Chapter 135
‘Sigh….’
It ended up like this again.
I swallowed a deep sigh.
“Th-this treacherous Blood Lord…!”
“If you would cross the Namgung Family’s threshold, kill us first and go!”
In front of the Namgung Family’s massive main gate.
The two gatekeepers had apparently scraped together all the courage they could, drawing their swords and pointing them at me.
‘You won’t sound particularly persuasive when you’re saying it while trembling like that.’
Tremble, tremble, tremble!
The tips of the swords in their hands were shaking violently.
Under normal circumstances, actual swords ought to be frightening, but with them this terrified, they looked less threatening than pitiful.
How had things ended up like this?
Just moments ago.
I had arrived at the Namgung Family’s main gate.
At first, I had considered sending only my servants, like Katarina and Siyeon.
But this was an important occasion directly tied to the quest, so I had come in person.
I hadn’t resorted to violence.
Nor had I threatened them to open the gate.
I had merely explained my business as gently and politely as I could, within the bounds allowed by [Noble Demeanor].
In other words.
“Tell the head of the Namgung Family that the Blood Lord has come in person.”
That was literally all I had said.
“Eek, eeeek…! Red eyes, white hair…? Th-the Blood Lord really has returned…!”
But the gatekeepers had reacted as if they had seen a ghost, utterly terrified.
One had run frantically into the family compound shouting, while the other two had drawn their swords.
“W-we absolutely cannot let them harm the family head!”
‘Who said I was going to harm him?’
I had only told them to pass on a message.
I had expected that they wouldn’t welcome me with open arms, but I hadn’t expected to be stopped at the gate itself.
‘Hmm….’
But on the other hand.
Since it had been a while since anyone had mistaken me for a dangerous being, I couldn’t say I disliked the feeling.
The True Ancestor faction on the Climber community kept slandering me every day, calling me cute and piping hot and whatnot.
It made me unconsciously start worrying about my own actions and way of speaking!
I was even worried about how much they would tease me if they found out I was actually a pathetic vampire. That was the thing!
How worried must I have been subconsciously
that I’d recently started having nightmares where a post exposing my identity made it onto the top posts of both the Hunter Gallery and the Climber community at the same time!
Then a whole group of ridiculously powerful registered accounts, like the Saint, the Heavenly Demon, and the Death King, would come looking for me.
‘Here, take this, you pathetic True Ancestor.’
‘Waaah, vampire. I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time. Please let me off just this once—anything but raw garlic!’
But then I would be forced to eat a whole pile of garlic without mercy….
It was a truly terrifying and horrible dream.
But.
At least in this murim world, I was being treated as an overwhelmingly powerful and terrifying Blood Lord, wasn’t I?
‘Roar! I’ll eat you up!’
If I threw out a threat like that, those gatekeepers would probably be scared witless, to the point of fainting.
I spent a moment amusing myself with that childish fantasy.
‘Vampy-cha-cha.’
Then I realized that this was no time to be fooling around and pulled myself together.
Ahem. I’m not usually like this, but I got a little excited.
In any case, with the gatekeepers frozen like that, there was no way I could get through the main gate as things stood.
Then I had no choice but to open it by force.
“Red Moon Blood Princess. Dark Shadow Assassin.”
When I quietly recited their names, Katarina and Siyeon silently appeared in the air on either side of me.
“The Great Protector, Red Moon Blood Princess, awaits your command.”
“Give the order, Blood Lord.”
“H-huh?!”
The gatekeepers’ faces went white at the sight of the two women who had appeared out of nowhere.
In truth, I had merely hidden them with Katarina’s [Veil of Night].
I had left Lili and Sera behind at the Blood Cult’s main headquarters and brought only two guards, since I was afraid that bringing several servants at once would make them panic, thinking I had come to wage war on the orthodox faction.
They don’t appreciate my thoughtful consideration at all. How disappointing.
“Open the gate.”
I gave the brief command in a voice full of majesty.
No sooner had the words left my mouth
than Katarina caused bright red blood to float above her palm,
Clack—!
and Siyeon raised her [Blood-Colored Claw Hand], its claws razor-sharp.
“C-could that be the legendary Asura Blood Claw Technique?!”
“T-that’s the technique said to tear flesh and bone to shreds if it hits…!”
“W-we’re going to die…!”
Already terrified, the gatekeepers squeezed their eyes shut, unable even to run from the killing intent of the two servants.
But I had not the slightest intention of harming them.
Shraaak!
At a single strike from Katarina and Siyeon, the Namgung Family’s gate was torn apart like a sheet of paper.
The gatekeepers were horrified.
“H-hwaaak?!”
‘……Uh. I hadn’t exactly intended to destroy the entire gate.’
I had repeatedly emphasized before setting out that we were going there to talk, not to wage a war of conquest.
Katarina had looked a little dejected upon hearing that, but I had firmly instructed them not to hurt anyone if at all possible, so the gatekeepers didn’t suffer so much as a scratch.
Instead, only the innocent main gate was left in tatters.
‘Well, it couldn’t be helped.’
They should have opened it in the first place.
This really doesn’t seem like my fault.
I stepped over the wreckage and entered the Namgung Family’s spacious estate.
It was when I had walked a little farther.
Tap, tap!
Figures came raining down from beyond the roofs and walls of the estate, surrounding us in a circle in an instant.
Clack!
Dozens of sharp sword tips pointed at us all at once.
‘Oh.’
These people were clearly elite martial artists.
Unlike the gatekeepers from earlier, their movements were disciplined, and not a single trace of wavering showed in their eyes.
“Blood Lord! How dare you come to the Namgung Family, and what business do you have here!”
