The Taste of Victory and the Price of Blood
The war was over. ‘…Now, how am I supposed to live?’ A future I knew nothing about was closing in. Until now, I had somehow scraped by using the knowledge I carried from before. But this… I truly had no idea.
‘For now, let’s just savor the victory.’
The scene I had once glimpsed in the game was so breathtakingly beautiful that my gaze was stolen by it for a long moment. Hot cocoa and a cigarette. Since I had already drunk blood, my body could now absorb sugar as well. With a satisfied smile, I took a sip of the cocoa. The way it gently warmed me from the inside was exquisite.
Cocoa was only issued to field-grade officers and above in the Imperial Army. “...It’s good,” I murmured in a flat, expressionless voice, savoring the sweetness that wrapped around my mouth. I hadn’t originally been fond of sweet things, but since I could absorb calories from them, I had grown to like them.
As I watched the sunrise, Kriha approached with a tearful face and sat down beside me.
“Major…!! Thank you… for protecting us…!”
“If anyone saw this, they’d think I was being discharged.”
Kriha clung to me and sobbed loudly. She too was a pitiful woman who had lost her entire family to vampires. The only difference between her and Eryk was that she still managed to keep a bright demeanor.
“…Stop crying.”
“Ugh… it smells like cigarettes.”
“……”
“You cried yesterday too, Major… so I want to cry too……”
“A company commander acting like this……”
I no longer had the energy to scold her. I simply let out a sigh and took another drag from my cigarette.
“…It’s finally over.”
“Captain Kyle, please take your wife away.”
“Ehh…? You’re so cold…! The war’s over, you know…!”
The war was indeed over. But according to the pre-order promotional text, ‘…the Empire’s war of conquest will soon begin.’
The Emperor was beautiful, yet like a rose—thorny and dangerous. After planting a spy within the imperial family, I had come to understand exactly what kind of person she was. ‘To the citizens of the Empire, she is gentle and generous. To everyone else, she casts an ice-cold gaze.’
As long as she didn’t know I was a vampire, she was my strongest ally. The moment she found out, she would become my most terrifying enemy.
‘…Well, there’s no chance of being discovered now.’
The vampires had been exterminated. The only vampire left on this land was me. If Eryk would just keep quiet, I would never be exposed.
‘Even if Eryk were to blab…….’
I pulled out the key I kept tucked against my chest and gripped it tightly. As long as these backers existed, I was safe.
‘How am I going to endure until the next war…….’
Where would I even get blood from now on? My worries were deepening when—
“…Major Valentine.”
“At your service. What is it?”
Eryk, drenched in blood, walked toward me. Perhaps because he now knew I was a vampire, his face was heavily furrowed. ‘…I can’t blame him.’
I was the last survivor of the race that had massacred his family and driven his comrades to their deaths. If I were in his position, I probably would have made the same expression.
Fortunately, those around us simply assumed he looked that way because he was exhausted. I saluted and looked at him. After a brief hesitation, he returned the salute.
“At your service. I offer you my gratitude.”
“……”
“Well, I suppose there’s no way you’d believe me.”
With those words, Eryk spat on the ground in front of me and walked away.
‘…….’
‘What a crazy bastard.’
Even though he had lost to me, it seemed he still hadn’t come to his senses. He must have realized that as long as he didn’t cross the line, I wouldn’t kill him.
‘…Just endure it, Valentine.’
“…Haa……”
“Hold it together……”
“I have to follow the protagonist. Just hold it together……”
I planned to follow him as closely as possible while avoiding any entanglement with that son of a bitch. I would never fall under his command. That was what I had thought back then.
“…Major Valentine.”
“Haa… please… spare me……”
“……”
I had thought that too. I never imagined that just one week later, I would be begging Eryk for blood because I was running out.
After the war ended, we returned to the capital. Cheers poured down from the citizens. I watched the people outside from inside the military carriage.
Inside that carriage, I was—
“…Ugh……”
—complaining of dizziness.
I never thought the blood I had drunk would only last three days. I was so hungry I felt like I was going insane. It had already been a little over a week since the effects of my last proper feeding had worn off. In other words, this frail, small body of mine had gone without proper sustenance for over a week.
“Haa… haa……”
It felt like I would lose consciousness at any moment. Strength drained from my body. My stomach, completely ruined, gurgled and whined for blood. I had swallowed food, but it wouldn’t digest, leaving my insides bloated and heavy. The sensation was so disgusting that I dry-heaved once.
‘…I can’t throw up…!’
