51. Something Better Than a Virgin
51. Something Better Than a Virgin
Vampires. As the name suggests, a race that goes around sucking human blood.
Though their numbers were few and they struggled under the sun, the Empire's leadership nevertheless considered vampires a greater threat than even the Demon King or a Corpse Lord.
Because, true to their title as Nobles of the Night, they excelled at slipping through the shadows and infiltrating society with their ability to mesmerize people.
If that small minority infiltrated human society to assassinate authorities or mesmerize them into becoming puppets for their own ambitions, the repercussions would far exceed any armed rebellion.
"Hoho, my apologies for the dust in the house. I haven't used this hideout in quite some time, you see."
Indeed, the vampire who had dragged me to this abandoned mansion at this moment was one of the Empire's most infamous wanted criminals.
Virgil Hunter. Commonly known as the Virgin Butcher.
A name earned by physically tearing virgins to death. As even nobles and imperial princesses were not excluded from his targeting, from the Empire's perspective, he was someone they desperately wanted to eliminate.
"Take a seat wherever suits you. I'll bring out some refreshments."
But what was this?
Why was this heinous criminal showing me such goodwill?
"I'll brew some black tea from the dried leaves I keep here... Ah, and I have some snacks I bought for dessert. A bit old-fashioned in taste, but will that do?"
"Oh, no, that's fine. Rookie adventurers are used to scrimping anyway, so I'm grateful for anything."
"Hoho, such a diligent and admirable young man."
Not just being considerate, but even offering praise.
Was this some kind of vampire mesmerism? Slipping into someone's heart by sweet-talking them...
No, I had just watched him butcher a gold digger moments ago. It was hard to suspect an ulterior motive when I'd just witnessed him do a complete 180.
He simply showed a tolerant attitude toward anything he didn't personally despise. At least, that was the impression I got of him.
"Ah, now that I think of it, I never formally introduced myself when we met last time."
As if proving my speculation correct, he soon placed a hand on his chest and spoke.
"My name is Virgil Hunter. A noble of the lofty night clan, and a man who practices a dark trade as both a hobby and profession."
"...A dark trade?"
"Hoho, are you interested?"
-Shrrrk.
Virgil produced a paper from beneath his pushed-aside cloak and laid it on the table.
It contained portraits of women, along with information about them.
What the hell? A collection of funeral portraits by a serial killer?
"If you have your desired conditions, I can introduce you to a suitable woman from among them. I, your Dark Matchmaker, shall find and introduce someone to your liking."
"Uh... A matchmaking business?"
"Yes, I generally work to introduce new partners to women who have lost their companions. In this chaotic world, many lose their husbands, but wouldn't it be too cruel to demand they spend their whole lives in sorrow?"
The vampire chuckled softly, fidgeting with his fingers.
The satisfied smile drawn on his face showed that he truly found this work rewarding.
"Ah, of course, I cannot introduce you to a woman who already has a partner. A man's love stems from conquest and embrace, and its form must never be plunder."
"...You have a very firm philosophy."
"A noble must know how to adhere to their convictions. Hoho."
Ah, yes. And with those firm convictions, you tear virgins to death, is what you're saying.
There were so many things I wanted to call out, but since my own life was precious to me, I decided to keep my mouth shut for now.
"Well, for that reason, I am a noble who cannot leave those in distress alone. Let's stop the small talk here and get straight to the point......"
Swish.
Virgil Hunter retrieved the catalog he had placed on the table.
Then, after sweeping back his long black hair and resting his chin on his hand, he spoke.
"The reason you wandered the night streets drunk... was it because of a woman?"
Eyes that showed his age and experience, and a low, measured voice.
It felt like it was digging into my inner thoughts, but I wasn't particularly surprised.
Because vampires inherently possess the skill of beguilement, and that skill is a result of their mastery of rhetoric that sees through or tears into a target's heart.
"The truth is..."
And I was in a situation where, even if I got out of here, I'd just end up drinking myself into a stupor again.
Deciding I might as well consult him since things had come to this, I readily produced the letter I'd kept in my coat and handed it to him.
"Oh, is this a love letter?"
"No, it's a breakup notice."
"...Hmm, I see."
After I gave a rough summary of what happened with Marilyn.
