Vampire’s Paradise

“Ugh!”

“Don’t resist and just— huh?”

Confusion spreads across the tense face of the woman suddenly appearing with a sword drawn.

Well, of course. She probably thought I was an enemy and drew her weapon to intimidate me, but instead, she’s the one surprised, falling back with a dazed scream. How could she not be wondering, “What’s up with this person?”

Ah, how embarrassing…

Heat rushes to my face.

At that moment, the woman’s pupils trembled as she pointed her sword at me.

Her face, flushed bright red, clearly showed her embarrassment.

But why am I the one feeling ashamed, while she has a look as if the embarrassment belongs to her?

‘Oh right, my clothes.’

In the sudden revelation of a physical communication tool, I had momentarily forgotten the fact that I was standing there without a stitch on.

I hurriedly moved my hands to cover myself, stealing glances, and the focus of the sword-wielding woman was still shaking like a small boat in turbulent waves.

…Right, I need to cover the top too.

I raised one arm upward, but it was futile. Knowing the value of life, I felt a slight urge to just give up at this point.

“Are you a survivor who escaped on your own? My apologies, I had no intention of harming you. First, this.”

“…Thank you.”

The woman withdrew her sword and offered me a pure white cloak that was attached to her armor.

In this moment, I was so thankful for that cloak that I could forgive her for suddenly swinging a weapon at me.

By the way, we can understand each other! Even though it should be a foreign language, I naturally understood it and it just slipped out. I almost forgot to think about it.

Is this some basic function implanted in my body? It was fascinating but didn’t remove the blade aimed at me from my mind.

I bowed my head in gratitude and draped the cloak over my shoulders, and the woman showed visible relief.

Is her relief that noticeable? Though I felt complicated about her blatant reaction, it was undeniable that the cold touch of the silver decoration against my neck calmed me down a lot. I mean, it’s just not civilized to be outdoors like this.

“It’s alright now, Plona. You seem to have escaped from the underground during the chaos.”

“That’s right? A strong vampire would never hide so obviously just to flee during the day, right?”

“Even so, one must always be cautious—oh dear, sorry for pointing my sword at you. I am Selin Soleis, a knight of the Luminous Kingdom. May I know your name?”

“Me too! I’m Plona Moonlight! Please call me Plona!”

A knight, huh? As long as I forget the sensitivities of 21st-century Earth, it’s pretty intuitive.

Regardless, it seems like they’re trying to compensate for the sudden sword swinging by being extremely gentle in their expressions and tones.

Actually, it doesn’t really matter if these two knights are being friendly to me or not. After all, they’re the ones wielding the swords, and if I want to survive, I’d need to lick the soles of their feet if they ordered me to, like a little electric toothbrush.

Fortunately, asking for introductions was not too difficult a request. However, just as I was about to casually open my mouth, I realized a critical fact.

‘What should I say in response?’

Thinking back, my body has changed and it’s clear this isn’t Earth, so there’s no way I can just state my original name, right?

It wouldn’t make sense to throw out any random name either. At this point, it’s obvious that this isn’t the afterlife, but I’m still unsure if I dropped into this world looking like I do now or if I’ve possessed someone.

If it’s the former, nobody here knows me, so it wouldn’t be a huge issue to call myself whatever. The worst that would happen is they’d say my name sounded odd in their culture.

But if it’s the latter, confidently giving a name and then bumping into an acquaintance of mine could definitely raise suspicions.

Ultimately, the only answer I could come up with was one.

“What’s my name…?”

I can’t read minds, but for some reason, at this moment, I could clearly read the thoughts of the knight standing in front of me.

Just how foolish do I appear in their eyes right now? If only there were a mouse hole, I would hide in it.

*

“It seems you were kidnapped by vampires and lost your memories during your escape.”

As I was mostly just replying with “I don’t know” to the questions, Selin concluded that I had amnesia.

My name, age, hometown here… I genuinely don’t know, so I wasn’t lying.

Still, since there was a mood of skipping over my identity, I breathed a sigh of relief but couldn’t help but feel like I had heard an undeniable keyword.

“Vampires?”

“Ah… If you have absolutely no memories, you wouldn’t know. Perhaps it’s better that you don’t remember that.”

“Hey, that might be a rude thing to say to someone who actually has memory issues!”

“…You’re right. I lacked consideration. I apologize.”

At Plona’s remark, Selin bowed her head, and I shook my head in surprise.

It’s even more unsettling when the one holding the blade takes a submissive stance. If things went wrong, I might end up hearing “I’m sorry” rather than “Y-you madman!!!”

“It’s fine! I’m totally okay!”

“Thank you. For now, let’s continue the conversation as we walk.”

As I quickly denied it, Selin lightly smiled. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the atmosphere was ready for any sword dances right now.

*

Upon arriving at a nearby village, we stopped the conversation briefly, and after being guided to a room by the village chief, we resumed our talk.

As we moved, they explained the situation to me.

The two of them were knights dispatched from the Luminous Kingdom, suspected of vampire involvement in the recent disappearances happening in several nearby villages.

