25. When I Learned the Truth, I…

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/27/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Holding Reese in my arms, I walked through the castle.
I had been chronically short of sleep of late.
Even after waking, my mind showed no sign of clearing. I had set out for a walk in the hope that a change of pace might help, but—

“Man, even I’m finally getting bored. Guess it doesn’t matter how many girls you have—sooner or later, you get tired of them.”
“That’s because you overdo it all day long, Saiji.”
“You’re hardly any different, Taka. What about you, Oya? Starting to get bored yet?”
“…Not particularly.”
“Oh, right. Your situation was unusual, wasn’t it? Maybe I’ll go get myself someone new. If Ms. Mikage were here, I’d have gone after her.”
“…What about Sakuna?”
“I got tired of her ages ago. I’d rather choose one of the girls here.”
“Can’t argue with Saiji there.”

They passed me with coarse, braying laughter.
They were some of the six people I had summoned—or seven, if Chigusa was included.
The especially vulgar man who appeared to be their leader, with not a trace of intelligence in his expression, was Saiji Kataoka.
The slimmer but equally vulgar man perpetually at his side was Taka Kagan.
And the pale man who alone affected an air of cool detachment, though he was little different from the others, was Oya Chizaki.
Those were the only three men who had been summoned.
The two others still in the castle were girls named Sakuna Akizora and Toka Sato.
Sakuna had apparently once been in a relationship with Saiji. Perhaps it was a case of like attracting like, for her manner and conduct somewhat resembled his.
Toka was part of Sakuna’s entourage.
She was plain and quiet, which seemed to be precisely why Sakuna valued having her nearby as someone who made Sakuna herself stand out.
Toka, for her part, was comfortable in that position.
…Disgusting.
The humans I had summoned certainly possessed powerful magic, but—with the exception of Miyako—they were so base that I could hardly bear to breathe the same air.
Chigusa was no different.
She had sold her soul to a vampire, and she must surely be plotting to bring about another tragedy like the one that befell my village.

“That’s right… isn’t it, Reese?”
“Yes, yes, I agree completely, Leia. She must intend to kill the people of this city. We have to destroy her soon!”

Even Reese’s encouragement only deepened my emptiness, because the entire exchange was nothing more than a performance I was putting on for myself.
The truth was—I had doubts of my own.
After observing Chigusa’s actions, those doubts had only grown stronger.

For some time, I had been researching vampires using the records preserved by the kingdom.
I had begun because I believed I needed to devise countermeasures for the revenge I would one day take—but in those records I found a passage that troubled me.

“Vampires cannot produce children with their own kind.”

As a rule, living creatures existed to propagate their species.
Consider the undead monsters known as ghouls.
They devoured human flesh, and the humans they consumed rose again as lesser ghouls.
Or consider the plant monsters called alraunes.
They lured human males with pollen containing a reproductive stimulant, absorbed their bodies, and used their genetic material to produce offspring.
Some varieties instead lured human females, transforming them into the same species with a special solution and taking the transformed person as a mate joined to them in soul.
There were many other species of monster, each employing different means—but their behavior was fundamentally directed toward increasing their own numbers.

Vampires were the same.
There were two kinds of blood-drinking.
One was simply the taking of blood as food. In the other, the vampire drank while pouring part of its own soul into the victim, transforming that person into another of its kind.
In either case, however, vampires rarely took the victim’s life.
Reducing the human population meant reducing their food supply, as well as destroying potential vessels who might one day become their companions.
Thus, vampires might kill those who came to exterminate them, or people outside the sex they targeted, but they almost never slaughtered indiscriminately.

The more I investigated, the more often the same question arose: Why?
Had a vampire truly attacked my home?
Had that monster really killed my parents and even my best friend, Lina?
Even allowing for the bias of friendship, Lina had been by far the prettiest girl in our village.
Was a girl like her not exactly the sort a vampire would desire?

“Still, that witch isn’t much use, is she?”

A voice came from a room I happened to be passing, and I stopped.
It was the guardroom for the soldiers assigned to castle security.
This building stood a little apart from the main castle where the king and his household lived. I seemed to have wandered farther than I had realized.

“If she’d done her job, the man on patrol outside wouldn’t have died.”
“Agreed. If she truly watches the entire castle with magic, she ought to have saved him.”
“She doesn’t do her job properly, and she’s creepy besides. Maybe that rumor is a story she spread herself to win sympathy.”
“Ah, the one claiming it was actually kingdom soldiers who attacked her home village.”

