Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Explanation and Resolution 

“How do you know about that?” I asked. 

Maybe Laura didn’t actually know and was baiting an answer from me. If so, then my question itself was confirmation, but I wasn’t exactly trying to keep Edel a secret anyway. Laura could do the same thing, so it probably didn’t make much of a difference if she knew. And she could enable others to see through an animal’s eyes, something far greater than what I could accomplish. It was hard for me to take issue with her. 

Besides, if Laura had wanted to do me harm, then she likely would have made it impossible for me to live in Maalt. I didn’t often think about it since she treated me so well, but she held so much influence in Maalt that she was effectively the lord of it. If she’d seriously wanted to do something to me, she would have forced me out of the city. That was why I felt optimistic about her intentions. 

“It would take a while to explain that, so I can tell you once this is all taken care of,” Laura said. “Anyway, look down below. I know you can see all of Maalt, but have you noticed anything about it?” 

I could have kept asking, but we didn’t have time to waste. If she was willing to explain later, then I was willing to put it aside for now. I did what Laura said and gazed down upon Maalt. 

“Is that a magic circle?” I asked. Parts of the ground under Maalt were faintly glowing. Looking at it as a whole, they appeared to form a gigantic magic circle. 

“That’s right, and this magic circle is ancient. It’s much larger and more effective than the modern variety. I didn’t think anyone still knew of these magic circles.” 

“Is what’s happening in Maalt the result of a large-scale spell? It would have to be very costly to cast this,” Lorraine said, and it sounded like her voice came out of nowhere. Hearing someone nearby who I couldn’t see felt bizarre. I needed to get used to it. 

“That’s true,” Laura answered. “I’m sure you all know what the cost was. The humans who were turned into thralls, the blood of those sacrifices, and when that wasn’t enough...” 

“Shumini sacrificed himself to make up for it,” Isaac said somberly. 

“I expect he used many magic crystals and magic items as well. That’s how difficult it is to trigger this spell. But he pulled it off, unfortunately.” 

If we ignored how wicked this deed was, we could call it a great accomplishment. But I couldn’t think highly of any spell that turned townspeople into monsters. 

“But what in the world does Shumini have to gain from this?” I asked. “Did he want to destroy Maalt?” 

Laura shook her head. “I suspect not. The effect of this spell is, to put it simply, the creation of a dungeon. He likely wanted to be the master of that dungeon.” 

“He created a dungeon?!” Lorraine cried. “Magic can do that? Is that even possible?” 

“There are many kinds of dungeons, but the type we see here is made with magic. They certainly exist, so we must accept that it’s possible.” 

“But why are the townspeople turning into monsters?” I asked. “I thought that dungeon monsters were summoned, or that they appeared naturally.” 

“That’s true of completed dungeons. As we said before, however, this spell comes at a high cost. Shumini likely paid as much of that cost as he could, and it still wasn’t enough. But the spell has triggered regardless, and the dungeon is absorbing the rest of what it needs from its surroundings. In fact, I would wager that Shumini knew this would happen and triggered the spell anyway. Look.” 

Laura had the bird fly lower. There was a flash of something like lightning that prevented it from descending too far. Next the bird tried to fly around Maalt and look for a way inside, but from every direction and any altitude, an invisible wall deflected it. 

“What’s this?” I asked. 

“The dungeon spell prevents anyone from getting in or out,” Laura said. “Not until the dungeon is complete, anyway.” 

As the bird flew around Maalt, I saw people ramming against the invisible wall and trying to get in. There was a familiar face among them. 

“I finally got back, and now there’s some wall in my way!” she shouted. “Rentt! I’ll be right there! Don’t slay the vampire without me!” 

She looked like a Gold-class adventurer I knew, but maybe it was my imagination. Just kidding, it was Nive, and even she couldn’t break through the wall. That had to be one fearsome barrier. 

“What should we do? Can we stop the spell by slaying the monster that Shumini turned into?” I asked. 

A basic rule of magic stated that without the caster to keep the mana stable, the spell would fail. That could mean that the spell didn’t trigger, it would trigger improperly, or another spell would be cast entirely. Whatever the case, it wouldn’t work as intended. 

“Once this spell is triggered, it will proceed to completion on its own,” Laura said. “Killing the caster won’t change that.” 

It sounded like there was no stopping it. I feared that this was the end of Maalt. 

“But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless,” Laura continued. “Every dungeon has something called a core.” 

“So we just have to destroy that?” I guessed. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You mustn’t destroy it. Rather, we have to take control of it. That will stop the dungeon from growing any further, ending this chaos.” 

“Can it be controlled?” I’d never heard of dungeon cores before, and I had no idea how one would control something like that. 

“It’s possible. You have to destroy the current controller of the core and touch it to become its new owner.” 

“And it’s currently under Shumini’s control?” Lorraine asked. 

“Most likely. He’s the one who used the dungeon spell, so I don’t see why he would grant control to anyone else.” 

It was true that Shumini had gone through a lot of scheming for this. It had also turned him into that strange creature, though, so I had some doubts. Still, he did say he wanted to entrust Isaac with things. Maybe it wasn’t that strange, but I wasn’t so sure that this was his plan. At any rate, I had to put that aside. 

I came up with an idea and asked Laura about it. “What if we just took some random puchi suri and made it the new master?” 

Shumini was pretty maniacal, so it was possible that he had considered making a pet puchi suri the master of the dungeon. Well, maybe there really wasn’t any possibility of that. Jokes aside, if the dungeon master were something hard to discover, nobody else would be able to take over the dungeon. It sounded like a reasonable idea to me. 

“Not just anyone can control a dungeon core,” Laura said. “The specifics of what is necessary depend on the size of the dungeon, but this is a relatively large one, so it would likely be difficult for an ordinary human to control. I think that Shumini had no choice but to be the master. If there were someone else of comparable power, that would be another story, but I can’t imagine there was if he was hoping to depend on Isaac. 

“And if this were a small enough dungeon that a puchi suri could control it, it wouldn’t be a problem for us had Shumini chosen to use one. It would be simple to defeat that puchi suri and replace them, like we’re trying to do now. However, something more powerful than the puchi suri could simply touch the core and overwrite their control of it. But the dungeon master has to be substantially weaker than you for that to work, and it could lead to various problems down the road. With Shumini as the dungeon master, it would be especially difficult.” 

There were a lot of details there, but it sounded like the gist of it was that we could figure something out as long as we beat Shumini. Our goal was the same as before. If we hadn’t known this, though, we might have been confused that nothing had been solved just by beating Shumini. Thankfully Laura had told us this. 

“Now it’s clear what we have to do,” I said. “Guess it’s time to go see Shumini.” Isaac and Lorraine nodded. 

“I’ll accompany you, if you don’t mind,” Laura said. “I won’t drag you down, I promise.” 

