Chapter 149: The Den

Perhaps there were more people out and about during the day, but under the cover of night’s darkness, it was hard to tell. The limited visibility made what could be seen seem much more crowded. Even though Kagriss could see in the darkness, it wasn’t perfect by any means, so she couldn’t tell the difference.

As she walked down the busy streets of Dianene, she felt a bit lost. It’s been a long time since she’d last separated from Camilla, and now that Camilla kicked her out and told her to spend some time away from her and see the city, she didn’t know what to do. Even the money that so captivated her seemed meaningless as it clinked together quietly in her bag. 

Kagriss sighed and took a seat on a bench nearby, staring up at the sky. Technically, she was outside and saw part of the city, so she could go back, right? On the other hand, it was abusing the letter of Camilla’s words instead of following the spirit of it, and while she didn’t have any qualms doing that for other people, she wouldn’t do it for Camilla.

So what could she do to pass the time?

...people watching? That was something she did all the time when Camilla didn’t need her for something. No reason she couldn’t do it now.

Kagriss scanned the passing people, looking for something interesting. She locked onto what seemed like a couple standing near the wall of a house a ways away from the main road, having an argument. They were both elves, the female one just barely shorter than the male. The elf woman had her hair bunched up in a ball, while the man kept his hair moderately long, having bangs that almost reached his eyes.

The couples’ movements were animated, or at least the woman’s was. Her hands flew in wild gestures as she talked and she was leaning forward ever so slightly. Although Kagriss couldn’t see her face thanks to the way the elves were oriented, she could tell from the man’s expression that whatever the woman was yelling at him again, he wasn’t too concerned.

Compared to how excited the woman was, the man kept his demeanor calm and composed, taking every word that the woman threw at him without so much as a blink of his eye. But when Kagriss looked closer, she felt that it seemed less like he was naturally calm, but more like he simply didn’t care about what others thought. At least, that’s what Kagriss got from the way his eyes wandered.

She watched until the woman slapped the man and stormed off, leaving the man lingering around the area before he shrugged and headed in another direction.

“Not a couple anymore, then,” she thought as she took everything she just watched in. Despite not having much experience about relationships, that looked pretty final to her. She couldn’t imagine ever hitting Camilla like that, but even if she ever did, she had no idea what Camilla would’ve hypothetically done to push her that far.

Ironically, she’d be more comfortable casting destructive spells at Camilla than doing something so petty and physically harmless, considering neither of them felt pain.

Filing what she just witnessed away in her memories for reference, Kagriss began looking for another target to watch. 

A moment later, she noticed someone separating from the flow of pedestrians and heading her way. It was a familiar looking vampire, the one that she saw hanging around the elf that Camilla spent so much time talking to recently. The one that wanted Camilla to drink her blood.

“Eva.” She raised her guard, letting her voice low and pointed, making her caution clear to the vampire. However, unlike that male elf from earlier who seemed to genuinely not care about what his partner thought, Eva looked a bit downcast for a brief moment before she caught herself and smoothed over her expression, wearing a friendly smile.

The vampire waved at her. “I thought I saw a familiar face. You’re Kagriss, right? What’re you doing?”

It didn’t seem like Eva was going to leave. 

In that case, she couldn’t go on continuing being so curt. That would be rude. She wasn’t in the habit of being rude to people who didn’t deserve it, and although she was a little irritated by how close and borderline obsessive Eva acted toward Camilla’s identity as a vampire lord.

“Nothing much. Just sitting around,” she said.

“Oh. That doesn’t sound very interesting,” Eva commented. Then, she came closer and sat down next to Kagriss. Kagriss stiffened. 

If Eva didn’t find all this interesting, then why sit down next to her? However, Kagriss didn’t make her thoughts heard, nor did she move. Instead, she just stared at the vampire silently as the latter got comfortable, leaning back sloppily against the backrest, kicking back as she looked into the crowd.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Kagriss shook her head.

“I suppose you’re not going to tell me why you’re just sitting around here, right?” Eva pressed.

“Like I said, I’m just sitting around and watching. Call it a habit or a hobby.”

Eva looked a bit deflated at that and she fell silent as she realized that Kagriss wasn’t really hiding something interesting from her.

