Fenrir

There had been a bit of a commotion, but I’d still managed to accomplish my goal of looking around the cathedral.

It was while I was wandering aimlessly down one of its corridors that I stopped in place with a frown.

A faintly sweet scent drifted in through the window, which had been boarded shut with planks of wood.

If my nose wasn’t lying to me, it was definitely human.

"Humans?"

Chunhwi seemed to have caught the scent too.

He poked only his head out from the shadows and sniffed cautiously at the air. I watched him in silence, and he jerked in alarm and hid himself again.

Was that what it meant to be partially linked to me?

Even though I hadn’t taught him anything, he was already making good use of a vampire’s physical abilities.

Or maybe he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

I peered carefully through the gaps between the wooden boards.

The hole was too narrow for sunlight to pour through, but the world beyond it was still visible.

The whole outside was bright, unmistakably morning.

I stared at the asphalt road glittering under the hateful sunlight, and there I saw two humans walking toward the cathedral.

There were only two of them.

No matter how much I searched the surrounding area, I couldn’t find any sign of anyone else.

Why were they approaching this cathedral?

They weren’t even carrying backpacks.

And their weapons weren’t exactly impressive either.

All they had was a revolver tucked into one man’s belt and a long sword hanging down his back.

Just to be safe, I headed to the first floor of the cathedral.

If they had any sense in their heads, they wouldn’t go poking a vampire clan with more than fifty members all by themselves—but there was no harm in being prepared.

When I arrived on the first floor, Mary was standing there with a Bible in her hands.

It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was rather ironic, seeing a vampire priest holding a Bible, and yet the image suited her surprisingly well.

"Charlotte?"

"Humans are coming outside."

"Ah, I know. So you saw them."

Even after hearing that humans had arrived, Mary only smiled brightly.

She didn’t look the least bit tense.

Could they possibly be personal acquaintances?

I folded my arms and sat on the corridor railing.

"Who are they?"

"People who bring us blood."

Blood?

I tilted my head, and then I noticed the long row of red potion bottles lined up behind Mary.

There were far too many for anyone to have farmed alone.

No way.

A moment later, I heard a quiet knock from outside the cathedral.

Knock, knock—

As if she’d been waiting for that sound all along, Mary lit up and ran outside.

She looked so delicate as she hurried off.

She’d said she used to be a man—was that just a lie after all?

"Welcome!"

As expected, the visitors were the same pair of humans I’d seen earlier.

They both wore faint smiles, so their personalities seemed decent enough.

Just in case, I activated my magic eye.

Both status windows were utterly, innocently calm.

After talking at the door, they followed Mary into the cathedral.

Even after stepping into a den full of vampires, their emotional states didn’t change at all.

The place they ended up was, naturally, the front of a wide shelf stacked with red potion bottles.

In front of it sat a large basin suitable for collecting blood, along with a small dagger.

Were those two humans supporting the entire clan of fifty vampires?

I rested my chin in my hand and watched them closely.

Neither of them seemed to have noticed me yet.

"Wow, you really brought a lot today..."

"At this rate, aren’t we going to pass out from anemia?"

FishingKingOfMapo-dong and Lamiadad traded joking remarks with amused smiles.

Mary answered with an awkward laugh and a small bow.

"Thank you, as always."

The two humans nodded back at her.

FishingKingOfMapo-dong lifted the dagger without the slightest hesitation and slit his own arm.

Judging from the slight grimace on his face, it still hurt plenty.

Blood streamed down into the basin.

After bleeding for quite some time, he swayed a little, apparently dizzy, and picked up the small potion bottle beside him, popping the cap and pouring it into his mouth.

His health quickly filled back up.

Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after that, FishingKingOfMapo-dong kept drinking potions and drawing blood.

When he reached the twentieth bottle he’d emptied, he let out a small groan and stepped back.

The basin held so much blood it was hard to believe it all came from one person.

Next up was Lamiadad.

He, too, cut into his own arm without hesitation and began drawing blood the same way.

He didn’t stop until he’d used up every last potion he had left.

They’d restored all their health with potions, but both of them still looked terribly gaunt.

Nothing seemed wrong in their status windows, but their bodies clearly hadn’t fully recovered.

"Thank you so much!"

Mary bowed deeply to them in gratitude.

Because she moved so vigorously, her large breasts bounced wildly.

FishingKingOfMapo-dong and Lamiadad didn’t ask for anything in return.

They simply nodded with those kindly smiles of theirs.

After chatting a little longer, they turned and left the cathedral.

In a world like this, could there really be such good-natured people?

