Chapter 26 - Volume 2 (1/2)

Volume 2, Chapter 13: Children of the Night, Part 3

Hey, Yurushia here. I’m a little troubled at the moment.

“What should I do, I wonder…?”

I sipped the cold and bitter tea while surrounded by the considerably narrowed [Blackness].

That’s right. I haven’t moved an inch from that place.

Well, actually I moved a little bit, to release those kids, I wonder if they’ve managed to escape?

Being in this [Blackness], I can’t tell what’s happening outside.

All the same, my hypothesis was able to be validated, a little. The light from the [Light Spirits] isn’t limited to only being [White]. Maybe to someone they recognize, [Light Spirits] can also be [Dark Spirits].

If that theory is right, holy magic should be able to use [Fear] just like [Dark] magic by the use of spirits.

Well, that’s all good, what should I do now? I couldn’t believe the Vampire-chans went off looking for me like fools.

All of you, you’re surprisingly serious about this.

“It can’t be helped… Should I just proceed?”

I’m a bit worried about those kids’ situation.

I think that if they seriously run, they can succeed in escaping, but it’s not my responsibility, you know?

You know, because I’m a demon.

“…Gugyo~”

In the mansion’s hallway, I reflexively crushed together a maid vampire and a bowl with a clap.

I got a little startled.

Thanks to the fact that vampires turned into ash when they died, I thankfully didn’t get dirtied with blood. Well, if it gets dirty, I can just use [Purification] and get clean again, but I’m glad that my dark blue dress won’t get dirty in the first place since it might get [Bleached]

“… But, whatever.”

Seriously, this mansion is huge…

How long and how much did that Count fill his pockets before moving here, this mansion is bizarrely big for a noble governing the countryside.

Or rather, I wonder if land is cheap in this territory…?

In the large mansion, there was a floor under the huge chapel. Rather than to a basement, the stairs I found a little while ago led to a wide cave.

Since there were about a thousand [Runts] in there, I only looked briefly, before returning.

The thing that attacked during the inspection must have been one of those things called [Runts]. Though they could move through sunlight, I don’t feel like they’re as powerful as a vampire.

It’s a blessing that Noel and Bree-chan haven’t figured out what their true identity was, either.

Really, those vampires are way too bad at hiding their [Presence] and [Smell]. From the moment they become a vampire, they saw themselves as [Strong], they indulged in their ability too much.

Learn a bit from the example of this weak demon and live modestly.

But really, there are too many vampires here… dozens of strong servants out in the field, and thousands of them are in here as well, how bothersome.

I’m an incompetent Demon with nothing but a ridiculous amount of magic power, after all.

Since even dozens of bodies can only summon a lesser demon if they’re good, I can be at ease, to some extent, but since my summoning is almost fully self-taught, there is no compelling force, so the lesser demons are frightened and don’t come out.

“… A dead end… or not, there’s a room.”

I walked through the pointlessly large mansion when I sensed a [Scent] on the stone walls and floor.

A dark-red chain is hanging from the wall, I can see some odd tools, it this a torture room…? What a naughty hobby… Where’s the fun in tormenting weak human beings, right?

“Oh, what’s this…? Is that you, Miss Yurushia?”

I heard that voice from the only exit in the torture room.

… At long last, the prey’s been caught.

“Good evening, Countess… Umm, sorry, I forgot your name.”

“… It’s fine. That name of a Countess isn’t my real name.”

“I see…”

I look at what the Countess brought with her.

“That… where did you pick that up?”

The Countess was dragging Noah on the floor by his neck with one hand, holding Christina in the other, Christina had multiple fang piercings in her throat, and her overflowing blood was being sipped.

The Countess licked up the blood with her long tongue, the laughed in ridicule.

“I picked them up. Although I thought that I would have to settle with bad-tasting children, this girl has a reasonably good taste.”

The Countess intentionally tried to provoke me.

Given the fact that the attendants that I had brought along with me were being toyed with, I should have been getting angry and losing my calm.

But those words that she said to me…

“Yeah… I completely agree.”

The Countess’ face flinched at my unceremonious reply.

Her face regained its [Composure] after a brief moment.

“As expected of a [Saint-sama]… you’re remarkably composed, unflappable even…”

The wife seemed to have misunderstood me.

She is just like Millaine, doubting me. However, due to the arrogance of the [Strong], instead of trying to make me surrender by force, she was trying to force my heart into despair with words.

“Fufufu… Humans are strange, you know? Hidden in the blood of humans with strong emotions is something sweet… Your blood, the blood of a saint, I wonder how sweet it will be…?”

Now I get it…

The vampire doesn’t know. That the [Sweet] taste is the [Karma] in the soul of a human.

Christina… to think you had such strong [Feelings].

As I stared at Christina being silently, cruelly feasted upon, the Countess, in her good mood, threw Christina and Noah to my feet like garbage.

“Since their taste has become thinner, I’ll return them… you guys.”

At the voice of the wife, the maids in the back threw out two small things held in the same manner.

Ninette… Fontaine… I see… none of the four were able to escape.

“Haha, are these children still alive? Do you want to know, Saint-sama? How about you use that holy magic you’re so good at to heal them?

The Countess said with a sneer, as if she thought I was silent out of fear.

Then I realize.

These four children, they’re faintly breathing. But saving these children with holy magic is something that can’t be done.

Even if the flesh of these kids is healed… there’s practically no [Soul] left in them.

The vampires unconsciously change the souls dissolved in human blood into their power. Why would they want it? You could guess when you looked at these kids.

As each [Soul] had been mostly sucked out, the thinned-out soul would seek something to fill it and was [Altered], causing the body and even mind to transform.

The victim of a vampire is a vampire, not because of a curse or the transmission of a disease, but because the soul is altered.

So vampires, seeking their lost [Soul], would seek out the [Blood] of human beings which had their souls dissolved in.

As living things died, their [Souls] would rapidly disperse into the [World]

After being dispersed into the world, the [Soul] does not have a destination, even if the body was healed, the [Soul] would not come back. That’s why [Holy Magic] doesn’t contain any spells like [Resurrection].

If I leave these children alone as they are now, As soon as they stop breathing, they will become vampires.

The children really can’t be saved…

But… that’s why I asked them. Not as a human, but as a [Demon]

“Do you guys… want to live…?

Said plainly with simple words. My whispered [Demonic] question reached into the core of their beings.

At those [Words], the vacant pupils of the four children moved slightly… I treated it as [Acceptance], the [Contract] for their [Souls] signed.

“… “Let There Be Light” …”