Chapter 57
#057
1.
The prophets' prophecies had come true.
On the day of the Great Erosion, when the world was covered in black dust.
The erosion of black dust surged in from the far edge of the horizon like a desert sandstorm.
The endless column of refugees was already being swallowed from the rear into the erosion.
Before the ark city, refugees from across the entire continent were in utter chaos.
“Please! Please, open the gate!”
“Take at least the children! Please take at least the children!”
“Save us! People are going to die here!”
But the gate stood firm.
There was no mercy for the unchosen.
“Gaaah! It’s coming! It’s coming!”
“Save me! Save me! Get the hell away from me, you bitch!”
Amid that chasm of despair,
a girl fell into the rift of a broken world, the Void.
That was not a place where the world’s rules applied.
The laws of physics bent out of shape, and thought and providence tangled together like discord.
The refugees swallowed along with the girl lost their forms and vanished like dust in an instant.
Yet for some reason, the girl did not die.
Instead, she slowly rotted in that hell of chaos with no up or down, where time stagnated as if it had pooled.
It took what felt like centuries just for one fingertip to scatter into dust.
A maddeningly slow dissolution.
That horrific weathering began stripping away even the girl’s memories and emotions, layer by layer.
In a world where everything was collapsing,
the girl nurtured a single mad wish.
‘I want to live.’
I don’t want to die like this.
I don’t want to disappear.
I don’t want to return to nothingness, to the void, to dust that is nothing at all.
‘Forever. I want to live.’
A delusion so absurd it was uttered by a girl on the brink of death.
To that warped prayer…
the world answered.
An endlessly circulating life came to dwell within the girl’s flesh.
What appeared in the girl's eyes as she tore her way out of the Void was
a moon glowing red.
“This is the very first vampire. The story of the Progenitor, Shion Tsukimiya, begins here.”
I stared blankly at Shion as she solemnly explained, her brows drawn together.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Skip.”
“Why! This is where the story begins!”
“Nobody asked about your story. I asked how strong Kisaragi Yagyu is. What kind of woman is she?”
“I must explain from here!”
Aren’t you just changing the subject because you don’t want to talk about how you got your ass kicked?
Anyway.
That was the birth legend of the first vampire, the Progenitor.
The Progenitor shared her blood to create retainers and built the Tsukimiya family.
The supremacy of vampires.
Absolute worship and loyalty toward the Progenitor.
Based on tight bonds, the Tsukimiya family infiltrated the core of humanity’s last ark over the course of centuries
and proudly secured a nameplate among the 'Twenty-Eight Great Houses' that ran the ark.
However.
One night, under a red moon,
the Progenitor suddenly exterminated the family she had built with her own hands.
Sitting upon a bloodstained throne, the Progenitor swore an oath to a single precept,
and in return, obtained flawless immortality.
“Why did you kill your family members?”
“I do not remember.”
“Are you seriously going to keep bullshitting? Are you really that big of an idiot? How do you kill your whole family and forget why?”
“I, I am telling the truth! This one’s memory is not whole! The memories before Necropolis are hazy…!”
Well, she doesn’t seem to be lying.
And it’s not that important right now.
Anyway, after that incident, Shion acquired the cool-sounding title of the 'Only Red Moon,' left Aden, and headed alone for Necropolis….
She gobbled up the RCD Foundation in just three days after moving in.
Nothing strange about that.
It’s hard to imagine looking at this sketchy fake-Jo right now, but….
She was a Seventh Tier, a Seventh Tier.
Even just watching Brother Yiming, a Second Tier, throw a real punch sent shivers down my spine.
I can’t even imagine what kind of monster Shion was in her Seventh Tier prime.
At the very least, she was an invasive species with no equal in Necropolis.
A bullfrog, a nutria, a giant bass.
And so she ruled as the king of that ecosystem for over a decade.
‘You’re Shion Tsukimiya, right?’
‘Hoh, what a bold girl. What is your name?’
