“Chief, why did you just let her go?”
“Exactly! You didn’t even assign the tribute, and you just stood by while she was so rude!”
“If it weren’t for the rules of the forest, I would have sent her packing right then and there!”
After Aria and Eleonora left the tent, Ludrik’s subordinates erupted in dissatisfaction.
It seemed they were very displeased that, despite the audacity of that newcomer acting so arrogantly in front of the Security Maintenance Force—who functioned as the town’s overseers—they had received no punishment, nor even a warning.
“Fools.”
Ludrik was equally perturbed. But as the leader, he understood he shouldn’t act like his foolish subordinates. After all, while mindless, passionate subordinates could be useful tools, a foolish chief was the seed of destruction.
As a leader, Ludrik had the duty to judge and act with cool-headedness. He calmly admonished his subordinates, as if not angry in the slightest.
“Enough. She’s not someone you can handle.”
“…Huh? You mean that woman?”
“Yes. For now, let her do as she pleases.”
His subordinates tilted their heads in confusion at what they deemed an incomprehensible order. How could someone who seemed to be easily knocked over be unmanageable? Yet, they had never suffered a loss following their chief’s words, so ultimately, their scales tipped toward trusting the chief, who filled their bellies and kept them warm. They acquiesced to the command and withdrew.
“By the way, who on earth is that girl?”
Marcus pondered alone. He had acted as if he knew everything, but he too had no special ability to gauge others’ strengths.
From Marcus’s perspective, the newcomer didn’t seem particularly strong. All he had seen was her face, and she certainly didn’t look like someone accustomed to battle.
“Her personality is that of a piece of work. She was pretty, though.”
Even though her face was the most beautiful Marcus had ever seen among women, that was all there was to it. Without the aesthetic element, nothing remarkable stood out.
Just looking at her dainty wrists made it hard to expect much in terms of physical strength. Moreover, her hands were as smooth as silk, making him wonder if she was perhaps a daughter from a noble family in her human days, indicating a lack of battle experience.
“However, that confidence of hers wasn’t simply the kind of naivety one would expect.”
Usually, Marcus couldn’t bear to watch someone trying to compete with him. That was the reason he tolerated her.
Though she might appear fragile, her arrogance was real.
From her eyes to her voice and gestures, everything about her emanated the air of someone used to looking down on others. It reminded him of the high-ranking nobles he had met back in Helraig Duchy. The potential for her being one of them stifled Marcus’s displeasure.
“They say the strength of high-ranking vampires can’t be judged by appearance.”
Though he had never fought one, he knew well that there were female vampires with titles in Helraig. Some even bore the appearance of wild warriors, yet it was certainly true that appearance and combat ability didn’t always correlate.
Where had she come from? If she were from Helraig, there would have been rumors about her appearance, and given that Marcus had been in Helraig not so long ago, it was likely he would have heard something.
It was possible she was a newcomer who had just appeared after he had fled the duchy, but given her proficient domineering skills, that was hard to believe.
“If that’s the case, she must be from Sahelrn. No, considering she’s got a dragonkin slave with her, she might truly be a wanderer.”
A dragonkin wouldn’t be surprising to find in Sahelrn’s pastures. However, smuggling out prey from a crucial facility like that was punishable by death.
Regardless of whether she was exiled or came of her own volition, assuming she was from a duchy, the nobles, including the Grand Duke, would never sit idly by while she smuggled out such valuable food as a dragonkin. Therefore, the possibility of her having obtained a dragonkin within the duchy was slim.
Then she really must be an abruptly surfaced wanderer. With the lack of information, it was difficult to make judgments. In this case, he would have to see for himself to know anything conclusively.
“That damned girl. I’ll see her hunting skills soon enough. I can judge her then.”
It wasn’t hard to guess that the dragonkin slave was food for her, considering she wasn’t killing it. But she certainly hadn’t come all this way with any thought of staying hidden in the forest forever.
Marcus resolved to take a relaxed approach. Normally, upon the appearance of new residents, the Security Maintenance Force would provide a tent and request ‘voluntary cooperation’ in maintaining the village. But with such an unknown variable, there was no need to rush.
