NOVEL NEXT After parting ways with the guide that Martini had given me, I immediately began to run like crazy the moment I entered the Beastmen territory in the south of the Duchy.
My body’s response was always honest, so it wasn’t long before I was gasping for breath and my muscles began to ache.
I wondered why it was so painful to breathe despite having a body that could supposedly survive without oxygen, but at that moment, I was grateful for this pain; it meant that I wasn’t thinking of anything else.
However, the escape from reality couldn’t last long.
Running full speed on a steep mountain path with no clear trail was definitely beyond my limits, unlike the hill between the Empire and the Duchy that I had traveled through before.
When I started to feel like I wouldn’t have the strength to deal with any unforeseen circumstances if I kept pushing myself, I let out a heavy sigh and plopped down beneath a large tree nearby.
As if nothing had happened, my breath and pulse quickly returned to normal. Instead, my mood plummeted.
How did it come to this?
It wasn’t that I had never thought the whole world saw me as a thorn in their side. No, I had thought about it so much that it was hard to keep count.
But still, there should be some limits, right? To think that a war broke out just to catch me—it’s absurd enough that I was left speechless with anger at the sheer injustice.
Thinking about Martini and the vampires in the Duchy made my mood plummet even further, so much so that I felt like I was going to dig a hole in the ground.
A war just to catch me. Yet, the Duchy let me escape, ready to pay the price I should have paid.
Though they had their own motives and interests in helping me, the vampires and Martini meant something special to me at this moment.
They were the first allies who stood by me, knowing my true identity.
Back in the Luminous Kingdom, the moment my identity was revealed, the friend I trusted betrayed me, and the entire world sent gazes filled with hatred and contempt towards me.
At that time, everything around me seemed to be working hard to place my head on the chopping block.
That’s why Martini and her underlings, who willingly took the same boat, felt all the more precious to me. They proved that not everyone in this world was my enemy.
“But I… am still powerless.”
After escaping the Luminous Kingdom, I had killed and consumed others’ lives without feeling any guilt.
I understood it was the way of survival—that I had to become more wicked than my enemies to survive.
But that was only because they were enemies. I now realized that I didn’t have the outrageous boldness to be happy simply because someone was risking their life to protect me.
My conscience had unintentionally drawn a line, but I wasn’t pleased at all.
I felt so much hatred for humanity that I wanted to kill them all, and the thought of my allies dying because of me made my stomach churn.
Is it right to force sacrifices on them? I couldn’t shake that thought, even though I couldn’t do anything.
If only I had known Martini was treating me kindly beforehand, the Duchy wouldn’t have been dragged into this war.
If I had left for the Duchy as soon as I recovered, it would have just ended with me being chased by pursuers like before.
…No, at this point, such hypotheticals seem meaningless anyway.
What’s done is done; regrets do not change the future.
If the sacrifices of the vampires in the Duchy bought me time to escape, the only way I could repay them was by surviving and promising a future.
In the end, there’s only one way to repay Martini’s debt and ensure my survival:
To drink more blood and become strong enough that no one would dare to look down on me.
In the end, it all comes down to strength. The one with more power dictates order.
No matter how much I run or hide, nothing changes. Those crazy bastards who would go to war just to catch me aren’t going to forget me just because time passes.
If I’m meant to be a being that should not exist in the eyes of humanity, then the only escape is to become stronger than them and create a place for myself.
With hatred towards hatred. Evil against evil.
I will never forget this feeling I’m experiencing now.
I got up, shaking off the dirt once again, and fueled by a desire for revenge, I began to climb the steep mountains again.
*
As I looked at the castle wall surrounding the city from a distance, I swallowed hard.
The easternmost point of the Armes Kingdom, Envalt. Out of all the human cities I’ve been to, it’s the most prosperous after the capital Rusher of the Luminous Kingdom.
The Armes Kingdom is located to the southwest of the Duchy, but why did I arrive at the easternmost point that was slightly off course? Simply because the route Martini told me went this way.
Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. If I were to stroll into the vampires’ territory and say, “I’m human. Please let me in,” and they believed me, that would be comedy gold.
