chapter 43
For a moment, my footsteps stopped. what? I thought.
“Because the tavern is a place where quite a lot of rumors gather.”
The vampire smiled and pretended to sit in the front seat.
“My name is Germain Akasha.”
If you knew I was a saint, you would of course know my name, but I introduced myself and sat down.
“Did you know me?”
At my question, the vampire still smiled and pointed to the menu.
“What would you like to eat? Our tavern has very good wine.”
“Then give me a drink with it.”
Since you’ve come to the tavern, it’s polite to order something. With a slow movement, the vampire poured out a glass of wine from the bottle and held it out in front of me.
“It is a three-year-old wine. I hope it fits in your mouth.”
I took a glass and tasted it. The taste of the wine was surprisingly good.
“It is delicious.”
“thank you.”
At first glance, it is indistinguishable from humans except for a slightly pale complexion. Vampires are originally such a species. The vampire in front of him was a rather tall and handsome man. However, there is a slightly dark and lonely atmosphere.
“My name is Eltis Masquerade.”
Finally, the vampire introduced himself. I know this name It’s only natural that he’s been around for such a long time, but he’s a pure-blooded vampire.
“You must be the prince of vampires.”
Eltis’ eyes widened in surprise.
“How do you know that?”
There was also a story about vampires in the story that Drakan had told. And there was the story of the last vampire lord and prince.
“Drakan-nim told me.”
“Do you know Drakan?”
“Yes, there was a relationship.”
When the story of Drakan came out, Eltis seemed quite agitated.
“Where is he now?”
“He died some time ago.”
Eltis was so surprised that he couldn’t close his open mouth. After a while, he seemed to have calmed down and took a sip of the wine from a new glass and opened his mouth.
“okay. I thought he was immortal.”
“I think I thought so too.”
Eltis looked very sad. Is it the sadness of the disappearance of the existence that knew him? I don’t know if it was a different feeling or not.
“How did you know I was coming?”
For me, this was something I was very curious about.
“I don’t know how you will take it, but I am a species that is very sensitive to life. You can feel it until near the village.”
That wasn’t an accurate answer. Even if you noticed that I appeared through space movement, how did you know that I was a saint when you had never even seen my face?
“Even if you realized that it appeared through space movement, how did you know that it was a saint? Rumors alone won’t be able to tell.”
“As I said, I am very sensitive to life. I have met a few saints and saints a long time ago. I had a similar feeling to him. Of course, Master Germain is very special. I feel a bit like a spirit. And looking at it now, I feel similar to Drakan-nim.”
pretty sharp Is this a pureblood vampire?
“What did the Holy Son come here for?”
“It’s just curiosity.”
In fact, it was literally. I couldn’t catch him, but I had no idea what to do with Eltis.
“I am surprised. I thought you had other business.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I thought they were coming to catch me, like the assassination of the king or the church did in the past.
I laughed and shook my head. I am not such a faithful saint. In the first place, nowhere in the Bible is there a verse that says to hunt vampires.
“Of course, I have many questions to ask. Why now?”
“I fell asleep with a big wound that day long ago. When I opened my eyes, almost a thousand years had passed. That was about 4 years ago. And I did what I promised a thousand years ago.”
Should I say the enemy of the family, or rather, the enemy of the tribe? You might have to thank him for killing only the king and the princes. If the vampire prince in front of me had made up his mind, the only human in Neos Kingdom who would have survived would be Count Ctolary at best. That’s assuming that Ctula protects it.
“okay. First of all, I have no intention of telling another human being that I met Mr. Eltis. That’s why I came alone.”
“thank you.”
“How do you plan to live in the future?”
Pure-blooded vampires live a very long time. The vampire prince in front of him also lived for over 2,000 years, including the time he was asleep. And you will live longer than that.
“First of all, I want to repay the favor to the child who woke me up. Oh, this is the kid who works here during the day. If you take care of it for about 10 years and pass on this tavern, you will be able to live well. To be honest, I never thought about it after that.”
“Are you planning not to make a clan?”
Vampires cannot create offspring unless they are pure-blooded. However, it is possible to create a clan by sharing blood. What the ancients of the past feared about vampires was the ability to quickly increase their number by making a family.
“It’s no idea at all.”
The answer to this part was very firm. Unless another pure-blooded vampire miraculously emerged from somewhere, the vampire race was virtually extinct. The moment Eltis runs out, the race of vampires will disappear.
What if I was the last human left in the world? The thought passed through my mind. Perhaps it will be very lonely and solitary.
“If it is the same ancient race, there are still elves. They live together deep in the great forest.”
“Oh, is that so?”
A slight blush appeared on Eltis’ pale face. Even if they weren’t of the same race, the fact that the elves were still there seemed to be a good thing.
Even after that, we talked a lot while giving and receiving. Then, I suddenly thought of it, so I asked Eltis, just in case.