I couldn’t see how she’d be able to fight effectively in that dress. That said, she sure knew a lot. Her knowledge far surpassed that of the average human. Besides, she was Isaac’s mistress. She was probably more than right that she wouldn’t drag us down. Her peaceful and well-mannered demeanor must have been a facade. 

“My mistress is far stronger than I am,” Isaac said, confirming my suspicions. That meant she was leagues stronger than me, so I couldn’t complain. 

Lorraine and Nive were strong too, come to think of it. It almost felt like the women were stronger in Maalt as a matter of course. That kind of made it an uphill battle for me as an adventurer, but I had to accept the facts. Maalt had around a dozen sayings about not defying the will of women, so maybe this was just customary here. 

“Then let’s go together,” I said. “Is that fine with you, Lorraine?” 

Lorraine shrugged. “Yeah, it’s far preferable to having nothing but foul men in the party.” 

I didn’t think we were that foul. Isaac was a pretty handsome man. And maybe I could be described as suspicious, but not so much “foul.” Well, she was just joking anyway. 

“Thank you for having me, everyone,” Laura said and curtsied. It was adorable and elegant, but she was supposed to be way stronger than me or Isaac. I had to learn not to judge by appearances. She didn’t have a weapon, either, but it felt rude to ask about that. 

I decided to ask for details later, leaving just one important question. “What does a dungeon core look like, by the way?” I asked. We wouldn’t be able to control or destroy it if we didn’t know that. Not that we were supposed to destroy it. 

Laura made a face like it had slipped her mind. “There are many kinds, but they often look like black orbs. There are rarer sorts, but judging by this magic circle, it won’t be anything so special. I wouldn’t worry about it, and if it is something harder to identify, then I’ll know it when I see it.” 

A black orb didn’t sound like something I would accidentally smash, at least. I didn’t know if it was because of my new body or what, but I’d had more frequent destructive impulses as of late. I decided to reserve those impulses for Shumini. 

“Then shall we go?” I asked. The rest of the group nodded, and we entered the house. I felt like we were kind of unorganized, but it was to be expected. 

We descended underground. The passage was in a much different state than when we last left it, to our surprise. The first time we’d passed through here, it was an ordinary underground tunnel with a stone floor. It was well-constructed and had survived over the many years since it had been built. But what had once been a straight path was now a wandering one. It was full of unnatural twists and turns, and there were large bumps in the floor. It was still made of an artificial material, but it sometimes undulated as if it were alive. There were what appeared to be veins as large as pipes as well, and when I took a closer look, I could see them pulsing. 

“It doesn’t look like there’s much time,” Laura said. 

“Did the dungeon spell cause this?” Lorraine asked as we proceeded down the passage. 

“Yes. This spell’s approach is to treat the dungeon like a living creature, and it will keep expanding if we don’t stop it. This is a simple but very dangerous version of the spell. Oh dear, and the monsters have gotten stronger too.” 

Monsters jumped out from around the corner, and they weren’t goblins or slimes this time. There were three lizardmen with iron equipment. They weren’t remarkably strong monsters, but they were fairly powerful compared to normal goblins. Lizardmen weren’t found in the New Moon Dungeon until the fourth floor and beyond. It was questionable as to whether they posed a threat to this party, though. 

We all prepared for battle without exchanging a word. Isaac and I charged ahead and swung our swords, slashing two of the lizardmen’s shields. When Lorraine saw an opening, she fired several stone spears, landing lethal blows. 

This was all normal so far, but Laura dealt with the last lizardman. When she held her palm out toward the monster, a black void appeared in its abdomen and its whole body was compressed into it. Its bones cracked and its metal equipment crunched. The tiny ball that had once been the lizardman fell to the floor with a plop. 

“Shall we go?” Laura said. 

What she’d done was similar to my divinity-mana-spirit fusion, but it would take more than all the energy I had to do this even once. Laura, however, seemed to find it effortless. I could see why Isaac had called her strong. I wanted to ask all about it, but it could wait until later. We ran forward, desperate to solve this conundrum in time. 

“Looks like we made it,” Laura said just outside the room where we had confronted Shumini. 

“Well, I remembered the general location,” I replied. “The path was more twisted this time, but the route was mostly the same.” 

“So it seems. Dungeon spells change the structure of the dungeon over time, so thankfully we didn’t wait too long. I’d like to go in there now, if everyone is ready.” 

The room itself had probably remained unchanged, but the spell had constructed a door outside it. It was like the door to a floor master’s room that could be found in any dungeon. It differed only in that this door was more garish and adorned with ornaments. Maybe the dungeon master’s room was different from a floor master’s. 

“Yeah, we came this far,” I said. “We’ll just have to try.” 

“I don’t know how many other chances I’d get to see a dungeon’s ruler and a dungeon core up close and in person,” said Lorraine. “I look forward to it.” 

“I’d like to send him to his grave myself if I’m able,” said Isaac. “But I won’t demand that I get the final blow, so don’t hold yourselves back just for that.” 

I’d already thought about whether to try and give him that honor, so hearing that gave me some relief. I would have an easier time fighting then. 

Adventurers sometimes let other adventurers have the final blow for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps the kill would determine who got to take the floor master’s treasure. Or maybe it was simply for personal reasons, as in our current situation. Of course, making sure everyone survived was more important, so it wasn’t always possible. 

“Then let’s go,” Laura said as she put a hand on the door. We gripped our weapons and took a deep breath, imagining what would be on the other side. 

“It’s gotten a lot bigger,” Lorraine said. 

The giant monster was there, and it had grown since we last left it. It had been about ten meters tall before, but now it was around eleven or twelve. It had also grown wider. The only part that hadn’t changed was Shumini’s face on its stomach. 

When we stepped into the room, the creature roared at us. The loud, piercing sound shook the whole area. I could no longer sense any humanity from the beast. It was purely a monster, and I felt none of the hesitation that I would have against a humanoid foe. Well, I guess goblins counted as humanoid, and I never hesitated against them. I was only reluctant when I saw humans turn into monsters, like I had in town. When you’ve been adventuring for a while, you don’t hesitate so much anymore. 

The upright alligator monster came at us faster than I could have imagined from its large size, then opened its mouth wide. “Everybody spread out!” Laura said, and we scattered to the sides of the room. We would have done it whether she said so or not because we knew not to give it an easy target. 

The battle began. 

Isaac delivered the first strike. The monster shrieked so loudly that it almost could have collapsed this underground room, but Isaac ran at it fearlessly. Or maybe he was actually scared. His feelings about this big, tough, powerful creature were mixed with sorrow over the need to destroy his former acquaintance, and possibly former friend. I couldn’t look into why Shumini would give up his life to create this dungeon and serve as its master right now, but maybe Isaac had some inkling as to the reason. Believing Shumini’s actions to be needless, he gripped his sword. He blamed himself for not being able to stop him. That’s how it seemed to me, but maybe I was overthinking it. 

