The fragrant scent tickled my nose.
Every time the body swayed, a soft sensation was transmitted. I was deliberately pretending to be faint.
I was sprawled over none other than Ceria’s shoulder.
Since my body was bent in half, every time Ceria took a step, mine would inevitably swayed as well. With each movement, Ceria’s soft and resilient chest would collide with my upper body.
A fact that I had forgotten because of the Lady Virgin Saint suddenly came to mind.
Ceria had a great figure.
Although it was somewhat embarrassing, I couldn’t voice any complaints. It was fortunate that it was my upper body; if my lower body had been positioned in front of Ceria, a disaster would have been imminent.
In fact, even now, it could be called a ‘disaster.’
Ceria’s face, supporting my waist with one arm to prevent me from sliding down, was especially flushed. No matter how much she was carrying an adult man, she would not be strained.
Thus, there was only one answer.
Ceria was also embarrassed. After all, she was inexperienced in relationships between men and women.
She must have regarded her obsession and physical contact with me as separate issues.
One fortunate fact was that Ceria was doing her best to act as if nothing was wrong.
Her once unpolished social skills had grown this much.
I swallowed my tears of emotion inwardly and listened to the conversation between Ceria and the blind vampire.
“Still, you didn’t completely kill him, right? That would be boring~”
“Yes, yes? Ah… Of course!”
“But I’ve never bitten a man either; you’re unexpectedly naughty, aren’t you?”
Even with my eyes closed, my senses were as clear as sight.
I could even sense that the retinue’s eyes were narrowing, just now. Ceria became more flustered at that teasing voice.
“Ah, ah? Th-that’s right…?”
“I don’t have eyes, so I wouldn’t know, but he must be quite handsome, huh? I can smell him, the smell… of a woman’s tears.”
Chuckling, the vampire’s retinue wore a cold smile.
“Such bad guys, aren’t they? They don’t offer love but come and go as they please… In the end, it’s only the woman who ends up being pitiful.”
“Th-that….”
For a moment, Ceria glanced at me.
Before long, Ceria’s voice had grown cold.
“…That’s true.”
“Ahhahaha! Truly, our sister knows well!”
“Yes, of course… Why do they keep leaving openings for other women? They could just stay as my seniors…”
Empathy is indeed the best lubricant for conversation.
It was a delightful thing that the previously awkward and stammering Ceria could speak so freely now.
I should have been happy, but for some reason, I felt a creeping coldness in my bones.
Ceria, you’re on my side, right?
Setting aside such worries, Ceria and the vampire continued their friendly conversation.
“That’s right! I, too, suffered because of a man. Coincidentally, I ended up liking the same man as a friend…”
“Really?”
Ceria’s eyes widened, and she began to show a strong interest in the vampire’s story.
If I could, I would want to break into a cold sweat.
Yeah, because I was the criminal.
“Because of that, I suffered a bit. I grew distant with my friend, and the man was indecisive, unable to make a decision quickly… Moreover, the three of us had been working together as mercenaries for a long time, which made it even more troublesome.”
It was a past filled with elements that would resonate with Ceria.
An indecisive man, a friend turned rival, yet still a comrade who couldn’t casually ruin the relationship, and so on.
Ceria was now swallowing dryly, fully immersed in the story. Her curiosity urged her to ask more.
“So, what happened?”
“One day… while we were on a mission together, we encountered a dangerous monster. And then my eyes…”
A pitiful smile formed on the woman’s face as she tapped her unseeing eyes.
“My eyes went bad. After that, I fell into despair, you know? To be honest, my daily life became impossible… so the man who initially took care of me started to grow weary.”
“Th-that’s…!”
“Isn’t it too much? I sacrificed to protect my comrades, yet he grew distant and hung out with that girl… It felt like the world was pushing me into an endless pit.”
“That’s awful!”
Ceria, fully immersed in the vampire’s perspective, raised her voice.
I could feel her clenched fist trembling. Due to the boiling emotions, the arm supporting me also tightened.
“H-how could he do that? You were the one who suffered because of him! And taking advantage of your weaknesses to steal your loved one… that’s just cruel.”
The vampire chuckled lightly at Ceria’s reaction. The act of revealing her scars seemed to make her feel somewhat relieved.
