NOVEL NEXT Chapter 542
Chapter 542. Sharing a Meal from the Same Pot
Tiisan and Reiter, visiting Valentius’s tent, were unexpectedly welcomed by knights and attendants.
“Vampire Hunter?”
“So, are you from Lord Alexander’s group?”
The young men, surrounding a pot while having their meal, stood up with sparkling eyes and bowed one after another.
— In truth, Valentius’s subordinates had great trust in Alexander.
After all, Orderju and Lily were saviors of their lord’s life, and ever since Alexander’s declaration to hunt down the vampires, the recurring tragedies in the village had suddenly ceased. “He truly is a marvelous hunter!” they revered.
“—”
Valentius smiled at them, his eyes saying (let’s avoid troublesome explanations).
Tiisan, also understanding, laughed and nodded, replying, “Yes, that’s about it.”
“I apologize for the humble offerings…”
“Not at all! This looks delicious with plenty of cheese!”
“I’m just grateful to have a warm meal, and this is quite extravagant!”
Then, Tiisan and the others joined the circle of knights and were served their meal. The vegetable soup mixed into porridge was generously covered with cheese, making it quite filling. Additionally, there were platters of salami and cheese, slices of bread as though saying, “If you need more, take this!” along with seasonal fruit jams and dried fruits. The watered-down wine served from a battle companion was so fragrant that one might feel disappointed it was diluted.
“Hey, Lord Vals, would you like some too?”
“Hey, Lord Vals just had a meal a moment ago!”
“Oh, that is true. My apologies.”
“Ah… since it’s here, I’ll have a bite too. I didn’t feel like I ate much…”
Valentius struck a playful pose, causing his subordinates to burst into laughter.
(…What a friendly fellow)
Watching them, Tiisan also relaxed his shoulders. He had been wary due to the poor impression of the noble local commander, Stephen, but… Valentius, despite his noble appearance, seemed to be an open-hearted person who was well-liked by his subordinates.
At first, he naturally sat on the ground, but after offering folding chairs to guests Tiisan and Reiter, he made a face of “it feels strange to sit on the ground…” and deliberately sat back on a chair.
“I prefer gathering around a pot with you guys over a stiff meal with high-ranking people…”
As Valentius chewed on porridge with a spoon and muttered nostalgically, those around him smiled wryly. This seemed to be his ‘true self’.
(Not that I should say this, but if Lord Valentius were the field commander, it would make things easier…)
While carrying the elegantly seasoned porridge to his mouth, Tiisan felt a bit regretful.
At the same time, while they were so jovial, he couldn’t help but remember that just days ago, there had been a dilemma over whether or not to strike the final blow to Valentius, who had been bitten by a vampire. The thought tightened his chest.
If it weren’t for the Vampire Hunters like Alexander and Orderju showing up, this moment of camaraderie wouldn’t exist.
…Not just with the vampires, but with the Demon Lord’s army and all of the dark creatures, it could be said.
The destruction and death they spread easily rob one of irreplaceable things.
This was also how Tiisan, the pampered son of a merchant from the peaceful eastern continent, became a Vampire Hunter.
In his childhood, there had been a beautiful and kind older sister nearby whom he admired.
It was his first love. The young Tiisan begged his parents for bouquets and decorations to gift to her. Looking back now, she seemed a bit troubled by the affection of this still-innocent child, yet she kindly acted to not break his tender feelings.
— Until one day, when she became a victim of a vampire and was discovered in a pitiful state.
He couldn’t connect her radiant smile with that of a withered, dried-out “thing” in his mind, and he remembered standing there dumbfounded.
Yet, that “dried thing” was wearing the bracelet Tiisan had given her.
The anger and sorrow he felt when he finally understood the reality were still vividly in his memory.
When he manifested the holy attribute during the coming-of-age ceremony, he felt it was his fate.
He swore to God and to her, saying, “I’ll eradicate them all…”
(But… did they finally defeat that vampire from that incident?)
Stirring the porridge absentmindedly, he pondered. He had traced back the records since becoming a Vampire Hunter but found nothing conclusive. While there had been vampires defeated in nearby regions, the timeline didn’t add up, and it remained unclear if they were the one responsible for her death.
Perhaps that vampire was still out there, escaping, plunging its fangs into innocent people somewhere on this continent.
Not knowing even the life or death of his foe, the frustration of his own powerlessness was unbearable.
(The only sure thing is—until the day he erases them from existence, the dawn hunter won’t stop.)
However, upon considering this, he realized that he was not hunting vampires at the forefront right now, falling into a gloomy thought.
The invasion of the Demon Lord’s army.
How many of the knights and attendants here would survive?
“Eh? So, Lord Reiter is from the Pitara Kingdom?”
