Chapter 397
Chapter 397
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 397
Chapter Title: Unknown Threat (3)
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That day was just like any other ordinary day.
He woke up early in the morning, had breakfast with his beloved family, and headed to the elementary education facility built within the 'Merchant Company Employee Residential Area'.
"Aaron, good morning~!"
"Oh! Aaron's here? Did you hear the news? Over in Mishang Street this time..."
"You're early again today. Such a diligent student."
Aaron was incredibly popular there.
Not just with the other kids receiving education alongside him, but even with the instructors hired as teachers.
In truth, that was only natural.
This facility had been entirely created and operated by the Hubert Foundation from top to bottom, and the parents of the children attending were mostly employees working at the Hubert Merchant Company.
'And I'm the younger brother of the chairman's closest aide, the secretary.'
Though called a secretary, she was essentially the second-in-command.
The chairman trusted her that much and had delegated immense authority.
A faint bitter smile formed on his lips.
While he felt a bit smug receiving such treatment thanks to his amazing sister, the mounting pressure was no small burden either.
Until coming here, hadn't he lived a life no different from the lowest of the low?
'Even thinking about it now, it still doesn't feel real. That I'm living like this.'
Hubert Merchant Company's position in the merchant world was now irreplaceable.
Not only in Tarak and the surrounding trade districts, but even beyond Tulk Kingdom, it had grown to be counted among the top on the entire continent. It was only natural.
It wasn't just immense wealth; it wielded formidable political power as well, to the point where even the Aonia Count family in Tarak, let alone the Tulk royal family, couldn't treat it lightly.
'I heard they were actually pleased with all the benefits it brought.'
Based on that, Hubert Merchant Company had established a foundation and begun massive investments in Tarak.
Countless facilities, including the education center Aaron attended, were built, and public institutions became far more comfortable in their operations thanks to the foundation's sponsorship.
Along with that, the economy boomed day by day, and security stabilized to the point where one could wander the streets even at night. The entire city was directly benefiting from Hubert Merchant Company.
In such circumstances, it wasn't strange at all that Aaron received such excessive treatment.
Especially with rumors circulating that he might even become the chairman's brother-in-law someday.
'It doesn't really feel real, though. If it's that uncle, I'd be all for it... but what does sis think?'
In truth, he already knew.
That Hubert, the chairman of the merchant company, was that 'uncle' who had saved them.
At first, it had been unimaginable, so he hadn't noticed, but watching his sister's attitude, whom he'd spent his whole life with, he naturally came to realize it.
He too had honed his instincts for survival in that harsh environment.
'Well, probably some magic or something.'
Didn't they say running a business involved all sorts of bizarre events?
For the head of a mega-merchant company like Hubert to disguise his identity for safety wasn't all that unusual.
"We're home."
"Oppa!!!"
"Ugh!"
As Aaron returned home after school with his friends, a small figure charged at him full force with a body slam.
A lively girl who looked about seven or eight years old.
It was his cousin, Rafi.
"I'm going to Grandma's house—come with me!"
"...I have homework to do first."
"Hurry! Quick quick! Grandma said she's making meat cookies! She told me to bring you too. She said you're looking all skinny and weak, and she's worried!"
"No, I'm not that weak..."
But in the end, with a sigh at his sister's urging, he had no choice but to step back outside.
He was the one who always looked after Rafi when his aunt and uncle and sister were working, so he could never refuse this little girl's requests.
"Heh heh heh... Right on time. The cookies just finished baking—sit there and wait."
"Yes!"
"I'll prepare something to drink."
"Good, go ahead."
The two headed to the house of the neighborhood shaman grandma.
Though she looked scary with tattoos covering her face, she had been a kind neighbor ever since their family moved to the city.
Especially since she lived nearby, Rafi visited so often that she treated her like her own grandma.
"Thanks for the food."
"Nom nom—Grandma, it's yummy!"
"Heh heh heh... I made plenty, so take some when you go."
"Thank you!"
The old woman's and Aaron's faces lit up with smiles at Rafi's mumbled words, her mouth stuffed full of cookies.
A peaceful daily life.
Tranquil days.
The outside world buzzed with talk of war with the Immortal King and such, but Tarak... their neighborhood seemed utterly untouched by the commotion, serene beyond words.
Even if a great war broke out, this place would surely be safe.
This space protected and maintained by Uncle, Sis, and so many others would serve as an absolute sanctuary.
Wrapped in that unfounded belief, the day faded just like any other.
And then—.
Knock knock—
"Excuse me."
A sudden knock and an unfamiliar voice sounded.
A soft tone that couldn't be fully masked by the polite speech.
Aaron, who had been standing at the entrance with Rafi to hurry home as it was getting late, cautiously opened the door.
"Who might you be?"
