Chapter 87
Chapter 87
Ch. 87 .｡.:✧ Kin (2) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Basel could be considered essentially a self-governing city of mercenaries.
Mercenaries built houses and opened shops with the money they earned and they spent money there buying mana stones and equipment.
Since it was essentially a town supported by mercenaries, the mercenary groups based there naturally wielded strong influence.
But there was someone who could exert even stronger power than those mercenaries.
“I’d like a private place to talk. Could you let us through?”
“Ah! They’re acquaintances of Sir Knight! We apologize! Please pass through! Frank! Quickly gather their belongings!”
“We’re truly sorry. We didn’t recognize…”
The guards trembled and bowed at every word from the knight.
Our scattered belongings were quickly gathered and returned to us.
Undecided was able to pass through the checkpoint with the communicator disguised as a backpack, and I with my luggage bag.
As we moved away from the checkpoint, the knight, who had dismounted, looked at us alternately with interested eyes.
“You seem to recognize who I am.”
“A blood ghoul with reason-”
“That’s right! I am Transylvania! Well, when it comes to blood ghouls with reason, only the legendary swordsman Transylvania comes to mind!”
“…”
The knight laughed heartily with a very hoarse voice.
Transylvania.
A blood ghoul and one of the figures always mentioned when discussing the strongest among current swordsmen.
Weren’t blood ghouls monsters and not treated as people?
That was usually correct.
Transylvania was an exceptional case.
They couldn’t help but become an object of fear, turning everyone who treated them like a corpse into actual corpses.
Because of this, they were once designated as a target for extermination by every country in the world.
But after about 100 years of publicly displaying the beheaded corpses of every assassin who came for the bounty, the extermination orders were essentially nullified.
Moreover, as Transylvania themselves had mellowed out considerably, it seemed they even maintained somewhat amicable relationships with some countries.
‘I didn’t expect he’d become a royal knight though.’
Transylvania’s actions had always been so bizarre and unpredictable that tracking them was virtually impossible.
They varied wildly from the 1st round to the 12th round.
It seemed even small variables could change things greatly.
But to think they had become a royal knight of the Kingdom of Gallia in this round.
A knight of monster origin.
Seeing this, it became viscerally clear that the Kingdom of Gallia was truly a mess among messes.
“You’re wondering why I’m dressed like this?”
“No, I didn’t ask-”
“Of course you’re curious! How did I, who was never tied down anywhere and lived freely, end up becoming a knight of a country! There’s no grand reason. It’s just for amusement. They offered, so I readily accepted it as an experience, it’s just a temporary position. It’s nice that people bow to me instead of turning pale like blood ghouls and running away wherever I go, but all this talk of responsibility and such is just bothersome. It doesn’t suit me. I’m planning to quit soon and continue my wandering life. Of course, if there’s a place that desperately needs me, I might occasionally visit to help… But that’s something that might happen once in 10 years, if at all. I’m quite capricious, you see. Of course, despite my capriciousness, my loyalty is certain. I clearly remember those who have helped me, and I also clearly remember those who have wronged me, chasing them down for revenge 10 or 20 years later. It’s disappointing compared to mortals whose beliefs and principles flutter and change like leaves in the wind depending on the situation.”
I hadn’t even asked.
Words kept pouring out as if a hole had been punched in a dam.
Feeling like I might end up hearing about every episode from the past 100 years, I decided to cut him off.
“So. What’s your name?”
“Heavenly Ma-”
“Not you. I couldn’t possibly have business with a mortal like you. It’s no use hiding behind your back. I merely stopped, enduring some trouble, because I was glad to see one of my kin.”
“…Kin?”
Slowly.
Undecided, who had been wearing a hood behind me, cautiously poked out her head.
As if seeing a blood ghoul with reason for the first time, her hand clutching my clothes was full of wariness.
“What’s your name?”
“…Undecided.”
“Is your name not decided yet?”
“…Let’s say that.”
“Wow! I can barely contain my excitement. Of course, kin themselves are fairly common… But it’s incredibly difficult to find kin who can communicate. I’ve only seen 3 so far, and this one is one of them. The other two didn’t seem to have completely escaped the blood ghoul’s instincts. Even I have trouble suppressing it sometimes. But this one has almost completely overcome her instincts. Amazing.”
What were they talking about?
Then what was it when she kept biting my arms and neck at every opportunity?
If that wasn’t a blood ghoul’s instinct, what was it?
“Hey, that can’t be right. She still has the habit of biting me all the time.”
“The habit of biting humans? Biting outside of blood-sucking is not a blood ghoul habit.”
