What Is the True Ancestor?
What exactly is the True Ancestor? It could be seen as an infinite undead factory capable of controlling thralls and endlessly producing vampires similar to itself. Using the 'skills' derived from the True Ancestor, however, is an entirely different story from being the True Ancestor itself. 'Just because you ride the bus doesn't mean you become the driver.' Healing skills and the various other magics are no different from faithfully following frameworks created by great heroes—or perhaps some transcendent being. So I had vaguely assumed that the trait Ayla possessed was simply a useful skill she had luckily obtained.
"...Why are you acting like that?"
When I stayed silent for a long time behind my mask, Ayla's expression slowly grew suspicious. I made my decision.
"Ren, restrain her."
"Yes."
"W-what...!"
Thanks to the escort warrior's surprise attack from behind, Ayla was easily pinned to the floor. I squatted down in front of her and asked.
"Why is the True Ancestor here?"
"Y-you already know about—"
Know about it? Hardly. The sudden appearance of that ominous name in this situation had actually sent a chill down my spine.
"Is True Ancestor some kind of goblin name? Why the hell is it popping up here all of a sudden?"
At those words, the ambushed Ayla groaned and squirmed for a while before finally speaking.
"E-ever since I was young...!"
Ever since she was young? Forced to speak, Ayla spat out information like a broken film reel. She said even she didn't properly know her own past. By the time her memories had begun to form, she was already part of the Grey Cradle, living a life of poverty.
"Ah."
I thought with a throbbing headache. What a convenient and simple reason.
The True Ancestor was from the slums?
Even so, there were still parts that didn't add up. Then why had she helped the protagonist in the original story? With my confused mind, I pieced together the scattered fragments of memory.
The True Ancestor's full-scale activities began in the latter half of the work—right after that damned Political War had properly erupted. After that, the True Ancestor who suddenly appeared from nowhere and her forces attacked the Fourth Prince, plunging everything into even greater chaos.
She wasn't dead?
In the original work, she had fought desperately to protect this Grey Cradle and died a tragic death. I still remembered actually muttering "The world's fucked" out loud when I read the description of her being stabbed in the abdomen by countless spears.
"...This is driving me crazy."
But it seemed it hadn't been death after all. What if that very tragedy had acted as a trigger, causing Ayla to awaken as a completely insane vampire?
What the hell is this...
The questions kept multiplying, tormenting me.
"You're the True Ancestor, so why are you here?"
"To protect the children from people like you...!"
People like me? A bit harsh on the ears of this noble. Still, it wasn't exactly wrong, so I didn't bother arguing.
"How do you know for sure that you're the True Ancestor?"
"O-one day I suddenly realized it...! Memories like... flowed into me..."
"You realized it just like that?"
Ayla seemed to realize how absurd her own words sounded, because she subtly averted her gaze.
Must be the awakening type.
Mana awakening. It was the sort of thing where only a rare few chosen individuals would one day gain enlightenment and awaken a special class.
"Tell me what abilities you can use right now. Blood Healing... I've already heard about that one. What else?"
In the original story, the True Ancestor had used powerful abilities to pressure the protagonist and her forces. The ability to command the undead alone created an entirely different wall of power. Lacking in forces? Just raise them from the corpses. The undead created by the True Ancestor's power were far tougher and stronger than regular soldiers. There was variety in their types too, so the imperial capital had been thrown into chaos on multiple fronts.
Though they eventually get suppressed by the Saint.
"Hmm..."
I thought it over. Was it right to dispose of this potential True Ancestor here?
"My lord."
"...?"
"What is the True Ancestor?"
"Ah, you don't know, Ren?"
I roughly explained the racial characteristics Ayla had revealed. There were beings with unique properties that only appeared in legends, and they were a race that had always been vicious yet possessed incredibly powerful strength. When I said that much, Ren's grip on Ayla tightened further.
"Kyaaak...!"
Unable to endure the pressure, Ayla let out a sharp scream.
