Chapter 151
After etiquette training ended.
Carmilla and I returned to the Special Training Grounds.
“……”
The servants gathered at the training grounds all turned their gazes toward us.
Katarina studied Carmilla's face, then approached me and bowed.
“My lord. Have you finished with Carmilla's punishment?”
‘Punishment? It's not like I scolded her that harshly…….’
All I did was give her three pats on the bottom.
Then I gave her some juice, and we smoothed things over with a peaceful conversation.
But judging from the atmosphere, the kids seemed to think Carmilla had received some kind of tremendous punishment.
This time, if only to preserve Carmilla's dignity, it was probably best to hide the truth.
“Hmph. I merely gave her a little education. There is no need to concern yourself with the details.”
“……”
Katarina flinched.
I turned to Carmilla.
“Carmilla.”
“……Yes, Master.”
Carmilla cautiously stepped forward.
She walked right up to Katarina and bowed deeply.
“Senior Katarina. I was too excited earlier and committed a discourtesy.”
“……”
“Even though Master ordered me to stop, I failed to obey properly…… I even uttered outrageous words that I should never have said to you, Senior.”
Carmilla apologized in a trembling voice, genuinely remorseful.
“I am truly sorry.”
Katarina looked down at Carmilla for a moment, then calmly spoke.
“Raise your head. Our lord personally taught you a lesson, and if you have realized your mistake, that is enough.”
Katarina placed a hand on Carmilla's shoulder and added,
“However, from now on, obey our lord's orders absolutely.”
“Yes. I shall certainly bear it in mind.”
Carmilla raised her head in relief, then bowed to the other servants in turn.
“And I am also sorry to all my seniors for showing you such an embarrassing side of myself.”
Carmilla's cheeks were flushed pink, as if to prove how ashamed she truly was.
“Yeah. From now on, make sure you obey Master's orders.”
“I-I get excited sometimes when I fight, too…!”
“Lili's okay! I'll accept your apology!”
Siyeon, Sera, and Lili.
And the rest of the servants as well. Everyone accepted Carmilla's sincere apology and comforted her.
‘Good. That wrapped things up neatly.’
I nodded, satisfied.
“All right. You've all worked hard today, so go get some rest.”
I also prepared a new room for Carmilla, who had just joined us.
There was no need for me to give her any additional education.
Fortunately, like Katarina, Carmilla had been born with modern common sense already built in.
All she needed to learn was how to use the estate's facilities and how to live alongside the servants, and she would pick it up quickly.
“Yup! Big Sis Lili will teach you!”
“Heheh. I'm looking forward to it.”
In any case, Lili had been itching to teach her ever since we returned.
Lili looked happy to be treated as a big sister.
***
Thump—.
I flopped onto the soft bed.
‘Ahh. As expected, the bed is the best.’
Between summoning a new servant, watching the sparring match, and giving etiquette lessons,
I was so exhausted that I needed to rest and recharge for a while.
I lazed around for an hour or two before opening the system window.
‘Let's see. Shall I check my messages first?’
It wasn't only the Heavenly Demon who had sent me a message.
Because I had set an unprecedented record of 130 points in Chapter 2 of Floor 6 of the Tower of Trials, congratulatory messages had poured in from countless S-rank hunters and rankers around the world, even from the head of the Association.
[Sender: Kim Taeseong, President of the Korean Hunter Association]
[True Ancestor. I sincerely congratulate you on achieving 130 points in Chapter 2 of Floor 6. The Korean Hunter Association will always support your great endeavors……]
‘The Association president sent another incredibly long congratulatory message.’
It was more or less just congratulating me on setting a new tower record.
It also said that since the Association owed me a debt of gratitude for the Blood Golem incident and the Heavenly Demon incident, it would quickly prepare an appropriate reward.
‘Hehe. Rewards are always nice!’
[How commendable.]
[I hereby recognize you as my honorary servant.]
Feeling good, I sent the reply and moved on.
Then, I happened to open my inventory.
‘Huh?’
A familiar item was sitting in a corner of my inventory.
[Ceremonial Dagger (A+)]
The dagger Yair, the black mage from Floor 5, had offered as tribute.
It was the item I had lent to the Corpse King, ‘Corpse-Lover.’
‘Ah. The one-month rental period is already over.’
Time really flies.
Just then, as though it had read my thoughts, a new notification appeared in the private-message window.
[Sender: Corpse-Lover]
[I saw that you scored 130 points~!! Congratulations~!!]
[And thanks to the dagger, my research went really well too~ I'm super grateful~!!]
‘Oh, perfect timing.’
I was about to type a reply when I saw the messages arriving one after another and stopped my fingers.
[Come to think of it, there have been a lot of vampires wandering around lately~?]
[Are those guys different from the True Ancestor~?]
‘……Huh?’
The moment I read the question, my brows furrowed instinctively.
Those nasty vampires attacking civilians indiscriminately out in the world.
I found it rather unpleasant that noble beings like me and my servants were being lumped together with such monsters.
I typed back a firm reply.
[Those creatures are nothing but lowly blobs of blood with no connection whatsoever to me.]
