One night spent in Rakusbury City.
As soon as dawn broke, Dambi and Rills headed to the Adventurer’s Guild to complete their remaining quests.
Afterward, following Commander-in-Chief Celia’s instructions, they released monsters into Yenarian Lake.
“They may look like mere fish now, but they are servants of the Great One. This lake will become their base of operations, and they will contribute to the Great One’s plan.”
Dambi agreed with Rills’ words.
This mission was a foundational step for the future from the very beginning.
“And with the success of this request, your adventurer rank will also increase, Dambi-sama.”
Rills, who had become a Banshee, was originally an adventurer with a bronze badge.
Furthermore, if Dambi were also promoted from iron to bronze, their quest options would expand even further.
This would mean a broader range of activity as an adventurer.
Dambi, who had been gazing at the lake, turned around.
Everything that could be done here was now finished.
There was no need to waste time staring at Yenarian Lake.
“We’re returning to the Royal Capital.”
Dambi’s gaze shifted to Riche, who was following behind.
Although a bit lacking, she was of the same kind, so they intended to accompany her to the Royal Capital.
They had come here with just Rills, but on the way back, they had gained one more comrade.
* * *
Shortly after Dambi’s party left the city, a woman arrived at the shore of Yenarian Lake.
“We’ve finally arrived.”
The woman muttered and looked around.
Her blue eyes held a strong will.
Wearing pristine white robes, her name was Jeremiah El Esteban.
She was the daughter of the prestigious Esteban Duke family in the Adonil Kingdom and an Inquisitor of the White Church.
In truth, her purpose for being dispatched to the Sail Kingdom was singular: to investigate the recent disaster.
Ideally, she should have been in the Royal Capital for her investigation, but for Jeremiah, that was a secondary concern.
Her true objective was different.
“It was definitely the work of a vampire.”
The scene of the murder she had witnessed yesterday flashed in her mind. The people staying at the inn had all been killed, and as far as Jeremiah could tell, it was undoubtedly the work of vampires.
Among them, the culprit was probably…
‘Baalcherit.’
Jeremiah had rushed here without rest, determined to capture Baalcherit, a 5-star vampire.
‘The power to control blood is definitely his.’
If her suspicions were correct, he had to be eliminated.
That was her goal.
After briefly surveying her surroundings, she approached the soldier guarding the pier.
“I have something to ask you for a moment.”
She then presented her identification to the soldier.
It was a token indicating her affiliation with the Church.
“……!”
The soldier immediately recognized her as an Inquisitor and bowed respectfully.
“Ah, yes! Please ask me anything, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge!”
“Good. Have you seen anyone suspicious recently?”
“Suspicious individuals?”
“Yes, not very tall. Around 160cm? Perhaps even less than that. Their hair is golden, and their eyes are a faint crimson.”
Jeremiah described Baalcherit’s appearance.
Upon hearing her words, the soldier wracked his memory.
So many people passed through the pier every day.
Yenarian Lake bordered not only the Sail Kingdom but also two other countries.
However, he suddenly recalled an incident from yesterday.
“Ah, speaking of which, there was a rather strange child yesterday.”
At the soldier’s words, Jeremiah’s eyes sharpened.
“Strange? In what way?”
“Well, their appearance matched what the Inquisitor described. More importantly, there was an issue with confirming the child’s identity.”
The soldier briefly recounted what happened yesterday.
Of course, the part about the adventurer being connected to the royal family was omitted and slightly altered.
“…Still, as they were just a child, we let them disembark. That’s all I know.”
Jeremiah nodded as she listened to the soldier.
“That’s enough. Thank you.”
After hearing the soldier’s entire account, Jeremiah immediately left.
She felt her heart pounding.
She instinctively knew.
The person the soldier mentioned might be Baalcherit.
‘But something is strange.’
The appearance matched what Jeremiah had described, and it was natural that their identity couldn’t be confirmed since they weren’t human.
The soldier must have remembered the person because they seemed suspicious.
However, there was a discrepancy in the timing when compared to the current events.
According to the soldier, Baalcherit arrived in the kingdom yesterday.
This raised a question.
Jeremiah had witnessed the inn murder scene yesterday morning.
Until a little while ago, she had firmly believed Baalcherit was the culprit.
But as she listened to the soldier’s story, another possibility arose.
Was the murder committed by a different vampire?
“Baalcherit…”
Jeremiah muttered with a voice filled with rage.
Then there was only one answer.
“I never imagined they would have nested here.”
The incident at the inn was clearly the work of vampires loyal to Baalcherit.
In other words, Baalcherit had established a base in the kingdom.
Jeremiah gave weight to this possibility.
No, it was almost certain.
Baalcherit’s forces in the Kalrn Empire had been nearly annihilated.
