The Dhampir Nun, Part 7
Cain sat in the chair where Albaros had been sitting just moments ago.
"Hmm. The wine is good. If only you hadn't added blood to it. Why on earth did you do that? Wine should be enjoyed as wine."
If you wanted blood, you should have added it to the finger foods instead, he grumbled, continuing his useless nagging.
Even though the words had nothing to do with the current situation, Albaros could barely bring himself to breathe.
They... they really subdued everyone.
The maid who had brought the wine and matching finger foods was one of the estate's blood bags.
To think even Frelia of the Red Axe came...
The woman who had entered with Cain was indeed Frelia, the commander of his elite vampire knight order, Eclipse, easily recognizable by her striking crimson hair.
Despite her title as a knight, she was of Viking origin, and the sword hanging at her waist was nothing more than a decoration.
"What are you looking at? Want me to take your head off?"
"I-I'm sorry!"
"Fria. I understand you dislike the Vampire Lords here, but we are guests."
"I will be careful, Your Majesty."
It was absurd to hear a monster who could rip an enemy's spine out with her bare hands addressed by a cute nickname like 'Fria.' Furthermore, despite claiming to be guests, they had pinned the master of the castle to the floor and showed no intention of letting him stand.
"Have you gathered your thoughts?"
"Pardon?"
"Did I not ask you? Why did you target my daughter?"
"T-That is..."
Even if his mouth were torn open, Albaros could not bring himself to say it was to consume her blood.
He felt that the moment he spoke those words, he would be ripped apart by the red-haired beast standing nearby and thrown into the sunlight.
"Well, I already know. You wanted to become stronger than the other Vampire Lords. In that sense, Bathory was quite interesting. Don't you think so, Fria?"
"I gave her an eighty for attempting to trace the remnants of the Progenitors and conceptually absorb their power."
"Oh, for Fria to give such a generous score, she must have been an interesting child indeed."
The tone was incredibly light.
Amidst the casual banter between master and subordinate, Albaros was the only one dying of sheer terror.
"I-I am sorry! I... I was foolish!"
"Hey."
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Lifted slowly by an invisible force, Albaros suddenly found his throat gripped in Cain's hand.
"K-Kgh!"
"I asked why you targeted her."
"I-I needed power! To... to overwhelm the other Vampire Lords!"
"Sigh. See how simple that was? I don't understand why you had to make such a fuss just to answer a simple question."
"Ack!"
"A sin can only be forgiven once it is acknowledged."
Only after admitting his reasons was Albaros finally released.
While the lord massaged his bruised neck, Cain took a leisurely sip of his wine.
"Now, for the next question. How did you obtain information about my daughter?"
Because Cain had too many enemies, he had been forced to keep his distance from his family. In the end, Luna's mother, Mina, had died simply for giving birth to a vampire's child.
"Those who killed my beloved are already living in the basement of my mansion, serving as endless blood bags."
His revenge against the humans had ended there.
Cain still had a daughter to care for and the future of his race to consider. Above all, he had wanted Luna to live as a human.
"And it was top secret. Regardless of my friendly disposition toward humans, information about my daughter and Mina was known only to my closest confidants."
Until a Dhampir fully awakened, it was impossible to tell whose bloodline they carried just by looking at them.
"I wanted to keep her in my territory and protect her, but for the sake of her destiny, she had to navigate the world on her own."
It was a decision made because, even as a Dhampir, she carried the blood of a Progenitor and would not easily die.
"But at some point, agents sent by the Vampire Lords began pursuing her in earnest."
Luna's already difficult life turned into a living hell, forcing her into a constant cycle of flight.
"It was strange. So, I started investigating, beginning with the reason for Mina's death."
Mina, the only companion Cain had ever loved.
She had secretly fed Luna her own blood to sustain her, so the chances of anyone discovering she had given birth to a vampire's child should have been low.
"There was someone behind it. Yet, even with my power, I couldn't identify them."
The culprit had stopped at leaking information about Luna and her mother, then cut off all ties to avoid detection.
"It would have been nice if there was a letter left behind, but they burned everything."
"T-That..."
"I pray that you were foolish. Because this time, that foolishness will save your life."
In truth, Cain had already paid visits to the other Vampire Lords.
Although some of those lords served other Progenitors, he saw no reason to ask for permission just to rough them up a bit.
"I-It is over there."
"Oh, so it really exists. But why did you keep it?"
"To... to shift the blame in case of failure..."
"Hahaha. You really are amusing. Your survival instincts are top-notch."
Frelia carefully brought over a book with a letter tucked inside. Cain opened it and examined the letter.
"Tsk. As I thought, it was those mutts. Ah, I don't mean you, Ralph."
"It is fine, Master."
Ralph, the werewolf butler and carriage driver, smiled faintly at his master's polite apology.
Mutts.
It was a derogatory term vampires used to refer to werewolves and their kin.
"No matter how much you craved power, how could you not smell the stench of those mutts?"
"T-That is..."
"Hahaha. I'm joking. Just a joke. Smile, won't you?"
"Ha... Haha. Hahaha."
It was a faint scent, barely detectable even to Vampire Lords.
Under the circumstances, with his greed stoked, it was only natural that Albaros had failed to notice.
"It seems their goal was to make me move so they could use the path."
"By path, do you mean...?"
"The sea route."
Unlike most vampires, Cain had included a port city close to water within his territory.
