Chapter 19
The second day of the exam dawned.
"...Nngh."
Acel opened his eyes to the sound of birds. Perhaps because he had slept on leaves, his back was quite stiff. He seemed to have some muscle pain, and his throat was sore too. Although he had set up a barrier and raised the internal temperature, it wasn't enough. He had wanted to greet the morning in perfect condition if possible, but his physical state was slightly worse than that.
Still, this was quite good enough.
Acel burned all the leaves that had formed his makeshift bed, completely erased all traces of magic, and moved on.
His destination was the riverside he had spotted yesterday evening.
What was needed in a week-long exam wasn't companions or cores, but stamina and food. The longer the exam went on, the more important water and food become. In this respect, the river was quite a good source of food. It could provide both water and food.
Acel didn't really need water. Since he could create it at will, it wasn't something to worry about much. But food was different. He had to obtain that himself. So he was heading to a relatively close river to catch some fish.
I'm not very confident in cooking though.
Still, grilling should be easy enough to do. Thinking this, Acel arrived at the river, crossing through the bushes.
The river was deep enough to reach the waist, but quite wide. He could easily catch fish by using shock magic or forcibly removing the water. He neatly folded his black coat and placed it on the ground, then rolled up his shirt sleeves.
At that moment, something suddenly popped out of the water.
"Huah!"
It exhaled its held breath and spat out water from its mouth. Acel prepared magic to attack but frowned when he realized the strange creature was a woman.
She was white all over. Not just her shirt, but even her hair was white. Her skin was so pale it was almost transparent, and her elongated ears hinted at her race.
"...An elf?" Acel muttered, but changed his mind when he realized her aura was much more turbid than an elf's.
There was a smell of blood mixed with the magical power he sensed. Among the various non-human races distributed across the continent, there was only one race that emitted such a strong blood scent.
"A vampire."
"Huh?"
The woman turned her head to look at Acel upon hearing his voice.
Then she smiled brightly as if she had found a friend and shouted, "Help me!"
"..."
"I can't catch any fish! If you help me catch some, I'll share!"
Acel stared at her innocent face, then smiled slightly and placed his palm on the water surface. As he manifested magic, a small explosion occurred under his hand. Thanks to properly adjusting the power, the impact of the explosion didn't reach the vampire. She made an "ooh" sound and came up onto the water.
"Are you a mage?"
"As you can see."
Acel continued to manifest explosion magic inside the river. Soon after, stunned fish floated up to the surface. The vampire exclaimed in admiration, and Acel caught them by drawing out magical power in the form of threads.
He left behind those that were torn apart by the explosion. Such fish were difficult to prepare and had little edible parts, making them inefficient. If there had been few stunned fish, he might have caught those too, but fortunately, more than five fish came up intact. This would be enough to get through today abundantly.
The vampire's eyes sparkled as she looked at the fish dangling from the threads Acel had drawn.
"Wow! You caught five! I couldn't catch any! Okay, I'll just eat one, and you can have the rest!"
"I'm not giving you any."
"Huh?"
She made a dumb sound and turned to look at Acel. Acel let out a hollow laugh as if to say, “isn't it obvious?” and said, "I did it all by myself, why should I give you any?"
"But that's…! Heeeng."
The vampire couldn't make any rebuttal and made a crying face. Acel ignored her grumbling and caught one of the hanging fish to prepare it. He concentrated magical power at his fingertips to cut open the fish's belly and remove the organs. He cleanly cut off the head. It wasn't an edible part anyway.
He roughly washed the blood off his hands in the river, brought some leaves, and lit a fire. He skewered the prepared fish on a branch and held it over the fire. After doing this five times, there were no fish left. Acel nodded with satisfaction and waited for the meat to cook.
Throughout this entire process, the vampire kept hovering around Acel's side. The faint rumbling sounds were all coming from her. She seemed quite hungry.
Vampires didn't sustain themselves solely on blood. Blood was just an essential nutrient for them to live. They, too, needed to eat food and drink water like others to survive. Although this was information he had seen in books about non-human races rather than directly observing their ecosystem, so he couldn't be certain, judging from her reaction, it didn't seem far from the truth.
"I'm hungry..."
She looked at the fish browning nicely, then whistled and pretended not to care when she met Acel's eyes. Acel burst into laughter at this sight.
"Do you want to eat?"
"Yeah!"
It was an immediate answer. Acel gestured for her to come closer. She ran over without hesitation and plopped down next to Acel.
Bothered by her clothes that were wet from being in the water, Acel stretched out his hand towards her to use household magic. She tilted her head and then grabbed Acel's outstretched hand with both of hers. Acel let out a hollow laugh at the soft touch.
"...What are you doing?"
"Huh? Didn't you want me to hold your hand?"
"I was going to dry your clothes."
"Aha!"
She chewed her lips and let go of Acel's hand. Acel immediately used magic to clean her clothes, then tore off a properly cooked skewer and ate it. The vampire watched him, and when Acel handed her a skewer directly, she smiled brightly and hurriedly ate the meat. It was quite cute how she ate with her cheeks puffed out.
"What's your name?" Acel asked.
