The Blood Race (3): The Blood Realm's Scars
The vampires had settled into Dobong-dong 1.
They were kept separate from the dwarves and the handful of humans living there.
“Is this much blood okay?”
“It’s sufficient.”
Horua received the lock-and-key containers filled with the monsters’ blood and bowed deeply toward me.
The reason he took on the role of leader, even though he was younger and looked down upon by the other vampires, was that he was thoughtful and sharp-witted.
I would overlook his small misstep of mistaking me for his master. He had gone nearly a month without eating anything.
But not every vampire was like Horua.
“……”
“What? Got a complaint?”
“No.”
The vampire called Rilsi, who ranked just below Horua, stayed glued to his side.
The moment she received her share of the blood, she ripped off the lid and gulped it all down in one go.
“Tastes awful.”
“Rilsi.”
“I know. I know.”
Horua shot her a warning look at the way she scrunched her face in disgust.
Perhaps because he lacked authority as a leader, Rilsi simply answered casually and stormed off into the building.
“I’m sorry. Rilsi is a direct thrall, so she seems to feel reluctant to be polite to anyone who isn’t Noksi.”
“A direct thrall? What’s that?”
“One who directly inherited Noksi’s blood.”
Horua explained that the six of us, including himself, had originally belonged to other masters but had been gathered up by the vampire lord Noksi after we lost our masters and were wandering lost.
“I only became the representative because I have the strongest power. Originally, Rilsi is the most legitimate one among us.”
“So you six all had different masters before?”
“We each had different masters and were taken in one by one.”
Hmm… so there was a reason they served the vampire lord called Noksi.
It seemed there were quite a few others in the Blood Realm who occupied similar positions to Noksi.
“Don’t forget you’re my thralls. And from now on, the skeletons will deliver the blood.”
After saying that, I headed to find Ttacttac-i.
Honestly, Ttacttac-i had turned into our Necropolis’s administrative head and was buried under mountains of paperwork, pen in hand.
The papers left behind in Dobong-gu were on track to all be used up.
“Why did you even think of documenting things in the first place?”
-Tacttac!
“Well, it was supposed to be done eventually.”
Right now Ttacttac-i was assigning numbers to every undead and classifying their roles and abilities.
Excluding the monster undead. They were already too numerous to create more.
“Let’s see… normal skeletons number over 25,000, and even the higher ones have passed 2,000.”
Ttacttac-i’s army kept growing stronger.
The work of resurrecting corpses scattered throughout Dobong-gu continued, and after the battles with the fairies, many upgraded skeletons had been added.
With our power at this level, there would be few who would dare to provoke us rashly.
Once we finished preparations, we planned to clearly announce the Necropolis to the surrounding areas.
“Nightmare?”
-Clink.
To keep Ttacttac-i working so diligently, I had given him a Nightmare the moment a boss monster respawned at the gate.
When Ttacttac-i gestured, the Nightmare opened the door to the next room and strolled out casually.
Different from Lahan’s sturdy, large grayish-white Nightmare, Ttacttac-i’s red one was sleek and elegant.
“Does the Nightmare’s appearance follow the one being ridden?”
Both Lahan’s and Ttacttac-i’s had lacked strong features at first.
Probably because the characteristics of the one being followed were partially inherited.
“Anyway, thanks for the hard work.”
-Clack.
Ttacttac-i bowed respectfully to me, and I left his office.
After completing the stone walls that encircled the entire Dobong-gu, Lahan was focused on building various structures.
Using skeletons lent by Ttacttac-i, he leveled the land and then erected buildings on it.
Looking at the buildings being constructed in the European style that matched my taste, I felt a certain satisfaction.
It was like playing a city-building game.
After finishing a full circuit, I thought today was a quiet time, when an ominous sign appeared.
Kraaak!
Another Necro Crow had come.
“What now…?”
I opened the paper clutched in the crow’s beak.
It was from Yeomje, the one who was supposed to monitor the vampires.
He had captured one vampire that was fleeing.
-Yeomje
“Already?”
It had only been this morning since I fed him.
I frowned slightly, then turned my steps toward the vampires’ dwelling.
I needed to find out what the issue was.
