When I came here, I saw it for myself.

These people used electricity, and they were even farming with tractors.

On top of that, they seemed to have quite a large number of awakened as well.

With this many people, there had to be some way they were producing food.

Even the Legion had managed that, and there had been far fewer of us.

In that case—

‘I can cook here.’

With that thought in mind, I asked them to show me to a kitchen.

“...Did you get everything you wanted?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

Anyway, like that, after gathering everything I needed, I set out in earnest to hunt vampires.

***

“Haaah......”

When we reached the ground by boat, I saw the ones who were supposed to go vampire hunting with me—

the so-called “death squad”—

letting out deep sighs.

“We risked our lives for that......”

They sighed over and over, looking utterly miserable.

I was wondering what had suddenly gotten into them, when—

“And this is the kind of treatment we get for it.”

Even though I hadn’t asked, they started talking among themselves.

“Goddamn it, we took on the most dangerous mission for them, and then they chewed us out because we used the artificial sun they gave us to use when things got dangerous.”

“Instead of congratulating us for making it back alive, they just rode our asses for failing the mission.”

As they went on like that, the man who seemed to be acting as their leader while the general was absent said,

“...Don’t say that.”

“Brother Wei, aren’t you pissed too?”

The one called Wei spoke up.

“I am pissed. But it couldn’t be helped. It’s true the situation was suspicious. That’s why I said we shouldn’t take that guy with us.”

“I could understand it if it were only that. What really pisses me off is this.”

They spoke with their fists clenched tight, looking as wronged as they possibly could.

“We take on a mission that dangerous, come back, and before even a day has passed, they’re sending us right back there again. Shouldn’t they at least give us a week to rest?”

“That too, but—”

Their eyes turned toward empty air, as if they were looking at someone who ought to have been standing there.

“The reason we agreed to take part in this dangerous mission was because we trusted the general would fight for us.”

“And now they’re sending us there without the general?”

“Aren’t they just telling us to go die? We fail one mission, and this is how they purge us?”

They trembled, clearly unable to swallow their anger.

A few were so depressed they were actually crying.

‘...What the hell. I was wondering why the mood was like this.’

And, listening to their conversation, I realized something.

‘This is because of me, isn’t it?’

Their leadership had said that once General Kaio recovered, I was to go on the operation with him.

They’d said his treatment would take about a week.

At the time, I hadn’t thought much of it.

‘Were they saying that with these guys’ rest period in mind too?’

During the week General Kaio was recovering, they had intended for these people to get some rest as well.

And then—

That much time would be a waste. I’ll go and come back before the general is even healed.

“......”

The one who refused that and said we should go as quickly as possible had been me.

“Goddamn it, what did we do wrong......”

Not knowing any of that, they seemed to think their leadership had deliberately handed them an unreasonable order.

Hmm.

How should I put it.

‘...No need to mention it, right!’

Looked at the other way around, as long as I didn’t reveal this had been my doing, they’d go on blaming the leadership all by themselves.

So I decided to just keep quiet about it.

Then—

“...You. I heard you were with General Jinlei.”

One of them spoke to me without bothering to hide the gloom on his face.

“How was he doing?”

“...What?”

“He was a man of that caliber, so he must’ve held quite a high position on the vampire side too, right?”

I was wondering where that sudden question had come from when someone who heard it frowned and said,

“Why the hell are you bringing up that traitor? Bad luck just hearing about him.”

“That may be true, but still... at least when we were following that traitor’s orders, things like this didn’t happen.”

“You’re really saying that when that bastard’s the reason we ended up like this?”

“...I kind of get it, honestly. To tell the truth, we don’t even know exactly who’s giving us orders right now. At least when we were following that traitor, the cause was clear.”

“Clear? What’s even clearer is that the traitor abandoned us. And the one giving us orders now is the one who saved us, you asshole!”

The moment that name came up, they suddenly started arguing among themselves.

“That’s enough!”

As voices began to rise, Wei shoved himself between them and shouted.

“I know you all have complaints. But right now we’re on our way to carry out an operation. If you want to fight, do it after we get back.”

And hearing what he said as he broke them up, I couldn’t help finding it strange.

‘If you want to fight, do it after you get back?’

That argument a moment ago had included complaints about the current leadership.

Under normal command, this was exactly the kind of situation where someone who voiced dissatisfaction with leadership would be chewed out.

But Wei only reminded them that they were in the middle of an operation.

He didn’t stop the argument itself.

...Judging by that island alone, they had looked like a pretty solid force.

‘Does that mean arguments like the one just now aren’t rare among them...?’

Maybe things on the inside were more unstable than they looked.

***

“Haaah. Sorry you had to see something so ugly.”

As I was thinking that, Wei, who had calmed the squad members down, came over to me and said,

“For now, the orders we’ve been given are to hunt down a noble together with you.”

