Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

Doing Well Even if Scattered (5)

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[Craving fresh blood, I shall seek eternal life! A cursed lord of Beltaine exudes magical power. The special undead ‘Vampire Clan’ generally stays only in their territory and adapted regions, but occasionally comes out to non-adapted areas through contracts.]

[‘The Promise Bound by Dragon’ rune resonates with the vampire’s proposal, satisfying special conditions. A contract with ‘Count Ripley’, the noble vampire of Beltaine, becomes possible. If you contract with them, you must pay a harsh price. Due to the ‘Corpse Commander’ rune, you are not limited in the number of contractible undead.]

-Hey, want to make a contract with me?

Along with those words, an information window poured out.

And the girl introduced as a vampire smiled at me.

“But, to contract with me, you have to offer your heart.”

Offering the heart.

Clearly, even the necromancer from earlier had said this when wanting a contract.

For some reason, it seemed the contract wasn’t finalized at the end, but anyway, he also delayed the contract until the final crisis, perhaps because of such conditions.

I tilted my head and asked her back.

“What do you mean by offering the heart?”

“Exactly what it sounds like! I’ll engrave a mark on your heart as soon as we contract…”

She trails off and shows an even deeper smile.

The words she utters next are brutal.

“That mark will eventually lead you to ruin. How about it?”

This is not a vampire, it’s almost a demon.

Her face was already mysterious and pretty…

When she smiled brightly, she became even prettier.

She had something that could enchant people, to the point where if an ordinary person received the proposal, they would probably agree without even listening to the content.

But I’m a person who’s somewhat adapted to external beauty.

I could make a more rational judgment than others.

“Who would accept such a condition? You say ruin, but it just means I’ll die.”

“…”

A mark engraved on the heart that will eventually lead me to ruin.

Intuitively, it probably means it will lead to death.

It’s really an absurd condition.

What crazy person would make a contract knowing they’ll die?

But the vampire said with a pouty face to my words.

“You, your words are a bit harsh?”

“I’m sorry if I offended you.”

I apologized without realizing it.

I could see she was upset from her deeply furrowed face.

It seems she was really angry because my tone was rough.

It’s ironic that a vampire wants to use polite speech… But since she looked like a pure girl, it somewhat matched.

“So, you won’t make the contract?”

Maybe my logic had an effect.

The vampire pushes forward without being able to refute.

It seems she changed direction with a confident attitude rather than persuasion.

I pondered her proposal for a moment…

Then nodded and answered.

“I’ll do it. Why not offer my heart once?”

Vampire, or blood-sucker.

Those called such by humans are very special beings that go beyond the realm of ordinary monsters.

Along with well-known beings in the Holder world like lycanthropes and death knights, they are ‘unique monsters’ with different powers for each individual… And even the basic individuals possess at least A-grade or higher strength.

They freely utilize various magic and special abilities, and sometimes there are mutant vampires who use weapons.

Naturally, they’re not easy to find, and a contract with such a being is an opportunity that won’t come again.

I couldn’t just let it go because it’s dangerous.

‘Besides…’

I had no intention of fully accepting the conditions set by the vampire.

I don’t know exactly what kind of mark she’s talking about… But at least if it’s in the form of a ‘curse’ affected by the system, I had my own beliefs.

The vampire’s eyes widened at my answer.

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll do it, the contract.”

A simple affirmative answer.

At this, a bright smile spread across her lips.

Then she approached excitedly, grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously.

“Wow! You’re the first human to contract so quickly! As expected, you’re an interesting human.”

…Ridiculously enough.

With this, the contract was established.

[Contract successful! ‘Count Ripley (Special)’ is added to the list of contract targets for the ‘Promise Bound by Dragon’ rune. As it’s a conditional contract that’s not complete, some of the contractor’s abilities are restricted.]

[Current contracted undead list (1/999+)]

[You have contracted with a noble being of Beltaine. Surprising contract results sometimes dramatically increase your understanding of runes.]

[The level of the ‘Promise Bound by Dragon’ rune has increased.]

[The level of the ‘Promise Bound by Dragon’ rune has increased.]

[You gain 5 Leadership from the rune’s nature.]

[The symbol of the noble vampire, Count Ripley, is ‘Seed’. The contractor’s symbol also affects you.]

[You gain 5 Earth Resistance from the contractor’s nature.]

Quite a lot of information windows pop up.

The special effect of the [Corpse Commander] rune was applied for the first time, adding the first undead to the ‘contracted undead list’, which is unlimited.

