A vampire lay collapsed on the ground.

The awakened who saw it all thought the same thing.

That monster was, most likely, one of the vampires that had ridden in on that missile and blocked the interception with its own body.

There was no way to know how strong it had originally been.

Had it been heavily injured in the process of stopping the interception?

The wounded monster looked pitifully weak.

Whoooosh!

Which was why—

the man swinging his weapon at that vampire,

Wei, was certain his attack would crush the vampire’s skull.

Kaaang!

But.

Contrary to what he expected, Wei’s weapon was knocked back with a harsh rebound.

“...You.”

And then.

After confirming the reason, Wei frowned and said,

“Did you just... protect a vampire?”

***

Kaaang!

Christ, that’s vicious.

I’d swung my weapon in a hurry first, but still.

“What the hell did he just do?”

“What do you mean, what did I do?”

Looking at the expressions on the people watching me, I couldn’t help giving a bitter little laugh to myself.

“I protected the vampire.”

“...Ha!”

The look of joy they’d had just moments ago, relieved to see a surviving ally, was nowhere to be found.

Now they only glared at me with murderous expressions.

“He helped a vampire?”

“He’s human too, and he’s taking that monster’s side?”

“A traitor. Is he a traitor?”

They stared at me with killing intent written all over their faces.

There was rage and suspicion on those faces, and no attempt whatsoever to hide either of them.

“...I saw you fight.”

Shing, kaang—

even the other awakened standing behind him all drew their weapons.

“I saw that holy, radiant light you gave off with my own two eyes. That sight looked so sacred... I was certain there was no way you could ever be on the vampires’ side.”

“...Were you.”

“But.”

They—

instead of pointing those drawn weapons at the vampire on the ground,

“Perhaps that certainty was a little premature.”

“...”

started aiming them at me.

“As you know, our situation right now is bad. The sun that protected us is gone... and we have no idea when those vampires might invade again.”

“...”

“As things stand, we can’t afford to stay alongside someone suspicious.”

At those words, I looked around at them.

...I can understand their anger too.

I looked at the people who’d drawn their weapons without another word.

There was definitely anger and suspicion on their faces.

But alongside that—

fear.

Even though the vampire was this badly wounded, their eyes as they looked at it were filled with deep fear.

People who lost literally everything to the vampires.

And the thing that had protected those people was the artificial sun hanging above this island.

But the moment that sun went out—

“D-damn it...”

“We finally had a chance to finish off a weakened vampire... and he’s siding with the vampire...”

“Ahh, if only that sun were still intact...”

They were trembling, remembering the terror of being chased by vampires back on the mainland.

More than the shelling or airstrikes starting up, the fact that that sun had disappeared terrified them more than anything.

“I’m asking you. Please prove that my trust in you wasn’t misplaced.”

“By prove, you mean?”

“It’s not difficult. Just step away from there and come stand on our side. That’s a very simple thing, isn’t it?”

He didn’t seem to be lying.

As though he truly didn’t want to fight me, Wei looked at me with a desperate expression.

Their homeland on the mainland had been taken by that Grand Duke, and in the process they must have lost countless friends, family members, and comrades.

Now even this island was no longer safe, so they’d no doubt lose even more people going forward.

Even if I tell them now that this guy was actually the one protecting them...

Maybe someone else could’ve pulled it off.

But on this land, I was still nothing more than an outsider.

How many people here would believe me?

“Wait, move aside!”

But then.

“What in the world is going on—”

Some figures pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.

Two old men.

The two Vice Chairmen who were practically the leaders of this faction.

“...”

They shoved their way through the others, then saw Karhin behind me and widened their eyes.

Unlike everyone else, who probably hadn’t seen Karhin’s face more than once if at all, those two old men had not only seen his true appearance before, they probably knew exactly what he was as well.

“Everyone...”

I saw them open their mouths as though about to say something.

And I also thought that if it was them, unlike me, they had trust built up in this land.

Maybe they could somehow resolve the situation.

Paaahng...

But at that moment, I felt a very faint ripple of mana spread outward.

And with that ripple,

“...”

the two men, who had been about to speak, flinched and closed their mouths.

No way.

I turned my head toward the place that tiny ripple of mana had just come from.

...Karhin.

Blink.

No sound came out, but only his lips were moving.

I couldn’t hear it, but it looked as if he were saying something to someone.

It didn’t take long to guess what was happening.

[Mental interference].

The [Mental interference] I had was something borrowed from Luca.

I still couldn’t control that power with any precision.

But Karhin was different.

He could use [Mental interference] on his own, and he was also a vampire who had lived for an absurdly long time.

A bastard like that could probably use it in a way that conveyed his will only to a specific target.

“You... what are you doing?”

When I said that while staring at him, Karhin’s eyes turned toward me.

-Do not stop them.

“What?”

A small voice sounded inside my head.

***

-You did not live through the history of this land, so you would not understand. No matter how great the things I did for them may have been, their hatred toward vampires exceeds imagination.

Lying collapsed on the ground, breathing roughly, he looked at me and spoke.

-Even if I succeed in proving what I am, they will only grow angrier at the fact that the one protecting them was a vampire.

“...”

-The two Vice Chairmen are deeply trusted among the humans, but if they defend me for no reason, they will lose that trust. Would that be acceptable to you?

