The Vampire Wants Kalguksu - 5
After a long silence, Elodie finally spoke.
"I don't know that I have any right to decide this, but I don't believe she's lying."
Elodie said it wasn't a lie either. Marie likewise reported no sign of deceit. So I, too, found myself leaning toward the conclusion that Camilla's words were true.
Having scrutinized her this thoroughly, it ought to have been safe to trust her completely. And yet a lingering unease still clung to me.
"I'm sorry about earlier."
I bowed my head. Camilla waved me off with a soft little laugh. Judging by how freely she was moving, Marie must have released her Domination of her own accord.
"Doubt is much like an illness—hard to overcome easily, and it takes its time. Think nothing of it. From your answer, I can tell you have yet to cast your suspicions fully aside."
Honestly.
Camilla struck right at the heart of the matter, then drew a phone from her pants pocket—the very same phone she had shown me moments earlier. Marie and Elodie's gazes drifted toward it of their own accord.
"You both know I have read this man's memories, so I shall speak freely. Joan of Arc… no. Elodie, is it, these days? You have quite the wide circle of acquaintances."
A wide circle of acquaintances—an expression meaning one knew, or was on familiar terms with, a great many people.
"It's a little embarrassing, but yes, I know a fair number of faces. But why…?"
"Hand it over to someone among them who is high-ranking, and unlikely to be bought. It will help in rooting out the vampires."
When Camilla held out the hand gripping the phone, Elodie's eyes went wide.
"You're saying that's possible with this phone?"
"It is. Nearly the entire lot, one might say. Though there will be those who whine that they cannot believe vampires possess such high intelligence. Filter those out as best you can."
Elodie, eyes still round, locked gazes with me. Her look asked whether this was truly all right.
I spoke.
"It could be dangerous. Still, I don't think she's lying."
Hand over the contacts, quietly dig into their backgrounds, then strike. A highly efficient method—though she could just as easily have prepared a trap in advance.
Doubt really is a disease, isn't it.
Even I found myself sick of it, but there was nothing I could do. The other party wasn't human—she was a vampire. One thing. If she showed me one definitive act, I felt I could truly believe her.
"To call this degree of suspicion a disease… well. Frustrating as it is, you have a point."
Camilla offered a bitter smile and waved her hand, as if telling us to take the thing already.
"As you've heard, we can't completely rule out the possibility of a trap, just as Ji-hyuk said. I hope you'll understand that."
Elodie reached out, hesitated a moment, then finally accepted the phone Camilla offered and slipped it into her pants pocket.
"Of course I understand. So let us do this."
A negotiation, then. Looking at Camilla's demeanor, a scene I had seen somewhere before rose unbidden in my mind.
Elodie asked, "How so?"
"You humans craft objects with special effects from specters, or other materials, do you not?"
"Well, yes."
Artifacts. Items with all manner of special effects, much like game gear. Weapons that spat fire or water, for instance. The flat stone tablets used in oaths of truth were classic examples.
"Among them, I hear there is a necklace one can wear about the neck and detonate?"
The moment Camilla pinpointed that particular artifact, the color drained completely from Elodie's face. I, too, understood what she meant by it, and was nothing short of stunned.
"Are you serious?"
Elodie asked in a trembling voice. She had never imagined a vampire would openly offer to put a collar on herself.
"Surely that much is needed to fully prove my sincerity. In exchange, you shall hold the leash."
"Me…?"
"Mm. You are a noble soul, so you would not detonate it rashly. Moreover, your influence is high, so you could suppress any discontent. It is reasonable in many ways. And……"
Camilla started to speak, then let her words trail off. It didn't seem as though she had accidentally blurted something and hastily shut her mouth. It was the kind of thing that left the listener anxious and irritated—closer to one of those speaking techniques circulating on the internet.
One of them is trailing off mid-sentence…
That was exactly where those posts always cut off. Now that I was on the receiving end, it really did make my blood boil.
