Osian's gaze shifted from fiddling with his glass to the interior of the tavern.
There had been patrons, if not many, but now it was as quiet as if the place had been closed.
“You've co to see again. Have we still not resolved our differences?”
It's different now.
Osian might have been at a disadvantage then because he was unard, but now he wore a sword.
It's not just the sword. He had more control over the Starlight than he ever had before, and now he had access to the power of the moon.
He didn't know how strong the Grace Seeker was, but he had no intention of letting her defeat him helplessly.
Osian drew his sword, ready to strike at a mont's notice.
Regardless, Grace leisurely placed her order with the bartender.
“I'll have the usual, please.”
The bartender casually placed a glass in front of her.
Grace picked it up in her pale, calloused hands.
Her long, disheveled black hair and the way she sipped her drink would have made any man stare in fascination.
But for Osian, even that was enough to make him wary.
She was beautiful but she was a rose with sharp thorns and poison.
Grace smirked as she set the glass down.
“Don't look at like that. I'm a regular here.”
Osian looked at the bartender, who nodded wordlessly.
There was nothing false about it, not even the casual way he'd handed her a glass just a mont ago.
“So, you want to tell that you ca here by chance and ran into ?”
“How prickly. Were things between us that bad?”
“Your youngest was like that.”
“Hoo-hoo. That's true, too. I won't deny that I ca to see you. But I'm not really looking for a fight, so can you please put that ugly thing out of sight?”
There was no hostility in Grace's playful tone.
It was possible that it was a trick, but Osian doubted it.
There was no proof, just a knight's instinct.
“I don't need to spoil the mood when I'm drinking sothing so delicious.”
Osian took a sip of his applejack.
“Surprising, though. A wanted felon in the city of Tirna, and a regular at a bar so close to ho.”
“That's because this is Tirna, and in this city, if they have a good paying custor, they don't care if he's a criminal. Besides, in a place like this, they don't ask you who you are, do they?”
Grace cupped her chin in one hand and lifted her glass with the other, holding it up to the light above the bar table.
The way the light scattered over the glass as she gazed in rapture at the liquor was almost photographic.
“I guess it's no wonder there are knights who harness the power of starlight.”
“.......”
Osian's fingers stopped fiddling with his glass.
Grace's words were quite aningful.
She wasn't just talking about his outwardly displayed abilities.
“Do you know about ?”
“I've heard stories, though they're very old.”
Grace held out her glass toward Osian.
When Osian stared at it, Grace smiled seductively.
“Can’t you see my arm is about to fall off? Since we’re all drinking together, wouldn’t it be okay to clink glasses together?”
Osian reluctantly gave her a toast.
-Clink.
The sound of glass clinking echoed briefly in the silent bar.
“I rember the lore about the knights. A power now said to be lost, but once upon a ti they were truly great.”
“Is that why you ca to , to confirm that?”
“Sothing like that. I'm curious, now that there's a wielder of a lost power, I wonder if this is so kind of destiny.”
“I'm surprised. The others don't believe in it, to be honest.”
“It's such a long ti ago, I was skeptical when I heard about it, but after what you've done, I'm convinced it's not a lie.”
“So. Now that you know a little bit about , do you have an offer?”
“Nope. Nothing. I'm just here for a drink tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“I'm just curious to see how soone with your old powers fares in the world now, how you deal with adversity and hardship. So I'd like to keep an eye on you, if you don't interfere with our work, of course.”
“Does the one waiting outside the shop feel the sa way?”
Osian pointed to the huge presence he'd sensed outside earlier.
“Don't be so hard on him. He's very loyal to . That's why he's not coming inside.”
“It sounds like you might get in if I try.”
“If he was, he'd be here a long ti ago.”
“You seem pretty strong. I doubt any of your siblings are weak.”
Osian gulped down the rest of his applejack and set his glass down with a clink.
“With a vampire at the head of the pack, I'm sure the ones below you are just as strong.”
“.......”
This ti it was Grace who stopped moving.
Her round, red eyes locked onto Osian's were unusually emotionless.
“You know the old tale, and I know the old tale.”
Osian ordered another round, and the bartender set a new glass in front of him.
“Black hair that lts into the darkness, pale skin, an inhumanly beautiful form, blood-red eyes and lips. Considering your actual abilities, it's almost......too obvious.”
“I'm surprised. I didn't realize you were so perceptive.”
“I'm surprised too. I thought vampires were almost extinct.”
In the era in which the ga is set, vampires were quite common.
Most of them were monsters, of course, and were nothing more than the targets of Osian's overthrow.
The vampire ancestor was one of the trickier bosses to take on.
Of course, the castle-bound bastard had been killed by Osian ti and ti again.
‘Wait. So I'm the one who destroyed the vampires?'
I didn't care what happened to the rest of the vampires after I killed the ancestor.
Now that I thought about it, I felt like I had made a huge impact.
I shrugged a little, but what could I do?
If I had left the vampires alone, they might have risen up and created a vampire empire.
Besides, if Grace was a vampire survivor at the ti, there was no way she wouldn't know .
Perhaps she was a vampire born in later generations. The lineage is still alive, even if it is just a thin thread.
Grace replied with a bitter smile.
“It is inevitable. The weaker races are culled and it's only natural that they fight to stay alive.”
Grace's voice held an intense desire for sothing.
“Of course, I'm driven by that cause, but I'm also curious about you now, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do next.”
