The Cause of the Cocos' Stress. That Thing in the Darkness.
The Cause of the Cocos' Stress. That Thing in the Darkness.
Andrea and I headed for the chicken farm.
"Over there."
Where Andrea pointed—
CocoCoco.
—the Coco were huddled against one wall, frozen with terror.
A few beat their wings, but most stayed silent, holding their breath, trembling in place.
I followed their collective gaze.
"Heh heh heh."
A woman laughed quietly in the dark. Deep gray hair hung past her hips, and her bangs fell so far over her eyes that I couldn't make them out properly—only the occasional glint of violet light shining through. Pale-skinned, she had her face buried in one of the Coco, giggling to herself.
For a second I thought she was tearing into it. Then I looked closer. Her teeth were buried in the bird's body. She was drinking its blood.
The Coco in her grip kicked weakly, strength draining away, and went still. The gray-haired woman didn't stop until the carcass was a dried-out mummy.
Coco.......
With one final, strangled cry, the Coco crumbled to dust right there. Not even a body left behind.
Blood on the lips. A desiccated corpse...
"Don't tell me—a vampire?"
A vampire.
In the novel, anything that used magi had never once appeared. No Demon Race, no demon beasts.
I only learned they existed after I joined the knight order.
Ever since the Demon Lord was vanquished two hundred years ago, reports of such beings had all but vanished. Creatures forgotten by history, the kind you only ever saw in old texts.
So I never imagined I'd run into a vampire here.
A weasel or some small monster, maybe.
But a vampire?
I could sense the magi flowing through her body after she'd fed. The ominous energy was intensifying, and I frowned.
Andrea's voice was tight with wariness.
"I'd heard vampires were all gone."
"Andrea, get ready to fight."
"Understood."
Shing.
She drew her sword. I drew mine too.
A plain longsword, the same type I'd always used in the knight order.
The Butcher's Sword is for deboning. You absolutely do not use it for something like this. I'm not getting germs on my butcher knife.
No way. Absolutely not.
The vampire, who'd been savoring the last drop of Coco blood with her teeth still buried in it, finally turned her attention to us.
"......."
Her hand, already reaching for another Coco, stopped mid-motion.
"......."
The smile on her lips vanished the moment she noticed us. She pressed her lips together, all trace of that smile gone, and took a step back.
"......."
She just stared at us without a word. Hard to read what was behind that gaze.
It wasn't just the hair covering her eyes, either—I got the distinct impression she couldn't even bring herself to meet our eyes directly.
Is she looking for an opening?
If so, this was pitifully sloppy.
"......."
She backed away. We'd already shifted into combat stances, expecting her to lunge at us, but she looked anything but ready for a fight.
"Any idea why she's acting like that?"
Andrea shook her head at my question.
"I've never seen a vampire in person either."
"Stay on guard. No telling what she'll do."
"Understood."
Andrea's tone had gone stiff—she was clearly tense. Her eyes sharpened, her grip on the sword tightened. I caught a glimpse of the hunter she'd once been.
A faint breeze stirred around her.
"......."
The vampire stood facing us, mumbling something to herself the whole time. Maybe she was reciting a spell.
Andrea and I kept our swords ready, waiting for the right moment to strike.
The mage's most vulnerable moment is right after the incantation finishes.
Sometimes they get so focused on landing the spell and taking down their target that they forget to protect themselves. That's where the whole "mages are weak in close quarters" stereotype comes from.
Whether that logic applied to vampires was another question entirely, but still.
The vampire kept mumbling, voice so low I could barely hear it. It didn't seem directed at us. After a moment of what sounded like self-muttering, she nodded to herself.
Having apparently resolved something, she faced me head-on.
Was this the attack?
"E-excuse meee!"
Her voice cracked.
Completely, spectacularly cracked.
All the tension in the air evaporated at once.
"Hic!"
The vampire hiccuped at the sound of her own voice and stumbled backward.
"I-I'm sorry!"
Poof!
Gray dust billowed around her, and for a moment she vanished from sight.