At any rate, Isaac was fast and aggressive. Given the abnormal size of his opponent, his speed seemed unnecessary. But the monster didn’t sluggishly throw its weight around either. Rather, it was relatively nimble for its size, and Isaac might have been eaten if he’d let his guard down. Its tail was also long and flexible, erratically waving around to try and strike us. It was hard to get close, but Isaac dodged the tail with perfect timing and steadily closed in on the alligator monster. 

As soon as he was within range, Isaac swung his blood red greatsword. The instant he slashed it, the alligator monster let out a cacophonous cry. It faced Isaac and opened its gargantuan mouth wide. Isaac jumped away with shock just as it fired a beam of light from its mouth. It was more like a laser than fire breath, and it scorched the floor, leaving a line of melted ground. A hit from that would blow a hole in me. It probably wouldn’t kill me, though. Unless it struck my head. That might be bad. 

But it seemed it couldn’t use that attack more than once in a row. Instead, the alligator monster closed its mouth and charged at Isaac to try and crush him. Its bloodshot eyes glowered at him. Maybe its memories from when it was Shumini had some influence on it. It seemed kind of fixated on Isaac. I felt bad for him, but at least that made the monster predictable. 

Lorraine seemed to realize the same thing and began to cast a powerful spell with a somewhat long incantation. That meant my job was to hold the monster back. I ran at the alligator monster. The flailing tail got in my way, but its focus on Isaac made it sloppy. It wasn’t too hard to get near it and swing my mana-filled sword. 

The monster’s hide was hard to pierce, but not impossible. My sword sliced through its skin, and I felt it enter the flesh underneath. It wasn’t that deep a wound, but this was only my first strike. I pondered whether to go in for another blow or to retreat, but then the monster noticed that I’d struck it and tried to ram me with its colossal head. I did the latter and dodged its headbutt. 

I jumped on its head and slashed down at its skull. Unlike before, I felt my sword slide cleanly inside thanks to the additional mana I’d packed into it. It came at significant cost to me, but I had to be able to cut into the monster somehow. It got results, so I decided it was worthwhile. 

I thought that maybe piercing the head had killed it, but only for a moment. The alligator monster let out something between a cry, a scream, and an intimidating roar, and its body trembled. I knew it was trying to shake me, so I decided to jump off like it wanted. Thankfully, its back was at a very steep slant rather than perfectly straight, so I was able to slide down. 

I got some distance from it just as Lorraine finished casting her spell, firing a vortex of lightning from her wand. It was a high-level spell called Barrack Ceara, and it was powerful enough to incinerate a hundred goblins. It was one of Lorraine’s more powerful spells. Not even a giant monster would be able to take a hit from it unscathed. 

The spell tore into the alligator monster’s body and even struck its innards with lightning. It lasted for over ten seconds and filled the room with the smell of burnt flesh. It was kind of grotesque, but it didn’t seem like this monster would go down to anything less. 

By the time the lightning had subsided, a huge lump of charred flesh remained. I wondered if it might be dead, but not for long. 

“It’s not over yet!” Laura shouted as the alligator monster began to regenerate. Its skin recovered as if time was moving in reverse, and in the end, it returned to its original state. 

“Well, I didn’t expect it to be that easy,” I muttered. 

“But it looks like it at least did some damage,” said Isaac, who had gotten next to me at some point. He pointed out a part of the monster’s body that hadn’t recovered. 

“I guess we can do this if we try hard enough.” 

“Yes.” 

We attacked the alligator monster once again. 

I don’t know if it was due to the damage we’d dealt or something else, but the monster slunk down to stand on all fours. It looked like a giant alligator in the first place, so this looked more natural. But if I’d thought it would be easy just because it seemed like a typical alligator, no doubt I would’ve been taken by surprise, so I braced myself. After a decade of experience, I knew to be cautious—not that the other three weren’t. 

The monster began to move. It was by no means slow when it was standing upright, but it seemed more suited to this posture. It glided across the ground and spun, its tail flicking much faster than before. I wanted to ask why it ever stood upright in the first place, but only the monster would know, and I didn’t expect it to answer. 

Isaac and I tried to slash at the monster, but to no avail. It nimbly dodged our attacks by rolling out of the way. 

“Get away from it!” Laura shouted. 

The instant we did, a black orb appeared just above the monster. It looked the same as the black hole Laura had used on the lizardman in the hallway, but this one seemed to have entirely different effects. It didn’t compress the monster into its center. Whether that was because it couldn’t or simply wouldn’t, I didn’t know. Instead, it pinned the monster to the ground the moment it appeared. I heard a crackling sound and saw the ground sinking slightly, so the orb was probably pushing it down with incredible force. 

Isaac and I saw this as our chance to attack. We looked at each other and ran at the monster. When we got right in front of it, Laura dispelled the black orb. Her spell probably affected everything within a certain radius, so she canceled it before we got within range. Now that we were this close, we wouldn’t miss. Isaac and I slashed at the monster, and unlike before, we both landed a hit. 

Isaac took out one of the monster’s eyes, and it screamed out in anguish and rolled around. It was so massive that it shook the room when it rolled. We expected it to recover soon enough, but we could rack up more damage if we kept pushing, so we ran after the monster. The instant we did, though, it stopped rolling. 

Its stomach was facing us. I took a close look at Shumini’s face and saw that his once closed eyes were now open and glaring at us. His mouth was moving like he was reciting an incantation. We couldn’t hear all of it, but Isaac and I could make out the final part. 

“Hell’s Flame,” Isaac said as a huge magic circle materialized on the floor. 

The circle was big enough to cover the whole room, and considering what that meant about its range, that wouldn’t end well for us. Maybe Isaac, Laura, and I could manage, but I wasn’t sure about Lorraine. I was about to head over to her, but I saw her staring at us and grinning. It looked like she was going to be fine. Magic was her specialty, so I didn’t have to worry about her when it came to spells, I guess. I just had to worry about myself. 

There was nowhere in the room that I could run to, though. I just conjured up a shield around myself and used spirit to enhance my body. Now I would at least survive. 

Right when I finished, the magic circle glowed and there was a loud roar. Searing fire consumed the whole room. My surroundings turned white with a bit of crimson, destroying my shield. Then it burned me directly, but thanks to my spirit, it wasn’t so bad. Thank goodness I’d trained as much as I had. My face still hurt, but the shield kept me from having to endure that for too long. 

The color returned to my surroundings and the fire disappeared. I checked my body and found severe burns on everything not covered by my robe. Miraculously, the robe hadn’t burned at all. The burns healed in less than a minute too. 

