"A, a, anyways! Only use it if it's an ergency! I'll do what I can if you send a ssage!"
With those parting words, I quickly made my way from the group, past the other adventurers and past the soldiers, then finally through the village gates.
Frankly speaking, it would have been nice to leave during the night, but it would've looked too odd. Nobody would do that except for an ergency.
For that matter, I was glad that nobody decided to question about anything. Either they were too shocked from finding out the truth about the bandits' actions, or simply prioritized escorting the prisoners. Either way, if I stayed for much longer, there was a good chance that soone would have the mind to question any inconsistencies and gaps in the stories we told.
The others couldn't be held accountable for any of it, but I could, so the mont I was gone, there was nothing they could do.
(Well, aside from getting a warrant for my arrest, but that's just sothing future will have to deal with.)
Though the chances of that actually happening was likely pretty low. At worst, they would only have so suspicions about , and none of them would be tied to any actual cris, as I hadn't committed any as far as I was aware. Nothing that would get into trouble as long as I never saw these adventurers again, and even if I did, as long as it's been a few years they probably wouldn't bring up such an old story on suspicion alone.
I spent the day wading through waist high grass as I went straight north rather than follow any prescribed path.
Of course I had [Spirit Form] on so that nobody would spot , along with paying attention to any presences that happened to show up nearby. That also ant that I restored my original form. Even if it was just sothing small, it was nice to be able to feel my fangs in my mouth, though my eyes changing colour didn't do much, it reassured by completing the set.
My progress was painfully slow, especially knowing just how far I had to go, but I was able to distract myself by feeding Claret and the fluffballs along the way.
The little spirits started gathering around again the mont we left that forest, and by the ti we arrived at the vacant village the numbers had grown back to their usual size. There seed to be so newcors, but I wasn't entirely sure. It was nothing but a feeling, and really, I doubted that I was really able to tell the difference between them aside from their elent.
But it was good to be around them again.
These simple, carefree beings that seed to have almost no concept of negativity.
It would explain quite a few things regarding Claret though, I wondered a little how much of it is her being incapable of understanding and unwilling to understand the complexities of life.
That said, she was still comforting to have and made my life brighter. None of my complaints about her were serious in the first place. Everyone has their faults. Hers just happened to involve higher brain functions.
(But really, how much is it one, and how much is it the other I wonder?)
I looked at the familiar of mine, a part of trying to eke out so sort of answer from that face of hers.
"Ehf fommfeen mm mahaha, Maf'ah?"
Claret looked at with a puzzled expression with her cheeks stuffed with mana treat fragnts.
"Eat or speak. Pick one."
She looked at , then the half eaten mana treat in her hands, then back to . For a mont hope rose up in my chest.
Then she went back to eating.
"..."
I was a fool for expecting more. It wasn't like she had anything pressing to say anyways.
At the very least, she knew what was important to her. Unlike .
Difficulty ca together with complexity. Though calling myself complex would have been quite narcissistic, at the very least I couldn't' call myself simple.
When night finally ca, I spread my wings and took to the air.
While my pace had dramatically improved, I still didn't go all out. Not only so that all the fluffballs could keep up, but because I wanted to take things easy.
The last little while had been difficult, so it was nice to relax while floating through the air.
I might have been in a hurry, but it wasn't so much that I couldn't take a little ti for myself.
It felt like I lived for monts like this, where I could throw off all cares in the world. The shackles that bound were broken along with gravity.
Surrounded by colourful glowing orbs, I pretended I was flying amongst the stars themselves, like so stellar voyager. Claret, as she hung off of my shoulders, ward my back as a constant reminder that I wasn't alone, even when all was quiet.
Rolling slightly to the left, my body weaved through the colourful spirit formation before they reacted a half second later and reford up with as best they could. But as they were lesser spirits, fixing the formation was hardly a perfect affair, many of their new positions being completely different from their previous ones.
But I could only smile at it. It was the earnestness of their attempt that was so beautiful.
I rolled back to my right and my body weaved back through the formation before it reford once again.
(I could do this all night.)
[You look like you're having fun.]
"I am."
Maybe she can feel how my cheeks tightened in a smile? Or maybe she thought that this was a little uncharacteristic of ?
"Looking at them like this, the spirits are really pretty, aren't they?"
[They are.]
"This is a sight not many get to see, unfortunate as it is."
[I wish that everyone could see sothing this beautiful.]
"Huh? They can."
[Huh?]
If I could look at Alicia with a tilted head, I would've.
Instead, I looked up.
