I couldn’t even think about how wasteful it would be to leave behind Hexion’s blood. I focused solely on distancing myself from Plona without hesitation.
I crossed over the castle wall and fled from the battlefield. It wasn’t difficult to break through the soldiers while giving it my all to escape.
I thought amidst the chaos. Why is Plona here? Has the Luminous Kingdom finally found my location?
It had already been months since the war between the Duchy and the three human kingdoms ended.
No matter how careful I was in wiping away my traces, I never expected to avoid detection forever. But to be discovered right away by a Knight? This just can’t be right.
“Sister, wait a minute!!”
Startled by the voice right next to me, I turned my head.
I could still sense no approaching presence. I couldn’t hear any footsteps.
But before I knew it, Plona was already running alongside me, without even a hint of being out of breath. I had clearly bolted as soon as I spotted her.
“Sister, Aria! Let’s talk, okay?”
Ever since my duel with Kanak, I had never felt outmatched in terms of power.
While I might have reached a limit in terms of current strength, there was no doubt I had become significantly stronger in a short time.
Hexion, who was regarded as the strongest knight in Pahera, was indeed formidable; I couldn’t deny that. However, that was a difference in skill, not in power levels.
And now that I had even defeated Hexion, there was no one left in Pahera who could make me feel any walls. That was how it should have been.
But now I felt it deeply. The pure meaning of being outmatched in terms of power levels.
“Sister, it’s me, Plona! You remember, right? You called my name just now?!”
The image of Plona running alongside me, desperately trying to engage me in conversation, had vanished once again.
Only after hearing the voice coming from the front did I realize she had bypassed me and stood in my way.
No way. Is she really a human?
I had thought vaguely that since she’s a Knight, she’d be strong.
Though I had never seen them fight, they were deemed the ultimate weapon of humanity, so it made sense they’d be strong. I knew I could never defeat her at this level.
But how could I have expected the gap to be this immense?
The time I spent with Plona was before True Blood awakened. If it were then, it wouldn’t have been strange if I hadn’t felt her strength.
But now it was different. It had to be different.
Yet the scent emanating from Plona was hardly different from what I remembered of her in the past.
It shouldn’t have been like this. The enhanced senses I had now allowed me to gauge enemy strength and it shouldn’t feel the same as it did back when I was nearly human.
Let alone, it wasn’t even an appetizing scent. The only impression it gave me was a warm, comfortable scent—nothing more.
But a girl, who I felt no shred of power from, had effortlessly overtaken me without breaking a sweat, obstructing my escape?
In any normal situation, that shouldn’t be possible. It’s hard to believe, but there’s only one explanation to account for this phenomenon.
Plona Moonlight is so incredibly strong that even I can’t comprehend it now. Unless she chooses to reveal her power, she wouldn’t even appear as food to me, let alone an ordinary person.
Reluctantly, I stopped my steps. Even if I used all my strength to escape now, I wouldn’t be able to shake Plona off. Thus, I had to accept that fact and think of my next move.
“……It’s been a while.”
I greeted her unwillingly.
Now that I see it, Plona hadn’t even drawn her sword. She stood in front of me, arms outstretched in a gesture that seemed to declare she did not intend to be hostile.
Though I couldn’t trust humans, if Plona had really wanted to, she could have easily taken my life before I had any chance to resist. So, for now, it seemed she didn’t plan to harm me.
Her actions, in addition to the lack of armor, made me wonder if she had come to find me as an individual rather than as a member of the Luminous Church’s Knight Order.
“Yes, it’s really been a while…”
It was a short expression that reflected complex emotions.
I nodded lightly, pretending to empathize while calculating if there was any chance I could shake off Plona and reach the mist barrier.
Yet, the moment I slightly shifted my center of balance, I noticed her sorrowful sky-blue eyes subtly following my movement, leading me to conclude that my chances of success were zero.
I sighed and touched the choker around my neck. As the disguising function turned off, my once-black hair turned white, causing Plona’s eyes to widen in surprise and a bittersweet smile to form on her face.
“Did you come to kill me too?”
When I asked, Plona’s gaze wavered. It seemed more she was flustered by an unexpected moment of sharp words rather than shocked.