The entire rest of the room was charred. Regardless, Laura was unharmed and Lorraine seemed mostly fine too. Isaac looked like an incinerated corpse, but he regenerated before my eyes. I’d seen my own wounds regenerate a number of times before, but now that I was seeing it from an outsider’s perspective, it looked pretty grotesque. Next thing I knew, he was back to his old handsome self. All of his clothes had been burned too, but now they were back on him. I wondered how that was possible, but it wasn’t important right now. 

I looked for the monster and found it clinging to the ceiling, staring at us. It was breathing deeply, exhausted after this last attack. Thankfully, it couldn’t use the same spell more than once in a row, or I’d be done for. Laura and Lorraine seemed like they could take it, but Isaac might have a hard time being burnt to a crisp over and over. It was about time to finish this. 

The way it kept regenerating was a problem, but we just had to keep attacking. If that didn’t work, we could think about what to do next when the time came. We knew most of this monster’s tricks by now, so we could take some risks. Maybe I was being too optimistic, but letting this fight drag out would be riskier. It was worth a try. 

I started to run. Lorraine cast a lightning spell on the monster, striking it so it fell from the ceiling. Now it was my turn, but I couldn’t think of what to do about a constantly regenerating opponent. From what I could see, though, the monster’s stamina and regenerative abilities weren’t limitless. Vampires couldn’t regenerate forever either, so assuming this monster’s regenerative abilities came from Shumini, it stood to reason that it couldn’t last forever. There were parts of it that didn’t fully recover from before too, so it was highly likely that it couldn’t regenerate quite as well as a vampire. I decided to take the most simple approach and just keep attacking it. 

Isaac and I flailed our swords at the monster. We split up between its head and its tail because we couldn’t decide on one place to target and because fighting next to Isaac was pretty limiting due to his broadsword. I wasn’t sure who should go where at first, but Isaac quickly chose the head. That was the more dangerous area, but given his strength, it was the right decision. I was likely the weakest person in the room. I was a little stronger than I used to be, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be the weakest link in a party. That was the case for this party, but in most parties, I would at least be decent. Or so I hoped. But that was enough about my lack of confidence. 

In any case, Isaac struck the monster’s head while I sliced at its lower half from behind. We were much more accurate than before thanks to how much the monster had slowed down. It was still regenerating, but its energy was running low. I assumed that was why it couldn’t move as fast as before. Its tail whip was still brutal, however. I could dodge it well enough for now, but a hit from that would send me flying. 

“Rentt, Isaac!” Lorraine shouted. 

She had finished casting a spell. Isaac and I sensed the magic behind us and got out of the way. Dozens of thin ice spears assaulted the monster. Not only did they stab it, but they froze the flesh they pierced and encased the monster in ice. Now that it was fully immobilized, Laura ran up and climbed onto the monster’s back. She held her hand down toward it and launched a black orb into its body. 

I thought it would be crushed like that lizardman, but the opposite happened. First I heard an explosion, then the ice broke and the monster’s body burst apart. Chunks of its flesh scattered about the room. I didn’t think it could recover from that, but then the pieces of its body began to slide across the floor, trying to gather in one spot. They were extremely slow, and there was no way it could regenerate immediately, but I had a feeling that the parts would fuse back together if we didn’t do something. 

“Let’s burn the pieces,” Laura said. 

We approached the largest chunks first and burned them to ash. When Isaac approached an especially large piece, he grimaced. It was the stomach that featured Shumini’s face. He still seemed to have a mind of his own and looked at Isaac. There was no hatred in his eyes. It was like he was looking at a close friend. 

“Shumini, where did you go wrong?” Isaac asked, but Shumini didn’t answer. He just smiled at Isaac. Whether that was because he could no longer talk or because he simply wasn’t interested, only Shumini knew. But Isaac knew what he had to do. He held up the bloody broadsword that so clashed with his noble appearance. “Farewell,” he said, and he cut the face that once belonged to Shumini in two. It didn’t scream or curse him. The two severed pieces turned to ash. 

As if that was the core of the monster, the other chunks of flesh turned to ash as well. It saved us the trouble of burning everything ourselves, but Isaac didn’t look cheerful. He probably had a lot on his mind. I was in no position to say anything, so I just kept quiet. 

Isaac seemed to get his feelings in order after a bit. “We defeated Shumini. Shouldn’t we look for the dungeon core?” Isaac asked Laura. 

She avoided mention of what Isaac had done. “Yes, it’s probably nearby. Let’s proceed further inside,” she said. 

There was only one path deeper into the dungeon. The core had to be that way. We headed down the path. 

“This looks like the place,” Laura said. 

We were at a blue door. I sensed some bizarre pressure coming from it. Unlike the door to Shumini’s chamber, it wasn’t especially huge, but I felt a strange energy when I stood in front of it. Maybe I was sensing the dungeon core’s presence. 

“Is everybody ready? I’m going to open it,” Laura said. 

When we nodded, she put a hand on the door. It opened more easily than I thought it would. Then we saw what lay beyond it. 

“This is unexpected,” she muttered. 

There we found a black orb like Laura had described, but it was buried in the left hand of Rina Rupaage. 

“Why is Rina here?” I blurted out. 

Laura pried her eyes away from Rina and looked at me. “Do you know her?” she asked. 

“Yeah, she’s a new adventurer who I met in a dungeon. Without her, I wouldn’t have even been able to enter town.” 

If Rina hadn’t accepted me and taken such a positive outlook, my spirit might have broken. It was easy to stay optimistic when she was around. And while she was still new at adventuring, her swordsmanship was sharp and she had potential. 

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked. “Is that black orb on her hand the dungeon core?” I also wanted to know whether Rina was safe. 

“Yes,” Laura answered nervously. “That’s definitely the dungeon core. But to be more specific, both Rina and the orb are likely functioning as the dungeon core.” 

“So what’s going to happen to Rina? Can she be saved?” 

“First, I’ll have to check if Rina is still human or not.” 

We were taken aback by that, but Rina had clearly been kidnapped by Shumini. I didn’t know when that had happened, though. Raiz and Lola were in a party with her, but I hadn’t gotten much of a chance to speak to them earlier. They’d probably come in search of Rina and had gotten captured. 

Also, Shumini had been a greater vampire. I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but if Rina was here as the dungeon core, presumably Shumini had made her follow his orders. If so, then making her into his servant would have been the fastest way to make that happen. 

Laura waited for us to come to that conclusion before she continued. “If she’s not human, then we’ll have to solve that first, which will take a bit. But not to worry. No matter what happens, I can help Rina be herself again,” Laura said. 

That was a huge relief to hear. I didn’t know what Laura was, but I believed she could do what she said she could. 

Laura approached Rina and touched her. Rina squirmed. She was floating in midair, so she moved in an odd way. Of course, Laura didn’t let Rina escape her hand, instead seizing her arm. Then Laura cut part of Rina’s arm with her nails. Laura looked at the blood, and her eyes flashed red for a moment. “Oops,” she whispered, and her eyes turned sky blue again. Laura looked at the cut for a few seconds, and then it disappeared. It happened slower than it would have for me or Isaac, but no human would regenerate that quickly. 

