”

*Doriori…*

At once, darkness like mud changed the color of the cloudy lights in the stone room.

The vampires couldn’t believe their eyes as the [White] light in the room was eroded as the [Blackness] spread on the floor like coal tar, swallowing the four children like a bottomless swamp into its depths.

Even as the vampires were overwhelmed by what happened, I recognized the four Demons who crashed through my summoning formation and appeared.

Each demon hovered over their choice among [Them], taking the fragments of their souls slowly and quietly… The four children stood up from the bottomless pit of darkness.

Still… it was strange to see them clearly looking the same as the living children, even though they were obviously of an entirely different quality.

The expensive suits paid for by the Duke looked like they had weathered the wind and rain for hundreds of years… the children wearing it gave off an ominous feel as they turned their madness filled dark eyed towards the vulnerable people in the room.

“Hee!”

Leaking a scream, the Countess backed up, and without hesitation fled toward the back of the room, while the confused vampire maids attacked the Demons in their beast forms.

*Zan…*

Suddenly Ninette whipped out her sword from her waist, piercing everyone with one stab.

The sword grew and swelled like a tree root.

“[…Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!]”

The stones of the torture room cracked with the loud laughter of Ninette, and all of the maid vampires that were pierced by the sword instantly dried up, disappearing into dust.

Devouring the soul and obtaining a vessel, it [Manifested] as a Demon with the form of a human…

“ … ”

I guess that’s what I ended up doing.  What should I do…?

The four children, without a sound, lined up in front of me, kneeling in unison.

“[… Our Lady… After so long…]”

Noah says on the group’s behalf with a warped voice.

As I thought…

“It, it’s been a long time… have you all been well…?”

The ones I had raised in the Demon World with those [Settings], it was the four Demon Children.

… That’s a [No], then.

Bluntly speaking, they look terrible. Their complexion is dark, and things like insects are wriggling in their blood vessels under their skin.

A dangerous presence. The [Stench of Death] was leaking from them and drifting across the stone floor.

If I brought them back to human society as they are now, chaos would ensue.

Besides, it bothers me.

I used the remaining [Souls] of those kids as the catalyst, their [Souls] were sacrificed at the same time and allowed to [Fuse] with the demons… But I wonder if any parts of the kids are still left?

“… Christina, is your [Human] soul still there?”

Whether the essence was [Demon] or [Human].

I tried listening to Demon Christina, but her reaction was dull. Then, the demon answered me with a strange look.

“[… Greatest apologies. Is that the name that this one will be called?]”

… Eh?

“Do you mean… there’s none left?”

“[No, the [Soul] of the human I [Chose] has certainly fused with me. However…]”

“However…?”

“[A large portion of her soul was steeped in [Hatred] for you, My Lady…]”

The Demon Christina’s face… her face was distorted by the Demon’s quiet smile.

“[That portion, I [Devoured] it all and put an end to it.]”

The other three nodded smugly at those words. Really, you all…

Well, as long as there is even a little of [That Child] left, the [Contract] was fulfilled.

Although it feels like fraud…

“[Also, Milady. We Demons do not have a [Name]. Being called by the name of the vessel is………]”

“… Ah… I see.”

I forgot. When I called them the kids’ names by accident, were they weakened as demons…?

At least I won’t have trouble calling them. They’re Demons just like me, to [Name] these children would be… Wait a second.

“… You guys.”

“ “ “ “ [ [ [ [Yes!] ] ] ] ” ” ” ”

“My name is [Yurushia], remember it. Also, I, the [Demon Princess], will be  bestowing [Names] to you guys.”

Right now, I have the attributes of a [Human], [I] might be able to use the [Naming] to change the [Settings] of these children.

I don’t know whether I will succeed. And yet, these Demon Children were hanging on to my every word with no doubt in their eyes.

I turned to the Demon fused with Noah.

“Your name is [Noa].”

To the Demon fused with Ninette.

“You are [Nia]”

To the Demon fused with Christina.

“You are [Tina]”

Finally, to the Demon fused with Fontaine.

“Your name is [Fannie]”

Yup, a [Nickname] based on their original names is better anyways.

“[… … … … … …]”

The named demons were kneeling in silence… when they rose, their appearance had changed.

It’s good it was a success… but.

Their ominous auras had been contained by the [Naming], but just like me, the [Human Flaws] in their looks had disappeared from their original cute figures, and they had the cold beauty as if a [Doll] had been combined with a [Human Being].

… Didn’t they change too much?

To become so [Tranquil] just from being granted a [Name].

Furthermore, have I done it…?

Oh well, it’ll be fine.

“You guys, now that you’ve arrived, please clean up.”

“ “ “ “Yes!” ” ” ”

I start walking with the four. That was a little unexpected, now, let’s get started.

Time to clean up those Vampires (Trash) which built a nest in my feeding grounds…