That rumor had begun circulating only recently.
Of course, I had not invented it. I did not even know where it had originated.
But now that it seemed increasingly likely that no vampire had attacked the village, I could not help wondering whether it was true.
Yet if it was… what did that make of all the magic I had worked so desperately to create, obeying the king and believing it would lead me to vengeance against the vampires?
The ground beneath me felt unsteady.
In the end, it was more convenient for me, too, if vampires remained my enemy.
Suppose the rumor was true. Suppose kingdom soldiers had destroyed my village to abduct me, killing Papa, Mama, and Lina in the process.
If that truth came to light, I would lose the place where I belonged yet again.

“…That did nothing to clear my head.”
“It was better than sitting motionless in your room.”
“Was it?”

My thoughts were still clouded.
The walk had accomplished nothing.
Perhaps the sensible choice was to go back to sleep.
I might dream again, but even that would surely rest my body better than lying awake and circling through dreadful possibilities.
I reached my room on heavy feet and opened the door.
The Demi-Vamp I had seen so many times in my nightmares sat elegantly in a chair inside the supposedly empty room.

“Good afternoon. Pardon the intrusion.”
“—!?”

I hastily tried to back out of the room, but—

“Wait! I have no intention of fighting you today, Leia.”
“I have no reason to trust the word of a monster.”
“What a shame. I came with information about Lina.”
“…!?”

I stopped.
By Lina, she presumably meant not this doll but my lost best friend.
How did Chigusa know about her?
Had Miyako told her? Was she merely using that knowledge to keep me from leaving?
But I truly sensed no hostility from her now.
No—wait. She had shown no hostility during our first encounter either. Chigusa had toyed with me as though lavishing affection upon me.
Then perhaps now as well—just as she had then—she meant to overwhelm me with her shadows until I could no longer think or resist.

“What is the matter? Your face has suddenly gone red.”
“N-nothing…”
“Hehe. You really do have a lovely voice. I much prefer it to the doll’s.”
“S-shut up!”
“Now, please take a seat. Let us discuss this calmly.”

I could not defy her.
Even if I tried to flee, there was no chance I would escape.
Her shadows would only coil around my legs and immobilize me—that was what I told myself as I slowly approached and sat in the chair opposite her.

“We are not close enough for a long conversation, so I will be brief. We are sheltering Lina at the church.”
“What…?”

Lina was dead.
How could they be sheltering her?
Did Chigusa mean they had recovered and laid her remains to rest?

“To be honest, we cannot yet be certain that she truly is Lina. Confirming that is part of why I came to see you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found her at an auction where slaves were being bought and sold.”
“The nobles… Everyone is in an uproar because so many died…!”
“So it seems. Though the story being circulated describes the place as an ordinary party venue.”

That was why the people of the city believed the incident to have been nothing more than a magical massacre.
The nobles, however, were not angry. They were simply terrified.
They knew that the incident concerned the slaves secretly traded there.

“Did you do it… to save the slaves?”
“Yes, though of course I also intend to bring them into our fold. In any event, that was where I found the slave who may be Lina.”
“Lina was… a slave? But she was supposed to be dead…”

Yet if kingdom soldiers had been responsible, it made sense.
I had not examined every body that day.
Many had been burned beyond recognition, and there were many villagers whose bodies I had never seen at all.
Perhaps the girls had been spirited out of the village amid the chaos.

“But you said you weren’t certain. Why?”

Even an enslaved person ought to be able to say her own name.
And unlike someone born into slavery, Lina had received some education in the village. She could read and write.
If she were in any fit condition, communication should have been possible.

“When I found her, she was called ‘the Hole,’ not Lina. You understand what that implies.”
“…!”
“Her arms and legs were gone, and her face had been mutilated beyond recognition.”
“N-no… Lina. Lina…!”

Lina—so pretty and cheerful, forever my sun and the person I admired.
I could not believe it.
I refused to believe it until I saw her with my own eyes!

“Take me to her. Let me see Lina!”
“That was my intention from the beginning. I will wait outside the castle ahead of you, so come when you are ready.”

Chigusa agreed with disconcerting ease.
For a moment, I recovered enough composure to question her.

“…This isn’t a trap?”
“Hehehe. I understand why you would be suspicious, but think about it.”

Chigusa narrowed her red eyes.

“I could make you fall with consummate ease, without resorting to any trap.”
“…!”

The memory of her shadows invading every defense surged back.
Gooseflesh swept over me even as my body abruptly grew hot.

“Of course, I do intend to transform you into a Demi-Vamp someday, Leia. But today is not that day.”

With those parting words, Chigusa sank into the shadows and disappeared.

“Someday… me too…”

The gulf between her power and mine was far too vast.
If Chigusa became serious, would I truly be able to resist?
No—when that time came, would I even retain the will to resist?
I could envision no path to victory.
Already defeated in spirit, I followed after Chigusa, walking meekly toward the heart of the enemy’s domain.