"Oh my... I’m so thirsty."

After a long day of work, I had finally arrived in Backwater City. It was nighttime, and I could see that the city center was bustling with life, even from the outskirts.

Compared to the busy city center, the area where I was standing was quite deserted. But there were still people on the streets. Beggars, prostitutes, and, of course, thieves.

The rest of the people who lived around there and wanted nothing to do with the nightlife shut themselves inside their homes, but I could still hear them in there.

"It’s hard to get used to big cities," I said to myself. "If this were a small town in the countryside, people would already be asleep."

That place was very different from where I had grown up. I was born and raised in a small town in a nation to the west of this Ashia. Although people could get pretty loud during festivals, it was certainly a quieter place.

"Why am I thinking about that place?"

There was no reason for me to want to remember that place. Both my little town and my country had been destroyed a long time ago.

"Maybe it’s because of the moon?" I asked myself.

Indeed, the sky that night looked like the sky from 100 years ago: a waning moon in a cloudy sky, with no stars visible. Just as the moon shone alone in the sky, I was the only one from my town who had survived.

I remember crying. Back then, I was only a child, so it was natural to cry when your home was destroyed and your hometown was set on fire. But after living far longer than a normal human, I realize how immature I was. Death is not something to be feared—not for a loyal servant of Lady Hel.

This body I have is merely a tiny fragment of her power, capable of keeping me in this world for a little longer. A blessing granted so that I may fulfill my task in this world.

Of course, just like the powers granted to me, they came with a price. Not even the goddess of the dead could keep a body alive for so long without causing changes to it.

But it was something I was willing to endure. After all, where would I be without my lady?

I could have been just another body among the dead in my hometown. I could have remained a slave for the rest of my life.

Fortunately, Lady Hel guided me onto the path I follow today, protecting me from such mundane fates and directing me to serve her noble purpose.

"Hey, miss, are you lost by any chance?"

"Hmm?" It seems I ended up getting lost in my thoughts. Otherwise, I never would have allowed myself to be surrounded by three pieces of scum.

It wasn’t like I was lost. I knew perfectly well where I had to go, but taking such a dark path at night, it was only to be expected that some scum would try something.

"Pheew!" The man on my right whistled. "But she’s pretty cute, isn’t she?"

"That’s true," replied the one on my left. "Hey, come with us. We promise you’ll have a good time~"

It’s impressive. Even after 100 years of living, this type of man still roams the world. It’s almost as if they reproduce like cockroaches.

But it’s not like they were completely useless. There was something they could do for me. Even cockroaches like them could be useful for Lady Hel’s purpose.

"Be a good girl and—"

The guy on my left tried to put his hand on my shoulder. Since he was a normal human, I could easily overpower him with my strength.

I twisted his arm, pulling it behind his back and forcing him along with the motion. I held him from behind and brought my fangs to his neck.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

He struggled a little, but it was useless. An ordinary human could never escape from me, and since I was quite thirsty, I ended up draining the blood from his body faster than I had expected.

I released his lifeless body from my embrace, and it fell limply onto the hard ground. It was a shame he had run dry so quickly, but fortunately, there were still two more right in front of me.

"What the hell is this?!" The other man grew nervous.

It seems that watching me drink all of his friend’s blood made his lust for me drop considerably.

That was to be expected. In 100 years of doing this, they’ve always reacted this way when they see me drinking.

"How strange. I thought men liked it when women sucked them."

"W-We have to run!"

"But why? We’re only getting started. You will serve my noble cause, not to mention that you’ll have the honor of dying in the arms of a beautiful woman."

"Like hell I want to die!" the man in the middle said before he started running, his only surviving companion following him.

But at that speed, they were easy prey for me. I prepared to run after them, but I stopped the instant I sensed familiar mana coming from the very direction they were heading.

"Out of the way, pipsqueak!" From a distance, I could hear the two men bump into someone farther ahead before continuing on their way.

"Hmm, this isn’t going to end well," I said to myself.

"Who do you think you’re calling a pipsqueak?!" the young woman said, barely holding back her anger.

What happened next was something I had witnessed before, but her power still captivated me.

In the moonlight that night, the threads extending from the girl’s hands were clearly visible. The threads seemed to have a life of their own, and like whips, they lashed at the men who had offended her.

"Aaaaah!" One of the men screamed as the threads severed his foot.

The other had no time to say anything, as a thread cut off his head in a single strike.

In just a few seconds, the stone streets of that dark alley were painted with the crimson blood of those men.

"Please, have mer—" The last survivor had no time to finish his sentence before his head was sliced in half, starting from his mouth.

I sighed as I approached. Now that their blood had spilled onto the filthy ground on the outskirts of the city, there was no way I was going to drink it.

"You’re late, Equidna," the girl with twintails said to me.

"Forgive me, Margott. I ran into a small problem along the way."

"Seriously." The girl smiled at me. "Maybe you wouldn’t attract so much attention if you didn’t dress like that."

"What are you, my mother? Don’t forget that I’m older than you, and I’m also your senior."

"Only 30 years older."

"And my clothes aren’t a problem either. It’s easier to find prey when I show more skin. Sometimes I have to use a little of my charm, other times they simply try to take what they want from me, but in the end, it always turns out the same way." I said, looking at the remains scattered across the street. "They’re drawn like moths to a flame."

"I see."

"And besides," I said to her with a smile, "something beautiful is meant to be shown."

"You’re pretty full of yourself for an old hag," she teased me.

"My, you shouldn’t say that. You’re only 30 years younger than me. Ninety years old. If you were a normal woman, you’d be knitting."

Margott puffed her cheeks in disapproval. Despite our ages, we retain the forms our bodies had when we received Lady Hel’s blessing. That was why I had kept the form I had at 21, at the height of my beauty, while Margott had kept the form she had at 18.

Even so, she hadn’t grown much during adolescence, either in height or bust size. The cute clothes she liked to wear only made me think of her even more as a little doll preserved in time.

"Besides, my charm proved quite useful, didn’t it?" I said to her with a satisfied smile on my face.

"Ah, you mean the new recruit?"

"Oh, so he managed to join the Silver Fang."

"Did you really expect me to let a young man like him slip through our fingers? Byron ran some tests on him. The boy has potential. He just needed a little push in the right direction."

I liked Margott, even though she didn’t seem interested in being my friend, but Byron was different. I didn’t like him, mostly because I found his experiments distasteful.

But as long as his work served Lady Hel, I supposed there was no problem. I simply let him do his work. Despite everything, he was competent at what he did.

"Speaking of Byron, there’s a present he sent me for you."

I couldn’t hide the look of disgust on my face at the combination of the words "Byron" and "present."