Perhaps now she’ll leave her alone, Kagriss thought, but despite Eva’s disappointment, the vampire made no moves to get up. From Eva’s look of focus, the way she peered so intently yet discreetly at the passing people, Kagriss realized that Eva was really trying to imitate her, deliberately focusing on the mundane actions of others to try and find some entertainment.

But in Kagriss’s point of view, that was a futile effort. What she was doing wasn’t for fun, but more educational. The more she watched people, the more she understood them. From just a glance, as long as the person in question wasn’t too eccentric or as long as they were similar to Camilla, she could usually tell how a person was feeling. She could guess some of their surface thoughts and perhaps a little of something deeper. The little subtle things that people did differed, yet remained the same on a deeper level despite how their tics were different.

Although Camilla was the only one that Kagriss knew who put her hands behind her back and fidgeted with the base of her hidden wings when she got nervous, that was merely what was on the surface. The more Kagriss watched, the closer she got to the universal instead of the specific.

She sat back, a little smug that this vampire will probably never find the same enjoyment that she did.

The vampire held on for a surprisingly long time, much longer than Kagriss thought she would. After all, watching people without a purpose in mind was really no different than staring up into space—equally boring. But finally, Eva gave in with a loud sigh. “I can’t do it anymore.”

She got up, stretched, and smiled at Kagriss, showing off her sharp teeth. 

Was she finally going to leave?

Sadly, Eva made no move to leave. Instead she shifted closer to Kagriss, scooting over on the bench. That smile didn’t fade. “You know, I find you interesting. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen an undead like you before.”

Kagriss narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? Have you seen many undead before?”

“Mhm. Of course, and sometimes even from up close. You came from human territory, right? I heard you’re in a constant state of war against the undead. So irreconcilable, except for exceptions like you.”

Although Kagriss didn’t like Eva’s tone or the way she spoke like she knew all about how things were in human territory, she nodded. What Eva said matched what Camilla told her and what she saw for herself. “So what?”

“Well, we have a few necromancers here ourselves. They’re rare, mind you, but some of us can use undead magic as well. Most of them are vampires, like us. Not me, though I’ve had the opportunity to fight alongside one.”

“What are you trying to say?” Kagriss asked. She had no idea where Eva was getting with this topic, but she wasn’t sure she liked it, especially since it wasn’t like she liked Eva in the first place. As she was about to stand up, Eva reached out and grabbed her hand.

Her grip was surprisingly strong and she pulled herself up using her grip on Kagriss’s arm, totally shamelessly. 

“Wait, wait, I’m sorry for trying to be cool! Don’t go yet!”

“Why not?” Kagriss shook off Eva, wiping her hand on her dress like she had just touched something dirty. She glared at the vampire.

Eva began to sweat. She pulled at her hair, as if searching for words. It was like even she herself didn’t know where she was going, and the worst part was that she didn’t look like she was faking it. 

Kagriss felt a little better knowing that Eva hadn’t been genuinely annoying, but at the same time, it was annoying that she didn’t manage to see through Eva’s deception. In the end, there were some things that couldn’t be learned through observation. She had to experience things herself.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’ve never seen an undead before, and I’ve seen quite a few. Most of them are pretty mindless, though.”

“That’s probably because they’re not jack-class undead.” Even if she was a little less annoyed at Eva, Kagriss nonetheless didn’t want to stick around here anymore. As she took her first few steps away from the bench, she looked back briefly to see if Eva was going to follow, and follow her Eva did.

She had no idea where she was going though.

Eva soon caught up and fell in step beside her. It was a weird feeling, walking next to someone almost as tall as she was, especially with that familiar bloody scent unique to vampires wafting over. If she closed her eyes and ignored everything but the smell, she might’ve been able to fool herself that Camilla was next to her.

“Jack…class?” Eva asked. “You mean a greater undead?”

“I’ve heard us being called that, yes.”

“Eh? Us…so you’re one? Wait, by jack-class, are you saying that there’s other classes?” Eva asked, surprise showing on her face. 

It was starting to look like to Kagriss that she needed to have a long talk with Eva about undead. Then again, if these necromancers were rare, then it made sense that even fewer would have greater undead under their control. Since Eva couldn’t tell the qualitative difference between a normal undead and a greater undead, it didn’t seem like she’d ever seen one in person before now. 

She didn’t notice that Camilla and herself were greater undead either, and that mistake could prove fatal in the future.

