The Vampire's Bastard (3)

The morning at the clinic starts early.

"Ugh? Teacher, why are you here so early?"

Erika, still half-asleep, walked out of the duty room to greet me. Tsk, tsk. What a shame when the employee is lazier than the boss.

"Clinics are supposed to open at this time. Besides, you know what they say: the early bird catches the worm."

"Wouldn't I have to catch fewer worms if I slept longer and got less hungry?"

Oh. That logic is actually quite sound. But since I’m the protagonist, I couldn't exactly agree with her. Of course, now that I’ve earned a decent amount of money, I’d like to be reasonably lazy too. But if I do that, I have no idea what kind of snowball effect it might cause later. So, unfortunately, I have no choice but to be an early bird.

"I can save one more person in that time, so I can't do that. Sorry, but you'll have to follow my lead."

"Hing."

Erika stumbled along with puffy eyes. I heard that she had only been active at night to avoid people's gazes. Perhaps that’s why she wasn't used to the morning. But she can't keep living like that anymore. I went through the trouble of giving her a blood transfusion, after all. Shouldn't she be living as a normal young girl during the day now, rather than a vampire's bastard?

After Erika returned from washing her face with cold water, I handed her a note.

"Here's today's errand. Pick up the medicine, contact the patients, and clean up occasionally. Can you do it?"

"That's all? You said it was in exchange for my treatment fees!"

Eri’s eyes widened. Judging by her reaction, she must have been bracing herself for some grueling labor since I told her it was to cover her medical bills. But what was written on the paper was a set of errands that any child her age could easily handle.

"This is too little work, isn't it?"

"Yeah. That’s your daily quota, so if you finish early, you can rest."

However, there was something she was deeply mistaken about. I didn't need an errand girl named Erika right now. I wanted to find out what kind of talent she possessed. I had to "buy the dip" while she was still unknown so that I could freeload off her success later. But Erika, having no idea about my inner thoughts, sent me a look of suspicion instead.

"Liar. It can't be just that."

Erika shook her head and glared at me.

"The alchemist guy in D-4 block said my limbs are so skinny that even if you skinned me, you wouldn't get 10 marks. I know your treatment is more expensive than that."

"What would I even use your skin for?"

"If you have some scheme, tell me quickly. I'd rather just—"

SMACK!

I cut her off with a chop to the head because it sounded like she was about to say something a child shouldn't.

"Ouch!"

I was prepared for the fact that the darkness of Limbus Pit would always easily exceed my imagination. But still, this was too much. Shouldn't a teenage girl be saying things like that? 'Is there a reason to call the police or the FBI in this other world?' The bottom of this city was far more of a cesspool than I had anticipated.

"Erika."

When I called her name, Eri flinched. I stood up from my chair and met her eye level.

"Listen well. A mouth is an organ meant for savoring delicious food or expressing a person's value."

"No— Ugh!"

I blocked Eri's mouth, which was about to retort, with a star candy.

"Keep in mind that the sentence you were about to say could make you more worthless than the cheapest scrap in this city."

Eri, who had been munching on the star candy, stopped. She stared at my mask with dazed eyes. Then, with a short 'too' sound, she spat the candy into her hand.

"But then the deal doesn't hold up."

"Yes, yes. You and I are making a deal right now. I provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care in exchange for you running my errands."

I lectured her, conscious of keeping my voice stern.

"But a deal is about each party offering what they can provide, not offering what shouldn't be offered. If you suggest things like that, what would happen to my reputation?"

"...Sorry."

I didn't mean to make her apologize. Somehow, it had turned into a scolding. I snapped my fingers to lighten the mood.

"So? What's your answer?"

"I'll... do the errands."

"Good."

I tore a piece of pure white paper from the desk to make a memo pad. Eri gasped at the waste of even a single sheet of paper. I scribbled a note on the torn paper.

"Here, your first errand."

I listed the medicinal ingredients on the paper. "Get these from the alchemist. They're things I ordered. I've already paid, so you don't need to. If they ask if I really sent you, show them this signature on the back. Obviously, don't lose this memo halfway."

Eri folded the paper carefully and tucked it into her chest, as if it were her lifeline. I'm not the Emperor; there's no need for her to feel such a sense of duty over a mere memo.

"I'll be back."

"Oh, and one more thing."

Before she left, I remembered something I had forgotten and called her back.

"...What?"

"Let's settle on how you address me. Do you want to call me Dr. Schnabel, or 'Hey, Doctor'?"

"...I'll call you Teacher."

