110
Chapter 110
Ms. Vampire visited us with injuries.
Soon after, another Ms. Vampire showed up.
She was also in an injured state.
One of them was a fake.
They were suspected to be monsters called Doppelgangers.
Borrowing Chunsam's knowledge, we began the procedure to verify who the Doppelganger was through a Mirror.
Vampires in this world weren't weak to sunlight, and they even reflected clearly in mirrors.
However, an unexpected result occurred.
After checking their Information Window through the Mirror, it turned out that not just one, but both of them were Doppelgangers.
Just as I was panicking.
The Intruder alarm rang, and yet another Ms. Vampire arrived.
This time, it was a Ms. Vampire with no injuries.
And she wasn't alone; she entered the Dungeon with a certain man.
The man's identity was the Vampire Lord.
He was the Leader of the Vampire Tribe I had only ever heard stories about.
I had no idea why the Vampire Lord had come here.
Regardless, seeing that she came with the Vampire Lord made me think that this Ms. Vampire might be the real one.
But I couldn't let my guard down.
That Ms. Vampire could also be a Doppelganger.
Considering we already had two Doppelgangers, a third one could certainly exist.
Creeeak-
I immediately turned the Mirror.
I pointed it toward the Portal and began the verification process.
Checking both Ms. Vampire and the Vampire Lord.
Because the Vampire Lord might also be a Doppelganger.
[Vampire lv.45]
┗Pw.270
┗Rnk.Elite
[Domain: Blood]
┗Rank - Epic
[Vampire Lord lv.80]
┗Pw.800
┗Rnk.Unique
[Domain: Blood]
┗Rank - Epic
Normal Information Windows popped up for both of them.
They were the exact same Information Windows as when I checked them normally.
There wasn't a single trace of a Doppelganger to be found.
That one was the real deal!
"Gomgomgom, gomgomgomgom!!!"
I shouted out in joy at having found the real one.
And then I revealed the truth to everyone.
That the two punks locked in the Prison were Doppelgangers, and the Ms. Vampire who just came in was the real one.
"The one over there is the real master?!"
"Woooong!?"
"Kuooh! Both of them were fakes!"
"...!!!"
Ailee, Tosuni, Jjokkomi, and the Princess Doll.
The four of them were wearing surprised expressions.
"Mama! Why did you return so late! The fakes tried to trick us because you were late!!!"
"Vampa-jjang is a dummy! A slowpoke! We were almost completely fooled by the fakes!"
The Little Yellow Dragon and the Fox burst into tears as they ran to the real Ms. Vampire and embraced her.
It was a touching reunion.
***
Ms. Vampire and the Vampire Lord also finished assessing the situation.
Ms. Vampire briefly looked at the Doppelgangers locked in the Prison before shifting her gaze to us and apologizing.
"That was truly a close call. I'm sorry, this all happened because of my carelessness."
"Huh? Why is this your fault, Master?"
Ailee expressed her doubts.
I also tilted my head.
At that, Ms. Vampire explained the reason.
Doppelgangers couldn't just duplicate anyone.
There were conditions required to copy a target.
That condition was consuming a piece of the target's body or their blood.
In the case of blood, consuming a large amount allowed them to create a perfect replica, just like these guys did.
"They likely stumbled upon my Blood Orb and consumed it. I lost the Blood Orb when I was running away from the Lycanthrope last time."
Listening to her,
It wasn't really a mistake born of carelessness.
It was completely understandable to drop an item during a desperate escape from an enemy.
"I apologize once again. I will make sure this never happens again."
"Gomgom, gomgomgom."
It was okay.
It wasn't Ms. Vampire's fault.
I said while patting her leg.
"...Thank you for saying that. But Teddy Bear, are you finally able to speak?"
"Gomgom."
"It seems you went through Limit Breakthrough and Evolution while I was gone. You were cute before, but you're even cuter now. Your outfit is nice, too."
"Gom."
Ms. Vampire praised my appearance.
As expected, she was a woman with a good eye.
Ms. Vampire belatedly took her time to look at Ailee and the others.
And she offered her congratulations to those who had achieved Limit Breakthrough.
She seemed especially sincere in congratulating Ailee.
It was likely because Ailee was her familiar.
Afterwards.
Ms. Vampire introduced the Vampire Lord standing behind her.
"My introductions were late. The person over here is the Vampire Lord, who leads us Vampires."
"Nice to meet you. I heard my niece owes you a great deal."
The Vampire Lord smiled with his eyes and gently waved his hand at us.
So Ms. Vampire was the Vampire Lord's niece.
I had learned a surprising new fact.
I hadn't misheard them earlier after all.
Then is the Vampire Lord Ms. Vampire's uncle?
He looked so incredibly delicate that it was confusing whether he was a man or a woman, but in stark contrast to his appearance, his voice was so deep that I concluded he was a man for now.
"Gomgom, gomgomgomgomgom."
My greetings were late.
I am Ms. Vampire's friend, the Gentleman Teddy Bear.
Stepping one leg back, I planted my Cane on the ground, folded one arm forward, and bowed politely.