Flap-flap.
A single bat shot through the gap we'd spotted earlier and fled.
The whole thing happened in an instant. We'd let our guard drop so hard that neither of us could react. We just stood there, dumbfounded, watching her disappear.
Both me and Andrea.
"What... was that just now?"
Andrea asked.
"Beats me."
I honestly had no idea.
Was this some kind of vampire tactic?
I'm baffled.
Feels pretty different from the vampires I know.
I let out a sigh and scratched my head.
"Anyway, now we know a vampire was the problem. Let's get some holy water from the temple in the city and sprinkle it around the area. Judging by the way she ran off, she doesn't seem fully mature yet, so we can just keep an eye on the situation."
If I told the viscount a vampire had shown up, he'd handle it from there.
It was a shame we couldn't deal with her directly, but—
we'd accomplished what we came for.
"Problem solved, then."
"Still feels a little unsettled, but yeah."
Now that we knew the enemy, we could put together countermeasures quickly. Though I'd still want to keep watch for a few days, until we confirmed she was well and truly gone.
***
Vampires.
In the distant past, when the Demon Lord still walked the land, they'd served as his closest followers—enemies of humanity. They lived by drinking blood, and it was said they could achieve eternal life under the right conditions.
Once, they'd held dominion as rulers of the night, threatening the entire continent. But that was ancient history.
After the Demon Lord fell, most vampires were hunted down alongside him, and the survivors scattered.
For the few who'd lived through that defeat, a deep-seated fear of humans took root.
Scattered and cut off from all other races, vampires lost any semblance of social skills. They didn't need them.
As long as one could procure blood alone, there wasn't any need to form relationships with other vampires.
You could argue that, more than any other race, they were creatures who'd perfected the art of hikikomori solo living.
Not every vampire was like that, of course.
But Bldi was a vampire who embodied those traits with particular intensity.
Zero social ability. Overflowing terror of humans.
"Haaah, so good. Nothing beats fresh blood. Heeheehee."
She'd been drinking Coco blood at a hunting ground she hadn't visited in a long time. The blood of livestock carefully raised by humans wasn't necessarily fresher than that of wild animals, but it held a particular sweetness.
Strictly speaking, this was more like snacking.
"Seriously delicious. This place is the best."
CocoCoco.......
Bldi smiled as she watched the terrified Coco.
Ah, they looked so delicious. They must be full of fresh blood, right?
Utterly absorbed in draining her prey dry, she watched the Coco turn to dust and felt a deep satisfaction.
Just one more.
Her hand, reaching for another Coco's blood, froze.
"Uh, uhh...? Wh-wh-who are you?"
A strange human and an elf stood watching her.
How long had they been there?
She looked at the weapons in their hands.
Eeek. S-swords?
She knew. She knew what had happened back when she'd first become a vampire: her ancient ancestors had all been cut down and destroyed by humans wielding mana-infused blades.
Both of these beings were strong. She could feel it just from their presence, without a fight even starting.
I don't want to fight humans.
Her mind spun into wild fantasies.
An image of herself, captured by humans and subjected to live experiments. An image of herself, unable to win, brought to a horrible end by cruel humans. An image of herself, a sword through the heart, dying for good with no resurrection. And on and on.
Aaaugh.
She mumbled under her breath.
"C-can't b-be...? There's no w-way people this strong could...."
She didn't want to fight them.
She tried to project with her eyes that she had no intention of fighting.
Humans that strong would surely notice.
But the two figures didn't react.
"I d-don't want to fiiight."
She forced herself to muster courage and murmured the words. What Bldi didn't know was that her murmur hadn't reached either of them.
Because she'd been muttering in a voice no louder than a mosquito—quiet enough that even Andrea, an elf, couldn't hear her.
After so long alone, talking to others was utterly foreign to her.
How loud did she need to speak for someone to hear her? What should she even say to resolve things through conversation?
She had zero knowledge of any of that.
She'd probably known once, but her solitary lifestyle had gone on so long that she'd forgotten it all.