He read it through, then raised his eyes and turned his gaze toward me.
"From a cursory look, it seems this woman named Marilyn came to regard you as quite special."
"D-do you really think so?"
"Did you not successfully draw out a resolution to turn her back on the lord to whom she'd sworn even her dignity and life? You may rejoice. Because you have succeeded in drawing forth the emotion called 'love' from her."
I flinched.
The moment my body involuntarily stiffened at the unexpected words.
"Love... you say?"
"I won't assert what kind it is. Not only romantic courtship but also simple fondness, friendship, or camaraderie can be called love. I merely think it's safe to be certain that it's something so powerful she'd stake her life on it."
Ah, right. If she staked her life on it, it couldn't possibly be a light feeling.
Since I too had felt things in my relationship with her, I didn't dismiss it as purely absurd.
Marilyn had developed a deep lingering attachment toward me due to my ability, and since I felt the reality of it too, this breakup hurt all the more....
"Hoho, to witness the birth of another 'fine non-virgin' in this world, truly my heart feels warm."
Crash! My head slammed onto the table right after those words.
As the snacks on the table jolted slightly from the impact, Virgil deftly caught one, popped it into his mouth, and asked me.
"Why is that, young man? If it's anemia, I can give you a blood transfusion."
It's because of your absurd bullshit, you vampire.
No, I thought he was seriously consulting me, so why did the conversation suddenly leap to that?
"...That, what you said about a non-virgin, what exactly do you mean by it?"
"I meant that you made the woman who wrote this letter into a fine woman."
"No. M-Marilyn and I did not have that kind of relationship! We only met for a couple of days at most.... Anyway, we didn't do it. Because nothing like that happened!!"
"Oh, my. It seems I've caused you to misunderstand me a bit. Making her a non-virgin wasn't really meant in that sense."
Seeing me deny it even to the point of shouting, Virgil Hunter smiled wryly and ran a finger over the letter he held.
Re-reading its contents, his eyes narrowed sleepily as he looked back at me again.
"The meaning I spoke of is that, until she met you, the woman who wrote this letter had never given her heart to anyone. Even her blind loyalty to her lord probably started as a hardened response to escape her lowly birth."
"...Can you really tell that just from one letter?"
"When you've lived a long time, you come to see things."
Virgil let out a laugh and quietly set the letter back down on the table.
Then, tilting his head, he began tapping his temple with a finger, his voice dropping low.
"Now then, let me ask a question at this point. How different was the sense of distance she kept with you compared to others?"
"...Sense of distance, you say?"
"I'm talking about things like telling you jokes that would be awkward for you to hear, not feeling averse to physical contact, or showing you her tightly-clothed body only in your presence."
The more he spoke, the more my body twitched reflexively.
So many of the things he mentioned hit way too close to home for me.
"Seeing your face, it seems you've never seen her do these things for another."
"Y-yeah. At least not in front of me......"
"Of course. A woman who would give you a letter like this wouldn't wag her tail at other men like that. Conversely, a woman who only looked to her master was moved enough to do such things for you, which means a rift has been applied to the purity she possessed."
A rift in her purity, he said.
Could you really use that kind of expression just for liking someone, without any physical relationship?
Could something as absolute as virginity really be thrown into disarray that easily?
"I swear on my dignity as a noble. A vassal who has looked upon a single lord her whole life awakened to love upon meeting you and became a fine non-virgin. That is something you can take pride in for the rest of your life."
"...I'm asking because I really don't know, but are the conditions for being a non-virgin really that simple?"
"Well, of course. Because a virgin, in itself, signifies a pure existence... a perfectly flawless being, without a single blemish!"
-Shwooruk!
Virgil Hunter's body melted into the darkness and vanished.
Then, appearing suddenly beside me, he whispered as if murmuring in my ear.
"One who has never held someone in one's heart (Heart), one who lacks even the basic knowledge to comfort oneself (Technique), one who has no experience of being joined with another (Body)....... In vampire society, we call those who satisfy all three conditions true virgins. So much so that we judge virgins by rating them based on these three factors!"
What the hell...
I knew vampires were obsessed with virgins, but they even score them based on knowledge and emotional value?
Does getting a 100 in health class at school make you look like the sex master of the red-light district?
