Chapter 97 – Returning the Villagers (1/2)

Is something the matter?”

Out of nowhere, I suddenly raised my head and turned to the south.

Quite a few hits rang out on [Presence Detection].

Or rather, it was a lot, and they were increasing rapidly.

[Claret, can you go check to see what's showing up to the south?]

”Yes Master.”

The dark spirit rose up from my shoulders and passed through the wall.

(Ah, right. She can't go through the ceiling because its coated with magical fire to keep things lit up.)

Even if it wasn't supposed to be an attack, it was still something that could harm her. Though I wondered if that was true for her level, it was better not to get hurt either way.

”No, it's nothing dangerous.”

At least I hoped so, but there wasn't any point in making Epione worried if I didn't have to.

But since there wasn't really anything for me to add, I simply went back to making lunch. If the soup over boiled, the veggies would get too soft and the potatoes would turn into mush. Sometimes that was good, but this wasn't French style potato soup. Beef stew warranted firm potatoes.

”Master, they seem to be those adventurers that were following you a little while back, along with some people wearing the same outfits.”

[By those adventurers, you mean the ones we came into this forest with?]

”That's right.”

So that part was good. But the people wearing the same outfits?

[What do you mean the same outfits?]

”For some reason, they were wearing the same armour and even bigger clothes that looked the same over top of that.”

[...Were they soldiers?]

”Maybe?”

Normally a person wouldn't confuse such a thing, but this was Claret we were talking about. If it didn't have anything to do with me or my predecessor, there was a decent chance that she would've not taken any interest in it and never filed it away in that uselessly hollow head of hers.

But that said, I was probably right. Either they were soldiers, or knights, or guards, or some equivalent. Most likely the reinforcements that were promised a little while back.

It had taken slightly longer than I had predicted, but it was within reason, once you considered the distance this place was from the city we started at.

I fished my usual robes from my bag and put it on.

Its been over a week since I wore this thing, but it felt nice on my skin. I had missed wearing it, and already I was feeling nostalgic.

”There's something I need to check.”

I informed the closest women as they ate.

Before I could move, something wrapped itself around my leg, immobilizing me. It was the arm of the newest mother, the one I helped deliver her baby.

She looked up at me with concern in her eyes.

”You will be back, right?”

In her place, Epione asked me. Looking up, all the others who heard me had the same look.

”Of course. I'll be back soon.”

I gave her head a reassuring pat. The woman opened her mouth and closed it repeatedly, before she let go after a moment of hesitation.

The glint of worry didn't leave any of their eyes, but they did seem to accept it at least.

”Don't worry. It won't take long.”

I turned from the group, but before I left the room, I turned back, remembering one last important thing.

”If anyone asks, I'm just an elf. Not a vampire. Could you make sure that everyone knows that?”

”Oh, right. I got it.”

Epione nodded repeatedly. It was good that I didn't have to explain myself.

With those parting words, I made my way out of the room and to the stairs.

Before I stepped up the stone staircase, I checked my outfit once more.

My shoes, my one glove (the other went missing when I lost my right arm in the last fight), the belts that held my robes secure, and my hood.

Without the hat that ended up missing and mostly likely destroyed during the previous fight, I had to go through the extra effort to make sure that my hood didn't move out of place by accident. Perhaps fortunately, due to the lack of a hat under it, my hood fell even further down my face than usual, but that would help obscure my face even better than before. At a time like this, not being able to see as well wasn't really an issue. The light of the sun was annoyingly harsh and putting a bit of extra precaution to prevent it from scorching my face was nice.

Finally, I activated [Spirit Form] and then used [Alter Silhouette] to shorten my fangs and change the colour of my eyes to hide my vampireness.

Once I was sure that I've done all that I could, I climbed the steps.

When I reached the top, the sight of the first few adventurers came to view as they rounded the final corner of the hallway.

The first two were the pathfinders from the investigation. They both readied their weapons as they saw me, but glanced at the walls and ceiling before acting any further than that.

”Wait! It's me!”

I extended both hands to show that I was unarmed.

”You?! You're unharmed?”

A large figure pushed through the next few people and looked at me in surprise.

”Fortunately.”

I could only give a wry smile. I was now unharmed, but there was no way that anyone could call my miserable state at the end of that battle as unharmed.

The two pathfinders lowered their weapons and the whole group approached. There was a large group of soldier-like people that followed behind the adventurers.

”What about that vampire? What happened? There's a lot of damage to the walls.”

”He was killed by another vampire.”

”What?! We've got another monster on our hands?!”

”Ah no! There's no monster here anymore!”

I practically had to grit my teeth. Being called a monster, especially by a person who was supposed to be my ally pissed me off.

”Really? Another vampire showed up, and after killing the leader of the bandits, it just ran off somewhere?”

”At the very least, there's only us and the survivors now.”

Lying about things could get dicey, so rather than do such a clumsy thing, I just kept to the truth. After all, I wasn't some sort of monster. I was a person.

If only people would recognize that all of me was a person, not just part of me.

Maybe Alicia was the only one that did.

