NOVEL NEXT A dazzling silver flash splits the night sky.
The black shadow quickly retreats, trying to hide into the darkness, but the blessed silver sword strikes like a gale, drawing the shadow out into the moonlight.
The distorted expression of the fleeing vampire reflected off the blade of the sword.
Anger, distrust, and pain mixed together, it seemed almost as if they sensed the impending future, tinged with resignation.
Skrunch—
The silver blade, the vampire’s weakness, sliced through flesh and ground bone without any resistance.
No matter how powerful a vampire is, they cannot walk without legs. The vampire, having lost its legs and fallen to the ground, glanced up defiantly at the pursuer aiming the sword at it.
“Grrr… you monster of a girl.”
Choosing to fight back against someone who looked so youthful was a mistake.
They were certainly not overconfident. The vampire was fully aware that a knight could not be judged merely by their appearance.
Yet even so, they held on to the belief that they stood a chance.
A minor who cannot officially become a knight, that small girl who must have just become an adult would undoubtedly lack experience.
One inexperienced rookie should not have been a match for someone whose count of slain knights was nearing double digits. It must have been the case—
The blunder, however, was that the young knight was hiding a monstrous strength beyond imagination. The girl who had easily pressed the vampire back wore an infinitely calm expression as if she didn’t even need to catch her breath.
“You’re the monster here. Vampires, really, keep crawling out no matter how many times you kill them.”
Her chilling tone was like a knife pressed against the throat.
For those familiar with Plona Moonlight’s bright and cheerful everyday life, her demeanor was so cold and deadly that they might doubt their own eyes.
But that’s what a knight is. Guardians fighting against enemies of humanity have no reason to smile at foes.
“I’ll ask you first. Why do vampires keep lurking near the investigation team?”
“Grrr… if you’re asking that, it seems you haven’t gotten the answers you wanted from the other vampires. Then I have nothing to say.”
Plona frowned. She hadn’t expected the vampire would confess easily, but its insolent attitude, given that it was already captured, was aggravating.
In any case, if it wasn’t going to open its mouth, there was no reason to continue the conversation. It had already been established that trying to threaten or rush such a being wouldn’t lead to any fruitful words.
“Alright then. See you.”
Plona’s sword flashed twice in her hand.
With one stroke, the vampire’s head fell, followed by a thrust that pierced its heart.
The vampire, with a silver blade lodged in its heart, soon became a cold corpse. It was a hollow end for an immortal who had lived for over a century.
Crunch, crunch, the sound of grass being stepped on broke the silence.
As Plona shook the blood off her sword and turned her head, someone emerged from the shadows on the opposite side.
“Plona, you done over there?”
“Yes, senior! No information as expected!”
Selin, who had returned from battling vampires elsewhere, slightly twisted her lips at Plona’s words.
How many times was it now?
Even knowing that they were from the investigation team dispatched from the Luminous Kingdom Palace, it was clear that with how they flitted about like moths to a flame, there was something undeniably related to vampires in this incident, yet they all continued to remain tight-lipped despite their foolish attacks.
Vampires, or rather, those belonging to the vampire lineage, were fundamentally obsessed with life, albeit to varying degrees.
They were not born vampires like the progenitor in legends; they were originally human beings.
A body transformed overnight from human to human’s natural enemy.
The conflict between their identity as humans and the instinct to crave human blood.
Only those with enough yearning for life to accept their transformed selves can survive as vampires.
As such, the survivors tend to be immensely fixated on life.
How could such beings maintain such a stubborn silence, willing to throw away their lives?
There are generally two reasons for that.
First, the orders of the higher vampires, possessing bloodlines closest to the progenitor, are equivalent to death.
Second, there’s something of great significance worth risking their lives for, even if the chances are slim.
In either case, it’s not good news from a human perspective. That made it even more concerning.
“Well, seeing they’re getting anxious over there, maybe the investigation team has gotten close to the answer! We’ll find out soon, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. That would be great.”
That part was the investigation team’s business, not a knight’s duty. In fact, their spirit scholar, Eric, had mentioned two days prior that results seemed imminent.
Thanks to that, aside from the visceral disgust of fighting, it was easier to deal with vampires than beastmen.
Whenever they encountered them on the frontlines, the feral beastmen charged at them like mad, indiscriminate beasts, while vampires insisted on only fighting at night, at least allowing for some rest during the day.
