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Translator: M.S
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Confrontation
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In Roverland, the existence of cities was a blessing beyond compare.
In a land teeming with more magical beasts and bandits than any other continent, cities were the only places one could live in relative safety.
That was why, no matter how fearsome or unjust the lord, most citizens obeyed him, finding happiness in their small lives.
Kushan City was built in a three-tiered structure.
The inner city, enclosed by high, sturdy walls, housed the bustling downtown area.
Beyond that, the outer city, surrounded by a wooden palisade, was lined with workshops producing various goods. And past even the outer city lay a vast rural area, protected by scattered outposts.
One of the many villages in this rural area was Ruera Village.
The people here had been enduring difficult days due to a recent tax hike, but they were still happy in their own way.
After all, simply being able to live in Roverland without being devoured by magical beasts, beheaded by bandits, or starving to death was a great blessing in itself.
And so, the children of Ruera Village ran about with boundless energy.
Today was no different.
Dain, the ten-year-old youngest son of the goat-herding Rhine family, was out playing with his friends by the stream and in the fields again today.
It wasn't just for fun; they were gathering various herbs and mushrooms to help with their families' tight finances, but to the kids, it was as good as playing.
And today, they were in luck.
“Wow! It's so sweet!”
“It really is!”
“Stop eating it all!”
“There's plenty!”
“Cough, cough! My throat still stings from inhaling all that smoke to chase the bees away.”
Four children crossed a field blanketed with flowers, carrying a large basket together.
The basket was filled with a large honeycomb.
Golden honey dripped from the comb, sloshing about precariously.
Golden honey, a specialty of Kushan City.
It was made by the golden bees native to the area, who collected sap from the Ever-Yellow trees, which bloomed with pale yellow leaves year-round.
It fetched a high price, so bringing this home meant they wouldn't get scolded for playing around for a while.
Not to mention, they would get to enjoy honey-coated snacks for some time.
The four children hummed a tune as they crossed the field, ablaze with the setting sun.
Just as they crested a hill…
“Aaaaaah!”
A scream pierced the air.
“Huh…?”
“Wh-what's happening?!”
A horrific scene unfolded below the hill.
Soldiers in gleaming armor, armed with spears and swords, had surrounded Ruera Village. They were cornering the villagers like prey in a hunt, stabbing them down.
The children froze in place.
“Dad?”
“Mom!!?”
They could see familiar figures screaming and running away.
Terrified screams. Crimson blood, visible even from a distance.
The children unconsciously took a step toward the village. They could see their screaming parents in the distance.
“There are kids over there!”
“Don't let a single one escape!”
Unfortunately, a group of soldiers spotted the children as they hesitantly approached.
“Eek!”
“W-we have to run!”
“Let go! Mom's over there!”
“You idiot! You'll get killed!”
The children finally snapped out of it and fled back over the hill in a panic, but their short legs were no match for the adults.
“Don't lose them! Get them!”
The soldiers shouted as they chased after the children.
The soldiers' long strides quickly closed the distance, their shadows engulfing the children.
“Aah!”
Just as the children, sensing their fate, collapsed to the ground and screamed,
*Swoosh!*
An arrow flew in from somewhere.
“Keuk!”
“Guk!”
“Wh-what…!? Keok!”
One, two, three.
Swiftly flying arrows pierced the soldiers' necks in an instant.
Their gleaming armor was useless against the arrows that found their weak points with ghostly precision.
*Thud.*
The three soldiers collapsed almost simultaneously.
“Hiiiik!”
The children touched the blood splattered on their cheeks and froze, their faces growing even paler.
“Are you all right?”
A large, warm hand rested on the children's heads.
The man, armed with a bow and arrows, looked down at the children with eyes full of sorrow.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Rivera Pietro.”
“Rivera… Huh? The Baron?”
“Yes. We can talk later. For now, come with me. We have to get away.”
“N-no! My mom is over there!!”
“I'm sorry…”
The man, Rivera Pietro, forced the struggling children into his arms and glanced back at the hellscape that was Ruera Village.
‘Count. You've really gone too far. Assassinating a few of your men won't be enough to stop you.’
He recalled the young girl who had visited him this morning.
Sea of the Lansen Family.
A girl with whom he had a cooperative relationship, trading information and implicitly helping each other.
Today, she had made an unbelievable proposal.
‘The Lansen Family is going to strike the Count? And she wants my support?’
Rivera had avoided giving a direct answer then, but inwardly, he was highly skeptical.
‘There's no way. Lansen. He was once the hope of this city… but now he's just a shadow of his former self. Sadly.’
Even if Lansen were in his prime, he wouldn't be able to defeat the current Count Ksias. Much less now that he was a wreck…
‘Attacking the Count is absurd. Saving a few children is the most I can do…’
The Pietro family was an influential clan that had protected this area for generations, long before Count Ksias arrived.
Though the citizens called him Baron and he wielded some influence, he was no match for the Count.
He had a premonition of the coming catastrophe.
‘Lansen. He was a rare man in Roverland who understood honor… I hope he doesn't get himself killed doing something so reckless.’