I watched the two receding figures and couldn’t help but admire them.

But could that really be enough to suppress the bloodlust of more than fifty vampires?

I looked at the basin full of blood and stroked my chin.

We’d gotten quite a bit thanks to their sacrifice, but to me, it still looked hopelessly insufficient.

"Will that be enough to feed all the kids?"

"Not nearly enough..."

Mary sighed as she spoke.

She began pouring the blood from the large basin into small bottles.

"What do you do when it isn’t enough?"

Mary hesitated at my question.

But after a deep breath, she finally answered.

"We go hunting in distant places."

"Human hunting?"

"Yes... If we can, we’d like to give potions and get blood in exchange, but lately potions have been hard to find."

"Are those two from earlier the only people helping you?"

"There were more... but they’ve all disappeared."

"They’re not the only ones helping, are they?"

"That’s true... I mean, we are vampires."

"What about other vampire clans?"

"They sometimes come to help as well."

"It’s almost stranger that you get along with those humans from earlier."

"Ahaha..."

After my conversation with Mary ended, night began to fall as the hateful sun sank out of the sky, and the cathedral slowly came alive with activity.

It was time to distribute the blood that had just come in.

The reason Mary had poured the blood into small bottles was to hand it out to the children.

"Thank you!"

"Eat up and enjoy it."

"Thank you! Father!"

"You were up early today, weren’t you?"

"Mary noona!"

"It’s not noona, it’s Father."

Surrounded by vampires, Mary began handing out the small bottles one by one.

From the second floor, I watched the scene with Hwanggu and Aurell beside me.

How much time passed after that?

By the time the small bottles of blood were nearly gone, Mary looked around, tilting her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head.

"Huh...?"

"Father! Vermouth isn’t here!"

"Maybe he overslept?"

"Could he have gone out somewhere?"

"I’ll drink Vermouth’s share!"

Mary had divided the blood according to the number of vampires inside the cathedral.

That left four small bottles over.

They matched the number of vampires I’d turned into my retainers.

Mary came up to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the second floor with the bottles carefully cradled in her arms.

When she saw me, she bowed and asked, "Charlotte, have you seen Vermouth by any chance?"

"Vermouth?"

"Yes, the kid who was hanging upside down from the cathedral ceiling yesterday..."

At that moment, the shadow beneath my feet began to wriggle.

It looked like Vermouth, my retainer, was trying to reveal himself, but that was not happening on my watch.

I stretched out my tiny, adorable foot and stomped the shadow down again and again.

"I haven’t seen him."

"Hmm..."

Mary wore a worried expression as she disappeared down the far end of the corridor.

It looked like she’d headed toward the room where Vermouth had been staying.

But that didn’t mean the vanished Vermouth was going to come out.

In the end, Mary let out a sigh and returned to the corridor.

"Maybe he’s become independent?"

"Independent? That kid?"

Mary cocked her head at my answer.

Her long orange hair swayed and scattered softly.

"I wonder..."

At last, she headed back down to the first floor.

She looked as though she was worrying about what to do with the four glass bottles left in her arms.

Swish—

The shadow kept writhing.

I bit my lip and stomped on it harder.

"Stay still!"

Watching me in silence, Aurell asked worriedly, "Charlotte-nim, what are you doing...?"

"I’m stepping on the shadow."

"I want to do it too!"

Hwanggu apparently thought my behavior looked fun.

With Hwanggu joining in, we stomped on the shadow together for a long while until Vermouth finally settled down.

The sun had gone down, so I was ready to leave this place.

I took Hwanggu and Aurell with me and headed for the first floor.

"Father."

"Ah, Charlotte."

"We’re heading out."

"Already?"

"Yeah, I’ve got somewhere else to be."

After saying our goodbyes, we left the cathedral.

Even then, Vermouth in the shadows kept wriggling all the way.

He still didn’t seem to understand what kind of situation he’d gotten himself into.

I came to a stop and spat all the children hiding in my shadow out onto the ground.

Thooeey—!

The great shadow beast opened its mouth, and out tumbled five girls in a heap.

All of them were soft-looking, warm-looking little beauties.

"Ahhh! We’re finally out!"

The moment they were released, Vermouth and the others threw their arms wide and cheered.

Of course, I hadn’t just taken them out for nothing.

They needed to be taught what kind of situation they were in, and they also needed to be introduced to Aurell and Hwanggu.

I folded my arms and looked down at the children wriggling atop the shadows.

This was my shadow army.

"Gasp...!"

"Gasp...!"

Aurell and Hwanggu both wore stunned expressions.

—