Expanding My Vampire Retainers

Yebbi remained on edge the entire time, circling around Moon Rabbit with visible unease.

She seemed to be worried about what would become of her crayons.

"I-I’m done..."

"My crayons!"

The moment Moon Rabbit finished her work, Yebbi held out her hand toward her.

Moon Rabbit seemed to hesitate for a moment before handing over the crayons she had been holding.

"Phew..."

Yebbi let out a breath of relief.

Watching her, I thought to myself that she was making such a fuss over a single box of crayons.

Having secured her crayons, Yebbi dashed off in search of supplies.

I unfolded the map Moon Rabbit had given me.

Across the wide spread of it, there were newly drawn marks left by Moon Rabbit.

Seeing the happy little humans sketched inside the circles, it seemed there were people over there after all.

But the locations were extremely strange.

Most of the humans Yebbi had marked were inside the city, but most of the humans Moon Rabbit had marked were not in the city at all; they were out in the mountains.

"Rabbit."

"Y-yes..."

"This is accurate, right?"

"I-it is. I didn't lie."

Well, as long as Moon Rabbit was my retainer, she couldn’t go against my orders.

I had told her to mark everything truthfully, so this had to be the real thing.

"Why are the humans over here?"

I tilted my head and asked.

Even in Lavina’s memories, the human groups had lived near the city, where it was easier to scavenge for items.

If they were living far out in the mountains like this, it would be terribly hard to obtain the supplies they needed to survive.

"T-to avoid the werewolves and vampires..."

"I see. Did it work?"

"Y-yes... After we moved the clan into the mountains, the vampires who used to come every day demanding blood stopped showing up..."

"And the thing drawn here under the circle—is that the number of people?"

"Y-yes..."

Moon Rabbit had even recorded fairly detailed information.

Under the circle was the number of people, and beside it, the number of max-level users.

That kind of carefulness wasn’t something you’d find in a man.

I reached out and patted Moon Rabbit’s head, eyes quietly on her.

Swish, swish—

Her silky hair slipped softly through my fingers.

By the time a long stretch had passed, all the retainers who had gone out to gather items had returned.

In the meantime, they had come and gone so many times, shoving supplies into the shadows that the belly of the shadow was now bulging full.

I was checking to make sure none of the retainers had been hurt when I noticed that Yebbi was hiding something inside her clothes.

The outline of a long rectangular object showed through the fabric.

What on earth was she hiding against that soft little belly?

When I fixed her with a look, Yebbi carefully turned her eyes away.

She looked like she was planning to pretend she knew nothing, but she couldn’t dodge my hand.

Whoosh—

My hand shot forward and slipped beneath Yebbi’s clothes.

My fingers brushed her soft stomach for an instant, but that wasn’t my target.

Higher up.

Something hard.

"N-no!"

What came tugged out from beneath Yebbi’s clothes was a set of forty-eight crayons.

Brand new, still unopened, too.

"Huh..."

"Huh...!"

The children started to buzz with excitement at the sight of the crayons.

Even Vermouth seemed interested.

"M-mine!"

I had told her to go find items, and she had come back with crayons.

That wasn’t exactly a problem, but...

"Hngh...!"

As my retainer, Yebbi couldn’t lay a hand on me.

All she could do was circle around me with a miserable look on her face.

At this rate, she looked like she might cry.

I let out a sigh and handed the crayon set to Yebbi.

"If there was something you wanted, you should have told me."

"I-if I tell you, will you let me have it?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Mm... I'll tell you next time..."

Yebbi nodded with a tiny smile at my words.

Then she slipped straight into the shadow.

She moved before I even told ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her to go in.

Of course, since I was planning to leave soon anyway, I had intended to pack the retainers away into the shadow.

"All of you, get into the shadow."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The retainers answered my command brightly.

And then, just like Yebbi had done, they each sprang into the shadow one after another.

They fell into it with a plop and a splash, like girls diving into a swimming pool.

"Huh..."

Aurell, finding the whole thing fascinating, kept poking her hands into my shadow.

I climbed onto the motorcycle at once.

Then, quick as ever, Aurell and Hwanggu clung to my legs.

As expected, they were sharp girls.

"Shall we go?"

Finding another vampire clan would have to wait until after I’d increased my retainers.

I started the motorcycle and rode off.

Vroooom—!

The bike shot forward at high speed.

According to the location Moon Rabbit had marked, humans were living together on a mountain some distance from here.

I sped toward it.

The feeling of speed was incomparable to riding a bicycle.

My pure white silver hair streamed behind me.

Thanks to the motorcycle’s speed, I reached the destination in no time.

Screeeech—!

"Hff..."

"Hik..."

When the bike came to a stop, the girls wilted.

