The Full Moon of a Thousand Years Ago (3)
"You're back early."
I greeted Tina and Alfred warmly as they returned sooner than I'd expected. Just as when they'd left, they came back through the wide-open window of my room.
"As you instructed, we've looked into the rumors."
"Me too!"
Both bowed their heads, signaling that they had successfully completed their mission. The first to report on their findings was Alfred, the vampire butler.
"...Your judgment was correct, my lady. Strange rumors have been spreading among the townsfolk like wildfire."
"Of course they have."
Unless some baseless rumor was at work, people's perceptions wouldn't shift this drastically in such a short time. Someone had clearly been working hard behind the scenes—spreading something provocative yet plausible enough to rattle people with ease. For all I knew, it might still be ongoing.
"So, what's the rumor about?"
What kind of rumor could make the townsfolk's gazes turn so cold? It would take something extraordinary to tear down someone of my stature—someone standing on equal footing with the Hero himself.
"...Recently, word has it that an oracle was delivered from the Holy Empire of Serion."
"An oracle?"
"Yes. The contents of that oracle appear to be agitating the people."
"..."
An oracle—the will of a god. In other words, a warning delivered through human mouths by the divine. The Holy Empire of Serion, a theocratic nation devoted to the gods, would occasionally receive oracles and relay them to the surrounding nations concerned.
...Tina picked up where Alfred left off.
"...The oracle says, 'The ash-gray vampire shall destroy Abilia.' It's clearly pointing at you, Master, and many of the townsfolk are terrified."
"The ash-gray vampire..."
Ash-gray almost certainly referred to the color of my hair. Right now, I was the only vampire with ash-gray locks in sight. Unpacked, the oracle was essentially saying that I would bring about the destruction of the Abilia Kingdom.
"Five points. Haa... this is a problem..."
I let out a deep sigh.
In the real world I'd come from, maybe not—but in the era and setting of Tower of Avalon, an "oracle" was something you absolutely could not ignore. This was a world where the existence of Astira, Goddess of Heaven and Earth, was deeply rooted. The vast majority of people, even if they didn't actively worship her, firmly believed in the goddess Astira.
And now that very goddess—Astira, the Earth-Heaven Deity—had issued an oracle that the vampire Elzerva would destroy their nation. No matter how many achievements I'd racked up on par with the Hero, when an all-powerful god handed down a warning like that, the people of Abilia weren't about to simply shrug it off.
"Mm, but that's not the real problem."
Tina shook her head as if her report wasn't finished yet.
"...The problem is that this oracle's contents have only been spreading in Abilia—and only intensively within this capital."
"Only here...?"
"Yes. If it were a real oracle, the priests of Serion would absolutely know about it. But when we grabbed them and asked, they said they haven't received any oracle recently."
"...!!"
The priests of Serion—the only place on the entire continent capable of receiving oracles—testified that no oracle had come down recently. On top of that, the so-called oracle was circulating exclusively within this capital.
In other words, someone inside the capital had deliberately spread a false rumor under the name of an "oracle" just to screw me over. Yeah—a baseless rumor spoken in the name of a god was far more provocative and far more effective at stirring people up than one spoken by mere humans. They'd succeeded in making the townsfolk's perception of me thoroughly unpleasant. Clever enough, I had to admit.
"..."
But something still felt off. Even if the common people were easily swayed by the will of the gods, the Hero's party wasn't. They had their own unshakable convictions. The moment they heard about the oracle, they would have come to me—either to pass on the news or to investigate.
But not a single one of the Hero's companions had sought me out. They wouldn't even meet my eyes. There was no way a mere oracle would make them act like that. Which meant some other rumor about me was definitely circulating inside the palace as well.
...Outside, they were tearing down my reputation under the name of an oracle. Inside, they were isolating me with some other rumor I couldn't even identify.
"...Who is it?"
I pondered the culprit behind all this. Someone with access to both the palace and the common people. Someone angry enough at me to go this far.
"..."
There was one idiot who checked every box, but I still had no hard proof, so I couldn't jump to conclusions. I turned to Tina, the zombie maid.
"Tina, did you manage to track down the source of the rumor?"
"I-I'm sorry. I tried, but that much..."
"No, it's fine."
I shook my head at Tina as she bowed. If Tina—who wouldn't have hesitated to use any means necessary through the long night before—couldn't follow the trail, then whoever planned this had been thorough. ...It wasn't her fault she couldn't find it.
"Good work, both of you."
"It was nothing, my lady."
"If you give the word, I'll go investigate further...!"
"It's fine. Rest."
There was no benefit to undead like them wandering outside for too long anyway. I could handle the rest of the investigation myself. I ordered my hardworking servants to take a break.
"Elzerva! We're here!"
"Elzerva, we've come."
Late that evening, two visitors arrived at my door. I opened it and welcomed them with a smile.
"Come on in."
Even if most of the Hero's party was avoiding me over some unknown rumor, not everyone was.
"Ta-da! Let's eat some fruit!"
"We packed lots of the delicious ones."
...The two of them, grinning as they held up a fruit basket, were the only ones who still treated me exactly the same even with the strange rumors flying around.
"We're gonna eat something sweet and cheer you up!"
The beautiful green-haired elf with a stunning figure—Lilianel Greenfield. And standing beside her was an elegant blonde girl.
