The Vampire Empress.

[Vampires] are creatures deemed as myths in the modern world; no one believed their existence to be true. It was only thought of as legends that are used to scare little children to bed, but what people never knew was—they actually existed.

Brrrrinnggg… the sound of the school bell’s hammering echoed around the school, notifying all the students and teachers that school time was over. Without even waiting for the teacher’s announcement, all the students stood up already and packed their stuff—those students included me.

It was the usual boring class that goes repeats endlessly, thousands of words spoken each month; hundreds to thousands of words written on the board, papers yet there was little I have learned. It was amusing, to say the least, but it didn’t help me—who was a vampire—much.

After packing my stuff, I took my bag and left the room without minding the gazes of others who were staring at me. It was another day for me, a day for me to head to bed. The hallway, despite filled, only took me a few moments to walk through as I reached the exit.

“—Hey Aya! Wait for me!” a voice called out from behind.

Turning around, a black-haired lady in her school uniform came rushing towards me while carrying her heavy bag. She was Teil, someone who has stuck to me annoyingly for nearly six straight school years. You could say it’s my misfortune to be stuck with her.

“What’s up again, little annoyance?” I spoke before she pouted.

“At least wait for me before leaving!” she complained.

“And why should I wait for you? I don’t think my bed would wait for me, so don’t waste my time by asking me to wait for you,” I replied nonchalantly before she tried smacking me with her hand sword but thanks to my natural instincts, my body dodged it in an instant, “And no, smacking me in the head won’t brainwash me to following you.”

“Hmph…” her cheeks puffed up even more which was indeed a bit adorable, but it was a daily sight for me, so it was like nothing, “I was about to invite you to a nearby café that my friends have been telling me… it seems like you don’t want to have coffee today since you want to head to bed immediately, I will just have coffee myself then—I heard they also have your favorite cup of coffee as well—”

“I am in, lead the way immediately,” I unconsciously intervened before a bright smirk appeared on her face, that was when I realized, I had fallen for her traps again… how annoying indeed, “Whatever. I will make a consideration and follow you to the café.”

“Ara, I thought you were going to bed immediately?” she teased as we walked past the gate.

“That will be after drinking a cup of coffee, now don’t waste my time,” I glared at her before a soft giggle escaped her lips, “Also, is finding ways to make me follow you everywhere your past time or hobby?”

“Not at all, it’s not either. It’s a chore for me,” she replied which made me roll my eyes unconsciously, “It’s rather amusing to see all kinds of reactions from you, Aya.”

“Amusing is a word you should only use for kittens,” I intervened before she looked at me with her eyes squinted before giggling out of nowhere, “What are you laughing for? Is there something funny with my face?”

“Indeed, there is. Amusing is a word for kittens, and you are indeed a kitten,” she answered.

“I am in no way a kitten, this lady over here is an honorable vampire,” I declared proudly before she released another round of laughter.

“There you go again with your roleplaying as a vampire, you already know they don’t exist!” she smiled while increasing her walking speed a bit.

It was a bit annoying to hear from people that vampires don’t exist when they do—though then again, we only number around a hundred now which kind of makes sense why they think so and most of us have blended well into the human world, hiding since we don’t want to offend people anymore.

People like Teil who are always near me can’t even tell that I am one of those creatures that ‘doesn’t exist’ simply because of how well we have blended in, our fangs are normal length now. We don’t have any wings or horns, the only difference is our eyes are pure red and our hair tends to be white or a unique color like purple but with wigs and people with natural white hair, it’s no longer an issue.

“—Hey, Aya. Are you daydreaming again?” Teil waved her hand in front of me.

“I am always awake. Did you have perhaps asked a question?” I asked before she pouted with her neck tilting to the side, triggering my vampiric instincts as I stare at her neck, enduring the bloodthirst inside of me. Vampires are creatures who are still thirsty for blood though, but we only need blood once every year now instead of the frequent times.

“Aya never listens…” she complained before sighing, “I was asking you what job do you plan on taking since we will be graduating from college soon… after all, I still want to be with you in the future.”

“Hmm, I was thinking of going for computer programming—” I was about to reply when all of a sudden, a blinding light blasted through my eyes as the sight of Teil reaching her hand towards me faded away, leaving only darkness.