He probably entered the kingdom to evade the Church’s eyes.
Baalcherit had once grown his power by absorbing fellow vampires.
However, the White Church’s surprise attack on the vampires rapidly reduced their numbers.
In fact, his forces were practically wiped out. Consequently, the Church began to view the situation optimistically.
They started recalling the Paladins dispatched to quell the vampire dungeons.
Jeremiah had been appalled by the Church’s decision.
It was a misjudgment.
“Baalcherit’s power isn’t all there is to it.”
She knew.
She knew the true extent of Baalcherit’s power.
Having witnessed Baalcherit’s true strength in the past, she knew exactly how dangerous he was.
Baalcherit’s easy defeat in the Church’s attack was simply due to a lack of time.
He must have been caught off guard by the sudden raid.
But with sufficient time, the outcome would have been entirely different.
Jeremiah had formally proposed to the Church to consolidate their current advantage.
To hunt down the cornered Baalcherit.
But the Church ignored her opinion.
They believed Baalcherit’s forces were sufficiently crushed, and there was no reason to incur further losses in such a situation.
It was true.
If one had not experienced Baalcherit’s power.
Jeremiah, knowing the truth, found the Church’s complacency lamentable.
Ultimately, she decided to act alone.
To prevent a greater catastrophe, she had to find Baalcherit.
And above all else.
“This time, I will put an end to our karmic entanglement.”
For revenge.
She muttered through gritted teeth.
The events of her childhood flashed in her mind, but she quickly pushed them away.
Now was not the time for emotions.
Jeremiah El Esteban.
Her name carried the duties of both a noble and the Church.
It held the mission to realize justice and maintain peace on the continent.
She moved forward, focusing solely on that.
Though she had only arrived in the city a short time ago, she set her steps forward.
* * *
The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon.
The crimson sunset painted the mountains, fields, and forests in a deep red hue.
“We’ll camp here tonight.”
As soon as Dambi spoke, Rills immediately began preparing for the camp.
Since all three of them were not human, setting up camp was simple.
They gathered nearby branches and started a bonfire.
Next to the fire, Rills began preparing a simple stew.
In reality, such processes were unnecessary for monsters, but it was a kind of formality.
As they continued to accept requests, they would inevitably clash with other adventurers.
For such situations, they were acting like adventurers from now on.
However, Riche was horrified.
“Uwaaah! Blood is most delicious when drunk raw!”
Despite Riche’s horror, Rills unceremoniously threw the mysterious meat into the pot.
While it was true that monsters found raw food tastiest, this action was also part of their practice.
Thus, a fully cooked, mysterious stew was placed before Riche.
“Ugh…”
Riche reluctantly scooped some stew and tasted it.
“Ugh-”
It tasted truly awful.
“I can never eat this!”
Riche headed toward the bonfire.
Dambi and Rills simply focused on the stew, regardless of Riche’s actions.
Riche sat before the bubbling stew.
There wasn’t much left, but it was enough.
“I shall share my noble blood! It will surely taste fantastic!”
Then, she lightly bit the tip of her thumb.
A drop of bright red blood fell onto the stew.
*Poof!*
As Riche’s, no, Baalcherit’s blood mixed in, the stew began to writhe like a living creature.
The broth boiled like lava and then contorted into an unrecognizable shape.
“What is this!”
Dambi and Rills, who were eating the stew, recoiled in surprise.
The stew was becoming increasingly grotesque.
A moment later, a strangely shaped slime burst out of the pot.
It crawled towards the one who had brought it into the world, its master.
“Oh…”
Riche was also slightly flustered by the current situation.
It was her first time adding blood to food.
However, showing such weakness now would mar her dignity.
“Di-did you see? This is my power!”
“Gwaaah!”
The grotesque stew slime echoed Riche’s words.
A brief silence followed, and then Riche returned to her spot with the stew slime.
“Hmm. There are some prey nearby, so I shall eat them later.”
“Gwaaah!”
Thanks to this, the remaining stew was dealt with, but a monstrous life form had been created.
Furthermore, Rills took note of this ability.
“Dambi-sama, do any vampires possess such abilities?”
To create a life form with just a drop of blood?
Rills asked Dambi about this bizarre situation.
Dambi also shook her head, seeing it for the first time.
“This is also new to me.”
In fact, due to being a half-blood, Dambi had been discriminated against by her own kind, which paradoxically meant she didn’t know much about vampires.
“Perhaps their blood is mixed with that of high-ranking demons.”
She didn’t know for sure.
However, as Rills said, if their blood was mixed with that of high-ranking demons, the current situation wouldn’t be impossible.
“Why don’t we take Riche to Celia-sama? She seems to have been abandoned by her group, and with such an ability, she could be of great use to my Master.”
