“G-Good after-noon.”

Roll... roll...

“I was... won-dering... who it was...”

Roll, roll...

“And it turns out... it was... Sir Knight...”

The guy somehow keeping pace with the procession by rolling sideways.

No matter how good his physical abilities were, there was no way this could be easy.

“So... what is it... that you need... from me...?”

The guy who raised his head at my call—

was wearing an easy smile on a face caked in dirt.

‘...What an incredible man.’

What this guy was going through was on a level comparable to the worst rotten customs in a truly hellish unit.

Maybe even worse.

The physical pain was one thing, but mentally, it had to be an enormous burden too.

If he were one of Ariella’s thralls, that brainwashing-level loyalty might have kept him from even feeling the pain.

But this guy wasn’t one of Ariella’s thralls.

Inside, he had to be feeling deeply humiliated.

And yet not a single change showed on his face.

Honestly, his mental fortitude was impressive enough to earn a little admiration.

‘...’

...Which was exactly why it pissed me off a little too.

Anyway.

“It’s nothing much. I just had something I wanted to ask.”

“Ah, I see...”

At my words, the guy kept rolling as he spoke.

“But... first, I should... apologize... a little...”

“...”

“If it were up to me... I would be happy... to answer... anything at all...”

“...”

“But... I am very sorry...”

“...”

“As you can see... right now... I am in a bit of a state where... carrying on... a conversation like this...”

“You mean it’s hard?”

The guy kept talking while rolling sideways.

Just watching it was making me feel stifled to death, so I pushed myself up and looked at Ariella, crossing my hands into an X.

‘Pause for a second.’

Then—

Ariella, who had been watching me, frowned.

A moment later, she let out a sigh and opened her mouth.

“...Was it Lirei?”

“Yes, Countess.”

“We’ve been moving for some time, and it’s ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) starting to get a little uncomfortable. We’ll stop here for today and rest a while.”

“Then...”

“You may stop rolling for the moment as well.”

At those words, the guy got to his feet with a bright smile.

“Whew! Thank you, Countess!”

“...”

“To be honest, I was just starting to lose my senses. Trying to keep up with such a fast-moving procession by side-rolling, even for someone like me who has always been fairly confident in my stamina...”

“You talk too much. Don’t speak to me anymore.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Then, dusting himself off, he looked at me.

“In that case, I suppose I should be thanking you instead. Really, you helped me out at just the right moment.”

“No need to thank me, exactly.”

I reached out and brushed the dirt off him as I spoke.

“If you really want to thank me... hmm. How about doing it by answering a few questions for me?”

“Questions?”

Lirei tilted his head.

“You probably heard, but my master and I belong to a different bloodline from yours.”

“Ah, yes.”

“So naturally, we don’t know much about how things work around here, and there were a lot of things I was curious about. Of course, I’m not asking you to tell me for free.”

I turned slightly and pointed at Ariella behind us.

“If you answer my questions well enough, I’ll ask... hmm, the Countess, to stop making things difficult for you.”

“What?”

“You seem like you’ve been enduring it pretty well so far, but honestly, this has to be pretty uncomfortable, right?”

At that, he looked at me with slight surprise.

“You mean to say you’d ask your master to withdraw an order... The Countess must be very fond of you.”

“Hm? Ah, well. Yes, I guess so.”

“In that case, let me offer you one piece of advice: there’s no need for you to go out of your way to bargain with me like this.”

He looked at the person I had pointed to—

Ariella—and said,

“You can simply ask your master over there to put the questions to me.”

“Ah.”

“If that happens, I would be willing to answer most anything, so there’s really no need to go through such a cumbersome method.”

Even though I was offering to make things easier for him, he was the one telling me there was a simpler way.

Since he had come here to support Ariella, he was apparently trying to be as courteous as possible to me too, since I was her knight.

“I know that too, but, well...”

This was where the script had gotten a little tangled...

Still, whatever.

“To be honest, saying I wanted to ask questions was just an excuse.”

“What?”

“There are things I’m curious about too, that part’s true. But originally...”

I tilted my head slightly and whispered in his ear.

“My plan was that if you answered my questions well, I could ask her something like, ‘He answered my questions so well, don’t you think it’s about time you stopped punishing him?’”

“...You mean to say.”

At that, he looked at me with startled eyes and said,

“Your real goal is to put a stop to the way I’m being treated?”

“For now, yeah.”

“...Why?”

Lirei tilted his head, looking genuinely unable to understand.

“I hate to say it myself, but I’m someone who attacked you.”

“Ah, that’s true. To be honest, it hurt like hell back then.”

“And after that, it’s not as though I’ve ever done anything to earn your favor either... So why are you showing me this kindness?”

“Well. It’s true that our relationship got off to a pretty bad start...”

I looked up above his head as I said it.

“But still, seeing someone from the same place as me going through this much trouble... it just didn’t sit right with me.”

“What?”

And above the head of the guy I was looking at...

“Well, isn’t that right? Mr. Lirei?”

“...?”

“Or rather, to be exact.”

[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]

[Awakened: Li Jinlei]

“Maybe I should be calling you Mr. Jinlei... instead.”

What was written there was a slightly different name from the one he had given me.

“...Wh-!”

A huge crack appeared in his expression.

***

“...What exactly do you mean by that?”

He tried to pull himself back together somehow, but he was already too late.

Drip...

Even on that face that had pretended to stay relaxed while rolling across the ground,

I could see a bead of cold sweat.

