Chapter 22
“Did you make any progress?”
“Not bad.”
At my answer, Sophia smiled faintly and nodded, relieved.
Unlike Sophia, though, I couldn’t afford to smile in comfort.
I had achieved the goal of this training session, but there was still a long way to go.
I had grown used to the Blood Sword and the vampire abilities unique to my kind, and I could even suppress the urge that rose at the sight of a monster’s blood.
But First Blood was different.
The power flowing through Silvia’s blood ran on a plane entirely separate from the magic of humans and the abilities of monsters.
Even so, Sophia had said that the potential contained in the True Blood of the Vampire Lord was just as deep and formidable.
If I kept walking the path of training and brought down stronger enemies over and over, then eventually I would be able to seize the initiative even before that First Blood, she said.
So I would have to keep testing my limits endlessly, pressing toward new heights.
For the day I would stand before Silvia, awakened First Blood or not, and remain utterly unshaken.
“I heard there’s a new subjugation plan being prepared.”
“That’s right. We’re starting to receive long-range subjugation orders. We may be away for a while.”
Sophia gave a small, helpless sigh and shrugged.
Then she went on.
“Still, as long as Lord Evan is here, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Hmm.”
Sophia was the nominal commander of the Schupelben forces, but in practice, I was the one actually running them.
I had once led the Bernice Knights, the very order called the strongest in the Bernice Empire.
Managing a city army of only a few thousand was no difficult matter.
Unlike the armies of other cities, which scooped up adventurers indiscriminately and inflated their numbers without any order, I accepted only the talent we needed and assigned people where they belonged.
Thanks to that, the Schupelben forces had never failed a subjugation operation and had suffered almost no casualties.
That, in turn, made even more adventurers want to join Schupelben’s army, and the quality of the force kept rising.
A remarkably good cycle.
“What about Banua?”
“He said he’d be back today or tomorrow, but… he hasn’t returned yet.”
After the incident I had caused that day, many things had changed for me, just as they had for the continent itself.
Following Silvia’s advice, the first thing I focused on was suppressing my impulses and bringing the rampage under control.
That had to come first; only then would I be able to keep my reason before Silvia and protect her without losing myself.
According to Sophia, because my body had ceased all activity and slept for so long, it was no different from that of a vampire newly brought into the world.
In other words, my body simply couldn’t keep up with the instinct and nature of a vampire well enough to suppress them.
So I couldn’t easily contain my hunger for blood, and I went berserk.
They said that as one grew, one naturally learned to act with reason rather than instinct, but I didn’t have that kind of time.
From a vampire’s perspective, “as one grows naturally” meant at least several decades.
That was why I was focusing on impulse-suppression training with Sophia’s help.
According to Sophia and Banua, this was already an exceptionally fast result, but to me it still wasn’t enough.
“He’ll be back soon.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sophia nodded as though she trusted my words without question.
After clearly setting our goals, Banua and I had naturally ended up living with Sophia.
We had changed our surnames in the name of a somewhat more “comfortable life.”
Evan Medeir.
The name of the noble house Sophia had created.
Erche and Meyer, and now this was already our third surname.
“Then—”
“We still have time.”
As the conversation seemed to be drawing to a close, Sophia appeared to share the same thought I did.
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked straight at me.
Feeling her gaze, I picked up the sword I had laid beside me and rose to my feet.
Understanding what my movement meant, Sophia immediately stood too, smiling.
It was the brightest smile she had shown all day.
“Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes.”
There was no need for more words.
We both knew perfectly well where we were going and what we were going to do.
Training.
Not the impulse-control training I had been doing with monsters outside the city, but combat training.
“It’ll be different from last time!”
Confidence colored Sophia’s voice as she headed for the private training ground.
It seemed she had come to some realization.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Sophia growing stronger was by no means bad news for me.
There was a special detachment within the Schupelben forces.
The reason I had created that unit and joined it myself was simple.
To protect Silvia.
The true purpose of the detachment was not some mundane monster subjugation.
My final goal was to grow Schupelben’s special unit into an organization that would protect Silvia.
A small elite force capable of moving in the shadows.
It was a unit officially authorized by the Empire and attached to the army.
That meant no legal issues, and it could even prove its own authority.
There were still only three members, including me—Banua, Sophia, and myself—but another might be added soon.
If Banua returned with good news, that was.
“Haaah…”
“Are you ready?”
Reaching the training ground, Sophia drew a long breath and exhaled deeply.
Then, in answer to my question about whether she was ready, she wordlessly began unfastening the buttons on her one-piece dress one by one.
Sophia almost always wore a dress.
Dozens of dresses in different colors and patterns.
At first I thought she simply particularly liked dresses, but that wasn’t the only reason.
Click— rustle—
“Whew. I’m ready.”
Once all the buttons were undone, the dress slipped from Sophia’s body and fell to the floor.
Underneath, she wore tightly fitted clothing made of a stretch fabric.
It was easy to move in, made from material with excellent elasticity.
Sophia’s battle attire.
“Let’s begin.”
Sssshhk— Fwoooosh—
As I drew my sword, crimson energy gathered, and soon a red current wrapped itself around the blade.
Blood Sword.
The moment I formed the Blood Sword, Sophia moved as well.
She bit her lip lightly, wearing an enigmatic smile.
BOOM—
At the same time, something burst from within her body, and Sophia’s form changed in an instant.
Her dark brown hair lost its color and turned silver, and her fingernails sharpened like weapons.
