The darkness of Helraig Duchy swelled rapidly from all directions, quietly like an incoming tide.
I couldn’t help but admire as I moved my eyes to scan the surroundings.
The boundary between day and night was a mere blink, yet just by stepping a foot toward night in the desolate midday wilderness, those crimson gazes filled with hunger had already surrounded me.
“Is this a regular training exercise here?”
It was like watching an earthquake drill, with speed and orderly precision.
Just a few minutes past sundown, and the wave of life beneath my feet began to ripple back to the surface, transforming the scene before me in an instant.
A sharp pressure of murderous intent extended sharply from behind.
I could hear the short breaths of the tense Eleonora.
Clink, at the same moment, the sword in Plona’s hand began to tremble lightly, ready to leap out of its sheath at any moment.
“Feels electrifying.”
No matter how much my detection skills have improved, the pulsing essence of life I sensed through Blood Magic was undeniably different from the mere presence of the crowd.
The sensation of pressure felt from the middle of what I estimated to be a massive throng of over a thousand was beyond imagination.
The only good news was that the vampires maintaining a certain distance and observing the situation didn’t seem to have any immediate plans to charge in just yet.
Who would have expected the vampires of Helraig Duchy to be oddly gentlemanly and peace-loving… not likely.
Consciously shifting my weight to the other leg, those piercing gazes stuck to my skin.
It was like the gaze of a carnivorous beast waiting for its prey to turn its back. Right now, since I was holding the hilt of a sword, they were just testing the waters, but the moment I revealed a weakness, they would undoubtedly pounce.
“Stop, outsider! Reveal your identity!!!”
One vampire stepped forward, dramatically commanding the attention with a heavy voice.
A formidable life force stood out distinctly among the surrounding vampires.
No doubt, it was one of those lurking below who had been following us.
In response to its question, growling sounds arose from all directions.
On the surface, it seemed threatening. But the mere fact they attempted to initiate a conversation holds significance.
This is their territory. It’s not odd for them to seek to exclude intruders without negotiation, yet here they were deliberately speaking to us?
Considering my objectives, it seems likely I can’t avoid combat in the end, but perhaps I could avoid it at least until the Grand Duke’s Castle.
“Then what I need here is…”
A demonstration of strength, undoubtedly.
I could tell at a glance they weren’t genuinely considering the possibility that we might be guests worth speaking to.
Two vampires, one Dragonkin, and one Elf.
An unlikely combination with a power disparity that was difficult to gauge.
What they fear is uncertainty.
The reason they are not charging at us immediately is probably to gauge how much damage they’d have to prepare for if they tried to engage directly or to glean any information about the rare situation that allowed such a combination to form outside the Duchy.
And the leeway that uncertainty might grant them won’t last long.
“Underestimating could be my end.”
It seems the closest method to the answer would be… well, reflecting on it, it wouldn’t be complicated on my part.
I simply need to display strength.
The moment they recklessly rush in, it’ll be the end for them. I need to engrain in their minds that it would take at least the Grand Duke himself to confront me.
Of course, I don’t want to provoke enough animosity that they’d feel compelled to sacrifice their lives to stop me.
“Still, this is better.”
I stepped forward amidst countless gazes.
Confidently and arrogantly, as if saying ‘You’re not even on my radar,’ I progressed leisurely like I was out for a stroll.
Though the thousands of vampire eyes shifted between suspicion and killing intent, there was certainly a substantial presence, yet it surprisingly didn’t feel overwhelming.
Three years of crossing death’s threshold far too often meant I wouldn’t be intimidated by mere numbers.
What I’d hoped for myself, the training with Stella was a continuous series of moments where dying could have easily been the case.
Losing limbs has now become mundane. I’ve even had my head removed once, and half my heart blown away.
Compared to the impulse to dash out and tear living beings apart, quenching my thirst with their blood, while teetering at the limits of my physical and mental state, facing visible opponents truly felt like a comforting prospect.
“Reveal my identity, you say?”
I found myself snickering without even intending to.
Pretending to be strong has become second nature. I used to talk casually to Martini back when I had no strength at all; am I supposed to be afraid of a bunch of ordinary vampires now?
The difference from those days is that I now have enough confidence not to let my bravado just be bravado.
