The Vampire Lord's Responsibility
It was an overwhelming, uncontrollable urge. A craving to drink the Demon King’s blood. A hunger for his seed. Had she ever been this consumed by desire since becoming a Lord? Aside from when her powers were still immature, back when she had first turned into a vampire, this was a first. She had thought it was all a dream. A sane vampire would never wander around in broad daylight. Even for a Lord, walking under the sun was something to be avoided. While someone with her immense power wouldn't die from a few days of sun exposure, she had no desire to bear the risk of full-body burns.
And yet.
'I came here during the day?'
She couldn't believe it, but the unfamiliar palace surrounding her confirmed time and again that her memories were no dream. She felt strange. It wasn't just because she’d had a bizarre dream. What was this? It felt like she had been cursed with a deeply unpleasant magic. Feeling the anomaly, Frey looked at a mirror placed in the corner of the room. Nothing seemed out of place. She felt no physical abnormalities. Only a slight, heavy sensation in her lower abdomen.
"It's not like I've been cursed with magic..."
She lifted the hem of her thin undergarments and inspected her body. There was nothing particularly wrong. "Did I have a nightmare?" Perhaps it was an aftereffect of walking around in the daylight. She would have to ask Roy. That child knew many things.
"You're awake?"
An unfamiliar voice reached her ears.
"Huh?"
It was the succubus who always stood by the Demon King like a secretary.
"It's that slut."
Frey glared at Yulia with visible disgust and clicked her tongue.
"I don't think that's something a mosquito who sucks blood from anyone without discrimination should be saying."
"Bullshit. At least I don't sell my body to every man I see without a shred of chastity. I have pride."
Vampires and succubi were distant relatives, but Frey did not like succubi. The reason was simple: their vulgar habit of hopping from man to man to drain their essence. To grant one's body so easily—when sex was supposed to be a sacred act. To treat it so filthily... she couldn't understand it. She even hated that they possessed similar bat-like wings. If succubi had angel wings, she wouldn't have cared. Everyone knew those crazy bitches were two-faced and mentally unstable. But succubi were a different story. There were many ignorant humans who occasionally mistook her for a succubus, mostly because of the few commonalities like being active at night and charming their opponents.
"Don't you know that because of you lot, the authority of us vampires is falling?"
"That's not something for a shut-in bat who can't even walk around unless it's night to be saying."
Her mood soured. The strange sense of happiness she had felt in her dream vanished. Only the lingering, sticky feeling of being helplessly toyed with by the massive Demon King at the end of the dream remained.
"So, what is it?"
"The Demon King has ordered me to bring you to him once you woke up."
"The Demon King?"
"Yes. Before we go, you need to wash that sweat-drenched body of yours, so follow me."
"You're going to bathe me?"
"Yes."
"Forget it. I can do it myself..."
At that moment, Yulia grabbed her wrist.
"I apologize, but we don't have the luxury of waiting for a vampire's leisurely bath."
"Hey, let go! You slut!"
"Follow me quickly. I'm not doing this because I want to, either."
"P-please, spare me just once."
I looked at the lord who was begging on his knees before me. What was this guy's name? Some kind of viscount. This shrewd noble, who possessed a massive military force for a viscount, had raised an army, claiming he would seek independence. Perhaps it was because his territory was close to the Roman Kingdom. There were a significant number of troops wearing armor of a different style than the Aslan Kingdom's. Frederike and Rebecca crushed the enemies as they always did. Rayleigh and Kina kidnapped the enemy leadership, and the remaining soldiers slaughtered the remnants. Conquering a viscount's territory was nothing.
"Aaaaargh!"
People's screams echoed. It was the screams of human females being violated by monsters. They were trembling in fear now, but before long, they would come to enjoy it. The demonic energy filling the viscount's territory would corrupt their minds. It was necessary to set a clear example.
'I don't need to increase the number of fools who dare to rebel against me.'
Terror for the enemy, certain rewards for the allies. That was my governing philosophy. Now was the time to instill fear.
"Why did you start a rebellion?" I asked, looking at the kneeling lord.
"I-I must have been mad. I-I thought that with them, we could defeat even the Demon King's army..."
"By 'them,' do you mean Roman?"
"..."
"If you don't speak, things won't end well for you."
"R-Roman!" the lord blurted out in a hurry. This man wasn't the type to dare rebel against me. A coward. An opportunist. A man who was swayed by the tides of the era. He knew the Demon King's army had firmly occupied Aslan, so why?
'There's something above him.'
Perhaps there was a noble who incited him, or if not that, there were new movements visible overseas.
'It's likely the former.'
The Roman Kingdom and the Non-Human Alliance alone couldn't defeat us. The win rate was 50/50. Even if internal enemies rebelled, the win rate wouldn't change significantly. This wasn't a situation where a person of this type would draw a sword.
"Who is it?"
"Y-yes?"
"Not Roman, but who is the one who truly incited you?"
"T-that is..."
"Are you saying you can't speak?"
I pointed to Vivian standing beside me. She was currently in the middle of turning the lord's knights into a single cocoon.
"Do you want to end up like your knights over there?"
"T-that is..."
The face of the lord, trembling in fear, twisted.
"A geumje (binding curse)."
The lord had a specific binding curse that prevented him from speaking.
"Rayleigh."
"Yes, Father."
