“Ah, the night without the sun is always delightful, but tonight is especially lovely,” a woman remarked as she walked through the outskirts of the town, bathed in the moonlight. Her long, silky blonde hair fluttered in the cool breeze as she laughed joyfully. Her face conveyed a sense of high pride, yet she was stunningly beautiful to a chilling degree. Her voluptuous and alluring figure was draped in a blood-red dress, accentuating her elegant form.
“This quiet time, free from the rabble, suits my elegance perfectly,” she mused, glancing up at the full moon with a soft chuckle. Anyone from Yerkchira who knew Vampille well would roll their eyes and tell her she was the noisiest of all.
“I wish I could gaze upon this beautiful moon with Master… Where on earth has he gone? That stalker ninja! I’ll kill her!” Vampille sighed wistfully about Master in one breath, then stomped the ground furiously as she recalled the ninja. The mysterious air of a noblewoman disappeared completely, leaving only a woman seething with jealousy and anger over something she desired being taken from her.
“Don’t you agree?” She suddenly addressed someone, the enigmatic and cold aura of a noble lady returning all at once.
Of course, there was no one around. Only a fool would venture outside the town at this hour, where dangerous monsters and criminals roamed. Vampille, not being an ordinary human, was an exception.
Well, the other members often called her foolish anyway.
Was that just my imagination? Vampille started to worry when no response came. To any observer, she would look like someone absurdly talking to herself out of nowhere.
No! I am not Krankheit! Vampille screamed internally, picturing the self-proclaimed noblewoman Krankheit, known among the Messianic Legion of Yerkchira as the embodiment of painful delusion. Krankheit was a woman with gray hair who often tried to act mature but ended up failing spectacularly, tripping over her words. Vampille, who prided herself on being a true lady, couldn’t bear the thought of being compared to Krankheit.
“Didn’t expect to be noticed,” a large, muscular man muttered as he emerged from the darkness. His ferocious grin was anything but friendly, as one would expect from someone out on the outskirts at this hour.
“You took your sweet time coming out!” Vampille snapped.
“Huh?” The man was taken aback. He had anticipated a scream, not an admonishment for being late. Unaware of Vampille’s fear of being compared to Krankheit, he found her reaction baffling.
“Well, I don’t know your master, and I have no clue who this stalker is…” he grumbled, frustrated by the situation. He had tried to approach her, but she had been too engrossed in her monologue to notice him.
“That’s irrelevant!” Vampille dismissed his complaints without a second thought. A vein throbbed on the man’s forehead. Only someone like Master could handle this spoiled lady.
“So, who exactly are you? It’s incredibly rude to spy on a lady during her evening stroll!” Vampille demanded.
“Walking outside the town at night counts as a stroll? The Messianic Legion sure is a strange bunch,” the man retorted.
“It’s not dangerous at all. The monsters step aside if you ask them nicely,” she replied, unfazed by his sarcasm.
The man’s attempt at irony fell flat. If he had made such a remark to someone like the clever Anat or the stern Schwarte, he might have lost his head. Thankfully for him, Vampille’s naïveté spared him.
Incidentally, Vampille was unaware that when she asked the monsters to move aside, they felt more like they were being threatened by a far superior force than politely requested.
“Now, introduce yourself properly,” she demanded.
“Oh, right,” the man replied. “I belong to the dark guild Heinichen, and my name is—”
He began to introduce himself with a confident expression, boasting about his prowess and the greatness of his guild. However, Vampille, who had asked for his name, had already tuned him out. She only cared about which organization was foolish enough to oppose her and Master.
I seem to recall someone mentioning a guild daring to defy Master and me… Vampille mused, barely registering the man’s words. She didn’t concern herself with the guild’s significant issues, nor did she consider her fellow members in her assessment. To her, opposition to Yerkchira the Messianic Legion equated to defiance against her and Master personally.
“—and so, our guildmaster is particularly interested in your guild,” the man concluded.
“Huh? Oh, is that so?” Vampille replied, realizing too late that he had reached the climax of his story. Although she hadn’t listened to a word, she tried to feign interest. This alone marked a significant improvement from her past behavior.
“We also aim for the title of the strongest dark guild. I bear no personal grudge, but I’ll have to kill you here,” the man declared. In his mind, being the strongest dark guild equated to being the world’s most powerful guild. Considering their proficiency in lethal human conflict, this wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
Of course, many outstanding adventurers belonged to legal guilds, so being the strongest dark guild didn’t necessarily mean being the world’s strongest. Nevertheless, the man was fully committed. As he finished speaking, a murderous aura radiated from him, potent enough to make even mid-tier adventurers shrink back.
Such was the reputation of members of Heinichen, a guild notorious for its heinous deeds.
“That’s a request I cannot comply with. I still want to savor more of Master’s blood,” Vampille responded, her voice calm and her smile unwavering. She belonged to the Messianic Legion of Yerkchira, arguably the world’s most dangerous guild, teeming with Master-obsessed members. She neither flinched nor recoiled; instead, she giggled softly.
Thus, the first clash between Yerkchira the Messianic Legion and Heinichen, the Steel Matriarch began.