"Then we should deal with her here..."
"Wait."
I stopped Ren, who looked ready to snap Ayla's neck at any moment.
Then what about my healing?
If I eliminated Ayla here, I could secure the immediate future. But would removing just her make me safe? My body was dying because of that dog-like constitution, and assassins could storm the Separate Palace at any time. Getting rid of her alone wouldn't solve the fundamental problem that had been forced upon me.
"...."
I closed my eyes for a moment and thought. I had come to find talented people. Talented people to prepare for that damned situation called the Political War that would one day break out.
Wouldn't this actually be good?
A class that could function as both a healer and a combatant gave me the perfect justification to recruit her right here.
"I have something to ask."
"Hng...!"
"Is the reason you take care of the children here connected to the fact that you're the True Ancestor?"
"...No!"
Ayla's red eyes stared straight at me. Even if she lied here, I had no way to detect it. Still, I wanted to ask based on what I knew of her memories from the original work.
"The children here are all pitiful beings who were abandoned! I simply wanted to stop them from losing their lives to dirty hands...!"
- Grind.
Her struggles to break free from Ren's hold grew increasingly violent. If I left it alone, it felt like I might accidentally witness her awakening as the true True Ancestor.
"Ren, let her go."
"But."
"I thought wrong. Our purpose wasn't hunting the True Ancestor anyway."
- Thud!
Ayla, who had roughly shaken herself free from Ren, breathed heavily while warily watching us.
"I don't care what your identities are anymore...! If your goal is the ability I possess, I'll provide it as you wish—"
- Please, at least the children...
Ayla didn't finish the sentence, but I could roughly guess what she wanted to say. It meant this place and the children's existence were that precious to her.
Gap moe? What the hell.
The image of her puffing out mana smoke and acting all tough flashed through my mind. It seemed her current appearance—weakness laid bare—was the real one.
"I never intended to threaten you or the children. It's just... an unexpected name popped up and I got flustered."
"...."
"Still, I'm glad we could talk. Sister Ayla, I need your ability."
Blood Healing. It demonstrated exceptional adaptability with anything related to blood and possessed the potential to interfere with others. On top of that, it could resolve illnesses that conventional methods couldn't touch. Since the protagonist in the original work had overcome multiple crises thanks to it, the guarantee was already in place.
"So now..."
- Sway.
Suddenly the world tilted.
"...My lord!"
Ren, noticing my condition late, hurriedly supported me. It seemed it wasn't the world that had tilted, but my vision that had momentarily gone weak.
"What the..."
At the sudden turn of events, Ayla—who had been warily watching us—floated up in surprise.
"...As you can see, my body is in this state."
The fatigue from prolonged activity outside seemed to have burst out all at once. A body that would run out of breath after a single lap around the training ground had been pushed too far while wearing a mask. My survival instincts were screaming.
"Ppiit?"
"Ugh."
I stuffed Blackie, who had arbitrarily revealed herself, back into my pocket and spoke to Ayla.
"That Blood Healing—can I receive it right now?"
At that, Ayla stopped hesitating and immediately guided us to prepare for the ritual.
.. ... ....
The so-called room was simply one of the empty spaces in the crumbling orphanage. The children, full from a meal they hadn't enjoyed in a long time, were mostly dozing off, so there was no need to worry about unexpected interference.
"...For the ritual, only the two of us should be present."
"Ren."
At Ayla's words, I immediately signaled her with my eyes. Understanding my intent, Ren hesitated for a moment but soon obediently waited outside the door.
"What's next?"
I whipped my mind, which was gradually reaching its limit, and asked Ayla for the next step.
"To accurately assess your body's condition, I need your blood. Preferably fresh blood that was just drawn..."
As expected of the True Ancestor—the treatment method was very vampiric.
"Saying fresh blood that was just drawn is better—wouldn't it be simpler to just suck it directly?"
"To be honest, I do think that method would be more certain."
