Clothes Like This Are a Problem

"Hruaaagh!"

The blond and black-haired punks fled with screams.

Through Vision Share, their pathetic display was transmitted to me in full.

And then—

"My lord. Would you have me cut off their last breaths? Just give the command."

Katarina's chilly voice came through the smartphone.

After the last Black Cow incident, I had taken precautions to prevent the unfortunate scenario of my familiars casually killing people whenever they felt like it.

I bought each of them a smartphone and instructed them to ask my permission first, whenever possible, before killing anyone.

In fact, Katarina had called me the very moment those two B-class punks started sidling up to Lili.

Meaning she'd wanted to kill them from the start.

I had felt a flash of anger too, seeing them try to sweet-talk Lili and steal her reservation ticket, but...

"Enough. Wretches like those are not even worth taking the lives of. Leave them be."

"As you command, my lord."

So we decided to let them live after breaking just one arm each.

They hadn't actually caused any real harm, and when I checked with Appraisal Eye, their intentions had only been simple lechery plus a little mugging.

They should count themselves lucky.

If they'd tried—or even seriously intended—to do something worse to Lili, I would've had them killed on the spot. The fact that they hadn't was what saved their lives.

Besides, between the hood and the mask, they probably hadn't gotten a proper look at Lili's face anyway.

"Lady Katarina! Who are you talking to?"

From the side came Lili's voice, brimming with curiosity.

"I am in communication with my lord."

"Huh? With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Master? You can talk to Master with that?"

Lili's eyes went round.

"Masteeer—!! It's Lili!! Can you hear me??"

Lili's booming voice thundered through the phone.

I thought my ears were going to split open.

"...I hear thee quite well. Thou mayest speak a little softer."

I answered while pulling the phone slightly away from my numbed ear.

"You weren't frightened, were you?"

I had been a little worried that innocent little Lili might be startled—both by being threatened and by seeing the punks' arms broken.

"Mm-mm, it was fun! I've never talked to humans before!"

Far from frightened, Lili sounded excited.

"And I did think, what if I make something with those humans' blood? But I figured it'd probably be bad, so I stopped!"

......

Lili said something terrifying in the purest, sweetest tone imaginable.

To her, humans really did seem like little more than potential materials.

...A vampire really is a vampire.

She might look cute on the outside, but at her core she was still a bloodsucker.

Well, anyway.

There had been a little commotion, but I couldn't forget the original purpose.

"Lili. Then thou shalt now follow Katarina and carry out thy mission well."

"Okay! Got it, Master!"

After the call ended, the two of them resumed climbing the mountain and headed for the Gate.

At the Gate entrance stood a single temporary booth.

Inside, a weary-looking Association employee sat fiddling with his phone.

A C-class Gate didn't require especially strict management, and since it was already late, that made it even more understandable.

"...You made a reservation, right? Please show me your ID."

When Lili arrived in front of him, the employee extended his hand without even looking up, completely soulless.

"Here!"

Lili handed over the ID she'd received from Katarina.

The employee took it and scanned it with the terminal.

Beep—

Then—

"......?"

The employee's expression stiffened.

He looked once at the screen.

Then once at the ID.

Then back to the screen again...

And a moment later, his eyes went wide.

"Gah?!"

He suddenly sprang to his feet and snapped to attention.

"P-please, go right in! Thank you for your hard work, ma'am!"

All traces of his former exhaustion vanished as he bent ninety degrees at the waist and shouted, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like a new employee who'd just spotted the company chairman.

"Oooh? Thanks!"

Lili waved as she greeted him and headed toward the Gate.

Oh. That ID works pretty well.

Watching the situation unfold, I nodded in satisfaction.

The special ID I'd received from the Association President.

I had heard it was usually issued to secret Association operatives or major figures—an identification card that still served as ID, but with all personal information anonymized.

From the employee's perspective, the terminal had probably displayed something like Special Management Target.

And any Association employee would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know what that meant.

So of course he'd panic and start bowing and scraping.

Convenient.

It almost made me want to send the President a thank-you message.

Thus entered, the C-class Gate.

Inside was terrain like a green meadow with scattered trees.

And before long—

the first monster appeared before my two familiars as they walked.

A burly green monster with a thickly muscled body.

An orc.

But it was nowhere near the gigantic orc boss I'd seen on Nightmare Floor 1. It was even smaller and skinnier than a normal orc.

A Low Orc, the kind commonly seen in C-class Gates.

Screeeech—!

The Low Orc, apparently deciding Lili looked like prey, charged in boldly.

"Lili. Watch well and learn."

That was not a very good decision.

Katarina casually raised one hand.

Slash—!

A spray of fresh blood cut through the air and cleanly severed the Low Orc's neck.

Thud.

It was an unbelievably clean, swift kill.

"Wooooow! Lady Katarina, you're amazing!"

Lili's eyes sparkled.

"This is how vampires fight. Swiftly and precisely."

"Okay! Got it!"

"And after the hunt, one must always recover the blood. It is tribute to be offered to my lord."

Sluuuurp.

Green blood was extracted from the orc's corpse and flowed into Katarina's right hand.

