[V11C24] A Middle-Aged Stomach is a Delicate Thing
Translated by Jodas 11: Envoy of the Abyss—A short while earlier…
“Mm-hm, what excellent mana. I suppose we must be nearing the end of Act I.”
Beneath the parasol that Hütter held for him, the Vampire Jill gazed out at the Wedge Tower.
Since Hütter had no sense for mana, all he could gleam was ‘Wow, all those crystals are just falling right off, huh~? Hold on, there’s some kind of ridiculously huge plant there too, what the heck is that? Is that a Monster? Scary…’
(What the heck is going on here anyway? I can’t tell which side is winning at all…)
Cold sweat ran down the back of a con man on parasol duty.
Their destination was the south side of the Wedge Tower, which was to say, the main gate.
As Jill put it “I could sneak in though the back, but then everybody would miss the chance to my beautiful face! Wouldn’t that be such a pity?”
(I’m the one you should be pitying right now, dammit! At this rate I’m gonna end up having to fight Spiremaster Lowein at the gate… That would make me a traitor for real!)
“Let us go, shall we? Such a great presence as myself has no business making an appearance in Act I, wouldn’t you agree?”
The Vampire turned beneath the parasol and struck a pose.
Seeing his gracious ‘master’ strike such a pose solely for the benefit of a lowly servant, Hütter made sure his face gave off the idea of ‘Wow! So stunning! You move me, Master Jill!’
“You are absolutely correct. I believe the audiences will be captivated by you, Master Jill, if you were to wait until the action reaches its climax before making your appearance.”
“Right, right~?”
“And to that end, I have a suggestion.”
The main gate was just ahead. He could already see the army surrounding it from here.
If he was going to make a break for it, it had to be now.
“I would not want to upstage your appearance, Master Jill… No, it would not be possible for me to upstate you. The moment of your arrival must be so grand, no one will be able to take their eyes off of you.”
“Yes, yes!”
“So, I was thinking of hyping up the crowd a little by playing a little music… Would you mind if I went back to the village real quick to pick up an instrument?”
The plan was to pretend he was going looking for an instrument and run away.
In response to Hütter’s heartfelt plea, Jill spoke with a glowing smile.
“No need to worry, my servant. Your throat is no lesser than any instrument. Announce my arrival with your singing.”
(Dammit, I’m singing the Poppo Dance! Are you okay with that, Vampire!? …I might get killed if I do, though!)
Hütter fought back tears and massaged his forehead.
“I am honored you think so highly of me, Master Jill… I will put my all into my performance!”
These were the tears of a man who knew there was nowhere to run.
Regardless, Hütter continued to search for a way out. He needed to find some reason to get away from this place.
“Oh right! The mana density is pretty high at the Wedge Tower right now… isn’t it? While it would be a shame to be separated from your illustrious presence, I will have to do my singing outside the main gate.”
“I don’t mind. You have water with you, right?”
Jill’s eyes drifted to Hütter’s robe.
Since Hütter had fully intended to grab the Poppos and hightail it out of here, he was carrying a reasonably heavy load. Beneath his robes, he had stashed plenty of drinking water, devices for his sleight-of-hand, and liquor to ply his guests.
“I’m impressed you figured that out…”
“You were making a sloshing noise. I’m sure you have all kinds of things on you, riiight?”
For whatever reason, Monsters seemed to have good hearing. It didn’t seem like he could just lie his way out of this one, so Hütter stepped into the shade and folded up the parasol before pulling his canteen and a wooden cup out from under his robe.
“What should I do with the water?”
“Pour some into that cup. Just half-full is fine.”
When Hütter poured the water as instructed, Jill took off one of his gloves, and pricked his own finger with his fangs.
The drop of blood that formed at the tip of his finger floated up into the air, then soundlessly dropped into the cup.
“By drinking my diluted blood, you will be able to survive in areas of high mana density for a little while.”
“…A little while?”
“A little while.”
How long was ‘a little while’ to a long-lived Greater Monster? Just thinking about it scared him.
Hütter looked down at the cup in his hands. His instincts screamed ‘No way! Nuh-uh! I’m not drinking that!’ It didn’t matter whose it was, he did not want to drink someone else’s blood. However, there was no telling how Jill would react if he refused this.
(Actually, I did hear that human thralls were sometimes able to enter the Crystal Territory… I see, so that’s how they were able to do that. Still, there weren’t all that many of them. I’m sure if there were, the Wedge Tower’s Investigation Office would have found out by now. Maybe even the other Monsters didn’t know about this?)
Jill looked at Hütter with a face that screamed ‘Come on, aren’t you thrilled!? You should be excited!’ Damn, he’s got good ears too, so pretending to drink it probably wouldn’t cut it.
There was no getting out of this. In that case, he just had to change his mindset and focus on leaving a good impression.
