Chapter 15

I began to slightly regret coming to this room, but it was a necessary part of the process. Don’t let him pressure you. There’s already an enormous gap between us. If you get too excited and lose, it’s all over. I shrugged, then returned Nevira’s unyielding glare. “I’m not here for revenge, of course. I don’t have a grudge against you. I mean, I thought for sure the sunsentence would obliterate me, and I couldn’t understand why I had to go through something like that… I may have my memories from my lifetime, but I’m still an undead. I can’t blame you.” I stared at the armed third-rank knights, with all their weapons brought to bear, and made my bluff. This was the turning point. “I know all about the Ender Knights. I’m a fan of yours. I was bedridden for most of my life, and reading books about all the things you’ve done helped me through it. I’m willing to forget you almost killed me. Thanks to Nevira’s heartless actions, Senli sympathized with me. Thanks to being on the verge of death, she offered her neck to me.” “What?! I always knew she was naive, but…what…what a foolish thing to do…!” Finally having grasped the situation, Nevira glared at me with absolute rage. Normally, a lesser vampire would never suck the blood of an Ender Knight with their intense positive energy. That energy covered their bodies, acting like a sword and armor against the undead. They needed a willing host to drain blood. In other words, Senli had stripped off her armor for me and offered her neck willingly. Upon hearing that, Epe’s gaze was still just as warm as before. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Then why did you come here? Did you think I would let an undead like you leave unscathed?” “Oh, and Senli is alive. I took her up on her offer and had a little of her blood, but I’m not cruel enough to kill the person who saved my life. I’m not an Ender Knight, after all. I’m human… And my body is still pure, of course.” The third-rank knights looked shocked as they shuddered at my answer. Epe’s stony-calm, king-like expression twitched slightly then, for the first time. “?! You resisted…the impulse to suck blood?” “Yeah. I thought I was about to go to heaven. I even forgot about the impending destruction. To think such pleasure existed in this world… But I’m human, and humans don’t let their impulses control them. The fact that I know your names is proof. Epe the Extinguisher, Nevira, Luphrey, Thelma, and that quiet man—Adrian. Senli told me. I needed them for negotiating and to defend myself.” I let out a passionate breath as I recalled the time I sucked her blood. That was an experience that could have changed my entire view on life. But I hadn’t let myself become fully undead. The urge to suck more blood had been intense, but my survival instincts and logic had won out. The undead had too many enemies. And I wanted to survive, no matter what. “…Self-defense? State your conditions, then.” Epe was thinking about what I was truly after. About whether he should just kill me. About a way to rescue Senli, his pupil, who was supposed to have become a first-rank knight. Epe was thinking—that I planned to use Senli as a hostage. But he was wrong. I had no such intentions. I’d risked my life to come here in order to clear things up. I hadn’t really wanted to come, but there was enough value in doing so. I wore a random robe I’d found in the remains of the lord’s mansion. From it, I took out a sword, wrapped in cloth. Careful not to touch the silver hilt, I undid the wrapping. It was a single sword, tucked away in its sheath. When they realized what it was, Nevira and the others changed their expressions—to indignation, to unease, to sadness. I placed Senli’s sword on the table, then gave Epe the same sort of amiable smile he’d been giving me. “Conditions? You misunderstand. I’m not taking Senli hostage. I…came to return this sword. Senli gave me a message to pass along. Forgive me. I’m quitting the Ender Knights. Thank you for everything.” The eyes of Luphrey and the others went wide, then immediately froze like that. My words, my message—they were all the truth. I’d willfully evoked sympathy and manipulated her volition, certainly, but she was the one who made the final decision. Senli Sylvis was an Ender Knight, but certain things clearly set her apart from them. The Ender Knights, Nevira, and the others—they were allies of justice, enemies of the denizens of the dark. But Senli was different. Senli—she was an ally of the weak. Soft, as soft as someone could possibly be. That was why she’d sympathized with a weak, pathetic undead like me. Some would call it kindness, but it made her an ill fit for the Knights. “Senli told me that she would stay with me and make sure I didn’t let my undead instincts take over. She can’t allow me to attack people, but in exchange, she’ll continue giving me the blood that I need to survive.” I