The Ancient Vampire Lirasia (3)
Kbalt found himself steeped in a foul mood.
"How wretched."
Two of his selves had been defeated. Thanks to that, the scheme he had so painstakingly prepared had fallen into utter ruin. The culprit who had thrown everything off course was the former Hero who had crossed over from another world—appearing out of nowhere and dragging the situation in one bizarre direction after another.
He needed to be eliminated. But this was a human who wielded overwhelming power even with his bare hands. It would not be easy.
"I'll have to change the plan."
Kbalt soared into the sky. First, he intended to gather his scattered selves into one place and pool their wisdom.
"Isn't he a little too tenacious?"
"They say you have to cut him two thousand times before he dies."
The Kbalt who had appeared before us was still being sliced apart. The fight had been decided long ago, but he simply refused to die, so the slashing went on without end.
"GRAAAAH!"
The wretched screams, too, kept repeating without pause. It was such an unpleasant noise pollution that we'd relocated to a spot farther away. While we were at it, we'd dragged along the vampire Kbalt had possessed and dumped her in a corner. The stab wound in her heart had already healed, so she'd probably be up soon enough.
"For someone who calls himself one of the Four Heavenly Kings, he's awfully loud."
"He's a spirit body, so maybe he's never had his body cut before."
"That's true of anyone with an ordinary body as well."
"Ah, right."
Maybe it was because we'd been through so many battles. By now, injuries on the level of body parts getting lopped off didn't even faze us.
"You'll get yourself into real trouble one of these days, you know."
"It's fine. I won't die."
"Those would make excellent last words."
The fight had dragged on so long that we'd naturally fallen into casual conversation. I passed the time chatting with Logan for a while.
Meanwhile, Eluke hadn't said a single word while we were talking. She just watched her lover with a faintly gloomy expression.
"Worried?"
I asked her casually, and Eluke met my eyes.
"Of course I am. He's doing all that even though it's cutting into his lifespan."
"It's Holy Power. Don't worry about it too much."
The other world's Liam was using only Holy Power. Unlike Aura or magic, it was a power that used mana only indirectly, so it was relatively safe.
"But even Holy Power is ultimately based on mana, is it not?"
"Even so, it's only a tiny amount."
"I know that, but I still can't put my mind at ease."
They'd been so angry they wouldn't even speak to each other, and now look at her. She was fidgeting, consumed with worry. I supposed that just meant she cared that much. They'd gone at it while I was still on the first floor, so it was pretty obvious how much they liked each other.
So why had they gotten into a fight? They were clearly hiding some serious circumstances—serious enough to drive even love apart, if only for a while.
"Alright, tell me why you two fought."
I demanded she just tell me the truth, no beating around the bush. Eluke closed her eyes, considered it, then shook her head.
"I'm sorry. This is something I cannot tell you."
"What about Logan?"
"The same applies."
That only made me more curious. But she was refusing that firmly. I couldn't keep prying.
"Then tell me later."
"...If the opportunity arises, I shall."
Eluke closed her mouth again and turned her gaze back to the scene of Kbalt's ongoing murder.
Now what was I supposed to do? I scratched my itchy head and decided to go back to talking with Logan. I happened to have a topic ready.
"Hey, about those corpse soldiers earlier..."
"Hold on. Look over there."
Logan cut me off and pointed somewhere. Wondering what it was, I looked—and saw the empty air freezing over.
"Looks like she handled it without a hitch."
A moment later the ice shattered, and a small girl emerged. It was Karita, whom we'd sent to escort the Hero's party.
"I'm back."
"How did it go?"
"I froze the demon solid, and the Hero's party is heading this way."
"Well done."
A conversation between two kids who looked exactly alike. It was like watching twins reunite—though their speech patterns were completely different.
"Clitia, I scolded the Hero's party."
Karita came over to me this time, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
"What did you do?"
"I used really bad words. They must've been super scared."
A kid who looked like that swearing at people... I doubted it had much impact. I didn't say that out loud and ruin her mood, though.
"Good work."
I stroked her head, and a smile bloomed across her face of ice. It was the kind of smile that made me feel like I was the one who'd been rewarded.
"Then merge back together, if you would."
Karita nodded and threw her arms around Logan, who wore the same appearance as her. Their bodies fused, becoming one again. Splitting and merging, utilizing the power of a Highest Spirit. It was a useful technique in all sorts of ways.
"Well? Not bad for a first attempt, wouldn't you say?"
"Can't you just stay like that all the time?"
"I'd cease to exist if I did."
Unstable as ever, in any case. Of course, the fact that she was alive at all was a miracle, so I had no complaints.
I was just feeling freshly grateful for my companion's survival when Eluke tapped me on the shoulder.
"What?"
"The vampire has awakened."
I looked at the corner, and sure enough, the old vampire woman was lying there with her eyes wide open. We'd bound her with Logan's ice beforehand, so she wasn't making any particular movements.
"Hey, you alright?"
I walked over to her bedside and looked down at her. She needed to be in her right mind. I had a lot of information to extract.
The old woman didn't answer. She just rolled her eyes this way and that, then opened her mouth.
"I don't know who you are, but let me suck some blood, would you?"
An abrupt demand for a blood donation.
"See how wrinkled my skin is? I haven't been able to feed lately, that's why. At this rate, anyone who looks at me will know I'm an old hag."
She asked so brazenly I hesitated for a second, but I had no intention of giving her any blood, of course.
"First, answer my questions honestly."
"So you'll let me suck if I do?"
Suck what, exactly? The wording was incredibly indecent.
"If you answer diligently, I'll think about it."
"Very well. Let's have a nice, refreshing Q&A between us young folks."
