Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: EP30. Familiar
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What the hell just happened?
It all happened in an instant.
Malus's head was gone, its shape unrecognizable.
His torso had lost all strength and slumped limply to the floor.
And that Malus... reduced to pulp by a single punch from the Saintess.
"Who're you calling princess... Ugh... disgusting."
The Saintess shook off the blood from her fist.
As if it were caked in filth.
Then some of Malus's blood splattered onto her clothes.
"Ah... I just washed this yesterday."
Annoyed by the bloodstain, she wiped at her outfit with her clean arm.
But the red only spread further across the fabric.
"Saintess, please stay still."
I quickly grabbed a cloth from the desk drawer.
Then hurried over and rubbed at her clothes.
"What... where'd you get that cloth?"
The first day my wrist got severed, Hans had slipped it into the drawer last night.
He said it was great for staunching blood and absorbing.
That's why I could never hate Hans.
He said it was pretty pricey, too...
If it's expensive, wiping the Saintess's clothes should be worth it.
"Hans gave it to me."
"Hmm..."
A bit of rubbing and her clothes looked somewhat better than before.
One more wash ought to get rid of the mark completely.
"Ah... still need to wash it once more, I guess..."
"But more importantly, Saintess, let's wipe your face first."
"Huh... is it that dirty?"
Truth be told, it was way beyond "a bit dirty."
I hadn't said it outright, but her face was smeared with blood—scary to even look at.
I slowly held out the cloth to her.
"...Can't see well with all this blood. Wipe it for me, oppa."
"Sure."
"Huh? You're really gonna? I was kidding."
She shrugged a little at my reply.
A woman who'd just pulverized a man's skull, asking me to wipe some blood from her eyes... Of course I'd do it.
"Close your eyes."
"Huh? Oh..."
I gripped the cloth and gently wiped the blood from her forehead, bit by bit.
She'd taken out Malus for me—wiping blood off a girl's face was nothing.
At first, when she said she'd stay at the gate, I panicked about getting caught using Body Search. But now? Having the Saintess here was pure luck.
Felt like I'd squeezed every buff out from day one.
Ask anyone the biggest headache in the West, and Malus ranks in the top five.
A leech of a curse steadily draining time and resources—not lethal, but impossible to ignore. An NPC that demands ages to drop, so I'd prayed he wouldn't show early.
Hero, Selena, and now even Malus—a triple combo that nearly broke me.
Now I owed the Saintess my life two days straight.
I gotta treat her better from here on out.
I silently vowed it to myself about her.
No matter her screw-ups, I'd forgive her once.
With a pleased feeling, I slowly wiped the blood from around her eyes.
Careful to get only the blood.
I've been groping women's bodies for over a month now.
This was child's play.
"You can open your eyes now."
At my words, her scarlet eyes slowly fluttered open.
Vampires' eyes turn red at night, they say.
Up close, they looked brimming with blood.
Meeting her gaze, I kept wiping her face.
Now, slowly cleaning the blood from her cheeks.
Even through the cloth, I felt her soft cheek flesh give way.
Definitely not like an ordinary woman's.
A slight press, and her cheek slid up with the cloth.
"...Urk."
Too hard? A weird noise slipped from her lips.
If asked whether I had zero ulterior motives, it'd be a lie.
But messing with her cheeks like this, time slipped away unnoticed.
Hoping someday I'd get to touch them bare-handed, I kept wiping.
Before long, her face was spotless.
"Oppa... why'd you wipe so long."
"It was dirty."
"Sigh... my skin's gonna rub raw..."
It was the excuse I'd scraped together.
She heard me out and let out a deep sigh.
I handed her the cloth, and she wiped the blood from her hands too.
The cloth had lost its original color, now fully bloodied.
But thinking about it, this was all blood—wouldn't she drink it?
"Saintess, this is blood too. Not drinking it?"
"Hmm... Oppa, do you know how vampires make familiars?"
"By injecting blood, I know."
"Spot on. Vampires have their target drink their own blood to make familiars. So what you just said? Basically telling me to make this bastard my familiar."
"Ah... sorry."
"Don't apologize... Nobody but vampires knows this."
Another fact I hadn't known. No wonder she loathed it so much.
For a vampire, becoming a familiar meant surrendering their status.
But now I was getting curious.
Why she'd smashed Malus's head on sight. And why "princess" set her off so bad.
"Saintess...?"
"Yeah?"
"Should I call you princess now?"
"......"
The word "princess" made her body stiffen like stone.
"Oppa..."
"Yes."
"Don't say 'princess' around me..."
"Got it."
She spoke to me in a wilted voice.
"Princess" was clearly a landmine.
"......"
"......"
Unlike before, the mood turned barren in a flash.
Shouldn't have asked.
"Sigh... Oppa, I'll tell you later when we're closer. For now, help me clean this up?"
"Sure."
I figured I'd ask about Malus later too.
She didn't seem keen to talk.
"......"
"......"
The Saintess and I quietly disposed of Malus's corpse without a word.
She dragged the body across the floor and out.
Meanwhile, I scrubbed the floor and walls hard with the cloth.
Wringing blood from the cloth and wiping, over and over...
The bloodstains in the room were roughly sorted.
If the soldiers mopped come morning, it shouldn't show much.