Bow.
As I offered a gentlemanly greeting, a benevolent smile spread across the Vampire Lord's face.
"What a remarkably polite child."
It seemed my way of greeting had really caught his fancy.
The others clumsily mimicked my posture and offered their greetings to the Vampire Lord.
"Wooong!"
"Nice to meet you! I am me!"
"Yong-yong! I am Mama's daughter!"
"...!"
"I am Ailee."
"Kuooh... This pose is hard...."
Thud-!
Jjokkomi lost her balance and fell over.
Honestly, why did you even try to copy my pose.
That posture is too much for your body type, Jjokkomi.
***
The two Doppelgangers locked in the Prison.
They had been watching us converse outside before using Bat Transformation, one of Ms. Vampire's abilities.
Transforming into a small Bat Swarm, the punks swiftly slipped through the iron bars, pretended to ambush us, and then abruptly changed direction, flying rapidly toward the Portal.
It seemed they had been looking for a chance to escape this entire time.
However, they couldn't get away.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The Vampire Lord reached out his hand.
Immediately, the Bat Swarm's movements halted.
Soon after, the bodies of all the bats swelled up and burst.
Just like that, they met a pathetic end.
Ailee stared at the remains of the Doppelgangers and casually asked Ms. Vampire.
"By the way, Master. How did you know the Doppelgangers were here?"
"I tracked them down based on memories that flowed into my head yesterday. It seemed they were heading toward your Dungeon instead of the Vampire Castle."
"Memories that flowed into your head?"
"For the past few days, unfamiliar memories kept flowing into my mind. Because of that, I realized a Doppelganger had duplicated me."
When duplicated by a Doppelganger.
Your memories are continuously shared with the Doppelganger.
The memories you experience firsthand flow into the Doppelganger, and the memories the Doppelgangers see and hear flow into the original. However, they aren't shared in real-time. The memories are transferred with about a day's delay.
Ms. Vampire added this explanation.
She was quite knowledgeable about Doppelgangers.
"And the reason the Doppelgangers fought each other was probably... because one was the Doppelganger's Doppelganger."
"Huh? A Doppelganger's Doppelganger?"
"It means they didn't duplicate me directly, but rather duplicated the Doppelganger that duplicated me. The punk probably had no idea the target it copied was a fellow Doppelganger. Once a Doppelganger completes a perfect duplicate, even their own kind can't recognize them."
"Wow... So something like that can happen too...."
"It's probably not a common occurrence. Being duplicated by a Doppelganger isn't a common thing in the first place, anyway."
Ms. Vampire.
You sure are incredibly popular among Doppelgangers.
"More importantly, I've acquired some good information. To think we could distinguish Doppelgangers by using Appraisal through a Mirror... Since there is a Vampire in our castle who possesses the Appraisal skill, this method will be very useful in the future."
Wait, you didn't know about this method?
Hearing Ms. Vampire's words, I shifted my gaze to the Vampire Lord.
And I asked him how he had planned to find out who the real Ms. Vampire was.
"Gomgom, gomgomgom, gomgomgom?"
"Even without the method you taught us, there is a way to find a Doppelganger. You just have to kill them one by one."
"...Gom?"
"Take a look over there."
The Vampire Lord pointed toward the Portal.
It was the spot where the Doppelgangers that transformed into bats had perished.
The floor there was remarkably clean.
No one had cleaned it up, but the blood and corpses were completely gone.
Only two Mana Stones were left lying there.
"Like that, their corpses naturally face Annihilation shortly after death, unlike normal creatures. In other words, if the corpse doesn't disappear, you know they weren't a Doppelganger. Since I can perfectly revive anyone I kill anyway, there is no issue with using this method. For your information, I already verified my niece before coming here."
So there was a method like that, too.
It was a method that was impossible to use not just for me, but for most creatures.
***
While guiding Ms. Vampire and the Vampire Lord to the 2nd Floor to treat them with the utmost hospitality.
The Vampire Lord, who had been staring at me with a gentle smile for a while now, casually spoke up.
"Did you say your name was Teddy Bear?"
"Gomgom."
"I heard from my niece, but you defeated a Lycanthrope?"
"Gomgomgom."
"You're amazing, contrary to how you look."
"Gom?"
"Ah. And I heard you also have a friendly relationship with the Moon Tribe and enjoy drinking blood like us, is that correct?"
"Gomgom."
The Vampire Lord, who had asked several questions.
"Equipped with strong martial prowess, acknowledged by the Moon Tribe, and even enjoys drinking blood......."
He muttered to himself before suddenly stopping in his tracks.
And then he looked straight at me.
"Absolutely perfect."
"Gom?"
"It means you meet all the conditions to join our Pisamo."
"Gom...?"
What the heck is Pisamo?
When I tilted my head, the Vampire Lord bent over and held out his hand.
"I will make your Dungeon a proposal. I will provide full support so your Dungeon can grow rapidly in the future, so join our Pisamo."
Pisamo.
It's the Blood Lovers' Club.
The Vampire Lord added those words.
His naming sense really sucks.
It makes me want to reject him.