"I shall tell you the rest later, once this business is finished. At any rate, what will you do?"
"…Understood. If you're going that far, I'll accept."
Elodie nodded and let out a long sigh. Marie, who had been watching, had nothing to say—her eyes were simply round with surprise.
They say that living in this world, every strange thing imaginable happens. I keenly realized how true those words were.
Camilla said, "Ah. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. A few days' delay will hardly matter, and the money would be a waste otherwise, no?"
A vampire fretting over our vacation. With even the last of my tension and hostility draining away, I felt drained myself. My sagging shoulders felt especially heavy.
A few days after returning from vacation, Elodie—once Joan of Arc—and Camilla—once Erzsébet Báthory—had ventured overseas. It was time to handle the affairs scattered across France, Elodie's homeland.
Tracking based on the group chat Camilla had provided. Ever since the report of the vampires' underground activities, nations around the world had been thrown into a frenzy and begun responding. Vampires with intelligence, conducting spy operations—it was something no one had imagined, and more than enough to deliver a massive shock.
Thankfully, they were concentrated in countries with large economies. Had they been scattered across African deserts or South American jungles as well, it would have been a true headache.
Countries across Europe, the United States, and more. The Awakened each nation had prepared carried out operations efficiently. This was not a matter for weighing competition or gains and losses between nations, so all were proactive—Awakened with a strong desire to show off, and politicians high on power trips, no exception.
Of course, there were those who fell into the exception category, but their opinions amounted to a mere handful. The views of a mere handful of holdouts could not influence the greater current. Rather, they were on the verge of being branded as colluding with specters and cast into ruin.
The funny part was that among them, there really had been traitors—like wicked court officials so drunk on power they would sell out even their own country. Thanks to that, more time had to be spent in Korea than expected. Thankfully, it was resolved well. Had the situation grown more tangled, they would have been far more exhausted.
Seizing the phones of vampires eliminated thus far. The Association impersonating vampires based on the chat logs. There was also time spent taking measures so that no one would sense anything amiss.
"Are you ready?"
A dark, damp French night. Elodie slipped on arm warmers that reached below her elbows and steadied her breathing. They were made from fibers finely ground from the bones of a Lich, a 3rd-class specter. Their effect was a solid measure of physical and magical defense—light, yet thoroughly orthodox protection.
"I am always ready. I shall keep well hidden, so set your mind at ease."
Camilla, standing beside her, smiled as she stroked the black choker at her throat. It was no ordinary choker, but a bomb that would detonate on Elodie's command. On top of that, her beautiful features had been masked to look ordinary, so as not to fray the focus of the operatives.
A vampire in a choker. Only Elodie and a handful of key figures knew the truth. The more people who knew, the more things tended to go wrong. For that reason, Camilla was playing the part of an undocumented illegal entrant—complete with a backstory that she had, out of greed, once cooperated with specters and was now in the process of reform. Any inconvenience or suspicion arising from her lack of identity had been smoothed over by Elodie staking her own name as guarantor. That cover made it easy to gloss over the details of her past as well.
"Then shall we move?"
"Yes, Saint."
Henri, who had tagged along like a buy-one-get-one free deal, gestured toward the rear. The Saint, Camilla, Henri—and several French Awakened positioned behind them—eyes gleaming. Vampire hunting. There was no finer achievement for building a career, experience, and pride, and their motivation ran high. The same held for the other Awakened participating in the operation. They simply weren't visible, surrounding other sectors.
"I will pour forth the light. Please maintain the encirclement without letting it fray. I'm counting on you."
"Yes. Do not worry."
Henri nodded, and the other Awakened nodded silently in turn. They wore matching black, as if to prove they belonged to the same unit—almost like an army.
"Hoo."
The Saint slowly steadied her breath and fixed her gaze on what lay beyond. An ordinary house, peeking shyly from the darkness, was her target. One hundred fifty meters. Even with the air a little unsettled and sharp, it was a distance at which they would not be sensed—and at the same time, a distance from which allies would find it hard to strike.