Apparently, clinging to my legs at that speed had been a little rough on them.

I rubbed my slightly damp legs and got off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the motorcycle.

"Hmm..."

The mountain carried its own earthy smell, the scent of grass, and faintly tangled through it all, the sharp trace of gunpowder and human blood.

The fact that the smell was faint meant the humans were deliberately erasing their own scent.

"Sniff, sniff..."

Hwanggu must have picked up on the humans too, because she started flaring her nostrils and sniffing eagerly.

"Rabbit."

Swish—

At my call, Moon Rabbit emerged from the shadow.

She glanced around, then looked startled as if she had recognized where we were.

"Th-this is..."

"Lead us to where the humans are hiding."

"Y-yes..."

If Moon Rabbit guided us, we’d be able to reach a place without traps.

Human traps were dangerous. Of course, if I used my shadow, I could pass through them just fine, but I didn’t want the human users to know I’d come.

"This way..."

Moon Rabbit led us to a spot quite a distance from the mountain entrance.

I tilted my head, wondering why, and then she gave me her explanation.

"Th-there will be sentries... If we go that way, we'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be spotted too easily..."

As she spoke, Moon Rabbit kept watching my face for a reaction.

It was obvious she wanted something.

I reached out and patted her head.

A foolish smile spread across her face at once.

"Hehe..."

Moon Rabbit leaned into my hand and rubbed her head against it happily.

She was in the middle of selling out the very humans she had lived with.

Was Moon Rabbit really so unbothered?

I knew that the mental state of the girls who became my retainers gradually changed to suit vampires, but wasn’t this happening too fast?

It seemed the pace of change varied from person to person.

Moon Rabbit began climbing deeper into the mountain.

She pushed through the brush and advanced eagerly ahead.

Her little butt kept swaying in front of me, which was a bit irritating.

At that moment, Moon Rabbit suddenly dropped low and thrust her hand forward.

"It’s over there...!"

I turned my head slightly to follow her gaze.

It was a place where rotten leaves, soil, and fallen trees were strangely tangled together.

At first glance, it looked like a natural part of the mountain, but once I began looking closely, signs of artificial tampering appeared.

It was as if something had been buried under dirt, then crudely disguised on top of it afterward.

"Sniff, sniff...! Human smell!"

Hwanggu had definitely picked up the humans’ scent too.

Her ears perked up, her tail swished, and her bright red tongue slipped out a little to lick her lips.

"Mm..."

Aurell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was excited too, her hips squirming restlessly.

I activated my Mystic Eye Release to get more definite information.

In an instant, a flood of data poured in.

Among it, I found something unusual.

On top of a high mound of dirt, information from a human user floated up out of a heap of grass and fallen leaves.

Following the Flow of the Stars...?

That name had a strangely lyrical feel to it, the kind of nickname you didn’t often see these days.

That person was definitely an old-timer.

No, the important thing wasn’t the nickname.

I shook my head and stared more intently at where the target’s information had appeared.

I activated the vampire’s concentration.

Then I could make out the faint movement of leaves and twigs shifting.

Who would’ve thought they were even wearing a ghillie suit?

"Rabbit."

"Yes?"

"Is there only one sentry?"

"Usually they take turns one at a time..."

"Good..."

I stretched out my hand toward the shadow.

And from beneath it, a black katana slowly rose.

I had long since given up on trying to talk to humans.

They were a race that swung guns or knives the moment they saw me.

Then I could do the same.

If there was only one sentry, killing the human in the ghillie suit would let me slip inside easily enough.

"Hah...!"

With a short burst of effort, I hurled the katana with all my strength.

Whoosh—!

The black blade shot straight forward and struck the human user squarely in the head.

Thud—!

An exact, clean hit that didn’t even leave room for a scream.

"Let’s go...!"

With the guard dealt with, it was time to move.

I began crawling toward the dirt mound.

Behind me, Hwanggu, Aurell, and Moon Rabbit followed close.

Rustle— rustle—

I watched the three girls’ movements carefully.

There was one skill any South Korean man picked up without even realizing it after military service.

It was the low crawl.

But Aurell, Hwanggu, and Moon Rabbit were just writhing across the ground in a terribly sloppy way; they weren’t actually doing a proper low crawl.

So these idiots weren’t men after all.

I let out a breath of relief and reached toward the corpse bleeding out before us.

Then a black shadow slowly extended and swallowed it.

After disposing of the sentry’s body, I looked behind the hill and found a large number of containers.

These too had been disguised with dirt, grass, and fallen leaves.

There were thirty-four humans living here.

I had just killed one, so that left thirty-three.

"Let’s go...!"

Leaving myself to the darkness, I crawled toward the nearest container.

Rustle, rustle— ssshh—