Bathory Hosa (1)
My name is Bathory Hosa.
I am the second-in-command of the Grace family, the Vampire Lord household that rules over all vampires, and the commander of the Nightfire Unit.
For the past thousand years, I have served the direct bloodline of the Grace family. It is both my duty as a member of the Grace household and my atonement toward him.
Ordinarily, vampires possess a lifespan of around five hundred years. Even the True Ancestors, direct descendants of the first Vampire Lord, cannot escape this law.
Yet I have lived for over a thousand years. All of this was made possible by the blessing he left me after sacrificing himself.
As atonement toward him, I served the Grace family.
However, the current Vampire Lord's child was a peculiar girl. Unlike other vampires, she felt little sexual desire toward men. Though I myself have never approached men because of my atonement, vampires are inherently creatures of intense lust. Persecuted by humans and constantly threatened with extinction, their reproductive instincts are constantly stimulated.
Even so, Monica Grace, the sole heir to the current Lord, had never once approached a man in over a century. Rumors began to spread that the next head of the household might have some dysfunction in her sexual functions. Unable to stand it any longer, the retainers secretly placed several men inside Monica's room.
But when Monica encountered the men in her room, she flew into a rage and assaulted the retainers. No matter how much she was the Lord's only daughter, assaulting retainers who had served the family for countless years could damage the credibility of the True Ancestor household. Among those she struck were comrades who had fought alongside her in the Great War, long before she was even born.
Even though all vampires fundamentally obey the True Ancestors, respect must still be shown to long-serving retainers. Thus Monica had to be punished. While I was away on an expedition, she was sentenced to one year of house arrest. And not just any house arrest—she was ordered to work as the manager of a clothing store in an ordinary shopping mall.
Even before this incident, Monica had caused numerous accidents and received various punishments from the Lord. Still, forcing her to be confined in such a place for an entire year made it clear just how furious the Lord had become this time. After all, the future ruler of all vampires was now reduced to running a clothing store.
If she caused another incident, no one knew what kind of punishment she would receive. So I had hoped Monica would quietly endure for just one year.
But only three months later, I received a call from Monica.
"Hey, old hag."
"Good evening, young lady. It's been three months, hasn't it? Quite a while."
"Yeah. Long time no see."
"I heard you received a house-arrest order from the Chairman. Is it all right for you to be calling me like this?"
What on earth was she calling about? While under house arrest, contacting me was strictly forbidden. The fact that she called anyway meant she must have something she needed done.
"I did receive it, but that's not important right now. Something urgent came up. I need your help, old hag."
"Young lady… you are currently under house arrest. If we move now, a report will immediately reach the Chairman. If word gets out that you mobilized us while under restriction, there's no telling what punishment you'll receive."
Was this girl out of her mind?! If the Lord got angry one more time, who knew how terrifying the punishment would be—yet she was trying to cause another incident?
"That doesn't matter right now!!! Just get over here. This is the most important thing in my entire life."
"……What? In your entire life? What exactly… hmm……"
The most important thing in her life? This girl wasn't the type to speak empty words. Was it truly that significant?
Suddenly, memories of the time I adventured together with him surfaced. It was over ten centuries ago, yet I still longed for those days.
Grind—
If only that hadn't happened. He was never someone who deserved to suffer such a fate.
Because of me. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have ended up that way.
Back then, I had been desperate enough to offer everything I possessed just to save him. From Monica, I could feel the same desperate urgency I once carried.
"Tsk. Understood. Since you're not the type to speak nonsense, I'll head over as quickly as possible. Will you need a large number of people?"
"Just you should be enough, old hag. But don't bring anyone else. It has to be only you."
"Sigh…… Very well. I'll be there shortly."
Sigh. It couldn't be helped. I'd help her just this once.
Really, I've grown far too soft.
Today, for some reason, I miss him more than usual.
________________
Monica had asked me to come to the shopping mall by midnight.
