Naturally, the headless body rose up and finally located its weapon and unsheathed it, a blind attack—and so it was easy.

It was too terribly easy to end a life.

You could say that I was made for the role—my years of existence had made me into the perfect killing machine. If there were any Vampire Overlord, a Vampire King or Emperor, whatever exactly was ranked higher than me, then I was in no doubt a huge asset. And so, I could not allow for any possible retaliation to occur. It was common knowledge that if you let someone survive with a grudge—they'd turn against you.

"Story mechanics..." I said over the ashes of the fallen Knight Ghoul and frowned deeply.

Stories were something that anyone was familiar with—it was composed of words, either written or spoken, that depicted a sequence of interrelated events and had an ending.

If you asked anyone what a story was, there was no doubt that they'd had an answer for it, but now that I spoke the word... it felt foreign and powerful in my lips. As if actually knowing something about it gave me an edge.

I shook my head and looked over at the rest of the Ghouls, only six remained and they had witnessed their brethren's death—and did not react.

Lifeless as they were supposed to be.

Satisfied, I turned around and looked into the forest. "Damn, that rabbit's already gotten away."

I could have left the forest and maybe headed somewhere else to obtain food—if we were simply talking about wealth, I had a magnitude of wealth that if there were any adventurers around, they really would be attracted to looting my place.

Perhaps the fact that the Golden Order made its way here first and sealed it prevented even the most greedy of adventurers to come, but as I peeked out of the forest, all that was visible was a large expanse of land that stretched beyond like a desert and without even a single settlement in place.

"Had a plague or famine struck this area... there's no doubt about it, only the specifics is what I’ve yet to know, because it was so bustling before," I said to myself. The only forest that had remained in front of me was near to the Blackwell Manor, but beyond it was nothing more but a wasteland.

"So Rose must have gotten water from behind the manor—in the Hollow Woods, or whatever they call it today."

It was a small nuisance to know that the previous geography or map I had of the world was probably outdated by more than five centuries.

Which meant that I actually needed my Blood Servant to come and report to me as soon as possible—and because he was located so far away from me, I hoped he encountered civilization unlike me.

Regardless, I spent enough time dawdling around, it was time to return back home and so I gathered my shadows—let it spread all over the forest and found the rabbit's den and pulled out several of them.

—-

"I've returned," I announced at the doors and then inwardly grimaced for saying such a thing like that. Who even said anything along those lines without expecting someone to come out and welcome them back?

There was nobody to do that for me.

Except perhaps for the maids, they were supposed to do that, and luckily that seemed to have been ingrained in Rose's mind.

She came out from a room and curtsied at me. Which was strange, because I had gotten used to her coming my way with a deathly wind blade–so this changed the pace.

"Welcome back, Master," she said and then eyed the rabbits in my hands. "It seems like you've captured bunnies."

I raised a brow and wondered what exactly had transpired while I was gone. What attributed to her change as well, which was probably meant to act as a way to relax me–if I paid attention to the Princess's deliberate way of trying to make me treat her friend better.

"Did you or the Princess do anything while I was gone?"

"We cleaned, Master."

"Sure," I said, frowned and then remembered something. "You went out the other day and headed into the forest when it was dangerous?"

"The Master ordered me to fetch water so I did," Rose said.

"And you did not have any sort of difficulty whatsoever in navigating what I told you was very dangerous terrain? It's an Ultimate Skill—a powerful ability harnessed by the Hawthorne House and you traveled without any injuries."

Rose stepped towards me and reached out for the animals, and I simply handed them to her while waiting for a reply.

"Perhaps it was less dangerous when I visited, Master," Rose said and gently combed the rabbit's white fur, and it finally exposed the black body hidden underneath it. It wasn't charred, but rather, it truly had transformed within its stay in the forest.

"...That could explain things," I said and glanced out of the window. "Lord Hawthorne always liked to prepare in advance, so I presume that this ability also takes time to accumulate to its full potential."

The fact that I learned it from him and yet he never mentioned that fact meant he probably wanted me to discover it by myself.

"Probably." Rose agreed and then headed down the corridor. Within her grasp were the five bunnies that squirmed in place. "Master, how do you want me to prepare this meal? Should I just slit its throat and feed you its blood?"

"Are you serious?" I frowned at her. She wasn't exactly wrong—and I could drink animal's blood, but that was an affront to me. "I can also eat meat and other things."

"My apologies, I will prepare for dinner soon and then deliver it to your room." Rose then left me alone.

Once she was gone, I shut the door and looked about the corridor and assessed my environment.

There were no particular changes and if I extended my vision and senses—I found the Princess of Averon only in the room I had prepared for them, fast asleep. She looked spent.

Despite the fact that she was given a nice health potion, she still ended up needing rest after such an incident.

I gazed down into the ten rings on my finger, and then sighed.

"I suppose it is finally time for me to look into whatsoever that Blue Emerald has provided me."

A feeling in my gut told me that it should have probably been a red ring—and yet, as I went to rub the ring and summon whatever had appeared in front of my vision—I heard a voice.

'Master?'

This time it wasn't Rose or Eleanor. My Blood Servant had finally responded after so long.

"What news do you have for me, Walter?" I asked, not entirely sure if I was annoyed or relieved by their disturbance.

'The Golden Order's headquarters is now in another continent, and they're currently dealing with the Grand Witch, Master.'

... the latter was someone that appeared in my mind. A beautiful and tantalizing woman I once encountered—it was good to hear that she was alive.

'Paladin Ophelia is still alive as well.'