How do I know this? Well, back when I was at the orphanage, I was always stuck to her, so I figured I would know this much.
The Plona Moonlight standing before me couldn’t be trusted completely, but the data I collected back in the days she mistakenly approached me like family might be quite accurate. Usually, people are the least aware of their own habits.
“I came to… I came to talk.”
Somehow her words felt like a plea.
Yeah, well, she could’ve attacked me at any time and didn’t, so her claim to want to talk might hold some truth.
“And after we talk, you’ll unsheathe your sword, right?”
“No!! I—”
“Selin did that. I bared everything and pleaded for my life, but Selin arrested me.”
Selin Soleis did the right thing as a Knight and as a human being.
I didn’t particularly have any intention of blaming Selin now. She merely dealt with the weaker one appropriately from her stronger position.
…That’s what I thought, but the voice that came out of my mouth sounded impatient and scolding, even to myself.
Considering I was aware of the irritation, it seemed I hadn’t fully shaken off the betrayal from that time.
Currently, I couldn’t defeat Plona. Therefore, here, the one holding the hilt was Plona. So, it was wise to avoid provoking her too much.
But I couldn’t stop myself. Without a moment to suppress my emotions, I sharply shot words at Plona.
“No. I, I……”
“You’re different? How so?”
Plona couldn’t respond. She merely flapped her mouth as if wanting to say something, biting her lip with a face that seemed on the verge of tears.
Of course, there’s no way to prove that. How could I?
If something existed that could peacefully connect humans and vampires, I wouldn’t have to go through this in the first place. I once genuinely believed that coexistence with humans was possible.
“Sister, I’m sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t come to save you back then…”
Plona pleaded for forgiveness as if she were begging.
When I wished to be human in the past, Plona was the kindest human to me. So, I once thought maybe seeing her would stir some emotional shift within me.
But strangely, I didn’t feel anything at all. Even though she displayed confusing behaviors that could lead one to question whether she was enemy or ally, my heart remained untouched.
What if the person I had poured my heart out to that day wasn’t Selin, but Plona? Would the outcome have been different?
While I was being delivered to the Luminous Kingdom’s Palace for execution, what was she doing all this time?
Now, several months later, she appears in front of me, teary-eyed and asking for forgiveness. What could her true intention be?
There are so many questions I need to ask, yet oddly enough, I’m not that curious standing in front of Plona.
If I really think about it, does it even matter? What’s the reason?
What’s important is that I’m a vampire and Plona is a human. There’s no need to go into lengthy explanations. It wouldn’t change anything anyway.
Still, the fact that Plona doesn’t seem to want to draw her sword carries some significance for me.
I don’t know what her intentions are, but if I can somehow bypass her and enter the mist barrier, that would count as my victory.
How could I stir Plona’s emotions and escape from here? I ran various simulations in my mind.
However.
“…Huh? What are you doing here? No, that can’t be.”
“Wait a minute. Something’s off.”
Suddenly, Plona exhibited a noticeable sign of agitation, and in the next moment, on high alert, I sensed something unnatural nearby.
That’s strange. The scent of the forest carried by the wind is somehow inconsistent.
I had never experienced this before. While I couldn’t specify what it was, it felt vaguely out of place as if something odorless had been deliberately mixed in.
There’s no particularly strong presence, but in nature, complete odorlessness doesn’t exist.
Suddenly, Plona appeared before me, accompanied by the odd sense of discomfort.
The moment I concluded that overlapping coincidences were likely planned by someone, they revealed themselves.
“Thank you for your effort in the mission. We will now proceed to eliminate the Progenitor.”
“What? Wait a minute! You guys—”
So you tricked me too.
It wasn’t just my imagination. The Tracker was indeed somewhere else.
“What is this…? Sister, no! It’s a misunderstanding! I don’t know anything!!”
Aha, I had expected this.
That repugnant girl. She came trailing behind, preventing my escape by buying time, and I’m supposed to believe it’s a misunderstanding?
I’m glad I didn’t rely on the bonds of the past. Thanks to that, I wasn’t particularly shocked.
It seems humans can’t be trusted.
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