Besides, it was pretty funny watching Eva’s mouth get wider and wider the more Kagriss told her about undeads. Much of the knowledge was something completely unknown to her and Kagriss couldn’t help but wish that Camilla was here instead. 

The confidence that Camilla might have gotten from teaching instead of being taught in this new and unfamiliar place would’ve done her wonders.

While it was funny watching Eva go into shock from the mention of lord-class undead even more powerful than jack-class undead, it was nothing compared to her reaction to king-class undead. 

“K-king-class? I still think our lords are stronger though,” Eva said, tripping over her own words as she struggled to recover. “Have you seen one before?”

Unfortunately, she hadn’t. But Eva didn’t need to know that, so Kagriss kept quiet and just put on the faintest of smiles she could manage and enjoyed Eva’s face going pale and her eyes growing wider. 

“Woah…”

The moment ended all too soon as the vampire escaped from her awe, but the next time she looked at Kagriss, there was a newfound…respect? Kagriss couldn’t tell, but she didn’t dislike it, although she didn’t really do anything to earn it. All she did was tell, no, imply a little white lie.

Thanks to that, she was in a much better mood and even Eva didn’t seem quite as annoying now. “What about you? What were you doing before you saw me?”

“Me? That’s a good question; I don’t know—oh wait, I remember now. I was going to the Den.”

“Ha? What’s the den? Some kind of taming place? A beast hunt?” Kagriss asked. She had never heard of this den that Eva was referring to.

The vampire shook her head. “That’s the problem with newcomers to the city; they don’t know what the Den is! Are you doing anything right now?”

“Not really…” Since Camilla kicked her out.

Without warning, Eva latched onto her hand again. “Then come on, I’ll show you!”

“Huh? Wait, I didn’t say…” Just because she wasn’t doing anything didn’t mean she was willing to go along with whatever insane thing Eva was up to…but on the other hand, she was pretty curious, so the protest died in her throat. She doubted that Eva would listen anyway from how pushy she was. Unlike Camilla, who always thought about her.

For a while, they remained on the main streets, but then the streets became smaller and smaller until there were almost no people to be seen. Despite how secluded the place was, Kagriss didn’t feel much danger, even though all of her alarm bells should be going off.

Unlike the time Camilla took her to the slums where she almost had to wade through trash and waste, the alleys here seemed reasonably clean. One or two people passed by, standing up straight without any hint of sneaking going on.

Even Eva walked with confidence without a hint of caution.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see, you’ll see. I think you’ll like it, actually. Oh! I remember now,” Eva said, stopping suddenly. Kagriss almost bumped into her from behind and would have if the vampire didn’t start walking again just as abruptly. “The Den was actually the reason I came to you in the first place. I wanted to see if you’d go with me.”

If Kagriss was curious before, then she was burning with it now, but Eva had no intentions on letting anything slip. If anything, she seemed to be actively taking joy in stringing along her questions. Kagriss frowned and stopped, instead casting out her senses. Her life sense didn’t pierce solid rock that well but thin walls still posed little obstacles. 

There weren’t many people in the buildings they passed, but somewhere up front, there was a huge gather of people almost comparable to the main streets. In addition, there was a steady stream of people coming and going, though there were more people coming. The numbers slowly increased.

So the “den” was a place where people gathered? Kagriss filed that information away for later use. If Eva was right and she did like this place, then perhaps she could take Camilla next time. If not, then no harm done since she didn’t have anything to do anyway.

She just wanted the night to be over so she could go on that extermination commission.

“Oh right, did you bring any money?” Eva asked. “If you didn’t, I can lend you some. Actually, I could just give you some and you can pay me back if you manage it.”

Kagriss stared at her, not understanding. “Why would you? And yes, I did bring money, but I wasn’t planning on spending it.”

“Then I’ll give you some to play with. Don’t argue, just go with the floooow~”

The closer they got to that gathering, the more excited Eva got to the point that she was beginning to feel like one of those screaming children that Kagriss saw on the streets a few hours ago.

Her mostly composed steps had devolved into a happy-nervous, eccentric skipping and jumping as if she couldn’t control herself. Kagriss actually thought that Eva would be normal when she first met her, but between the sibling abuse and this, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

On the other hand, she wasn’t going to turn down free money. Unlike Camilla, she had no real concept of honor after all.

