Chapter 14. They don’t suspect a thing.

“You must be the newbie. Though you came a day earlier, it’s good that I was here today.”

A…Newbie? What?

Disguise successful.

However, it is recommended to be careful around elites. They would be able to recognize the difference.

Gesturing towards Vera, she says,

“And you already have a blood slave at bronze rank. Not bad indeed.”

I look towards her a bit closely.

Undead: Vampire

Approximate level 50

Sylvia

A higher-level vampire. However, not an elite. They usually lead multiple lower-level vampire under them as they work on their missions.

This one, though seems to work mostly alone. A mastery of one-handed swords, most likely accompanied with a high attack speed. An assassin-type of purely physical variant.

Most effective method to kill: Using a mid to long-range magic weapon.

Sylvia is predicted to lead a team of about 5 vampires at most. A team of assassins specializing in bringing down high-value people.

You are currently no match for her. It is advised to be a level higher than 40 to attempt to slay this target.

Slayer traits are in effect. Allowing you to see clearer information about the target.

Oh, wow.

A vampire!

I resist the urge to go closer and check if she really sparkles.

“Bronze rank?” Vera asks with curiosity.

“Hmm? Is she not a complete slave yet? Well, that makes sense. She would retain consciousness a bit since you aren’t that strong yet.” She, or rather, Sylvia says.

She continues after taking a little pause, “A bronze rank. Which is a complete rank above your average human. And it’s quite impressive you were able to capture one when you aren’t as strong yourself. They did tell me quite a talented young one was coming but I didn’t expect this!” She says, though the words can be interpreted differently, she certainly seems quite happy rather than angry at that.

So, they can sense my strength and hers too?

“Come, let’s sit in the meeting room for now. You can follow me to the scouting later.”

Your blood boils in the presence of a vampire.

Attack damage against vampires +30%

When using Silver or Ultraviolet weapons, accuracy increases by 75%

Attack damage against other undead +15%

Resistance to charm and mental effects +10%

You feel like you hear the cloth whispering to you.

Tempting you to kill the vampire to gain more strength.

As I thought. It’s definitely the cloth ‘armor’ that I’m wearing. It also is certainly influencing me in some way.

I don’t realize when but I already have Valentine out, as if to attack Sylvia.

Not now, not yet. Even the system said I’m not strong enough.

I try to pull off one of the gloves, as if to reject the clothing’s ideals.

The cloth seems to be holding onto you tightly.

With your current strength you cannot remove this cursed equipment.

Suppose I’ll have to live with it for now.

I wonder why I’m not so surprised. Does that mental effects resistance also help keep me calm, perhaps? Or is it really something else entirely?

Vera sent you a whisper.

“So, how are you going to compensate me about this?”

I turn back to look at her. She has an impish smile on her face.

“Like, it seems there isn’t any danger for now.”

I bring up my hands to open the keyboard to type.

Wait, it might seem weird and maybe suspicious to Sylvia here. But then how is Vera doing it?

Rather than ask her, which would hurt my pride just a little bit, I just start to type.

And notice a small button on the corner of the virtual keyboard, which, when I look at it, a small bubble pops up explaining it. ‘Convert speech to text’.

Well, that solves that mystery.

I select that option and the message box with Vera lights up slightly to indicate it being in use. Though you have to keep an eye on it because it’s half transparent in itself and can be ignored easily if you aren’t looking directly at it.

It’s quite apparent they really put a lot of effort to make this game seem as realistic as possible and an HUD which would be slightly immersion-breaking, is made to be optional and can be easily ignored.

“What is there to compensate about? It should be an honor for you to be my ‘blood slave’, whatever that is.”

When I tried to speak, no sound came out. So, it seems like it’s a little bit stealthy in that regard. I could use the voice to text option and not worry about other people overhearing me.

“But what if it has some kind of indecent meaning?”

“…” (You)

It somehow even interpreted silence.

“Anyways, I’m quite excited for this. I’ll be able to get some nice stuff to make equipment out of.”

“We’ll have to see how this goes. Don’t be too sure yet.” (You)

“Aww come on. Vampires? Underground hideouts? What’s not to like?”

Hmm, she does have a point.

We quickly reach the place she was leading us to.

The meeting room, unlike what I was expecting, which was the room earlier with the magic ball, instead seems to be a little smaller version of that room. Perhaps for a bit more specific purpose.

“This is the vampires only meeting room for our hideout. You must have quite a few questions to ask, so we can start now, there’s a little time before we can go out.”

She takes the seat at the head of the table, with me sitting on the chair closest to that, which is just to its right.

And Vera, using her infinite wisdom and manners, stands right behind my chair.

She adapted to the situation and acted accordingly. Or maybe she is really into cosplaying maids. Either of them.

“So, you mentioned bronze rank before, could you explain more about that?”

“Yes. Bronze rank is the lowest among true fighting ranks but it’s still the rank of a fighter. Above that comes the Silver rank and Gold rank, which is about where I’m at. Any higher than this would require lots more time and experience. Though, being a vampire noble descendant like you would certainly help.”

So, the people do have their own interpretation for strength.

“The ranks are distinguished by how much experience that person has and how many skills they can use, with how much proficiency. Though I’m not too knowledgeable about that past Gold rank.”