Why aren't they answering?
Did that mean they wanted to fight?
Sure they didn't actually want a fight?
Aaaugh.
I can't fight.
I'll definitely lose if we fight.
She stood there trembling, mumbling to herself.
"I-investigated for sure... no knights in this village... D-don't tell me they came specifically to catch me?"
Maybe that was it. That would explain things.
The reason they ignored me even after hearing what I said—it's because they're vampire hunters who came here to kill me.
- Aheheheh, we'll kill you, you cruel vampire.
- Vampire blood's supposed to sell for a fortune. Let's drain her dry and sell every drop.
- This is vengeance for the Coco you killed.
- Time to show you the terror of the elves.
In Bldi's imagination, the two of them had already become figures consumed by a vicious hatred for vampires.
She stammered on, backing away as she did.
"Aa-aaugh. I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that... I was just hungry, that's all...."
Naturally.
Her mumbling voice didn't reach them.
"Any idea why she's acting like that?"
"I've never seen a vampire in person either."
"Stay on guard. No telling what she'll do."
"Understood."
A faint breeze stirred around the elf.
Bldi took that as a signal that the fight was starting.
They're not listening to me.
She didn't know if they were deliberately ignoring her, or if they genuinely couldn't hear her.
If she didn't speak now, there'd be no chance to explain herself.
She had to say she didn't want to fight.
She absolutely had to.
If she didn't want to die.
"I don't w-want to f-fight. I can't fiiight...."
Still mumbling, she clenched her fists and lifted her head. She looked the two people in front of her straight on.
To survive, she had to shout louder—
"E-excuse meee!"
A voice she hadn't properly raised in far too long came out in a spectacular crack. The pitch wobbled out of control, slightly phlegmy.
She was mortified. She wanted to run.
"Hic!"
A hiccup burst out of her on its own. Just confess honestly and flee. Now's my chance.
"I-I'm sorry!"
Poof!
Transformed into a bat, Bldi activated a stealth spell simultaneously, throwing up smoke around herself.
Flap-flap.
She fled through the same gap in the chicken coop she'd first entered through.
I'm so-o-o sorry. I'll never come here again.
So please let me live.
A deep gray bat soared high into the sky. Fortunately for her, the two of them didn't follow.
***
After the encounter with the vampire ended, I reported it to the viscount. Upon hearing the news, Viscount Britten dispatched Lancelot to the chicken farm.
"The vampire itself was nowhere to be seen, but traces of magi definitely remain. We should begin purification work."
A priest from the small temple in the viscountcy continued the purification rites with Lancelot's assistance.
There wasn't anything in particular for me to do during all that. I just lazed around in the lodgings the farm owner had arranged. That was the entirety of my role.
It had been a long time since I'd been able to relax that comfortably.
Three days passed with no further intrusions. Freed from the threat, the Coco seemed to shed their stress and returned to full health.
The eggs they laid grew healthier too.
"Thank you so much. We owe it all to you two."
"That's right. You've got good judgment."
Andrea, clearly pleased, lifted her chin and shrugged her shoulders. Every time someone thanked her, the corners of her lips crept upward.
Maybe it was because she hadn't been treated like this in a while.
"We'll send you free Coco eggs and Coco meat for a whole week."
"Are you sure? That's quite a lot of product."
"Ha ha, if you two hadn't resolved this, we might've had to cull an entire coop. We might have even destroyed the whole farm thinking it was an epidemic."
The farm owner's grin stretched from ear to ear.
"For you, Sir Knight, we'll keep supplying at a special rate from now on. Ha ha ha!"
"Is that so?"
"Absolutely!"
"Got it. Then let's discuss Coco feet sometime soon, too."
"Would I ever say no? Ha ha ha!"
With the incident settled, we returned to the castle.
Now that the ingredients were fresh again, it was time to reopen the restaurant.
Since I've got all this fresh Coco meat anyway, might as well try out some new Coco dishes.
Maybe I'd finally make that chicken dish I'd been planning from the start.