Every living thing in this city consists of vampire ghouls.

A species created by night nobles like Ariella......

In truth, “ghoul” was only the name of a single species.

Originally, they’d been monsters of many different species, and even humans.

Since they were the ones who hadn’t been selected as “knights,” their power wouldn’t be that great.

Even so, their numbers were considerable.

To put it bluntly—

If they suddenly turned hostile toward us, no matter how strong we were right now, at best we’d only manage to run.

But.

“No matter how many there are, they’re still ghouls.”

And......

“Untrained ghouls who don’t even know who their blood lord is.”

According to Ariella, no matter how low-grade ghouls were, they normally at least taught them who their master was.

“Even if loyalty to nobles is branded into their blood, the only one they truly swear absolute obedience to is the single noble who turned them into ghouls.”

And.

Within nobles, there were multiple “bloodlines.”

“The relationships between those bloodlines aren’t very good.”

If someone left without telling the ghouls which bloodline they belonged to, another bloodline could end up using those ghouls.

That was why, at minimum, they told them the blood lord’s name—so they’d know which bloodline to follow.

‘The fact they didn’t means they decided the ghouls of this land were completely useless and abandoned them here.’

And now, those countless ghouls who didn’t even know their master’s name were in a state where they only possessed a powerful recognition: they had to follow a noble.

“If that’s the case.”

As it happened, we were in a situation where we had to gather mana quickly and leave this land.

But with only our own strength, it would be hard to gather that much mana in a short time.

So......

“...We could become that master.”

“That’s exactly it.”

And that was how—

{Follow Countess’s command!!!}

We ended up doing this, using the strength of the ghouls overflowing in this city, to gather mana as quickly as possible.

‘It’ll get complicated if we run into other nobles, but......’

According to Ariella, not even telling ghouls the blood lord’s name was an extremely rare case.

If it was to this extent, there was a good chance the place had been abandoned so thoroughly that no other nobles would come.

If we used them as fast as possible and then disappeared, the odds of running into anyone would be low.

{As you ordered, we brought items that have faint mana in them!}

Yeah.

Up to there, it was fine.

{Knight!}

“...Up to there, it was fine.”

{Yes?}

A monster that looked grotesque at a glance.

With both hands full of miscellaneous chunks of stone, it stood in front of me.

There didn’t seem to be much mana in these stones, but right now we couldn’t afford to turn up our noses at even a little.

“...Fine. Leave them.”

I said it with a sigh.

Then—

{D-did I offend the knight’s feelings......!}

Kuuung—

A monster that looked like it could swallow ten humans at a time dropped to its knees.

{If I did something wrong, I apologize......!}

“......”

{Please, please forgive me. If it’s that I didn’t bring enough items, I’ll get them somehow. So please......!}

A monster begging for forgiveness in a frightened, almost whimpering tone.

“...I’ll let it go this once, so go.”

{Ahh...... th-thank you...!}

When I said I’d let it go, it answered in a voice that sounded genuinely overwhelmed with emotion.

...That was how it came across through [Mental Language], anyway.

In reality, all I could hear was the growling of a grotesque monster.

‘Ha.’

I watched the monster leaving while bowing repeatedly and thought,

‘Why am I......’

Stuck doing this.

...The reason was simple.

***

“Nobles are known for their authority. Even if they weren’t told the blood lord’s name, those ghouls would still understand at least something that basic.”

“Yeah. You did say that.”

I remembered the monsters that had attacked us.

Some of them had said something about “a great noble’s force without proper guards,” I think.

“That’s information carved into their blood.”

They didn’t know the blood lord’s name, but from the history carved into their blood, they understood noble culture, or something like that.

“As I told you, they don’t obey me absolutely. For example...... if you order them to kill themselves, they’d offer their throats without hesitation if it’s their blood lord’s command, but they’d hesitate at another noble’s command.”

In fact, the monster I’d faced had begged over and over to spare its life.

