Fenrir

"Charlotte-nim...!"

As soon as Aurell and Hwanggu came down, they rushed straight toward me.

They drew close and began examining my injuries with careful, wary movements.

We hadn’t spent that much time together yet, but knowing there were people who cared about me this much was enough to make me feel a little touched.

"I’m fine."

I waved a hand and said it lightly.

And honestly, I really was fine.

My diminished health was already recovering quickly, and the visible wounds were healing back to their original state through regeneration.

The torn clothes were the same. Once I moved the shadows and repaired them, they returned to normal.

The real problem was the collapse inside the sewer.

Road debris had caved in because of the bombs the humans had planted, blocking our way.

Of course, that wasn’t the only problem.

We’d tripped a trap, and the explosion meant the humans far away might have heard it too.

They might come swarming toward us.

These were the sort of people who’d set traps just so they could use them themselves.

Now that they knew we were aware of the shop, they’d probably try to eliminate us.

I tossed the wooden plank I’d been holding.

It was something Hwanggu had gone out of his way to salvage, but it had been blackened and wrecked beyond repair by the blast.

"We’ll have to clear a path. As fast as possible."

"Clear a path? That thing?"

Aurell asked, repeating me with an incredulous look.

I nodded at her adorable face.

And so the path-clearing began.

Aurell moved her tiny hands diligently and started dragging away the rubble from the collapsed road.

Hwanggu also partially shifted into a beastman form, turning his hands into wolf forepaws and clawing through the debris.

I watched them from behind, then summoned my thralls.

Swish—

At a light gesture, shadows unfurled.

From within them, four girls stepped out, except for Yeppi.

"You know what to do, right?"

They were connected to me. Even if I didn’t say much, they would know what I meant.

Vermut nodded and moved out with her friends.

Once beings beyond human limits started clearing the way, the collapsed rubble was swept aside in no time.

Of course, I joined the work too.

How much time had passed after that?

We eventually reached an intact stretch untouched by the explosion’s shockwave.

There was no need to clear everything.

It was enough to carve out a passage just wide enough for small bodies like ours to slip through.

I called my thralls back into the shadows.

They sank into my shadow without the slightest resistance.

It was a little grotesque, the way their very existence seemed to melt away.

"Yeppi."

"Yeah..."

I called for Yeppi and sent him to the front.

He was the one who had led us here in the first place.

He’d know the exact location of the shop too.

Before we set off in search of it, I pulled a massive steel rod free from the rubble.

To cross the water running through the middle of the sewer, we needed something that could serve as a bridge.

"Ugh..."

Yeppi, who had been moving along nicely, stopped dead in his tracks.

His face had gone pale blue, and his eyes were shaking.

He looked downright terrified.

It was obvious what he was afraid of.

There was only one thing in this place that vampires hated.

Water.

This was a city where all trace of humanity had been severed, but down in the sewers below, water still pooled and flowed.

"Vampires are so inconvenient... How do they even shower?"

"We don’t."

"You don’t...?"

"We don’t sweat."

I answered Yeppi while laying the steel rod ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠across the water.

He relaxed after that and crossed it with obvious relief.

Aurell, Hwanggu, and I followed behind him.

Vampires don’t secrete the same bodily fluids humans do.

That meant we usually didn’t smell, even without showering.

If anything, we gave off a very pleasant scent, one meant to tempt prey.

If necessary, we could wipe ourselves down with wet wipes or something, but there probably weren’t many vampires who’d want to willingly stand under running water.

"This is insane..."

Yeppi shook his head, his face still pale.

He seemed to have grown somewhat used to the idea of vampires, but he hadn’t managed to let go of the memories from when he was still human.

We hurried down the sewer like that, and then the atmosphere changed all at once.

The dark, filthy corridor was lit by a faint glimmer, and the stale air that had reeked of rot turned just a little cooler.

When I raised my head and looked ahead, I saw it: at the very end of the sewer, a giant door stood at a dead end.

Since I’d seen one before, I knew exactly what it meant.

It was a shop run by an NPC.

"There."

There was no point hesitating.

I ran toward the shop with the kids.

With tiny footsteps pattering behind me, I reached the front and reached out to open the door.

Crack—

The instant the shop door swung open, our eyes met.

Blue irises trembled violently as they stared at me.

"What...?"

The dazed voice that escaped wasn’t one of our kids.

And it wasn’t mine either.

Its owner was a human woman with long blond hair.

She looked at me as though something that should never have existed had appeared here.

In that instant, the human woman and I both took fighting stances at the same time.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shadow beneath my feet rippled, and a black katana slid out toward my right hand.