“I knew it. He turned Rina into his servant,” Laura said. 

“So Rina’s a thrall?” I asked. When a vampire created a servant, that was usually what it was. They could later evolve into lesser vampires, but lesser vampires supposedly couldn’t be created from scratch. 

But Laura shook her head. “No, Rina seems to be a lesser vampire. I don’t see any rotting on her body, and while it’s not real, she has some simulated blood flow.” 

“But I thought vampires couldn’t make lesser vampires,” Lorraine pointed out. “That’s what they say, anyway.” As a monster researcher, this must have been of some interest to her. 

“It takes a lot of energy, but it is actually possible for some vampires to create lesser vampires. However, it can only be done once or twice in their lives. It’s mostly used on romantic partners or whomever else they might particularly like. It’s hard to believe that Shumini thought of Rina that way, though, so I would guess it was a necessary step to connect her to the dungeon core. As I said before, controlling the dungeon core demands a certain degree of strength. It would be difficult for an ordinary human or a thrall. A lesser vampire could just barely manage to do it.” 

“Why didn’t he just control it himself?” I asked. 

“Dungeon masters have certain limitations. I assume he wanted to avoid those. Having a servant do it instead let him control the dungeon without those limitations, so it was a logical decision. This method has been in use for ages.” 

“For ages?” Lorraine repeated with confusion, but Laura didn’t elaborate. 

“At any rate, leaving her as Shumini’s servant will pose a problem for us,” Laura said. “Even after their master is dead, a vampire’s servant must obey them to some extent. After we remove her as the dungeon master, I can’t promise that she won’t continue Shumini’s work. Let’s free her.” 

It might have been amusing to see Rina act like Shumini if it wouldn’t have done any harm, but obviously it would hurt the people of Maalt. I doubted that Rina would want to do that either. 

“But how?” I asked. “There’s no way to turn a thrall back into a human. Why would there be a way to do it for vampires?” And if there were a way, I’d want to test it on myself first. My ultimate goal was to become human again, after all. 

“When did I say I could turn Rina human again?” Laura asked. 

“Huh? But you said you’d save her.” 

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean turning her back into a human. I’d do that if I could, of course, but I can’t. All I can do is free her from being Shumini’s servant.” 

I didn’t know how to feel about that. She wouldn’t have to follow Shumini’s orders and do something she didn’t want to, but she would still be stuck as something inhuman. I knew how that felt because it had happened to me, and it had left me with a lot of melancholy. For Rina, I suspected that it would be rough. But it sounded like Laura couldn’t do anything about that. If so, then preventing Shumini’s will from controlling her was the least we could do. 

“How can we free Rina from Shumini’s control?” Lorraine asked. “I’ve heard that once a vampire becomes a servant, they’re stuck that way for the rest of their lives.” 

“It’s possible to change that, just not on their own,” Laura answered. “I don’t know all the rules regarding this either, but vampires aren’t supposed to go after one another’s servants. Vampires end up serving the same master forever because of that, but it is actually possible for a vampire to take someone else’s servant for themselves.” 

In other words, someone else just had to take Rina as their servant. Specifically, another vampire would have to do it. That meant we had to talk about something that had thus far gone unquestioned. 

“I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now. Isaac and I are vampires too. That’s why I know all of this,” Laura said nonchalantly. It was already pretty obvious, so she probably wasn’t trying to hide it. 

“Do you know about me too?” I asked vaguely. 

“Well, yes. That blood was helpful to you, wasn’t it?” 

She meant the vampire blood that she’d given me before. I guess she’d known it back then, and that’s why she had shown me the blood. Her acting had been so natural that I’d had no idea. 

“Yeah, I’d like to talk about that, but let’s focus on Rina right now,” I said. 

“Right. At any rate, if another vampire makes Rina their servant, that will solve that problem. That just leaves the question of who should do it. Rentt, I think it would be best if you did.” 

“I guess I could. I’ve never done it before, though,” I replied, but the mouse on my shoulder pounded on my head. “Well, I’ve only done it with a puchi suri. And that was just by coincidence, so I don’t know what I should do.” 

“We’ll help with that.” 

“Wouldn’t it be more likely to work if you or Isaac did it?” 

If I accidentally did it wrong, I would never live it down. Rina had a future ahead of her, and I would hate to ruin that. Although, I didn’t know what kind of future awaited her as a vampire. But the same applied to me and I didn’t really want to think about it. I still hadn’t given up on anything, at least. 

“No, that wouldn’t do,” Laura said. 

“Why? You’re both much more powerful than me.” 

“That’s not wrong, but it isn’t quite right either. Isaac and I are vampires, but you’re a little different, Rentt. That difference will likely determine whether Rina lives or dies.” 

“I’m different? You mean I’m not a vampire?” 

“Well, about that—” Laura said, but she was interrupted when something rumbled. The walls pulsed harder and the room expanded. “We don’t have any time. If we don’t do something, all of Maalt will be turned into a dungeon. Rentt, let’s put the details aside for now and hurry.” 

“But what should I do?” 

“Suck some of her blood, and let some of your blood flow into her through your fangs. It’s simple.” 

I don’t know if it was because she was in a rush, but Laura hadn’t elaborated on much. I figured there wasn’t time to ask for more details, so I approached Rina, wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and brought my mouth close to her skin. I bit down and felt her skin break. I tasted blood—and it was exhilarating—but this was no time to savor it. The blood sommelier wasn’t on the job today. 

After I sucked some blood, I focused on letting some of my own enter her through my fangs. I wondered if it would even work, but to my surprise, I was able to make blood flow from the tips of my fangs. I didn’t know if I was doing it right, though. I sucked around a tenth of Rina’s blood and provided her with about the same quantity of mine. 

As with my experience with Edel, it felt like I had connected to something, but not as clearly as before. Maybe it was because Rina was unconscious. I was worried about whether it worked, so I looked to Laura. 

“It all worked fine,” she said. “Rina is now your servant. Now there’s one last thing.” Laura stared at the dungeon core submerged in Rina’s hand. 

It had turned out that I was able to make Rina my servant, but I had no idea what to do about the dungeon core. It was supposedly possible to control it by touching it, but this dungeon core appeared to have completely fused with Rina. That seemed impossible to change through normal means. 

“What should we do?” I asked Laura. 

“Nothing too complicated. Someone simply has to take the dungeon core into themselves. But that would be difficult for you, Rentt, and Lorraine or Isaac certainly couldn’t do it either. It would be different with a normal dungeon core, but I can’t teach you how to absorb this one when it’s been fused with Rina. I’ll have to do it myself, but I wish I had a little more time. Rentt, look this way for a bit.” 

