“Let me get this straight: Three of you went in search of one person, yet you come back empty-handed. To make matters worse, the Consortium sends a messenger to me, saying that there has been a Vampire outbreak in Archwood.”

A woman in a short dress was sitting on the main seat of a wide black table and fiddling with glass filled with blood as she looked at her ‘children’.

In total, there were nine people sitting on both sides, though most kept their heads lowered and maintained silence.

“My lady, we almost caught up to him but he suddenly disappear-”

A middle-aged man with short golden hair attempted to explain himself but was interrupted as Marjory Na Xivia, one of the five Original Vampires, loudly stomped the ground with her heels.

“I want results, not excuses. Dead or alive, I want to see the body of Rodric Donovan in front of me! One of you will go to the capital and clarify that we had nothing to do with the massacre.”

Marjory glared at the man before standing up and motioning for someone to follow her. Only when she had left the room did the subordinates’ tension ease up and they were allowed a moment of calmness.

“Those fools were granted powers yet they can't do anything with it. This is beyond disappointing.”

Marjory sighed and glanced at the girl following her; She was also one of her ‘Children’, the youngest one, in fact.

“You’ve been with them there. What can you tell me, Amare?”

The girl did not seem scared or perturbed by Marjory’s foul mood. She had an unshakable demeanor and did not hesitate to explain things from her perspective.

“My lady, the whole ‘Blood Purge’ is riddled with mysteries and contradictions. I believe we have a loose Vampire on our hands, perhaps more than one, even.”

Seeing that Marjory quietly listened, the girl continued, “It has been confirmed that the transformation occurred due to the wine, which was poisoned with Vampire Blood. Said Wine originates from a Wine Farm near the town, but its owner- the previous one- burned himself the same night.”

“So he wanted to die and kill everyone with him?”

Marjory clicked her tongue as she became more and more displeased. “A simple matter of capturing a single person turned into a convoluted mess. Nevertheless, I want you to go back there and investigate every little thing. Do you hear me? I want nothing left unturned. My public image was tainted after what happened and it only made my strained relationship with the Consortium harder to mend. Rodrick might have crossed paths with the unknown Vampire. Find them both and bring them here. Also, check with the new local lord… that young girl. She must know a thing or two. After all, she couldn’t have survived the transformation alone.”

*****

“Excuse me.”

A kind-looking knight clad in silver and dark red armor suddenly entered the florist shop situated in a cramped alleyway.

Amanta, the elderly owner of the shop, was startled awake and jumped to her feet. She warmly greeted the knight but she had a tense and anxious expression.

The visible crest engraved on the knight’s armor was that of the Sanguis family, and since Leonis Sanguis died a short while ago, this knight must surely have come from the capital.

“Y-yes… what can I help you with?”

“You are Amanta, mother of Elyna, am I correct?”

The knight looked at a piece of documents as he asked his question.

“That’s is r-right!”

“Is your daughter home? I’d like a world with her, please.”

Since the knight was overly-polite, Amanta did not reject him or say any unnecessary words. She scurried to the back of the shop and brought her daughter.

Previously a maid under Leonis Sanguis, Elyna decided to stay home to help her mother and take care of her sickly father. As her master had instructed her, she didn’t brazenly spend the gold he provided her.

In fact, apart from the other servants and her family, no one knew she had become filthy rich, so much that she could live comfortably even in the Capital.

“Hello, I am Elyna. Do you need anything?”

The knight inspected her for a couple of seconds then nodded to himself.

“I would like to ask you a couple of things regarding Leonis Sanguis.”

“Sure.”

With her approval, the knight proceeded to ask one question after the other; it went on for fifteen minutes, though when he left, it was clear the answers he was given did not help at all.

After his departure, Elyna signaled for her mother to remain silent as they sat next to the counter and looked at the empty and narrow entrance of the shop.

“E-Elyna… that picture he showed us. I-isn’t it the coin we ha-”

“Mother, please! I told you to never speak about it.”

“But…”

“Please don’t.” Retorted the daughter as she clenched her hands. “I don’t know why he has given it to us but, by revealing the truth, we could endanger ourselves. We will pretend nothing ever happened.”

****

Inside the largest manor in Wilsden, precisely in Xander’s spacious and well-decorated office, a teenage girl was sitting near the chimney, seemingly absent-minded.

Only when there was a knock on the door did she snap out of it and stand up.

“Come in.”

“Good morning!”

Holy Knight Rein beamed at the girl and waved his hand as he stepped inside. The old butler, a confidant of Julie’s late father, grunted in annoyance but did not stop the golden-haired young man.

After bowing respectfully to his new master, the butler closed the door and retreated, leaving the two youngsters alone.

“How are you feeling?”

Rein inspected the girl from afar then nodded.

“Very good, actually.”

Julie chuckled as she put one hand over her chest, feeling the beating heart.

“Thanks to your help, I no longer crave blood or go berserk.”

“Well…”

The Holy Knight hesitated for a bit as he walked over and sat down, looking confused but pleased.

“I’m not sure what happened. My blessing played a small part… furthermore…”

He turned his head and looked at Julie, who was excitedly picking a new book from the wall-sized bookshelf.

“If we’re following official terminology, I would not call you a Half-vampire… or even a Vampire.”

“Umm… then what?”

Although she asked back, she didn’t seem that interested as her whole attention elsewhere.