The vampire swallowed all the meat she was chewing and then answered, "Elena! Elena von Valdemia! I'm from the Valdemia Archduchy!"
A surname identical to the name of the archduchy. Acel immediately realized that she was a direct descendant of the archduke.
The Valdemia Archduchy was a city and country established by vampires. In the past, when racial wars were rampant on the continent, they laid a refuge beyond a remote mountain range in the south of the continent to avoid unnecessary fights. The name of the leader of the vampires who led them was Valdemia. That was how the archduchy began.
Contrary to their fierce name, vampires were not an aggressive race. Although they needed to drink the blood of other races to survive, their method was considered very humane, so their reputation wasn't bad.
They never directly sucked blood unless there was mutual consent, and in most cases, they bought blood with money and drank it.
Although they fell into thirst and craved blood if they didn't drink for a long time, the amount of blood flowing into the archduchy was enough to feed all vampires and have some left over. Thanks to this, thirst was practically non-existent for them.
The same seemed true for Elena. Acel nodded as he looked at the half-full blood pack hanging at her waist.
"So you're a lady of the Valdemia family. Why are you trying to enroll in the academy?"
"Just because? It's boring to stay cooped up in the archduchy!"
It was a simpler reason than expected. Well, there must be people who thought like that too. Acel respected her will.
"There are several other reasons, but that's a secret."
"I see. Anyway, eat more. There's plenty left."
"Yeah!" Elena answered brightly and took another skewer to eat.
Acel burned the finished skewers to dispose of them and drew some water to take a sip.
"What's your name?"
"Acel. I don't have a family name."
"I see. Then Acel! Give me just one sip of your blood!"
"...Suddenly?"
Weren't we just exchanging names? Why is she suddenly asking for blood?
Acel frowned at her words that came out of nowhere, skipping all context.
Seeing his reaction, Elena hurriedly opened her mouth, "W-well, originally I was supposed to bring human blood, but I made a mistake and brought pig blood. I can't last a week with this..."
"...So you need my blood?"
"Yeah! For us, the blood itself is important, but the magical power contained in the blood is even more important. Just like elves absorb mana through photosynthesis, and humans or beastkin intake mana through food, we need to live by absorbing the mana contained in blood!"
This was something he was hearing for the first time. The books only had fragmentary information, so he didn't know exactly what they gained through blood-drinking.
He knew it was essential for their life activities, but this was the first time hearing about the internal details. Acel felt his interest piqued as he stared at Elena.
"Is the mana that can be obtained from pig blood limited?"
"There's almost none. Animal blood isn't very good for us. We drink it occasionally when we want to feel a bit of a kick?"
"What about a mage's blood?"
"It's a special treat!"
Elena's eyes sparkled as she leaned her upper body towards Acel. Her chest swayed greatly with the movement.
"Aura doesn't match well with us, so it doesn't taste very good. It's more edible than an ordinary person's blood, but it's no comparison to a mage's."
"Seems like magical power matches best."
"Yeah. It's also the most expensive, hard to get, and even when it occasionally comes to the market, it sells out quickly, so it's hard to eat!"
"..."
"It's delicious, and the vitality that fills you when you drink it is enormous. You don't need to drink blood for a while after that."
"So you want to drink my blood? To avoid drinking blood during the exam period?"
Elena nodded. Acel thought for a moment, then raised one finger to set a condition.
"Giving a few drops of blood isn't a difficult thing. But I should receive something in return."
"I'll do anything I can!"
Elena nodded with a determined expression.
Acel immediately stated his condition, "I'm interested in blood magic, so I want to observe the magic you use during the exam period."
"I use a power called 'blood manipulation' rather than magic though?"
"That doesn't matter. Blood magic itself is a magic that imitates blood manipulation, anyway. I should be able to get meaningful results by observing."
There was no library related to blood magic in the Witch Association's library. Alien magics like black magic, blood magic, or necromancy, which had a high possibility of causing mental instability as one built rank, were not handled by the Witch Association.
Acel wouldn't go mad even if he learned such alien magics. He knew that fact well. However, that didn't mean he intended to master those magics to the extreme. It would be enough if he could learn the principles and use a few magics that could be integrated into other types of magic or used flexibly.
Blood magic was the beginning of that.
"Is that possible?" Acel asked, waving his finger in front of Elena.
Elena nodded vigorously as if it wasn't a difficult request at all.
"Of course! I'll show you as much as you want."
The deal was struck.
Acel immediately drew out magical power in the form of an awl and lightly pricked his finger. A bright red drop of blood formed at the tip of his finger. Elena's eyes shone as she looked at the swaying drop.
Acel asked her while looking at her, "How should I give it to you? Do I need to put it in something?"
"Ah, no. Just give it to me directly."
"Directly?"
"Sprinkle it on my tongue!"
"What?"
As he asked this, Elena opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. In that state, she made a sound.
"Aah..."
"...This picture seems strange somehow."
Acel muttered this as he flicked the blood drop formed on his fingertip onto her long tongue. Elena closed her mouth after about five drops of blood fell on her tongue and savored the blood.
"...Mmph?!"
Her eyes flew wide open.