sighed. “Such a good girl, but she’s not cut out for the Knights.” “You…bastard…” Nevira’s face was bright red with rage, and he tried to come closer to me. Immediately, I raised my voice. The Ender Knights were incredibly fearsome. They didn’t need a reason to attack the denizens of the dark. “Whoa, wait! Don’t attack me. If I die, Senli dies.” “?!” Epe’s expression sharpened. I leaned into my sense of omnipotence and excitement at having sucked blood and said loudly, “Who will kill who, you ask? No—it’ll be suicide. We promised. If I should die during these negotiations, if I never return, Senli will slit her own throat. If I didn’t have a guarantee like that, I’d never have come here!” “……You’re bluffing.” “Luphrey! You would be the ones who would know best if she’d actually do something like that—you’ve been with her far longer than I have. You’d better be careful. Senli’s not an undead like me. She can’t live with only a head.” It felt amazing being able to glare at them. I was a harmless, pathetic undead, but I wasn’t enlightened enough not to feel anything at having everything below my neck destroyed. I sensed their murderous intent tingling in the air. Of course, there was a chance I could be killed right now. But there was value enough to risk my life on what Senli had said. The blood of a strong, beautiful, young, pure maiden. The blood of a former Ender Knight. If she let me drink of it regularly… There was no more favorable condition for a vampire. Just a little bit extra, and my body had regenerated, and I’d gained this much power. If she let me suck her blood on a regular basis, it would massively raise my ability to survive. Vampires had the fearsome ability to change those they sucked the blood of into their kin—into lesser vampires. I didn’t have that ability yet as a lesser vampire, but even if I did acquire it, I couldn’t turn her. If I made her into a vampire, I wouldn’t be able to suck her blood anymore. Epe made his first major movement. He stood up, then said calmly, “This is absurd. If she was going to live a life like that, like livestock, only to have her blood sucked by a vampire, killing you would be a mercy…” “Yeah, you’re right. You’re completely right on all counts.” I was a monster now. The mutation had changed my blackened irises to bloodred. I was translucent in mirrors. One day I would have fatal weaknesses to crosses and garlic, and I wouldn’t be able to go into other people’s rooms unless invited. And I wouldn’t be able to cross running water. But no matter how monstrous I became, Senli would remain human. In a tempting voice, I said, “But think about it. Even Senli, as overly optimistic as she is, wouldn’t put up with having her blood sucked by a monster forever, would she?” “…What are you getting at?!” “Senli is a little frenzied right now. That’s what I’m getting at. And you, Nevira, and the rest of you—you’re the ones who made her weak.” Nevira’s face changed slightly after I mentioned him by name. Senli was soft. And she was an ally of the weak. But that wasn’t enough to make her offer her neck to a vampire, an enemy she’d always been fighting. She got that way because of Nevira’s torture. The sunsentence had weakened someone who was already miserable and frail to begin with. Senli blamed herself for not being able to stop Nevira and the others from doing it. As a result, she offered her blood to me. It certainly wasn’t something I’d intended, but it was also a very good deal for me. Now that I was safe, it was even enough to make me feel glad for almost being killed. “To tell the truth, at first, Senli tried to come here herself to return her sword. But I stopped her. I decided to risk my life to travel here in her place. She really does trust people too much.” If she’d done that, she would have surely been arrested, persuaded, and made to come to her senses. But even if she hadn’t been detained, it wouldn’t have lasted forever. She was endlessly kind, but at the same time, she was sensible and smart. She was justice itself. And it didn’t change that I was an evil being. It was very possible there would be discord in the meantime. My relationship with Senli was very precarious. Making a slightly more serious expression, I looked at Epe. “Senli is strong. Frankly, she’s a monster. Even after drinking a few drops of her blood, I could never stand up to her. She’s no damsel in distress. If I turned harmful, she would kill me without hesitation.” “…And so we should let you go?” “If you kill me now, Senli will not hesitate to die. She’s very unstable. What she needs is a little bit of time to calm down.” But I wouldn’t let her. What she had for me now was sympathy. If I wasn’t weak anymore, that would disappear. Before then, I would have to appeal to her, giving her some kind of rationale—a reason to stay with me or reasons not to kill me. Regardless, I wasn’t worried. I was just an undead who