Chapter 16 - Heavy is the Head

Kuro's Village - Kuro's House - Dusk

Simon tilts his head to the side in confusion, "A what?"

"A vampire." Kuro's palm slaps against his face before remembering that the man in question had only recently learned their language. while Kuritn bursts out laughing, "He means a person that lives off of the blood of others, they drink it to survive and detest the daylight. Also, they're apparently afraid of water for some reason."

"Drink blood?" One of Simon's eyebrows tilts upwards in confusion before the realization hits him, "Ah, a Vampire, I take it that Vampire is your word for Vampire, No, I'm not one nor do I drink blood. Not if I can help it at least." An uncontrollable shiver travels up his spine as he recalls a distant memory, "However, I take it from your reaction that those creatures actually exist here."

"Aye that they do. They typically stay down south, far past the Ungrul mountains in the Canrial Expanse. They build a city there far away from mortal lands after most of the human kingdoms rallied around the Solaris Church who started a 'righteous' purge." Kuritn sighs and takes another swig. "Officially it was done to protect humanity from all things deemed 'unclean'. In reality, it was done to keep the various royal families in line by being the only real option available for longevity. After all, why support a dangerous organization of religious fanatics if all you had to do to gain a few extra years of life, let alone immortality, was to protect your own blood-drinking citizens during the day while they protected you during the night?"

Simon closed his eyes to contemplate the situation, "So, Until the purge vampires and humanity lived in relative peace with each other?"

"Aye, but it wasn't just the humans. They lived in peace with pretty much all races aside from the trolls. Those two never got along. They'd offer the same deal to any that would take them in, protection at night for blood and safety during the day. Didn't even have to be the blood of the races, animal blood worked too, although they much preferred the former. I heard from a bard once that compared animal blood to dried rations, It'd keep you fed but it wasn't exactly pleasant."

"How was the blood gathered? Sacrifices?"

"No, nothing like that. Typically people would volunteer to be embraced for the night or paid to be if no one volunteered but that rarely happened. It was apparently quite pleasurable for the donor."

The old soldier nods his head as the picture within his mind continues to build, "Did anyone ever die from it?"

"Rarely. Typically only happened when something went very wrong very fast or the vampire was literally dying of starvation. Anytime that happened the vampires would generally take care of the issue themselves, either by executing the offender or becoming the donor's personal family guardian if they had one. Otherwise, they'd pay a huge fine to the donor’s next of kin or friend if no family was available."

"I see. Humanity's greed strikes again. Did the other races join in?"

"Not at first, well, aside from the elves and the trolls. The trolls were no surprise since they hated each other but the elves were. No one really knows why the elves joined in so early and there are so many rumors at this point that it's impossible to know for sure." Kuritn looks down at the now-empty flask and closes it tightly, "Most of the other races joined in after it became clear who would win in the end, likely to gain some political favor with the rapidly growing church."

"Most of them?"

"Aye, a few races held out and remained neutral during the whole mess, except for the lizardmen in the Kingdom of Argonia. They refused to turn against their long-time friends and opted to fight alongside them. They were completely wiped out shortly after the vampires fled beyond the Ungrul mountains. No ones seen a lizardman in over a hundred years, but there's still some rumors about some of them fleeing south with the vampires before the royal army completely collapsed."

"Loyal till the end I see, I wish that was a more common trait."

"Don't we all," Kuritn replies with a grunt before Kuro finally lets out a sigh of relief and breaks eye contact. He doesn't appear to be lying, at least.

"So, what are you then? You're obviously not human."

Simon chuckles at the comment, "Well, that's true, but it's hard to explain. At this point, I'm not really human, at least not anymore. I don't know the words to explain what I am now."

"So, you were human once?"

Simon shakes his head, indicating no, "Not really, again; it's hard to explain, but judging from your reaction, I'll try anyway. The closest thing that I can come up with as an explanation is that I'm more of a weapon than a human. I wasn't born. I was created."

Kuritn and Kuro's ears stood up along with their tails, ""T-There's more of you?!""

Simon quickly motions for the two men to lower their voices before continuing, "No. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one like me. There were others similar to me, but they got wiped out a long time ago. Back before my 'kingdom' got wiped out." His thoughts briefly drifted towards one individual but there's no way they are still alive. He made damn sure of that. "Kuro, if vampires are more or less friendly to mortal races, why were you so concerned that I might be one?"

Kuritn cuts in before the elder could speak, "They were friendly. Now they pretty much kill everyone on sight."

Simon nods, "Ah, well, I guess that is to be expected when the whole world tries to wipe out your race for merely existing."

