The vampire was locked inside an iron cage. Its limbs had been cut off, and an iron bar had been wedged into its mouth. Only after this thorough precaution did everyone feel safe enough to approach. Count Galaton watched the vampire through the bars. It immediately let out a threatening growl, its red eyes wide with rage.
“Behave,” Catherine said, tapping the cage with her sword. “In the name of the Holy Light, I’ll burn you to ash right now!”
“Sis, wait. Just a little longer,” Ward hurriedly urged her. “We haven’t finished our investigation yet. If we burn this thing now, we might lose the clues along with it.”
“Hmph.” Catherine turned away, her face full of disgust.
Meanwhile, Rayne was carefully examining the vampire as he circled the cage. He took out a ruler and cautiously measured its fangs. They’d been cut off in last night’s battle, but had already grown back.
“My lord,” he said, putting away the ruler and bowing to the count. “This vampire was probably turned only recently. It’s very young—not even a month old.”
“Damn it. That’s exactly what I was afraid of.” Count Galaton sighed. “This thing was just a disposable pawn meant to distract us.” He stared the vampire in the eyes from up close. “What exactly is your master planning?”
The vampire rattled its chains and hissed again and again.
“You sure are lively for a lesser vampire.” Ward lifted the vampire’s chin with his sword. “You’d better show some respect in front of the general. It’ll determine how much pain you suffer when you die.”
Faced with the blade, the vampire backed down.
Just then, a knight entered the tent. When he saw the vampire in the iron cage, he shuddered in fright.
“Report.”
“Yes, my lord.” The knight stiffened. “We’ve completed our investigation into the Mercenary Guild. The person who placed the contract to hunt the vampire left no useful information. The name John was an alias, and his identification papers were fake.”
“What about this one?” Count Galaton pointed at the vampire. “Do we know who it is?”
“According to Miss Lancelot’s testimony, it… it’s called Wolf, an Alchemist from Nagu Town.” The knight shuddered again. “On your orders, we searched his residence, but found no physical evidence that he worshipped vampires. We did, however, uncover quite a few banned drugs.”
“Understood. You may go.”
“Yes, sir.”
The knight turned and fled the tent. Faced with a vampire, ordinary humans could only feel fear and run.
“It seems someone is using us to disrupt the vampires’ plans,” Galaton said. “I don’t know what this person’s after, but I personally can’t stand this sort of roundabout behavior. And the vampires are doing everything they can to cover up their plans, even using one of their own as bait to draw our attention elsewhere.” He looked at the others. “Everyone, I’m getting more and more curious about what the vampires are planning. There’s no time to waste. We leave at once to investigate the ruins of Silvermoon City.”
“As you command, my lord.” The others bowed their heads together.
“General,” Ward said, pointing at the vampire. “What should we do with this thing?”
Count Galaton glanced at the iron cage, then walked over and grabbed the iron ring on its side. The muscles in his arm bulged as he heaved the creaking cage straight out of the military tent. Bathed in the early morning sunlight, the vampire’s ashen-gray skin immediately burst into flames. As it screamed in agony, it burned in the sunlight like charcoal, until at last it crumbled into white ash.
“Well, damn.” Ward shrugged. “That’s our general for you.”
“Let’s go,” Count Galaton said coldly. “We’re heading to Silvermoon City.”
At nine in the morning, a company left Nagu Town. The force, made up of knights, clerics, and paladins, headed east along the post road and disappeared into a billowing cloud of dust.
To thank me for saving his life, Mr. Rand treated me to a feast: beef stewed until tender, with chili peppers and fragrant spices, then finished with big chunks of potato. Was this what a god’s life was like? As a veteran who’d spent ten years chewing on food bars, that beef and potato stew brought me the greatest joy I’d ever known. Seeing how much I was enjoying it, Mrs. Rand hurried to serve me another huge bowl.
“Thank you, ma’am. Your (cooking) is absolutely delicious.”
After eating and drinking my fill, I gave Mrs. Rand a whole bunch of spices. I’d gathered them from the forest using my knowledge of Herbalism, and had somehow ended up with a huge stash without knowing what to do with it. Mrs. Rand happily accepted them and promised to treat me to something tasty again next Sunday.
Next, I took my sword to Uncle Warren’s smithy. He looked at the chipped blade with a pained expression, but word of my battle with the vampire had spread throughout Nagu Town, so Uncle Warren agreed to repair it without a second thought. He promised to have it ready by next Monday.
I sold the potions at the town hall. The bespectacled girl happily accepted the KPI I contributed every day, and just as I was about to leave, I ran into the white-bearded mayor again.
“Elsa.” He took out a document. “Are you really sure you don’t want to settle down here?”
“Mr. Mayor, please let me think about it a little longer.”
After politely turning down the mayor’s invitation, I made a quick getaway. The sunlight outside made me dizzy. The sun had slapped me with another debuff, lowering all my stats by 20%. As a vampire—the True Ancestor—I could walk around in the sun, and I wasn’t particularly afraid of silver or holy water. Garlic was no problem either; I tossed a few cloves into my cooking every time. With a vampire’s powerful body and healing abilities, I’d probably be pretty hard to kill as long as I didn’t go out of my way to get myself killed, right?
After accepting that this world really existed, I began to understand a little of what that unknown deity had intended. It might have wanted to give me a healthy, powerful body so I could enjoy a peaceful life for longer. But maybe it overdid it, because it put my soul into the body of a vampire—the True Ancestor. Looks like even gods make mistakes sometimes. Still, I’m very grateful to it. It really did grant my wish—except for the whole no-dick situation!
A cold breeze blew past, and I instinctively pulled my collar tighter. Golden leaves drifted through the forest, while golden waves of wheat rolled beneath the sunlight. Autumn had arrived before I knew it.
Looks like I’d better start preparing for winter. As I wondered what I should do, a notice by the entrance to the town hall caught my eye.
“Autumn Hunting Expedition: Hunters and Mercenaries Wanted”
Hmm? This sounds pretty interesting. I’ll sign up.
