Is It a Bug?

Carmilla's cheeks had been burning red for quite some time.

Only after a long while did she let out a trembling voice.

“I am now, I-I fear, quite unfit to be married···.”

“······.”

Good grief, I told you I was sorry.

Of course, perhaps she understood that, despite my words, it had merely been an extension of medical treatment.

Carmilla did not complain about it either.

‘She must just be embarrassed.’

A vampire.

Especially a pure-blood, one of those who believed themselves a noble clan.

I had heard they were exceptionally closed-minded when it came to matters of sex.

A body that had never exposed even her forearms or calves in her entire life.

And yet she had been told that a man she had never seen before had washed her. How flustered must she have been?

“Aah, uuuu···.”

The girl muttered with her face buried in her palms.

It was only after quite some time that Carmilla came to her senses.

“Hm, mmm··· I-I apologize. I behaved disgracefully for a moment.”

“It is all right. I was dealing with an emergency as well, so I failed to be considerate of the finer details.”

“No! Were you not trying to save me? You are my lifesaver, and yet I made you uncomfortable. It was my own lack of virtue. I allowed myself to be swayed by petty emotions for a moment···.”

She spoke as though she had regained her dignity, but her complexion was still faintly red.

I deliberately chose not to point that out.

She was doing her best, after all.

I lowered my head first, then continued the introduction I had been unable to finish earlier.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Victor. By order of the late king, I am the knight entrusted with guarding Your Highness.”

“Someone my father had arranged···.”

“It seems the late king had already given you some indication.”

“Yes···. He told me on the day he passed away. He said that some of his subjects were hiding within human society, and that I should seek them out.”

Her eyes blinked as though she were recalling the past.

By then, the girl's breathing had settled.

Perhaps she was turning over those terrible days in her mind.

“You were··· the subject my father spoke of.”

“Yes.”

I answered without hesitation.

Of course, it was a lie···.

‘The late king's words were true. There really were many of his subjects living in hiding within human society.’

He simply did not know one thing.

That even those people had already met their end.

‘They were all murdered.’

The subjects who had been eliminated by the New Kingdom before they could even fulfill their orders.

In the end, that meant Carmilla had nowhere to stay.

So I decided to take on that role in their place.

“What did my father say?”

“He told you to hide among humans and gather your strength in the event that the dynasty fell.”

“Was that all?”

“He told me to take good care of Your Highness···.”

“······I see. Father···.”

A gloomy breath escaped her.

Her eyes were moist, but the girl desperately held back her tears.

It seemed her pent-up feelings were leaking through her clenched lips.

“Are you all right?”

“Phew··· Yes, I am fine. There is no reason for me not to be. I survived. I survived, and I found the subject my father spoke of, someone who would serve me. I was not murdered helplessly, and now I can plan for the future.”

“······.”

“Therefore, I am fine.”

Carmilla tried to hide it as much as possible, but her forced words only made it more obvious.

She was struggling.

Not letting those brimming tears fall was the best she could do.

“······.”

I, too, pretended not to notice and kept my mouth shut.

It was a wound that could not be easily comforted, nor should it be comforted too easily.

The greatest consideration I could offer was silence.

If I stayed quiet for a while, Carmilla soon spoke again.

It seemed she had calmed down to some extent.

“Th-Then··· you.”

“Please, feel free to call me Victor.”

“Very well! Victor··· Then, Victor, will you be my knight escort from now on?”

“That is correct. I intend to remain at Your Highness's side and assist you until you have gained sufficient strength.”

“How reassuring! A human who can block the Godslayer Crossbow and its stake with his bare body! And without getting even a speck of dust on his clothes! My father truly shared a friendship with an extraordinary man.”

“Thank you.”

Another lie returned naturally.

I felt a twinge of guilt beneath that innocent gaze, but I forced myself to let it pass.

It was all right.

Even if I had lied to you, I would keep my promise to protect you.

I shook off the complicated knot in my heart with a few pats.

“Your Highness.”

