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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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“When I give them self-study, they fight… Self-study won’t work in the future.”
Tsk, Adrian clicked his tongue.
“Those who fought, stay. The rest of you can leave.”
The students blinked their eyes a few times, then quickly took action.
Michelle tried not to leave until the end, but the other students forcibly dragged her out.
-Turn on the lights, Charlotte.
-I accidentally stepped on something just now. Sorry.
-It’s fine. It’s a broken leg anyway.
-……?
Seeing the students noisily leaving the scene, the eyebrows of the mid-level vampire, Alfred, twitched greatly.
‘What’s this guy doing?’
His gaze fixed on the man in front of him.
Aside from being ridiculously tall for a human, there was nothing particularly special to feel about him.
Well, appearance wasn’t important in the first place.
What mattered was what kind of mana energy he possessed.
‘His mana energy is ordinary, too.’
He didn’t feel anything special.
Then he should have just charged right in and ripped his throat out, yet Alfred was still standing still, observing the other party.
‘…Am I hesitating?’
But why?
After struggling and struggling, he finally caught the eye of Vampire Queen Christine who was entrusted with this mission.
To put it simply, it meant that even the Queen recognized him.
Alfred himself took pride in having quite a good eye.
Precisely because he had a good eye, he observed the opponent even more intently.
If the other party had a strong personality or strong pride, it would be easier to deal with.
Alfred had seen countless humans who were weak but had strong pride, who were weak but preached righteousness.
It was fun in its own way.
To bend their fingers, gouge out their eyes, and tear out their tongues to break the righteousness they spoke of.
But.
But…
‘He’s… human, right?’
Alfred’s instincts were making his body shrink back.
Think about it one more time, he said.
Think seriously, he said.
His muscles tensed up.
He tried to refrain from using black magic to avoid being noticed, but he drew a few spells in advance.
Even while making such preparations, Alfred couldn’t understand.
He was definitely human.
Even now, a name tag with a border indicating he was a professor was clearly attached to his chest.
But why did his instincts keep telling him that he had met one of his own kind?
Adrian.
That was what was written on his name tag.
Gaining even wider vision in the darkness was a unique power of vampires.
He was calmly and thoroughly observing every corner of Alfred’s body.
Moreover, what kind of thought was he having-
‘Just thinking this is a grave sin. It’s a thought that shouldn’t be had.’
But there was no being with the ability to stop thinking.
No, even if there was, it wasn’t common.
And Alfred didn’t have that ability.
‘An aura… similar to Queen Christine…’
Alfred was the one who had shouted that he would be loyal to Queen Christine for life.
Yet how could he have such a disrespectful thought?
Sweat dripped down.
It was impossible.
And there was nothing more savage than wasting energy on the impossible.
Let’s stop.
“I’ll ask again. What are you?”
“As you can see.”
The man merely tapped the tip of his index finger on his name tag.
“What’s taking you so long?”
A dark red magic circle was drawn at Alfred’s feet, and another vampire appeared.
It was Clyde.
If you had to put a label on him, he was something like Alfred’s senior.
Clyde waved his palm in front of the extremely tense Alfred.
“Hey, I’m asking what’s taking you so long. You were so late that I came to get you. Did you finish the mission?”
“…One more left.”
Alfred pointed at Adrian with his chin.
Clyde stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“What are you doing not killing him?”
“Something’s off.”
“What’s off?”
“That’s…”
He couldn’t pinpoint and explain what it was.
Because it was a matter of instinct.
Moreover, saying that he gave off an aura similar to the Queen was even more unspeakable.
Rather, Alfred wanted to ask Clyde.
Can’t you feel it?
“Hah~ This frustrating bastard.”
Clyde pushed Alfred aside as if telling him to just move.
“This is why I don’t trust newbies on their first mission.”
Alfred couldn’t stop Clyde.
After all, he was his senior.
Clyde scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“What should I say first? Hmm~ Well, we’re a bit busy. I think we need to do the job quickly.”
Adrian still didn’t respond.
“I’ll kill you as painlessly as possible. Don’t feel too resentful. Maybe be born as a demon in your next life~”
Adrian finally opened his mouth.
“Are you really busy?”
“Hmm?”
“If you’re busy, you shouldn’t act so sluggishly.”
Clyde’s wings spread out wide on both sides.
At the same time, his eyes sharpened.
Being able to spread noble wings while maintaining a human form.
It was a power that only mid-level vampires and above could display.
“…The young humans these days really have no manners.”
Sigh, Adrian let out a deep sigh.
Around that time, there was a sound of something snapping in Clyde’s head.
“I’ll give you the most painful death. I’ll make it so painful that you’ll think death is better…”
“Do it.”
Clyde’s words were cut off midway.
“If you’re going to do it, do it quickly. I’m busy too.”
“Wow…”
Now Clyde was the one uttering exclamations.