"Then let's do that."
"But noble sirs usually..."
After coming this far, was she still fussing over such bothersome things? I thought we had torn down some of the walls between us, but it seemed there was still a long way to go.
"Never mind that, just..."
- Thump.
I collapsed into the chair and removed my glove. Ayla stood before me, looking somewhat tense. Without hesitation, I drew the self-defense dagger Ren had given me and lightly pricked my index finger.
- Drip.
Fuck, that hurts.
I had only meant to prick it lightly so blood would well up, but I had failed to control my strength and it was dripping onto the floor.
"This precious stuff..."
"Huh?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
Realizing the signal had come, Ayla immediately took my finger into her mouth.
"Oh..."
Even in my stress-blurred mind, that intense sensation was vividly engraved. Something hot, wet, and soft slithered stickily across my finger. As I faced a sensation that made it feel like the genre had suddenly changed, Ayla soon broke her concentrated expression. What surfaced on her face was pure shock.
"Y-you."
"Why? What is it?"
"How are you even alive...?"
"?"
How am I alive? I'm barely clinging to life because I can't die. When I looked back with a rather wounded gaze, Ayla panicked and hurriedly explained.
"I can feel the curse deeply embedded inside your body. This isn't the type cast by a shaman—it's one passed from blood to blood—"
Right answer, then.
I had already been half-certain, but it seemed Arjen's constitution really did stem from the curse descended through the imperial bloodline.
"Can you undo it somehow?"
"...I'll try."
With that, Ayla placed her hand on my chest and focused.
- Humm...
Oh.
I felt a foreign energy rippling inside my body. This must be Ayla's mana.
- Thump.
Then came a faint pulse. The change that spread like a knock on a tightly sealed door soon evoked a certain feeling in me.
"...Huh?"
- Cough!
When I coughed, black blood splattered onto my hand.
- Drip.
It wasn't just that. As if washing my face with blood, it flowed from my nose and eyes as well.
"What is this, an assassination attempt?"
- Drip. Drip.
Blood flowed from beneath the mask's gaps and dripped onto the floor. When I asked about a situation that would naturally shock anyone experiencing it for the first time, the startled Ayla answered.
"I-it's not that...! The curse on your body is too strong, so this is the backlash..."
"Difficult words are no good."
"That is...! The healing was successful. Those are like shackles that have been binding your life force until now."
These black bloods? All of them? The amount of blood—so much that it would cause dizziness in reality—had soaked the floor.
"Ppiit-ppiit!"
Right after that, Blackie burst out of my pocket.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
- Slurp.
Blackie, who had shown interest in the black blood on the floor, shivered and swelled up—then absorbed every drop of the black blood on the ground.
What the...
The floor that had been stained by my black blood became spotless in an instant. The auto-cleaning function is pretty good.
"Ppiit..."
Having sucked up all my blood, Blackie returned to me with an even more swollen body.
"...Continuing the healing any further right now would burden your body."
"Really?"
"Yes. And that thing..."
"Don't mind that."
Ayla showed interest while looking at Blackie, but I roughly brushed it off.
"My lor— My lord. What is happening right now..."
- Creak.
Ren, who had entered after hearing the commotion inside, faced my current state.
"Ah."
Although the blood on the floor had been cleanly cleaned up, my condition was still far from good. Ayla with her hand on me, and my appearance covered in bloodstains.
"....!"
When the startled Ren approached like a grim reaper, I had to struggle for quite a while again just to calm her down.
.. ... ....
"...Anyway, my head definitely feels clearer than before."
After bouncing around to check my body's condition, I felt the greatest satisfaction. With this, the immediate problem was resolved, right?
Then... now.
My gaze turned toward Ayla.
"Why are you looking at me..."
"Let's make a contract."
"....?"
Since I had personally verified Ayla's ability with my own body, it was only natural to recruit her into the team. I signaled to her with the momentum of someone ready to shove a contract in her face at any second.