After explaining a little more, I lead the group down the stairs to the room where everyone was at.

I only allowed a handful in as the group was quite large and I didn't want to alarm the women inside. Many in the group argued about the treatment but the investigation leader shut them all down.

The leader introduced himself to the group and explained what was going on.

I confirmed it all, and after some work, we finally left that prison.

It was late in the second day after we left that we finally arrived at the empty village.

We brought everything that could be salvaged.

I pulled a hastily put together wagon with the unresponsives riding on top, together with the newest mother.

There was no way they could walk, and there were too many for me to carry. Some of the adventurers or reinforcements could've carried them, but they all reacted poorly when approached by them, so it was really the only solution.

Of course, while it only took part of a day to reach the bastard's mansion from the village, returning took much longer. Everyone's stamina was low to begin with, and the most heavily pregnant of them couldn't go far without rest.

They also refused help from anyone but each other as well.

While the soldiers and some of the adventurers got frustrated at the slow pace, I pretended to also get tired here and there to give even more reason to take more breaks.

Though it looked like the leader figured me out, he never outed me. Most likely he just approved of my tactics.

The return to the village was a sombre one.

Even though they had finally come home, nobody looked excited. Nobody rushed to their empty houses.

When we reached the village square, I finally pulled out the giant urn filled with the ashes of victims that died.

I explained what it was.

Many stared at it, many others simply fell to their knees and cried.

The only thing I could do was make dinner using the food we brought back from the bandit base. After I made sure all the woman had eaten, I was lead by some of them to one of the larger buildings, and helped me carry the unresponsives to the largest room inside of it so they could rest.

I chose to spend the night there as well.

The adventurers and soldiers?

Frankly, I didn't really care. They seemed to find their own accommodations, and I was satisfied that I didn't hear any disturbing noises that night.

”So what happened to the kids?”

I finally asked the team leader after serving everyone's breakfast.

”Some of the guards are escorting them back to the city. The lord'll decide what to do with them.”

”What do you think he'll decide?”

Part of me didn't want to know the answer, but I asked anyways. There was still some hope inside of me. It was why I put in so much effort to only knock them out in the first place.

”Chance are, they'll just be executed. Even at best they'll be made into criminal slaves.”

”But they're just kids!”

”They're bandits. Regardless of their age.”

He looked down at me and firmly stated so.

I knew. I knew that, but still, most of them were so young. They probably didn't even have a choice.

”Even still. Isn't there some way for them to have their sentences reduced? Some sort of rehabilitation or something? And maybe they could be guards or something after? They're pretty strong already.”

”And who'd do that? And who'd pay for that? And even if you find people for both, who'd hire them afterwards? What would they do? Nobody would trust freaks like them.”

”Dhampires.”

”Huh?”

”They're Dhampires. All of them are half vampires right? That makes them dhampires.”

No matter how much I looked at their stats, their race was always filled with nonsense characters, and nobody seemed to know what to call them. But for me, someone from Earth, there was a word that fit them perfectly.

”I've never heard of that term before.”

”Some people far away call their kind that.”

I couldn't really tell him where that place was though. He wouldn't believe it.

”And the babies those women are carrying. They're also those...”

”Dhampires. Yes. You're not going to say they need to die too, are you?”

”It's not my call. The lord'll decide.”

I didn't like that answer at all.

”But you can convince the guild master, right? And he can convince the lord?”

If he couldn't, then what was the point of being a guild master of the local Adventurers' Guild branch?

”It's not like those babies had done anything wrong. They're not guilty of some sort of crime, are they? Little babies that can't even stand on their own two feet yet?”

”...I'll have a talk with him.”

I was going to have to be satisfied with that.

Really, this entire thing had tired me out, and I just wanted to go home.

”And also, tell the guild master to have my reward deposited into my account.”

”You're not returning to the city?”

”I'm not.”

I've been lied to. Twice. In a row.

I understood why, but that didn't make it any less annoying. I didn't really want to meet the guild master at all.

Peitho on the other hand...I was angry at her, but I understood. She did end up helping me, and while her words were a lie, she did lead me in the right direction and I did get what I needed most. Considering how smart she seemed, she probably predicted all that, but really wanted me to help out the villagers along the way.

She also probably thought that I might not go if she didn't bait me with information about vampires in the first place.

Thinking about it, if it wasn't for the fact that I had Magni waiting for me, I probably would've gone looking for a library to get more information on vampires if she hadn't pointed me in that direction.

A village of missing people wasn't exactly something I would've chased if it wasn't immediately in front of me. It was something that should've normally been left to the local authorities and Peitho would've had to have done a lot of persuading to have made me go help.

Or rather, if that had happened, then I would've just gone by myself rather than as part of the investigation and due to my inability to follow tracks, would've ended up at a dead end and forced to give up with no good clues to work off of.

Considering what ended up being what had happened, that would've been quite the disaster.

It really made me wonder just how much Peitho had figured out about me.

Having given my answer to the team leader, I moved on to the others.

”Could you gather everyone for me?”

I asked the favour to Epione.

”Of course!”

And with those two words, she went off and gathered everyone.