Chapter 6
Chapter 6
[Hero! This way!]
[Urgh, just a moment!]
Kyaaaak!!!!!-
[Now! Stab it in!]
[I’m going!!!]
“…And so, the Hero thrust the Holy Spear into the belly of his archenemy.”
“Is that the end?”
“Of course not. But I think it would be best to sleep for today.”
On the center of a luxurious-looking bed decorated in red and black, a red-haired boy lay listening to the story.
“You have to sleep early if you want to grow tall and become a wonderful adult, you know?”
At the boy’s bedside sat a woman with long white hair spread out behind her as she closed the storybook.
“Yes…”
It looked like a mother reading a bedtime story to her child before sleep, but anyone who saw the scene without context would have found it strangely unnatural.
“No matter what kind of dream you have, sleep well, Gildre.”
“Yes, Mother.”
The pairing of a child who looked around ten years old and a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties was not something anyone would immediately recognize as parent and child.
If gamblers had made bets on their relationship, only a handful of lunatics would have wagered on them being mother and son.
“Wake up early tomorrow. We’re having a family picnic.”
“Yes. Good night, Mother.”
The white-haired woman smiled faintly and, as naturally as blinking, manipulated blood to extinguish the lights around the room.
Of course, they were not truly parent and child, so even those gamblers would still have lost their bets.
After the white-haired woman left the room, silence filled the space.
And once again, just as he always had since arriving here, Gildre fell into another nightmare.
The burning house.
Burning parents.
Burning siblings.
And Gildre, forced to watch it all alone, stared blankly at the scene with unfocused eyes.
“Oh my, what are you doing here?”
Then came a voice, spoken in the tone one might use upon finding a lost child.
When Gildre turned his head, he saw a woman slowly walking toward him, possessing a beauty no other woman he would ever meet in his life could possibly surpass.
With the burning village as her backdrop, the woman strolled calmly as though she were simply enjoying a peaceful walk.
“What’s your name?”
The woman approached him and lowered herself to meet his eyes.
“Gil…dre.”
“Gildre. What a pretty name.”
The woman smiled softly and extended her hand.
As if enchanted by something, Gildre took her hand.
And from that day onward, his life changed beyond recovery.
The place Gildre arrived at while being led by the woman’s hand was a sinister old castle.
Yet somehow, to him, it felt incredibly warm.
“From now on, call me Mother.”
“Yes… Mother.”
There, Gildre gained a new mother.
“Hello! Wah, he’s cute!”
“Haah… Mother, again…?”
“A new younger sibling…? If you don’t want to die, get lost.”
“…From now on, make sure not to disgrace the name of Blood.”
And he gained new brothers and sisters.
“Now then, close your eyes and feel it. Can you sense the flow of blood?”
“Yes…”
And he learned a new way of life.
As time passed, new nieces and nephews were born, and the family’s influence steadily expanded.
Vampire Hunters.
The Mad Nun.
The Fourth Sword Saint.
The Light That Leads to Death…
And throughout it all, Gildre fought countless enemies, crossing innumerable battlefields and surviving endless brushes with death as he grew stronger.
But now, something he could not understand was happening before his eyes.
A sloppy-looking man was dodging every single attack from a Skeleton that even his current self could not confidently defeat.
The man leisurely escaped while avoiding every strike by the narrowest margin against a Skeleton that had likely been at least a First-Class—perhaps even Special-Class—Holy Knight in life.
‘What…’
Even throughout Gildre’s abnormally long life, he had never once seen such a sight.
If he had described this scene to anyone else, they would have laughed at him.
Gildre himself understood just how absurd the spectacle before him truly was.
And yet, what was unfolding before his eyes was undeniably reality.
And while witnessing this miracle-like scene, Gildre found himself grasping onto a faint sliver of hope.
‘Surely… perhaps…’
After organizing his thoughts, Gildre hid within the Skeleton’s blind spot and continued observing the battle, waiting for the man to defeat it.
◆◆◆◆◆
“Here. It was difficult to get tea down here. It’s cheap stuff, but it’s the best available in this place.”
“Ah, thank you…”
After finishing our meal at Gildre’s hideout, we sat drinking tea together.
“But, Momo. Don’t vampires only drink blood?”
『It’s not like they can only consume blood. They can eat normal food too.』
“Really? That’s interesting…”
『Hmm… Think of blood as their staple food, while ordinary food is more like snacks or delicacies.』
This feels pretty different from the vampires I know.
Well, vampire portrayals are different everywhere anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
I turned toward Gildre and asked,
“Is that true?”
“As I said earlier… I cannot hear the words of the Red Blood Sword Princess.”
“Ah, right.”
Maybe because I had been hearing Momo’s voice from the very beginning, I kept forgetting that Gildre couldn’t hear her.
‘But seriously, why can’t he hear her?’
Earlier, I tried all sorts of things to make her voice audible to him.
I grabbed Momo’s mask, shook it around, and even tried putting it on my face, but Gildre couldn’t hear her at all.
“Pfft!”
“Hmm?”
“It’s nothing. I just remembered something funny…”
‘He totally freaked out when I tried putting her on.’
She said she could feel some sensations, but apparently being shaken around wasn’t much of a problem.
But the moment I tried wearing her like an actual mask, she panicked like crazy.
‘Hehe… it’s still hilarious.’
I desperately suppressed the laughter escaping my mouth while sipping tea.
『Haah… Stop thinking about stupid things and focus. We need to get out of here now.』
“Yeah… pff, okay…”
Watching me converse with Momo, Gildre spoke.