Eri left those words behind, crossed the threshold, and disappeared into the smog-filled morning street. It might just be my imagination, but her back seemed strangely tense.

A week has passed since Eri became my errand girl. Honestly speaking, she did better than I expected.

"Teacher. I went to the pharmacy in D-4 block. Here's the change."

Clink. A few coins were placed precisely on the desk. As someone who knew the ins and outs of the back alleys, her speed was remarkable. It meant she not only had a head for navigating the geography but also had considerable stamina.

"Well done."

But more satisfying than her speed was her honesty. The people Wangcho sent, or Eri's predecessors, would sometimes skim off the change after errands. I suppose they thought that since I made good money and the clinic was always busy, I wouldn't notice a few missing coins. They didn't even know why a ledger existed. I had overlooked it, thinking of it as a tip, but unlike them, Eri didn't skim a single cent.

'Perhaps this, too, could be called a talent.' It wasn't exactly an environment where one couldn't help but be tempted. Therefore, maintaining honesty in such an environment meant that Erika had a talent for integrity.

I organized Erika's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talents in my mind and handed her a few coins.

"This is a tip. Use it for snacks or something."

"Then I'll go clean now."

"Just do the bathroom today."

Her cleaning skills and ability to handle other chores were also very satisfying. Without anyone teaching her, she was doing even better than the level I required. Smart and highly trustworthy...

'She'd be good to recommend for a bank, security, or even as a knight.' This time, it's quite good. Unlike the talent that reminds me of a bakery.

A week passed with such satisfaction.

"Next patient."

The door opened, and a patient on a stretcher was brought in. It was one of Wangcho's subordinates. He was a patient who had gotten his arm caught in a gear while brawling at a factory. The wound was a problem, but what was more urgent right now was the blood. The bleeding was serious.

"Have you ever made a blood genealogy for this person?"

At my question, his colleague replied, "I think we made one here last autumn on Wangcho's orders."

"Then the processing will be fast."

I opened a leather file that exuded a vintage feel.

Translated, it means [Project: Blood Genealogy]. In this era, there is no way to store blood safely. If you draw it, it hardens in a few hours, and if you inject clotted blood, the patient dies. There are magical tools like refrigerators, and I have enough capital, but I haven't figured out how to make a preservative solution yet, so I couldn't do anything about it. If I had known this would happen, I would have studied transfusion medicine harder.

Putting that aside, I came up with an alternative. Whenever I have time, I test people's blood types and record them in a notebook. So that I can call someone immediately to draw blood in an emergency. For the record, the reason I wrote it in Latin is just because it looks cool. Why? Latin is cool, isn't it?

"What's the patient's name?"

"It's Donovan."

"Donovan... Type B, I see."

The notable thing about this file is that the blood types of all the members of Wangcho's organization, the Scard Hyena, are recorded in it. Because they are people for whom knife fights are a daily routine. Therefore, this blood genealogy also served as a kind of health insurance for them.

"Type B... Please answer if there is someone nearby among the names I call."

Locke, Heinz, Lewen...

"Heinz! At this time, he'd be at the bar over there!"

"Drinkers are not allowed."

Emil, Roddy...

"I'm Roddy!"

One of the colleagues who came with him raised his hand high. I briefly checked his body. Before the transfusion, does this person have syphilis, are there any cold symptoms... The conclusion was that he was healthy. Then Roddy it is. Eri prepared the tools for the transfusion. Meanwhile, I started to stop the bleeding of the patient's wound. Even if it's stopping bleeding, there's nothing special about it. Just repeating the work of finding and tying blood vessels and stuffing cotton into large holes? In the meantime, the transfusion preparation was finished.

"It's ready, Teacher."

I prepared to connect arm to arm immediately. The name of the procedure I was preparing was Direct transfusion. Literally, a method of transfusing fresh blood directly raw. Originally, it was a dangerous method, so I avoided it as much as possible in my past life. But, 'Please, just don't let any side effects explode.' I prayed to the power of the misunderstanding trope and prepared for the transfusion.

Drip, drip, drip—

Blood flowed from the donor's arm into the bucket. That was when it happened.

"Teacher."

Eri, who was cleaning up the trash nearby, suddenly spoke up.

"What is it, Eri? Did the tube get tangled?"

"No, it's hard to explain, but this person's arm seems strange."

"?"

At those words, I turned back toward Eri. Eri was frowning, tapping Roddy's forearm with her finger.

"Something... is gross? Is it noisy? Somehow, I feel strange looking at this person."

"Noisy?"

"Yes. The inside is wriggling. It's like tens of thousands of bugs are crawling around."

