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Translator: M.S
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Hunt
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That day, I decided to face the reality I had long been ignoring.

On this side of the wall, glittering gold and treasures abound; on the other, it was as dark as smoke.

In the heart of that symbolic place, we gathered in a circle like we were telling ghost stories on a summer night, sharing the information we had long ignored.

As we cautiously made our way through the ominous rumors in the darkness, Daisy suddenly stood up and threw open the gates of hell.

“It’s not a rumor! That’s not a rumor!”

She shrieked, her voice striking the granite walls and echoing loudly.

“The rumor that children disappear every night? I saw it! Ksias’s men taking the children! I saw it! I… was almost taken, too.”

Daisy’s voice trembled, as if she were reliving the terror of that moment.

“Is that all? I also saw an entire village massacred for failing to pay taxes. I went there. The village… was completely empty. Relocated? It wasn't like that. There were no bodies, but… if you dug into the ground, damp, crimson blood would seep out!”

That wasn’t all.

Taxes kept rising, the gap between the rich and poor in Kushan City widened, people were kidnapped and sold into slavery, and influential figures would casually ‘execute’ others on the street.

The Count Ksias I remembered wasn’t merciful, but he at least knew where to draw the line.

Without that, he couldn’t have ruled the city.

But the testimony now pouring from Daisy’s lips was filled with madness.

“So… so we had no choice…. Us, too. We don’t know what will happen or when. In this crazy city…. To survive under this mad count, we had to get in with them somehow…!”

Tears welled in Daisy’s eyes.

The reality she encountered on the streets was hell itself.

She was terrified that what little safe territory we had was shrinking by the day.

‘So that’s why you were trying to become a vampire…’

With a fierce expression, Daisy wiped away the tears that brimmed in her eyes.

Sea, who was beside her, pulled Daisy into a hug and gently patted her back.

“You’ve been through a lot, our youngest.”

“Sea…”

Sea Millan. Twenty years old.

Three years older than Daisy.

This girl, the sole remaining heir of the Marquis Millan family, had always been a person of few words.

Her navy hair tied to one side, she was usually content to sit quietly with an expressionless face. But when she spoke, she would startle everyone with her sharp insights and valuable information, the sources of which were a mystery.

It was this same Sea who now declared,

“Everything Daisy said is true. After what happened to you, Lansen… the Count went completely mad. Frankly, I’m surprised he’s left us alone for this long.”

First Daisy, and now Sea was saying this…

Apparently, Kushan City had fallen into disarray since I’d stopped paying attention to the world.

So much so that it was impossible to live with any peace of mind.

I knew it. This was the right thing to do.

No matter how many times I considered it.

“We have to kill Ksias. For our sake. And for the city’s.”

At my words, Balseon voiced his concern.

“But… Count Ksias is strong. He was already a Sword Master, and now that he’s taken the true blood of Dlkashu, who knows how strong he is now…”

After all, Balseon had witnessed that blood-soaked night… the night his four younger siblings and the ten knights we called ‘uncle’ were all killed.

I understood his fear.

But,

“This isn’t a choice. How do you think a Ksias who’s gone this mad will react when he finds out I’ve recovered?”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

The outcome was obvious.

This was a fight we couldn’t avoid.

The monthly tax we had to offer Count Ksias.

The Count insisted that I, and only I, deliver the tax report. It was a duty I had to perform, even if I was so ill I could hardly take a single step.

When that day came, the Count would notice my recovery…

And he would crush me again.

“I know you’re worried, Balseon, but there’s no other way. The tax report is in three weeks, right? We have to settle this before then.”

“That may be true, but…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be thorough in our preparations. What happened that day… It won’t ever happen again.”

Having made that vow, I looked around at my siblings.

“First, I’ll take out Nagi.”

“Nagi? The one from this morning…?”

“Yeah. He said he’d be back tomorrow, right? I can’t let him see that I’ve recovered… so I have to kill him before he arrives.”