"Lift the binding curse on this man and figure out what he knows. Until then, I suppose I'll have to postpone handing him over to Vivian."
"Understood."
Rayleigh approached the lord with a blunt expression.
"D-don't come!"
"Follow me."
Lifting the lord lightly with magic, she dragged him away without touching him, as if moving a piece of filth.
"The rebellion was quelled faster than I thought."
No wonder the weather had been nice these past few days. I confirmed that people starting to go mad, intoxicated by demonic energy, were appearing one by one. An unnamed territory on the Roman border. From now on, this place would remain as the result of rebelling against the Demon King's army.
"There will be quite a lot of demonic beasts swarming nearby."
It was a borderland close to the Roman Kingdom. Naturally, it would serve as a stronghold to guard the border. There would also be many adventurers coming to clear this dungeon. The castle would grow by devouring such adventurers. If it were cleared by an adventurer one day...
'Then I'll have to step in myself.'
It would have grown into an adventurer with even greater rewards. A bitch like that would be worth tasting. It was time to return to the castle. I received word that Frey, who had been asleep for three days, had awakened.
"You're late."
I looked at Frey, who had arrived at the office with Yulia. To think she was even later than coming from the border. Looking at Yulia's expression, it felt like she had quite a headache caring for her.
"Is this for real?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm asking if I really came here on my own two feet."
"...Isn't that obvious? Did you think I kidnapped you? For what reason? There's nothing to gain. No, in the first place, I don't even know where that Forbidden Land is."
Frey had an expression of disbelief. It meant she had come here half out of her mind. Blood deficiency had led her here. Addiction was this terrifying.
"T-then, did I really give my first time to you...?"
"You begged me to take it yourself, so what are you saying now?"
"H-haha... This makes no sense. My purity, which I've protected for so long..."
Frey slumped down.
"It was a virginity kept for the one who would someday liberate me from the night..."
"Was it an object with such meaning?"
The weight of a thousand-year-old virginity was heavy. An existence that would allow a vampire to walk in the daylight? Was there such a thing in the world? I don't know much about this world, so I wouldn't know.
"Take responsibility."
"What?"
"Take responsibility. Either way, you're the one who took my first time! So... so take responsibility."
"What do you want me to take responsibility for?"
I stood up and approached Frey. Every time I walked, she retreated a step.
"D-don't come."
"Didn't you tell me to take responsibility? I don't think you should be so scared of the person you're asking to take responsibility."
"Y-you pervert! Freak! Sea anemone! Idiot!"
"If you've lived for a thousand years, couldn't you use more sophisticated insults?"
"I don't know, you moron! Let go of this hand..."
She was fussy. I preferred her when she was cute, suffering from withdrawal symptoms because she couldn't drink blood.
"I'll take responsibility."
Anyway, to complete the quest, I had to go to the Forbidden Land with her. That was the only way to clear the quest and move on to the next step. Even if it was a bit troublesome, I had to take responsibility. And if she was a Vampire Lord, she would be a significant asset. A great subordinate would always bring greater results.
"Y-you'll take responsibility? You?"
Was my answer unexpected? Frey's pupils wavered.
"Do you not want to? You're the one who just told me to take responsibility, aren't you?"
"That may be so, but..."
"A Demon King who takes responsibility for a Vampire Lord and keeps her as a subordinate. Isn't that quite attractive?"
"S-subordinate! I am a Lord! I will never enter under anyone's—hiiiit!!"
As I stroked her crotch with my finger, she let out a cry. She seemed to be trying to speak of a Lord's pride, but all that could be heard were moans.
"S-stop. Wait, I'm not used to this... Haa-eung."
She trembled, letting out wet moans. She didn't even seem to have any intention of resisting. From the mouth that had been talking about not entering under anyone, only other sounds were heard.
"Huu-eut!"
The sounds of a vulgar female who had discarded all her pride. Perhaps because the memory of being violated until she lost consciousness still remained in her body, she reflexively lifted her waist and bit her lip. She was rubbing herself against a more pleasant spot on her own.
"This is no different from a succubus."
"Don't even say things like that. I'm different from those bitches..."
"Well, that's true. Vampires are different from succubi. Yes, indeed."
I rolled up my sleeve and extended my arm to her.
"You lot are crazy about blood more than semen, aren't you?"
At the sight of my arm, saliva dripped from Frey's mouth. Her mouth opened, and her facial muscles loosened for a moment. Perhaps because the taste of what she had drunk remained in her mouth, she licked her lips with her tongue.
"Do you want to drink?"
"..."
A silent affirmation.
"Then let's make one promise."
"W-what is it?"
"I'd like us to visit the Forbidden Land together."
"..."
"If you don't want to, forget it."
After hesitating for a moment, she answered.
"Going together... that's fine."
"Is that so? That's good. Then you may drink. Drink as much as you want."
As soon as the permission was given, Frey bit my hand.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
"Hng-geuuut!!!!"
Frey stood on her tiptoes and lifted her hips. Perhaps she had climaxed, as urine trickled down, wetting her panties and flowing down her thighs. And I saw it. As soon as she drank the blood, a tattoo faintly engraved on her lower abdomen. It was a tattoo similar to Sage's, yet different.
"Huu-eung! It's delicious... Haa-eut."
I slapped Frey's trembling buttocks.
"Kyaa-eut!"
She wet herself once more. This was the dignity of a Vampire Lord.