Since it seems she’s done with her explanation about that, I ask another related question,

“You mentioned ranks of vampires, what distinguishes those?”

“Shouldn’t you know about this already? Well, I suppose with a sheltered upbringing it’s possible…”

Seemingly convinced of her own reasoning, she continues.

“The lowest are the impure or ‘converted’ vampires. Those who weren’t originally vampire but were converted into vampires by drinking the blood of another pure-blooded vampire. They have the least amount of vampiric abilities, and are basically aren’t even considered as vampires.”

The way she said it seems to me like the converted vampires are quite loathed by the pure-blooded kind. Good to know.

“Above that are the normal vampires. Since it’s not possible for any inter-species relationships to take place since vampires are technically undead, there are no half-bloods unlike other species like those demons.”

So, there can be half-demons roaming around but no half-undead. Makes sense.

“Above the normal vampires come the vampire nobility or aristocracy, like your family. They are descendants of the original race that came from the underworld. They retain a lot of vampiric traits. But coming even above that is the royal family which claims to be the true descendants. And while they are quite stronger than the nobility, there is not much other proof to their claim. But they still represent all of our kind in the senate.”

Hmm, it was quite evident that the royalty isn’t really that liked, but it does seem like it is fairly respected.

Wait…What?

“Senate?”

“The senate, or you can call it the council too, of course. Consisting of representatives from all races in the Nether and Underworld. And a very few dark races from the surface world too.”

The monster world is a… Republic?

I feel like this information has much more weight than just that. Maybe I shouldn’t ask more about it just yet.

As I think about that, I’m reminded of Vera’s presence.

“What about blood slaves?”

“Their rank? Well, it’s just below their owner’s rank. If a vampire tries to do something with a noble’s blood slave without their permission, it would have quite a few consequences. Though he won’t be killed just for that. He would be quite heavily punished.”

I meant to ask what exactly are blood slaves, but she misunderstood. At least it’s good to know that Vera should be safe from any vampire’s claws. Since they seem to think of me as a noble.

About that, she mentioned the ‘newbie’ supposed to arrive tomorrow. So, I might need to do something about that. Maybe it would be good if they ‘disappear’.

“Well, yours is a bit special. A blood slave which is allowed to retain its consciousness is, while it isn’t impossible. Is certainly rare.”

She snaps her fingers. And a woman walks out of the shadows in the back of the room. Carrying a tray with 2 glasses and a wine bottle on it. She’s dressed like a traditional Victorian-era maid.

The woman puts the glasses on the table. And opening the bottle, pours it in those 2 wine glasses.

“Normal ones are like this. It isn’t preferred for the slave to have consciousness since they can rebel and are harder to control and require more mental energy to maintain.”

I can certainly see what she’s talking about. This maid looks like a human, only in appearance. Her actions seem quite mechanical and that expressionless way she handled herself. It somehow lacks a certain…charm. Yes, a certain charm that is missing from her. Making her seem closer to a lifeless porcelain doll.

Though I suppose in another sense, having no charm could be a form of charm in itself.

“You do know that I’m not going to be anything like this maid here, right?”

“…” (You)

Sometimes simply ignoring is better.

Sylvia takes the wine glass in her hand, prompting me to hold it too. And with a gesture she starts to sip it bit-by-bit.

The wine itself is completely red. A dark, crimson red which I somehow won’t be surprised if told that this is some kind of blood.

As soon as I even held the glass in my hand, I had the urge to smash it into the floor.

Certainly, doesn’t seem like this cursed armor is too keen on letting me drink that.

“We prepared the finest wine from the capital, Solitude, in anticipation of events like these. But perhaps it is not to your liking?”

I bring the glass closer to my mouth and lightly smell it, acting like those wine connoisseurs I’ve read about and seen in a few videos. It doesn’t smell like iron or rust.

And, though it took practically all my strength to do that, with slightly shaking hands I finally took a little sip and put the glass down.

It actually wasn’t that bad at all. Rather than blood, it tasted more like… Cherries?

“We were very careful about not allowing any form of blood contaminate the drink. We know well that nobles have their standards for such. This, however is the best wine we were able to find in Solitude. Humans sure seem to be quite capable in making certain things.”

Solitude, ah, I suppose that’s the name of the capital city.

We drink together for a little while, just savoring the taste of the wine.

Maybe I should save a bit of this for Vera since she didn’t get to taste it.

“While it would have been nice if I could give you a tour of this place. Right now, we have to leave for the scouting. I’ll introduce you to this place after we come back. That’s okay, right?” She says as she looks towards a clock on the wall. Though I’m not able to understand what time exactly the clock is referring to.

“Sounds fine. So, what is the scouting really about?”

“While I did send a few agents and they have been keeping an eye on the target and noting his movements and accessing the security. But just before the assassination which is tomorrow, we’ll go there and confirm the location and risks for ourselves once and the like.”

“The target?”

“This time it’s quite an influential merchant. While he is weak himself, his bodyguards might be a little troublesome to handle.”

She puts the empty glass back on the table and gets up from her chair, walking towards the door.

“Come, I’ll explain on the way there.”

I too get up and follow her.

But before that, I quickly put my glass, which is still half-full with wine, into my inventory.