"Ah, sorry. I'm looking for someone urgently."
Peeking through the door crack was a young boy.
Perhaps around Aaron's age at most?
A kid who even looked younger was standing there, beaming brightly.
"...If you tell me the name of the person you're looking for, maybe I can help."
Yet polite words slipped from Aaron's mouth unbidden.
He hadn't intended it.
It was just an instinctive response he himself hadn't even noticed.
"Ah... I don't know the name."
The other trailed off, scanning them with narrowed eyes.
A chilling gaze that licked over their entire bodies like a snake in an instant.
Shhh—
At that moment, goosebumps erupted across Aaron's body, tension surging up.
His mouth went dry, cold sweat trickling down.
Before he knew it, Rafi had hidden behind him, trembling uncontrollably. An inexplicable fear and foreboding began to bind them.
"...Tch, another miss. I must be getting closer, though..."
The boy in front muttered irritably, but Aaron couldn't utter a single word.
Even knowing the emotion in those words wasn't directed at him, he was overwhelmed, his mouth refusing to move.
"Aaron? Rafi? Why haven't you left yet...?"
At that moment, the old woman finished cleaning the kitchen and approached, spotting them at the entrance.
Her gaze naturally turned toward the boy standing at the door.
The next instant.
Whoosh—
A wind stirred indoors.
And Aaron's rigidly frozen body began to loosen bit by bit.
"Huh?"
When he came to, he was leaning against the wall far from the entrance, blankly holding Rafi in his arms while staring at the grandma's back blocking his view.
"Hmm? How did you know?"
The unfamiliar chilling voice rang out again.
But the shaman old woman didn't answer.
She had no spare moment to utter a word right now.
"...Ahh, to think a grand shaman would be here of all places. This is tricky. I don't want to cause a scene."
The mysterious boy seemed to ponder.
How best to resolve the current situation.
Of course, whatever decision he reached, it clearly wouldn't be good for the others.
But just before that conclusion, the situation shifted once more.
"Grandma! Are Aaron and Rafi here? Sorry, the kids are so late coming home...?"
The moment the voice of his beloved sister, so familiar to Aaron, rang out.
"...Found you."
The boy's lips split into a long grin as he turned that way.
Sharp fangs visible in his widely opened mouth.
A pair of beast-like eyes beginning to stain blood-red.
The instant Aaron met that gaze, his mind went blank.
His vision shook wildly, tinnitus ringing in his ears.
Facing an inescapable terror, a deeply buried trauma surfaced.
"Diana! Take Aaron and Rafi and...!"
"Ha! As if I'd let you...!"
"Grandma...!"
Noisy sounds flooded his ears, and he felt someone moving his body, but exposed to the hostile magic power, he couldn't think at all.
If the shaman grandma hadn't prepared in advance, permanent mental damage would have remained.
Thanks to that, his mind began to clear bit by bit, allowing him to grasp the situation intermittently.
"No!"
With his sister's scream-like cry, the grandma collapsed vomiting blood, holding Rafi.
He couldn't understand why, but he rushed over and embraced them both.
"Heh ha! What a hassle these annoyances are. But with this...!"
Then, clusters of light appeared out of nowhere, scattering multicolored radiance.
Beautifully twinkling orbs of light.
At the same time, a warm energy spread, clarifying Aaron's mind further.
"...Spirits? No, a High Elf? Why here of all places...?"
A hint of fluster leaked into the boy's voice.
But only for a moment.
He soon regained his composure and pressed the sudden intruder.
'Sis...'
In a space shrouded entirely in twilight.
The boy, clutching the old woman and girl in his arms, blankly stared into the distance.
There lay his one and only sister, collapsed motionless on the floor.
'What... what should I do...!'
His head was frozen, thoughts sluggish.
Yet even in that state, he understood the situation.
That the woman who had suddenly intervened to block the boy wouldn't last long either.
The despair he thought he'd forgotten crept up stealthily.
At the same time, images of the most reliable person in the world flashed in his mind.
His pure, earnest appearance when they first met, when despair was daily life.
His cool, charismatic figure who appeared out of nowhere and resolved everything when Rafi and the grocery store were in crisis.
Finally, his delicate, intellectual side who had shown all sorts of consideration to help them settle well in the city.
He knew it was shameless since he'd only received help, but everyone filling Aaron's mind right now was that person.
Biting his lip as his tongue wouldn't move properly, Aaron cried out inwardly.
Even knowing it wouldn't reach the other.
'Uncle—!'
However, at that moment.
An miracle no one could have anticipated occurred.
Crack—!
As if responding to his call, cracks split the sky.
Boom—!
The world came crashing down.
At the same time, the twilight blanketing everything rapidly dissipated under the light of dawn.
"Huh...?"
Aaron blankly looked up.
