Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Twin Vampires (3)
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* * *
“…A mage.”
Lina squeezed her eyes shut and forced the words out.
She soon bit her lip and spoke again.
“Not the mage who attacked me, but a different one.”
“Is this the mage who sold you this magic tool?”
Sernal pulled the doll out of his bag.
He had discovered a listening spell mixed into the magic tool that Keron and Loren had bought earlier, along with the sticker.
To prevent evidence tampering, he had kept it himself.
Seeing the doll, Lina bowed her head deeply.
“…Yes.”
From her words, Sernal roughly pieced together how Keron and Loren had ended up buying this doll.
‘Lina must have tipped them off about Keron and Loren’s movements.’
But the mage hadn’t stopped there, likely blackmailing Lina and dragging her deeper into the scheme, turning her into a puppet.
‘I can’t figure out what they’re after. From the note sent to Keron, it seemed tied to Keron’s grandfather and money issues.’
Sernal recalled the note Keron had shown him.
—Vampire brats, does other people’s blood taste good? If we suck your blood, does gold come pouring out?
But the opponent was a mage, regardless.
In an era where just becoming a mage guaranteed success, what more could they want?
“I didn’t expect them to go this far. They called me today… and told me to attach one more listening device, but I refused. Last time, too……”
Lina buried her face in her palms. A sobbing sound escaped her.
“Last time, I had no choice but to stick on that sticker with the listening device… and I refused.”
Sernal could sense more excuses coming.
Even if it was unavoidable, it was still a crime.
He felt sympathy for her story, but he had no intention of excusing her.
These incidents built up and threatened the peace, after all.
“So, the harassment of those two complainants was this mage’s doing too?”
“Probably. …I think so.”
Lina lowered her hands.
Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, and they were red-rimmed, but Sernal offered no comfort.
“Can you tell me who it is?”
“…Yes. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Lina looked at Sernal with eyes that had given up on everything.
“But first, can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you helping the young master and miss?”
At Lina’s question, Sernal turned her own feelings back on her.
“Does it seem strange that a discriminated species’ civil servant is helping powerful vampire complainants?”
“…A little.”
Lina clutched her tail.
“Honestly, I was shocked. I never thought the miss and young master would ask for help, or that you would come.”
The brash Keron and Loren asking someone else for help was shocking in itself.
So when this man showed up, she panicked, and when she heard Loren’s voice from behind him, her heart nearly stopped.
“Now that peace has come… money is the most important thing, right? Those people seemed to think they could do anything with money. So it felt awkward and weird that they’d ask for help.”
“I’m just doing my job as a civil servant in the Civil Complaints Division. Weak or strong doesn’t matter in my work. I just want all complainants to blend into this peace.”
It sounded like lip service to her, but it hit Lina differently.
Strong or weak. Neither matters.
Hearing that, words she absolutely hadn’t wanted to say spilled out.
“What if… a snake-human species, discriminated against for their fierce appearance and with no money or power, came to you? Would you have listened?”
“Of course.”
Sernal didn’t hesitate.
“At the very least, I would have heard them out and acted just like I am now.”
Lina bit her lip hard at his answer.
Deep regret washed over her.
If only she’d made a different choice and gone to him for help.
Truth be told, she could work here thanks to that mage. For someone hideous like her, scrambling for jobs, that rotten lifeline was one she had to cling to, knowing full well it was corrupt.
Because she wanted to live.
No, even knowing about the Interspecies Civil Complaints Resolution Division, she’d assumed it would be the same.
But maybe she was the one who had viewed them through a lens of prejudice from the start.
“…Thank you.”
So Lina swallowed her inner thoughts again and confessed her crimes one by one.
* * *
“Entering now.”
Sernal reported to Edinal the moment he stepped out of the taxi.
Edinal had given him the mage’s location behind Lina.
Probably coordinated with the police to track the current position.
[Got it. I sent that werewolf to Mestus Hospital near our division for tests.]
‘Was there a hospital like that?’
Sernal paused at Edinal’s words.
[I’ll let you know the results as soon as they come in, so focus on what you’re doing now, Sernal.]
“Is the police on the way?”
Sernal moved his eyes.
The mage’s location was in Riven District, one of the areas they handled, notorious for its poor quality.
It used to house a massive factory called Riven, but after it collapsed in the war, the commercial district and everything else died, turning it into a slum.
Slums were tricky because the residents fundamentally disliked civil servants.
With so many hating society and the country, how much more loathsome must the peons working under it seem.
[They’re heavier on their feet than you, right? They’re dispatched already. With Terry and I-lang there now, it should be fine, but if it gets urgent, make an emergency call. You know how, right?]
“Understood. Heading in.”
He’d been getting dirty looks since stepping out of the taxi, so Sernal lowered his voice slightly.
[Be careful. You know they hate mages in the slums, right?]
“I do. Hanging up now.”
The slums were mostly inhabited by war veterans.
Many had been scarred, witnessed deaths, wandered, and ended up here, so it was no surprise some freaked out at the sight of magic.
That’s why Riven District, unlike others, had zero magic tools in sight.
Flicker, flicker.
The streetlights, lit for evening, flickered unstably, as if they’d go out any second.
‘Not magic tools, as expected.’
They used old electrical systems, which Sernal couldn’t fix.
They hated civil servants showing up, so he didn’t bother photographing the broken lights.
He just walked quietly, thinking about the report he’d have to write back at the community center.
Sernal pocketed his phone and checked the body cam attached to his civil servant ID.