The human woman, too, pulled the long gun strapped to her back and aimed it at me.

"Grrr!"

Hwanggu reacted a beat late, baring his teeth in hostility.

Aurell was also making ready to fight in her own way.

But this was a shop.

It was a place where all acts of aggression were nullified.

It didn’t take long for everyone there to realize that fact.

"I’d appreciate it if you took your fighting outside."

Just as I finished preparing to fight, the shop NPC stepped in and stopped us.

"What the hell..."

Why the hell was this human here?

At this distance, there was no way she wouldn’t have heard the explosion outside.

But that wasn’t important right now.

I opened my magic eye and examined her information.

Flare—

As one side of the world turned blue, detailed information about the human woman appeared before me.

The moment I checked Daltokki’s information, she started moving.

She took a large step forward, lowered her upper body slightly, and clearly prepared to sprint.

The place her gaze had fixed on was the door we had just come through.

As soon as I realized that, I shouted and moved at once.

"Block the door!"

Tap-tap-tap—!

The instant my command rang out, the kids sprang into action in perfect unison.

Daltokki also broke into a frantic run toward the door.

"Hyaaaah!"

"Hiiyaaaah!"

We couldn’t let her get away.

There was no way I could allow that human woman to escape from this shop.

I shouted as I pulled my thralls out of the shadows.

"Grab that human!"

"Hiyooah!"

"Hayaaat!"

The number clinging to Daltokki’s body came to a total of eight.

They couldn’t attack, but they could certainly latch onto her like this.

"Ugh...!"

Daltokki couldn’t attack either.

She stretched out a hand to tear us off, but something seemed to block her, and she drew it back instead.

Then, with us still attached to her body, she tried to make her way toward the door.

But there was no way she could withstand the strength of seven vampires and one werewolf.

"Uuugh..."

Thud.

She fell flat on her face.

I didn’t waste the opening and climbed on top of Daltokki.

My thralls and the kids moved quickly, each seizing one of her arms or legs.

"W-what do we do now?"

"Hm..."

I closed my mouth at Aurell’s question.

I hadn’t exactly caught her for any grand purpose.

I’d simply acted on instinct because this player called Daltokki had tried to run.

"P-please, spare me..."

Daltokki twisted her arms and legs wildly, then, seeing that resistance was utterly useless, began begging for her life.

I started rummaging through her body.

If she’d come to this shop, it meant she was here to buy or sell items.

She must have credits or items on her somewhere.

I’d decide whether to let her live after that.

"Hic...!"

Every time my hand touched her skin, Daltokki flinched and curled in on herself.

"Ah!"

When I lifted her shirt like that, I found a black underarmor beneath it.

It was definitely the short-sleeved armor I’d seen in the game.

At that moment, the information transmitted through my activated magic eye identified the item.

Black Underarmor

Level Requirement: 5

Defense +5

A basic piece of armor commonly sold in shops.

It has an automatic resizing function that adjusts to the wearer’s body.

"This! This is it!"

I finally found the armor I’d been looking for.

Thrilled, I started stripping Daltokki’s clothes off.

She tried to resist, but with both arms and legs pinned, there was no way she could escape my hands.

"Take it off!"

"Hiiyaaah!"

I tore off the leather jacket, then ripped the shirt underneath it as well.

What remained was only the black underarmor clinging tightly to her skin.

I slid my fingers beneath it.

"Hic...!"

Her whole body jolted at that moment.

Had she finally realized her struggle was meaningless?

Daltokki merely looked up at me with tears in her eyes and made no further move.

"Ha!"

With a short grunt, I lifted my hand upward and peeled the underarmor off in one smooth motion.

Daltokki’s pure white skin was exposed beneath it, but my eyes were fixed on the underarmor and wouldn’t budge.

Once you got ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your hands on equipment, there was only one thing left to do.

Wear it.

I turned the clothes I was wearing back into shadows.

My pale, bare body began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to show through.

"Huh..."

"Huh...!"

"Haaah...!"

Aurell and Hwanggu, and even the other kids, all started sucking in their breath at the sight of me.

I could understand their reaction perfectly.

If one of your companions suddenly took off all her clothes, it would be shocking enough.

But there was no helping it if I wanted to equip this item.

It was an undergarment-type item, so I had to put it on like this.

I pulled the still-warm underarmor over my head.

It had seemed a little large for me at first, but the moment I wore it, it shrank to fit my body perfectly.

I was satisfied with the design, a very thin one that clung to every curve of my body.

I gave my soft belly a single poke and nodded.

The fit was pretty nice.