“Why do you call me, Victor?”

“As I understand it, pure-blooded vampires can transform into the form of a bat.”

“That is correct. I, too, possess that ability.”

“Excellent. Starting tomorrow, you will attend the academy with me.”

“The academy? You mean an educational institution where young humans are taught?”

“Yes. It is an academy known as the finest on the continent. It is filled with talented people, so forging connections there may prove helpful someday. To rebuild your dynasty, you will have to gather strength by whatever means you can.”

“I see···. You intend to cultivate a faction.”

Carmilla nodded as though she understood.

“But··· would it not cause quite a commotion if I enrolled? There may be humans who recognize my face. And since the execution failed, my uncle's faction will not stop pursuing me···.”

“That is why I asked.”

“Hm?”

“You should accompany me in the form of a bat. As you said, if Your Highness's existence were exposed, attention would inevitably be drawn to you. It would only be a matter of time before you became a target of the New Kingdom again.”

“I see···! Even vampires who have lived for a long time would find it difficult to recognize me in bat form. At a glance, it would be impossible to tell whether I was a spirit beast or a pure-blood in disguise. That method should reduce the risk of discovery.”

“I intend to report you to the academy as a spirit beast in my care.”

“I understand. I suppose I merely need to play along.”

I thought it over carefully.

If Carmilla transformed into bat form, she would be roughly the size of an adult woman's fist.

“Buying a separate cage would be troublesome. It would be uncomfortable for Your Highness as well. The pocket of my uniform is quite spacious, so you should be able to stay inside it.”

“Indeed, being trapped in a cage would be most unpleasant.”

“But··· will you be able to converse while remaining a bat?”

Was that even possible?

The structure of her mouth itself would be different from when she was human.

As I stood there tilting my head, Carmilla answered confidently.

“Do not worry about that!”

The silver-haired girl sprang to her feet.

Without offering any explanation, she jumped straight into the air.

Whoooosh-!

A red aura shimmered around her.

The next moment, the girl's form changed.

Color spread along her fluttering hair.

“Oh.”

Carmilla had transformed into a silver bat in an instant.

Her red eyes retained their mysterious hue despite her smaller form.

It flapped its wings and settled on my shoulder.

As I watched its strangely cute movements, a voice soon rang out inside my head.

[Victor!]

“······?”

Oh.

What was this?

[I can do this, too!]

“Your Highness?”

[Yes, it is I!]

“That is··· not a real voice. It is as though you are transmitting the sound directly into my head···.”

[Hehe, you noticed! In the mortal world, they call it telepathy, do they not?]

“How fascinating. I had no idea you were capable of even this.”

[You may be even more surprised! I am pleased that you recognize my abilities!]

So she had this function as well.

Intrigued, I exchanged a few more words with her.

‘Come to think of it··· this happened in the original too.’

There had been many scenes where she spoke with Lanne while in bat form.

It seemed telepathy had been an actual setting, rather than merely a game-like presentation.

Anyway, nice.

That solved the problem of communicating with her.

It meant I could easily bring her along to the academy.

‘One might wonder whether I really need to keep Carmilla with me all the time···.’

This was insurance.

Insurance for me, whose every stat was E-rank and who was the very definition of a weakling.

‘Carmilla is strong.’

Even though she had been sniped by a silver arrow and ganged up on by assassins, showing just how pathetic she could look, her pure combat ability was still enough to rival the top student of this class.

There was a reason pure-bloods were considered special.

Even before awakening, she could easily defeat an academy freshman.

‘She needs to protect me.’

I did have the Evil God's Mask, but it came with a limit on the number of times I could use it.

Besides, its abilities were so overpowered that I could not afford to waste them.

It was a card I needed to conserve.

If I did not want to die somewhere far from home, I had to increase my means of survival.

‘If I simply bring Carmilla with me, I should be able to get through dangers up to a certain level.’

I had certainly called myself her knight escort, but in reality, I was the one being protected.

It felt a little uncomfortable, as though I were deceiving her···.

