“We learned through the two Vice Chairmen about [Mystery], and the power needed for it as well... how to handle faith.”

“It was a power we couldn’t use before... but this too must surely be a power our Guide has bestowed upon us.”

With eyes full of hostility, the humans glared at the city’s vampires.

“If our Guide would only give the order!”

“We’ll butcher those vampire bastards like we did in that battle beneath the shadows!”

Seeing that, I could only let out a bitter laugh.

'It’s a miracle they haven’t started fighting already.'

But.

That wasn’t something I could say out loud.

On the surface, I did my best to look as solemn as possible and opened my mouth.

-Everyone, calm yourselves.

As [Mental Language], amplified to the utmost, rang out, I could see the people listening intently to my words.

-The vampires of this land are not your enemies.

“...What?”

But.

With my very first sentence, I’d practically put question marks over all their heads.

“The vampires aren’t our enemies...?”

“How could that even be possible?”

How could it be possible, they ask.

...There were complicated circumstances here, but

I couldn’t exactly explain all of that now.

-These people did not become vampires of their own will in the first place. Rather, they are victims who unwillingly became someone else’s slaves.

“Isn’t that true of all vampires?”

-So now, at least, they’ve changed their hearts and chosen to stand on humanity’s side—

“What? How is that even possible? As far as we know, a vampire’s mind belongs to the noble that owns it.”

“......”

I thought if I gave them a simple explanation, they’d just accept it and move on.

'Karhin, you bastard...!'

Apparently, there was one thing I’d overlooked.

'He hid every inconvenient detail about his own faith away nice and tight, but he sure explained vampires in detail...!'

Because Karhin himself—their leader—had been a vampire, their knowledge about vampires was absurdly extensive.

To the point where it almost felt like they understood vampires better than I did, even though I actually had one as a retainer.

'If I try to bluff my way through this halfway, all that will happen is they’ll dismantle me with the knowledge they’ve built up about vampires.'

...In that case.

-The reason is simple.

There was only one method that came to mind.

It was a little reckless, but...

-Because I have reformed them.

If it was impossible to fool them with logic, then I would just brazen it out instead.

“......”

“......”

And then, a suffocating silence fell over the people listening.

'...Was that a little too much after all?'

Just as I started breaking into a cold sweat inside, thinking I might have pushed it too far—

“Ahh, good heavens...!”

one of them said, clutching both hands to its face.

“As expected... our great Guide!”

Only then did I realize the silence among them had not been because of what I’d said.

Their eyes were fixed on—

behind my back.

“To think you even reformed those wicked vampire bastards...!”

“Ah.”

The countless vampires filling this city.

Every last one of them was bowing toward me.

***

...Anyway, after that, the awakened settled inside the city stopped causing trouble and quietly followed the vampires’ guidance to hide themselves in a safe place.

“...By the way.”

And then.

Back in the center of the city—

in that same place where, not long ago, I had supervised their mana extraction together with Ariella—

I looked at Kangil standing in front of me and said,

“What exactly was that earlier?”

This escape had been decided far too hastily, so while I had thought we’d be safe once we got here, I still hadn’t had any answer for how I was supposed to persuade those survivors.

The nonsense I’d spouted at the end had just been me forcing the issue through by sheer nerve.

“It was nothing much.”

And the reason it had worked was—

“When you spread both hands and gave that speech, Sir Knight, we merely showed our respect.”

Because the moment I said I had reformed them, all the vampires bowed as one.

There were more vampires filling this city than there were survivors.

To see that many of them lower their heads all at once...

it must have looked rather magnificent.

“You call that merely showing respect?”

At that, I let out a hollow laugh and said,

“Aren’t you mistaken about something? Your master is Ariella, not me.”

The truth was, and I was only saying it now—

“Even asking you to take these people in... was a pretty unreasonable request.”

It was fortunate we’d somehow managed to hide them, but if some oddball decided to inspect this place carefully and the survivors inside were discovered, then ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) the lives of those hiding them would by no means be safe.

And beyond that, the very people I had asked them to protect had been trying to attack them instead.

From their perspective, it had to be a thoroughly baffling situation.

But.

“It’s a request from none other than you, Sir Knight. Of course we had to grant it.”

“......”

They had listened to me and made that dangerous choice without hesitation.

Unlike Ariella, my requests shouldn’t have held any coercive force over them.

“...I should say this now.”

Watching that, I gave a bitter smile and said,

“I’m no longer your mistress’s knight. No—more accurately, I never was in the first place.”

“...?”

“Back then, we were still moving together, at least, but now that’s not even the case. Your mistress is walking a different road from me now.”

It wasn’t the kind of thing that would benefit me much to say out loud.

But... I don’t know.

After seeing their pure loyalty, I felt like I couldn’t just keep hiding that fact forever.

“Ah... is that so?”

And yet—

“So what?”

After hearing that, Kangil only tilted its head like it didn’t particularly care.

“...That doesn’t bother you?”

“Well. Whether or not you’re with my mistress isn’t what matters.”

“What?”

I couldn’t understand it, but it spoke as if it were saying something perfectly obvious.