I was confused and looked around, it was dark even though we, Vampires can see in the dark very clearly. Almost like it was the void, to be exact. There was not a single shred of light or even a shed of an object that I can see.

“Where am I?” I looked around confused.

Amidst my confusion, a voice suddenly replied from behind, “Welcome to the Land of the Gods, young one.”

I was a bit surprised and turned around before a handsome man stood there; he had the body that could make all women drool. Munching on a piece of apple, he stared at me with no shirt, flaunting those six-pack abs of his.

“Land of the Gods, oh please… spare me from the roleplay. Where is this place?” I questioned before he spat out his apple slice while rolling his eyes.

“This is indeed the Land of the Gods, young vampire—or should I say, future Empress of the Vampires or the heiress of the legendary Vampire clan of your world?” he answered which surprised me.

I was indeed the heiress of the clan—but it was a well-kept secret that only the clan members know and since everyone was tight-lipped, there should have been no leaks. Not to mention, he doesn’t match any of the members of the clan which confused me.

“No need to be surprised, the only purpose I am standing here in front of you is to explain your circumstances with you and give you some compensation since some brat down at my world somehow succeeded in summoning you.”

“—Or to be exact, succeeded in summoning a hero who would then save their ugly, trash and broken kingdom,” he sneered with annoyance before mumbling, “If only I could throw them one of those shitty rocks that could demolish their entire kingdom in one go… AAH! Whatever!”

He then continued ranting for a few more moments, screaming left and right before he finally regained his composure as I sat on the floor half-asleep. After two coughs, he soon looked at me straight in the eye with two parchments on his hand.

“Please ignore the rant—okay, brat! Let’s make this quick, shall we? Pick any skill and benefit from any of these lists and throw them over at that bin right there then get moving,” he said before a yawn escaped from my mouth.

“I’m too lazy. I’ll pick all of them,” I responded while rolling my eyes before his eyes widened, “You didn’t say that I have to pick a single one, so I’ll just pick all of them… got any complaints, ‘brat’?”

Indeed, I was a bit irritated by his sudden insult, someone like me being called a ‘brat’ is not acceptable according to my ego. If this piece of trash can call me a ‘brat’ then why can’t I call him a ‘brat’ as well?

“Hey! You aren’t supposed to do tha—”

“And? You were supposed to explain to me in detail what limitations I have, how much I can pick. It’s too late to explain though since the two parchments you are holding are kind of hot,” I intervened with a shrug while standing up as he looked at the two parchments with shock.

Panic immediately could be seen on him as he released the two parchments that were burning, his eyes were wider than the apple he ate as he stared at me with disbelief, “Yo brat! You might be a bit too overpowered… how about skipping the transmigration and living here instead?”

“Sorry. I prefer to live far away from idiots,” I replied with a yawn.

“You piece of sh—whatever!” he said before taking several deep breaths as if to quell his anger, “Do you want to leave now, or do you want to stay here a bit longer?”

In response, I shrugged my shoulders again while replying, “I’d rather start leaving before my brain cells start to deteriorate from talking with you. Right, give me some way to contact you—who knows, maybe you will be a handy tool to help me… though, I do doubt that.”

“F#@# off! Just head to your local church and you can find a statue of me there!” he screamed.

“Eeeww… I’d rather go to a local garbage bin and pray for you there,” I looked at him with disgust before his face turned bright red as a wormhole came to sight behind him. The wormhole looked to be the portal towards the otherworld which amused me a bit as I slowly walked towards the portal.

It looked like a black hole to be exact, there was not a single shed of light around it, but your body could tell it is a hole. It didn’t have the gravitation pull of a black hole nor did it have the heat of one, honestly, it reminded me more of a slide.

After taking a few glances at the wormhole, I then turned around and let out my tongue as I left one more insult, “See you later, ugly ‘God’!” before jumping straight into the wormhole. The wormhole felt like a waterslide, like for real.

There was the same adrenaline as sliding down towards a waterslide which was fun as I slid to the left, right, and so forth until a bright and blinding light appeared at the very end of the slide. My body slid at a high speed straight towards the light.

A second soon passed by as I soon reached the blinding light before a beautiful world filled with greenery came into sight. The beautiful blue skies warped in a fisheye all around me, the wind blasting towards my direction felt wonderful as I fell down towards a castle at high speed.