It was intended to quickly import the advanced culture of the Empire, but even he hadn't expected it to be exploited like this.
"Even if crossing the sea is difficult for us, we can easily control the port. And the safest way to enter the Empire is by sea."
Since the witches claimed the sea as their domain, even exorcists could not easily operate there.
Therefore, it was much easier to enter the Empire by sea than by crossing the land borders.
One might wonder why anyone would want to enter a place crawling with the exorcists of the Church of the Thousand Days, but the population and quality of the developed Empire were incomparable to other kingdoms.
"As long as one can hide, there is no better hunting ground. And given the nature of those mutts, they are in some ways even better at blending in among humans than we are."
"B-But those bea—"
"It is fine. Ralph has a healthy dose of self-loathing for his own kind."
"Do... do those beasts possess such intellect?"
"Hmm. You've pointed out a crucial flaw."
The absolute vertical hierarchy descending from the Progenitors and the Ancestor.
It allowed vampires to gather when necessary, even if they lived scattered lives.
But werewolves were different.
They scattered like tribes, forming their own territories and living closely within them.
"They may have learned to live without showing their beastly nature, but they aren't the type to pull off such underhanded schemes."
"Then who could have done this?"
"Who knows? But there is a high probability that the scent I picked up was left behind intentionally."
Whoever it was, they clearly intended to cause major chaos in the Empire.
And all eyes will be drawn to it.
The illegal entry of the werewolves was merely a small branch of a larger tree.
"Well, that is a problem for the great Includ Empire to solve, is it not?"
"Y-Your daughter is also in the Empire, is she not?"
"She has a certain lunatic by her side—the one who defeated your knights—so she will be fine."
"A lunatic...?"
"If a man doesn't feel his heart race with my daughter right next to him, what else could he be but a lunatic?"
Cain Ashborn.
A devoted husband and a severe case of a doting father.
It hadn't been long in terms of actual time, but the day after I had bled heavily and passed out...
In the end, Mass had to be canceled for the day.
Since Mass was canceled, I spent the day cleaning the entire cathedral with Luna.
"Stop smacking your lips, will you?"
Among the burning trash were the remains of the blood-soaked coat and clothes from last night.
And here was a nun-in-training, drooling just because she caught a whiff of blood.
"I-I was not!"
Out of spite, I wanted to make her do extra physical training, but since my own condition—as her supervisor—was a total mess, I decided to let it slide for now.
"But are you really okay?"
"It was made by a girl with a personality defect, but the holy water's efficacy is guaranteed."
The wound on my hand was faint, and the scars on my body, hidden beneath my priestly vestments, were healing rapidly.
"By the way, when will my new top arrive?"
"What can I do when they don't make them in your size because you're too big?"
"I-It's genetics! I can't help it!"
I probably shouldn't say this, but it was highly likely that Luna's father had also been bewitched by a pair of massive sinner makers.
"A-And actually, the bottoms are a bit tight too..."
"Sigh... Eat in moderation."
"Your blood is just t-too nutritious! I couldn't help it!"
The root cause was none other than her, who kept sucking my blood.
"Do you not know the meaning of moderation? Moderation?"
I should have known from the moment she kept sucking until a scab formed, claiming it tasted too good, when a single drop would have sufficed.
"From now on, I'm changing the routine to dropping a single drop into your dinner. Keep that in mind."
"N-Not that, please!"
"Is this the belly fat of someone who was living on the streets just a few days ago?!"
"Kyaaa!"
It wasn't just her belly that had gained a layer of fat.
If she had wide hips, she should have at least managed her glute size. But with the way she ate, not only her belly but her hips and thighs seemed to have grown even larger.
"Heeing..."
"Sigh. Seriously..."
"E-Excuse me..."
"Hmm?"
Turning my head at the strangely familiar voice, I saw the Academy staff member who had asked me for that damn congratulatory address last time.
"Ah..."
A priest grabbing and shaking a nun's belly fat.
No matter how you looked at it, the situation was highly compromising.
For the first time in my life, I felt cold sweat pouring down my back.
"Oh my! S-Sister. With this much belly fat, I think a diet would be wise!"
"Y-Yes, Father. Thank you for... p-pointing it out!"
Let's try to gloss over this.
It couldn't be helped. In a world where the head priest sells drugs, surely I wouldn't be treated as a total creep just for pinching a nun's belly.
"So... that was your preference. I was in a tight spot because the female students kept asking if you had one."
"No, it's not like that. The sister was complaining that her clothes were too tight, so I was checking."
"W-Why would you say that out loud?!"
I had no choice.
It was fine to be perceived as a clean-cut, asexual priest, but I absolutely refused to be labeled a pervert who giggles while shaking a girl's belly fat.
"Ahem. I see. If you need it, I can share the diet plan the female students use."
"Haha. Thank you for the offer. So, what brings you here?"
The staff member hadn't shown his face since the congratulatory address.
"Is it because of the drugs?"
"No. Sigh. Though that did cause quite a stir for a while."
Apparently, to suppress the withdrawal symptoms of the students and some professors, even the sane faculty members had to help manufacture the antidote for a while.
It seemed the Academy's nurse was a decent person.
"You know our Academy operates dormitories, right?"
"Yes. I know that while entry between male and female dorms is strictly regulated, students are free to go out into the city."
"It seems one of the students who went out brought something back with them."
"Pardon?"
What kind of nonsense was this?