Rivera ran across the field, holding the children tightly in his arms.
A trickle of blood ran from his tightly clenched lips.
Even if he was helpless… the anger was still there.
***
*Rattle, rattle, rattle*
Carts departing from Ruera Village entered the Kushan City lord's castle in a line.
“Here is today's quota. We brought more than the 108 bodies required, a generous amount. A total of 116.”
“Good work.”
The vampires waiting beyond the gate flipped back the cloths to check the condition of the corpses.
Confirming the thick death energy that washed over them, so dense that it momentarily suppressed the feeling of mana in the area, they nodded.
They effortlessly lifted the heavy carts and carried them to the top floor of the lord's castle.
At the pinnacle of the three-tiered, cake-like castle was a wide, flat rooftop open to the sky.
The work was done there.
The corpses would be laid out under the full moon and dried by its light for a few days, creating the perfect offering.
“The Count is coming up.”
One vampire spoke in a low voice, and all the others stopped what they were doing and bowed deeply.
*Thump— Thump—*
Count Ksias ascended with intimidating footsteps.
He scanned his kin and then waved a hand dismissively.
“I will handle the rest. All of you, go down. These are precious offerings; they must not be tainted.”
“Yes.”
The vampires, still bowed, scurried away without turning their backs to the Count.
“Huuuum—!”
The Count let out a satisfied hum as he looked at the carts loaded with corpses.
A deathly aura, denser than ever before, was slowly rising from them.
“The preparations are going well. Tomorrow is the day the Lansen brats enter the palace, isn't it? Finally… the moment I've been waiting for is here.”
The Count smiled, revealing his sharp fangs, and inspected the carts one by one.
Nagi, one of his most skilled subordinates, was dead, the citizens' lives were in ruins, and rebellious factions were running rampant, but he couldn't care less.
Once he sacrificed Lansen, born of a noble bloodline, and his followers, he would be reborn as a great being, transcending both humans and vampires.
“Foolish creatures, ignorant of this world's truth… Allowing you to reach that truth as offerings, how merciful I am.”
The day he took the true blood of a Delkash and was reborn as a vampire lord, Count Ksias learned the hidden truth of this world.
The plan he had been preparing ever since was finally coming to fruition.
He smiled in satisfaction and bent down to inspect the last cart.
At that very moment,
*Flash!*
*Fwoooosh!*
A flash of light, and a gust of wind.
A dark blue Aura Blade shot up from among the corpses.
It lunged for Ksias's neck.
***
“We can use the corpses. That's how you can get to the Count.”
Sea. That clever girl had finally found a way.
“Aha, you said the corpses are treated with some kind of spell, right? That the death energy is so strong, you can't even sense mana near them.”
“That's right. It seems they amplify the death energy by setting up a magic circle beforehand and killing people inside it.”
“Then he won't notice if I hide among them, right? No matter how sharp the Count's senses are. Not if the death energy is that strong.”
*Nod.*
Sea nodded at my question and spread out a map.
“According to our information, Ruera Village will be attacked today. Once the villagers are dead and they start loading the bodies onto carts, slip in among them. Pretend to be a corpse and lie still. They'll deliver you right to the Count.”
And so, here I was, crushed inside a cart of corpses.
Actually doing it was more of an ordeal than I had imagined.
All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind.
*Thump.* A hand flopped onto my face.
This hand probably once stroked a child's head.
Wide-open eyes.
I couldn't tell if the emotion captured in them was resentment or worry.
*Thud.* A foot, bent at an odd angle, rested on my stomach.
Large calluses told a story of hardship…
Some were too young, some too old…
People who shouldn't have died were dead, tangled together in this cart.
I…
I couldn't save them.
Instead, I was just using them.
My mind in turmoil, I closed my eyes.
I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.
I thought of only one person.
Count Ksias.
I will kill him.
I *will* kill him.
Repeating that mantra over and over, I endured the long wait until the moment finally arrived.
“Allowing you to reach that truth as offerings, how merciful I am.”
The disgusting voice drew closer.
He's here.
I awakened my aura core and began to heat my aura.
Just one more step.
Just one more step.
Finally, as Count Ksias's shadow fell over the corpses,
I unleashed my fully heated aura in a single burst and swung my sword.
*Chwaaaaaak!*
Beneath the full moon in the night sky, the dark blue aura of the Iron Heart blazed.
I was confident it was a surprise attack no one could have predicted, but,
*Claaaaang!*
My sword, which had aimed for his neck, was blocked by Count Ksias's right arm.
Vanroah, the king's sword forged from Starmetal, which was anathema to vampires, dug deep into his flesh, but it couldn't cut through the bone.
*Tssssss!*
The Starmetal burned the Count's arm, sending up plumes of white steam.
Through the billowing clouds of steam, the Count's crimson eyes looked down at me.
“Oho. If it isn't Lansen. What brings you here without notice?”
He showed no sign of surprise or pain, offering a casual greeting.
Right. I knew it wouldn't be easy.
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