BAM! My body slammed down onto the castle where a hundred knights surrounded me together with a priest and a handsome, tyrant-looking young man who sat on a bright red throne. The entire room had a tense atmosphere, symbols of swords and shields together with a lion were embedded everywhere.

Turning my attention towards the young man who was around my age, I looked at him with the coldest gaze that I could do, and with a calm and lax voice, I asked.

“Are you the ‘brats’ who summoned me?”

Naturally, all of them were confused by the word ‘brats’ which was as informal as it could get, though impressively, they managed to regain their composure almost in an instant as the young man stood up with his hand in the air while screaming with cringe, “The hero has arrived! The kingdom will prosper once more!”

You have used the skill [LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION]

It seems like I was not only summoned in a medieval world but also in a magical world similar to the novels I have read in the past. How amusing indeed, should I consider this my vampiric luck or annoyance? I can already foresee everything that will happen in the next few moments through the help of the wonderful ‘cliché’.

“Hey, kiddo! Tell me, what is my purpose for being summoned here is?” I summoned my hefty scythe and pointed at the young man; the scythe does seem to be universal as expected. All vampires have their own kind of scythe, which is usually condensed with blood, our ancestors apparently used it to fend off the knights which worked from what I heard.

The sudden move from me caused all the knights to be surprised as they all drew their swords and pointed at me, ready to strike only to be intervened by their young ruler who seems to be my age, he had this charismatic smile on his face as he spoke, “I was about to explain that; the purpose we have summoned you here is because we need your knowledge in making our kingdom prosper.”

“You are to be given the title of a Duchess and a fief to manage with wealth that is worthy for a Duchess, but before all that, you have to prove your talent to us by making the cursed town of Kaloria prosper!” he said in a persuasive voice, “You may utilize your benefits as the Duchess and the passive income from being a Duchess to let it prosper, do you wish to agree?”

“How annoying…” I complained while retracting my scythe, “Was there even a choice for me? Just hand me a list of everything I need to do then I will be off to work.”

“That can’t do, we care a lot about the hero’s health as such we do not wish to burden you with stress,” he said with an annoying bright smile that would make all the hearts on my school explode—well, he is a bit handsome, but I have seen more handsome idiots in my lifetime.

And also, what’s up with that trashy declaration?! They don’t want to burden me with stress while also wanting to test my abilities by making a cursed land prosper, not to mention, they summoned here to fix their ugly kingdom… yet they don’t want me to be stressed out. PFFT—is this guy a comedian?

Though, then again, he does act a lot different from the kings in the novels I have read. He feels a bit more disgusting than that, almost like he fell for me at first sight—yikes. I want to leave this place already, to think that brain cell killing God had people like him… well, not that I can’t do anything about it… how annoying.

“Whatever, lend me three days to read all the books here then I will be setting off. I want books regarding the geography, history, economics, politics and all those annoying kinds of stuff,” I demanded before adding abruptly, “And, don’t give me any tutors. They are the worst kinds of trash.”

After giving off that last sentence, the faces of some of the people here darkened. They looked gloomy after hearing my last declaration which made me laugh inside.

I guess I struck some people’s dignity by calling them the ‘worst kinds of trash’—but it is true though, tutors are annoying! I had a tutor for myself back on the clan and she wouldn’t stop nagging about how legendary the Vampires were despite us only numbering around a hundred now.

“All the maids, please quickly arrange a room with all the books from the library and plenty of food!” he immediately sent an order before all the maids who were at the very back ran towards another door without any question as he looked at me with his charismatic smile, “Do you have any more requests, beautiful lady?”

“One more, don’t flirt with me brat,” I said before he looked at me surprised for a few seconds as he soon laughed super hard.

“You really are amusing, to think that someone would really have the guts to talk back to me, it makes me happy,” he replied with a very warm smile that made my heart skip a beat for a second. It was a genuine smile that lacked any of the fake feelings his other smiles had, “I would really love to make you my Queen but it’s not the right time.”

“Who would want to be your Queen? I don’t have time for your jokes, lead me to where the books are. I want to start reading them and leave immediately, this place stinks of fakeness,” I said before he giggled as he stepped out from his throne and walked towards me with a hand.