wanted to survive—a king of the dead of a type the lord probably hadn’t intended. I couldn’t become an enemy to justice, to humanity. As long as I wasn’t attacked. Epe snorted. He opened his eyes wide and looked down at me. The old man’s eyes were sharp and bright. The pressure I felt from his impressive frame was petrifying for someone who had already risked everything there was to risk. My heart itself trembled. But I didn’t let it show. After being amiable for so long, Epe’s expression changed. Baring his teeth, he said quietly, “You have underestimated the Ender Knights. Did you think we were soft enough to decide that was enough and let you go? End, you’ve misunderstood something. Senli has lost. Her death is on her hands, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Our mission is to kill the blasphemous living dead like you.” I raised my eyebrows, then sniffed. Whether it was a bluff or a threat, it was altogether infantile. Even the famed Epe the Extinguisher…isn’t all that great. I would live. I would use any means at my disposal, any martial force, any words, any good fortune to survive. “If you could choose that option, Senli wouldn’t be as soft as she is. I know all about the Ender Knights—I’m a fan of yours, after all. You have no mercy against enemies, but you’re soft when it comes to your own. And you never pick the wrong choice. If you could kill me, you would have done so a long time ago. I’ll ask you again… Do you really want to make your precious princess kill herself for a single harmless lesser vampire like me? Ha-ha-ha… What a pointless death that would be. She said that if I was killed, she’d journey to the afterlife with me—but I am cursed, and we’d be going to entirely different places to begin with.” Still smiling, Epe fell silent. Luphrey and the others looked at their master with grim expressions. I made preparations to move. I didn’t know the extent of Epe’s abilities, but it was night now…the time of the undead. If my prediction somehow happened to be wrong, and he attacked me, I might be able to run away. The darkstalker, one stage before the lesser vampire, was said to have the ability to blend into the dark. I’d skipped that stage after absorbing the lord’s soul, so I couldn’t use that power. I might be able to learn it if I practiced, but it wouldn’t do me any good right now, at least. But Epe and the others didn’t know that. They were thinking about it—weighing my threat against Senli’s worth. The Ender Knights would not make a mistake. The only sound in the room was the soft ticking of the hands on the clock. The silence ended abruptly. Epe frowned, then slowly sat back down in his chair. His disciples exhaled. I couldn’t believe their softness, considering how they’d tried to kill me in such a tragic way, but it just went to show that both Epe and his pupils were human, too. They were able to show concern for others. I didn’t have that. I relaxed my shoulders in a way they couldn’t see. “Oh, and there was one other thing. I’d like you to return the Amulet of Shadow and the Cloak of Perpetual Night to me—you stole them. I’ll need them in order to live peacefully, and they’re keepsakes of Horos. They belong to me. You wouldn’t want your princess to be sleeping outside…right?” “…Luphrey… Would you mind…bringing them here?” “…Yes, sir.” I hadn’t thought I’d be able to get them to return them, but it looked like it would work. Luphrey took a familiar cloak and the Amulet of Shadows from the chest in the back of the room, then handed them to Epe. Epe placed the cloak on the desk, then picked up the amulet, imbued with a black gemstone that concealed negative energy. He showed it to me, and as I watched it with hopeful eyes, he then said quietly, “End… We will accede to your silver tongue this time and overlook it. But this doesn’t mean we trust anything you say. Senli… Senli is the one we trust.” A crack ran through the gemstone. And then, before I could cry out, the Amulet of Shadow shattered. Epe casually brushed away the shards and added with a thin smile, “You should leave now…while I am just barely containing my anger. And please tell Senli that we swear we will come to get her.” “…Tch. You’re a monster.” My spine froze. I had a feeling something was about to occur. If I didn’t leave right now, I really would be killed. Epe’s words were powerful enough to convince me of that. Maybe I’d provoked him a little too much. I turned my back. At about the same time, a silver blade grazed my cheek. I hadn’t sensed it. I hadn’t heard it. I hadn’t let my guard down. White smoke rose from the thin cut in my cheek. The blade stuck in the door with a sharp sound—it was Senli’s sword, which I’d returned before. My heart simultaneously skipped a beat as I felt the pain set in. Epe spoke to me from behind: “…Return that to Senli, if you will, End. That sword is no mere bauble to be returned by proxy…”