Equipment Item
While the shadows were crunching down on the corpse of the human player and chewing it up, my sharpened senses caught a bizarre movement nearby.
The heat of battle hadn’t even had time to cool yet. The small vampire girl’s body reacted instantly.
I tightened my grip on the matte katana and turned the blade over my shoulder.
The shadows reacted to my movement as well.
Rising up from under my feet, they wrapped around my body to form a natural wall of defense, then surged straight along the katana’s black blade.
"Huh..."
In the dim haze, red mist rippled and took the shape of a girl.
The source of that strange movement I’d been sensing all along was Aurell. So that was where she’d gone—she’d apparently been using her morph skill to keep circling around me.
I didn’t sense any hostility.
I let out a sigh and lowered the katana.
Shhhk—
The shadows faded away the instant I sheathed the blade. For some reason, the sight made me think of a loyal dog.
"A-are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
I frowned at Aurell’s question.
If she was so worried, shouldn’t she have shown herself and helped me when the fight started?
Of course, a level 12 vampire probably wouldn’t have been much help anyway...
"I told you not to follow me."
I was still keyed up from the fight, so my voice came out sharp.
Aurell gave an awkward laugh and stepped back.
The reason I’d been able to notice her at all was because she’d gotten close enough. If she’d kept her distance like before, I never would have realized she’d been tailing me the whole time.
That only made my frustration with the morph skill grow.
"Oh! Is that the matte katana?"
Aurell’s gaze moved to the katana in my hand.
As a player of Blood Carnival, she recognized it too.
She was trying to change the subject naturally.
Too bad for her. That wasn’t going to work.
I hid the katana behind my back and said, "How long are you planning to keep following me?"
"Well, of course..."
Aurell trailed off and smiled cutely.
It looked like she intended to follow me all the way.
I looked down at the matte katana and fell into thought.
An item from the shop had appeared—something that hadn’t shown up for years.
Everything happened for a reason. There had to be a reason this item was suddenly here.
I frowned and spoke.
"You can come with me."
It was simply an unavoidable choice for survival.
Absolutely not because I’d been swayed by Aurell’s looks.
There was another reason I’d allowed her to come along, too.
Because she was the only one who had ever looked at me with kindness since I woke in this world.
Of course, there were still things I needed to keep an eye on...
But at the very least, Aurell didn’t seem like she was going to stick a knife into my back.
"R-really...?"
Aurell’s eyes went round in shock.
Her soft-looking cheeks flushed red as well.
I’d only allowed her to travel with me—why was she so happy about that?
I took a step back and quickly added one condition.
"But don’t get close."
"Ah..."
Aurell’s face fell.
All right, that problem was settled too.
I looked at the matte katana and thought it over.
A shop-exclusive matte katana.
That meant it could only be obtained in a shop.
It would never drop in the field.
That was not a good sign.
I hardened my expression and looked up at the stairs.
"We need to get out of here."
I passed through the ticket gate with Aurell and started up the stairs.
Blood Carnival was a game where reaching max level wasn’t all that difficult.
Which meant a character’s real growth came from equipment.
In other words, it was a game where gear mattered a lot.
Cheap shop items.
If this were still just a game, I wouldn’t even have glanced at them.
But not now.
The stat difference between a bare character and one wearing even cheap shop gear was enormous.
To survive in this dangerous world, I needed to get my hands on the newly appeared equipment as fast as possible.
If there really was a god who had turned this world into what it was now, I wanted to ask her something.
What had happened to the equipment Charlotte had been wearing?
I gave a hollow laugh at my own ridiculous thought.
"S-Say, Charlotte-nim...?"
"What?"
"The sun’s up outside..."
I lifted my head at Aurell’s words.
At the top of the stairs, light was spilling in through the exit.
Just as she’d said, the sun had risen outside.
Maybe because I was Charlotte now, the mere sight of sunlight made me feel a natural disgust.
I could only begin backing away on instinct.
"Charlotte-nim, sunlight is fine for you too, isn’t it?"
"Me? Don’t be ridiculous."
I was a vampire too.
If I took direct sunlight, turning to ash was only natural.
But Aurell tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.
"Huh? But a level 20 vampire can learn the Day Walker skill, can’t they?"
"..."
At Aurell’s question, I fell silent.
Day Walker.
It was a skill only vampires who had reached level 20 could learn, one that allowed them to function even in daylight.
Obviously, I hadn’t taken it.
No—normally, vampire players didn’t take that skill.