By killing Nagi, we would buy ourselves time until the tax report in three weeks.

This was the first step.

“Alright. In that case… I’ll draw up a plan to assassinate Count Ksias by tomorrow. You just focus on killing Nagi for now, Lansen.”

Sea’s navy eyes glittered in her expressionless face.

“Be careful. Nagi is anything but weak. Since you haven’t fully recovered, it could be dangerous.”

I gently patted Sea’s navy hair.

“Sea. This is Lansen you’re talking to.”

Only then did Sea nod, as if reassured.

* * *

“Hah… This is the life.”

Anyone who saw Nagi’s face right now would find themselves breaking into a smile.

“I wonder what fun today has in store for me?”

His face was just that radiant with happiness, without a hint of gloom.

It was the kind of expression reminiscent of a childhood spent kicking a ball with all your might, playing outside until sunset.

But a slight shift of one’s gaze would be enough to change that impression entirely.

‘Scumbag. He’s gone completely insane.’

I had infiltrated Nagi’s room.

The gruesome scene laid out in his room made me scowl instinctively.

Pale corpses were strewn about the room, bathed in the blue light of dawn.

In the midst of that horrific scene, Nagi smiled with a bright, carefree smile.

He stroked the cheek of a stiffened corpse.

“This one was especially tasty. How did you prepare it?”

“We prepared this one with special care. Find someone with great ambition, invest in them, and convince them they’re about to make a fortune… that gets them into the perfect state.”

“Ah, yes. No wonder it tasted of happiness. Prepare another one like it for tonight.”

“Yes.”

“Well then, shall we go see that has-been, Lansen? How about I drink my fill of two or three of the little brats today? Right in front of his face.”

“But… didn’t the Lord forbid us from directly touching the Vanroah family?”

“Ah, not all of them. We just have to avoid Lansen and his eleven siblings. So, it’s no problem to kill all the kids under sixteen.”

“I see. Understood. We will escort you.”

The young male and female vampires I’d seen yesterday waited on Nagi hand and foot.

They were all so casual about it, as if bringing people in to drain their blood and kill them was just part of their daily routine.

I’m not a particularly good person myself, but…

To kill people for sport… especially the very subjects of the domain they were supposed to protect…

That was crossing a line.

Suppressing my boiling murderous intent, I followed Nagi from behind.

Nagi lived in an affluent district of the inner city.

Past the neatly kept streets was a shopping district. Straight ahead, beyond the city walls, lay the outer district. Our base, the Ilneon Dungeon, was located in a rather remote corner of that outer district.

About halfway there, in a deserted part of the city with scarcely any people, I stepped out and blocked Nagi’s path.

“Hm? Did you come out to greet me personally?”

Shing.

The streets were empty. It was just Nagi and his two minions facing me. No more words were needed.

As I slowly drew my sword from its sheath, Nagi smiled.

“What’s this? Want another round? Think you can handle it? I can’t go easy on you today like I did yesterday.”

His grin faded as his eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? Why do you have a hand?”

His gaze darted around.

He looked at my left foot, planted firmly, and also peered intently into my eyes.

“Don’t tell me… your core has recovered? Did you drink an elixir?”

Bastard.

And now he was using formal speech.

Well, he must be shitting his pants. The Sword Master he’d insulted so much yesterday had suddenly appeared, fully recovered.

Shhhhiing.

As I slowly raised my sword and took my stance, Nagi also hurriedly drew his sword.

Without taking his eyes off me, he quickly gave orders to his subordinates.

“Go. Go and tell the Lord. Tell him Lansen has recovered his core. Don’t go the same way; split up. As fast as you can!”

“Yes!”

Perhaps sensing the dense aura flowing from me, the two vampires’ already pale faces went sheet-white as they fled for their lives.

Well, this was a bit unexpected.

“Was he the type to care for his subordinates like this? I fully expected him to use those two as bait and run.”

Nagi snorted.

Perhaps thinking there was no point in being polite anymore, he had dropped the formal speech.

