Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Deluxe☆Bomber
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After teaching the pig a lesson, he ran away with his tail between his legs.
He's probably busy tattling to Isaac right now.
Not that it matters. Isaac will only pretend to listen.
I could have just killed him like usual.
'It's not that I'm scared of shit, I avoid it because it's dirty.'
I don't want something that filthy touching my Dragon Slayer either.
After that, we lazed around until evening.
Vampires are active at night, and besides, I wanted to rest after traveling such a long distance.
And that evening.
Only after the moon was high in the sky and all the streetlights had gone out did Luna and I head outside the count's domain to handle the request.
"So, you're saying a vampire is behind what's happening now?"
"Yeah."
Vampires.
They're responsible for all the disappearances in the count's domain.
In this world, vampires are treated like monsters, same as goblins or worwolves.
But despite being treated as monsters, they can talk and think.
The reason they're appearing this early is because of the power gap with other monsters.
In most other novels, vampires are portrayed as incredibly strong, but here, there are plenty of monsters even stronger than them.
Just look at C-rank monsters, and you'll find a ton that are stronger than vampires.
"For what reason?"
"Do monsters need a reason for what they do?"
Actually, there is a reason.
Something about proving their superiority over humans and reviving their race, or whatever.
But I don't remember the details of the monsters' backstory.
'No need to remember, right? They're all going to die anyway.'
"How do you know all this, Sir Luke...?"
"I read it in a novel."
"...If you don't want to tell me, just say so."
"But it's true."
Tsk, tsk.
This is all because her affection level is too low for her to believe me.
If she were a heroine with over 100 affection, she'd believe me even if I said I could shit gold.
Then again, who would believe that the world they live in is a novel and I'm from another world?
I always see restrictions in novels that prevent protagonists from revealing they're a regressor or transmigrator, but even without such troublesome constraints, no one would believe them anyway.
Even on Earth, if I told a friend, "Hey, actually, the world we live in is a movie, and I'm from another world," the reply would probably be, "Go see a shrink."
"By the way, Sir Luke. Are we going the right way?"
"Where are we?"
"......"
***
"Soon. At this rate, it will be over in a few days."
"You will... *sob*... face divine punishment..."
"Say what you will. Once you awaken, we will head to the nearest city, kill all the humans, and claim it as our territory."
There really were only a few days left.
She could feel it herself.
Is there truly no salvation for me?
The man approached her as she grimaced, trying to endure, and said,
"You are a fool. To be born with the destiny of a queen, yet abandon your own kind and despise the act of drinking blood."
"I didn't ask... to be born this way...!"
If a vampire goes too long without drinking blood, they are overcome by a bloodlust that makes them crave it.
But she, born with the grand title of queen, felt no such urge even without drinking blood.
It was nothing but an empty shell.
The grand name of queen.
Just as ants and bees have queens.
She was a coward.
To vampires who lived for hundreds of years, she, who had been born a mere few decades ago, knew the ways of the world far better than the ancient ones.
They were frogs in a well.
What would change even if she awakened?
The world was overflowing with powerful monsters and powerful humans.
Even if they conquered the city outside, it wouldn't last a month before falling.
To press on knowing that only death awaited them was nothing but foolishness.
No matter how much she wanted to escape, all she could do was wait for an end that might never come.
She gently closed her eyes.
"It seems you've finally decided to obey,"
the man said.
-Clank!
It was then.
A vampire burst through the door and urgently said,
"S-Sir! There's a huge problem! The mansion is on fire!"
"...?"
"...?"
At those words, both the bound woman and the man wore expressions of utter disbelief.
***
Thirty minutes of wandering through the forest with Luna.
Fortunately, we managed to reach our destination.
"...It would have been better if I had known the way."
"Hey, people get lost sometimes."
If you could find your way with just the phrase 'a grand mansion in the forest,' you wouldn't be human, you'd be a god.
I got a bit lost because I didn't know the way, but I found it in the end.
A grand mansion in the forest that looked suspicious to anyone.
That spooky mansion, looking like it could house witches or ghosts, was the vampires' secret hideout.
"Sir Luke, there's someone over there."
"Looks like we're in the right place."
In the direction Luna was pointing, there was someone who looked... human, but upon closer inspection, it was a vampire.
A low-ranking vampire carrying a sack was walking toward the mansion's main gate.
That sack probably contained a person to feed to the queen. Kidnapped from somewhere, I'm sure.