Sun resistance could be covered perfectly well with equipment.
Learning Day Walker was a waste of skill points.
"I didn’t take it..."
"Huh...?"
At that point, there was no helping it.
I scowled and carefully climbed the stairs.
"Ch-Charlotte-nim...?"
"Be quiet."
Maybe, just maybe.
If I was a level 20 vampire...
I might be able to endure this sunlight too.
I took a deep breath and slowly held out my pinky finger toward the light.
And then—
Chiiii—!
"Hyaaah!"
The pain that I hadn’t even felt when my throat was pierced surged through my entire body from that one finger.
It felt like tiny insects were biting me all over at once.
I yelped in horror and tumbled down the stairs.
"Charlotte-nim!"
Gasping for breath, I checked my pinky.
The skin had been scorched black and was bubbling as if it were boiling.
My body was regenerating through vampire powers, but damage from sunlight didn’t heal easily.
I bit my lip and sat down on the stairs.
"Haa...! My finger..."
"Don’t come any closer..."
I frowned and shoved Aurell away.
I could see right through her—she was pretending to worry while trying to casually put her hand on my shoulder.
Aurell gave an awkward laugh at my warning and stepped back.
Just in case, I pulled out the little glass bottle I’d picked up earlier.
Inside, a red liquid sloshed faintly.
It was a Low-Grade Healing Potion, the most basic item you could get in Blood Carnival.
It could be used by any race, and when consumed, it restored 50 HP.
I opened the cap and poured the potion over my pinky.
"Phew..."
Thankfully, the healing potion on my finger did exactly what it was supposed to.
The blackened skin recovered quickly.
I frowned at the sunlight streaming through the exit.
If exposing just my pinky had done this, then if my whole body were out there in that light, I really might turn to ash.
There was no helping it.
I’d have to wait for the sun to go down.
The one truly fortunate thing was that daylight lasted only six hours out of the whole day.
I came back down the stairs and looked around the inside of the station.
"What are you looking for?"
"Somewhere decent to rest."
But there was no such place.
Most of the station’s facilities had been destroyed.
"I-If you want, would you like to sit on my lap...?"
"..."
It wasn’t even worth answering.
I glanced at Aurell’s thighs and then turned away.
There was nowhere else comfortable to rest.
In the end, Aurell and I spent the time leaning against a wall that had at least not been swallowed by mold.
We could have sat on the stairs below the exit, but because they were too close to the sunlight, I couldn’t bring myself to go near them.
"Um..."
"What?"
"Do you like chicken, by any chance...?"
Aurell kept throwing out little questions like that from time to time.
She didn’t seem tense at all.
Then again, neither did I.
"Yeah."
"Huh...!"
"Chicken, not you."
"Huh..."
After becoming a vampire—or maybe after overlaid the information from a game character onto myself—something in my head had definitely gone wrong.
Aurell kept asking questions until the sun went down.
Light, meaningless questions.
And meaningless answers.
"What’s your favorite color?"
Just as I was about to answer carelessly, Aurell’s blonde hair caught my eye.
And then the answer slipped out of me before I even thought about it.
"Gold."
"Huh...!"
No, that had been a mistake.
I scrunched up my face and started walking toward the exit.
"The sun’s down."
"Ah, ah! Charlotte-nim! I’ll go with you!"
We stepped out of the station and carefully looked around.
Abandoned cars and overturned roads.
Vines had spread up from the ground and swallowed the whole world.
"Hmm..."
The first thing I checked after leaving the subway station was the minimap burned into my mind.
In Blood Carnival, NPCs that could use functions like shops or warehouses were marked on the map.
I checked on the off chance, but there were no such markers around here.
"You’re looking for a shop NPC, aren’t you?"
I nodded at Aurell’s question.
Now that I’d found this matte katana, I couldn’t just walk away.
I started walking toward a nearby city with Aurell.
We moved along the silent road, where not a single sign of life could be felt, scanning our surroundings as we went.
Aurell was also carefully watching the area while keeping a certain distance from me.
"Charlotte-nim...!"
Then I heard Charlotte’s voice.
I turned my head slightly and saw Aurell pointing at something a little way off.
A crushed can lay on the ground.
The contents were already empty, but a thin trail of soup remained, leaving a faint stain on the road.
Someone had eaten here not long ago and left the can behind.
I clenched the matte katana in my hand.
We weren’t the only ones who had found this city.
"Aurell."
"Yes...!"
"If you find anything strange, tell me right away."
"Understood!"