Kuro nods his head silently while fiddling with the flask in his hands, "Simon, Somethings been bothering me for a while now. Just, how old are you? I've seen the way you act around the village. You treat even the elderly women like children at times, casually ruffling their hair or giving them that damned fatherly smile of yours."

Simon's eyebrows tilt upwards in surprise, "Kayae didn't tell you? I thought she already had after we returned from the village with the powder."

It was Kuro's time to be surprised, it seems.

"Anyway, As I told her and the boy along with his grandfather the other day, I think I'm somewhere around 380 years old now, give or take a few years."

Kuro's grip on the flask suddenly slipped, causing it to fall and roll across the floor, only to be scooped up by Simon who rapidly downs the last of its contents while Kuritn gives the village elder an 'I told you so look', "T-three hundred and eighty years? What are you? An elf?"

Simon laughs heartily while brushing his hair back to show Kuro his ears. "That's what that grandfather said too, but no, I'm not an elf, as you can see. Wait, do Elves even have pointy ears here?"

Kuritn offers a brief nod while Kuro continues, his head falling into his hands in disbelief, "Things just keep getting stranger and stranger with you."

He takes a moment to compose himself before speaking, "So, what now?"

"Once the wagons are unloaded, I'm going to take the men back into the forest and retrieve the rest of the supplies. It'll probably take at least four or five more trips to get everything. We've still got to collect all of the bodies at the encampment. No sense leaving behind good equipment, and besides, if we leave too many corpses for the monsters to find, there's no telling what will happen."

Kuro nods his head as Kuritn chimes in, "Gonna need a pretty big trench for all those bodies. I'll grab some of the villagers and start digging once we're done here. Burning um all would take way too much time not to mention fuel."

"Why? We've got thirty perfectly good laborers to dig it for us." Simon says, his grim smile being returned by Kuritn while Kuro glances back and forth between the two. Clearly uncomfortable with the situation and lets out a slight cough before rising.

"I'll go ahead and make what preparations I can for the storage. Might need to set up a few tents though." The elder briefly considers asking Simon what he intends to do with the men once they've finished gathering the rest of the supplies, but he quickly decides against it. Better off not knowing. Besides, he still has something far more essential to ask, "Do you want an itemized list of the supplies brought to your house?"

Simon turns towards Kuro with a facial expression one would expect to have after seeing an alien, "Sure, I guess? But wouldn't it be more useful for you to have as the Village Elder?"

The two men stare at each other in confusion for a moment before something dawns on Kuro, "W-Wait, you can't mean for the village to keep the supplies, right?"

One of Simon's eyebrows lifts up slightly, "I thought that was obvious? What the hell am I going to do with twenty or thirty wagons worth of supplies? What do you think I am, a fucking Dragon? Huge fire-breathing lizards that horde treasure and fly around attacking kingdoms." Simon's eyes narrow slightly as he watches Kuro contemplate something while Kuritn spits out his drink. "You better not be thinking that."

Kuro starts to sweat beneath Simon's gaze, "N-No, of course not, but it would expl-"

"Kuro."

"Alright, Fine, Just stop looking at me like that. It's not good for my hea-," he replies as Kuritn recovers and casts several more barriers in quick succession much to the other two men's surprise.

"Simon, NEVER, say that word." Kuritn's stern tone seems to remind the elder about something who quickly places a hand over his mouth, "They can hear you when you speak of them. Never say that word, never speak of them, and most importantly NEVER say their true name. Entire kingdoms have been destroyed for less. Names have power here, especially over immortals. Saying one's name in vain is the highest act of disgrace possible."

Simon nods his head at Kuritn's remark sensing the seriousness in his voice, "Still, Kuro, did you really think I'd try to keep all of those supplies for myself?"

Kuro sighs quietly, "No, but I had to assume the worst while hoping for the best."

Simon stands up, sensing the conversation has reached its end. His heavy footsteps reverberate off of the wooden floorboards as he approaches the still sleeping Kayae and strokes her crimson hair before placing a light kiss on her forehead.

Kuro waits for him to finish up before standing to face him, "Simon, on behalf of the entire village, I thank you." The elderly man slowly goes down on one knee and gives Simon a deep bow.

He didn’t even kneel when he thought I was the Baron.

Kuritn chimes in offering some insight on the situation with closed eyes, "To a Wolfen, kneeling or bowing is the ultimate sign of submission or humility. Doing one is bad enough, but doing both is something else entirely."

Simon gestures for the man to stand up while forcibly swallowing his discomfort.

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Simon mutters under his breath as Kuro leaves the house receiving affirming grunt from Kuritn.

"Aye, that it is. Anyway, sit back down. We aren't done yet." Kuritn says while pointing a finger to the floor.

Sigh. Better get comfortable I guess.