Chapter 33
“Haa··· That was a grueling night.”
Creak, clack-.
As soon as I entered the room, I plopped down on one end of the sofa.
Fatigue that felt as though it could melt me.
I surrendered my body to its softness.
A languid euphoria, and a sense of release.
‘Since possessing this body, today was probably the toughest day yet.’
Perhaps because of the muscle aches, my entire body throbbed.
Lying sprawled out, I sank into pointless contemplation.
‘The ranch··· It must have been resolved properly.’
For some reason, my mouth tasted stale.
There had been well over two hundred survivors.
Even though I had just set a record the original had never managed to establish···.
‘I couldn’t save them all.’
That thought had come to me.
No matter how many outlandish things I had done, saving everyone had been impossible.
Those who were already corpses, and those ghouls whose injuries had been too severe for them to survive.
Even feeding them Imaginary Parry had been useless.
By the time I arrived at the ranch, it had already been too late to do anything for them.
“Phew···”
I let out a troubled breath.
Perhaps because I had spent the entire night looking at so many crimson things, neither my body nor my mind was at peace.
The people I hadn’t been able to save continued to weigh on me, and I couldn’t help wondering whether I could have done more.
‘It couldn’t be helped.’
I wasn’t superhuman.
I was even less of a saint than the one the people at the ranch had looked up to.
Believing I could overturn every tragedy was arrogance, while despairing over my inability to save everyone was presumptuous.
But humans are···
A species that is arrogant sometimes, and presumptuous at others.
Since I was human too, I couldn’t help but be affected.
“······”
A silence slowly settled.
As I lay there like that, someone slipped into view.
A girl peeked her head out from behind the sofa. Silver hair. Red eyes.
Carmilla craned her neck, as though gauging my mood.
“Your Highness?”
“Victor.”
When I called her name, the girl quietly sat down beside me.
Was there something she wanted to say?
“You had a difficult time today.”
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that tonight. You had a difficult time as well, Your Highness.”
“There is nothing else I can say to you. How am I to express my gratitude···”
“Why would you say that? Today was an outing I forced myself to undertake.”
“No··· I learned and experienced so much.”
Her gaze was solemn.
In its presence, I couldn’t hold on to even a hint of playfulness.
The last successor of a fallen dynasty, and a sovereign who had witnessed her fallen kindred.
“Only today did I realize it. We had been walking such a terribly wrong path.”
“Your Highness.”
“The New Kingdom··· I knew it would be hostile to humans, since it was clearly a power led by the anti-human faction, but I never imagined it had fallen this far. Its dignity had been cast into the dirt, and there was not even a trace of composure to be found. And the cries of the countless people who suffered because of it···”
“It is not Your Highness’s fault.”
“No··· It is the kingdom I am meant to shoulder. How could it not be my fault? This happened because I lacked strength, because I allowed the kingdom to be taken from us helplessly. I failed to carry on the legacy of peace our ancestors had protected for hundreds of years.”
Clearly and distinctly-.
The words came out as though she were berating herself.
Even as she spoke harshly, her words were imbued with dignity.
“We must set everything right. Before something truly irreversible happens.”
“······”
“Victor.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If··· that day, in the sewers. If you hadn’t saved me, this opportunity would never have come. The opportunity to set everything right. I would have been executed after losing my kingdom, and remembered as the most powerless princess in history.”
A smile tinged with bitterness, but not wholly bitter.
The corners of the girl’s lips curved with tenderness.
“Thank you. For giving me the chance to stand again. For giving me the chance to become noble once more.”
“I merely did what any loyal retainer should have done.”
“And··· you will continue to remain by my side, won’t you? I am grateful for that as well.”
“Of course. I will remain with you forever.”
“Mm, mmm···”
The princess seemed satisfied with my answer, which had come without hesitation.
She awkwardly leaned toward me, then extended her arms.
Fwoom-.
She hugged me tightly, then pulled away.
It was quite a bold gesture for someone who had hesitated for so long.
I could feel the contours of her body through the thin shirt she wore.
Since vampires were a conservative race, I had thought she would have difficulty expressing herself like this···
‘······No, she is having difficulty with it.’
As expected, her ears were vividly red.
Heat was also creeping up her cheeks.
Unable to meet my eyes, Carmilla stammered out her thanks.