“Ah… I’m from a mountain tribe. I swung by here and unexpectedly saw my hometown for the first time in ten… no, fifteen years! My niece had a child, and I was surprised.”
“Fifteen years! I’ve heard that being a Vampire Hunter is demanding, but… I didn’t expect you’d be gone from home for that long…”
“Well, that’s how the Holy Church operates. My situation’s a bit different from that of knights who swing their swords rooted in their hometown.”
Reiter, surprisingly sociable, quickly opened up to the knights, chatting about this and that. The subordinates of Valentius lit up with excitement talking about Reiter’s homeland, the neighboring Pitara Kingdom.
(Though it may be due to the absence of an actual battle starting.)
I think it’s fantastic that they can maintain such a bright atmosphere.
Comparing, however, Stephen’s unit… well, it certainly couldn’t be described as good-natured. It appeared the feelings of the commander permeated downwards. A heavy, pessimistic atmosphere loomed.
But combat isn’t something that can be dealt with just by brightening up the mood.
Especially if it’s against the Demon Lord’s army.
(On a situational awareness level… pessimism is indeed more accurate.)
Valentius and the others likely only put aside the harsh reality for the moment, striving to act cheerfully.
The battle against the Demon Lord’s army can be summed up in one word: despair. Anyone with access to the detailed information on how the Pan-Humanity Alliance had been losing would likely feel utterly crushed.
The grand counter-offensive operation from over a decade ago yielded no results, and monumental war expenses and lives were consumed without making a dent in the Demon Lord’s forces. It’s clear from the fact that the Demon Lord is still alive that the subsequent all-or-nothing assault on the Demon Lord Castle was also a failure.
In reality, the Holy Church has almost no surplus forces left.
They are gradually siphoning personnel involved in healing and monster extermination from various places to somehow send them forward to the front lines, but the return rates are remarkably low. …Only a handful have likely returned to their hometowns alive.
This impact has begun to show evident signs in the human society.
It’s not something widely proclaimed. However, rumors like “the son of such-and-such who became a Hero has been dispatched to the battlefield and hasn’t returned,” or “the daughter of a friend who was working in medical support has gone silent,” are countless.
Recently, there are reports of parents increasingly refusing to hand over their children who manifest holy attributes during the coming-of-age ceremony to the Holy Church… (Though they don’t possess the right to refuse.)
The very fact that experts in vampire hunting like Tiisan and his group are dispatched to the front lines is indicative of their dire situation.
He had recently bid farewell to those cooperative allies he had shared both hardships and joys with during vampire hunting—the Forest Elves and Dog Beastmen. They said they would return home via land route; he wondered where they were by now…
—Coldly considering only the matter of battle power.
(One should begin re-formation over ten years or more.)
And it’s crucial to preserve the existing forces. This means entirely abandoning the current front line.
Otherwise, they would simply squander their strength, rare assets for “future personnel,” little by little, until it was all gone.
But they were unable to make such rational choices.
Because—those of them chosen for the holy attributes, couldn’t abandon the people who were to suffer in tragedy.
The words of his superior and mentor echoed back to him.
“On that day, we wished desperately for a hand of salvation—”
In despair, he begged madly for salvation.
“—Now, at this time, we ourselves will become that hand.”
Each time they fell into difficulty during vampire hunts, Tiisan’s mentor—Bishop Lexar, would courageously urge them like this.
Yes. In desperate situations, the ones seeking salvation are none other than the selves who had been sobbing in anger and grief that day.
How could they abandon them?
Even if they understood their limitations, if they could cut off those who were “that,” they likely would not have been recognized as protectors of humanity by holy attributes.
(Bishop Lexar…)
Gently touching the hilt of his sword, Tiisan reflected deeply.
Though Tiisan was a dual sword wielder, this was largely influenced by Bishop Lexar. Being another lightning attribute user, he had many aspects to learn from him, and he had been honing his skills with the aim of becoming like Lexar.
He was a person who invited anyone he saw potential in to be a Vampire Hunter, which could be somewhat troubling, but there wasn’t a Vampire Hunter as reliable as him.
Without a doubt, he was one of the finest hunters among humans.
It had been planned for them to cooperate again with Lexar’s group in a vampire hunt that had lain in hiding at Aulitos Lake after several years—but they had departed early, before the meeting time, leaving Tiisan and the others behind.
(What a disgrace.)
He smiled wryly. It seemed a bit too much, and he and Reiter had been frustrated, but apparently, the urgency had surged, so it couldn’t be helped. It was far more important that there were fewer victims than for them to join up.
And then after… they were to regroup again on this northern front.
“…………”
Tiisan gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
—On their journey, an encounter with Zilbagias had erupted, resulting in the death of Bishop Lexar and many old acquaintances.