Even if it was a ghoul now, it wasn’t as if its desire to live had disappeared.

“Still, since it’s a noble’s order, they’ll follow it, but...... in the end, it’s the command of someone who isn’t their blood lord. Usually they’ll only do it grudgingly.”

“Is that so?”

“Especially...... even if someone is a noble, if their authority looks weak, they might pretend to listen on the surface while thinking the noble isn’t much, and then fail to carry out orders properly. For example.......”

Ariella shrugged.

“A noble wandering around without proper knights in attendance.”

“Hmm.”

So apparently, if you were a noble, it was normal to travel with many knights as guards.

But if that was the case—

“You have retainers, don’t you? They should be pretty strong too.”

Ariella’s retainers were quite strong.

I didn’t think they were at a level where anyone could just dismiss them......

“Those I could proudly present as [authority] suffered severe injuries in the last battle.”

“Ah.”

“Our wounds aren’t ordinary, so even that little one can’t heal them. Still, we did hurriedly transfuse blood into a few elite vampires at the time to keep them alive, but.......”

As she said that, Ariella flicked her gaze to the side.

“Don’t worry too much, Master. We’re here!”

“That’s right. We’ll work harder than the other siblings, so please trust us!”

“......”

Two kids who looked like they were around middle- to high-school age.

The sibling pair Im Naeun and Im Naehun.

I’d heard they’d originally been high-level awakened ones.

After Ariella caught criminals who enjoyed pleasure killing, she’d noticed their talent and made them retainers.

They’d already been good-looking kids, but after becoming vampires, a strange air mixed into them, so to ordinary humans, they probably looked fairly mysterious, but......

“...Kids like these can’t establish a noble’s dignity.”

“...Pardon?”

“T-that’s......!”

In the end, they were still children.

Dignity was...... a word that didn’t seem to match their appearance at all.

Originally, there had been an elite vampire named Im Beomjae filling that spot.

He was a knight who was decently tall and looked the part.

But—

“I’m truly sorry I’ve ended up like this.......”

He was also severely injured right now.

From what I heard, back when the sunlight hit directly, he was the one who threw himself in to stop Ariella from being touched by that light.

The other vampires sensed the sunlight and at least hid somewhere in a hurry.

But he and a few other retainers, protecting Ariella, couldn’t protect their own bodies.

Originally they’d taken damage close to annihilation, and only barely had their lives clinging on through emergency transfusions.

“If we can use the ghouls in this city to secure fresh blood, we can restore the other knights and handle them as [authority]. So.......”

Right now, the retainers Ariella could use were too shabby to display a noble’s dignity. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

For us, trying to use the ghouls of this city, it was a bad situation.

And.

The way to solve it was......

“Just until then, please help me, Master.”

“......”

Me.

***

I stared down at my body in a daze.

What I normally wore was a uniform Jeong Sua had made for me.

No—more precisely.

It was true I was still wearing that uniform now, but—

“It’s really flashy.......”

Right now, the look had changed a little.

‘Noble style, or something?’

Ariella’s shadow covered the uniform, then over it, draped some strange outfit.

If I had to describe it, it was somewhat similar to the clothing of medieval knights.

Pretty flashy, and stylish.

For someone like me, who’d worn nothing but a uniform since enlisting, it was a pretty burdensome kind of flashiness.

...And since she said this was knights’ attire, you could call it a uniform if you really wanted to.

‘Vampire blood runs through my body.’

More precisely, about 49%?

And it was blood I’d taken directly from Ariella—blood properly filled with her mana.

Of course, normally, it would be hard for a half-vampire like me to act as a knight.

But what we had here weren’t proper nobles, just ghouls who’d barely ever seen nobles.

{This intense scent of blood is.......}

{K-knight......!}

From their perspective, the mana contained in my blood was impossible to distinguish from a knight’s.

‘This is just my guess, though.’

And.