“Th-that··· as a token of my gratitude···”
“Is that so?”
I did not bother to point it out.
It would hardly be gentlemanly to tease her when she was trying so hard.
Rather than answer, I reached out and stroked her head.
“Victor···?”
She was truly admirable.
The night had surely been difficult for her as well.
She had opposed her own kind and witnessed all the ugliness they had committed.
For Carmilla, who took great pride in her race, it must have been incredibly stressful.
And yet, rather than sulk by herself, she had approached me to thank her retainer···
“Hehe.”
As expected, our princess was someone worth serving.
I quietly ran my hand through her silver hair.
Soft silk seemed to crumble beneath my fingertips.
We shared faint warmth with one another.
“Uu··· You fuss over me like this every time··· What a truly disloyal retainer···”
A small complaint in return.
Perhaps her tension was gradually easing, and sleep was beginning to overtake her.
Carmilla was half-melted, slumping into the sofa.
“You should sleep in the bedroom.”
“Mmm···”
I lifted the girl with ease.
Then I carried her to the bed and covered her with the soft blankets.
When I turned off the mana lamp beside her, the bedroom grew dark.
Only her red eyes gave off a faint glow within it.
Her mysterious red eyes blinked drowsily, as though sleep had already claimed them.
“Sweet dreams.”
“Yes, Victor too···”
Perhaps her stamina had been completely drained, because the princess fell fast asleep the moment she lay down.
I chuckled softly, then left the bedroom.
“I need to regain my strength.”
I had been troubled in many ways, but thanks to the princess, I felt as though some of my gloom had lifted.
I perched on one side of the living room table.
My hand naturally rummaged through my inventory.
I took out several notebooks I had stored inside.
“Hmm···”
They were items I had taken from the ranch.
More precisely, from the room of that bastard ranch manager.
I turned the pages one by one, searching for information that might prove useful.
‘I already know most of this.’
The notebooks contained rough plans for what would happen in the future.
As expected, the one handling the broadest framework was ‘Red Night.’
A calamity that would shoot down the sun and dye the sky bright red.
In the original, it was the event responsible for the Fourth Destruction.
‘I should start crushing these one by one.’
I checked the end of the notebook.
A single sentence written in code.
[This plan was recorded by Jersian.]
Jersian.
He was one of the New Kingdom’s key executives.
He was also one of the people who had pushed forward this ‘Ranch Project.’
Since he possessed so much information, I would have to squeeze him for everything he knew.
‘Is he the next target?’
As soon as I thought that, a quest appeared as expected.
Ding-.
[Main Quest]
-Title: Water Knows the Answer!
-Description: Secure Jersian, the vampire belonging to the New Kingdom. Make him submit through various methods of persuasion.
-Failure Penalty: Accelerate the progress of the Fourth Destruction, ‘Red Night.’
-Success Reward: ???
[Time Limit: 150 days]
Was this also being classified as a quest?
Judging by the time remaining, there seemed to be no need to hurry.
In any case, I could deal with it all at once by combining it with the incident that would occur soon.
I finished sorting through my various thoughts.
“Is it morning already?”
I closed the thick notebook.
It was almost time for dawn to break beyond the horizon.
I leaned back against the sofa and sank into a languid sensation.
Just as I was savoring that leisure.
“······Ah, now that I think about it.”
A forgotten matter suddenly flashed through my mind.
My schedule had been so packed that there was one thing I had merely tossed aside for the time being···
“My exclusive weapon!”
I had acquired it after clearing the seventieth floor of Purgatory, but its corruption had been so severe that I couldn’t use it.
I had left it soaking in the inner bathroom with holy water, letting it stew.
With everything that had happened, several days had already passed while I left it there.
Ding-.
[The refining of exclusive weapon ‘Dragon’s Scales’ is complete.]
-Acquired result:???
I confirmed through the status window that the refining was complete.
Then I headed straight for the second bathroom.
I felt a slight thrill of anticipation.
It had been the weapon I used most often in my previous life.
On top of that, it was a weapon that boasted incredible synergy with the Mask of the Evil God.
“Let’s see···”
The bathroom.
There was a lid covering the bathtub.
I gently reached out and lifted the cover.
As the inside was revealed at the same time,
“······!”
Fwoooosh-.
Blinding rays of light filled the bathroom.