The gathering was close by, looking to be just around the corner. Kagriss saw more people too, and they appeared to be heading the same way or directly away. Some of those leaving looked so defeated that Kagriss was having second thoughts.

Eva called out to one of them, an orc in a suit. “Jordo, bad night?”

“Evan…terrible luck today. Don’t recommend going.”

Eva laughed. “Don’t lump me in with the likes of you. I don’t lose. Well, not by much, anyway. I can always last all…night…long!”

“We’ll see about that.” The orc, Jordo, snorted at her words and continued on his way with a casual wave. 

Despite the suggestive nature of her words, Kagriss suspected that Eva wasn’t talking about a night romp, but she had no idea what else the vampire could be referring to. Some sort of fighting competition that tested stamina, since it involved winning and losing? But why luck?

Whatever it was, her question will be answered soon so she kept quiet and continued to walk. Soon, they reached the corner, running into two more people coming in and one more heading out. They turned, and there it was, at the end of the alley…a shady dark and unmarked entrance that led to who-knew-where, and with curtains instead of a door. 

It was shady, yet Kagriss didn’t hear any screams or sounds of fighting despite the number of people inside. No movement of mana that she could sense. 

“And that there…is the Den,” Eva said with a grin and a predatory glint in her eye. “Come on!”

She let go of Kagriss’s hand, but after a moment of hesitation, Kagriss followed. She wanted to see what this “den” was about.

Going in after Eva, the smell of alcohol hit Kagriss’s nose the moment the curtains were swept aside. It was the sweet scent of wine. Mixed in with that strong smell was the scent of some kind of grassy perfume that permeated the room.

The slightest music reached her ears as she looked around at the Den. It was a huge room, filled with people. It wasn’t packed, but it was still more than she could count. Tables littered the room. They differed in size and shape, though the most common shape seemed to be a long oval  with an eight person maximum. One remained standing.

Before she could see more, a wall of dark brown blocked her sight. She looked up the wall of muscle, finding a menacing face with protruding fangs coming out his bottom lip staring down at her. “Gotta pass?” the orc growled.

Eva rushed up, pulling her aside before she could reply. “Sorry, she’s with me!”

The orc’s angry face disappeared instantly. “Well, ya shoulda said so!” And then he held out his hand. Eva ignored him and pulled Kagriss over to a counter near the entrance, manned by a much prettier face than that orc.

“That was close,” Kagriss heard Eva mutter under her breath. She wanted to tell Eva that she could tell that the orc was faking it, that she wasn’t planning on doing anything. She decided to save Eva the embarrassment though.

At the counter, Eva smiled and winked at the elf, who blushed. She passed over a few bars on bloodstone. “She’s with me.”

“R-right. Evangeline. One guest…your name?” the elf asked.

“Kagriss.” She spelled it for her and the elf carved it onto a small carved card of wood.

“Here’s your pass,” the elf said, and handed Kagriss the card.

Kagriss accepted it and flashed her a smile, causing the elf to blush again. “H-have a nice evening and g-good luck!”

Luck again, what was it that happened here that needed luck? Kagriss smiled again at her and followed Eva past the orc with gigantic muscles, holding up her card as she did so. The orc made a great show of nodding his approval, giving her a thumbs up as he did so. 

Kagriss nodded back and finally took a good long look around the room. It didn’t look all that interesting, but that was on the surface. At first glance, it was just a bunch of people sitting around tables, presumably playing games. There were more standing behind the players and watching, but it was still very quiet for the number of people there were in the room. 

Most of the talking happened in quiet whispers with the occasional outburst, but overall Kagriss had no problem hearing the music coming from the back of the huge room at all. 

But above all, Kagriss could feel the tension hanging in the air. Something was at stake, but she had no idea what. But the key seemed to lie in the games themselves. The tension came most strongly from the eight-player tables, but the others seemed intense as well. 

The seven that remained sitting each held cards in their hands with a bunch of sticks of different colors piled next to them. The one standing held a whole deck, face down. 

Of all the games, this one had the most watchers, and the further along toward the back of the room that the table was located, the more viewers. 

Eva made a beeline toward the middle of the room and Kagriss couldn’t help but get a bad feeling as she watched Eva’s uneven gait, bursting with excitement yet with a dreadful fear radiating with each step the vampire took.