“…”
“…”
Transylvania tilted their head in confusion.
So all the biting until now wasn’t because of blood ghoul instincts?
I looked at Undecided, demanding an explanation.
But Undecided just turned her head away, avoiding my gaze.
“Hey. Say something. Talk.”
“…What are you talking about.”
“This brat.”
“…Uweee.”
When I pinched her cheek in annoyance, Undecided was dragged along.
I had left her alone thinking it was an irrepressible instinct.
The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I felt.
She just chewed up my arms like this because her teeth were itchy?
“Hahaha! What an amusing combination. A human and a blood ghoul. There was a time when I had humans I relied on too. 300 years ago. They’re all dead now, though.”
“What are you getting at? Are you saying I should cut ties early since I’ll obviously have a short life?”
“I’m sorry if it sounded that way. That wasn’t my intention. It’s not for me to advise how my kin should live, I was just purely curious and wanted to talk.”
“…”
Right. Now I remembered.
This was the kind of person Transylvania was.
Extreme power and an unchanging body, and a lifespan close to eternity.
If you had all of these, you didn’t need to be bound by the principles or laws of the world.
A being who lived only for pleasure, enjoying his own excellence.
Their only criterion for judging the value of all things and people was whether they were interesting or not.
That was Transylvania.
“Even without me telling you, you’ll soon realize on your own. How fleeting the life of a short-lived species is. In fact, even long-lived species aren’t much different, but I haven’t lived that long yet, so it’s hard for me to say. Haha.”
“…I don’t. Like you.”
“I don’t like you pretending to be a kid. You’re old enough.”
“…I’m eternally 13 years old.”
“That’s hard to understand. Is this a new counting system?”
“…Want to. Taste fire?”
“Oh ho. So you’ve learned magic too? Go ahead and try. If you can use it with your head flying off.”
“You’re both being childish. Stop fighting.”
Undecided, who had been growling without backing down, finally scurried behind me to hide.
I could understand now why Transylvania was said to have mellowed out recently.
In the past, both our heads would probably have been gone by this point.
The fact that Undecided was a blood ghoul with reason like themselves seemed to play a part too.
“Great! I’m in a good mood! To commemorate meeting my kin, I’ll give you a gift. Ask me anything you’re curious about. Depending on the content of the question, I might not be able to answer willingly, but there’s nothing I can’t answer.”
“…”
Did they just call the right to ask questions about themselves a ‘gift’?
I was momentarily speechless at this high level of self-love.
But to be fair, they had the right to be that narcissistic.
In human terms, they had long since surpassed the Sword Master level and had maintained that realm for nearly 100 years.
This was precisely why the Holy Kingdom’s attempts to denounce and ostracize Transylvania as a blood ghoul were futile and extermination was impossible.
Firstly, physical extermination was impossible, and secondly, there were countless people who admired them and lined up wanting to learn swordsmanship from Transylvania.
‘Actually, there are a few things I’m curious about.’
Even for me, who knew Transylvania’s settings and past history inside out, there were things I was curious about.
Separate from how annoying they were, I couldn’t just throw away this question right.
There was a major question I had been curious about since we first met.
“Isn’t it damp inside the full plate armor? Blood ghouls should fear running water. How do you deal with the moisture inside?”
“You know one thing but not another. Blood ghouls don’t sweat, so as long as you maintain the armor well, there’s no chance for moisture to build up. Here, put your hand inside. Isn’t it cool?”
“Ooh…”
It was true.
When I slipped my hand into the back of the armor’s neck piece and stroked the smooth back, a cool chill enveloped my hand.
It was like a refrigerator.
A major question had been resolved.
It felt like a 10-year-old indigestion had been cleared.
So this was what Transylvania’s back felt like.
“…That’s not it.”
“Ah.”
At that moment, Undecided poked my side, reminding me.
There was something I had wanted to ask if I ever met Transylvania.
Something I had been dying to know for a long time.
“Blood ghouls can use magic too. But I know they can’t recharge magic power through normal methods.”
“Precisely. So what are you curious about?”
“I understand that physical contact is a way to recharge magic power. Blood ghouls recharge magic power when their heads are patted. But no matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand the principle. It’s not like I’m transferring my magic power to them. Sometimes the amount of recharge varies depending on where I pat, and sometimes it changes depending on the speed of patting. It’s not even quantitative, so sometimes patting quickly recharges well and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not intuitive at all, so what’s the principle behind it?”
“Ahahaha! Hahaha! Ha, hahahaha!!!”
This was a serious question.