If it had been a normal situation, I might have had a chance to make excuses about starting from the Bertica Kingdom and sneaking through the Duchy, but with the Bertica Kingdom about to go to war with the Duchy, that was out of the question.
My goal is to cross the Armes Kingdom and head west. While the humans believe I’m still in the Duchy, I want to keep as far away from the influence of the Luminous Kingdom and the Empire as possible.
To do that, I must pass through a city no matter which direction I take. As a result, I ended up following Martini’s suggestion to step into the Beastmen’s land in the south of the Duchy and cross the mountains to enter Envalt.
“Next.”
The once-distant castle wall was now right in front of me. Watching the guards at the castle gate confirm the identities of the entrants made my heart race faster as my turn approached.
“Next.”
I hope I won’t get caught. They can’t recognize me since I’m disguised, right?
I nervously fiddled with the black choker around my neck.
It looked like a fashion item, but it was actually a magical tool given to me by Martini.
They say it was made by a Dwarf craftsman. Apparently, it was something nobles used when going undercover, and the important part was that it changed the wearer’s hair and eye color to black.
Of course, I could just change my hair color and leave my eye color as is. It was a superb disguise tool usable in both vampire and human societies.
Until now, I had been dusting my silvery hair, which was close to white, with ash to darken it, but since I had no way to conceal my eye color, I had to wear a hood. This gift was a godsend.
I wondered if it was precious and if I should accept it, but since vampires can’t walk around in daylight anyway, it wasn’t too significant, so I figured it’s better that I use it well.
“Next.”
Finally, it was my turn. I acted calm and indifferent as I pulled out the forged ID and handed it to the guard.
“Pass, next.”
…That was easy?
The approval was given so swiftly that I almost let my expression fall, but I managed to hold it together.
To think I could enter the city so easily just by changing my hair and eye color and having a forged mercenary ID—rather than feeling joy, I felt a sense of emptiness.
It meant that this place, where I could step through so easily, had no place for me.
My anger spiked again, but I couldn’t start a public massacre here. I needed to restrain myself as much as possible near the Duchy to avoid leaving any traces.
Displaying superhuman patience, I stepped into the bustling downtown.
If I had to point out one prominent feature of the city of Envalt, it would be its developed commerce. The market-like atmosphere was due to traders from various regions coming together, but there was one rather peculiar aspect.
“There are strong Beastman slaves! Can also be used as combat slaves! Come take a look!”
“Lots of pet Beastmen! Today is a great day!”
That was the fact that the developed commerce was centered around the slave trade.
I’d heard that Envalt, adjacent to the land of Beastmen, was one of the largest production sites for Beastman slaves. In other words, it was a city filled with slave hunters and merchants, which felt particularly unsettling.
I locked eyes with a Beastman slave on display for exhibition.
Her gaze was dry, completely devoid of emotion.
Is that what happens to the weak? I vowed to never end up like that and quickly pulled my hood down to move away from this irritating place.
Even though I was disguised and tried to hide my face, a few men glanced at me and followed, but fortunately, it didn’t escalate into any problems.
It seems that a lone female mercenary couldn’t help but stand out.
Fortunately, those who might have been intent on tailing me weren’t serious about it, and once I blended into the crowd, I quickly lost the sense of being followed. But still, if anyone remembers me, they might find it odd that I left the city immediately after returning from the battlefield without resting or tidying up.
With that in mind, I decided to stay here for a day, just in case. I would rather take my time than leave a trace for the sake of saving a single day.
Right now, I was in the middle of a human cosplay, so having just returned from the battlefield, I needed to show that I was doing human-like things, such as resting and replenishing travel food.
It seemed a bit excessive to worry this much, but could I not do this much to reduce future troubles? I pointed at a skewer of something I didn’t recognize at a nearby stall and placed my order.
“Just one of these.”
At least it was a relief that I could eat human food without issue, even if it wasn’t made from my blood and flesh. There shouldn’t be a need to pretend to eat something I couldn’t consume in emergencies.
The taste of the meat I hadn’t tasted in a while was just okay. In the past, I would have felt grateful just to be able to eat meat, but now, my tongue, which had tasted blood, found animal meat somewhat lacking.