[Do not call them vampires of the same kind as this True Ancestor.]
Then a prompt reply came back barely a second later.
[Ooh, so that's what it was~?]
[So what the climber forum guys were saying was true~?!]
[Then why not officially reveal it this time~?]
[It'd be annoying to keep getting lumped together for no reason, right~?]
‘Hmm.’
I rested my chin in my hand and thought for a moment.
Come to think of it, it was a pretty reasonable suggestion.
The fact that I was a vampire had already spread throughout the world.
These days, there were also reports of vampires running rampant in Seoul and various places around the world.
If I remained silent, I might end up being misunderstood for no reason, like during the Saint incident.
Maintaining an image of being dangerous and powerful was fine, but I absolutely did not want to become a true enemy of the world.
‘Oh? Come to think of it…….’
Suddenly, a story I had used in the murim came to mind.
The true Blood Cult and the false Blood Cult.
‘I can do the same thing as back then, right?’
I would declare that my servants who had inherited my blood were the ‘true vampires,’ while the vampires causing trouble outside were cheap knockoffs with nothing to do with me.
‘Oh. This is absolutely perfect.’
As luck would have it, all attention was focused on me thanks to the new record.
If I posted something now, there was no doubt it would have an enormous impact.
On top of that, I might even rake in a nice bit of sponsorship money as a bonus.
I immediately clicked the write-post button on the climber community.
A little while later.
[Title: Listen, you foolish mortals.]
[Author: True Ancestor (眞祖)]
Mortals. You are making quite a racket today as well.
There are some irreverent ones among you, but there are also quite a few commendable ones singing the praises of my accomplishments.
Therefore, today, I shall tell you a fragment of the hidden truth.
Those being called vampires who have recently been throwing the world into chaos have nothing whatsoever to do with me.
They are nothing but lowly, imperfect blobs of blood, fundamentally different from the servants who have inherited my blood.
It would be embarrassing even to call them vampires, so ‘mongrel vampires’ would be the proper term.
Therefore, do not dare mistake them for beings like myself.
It is most unpleasant.
‘Hmm. This seems just about right.’
I pressed the post button with a satisfied smile.
And before long.
The number of recommendations and comments began skyrocketing.
- The True Ancestor's official statement just dropped ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
- So True Ancestor really was a dark-hero vampire after all!
- Holy crap, then the vampires appearing now have nothing to do with True Ancestor?
- They're fundamentally different, but what does that mean?
ㄴ Seems like being treated as the same kind of vampire really bothers True Ancestor.
ㄴ Judging by how much True Ancestor loathes them, no wonder being lumped together is so intolerable.
ㄴ The wording is insanely harsh to begin with: “lowly blobs of blood,” “mongrel vampires” lol
ㄴ LOL, looks like True Ancestor got really mad.
- So, in one-line summary, True Ancestor and the servants are the real vampires, and the vampires roaming around these days are fakes, right? I mean, luxury brands have every right to get mad when there are too many knockoffs, yeah.
ㄴ Oh.
ㄴ That makes perfect sense.
ㄴ Mongrel vampires = Made in China lol
ㄴ Heavenly Demon) Made in China? What does that mean?
ㄴ Ah, Heavenly Demon, that's not what it means ;;);
ㄴ LOL, this guy is screwed.
“Heheh. Mortals are a little cute too.”
I involuntarily burst out laughing as I looked at the comment section.
Even while mixing in jokes, they were rather adorable as they seriously discussed the setting I had made up.
A little later, the community's other prominent named users began appearing one by one.
- Apostle of Light) Th-that… Is it really true?
ㄴ Corpse-Lover) LOL, did the pious Light guy get totally shocked by how serious this is~?
ㄴ Corpse-Lover) You misunderstood the good True Ancestor all this time, so hurry up and prostrate yourself~?
ㄴ Apostle of Light) P-prostrate myself? Please don't say such frivolous things…! And I've already apologized to True Ancestor privately!
ㄴ Corpse-Lover) Ooh, so you already prostrated yourself~?
ㄴ Apostle of Light) Ngh…! I mean, that's…!
ㄴ Apostle of Light) Sigh. In any case, I think I'll need a little more time to accept this story.
As expected, the Saint could not accept it all at once, but was clearly shaken.
Probably because I had shown them that Dark could use divine power back then, too.
Other named users' comments followed in a steady stream.
- 24-Hour Inquiry Welcome) Oh my~✿ Now that True Ancestor has said it personally, it's clear~!
- GodChris) Wow, this is huge news, isn't it? There's a reason True Ancestor's name is ‘True Ancestor’! It means the genuine progenitor!
- Nyangnyang Punch) ㅇㅅㅇ?!
‘Good, good.’
At this rate, it seemed like the reaction I intended was coming through perfectly.
I was happily continuing to hit refresh when—
- Artist) So it's the aura of the original, huh? I get it.
- Artist) Something blooming, a crimson truth, a rose.
- Artist) I want to see it again.
- Evolutionist) Interesting information.
- Evolutionist) True Ancestor. Would you read my private message?
‘……Vampire!?’
Two of the climber community's most notorious named users had commented on my post at the same time.