Hütter shook his body with overwhelming emotion and pushed aside his glasses to cover his eyes with his hand.
“I can hardly imagine you would grace such a lowly peasant as myself with a drop of your honored blood… Ohhh, Lord, is it right for me to be so blessed?”
“Hahaha, it pleases me to see that you are so delighted. It means that you are just the kind of person I like.”
“Today is the best day of my life! A toast, to the eternal night!”
Hütter downed the whole blood-soaked glass in one gulp. He didn’t notice any changes in his body, nor did he get the feeling of ‘The power of a vampire has awakened a tremendous potential in me!’ at all.
His aching shoulders, back pain, and tired muscles remained unchanged. This old man’s body was as stiff as always (no thanks to yesterday’s Poppo Showtime).
“You know~ If you drank that blood without diluting it the inside of your mouth melt off~”
Hütter immediately felt queasy.
Was his stomach going to be able to handle it? His digestion was getting weaker with age after all. How would his stomach handle a Vampire’s blood when it could hardly even handle your average meat?
“If I increase the dosage a little bit, you can extend your lifespan too, you know.”
Instantly he went pale. Hütter figured that ‘little bit’ wouldn’t have too much of an effect on his body. At most, it would probably just give him a little resistance to mana.
But he could not overlook what Jill had said.
“Master Jill, I beg you to speak no more of such things.”
“Hmm? Are you lecturing me?”
Jill looked evidently miffed.
‘Yeesh, scaaarryy… I’m not gonna lose my head over this, right!?’ Trembling internally, Hütter continued with the attitude of a loyal retainer.
”‘I want to extend my lifespan. I want to live forever. I don’t want to die.’ Every human thinks such things to some extent. So if the powers that be learned that there was a way to do just that… It might pose quite the threat to you down the line.”
While Hütter preferred to talk about profits to be made, in this case the message was less ‘You could make money off of this’ and more ‘Yikes, this could be bad.’
If this got out, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the rulers of other countries harboring ideas of taking the Empire’s Autonomous Territory for themselves. And that would lead to a war he would very much rather not be a part of. That stuff — the Vampire’s blood — was just too intoxicating a drug.
“…Please, keep the details of your blood’s powers to yourself. For your own sake.”
‘You can’t just go running your mouth about that kind of thing! You’re going to cause a huge commotion! I won’t be able to handle it!’ …Hütter screamed internally.
Jill’s eyes narrowed. It looked in a way like he was smiling, and yet also in a way like he was evaluating him carefully. The corners of his lips showed that he was enjoying this.
“You know, I have a habit of killing any ‘servants of immortality’ that aren’t my servants.”
With a delighted face, the handsome Monster spoke words that made his spine run cold.
With a few drops of a Vampire’s blood, one could become immortal — It’s likely that there have already been some who tried to approach Jill because they knew that fact. These people would do anything if the reward was immortality. They were truly ‘servants of immortality.’
His grinning lips offered a glimpse of white fangs. His red tongue peeked out to lick his lips.
“You sure are a clever one. You’re crafty, but not too crafty. That sort of thing is why I made you my servant.”
To what extent had this Vampire read his mind? His words and actions were casual and careless, but he was not the kind of fool that could be tricked easily.
Even if he could be kind at times, it was not kindness by any human standards.
“Come now, let’s go, my dear servant. It’s time for us to go on a delightful jaunt through the sky.”
Jill extracted the crystal rivet from his chest and grabbed Hütter’s right hand as if shaking it.
The next moment, Jill’s body lifted into the air. It was quite unlike human flight magic. It was as if there was an invisible staircase beneath Jill’s feet, and he was climbing it faster than a human could sprint. Rather than flying, maybe it would be more correct to call it dashing through the air.
Held by one hand, Hütter’s body dangled in the wind.
(GYAAAAAHHH!!)
Hütter held back his scream, but several people still took notice of him.
A fuzzy red head — Rose — looked up to the sky and shouted.
“Ah! Mr. Hütter!?”
Following Rose’s voice, Spiremasters Lowein and Alto, along with the other mages, looked skywards too.
“Oh gosh, it is Mr. Hütter!”
“I was wondering where he went…”
“Don’t tell me, did Mr. Hütter try to fend off a Greater Monster on his own…!?”
‘You’re right. I got attacked by a big, scary Monster. Please help me.’ Hütter thought.
But Jill flew far too fast, and since any attack had the chance of hitting Hütter, the mages on the ground weren’t able to attack.
Jill slowly ascended over the walls and floated into the Wedge Tower’s campus.
Then, a voice came from above.
“GIVE BACK MR. HÜTTEEERRR!!”
Hütter was mortified.
Barreling towards him was none other than Tia, wearing the wings of her Magical Flying Device.