“Whose are these humans? That’s an obvious question...! They belong to this noble here, and that knight!”

‘.......’

Words that made it sound like human rights could go to hell.

I could only stare, dumbfounded, but.

Apparently, I was the only one who felt that way.

-Noble...?

-That’s a lie. How could the procession of a great noble be out in a backwater like this without proper guards...?

The monsters watched us with suspicion.

But.

There was more than suspicion in their eyes.

‘Fear.’

In fact.

The ones that had been smacking their lips earlier started backing away.

“I...”

And.

“Do I really need to explain that, too, to trash like you...?”

“......!”

When Ariella—who’d been silently following at the back of the procession—opened her mouth, even though it was only a few words.

-Sorry!!!

Kuuung!!!

They slammed their heads into the ground hard enough to crack their skulls.

-W-we sincerely apologize for failing to recognize a great noble...!

-W-we’ll withdraw as quietly as possible, so, so...

And.

Their voices.

-Please, just spare our lives...

Trembled with intense fear.

“Haa... I can’t even be bothered to punish you. Go.”

-Ah... th-thank you...!

Gone was any trace of the way they’d been about to attack the unit earlier.

They retreated, terrified.

‘.......’

‘.......’

To those monsters, Ariella... no.

A noble seemed to carry a pretty enormous meaning.

***

“T-this way!”

“This is the most luxurious mansion around here! It’s... well, it’s a little—no, a lot—no, unbelievably shabby for great nobles to stay in, but we hope you’ll rest in comfort anyway...!”

Following the ones who’d tried to attack us, we were guided to a lavish grand mansion deeper inside the city.

“...What happened to the owner of this house?”

“Ah. Some monsters were squatting there, but one of our comrades ran ahead and chased them out.”

“Not those monsters. The human who originally owned this place.”

“A human...?”

At my words, they scratched their heads, then.

“Well... probably one of those things over there...?”

They pointed outside the mansion, at the bloodstains scattered across the ground.

‘.......’

Yeah, well.

That was probably the most likely answer.

“Ariella.”

Leaving them behind, I walked up to Ariella and spoke without using [Mental Language].

Either way, they wouldn’t understand if we spoke Korean.

Which meant we could naturally talk in private.

“This place seems relatively safe, so there’s something I wanted to ask earlier, but couldn’t.”

“Something you couldn’t ask?”

“Those guys. The [Vampire Ghoul]s.”

“Ah.”

Right now, the inside of this city was plastered with °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° nothing but those red-eyed monsters, that species called [Vampire Ghoul].

“They’re your kin, right?”

Since “vampire” was in the name, I’d naturally assumed they were her kin, but.

“...Mm. Calling them the same species might be an unpleasant way to put it?”

“Hm?”

Apparently, from her perspective, it was a pretty different concept.

“Master can glimpse even the names of my retainers, can’t you? Then you should be able to tell what the difference in species names means, too.”

Just as she said, Ariella had created retainers with that power.

But her retainers’ species name wasn’t ghoul.

“Your retainers’ species name was [Vampire Knight].”

“That’s right.”

And right now.

The name those ghouls used to address me was also knight.

Ghoul and knight.

They both had “vampire” in common, so I’d been wondering what the difference was, but.

The difference seemed simpler than I expected.

“A knight is a being only a noble can confer. A noble mixes mana into their own blood and shares power to create them... it sounds simple, but it takes more work than you’d think. And they’re stronger for it.”

“So that’s how it works?”

“Yes. Because you have to put in that effort to make them... they aren’t included as full-fledged night nobles, but they can belong within noble society and carry out nobles’ affairs.”

Come to think of it, the number had grown so much now that it didn’t stand out anymore, but.

She had a limit on how many “knights” she could make in a day.

‘That’s proof it isn’t easy to make them.’

And then.

“A ghoul is a lesser thing than a knight... trash that isn’t even noble.”

...Trash, huh.

“If I translate it into terms Master can understand, they aren’t night nobles. They’re more like residents, or lowborn? They live on blood, they’re weak to the sun, things like that are the same as us, but they don’t have noble power.”

“What power are you talking about?”

“The mistform and regeneration my retainers have, for instance.”

What?

No, wait.

If they don’t have any of those powers, that means—

“Then they’re basically the same as before they became vampires.”

“Just one thing. Their physical strength will be higher than before. If it’s a ghoul that used to be human, it could probably tear apart and kill an ordinary human without much trouble.”

Ah, right.

Even the ones that had charged at us when we first met them—

They’d looked human, but their momentum wasn’t anything like an ordinary human’s.

“And also...”

Night nobles were a species with powerful strength.

According to Luca, a species with this kind of potential was extremely rare.

But.

That strength came with clear weaknesses.

Extreme weakness to sunlight, divine power, and even weakening if they couldn’t drink blood.

“They have the same weaknesses as we do.”

“.......”

Meaning those ghouls didn’t have noble power, and yet they’d still been saddled with the weaknesses.

‘No matter how strong they are physically... if you factor in those fatal weaknesses.’

Then vampires ghouls weren’t particularly high-grade monsters.

But.

If that was the case, there was something odd.

“You made knights to use them as your own forces.”

Meanwhile, these ghouls probably weren’t that strong.