Still, Ceria was more excited than the actual protagonist, urging for the next part of the story.
“So, what happened next? Did the guy regret his sins and come back…?”
“I ate him.”
Suddenly.
Such a nonchalant reply left Ceria’s expression dumbfounded. The words spilling from her parted lips were merely a dumbfounded question.
“…What?”
“I said I ate him. Then we could be one forever, wouldn’t we? Crying, I drank his blood… Ah, it was ecstasy. Did you know that extreme sadness can turn into pleasure?”
Even while Ceria closed her mouth, the vampire burst into a raucous laugh.
It was an exceedingly innocent-sounding laugh.
“I even ate some flesh. It was a bit tough, but… there was a strong smell, still, I patiently endured it. Because then we could be together, forever… I even cried when I tore out his heart, you know? And that, what was it? You called her ‘that girl,’ right?”
There was no hint of strangeness in the expression of the woman who slapped her hands together.
It was as if she had spoken the most natural words.
“Later, she was crying and begging… but I didn’t stop. I wanted to return the pain I had endured. First, I plucked her eyes out and stuffed them into her mouth. Then she screamed and started to resist, right? So, I stuck anything I could find into the holes… Guess her eardrum must have burst in the process. I was in the middle of pushing a razor blade into her ear. Eventually, she couldn’t even understand my words.”
The monotony of her tone, while scratching her head, made it all the more bizarre.
So much so that Ceria had fallen silent, reaching the edge of despair. Even with the utmost understanding, it was not something one could express in sanity.
The woman’s steps halted around that time.
Suddenly, a wave of magical energy could be felt, causing the space around us to ripple as a new scene began to reveal itself. It was a spell so intricate that even my heightened senses as a High Expert were tricked.
This was not a ploy prepared over one or two days.
Soon, the sweet scent tickling my nose grew stronger. It was so potent that even I momentarily felt dazed.
In the midst of it all, Ceria was just standing silently.
“At that moment, I realized. In truth, most problems can be solved if you have power… How grateful it is! Our ancestor bestowed us with such grace.”
“…This smell.”
After a long silence, I managed to utter a single line.
In that gravely serious voice, the vampire retinue paused in her discourse. A questioning gaze from her blue eyes briefly glanced at Ceria.
But Ceria’s mind was long gone from here, wandering somewhere else.
“I’ve smelled it before. When I was a child…”
“Hm? You mean your childhood? We did prepare for a long time, but there’s no way we prepared for that long.”
The vampire’s retinue tilted her head, but she didn’t press further.
She merely pointed to the middle of the open area.
It was a place radiating a sinister aura.
“Well, it’s fine. Anyway, we’ve arrived, so just place the ‘food’ in the center there.”
“What will happen then?”
Another sharp tone emerged.
The vampire’s retinue began to show signs of suspicion, seemingly wary as her expression hardened slightly. The ensuing question even bore a hint of annoyance.
“…What do you mean?”
“I meant, what will happen to my senior once it’s placed in the center?”
Hmm, yet another groan echoed.
The vampire’s retinue was gradually showing overt suspicion. Yet, Ceria’s tone remained unshaken.
Instead, she glared at the vampire’s retinue with a frightening gaze.
It didn’t take long for a snicker to escape.
“You, it hasn’t been long since you became our sister, has it? The scent is overflowing with the ancestor’s grace… Ah, so you are the child who was included by the ancestor and turned into a new vampire?”
“Please answer me.”
Despite her somewhat rude tone, the woman regained her composure almost immediately.
Whatever the ‘scent’ was, it was evidently giving the vampire’s kin certainty. It seemed to be one of the characteristics that others, aside from ‘sisters,’ couldn’t mimic.
And why wouldn’t it?
Ceria was indeed a true-born vampire’s kin.
Only Ceria in this place was unaware of that truth. In fact, she didn’t even seem to have the leisure to care about such matters.
Fortunately, it appeared that Ceria would not reach her limit of patience.
This was mainly due to the woman’s continued explanation.
“You will soon learn, but this world is constituted of the balance of the five elements. Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth… even the organs of the human body correspond to each element. This holds true not only in the physical world but also in mind and emotions.”
“Meaning what?”
“What if we deliberately disturbed the balance of the five elements?”
With a cunning smile, the woman posed that question.