At those words, I turned back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠toward Eri. "Can you tell me more in detail?"

"What, is something boiling inside? It's the sensation I felt from the pigs that caught a disease at the slaughterhouse."

"...?"

At those words, I briefly stopped the transfusion. Suddenly, one hypothesis flashed through my mind. The vampire's bastard. Her nickname. I thought it was just an anachronistic expression of hatred. But if this is a fantasy world, I thought that maybe the nickname wasn't given by coincidence. Especially the fact that she compared it to 'sick pigs' sounded a louder alarm in my intuition.

I looked at Roddy again. And because the situation was so urgent, I discovered a fact I had been missing.

"...His eyes are a bit yellow. Since when has it been like this?"

"Ah, it wasn't like this yesterday?"

Then did it turn yellow just a moment ago? Of course, considering that jaundice is not a symptom that progresses rapidly, it might be my misunderstanding. It might be due to the lighting or my mood. Before that, it was so vaguely yellow that it was embarrassing to even call it jaundice. Nevertheless, what Eri said weighed on my mind. So I checked one more time.

"Mr. Roddy. Have you been anywhere recently?"

"Uh..." Roddy retraced the past, folding his fingers. "I went outside the wall a few weeks ago."

"Why?"

"To pick up goods that the boss trades. It was near the swamp."

"And you were bitten by mosquitoes there?"

"Yes."

Damn it. All the circumstantial evidence pointed to one thing. Malaria. An incubation period where symptoms are not yet severe. This blood cannot be transfused.

"Transfusion canceled. Let's find someone else."

"Why?"

"You have malaria. It'll be a big problem if I put this into him."

Afterward, we hurriedly found another donor. Fortunately, the transfusion ended successfully. The patient passed the crisis, and the person who accidentally discovered malaria was also prescribed quinine.

An hour later. I called ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Eri, who was wringing out a rag in the corner.

"Eri."

"Yeah? Why?"

"Can you come here for a second?"

I placed three glasses on the desk. Each had a small piece of blood-stained bandage cut into it.

"What's this?"

Eri approached, wiping her wet hands on her apron.

"A quiz."

"...A quiz?"

"If you get it right, I'll raise your weekly wage and change your meals to something better."

At those words, Eri’s eyes lit up, showing enthusiasm. "What is it? What is it?"

"Grab these bottles with your hands. And pick the quietest one."

I pointed to the three glass bottles. A was from a mother who came in with puerperal fever this morning. B was Donovan's, who got caught in the gear earlier. C was Roddy's, who was about to be transfused. Each was the bone marrow of a sepsis, normal, and malaria patient, respectively. However, I didn't tell her what they were.

"The quiet one?"

"Yes. Pick the most 'calm' one you can feel."

"...What does that mean?"

Damn. That was my best joke, but it didn't land. Eri, while puzzled by my quiz, reached out to the bottles.

A: "Ugh! Gross." She recoiled from the sepsis patient's bone marrow.

B: "Hmm... just so-so?" She didn't find anything special in the normal patient's bone marrow.

C: "Ugh! This is gross too." She picked B as the best of the bunch.

I silently cleared away B and pushed A and C toward her. They were the bone marrow of sepsis and malaria patients, respectively.

"What's the difference between these two?"

"Ummm... They're both the same?"

"..."

I was slightly disappointed.

"Why? Why!? Is it the wrong answer?!"

Eri stomped her feet in disappointment. I shook my head.

"No. It's a perfect answer."

It was the correct answer anyway, since she picked B. It would have been the icing on the cake if she had distinguished between A and C. I reached a conclusion. 'Eri can distinguish the degree of bone marrow activation with her senses.' A binary classification of 'disgusting' or 'not disgusting'. She couldn't distinguish whether it was malaria or bacterial infection, or furthermore, which bacteria it was.

'It's a shame.' Still, honestly, it would have been perfect if she could even distinguish the bacterial species. Of course, I know that's asking too much. It's natural that she can't determine that with bone marrow, not even blood culture. And there is an advantage to having a talent for bone marrow rather than blood.

'You can screen bone marrow just as a routine? And non-invasively at that? If this were the 21st century, this would be a sensation.' I can guarantee it. Even if she didn't graduate from medical school, whether it's infectious disease, rheumatology, or hematology, they would have given her a professor position and had her just screen patients at the emergency room entrance. And she would have easily made an annual salary of 400 million won.

Even setting aside the medical perspective, it was a very excellent talent. Because such a talent was one of the talents of a mage.