I cocked my head and faced Laura. She suddenly scratched her wrist, pried my mouth open, and let her blood pour inside. I was surprised, but my vampiric love of blood forced me to swallow. Once Laura saw that I had, she looked deeply remorseful. 

“I’m sorry, but there’s very little time. I had to be a bit violent,” she said and pulled her arm away from me. 

Her wound instantly healed, of course. She regenerated faster than Isaac or I did. It almost looked like a magic trick. I knew we had no time because the city was transforming into a dungeon, but I didn’t know why Laura had done that. 

Laura walked up to Rina, took her left arm, and touched the dungeon core. “Rentt, there’s a lot I wanted to explain, but it looks like that may prove a bit difficult. I would at least suggest that you travel to temples and ruins around the world and gather legends from ancient times. That should get you closer to your objective. You’ll be able to reach Mithril-class too, killing two birds with one stone,” she said to me. 

Next she turned to Lorraine. “Lorraine, I want you to support Rentt if possible. Your knowledge will no doubt be helpful. And this may be bothersome, but if it all becomes hopeless, I can solve matters for you. Don’t think too deeply about it,” she said vaguely. 

Lastly, she looked at Isaac. “This is the fourth time now. I’ll reach my limit soon, so I will likely need to sleep for a while. You take care of matters in the meantime.” 

With that, Laura gazed at Rina’s dungeon core again. It shone with a dark glow and instantly enveloped Rina. It looked like it wasn’t going anywhere, but Laura gradually absorbed it into herself. Once all the light had been absorbed into Laura’s chest, the dungeon core disappeared. Rina stopped floating and fell to the floor. I didn’t know the exact details, but I assumed that the dungeon core had transferred to Laura. 

It looked like Laura was about to fall over, so I tried to head over and support her, but Isaac ran over much faster than I could have and held her steady by the shoulders and hips. 

Impressed, Lorraine and I approached Laura and Rina. Rina was breathing, and I felt a stronger connection to her than before. Maybe Rina had been conscious all along, but the dungeon core was blocking the connection for some reason. 

“Is Laura asleep?” I asked. 

Her eyes were closed, and she was snoring. She looked like a doll in the first place, but even more so now that she was completely still. She was like a beautiful corpse, probably because she was undead. I questioned why she needed to breathe in that case, but she did have blood flowing through her veins, and there would be no end to my questions if I started to ask them. Laura had said that the blood wasn’t real, so that was all I had to go on. 

“So it seems,” Isaac answered. “I can’t possibly predict when she’ll wake up, however.” 

“Why is that?” 

“My mistress has absorbed more dungeon cores than her limit permits. Now she’s in the same state that Rina was a moment ago.” 

“Her limit?” 

Laura had mentioned that a certain degree of power was required to control dungeon cores, but also that a lesser vampire like Rina was just barely strong enough. I’d thought a much more powerful vampire like Laura wouldn’t have any trouble. 

“Including this dungeon core, she controls four in all. Everyone has their limits, I suppose.” 

“What?!” I was about to ask more, but I suddenly felt extremely dizzy. 

“Rentt?!’” Lorraine cried and approached me, holding me steady before I fell. But the dizziness didn’t cease. 

“My mistress’s blood must have caused this,” Isaac said. “You’ll be fine, Rentt. Get some rest. It’s Existential Evolution.” 

Isaac’s voice seemed to fade away in the distance as I fell unconscious. 

When I woke up, I was no longer in the underground chamber. I felt something soft underneath my back. Unlike the cold and strangely visceral air of that underground room, the air here had a flowery fragrance. 

I sat up and found that I was on an extravagant bed. It looked too expensive for a commoner to afford, and everything around me seemed similarly costly. This was a bedroom in a rich person’s estate, and it was obvious at a glance. But it wasn’t too gaudy. In fact, the colors were subdued and calming. 

“Where am I?” I whispered, but nobody was around to answer. I needed to check what state my body was in, so I grasped one hand with the other and touched my face. I seemed to be fine. 

I recalled what Isaac had told me before I’d passed out. I’d had trouble remaining conscious because of Existential Evolution, according to him. I couldn’t tell if I had actually evolved, but my body felt lighter than it did before I fainted. I got out of bed and moved around a bit, but I didn’t learn much. I twisted my neck enough to see my back before I realized that my flexibility didn’t mean much of anything. I could move as if I had no joints in the first place, so I was already about as flexible as possible. 

If there was anything else I could test out, it was my strength, but that would be tough to do here. I didn’t have a clear idea of what my limits were. And even if I knew my current limits, I could increase them by training or defeating monsters, so that wouldn’t give me a precise idea. I could also test them by picking up a heavy rock or trying to crush one in my hand, but it didn’t look like there was anything here I could safely destroy. I didn’t have any options. 

Everything around me was highly valuable, and I wouldn’t be able to pay for damages. As much as I wanted to say that I could afford it now, I’d spent so long being poor that I couldn’t bring myself to waste any money. I was willing to dish out some coins for a magic bag, but when it came to buying ordinary goods, I was a penny-pincher. 

Anyway, I finished checking my body and decided to figure out what was going on. I approached the window to see if I knew where I was. A vast garden spread out outside. Green hedges formed a convoluted maze. I saw a gate in the distance and a guard standing in front of it. It didn’t exactly take long to figure out my location, thankfully. This was the Latuule estate. Someone must have brought me here after I passed out. I wanted to find Isaac, so I opened the door to leave the room. 

“Sqreak!” something cried. 

I looked down and saw Edel standing on his hind legs, gazing up at me. I thought maybe he’d evolved too, but nothing much had changed about him. Or maybe it was just his appearance that hadn’t changed? But he was just a big puchi suri as far as I could see, same as usual. 

When I wondered why he was waiting here for me, he answered that he’d been exploring the Latuule estate and just got back. It wasn’t that he was being considerate and trying to avoid waking me, apparently. I didn’t mind, but I thought Edel could have searched the Latuule estate at any other time. 

Then Edel told me that invading the estate was usually impossible. He’d tried to find a way around the hedge maze, or a way to dig under it, but he’d been blocked out no matter what. I used to wonder why some rich person in a small town had such an incredible defense system, but now I knew that Laura and Isaac were greater vampires. It would have been easy for them to set something like that up. 

But now Edel had this rare chance to explore. I didn’t know if he should do that without permission, but apparently Isaac had said it was fine. He also wasn’t allowed to go just anywhere. There were many doors he couldn’t open and areas he couldn’t access. Edel was only allowed to see what they were willing to show. 

“So do you know where Isaac is?” I asked aloud, although he could have read my thoughts anyway. 

“Sqreak...” he answered and scurried away, now back on all four legs. It looked like Edel wanted me to follow him. 

We walked through the estate and encountered a number of servants. They all stood to the side of the hall and bowed to me when they saw me, waiting for me to pass. Or maybe they were doing that for Edel. I wasn’t sure if they were human or not. They could have been thralls or lesser vampires. The head of this household was a vampire, so ordinary humans would probably find it tough to live here in more ways than one. 