That's when I spotted Malus's eyeball in the corner.
'Whoa... gonna hurl.'
I wrapped it in cloth to chuck it outside.
Then...
'Huh?'
[Item: Malus's Left Eye][Expiration: 7 days]
The left eye of the curse-specialist vampire Malus. Can forcibly inflict one curse upon use.
Item description...
Saw these all the time in the game, but first one since arriving in this world.
And damn, it's a good item.
Force any curse once... Ugly enough to puke at, but the specs are killer.
Feed it to Kyle—might even lift that Monster Pork curse.
Not that I need to.
If there's a downside, it's the short expiration.
But why does a human eye drop as an item?
Like monster loot drops?
Never killed Malus as Gatekeeper, so no clue.
Before the Saintess got back, I wrapped the eyeball in cloth and shoved it straight into the desk drawer.
Lucky break, I guess.
While waiting for her, I glanced at the clock.
The hour hand had passed 7, racing toward 8.
Cleaning took way longer than expected...
Right on cue, she opened the exit door and stepped in.
"......"
She still looked totally deflated.
This calls for a proper apology.
If she's like this after all this time, it's gotta be mostly my fault.
"Saintess."
"...Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. Didn't realize it'd upset you that much."
"......"
I bowed deeply to her, full of remorse.
Standing there quietly, she finally spoke.
"Sigh... This wasn't how I wanted it..."
She scratched at her head, messing up her hair.
"Oppa... I said I'd tell you when we got closer, right?"
"Yes."
"Then wanna get close right now?"
"Huh? What do you...?"
Getting close right now? What?
A sleazy thought crossed my mind, but I shook it off.
She's the Saintess. No way she'd mean that.
We've only known each other three days, even.
"Hmm... How to put this..."
She tidied her tousled hair, still pondering.
Decision made, she slammed the exit door shut.
Then started checking for any gaps to the outside.
"Don't tell anyone what I say from now on."
"Won't."
What's got her so paranoid?
Her face was dead serious, like she was about to drop some bombshell.
Cheeks faintly flushed, too.
Did I scrub too hard earlier?
"Sigh... I want you to become my familiar."
"Oh? Sure, familiar's no biggie."
"Huh?"
She said it eyes squeezed shut, like a confession.
But surprisingly casual words came out.
Just a familiar...
In the game, familiars didn't grant any OP powers.
Restrictions weren't harsh either.
Just hand over blood now and then. Done.
Only tried it as Malus's familiar in-game, but probably same for the Saintess.
Heard from Malus it was some vampire instinct thing.
But my lukewarm reaction seemed to shock her.
"Not gonna ask...?"
"Ask what?"
"Why you gotta become my familiar... or what a familiar even is..."
"Kinda know what a familiar is."
"Ah, you know and that's your reaction?"
"Just giving blood sometimes, right?"
Seeing my nonchalance, she started fidgeting.
No real loss in becoming her familiar anyway.
"You've saved my life like three times already. Blood's the least I can give."
"......"
Gottta repay favors like this to sleep easy.
No big deal besides.
"W-wait, you really only know that?"
"Something more?"
Extra conditions or something?
"Ah... no. Uh, nothing."
"Then we're good. If it gets us closer, familiar it is."
The Saintess wouldn't lie, right?
And I'd already vowed to forgive her once, whatever.
If it came with curses or chains, maybe not—but really just blood a few times?
Even if extras, how bad?
And if curse, Malus's eyeball in the drawer fixes it.
"Do it now?"
"Huh?... R-right now?"
"You said get close now."
"R-right..."
Her face kept reddening.
Wasn't my imagination earlier.
Sucked my blood bold as brass this morning, but giving it shyed her up.
"Then go for it. You were so bold earlier—no need to get embarrassed."
"Huh?"
Unaware of her burning cheeks, she patted them.
Then took a deep breath.
We were both standing in the gate room.
Not a ton of blood involved anyway—standing works.
"Hoo... then straight to it like this?"
"Yes, go ahead."
Unlike morning, she seemed super flustered.
Vampires change at night or what?
I tugged my uniform collar down for easy neck access.
She blanked a sec, then chomped down hard.
Damn... hurts way too much!
Nothing like this morning's pain.
Felt like two massive nails hammered raw into my nape.
But familiar-making didn't drag on.
Seconds later, her fangs popped out with a pong.
"Hiss... all done?"
"Uh... yeah..."
It hurt like dying.
Whatever, familiar now.
Her face looked teary for some reason.
Why? Kinda guilty expression.
"So, we're closer now?"
"Y-yeah... but... do you know what being a familiar means, oppa?"
"Means...? No clue. Restrictions?"
"Nah, just checking if you knew the meaning."
Meaning? That matter?
Probably just "her underling."
"Don't know the meaning. Like a subordinate?"
"Wel...ll."
Mid-talk, she started hemming and hawing.
Not a subordinate?
Thought it was blood-giving slave gig.
Some huge meaning?
How huge could it be anyway?
No restrictions to boot.
"...mate."
"Pardon? What'd you say?"
She mumbled then.
Voice too soft to catch.
"It's 'mate'..."
"......"
Hearing it, my brain flatlined.
One thought streaked through.
Ah, fuck you, Malus, you crazy bastard.
No normal people in this place after all.