'It's a jackpot.' One year into the rain-making ritual. Finally, my efforts saw the light of day. I moved Eri's tier from Tier 3 to Tier 1 in my heart.

"Eri."

"What."

"You don't have to run errands starting tomorrow."

Eri’s shoulders flinched. She must have thought she was fired. Her eyes wavered for a moment. The fear of being kicked out after barely settling in flashed across her face. Tears ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠welled up in her eyes. Seeing that, I hurriedly continued.

"From now on, have someone else do the errands, and you work right next to me. Together during consultations."

"Bwe...?"

"Not as an errand girl, you're my assistant now."

A beat late, Eri's mouth fell open. "Why? I can't even read."

"You can just learn to read."

I wiped the tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. "The work you'll do from now on is finding sick people with that sense of yours. It's a very important mission."

"...Is that such a great job?"

"Yes. It's a job only you can do."

Saying that, I wrote down the salary she would receive in my notebook. The zeros kept increasing. One, two, three, four...

"Eek!? 40... 400,000 marks?!"

400,000 marks is the level of a skilled worker's monthly salary in the upper district. Since an orphan from the back alleys suddenly skyrocketed to the level of a master, it's natural for her to be surprised.

"...Can... can I take this?"

"It's worth that much."

To recruit her, I have to spend at least this much. If I think of it as bringing in an MRI machine, this is cheap.

"One, two, three, four..."

Eri kept counting the number of zeros, as if she couldn't believe this reality. Why is she so surprised? If she stays by my side and gains seniority, it will increase tenfold.

I finished writing today's medical log and said while putting the records in the warehouse, "And one more thing."

Eri looked up. "What?"

"Since you're an assistant now, you'll commute with me."

"Commute?"

"I mean, don't sleep here, but commute from where I live."

This isn't just because she's my lucky encounter. A mage's talent is rare. To what extent? To the point where even those aristocrats soaked in a sense of privilege would try to adopt her once they discover it. If she's reasonably smart on top of that, it's no exaggeration to say she's an SSR as a mage prospect. So, as a protagonist of a misunderstanding story, and as a young master of a Count's family, I had a duty to take her to my house.

Naturally, Erika, who had no way of knowing this background, seemed unable to believe the sudden exceptional treatment.

"...At Teacher's house?"

"To be precise, the annex. I'll give you a room."

"A house with an annex??"

Eri stared at me with a dazed expression.

"Let's go first. I'll explain on the way."

I opened the clinic door and stepped outside. Eri followed me in a hurry. In front of the clinic, a black sedan was waiting. Smooth luster. Brass trim. It was a limousine where even the smog reflected in the windows looked luxurious. Eri froze.

"...What is that?"

"A car."

"Do you think I'm asking because I don't know that? Why is a car here?"

"Shouldn't it be here?"

"It's not even a carriage, why is a car..."

Ignoring Eri, who was muttering in a daze, I opened the door and pushed her inside. Eri tumbled onto the leather seat. I sat next to her and closed the door.

"Let's go."

Beyond the rearview mirror, the driver, Otto, looked at me with eyes asking what I had picked up again. I recalled Otto's position from that look. He is my driver and bodyguard. And before being my person, he was the butler's person. Thinking of that and looking again, the atmosphere was as if he wouldn't step on the pedal if I didn't explain Eri. So I persuaded him briefly.

"Please contact the head butler. Tell him to prepare a room in the annex. I've discovered a child with the talent of a mage, so tell him to prepare accordingly."

"Understood, Young Master."

The driver's eyes changed. If it's recruiting a mage, it's understandable. Only then did the car start to move. Eri fiddled with the leather seat and widened her eyes.

"Is, is this real leather?"

"Yes."

"Sniff, sniff. The smell..."

"Could you refrain from doing that inside the car?"

Eri buried her nose in the seat and inhaled the smell. Since most leather in the red-light district is just scraps left over from tanning, it's understandable. Eri, who had adapted to the smell like a cat, carefully leaned back. And looked out the window. The black slate buildings of Limbus Pit passed by.

"...Where are we going?"

I told her to just watch quietly. The car continued to climb. It left Limbus Pit and crossed Civitas Square. But the car continued to climb. Eventually, when the car passed Sanctum Hill without inspection.

"Huh? Huh?"

"This is where you'll live from now on."

"...Kkeureuk."

Eri's head dropped. It seems her brain chose to shut down because too much information came in at once. I understand. It's like being promoted from an orphan in a brothel to the right-hand man of a Celestial Dragon.

"..."

I looked at the fainted Eri with satisfaction. 'This was the reaction I expected.' It seems I've gained an assistant with great reactions.