The Full Moon of a Thousand Years Ago (1)
Yeah. Getting isekai'd into a game character was something I'd always dreamed about.
Becoming the character you'd poured so much affection into raising, then using overpowered abilities to carve a path through hardship and adversity—what an incredible fantasy that was, something utterly unimaginable in this harsh reality. Back in my more naive childhood days, I'd even fall asleep praying that I'd open my eyes in another world.
Thinking back on that, the situation I found myself in wasn't half bad. No—it was downright welcome.
I'd opened my eyes as the character I'd meticulously customized in the MMORPG Tower of Avalon, which had been approaching its fifteenth anniversary.
"Where is this…?"
Snow-white skin. Ash-gray hair. A face so beautiful it could captivate anyone nearby.
The place where I came to my senses in the body of the vampire Necromancer Lord, Elzerva, was a world infinitely similar to the MMORPG Tower of Avalon.
Monsters I'd only ever seen as graphics now rampaged right before my eyes. NPCs who'd once repeated the same actions endlessly now breathed with minds of their own. I could feel the texture of items that had been locked away in my inventory against my skin. The smell of earth, the wind, and the sunlight all teased my five senses.
Everything around me was so vivid it screamed that this was all real—that I had truly awakened in Elzerva's body.
"Summon Undead."
Summon Undead
Grrraaaaaahhh!!
On top of that, every level and skill belonging to Elzerva—who'd been sitting at rank one on the Necromancer job rankings in Tower of Avalon—had carried over intact.
"…One hundred points. Perfect."
It was a familiar setup I'd only ever seen in novels and anime. But even if the scenario was cliché, I didn't care. The simple fact that I'd escaped a meaningless daily grind spinning in endless circles was already more than enough.
The race of the Elzerva I'd possessed was vampire. Like an elf, she possessed an immortal body that would live forever unless someone managed to kill her.
But there was no way anyone could kill me—I'd never once surrendered the top spot on the job rankings—so the time I'd been given was, for all practical purposes, eternal. I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without being bound by time.
"Heh heh heh…"
When the things I'd only ever imagined actually started happening, the smile refused to leave my face for a long while. A thrill I hadn't felt in ages swelled up inside my chest.
Once I'd finally managed to settle my giddy heart, the first thing I did was head to a nearby city and investigate this world that so closely resembled Tower of Avalon.
"Fresh fruit for sale!"
"The Minerva Mercenary Corps is recruiting members!"
The monsters that appeared and the general atmosphere, along with the place names across the continent, were the same—but this was still the world I was going to live in from now on, so a basic survey was essential.
"I'm worried the war's going to drag on even longer…"
"Tell me about it. The Hero needs to wrap this up already…"
The Hero…?
And that investigation turned out to be worthwhile in its own way.
Unlike the peaceful setting of Tower of Avalon, this world was currently locked in a fierce war between the northern demonic forces and humanity. On humanity's side stood the Hero; among the demons, the Demon King. Each led their own armies, and for years now they'd been repeating the same meaningless advances and retreats along the front lines.
"It's hard enough just putting food on the table these days."
"Same here…"
This was an all-out war in which the entire human race was bracing against a demonic invasion. Even wars between individual nations consumed vast amounts of supplies—a war between races would burn through resources and manpower several times over. The faces of the NPCs who'd gained self-awareness—the people of this other world—were heavy with worry and anxiety. Deep sighs seemed to outnumber laughter.
"…Should I help them?"
I muttered the words after overhearing the townsfolk's conversation.
From what I'd gathered, the soldiers of this world topped out at around level 100. Even special entities like the Hero or the Demon King, being fundamentally NPCs, probably wouldn't exceed level 800.
By contrast, my level—as the rank-one Necromancer and overall rank fifteen in Tower of Avalon—was 1,180. With a gap of over three hundred levels, I figured I could handle the Demon King and his underlings without breaking a sweat.
I'd gone through the trouble of possessing Elzerva's body. If I just sat around doing nothing, it'd be no different from my life in the original world. While I was at it, helping out the Hero—this world's designated protagonist—didn't seem like a bad idea.
"Alright."
Partly to test the practical combat effectiveness of Elzerva's skills, and partly for the feeling of clearing this world's unique quests, I headed straight for the far north of the continent, where the war against the demonic forces was raging.
