“So. You expect us to believe that?”

A world sunk in darkness.

Inside an old building tucked away in one corner of it, a small conversation was taking place.

The atmosphere was grave, like an interrogation.

“That you’re an ordinary human who just had the bad luck of being captured by vampires.”

“Ah, but that’s exactly what happened.”

At the words spoken by the man who appeared to be the one under interrogation, the man conducting it...

“Say something that actually makes sense!”

Wei shouted with a scowl.

“Whether it makes sense or not, that’s the truth, so what do you want me to do about it?”

“How the hell are we supposed to believe that?”

“Then why ask if you’re not going to believe me?”

Looking at the man answering so shamelessly, Wei rubbed his face and said,

“To begin with, if you really were being held captive by vampires, then you could’ve just escaped. Why did you attack us?”

“That’s because.”

At that question, the man slowly pointed somewhere with a finger.

“I had just about managed to get away from those bastards, and then the one over there attacked me first.”

“What?”

“Ah, don’t get mad again. Ask the person involved yourself.”

At that, people’s gazes followed the tip of that finger.

Toward the huge man sitting in one corner, breathing roughly.

“...General?”

“Is what this man said true?”

He was still wearing armor that covered his entire body, but only his right arm and left foot were wrapped in bandages, while heat and ragged breaths poured from him.

...Nod.

His helmet moved slightly up and down.

“You saw that, right?”

“...Even if the general really did attack you first, you still could have subdued him without going that far.”

“Ah, come on, that’s a hurtful thing to say.”

The man spoke with his arms folded, wearing an aggrieved expression.

“Then what was I supposed to do? You could tell from the first exchange that there was a gap in skill, and he still refused to yield.”

“......”

“So I had no choice but to end the fight as quickly as possible.”

“If the gap in skill was really that wide, couldn’t you have just subdued him without going that far?”

“I could have, sure, but it would’ve taken longer. And...”

Slowly, the man looked at General Kaio.

“Compared to an injury like this, I figured dragging the fight out would’ve been worse for that gentleman.”

“...!”

At those words, General Kaio, who had been listening in silence behind his helmet, jerked sharply.

“I was trying to be considerate in my own way, so if you react like this, that’s a little disappointing.”

“You call making someone unable to even walk properly consideration—!”

Wei kept pressing him, but he couldn’t continue the sentence for long.

...Nod.

“...General?”

“You saw that, didn’t you? Even the person involved is saying so.”

Because the very man who had suffered those injuries was nodding again.

“Fine. Even if making the general like that wasn’t your fault, that still doesn’t prove you’re really human. To begin with, we clearly saw those vampires protecting you—”

“I already told you they weren’t trying to protect me. They were trying to protect the other vampire next to me.”

“There’s no way to prove that.”

“Then what exactly am I supposed to do to prove it?”

“...That...”

At that moment—

Thud...

The general sitting in the corner, treating his wounds, picked up the makeshift crutch he had propped beside him, then approached them with heavy footsteps.

“A way to prove it.”

The giant warrior who had seemed so taciturn opened his mouth as he looked down at the seated man.

“One.”

And with those words, the general extended his left hand, still armored.

Creak...

That large hand clamped around the man’s head.

“General!?”

“Ah, the interrogation isn’t over yet—!”

At the sight of him looking ready to crush the man’s head outright, the people watching rose in alarm, but—

“So there really is a way to prove it, whatever it is?”

The man himself, with his head gripped in that hand,

“Then go ahead.”

said that calmly, his arms still folded, as if it didn’t matter at all.

‘What the...?’

With the general’s strength, he could crush the skull of most monsters in an instant.

And yet this man had had his head seized by someone like that and still looked completely at ease.

While the others stared at him in bafflement,

Fwaaaah...!

from that enormous hand, golden light and pure white light burst forth at the same time.

And a short while later—

“...I acknowledge it.”

And then.

A short while later—

“This man is human.”

With those words, General Kaio withdrew the hand that had been gripping him.

When he stepped back, standing there was—

“You heard him, right?”

“......”

the man, looking smug, as if to say, See?

***

Grin.

“You heard him, right?”

When I looked at them with a triumphant smile, like I was saying, See?

“...You may be human, but you seem like a pretty irritating one.”

“Haha.”

The man who had been interrogating me until just now said that with an expression like he couldn’t stand the sight of me.

And I rubbed the head that general had just been gripping and thought,

‘...It stings a little.’

Just as that general had said, there was only one easiest way to prove whether someone was a vampire or not.

‘Expose them directly to sunlight.’

If they were vampires, then no matter how strong they were, they couldn’t stay unharmed in front of that light.

And—

‘So he can release that light from his own hand, is that it?’

...Well, anyway.

That settled the matter of me being human.

However you looked at it, I still belonged on the human side.

If I was hit directly with sunlight, my skin stung a little, but that was all.

I didn’t turn to ash the way vampires did.

“Then I think we’ve cleared up the question of whether I’m human.”

So now, what mattered was

“What kind of people are you?”

not me, but who they were.

“At first I thought you were ordinary awakened. Most of the survivors where I came from were awakened by now too. But... the techniques you use are a little different.”

“......”

“I hate to say this, but you don’t seem all that strong for awakened. Compared to those vampires, you look far weaker. And yet you still seemed able to fight them to some degree... So how exactly is that possible?”

At those words, they looked at one another and started whispering among themselves.

“...Considering he’s the one who subdued General Kaio like that, I can’t even get angry at being told we look weak.”

“More importantly, even after all the effort we put into spreading the word, he doesn’t know who we are...?”