That moment's scene etched deeply into his mind.
An angel with wings of light fully spread had descended to earth.
***
At the center of the chaotic scene stood Temiran MacClaire, a boy in his early teens.
Heinrich frowned upon seeing Diana collapsed unconscious behind him.
'Yeah, now that I think about it, there was something bothering me.'
Until now, he'd assumed what Saintess Riesta had sensed was naturally Hela.
The timing and location of the detection had matched too perfectly for any other possibility.
'But...'
Back then, when he knew little of the demon world, he'd accepted it, but now he knew for sure.
Hela at that time, freshly created, was merely a special high-ranking demon; she couldn't be considered a full Demon King.
Thanks to her innate bloodline, she could immediately become a transcendent being, but she lacked essential elements to truly be a Demon King.
In fact, hadn't she only drawn the gaze of the Demon God after entering the demon world and some time passing?
Considering the changes after slaying Duke Gorlang and absorbing the Abnormal, it was even more obvious.
"Hoo! Everything's pissing me off—nothing goes right. This damn situation can't be coincidence... That's why you gotta pick the right side from the start. Getting pushed out of the higher-ups' power games means my tracks leak like this."
Seeing the irreverent attitude of the young boy made it even clearer.
That the target the Saintess had detected from the beginning was Temiran.
The exquisite timing suggested Hela's emergence as a half-baked Demon King had been some trigger, though.
'...Right, unlike me, a saint in name only, Riesta is the real Saintess. The messenger conveying the Main God's will to the world. And we came all the way to Tarak following her words.'
In other words, this entire situation was under the Main God's guidance.
And thinking that way brought another suspicion to mind.
Back then, Riesta had added that it felt 'closer to a demon follower than undead'.
Demon follower, not demon.
If exactly as she said, then Temiran was...
Heinrich quickly organized his thoughts and quietly opened his mouth toward the boy with a hardened expression.
"Temiran MacClaire. The events unfolding in the demon world right now. Did you have a hand in those too? Helping Duke Mad Dragon summon abyss monsters?"
"...What? You even know that? How the hell does the Church of the Main God know demon world affairs?"
"The Main God's eyes are everywhere. Even the demon world is no exception."
"You're insane. Were you zealots always this competent?"
Temiran grumbled irritably, roughly tousling the back of his head.
He apparently had no intention of denying it now.
Well, given the timing of the abyss monsters appearing in the demon world, denying it would be pointless anyway.
"Tch, as expected of the Main God's dogs? I thought you were just pushovers getting kicked around by the Immortal King. Turns out that overly cautious, thorough senior failed for a reason."
"You're mistaken. We never just take it lying down. Thanks to that, humanity is inching further from that threat even now."
"Such confidence."
The 'senior' likely referred to the revolutionary, the previous apostle.
He'd suspected as much since learning the revolutionary had been involved in Temiran's disappearance, but it seemed the revolutionary had prepared his successor before fully commencing his plans.
'No idea why he was chosen, though.'
It was unfortunate for the person involved.
Not only kidnapped and turned into a vampire due to some unknown aptitude, but also imprisoned and brainwashed for over twenty years.
"...Your god sure is busy. If he was cast into the abyss for his sins, he should reflect quietly. Yet he stretched his hands everywhere, drawing tears of blood from so many."
"Right? I think so too. If you're gonna do it, do it right? All that suffering for nothing—what a mess. That guy needs to step up himself before using others."
An oddly off-target response.
Heinrich eyed him with narrowed gaze, but only irritation remained on the boy's face.
Well, kidnapped young and brainwashed ever since, it would be weirder if he were sane.
"Surrender quietly. Spill everything you know, and we'll spare your life. Your mother is still waiting for you."
"...Heh, mother..."
Heinrich warned, extending his holy sword enveloped in radiant light.
Regardless, the opponent was a vampire.
No matter if chosen by a god as an apostle, the matchup against a saint wielding a holy sword was the worst possible.
Clashing head-on would reduce him to ashes, and even attempting escape wouldn't easily shake off someone with Great Blessing: Wings of Glory and Blessing: Leap.
He knew that, which was why he'd been threatening continuously earlier.
'...Dealing with someone holding a hostage is always tricky. If only I'd noticed sooner and come faster.'
Heinrich wasn't just talking empty words.
He'd sought opportunities to act several times already, but each time, the boy threatened the unconscious Diana behind him.
The moment he showed any sign, the boy would surely move too.
No matter how capable he was, at this distance, he lacked confidence in saving Diana while slaying only the boy.
'Right, Heinrich is.'
Saint Heinrich, who wielded holy power, was the natural counter to vampires.
But there existed beings who were counters to vampires in a different sense.
For example... a vampire king who had awakened divinity through the karma of devouring kin.