‘Whatever.’

There was an old saying that even if you take the long way around, it does not matter as long as you reach Seoul.

All I had to do was keep the promises I had made to Carmilla.

Save her life, help her build a faction, gather talented people, aid her revenge, and help her reclaim the throne···.

‘Was that not enough to make it forgivable?’

There were lies mixed in for now, but all I had to do was make those lies into reality.

I had to help Carmilla anyway.

I needed to prevent the end of the world.

I wanted no part of a future where vampires started a war and reduced the continent to a wasteland.

Therefore, even a little deception was unavoidable for the sake of the greater good.

‘Carmilla gets to fulfill her long-cherished wish, and I get to avoid the end of the world.’

It was a genuine win-win.

Good for her, good for me.

A good thing for the Tyrannosaurus and the Micropachycephalosaurus alike, was it not?

Satisfied with that rationalization, I gently stroked the mask on my face.

“Hehe···.”

[······.]

“Hm? What is the matter, Your Highness? Your telepathy was trembling a little···.”

[N-No, it is nothing.]

“Please, tell me. Am I not the person Your Highness must trust most from now on?”

She had definitely trembled as if I had sent a signal directly into her brain.

Carmilla hesitated, unable to answer for quite some time.

[I-It is just···.]

“It is just?”

[W-Would you mind not smiling like that? It is not anything else, but there is something murderous about you··· It is a little frightening··· Ah, no! Of course, that does not mean Victor himself is frightening···.]

“······.”

I was hurt.

She found the way I smiled frightening.

I puffed out my lips to myself.

She could not have seen it because of the mask.

‘Anyway.’

Academy life had begun.

***

Another day passed, and the day of the academy entrance ceremony arrived.

As I had been informed beforehand, I headed toward the auditorium.

A teeming crowd.

Tens of thousands had been filtered out, yet nearly a thousand people still remained at the academy.

Their ultimate goal was to break through the fierce competition, move up to Class A, and graduate from the academy.

[What a harsh place this is.]

“I suppose it is. They are children receiving an elite education.”

The princess was in the front pocket of my uniform coat.

Peek-. She was adorably sticking her head out.

She seemed to like the roomy pocket quite a bit.

Apparently, it was warm and perfect for resting.

“Fortunately, we are not late.”

[People keep sneaking glances over here.]

“Well, it is not every day one sees someone walking around in a mask. I suppose everyone is curious.”

[Hmm, yes. Though there seems to be another reason as well···.]

“Pardon? What did you say?”

[N-No, it was nothing···!]

The princess's pointless muttering continued.

In the meantime, we arrived at the auditorium.

The entrance ceremony opened with great grandeur.

[How splendidly it is being held. They are even displaying a welcome message with magic.]

“It is the finest academy on the continent, after all.”

[Humans have achieved a fairly high level of magic as well.]

“Though it cannot compare to the vampires.”

[That goes without saying!]

We continued our whispered conversation.

After the flashy welcome, several congratulatory speeches followed.

<Congratulations to everyone in this auditorium on your admission.>

<Grandia Academy recognizes your talents and your potential······.>

A white-haired old man stood on the podium.

He wore a benevolent smile, and his voice sounded as though he was genuinely congratulating us on our admission.

‘That must be the famous dean.’

I thought to myself.

A former cultist slaughterer.

They said he had killed more than four digits' worth of black mages alone.

Apparently, he was revered as a living legend among the inquisitors.

‘You really should not judge people by their faces.’

To think he had butchered people with such a warm, kindly impression.

A chill ran down my spine.

‘And beside him··· is Professor Javer, the top professor?’

A woman with a frigid gaze.

She was the dean's adopted daughter and boasted no less impressive accomplishments.

She, too, specialized in exterminating cultists—the only inquisitor who could rival the dean.

I casually shifted my gaze and examined her.

‘She looks exactly like the illustration.’

Explosive curves, vivid red hair filled with the color of blood, and green eyes.

Her splendor made it difficult not to call her a beauty.

