Vampire Commotion (3)
Outside, the sun had already set, plunging everything into darkness.
“Hmm, it really suits you. Don’t you agree, Charlotte?”
“Sure.”
Asking me that while knowing exactly how I felt was a special kind of cruelty. I gave a half-hearted nod with a sour expression. Leticia didn’t seem to care. She stared at the collar around my neck for a moment before muttering.
“Unless someone looks closely, it’s barely noticeable, so don’t worry.”
“…That’s not the problem. It’s pretty damn noticeable.”
“It’s fine. From a distance it just looks like a black choker. No one will pay it any mind.”
Was she serious? Who in their right mind would mistake a collar for a choker? My skin was already deathly pale; adding a black band around my neck made it stand out even more. At least she wasn’t holding a leash attached to it. If she had been, I would have refused from the start. Being treated like a dog on a walk was something I would rather die than endure. If it came to that, I would simply never leave the house again.
Of course, the real issue right now was the fact that I was walking down the street wearing a collar. It was a small mercy that we were in a deserted back alley with no sign of people. If I had wandered around the academy like this—especially through crowded areas—the fallout would have been unbearable to even imagine. Rumors would spread not just about me but about Leticia too. She, of course, wouldn’t lose a second of sleep over it. Which only made the whole thing worse for me. Becoming a spectacle in the newspapers was the last thing I wanted.
With a thoroughly fed-up look on my face, I tugged at the leather collar with one hand and declared firmly.
“I’ve told you multiple times. I’m not your pet.”
“Which is why I’ve never treated you like one.”
“…Your treatment says otherwise.”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. Before I actually start treating you like a pet and drag you around on a leash like you just suggested.”
Leticia’s chilling tone made me open my mouth, then close it again. Long experience had taught me that pushing her any further would end badly.
Leo, who had been quietly listening to our exchange, cleared his throat with a small “Ahem” and drew our attention.
“That’s enough chatter. We’ve arrived.”
He stopped walking and pointed toward the site of the incident. When I looked in that direction, a place that screamed danger at first glance greeted me. Streetlights were present, but they flickered with a weak, unsteady glow that could die at any moment. Even though the body had been removed, the blood splatter hadn’t been cleaned. Blackened stains clung to the walls in messy patches. It was clear proof that the vampire hadn’t finished the victim cleanly. If it had bitten straight into the neck and drained them in one go, the walls would have been spotless.
“This… looks like the victim put up a fight. They didn’t go down without resistance?”
“…Even without combat experience, humans can summon unknown strength when death is staring them in the face. These are the marks of someone fighting desperately to survive.”
“They must have been attacked by one of the weaker vampires. Nobles and above rarely emerge from the demon world these days.”
Leticia frowned, explaining that defeated vampires sometimes slipped over when they couldn’t secure blood, but an academy student being attacked was a first. It was only natural for her to feel troubled. This had happened at the academy where she taught, after all. The victim being a parentless commoner orphan had made covering it up easier. Had it been a noble’s child, things would have been far more complicated.
The only truly pitiful one is the dead student.
In this world where nobility still reigned supreme, I would have liked to see the body of the blood-drained student if possible, but that was probably out of the question.
I knelt on one knee and touched the blackened bloodstain on the wall. Suddenly, a scream tore through the distant darkness.
“Graaaaaaaaah—!”
A gut-wrenching cry echoed from the shadows, accompanied by the sharp metallic scent of blood that stung my nose. Leo’s hand instantly flew to the holy sword at his waist, gripping the hilt tightly.
“Impure and ominous mana… Hah. Looks like the star of the show has decided to appear in person.”
Leo’s voice had dropped into a dangerous register. “There’s only one presence, but don’t let your guard down. It could be a vampire. Stay alert.”
“I’ll provide support. If it looks like it’s about to attack, I’ll charge in immediately.”
Criminals returning to the scene of the crime was a common saying, but was it really the vampire? I watched Leticia conjure a simple magic circle in her palm without her staff and asked casually.
“Can I kill it?”
“I’d prefer you capture it alive if possible.”
“…That’s a pretty demanding condition.”
