A Job Offer, Thus Spoke I
Vampire Potential.
It refers to the latent power a target possesses when transformed into a vampire familiar through my unique skill, [Embrace].
Siyeon was an S-rank.
Since then, I’ve seen countless people, but I hadn’t encountered anyone even close to an A-rank, let alone an S-rank. Even B-ranks were incredibly rare.
Finding an S-rank potential in the midst of all that was like discovering a diamond among pebbles on the street. I felt almost compelled by instinct to give the order.
“Bring that person here at once.”
At my words, the Lord’s face clouded with confusion. It was only natural. To him, my sudden demand to summon a mere apprentice knight must have seemed completely inexplicable. However, he quickly wiped away his bewildered expression and bowed his head.
“Ah, yes. I shall bring her immediately.”
As he gave the order to a subordinate nearby, the call went down to the parade ground, and before long, a knight came running up to the platform in a hurry.
A female knight clad in light armor. She was a girl with a youthful face, blonde hair, and blue eyes.
Panting as she climbed onto the platform, she caught sight of the Lord and stood at rigid attention, greeting him with military precision.
“It is an honor to see you, my Lord…!”
But the Lord quickly gestured toward me.
“This is not the time to greet me. Hurry and pay your respects to this person. She is a very noble guest who has graced our territory.”
“Pardon? Ah, ah…!”
Only then did the female knight notice me standing behind the Lord and hurriedly shifted her direction.
“P-pleased to meet you…! I am the apprentice knight, Sera!”
The knight stood frozen, bowing stiffly. The blue eyes looking up at me were trembling with anxiety.
‘Hmm. I brought her here on a whim, but now what?’
I had called her out reflexively the moment I saw the window indicating her S-rank potential, but now that we were face-to-face, it was ambiguous what I should say first.
I couldn’t just sink my fangs into her neck and turn her into a familiar right here and now, could I?
Let’s check her detailed information first.
I scanned her status through [Appraisal Eye].
Name: Sera
Level: 39
Status: Nervous in front of the Lord and the mysterious noble guest; flustered by the sudden summons.
Inner Thoughts: 'Ugh… what did I do wrong? Did they find out I snuck an extra piece of bread at breakfast…?'
Vampire Potential: S
‘Oh. Level 39?’
That was a fairly high level for an apprentice knight. It was even higher than our youngest, Lili.
‘She’s not even a full knight yet, and she’s already at this level?’
It seemed she had exceptional talent, not just potential.
‘This is a definite recruitment target.’
But one question remained. Could I turn an NPC existing within the Tower of Trials into a familiar? Given that the vampire potential was displayed clearly on her status window, it didn’t seem impossible according to the system.
Even if I did turn her into a familiar, I couldn’t guarantee I could take her back to the real world.
‘Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.’
I spoke, keeping my face hidden behind my parasol.
“Your vessel does not seem bad, so you have caught my eye.”
“……!”
At those words, the Lord flinched, and Sera, too, couldn’t hide her surprise, her round eyes widening even further.
“T-thank you very much…!”
She hurriedly bowed her head with a dazed expression. I turned my gaze back to the Lord.
“Lord. Grant us a space to speak for a while.”
“Of course, my Lady.”
The Lord led us to a nearby office without a word. He bowed politely, saying he dared not eavesdrop on a noble’s conversation, and waited outside.
Click-.
The door closed.
“Katarina. Close the curtains.”
“As you command, my Master.”
Katarina moved without a moment’s hesitation, closing all the curtains in the room. Only after the sunlight entering the office was completely blocked and the room grew dim did I fold my parasol.
Looking at Sera, who sat across from me, I saw she was frozen stiff.
She had the look of someone who had no idea why she was sitting there. She sat awkwardly, maintaining a rigid posture with a face mixed with confusion and tension.
‘Alright. Time to make the recruitment offer.’
“Child.” I decided to ask her to join me as gently and kindly as possible.
“Become my slave.”
“……Excuse me?!”
‘Sigh. This passive skill is making me say things again.’
I figured as much. In my head, it was a light recruitment offer like, ‘Would you like to work with me?’, but after passing through the [Noble Bearing] filter, it had turned into a threat.
“Ah. I’m sorry for raising my voice…. But suddenly asking me to be a slave… that, I’m a bit flustered….”
Sera replied in a shrinking voice, looking around with a face that had turned pale.
But in truth, I had thought of something for this exact situation. If the tone of my offer was unavoidably rude, I just had to balance it out by offering an extraordinary condition.
“In exchange, I shall grant you one wish.”