The middle-aged martial artist who appeared to hold the highest rank among them stepped forward and shouted.
I answered boldly.
“I have come to meet Namgung Yeonhee.”
At my answer, the other side immediately voiced their suspicion.
“Was beguiling our young lady with evil demonic arts not enough? Now you’ve come to openly take her away yourself!”
‘Good grief. What beguiling? She hasn’t even joined my servants yet.’
I opened my mouth, inwardly dumbfounded.
“She left while receiving treatment from me and did not return, so I have merely come to ascertain the circumstances. Tell the head of the Namgung Family that I request an audience.”
“Don’t wag that vile tongue! There is no dialogue to be had with the Demonic Path!”
The middle-aged martial artist stubbornly shouted despite my perfectly reasonable request.
It was obvious that words would not get through to him.
I calmly warned him.
“Still, you would do well to put away your swords.”
“What is your scheme!”
Is it time?
I took out the ebony fan Lili had given me.
Then, with a light snap of my wrist, I stylishly flicked it open with a sharp swish!
“Huhuhuhu….”
“……!”
When my laughter rang out coldly, the Namgung Family’s martial artists tensed up.
‘Yes! Nailed it in one.’
Opening a fan stylishly. Laughing like a villain.
All that steady practice in my room whenever no one was around had paid off.
As I savored my satisfaction inwardly, the middle-aged martial artist bellowed.
“W-what’s so funny!”
“I am offering this advice not for my own sake, but for yours.”
“For our sake?”
“It is because my servants… are a little too loyal.”
Just as I had said, my servants were extremely angry right now.
Gooooo—!
Katarina and Siyeon began radiating an overwhelming killing intent in every direction.
They had dared to point their swords at me; if I hadn’t given them advance orders not to kill, they would already have slaughtered every last one of them.
“Ghk……!”
Even the Namgung Family’s elite martial artists were startled and forced backward by that overwhelming spirit.
At that moment, an old man with a stern expression walked out from deeper inside the estate.
“I have nothing to say to this treacherous demon! Attack at once!”
The man who appeared to be an elder finally gave the order to attack.
Ta-aht!
The martial artists charged at us from all directions, swinging their swords.
I issued my command calmly.
“Subdue them. Don’t kill them.”
“Yes, my lord!”
No sooner had I finished speaking than the two servants shot toward the Namgung Family’s martial artists.
Clang, clang! Crunch!
“S-she’s breaking swords with her fingernails?”
“Absurd sorcery…!”
Siyeon nimbly dodged the sword strikes, then shattered the iron swords with her sturdy claws.
Her attacks, slipping in like shadows, struck down the martial artists one after another.
“Experience the attack of this Red Moon Blood Princess! Blood Net Bind! Blood Prison Art!”
Katarina wove ropes of blood through the air and bound the martial artists tightly,
then imprisoned them inside enormous droplets of blood.
‘…I mean, those techniques don’t even exist.’
I quietly turned my gaze away as I listened to Katarina shout the embarrassing names of her techniques.
Katarina was definitely a natural fit for the murim.
Anyway.
The difference in martial power was overwhelming.
In such a short time that it was embarrassing to even call it a battle, every one of the Namgung Family’s martial artists had been subdued and was rolling around on the ground.
“Guhhh!”
At last, Siyeon even subdued the elder who had ordered the attack and slammed him into the ground.
Even amid that chaotic mess, I never lost my dignity.
I merely strolled past the fallen and continued walking forward.
“Enough. That will do.”
At my command,
“Yes, my lord!”
Katarina and Siyeon immediately stopped moving, dropped to one knee directly in front of me, and waited.
It was right then.
Accompanied by hurried footsteps, a familiar figure appeared.
“Blood Lord…?”
‘Oh! It’s been a while.’
It was Namgung Yeonhee.
I folded the fan in my hand and walked toward her.
***
Namgung Yeonhee quickly escaped the annex amid the commotion she heard from outside.
She had been confined solely to obey her family’s orders and rules; if she put her mind to it, breaking through the annex’s perimeter would not have been difficult for someone of her skill.
Thus, when she hurried toward the estate where the commotion had broken out, she stopped breathing at the sight before her.
‘The Blood Lord really….’
All of the elite martial artists the Namgung Family prided itself on were sprawled and rolling across the ground.
Even so, not a single one of them had lost their life.
Of those fallen all around, hardly any were even bleeding.
And at the center.
With the Blood Cult’s protectors kneeling on either side, their heads bowed,
the Blood Lord was calmly walking among the fallen.
Beneath a parasol embroidered with red flowers, as though she had merely come out for a midday stroll.
Thump.
Overwhelmed by the sight, Namgung Yeonhee unconsciously fell to her knees.
The Blood Lord, having approached close by, looked down at her.
A small crown emitting a red, radiant light rested atop the Blood Lord’s silver hair—one Namgung Yeonhee had never seen before.
Its shape and size were completely different from the crown worn by an emperor, but she could instantly feel that it was a symbol of a ruler.
Eventually, the Blood Lord parted her lips.
“The promised day passed and you did not return, so I came to fetch you.”
At those words, Namgung Yeonhee’s heart sank with a thud.
‘To… fetch me?’
The Blood Lord had not been disappointed that she had broken her promise.
Instead, she had personally come all this way for her sake alone.
“Did you suffer at the hands of your family while defending the Blood Cult?”
“……”
“It is commendable.”
Pat.
A small, white hand came to rest atop Namgung Yeonhee’s head,
Pat, pat.
and the Blood Lord gently stroked her head.
‘……?!’
Her heart suddenly began pounding far more fiercely than it had moments before.