At some point, capturing something alive had become far more difficult for me than killing it. On the battlefield, you had to kill the enemy without hesitation. Taking prisoners in a war of life and death was a wasteful luxury. There simply wasn’t time to grieve every familiar face that fell. Those three hellish years of war against the demon race had taken many things from me. Emotions, for one. And any hesitation about taking a life.
That was exactly why I had struggled so much back on Earth.
Click. Click.
The sound of heels grew closer. Leo’s expression turned icy as he drew the holy sword and leveled it forward. Veins stood out sharply on his right hand where he gripped the blade.
Wait. Was it really okay to pull out the holy sword? It was practically screaming I am the Hero to anyone who saw it.
Leo, wrapped in sacred light along the blade, gave off an aura that would convince even someone who had never heard of the Hero that he was exactly that. His red eyes flashed.
His cold gaze fixed on the figure emerging from the darkness ahead.
“Oh my. I didn’t expect other guests besides myself.”
A soft, feminine voice reached us. It sounded slightly surprised, yet it carried the unmistakable dignity of an absolute ruler. The air grew heavy in an instant.
“I planned to handle this quietly. To think I would be discovered by the Sage of the Hero’s party, of all people.”
The owner of the voice clearly knew Leticia. Could she not recognize Leo now that he had become a woman? No, that was impossible. Those blood-red eyes glowing like molten rubies were staring fixedly at Leo’s holy sword from within the shadows.
She blinked several times, then murmured in confusion.
“…A female Hero wielding the holy sword. There was no information about a new Hero being born. So the church was hiding a puppet after all.”
At that moment, the darkness covering the sky parted as moonlight poured down, revealing the figure’s true appearance.
“Too bright.”
The woman frowned, complaining that she disliked brightness. Her overall image burned itself into my eyes. She was roughly 160 centimeters tall. Not particularly tall, yet the pressure she exuded was on an entirely different level. Waist-length pink hair and red eyes that carried a different hue from Leo’s created an impression that was both spine-chilling and breathtakingly beautiful. Vampires were generally a beautiful race, but this was the first time I had seen one so stunning.
“I recommend you let me leave quietly if possible, Sage. I have no desire to fight any of you. If you are as wise as they say, you should understand that fighting someone with no hostility toward you brings no benefit.”
With a bored expression, the woman tilted her head.
“My only purpose in coming here is to punish a traitor. There is no other reason. There is no need for meaningless conflict between us.”
I swallowed dryly, tension tightening my face. If this had been during my days as Demian Radius, maybe. But right now, there was no way I could defeat her. The sheer presence she gave off was on a completely different dimension. If what she said was true and there was no need to fight, letting her go seemed like the correct choice.
Leo narrowed his eyes, gripping the holy sword tighter, and called out.
“Leticia.”
“I’m listening.”
“You said the vampire behind the incident wasn’t of noble rank or higher.”
Where exactly did she get that from? Leo took a deep breath and continued.
“…Is the culprit behind this incident perhaps a vampire possessing power on the level of a noble—or maybe even an apostle?”
“Incorrect. Look at what she’s holding.”
“In her hand?”
“That is the true culprit.”
In the woman’s left hand was something drenched in blood. A faint groan was the only proof that it was still alive. It was surviving in that state? The blood-soaked thing stretched out what remained of an arm—the place where a hand should have been—toward us. And it begged.
“…S-save me… I’ll confess… I was wrong. If this continues, I’ll…”
“Aaaargh!?”
“Where is that trash barking coming from? Can’t you hear it? It’s so disgusting I can barely breathe. Filth that tarnishes Her Majesty’s dignity.”
The living corpse in the woman’s grasp was clearly no longer human. From the way it spoke, it had to be the perpetrator of this incident. Then what exactly was this woman—
In that split second of realization, someone dashed forward.
“Leo!”
It was Leo. The clash of metal rang out—Clang! Creeeeak! A gust of wind followed as Leo charged, swinging the holy sword at the woman. Sparks flew. She blocked the blade with the back of her hand and deflected the attack. The sound of sizzling flesh burning filled the air. The corners of her mouth curved upward.
“So simply letting me go isn’t an option.”
“Would you really say ‘Sure, go ahead’ and let someone like you leave? You’ve been rampaging freely in someone else’s territory. Got a lot to say for yourself, don’t you?”
“Plenty. It’s not like I came here because I wanted to.”
The woman smiled as if troubled.