The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

The second day of the exam dawned.

“…Ungh.”

Asel opened his eyes to the sound of birds. Perhaps because he had slept on roughly laid leaves, his back was quite stiff. He seemed to have some muscle pain, and his throat was hoarse too. Although he had set up a barrier and even raised the internal temperature, it seems that wasn’t enough. He had wanted to greet the morning in perfect condition if possible, but his physical state was slightly worse than that.

Still, this was quite good enough.

Asel burned all the leaves that had formed his makeshift bed, completely erased all traces of magic, and moved his steps.

His destination was the riverside he had spotted yesterday evening.

In a week-long exam, what’s needed isn’t companions or cores, but stamina and food. The longer the exam goes on, the more important water and food become. In this regard, the river was quite a good source of food procurement. He could get both water and food there.

Asel didn’t really need water. Since he could create it when he wanted, it wasn’t something to worry about much. But food was different. Even he had to procure that directly. So he was heading to the relatively nearby river to catch some fish.

‘I’m not very confident in cooking though.’

Still, he should be able to grill them without much difficulty. Thinking this, Asel arrived at the river, crossing through the undergrowth.

The river was deep enough to reach the waist but quite wide. If he used shock magic or forcibly removed the water, he should be able to catch fish without much difficulty. He neatly folded the black coat he was wearing, placed it on the ground, and rolled up his shirt sleeves.

At that moment, something suddenly popped out of the water.

“Whoa!”

It exhaled the breath it had been holding and spat out water from its mouth. Asel prepared magic to attack but frowned when he realized the identity of the strange creature was a woman.

She was white all over. Not only her shirt but even her hair was white. Her skin was so pale it was almost transparent, and her elongated ears hinted at her race.

“…An elf?”

Asel muttered this, but then realized her aura was much more turbid than an elf’s and changed his thought.

There’s a smell of blood mixed in the magical power he sensed. Among the various non-human races distributed across the continent, there was only one race that emitted such a strong blood scent.

“A vampire.”
“Huh?”

The woman who heard his words turned her head to look at Asel. Then she shouted with a bright expression as if she had found a friend.

“Help me!”
“……”
“I can’t catch any fish! If you help me catch them, I’ll share!”

Asel stared at her innocent face, then smiled slightly and placed his palm on the water surface. As he manifested magic, a small explosion occurred under his hand. Thanks to appropriately adjusting the power, the aftermath of the explosion didn’t reach the vampire. She made an “ooh” sound and came up onto the water.

“Are you a magician?”
“As you can see.”

Asel continued to manifest explosion magic inside the river. And not long after, stunned fish floated up to the surface. The vampire exclaimed in admiration, and Asel drew out magical power in the form of threads to catch them.

He left alone those that were torn apart from being caught in the explosion. Such things are difficult to prepare and have little edible portions, so they’re not efficient. If there had been few stunned fish, he might have caught those too, but fortunately, more than five fish came up intact. With this, he could get through today abundantly.

The vampire’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the fish dangling from the thread Asel had drawn.

“Wow! You caught five! I couldn’t catch any! Okay, I’ll just eat one, and you can have the rest!”
“I’m not giving you any.”
“Huh?”

She made a dumb sound and looked back at Asel. Asel laughed hollowly as if to say ‘isn’t it obvious’ and said:

“I did it all by myself, why should I give it to you?”
“That’s! …Heeeng.”

The vampire made a crying face, unable to make any real rebuttal. Asel ignored her grumbling and caught one of the hanging fish to prepare it. He concentrated magical power at his fingertips to cut open the fish’s belly and remove the organs. He cleanly cut off the head. It’s not an edible part anyway.

He roughly washed the blood on his hands in the river, brought some leaves, and lit a fire. He put the prepared fish on a branch and held it over the fire. After doing this five times, there were no fish left. Asel nodded with satisfaction and waited for the meat to cook.

Throughout this entire process, the vampire kept hovering around Asel’s side. The faint rumbling sounds were all from her. She seemed quite hungry.

Just because they’re vampires doesn’t mean they only fill their stomachs with blood. Blood is just an essential nutrient for them to live. They too need to eat food and drink water like others to survive. This wasn’t something he had observed directly in their ecosystem, but rather information he had seen in books about non-human races, so he couldn’t be certain, but judging from her reaction, it didn’t seem too far off.

“I’m hungry…”

She looked at the fish browning nicely, then met Asel’s eyes and whistled, pretending innocence. Asel burst out laughing at this sight.

“Do you want to eat?”
“Yeah!”

It was an immediate answer. Asel gestured for her to come closer as she stood there blankly. She ran over without hesitation and plopped down next to Asel.

Bothered by her clothes that were damp from being in the water, Asel stretched out his hand towards her to use a daily life magic. Then she tilted her head and grasped Asel’s outstretched hand with both of hers. Asel let out a hollow laugh at the soft sensation.

“…What are you doing?”
“Huh? Didn’t you want me to hold your hand?”
“I was going to dry your clothes.”
“Aha!”

She mumbled with her lips and let go of Asel’s hand. Asel immediately used magic to clean her clothes, then tore off and ate a skewer that was cooked just right. The vampire watched him, and when Asel directly handed her a skewer, she ate it hurriedly with a bright smile, stripping off the flesh. It was quite cute how she ate with her cheeks puffed out.

