Chapter 470: Abandoning the Elderly
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 470: Abandoning the Elderly
The most delicious food is that which you eat when you are starving, and the sweetest sleep is that which you seek when you are exhausted. Lying in the burrow on my blanket, I was experiencing a comfort I thought no longer existed in this world.
Of course I was. The fatigue I felt had been accumulating for three days straight. To release it all at once was bound to feel refreshing.
The way to make your body feel light isn’t to carry nothing. It’s to carry something heavy and then put it down. Humans are creatures of adaptation; we can’t help but perceive all stimuli relatively. Feeling much lighter, I shot up to my feet…
Huh. I feel light?
That’s strange. I’m sure Hilde was sleeping nearby yesterday. Why don’t I feel that familiar weight?
The reason was simple. Hilde wasn’t here.
Did she go out? Without me? What could she have found that was so interesting?
A little hopeful, I threw off the blanket and looked for my clothes, only to find a small scrap of paper tucked into my bio-receptor. I certainly wouldn’t have put it there in my sleep, so it must have been Hilde. I unfolded the crumpled note and read it.
[To my dear Father. Your snoring is so terrible, I can’t sleep next to you! This girl is leaving to find her own life. So, Father, you should live your own life. And don’t miss me. That is all.]
Who says I snore? And why the sudden change of heart after keeping up this whole soul-searching act for so long? Besides, I told her I’m not her father. And I won’t miss her. How many errors could there be in such a short, few-line letter?
As I coolly analyzed the letter, picking apart each sentence, I suddenly felt I had missed something important. What was it? This letter… it sounded like she was planning to act separately from me.
“Wait a minute. Did I just get abandoned?”
No matter how I looked at it, that was the case. The context of the letter implied she was leaving me behind to fend for myself.
No way. Is this a joke? I’m just an ordinary, fragile man. Without a bodyguard, I can’t even escape from an Ain, let alone an Elder! Dumbfounded, I turned my head to look at the entrance of the burrow.
It has to be a prank. Of course. She’ll come back into the burrow any minute now, saying, “Just kidding~” Just as I predicted…
“Oh? It’s a rat’s den!”
A different girl entered. From her face to her demeanor, she was completely different from Hilde—a mountain girl, born and raised in a nearby village, with every intention of living out her life there. Having spotted the burrow from a distance, the girl didn’t approach, but shouted.
“Mister! I found a rat’s den! It’s hu~ge!”
“Matilda! Don’t get any closer, stay right there! Chief Viltear told us not to approach anything rashly before nightfall!”
“Why not? I can catch a rat!”
“An ordinary rat wouldn’t be in a hole that big! Come back! We’re watching, so hurry!”
The girl seemed disgruntled, but thankfully, she didn’t come any closer and simply retreated. I was saved. I’d be safe until nightfall…
No, wait.
At night, I couldn’t guarantee a victory even if my opponent was a Yeiling. When dealing with vampires, you fight during the day. That was an ironclad rule.
If I really wanted to escape, I had to run out of this burrow right now, but… there was a problem.
I’m weak in battles against multiple opponents.
In a one-on-one fight, I can catch my opponent off guard. In a many-on-many, I can find a gap in their awareness amidst the chaos and hide.
But many-on-one is a different story. My combat style is one of strategy, a one-trick pony that relies on using hidden cards to surprise the enemy.
However, as you know, the most important thing in a strategic fight is the number of players. Even a card sharp can’t win at a rigged table. The number of cards you can play is fundamentally different.
Worse, my opponents were ordinary villagers who had entrusted their safety to a vampire. They were amateurs who didn’t even know how to fight properly. To a professional like me, an amateur’s ignorance is far more terrifying. Escaping unscathed from a dozen strapping men who don’t even know where their own spears are pointing is next to impossible. Especially if they’re surrounding the burrow entrance.
Which meant I had only one option left.
“Up!”
I would break through the ceiling and punch through their encirclement. That was it. Fortunately, I didn’t need to pass Viltear’s cabin. I could just use Earth Art to move a little to the side.
Earth Art wasn’t omnipotent; I couldn’t just manipulate the ground like I was playing in a sandbox. When I borrowed Jizan’s power, I could split the earth, but without it, my Earth Art was at an ordinary level. Meaning, as long as I didn’t destroy the earth’s structure, all I could do was dig through it like an earthworm. It was laughable, but it was useful enough. I created a passage leading diagonally upwards from the burrow. Pushing gently through the soil, I crawled rapidly up the tunnel on my knees.
Perhaps she sensed my movement. The vampire’s thoughts reached me from above.
‘So, you’re moving through the earth. You were like a rat. I never thought you’d actually possess the power of one.’
Hah. What are you going to do about it? What can a mere Yeiling, unable to use her full power under the sun, possibly do? I scoffed and pushed the earth up with my Earth Art. The morning sunlight shimmered through the cascading soil.
‘If you thought a being who has lived for five hundred years would be unprepared for something like this, you are sorely mistaken.’
Huh? What?
I tried to read Viltear’s thoughts for a moment, but the Yeiling’s reaction was faster.
Tch, this is why I hate vampires. They’re so old, it’s hard to read everything at once.
I can’t believe she’s had control over the building itself all this time!