So I’d been wondering why anyone would make things like that, but.

“Even if they don’t have power, they’re still under the influence of our blood. They can never disobey a noble.”

“Ah.”

“There’s no point in sharing power with them and turning them into proper troops, but it would be a waste to kill them, too. So you turn those ambiguous ones into ghouls. It prevents rebellions in occupied territory, and you can assign them all kinds of miscellaneous work.”

“.......”

“If I’d been able to build my own faction, once I’d made enough knights and judged my forces sufficient, I probably would’ve started making ghouls too.”

At that.

I couldn’t help being stunned.

If what Ariella said was true.

Ghouls were something you made only after you already had enough knight forces—

Something you created when it became burdensome to make any more knights.

In other words.

If what Ariella said was true.

“Then this area...”

“Yes.”

Ariella, too, said with a somewhat uneasy expression.

“It seems like this is [nobles’] territory.”

“.......”

Ariella’s species, night nobles, were specialized in building power and expanding influence.

Even though she worked under me like a dog right now, if she hadn’t met me so early, she could’ve built a massive army.

She was a monster with the potential to monopolize that entire Gangwon Province.

And.

“So they showed up here, too.”

Ariella’s kin had appeared in China, too.

Unlike Ariella, they hadn’t been stopped by someone like us.

Which meant.

‘They occupied this area, and brought it under their command....’

And.

If there was one small blessing in all this.

“It means the monsters around here can’t disobey you.”

Ariella was a night noble as well.

If this whole area was packed with creatures like that.

“Then if you’re here, at least our safety around here is guaranteed... isn’t that what it means?”

It was unfortunate that China’s situation was bad.

But maybe, using those ghouls, we could return to the Legion faster than I expected.

“...Not sure.”

But.

That seemed to be nothing more than my own thinking.

“I think we’ll have to find out a little more first.”

Ariella said, her face tight with tension.

‘...Now that I think about it.’

Even when she’d first said she smelled familiar blood, she’d been making that oddly tense, burdened expression.

“If it were up to me, I’d drive a stake through that heart right away.”

“Eek...!”

“My knight says it looks like you’re being quite sincere, and asks whether it wouldn’t be wise to show some mercy.”

At that.

“Sir Knight...!”

The vicious-looking men stared at me with moved eyes.

Honestly, it was a bit uncomfortable.

“You should consider yourselves lucky. I’m a noble who understands mercy. And since my knight spoke up, if you just answer me honestly, I’ll spare your lives.”

“Ask anything! Anything at all!”

At the words that I’d spare them.

They opened their eyes wide and bowed with exaggerated fervor.

“First...”

Ariella asked in a voice full of tension.

“Who is the blood lord of this place.”

“Blood lord...?”

But.

Unlike their earlier attitude of answering anything,

“Well... we don’t know what ‘blood lord’ means.”

“.......”

Their answer was pretty useless.

“The noble or knight who turned you into ghouls. You don’t know that one’s name?”

“W-well... they showed up here, turned us into ghouls, and then vanished right away...”

At that.

“...Don’t tell me. They didn’t even teach you the blood lord’s name?”

Ariella muttered, frowning.

“Then does that mean this land was completely abandoned...?”

“......?”

“No matter what, even if you’re just ghouls, leaving such a broad territory behind without even the most basic instruction... what kind of noble would do that.”

Her face still didn’t relax.

And then.

“Ah...! I—I know something.”

“Hm?”

One of the ghouls lifted its head as if something had just occurred to it.

“I don’t know the exalted name of the knight who gave us grace, or the noble that knight serves... but I heard them talking when they appeared on this land!”

“What did they say?”

“What the knight who gave me grace said, along with someone who seemed to be a companion... it was definitely...”

And.

The moment I heard that answer.

“New orders came down from Duke Valarak, so we clean this place up roughly and leave... something like that.”

“.......”

Ariella’s expression rotted away in an instant.

***

...Duke Valarak?

How should I put it.

A name that felt like I’d heard it somewhere before.

I started to think about what that name was, but.

“...I see. I see.”

That thought didn’t last long.

‘Ariella?’

The moment she heard the name Duke Valarak, Ariella’s expression—which had already looked tense—darkened rapidly.

“Hmm... is that so. His Grace... I understand well.”

“If th-that helped, I’m glad...!”

Ariella tried not to let the emotion in her face slip into her words, forcing herself to speak as evenly as possible.

“Fine. Then I’ll issue one more order.”

“Y-yes...! Yes...! Anything...!”

The ghouls, heads bowed, couldn’t even see Ariella’s face.

They were just moving desperately, like they couldn’t afford to offend her.

“Go back to that city right now, gather all your companions, and find any items infused with mana.”

“Items infused with mana? Why would—”

“I told you to find them. Did I tell you to ask questions?”

“S-sorry!!!”

“Ah. One of you stay here. If I have questions about this land, I’ll ask. The one who answered my question earlier will do.”

“Understood!!!”

With that.

The ghouls hurried back into the city.

And.

“...Master. Listen closely.”

Once they were gone, Ariella spoke without using Mental Language, so the one remaining ghoul wouldn’t understand.

“It probably already was, but...”

Her complexion had always been pale, but.

“We need to leave this land as quickly as possible.”

Even more than usual.

She was deathly pale.