"Every ti they look up during a clear night, they can see sothing similar."
[...You're right! I forgot!]
The lights might have been pretty tiny from this distance, but they were plentiful and well bright enough. A starry sky that you couldn't see on Earth due to all the light pollution.
No, even that aside, maybe the human eye wasn't capable of seeing just how beautiful the night sky was on this world either.
Despite the drawbacks, this was one of the so many things I was thankful for reincarnating as a vampire. I probably didn't have a single gram of regret in my body.
A quick roll to the left, then another to the right, I enjoyed the sight of the fluffballs as they happily moved about rearranging their formation however they wanted around us.
But all good things had to co to an end.
After three days of walking during the day and flying these weird formations during the night and generally avoiding civilization, we arrived at the Brokecleft Mountain Range.
I circled around the giant mountain range, searching for that presence that should've been hiding here sowhere.
There were quite a few significant presences around, though many of them were hidden to the point that I couldn't detect them without swooping down to extend the range of my detection deeper into the crevices of the jagged hills.
It might have been a good idea to investigate them soday. There might be sothing pretty tasty amongst all of the hidden presences.
I continued to lazily soar over the mountain range before sothing rose up from a narrow crevice.
Its large wings flapped vigorously as it ascended as quickly as it could. It didn't take long before it ca close enough for to confirm that the figure was what I suspected it to be.
"Hey boss!"
The dragonkin exclaid with a bright face as he got close enough for to hear him.
"Can you leave imdiately, or do you need ti to prepare?"
"I can go! We can hunt for breakfast along the way!"
That was my intent after all. I really had no reason to linger here if Magni was ready to leave.
"But still, you really are loved by the spirits huh?"
"Well, they are cute after all."
While I hadn't really seen anyone else who also had more than one or two spirits hovering around them, it couldn't have been that special to be followed by a bunch of them, could it? It was like being followed by a whole bunch of cats after all. Even if they didn't live in your ho, if you fed them regularly, they would follow you.
(Also, they really are cute. Who wouldn't want to feed them if they could see these fluffballs?)
But the dragonkin just shrugged his shoulders and fell into formation below .
The fluffballs on the other hand didn't seem to share his casual congeniality and increased their distance from him a little.
(Was being liked by the fluffballs really that rare, or do they just don't like him specifically?)
Magni was annoying and just tolerable for the most part, so it was hard to say how much things applied with only such small sample sizes.
Then again, that was only my surface impression of him. He was decently strong at least. Maybe if I was lucky, he might turn out to be not completely annoying as well in the future.
But none of that really mattered as it stood. I needed to fulfill my promise to him for now.
With a flap of our winds, we took off at a lazy pace avoiding the roads below and directly headed towards the mountain I called ho.
Dawn broke the second day after eting up with the dragonkin.
By this point, we had finally entered the forest that surrounded the mountain and had taken to walking despite being so close to ho.
Well, walking was probably stretching things.
Since Dragonkin like Magni had to sleep, he was forced to sleep during the day to recover his strength the first day after flying for half a night after we first regrouped. I secured a charge boar for ourselves while he rested, its blood for and its at for him
He couldn't finish the whole thing, but asking for that, even with his huge size, was probably too much.
We continued our flight until the sun's rays threatened to attack us, but by then we had gotten pretty close to ho.
Mangi objected to stopping when we were so close, but I had to remind him I was a vampire, and couldn't expose my wings to the sun.
That said, while he relented there, he refused to slow down more than he had to and demanded to at least keep up a decent pace.
Maybe it was because I was also looking forward to getting ho quickly now that we were so close that I didn't really put up much of a fight.
Claret on the other hand grumbled a bit and suggested that she put the oversized lizard in his place, but I just patted her on the head and ignored her words.
We weaved amongst the giant trees that made up the deeper forest, avoiding the monsters that crept through such foliage. While the pace could've been considered a jog, with our stats, we were bounding over a dozen ters per step. To say that breaking Olympic records was leisurely was a surprising understatent, but a part of wanted to return to the safety of the cave I practically grew up in on my second life.
As much as I wanted to enjoy the scenery of this forest with a slow walk, the rays of light that pierced the canopy felt more like security death rays from so spy thriller movie than sothing peaceful.
(Haaa...this really is annoying though...)
I wasn't sure just how many tis I had thought that to myself, but being unable to sleep made one more conscious about how half the day rejected you. But more than anything, it felt like a loss, not sohow taking advantage of the daylight hours.
It was probably the primitive loss aversion of my brain. Not only did it rule a large portion of my previous human life, but it influenced my vampiric life as well.