“I don't rember being a clown on stage.”
“You're more of an entertainer, if that makes sense. No one laughs at what you do.”
“So, now you're just going to sit in the audience and clap?”
Grace sipped her glass and smirked.
“Well, it’s still a bit early for us to be active. There’s also the youngest one’s job. But more than that, the ti is approaching.”
“What ti are you talking about?”
“It's going to rain soon.”
Grace's words had a certain aning.
Was it really that special to say it was going to rain?
“Seems like you're just making a big deal about the weather.”
“It may seem that way, but Tirna is a bit different. The rain here is particularly long. Rember that day when it poured down heavily a while ago?”
Osain recalled the day he had encountered Asr in the middle of the night.
“It will be like that for a long ti, one very wet and dirty day after another. What do you think will happen when the world is engulfed in dark clouds and rain?”
Grace looked down at her glass.
The crimson wine and the large ice cubes in the glass seed like they were Tirna.
“With this weather, the guards are patrolling less and watching less. It's the perfect ti for sothing sneaky to happen, and besides, Tirna's been possessed by sothing, and this ti of year is notoriously prone to incidents.”
Grace nodded and raised her arms to stretch.
Her hair obscured it, but she was wearing a sleeveless black dress.
When she retracted her outstretched arms, Grace giggled.
“This rainy season is going to be long, so for now, the Brotherhood is taking a break.”
“Why would you bother telling that?”
“Since we've t.”
Grace rose from her seat and a bill lay beneath her drink.
“I'll be going. I've had a great ti tonight. Maybe we can have another drink soti, sowhere quieter and more private than this.”
Osian didn't reply, and Grace didn't expect one either, so she casually left the store.
The second, who had been guarding the entrance from outside the shop, followed casually at her side.
“So, how was it when you checked it out?”
“Hmm. It wasn't easy.”
Grace stared at the bar where Osian remained.
“That feeling of anxiety and danger, it wasn't for nothing.”
He didn't say it, but Grace knew.
The power Osian wielded was the one that had choked the life out of the old clan.
She hadn't realized it that day in Osian's house, the glow had been too faint to see, but seeing him today made it clear that he is not to be ssed with.
The light was clearer than before. Facing it, Grace recognized the instinctive sense of danger that ca with being a vampire.
We must not face that thing.
“So we just, you know, watch it. Without touching it. You know?”
“Yeah. But what about the youngest, and the fourth, who's the closest to the youngest, he's really pushing it.”
“It's best to avoid fighting as much as possible, but they're not going to listen to everything I tell them.......”
Grace shook her head.
“Let's just hope it doesn't blow up into sothing big. It's going to rain soon, and we've got other things to worry about.”
Grace and the Second disappeared into the darkness of Tirna.
*
Osian arrived at Violet Fox the next day.
As he opened the door and walked in, he saw Edgar slumped in his chair.
“You......!”
Edgar's eyes widened at the sight of Osian.
He was in the middle of applying an ice pack to a bump on his forehead and head.
“I thought you'd be out for a day or more, but you're still going strong.”
“You got , asshole! Co on, I'll kick your ass for real this ti!”
Edgar bared his teeth and glared at Osian while Osian glared back at Edgar with a stern stare.
“You talk a lot of crap for a defeated subject.”
“I wasn't serious back then, and if I set my mind to it, I could end the likes of you in less than a minute!”
“I wasn't serious back then either. When I unleash my power, you'll take less than 30 seconds.”
“No! When I unleash my true power, you're done! It won't even take ten seconds!”
“Yeah, actually, I can do it in less than three seconds.”
Ena walked up to them as they argued.
“Co on, it's not like this is a child's fight.”
“.......”
“.......”
Osian was silent at Ena's comnt, and so was Edgar.
Osian glared at Edgar. Why are you shutting up? You're a kid.
Regardless, Ena took the ice from Edgar and wiped his forehead with a cloth.
“Ouch, ouch, it hurts, it hurts!”
“It's okay, from the looks of it, the bump will go down in a day.”
Ena handed him a new ice pack. Edgar just glared at her with his fat face, but didn't say anything.
I was surprised. Judging by Lorraine's and Diolan's reactions, this kid didn't seem to have a thing to fear in the world, but in front of Ena, he was a strangely ta lamb.
‘Considering that Lupona did the sa thing, should I assu that this is one of Ena's abilities?’
Ena said it was, and now I was more inclined to believe her than to be surprised.
Just then, Ronan was coming down the stairs from the second floor, carrying a newspaper.
“Fufu. I see you're not fighting today.”
“If he makes the first move, yes, but if not, as a knight, I can show him so rcy.”
“I'm the one who showed you rcy!”
Edgar blurted out, still not quite able to stomach his pride, and covered his forehead with an ice pack.
“Mr. Osian. I have good news. The settlent from the Archaeological League has co in for the gold coins and treasure they counted.”
“Good timing.”
“And have you heard the latest from Balud, the director of the North Blinders?”
Ronan held out the newspaper toward Osian.
The article in it was about Balud.
[North Blinders, New Business!]
“A food business.”
Not food, but the overall managent and distribution of food ingredients. Among other things, it ntioned that they would be handling expensive olive oil.
Considering the North Blinders' own financial resources, this could be a substantial business if it goes through.
“He’s been getting his ass handed to him, and now he’s got a seat at the table.”
What can I say?
Osian couldn't shake the feeling of unease as he read the article.
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