CH 4

“It’s morning-!”

Gshyaaah!

The black curtains are thrown up at once.

The white morning sun invades the room without mercy.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

A wild scream.

The owner of that voice is an old man writhing around in a gothic canopy bed.

“Mister, it’s morning!”

The girl smiled brightly as she approached the bed.

And, with body strength one wouldn’t expect from such a small body, threw off the blankets.

“Mister, morning!”

“…Fu.”

“What’s wrong, mister?”

“Oh, it’s just that I’ll let out a scream in the morning just to make you happy, but keeping up this comedy routine is a little tiring.”

Sighing to himself, he got up and sat on the edge of the bed.

Reaching to his bedside, he took the bottle.

“Mister, are you drinking again?”

“No. Today it’s just water. I don’t want to get yelled at for enjoying some liquor or smoking in front of you.”

He drank the contents of the bottle.

Even though getting up in the morning was hard, drinking water made him feel a little lighter.

“Mister is working on improving his health! That makes me really happy!”

“That’s right. Even so, I’m still not going to be returning to society, so what business do you have with me today?”

“I’ve come to rehabilitate mister back into society!”

In one ear and out the other.

Really though, this man is a vampire.

If a man so despised and hated that he was referred to as ‘The Blood-Freezing Stealer of Souls’ and ‘The Lord of Mortal Livestock’ returned to society, that society would be rather troubled.

Well, that kind of thing is far from the girl’s mind.

It’s been a long time since anyone was scared of vampires.

Apart from the man who sat in the canopy bed, it seems that vampires who had once been widespread were now extinct, consigned to be the boogiemen of fairy tales.

So, of course, she doesn’t believe that he’s a vampire.

Today as well, she simply sees him as a poor man who she needs to help return to society, such are the ‘Duties of the Saint’.

“Really though, I have no need to work, why should I trouble myself to do so?”

“Working is a good thing!”

“I really find it hard to believe that… What part of working is ‘good’ to you?”

“You can make friends!”

“…And?”

“…Is there anything more valuable than the beauty of friendship?”

The man had no choice but to have an ambiguous expression.

Of course, he knew that there was a big gap between the two of them as there had to be between a human and a vampire, but it seems like the psychological differences far exceed the racial ones.

“Young lady, please hear me out. This uncle is going to tell you something really important.”

“Okay!”

“Listen up, little lady. There are people in this world who don’t value friendship.”

“That’s impossible, there’s no way…”

“There are even people who can live on their own.”

“No, but… But, mister is different! You can’t live alone!”

“Why do you think that?”

“Aren’t you being taken care of by that little girl!?”

The Saint pointed at the corner of the room.

And there, even though she hadn’t been called, stood the familiar.

She didn’t usually stay there.

Having spent the entire day together yesterday, had the distance between them closed?

That reminded him…

“By the way, Miss Saint, you didn’t come by yesterday? Was something wrong?”

“Don’t change the subject! Mister can’t live alone!”

He didn’t change the subject.

It was only because of her that he had actually begun to live a ‘Shut-In Life’ instead of his previous ‘Bedridden Life’, regardless of her methods she really had motivated him.

“Anyways, that is not my friend. It isn’t such a shallow bond we share.”

“She really is your granddaughter then?”

“Wrong. It’s more like… We share a connection of blood?”

“So, she is your granddaughter!”

“No, like I said, we share blood…”

“Like a granddaughter!”

“…Yeah, like that.”

“I knew it!”

The man decided to give in.

He realized that if he said that “She’s a familiar I physically shared my blood with” to someone who didn’t believe vampires existed, he wouldn’t get anywhere.

“Granddaughter~, granddaughter~, come over here and talk with your big sis?”

The Saint sounds like she’s calling out to a cat.

The familiar looked quizzically at the man.

Because she’s expressionless, it’s hard to tell what she’s thinking.

Nevertheless, he interpreted that face as saying “How annoying.”

“Come here~”

If she ignored the Saint’s beckoning, the man might really be in trouble.

As he thinks that, the familiar seems to be frowning.

“Granddaughter, you’re so cute. How old are you?”

The Saint finally approached the familiar herself whilst saying that.

The familiar stuck out a hand with five fingers open, expressionless.

“Five-years-old? You sure are big for that age?”

It seems the Saint interpreted it that way.

She’s missing about two zeroes from the correct answer.

“How old are you really?”

The Saint asked again.

The familiar turned away from the saint, breathed an expressionless sigh, then held out another hand.

“Ten?”

The familiar nods.

The Saint laughed with a smile.

“I see, ten-years-old! Do you like your Grandpa?”

“…”

The familiar stares hard at the man.

The stare seemed to ask of him “Are you really okay with being called Grandpa?”.

The man shrugged his shoulders.

And then, nodded with a similar sigh.

“…”

The familiar nodded to the Saint.

The Saint smiled again.

“I see! That’s great! You’re such a good girl, taking care of your Grandpa!”

“…Annoying.”

“Mm?”

“…”

The familiar shook her head.

The Saint continues to prod her with questions.

“What’s your name?”

“…Familiar.”

“…Ooh, I see, so that’s your name?”

The Saint looked at the man.

And bowed her head in apology.

“I’m sorry, mister, it seems like I misunderstood before.”

The man rubbed the back of his neck.

Then, he asked a question.

“What do you mean?”

“Before, when you called this child “Familiar”, I thought it was just another part of your delusions…”

“You sure don’t hold back with your words, do you?”

“But, it seems I misunderstood. In other words, Familiar is just her name, isn’t it?”

“…That’s right.”

“I get it now! I really am sorry! It’s nice to meet you, Familiar!”

The Saint is energetic again today.

As the man and the familiar caught each others’ glance, he sighed.

Today, the vampire doesn’t want to even get out of bed.