In a slum that hated civil servants, trouble was inevitable.
‘No, why the hell is a mage here of all places?’
Doubts piled up, along with irritation.
He didn’t have the exact spot, so he’d have to search manually from here.
‘Magic’s tricky to use here.’
If he openly cast now, residents grabbing weapons and charging wouldn’t be odd—the atmosphere was that hostile.
Long-brewed resentment was hard to overturn, so Sernal covered his ears with his hair.
Unable to cast openly, he subtly traced mana flows with his fingers.
Where there was a mage, mana would be pooled.
‘Stop staring. You’re burning holes in my face.’
Ignoring the stinging glares from strangers, Sernal followed the mana flow.
Even without visible sight, the tactile feel on his skin and the scent guided him.
As the mana thickened, Sernal thought of the doll in his bag and reached inside.
“Stop!”
Then, someone yelled sharply at him.
“……?”
Sernal pushed up his glasses and looked up at the voice from above.
Wings flapped as someone descended.
A harpy with dull, faded wings.
Even the hands midway on the wings had claws raised, but with an eyepatch over one eye and the other glazed over.
“There’s a bomb in there, right? Right?”
The man scraped the ground with his thick, pointed talons and asked.
He looked ready to attack any second.
“Looks like a misunderstanding.”
Sernal pulled out the doll as is. He felt some stares ease immediately.
“It’s just a doll.”
“Are you calling my one good eye a piece of shit? I know there’s a bomb in there! Tick-tock! I hear it! I hear the sound!”
The man shouted like he was possessed.
Was he unhinged or just picking a fight? Sernal was a bit confused.
“Ow!”
A shout came, followed by a whoosh of wind.
“Ow, old timer!”
Another harpy landed and smacked the man’s back, sending feathers flying.
“Why are you doing this again?”
“No, look at that. There’s a bomb in there, I’m telling you.”
“Sorry……”
The woman spotted the civil servant ID around Sernal’s neck and widened her eyes.
“Oh dear, we’re so sorry.”
Her voice pitched higher than before.
Visibly flustered, her eyes darted around, unsure where to look.
“This old timer fought in the war back in the day, and a bomb went off from a bag, killing all his comrades. So whenever someone pulls something from a bag, he reacts like this. Please, have mercy, sir.”
“No need for that.”
Sernal waved off her repeated bows.
He understood—plenty saw civil servants as intimidating.
But the location was unfortunate.
Sernal felt people approaching after hearing “civil servant.” He greeted them politely and slipped away quickly.
“Have a good day.”
After putting distance between them, Sernal infused his mana into the doll in his hand.
This was best for a quick trace.
[Mana, return to the one who gave you form.]
At Sernal’s spell, the mana inside the doll surfaced, and it lifted its face.
It pointed somewhere with its hand.
As Sernal headed that way, the doll waved urgently, as if hurrying him.
As he entered the alley, the doll raised both hands and flapped them.
‘Close by, huh?’
Mana resonated with mana, so Sernal waited for that moment.
Seeing the doll’s fingertip sparkle, he scanned the surroundings.
Sparkle.
Confirming the sparkle from one specific house, Sernal dispelled the spell.
The doll went limp.
Around the corner, the house on the right.
That’s where the mage was.
Sernal cautiously approached the corner. The mage inside might have noticed his spell—or not.
Either way, with the opponent being a mage, Sernal figured combat was unavoidable.
As he walked, he cast on himself.
[Become an invisible thin barrier and protect me.]
A @ symbol formed at the hem of his clothes, signaling the spell’s activation.
‘I’ll be fine, but no collateral damage.’
Slum buildings were dilapidated, lacking safety features and packed tight—vulnerable to fire.
Sernal walked the eerily empty alley normally.
The mana thickened.
The mage was deliberately spreading it, making non-mages instinctively uncomfortable.
“…You’ve come?”
An old man sat there.
His leisurely tea-sipping made Sernal feel oddly deflated.
But he stayed alert.
“Hello. I’m Sernal from the Interspecies Civil Complaints Resolution Division.”
He approached with his usual greeting.
“Bright manners are a good trait.”
“I……”
“No need to explain why you’re here—I know. Sit.”
The old man gestured to a seat.
As he walked, Sernal scanned for magic tools with his mana.
One.
Four.
Ten.
Fourteen.
‘Fourteen… magic tools.’
He couldn’t yet see what spells were in each, but it was bad.
The densely packed mana felt ominous.
Sernal entered the old man’s house and sat, staring steadily at him.
Pale skin and fangs sharp enough to pierce flesh easily when he smiled—definitely vampire.
‘…Vampires don’t age like this.’
Their lifespans were longer than humans’, keeping them eternally youthful.
‣Aging is slow relative to lifespan.
That was a vampire trait.
But not this old man. Despite clear, sharp eyes, his skin sagged limply.
“You went to such trouble, but it was for nothing.”
The old man’s voice was utterly flat.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think peace has truly come just because it’s declared—and now rests in people’s hands?”
“Someone has to move to let everyone settle into this peace.”
“You must find me strange.”
“I’m just curious. Why is a mage like you here? Why use children and hurt them?”
“You’ve noticed, but I’m a vampire.”
“Yes. I did.”
“Odd, isn’t it? You must have sensed something off from my appearance.”
“Can you tell me why?”
“Of course. I was waiting for you. Otherwise, you and I couldn’t meet, Sernal.”
The old man smiled faintly at him.