“Do you think they could stall a Sword Master for even a second? It’s more likely that I can hold out until reinforcements arrive.”

“You think you can?”

“You. Aren’t you underestimating vampires? I’m a Noble Class, one of the Count’s direct bloodline.”

Nagi radiated his pride as a high-ranking vampire, streams of aura pouring from his body.

Blood-red aura unraveled from the tip of his sword like thread from a skein.

“My superior physique. My regenerative abilities that defy death. Combine that with this vampiric aura… and stalling for time, even against a Sword Master, is hardly a challenge.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Well, if that’s what he believed.

Strands of dark blue aura thread bloomed from the tip of my sword.

“Then try and block this.”

“Hm? You’re going to face me with Aura Threads, not an Aura Blade?”

Why waste words?

Without answering, I swung my sword at Nagi.

Paaang!

A mass of aura shot from the tip of my sword.

It was Aura Shooting, a ranged attack usable by high-level Experts.

A smile spread across Nagi’s face.

“You… your core hasn’t fully recovered yet, has it?”

He was right about that.

My core was perfectly healed, of course, but that didn’t mean my former vast reserves of aura had returned along with it.

Just like my right hand and left foot, which were still a bit awkward to move, my core also needed rehabilitation.

As of now, using an Aura Blade was a bit too taxing.

So I used Aura Threads instead.

Unlike an Aura Blade, which could shatter anything, these threads could be blocked…

So what?

“Go on. Try and block it.”

Flutter!

The dark blue aura, which had been flying straight, suddenly veered off course right in front of Nagi, erupting into a web of Aura Threads.

It moved with the freedom of a fluttering butterfly and the unpredictability of a cat twisting in mid-air.

Schlick!

“Huh…?”

Nagi failed to react.

My fluttering aura, trailing threads of energy, gracefully bypassed his own and struck home.

It slit his throat.

Without even glancing at Nagi, I swung my sword twice more.

Two streams of aura shot out like diving eagles and chased after Nagi’s two subordinates, who were already quite far away.

Scccchhhk!

“Kyah!”

“Aaargh!”

Thud—

One for each swing.

Three heads hit the ground, and three bodies collapsed.

“H… How…”

Nagi’s severed head stared up at me, his eyes filled with incomprehension.

I looked down at him and answered.

“It’s the difference in our control over aura. It’s why you can never catch up to me.”

The reason I became a Sword Master at the tender age of twenty-four.

The reason Knight Balseon was convinced I was a genius.

The reason I was ultimately able to kill Count Dlkashu, who was far stronger than me and had numerous subordinates.

My control over aura was special, and even now, that control was no different from when I was in my prime.

Aura, perfectly calculated and delicately controlled, can achieve feats that border on magic.

A half-baked fool who’d only reached the pinnacle of the Expert class by borrowing a vampire’s power was no better than a scarecrow to me.

“Impossible…”

Fwoosh!

Nagi’s head, which had been looking up with a vacant gaze, began to burn with white flames.

The same was happening to the man and woman who had fallen in the distance.

Their bodies would completely turn to ash and disappear.

Shing.

I sheathed my sword and turned my back.

Done. Now that I’ve taken care of Nagi, I’ve bought us time until the tax report in three weeks.

Now it was time to prepare to take down Count Ksias.

‘Let’s go back.’

However, on my way back home, I heard some unexpected news.

Daisy ran up, completely out of breath, and gasped out the news.

“L-Lansen! Lansen! Something terrible has happened!”

“Hm? What is it?”

“The Count! Ksias! He’s… invited us! To the lord’s castle!”

An invitation…?

An invitation is one way for a person to express goodwill and favor to another.

But the Count and I did not have that kind of relationship.

The last time the Count invited us, I… lost my hand and foot and was left a cripple.

And now he was inviting us again?

“When?”

“Three days from now. He’s summoned us to the lord’s castle.”

Just three days?

Goosebumps prickled the back of my neck.

What do you think?