This bastard is really damn insolent.
Well, it’s not like he hadn’t seen insolent humans before…
Adrian’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
I’ll just chop him up quickly.
If he wants to be in pain so much, who’s going to stop him?
No, even if someone tried to stop him now, he would chop him up.
He would dismember his body.
“You’re dead now. You human bastard.”
But it was strange.
Why did he keep talking instead of taking action?
Clyde recalled Alfred’s hesitant face from earlier.
He wasn’t making the same expression as that novice-
‘No.’
He clenched his fist tightly.
He was on a different level from that amateur.
He would show it through action.
He would personally demonstrate that he was different.
He would show that he could at least pledge loyalty to Queen Christine.
He muttered while cutting his wrist with his fingernail.
Clyde’s fresh blood rose into the air and drew a bizarre spell.
It was a summoning spell for a vampire’s unique familiar, known as a black magic spell, made only of unpleasant curves rather than clean straight lines.
Soon, a dagger with a wavy blade fell onto Clyde’s palm.
“I’m warning you in advance, it’s really going to hurt. Really~.”
With those words, Clyde took a step.
One step.
Two steps.
The distance between the red eyes and the golden eyes narrowed.
The gap between the two began to close rapidly.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the man muttered those words.
Hearing that, Clyde’s footsteps stopped without him realizing it.
“Is he crazy?”
And then, forgetting that he had even tried to kill the other party, he began to laugh loudly.
“Pahahahahaha!!! I wondered what kind of confidence he had, but he was just a madman!”
It was clear that he was properly insane.
Did he think chanting a vampire’s unique spell would make it work? Laughter filled his lungs.
It was to the point where his breathing became labored and tears welled up in his eyes.
“Huh…?”
But then Alfred let out a surprised voice.
He pointed at the air with his index finger, and Clyde’s gaze naturally followed.
“My Queen.”
“My Queen?”
And then they simultaneously muttered in a daze.
In the air, a spell hotter and redder than anything else in the world began to be drawn.
Glowing faintly in the pitch-black darkness, it was nobler than anything else.
The completed spell manifested as a magic circle.
There was regularity, yet there was no regularity.
Attempting to understand the bizarre principle it contained was not permitted.
Straight lines that seemed like curves, curves that seemed like straight lines.
The magic circle was finally complete.
Alfred and Clyde instinctively realized that a top-level demon had appeared.
Because that redness pierced their hearts.
“Alfred, it seems the Queen herself is coming because you were so late.”
“…That’s right.”
“This is great. We should show her our best in front of the Queen!”
Clyde briefly pondered over the most impressive technique he had.
He focused a sinister black energy on the tip of the dagger.
Clyde’s dagger began to resonate as if thirsting for blood.
The sharpness of the dagger was one thing, but what mattered was speed.
His wings spread a little wider.
“Hyaaaah!!!!!”
He soon kicked off the ground and leaped forward.
He leapt at a terrifying speed, assisted by the flapping of his wings.
He kicked off so hard that it looked more like he was bouncing forward rather than leaping.
However, Clyde and Alfred’s eyes widened simultaneously.
Swish-
What emerged from the magic circle was not the Queen to whom they had pledged their loyalty.
It was a single familiar.
A massive and long scythe, larger than anything else.
Its size was so huge that it would be impossible to lift just by grasping the handle.
A small apple piece was engraved on the scythe’s handle.
He had heard of it before.
Yes, he had definitely heard of it before.
What was engraved on the Queen’s rapier was an apple with a single bite taken out of it by fangs.
If by any chance one were to see that missing apple piece, they should immediately-
Slice-
That was as far as Clyde’s thoughts went.
His body was still charging forward.
But the sensation was strange.
Somehow, his body felt lighter.
“Huh…”
But instead, his body lost its momentum.
It fell to the ground and rolled around limp.
His vision slowly spun.
“Huh…?”
The entire world was rotating.
Before he could even comprehend the situation, something strange entered his sight.
No, it was strange, but also all too familiar.
It was even more unbelievable because something familiar entered his sight.
Alfred’s face, unable to close his mouth, and his own lower body, cleanly severed.
“Th-, that’s… impossible…”
He still had a faint breath left.
Mustering his last strength, he looked at that man once more.
But only the professor’s back was visible.
He didn’t even spare a glance at Clyde, as if he had done something all too easy.
Thud- Thud-
He walked towards the frozen Alfred.
Alfred collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed with fear.
He shouted, trembling.
“You… Who the hell are you!”
“Adrian.”
“D-, d-, don’t lie!! Who the hell are you!!!!”
“A professor.”
The vampire sitting on the ground was already shedding tears.
He squeezed out his voice as if wailing and shouted.
“What, what, what are you!!! What kind of being are you!!!!!”
The man pondered for a moment.
“……Overtime worker.”
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Working overtime, Kento Nanami and him would be friends