I wondered if that meant the servants couldn’t be human either. I was able to coexist with Lorraine, but most humans wouldn’t work here if they learned the truth. But from what I could tell from their faces, the servants weren’t thralls. Thrall faces were easy to identify. I sometimes couldn’t tell when they were disguised with magic, though, as I’d learned from this incident. I decided to ask Isaac about it later. 

We continued forward for a while until Edel stopped. We were in front of a door, and he looked at me like he wanted me to open it. I thought it should be my servant opening doors for me, but Edel’s body structure would have made that hard, I guess. Well, he probably could have jumped up and grabbed onto the knob with his teeth to turn it with his weight, but even the knobs in this house were finely crafted and clearly valuable. I didn’t want to risk damaging them, so I grabbed the knob myself. 

Unfortunately, I crushed the doorknob in my hand. The beautifully carved wood was now a bunch of splinters. I started to panic as three servants approached me from out of nowhere. 

“Oh, uh, I can explain,” I said, but they didn’t have anything to say to me. They replaced the doorknob, and two of them bowed to me as the third opened the door and then bowed as well. I was awfully ashamed about that. I might have even felt better if they had gotten mad instead. 

I thanked them for going to all that trouble, then entered the room. Edel was already gone. He’d ditched me and rushed into the room when I was in trouble. It wasn’t very becoming of a servant. Well, he would have helped if I were in actual trouble, so I couldn’t complain. 

When I entered the room, I heard the door quietly shut. The servant who had opened the door had closed it for me. They were so thoroughly helpful that I almost felt bad. 

I looked around the room and saw Isaac in a perfectly ironed butler uniform. Rina was there too, wearing the sort of extravagant clothes that Laura wore. Rina was sitting in a chair, but Isaac was standing, and he appeared to be serving her. The table in front of Rina had a cup of tea and many delicious sweets sitting upon it. It looked like Rina was getting some similarly thorough hospitality. 

They heard me come in and turned toward me. Rina stood up and trotted over. It was a big room, so it would’ve taken a while if she’d walked. The scale of this place was much larger than any of the cheap inns I’d stayed at, or Lorraine’s house. 

But I guess that was kind of rude to think about Lorraine’s house, especially when I was freeloading there. Lorraine’s house wasn’t that small anyway. It only felt that way because of all the piles of books and papers. I seldom got to live anywhere with this much open space. But whatever. 

“Rentt!” Rina cried and jumped into my arms. I held her, and she felt light. Maybe the Existential Evolution had boosted my strength a lot. It had been hard to control my strength when I broke the doorknob too, so I couldn’t touch people without a lot of caution. I needed to get a bit more used to this. 

“Rina, are you okay? I mean, you went through a lot,” I said. 

Rina had been captured by a vampire, turned into a vampire, and fused with a dungeon core, so she’d had quite an adventure. Considering the encounter she’d had with a certain ghoul too, I had to assume that Rina was cursed. I felt like we were kindred spirits in that sense. But I didn’t know how much Rina knew, so I kept it vague. 

“I’m fine,” Rina replied. “I feel healthy and don’t have any particular issues. There are moments when people kind of look like food to me, though.” 

Those sounded like pretty horrific thoughts to have, but I knew how she felt. Sometimes when I looked at someone, some part of my brain would subconsciously think they seemed pretty tasty, or that their blood might be silky smooth, or that they’d be a good source of nutrition, or that they’d have a rich flavor. Rina was probably experiencing the same thing. It wasn’t impossible to suppress, so it wasn’t that big of an issue. 

“I see, so you know what happened while you were unconscious?” I asked. 

“Yes, I’m a vampire now, aren’t I?” 

Isaac came up to me after Rina. “Good morning, Rentt.” 

“Oh, morning. Did you tell Rina everything?” 

“Yes. Lorraine was here too until a moment ago, but now she’s holed up in the library. She was thrilled to see it.” 

Isaac must have noticed me looking around for somebody and guessed that it was Lorraine. If she was in a library, though, she probably wasn’t going to come out for a while. If left to her own devices, she could read for days. I couldn’t count the number of times she’d suffered from malnutrition after one of these episodes and I’d had to cook something for her. I took a mental note to go check on her and make sure that didn’t happen this time. 

“So how are you feeling? You look to be in good shape,” Isaac said. 

“Yeah, no problems here,” I answered. “But it’s hard to control my power. I actually just wrecked a doorknob. Sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about that,” Isaac said with a chuckle. “That tends to happen with vampires who go through Existential Evolution. It was a long time ago for me, but I remember similar accidents. I would guess that Mistress Laura had the same experience too.” 

“What happened to Laura? Is she still asleep?” 

“Yes, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about her. Mistress Laura is a far greater being than me, so this wouldn’t threaten her life. But her power has diminished as of late, so it will take some time for her to absorb the dungeon core.” 

“Why has her power diminished?” I asked. 

Generally speaking, vampires didn’t age. That meant she shouldn’t have been suffering from the ravages of age as long as she was eating right. 

“Remember how we asked you to collect Dragon Blood Blossoms? Those are for purging malice, which makes them useful for suppressing a vampire’s power. That’s only if the correct amount is collected, however. Too much of it can weaken the vampire. Mistress Laura has been consuming the undiluted Dragon Flower Blood from the Dragon Blood Blossoms for years, you see.” 

“Why would she do that?” If what Isaac said was true, that was almost suicidal. 

“I don’t know,” Isaac answered. “Maybe she was bored of life after living for so long, or maybe she had another reason. But she hasn’t used as much since she met you, Rentt. She was gradually getting her energy back, so I think she’ll wake back up after a while.” 

“When will that happen? Tomorrow? The next day?” I had a lot to ask Laura. 

“I’m sorry if I got your hopes up, but it could take months, if not years.” 

Most vampires lived long lives, and these two probably perceived time differently than a young vampire like me. Months or years probably just felt like a little while to them. 

Unfortunately, now I couldn’t talk to Laura. At least Laura had thought of that and told me some things before she absorbed the dungeon core. She’d said something about going to temples and ruins to collect legends, but I had no idea what she meant. 

“Laura did what she had to,” I said. “She absorbed the dungeon core to protect Maalt, and nobody else could’ve done it.” 

“Thank you for saying so. I’d like to explain as much as I can, but unfortunately, I don’t know much. Is there anything you’d like to ask?” 

“Do you know what she meant about collecting old legends?” 

“I suppose it means what it sounds like. It’s what you should do for yourself and your future.” 

“Well, that’s not what I’m asking.” I wanted to know why I was supposed to do that, and exactly what these old legends were. I had to assume that Isaac knew. 

