CH 246

“Hey, where are you taking me?”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to answer? I’ll make sure to tell Sir Eugene later and—”

“We’re going to the royal castle of Maren.” the black-hooded man answered urgently as soon as Eugene’s name was mentioned.

The woman was sitting on a saddle munching on some bread. She spoke with a smile, “You must be quite scared of Sir Eugene, hmm? Why did you kidnap me if this was going to happen anyway? I thought all members of the Dark Clan were smart like Sir Eugene and the others close to him.”

“Keugh…” The vampire gritted their teeth. He was Rohime, a vampire from the Roman Empire. If he could do as he wanted, he would have made sure that the female, sick raccoon-like wizard would have died young. In fact, a single knight he brought with him could have made sure that the wizard could never speak again. However, he could not do that because the wizard’s employer was the King of Maren.

‘I thought he was a high lord or similar, but to think he was stronger… That means he is a monarch…’

It was regrettable that the plan had been put into motion before gathering sufficient information. However, there was no use regretting it belatedly. It had already happened. Moreover, he had already received a message from Crown Prince Voltaire to take the wizard to the Dukedom of Maren without laying a finger on her. He didn’t know the details surrounding the crown prince’s order, but regardless, it meant that the crown prince had come to an agreement with the King of Maren.

If that weren’t the case…

‘Then it means he’s a lot bigger than I considered him to be. Perhaps… what this wizard said was true after all.’

Rohime felt all the hair on his body stand on edge.

Rohime was a vampire high lord. Moreover, he was of the direct lineage to a monarch and was considered one of the highest-ranking vampires among the dozens of high lords in all vampire clans. As such, he had been rather irritated after being ordered to head to Brantia under the orders of his monarch. He thought it had been excessive to send him, even though it was under the orders of his parent, his absolute monarch. The same was true for the fact that the vampire protecting the wizard in Mungard had only been a lord.

However, he was surprised by the stories he heard from the wizard after kidnapping her with ease. At first, he assumed she was lying to preserve her life, but he could help but believe her when she repeated her story several times and even swore in the name of magic.

“You will have to behave yourself even after you take me home. Hmm? Sir Eugene? Do you know how much he cares about me? We’re not simply an employer and his employee. We’re comrades of blood! We crossed the line between life and death countless times! Or something like that…”

However, some things seemed to be slightly… exaggerated.

“Hmph. Let’s say that your stories about the King of Maren are true. Even so, the highest-ranking nobles of our tribe do not form deep relationships with wizards. Only weak members would do such a thing as to keep an untrustworthy wizard by their side. Just like the lord of Mungard who had been looking after you,” Rohime claimed.

“No, how many times do I have to tell you? Lord Markus was instructed by Sir Eugene to set up my lab and protect it. He’s not even Sir Eugene’s subordinate, let alone a vassal. Ah, speaking of his true vassal, that reminds me.”

“True… vassal?”

Rohime showed interest. Romari swallowed a piece of the tough bread and responded, “There’s someone like that. He’s an incompetent man who doesn’t even show his face at times like these, even though he always bothers other people next to him.”

“Hmph. He would only be a lord-class vampire anyways,” Rohime scoffed.

“Nope,” Romari answered.

“What? And what would you possibly know about our tribe?” Rohime said.

Romari flicked breadcrumbs off her robe, then answered with a meaningful smile, “You, you couldn’t even be bothered to look into which school I was from because you were lazy, right?”

“…”

“See? I knew it would be true,” Romari said while giggling.

Her reaction caused Rohime to become slightly nervous. It was just as she said. It was ridiculous enough that he—a high lord serving directly under his monarch—had been sent to the middle of nowhere in a place like Brantia. What investigation could have possibly been necessary to kidnap a single wizard?

Rohime had simply wanted to finish the matter as quickly as possible.

‘Come to think of it…’

Rohime carefully observed Romari. When he was first ordered to kidnap the wizard, he was told not to hurt the wizard and to treat her as if she were a noble prisoner. So, he did as he was told. However, even if he treated her gently, the sick raccoon-like wizard never showed any fear toward him, though she did act a little surprised. How could someone be so fine even while getting kidnapped by a fang-bearing vampire?