Fangs flashed inside her slightly parted mouth, and the crimson in Sophia’s eyes deepened as madness took hold.
Berserk.
If my unique ability was the Blood Sword, then Sophia’s was Berserk.
When Sophia entered Berserk, she became entirely different from her usual self.
“Haaah, let’s go, Lord Evaaaan!!”
Her always calm, low voice turned high and fervent as though nothing had happened at all.
With a rare, exhilarated laugh, Sophia charged at me.
She looked almost exactly like a madwoman.
Claaang—!
The shrill sound was hard to believe coming from claws and a sword colliding.
Clang— Claaang—!
“Haah!”
KWA-JJIK—
Sophia, who had been raining down sharp attacks on me, twisted her body in midair to gain rotational force and brought her claws slashing down hard.
The grinding cry of Blood Sword against claws rang out.
Her movements have definitely gotten faster.
The first time I sparred with Sophia, I had been so thrown off by how completely she changed that I was terribly flustered.
Her appearance had changed, of course, but even her personality was so utterly different that for a moment I thought she was a different person.
And with the way her outfit emphasized her figure so much, it had been embarrassing to look away carelessly.
“Still too slow.”
But now I had adapted completely.
Sophia’s fast, powerful strikes were certainly troublesome.
Amid a barrage of continuous attacks, a sudden, destructive blow would come crashing in.
If it had been anyone but me, they likely would have failed to respond properly or opened themselves to a gap from the force of the impact.
But who was I?
I was the completion of the Bernice Empire’s swordsmanship, the one who inherited the lineage of the Swift Sword.
Claaang— Clang—!
As I deflected Sophia’s attack, I stepped forward with my right foot in a familiar motion and swung my sword.
BOOM— BANG—
“Ngh!”
It was not the sound of sharp steel colliding, but the deep, explosive roar of blunt force striking blunt force.
The sword moved with fluid speed, far faster than it ever had when I was Evan Erche.
And it was not just speed.
The destructive power behind the blade was many times greater than before.
More than that, this wasn’t even an ordinary sword. It was a Blood Sword.
A Blood Sword formed from my own pure True Blood.
It was a sparring match, so I had controlled the intensity, but each time Sophia took one of my strikes, it likely weighed on her heavily.
Whoooosh— BOOM—
“Tch! I’m not going to lose either!!”
Sophia barely managed to catch my diagonal slash with both hands and was sent flying backward by the force.
Even as she was thrown away, she shouted in frustration.
Thud!
Just when it looked as though she was going to lose her footing and fly off course, Sophia kicked off the empty air and charged back toward me.
That surprised me even more than the attack before it.
I hadn’t expected her to be able to do something like that.
“Dieee!!”
Hmm.
She was overimmersing herself again today, too.
Sophia was charging at me, shouting at me to die.
The crimson energy made of Sophia’s True Blood flashed along her sharpened claws.
It had a cutting edge far sharper than most sword aura.
It was obvious, but fast and powerful enough to be difficult to block.
Calmly. Relax your strength.
I sharpened my concentration and traced Sophia’s movements in detail.
The muscles in her legs and arms surged, and a fierce wave of energy radiated from her claws.
And then I began to see it.
The path of Sophia’s attack.
Strength isn’t necessary.
Before I made Banua my subordinate, there had been that battle with the wolves and snakes in the cave.
I was certain that, back then, I had felt the end of the sword.
I hadn’t experienced that sensation again since, but the feeling I had tasted that day was unquestionably still inside me.
No strength was needed.
All I had to do was surrender my body to the flow I could feel.
This wasn’t the Swift Sword I had spent my whole life with, but rather a style closer to the Mystic Sword.
I felt the flow of the blade and the surrounding air deep within my body, then let Sophia’s attack slide away.
“Ah— ah?”
Chi-chi-chi-chi—
I received her sharp, straight attack softly and twisted it aside.
Sophia’s startled voice brushed past my ear, and I naturally continued into the next motion.
Spinning my body as her balance broke from the sudden loss of force, I pointed my sword toward her.
Whoooosh—
“Kya, kyaah!”
As the Blood Sword, trembling with red light, stopped a hair’s breadth before her throat, a scream burst from Sophia’s lips.
Immediately after, both of her hands, which had been preparing the next attack, slowly lowered.
It was the signal of defeat.
“U-uhhh! Lord Evan! Let’s do that again!!”
“Very well.”
Contrary to her appearance, Sophia loved combat.
And her competitive streak was enormous.
The moment she lost, she threw herself back from me and demanded we do it again, all but trembling with frustration.
Maybe it was exactly this competitive spirit that had made Sophia such a rare talent, one skilled in both letters and martial arts.
“Then, one more ti—”
Click.
“Damn it, who is it?”
“Hm?”
Just as Sophia settled into stance and prepared to leap at me again, the training ground door suddenly opened.
“Lord Evan! Sister!”
It was Banua.
He came in wearing a bright expression, his face unmistakably lit with joy.
Banua, whom I had not seen in nearly weeks, looked back and forth between Sophia and me with an emotional expression.
“Hey! We’re training right now, so close the door and get out. Come back later.”
“…”
Unlike Banua, Sophia seemed not to feel much of anything at all.
“R-right. I won’t disturb you.”
Apparently aware of how frightening Sophia was in her Berserk state, Banua closed the door without another word.
I gave a faint smile.
For now, I would have to deal with Sophia again first.