The Cake of the Founding Day
On the Bernice Empire’s Founding Day, all kinds of events were held.
Among them, the one that received the most care was the emperor’s speech on the day itself.
It was the hour when the emperor left the imperial palace and spoke directly before the people of the empire.
Because it took place outside the palace, the preparations for protecting the emperor were exhaustive, and the security alone meant that only the very best were mobilized for the event.
What the people looked forward to most, however, was not the emperor’s speech.
Every year, to celebrate Founding Day, the imperial family distributed a variety of gifts to the populace.
They always tried to choose something that as many citizens as possible could benefit from.
And this year, the gift handed out at the founding celebration was cake.
Hearing that in passing, one might have shrugged and thought, Just cake?—nothing special.
But since it came from the imperial family, it was naturally no ordinary dessert.
Bronze pumpkins from Rostier, Roquefort cheese from Capellon, peaches rich with mana from West Harbor.
The Founding Day cake was made by gathering together all the regional specialties offered up from across the empire.
Setting aside its symbolic meaning as a prayer for the empire’s peace and unity, people were thrilled by the rumor that they would be able to taste a cake even monsters coveted.
As always, the gift-giving ceremony had once again become the event the imperial people anticipated most.
And thanks to that very ceremony, I would be able to enter the imperial palace with ease.
“You’re sure about this?”
“Y-yes! This should definitely get you in.”
The white baker’s cap rose absurdly high above my head, longer than my face was wide.
A matching white coat and loose white trousers fluttered around me.
“Th-there, it suits you! Lord Evan!”
“…”
Kabin gave me a strange look as he stared at me in a baker’s uniform.
Even I thought the reflection in the mirror looked awkward and ridiculous.
It was an outfit I’d never worn, not even before I had been reborn as the Vampire Lord, and not even when I had still been Evan Erche.
A baker’s clothes, of all things.
“Because the imperial family is making a huge batch of cakes, they’ve hired a ton of civilian cooks…”
“I understood. Stop talking.”
“Y-yes!”
This was what Arim hadn’t been able to tell me in advance.
To get into the imperial palace, I would have to disguise myself as a baker.
I’d agreed when he said the disguise was necessary, of course, but I hadn’t expected the costume to be this complete.
Forcing my eyes away from the mirror, I steadied my mind.
Breaking into the imperial palace in a crude disguise would have been nearly impossible.
Powerful wards were laid around the palace, and the knights who had once been my subordinates were patrolling the grounds day and night.
Even if I forced my way through the wards, I’d be traced and caught in no time.
So this—entering perfectly disguised—was the best possible scenario.
“Let’s go.”
“Y-yes!”
Arim nodded anxiously and thrust something toward me.
It was a mask.
“You’ll probably need to wear this when you go in. The palace cooks are… apparently very sensitive about hygiene.”
“…”
Without a word, I pulled the mask on and followed Arim.
Yes. If I wanted to get in without incident, this was the best way.
“Let’s hurry!”
Arim glanced at me furtively and started walking so fast it was nearly a jog.
I followed after him.
Hoo.
As we passed through the streets, I felt people’s gazes settling on me and let out a sigh full of many different meanings.
*
“Haa.”
Thud—
With the woman’s deep sigh, several photographs slipped from her hand and fell onto the table.
Though the backgrounds differed, the same people appeared in each of the photos scattered across the tabletop.
Two figures had their faces tightly concealed beneath black robes.
And one boy, unlike the others, wore a robe but had not hidden his face.
His neat brown hair and faintly mischievous expression belonged to a boy the woman knew very well.
He was practically family to her.
Kabin Meyer.
The youngest vampire in the Meyer family.
“Why on earth…”
Staring at the photo in which Kabin’s face was clearly visible, the woman muttered to herself in a worried voice.
She already knew the Meyer mansion in the demon realm had been attacked.
She also knew that, by the elder’s command, the surviving clan members had scattered in order to live.
Though he was young, Kabin was quick enough to outpace almost anyone, so she had assumed he had survived.
“What are you doing…?”
Alone in an empty room, Sophia could not understand Kabin at all.
At a time like this, when the clan had lost its hideout and might even be on the brink of extinction, he was out there wearing such a bright expression and sightseeing among humans.
Sophia Meyer.
That was the identity of the woman sighing over Kabin’s photograph.
Like Kabin, she was a vampire of the Meyer family, and for several years she had been living in human society after leaving the demon realm.
As she carefully sorted the photos showing Kabin’s bright face, Sophia thought, First I need to meet him and hear what he has to say.
When she first received the report that Kabin had left the demon realm, Sophia had intended to go and fetch him immediately.
But she had not been able to.
The first reason was Arim, the broker who had reported the vampires to her, and his desperate plea that she not come and make trouble.
The second was that, in any case, they were already on their way to the Bernice Empire.
Sophia was in Schupelben, the neighboring city of Hailon, the empire’s capital.
Even if she met Kabin, he could not return to the demon realm, so there was no point in rushing over only to bring him back here again.
And most of all, the greatest reason was Arim’s report that Kabin was extraordinarily safe.