An indefinite wait is hard, but when the end is set, it’s not particularly difficult.
Thus, Selin and Plona remained energized until dawn approached.
They felt no more signs of vampires around, and the probability of further attacks dropped significantly, but they only relaxed their vigilance once the sky brightened.
“Phew! Another day wraps up!”
“I’ve heard the investigation’s nearing its end. Let’s keep pushing a bit longer.”
“Yes! I can’t wait to return to the Luminous Kingdom and see my sister!”
“Your sister must be Aria. It’s rare to see you so fond of someone like that.”
Aria mistook Plona for someone who approaches everyone actively, but that assessment wasn’t entirely accurate.
While it was true that Plona was bright, cheerful, and affectionate, her intuition for piercing through others’ natures meant she didn’t genuinely depend on many.
In short, she instinctively understood whether a person could indulge her whims.
But finding someone willing to give sincere affection to a complete stranger orphan was not common.
Moreover, if that orphan was the youngest knight, most people would consider her not as a child to care for but as a perfect superhuman.
For that reason, the girl who craved affection learned to stand on her own before she could even learn to rely on someone, thus becoming an adult.
It was a downside born from excessive talent.
Knowing this well, Selin had been looking out for Plona, but Selin’s position was not that of a guardian but a senior and workplace superior.
No matter how friendly they interacted, a workplace superior could never replace a family.
If a workplace superior felt like real family, that would indicate a severe psychological condition.
Plona wanted family. She longed for someone who treated her like a true sibling.
The girl craving affection sought someone who could, even if just for a moment, set aside responsibilities and go back to being a child without scorn.
Fortuitously, there was at least one person who met Plona’s criteria, her orphanage director, Amy.
However, Amy was more like a grandmother than a parent or sibling. Rather than being a special person only for Plona, she was a guardian for all the orphans.
Of course, Plona herself understood that it was gluttonous thinking.
She wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with it; if anything, she was simply thankful for the kindness shown to her.
Living in the knight’s quarters, she still visited her family and mentor, Amy, every weekend, which proved this.
But paradoxically, that very action demonstrated that she had no one else in her life to truly open her heart to.
“By the way, you seemed to look up to Aria from the start. Was there a reason for that?”
Selin, feeling a bit curious, inquired. It surprised her that Plona opened her heart so easily to a stranger.
Having grown up without knowing familial affection, it was unlikely that someone like Plona, with the intuition to see through others, would readily open up.
Plona tilted her head at Selin’s question. It was a question so obvious that there was no need to ask, making her take a moment to find the words to answer.
“If I had to say, it’s the atmosphere. Her expressions and gaze give off some kind of feeling!”
Yet what tumbled out of Plona’s mouth was a vague answer that would seem very abstract to a third party. Selin felt a bit flustered.
She forgot momentarily. Perhaps it was the unique emotional sensitivity of a genius, or perhaps Plona was simply not good at explanations.
“Is that so? Anyway, it’s a good thing you share a close relationship.”
‘No matter what that feeling is, it sounds good.’
What mattered was that Plona now had someone she could trust and rely on, which was a good thing. Selin nodded appropriately and hurried back to the investigation team.
*
Upon returning to the investigation team, Selin and Plona were greeted by a disheveled atmosphere, quite different from the calm and orderly dedication to research from yesterday.
“Scatter, what happened? Was there an attack or something?”
The thought that crossed Selin’s mind was the possibility of yet another vampire attack.
Considering all the equipment they had mobilized for checks, it seemed unlikely, but still, Selin felt anxious about the potential.
“Ah, knights. You’ve worked hard. It’s not… entirely nothing, but it’s not what you think. The investigation results have come in, and the situation isn’t good.”
Selin’s expression tightened, and Plona instinctively grew tense. They knew Eric didn’t often use such expressions lightly.
“What do you mean the results aren’t good?”
One possibility flashed in her mind, but Selin refrained from asking.
She hoped Eric would deny that ‘worst-case possibility’ they had discussed once before.
But ominous hunches typically turn out to be correct. Eric nodded nervously, as if he could guess what Selin was thinking.
“Yes, this abnormal elemental concentration is the aftermath of the progenitor of vampires being born. A progenitor was born here during the last vampire incident. We must return to the Luminous Kingdom quickly to report this.”