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“What, what are you doing! Do you want to see this bastard die? Let them go, right now!”
“And do you want these bastards of yours to die? Take in your nails, or give me the option, for I’ll break them piece by piece.”
The vampires caught by Cloud grunted as he exerted pressure around their necks.
Rowan grinded his teeth.
“Damn it! You are kidding with me!”
“Kidding? Does this seem like a joke to you?”
– Crick. Cluck.
Cloud applied force to his leg, breaking the neck of the vampire he had been trampling on.
“You bastard!!!”
“Relax your voice before I break off the heads of these two.”
“…you will let this kid die, huh?”
“If the boy gets hurt, you and these guys die too. Of course, the death won’t come easily.”
“Fucker…”
Rowan bit his lips.
It’s not because of his men he wasn’t killing the boy. He knew that if the hostage died, he would die too.
‘Stupid bastards! They had to subdue him with blood magic, why did they had to approach him?!’
He knew he had no other choice, so he could only resent his incompetent subordinates.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Rowan looked at Cloud and said.
“Great. Then, we compromise…”
“No, there’s no compromise.”
Rowan frowned.
“What bullshit…”
Before Rowan’s words were finished, a sharp blade pierced through Rowan’s chest.
“Ugh…?!”
Rowan looked at the sword protruding from his chest in astonishment. He exhaustingly turned his head back, swallowing the blood that came up.
It was Shedia who stabbed the sword from the back.
‘When did she got behind my back?’
No, more than that, why…?
Why did Shedia stab him?
All that came to his mind was betrayal. After all, she was of filthy blood, his master’s kindness was for naught.
Rowan croaked, his lips trembling.
“You dare betray our master… you won’t die a easy death…”
“Dead people don’t speak. The master will not know.”
“You bitch!”
Rowan squeezed the rest of his strength and tried to swing his nails at Shedia.
Shedia twisted the sword she was holding.
Rowan, whose heart was shredded, could not stand it any longer and collapsed.
Shedia pulled out her sword and kicked Rowan’s body aside.
Then, the figure of the boy who he had held hostage caught her eye.
“Wu… woo…”
He always talked loudly and endlessly, but now he was shivering in fear.
“…”
Shedia reached out her hand slowly towards the child’s head.
She was thinking of stroking his hair to calm him down.
But Shedia’s hand could not reach the child’s head.
“Woah… wow!”
Because the boy cried and ran in the direction where her parents were. Shedia was startled and tried to pursue the child, but then stopped in her tracks. She looked at her own hands.
Her hands were covered in blood.
The cold blood of a vampire.
Those won’t make him feel the warmth her sister’s caress used to give her.
She wiped her hands on Rowan’s pants and started warming her hands with her warm breath.
“…”
Cloud, who looked at it quietly, sighed and used the Ogre’s Glyph.
– Cluck. Cluck.
He broke the necks of the two remaining vampires and headed in the direction the boy ran. Even as Cloud passed by her, Shedia concentrated on wiping and warming her hands.
* * *
“Thank you, hero. Thank you so much!”
“Naw. I wasn’t of much help.”
“Not only you defeated those evil vampires but also saved our lives! How can we not thank our lifesaver!”
“Well, I think, I’m already thanked enough. Be at ease.”
Only after that the villagers stopped bowing their heads.
“What do you all plan to do now?”
I said looking at the messed up village.
“…the burial of the dead would come first. Then we would likely move to the closet village. They have space, so they likely won’t chase us away. There are also some grain stocks left in the village, so there will be no starvation. You don’t have to worry about it.”
The man laughed and shook his head.
However, as someone who indirectly led to this, I wanted to help somehow.
I took out a piece of parchment from my backpack, scribbled some words with a pen, and then grazed my palm with a dagger.
“Hero?!”
The villagers were terrified of the sudden self-harm, but I didn’t care and took out my Hero’s Plaque and doused blood on it. The Hero’s Plaque soaked in blood was stamped on the underside of the parchment like a seal.
“Take it.”
I handed the parchment to the man.
The man who received the parchment had an incomprehensible expression on his face.
“What did you just… do? What is this?”
“If you take this to any city and show it to the city lord, they will provide you citizenship. They will also provide financial support to help you settle in the city.”
“R, Really?!”
The villagers, with their eyes wide open, stared at the parchment.
“Hey, is it really true?”
“Didn’t you see hero dabbing his blood on some kind of plaque and stamping on the paper? That will prove that the letter was written by a hero.”
A hero’s letter.
The man’s eyes, who understood the value, trembled.
The faces of the villagers brightened.
Being able to live within strong walls that provided safety was a dream for them.
Especially after they had been through something like this.
“T, Thank you. May Goddess bless you!”
Villagers collectively bowed their heads again.
“Thank you, hero!”
The children, who looked around in a daze, bowed their heads in the same way as adults did.
“You have nothing to be thankful for. After all, the money is what King will pay.”
In the document, it was written that the cost of settling the villagers would be paid by the king. Not that I had asked for king’s approval, but having saved his beloved son’s neck… this much should be acceptable.
I thought so.
I left the village under the warm goodbyes from the villagers.
I walked down the dirt road leading out of the village, before stopping at a distance.
“You didn’t say goodbye to that kid. Your hands aren’t warm yet?”
“…not yet.”
I turned to the direction the voice was coming from.
A woman in a black robe clinging to her figure sat at the top of a tree.
Shedia was blowing warm air on her hands.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Kill you.”
“Why?”
“You saw me killing Rowan.”
“Are you sure you want to kill me?”
“Yes.”
Shedia jumped from the top of the tree. Although the height was substantial, when she landed, she made no sound. She drew two short swords from her waist.
“It’s night.”
She sped towards me at high speed.
I took out a necklace, the moonstone hanging on its end.
“This is a moonstone!”
“?!”
Shedia eyes widened.
“Catch!”
I threw the moonstone necklace into the river.
Abruptly slamming her brakes, Shedia turned around and without hesitation jumped into the river.
Shedia swam upstream, aiming for the necklace.
As the distance between them lessened, Shedia’s expression brightened, and just before she could clasp the moonstone necklace into her fist…
I pulled the thread that was attached to the moonstone necklace.
The necklace sailed in the air, towards me as Shedia’s outstretched hand caught empty air.
She looked at the necklace, moving away from her, her expression as if she had lost her country.
Soon she slipped into the river.
“Haha.”
I grabbed the flying necklace and smiled, finding her actions endearing.
Stupid, but adorable.