The vampire’s cabin was a space with a log frame, covered with leather to block out the sunlight. Viltear had let her blood flow into the building’s interior. She was only a Yeiling, but moving the house itself was within her power.
Screeeech. The cabin scraped against the ground as it moved. The earth, suddenly bearing an immense weight, came pouring down on my head. If I stayed put, I’d be buried alive. I quickly pushed the mound of dirt off me and shot upwards.
Before me, a girl in a one-piece dress stood in the darkness, her red eyes gleaming.
“There you are, you little rat.”
It was the village chief, the Yeiling of the Bloodleech Coven, Viltear. I gave the vampire I had so suddenly encountered a friendly greeting.
“Squeak squeak.”
“You have the luxury to joke. With your ability to swim through the earth, are you an alchemist of the Fallen Dominion? Or from the Order of Gaia? …No.”
Chief Viltear reached out and picked up her weapons. A fork and a knife, closer to cutlery than weapons, but… for the Bloodleech clan, for whom fighting was eating, there were no better-suited arms.
“Hey, why don’t we put away the sharp objects and talk this out first?”
As I cautiously tried to stand, Chief Viltear held the fork and knife in a reverse grip and approached me.
“Fine. I’ll talk. After I hang you on a hook.”
Dammit!
My opponent was a Yeiling, a vampire of the Bloodleech clan possessing great strength and immortality. True to her clan, her Bloodcraft was a bit weak, but she had perfect control over the blood she made her own. Compared to the Military State, she was a General-level powerhouse.
Unlike the Qi Arts that wreathed the body, a vampire’s Bloodcraft was life itself, making it extremely stable. In terms of instantaneous firepower, a General actively using Qi Arts and equipment would be stronger. However, unlike a General who could die if a weak point was struck… a Yeiling does not die.
The ‘Shadow’ I fought in the Military State was far stronger than me, but he still had to perform reconnaissance. Approaching me without knowing my power could have been dangerous for him. But Chief Viltear had no need for such caution.
There was no risk to her.
“If you don’t resist, I’ll consider just eating your right arm.”
“My right arm again?! Why is everyone in the world so obsessed with right arms?!”
My scream was useless as the knife she swung aimed for my shoulder. I could read her thoughts, but my body couldn’t keep up with her speed. Until now, someone stronger than me had always been there to protect me, but now, I was alone.
Dammit. After all I’ve done to protect this right arm…! I have to block it somehow!
But my pathetic body wouldn’t move as I wanted… huh?
“Huh? It’s moving.”
Thwack. My hand blocked Viltear’s wrist. I felt a powerful force, but my hand only yielded slightly, still resisting.
I reacted after reading her thoughts, and I actually kept up? Until now, even if I read them, I struggled to match their speed and power.
It must be the Divine’s influence. Come to think of it, my body has been moving more freely lately.
“So it wasn’t just your mouth that was full of confidence.”
“I think your mouth could use a little more action. We have plenty of time, so why don’t we stop being so hostile and have a conversation? With our mouths, of course. And don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we kiss.”
I even added a little joke, but it didn’t seem to land with the vampire. Chief Viltear immediately twisted her wrist. The knife, instead of its original target of my shoulder, turned its blade towards my arm.
An attack meant to draw blood rather than deal a heavy blow. And the moment I started bleeding, it would be over. Wounds inflicted by a vampire rarely heal.
Shaking off Chief Viltear’s hand, I fumbled at my waist. The only useful cards I had were the Pickpocket’s Skewer and a steel wire. Why was I so short on cards? Vowing to restock someday, I threw the cards at her. It was a desperate attempt to keep her away, but like a true vampire, she didn’t even flinch as the cards embedded themselves in her body.
Time to run. I leaped over the vampire’s chair and headed for the wall. The vampire followed leisurely behind me.
“There’s no use running. This cabin won’t open until I allow it.”
“What kind of thief asks for the owner’s permission to come and go? See you later!”
Whatever she said. I slapped the Golden Lord’s card, which contained Elixir, onto my palm and slammed it against the wall. The Golden Lord’s card turns any material into cards. That should be no different for a vampire’s cabin. This is the power of the Divine. Witness it with your own eyes…
Just then, dozens of cards burst forth like a torrent from where my hand met the wall. A part of the cabin was being converted into cards. But it wasn’t the result I wanted. The wall, which should have turned to cards and crumbled, remained intact.
“Did I not tell you? You entered with my permission… but you will not leave without it.”
Chief Viltear muttered, gripping the overflowing blood energy in her hand. Blood, originating from her, was swirling madly along the cabin walls. My card had converted a part of the cabin, but in that instant, a torrent of blood had coalesced and filled the gap.
The ability of the Bloodleech clan is Gluttony, a type of Bloodcraft that is particularly difficult to manifest externally. I had let my guard down a little because of that… but after reading Chief Viltear’s thoughts right in front of me, I finally realized what she had done.
Over a long period, Chief Viltear had shared and stored her power in this cabin, making it like her own body.
“It was over the moment you stepped inside this cabin. You are in my stomach now.”
The plates, the chairs, the large cauldron and the poker. Every piece of furniture in this cabin began to move slowly. As if they were alive. Was this what a witch’s house in a fairy tale was like? The furniture, having received a share of her blood, slowly closed in on me.