"You didn't look like you were in a good mood this morning. Have some fruit and perk up."
An exquisite dress. A silver tiara resting on her head. The princess of the Abilia Kingdom—the Second Princess, Sophie Abilia.
"Come in."
Whether I'd looked that down or not, I ushered the two of them into my room—the ones who'd come all this way just to lift my spirits.
"Please, take a seat here."
"Ah! I'll take the basket!"
Inside, Alfred and Tina had already set up a table and chairs and guided them over. I was a little surprised that their butler and maid skins let them handle basic household chores on top of combat.
"Whoa!"
"..."
The elf Lilianel and Princess Sophie each settled into the prepared chairs. I carefully pulled out an antique chair and sat down as well. Once she'd confirmed I was seated at the table, Sophie spoke.
"Elzerva, you've been troubled by how differently your companions have been treating you lately, haven't you?"
"Hmm? Yeah, something like that."
I nodded at the princess's question. Honestly, getting snubbed by people who didn't even rate a name in the original game didn't bother me much—but having someone spread baseless rumors just to get under my skin wasn't exactly a pleasant situation.
"Don't worry about it. Who cares about them? The way they suddenly started treating you so coldly actually pissed me off."
Lilianel took a loud crunch out of an apple she'd brought and shouted. The princess giggled along with the tough elf's words.
"She's right. Don't let it get to you. I'm sure it's nothing serious."
"Yeah. Thanks."
...But when someone went as far as borrowing the name of an "oracle" to pick a massive fight with me, just letting it slide would make me a complete pushover. I needed to pay them back for this, or I wouldn't be able to rest easy.
While I was at it, I decided to ask them about the rumors.
"...By the way, have either of you heard any rumors about me?"
"Rumors?"
"Rumors...?"
The elf and the princess's eyes both went wide at my question. Lilianel tilted her head first, looking puzzled.
"Not that I know of? Maybe because I just sleep in my room all day...?"
"Same here. I haven't heard any particular rumors about you, Elzerva."
Sophie nodded as well.
"...I see."
Judging by their pure expressions, they didn't seem to be lying. As Lilianel said, she normally slept over eighteen hours a day and barely went outside, so it was possible she simply hadn't heard the unidentified rumor. Sophie might have been too buried in her duties as a princess to come across it either.
...If they had heard the rumor, would the way they treated me have changed?
Good.
Two heads were better than one. I decided to tell them everything Tina and Alfred had uncovered. Losing even my last remaining allies by letting them get swept up in the rumors would be worse than explaining the full situation now and getting their help with the investigation. One was an elf with sharp ears; the other was a princess with overwhelming connections. If they stepped in, we'd identify the culprit before long.
"Well, I've found out a few things myself."
"Found out?"
"...?"
I began to explain—from the false oracle-style rumors circulating among the people, to the possibility that the culprit had also spread some other rumor about me within the palace. When I'd finished, Lilianel and Sophie's expressions hardened.
"...That's pretty intense."
"What a truly awful person!"
Lilianel reacted more calmly than I'd expected, while the princess grew indignant and deeply empathized with my situation.
"So, do you have anyone in mind as the culprit?"
Lilianel asked as she handed me a lustrous blue apple from the fruit basket.
"...Well, there's someone I suspect, but it's only a hunch."
Along with my answer, I took a bite of the apple she'd given me. Instead of the usual sweetness of an apple, an overwhelming sourness that twisted my face flooded my mouth first.
"Fucking zero points! This apple is the worst! Complete garbage! Nuclear waste! You eat it yourself!"
"Heh, sorry."
Didn't she know vampires can't handle sour things?
I tossed the half-eaten, inedible apple back at Lilianel. She laughed as she lightly caught the apple flying toward her.
"Only a hunch..."
...Even in the middle of what could have been a funny moment, the princess still spoke to me with a serious face.
"Then you haven't investigated inside the palace yet?"
"Yeah, not the palace yet."
An investigation required actually running into or meeting the so-called companions of the Hero in the first place—and they were avoiding me so blatantly that I couldn't ask them anything. But from now on, I intended to dig in earnest. If they kept dodging me, I was fully prepared to have my skeleton soldiers drag them in by force.
"Alright. I'll start helping you first thing tomorrow!"
"Oh."
The princess clenched her fist, burning with determination. She gently took my pale hand in hers and spoke warmly.
"I'll mobilize every connection I have to conduct the investigation. Spreading such baseless rumors about a hero who saved this nation—as a princess, I cannot forgive it."
"...Thank you."
In the end, the world ran on money and power. Hearing Sophie's vow to actively uncover the truth of the rumors using the authority that sat just below the king of this nation, I felt a sense of reassurance settle in one corner of my heart.
"Don't worry, Elzerva."
The cute-faced princess beamed at me.
"I'm always on your side! As a princess and as your friend, I'll do everything I can!"
It was a pure smile that warmed the heart. A truly sincere, pure smile that purified this world of Tower of Avalon—a world overflowing with swords and magic, blood and iron maces, and invisible political warfare.
At her smile, the corners of my mouth lifted on their own.
And that was the last smile I ever saw from the princess.
In the early hours of that same night, after we'd shared quite a pleasant conversation—the princess who had promised to investigate the baseless rumors about me and their culprit was found brutally murdered in her own room.
Two distinct fang marks discovered on her neck.
...The cause of death was an attack by a vampire.