An executor from the Paradise Administration Bureau had come to her alone.
‘Kisaragi Yagyu. I’ve come to purge you.’
Kisaragi Yagyu.
“Was that bitch famous already?”
“No, I saw her for the first time that day.”
“Huh? If she beat the Progenitor, wouldn’t that make her Seventh Tier? Are people above Seventh Tier that common?”
“Kisaragi was not Seventh Tier at the time. She was Fifth Tier.”
“Huh?”
Not every mage is skilled in combat.
However, in battles between mages, tier was effectively absolute weight class.
Besides, by her own account, Shion was a monster tempered by real combat, someone who had danced on the edge of death countless times.
And that Seventh Tier Shion in her prime lost to Kisaragi, who was around Fifth Tier?
“Hmm.”
My cold, skeptical glare.
The reaction I expected from Shion was
‘I, this one, merely let my guard down for a moment…! If we fought again, this one would win hands down, so just you watch!’
was what I thought she’d say.
Then I would also,
‘Even carelessness is part of skill, you bitch~’
and we’d trade a few jabs back and forth.
“Kisaragi Yagyu is a monster.”
But Shion’s reaction was different from what I expected.
Shion, whose pride was every bit that of a Progenitor, offered not a single excuse.
“Even if I could go back and fight hundreds of times over, there would be no outcome where this one wins.”
She admitted it plainly and cleanly.
In her eyes, faintly clouded as if looking back on the past, even awe or fear seemed to seep through.
“No, does that even make sense?”
She was overwhelmed not by tier difference, but by pure skill?
Not a narrow judges’ decision, but a crushing victory?
Want me to tell you something even scarier?
This happened 200 years ago.
I couldn’t even guess what tier Kisaragi is now, or how strong she has become.
So did I feel utterly hopeless?
“Anyway… this one’s story ends here.”
“That was helpful, fake-Jo.”
“Even after hearing this one’s story, you still call me fake-Jo! How insolent!”
Yeah, honestly, I’m pretty scared.
But I quickly changed my mind.
Come to think of it, why should I suddenly feel hopeless now?
If Kisaragi had only barely beaten the Progenitor, then maybe I’d have a shot?
Cedric is a zero-tier pushover anyway.
This isn’t a game where you have to beat the boss to clear it; I can just keep dodging him forever, right?
However.
“Fuck!!!! Then why is she chasing me!!!!”
“That woman is chasing you?”
“Yeah, she wrecked my place. If I touch the all-purpose item, she comes after me. You know anything about that?”
Still, she seemed to remember bits and pieces of what happened in Aden, so I asked.
“I’ve never heard of such a function in the all-purpose item.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t get an answer.
All-purpose item tracking technology.
What on earth is it?
Why is a top-class operative who can take down the Progenitor in a straight fight chasing around Cedric, that worthless piece of shit?
“This is really troubling.”
A sudden bad feeling came over me.
At this rate, even if I clear the premium route and somehow make it through okay,
won’t I just go to Aden and get blasted to death by the Kisaragi beam?
Am I supposed to live in this cesspit for the rest of my life?!
When I met Kisaragi before, a new option did appear….
“Ah, fuck it, I don’t know.”
Planning a long-term life strategy is something only people with the luxury to live comfortably do.
For now, just clearing the premium route is hard enough.
Then we’re back to square one: how do I earn 125 million bios?
Just as I was nursing my headache again, Shion poked my side.
“Master.”
“What.”
“This one… has an idea.”
“You do?!”
Fake-Jo’s cheeks puffed out with a pop~.
Her reactions are so good I keep wanting to poke her.
Despite having such a small hitbox, she’s really easy to provoke.
“I will no longer stand by while you disregard this one!”
“Come on, I’m kidding. Just kidding. We’re close, aren’t we? A shared destiny, right? We’ll even sleep together every day, won’t we? Right?”
“How far do you intend to mock this one!”
