“Sister!!!”
“Yes, yes. Did you have a good trip, Plona?”
Plona returned from her rather long mission.
I flinched as she charged at me with fierce momentum, but there’s no way she would hurt me.
I accepted it with trust and, sure enough, she reduced her pace and dove into my embrace.
‘That’s weird. Plona never comes to see me in armor.’
I felt the cold touch of the armor.
It seemed she just returned, stopping by before getting back to the knight order or had returned and tidied up but was about to head out again.
Judging by the familiar scent of soap, it must be the latter. If she had just come back, she wouldn’t have had the chance to wash up.
“Are you still busy with work?”
If it were complete, she would have shown up in casual clothes. It was clear that her day off was still a long way off.
As expected, at my words, Plona snapped back to her senses, escaping my arms and flusteringly checking me over.
“Ah, right! …Phew, it’s a relief it wasn’t you, Sister!”
Plona appeared visibly relieved.
What is she relieved about? I shot her a questioning look.
“An order from the Luminous Kingdom’s Palace will come down soon, but I’ll tell you in advance! It’s been revealed that the Progenitor of Vampires has been born, and a state of emergency has been declared! All who were involved in the previous vampire incident are suspects… but you’ll be okay! I’ll report that I checked you when we met!”
“…Progenitor?”
It was a strange term I was hearing for the first time. But my intuition was telling me that this incident might be closely related to me.
“Ah, sorry. I guess it’s not something you want to remember…?”
Plona’s expression darkened. She probably thought my stiff expression was due to past trauma.
“I’m fine, so don’t worry. No matter what happens, Plona is here to protect me, right?”
“Yes! Of course!!”
Once I enacted the ‘cute sister’ charm, fortunately, Plona perked up.
She really is a cheerful and vivacious child. By the world’s standards, she’s an adult, but with her youthful appearance, she feels more like a cute cousin.
The reason I see her as a cousin rather than a sister is that in my previous life, people online unanimously agreed that biological siblings could never be cute.
I didn’t have a sister or cousin, so I’m not sure, but since it’s the conclusion drawn from collective wisdom, it should be trustworthy.
“But what’s a Progenitor?”
“Ah, the Progenitor is! It’s an ancient being that serves as the origin of a species! So, it’s like… a vampire’s—”
…She’s really not that good at explaining, huh?
But she’s cute, so I guess it’s fine? As I prodded for more, it wasn’t impossible to understand.
“—born from a dark spirit, and possesses the appearance of an adult from birth to make it easier to lure prey! And—”
But the more I heard, the more I had to put effort into controlling my expression.
The pureblood vampire that has appeared only three times in history.
The only vampire free from the weaknesses of silver and sunlight.
Weak enough to be compared with an ordinary human, yet a monster that acquires limitless strength through repeated bloodsucking.
“—It’s said that the reason the vampires were huddled together without proper hideouts was to find and take away the Progenitor!”
The more I heard, the more familiar the story became.
Doubt turned to certainty, and I couldn’t deny it.
It seems that I, the Progenitor of Vampires, would soon be tracked down by the Luminous Kingdom’s Palace.
No wonder things felt odd.
No matter how powerful a vampire might be, they shouldn’t entirely be free from silver and sunlight. The fact that I alone could roam freely during the day without precedent is far-fetched.
The reason I could work at the orphanage was that I passed a simple test using a silver cloak, and it’s strange that an ordinary vampire could resist silver to the point where even knights wouldn’t recognize me.
But if I am the Progenitor, everything makes sense.
It’s been quite a while since I lost my memory and settled in Randell, so the lack of anyone looking for me fits. If this body was not originally someone who lived in this world but born that day on the prairie, it adds up.
What a thrill, truly.
If Plona hadn’t been in front of me, I would have surely swore.
When I discovered that I was a vampire last time, I was certain there was no such thing as a god, but upon rethinking, there may just be a god.
It must be a god—a wicked one at that. I can just picture it, munching on popcorn, laughing at my predicament right now.
Because otherwise, there’s no reason for someone to bring this kind of grief step by step, only to let one think they have hope, then twist them into such miserable states again.
Really, why is this happening to me?
Did I ask for too much? I just wanted to live a normal life, like everyone else.