“You know what I mean, don’t you, Mr. Jinlei?”

“...I told you, my name is Lirei...”

“Ah. I was meaning to say this anyway.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“Isn’t that a little too sloppy for an alias?”

A noble under the Grand Duke.

Someone who possessed more power than even Ariella, and a noble entrusted with the important task of dealing with those who interfered with the bloodline’s conquests.

“Li Jinlei. Sounds like a perfectly good name your parents gave you too.”

His real name was Li Jinlei.

“Just because you decided to stop being human doesn’t mean you had to throw away a name like that too, right?”

It was an unmistakably natural Chinese name.

“...How did you know I used to be human?”

“I’ve got a pretty good eye, actually.”

I pointed at my eyes as I said it.

“Those nobles may look pretty similar to us, but humans and nobles are different species at their core. So there are slight differences in their appearance too.”

“What...?”

“If you look closely enough, you can tell who’s human and who was born a noble. That’s what I’m saying.”

At that, he gaped at me as though he couldn’t believe it.

“You’re saying that’s possible?”

No.

Of course it fucking wasn’t.

Humans alone look wildly different depending on ethnicity.

There was no way anyone could look at a vampire who resembled a human and go, ah, that one’s not human.

I had just made it up on the spot.

“Then... my name?”

“Ah~ actually, back when I was an Awakened, I happened to get a kind of supernatural ability from some monster by sheer chance. It’s a power that lets me know only the other person’s name, and apparently that didn’t disappear even after I became a knight.”

An Awakened’s abilities disappeared once you became a vampire.

Because the [System] only supported humans.

“Even though I’m now a knight serving the glorious nobility, I still remember what it was like when I was human. So when I looked at you, your situation didn’t feel all that distant from my own.”

“...”

“We’re both from human origins... and now comrades, aren’t we, doing our best to serve the nobles?”

I gave his shoulder a light, gentle pat and said with a smile,

“Even if we fought at first because neither of us knew any better, now that we do, couldn’t we at least get along?”

At that, he stared at me blankly and spoke.

“When you were an Awakened...”

“Hmm?”

“That means you came from human origins too... is that it?”

“Ah, right.”

His eyes bored into my face.

“The same as me?”

“Yeah. Same as you.”

“...I see.”

What was he thinking?

After saying that much, he fell silent.

“Ahem. So anyway.”

I looked at him and said,

“I’d just appreciate it if you answered a few questions for me. Nothing major.”

“...”

“For starters... well, I saw on that map that it looked like the nobles’ advance was getting stalled somewhere in the south. Why is that...”

If he just answered my questions, then all this torment would come to an end.

And on top of that, we were both of human origin.

There ought to be at least a little fellow feeling there.

After saying this much, I’d expected a relatively gentle answer in return.

“...Why are you asking about something like that?”

“Hm?”

But—

contrary to my expectations—

“Your master and you need only follow the Grand Duke’s arrangements and grow stronger. The war is a matter for our bloodline.”

“Ah, sure, that’s true. Still, I was just kind of curious about the situation in this land.”

“Ah, curious, are you?”

This was the same man who had kept smiling like nothing was wrong even while enduring Ariella’s harsh treatment.

And yet this same man—

“Why are you so interested in the affairs of another bloodline?”

“...What?”

“Why?”

His face had no trace of a smile on it.

“Because once you establish a bloodline of your own, you’ll be going to war with us soon enough, so you want to study our weaknesses in advance... is that it?”

That was what he said.

***

“Ha. Unbelievable.”

“...”

“Asking about a war being fought by a bloodline. Even if the Countess herself asked, it would be something I’d need to think carefully about before answering... and a mere knight thinks he can ask?”

His tone and attitude had turned razor-sharp.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.

“What, did you think that if you told me you came from human origins too, I’d feel some attachment and answer easily?”

There were several reasons I had revealed that I came from human origins too.

And one of them was exactly what he’d said—

I had been trying to create some sense of familiarity by showing we came from the same place.

“Bullshit.”

But no.

That wasn’t it.

“This whole line of, ‘It’s for your own good, so just answer my questions obediently’... isn’t that exactly the kind of thing a con artist would say?”

“...”

“I have no intention of answering questions like that, so leave.”

The easy smile he’d worn until then was gone without a trace.

He was snapping at me now, almost as if he were worked up.

“...Well, then. If that’s how it is, you’ll have to keep suffering like this.”

“Yes. I’m fine, so there’s no need for you to concern yourself. Still, I’m grateful that you’d worry so much about someone else.”

He smiled as he looked at me.

No, to be exact—

“To brazenly come speak to the man who blew your head apart like this... Weren’t you afraid your head might explode again?”

“...”

“Truly impressive. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to act so boldly.”

With a sneer, he looked at my face.

“Well, I suppose I can guess the reason you’re able to. You’re trusting in the Countess’s protection.”

“...”

He looked at my face for a moment longer.

Then a nasty smile spread over his lips.

“I’ve heard nobles actually like faces that look a little forceful and intimidating. They consider that noble-like.”

“...What?”

“I can certainly understand the Countess’s taste now.”

I was left staring at him with my mouth slightly open, but he just kept talking.

“Well, people have to use every means available if they want to survive. I won’t judge you for that.”

“...”

“But still, hmm. For someone who survived by taking shelter under someone else’s protection like that to talk about how we’re in the same situation... hmm.”

He looked at my face as if the sight disgusted him.

“Honestly, I find it more than a little revolting.”