“No matter how many times I see it, I still cannot understand… How exactly are you communicating?”
“Huh? Ah… Momo? I don’t know either. I could just hear her from the start.”
“Astonishing… Not only can you hear her voice, but you address the Red Blood Sword Princess almost like a nickname. Such audacity.”
“Well, she doesn’t complain when I call her that…”
Hmm… now that I think about it, she did seem a little shaken earlier.
『Names are unimportant. What matters is you, me, and finding a way out of here.』
“A way out…”
『Exactly. You need to reclaim your status as a Hero as soon as possible.』
“Yeah… I do…”
『So you can go back home.』
“Right…”
But… wasn’t there something Momo was overlooking?
“Lee Siwoo.”
“Ah? Yes.”
“It is time to discuss the main matter. I know a way to escape this place.”
“…What’s the method?”
“Simple. There is an exit. I entered through it myself.”
“An exit…!”
Right! Of course there had to be a way out if there was a way in!
『It’s probably the same place I mentioned earlier. Remember when I told you to head west?』
“Then let’s go immediately! I want to get out of here right now!”
I jumped up from my seat excitedly.
“Calm down. There is one problem.”
“A problem…?”
“…There is a gatekeeper.”
Gildre sighed as he spoke.
Then, without warning, he removed his shirt and exposed his chest.
“That…”
A deep black wound scarred Gildre’s chest, standing in stark contrast to his pale skin.
Around it, blood-like substances swirled continuously, seemingly preventing the wound from spreading further.
『As expected… I thought the smell of blood was unusually strong…』
“What happened to your wound?”
“It was inflicted by the gatekeeper I mentioned earlier. I received it while fleeing into this place.”
“Fleeing? Right… come to think of it, why are you even here, Gildre?”
After putting his clothes back on, Gildre spoke in a serious tone.
“Lee Siwoo. I have a favor to ask of you.”
“A favor? Suddenly?”
“If you promise to grant it, then I shall ensure your escape even at the cost of my life.”
“What? Why your life…?”
“I am already near my limit. At this rate, I will die soon anyway. So I would rather use this life for something meaningful.”
“That’s way too heavy…”
I sat back down across from Gildre.
“It’s fine. This is meaningful not only for me, but for my family as well.”
“Family…?”
『…If you mean your family…』
“Lee Siwoo. I want you to go to Venia.”
“…Venia? What’s that?”
“My… our home.”
“Home…”
Home…
If I escape this place… someday, I’ll return home too…
“I want you to go there and meet Mother.”
“Mother…?”
『…』
As Gildre began speaking about his story, Momo stayed completely silent.
“If that’s the case, shouldn’t you go yourself—”
“No. I will entrust this to you instead.”
As he said that, Gildre suddenly grabbed my left arm and manipulated his blood into it.
“Uwaah! W-What is this—”
『Calm down. It’s not dangerous.』
The blood flowed along my arm until it reached my left shoulder.
When I rolled up my sleeve, I saw a blood-red tattoo carved into my shoulder.
Complex patterns resembling strange letters formed a circle around it.
“This is…”
“Information.”
“Information?”
“Yes. Delivering that information to Venia is my request.”
I glanced sideways toward Momo.
『…It should be fine. Escaping this place comes first anyway. After that, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to travel around.』
“Haah… Fine. I just need to go there, right?”
“…! Thank you! Only Mother or another Second Kin can erase that mark, so you don’t need to worry about it washing away!”
『…!』
The moment I accepted his request, Gildre’s face brightened as he repeatedly slapped my shoulder.
“Yes! I knew you were a man with courage!”
“Huh…? You knew me?”
“Hmm? Ah, I was definitely watching when you defeated that Skeleton.”
“Ah…”
『Gildre… you were a Second Kin?』
While Gildre celebrated excitedly, Momo suddenly spoke up.
“Uh… Gildre, you were a Second Kin?”
“Hmm? Ah, it’s fine. Most rumors about the Second Kin were spread by Brother Sartreus anyway.”
“That’s not it. Momo said—”
“The Red Blood Sword Princess?”
Both Gildre and I turned toward Momo as she slowly began speaking.
『Gildre.』
“…?”
Ah, right. I had to translate.
I stood up from the table and moved beside Momo, repeating her words like an interpreter.
“Gildre.”
“Yes, O Red Blood Sword Princess.”
Gildre rose from his seat and knelt before Momo with one knee on the ground.
“If you are Second Kin… then your mother is…”
“Yes. My mother’s name is Blood Nosferatu.”
“…I see. Understood. I shall take responsibility for Lee Siwoo— Huh? What do you mean you’ll drag me around like a corpse?!”
“Mother spoke often of you.”
“Ahem… I see. Um… how is Nosferatu doing?”
“She missed you greatly.”
“…I understand.”
Once the conversation ended, Gildre stood up and picked up the sword resting against the wall.
“I will go on patrol for a while. Once I return, we shall leave immediately, so prepare yourselves.”
“Yes, understood.”
With a somewhat complicated expression on his face, Gildre left the hideout.
“Momo…”
『…』
Momo also remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.
‘But… there’s something I absolutely need to ask.’
And with Gildre gone, now was the perfect opportunity.
“Momo.”
『…What?』
Trying not to show anything, Momo answered in her usual cheerful voice.
“There’s something I want to ask…”
『…Okay.』
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in my tone, Momo’s voice lowered slightly as well.
“Why are you helping me? Why were you sealed here? Why are you trying to escape this place?”
I fired out all the questions that had been piling up inside me.
『Haah… Fine. Calm down and sit first. This is probably going to take a while.』