Ripley’s rank was so high that the [Promise Bound by Dragon] rune also leveled up twice at once.

But I saw something I didn’t quite understand.

‘What’s this symbol thing?’

Count Ripley’s ‘symbol’, the seed.

It wasn’t specific information, but thanks to this, my Earth Resistance stat increased by 5.

I thought I’d need to look into Ripley’s contractor information to know more details about this.

And.

[As a condition of the contract with Count Ripley, a ‘Seed of Doubt’ is planted in your heart. The moment the seed fully blooms and flowers, Count Ripley will bite your neck and take your blood.]

[The special power of the ‘Rune of Clear Mind’ rune maintains the target’s clear mind! It remains unshaken by any curse or abnormal status.]

‘Bingo.’

I silently cheered.

As expected, the countermeasure I prepared worked perfectly.

No, it wasn’t even a countermeasure.

It was just the performance of a rune I already possessed.

I didn’t know the exact information about the ‘Seed of Doubt’, but I was certain from the moment I heard about it from Ripley.

The mark itself would be in the ‘curse’ category.

It makes sense, as it’s not specifically setting up a magic trap, and remotely interfering with someone’s death is hard to find outside of curses or status abnormalities.

And when it comes to curses or status abnormalities…

I had a special rune that made me immune to everything.

‘…This is really overpowered.’

I marvel once again.

It doesn’t matter if the curse duration is long or short.

Once it’s applied, I’m immune.

It’s no wonder [Rune of Clear Mind] is called a cheat rune, just like [Effort of the Seeker].

“What’s your name?”

After the contract was completed,

Ripley asked me with a bright smile.

She seemed elated by the successful contract.

I gained one more piece of information here.

‘She doesn’t know that the seed was removed.’

The curse Ripley placed on me, the ‘Seed of Doubt’… It seems that once it leaves the caster’s hands, they can’t track its progress.

The information window said it would suck blood when it blooms, so perhaps only the result is reported back to Ripley.

‘This is unexpectedly thrilling.’

I felt my interest piquing for some reason.

Until now, I’ve met contractors with very high loyalty (As, Jeten) or strong self-will (TYrbon), but this was the first time I’d met a contractor with such a special intention.

Moreover, she looks human, so she doesn’t give off a monster-like vibe at all.

‘It feels like I’ve gained a mischievous little sister.’

…Even though she’s actually a vampire who can easily kill humans.

“Hey! I asked what your name is.”

Ripley puts her hands on her hips and pouts again.

…Is she really a vampire?

I chuckled and asked back.

“Don’t you know the contractor’s name? Shouldn’t it appear in the system information window?”

“That’s only when I’m an adapter. This isn’t Beltaine, you know.”

From the earlier information, Beltaine seems to be the land where the vampire clan and their subordinates reside.

Ripley, being a vampire, is naturally an ‘adapter’ there.

‘So she can’t use the system in places she hasn’t adapted to.’

New information floods in after contracting with her.

I guess she can’t use it completely, but probably just can’t read the information window.

“Do Jae-hyun.”

“Do… Jae-hyun?”

“Yeah. No noble title like you, just Do Jae-hyun.”

“Of course! You think becoming a noble is easy? You need to have your own territory!”

“…It’s just a figure of speech.”

She’s really living up to the mischievous vampire image.

She doesn’t let a single comment slide.

“Do Jae-hyun… That’s an unusual name.”

Ripley repeats my name a few times.

Then she claps her hands and says, “I’ve memorized it! Now let’s go!”

“…Are you really a vampire?”

She’s too bright and cheerful.

I sighed and placed my hand on the ground.

I was using magic detection through [Prey Search], a sub-rune of [Descendant of the Barbarian King].

“What are you doing? I said let’s go.”

“Wait a bit. We need to find the exit to get out.”

Although the necromancer and undead have all disappeared, finding the exit in this maze-like trap is a different matter.

That’s why I was using a tracking rune after a while.

But Ripley, hearing my words, had a blank expression for a moment… And then burst into laughter.

“Kyahaha. You don’t need to find that.”

“…What?”

As I turned my head at this unexpected statement, a large hole appeared in front of where Ripley was standing.

Although it looked suspicious…

It was clearly an exit composed of magic.

“This looping trap, I made it. Well, to be precise, I created this entire massive maze myself.”

And then came the shocking fact.

Ripley continued with a bright smile.

“Is there any place you want to go? I’ll take you there to celebrate our contract.”

“……”

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