With an unbearably arrogant tone, he spoke as if looking down on me even while lying flat on the ground.

-No matter what plans you may have, in the end you are still only an outsider. Without the help of those two, things will become rather difficult for you.

“...”

-On the other hand, I have already lost most of my power. I no longer have the strength to create a sun, and even if I did, I could not keep that sun maintained while avoiding the Grand Duke’s kin... I will be of no help in the escape. It is obvious what must be discarded and what must be preserved.

At those words, I stared at him blankly, my mouth parting.

His attitude is still arrogant as hell.

He’d told me before that when a human became a vampire, it wasn’t just a simple change of race—many things changed along with it.

-Now that the sun has vanished, they are already trembling with fear.

“You...”

-Do not needlessly take my side and provoke their fear.

And in reality, the version of him that suppressed his vampiric power and the version of him that fully unleashed it were drastically different in both personality and way of speaking.

“In that state too.”

And.

Right now, this guy clearly seemed to have fully taken on his identity as a noble.

Even so—

“Are you saying saving the humans still comes first?”

This bastard—

was valuing saving them more than saving his own life.

-What nonsense are you talking about?

“...”

-Humans? What importance is there in saving insects like them?

When I spoke without hiding my confusion, he let out a dry laugh and said,

-It is merely... because they are those who once followed me that I wish to save them.

Heh.

-No matter how foolish that may be.

The one speaking now was a noble.

It wasn’t that he was overflowing with affection for humans or anything like that.

And yet the reason he made this choice was—

-As one who led them... I suppose I must bear at least that much responsibility.

That was all.

Because that was the duty of a noble... who had once led them.

“...”

Hearing that, I fell into thought.

Rashir didn’t care at all when his knights died.

Even if their deaths themselves hadn’t been what he intended, that bastard had regarded their agonizing deaths as nothing at all.

He’d even personally slaughtered ghouls.

Even though they belonged to the same race of vampire, he treated those who served him like expendable tools.

But.

This one’s different.

Even now, after fully becoming the kind of being defined by his noble identity, this guy, for no other reason than that they had once served him, was trying to save humans—

a different race, not even his own kind.

And as it happened, this part... overlapped with a question I’d already been wrestling with.

How far do you go together?

That part had been deeply confusing to me.

And this bastard had, in his own way, given an answer.

Race didn’t matter.

Whether they had once been an enemy or not didn’t matter.

Even whether they were hostile to him right now didn’t matter.

“...Why?”

The moment I realized that, I wanted to know why he had arrived at an answer like that.

And the reason was simpler than I expected.

-Because... my heart tells me to go that way.

His heart.

How far did it wish to go together with others?

That alone.

[Direction begins to take shape within ‘divine power.’]

It was a pretty vague answer.

And yet.

[The form of ‘divine power’ begins to grow a little more distinct.]

Even so, part of it helped.

***

-I have already told the two Vice Chairmen to follow you, so there should be no major issue with orders.

As if he could no longer endure it, he bowed his head and let out a rough breath.

-I have done this much for you, so you will save as many as possible.

“...”

-And... one day.

He closed his eyes, then murmured in a small voice.

-In my place, take revenge... on that Valarak...

And.

Looking at him, I said,

“To be honest, I was hesitating a little.”

-...

“But after hearing what you said, I’m sure now.”

I gave him a small grin.

“A little while ago, you laughed and told me to handle it myself whether getting out was hard or not, right?”

How far to take someone with me—

that was something to decide according to where my heart led.

It was far too vague a standard, so I’d probably need to define it more clearly later.

But

“Why are you talking like this has nothing to do with you?”

For now, this was enough.

“You’re coming with us, and you can suffer through it too.”

-...What?

Because right now, my heart was telling me

I wanted to take this guy with me too.

“So in the end, you refuse to move aside.”

When I showed no sign of stepping away, Wei and the awakened approached me with weapons in hand.

“I hope you understand. No matter how much credit you earned by hunting down nobles... we cannot simply overlook someone who shelters a vampire.”

“Well, sure. I understand.”

Even if these were mostly the ones who had taken lighter injuries from that explosion, it was still a considerable number of awakened.

To begin with, if they’d suffered only light injuries in that blast, that meant they were that skilled.

“...My apologies.”

At the very least, there were hundreds of elites here.

No matter how powerful an awakened was, beating this many would be difficult.

Maybe they knew that too.

“Still, I’ll make it as painless as possible.”

As if already convinced of their own victory, they swung their weapons as they said it.

“Hm, make it painless, huh...”

At those words, I smiled faintly and said,

“Since you were polite about it, I’ll go easy on you too.”

“...What?”

Hundreds of awakened swung their weapons at me with all their might.

And as I faced that fierce momentum,

“All of you.”

With my hands clasped behind my back, I spoke in a calm voice.

“I’ll subdue you with as little pain as possible.”

At that,

“...What?”

a flicker of confusion appeared on Wei’s face as he swung his weapon.

-Unfortunately, even if he felt doubt only now, there was nothing he could do about it anymore.

Paaaaaak!!!

Paaaaaak!!!

In a world fallen into shadow, the sun gone and a giant mushroom cloud looming overhead—

-the beings that had been hiding in that darkness all this time finally revealed themselves now.

-By the Legion Commander’s order.