Riding the carriage, I arrived at the front of the vampires’ residence, where Yeomje waited with one vampire tightly bound.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I lost control of my reason.”
The vampire speaking was not Horua or Rilsi.
I had secretly thought Rilsi was the culprit and was quite surprised at his words.
“What happened?”
“This vampire tried to cross the wall and attack a human.”
The promise made yesterday had been broken in just one day.
I sighed deeply and asked the bound vampire,
“Why did you do it?”
“B-before drinking the monster’s blood, I could endure it. But after one gulp… I couldn’t maintain control of my reason.”
“You drank the blood and the thirst got worse?”
“The blood of monsters isn’t normal blood. It requires the blood of beings with high reason and soul quality.”
Just the blood of monsters wasn’t enough to properly quench the thirst.
The higher the soul quality of the intelligent being, the more power they had, the more the thirst would be satisfied.
Therefore, the blood of monsters possessing only power was only half the answer, because their souls were pitifully weak.
I couldn’t give them human blood either.
“It’s my fault for not controlling them properly. I will never let this happen again.”
“Hah… so it seems.”
As soon as Horua bowed his head, Rilsi’s sarcasm flew out.
Horua glared at Rilsi, but nothing changed.
No, rather, Rilsi boldly asserted herself.
“From the very beginning, I didn’t like it. Bowing your head under someone else’s rule, you betrayed Noksi!”
“Then! Is there no other way besides this!”
Horua shouted.
Perhaps because of the rage contained within, the other vampires who had looked down on Horua fell silent, frightened.
“We are weak! Because we are far from the master, we have no power or magic at all!”
“It’s not like you’re in a state where you can’t drink blood even by killing one weak human.”
“What if we die then? Then who will support Noksi? Are we trying to make Noksi a loner again?!”
Rilsi, who had not backed down even a bit in her obstinacy, was shaken by this.
“This world is already a battlefield of gods. If we get a bad name by attacking humans, we will inevitably be targeted by someone again.”
“……”
“Then, will you go down that path we talked about last time?”
“That… no.”
Horua’s ‘that path’ was something I didn’t know, but Rilsi completely turned her head away at his words.
No matter what the method was, Rilsi would not turn back for a normal choice.
Horua took a deep breath, then lowered his head to the ground and spoke.
“Please show mercy. I beg you not to kill Karim.”
“Horua!”
“Shut up, Rilsi!”
And he once more pressed his head to the floor, looking up at me with a face dripping blood.
“Mercy. Queen of Death.”
“……”
I thought for a moment.
I could not release them.
The vampire lord could appear at any time.
Make them undead? I had accepted them with the intention of living together amicably; killing them would be a waste.
But I could not simply not punish them.
I told the vampire who had caused the problem, Karim,
“Choose. Become undead or be imprisoned in the basement.”
“I… will be imprisoned.”
Karim replied, trembling.
I called Lahan and ordered him to turn one of the empty basements into a prison and lock Karim up.
“From now on, the blood will be monster blood. But when going on the necromantic expedition, if there are any smart monsters, give their blood to quench them.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Horua bowed deeply and left with the vampires.
‘Not a good feeling at all.’
Eventually, when many people gather, these kinds of things happen.
I didn’t expect to end up building something like a prison in the Necropolis.
Anyway, the matter was settled.
Just as I turned to leave, Rilsi’s sinister voice echoed from where she had been standing motionless.
“I cannot accept this.”
***
A few days later, at dawn.
Rilsi secretly slipped into the hastily built underground prison to visit the imprisoned Karim.
Using the secret arts unique to direct thralls, she had bypassed the surveillance and infiltrated.
She had not told Myeongwang and kept it hidden.
“Karim.”
“…Rilsi? It doesn’t seem like you came with permission.”
“If no one knows, it’s the same as getting permission.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
But Karim smiled faintly, as if he wasn’t bothered.
“How’s the body? You’re the weakest among us.”
“Yeah. Actually, being locked up made me realize things, so I feel much better.”
“…We can’t stand the blood; we’re not sane.”
Rilsi’s eyes burned with rage.
“I’ll find a solution. Just wait. I’ll make you drink real blood.”
And something in the corner was watching the pair talking.
“Look at these guys?”
Through the eyes of a rat undead, I gazed at the two vampires.