(Well, marketers did an amazing job of taking advantage of that primitive impulse after all.)
After a while, a whole bunch of hits appeared on [Sense Presence].
They seed to be heading towards us, so we altered course like usual to avoid them. Yet a little while later, their formation turned to intercept with us again. We tried changing paths twice more, but they altered directions to match ours both tis.
While they weren't moving so fast that we couldn't out pace them if we just sped up, it did make wonder just what it was that was chasing after us.
It was a dozen signals ford up almost like a triple diamond formation, just what was typical for jet fighter formation flying.
But they were obviously not jet fighters. They weaved between the trees with an agility that no airborne crewed vehicle from Earth could hope to co close to matching. I could do it, but I practically broke the laws of physics like they were made of dried spaghettini.
"Lets have a look at what they are."
"Okay boss."
We stopped where we were and turned towards the approaching group.
It didn't take long before the formation ca within sight.
"Stop right there~!"
Ca manding(?) tone...
It was really hard to describe. It sounded like a child trying to throw up an authoritative voice but failing even more miserably at it than you would first expect. Like it was the child playing pretend, but doing it a bit too playfully rather than they aught to.
But maybe it was because of the source of the voice.
The figure that yelled that out to us was tiny. Really, really tiny.
Like, she could sit in the palm of my hand sort of tiny. Like so tiny she could almost ride on one of the fluffballs realistically tiny.
This...person, was distinctly humanoid aside from her size. She had bright teal hair that floofed up and back like one of those fluffy key chain decorations. She wore sothing akin to a technicoloured duster made of layers and layers of what I could only think were flower pedals. In her arm was a braided stick with a shiny jewel the size of a sand grain embedded near the end of the haft and had a spear head which looked like a transparent fish scale that shimred in the light.
Not to forget, were those wings on her back reminiscent of a blue morpho. They even shimred slightly as they flapped like the videos I saw of the real thing long ago.
(Fairies?!)
It was the only thing I could think of.
Claret had ntioned that such creatures existed as well, but they were supposed to be in the south. They shared a nation with the elves or sothing like that.
As strange as it was to find another sentient being in such a dangerous forest, that was nothing compared to finding a dozen fairies in front of , let alone one.
"Now that we're here, we'll hold them back while you guys can run away!"
"""Yea! Yea!"""
The others chanted to the first's words.
But I could only tilt my head. What these people were saying made no sense to at all.
"Alright! I'll handle this boss! No need for you to get involved with so pests!"
"Whaaa~~~! Who're you calling pests you dumb lizard!"
"That's it! I'll swat you all like the bugs you are!"
I wanted to hold my head with this headache that was rapidly forming, but before that, I needed to stop this before it went too far.
"Quit it Magni."
"Don't worry. You don't need to raise a hand to deal with such wimpy bugs!"
The fairies fanned out and pointed their spears at the dumb lizard, readying themselves to attack.
"No, seriously, stop provoking them."
I put a hand on Magni's outstretched arm.
"Chaaaance!"
One of the fairies chose that exact ti when we were distracted to charge at us.
But...it was so slow.
Even though she was furiously flapping her luminescent butterfly wings, the speed she made through the air felt like it was better described as floating than flying.
For that matter, why yell out 'chance' when you were trying to do a surprise attack? It completely negated the entire point.
But it was a mont before I realized that she was only moving so slowly because my perception of ti had accelerated due to the sudden pressure of an attack.
Or sothing of that sort.
A little winged person flying at with a sharp stick was hardly threatening, and was kinda cute instead. The way her pose looked so serious, and her face was so expressive as she yelled.
That said, if she did poke with that weird spear, it might hurt, so I simply pinched the head before it could scratch .
"Nuah?!"
The little fairy almost lost her balance as her weapon suddenly stopped mid-flight and her hands nearly lost their grip on its shaft as her body bounded forward from the montum.
"The vampire got Shelly! Let's get her back!"
"""Yea! Yea!"""
(Wait, this one's not dead though?!)
The rest of the fairies charged straight at as I stared at the little one who was hanging off of the immobilized spear while shaking her head of the dizzy spell she was under.
These overeager little creatures was really giving a headache if they were going to overreact over every single thing.
I still wasn't sure about what they were on about in the first place.
But it wasn't like I wanted to hurt any of them either. As long as they stayed mostly unhard, negotiations were much more likely to succeed and there wouldn't be any animosity, allowing bygones to be bygones.
Even if these guys were as annoying as they were cute.
But whether it was good fortune or good karma, a solution presented itself without any intervention on my own part.