But Transylvania burst into laughter, holding their stomach and laughing so hard the whole mountain seemed to shake.
After laughing cheerfully for a while, Transylvania wiped their eyes as if wiping away tears and said,
“What? Magic power recharges when you pat them? Wrong. That’s not it. The way blood ghouls obtain magic power is through happiness.”
“Happiness?”
“Magic power recharges in proportion to the happiness they feel. My goodness. Recharging magic power by patting the head. It’s so funny my stomach hurts. That one just enjoys having her head patted by you.”
“…”
Dumbfounded, I turned to look at Undecided again… but Undecided was once again turning her head away, avoiding my gaze.
It seemed she was embarrassed too.
‘No wonder it didn’t work when Alicia patted her.’
There was a reason why it didn’t recharge with a stranger’s touch, and why the amount of recharge was inconsistent.
The question was clearly resolved.
“By the way, I recharge my magic power by looking in the mirror. I can’t help but feel happiness when I see my sculpture-like face.”
“…I really. Don’t like you. Go away now.”
“Hahaha! Feeling embarrassed because your true colors are showing? Don’t worry! The time when you can get happiness from humans will pass quickly! In 100 years, you’ll only see humans as blood bags!”
“…Shut up. Before I. Get angry.”
“Hmm? You mean you weren’t angry until now? My heart is pounding with excitement to see how scary you are when you’re really angry. Go ahead, show me.”
“…You’ll die. If you do.”
“That’s what I want! Kill me! If you can, that is!”
The level of their argument didn’t go beyond kindergarten level.
It gave me a headache just listening to it.
I just wanted to part ways and leave here.
Of course, Transylvania was strong, and if I could make them an ally, there would be nothing better.
But I knew better than anyone that it was impossible.
This person wouldn’t side with either humans or monsters.
No matter what deal conditions were brought, it would be useless.
They maintained absolute neutrality and never fought on any side no matter what happened.
If the Kingdom of Gallia started a war and summoned Transylvania, they would immediately take off their armor.
As I wanted to end this argument soon, I decided to ask just one last thing.
I took out Kali’s dead soul from my bag and showed it to them.
“Last question. Do you know anything about this?”
“Isn’t this a ball that children play with?”
“Ah. I forgot to undo the disguise. This is its true form.”
“…!”
The moment I undid the disguise and revealed Kali’s dead soul, Transylvania’s eyes widened and a gleam shone in their red eyes.
I still didn’t know what would happen when this mana stone’s accumulation was fully charged.
I had taken it out thinking Transylvania might know something, but Transylvania’s reaction was quite intense.
“T-that! How long have you had that?”
“For about 2 weeks?”
“Have you always carried it around disguised?”
“No. I’ve only disguised it a handful of times.”
“Are you out of your mind?! To boldly walk the streets while emitting such an intense scent!”
“Scent? I don’t smell anything? Undecided, do you?”
“…I don’t. Smell anything either.”
“You crazy fools! You can’t smell the Great Druid’s scent from that mana stone? I didn’t think you’d be such lunatics to brazenly carry around something stolen from a Great Druid!”
Transylvania jumped up and down, making a fuss.
This mana stone smelled of Kali…?
Then had I… been advertising ‘I’m the one who killed Kali!’ to the Four Heavenly Kings?
Just as I felt chilled by that thought,
“This can’t be!”
The sky turned black.
A black curtain quickly descended, starting to envelop all of Basel.
With the sky turning black in an instant, it was certain.
This was the work of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
After being momentarily flustered by the sudden attack,
‘This saves me the trouble of finding them.’
I quickly realized this was a favorable development.
I was in a position where I needed to catch and crush all of the Four Heavenly Kings as soon as possible.
So my biggest worry was that the Four Heavenly Kings would hide well and wait it out.
If they showed up on their own like this, I was grateful.
Since it was still the early stages, I, who had prematurely cashed in on miracles, would inevitably have the upper hand over the Four Heavenly Kings.
Not to mention Transylvania, who was far stronger than me, a complete cheat character.
It was a fight we couldn’t lose even if we wanted to.
“Ah, aah. No. No… Not again… I hate this…!”
“Transylvania?”
But Transylvania’s condition seemed far from normal.
The corners of their eyes trembled, and their body shook.
Their pupils shook wildly, unable to focus.
Their legs seemed to be giving out, as if they might collapse at any moment.
No way.
Were they… afraid of the Four Heavenly Kings?
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[Not sure if Transylvania is a dude or woman yet cuz the pronouns are gender neutral in the raws but the illustration is female so maybe we got a bait and switch? guess well find out]
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