“Ugh……”
Suppressing the rising nausea, I pulled the black sword that lay beside me closer. I needed to open the secret compartment beneath the hilt, but—
“My… my hands are shaking… I can’t……”
My hands, lacking nutrients, trembled so violently that I couldn’t open it properly. To make matters worse, the carriage kept shaking. I drew the curtains, bit down on the hilt with my teeth, and forcibly extracted the blood.
Black blood. It had gone bad; a revolting stench rose sharply.
“I don’t want to… I don’t want to……”
Even as I muttered those words, I uncorked the bottle.
“Ugh…!”
The rotten smell grew even stronger. I felt like I would vomit.
“I have to drink it……”
“It’s disgusting……”
Enduring the revulsion, I drank the thick, dark-red blood. The me who had watched the sunrise right after the war and sipped cocoa was now—
“Ugh……”
—desperately forcing down rotten blood that tasted the complete opposite. I did everything I could to push it past my throat. It was revolting. The urge to vomit surged. But soon, that nausea transformed into comfort. My churning stomach settled, and my digestive system began to move again.
“……”
I stared blankly into space, wiping away the tears that flowed from the wave of regret and despair that crashed over me. This brief comfort wouldn’t last long. Because the blood had been heavily spoiled, my stomach would soon shut down again, and the meager nutrients and calories would be rapidly depleted.
“…It’s okay.”
“If I drink animal blood… it’ll be fine……”
If it came down to it, I could buy meat dripping with blood from a butcher. With that thought, I squeezed my eyes shut. Cheers could be heard. People were rejoicing, feeling that my kind had been wiped out. Once again, I keenly realized that I had become a filthy, disgusting race.
Unlike the bright, warm, joyful world outside filled with cheers, the carriage I sat huddled inside was a cold, dark, despair-filled space echoing with sobs.
I had tried my hardest to avoid getting entangled with Eryk. Yet after the war, I ended up serving as his adjutant. A new unit led by two heroes was being formed, so no matter how much I resisted, it was inevitable. Or rather, I simply didn’t have the strength to resist properly.
Blood. I was short on blood. Every evening, I went to the butcher and drank pig’s blood. However, it didn’t last nearly as long as human blood. I had to drink an entire liter just to maintain myself for about two hours. The efficiency was incomparably worse than human blood. On top of that, the taste was unbearably disgusting. If I threw it up midway, the effect would vanish, so I couldn’t drink much at once. There were many times I vomited and collapsed without gaining any benefit.
My physical condition grew thinner with each passing day. And exactly one week after our return, the accident happened.
“…Haa… haa……”
I was breathing raggedly in the office. Eryk stared at me intently.
“…Major Valentine, are you not going to work?”
“I’m… sorry……”
“Tsk. What else can you expect from a vampire bastard.”
“……”
He hurled insults at me. Even if I was angry, I couldn’t kill him. No matter how much political power I had wielded at the table, he was a hero who enjoyed overwhelming support from the citizens and had been acknowledged by the Emperor to reach this position. It wasn’t easy to touch someone like that.
“…Ugh, dizzy……”
In my current state, where I staggered at the slightest movement, killing him was impossible.
“The fact that I cannot kill you is my greatest regret.”
“……”
Eryk said this as he dropped a heavy stack of documents in front of me. Every time he looked at me, he frowned, as if hiding something. His pupils trembled faintly amid the disgust. It seemed Eryk was hoping I would simply starve to death. That made sense—he couldn’t touch me easily. Quietly disposing of me was nearly impossible. More than ten noble houses supported me, and I regularly held tea parties with the Emperor. He couldn’t suddenly kill someone like that.
And so, within that small office, we had maintained a tense, taut standoff.
“…Ugh.”
—THUD!!!
Until the moment I collapsed face-first onto the floor.
“…!!”
A slightly startled Eryk rose from his seat and rushed over to me. Looking up at him, I begged.
“…Please… save me… I’m… out of blood……”
Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded to live. I had reached my limit. It was too hard to endure any longer.
But the moment I asked for blood, Eryk’s expression froze over coldly.
“…Valentine is… a vampire, Eryk… get a hold of yourself……”
Watching him mutter those words, I gasped for breath.
“…Dizzy… so dizzy……”
“Just once… please… just once.”
Tears flowing, I looked at Eryk as he leaned over me. I reached out, but he wouldn’t take my hand. I grabbed his collar and pulled him closer.
“…I’m… sorry… Lieutenant Colonel. I tried to hold on as long as I could……”
“Haa… I can’t… anymore……”
And then—
“Ugh?!”
“Haaup……”
—I sank my fangs into the side of his neck, piercing a hole.