It was impossible to gather the mana we needed by two days from now.

But even so.

I didn’t stop using the ghouls to gather mana.

Either way, we still needed mana to activate that transfer gate.

No matter what happened two days later—

it was also true that there was nothing for us to do until then except gather as much mana as possible.

-Yes... we will do so...!

-Loyalty, loyalty...!

So I put the ghouls to work and returned to the task of gathering mana.

And while I was at it—

“Ah... Knight!”

“You’re... that one from then.”

Among them, I spotted one it that looked oddly familiar.

“Ah! You remembered me.”

When we first entered this city—

it was the very ghoul that had tried to attack us, and—

“Hehe... thanks to you, Knight, I lived. I’m truly grateful.”

in that fight with those “knights” not long ago, it was the one that had led other ghouls and helped me.

***

“Hehe... thanks to you, Knight, I lived. I’m truly grateful.”

Even if that battle with the noble hadn’t started because I wanted it to—

to be honest, it wasn’t a fight I could take lightly on my end, either.

No matter how much stronger I’d gotten, I’d been badly outnumbered.

But.

Even so, the reason I’d been able to keep that fight going was simple.

“The Knight is fighting for us—are you really going to just stand there and watch?!”

Because there had been one it that said that—

and stirred up the other ghouls to help me.

‘That fight was a fight between nobles.’

If it were a fight between a noble and someone else, ghouls would’ve stepped in to protect the noble.

But in a fight between nobles, there was no reason for ghouls to intervene.

Unless Ariella were their blood lord, which she wasn’t.

And that bastard Rashir was also claiming he was the lord of this land.

So for the ghouls, it would’ve been enough to just watch.

‘But back then, this one helped me with the other ghouls.’

Thanks to that, I’d been able to handle the fight a little more smoothly.

Since that noble’s knights had been massacring the ghouls,

in a way, it was only natural.

Still, it was also true I’d benefited from it.

With a little goodwill, I looked at it.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Kangil, hehe....”

The sound I heard and the name recognized in my head were a little different.

Maybe in Chinese it was a different name, but this skill called “mental language” must’ve translated that name into something that fit my mind.

Anyway.

“Looks like you’re a ghoul that used to be human.”

“Huh? Ah. Y-Yeah. That’s right.”

A pretty big it.

A snake-pattern tattoo stamped on its closely shaved head.

Even inside its sagging sleeveless shirt, I could see snake tattoos in places.

And on its body, there were plenty of bizarre scars that looked like they’d been carved into it back when it was human.

‘It probably didn’t live a very admirable life.’

But.

Even so, human was human.

Feeling a hint of familiarity, I said—

“I’ve seen a lot of ghouls inside this city, but there aren’t as many former humans as I expected.”

“Ah, that’s how it really is. It’s not like there are none, but it’s not the majority.”

Those nobles said they’d turned every living thing in this city into ghouls.

If there weren’t many former humans among them, then—

“Yeah. Sounds like most humans died before they could even become ghouls.”

It probably meant most of the humans had died before those vampires invaded.

It was a bit regrettable, but—

most cities in Korea had been like that too.

It was something I’d already expected, to a degree.

“No, that’s part of it, but...”

But then—

“More than that... a lot more people left this city.”

“What?”

My eyes widened as I asked it—

“Left the city?”

If it were a while ago, it would’ve been hard to ask something like this.

It would be like not knowing something a noble should obviously know.

But.

“Ah, well... even before this city fell under the nobles’ management, there were already rumors, little by little, about the nobles.”

Right now, these things’ loyalty toward me was pretty high.

It answered my questions without much suspicion.

“They didn’t know the details, just that some insanely strong monster force had appeared... around that level.”

“And?”

“Of course, even before those rumors spread, a whole lot of people had already left because this city was hard to live in. But a rumor spread that there was land that was safe from that monster force... and I heard that most of the survivors who were still here moved that way.”

At that—

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘This... sounds like when Ariella lured in survivors.’

This was exactly how Ariella lured humans in.

Spread a rumor that there was land that was safe from monsters.

And draw humans there.

...Still, I couldn’t be sure it was the same situation.

Until I confirmed that rumored place with my own eyes, there was no way to know.

Anyway—

“When I asked another monster, it didn’t mention anything like that.”

Not long ago, I’d asked a monster that seemed to know this area inside and out where the surviving humans had gone.

It said there were no surviving humans anywhere nearby.

“Well...”

And.

The reason was pretty simple.

“A rumor about humans gathering far away would only circulate among humans. Why would a monster know that?”

“......Ah.”

“In practice, it’s right to say there are no humans in this area, so it probably wasn’t lying. It just didn’t know the rumor that circulates among humans.”

Thinking about it, it was obvious.

A rumor that somewhere there was land safe for humans—

of course that would only circulate among humans. There was no reason monsters would know it.

‘Should I have asked the ones that used to be human from the start...?’

It was ridiculous that I was only realizing this obvious fact now.

Since they were all in the same city,

I’d just assumed if I asked someone I could communicate with, I’d get an answer.

“Where is it? Do you know anything?”

“W-Well... all I heard was that it’s somewhere far to the west from here...”

Somewhere to the west.

It was too small a hint, but—

it was also a pretty important clue.

...Anyway.

Feeling a bit puzzled, I asked—

“If there were rumors about monsters and a safe land, why did you stay here?”

“Well.”

At my question,

it scratched its cheek and answered.

“This is my hometown. How could I leave it?”

“......?”

“Kh. It’s like... even if I was a worthless piece of trash who never did my hometown any good, hometown is still hometown. I didn’t want to leave. A lot of the other humans who stayed were probably like that too.”

The reason was...

overwhelmingly human.

Only after hearing it did it hit me again.