“Shall I lead you, my lady?” he asked before I slapped his hand.

“I don’t like people leading me around like I am some kind of weak person,” I rolled my eyes before he giggled once more as the two of us were soon led to a luxurious and comfortable room that was filled with books of all kinds.

My heart immediately skipped a beat from all the books—I was the kind of person that you would call a bookworm and would read as many books as I want, seeing all of the free knowledge for me makes my heart beat even more as I immediately took a few dozen books that I found amusing and jumped on a couch and started reading.

“This is what I would call heaven!” I screamed before opening all the books as I started rampaging through them, ignoring the surprised gazes of the others.

After six straight hours of reading, I have completely read all of the first categories of books that talk about the geography and history of the kingdom. The Kingdom of Aria which is located at the northwest of the continent was one of the more prosperous kingdoms in the continent that was until a stroke of bad luck from the former king who went into war against a larger kingdom.

The kingdom was forced to pay a gigantic amount of money which left them in this idiotic state. Apparently, the king had fallen in love with the Queen of that kingdom and was rejected which is why he went into war… as expected of an idiot indeed.

As for the products of the kingdom, they apparently sell wheat, vegetables, meat, and fish with gold and some other ores. They are well-known for their mages and ore resources which made them prosper a lot but then again, that was all in the past and now, they are like some tomato stuck in a field of ants.

“How troublesome…” I heaved a sigh while drinking a cup of tea, “To think that this kingdom is in a bad state, and here I was thinking I could live in luxury after finishing that cursed town… F#@# that idiotic king…”

And so—I started reading onto the next category of books which talks about the economics of the kingdom and the politics which only took around three hours for me who had a photographic memory. To summarize everything, the currency of the kingdom is called ‘Arian’ which surprise, surprise comes from the kingdom’s name.

The currency ‘Arian’ is categorized in four parts: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum with a single bronze coin priced at 0.01 dollars while a single silver coin is 500 bronze coins which are 5 dollars, and a gold coin at another 500 silver coins or 2,500 dollars and lastly, the platinum which guess how much gold coins? Right, 500 gold coins or 1,250,000!

Well, the dollar estimate is my own estimate from how much the item being referred on the book is worth in the modern world. For example, a single bronze coin is enough to buy you a nail, surprisingly while a silver coin is enough to buy you a vegetable of some sort, a gold coin can purchase you a full set of high-quality armor and a platinum coin can buy you an entire manor.

The way the kingdom taxes cities, towns, villages, and the citizens is through the good ol’ Roman method called ‘wealth tax’ which takes a single percent of their combined wealth from properties, how many cows they have, and all those kinds of stuff.

Politics-wise, the entire kingdom is unsurprisingly a monarchy… were you shocked? Well, there isn’t much to the political section other than the fact that slavery is super illegal in most kingdoms, a minimum wage of 200 hundred bronze coins or 2 dollars a day which is dirt poor.

Anyway, that was the end of the important part—after the politics and economics category was all the unnecessary and annoying stuff such as noble etiquette, how to make tea, building houses, and so forth which I still read nonetheless since who doesn’t want free knowledge?

The entire room of books ended up taking me the entire three days, there were a few amusing stuff such as fighting techniques from swords to fists, a large number of magic spells, and a guide on how to train your mana and utilize them efficiently. Magic was the part that intrigued me the most since it was something that the modern world didn’t have.

During the three days, I trained my mana well until I was able to condense a gigantic fireball on one of the gardens and ended up shaving some hair of a garden. I did manage to run away from the scene after slapping a water ball at it—but that’s a story for next time.

And so, the three days of peace ended for me as I stood at the throne room once more with the son of that idiot, love-driven idiot sitting on the throne with dozens of nobles, hundreds of knights, and mages gazing at me.

“It seems like you are ready to go to your battlefield, are you excited?” he asked.

“Which idiot would be excited to go manage a cursed town, go back to school, you brat!” I complained before he laughed super loud.

“Your insults never change, anyway. I wish you the best out in the fields, hero!” he said as I rolled my eyes while turning around as I walked out of the throne room before being led by a few guards who guided me towards the carriage that will take me to the town.

And so—my hell started.