After dying painfully and miserably once, I was suddenly turned into a vampire, trying to hide my identity and find a way to coexist quietly, and what do I get? The Progenitor? A monster seeking to hunt me down with the combined strength of humanity?
This won’t end until I’m found out. And now that I can’t just run away, stating that all survivors from the last vampire incident are suspects, if I suddenly go missing, it would be like confessing, “I’m the culprit.”
“…Wait a minute. What did Plona just say?”
Didn’t she just say, “It’s a relief it wasn’t you, Sister!”?
At first, I didn’t understand what she meant, but now that I know the context, it makes sense. Plona must have confirmed I wasn’t the Progenitor, so she was relieved.
Then what did Plona see to be so sure?
At least from what I saw, Plona just hugged me and locked eyes with me once, without doing anything else.
Of course, if she had used some sort of magic, it would be a different story, but if there was such a simple way to tell, I would have been caught long ago.
Speaking of, the second and third Progenitors were said to have been hunted down almost immediately after appearing. Considering that, it might actually be easier to identify…?
Then this situation is definitely strange.
The previous Progenitors, who were born, immediately sucked human blood and gained power, were hunted down quickly.
In contrast, I, who is weaker and has less power than them, am still here, not hiding or running away, yet I haven’t been discovered even after more than three months.
Actually, it’s not so much as I’ve been discovered but that only my existence has been confirmed through investigations; no one knows I’m the Progenitor.
Had it not been for the development of some magical techniques or whatever they call it, the birth of the Progenitor would have remained shrouded in mystery.
“But didn’t you say the Progenitor has no weaknesses? If sunlight and silver can’t detect them, how can they be identified?”
“I also heard this, so I’m not exactly sure, but they said there’s special testing equipment! But since you can’t test all those people just because they seem suspicious, you can at least identify them by how their eyes look! They found the second and third Progenitors that way too!”
“Eyes?”
“Yes! They said that once a vampire drinks human blood, their eyes turn red!”
“…I see.”
It pains my heart a bit to have used Plona’s goodwill, but unexpectedly, a big catch came from my innocent prodding.
‘Vampires’ eyes should all be blood-red.’
Why isn’t mine? Until now, I thought I just got lucky, but since the sunlight and silver have reasons, it’s only natural the eye color should too.
Huh, what a twist. I never imagined my desire to live like a human would actually be helpful in this way.
Who would have thought that the previous Progenitors hadn’t been discovered because their methods were too simple, but rather astoundingly drank blood indiscriminately and got caught?
Hearing it all sounds plausible.
I still vividly remember the emotions I felt when I saw the blood cascading down Jack’s knee.
Even if I wanted to forget, that thirst and impulse, which I cannot shake off, were overcome simply because I wished to be human.
And the reason I wished to be human is, of course, because I had lived as one. More specifically, I have memories of living as a human in my previous life.
So, if I had no memories of my previous life, would I have been able to resist that sweet impulse?
I want to be stubbornly positive about it, but I know I couldn’t.
And that ‘memory of living as a human’ is probably the biggest difference between me and the other Progenitors.
Why would entities born as vampires have a reason to resist the urge to suck blood? They don’t.
To them, humans are just food. Just as no human feels guilt when eating, and no goat feels sad when grazing, if a creature feels guilt while eating its primary food, it’s fundamentally flawed.
But that’s why they died.
They couldn’t overcome their instincts and exposed themselves to the world, and before they became strong enough, they were hunted down.
I can’t run away anyway. If I go missing now, I’d become a suspect raised to the top of the list, and I wouldn’t have the ability to shake that off, so I’d be caught quickly, and discovering the truth would lead to my uncovering.
In other words, pretending I know nothing like I am now is, paradoxically, the safest option. It’s frustrating to maintain such a passive stance, but I have no other means.
“It’ll get busier. Just don’t push yourself too hard, finish your work well, and come back.”
“Yes! I’ll be off!”
So, I sent Plona off, acting as though everything was okay.
Hoping she wouldn’t suspect anything.
Fortunately, busy Plona didn’t harbor any doubt about my demeanor and left.
As her figure disappeared from my sight, my mechanically waving hand finally fell to my side.
For some reason, my stomach feels uneasy.
I’m sorry, Plona, for having to deceive you.
But I really don’t want to be found out.
I don’t want to be caught.
I don’t want to die.
Please forgive me for having to lie.
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