“I can answer to some extent, but I’ve misinterpreted this information in the past. I believe Shumini did as well. If I were to try to explain it, I think I would make some mistakes. I suggest that you investigate it yourself and come to your own conclusions. I imagine that Laura would tell you the same.” 

Isaac wouldn’t answer me in the end, but I understood what he meant. If this was about something from an ancient era, any information about it would naturally be lost or twisted over time. I had to gather these legends and interpret them on my own. But there could be errors in my own interpretation. Presumably, Isaac was saying that he’d gone through this himself. What he meant to say was that I might repeat his mistakes. That’s what I got out of it, at least. He wanted me to find that information on my own and think about it myself. If so, then this wasn’t something I could ask Isaac about. 

What I had to do was clear, so I just needed to head out on that journey. Temples and ruins existed all around the world. I did all my adventuring around Maalt, though, and those weren’t exactly long journeys. Solo Bronze-class adventurers never got escort missions, and I wouldn’t have had much opportunity to make money in other regions. Even the travel expenses would have been brutal. But now I was strong enough to take escort missions or accept requests from guilds around the world to make money while I traveled. 

I was excited, but I was also going to miss Maalt. Well, I could probably use the teleportation circles to return there from some locations, but then people might ask questions about how I was in Maalt when I was supposed to be on a journey. I would have to use those as little as possible. I also longed to travel by carriage. Just teleporting around wouldn’t be so interesting. It wouldn’t feel like a journey. 

“Well, I got it,” I said. “I’ll ask no more about that, then. What else was there? Oh yeah, you said I evolved, but what’d I evolve into? Do you know?” I didn’t know. I hadn’t actually tested anything out yet, so it was a mystery. I seemed a little stronger, but that was about it. 

“You’re a little different from us, if you recall,” Isaac said. 

“Yeah, Laura mentioned that.” 

“Right, so I can’t say what type of monster you are in particular. I can tell you what rank you would be if you were a vampire, however. If you want me to do that, you’ll have to show me your power first.” 

My physical strength alone likely wasn’t enough to judge. Vampires of the same rank could differ in that area the same way humans could. 

“Is Rina not an ordinary vampire either?” I asked. 

“Oh, am I not a vampire?” she said in shock, but I needed to ask about this. I would have no problem with her being a regular vampire, but Nive was likely still in Maalt. That barrier was probably gone now, so Nive might have been prowling around the town. If Rina got caught, Nive would shred her with her claws. 

“You’re likely not,” Isaac answered. “The easiest way to tell is from your aura. Humans wouldn’t be able to tell, but we vampires can sense each other. You and Rentt, however, don’t give off our aura.” 

“So Rina and I aren’t vampires? But I drink blood and hunger for humans. Don’t you?” I asked Rina. 

“Humans look delicious!” she replied. 

That was a little disturbing. I mean, she wasn’t wrong, but that wasn’t something you’d want to say out loud around town. She would be treated as either a man-eating monster or a lunatic. I didn’t want either to happen to Rina. I needed to warn her about that later. 

“Of course, I can’t say you’re completely different,” Isaac said. “You could be another species closely related to vampires, but you would have to ask the Goddess of Appraisal to know for certain. I can’t guarantee she would appraise you, however.” 

The Goddess of Appraisal seldom appraised anything personally. Going to a temple for that wouldn’t necessarily be a waste of time, though, and there was also the matter of my mask. I figured she would look at that. The spirit in Hathara had said it was something like a divine item, after all. If I could ask what species I was at the same time, that would be convenient. 

“Well, there are some things I do know about, and I can check those for you,” Isaac said. “I’m a vampire who has lived a fairly long life, and I’ve honed a number of skills in that time. You may be able to use some of them, Rentt. Let’s go to the garden. I’m sure Lorraine wants to watch too, so perhaps we should stop by the library first.” 

If he was willing to teach me some skills, I greatly appreciated it. The only skills I was especially good with were swordsmanship, life magic, and attacking with spirit. I would more than welcome the opportunity to learn more. In fact, I’d always yearned to learn a wide variety of skills. But I knew that I shouldn’t neglect the basics in favor of gaining new skills, so I never planned to. 

I knew that I wasn’t up to snuff based on our fight underground, after I saw Laura, Isaac, and even Lorraine’s power. I was without a doubt the weakest of them. Maybe I could beat Lorraine by making use of my physical strength and regeneration, but she knew I was some sort of vampire. She could probably keep hitting me with magic that wouldn’t let me move at all. I wouldn’t even be able to get near her. Never mind, I didn’t stand a chance against Lorraine. 

“Sounds good,” I said. “Whenever I evolved before now, I had Lorraine take a look at me. She’d probably be the best person to spot any changes this time too. She should also have some thoughts on what species I might be. I like to think that I’m reasonably knowledgeable about monsters, but nothing beats an expert.” 

“Right, Lorraine studies monsters. I know plenty about my own kind, but only so much about other monsters. Shall we go get Lorraine, then?” 

We left the room and headed to the library. 

“Oh, Rentt, you’re awake? How’s your body? Are you feeling well?” Lorraine asked. 

When we entered the library, we found Lorraine sitting at a table covered with books. Apparently, she’d still set aside enough space in her mind to think about me and not just the books. 

“Yeah, I don’t seem to have any problems at the moment. Anyway, that’s a lot of books.” 

“This is only a small portion of what I want to read. This place is incredible. There aren’t many libraries with this many books. Not even the nobles in the imperial capital have libraries on this scale. Not only that, but these books are all quite rare. I would love to live here.” 

I feared the possibility that Laura or Isaac might actually allow that. Lorraine’s house was already more just a place to put her books than it was a functional home. Maybe it would feel pretty much the same for her to live in this library. 

“Well, jokes aside, I take it you’re here because you need something?” Lorraine said. I guess she wasn’t serious after all. She’d looked at least half-serious to me when she’d said it, but pointing that out could get me in trouble. I acted like I didn’t notice. 

“Yeah, Isaac said he’s going to see what rank we’d be if we were vampires. He’s also going to teach us some vampire skills. We’re about to go test some things in the garden, so we figured you should watch and see if you have any ideas.” 

“So you aren’t a vampire after all? Something closely related, then? Or a subspecies? Maybe you’re something entirely different. Talking to Isaac about that should be interesting.” Lorraine evidently didn’t think I was a typical vampire either. Well, we had talked about that a few times, so it wasn’t especially strange. 

“I don’t know as much about monsters as you do, so I don’t know if I’ll meet your expectations,” Isaac said, but from Lorraine’s perspective, she had an opportunity to ask an actual vampire about vampires. That was already enough to meet her expectations. All the vampires we had been around as of late made it easy to forget, but most adventurers never encountered vampires. That was even true of lesser vampires, let alone the much rarer vampires of higher ranks. 

“I get to talk to a high-ranking vampire,” Lorraine said. “That’s not something I get to do every day. I’ll gladly take the opportunity, Isaac.”