“He could be someone who came out of some mountain valley after doing nothing but hunting monsters. Anyway... it’s not like explaining it would expose any real weakness. Wouldn’t it be fine to tell him?”

After exchanging glances and nodding to one another like that, they turned to look at me.

“For now, as you said, we’re awakened just like you. But the difference is...”

...To be honest, it wasn’t like I had no guess at all about who they were.

“We have inherited the legacy of those called vampire hunters.”

Hearing that, I had no choice but to nod to myself inwardly.

‘That’s what I thought...’

After succeeding in making Ariella my thrall, I had heard the rough outline of her past.

“As for vampire hunters, well, how should I put it.”

“You can think of them as specialists who became experts at fighting those vampires.”

She had been sealed away, and the ones who sealed her were people called vampire hunters and holy knights.

‘The Grand Duke’s thralls said something along those lines too when they attacked.’

These people themselves seemed to be inhabitants of this land, but the power they were learning, its origin was...

‘Ariella’s homeland.’

If that was the case, then it made sense that they knew vampire weaknesses well and could fight them.

Ariella’s homeland had been a world where vampires and those who opposed them fought one another.

If the know-how and knowledge they had built up there had been passed down, then these people would be able to stand against even stronger vampires.

...Still.

If there was one thing that felt a little strange,

‘The same species getting summoned at the same time—I’ve seen that more than once... but I’ve never seen two species from the same world, who were fighting each other, summoned together.’

In the case of the [Green Mane] tribe, they said they had fought a species that built castles, but I had never actually seen that species that built castles.

At least, I had never once seen multiple species appear from the same world.

‘...Well, it’s not like I know the homeland of every monster I’ve ever met.’

Maybe I just didn’t know.

Maybe among the monsters I’d seen so far, there had been some from the same homeland after all.

For now, I decided to keep that question to myself.

“So then... what should we do?”

“Well.”

While I was thinking that, they began looking at one another and discussing something among themselves.

At that moment—

“Withdraw.”

The general, who had been tending his wounds, spoke up again.

At that, the others nodded and added their own thoughts.

“...General?”

“That really is the only option.”

“We’ve already used up the artificial sun we brought with us, and General Kaio is in that condition...”

“Trying to carry out the operation any further here would be suicide.”

But—

at those words, one man looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Withdraw...!?”

That man, Wei, pointed at me and said,

“With him too?”

“There’s no helping it. If it’s certain he’s human, then we can’t just kill him blindly. Besides...”

Their gazes focused on me.

“Even if we decided to kill him... I’m not sure he’s someone we actually could.”

With all eyes on me, it would’ve been awkward to just stand there and do nothing, so I simply smiled lightly and shrugged.

“Just because he’s human doesn’t mean he can be trusted! Everyone here knows there are already plenty of humans who’ve submitted to those vampires. If we bring him back to headquarters and something happens—”

“That still doesn’t mean we can decide on our own what to do with someone like him. No matter how strong he is, it’s not as if he could take on headquarters alone. More than anything, the general has ordered us to withdraw.”

“......”

“Brother Wei. Don’t forget. The commander of this death squad is the general.”

At that, the man named Wei let out a sigh, then looked at me with suspicion and said,

“I don’t know if this is the right move.”

“We don’t know either. But there are a few things we do know.”

They got to their feet, and as several of them supported the general and prepared to move somewhere, they said,

“That man is strong enough to leave the general like this. And...”

When they stepped out of the old building and looked up at the sky, despite it clearly being daytime, a world darker than dark revealed itself.

“We’re in a situation where we need every ally we can get.”

***

“Don’t even think about causing trouble.”

“We know you’re strong, but we won’t go down easily either.”

And so, for the time being, I agreed to travel with them.

“Even if you’re curious about something, don’t ask now. We’ll talk in detail after we reach headquarters.”

With those words, the man named Wei bound my hands with something like a thick iron chain.

‘...Hmm.’

A thick, sturdy iron chain.

I glanced at the chain and thought,

‘If I wanted to break it, I could.’

It certainly looked like a tough chain, but it wasn’t like I had been doing nothing since the world fell apart, either.

I felt like I could break a chain like this whenever I wanted.

Unlike when I’d been among those vampires, this was a situation where I really could escape if I chose to.

But—

“Yes, yes.”

I obediently followed their instructions.

The reason wasn’t anything special.

For one thing...

‘The survivors still alive in this land.’

Even if this land wasn’t directly connected to the Legion right now, if these people managed to survive for a long time, then when that barrier opened someday, we might gain powerful allies.

Joining them and helping them would benefit the Legion... no, humanity.

And second—

‘There’s no way I can go back like this.’

I’d come all this way.

I couldn’t go back having gained nothing and only lost the thrall I already had.

To get Ariella back, I would need not only to persuade her, but also strength great enough to take Ariella away from that Grand Duke.

I didn’t have that kind of strength right now, but these people... were fighting against that overwhelmingly powerful Grand Duke and that bloodline.

‘They... might have something I don’t.’

Thinking that, while I was being quietly dragged along by the people leading me,

“...Huh?”

I could only stare in shock, mouth hanging open.

“What is it?”

When I showed signs of surprise, that man Wei approached me warily.

“...Ah, I see.”

But that wary look only lasted for a moment.

He looked into the distance, nodded as if he understood, and said,

“Before those clouds appeared, it would’ve been nothing special to look at.”

“......”

“I don’t know whether you’ll be useful or ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ not, but I’ll tell you one thing.”

That was because right in front of me...

“When you see that light, it means we’re getting close to headquarters.”

“Good God.”

A gigantic sun was shining in the sky.