Let's Take the Holy Knights' Ship!

"Let's take the Holy Knights' ship!"

"...The Holy Knights' ship is no different! We absolutely cannot provoke the vampires!" Evangeline thumped her chest in frustration.

In the land of vampires, one had to follow the rules of vampires. Once they arrived, living races like humans, elves, and dwarves would be the minority! They needed to stay on the vampires' good side, but these guys...

"You've been there before, right?"

"Of course I have. Though I didn't stay long."

Since Evangeline was a Vampire, she didn't suffer any major disadvantages in the Blood Archipelago. She repeatedly warned them, going over the precautions for the Blood Archipelago once more.

"Got it? Whatever you do, don't startle the vampires. Just pretend to be vampires yourselves."

"I think we can do that pretty well."

Tae-hyun and his companions were veterans when it came to disguises! Acting like vampires seemed well within their capabilities.

"But how exactly do we pretend to be vampires?"

"Can't we just put on pale expressions and walk around holding cups of blood?"

"..."

Evangeline suddenly began to regret her choices. Was it really okay to bring these people along?

"We are vampires... Ugh... Blood is delicious..."

"...Please stop."

Evangeline glared at Tae-hyun's group with a face full of irritation. She was a Vampire herself, and she had never behaved like that!

"Vampires aren't even that different, okay? They're just a bit unlucky..."

"Are you saying you're unlucky?"

"You know I meant my Luck stat is low, right?"

"Ah. Is that what it was?"

When Evangeline glared, Tae-hyun and his companions all avoided her gaze.

Whoosh!

Meanwhile, the ship cut through the waves, drawing closer to the Blood Archipelago.

Even though it was broad daylight, the Blood Archipelago was dark and gloomy. Thick gray clouds blanketed the sky, blocking out the light. Even the seawater was blood-red!

As a divine beast, Carbanog didn't particularly care for vampires either.

Ah... right. Truly useless information!

Thud.

"Keep this in mind, everyone. Do not let them suspect for a second that you aren't vampires."

"Of course. Don't worry."

Behind Tae-hyun stood the Holy Knights, the guards, and even the Archisus Artillery. No matter how one looked at it, it was an incredibly conspicuous lineup!

"...Let's hide these people here first," Evangeline said, pointing toward the shore. The moment they walked into a village with this crowd, the vampires would probably scream, "Eek! A vampire subjugation force!" and go completely wild.

"Wait, why?! What did we do?!"

"Are you leaving us behind?!"

Ignoring the clamor rising from behind, Evangeline made sure they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left them there. If anything happened, they could just summon them then!

"Hehehe... Are you young vampires?"

"Ignore him. Just ignore him."

When a random vampire sitting by the roadside called out to them, Evangeline cut him off immediately.

"Why? Who is he?"

"Just a crazy vampire. There are so many weird vampires around here, so it's best to avoid getting involved with them as much as possible."

It was heartfelt advice. The Blood Archipelago was the land of vampires. And vampires were famously a long-lived race! Naturally, there were plenty of lunatics among them. In fact, if one visited the Pan-On community forums, there was an entire section dedicated to questions about the Blood Archipelago!

"Hehehe. Young vampires, why don't you draw one of these?"

The old vampire rattled a jar as he called out to them. Evangeline urged him to ignore the old man, but Tae-hyun was intrigued. There was always a hidden catch to these kinds of events. No event was completely meaningless.

And the fact that it was a lottery-style draw caught his attention. Was there anything more advantageous for Tae-hyun right now than a game of chance? His Luck stat was just that overwhelmingly high.

"May I draw?"

"It is one silver."

This was precisely why the old vampire was so notorious! He charged a whopping one silver, yet in the vast majority of cases, he gave absolutely nothing in return.

Tae-hyun handed over one silver. The old man then proffered the jar.

"Go ahead. Draw."

"...?"

The inside of the jar was pitch-black, revealing nothing. But since he had already paid, Tae-hyun reached his hand inside. What could possibly be in here?

"???"

A lordship quest just like that? Dumbfounded, Tae-hyun stared at Evangeline. Evangeline looked equally flabbergasted. Something actually useful came out of that jar?

"What kind of sword is that?"

"It's Count Knema's Sword."

"Count Knema's Sword came out of there?!"

Evangeline was genuinely shocked. Knema Island was one of the islands in the Blood Archipelago, currently serving as a war zone where various vampire factions constantly clashed. This was all because its original ruler, Count Knema, had vanished. Yet, the sword of that very Count Knema had just appeared here? Out of some scammer vampire's jar?!

"You're lying to me right now, aren't you?"

A perfectly reasonable suspicion! Evangeline stared at Tae-hyun with deep distrust. This was the price of all the times Tae-hyun had scammed her in the past!

"Even if I were lying, what can we actually do with this sword?"

"The vampires fighting over Knema Island would go absolutely crazy to get their hands on that... Wait, it's not a lie?!"