"Welcome to the Abilia Allied Forces."
"Yeah, good to be here!"
On a smaller scale, I'd build combat experience. On a larger scale, I'd accumulate the wealth, overwhelming fame, and honor that had always been out of reach in my original world. No matter how I looked at it, there was nothing to lose—so I joined the Hero's forces without a second thought.
"This can't be…"
"That entire army, in a single strike…?"
"W-what the hell have we even been doing all this time…"
Exactly one month after I joined the Hero's forces, the human side—which had been losing ground by inches—surged forward behind the undead armies I summoned, pushing the front lines without mercy until we had the Demon King's castle surrounded.
"Th-this is impossible—I, defeated by some mere necromancer…!!"
"…Sorry. You were pathetic."
"This can't be, this can't be— gah!!"
And just like that, without any real pressure and with minimal casualties, I finished off the Demon King himself. Given that he was supposed to stand as the Hero's polar opposite, I'd expected some real skill—but his combat power was worse than a mid-tier boss from Tower of Avalon.
"W-we won!!"
"Hooray! The war is over! Evil is no more!"
A war between demons and humans that had dragged on for more than a decade ended with almost absurd ease thanks to the intervention of a single necromancer—me, Elzerva.
Both enemies and allies alike were stunned by skills of a power they'd never witnessed before, but so what? With the war finally over, the Hero, the soldiers, the townsfolk, and I all rejoiced as one.
"I-it's Elzerva!"
"The necromancer who crushed the Demon King!"
"You're amazing!"
"Heh! Praise me louder!"
And when I returned to the Hero's home base—the Abilia Kingdom—I received a welcome, honor, and renown far greater than I'd first anticipated.
"Our kingdom offers its deepest gratitude for your service, and we shall spare no support for you for the rest of your life."
"…One thousand points! Perfect!"
I was the foremost contributor who'd ended the war alongside the Hero. Even if I was a necromancer who'd appeared out of nowhere, the kingdom couldn't ignore what I'd done. They granted me permission to stay in the royal palace for as long as I pleased.
I spent every day in a room better than any hotel suite, eating lavish feasts three times a day. Outside, my popularity rivaled the Hero's, and I basked in everyone's admiration. Given how thoroughly I'd customized Elzerva's appearance, among men I was actually more popular than the Hero himself.
A mysterious vampire girl who'd defeated the Demon King—hard to just shrug that off. Considering all the time I'd invested customizing Elzerva, and all the money I'd spent buying appearance-change tickets to tweak this and that, the reaction was only natural.
…The problem was that it worked on the Hero, too.
"Elzerva, I need to talk to you."
"Talk? About what?"
On a night when the full moon shone especially bright, the Hero—Belia Varius—summoned me to the palace gardens. If it were just idle chatter, we could have done it in my room or his. I tilted my head at him for going out of his way to call me all the way out here.
"Is this something important? Dragging me out here at this hour…"
A conversation that had to happen late at night, in a place this secluded—it had to be something serious. The Demon King's army resurrecting, maybe? Or the birth of some new enemy?
"I-it is important, yeah…"
Cold sweat beaded on the Hero's forehead as he fidgeted. Seeing him this nervous—a rare sight—I put on an intrigued expression and pressed him.
"So what is it? Spit it out."
"Hoo…"
The Hero, Varius, took a deep breath. Then he dropped to one knee, pulled something from his pocket, and held it out toward me.
"M-marry me, Elzerva!"
"…What?"
In his hand was a beautiful ring. At his sudden proposal, my expression froze.
"Marry…?"
"Yeah. I've liked you since the first time I saw you. I'll devote the rest of my life to you."
"No, hang on, what is this all of a sudden…"
I was flustered. A confession I hadn't seen coming—and the fact that it was coming from the Hero only threw me further. Since the first time he saw me? Exactly how long had he been carrying this around?
"I know a human lifetime is just a moment to a vampire, but I'll make sure you never regret spending that brief life with me."
"Uh…"
Varius delivered charming lines as if he'd rehearsed them. A handsome face, a devoted heart for the one he loved, and the title of Hero on top of it all! An ordinary woman would have nodded without hesitation—but the problem was that I was no ordinary woman.