“You lack manners.”
I straightened my back and slightly lifted my chin.
As always, dominating the atmosphere is half of any conversation or negotiation.
Isn’t strength synonymous with justice? The absence of Grand Duke Jeil Helraig here means that the concept of justice in this place has shifted to me. Staring each other down without progressing won’t resolve anything.
If I hadn’t come to request support, you lot would already be dead. But since I have business in mind, let’s take a lighter approach.
First, I ought to teach these rigid fools what proper manners really are.
*
“First, kneel.”
Merton Gloton, the vampire bestowed with the title of Marquis by Grand Duke Jeil Helraig, felt a sense of absurdity wash over him as the words fell from the foreigner with white hair, tightening around his heart and body.
‘…What is she?’
Just that morning, four humans had crossed the border of Bertica Kingdom, invading the Duchy’s territory.
Merton had sensed a remarkable presence quickly approaching the Grand Duke’s Castle even from underground and had commanded the vampires hiding beneath to chase after the intruders without hesitation.
No vampire in Helraig Duchy ever refuses to fight an intruder. As long as there’s an order from a higher noble, they would fight anyone.
Grand Duke Jeil Helraig was still an aggressive leader, intent on driving humans from the land, never giving up on his ambition to escape the harsh edges of this territory, and the citizens of the Duchy, following him, had the guts to bite intruders wandering into their last sanctuary.
Thus, even considering the strength of these invaders, the Marquis Gloton had never thought he might struggle against just four people.
A few weak commoners might perish during the suppression, but that would be their fault for being weak. Having the title of Marquis ensured he wouldn’t lose, no matter what.
‘…What is this monster?’
Just by locking eyes, it felt as though the life was being sucked out of him.
The chilling pressure that threatened to crush him sparkled in a moment, as if it was all an illusion, but the sight of hundreds of vampires struggling to breathe with pale faces asserted that this was no mere figment of his imagination.
“Hmm.”
Aria scanned the surroundings with an intrigued expression.
She actually intended to force them to kneel, but seeing them rise more swiftly than expected made her wonder if she had miscalculated her strength, yet to the vampires of Helraig Duchy, that nonchalant murmur sounded like a warning: ‘No matter how many of you are, if you act up, I’ll dunk you.’
With a flick of Aria’s finger, a considerable number of vampires flinched in reflex. However, unlike their previous overreactions, this time, nothing happened.
The gazes of the vampires shifted to the highest-ranking among them, Marquis Gloton.
The Marquis quickly adjusted the threat level of the intruders. Suppressing his wariness, he tried to speak in a tone much softer than before.
“…Are you perhaps from Sahelrn Duchy?”
Quickly calculating, the Marquis settled on the most plausible assumption.
Whether it was an illusion or something else, this foreign female vampire possessed the ability to confuse hundreds of vampires, even the Marquis himself.
Both Sahelrn Duchy and Helraig Duchy have similar ranks bestowed depending on strength.
Even though they had since split, it wasn’t long ago that the two Grand Dukes served the same Progenitor together. There would be no reason to change the methods they’ve used for so long, thus it wouldn’t be odd.
The white-haired female vampire must be of noble rank, and it was unlikely that such a powerful vampire didn’t belong to a Duchy, so the only remaining possibility was Sahelrn Duchy.
The Sky-blue-haired vampire behind them exuded an impressive amount of killing intent, further lending credibility to this theory.
After all, considering that half their group consisted of vampires moving above ground at this time of day at a rather decent pace, they certainly wouldn’t be weak. Who knows why there’s a Dragonkin and an Elf mixed in.
Nonetheless, although a good relationship with Sahelrn Duchy wasn’t even a pretense anymore, sending direct representatives as nobles wasn’t the sort of thing one could handle without at least reporting to the Grand Duke.
After all, there’s been talk recently of Sahelrn Duchy gearing up for another massive war against humans.
Even if Gloton was boiling with anger, he had to lower his head in this situation.
“What the hell. Do you seriously not know who I am?”
However, the response he received betrayed the Marquis’s expectations in every possible way.
“I am Aria. As the Fourth Progenitor, I’ve come to meet the Grand Duke of Helraig.”
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