“Do you know Nanagopi, Mr. Eltis?”
“Oh, I’ve seen it once before. I caught it and let it go because I thought it was pitiful.”
I asked if I was thinking about it, but it took a big deal. There was no clue about Nanagopi at all, but he found the existence he caught himself.
“What kind of existence is Nanagopi?”
“well. First of all, Nanagopi is also a living being, but it is more like a demon. It’s like a doppelganger, but different. If the doppelganger mimics what it sees, Nanagopi becomes the same as the one it ate.”
That’s why it exists unnoticed for a long time. One question has been resolved. However, the conditions for finding it are difficult.
“Is there a way to know it’s Nanagopi?”
“If it’s a vampire, it’s not difficult to detect it with your senses, but if it’s a human standard, I don’t know. First of all, vampires feel that the size of life force is completely different from that of normal humans.”
“Is it stronger?”
“no. It’s absurdly weak. Even in human form, you can feel the life force similar to that of an insect. That’s why they feed and change their appearance quite often.”
Got some good information. I don’t know exactly what Eltis’ life force means, but I wonder if it has something to do with the size of the soul? Is it just to find a human or a creature with an absurdly small soul?
“You got some good information. I don’t know what to say in return, but do you need anything?”
Eltis smiled and shook his head.
“I’m just happy with the status quo.”
By now, the time was approaching midnight. Perhaps Joseph will make a fuss when he returns.
“I guess I have to go back now. Maybe we can meet again someday?”
Neither Eltis nor I are immortal, but we are beings who may have to live for hundreds or even thousands of years. There will definitely be a chance to meet once or twice.
“I’ll prepare better drinks next time you come.”
I took out a bag of gold coins from the subspace and put it down. No matter how much you are a vampire, if you live in human society, the more money you have, the better.
“Then it is prepaid.”
Eltis packed his pockets without hesitation. I said hello and immediately moved to space. The first meeting with the last vampire prince left alone in this world ended like that.
After I went back, I heard Joseph nagging me for hours. I protested that I had written the letter, but it was a pointless protest against Joseph’s fanaticism, which had been out for the first time in a long time.
After all the princes who were to succeed the throne disappeared, the Neos kingdom fell into further chaos. It was no longer centrally controlled. Originally, the son of the 3rd prince, who was the new king, should have inherited the throne, but the sons of the 1st prince also began to assert their legitimacy, and the powerful aristocrats also began to be greedy for the throne.
I felt the need to leave the Neos Kingdom. The blockade was lifted after the new king took the throne.
When I told Count Ctolari that I was leaving, Count Ctolari showed no sign of reluctance. When do you say no?
If I stay here, Count Ctolari will be able to make an excuse and take a step back from this fight for the throne.
“Isn’t that what Ctula-sama meant?”
With one word, he scratched the inside of Count Ctolari and inflicted a double blow that prevented him from arguing.
After a few days of preparation, we started to return to the Akasha estate just like the members who came here.
Similar to when he came, it was the same as visiting various territories and treating people. All the people of Neos Kingdom knew that the energy of war was full, and there were people who clung to me and begged me not to abandon Neos Kingdom, but that part was not something I could do about it.
Of course, if you pick a successor and raise it like in Ether, there’s nothing I can’t do, but I didn’t feel the need to do that. I looked at a few promising candidates, but I didn’t see a very good talent.
As soon as I got out of the Neos Kingdom and entered the Aether Empire, the surroundings became a little quiet. Even in the moving wagon, I continued to write non-stop.
Then one day Jake, who was sitting on the other side of the carriage, looked at me and said something strange.
“My lord, what are you writing about?”
“huh?”
Could it be that Jake was illiterate? No, you must have been able to read, right? Among the articles, surprisingly, there are quite a few illiterate people who cannot read.
“Did you not read Sir Jake?”
“I know how to read and write the common language.”
Could it be that I was writing in dragon language or elvish? While doing so, I looked at the paper and it was written in a common language.
I put the paper that I’ve finished writing in the subspace, but I’ve never hidden what I’m writing in particular.
“You can just look at it.”
“No, it’s just that blank page.”
What else are you talking about? My eyes can clearly see what’s written, but Jake can’t see it? I called Joseph in the wagon and asked Joseph too.
“It is blank.”
I was shocked for a moment. Could it be that this was the cause of all the crazy stares I had when I was writing?
After that, I did some experiments. Some asked me to read it by writing it myself, and others asked me to read it using an artifact.
The conclusion was that the general content could be read by anyone using the artifacts I wrote myself, but the content related to my records, which I originally wrote, could not be read by anyone but me.
I thought about the cause of why this happened, but the answer was already decided. Who would do such an out-of-the-ordinary thing? However, I thought that it was not Junon or Cthullah.
However, it was meaningless if no one could read it even if I wrote and completed it until I died. So while I was continuing to experiment to find a way for others to read it, a big accident happened.