Though not everyone understood the dedication and hard work of the Security Maintenance Force and some rebels might begrudge even a few hunted animals, no matter what, in this place, Marcus was king. Everything had ultimately gone according to his wishes, and this time would be no different.
“There’s no immediate need to act.”
It wouldn’t be wise to provoke a madwoman over a few hunted creatures, risking her doing something outrageous.
Rather than anxiously waiting for some unknown explosive to detonate, it was more prudent and reasonable to observe and determine her capabilities. If she became a hindrance later, he could take care of her outside the forest.
“Not a bad conclusion.”
Marcus nodded in satisfaction at his own shrewdness, not rushing into any hasty actions today.
He remained oblivious to the fact that all this was merely Aria’s strategic preemptive strike to evade any ‘forced food donations’ from the Security Maintenance Force, thanks to a little hint dropped by a guide vampire before things got to the point of annoyance.
*
“…Why are you staring at me like that?”
“No! It’s nothing!”
Upon successfully wrapping up the chief’s summons and lying down to rest again, Eleonora kept glancing over at her, prompting Aria to ask sharply, to which Eleonora swiftly denied.
How could she stare blankly like that and then claim it was nothing? Did she think that because it was dark, Aria couldn’t see her?
If that were truly the case, she underestimated the eyesight of a vampire. After all, she could count the number of ants crawling in the mountains at midnight!
“Is time the problem?”
That sounded like a plausible hypothesis. The time now was between an hour to two hours before dawn.
For an ordinary human, it was still time to be asleep, but ever since she started traveling with Aria, Eleonora’s schedule had been skewered.
Her sleeping hours had changed with the distance they traveled each day. Plus, she was not originally a nocturnal species; expecting her to sleep right before dawn seemed unrealistic, no matter how tired she might be.
“That would be problematic.”
As Eleonora’s owner, Aria also considered herself an investor. Eleonora had the obligation to provide high-quality blood and would someday shoulder the duties of military service.
So, carrying Eleonora—as much of a burden as she was—and managing their meals was all like an investment.
In that sense, a comfortable sleep was a crucial matter. Didn’t they say kids grow better when they sleep at night?
Until now, she had been pretending to be human and primarily operated during the day, but thinking it through, from now on, to act like a vampire, Eleonora would also need to sleep during the day.
If this disrupted Eleonora’s growth, it would result in huge losses for Aria, who was eagerly waiting for the chance to issue her a summons.
“I can’t let that happen.”
Eleonora was to be an active participant. There’s no such thing as a fourth-class shipping office at Aria’s military office.
Her will? Nope, no appeals accepted.
The master she chose will have to endure it by any means necessary.
Yet, isn’t it a waste of human resources to just bleed her dry and toy with a dragonkin? Even if she protested, Aria would have to feed and nurture her, eventually using her as a combatant.
Someday, Aria would see Eleonora burning down human villages with her breath.
She pulled her thoughts back again.
The man who had explained the rules here had advised against leaving Eleonora alone.
But that applied only outside the forest. Inside the Mist Labyrinth, no one would physically threaten Eleonora.
Of course, the forest rules weren’t absolute. Just looking at one obvious example, those who broke the rules would lose the ability to see through the mist and be unable to live in the forest any longer. However, if they were ready to leave the forest, attacking someone was certainly possible.
Thus, it wasn’t entirely impossible for some gluttonous vampire to attack Eleonora.
A vampire so devoid of restraint that they might forsake their final sanctuary, the Mist Labyrinth, for a meal in front of them would have long since met their end, but there was still that possibility hanging in the air.
“Eleonora. Do you think you can fight and defeat the vampires here?”
Knowing she was still awake, Aria asked the question directly. As expected, Eleonora’s response followed promptly.
“Are you talking about the vampires I met today? I can’t say for sure by just looking at them, but honestly, I don’t think I can take that big one.”
“What about running away?”
“I believe I could manage that.”
Aria had expected her to say it would be impossible, so Eleonora’s surprisingly positive reaction caught her off guard.
After all, a dragonkin was still a dragonkin. If her legs were faster than the others, she wouldn’t need anything else to flee.
Suddenly, a decent compromise popped into Aria’s mind.
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