Upon investigation, they discovered that there were indeed several hidden lairs of vampires nearby and concluded that the missing persons were kidnapped for meals by the vampires from the local villages.

They had been systematically going through the lairs, exterminating the vampires and freeing survivors, and they mentioned that they had just come from the last lair when they met me.

“At the last lair, no survivors were found. Whether there were no humans who made it or if they were turned into minions, I can’t say, but only vampires remained, so they were all eliminated. We didn’t expect there would be any survivors, which is why when I first sensed your presence, I mistook you for a vampire and drew my sword. I apologize once more.”

“No, if that’s the case, it can’t be helped. Ultimately, you believed I wasn’t an enemy.”

It seems they didn’t attack me recklessly. Perhaps they’re not as scary as I thought.

Noticing my relieved expression, Selin added with an apologetic tone.

“Actually, it was more of a confirmation rather than an assumption. Based on a simple check, I merely concluded that you were not a vampire, so it’s not like I showed you mercy.”

“C-confirmation?”

…Scratch that. I take back what I said about not being scared. Just when did she confirm anything? The thought that she could have used some form of magic without me knowing really creeps me out.

“Right. Firstly, vampires are weak to sunlight. Even weak vampires turn to ash at contact, and strong vampires can move around briefly in sunlight, but they get extremely weakened and it’s obvious to tell just by looking.”

“But Aria is walking under the sun with us! That means she’s human!”

“W-who are you talking about?”

“Your temporary name! Since your voice sounds like a song, I decided to call you Aria! Is that okay?”

I unconsciously twitched my toes. Though she didn’t mean it with bad intentions, it was a bit embarrassing to hear it face-to-face.

Meanwhile, Plona Moonlight, who was saying such bashful things, was utterly unfazed, her eyes shining with innocence.

Right, being called a girl’s name still feels a bit off, but it’s not like I can keep being called “you” or “that person.”

Moreover, since the one with the sword is saying it, I had no choice but to silently nod.

I don’t even know my age, so I’m not sure why I’m calling her “sister,” but I chose to pretend to ignore the gaze that suggested otherwise.

“And you’re wearing the cloak that senior Selin lent you, right? That’s a silver decoration around your neck! Vampires get wounds just from touching silver!”

I wasn’t saved because of my dazed appearance.

The cloak given to me in consideration of my lack of clothes and the act of leading me out from beneath the massive rock pillar into the sunlight was a kind of test.

Feeling embarrassed that she seemed relieved when I put on the cloak was actually because they confirmed I wasn’t a threat? It just goes to show that a professional is indeed a professional.

If I had hesitated about them, who knows what might have happened to me?

It chills me to think that I might have been dismissed as a vampire and stabbed on the spot.

Knock, knock—

“Sir Knight, I have brought the items you requested.”

“Come in.”

The wooden door creaked open, and the village chief who had run to fetch something returned.

This village is one of the places where missing persons had been found. Before the rescue operation started, representatives from each village had gathered here, so the survivors they rescued previously were all brought here before me.

“First, here are your clothes. And according to your orders, after checking with the representatives of each village for the list of missing persons, it seems there were no missing individuals matching the characteristics of the woman who accompanied you.”

“Is that so? Thank you for your effort.”

After the village chief left, Selin handed me the clothes she got from him.

“You can’t just keep standing there in a cloak. Please put this on.”

“Thank you.”

Finally, I get some clothes. It feels like I’m regaining the remnants of civilization.

It’s rough and plain, but that’s what makes me like it even more.

“Unfortunately, it seems you aren’t from a nearby village. If someone here recognized you, it would have been simple, but you might be a traveler or merchant from somewhere else.”

“Really…?”

I realized now why she had asked the chief something. She must have been trying to find out where I came from.

Although it ended up being a failure, I still have no way of figuring out if I’m someone who was unfortunately kidnapped by vampires during my travels or if I just dropped down into this world from the sky.

Feeling slightly uneasy that my expression might have been misinterpreted as anxiety over not finding my hometown, Selin continued as if stating her impartiality.

“If you were a local resident, it wouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re a traveler, that’s unfortunate, as there’s effectively no way to find your hometown until your memories return.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll see if I can find something to do until my memories come back. Thank you for your help.”

“What should we do, senior? I feel like I could cry because she’s just too nice!”

Honestly, it’s easy for me to say that since I have no memories.

But Selin and Plona seemed to feel pity toward my calm demeanor.

That said, I need to seriously think about where to go and what to do next.

I’m grateful for having been given this healthy new body and second life, but I still need to eat to survive.

What could a woman with amnesia, one that has no knowledge of this world possibly do?

If I had some specialized knowledge, that would be different, but I’ve been bedridden since childhood until I died, so there’s no way I could have that.

Is the biggest obstacle for me in this new world also job hunting? Life’s toughness seems to be the same no matter where you are.

“Aria, if you don’t have any place to stay until your memories come back, why don’t you work at the orphanage I used to live in?!”

…Are you really suggesting that?

Ah, she’s just a shining light of hope. Being a knight surely makes a difference.

I couldn’t open my eyes for a while due to her radiant posture, Plona’s holiness dazzling me.