Evangeline recognized the sword in Tae-hyun's hand and gasped in horror. Seriously, why on earth did that come out of there? Evangeline rushed over to the old vampire and grabbed him by the collar.

"When I paid you silver, you gave me absolutely nothing or just useless trash like dust! Are you discriminating against me?!"

"Ack, *cough*... No, why are you blaming me for your own bad luck..."

The choked-up old vampire wheezed out his defense.

"Give me back my gold!"

Gold? Just how much silver did she throw away? Tae-hyun realized that Evangeline had lost a small fortune here. No wonder she had warned him not to do it!

"It's only natural... *cough*... for a vampire... *wheeze*... to be unlucky..."

A business model built entirely around exploiting the inherent bad luck of vampires! Tae-hyun was deeply impressed. What a brilliant scheme! Even if they didn't suffer from extreme misfortune like Evangeline's -999 Luck, normal vampires still lived with a default bad luck penalty. There was absolutely no way they would ever draw anything good from a lottery!

Should I sell my gacha boxes here? He felt like the vampires would buy them at several times the normal price.

While Evangeline shook down the old vampire, Tae-hyun pondered how to make use of this unexpected sword. He had only planned to find the Archbishop's treasure, but now he was looking at a territory war. This seems like it'll take a lot of time...

Besides, a vampire territory didn't sound particularly appealing. What would he even do with it? It was quite far away, making it difficult to manage, and it didn't seem like it would yield much profit!

"...?"

...Are you really a god?

Carbanog was advising him not to build essential structures like farms, mills, or granaries if he acquired the territory! In any other territory, a message like [The residents are fleeing due to a food shortage!] would have popped up, but a vampire territory had no such issues.

Aside from that, isn't there some kind of specialty product that grows well in a vampire territory?

Vampire territories did indeed have specialty products. For one, grapes grew exceptionally well, as did various materials related to dark magic. It was a natural characteristic, considering undead monsters spawned in the territory instead of normal ones!

And even if I take over this place, I probably won't be able to establish the Archisus Church here.

Unless it was a cult specialized for vampires like the Salavian Order, religious orders generally had terrible relations with the undead. Since Archisus was technically categorized as a benevolent deity, building a temple here would surely backfire!

...?

"No... that can't be right." Tae-hyun was bewildered. Really?

Open Church Window.

Tae-hyun opened the Church Status Window, which he could access as the Pope of the Archisus Church.

"..."

Just what kind of religion was the Archisus Church...

Since he had already obtained a sword like this, he couldn't just walk away. Tae-hyun decided to look into the state of the territory war. But before that...

"Can I draw some more?"

"Hehehe. Young vampire..."

The old vampire smiled meaningfully. Then, he pulled the jar behind his back.

"...Absolutely not."

"..."

Tae-hyun had already swept the grand prize! The old man had already lost more than half of his total capital, and he couldn't afford to lose any more! The old vampire was highly shrewd.

"Hey, I'm saying I'll pay another silver!"

"Business is closed for today! How did you even draw that in the first place?! Are you even a vampire?!" the old vampire shouted, staring at Tae-hyun.

Tae-hyun flinched. How did he know?

"Then how about she draws instead?"

Tae-hyun dragged Evangeline forward. At this, the old vampire flinched. Evangeline was a legendary sucker who had already been fleeced of countless silver coins—someone even this old vampire remembered! If someone like Evangeline was going to draw, he couldn't help but be tempted.

"Hehehe... Young vampire... you who know no fear..."

"Ah, cut it out with the roleplay already."

Tae-hyun grumbled in annoyance. It was irritating how the old vampire only put on airs when he had the upper hand, yet claimed business was closed the moment things went south!

"Didn't you just say business was closed?"

"Hehehe... Perhaps because I am old, my hearing is failing me..."

"..."

A formidable opponent after a long time! It felt like forever since he had encountered an NPC as shameless as himself.

The old vampire chuckled as he looked at Evangeline. That laugh made her feel incredibly dirty, as if he were looking at a prime target to be scammed. Well, to be fair, she was.

I must recoup my losses here...

This Jar of Chaos and Darkness allowed players to draw one of the items inside. The higher one's Luck stat, the better the item they would draw! The old vampire had placed Count Knema's Sword and various other Heroic-grade items inside, but filled the rest of the jar to the brim with dust, trash, and useless junk.

Then, he would say, "Inside this jar... lies an incredibly magnificent item... hehehe..." and suckers like Evangeline would inevitably take the bait.

"Hey. There's no point in me drawing..."

Evangeline looked at Tae-hyun with a troubled expression. It was sad, but she had to admit it. She was a total sucker! As long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as her Luck stat was rock-bottom, there was nothing she could do. Although she no longer suffered from the active penalty thanks to Tae-hyun, it didn't mean her Luck stat had actually become high...

"Don't worry."

"Archisus's Blessing!"

"Draw."

"!!"

"A-Archisus...!"

The old vampire recognized Tae-hyun's skill and fell into absolute panic. Save the vampires! It's Archisus!