Lili watched it with shining eyes.

"Now then, it is your turn. The next one that appears—you will kill it."

"Okay!"

Lili nodded eagerly.

And a short while later, a goblin settlement appeared this time.

"Grrk, grrk!"

The goblins surrounded the intruders who had entered their village, watching warily.

In the hands of those little green humanoids were crude melee weapons—knives, spears, and the like.

"Lili. Go."

"Okay!"

Lili answered spiritedly.

"......"

But then, just as she was about to step forward, she hesitated.

She stared hard at the goblins ahead of her and lightly bit her lip.

Huh?

Watching, I found that a little unexpected.

Lili was hesitating?

Could it be that Lili was also afraid of fighting monsters?

Right when I was starting to feel a sense of kinship again, like with the sunlight incident—

Lili suddenly stripped off the hoodie she was wearing.

Underneath was the cool work outfit she'd originally had on.

...?

"Lili?"

Even Katarina let out a puzzled voice.

Then—

Lili neatly folded the hoodie and held it out to Katarina.

"Lady Katarina, hold this for me! I can't let Master's precious gift get dirty!"

It wasn't battle that scared her. It was getting blood on her clothes.

"......!"

And Katarina seemed to like Lili's attitude very much indeed.

"A fine mindset, Lili...! To treasure my lord's sacred gift so dearly. I shall take full responsibility for keeping it safe."

After safely entrusting the clothes to her—

"Hyaaah—!"

With a cute battle cry, Lili charged at the goblin horde.

I wonder how Lili fights?

I was curious about Lili's combat style too.

Given her pure, adorable personality, I lightly assumed she might fight in some cute way too.

Then—

Crunch—!

The moment Lili's hands touched them, goblins were torn apart.

Literally—she grabbed goblins and ripped them in half, or sank her teeth into the backs of their necks in savage, violent combat.

She looked like a wild beast on a rampage.

"Raar!"

...Huhhh?

My jaw dropped open.

Once the hunt started, Lili became a completely different person.

No, a completely different vampire.

She was weaker than Katarina or Siyeon, sure, but in terms of pure combat power, she was by no means weak.

Lili. You're strong...?

I was surprised in a good way.

But—

"Lili. Mind your rear."

"Okay!"

"Your footing is too broad."

"Okay!"

"Do not waste too much strength on a single monster. Earlier, half that force would have sufficed to kill it. Move efficiently."

"Okay!"

Apparently, Katarina found her sorely lacking.

She kept pointing out one thing after another, drilling her like an instructor.

But Lili followed along well without seeming to tire.

Like a puppy that never ran out of energy, she excitedly cleared out the monsters, and thus the prey's blood steadily piled up.

That's actually a pretty good amount, isn't it?

They had slaughtered every monster in the C-class Gate, so naturally the yield was substantial.

On top of that, a level-up notification for Lili appeared as well.

"Lili likes this! I want to keep doing it!"

"There are no monsters left now."

"Aww— what a shame!"

Low-grade blood farming, experience farming, and even Lili's walk(?)—

It had been a wildly successful Gate run.

And so Lili's Gate-clearing continued for several days.

One day with Katarina, the next with Siyeon—taking turns going out hunting like that.

Before long, Lili's level had risen by two more, reaching 38.

"Master! Lili's okay with sunlight now!"

"That is good news."

She had overcome sunlight and grown much more accustomed to modern civilization.

And at the same time—

we had gathered enough low-grade blood to craft the Blood Thread Clothing and Ink Shadow Parasol.

When I tapped the Craft option in the Blood Grace interface—

"Mm?!"

Lili's ears twitched sharply from across the room.

"Master, did Lili get called?"

It seemed like she'd heard something like a voice in her head.

"That is the great revelation of the True Ancestor. Follow it, and craft the item."

"Okay! Got it! Lili's gonna make Master the very best present!"

Crying out brightly, Lili received all the low-grade blood we'd gathered so far.

Then she sat down on the floor, settled into place, and began crafting in earnest.

Wooooong.

The blood floated into the air and gathered into a round sphere.

Then, in Lili's hand, a crimson hammer took shape.

Tok, tok, tok—

She gently tapped the blood sphere with the hammer, shaping it bit by bit.

It was like watching a blacksmith hammer metal—except the material was various kinds of blood, making the whole scene eerie and beautiful at once.

Oh. That's fascinating.

I had never seen this familiar's ability before, so I watched in admiration for quite a while.

But it seemed to take longer than I'd expected.

Even after more than an hour had passed since she started, there was no sign of her finishing.

"......"

Lili, too, was unlike her usual energetic self—so intensely focused that she said nothing at all.

So I lay down on the bed and watched short-form videos on my phone for a while...

and ended up drifting off to sleep.

And after some time—

"Master! Master! Wake up!"

"Mmm..."

"It's done!"

Lili woke me, saying she'd finished the work.

So the items that would finally help me overcome sunlight were complete.

Still ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠half asleep, I sat up and looked at the thing she'd made.

And then—

......

All the sleep vanished from my head.

Y-you expect me to wear this...?!

Because the clothes looked very different from what I had imagined.