Beyond the fact that I could look like a knight, it felt like there was one more reason Ariella had asked me to take this role.

‘With Master’s face...... I thought Master could perform the role of a knight well enough, too.’

I didn’t know what reason she had to think that.

But it seemed that idea wasn’t exactly wrong.

{Here. These are the mana stones you asked for......!}

“Hmm...... that’s it?”

{Hiiik......! I’m sorry! I’ll find as many more as I can, so please, just spare my life!!!}

“......”

The way the ghouls trembled in strange fear at my every insignificant word.

I hadn’t even meant anything by it.

But they feared me so excessively that it almost hurt me instead.

Well...... anyway.

In the end, it meant that to handle the ghouls properly, I had to work directly.

And so, I’d decided I’d act as her knight, even if only for a while.

“Here. These are the mana stones the ghouls brought.”

It was something we needed to survive.

I could do a little acting like this as much as needed.

With that thought, I’d accepted her proposal, but......

“Tch.”

The highest point in the city.

Ariella was sitting there in a lavish chair, half-reclined.

After she clicked her tongue—

After giving them that much time, you only brought back this much?

She spoke with an expression full of boredom.

“If it takes this long, meeting our target amount will take forever. You should try harder, my knight.”

“......”

“What are you standing there blankly for? If you’re going to carry out orders, you should be moving around even a little more busily, shouldn’t you?”

An expression and tone drenched in arrogance.

Yeah.

At first I thought I could do some acting for her.

But seeing that—

‘That bastard.......’

I couldn’t hold back the way my insides boiled.

‘The first time, I even asked why the attitude was like that when I’m still the master.’

But.

I couldn’t argue with what had come back.

‘It can’t be helped. Every other noble I’ve seen was like this. If I act differently, they’ll find it strange.’

‘So those “other nobles” all feel like that......?’

‘More precisely, you could say this is me imitating what I can as much as possible....... In reality, most of them are far worse and more brutal. But I can’t do that to Master, can I? Right now I’m being a little more merciful than even nobles who are considered especially merciful.’

The moment she got any more merciful than this, other ghouls would start suspecting whether she was even a noble at all.

It made me want to see the faces of what “nobles” even were.

‘Hold it in. Hold it in.......’

Still, contrary to what Ariella said, the speed at which mana-infused items were being gathered was fairly fast.

If Ariella were the blood lord, she could’ve simply “ground up” those ghouls to replenish mana as well.

But it seemed that if you extracted the mana monsters possessed directly, they could end up at risk of death, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) so the ghouls avoided it.

On the other hand—

Maybe because I was acting as that bastard’s knight—

-Here. This is the item in this city that held the most mana......!

-Why are you making such a big deal out of that! Please look at this, Knight! Not just this city—this held the most mana in this entire area....

They were quite zealous about bringing mana-infused items to offer.

‘It’ll slow down as it goes, but.......’

Even so, at this speed, at most, we’d fill all the mana we needed within a week.

And.

‘...Leaving is unavoidable, but.’

Still, put another way, that meant we still had about a week before we left.

“Certainly. As you said, it’s passable.”

-Ah...... thank you, Knight......!

“You said this is the item that holds the most mana in this entire area, right? How did you get something like this?”

-W-well, actually. Back when I was an inferior species...... my kind tended to be specialized in roaming around and gathering information. Even now that I’ve been reborn as a superior species, the instincts from when I was inferior remain, so...... by chance, I learned where this item was.

“Hm. Then besides this item, you know quite a bit of information about the surrounding area as well.”

-Y-yes......! Not enough to boast to you, Knight, but! Among the ghouls of this city, I’m on the knowledgeable side.

Even if we were forced to leave, this was a far-off foreign land I’d always thought I’d come to someday.

“Then I’ll ask a few more things.”

-A-anything, anything......!

Then.

“Near here...... are there any living humans?”

In the roughly week we had left before leaving this place, I intended to grasp as much information about this country as possible during that time.