"I'm not talking about that. I want your real story."

Oh my, would you look at her.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that."

What exactly does she mean by 'real story'? Don't tell me that she believes the backstory I recounted to them was fake.

If yes, then there's nothing we can do about it.

I'll just be the bigger man and pardon her because everyone makes mistakes.

…

Pfft!

Just kidding. Go fuck yourself, Arteria.

"Well, right now, a 12-year-old child is transplanting a new heart in me that he made himself. What am I supposed to make of it?"

"That the child is probably a once in a millennium genius and you should devote yourself to him I mean you should help him reach new heights."

I mean, if Lecia or Clementine turned out to be geniuses, I'd help them cultivate their talent because that's what a normal person would do.

And there is no one who is more normal than me.

Samur Normal Eckart, at your service.

"Maybe he is a genius, but what about his knowledge? Where did he get it from?"

"Books, probably."

It's the modern era, Ms. Vampire, go read a book.

As long as that book is not an erotica about a vampire and a werewolf; especially the ones where the vampire can't choose between the two alpha werewolves even though they're literally the same.

Seriously, I worry about their decision-making skills.

I just hope they don't get into a situation where they have to choose between risking their life to save their baby from a burning house or run away to save their own.

Because if they did, then let's just say, both the mother and the baby will end up having a closed casket funeral.

"Well, Samur. You know, back in my time, I used to be an avid reader."

"Oh, is that so?"

"I may not look like it, but the total time I've spent reading books is probably more than an average human's lifespan."

"Well, you're right about not looking like it."

She looks like the type of woman who has steam gushing out of her ears the moment she sees more than 3 words at once.

"…In fact, back then, the Nahaja family ruled over this continent. The number of books in our library was greater than the total number of books there were on the rest of the continent."

"You were big shots, huh?"

Against all odds, I'm actually jealous; I want that library.

"Exactly. And I… read all those books."

"Good for you, I guess."

I'm glad one of my comrades is a book connoisseur.

Wait, does that mean she has read a vampire-werewolf erotica?

"And there's the problem, Samur."

"How?"

"I've read those hundreds of thousands of books, yet not one of them described how to create a fucking Dragon-Vampire-Shadowlord Hybrid heart."

Ah, so that's where she was going with this. And here I was about to pass out of boredom.

"You might want to try out the newer books. They have a detailed explanation on it."

"Alright. And where will I find those books?"

"Probably back at my family mansion."

"And where is that?"

"Someplace you'll never know."

The reason none of them will never know is not because I don't want them to invade the Eckart Ducal House out of blind rage (because that would actually be pretty amusing).

No, it's because I literally have no idea where it's located.

I mean, like I said in my 5/10 backstory, I was locked up in a tower and was never allowed to leave.

The only time I got out was when I accidentally fatally hurt my little sister and was thrown out to die.

And by thrown out, I mean knocked out by a bunch of dodgy hunters who then threw me into a carriage and took me deep into the forests to do some un-wholesome things to me.

Hmm, that reminds me, I wonder what my little sister is doing nowadays.

I hope both sides of the pillow are lukewarm for the rest of her life because, you know, I was thrown out because of her.

I mean, sure, it's not like she actually asked my family to leave me to die in a forest; it was probably a decision made by them in secret, but not holding my sister responsible would be the mature thing to do here.

And that's a big no-no for me-

"Samur?"

"Ah, right. Sorry, I was thinking about something."

Damn, I really need to stop getting lost in my reveries.

Or maybe I should just modify my brain and develop parallel thinking to converse with the wankers and think about other useless things like a chad.

The latter sounds way cooler, to be honest.

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Stuff like how my shoulders are tired from performing this operation, and whether I should take a break or not."

"…"

"What do you think? Should I take one?"

"…How long would that break be?"

"Depends. It'll be a 20-minute break if I take a small nap, or it could be an eternal break if I jump out of the window."

Both sound good, actually.

This is so hard. Which one should I choose?

"Please don't take a break," she sighed.

"Ask and ye shall receive. But because I'm quite tired, I'll need you to avoid burdening me further by asking useless, rather philosophical questions."

"So basically, you're not going to tell me anything."

"You're actually capable of understanding social cues? I must admit, I'm quite surprised."

To think a day would come when a member of the New Dawn Guild would actually understand something without me having to actually say it loud.

Top 10 character developments, right here.

"I don't need your sarcasm," she scoffed.

"Oh, but I'm serious."

As serious as a married man is in his relationship with his 7th side chick, that is.

"Right."

She still doesn't believe me? Wow, seems like even Arteria is suffering from daddy I mean trust issues.

"Anyway, let's get back to the operation, shall we?"

"What have you been doing till now?" She frowned.

"Trying to perform a surgery while being personally attacked."

"Alright, geez, I'll shut up, okay? Just stop."

"You have no idea how much I appreciate that."

"I will get to the bottom of this, however. If not today, then some other day."

"Well," I smiled. "Please try your best."