"And while my kin, and indeed those who face me, often misunderstand, I do not particularly hate virgins. I simply killed mannerless vermin in a moment of rage; it's just that those bitches were all equally spoiled fucking wretches."
Just as I was grimacing, thinking vampire culture was insane.
He, who seemed possibly normal by comparison, folded his arms beside me and continued speaking with an air of confidence.
"Then let me ask one more question. Do you think a person who has never set their heart on anyone, has no skill to express love, and can't even pursue a relationship could ever properly build a relationship with you?"
"From what you're saying, it does sound like that'd be pretty hard......"
"As I said, one who has loved once tries to be more honest with their heart afterwards, one with knowledge wanders in search of a partner to use it with, and one who has experienced physical union cannot forget that pleasure and inevitably seeks relationships with others. And yet they maintain their virginity with no such experience? Unless they've spent their whole life holed up in a closet, don't you think it's ridiculous to expect them to show any goodwill toward me in the first place?"
"Ah, yeah. You're not wrong. Yeah...."
Indeed, no matter how good someone looks, if they don't show me any goodwill, they're just pretty trash.
Having seen firsthand what kind of end such trash meets, I found myself being halfway persuaded by his logic.
I still couldn't shake the thought that it was all bullshit, but even his bullshit was delivered with a rhetorical skill and weight that could seriously package it.
"Overlooking those points, many men even today are mad for ideals and worship the perfectly flawless virgin as an idol, but if you try to make an ideal a reality, the result is usually a dumpster fire."
-Shwoorook.
His body vanished from beside me again like mist.
"So remember this advice well. Better than a chaste fucking bitch with absolutely no potential to love you is a married woman who has proven experience of loving another, and better than a married woman is a non-virgin with the hands-on experience of having tarnished her own virginity with her own hands."
Appearing before me then, he aimed a finger with sharpened nails at my eyes and spoke in a low voice.
"Though the world is chaotic and overflowing with those who have lost their partners, precisely because of that, isn't the value of love achieved by untainted men and women all the higher?"
An orthodox argument that I, inexperienced in romantic relationships, dared not even refute.
He even lifted the corners of his mouth into a confident smirk, exuding self-assurance.
"...But."
Yes, it was a bit extreme, but looking at its fundamentals, it wasn't wrong.
Because in this chaotic world, the value of someone who shows me goodwill would indeed increase.
Vivian, and Marilyn too.
The reason I'd grown feelings for them was because I understood that value.
"Even if our hearts are mutual, I might never be able to see her again."
But isn't being together with them only possible if you have power?
I have no power, and so I can do nothing but watch them drift away.
And that's probably how it will continue to repeat.......
"So, feeling afraid of this current heartbreak, you intend to repeat the same mistake?"
Gripping my shoulders as I was about to open up to someone else, he spoke to me in a weighty voice.
"If you regret letting one woman go, don't you think you should at least protect what remains?"
"What, remains?"
"I asked you if the person in your heart right now is solely that one woman you believe you can no longer meet."
I flinched, my body trembling.
My body reacted before I even thought, because I myself knew what answer I had to give to his words.
"Yes, there is surely more. And now, unable to forget the experience of heartbreak, you feel fear at advancing your relationships with those who remain...."
-Shwooruk.
Once more, his body vanished before my eyes....
No, he hadn't vanished.
His body, which had transformed and diffused like mist, was now subtly surrounding me; it just felt that way.
"Those who leave can't be helped, but if you still desire something, you must first seize it in your grasp before you can discuss it....... So, if you have time to debate your qualifications, go claim it with your own will."
As I listened to the echo resounding from that mist, I gradually felt my consciousness being submerged.
Mesmerizing technique. A type of hypnosis used by the vampires called Nobles of the Night when targeting their prey.
"Because this harsh world is not kind enough to wait until you've prepared your heart."
Normally, I would have felt a sense of crisis and resisted, but even so, I chose not to resist and to accept his voice.
Believing that he, who at least gave me sincere advice, wasn't doing this with malice.
****
And when I came back to my senses.
Face-down on the ground, replaying the words I was saying, I realized that something had gone horribly wrong.
"Miss Airi, please have sex with me!"
No, really, old man Vampire.
This is way too far, no matter how you look at it.