No, in the first place, a wizard should have put up a little resistance…

“Do you know why I didn’t resist when you first caught me?” Romari asked as if she were reading his very thoughts. Rohime felt his anxiety growing.

“If you were a human instead of a member of the Dark Clan, I would have used my ace. You should know, right? Every wizard has a hidden card up their sleeves,” Romari said.

“…”

Rohime stayed silent. He felt as if his throat was drying rapidly. Even though he was a vampire high lord capable of breaking the head of the little puny wizard with a single punch, he was uncomfortable of even thinking of doing so for some reason.

Romari continued, “But I simply followed you because my school is very knowledgeable about the Tribe of Darkness.”

“What? There’s no such school that… Huh?! D-don’t tell me…” It was impossible for a high-ranking high lord vampire to be ignorant of such a special school of magic.

Romari responded with a grin, “That’s right. The Blood Shadow School. Why else would I have stayed by Sir Eugene’s side for so long?”

“This…” Rohime’s face violently distorted.

“Now you’re thinking you should’ve looked into it more before kidnapping me, aren’t you? I don’t know which clan you belong to, but you must have heard about our school before, right?” Romari said.

It was incredibly annoying to see the wizard grinning in her current position, but Rohime could only grit his fangs. He was unafraid of the wizard, but he could not take the Blood Shadow School lightly.

“Wizard, even if you belong to the Blood Shadow School, it changes nothing. My master and the one by his side—” Rohime said.

“Kieh? I think you’re misunderstanding something. I didn’t follow you obediently because of my school,” Romari interrupted.

What could ‘Kieh’ possibly mean? However, Rohime was more curious about what she would say rather than the strange, meaningless holler. He tried to bury his anxious heart even deeper as he spoke, “You’d better stop running your mouth while I’m still treating you nicely and if you want to be in one piece when you see your king.”

Romari responded, “I just wanted to give you a piece of advice, but… There’s no helping it if you don’t want it.”

“Advice…?”

Under normal circumstances, he would have ignored her and moved on. However, that was if she wasn’t a wizard. She may have been kidnapped, but she was still a wizard. It was common sense for those who knew a little bit about magic and mysteries that a wizard’s advice would never be nonsensical.

“…” Rohime forcibly stopped himself from asking what her advice was.

Romari muttered with a worried expression, “Kieeeee~ That man really is scary, though. Well, I’m not scared of him, but none of the members of the Dark Clan I have seen so far could breathe properly in front of him. He should be going crazy right about now after discovering that I had been kidnapped. Knowing his personality, he would have already started looking for me. But, I’m sure he wouldn’t kill you if you didn't provoke him.”

Provoke him, provoke him, provoke him…

The wizard’s words were only speculation from Rohime’s perspective, but for some reason, he was convinced that everything the wizard had said so far was based on the truth.

‘Ha! Me… afraid? I, Rohime, afraid? Nonsense!’

It appeared that the wizard had gotten to his head by continuously repeating nonsense.

“Stop talking nonsense. Even if someone is out searching for you, how would they know where we are?” Rohime said.

“Kieeh? Are you really a member of the Dark Clan?” Romari asked.

“Stop with the kieh, you runt!” Rohime screamed, unable to withstand the wizard’s strange way of speaking.

Romari was once again convinced that Eugene’s spirit was born to annoy people in as many ways as possible. She spoke, “I already told you. I belong to the Blood Shadow School, and I know quite a bit about the Tribe of Darkness.”

“So what?” Rohime said.

“Do you really think the one looking for me is merely lord-class?”

“…?!”

Rohime flinched. Romari mustered the most sinister smile she could before continuing, “It’s something Sir Eugene said. Sir Galfredik isn’t simply a thrall, but a vassal.[1] You know what that means, right?”

“…!!!”

Romari’s smile deepened when she saw how Rohime’s expression turned ghastly pale.

“That’s why you should learn to trust people. There’s a vassal tracking you right now. Moreover, it’s a scary old man who had completely decimated a vampire high lord,” She said.

“T-that’s…” Rohime was in disbelief.