Come to think of it, there was something I've wanted to try if I ever met a vampire. Now's my chance.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
And for kidnapping?
"Kidnapping."
I snuck up and stood behind the vampire who was carrying the sack.
"A.S.M.Rrrrrrrrrrrrr~~~~~~~~~"
Startled by the unfamiliar ASMR, which likely didn't exist in this world, the vampire turned around, but it was already too late.
I didn't knock him out; I just grabbed him by the hair and dragged him away.
Hair is a surprising weakness. When you're being dragged by it, you can't even mount a proper counterattack.
Maybe that's why soldiers shave their heads.
"Luna, I caught one. Get ready."
"Can't you just kill him...?"
"Honestly, aren't you curious?"
What does it feel like for a creature that's only ever sucked others' blood to have its own blood sucked?
I was curious, so today I've invited a special guest: Mr. Mosquito.
Nearly a hundred mosquitoes.
A ton of them appeared last time when we were moving briefly, so there's no way they wouldn't show up after we've been traveling through the forest for hours.
Of course, I caught them all.
I didn't know I'd be using them today, though.
"Now, now, eat up~"
"W-what are you doing! Stop it! Stop!!"
"Silence Punch!!"
"Gah!!"
The technique's name: Silence Punch.
In some RPGs, there's a debuff called 'Silence' that seals mages' magic.
True to its name, it shut his mouth and also prevented him from sucking blood.
"Aww, look at them go. My little babies are eating well. Hehehe."
It's nice to see them eating so well.
I wonder if vampire blood is tasty. But since vampires drink human blood, maybe it's no different from human blood.
"So, how is it? How does it feel to be the one having your blood sucked after always being the one doing the sucking?"
Of course, getting bitten by mosquitoes won't kill him.
Unless he's surrounded by them like in One-Punch Man, if a mere hundred mosquitoes could drain someone dry, humanity would have gone extinct long ago.
"Mmph... mmmph..."
"Ah. I cast Silence on you."
Silence Magic (Physical).
It's a super simple spell that even I, with no mana, can use. Unfortunately, it can't be dispelled.
To dispel it, you'd probably need a god-tier healer who could restore his already-knocked-out teeth.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a healer.
"What should I do..."
No. There are plenty of ways to communicate without speaking.
For example, body language, which is used universally. Or writing, which is used by people with aphasia, a speech impairment, or those who need to rest their voices due to vocal cord nodules.
"We can communicate through writing!"
"But we don't have paper and a pen, do we?"
"Luna. There's something in the world called a dying message."
A dying message is a message left by a victim as they die in a murder case.
The vampire before us wasn't dead yet, but he would be soon, so it's not much different.
And the important point here is that these dying messages are usually written in the victim's own blood.
Therefore, even without paper and a pen, there's a way to write.
"Luna, cut off his finger."
"If he's just writing, you don't need to cut it off, do you...?"
"If he runs out of ink, we won't be able to read it. Better to have too much than not enough."
"You're ordering me around a lot today. You usually do these things yourself."
"You want me to do a delicate job like cutting off a single finger with my sword, like some sissy? I'd rather just lop off his whole arm."
Luna cut off the tip of the vampire's index finger.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!"
The blood flowing from his finger wouldn't stop.
Well, a whole joint was severed. It'd be weird if it did stop.
"Now! Hurry up and write down your thoughts!"
"Uwaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Hah. Times like these are the most annoying.
What's so hard about writing a few words?
These bastards probably laughed while killing people, so why do they act like their whole world is ending when it happens to them?
Annoyed, I just pulled out my greatsword and sliced his head off.
[ Level Up! Please check your status! ]
"Tsk, let's just go finish the job. This is annoying."
"Yes. I'll get ready before we go in."
"What? Why would we go in there?"
"...Pardon?"
I'm genuinely curious. In movies and novels, why do people always go inside when they know something is in there?
They say things like, "There are rumors of ghosts in this mansion!" and then walk in just to die.
Rumors or not, the place looks suspicious at a glance.
So why not just... not go in?
"Luna. Take this."
"This is..."
"Why bother going in when they'll come running out on their own if we set it on fire?"
I tossed Luna a bottle of oil.
It's not like there are hostages inside, and even if there were, they'd have to find their own way out.
"Alright, time to start the campfire."
"As soon as we get here...?"
You're actually saying that line? Luna, you're getting sharper.
Then there's a line I have to say, too.
"Deluxe☆Bomber~"