“What’s your name?”

Asel asked. The vampire swallowed all the flesh she was chewing and then answered.

“Elena! Elena von Valdemia! I’m from the Principality of Valdemia!”

A surname identical to the name of the principality. Asel immediately realized that she was a direct blood relative of the prince.

The Principality of Valdemia is a city and country established by vampires. In the past, when racial wars were rampant on the continent, they laid a refuge beyond a secluded mountain range in the south of the continent to avoid unnecessary fights. The name of the vampire leader who led them was Valdemia. That’s how the principality began.

Contrary to their fierce name, vampires are not an aggressive race. Although they need to drink the blood of other races to survive, their method is considered very humane, so their reputation isn’t bad.

They never directly suck blood unless there’s mutual consent, and in most cases, they buy blood with money and drink it.

Although they fall into thirst and crave blood if they don’t drink it for a long time, the amount of blood flowing into the principality was enough to feed all vampires and have some left over. Thanks to this, thirst was practically non-existent for them.

It seemed the same for Elena. Asel nodded as he looked at the half-full blood pack hanging at her waist.

“So you’re a lady of the Valdemia family. Why are you trying to enter the Academy?”
“Just because? It’s boring to stay cooped up in the principality!”

It was a simpler reason than expected. Well, there are people who think like that too. Asel respected her will.

“There are several other reasons, but that’s a secret.”
“I see. Anyway, eat more. There’s plenty left.”
“Yeah!”

Elena answered brightly and took another skewer to eat. Asel burned away the finished skewers, drew some water, and took a sip.

“What’s your name?”
“Asel. No surname.”
“I see. Then Asel! Give me just one sip of your blood!”
“…? Suddenly?”

Weren’t we just exchanging names? Why is she suddenly asking for blood?

Asel frowned at her words that skipped all context. Seeing this reaction, Elena hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Well, originally I should have brought human blood, but I made a mistake and packed pig blood. I can’t last a week with this…”
“…So you need my blood?”
“Yes! For us, the blood itself is important, but more importantly, it’s the magical power contained in the blood. Just like elves absorb mana through photosynthesis, and humans or beastkin ingest mana through food, we need to live by absorbing the mana contained in blood!”

This was something he was hearing for the first time. The books only had fragmentary information, so he didn’t know exactly what they gained through blood-sucking.

He knew it was essential for their life activities, but this was the first time hearing about the internal circumstances. Asel felt his interest piqued as he stared at Elena.

“Is the mana that can be obtained from pig blood limited?”
“Almost none. Animal blood isn’t very good for us. We drink it occasionally when we want to feel a tingling taste?”
“What about a magician’s blood?”
“It’s a special treat!”

Elena’s eyes sparkled as she leaned her upper body towards Asel. Her chest swayed greatly with this gesture.

“Aura doesn’t match well with us, so it doesn’t taste very good. It’s more edible than the blood of ordinary people, but it’s no comparison to a magician’s blood.”
“It seems magical power matches best.”
“Yeah. It’s the most expensive, hard to get, and even when it occasionally comes to the market, it sells out quickly so it’s hard to eat!”
“……”
“It’s delicious, and the blood energy that rises when you drink it is tremendous. It’s enough that you don’t need to suck blood for a while.”
“So you want to drink my blood? To avoid drinking blood during the exam period?”

Elena nodded. Asel thought for a moment, then raised one finger to set a condition.

“Giving a few drops of blood isn’t a difficult thing. But I should receive something in return.”
“I’ll do anything I can!”

Elena nodded with a determined expression. Asel immediately stated his condition.

“I’m interested in blood magic, so I want to observe the magic you use during the exam.”
“But I use a power called ‘blood arts’, not magic?”
“It doesn’t matter. Blood magic itself is magic that imitates blood arts anyway. I should be able to get meaningful results by observing.”

There was no library related to blood magic in the Witch Association’s library. Alien magics like black magic, blood magic, or necromancy, which are more likely to drive one insane as they build up ranks, are not handled by the Witch Association.

Asel wouldn’t go insane from learning such alien branch magic. He knew that fact well. However, that didn’t mean he intended to master those magics to the extreme. It was enough if he could learn the subtleties and use a few magics that could be integrated into other branches or used flexibly.

Blood magic was the beginning of that.

“Is that possible?”

Asel asked, waving his finger in front of Elena. Elena nodded vigorously as if it wasn’t a difficult request at all.

“Of course! I’ll show you as much as you want.”

The deal was struck.

Asel immediately drew out magical power in the form of an awl and lightly pricked his finger. A bright red drop of blood formed on the tip of his finger. Elena’s eyes shone as she looked at that rippling drop. Asel asked her:

“How should I give it to you? Do I need to put it in something?”
“Ah, no. Just give it to me.”
“Just?”
“Sprinkle it on my tongue!”
“What?”

The moment he asked that, Elena opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. She spoke in that state.

“Aaah…”
“…Somehow this picture seems strange.”

Asel muttered this while flicking the drop of blood formed on his fingertip onto her long tongue. Elena closed her mouth after about five drops of blood fell on her tongue and savored the blood.

“…Mmph?!”

Her eyes opened wide.