Vassal? Was it possible that she was referring to the high lord directly under a monarch like himself? No, if she really was a wizard of the Blood Shadow School, she had to know such basic knowledge. If the one searching for the wizard was truly a vassal, and if the King of Maren was a vampire with a vassal…

“An Over…lord?” Rohime muttered with a blank expression.

Romari grinned. “Also known as an Origin. You’ve really fucked up this time.”

“Ugh…” Rohime started to tremble. He was denying it in his head, but Romari had no reason to lie.

‘N-no! Then the reason I was told to return the wizard to the castle as soon as possible was…?’

Rohime’s trembling increased in intensity as an ominous feeling surrounded him. What if the crown prince hadn’t come to an agreement with the King of Maren? What if the crown prince had surrendered to the vampire overlord, the Origin?

‘Then I might have really…’

Tututututututu…..!

“…?!”

Rohime and the vampire knights simultaneously turned their heads as the sound of hooves resounded from far in the darkness. Rohime and his knights peered through the darkness with their red eyes, and they saw a group of troops armed with black armor on horseback quickly heading in their direction. Rohime’s expression distorted further when he saw that none of the newcomers were holding torches. Obviously, they were vampires.

“This… fast? How on earth is this possible?” Rohime muttered with disbelief.

“It’s because of this,” Romari responded in the most annoying voice.

Rohime realized his mistake of being too complacent when he saw the red sand.

“I told you, didn’t I? Every wizard has at least one trick up their sleeve,” Romari said. She had been leaving behind a trail of red sand after being captured. She believed in Galfredik. He had experienced the effect of the magic sand several times already and knew the sand could reveal the location and direction of its user. And though Lord Markus was weaker than Rohime, he wasn’t a fool by any means.

Markus would have immediately reacted to her kidnapping. She believed he would have at least discovered the direction in which her kidnappers had headed toward.

‘But I didn’t know they would find me this fast.’

She grinned while turning her gaze to the sound of the hoofs. She could only hear but not see, as she was still human.

However…

Kuwuuuuuuuugh!!!

Uwaaaaaahhh!!!

She knew exactly who her rescuers were from their roar, and she could guess how they had found her earlier than she had expected. Beowulfs were distant relatives of vampires, and they were unrivaled when it came to search and pursuit.

“I feel sorry for you, so I will give you one last piece of advice,” Romari started.

“…”

She then continued, “Don’t provoke them needlessly, and just do as that person says. This is a really important piece of advice. And you were going to take me to Sir Eugene anyway, right? Don’t pick a fight just to get destroyed, okay?”

“…..”

High Lord Rohime—he was a dignified, virtuous vampire of the Roman Empire. He was a brave knight who had never backed down against anyone except his monarch. Hearing Romari’s words, his expression distorted.

“I… I will never back down,” he said.

“I have received your last words,” Romari responded.

“Kuaaaaaghhhh!” Rohime recalled the order to never lay a hand on the wizard. He roared and directed his anger toward the pursuers. His armor was stained blood-red, and he emanated fierce, vicious Fear. The vampire knights unsheathed their weapons and revealed their fangs, having been inspired by their master’s Fear.

It was then…

Kwaaaaah…!

Ominous crimson Fear bloomed like a cloud and illuminated the darkness. A husky voice echoed in the darkness.

“Oi, you motherfuckers! Are you all ready to die?!”

The Origin’s vassal was charging forward on horseback with red, flaming eyes.

“…?!”

Rohime’s Fear rapidly diminished. The Fear emanating from the knight with quite a hideous appearance unbefitting a vampire surpassed even his master’s Fear.

1. Some clarification regarding the terms “vassal” and “thrall”. As mentioned earlier in the novel, ‘thrall’ is used to describe a vampire specifically in relation to their ‘parent’ vampire. On the other hand, Galfredik is special because he is the ‘thrall’ of Eugene, an Origin. As such, the term ‘vassal’ is used to describe him instead of ‘thrall’. However, there’s bound to be some confusion because the term ‘vassal’ is used many, many times throughout the novel. However, know that in most cases, the term ‘vassal’ is used as a term describing the retainer/subordinate of a lord. In summary: thrall – vampire specifically in relation to their parent vampire. E.g., the thrall of a high lord. Vassal – the thrall of an Origin (Galfredik). Vassal – the subordinate/retainer of a lord. ☜