Ariella said ghouls were born as slaves, but—

“Other than that... it could be that traveling a long distance is too dangerous, or that they can’t trust the rumor. Stuff like that.”

When I talked to these things,

I got the sense they were more ordinary than I’d expected.

One ghoul I’d talked to before even had a sense of family.

And among them, maybe in life they’d been closer to gentle herbivores—there were quite a few whose taste, as felt through [Taste Bud Enhancement], was mild too.

It was hard to believe they were ghouls.

...Ghouls.

“How did you become a ghoul?”

“It’s not some grand story. One day, nobles suddenly came to this city... and bestowed grace on us.”

Ghouls were monsters, sure.

But they weren’t things that became monsters because they wanted to.

Regardless of their own will.

Through sheer outside force.

They were reborn as the monsters called ghouls.

‘...Not really my place to say anything.’

Come to think of it, I was turning criminals into “knights,” too.

From that angle, it would be laughable for me to criticize this.

Smiling bitterly inside, I said—

“Then, uh... what was life like after you became a ghoul?”

The moment I said it, I flinched inside.

I’d been thinking about something else and brought it up without thinking, but—

a normal human had turned into a monster.

There was no way it would feel good.

“Sorry. Forget I asked—”

With that thought,

I waved my hands, trying to pretend my question hadn’t happened, when—

“Of course... it’s nothing but joy.”

“Huh?”

Before I could take it back,

its answer came first.

“Because I could escape lonely human solitude with nowhere to lean on, and enter under the nobles’ care!”

“.......”

“Even if I’m the very lowest of the low, to be able to place even a foot into the society of these great nobles!”

It spread both hands—

and muttered with tears of joy streaming down.

“For us, it’s nothing but endless glory.”

At first, I thought it was exaggerating to curry favor with me, a “knight.”

Even among my unit, there were times people made a big fuss answering me because I was the Legion Commander.

But... it wasn’t that.

“If I can offer everything I have to those great nobles—then that alone is the greatest joy of my life!”

Up until moments ago, it had been having a normal conversation with me—

but its eyes had changed.

“If I could meet the one who gave me blood, even though I don’t know the name yet... I want nothing more than to devote my entire life to conveying this gratitude.”

Empty pupils.

Like a doll.

A thing that kept rattling off joy about ghoul life and praise for nobles.

“......”

Only then, seeing that—

I could understand more ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) clearly what it meant to become a vampire’s retainer.

‘They said ghouls submit even to beings other than their blood lord, but they won’t offer their lives.’

Even that—

I’d assumed it was because these things kept more of their original self than I expected.

But it wasn’t.

‘It’s because true loyalty has to be offered to the blood lord that made them ghouls, so they can’t offer true loyalty to anyone else.’

A being made into a slave from the start.

That was how Ariella evaluated them.

And now.

This land was filled with those slaves.

For me and Ariella, it was a boon—we could get labor out of them.

But for them...

it meant they’d unwillingly lost themselves and fallen into slavery under another species.

“...You helped me fight this time.”

“Ah, yes.”

A human fallen into the slavery of a monster.

Caught in a strange emotion, I looked at it and asked—

“The information you gave me just now was pretty useful to me too. So... if we succeed in gathering all the mana we’re gathering now, I’ll recognize that merit and give you a reward.”

“A reward...?”

There was no way to turn a thing that had already become a ghoul back into a human.

If there were, I would’ve turned Jang Youngwoong into a “knight” first and returned him to being human.

“Yeah. If it’s something I can do within reason, I’ll grant your request.”

So the only thing I could do was—

let this thing, already a slave, have at least something it wanted.

It wasn’t something I had to do.

I was only doing it because it felt like it would make me a little more at ease.

Waiting for its words with that thought—

“...Is that your wish?”

“Yes. O-Of course I know it’s far too much. But...!”

“That...”

But then.

The moment I heard its wish, I—

“That’s kind of interesting.”

“Huh?”

An idea suddenly came to me, and I muttered that.

***

Not long after that,

the day came when the one I’d have the blood duel with was supposed to show up.

“You can win, right?”

“...Of course!”

Ariella answered in a confident voice.

There was a hint of tension on her face, but even so, she nodded like she was sure.

“His title was viscount.”

“Isn’t that the same title as you?”

“It’s a high title in its own way, but there are also plenty who are viscounts even though they don’t have any real ability, just because they’re direct descendants of a great noble. It’ll be hard to compare him to me, who rivals a great noble.”

After saying that,

she proudly placed a hand on her chest.

“You only need to believe in me, master.”

At those words,

I stared blankly at her face.

‘It’s not wrong, exactly.’

That she had strength rivaling a great noble—

from what I’d personally experienced fighting her.

That the viscount’s forces probably weren’t as strong as I might think.

And that we could make up for the lack of mana by winning that duel.

All of that was probably true, but...

‘Ever since we came to this land... there hasn’t been a single thing she’s said about nobles that turned out right.’

That no nobles would appear here.

That if we met a hostile bloodline we’d be attacked immediately.

‘...’

Thinking about it,

for a noble, she didn’t actually know that much about nobles.

“Hoo... right, that’s right. I’m no longer a mere half-viscount... I’m a viscount... one who rivals a great noble...”

“......”

“H-Hehe. Master doesn’t need to worry!”

And now.

She was telling me I only needed to believe in her, and...

“...Yeah. I’ll believe in you.”

“Yes! But... where are you going?”

“Ah. Just for a bit.”

Either way.

A fight with that noble bastard was no longer avoidable.

If that was the case, then—

“I was thinking I’d do some cooking.”

I—

it seemed like I should prepare for the worst.

...And besides, it just so happened.

“There’s a dish I’ve been wanting to try.”