Sophia knew about the broker’s ability, the Eye.
Arim possessed eyes that could detect danger with uncanny accuracy, and if he was willing to stake his own life to insist that Kabin was the safest person in the world right now, she had no choice but to believe him.
Now I’ll finally be able to find out who he’s been with.
After Arim’s report, Sophia had assigned one of her subordinates to follow Arim’s party.
These photos were taken by that subordinate with a magical device as they trailed the group.
From the northern reaches of the continent all the way to the Bernice Empire.
According to the report, Kabin’s party had just passed inspection and entered Hailon a little while ago.
Now all she had to do was head to Hailon, and she would be able to meet Kabin.
Along with the unknown presence who had led him out of the demon realm.
“I should go.”
Putting the photos back into the drawer, Sophia left the room at a brisk pace.
Even though everything seemed to be going exactly as expected, she couldn’t shake a needless sense of unease.
*
By the time I’d made it through all the procedures and entered the imperial palace, the sun had already set and darkness had fallen.
As expected, bringing civilians into the palace took even longer than I’d thought.
He really does his work well.
Arim’s forged identity papers were astonishingly good, good enough to fool even the palace inspection.
They were so meticulously prepared that I almost wanted to ask where on earth he had gotten them.
“You can stay here, but you don’t have any luggage?”
“That’s right. I’ll only be working for two days anyway.”
“Hah! You’re quite something. At any rate, tomorrow you’ll report by five in the morning to the kitchen we visited earlier…”
Ignoring the knight who had guided me here, I first took stock of where I was.
I had thought I knew the imperial palace very well.
But the palace even had places like this?
That had been my arrogance.
The paths I had walked before had all been spaces used by nobles.
Of course there was a separate residence for servants, and I had not known that there was even an auxiliary building attached to it.
“Then rest well.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as I confirmed that the knight who had escorted me was gone, I stripped off the cumbersome baker’s cap first.
My soft white hair, tucked beneath it, brushed my neck as it fell free.
The mask… I’d better keep it on.
To prepare for any accident, I decided to keep wearing the mask.
If anything went wrong, it would be better in many ways not to show my face.
Not long ago, that thought would have left a bitter taste in my mouth. Now, it didn’t bother me at all.
That probably meant I had already grown used to the version of me who was no longer human.
Should I move now?
I looked up at the sky.
Within just a few dozen minutes, the sun had completely vanished, and the heavens were darkening fast.
The sky, seen from inside the imperial palace.
It felt familiar and strange all at once.
After all the twists and turns, I had returned here again.
To the imperial palace, where Silvia was.
…Will this be all right?
As I stared at the darkening sky, the thought came to me unbidden.
Banua’s vision of the future.
The image of me attacking Silvia with my own hands, thirsting for her blood.
Clench—
At the worst possible time, I didn’t even have a sword to steady my mind.
Because I had entered disguised as a baker, I couldn’t carry any weapons on me.
That will not happen.
While traveling to the Bernice Empire with Kabin, I had talked at length about how to suppress those urges, and I had even practiced what might be called stoking my own bloodlust.
I could endure this.
Even when I had faced countless humans up close in Hailon, I had been perfectly fine.
What should I say when I see her?
I was just about to take a step when my body stopped on its own.
If I met Silvia, what should I tell her?
That there were forces inside the empire who meant to harm her, and she should be careful?
Or that Evan Erche had not actually been slain by monsters, but betrayed by his comrades instead?
Or perhaps—
Let’s just meet first and think later.
The more I thought about it, the more tangled my mind became.
I had imagined it dozens, even hundreds of times: what I would say when I met Silvia again in this changed form.
Every time, I had reached the same conclusion. I’d meet her first, and then decide.
No matter what, once I was face-to-face with Silvia, the answer would come.
It always had.
No matter how complicated or difficult a problem was, once I met Silvia and talked to her, it always seemed to unravel with embarrassing ease.
So much so that I’d end up feeling like an idiot for having worried in the first place.
It would be the same this time.
Once we met, somehow or other, it would work out.
Step—
With that firm belief, I set off.
I would make it to Silvia’s room without being seen and without hurting anyone if I could help it.
The defenses really are weak.
Just as Arim had said, it was fortunate that the founding celebration happened to fall on this day. Because so many of the troops that usually guarded the imperial palace had been deployed outside, the patrols were lax.
So I moved with care.
Past the servants’ quarters, across the imperial central garden, and on to the building where Silvia’s room was located.
Silvia’s room was on the third floor.
Too high to reach from outside under normal circumstances.
If I reinforced my body with mana, I could reach it easily enough, but anyone moving even a trace of energy inside the imperial palace without permission would be tracked immediately.
Besides, as a vampire, I couldn’t use mana in the first place.
But—
I can reach it.
Right now, I could leap to the height of the third floor with pure physical ability alone, without using magic or any special power.
And quite comfortably, too.
Taat—
Glancing around, I sprang upward.
Toward the balcony outside Silvia’s room.
Thump.
Movement stirred beyond the full-length glass window.
Thump, thump.
My heart began to pound uncontrollably.