On top of that, she was trying very hard to act young, but she seemed quite advanced in years. Even setting her appearance aside, her speech and vocabulary had a distinctly old-fashioned flavor.
"I suppose I should introduce myself first?"
"Go ahead."
"I am a twenty-year-old vampire who goes by the name Lirasia."
Add two or three extra zeroes to that twenty and you'd probably get her real age. I filed that thought away rather than say it out loud and drag things out.
"I lost consciousness at some point, and when I woke up, I was in this state."
"You don't remember anything?"
"I was looking over the faces of the ones who'd come to the gathering, and then my memory just cuts off."
A more incompetent vampire than I'd expected.
"You were being controlled by Kbalt."
"That ghost demon? Didn't he die?"
"It's complicated, but he's still alive."
I told her about the atrocities Kbalt had committed. I laid it all out without omitting a thing, including that every vampire who'd attended the gathering was dead.
"There were corpses scattered all over that space back there. The Kbalt possessing your body probably slaughtered them all."
"Oh dear."
A reaction with absolutely no feeling behind it. She'd probably have been sadder if a pet dog had died.
"You're not angry?"
"When the weak die at the hands of the strong, that's just a natural death."
Purebloods really did have rotten personalities. Though she was relatively decent, as far as they went.
"Still, it's a shame so many of our side died."
"Your side?"
"The pureblood vampires are currently split in two, you see."
That was a theory we'd already discussed once before.
"There are factions? When we caught a pureblood and asked, they didn't mention anything like that."
"There are some who couldn't care less about this sort of thing and devote themselves entirely to feeding."
So only the blood-crazed vampires had come to make contact with the Crimson Bandits? Listening further, that did seem to be the case.
"Got it. Now tell me the internal situation in detail."
"There's something I need to tell you first."
Lirasia put on a serious expression and continued.
"The Vampire Lord is not a pureblood."
"Yeah."
"Oh my, what a dull reaction."
It was something that had come up in the game, so I already knew.
"He was originally human."
"That's classified information, yet you know it so well."
The Vampire Lord possessed overwhelming power that surpassed even the purebloods. But because he was a turned vampire, he couldn't attend the Blood Banquet.
"So what about it?"
"That child isn't a pureblood, but he's strong, so everyone followed his rule without complaint. He himself, though, harbored an inferiority complex toward us."
That was only natural. Anyone would feel that way if they were the leader and still weren't allowed into the gatherings.
"But then one day he suddenly started acting strange. He stopped showing that inferiority complex—and his personality turned vicious instead."
This was a part I didn't know, so I listened a little more carefully.
"The most bizarre change of all was his goal."
"What is it? Hunting humans?"
"If it were that, we wouldn't have been divided over it."
Lirasia let out a deep sigh.
"He wants to make every vampire beautiful."
"......"
I hoped I'd misheard, but unfortunately my hearing was perfectly fine.
"He wants to turn us into a race even more stunning than the elves."
"Why?"
"I don't know either. That's why everyone's agonizing over whether to follow him or not."
What kind of vampire even was this guy? As much as I yearned for defeat, I did not want to lose to a weirdo like that.
"This Blood Banquet was held with the factions split between those for and those against. This was the opposition's gathering."
And Kbalt had gotten involved on top of all this? Things had gotten tangled in all sorts of ways. He'd probably keep targeting the Hero's party without giving up.
"Where is the Vampire Lord right now?"
I decided to set the Kbalt problem aside for later and asked the most important question first.
"And what do you intend to do if I tell you?"
"I'm going to fight him."
"Let's form an alliance. I was planning to drive that child out, you see."
What should I do? Logan and Eluke said nothing, apparently leaving the decision to me.
"What's there to hesitate about? If you accept her help and she shows any sign of betrayal, you can just execute her on the spot."
As always, in times like these, I could count on my Sun-bask.
"Alright. Let's form an alliance."
"What a wise child. But the Vampire Lord has a reliable ally of his own."
"I know. It's Remiraen."
Meeting that one was actually my main objective. The curse's removal was truly just around the corner now.
"Eluke, hang in there just a little longer."
"Thank you for your concern."
Eluke smiled lightly. It was a fake smile—only her lips moved.
An eagle flew in through the grimy window of the laboratory. Remiraen welcomed it warmly and perched his pet bird on his arm.
"What did they say?"
A hand of nothing but bone wrapped around the eagle's head. Blue smoke seeped from its beak and was absorbed into his skull.
"Good. Well done."
Remiraen spoke in a brightly smiling voice and headed toward a corner of the lab.
"Liam, I have wonderful news."
Liam, who had been solitary training his venom, only lifted his head slightly. A silent demand to get to the point.
"They say a great many vampire corpses have turned up. We'll be able to make some high-quality Clitias."
"...Good."
A grotesque, gurgling sound leaked from his split head.
"Get them. Now."
"We still can't copy personality or cells, though, so they'll only look the same. Prototypes, so to speak."
"Doesn't matter."
Whatever had him so pleased, Liam kept making that gurgling sound. Startled by the bizarre noise, the eagle flapped its wings and retreated to a distance.
"They also want us to grant a request of theirs, though. Is that alright? They say they want a traitor eliminated."
"Another vampire, I assume."
"Most likely."
"Tell them yes. That means even more vampire corpses."
Having said that, Liam formed a greatsword from venom and gripped it in his hand.
"To take revenge on the Demon King, we need more Clitias."
An obsession where madness and reason were tangled together. His condition was growing worse and worse.
I'll restore you to your original form. I swear it.
Remiraen made a solemn vow—for the Hero who had lost his glory and now wandered, adrift.