I only looked like this on the outside. On the inside I was eternally male. What possible state of mind was I supposed to accept his proposal in?
Possessing Elzerva hadn't changed my gender identity. My convictions and animal instincts were still exactly the same as they'd been in the original world, down to the last letter.
"…I'm sorry."
In the end, I carefully closed the lid of the ring case the Hero was holding out. I simply couldn't accept his proposal. There was no way I could overturn my entire identity in a single moment.
"I think things are fine between us just the way they are."
It must have taken real courage for him to propose, so I rejected him as gently as I could. Digging through my memory for lines I'd seen in dramas, I spoke to the man still kneeling on one knee.
"The feelings I have for you are a little different from yours. Instead of that kind of relationship… could we just keep being a perfect hundred-point pair of comrades?"
"What…?"
I'd chosen my words carefully to avoid hurting him, but the Hero's face went rigid. The luxurious ring case slipped from his limp fingers like a dry leaf.
"Y-you want me to stay as a comrade?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry."
"N-no, Elzerva. Think about it carefully. I'll treat you well, I swear."
"I'm sorry."
Varius seemed more shaken than I'd expected. But the only answer I could give to his pitiful clinging was "I'm sorry."
"If you marry me, you can have even greater wealth and fame than you do now! Nothing like what you have now!"
"I'm sorry."
"R-right, you could even become a queen! No—if we join forces, we could swallow this entire continent!"
"I don't need it."
As the Hero's courtship escalated to a dangerously intense level, I narrowed my eyes and answered firmly.
"Y-you don't need it…?"
Hearing my unshakable refusal, his face twisted.
"That's ridiculous…"
His clenched fists began to tremble.
"…A mere vampire dares."
"What…?"
The Hero's demeanor shifted. The flustered emotion that had been swirling around him flipped, in an instant, into raw fury.
"You refuse the Hero's proposal? The likes of you?"
When a confession made with real courage is rejected, people instinctively look for somewhere to hide or somewhere to dump their embarrassment. For Varius, standing as high as the Hero, that rejection seemed to hit even harder. And the one who'd rejected him wasn't even human—she was a vampire. The shock and shame must have hit twice as hard.
"I took pity on an ominous monster and let you into the Hero's army, and now you don't even know your place?"
He spat words that would have wounded any other vampire without the slightest hesitation, and started walking toward me. A murderous aura rolled off him with every step.
"…I'll force you to change that answer and those thoughts of yours."
Having completely lost his reason, the Hero finally threw a punch at me. It was a genuine attack, packed with rage—strong enough to pulverize a low-tier monster in a single blow.
But there was no way someone weaker than the Demon King could leave so much as a scratch on me, a Necromancer Lord.
I tilted my head and casually slipped past the straight punch Varius threw, then drove my palm into his completely exposed solar plexus. Even with the power held back, he crumpled to the ground on the spot, coughing hard.
"El—Elzerva— koff—how dare the likes of you…"
Those eyes that had been confessing love just three minutes earlier were now filled with nothing but shame and rage. I let out a long sigh and spoke to him.
"Haa. I'll keep today's events a secret. You should get out of here before anyone else finds out, too."
"Who the hell do you think you're giving orders to…"
"…Fine. Do whatever the fuck you want. This is so goddamn pathetic."
Watching the Hero grow more and more disgusting by the second, I finally spat out the curses I'd been holding back and scowled. Then I turned my back without a shred of regret and walked out of the garden. Behind me, growing more distant with every step, Varius's rage-soaked howl rang out.
"Elzerva! I will make you regret this day! Next time, I'll have you on your knees, begging me!"
"Idiot."
I snorted. A Hero who couldn't even take down a single Demon King, daring to threaten me? If he charged in blindly, next time he'd just end up as one of my skeleton soldiers.
…But his methods turned out to be far more cunning than I'd expected.
"Elzerva! You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit treason!"
"What…?"
"Kill that damned vampire!"
"That lowly monster brought disaster upon us!"
"For the princess's revenge!"
"I knew it the moment she started using that ominous necromancy!"
"Cut off her head at once!"
"What are you even talking about…"
From the moment his proposal was rejected, it took the Hero—Belia Varius—a mere three months to turn me into the enemy of all humanity.