A flash.
Even so, a pillar of light, loosed as if in prayer, struck true—drawing a diagonal line as it drove down into the targeted building. The judgment of God. Someone might have thought as much, and it was no exaggeration at all.
"Advance!"
At Henri's cry, the Awakened surged forward as one. The signal was not his voice, but the bright yellow light that pushed back even the black of night.
Hot.
Had she still been human, she might have basked in that light with pleasure. It was a pity that her body now recoiled from such beauty.
Graaaaaah, ooooooh…!
From far off, a howl rang out—something between a scream of agony and a cry of joy. It came from the building where that bright yellow light was still driving back the dark.
What a spectacle.
Camilla enhanced her vision and took it all in clearly—the vampire thrashing in torment, and the Awakened rapidly closing in to surround it. Wouldn't the Saint and her companions alone have been enough? Had this not been an excessive investment? She almost felt sorry for the Awakened who would be carrying out simultaneous operations in other regions. Things were relatively easy here; over there, it would be hard.
Still, even here it is not unconditionally easy.
Behind her. A presence rapidly closing the distance made Camilla's brow furrow. It was like a cheetah charging madly to seize its prey. Collision was imminent. Just before the hurtling something could punch a hole through the Saint's smooth abdomen, Camilla's nails cut the air first—long as blades, hard as steel, and just as sharp. A vampire's weapons.
Kieeeeek!
A slicing sensation wound around her nails, and a sharp cry like a monkey's screech hammered Camilla's eardrums.
"Noisy."
Thunk! Camilla's nail pierced the pure white head rolling across the ground—or more precisely, a head wearing a black helm. A Death Knight. Only one rank above the lowest 5th-class Skeleton, yet in terms of danger, there was no comparison. Camilla simply outclassed it.
Stabilized, they say… and yet there are still gaps, it seems.
Which was why specters were still flowing in through Specter Gates. Camilla flicked her hand lightly and shook her head. The nails that had grown long shrank back in the blink of an eye.
"It's over."
Elodie murmured with her eyes closed. Even while pouring out a light that would not blind despite its brilliance, she did not waver. She had not even broken a sweat.
Camilla asked, "You show compassion even to specters. How curious."
"That may be part of it… but sometimes I wonder whether they were specters from the very beginning."
"To my knowledge, specters were specters from the start. It is easy to think they originated from humans, but that is not so."
Simply one day—plop. Someone made them, or they rose of their own accord.
"I see."
Elodie nodded and slowly opened her eyes, thanks to the continuous reports of completion crackling from the small radio in her pocket. Ordinarily, facing a 2nd-class Vampire required high-ranking Awakened, and even they would have to break a cold sweat. The light of her holy power—pushed to its extreme—had made the hunt far easier. All the more so when that holy power belonged to the woman who had once been Joan of Arc.
"Setting aside the lack of kinship with your own kind… is there a reason you would go so far as to harm your own body—stake your very life—to help us?"
Elodie withdrew her hands from prayer as she asked. Her gaze fell on Camilla's forearm. A black, ugly burn mark was stamped clearly into the skin, as if she had held it to a fire—a wound from the aftershock of the holy power Elodie had unleashed. She had not been struck directly, but she had been close enough to the source.
"There is. Having met a bond from a past life, is it not better to keep close?"
Camilla gave a soft laugh and slipped a hand into her pocket. With the nearby specters evaporated, she looked thoroughly at ease.
"That isn't the only reason, is it?"
"It is not."
Camilla nodded without resistance and gazed out beyond the darkened village. The small streetlamp lights, like fireflies, looked especially bright.
"Even though I have become a vampire, this is proof that my heart is still that of a human."
Quiet, heavy. By the time the silence flowing between the two women had stretched past several minutes, a rather plausible answer slipped from Camilla's lips.