A wish. The moment I uttered that word, Sera’s pupils trembled.
At the same time, the text in my [Appraisal Eye] changed rapidly.
Current Inner Thoughts: 'Suddenly asking me to be a slave… I’m scared…. But if you can really grant my wish, I could even become a slave. But, even someone like this person couldn’t possibly grant my wish…. Like avenging my parents….'
‘Oh?’
Avenging her parents. It seemed she had a heavy story behind her.
I could probe into this, couldn’t I?
Sera hesitated, her lips moving as if she were agonizing over something, before she finally replied, stammering.
“I… I don’t really have a wish….”
“Why do you try to deceive this body? Is it not that you wish to avenge your parents?”
“……!”
Sera’s face hardened.
“H-how did you….”
She was shocked as if she had seen a ghost. It was no wonder, as I had pierced through the deep secret she kept only to herself in an instant.
“There is nothing in this world that can escape the eyes of this body.”
As I added that arrogantly, she bit her lip for a moment before finally confessing the truth.
“My parents’ enemy… is a Holy Knight belonging to the Holy See.”
Sera’s voice trembled slightly. The story was horrific. Under the pretext of purging heretics, a Holy Knight had slaughtered an entire innocent merchant caravan passing by. Sera’s parents had been among those innocent victims.
What was even more infuriating was the excuse the culprit, that Holy Knight, had left behind.
“He said it was an unavoidable sacrifice for the greater good…. That was all he said. *Sob*….”
In the end, Sera couldn’t control her emotions and wept quietly.
‘Wow. What a piece of trash.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly. Was this a group that lacked the basic common sense that even if a hundred criminals are missed, not a single innocent person should suffer unjustly? Sera had been left alone after losing her parents at such a young age.
But the opponent was the Holy See, which held the most powerful authority on the continent. It wasn’t a level a mere orphan girl could protest or take revenge against. That was why she had joined the knight order while thoroughly hiding her past. With the sole goal of becoming a knight, building her strength, and eventually taking revenge on her own.
‘Such a painful past for a child who looks so pure and fragile.’
I felt a sense of pity. But I didn’t dwell on the sentiment for long; I began to calculate things very realistically.
‘Wait. The Holy See?’
The quest for the territory I had decided to help. Wasn’t the Holy See the power behind the hostile forces? If so, it meant our enemies overlapped anyway.
Even if the Holy See wielded immense power on the continent, I wasn’t from this continent, so it was none of my business. Once I cleared this floor, I wouldn’t have to see the Holy See again anyway.
Then, couldn’t I just push through the war scenario and take revenge as a bonus?
Having finished my calculations, I declared readily.
“I shall grant that wish.”
Sera snapped her head up. Her tear-filled blue eyes looked at me imploringly.
“A-are you serious…?”
“However.”
I curled my lips and drove the point home.
“Only if you swear to become my slave.”
Sera shuddered. A brief silence passed. But her gaze soon became resolute.
“Yes…! If you really grant my wish, I will become your slave…!”
As if becoming a slave was nothing compared to avenging the grudge she had carried in her heart her whole life.
‘Good.’
Yes! Recruitment success!
…Just as I was about to rejoice, I realized there was still a procedure left.
‘Ah. Right. To become a familiar, I have to turn her into a vampire.’
If I just glossed over it with the word ‘slave’ and then suddenly sucked her blood and turned her into a vampire, that would be no different from employment fraud. Even so, it was only right to inform a child who had lived as a human her whole life that her species would change.
Besides, from now on, she’d have to be careful of sunlight, she wouldn’t be able to eat food containing garlic, and she’d feel thirsty and hungry if she didn’t drink blood. I had to clearly state those downsides as well.
But since it wasn’t all downsides, I should explain all the pros and cons clearly. I made up my mind and opened my mouth to Sera.
“To become a servant of this body, there is a ritual you must undergo.”
“…?”
“You must empty out all the lowly mortal blood flowing through your veins and fill them with the noble blood of this body to be reborn as a new existence.”
“!!”
“Then you shall gain the power of blood, shadows, and beasts, and possess eternal beauty and a body that transcends human limits…….”
After explaining the stat increases and lineage skills she would gain upon becoming a vampire, I added the side effects that would follow immediately.
“However, in exchange, you must turn your back on the light, feel disgust toward human food, and crave blood in an endless thirst.”
“T-that….”
Sera’s pupils trembled wildly.
‘Huh…? Wait a second.’
When I was organizing it in my head, it was definitely just a minor notification of the side effects of a species change before employment. How did it end up sounding like a contract with an evil entity?!