“Even if our mistress turns against you, and you become our enemy... even then, you will still be our Sir Knight.”

“......”

“Because Sir Knight is simply Sir Knight.”

Only then did I realize that when it said Sir Knight, it wasn’t talking about a knight in the vampire sense.

It meant something else—

no, something more fundamental.

“The one who protected us and stood guard over us.”

A knight in the essential sense.

“Fortunately, the master of our souls has not ordered us to oppose you or to disobey your commands.”

And then, it said with a smile full of mischief,

“As it happens, our mistress is not here, and there is nothing she has ordered us to do at the moment.”

“......”

“No matter that we are our mistress’s retainers, surely what we do in a time like this is our own freedom, isn’t it?”

Dropping lightly to one knee, it bowed its head in respect.

“Until some different command comes from our mistress, we will follow your will, Sir Knight.”

“You all...”

“This is something we have chosen not as someone’s retainers... but by our own will.”

At those words, I stared blankly at Kangil.

The other vampires outside earlier, the ones who had bowed their heads toward me—

what their bow had meant must have been the same as this one now.

“...Impressive.”

Just then.

Someone watching Kangil and me spoke up.

“I thought this business about reforming vampires might just be a lie to get yourself out of the situation.”

The people who had come here with me after entering the city, to discuss what to do next—

“...I never imagined it was actually true.”

Yun and Yang.

The two old men.

“And besides... that name and that weapon.”

Then Yang, staring closely at Kangil, said,

“I’ve heard of them.”

“You mean me?”

“When we were gathering survivors and bringing them to that island, we collected information through the awakened who joined us about the strong individuals who were still out there.”

Come to think of it, I felt like I had heard them say something like that.

These were people who had gathered from all across the Chinese mainland.

So they held information even about people who didn’t belong to them.

I hadn’t belonged to any of them either, which was why they’d been suspicious of me.

“I heard there was a warrior who wielded a massive zanbato and stayed behind in the city because it didn’t want to leave its homeland.”

Kangil had been a formidable fighter.

At the point when those vampires had first begun pouring out, it had already reached the high end of Level 20.

Considering that, at the time, only the Twelve Generals had surpassed Level 30, that meant before becoming a vampire, it had been an extraordinary powerhouse—one who surpassed even old Yun and old Yang.

“I never imagined you’d still be alive like this.”

“Heh heh, though whether this really counts as being alive is a bit debatable.”

“......”

Well, anyway.

“...Thank you.”

“We owe you more than we can repay. Especially...”

Yun and Yang, the two old men, turned their eyes away from Kangil and bowed their heads to me.

“Bearing that sun could not possibly have been easy.”

“We left such a heavy burden to you alone.”

At that,

I shrugged and said,

“Well... I managed somehow.”

In truth, it had been so hard I thought I was actually going to die.

...And the aftereffects were still lingering quite a bit.

But it had been worth doing.

“Unbelievable.”

The two old men widened their eyes and said,

“We have also been learning the power you used. But... to use it on your scale would be absolutely impossible.”

“And seeing how you were perfectly fine beneath that sun, it doesn’t seem as though you’re some special case like our Chairman either.”

It had only barely been possible because of Ariella’s blood, Luca’s treatment, and the overwhelming physical ability I possessed as an awakened.

“Just how far ahead are you, exactly...?”

“Can there really be this much of a gap between awakened?”

For a while, they looked at me with eyes full of disbelief.

Then they shook their heads and said,

“We said it lightly, but it couldn’t have been an easy thing in practice. Thanks to you, we were able to flee to a safe place like this... no matter how many times we thank you, it still wouldn’t be enough.”

Then, Kangil looked at the two old men and said,

“You have all worked hard, so please rest comfortably here.”

“Will that really be all right?”

“People are still coming from outside looking for traces in the surrounding area, but we’ve been sending them away after only showing them places where no people are present.”

“Thank you.”

Unlike the others, these two old men also knew Karhin’s true identity.

They seemed to have adjusted rather quickly to the existence of friendly vampires.

“For a while, it should be safe. However...”

Kangil, too, had been treating the two of them relatively comfortably, but its expression darkened slightly.

Looking at that expression, I spoke.

“It may be safe for a while, but it’ll be hard to stay safe for long.”

“......”

These were not retainers of the Grand Duke’s bloodline, but of Ariella’s bloodline.

And Ariella herself was under the Grand Duke’s protection.

For now, they wouldn’t be under suspicion.

But—

“Jinlei has been here before.”

“...!”

At those words, the two old men widened their eyes in shock.

Jinlei had not only been to this city before, the retainers of this land had originally belonged not to Ariella, but to Jinlei.

“As you know, Sir Knight, the master of our souls is currently split in two.”

“That’s right.”

“If the Count, who is one half, were here with you, that would be one thing...”

It also knew that I was the one who had created that sun, and that I had been acting as Ariella’s knight.

“But if the one on the other side were to come and order us to slaughter all of you—”

Even if these creatures had chosen by their own will to help me, they would not be able to refuse that command.