However, a harpy rebellion broke out, and suppressing it delayed me. Even though this country is ruled by us vampires, there are still monsters foolish enough to challenge us. The harpies had already rebelled once recently and been suppressed. Perhaps it was time to wipe them out completely.
Incidentally, a crimson pillar supposedly rose high enough to touch the sky in the middle of a Japanese city today. I needed to investigate what happened, but today was simply too busy.
By the time I arrived at the shopping mall, an hour late, it was just past 1 a.m.
The lights in the mall were all off. When I scanned the presence within the entire space, I detected only four people. Recognizing one of them as Monica, I rushed over—only to find a lycanthrope.
Lycanthropes were the worst traitors, having betrayed other monsters to side with humans. They were the highest-priority extermination target for all monsters.
I thought this country had been completely cleaned up recently. Had a new one slipped in?
I teleported directly behind it and drove a Bloody Dagger—manifested through my authority—straight into its heart.
Lycanthropes possessed tremendous vitality, making them difficult to kill. But stabbing the heart directly with a weapon manifested by my authority guaranteed instant death. This was knowledge gained from slaying countless wolf bitches over the years.
If this one was a direct descendant of the lycanthrope chieftain, the Khan, it might not die so easily.
But there was no way such a specimen would be here.
After dealing with it, I checked the surroundings.
Hm? Why was our Monica bound in the restraints typically used by lycanthropes and unconscious? With Monica's combat ability, she shouldn't have been defeated by a mere lycanthrope.
"What are you? Why is our young lady in such a state?"
And there was a human woman bound by the "Blood Handcuffs" created by Monica's own ability.
What had happened that Monica felt the need to use her power to restrain an ordinary human? With Monica's abilities, subduing or knocking out a normal human through physical strength alone should have been trivial. Why had she manifested her power? This would only make cleanup more troublesome.
And beside them stood a young man.
Ah?
That couldn't be.
Why you? How…?
Was he just a human who resembled him? No. This soul's scent was unmistakably his. Autumn Grace.
I couldn't be mistaken. I had yearned for and dwelled upon it for a thousand years.
But how? This was impossible.
He had clearly vanished a thousand years ago.
_______________
What the hell was going on?
The blonde older sister had tried to do something strange to me, then suddenly flew away, and I thought maybe I'd awakened some kind of superpower—only for the stylish older sister who'd asked for my number earlier to save me.
I was still completely dumbfounded.
Just who was this older sister?
"Ah, my name is Cassandra."
"I'm Kim Ga-eul. Thank you for saving me. Huh? But on the business card, your name was……?"
"Ah, that was an alias. My job involves catching monsters like that, so I keep multiple identities. Still, what I said earlier was sincere, Ga-eul-nim. Would you consider dating me?"
"What?"
What? She catches monsters? Wasn't this supposed to be a gender-reversed everyday world?
The stylish older sister approached the blonde older sister and placed what looked like handcuffs on her.
"You don't have to worry anymore, Ga-eul-nim. This vampire is now restrained and won't be able to use her powers. There's no need to be concerned."
"What? A vampire? Wait, what…… Is this not a normal gender-reversed world? Don't tell me my delusion again……"
A vampire? What? Was this a fantasy gender-reversed world? What the—had another one of my delusions become reality?
"Um, Ga-eul-nim. I understand you're very confused right now, but if we stay here it's dangerous……"
Suddenly, a pink-haired woman appeared and stabbed the stylish older sister from behind with a bright red sword.
Shit. What the hell? The older sister wasn't dead, right? She couldn't be.
"What are you? Why is our young lady in such a state?"
The pink-haired woman asked.
Huh? Pink demon?
Ah. I see. So I finally understood which delusion had become reality.
I'm screwed. To escape from that woman, I'd need to awaken some kind of cheat ability like time stop. At this rate, there was no answer.
Hm? She looked somewhat flustered?
Ah! So that was it.
In that case…… there might be a way to get out of this situation.