"Wha?! What're you doing!"
The fairies stopped their charge and hesitated as all the fluffballs rushed to form a barricade in front of them.
"Vampires eat spirits! How could you be protecting sothing so evil?!"
Did we? That would explain why spirits seed to fear vampires, which in turn made it even more surprising that these guys ca to follow . They even seed to like enough to try to protect when they can.
"Master isn't evil! Master is the nicest person in the whole world! She doesn't eat spirits. She feeds us!"
Her words gave an idea, so I generated a handful of mana treats and tossed them in the air. I also made a bigger one like usual and gave it to the greater spirit that still clung to my shoulders.
The little fluffballs all shot around, catching the airborne treats and hurriedly dug in.
"Mphee? Mphah naeephesh!"
"Eat or speak, Claret. Choose one."
To think I had to admonish her again on this so soon.
But the dark spirit looked at then her mana treat, then at before going back to chowing down with a face that showed nothing but bliss on it.
*sigh*
"But I hope you see that I don't an any harm, right?"
"Awawawa! I'm sorry!"
"""I'm sorry!"""
All the fairies bowed down in apologies.
Well, all but the one who's spear I still had pinned in between my fingers. This one was swinging back and forth like it was a gymnast's horizontal bar or sothing.
I shook the bar slightly in rhythm with her swings and she went from going back and forth to doing full rotations around her spear as she squealed in delight.
(This is surprisingly fun.)
"As an apology, how 'bout you co have a feast with us!"
"""Feast! Feast!"""
"No, ummm, I'm a vampire so..."
"C'mon! Our village is this way!"
The one with blue wings pulled at my hood as the others lead the way.
(Wait a sec. That's the way ho is!)
I had a really bad feeling about what was to co.
===========================================================
"So? What is it you called for?"
Within the small, pearl white office, a man with an inadequately contained barrel chest in a pure white tunic with an overhanging toga demanded with his words as strongly as his presence demanded the space his body required the mont the door behind him closed.
"I lost contact with the one you gave ."
The tall, yet skinny one replied. His own toga looking far too big for his narrow fra.
"So? That was the point. Or are you going to say that you lost it without getting anything out of it? You're the one who told to give you sothing disposable that nobody would worry about."
"No, no. I got sothing. Barely enough, I should say."
It almost looked like the perpetual frown on the giant of a man's face sohow eased up a little.
"Then all we need to do is move on to the next stage of the plan."
"There's just a little problem with it."
"What?"
And almost imdiately that frown sohow deepened even further.
"Here, take a look."
The scrawny man touched the crystal orb on his desk and a pair of screens appeared in midair. After a mont of pressing buttons on the screen, he flicked the orb, turning his screen towards his guest.
"...Is this real?"
"Like you, I don't have ti for jokes."
The large man started to sweat.
"It's been centuries since the last one got so close! And now it's one of those that is getting us into so much trouble?!"
His square jawed face turned red. It almost looked like steam was shooting out of his ears.
"Not just that. The last one also appeared on this world too."
"Wait? I haven't heard about that!"
The excessive colour faded from his face, and in turn, the man realized that his accomplice was noticeably pale in the face.
"That's because I dealt with it on my own last ti."
"You...you could have your divinity revoked if they find out!"
"Yours too if they find out that you let a soul enter a world without a wipe and then sent another to kill it!"
"You're the one who begged to send it!"
"That just ans that either we both lose our divinity, or..."
The large man glared halberds at the scrawny man. But as pale and limp wristed as the man across from him looked, his own eyes didn't falter.
"You've said you've dealt with it before. Does that an you can get it done?"
"That's right. I still have my ace from back then."
"But if you just kill it, they'll find out. The chances of that soul returning to our domain is slim."
The giant of a man crossed his arms and furrowed his brows even further.
They both recalled how the reincarnation system worked. Usually souls were sent to a different domain upon each cycle, though not always. The theory was to avoid any concentration of especially unusual souls in one place and to promote the soul's growth by having it experience a wide variety of lives.
Whether it actually promoted their growth or not, both of them had their doubts, but it wasn't wrong to say that they were both born from that exact process, however rare it was that such a being would erge.
"Well, you can leave it to . You didn't even know about the last one after all."
"And I hope that I won't hear about this one once this is all done as well."
With a deep humph, the huge man turned and exited the office.
The lean man turned his screen back towards him and opened a new window. A map appeared with a series of red dots on it.
"The real problem is, it spent ti in the sa area as the last one. Was it just a coincidence, or...?"
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