After grumbling, Shion held out her palm.
“If you offer tribute to this one, I will tell you the method.”
I immediately put her in a headlock.
“W-wait a second… master, I get it… I get it…! I’ll tell you! This one will tell you!”
Fake-Jo tapped out quickly.
Shion, clutching her head, said,
“In any case, your objective is to make that woman your retainer, is it not?”
“That’s right.”
“And your goal is to save up money to buy the Crimson Jade for that female doctor?”
So she understood that much.
As expected of our fake-Jo, she’s not a complete idiot.
“And within 19 days.”
“…Why do you have to gather it within 19 days, of all things?”
“Because I’m impatient.”
Shion twitched her brows as if she had seen all manner of bizarre creatures, then said,
“Promise me one thing, and this one will tell you a way to make money quickly.”
“Oh-ho.”
“W-wait! There really is a method! Without this one’s help, it would be impossible!”
Fake-Jo flinched when I tried to put her in a headlock again.
“What promise?”
“If this one’s method is helpful, take me and flee to Aden.”
She was proposing a deal.
A serious proposal.
That meant
she had a pretty solid plan.
“Tell me.”
2.
Why hadn’t I thought of this?
I guess the shock of Kisaragi Yagyu was so great that my brain wasn’t working very fast.
I hurried to the black market and bought a few things.
“I brought them!”
Shion lifted her chin and huffed proudly.
“Did you bring the rice cakes too?”
“Here, eat up. You need to eat a lot to have strength.”
“Hmph, then massage this one’s shoulders too.”
I immediately put her in a headlock.
“N-no, it was a joke… a joke….”
This one’s tapping out faster now.
Anyway, come to think of it, that made sense.
Though her memory isn’t all there, like a dementia-ridden old person.
Shion inherited even the Progenitor’s memories.
At least, the memories from before the sealing.
Her memories of Necropolis are relatively clear.
Having heard this much, let’s think of a way to make a big sum of money quickly in a short time.
Now then, I’ll give you 10 seconds.
If you guess right, you’re a fine Necropolis citizen too!
The answer is.
That’s right! We’re hunting for the treasure the Progenitor hid!
Even if you didn’t guess right, that’s fine.
Necropolis citizenship is open to everyone.
You can just retake the test later.
Now then, let’s go through this one by one.
There are no banks in Necropolis.
Because this is a city where trust as capital doesn’t exist.
Therefore, the default method of asset management in this city is physical concealment. Utterly primitive.
That’s why Mama Ceres and Yiming each keep a vault of their own.
But that alone isn’t enough for peace of mind.
This is Necropolis.
It’s a place where even someone like Yiming can lose his head with a single lapse in judgment.
It’s also important to bury emergency funds in a third location no one knows about, just in case the main base gets raided.
For example, like Yiming’s slush fund caches scattered throughout Sector H of the landfill.
The Progenitor supposedly hid golden acorns all over Necropolis like a squirrel preparing for winter.
“You definitely hid enough, right?”
“Of course.”
“About how much emergency cash did you stash away?”
“I don’t know.”
“? Then who would know?”
“Do not speak in the measure of mere humans. This one’s treasury transcended perception.”
Shion, busily munching on a rice cake, answered.
“…….”
“Ah… ahh… ah… give it back!’
When I snatched away the rice cake she had been holding so dearly, Shion obediently continued speaking.
“In a single place, I hid at least… 200 million bios.”
Come to think of it.
The RCD Foundation split into Twilight Resource Development and Overnus Pharmaceuticals.
The Progenitor's cache, hidden across Necropolis at the height of her power, might as well be called the Gate of Necropolis.
One proper raid and it'd be jackpot.
A life-changing reversal of fortune.
Cedric, Arbel, and Shion’s harem isekai life would begin!
“-Shhhk!”
I unfolded the long map I had just obtained.
It was a map detailing all of Necropolis.
“Now, mark the spots you remember.”
The treasure hunt begins.