“I’m still not sure. If you would tell me what happened then-”

“Rein!”

She pursued her lips and glared at him for a couple of breaths.

“Alright alright! I get it already!”

He sighed and did not insist, fully knowing that she wanted to keep that a secret. Their meeting was coincidental, nevertheless, the two became very good friends. He helped her deal with Vampirism, at least for a while.

Without any prior notice, Julie’s condition became infinitely better, so much that she was brimming with vitality every day.

Not only that, but Julie- though unwittingly- became capable of wielding Magic. Due to its ominous nature and origin, Rein repeatedly advised her to never reveal that secret to anyone, to which she agreed.

****

“Heheheh, pardon the mess!”

Ami giggled as she pushed a couple of small dusty boxes to the side and welcomed the guest.

She had run into Evelyn and they ‘chatted’ for a while before she brought her to her home.

However, to call it a proper home was an over-statement. It was a shallow shack, cramped, dusty, and equipped with a small bed and chairs that haven’t been used for a long time.

As a maid, Evelyn didn’t like being in a dirty and dusty place. Nevertheless, she held back her thoughts and scanned the room.

“You live her?”

“Yes! It’s been ten years already! It’s not much but it’s at least warm in the winter.”

Ami pulled a notebook from under the bed and opened it.

“Look look! What do you think?”

The girl cheerfully showed her drawings to Evelyn. As it turned out, Ami’ hobby was drawing stuff, whether it was plants, animals, or paysages.

“They are actually good.” Commented Evelyn, genuinely impressed by Ami’s skills.

It wasn’t at the level of an expert, but if she was born into a rich family, she could easily have drawn paintings worth thousands of gold. That is, provided she would have been properly tutored.

“Really? I’m flattered hehehe”

Ami softly laughed and handed her precious notebook to Evelyn while she pushed more boxes to make the place look more presentable and easier to walk in.

“What about you, Despoina? Do you have any hobbies?”

“Not particularly.”

“How come? As a traveler, you must’ve surely seen lots of cool and beautiful places.”

“...”

Evelyn was never a talkative person, and Ami was quite the opposite. The conversation between them was Ami talking and Evelyn either shaking her head, nodding, or answering perfunctorily.

Still, Ami seemed to be having a lot of fun and treated Despoina’ as a friend.

Evelyn too, felt that dealing with Ami was infinitely better than being subjected to the villagers’ unwarranted and boundless kindness.

Arthur tasked her to socialize and learn more about the village, but she wasn’t good at such stuff. Fortunately, she stumbled upon Ami and the two got along. Moreover, since Ami was such a chatterbox, all Evelyn had to do was listen…

“Did you not consider leaving the village? Seeing new places will give you the inspiration you seek.”

“Umm…” Looking troubled and hesitant, Ami pondered for a couple of breaths then said, “I like living here. It’s sometimes hard but I can manage on my own. I do want to leave and explore the world but I need money…”

Ami retrieved a small brown leather pouch from under her tight jacket and excitedly opened,

“I’ve been saving little by little. My grand adventure will have to wait until I’ve amassed 100 Gold Coins!”

“And how much do you have now?”

“Five! Hahahaha”

“...”

Their conversation went on for thirty more minutes, in which Evelyn learnt quite a bit of stuff, about Ami and the village both.

*****

After temporarily discarding Leonis’ body, and hiding it, Arthur possessed the Hollow Alligator and crawled on the ground. Although it was an unfamiliar sensation, he quickly got used to it and picked up the pace.

The animal’s body was large and full of scales, but it wasn’t too detrimental as Arthur managed to move rapidly. In fact, his speed in this body was faster than in a human one, much to his surprise.

With a singular and specific objective in mind, Arthur did not waste time wandering the forest. He set off to a nearby swamp and submerged himself beneath the dirty waters.

There were many swamps in Hollow Creek, and the one he was in was neither too big nor too small, but it was the closest one to the village.

As he swam around, Arthur encountered two more Hollow Alligators, both of which paid him no heed. They were as motionless as rocks, waiting for a prey to get close enough.

With no danger looming around, the parasite dove as deep as he could, hoping to find something interesting. Alas, excluding a couple of ugly and weird-looking fish, the bottom of the swamp was uninteresting.

Nevertheless, Arthur did not give up hope, he searched for another swamp and thoroughly explored it: This cumbersome process repeated itself five times for a duration of two hours.

‘Some of the swamps are connected by an underground waterway. Which means, the bottle must’ve originated from specifically such swamps. However, there must be an origin… a place from which the bottle initially came from. A cave, perhaps?’

For five whole hours, Arthur traveled from one swamp to the other and checked those that are equipped with the aforementioned waterway. He wanted to map the whole thing and gain a better understanding of their workings.

An extra thing he did was eliminating the new and ugly fishes he stumbled upon, not only to gain their skills and stats, but to also be able to possess them and, hopefully, travel through places the alligator host could not.

Unfortunately, the fish granted him pitiful stats but two additional and useful skills. The first was [Long Breath(Passive], which is - essentially- a better version of [Water Breath]. This one allowed him to breathe underwater indefinitely.

The second skill, [Octo Magnus Amblyopsidae(Passive)], granted him the ability to see clearly in the dark depths of the swamps, but the inability to see anything on the surface. Therefore, he activated it only when necessary.

Only when the sun started setting and the canopy was darkening did Arthur return to Leonis’ body and head back to the village.