His tone was more normal now than before, when he’d been openly wary of me.

Probably because what I’d said earlier had helped him when he was being questioned by his superiors.

“I heard that was originally your mission.... Usually, how does hunting a noble work?”

“Well, there’s only one way. We enter vampire territory, find the noble holed up somewhere inside, and capture it.”

At that, I decided to ask something I’d already been wondering about.

“The last time I overheard your conversation, I heard you and those vampires are at war. Where exactly is this front line?”

“It’s east of here... but we won’t be going there.”

“Why not?”

“That side is the battlefield for territorial expansion.”

He pointed up at the sky as he said it.

“When we brought you in, remember the place where sunlight suddenly started shining down?”

“Ah, yes. The part that surprised me, that—”

“That was a forest too, originally. There were some pretty tall trees there, but we cleared them all out.”

“...What?”

“We didn’t have a choice. That sunlight protects us, but...”

He raised a hand over his brow, shielded his eyes from the sun, and looked up at it.

“Like this, even the tiniest bit of cover can block it.”

“Ah......”

“We’re trying to remove forests and buildings—anything that might block that light—as much as possible from within the area where the sunlight reaches. On the other hand, the vampires send thralls to stop that sunlight from encroaching on their territory. That’s what we call the front line. It used to be much wider, but now it’s been reduced by about half.”

Tilting my head, I asked,

“Then shouldn’t we be going there? We’re supposed to hunt a noble.”

“Nobles don’t personally show themselves on a dangerous battlefield like that. They stay far to the rear and just send out their thralls.”

“Then what about us?”

“We have to head somewhere that sunlight never reaches in the first place... straight into their proper territory.”

At that, I understood why they were called the death squad.

‘The front line would still be dangerous... but as long as it’s inside the area the sunlight reaches, once you clear away whatever’s blocking the light, you can create a safe zone where the sunlight falls.’

But the death squad was different.

‘A place beyond the reach of that sunlight.’

A mission where you had to expose yourself inside the enemy’s heartland, where no safe zone existed at all.

That was why they were the death squad—because they took on missions dangerous enough that you had to be ready to die.

But in that case—

“Why hunt nobles in the first place?”

I found myself wondering why a unit like this even existed.

The mission was far too dangerous if the point was merely to reduce enemy numbers.

“...That’s classified.”

“?”

“In case you forgot, you’re still someone we can’t trust until you complete this mission.”

Fair enough.

Come to think of it, I still hadn’t earned their trust yet.

“This mission is dangerous—absurdly dangerous—but it also takes a very long time. So prepare yourself.”

“What do you mean, a long time?”

“You think the land of China is small? ‘Vampire territory’ might make it sound simple, but in reality they control most of the mainland aside from the parts where our sunlight reaches. There are quite a lot of nobles too, but......”

“...On a land that vast, finding where they are is basically like plucking stars from the sky?”

“More or less. At least there are quite a few nobles around here, since they need to block that front line. And among the secret arts of our vampire hunters, we do have a way to locate nobles. But... it’s only after hiding for a long time and tracking the vampires’ movements that we can find where a noble is.”

That much said, Wei let out a sigh as he looked at me.

“This time, I thought we’d gotten lucky and found a noble not long after entering.”

“Ah.”

The ones I had lured through the squad members.

Apparently that had been not long after they’d gone into the operation.

Maybe not for them, but from my perspective, I’d been pretty lucky.

“Then how long do you think it’ll take?”

“If we’re fast, five days. If we’re slow... at least over two weeks. If we’re really unlucky, it could take close to a month.”

At that, I frowned and said,

“That’s a little too long.”

“It can’t be helped. Finding a noble any faster than that is impossible.”

At those words—

“...Hmm, I don’t know.”

The moment I made that sound, Wei frowned, looking offended, and said,

“...What exactly are you [N O V E L I G H T] trying to say?”

Under that stare, I briefly searched my memory.

‘If what I saw then was right... there were definitely quite a few around here.’

And then, after narrowing it down to the places I roughly remembered, I nodded and said,

“You said anything faster than that is impossible, right?”

“That’s right. Even this pace is only possible because we’ve already hunted nobles a few times using this method.”

He seemed fairly proud in this area.

Maybe I’d stepped on that pride.

The voice that had at least become somewhat friendly turned harsh again.

“One thing I’ve learned while living in this world—”

Still, something had to be said.

Grin.

“Truly impossible things are a lot fewer than you’d think.”

“What?”

***

And then, after my words left Wei furious enough to shout, “Then you go find one yourself!”—

“Kahaaaak...! You hateful, hateful descendants of the hunters...!”

about three hours later—

“I don’t know how you found the location of my fortress... but don’t think for a second you’ll leave here alive...!”

the vampire in front of us screamed as it swelled its body.

I studied it for a moment, then looked back over my shoulder and said,

“You saw it, right?”

“......”