Rills’ words were sound.
Both Dambi and Rills, who thought Riche had been abandoned, nodded and began to consider the suggestion.
How they would take Riche to Celia.
As they pondered, a secretly moving presence in their surroundings went unnoticed.
And so, the night grew deeper.
* * *
Eventually, darkness descended upon the mountain.
Only the crackling bonfire pushed back the encroaching darkness.
“Brother, those guys aren’t making any preparations?”
Baul muttered as he watched the sleeping adventurer party.
These were bandits who preyed on adventurers during their camps.
There were three of them in total, and they didn’t hesitate to kill adventurers during their raids.
Having once been adventurers themselves, they knew the adventurer ecosystem better than anyone.
Therefore, seeing the adventurers lying defenseless without any watchman, they let out a hollow laugh.
“There are two women, too? Hehehe, we have something fun to enjoy after a long time, Brother.”
To Baul’s words, another person retorted.
“But isn’t something strange about it…? The fact that they’re not making any preparations in a place like this suggests they might be quite powerful individuals-”
“You idiot! Have you forgotten who our brother is?”
When another person spoke with uncertainty, Baul berated him.
“How many times have I told you! Our brother is from Earth and was once a Gold Badge adventurer. Don’t you understand-”
“That’s enough. There’s no harm in being cautious.”
The man who cut off Baul’s words spoke.
Although he might have been annoyed, Baul smiled and rubbed his palms together.
“Hehe, our Brother Itsuki is always right!”
The man addressed as “Brother” by Baul was Sato Itsuki.
He was a Hunter who had come from Earth.
“Stop with the useless chatter and keep monitoring the situation. We’ll strike soon.”
Sato Itsuki said so and closed his eyes, concentrating his mind.
He was currently using a skill to conceal his presence.
How many adventurers had he robbed using this skill?
He waited in hiding until the adventurer was as defenseless as they were now.
Then, at the opportune moment, he would strike.
‘Now that I think about it, I used this a lot on Earth too.’
Sato Itsuki had been on Earth for four years now.
He didn’t know when he would be able to return to Earth, but he decided to enjoy the present.
After all, robbing adventurers on the El Dorado Continent was much easier than on Earth.
‘And speaking of which, Baul is right, this might be fun.’
For a while, he had only seen dull men, but today there were two women.
As he felt excited about holding a woman in his arms after a long time, he heard Baul’s voice.
“B-Brother?”
“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?”
“Ah, no, that’s just…”
A voice of urgency.
Sato Itsuki also opened his eyes.
“One of them has disappeared…!”
“What? Weren’t you keeping an eye on them?”
“I was, but they’ve disappeared!”
Ha.
Sato Itsuki touched his forehead.
To lose someone right before his eyes with such an idiot.
“So, who disappeared?”
He quickly got up to check, and the two adventurers were still asleep.
The small child next to them had disappeared.
“This idiot…”
The child’s disappearance wasn’t a problem.
At most, they probably went to the bushes because they needed to use the restroom.
Sato Itsuki thought so and was about to cast his skill again when.
“There are fresh prey gathered here.”
“Gwaaah!”
A sound came from behind.
It was the child who had been with the adventurer a moment ago.
Beneath him was a strange slime, and Sato Itsuki quickly drew his sword.
“Hehe, Brother. Shall we start with this one?”
Baul’s eyes were already filled with lust. He was in no state for rational judgment.
He felt a sense of unease.
It was a bad omen.
His mind screamed that he should escape this place immediately, but his feet wouldn’t move.
And then, what he feared most happened.
*Gush-*
With a mere gesture from the child, Baul’s body burst into a spray of red blood, scattering in all directions.
The subordinate behind him also had blood erupting upwards, instantly turning into a corpse.
“…Huh?”
In an instant, the two subordinates died without even a dying scream.
Sato Itsuki, frozen in fear, stared wide-eyed.
His gaze was fixed on the blood-soaked ground.
His mind went blank, unable to think anything. His body, instinctively sensing danger, was trembling.
‘I-I have to run!’
He had to get out of here.
That was the only thought that flashed through his mind.
He desperately tried to lift his head to plan his escape, but the sight before him stole his breath.
“……”
The spilled blood was clumping together like a ball of yarn.
His legs wouldn’t obey him at the bizarre sight, and his limbs felt frozen, unable to move.
“Well then, bon appétit!”
It was simply the sight of the girl approaching with a innocent smile.
His consciousness began to fade.
He was struggling to breathe, and his heart felt like it would burst.
Was all of this a dream?
He wanted to dismiss it as a dream, but a moment later, with excruciating pain as if being cut by a sword, his consciousness was extinguished.
This was Sato Itsuki’s end.
In the quiet place, without a sound, only the blood-stained ground shimmered.