If Carmilla gave off a bewitching impression, this woman gave off a violent one.

Perhaps because she was one of the original's protagonists, her appearance was exceptional.

As I admired her for a moment, our eyes suddenly met—those deep green eyes and mine.

“······?”

[Victor? Why are you doing that?]

“Nothing. I just felt as though our eyes met for a moment···.”

[It must be your imagination. There are so many people here.]

“I suppose so.”

Right?

No, wait, was it not?

Getting involved with those two among the faculty would be a nuisance.

Please, let me avoid making a bad impression somehow.

<The next order of business is a speech from the freshman representative.>

<The speaker is this year's second-ranked student, Lanne Kihano.>

A blond boy strode confidently onto the podium.

His violet eyes sparkled brightly.

Our protagonist had arrived.

“It would be nice if you became friends with that child.”

[Hm? What a fascinating aura that child has. It is as though light is radiating in every direction···.]

“You noticed as well. She is one of the students with the greatest talent in this class.”

[Hmm··· are you acquainted with her?]

“We crossed paths briefly before.”

As we chatted, Lanne's eyes met mine.

Perhaps she had been looking for me as well, because she blinked.

Her delight was immediately obvious in her expression.

I gave her a small wave.

That alone was enough to make her eyes brighten noticeably.

‘What a cute kid.’

I watched her fondly.

I needed to help Lanne grow whenever I had the chance, but it would be difficult for now since we had been placed in different classes.

‘Should I arrange an opportunity separately later···?’

As I made plans in my head, time drifted by.

The entrance ceremony gradually came to an end.

It was not particularly boring for a school event of this sort.

Perhaps it was because seeing scenes I had watched on a monitor with my own eyes was so fascinating.

<With that, the entrance ceremony is concluded.>

<New students, please leave the auditorium and proceed to your assigned classes.>

It was finally starting.

The prologue was over, and the story was about to properly get underway.

Naturally, I was heading to the lowest-ranked class, Class E.

Carmilla, who had been hiding in the front of my uniform, asked a question.

[Class E···? How strange!]

[How can you be in the lowest-ranked class despite possessing such strength?]

[Are all humans truly this capable···?]

[What a terrifying race!]

[There must have been a reason Father always told me to befriend humans···.]

The bat trembled, having jumped to her own conclusions.

I answered with a smirk.

“No. I am only in Class E on purpose because of certain circumstances.”

Could ordinary students really block the Godslayer Crossbow?

If so, every race other than humans would have gone extinct long ago.

‘Besides, I really am weak···?’

Not just within Grandia Academy, but even compared to the entire continent, I was near the bottom.

This body could even lose to Carmilla in bat form.

I shook my head from side to side as I walked.

[Circumstances? There must be something in Class E, then.]

“Yes. There is someone I need to meet.”

The seed of disaster.

A girl who had entered the academy tied for last place with me.

I needed to find her and eliminate the budding danger.

“Here we are.”

A large building located quite some distance from the main building.

It was large enough to be at least twice the size of a university campus.

This entire place was a coffin prepared for Class E.

In front of the main gate stood a board displaying the students' grades and rankings.

‘I should be last.’

I had taken the entrance exam with precisely that result in mind.

Even in the lowest-ranked class, drawing too much attention would be a bad idea.

That was why I had deliberately chosen to come in last.

The best way was to live like a mouse, quietly and unnoticed, while snatching only what I needed.

‘Still, should I check it first?’

The ranking board drew closer.

Inside were the rankings for Class E.

But···.

“······Huh?”

Wha.

A question slipped out on its own.

[Class E Rankings]

1.Victor

2.Ruyan Zestar

3.Austin Vectorhan

4.Gerk tu Raban

.

.

.

27.Yeshua Holden

28.Alice

“Huh.”

The top-ranked student in Class E.

My full name was proudly displayed in that spot.

A situation that completely defied my expectations.

I could do nothing but mutter blankly.

“What is this?”

Is it a bug?

Is it a bug?