IWTRAE Chapter 133

133

It was Vasha who first brought up Van Drake's legacy. But thinking about it calmly, there was no real reason a vampire like Vasha would need such a thing.

It was clear she only pretended to be interested for Todd's sake, who disliked asking for help.

That naive vampire tended to care about pointless things like that.

'So soft... even when leaving, all she says is to eat well...'

So typical.

Todd let out a small chuckle, but it soon faded like sand scattered in the wind.

He had always found Vasha rather bothersome.

He often exploded with frustration in the middle of the night, wondering how such a low-rank vampire had ended up as his contractor.

Still, he had thought that if he raised her well and she became a high-ranking vampire, she could at least be useful for his revenge.

So, she wasn't completely useless, he had believed that much.

But now, faced with the situation of being separated from Vasha, he felt like a fish out of water.

'Even so… I wouldn't have traded Vasha for this glass… no, rather…'

Maybe, more than he had realized, Todd had...

A deep sense of loss flooded Todd's chest as he became aware of what he had truly lost.

The overwhelming wave of emptiness took him by surprise, engulfing him completely.

He shook his head as if to deny that hollow feeling.

"No, she'll definitely come back in a few days. Even if she's too hurt to come right now, she's the vampire who escaped from Strigon. She's not just some ordinary low-rank. Once she recovers, she'll definitely return to me. Like she said, I'm her familiar…"

Only now did Todd begin to understand what Laurus once said, that people fear the unknown above all else. A future swallowed up in blinding white light, showing nothing ahead, that was a terrifying thought.

"Yeah… Vasha just went away for a bit. She'll be back.

At the very least, she's always kept her word…"

Enveloped by a heavy helplessness, with nothing to do but wait for Vasha to return, Todd muttered in a daze, as if in a trance. It was a desperate effort to reassure himself.

"…Chess. We were supposed to continue after the auction…"

Mocking Todd's desperate struggle, the sun began to rise in the sky.

The morning glow pushed away the jet-black night,

ushering in the curtain of a dreadful morning.

Just when he thought his life couldn't possibly get any worse, despair struck.

The beginning of a growing pain, like a nightmare, one that made it feel as if peace would never return

had arrived for Todd Van Drake.

Chapter 9. The Night of Lights Out

The squire of the Holy Knight, Matteus, trudged alone on the road leading back to the city of Noctiluca. He had rushed out so frantically before that he hadn't noticed, but now that he was walking back alone, the path seemed endlessly long.

The vampires had vanished, and those who had fled with him from Strigon, no matter how he looked at them, were clearly followers.

But it wasn't the right moment to press the issue. Even if Matteus was a squire to an Inquisitor known for being merciless and unfeeling, there were still lines that shouldn't be crossed.

A tiny child, barely tall enough to reach his waist, was weeping as though the world had ended.

Brandishing a sword and declaring he'd purge the followers in front of him would've left a bitter taste in his mouth.

'It's not like I was worried about losing to that old butler or anything, absolutely not.'

Behind Laurus and the child, such a chilling aura had radiated, as if one misstep from Matteus would have led to him being killed and silenced right there.

So what choice did he have?

The temporary alliance with the enemy had ended. He had to leave, fast.

And so, Matteus walked away with nothing to show for it.

If there was any gain, it was that he had somehow survived what he thought would be certain death.

He rubbed the back of his neck, as if confirming it was still attached, and hurried his steps.

'Whew. I really thought I was going to die this time.'

He had ended up owing his life not only to a vampire named Vasha, but now even to another one, Lucy. Something he would've never imagined.

He had always believed that vampires saw humans as nothing more than prey.

And yet…

Those vampires had stood up to the Menorah, Strigon, in order to protect the humans they cared about.

Such behavior went against everything Matteus thought he knew about vampires.

'Vampires who are friendly to humans…?'

He never thought such beings could exist.

He had never even considered the possibility.

Matteus wasn't as righteous or devout as Bernardo, nor was he someone with deep convictions of his own.

But he wasn't foolish enough to deny what he had seen with his own eyes.

That vampire named Vasha had truly risked herself for Todd.

'Maybe… not all vampires are evil beings.'

After all, not all humans are good either.

In the end, whether human or vampire, weren't they all just judging each other based on their own interests?

At that thought, Matteus jumped as if shocked and shook his body as if trying to rid himself of something vile.

It was a heretic's way of thinking.

If Bernardo had heard him, he might have punched Matteus in the face then and there.

Trying to shake off his inner turmoil, Matteus forcefully shook his head.

'If I start making exceptions like that, there's no end. Come to think of it, the one who tried to kill me was a vampire, too. If beings like vampires didn't exist in the first place, none of this would've happened today…'

Even if he'd been saved once or twice, his hostility toward vampires, his instinctive fear and hatred of a natural predator, had not disappeared.

He had seen all too well just how little regard vampires had for human life.

Besides, it wasn't his role to make value judgments.

Matteus was simply the squire who followed the decisions of his master, Bernardo.

'Young master is always right… Just look at how he tried to save the last of the Van Drakes this time.'

Who could have predicted that all those high-ranking vampires, along with the Menorah, who had never shown themselves until now, would suddenly swarm out at once?

'If the Holy Kingdom had known the Menorah would rampage like this, they wouldn't have wiped out the Van Drake family.'

Though they somehow managed to survive this time, if the attacks from the high-ranking vampires continue, the Church of Lamphas won't be able to withstand it on their own.

Yes, just one survivor would be enough. A single bloodline from the Van Drakes is necessary.

As the young master said, for the sake of humanity, saving a Van Drake bloodline was the right decision.

That would mean the extermination of the Van Drakes was a failure on the Holy Kingdom's part, but for Matteus, it only served as further proof that the young master was right, so he had no qualms about bringing it up.

The only issue was…

'Is that kid really a Van Drake? Sometimes it seems like he is, other times not…'

If that child truly was a Van Drake, then his relationship with the vampire named Vasha was a mystery.

How did a Van Drake come to care so deeply for a vampire?

Judging by the timeline, they couldn't have been together for more than half a year.

'Half a year? Please. A true Van Drake wouldn't be swayed even if a vampire devoted themselves to him for ten years…'

Those people would rather die by their own hand than accept a life saved by a vampire, deeming it meaningless.

Still, if, during the time he was being hunted after his family was massacred by the humans he trusted, the only one who reached out to him was a vampire, then it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.

Whether the surviving Van Drake bloodline would be hostile to humanity or to the vampires…

As of now, even Matteus couldn't be sure.

'Ah, forget it! The young master is safe anyway. That's what matters. That light, [The Lighthouse of Dispelling Evil], that must've been his doing too.'

Enough of these complicated thoughts.

Matteus tried hard to focus on more positive things.

'Alright, once the main branch hears about this, our young master might not become Pope, but he could be the youngest Cardinal ever…!'

And then, Matteus could be the aide to a Cardinal!

Just imagining it filled him with excitement.

He envisioned himself proudly standing next to Bernardo in full Cardinal regalia.

It made him grin without even realizing it. If his little sister Melina had seen him then, she would've cringed at how foolish he looked.

But completely unaware of how ridiculous he appeared, Matteus skipped along merrily toward the cathedral where Bernardo would be.

And there, what he came upon was a village engulfed in flames, with Bernardo standing motionless, staring blankly at the scene.

"What…?"

Matteus was at a loss for words. The dawn light and the firelight mixed together, casting a sinister glow.

Burning straw.