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Chapter 34 – Part 1

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Translator: Pink Tea

Editor: Ryunkama

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As tension wore off, Rita staggered, about to fall, but Dramina moved nimbly, like a shadow, and caught Rita in her arms.

Rita’s clothes had dirt, dust, leaves and small branches stuck onto it, her thin limbs were dirty all over, to a slight shade of brown, with blood spots showing here and there.

「Poor thing. Even though there is not a single reason for her to suffer like this.」

Saying that, Dramina brushed off a strand of hair that was stuck onto the sweaty cheek of Rita with a finger of her hand in a long glove.

Since she was a vampire, even if she is a queen, there is no doubt that a craving for blood that hardly could be erased existed in her heart, but even so, right now, not even a hint of thirst for blood could be sensed from her.

How was the woman able to show such kindness and affection for someone of the species that is the greatest source of nourishment for them, could feed her everything to the soul burning fires of revenge?

Thinking back on how I had planned to attack Dramina, I couldn’t help but feel upset, even though it was a past occurrence and can’t be changed

Getting her right hand under Rita’s legs, Dramina lifted the poor village girl and turned around.

「Let’s give her some rest. For now, to my carriage. You come as well, Dran.」

「I see, then I’ll take you up on your offer.」

Rita wasn’t aware, but there was a carriage behind us.

It greatly surpassed a standard carriage in size, and with it’s polished to sparkling obsidian-like body it possessed extraordinary presence.

It had a golden bat with inlaid ruby eyes on each of the four corners, which reminded me of a blood moon.

Though most likely unnecessary for a vampire, it had statues on which lanterns could be hanged in case of night travel.

I guess it could be said that it was only natural for a carriage that a vampire queen rode, but four horses that drove it also were nothing ordinary, having six legs with which they could go ten times faster than normal horses, being mythical horses of the Sleipnir species.

「Please, inside my carriage. It’s truly been a while since I last had a visitor here.」

「Then, I’ll take up your offer.」

「Following Dramina who disappeared inside, I also boarded the vampire queen’s carriage.」

According to Dramina’s words, this carriage and the coffin, that served as her resting place, were the last domain left to her since she lost her country.

Greatly aching with a spirit of discovery and curiosity I wondered what a vampire queen’s domain would look like.

Inside, colored in deep crimson cushions made of hellish silkworm silk were laid out, a two-legged bench on platinum legs, and a carpet spun from a golden sheep’s wool.

An enormous black agate polished like a mirror was set on a tabletop carved from the fang of a dragon that lived at least over a thousand years.

Fixed to a floor, the table stood beside a bench. I don’t see a casket, but it must be hidden in here somewhere.

Delicately, as if carefully with glass work that would break from a single breath of hers, Dramina gently put Rita down on a bench.

And after tenderly brushing Rita’s hair Dramina lightly waved her right hand. At the same time, I felt movement in the carriage.

A great, extremely high ranking from a human point of view, space manipulation magic was put on the carriage itself, allowing for enlarging, reduction, and distortion of space.

After I took a seat as was suggested by Dramina, her until now calm expression stiffened as she continued the conversation.

「Being unable to show hospitality to my first guest in a long time pains me, but considering the state of affairs, it would be better to continue my tale as fast as possible. My objective is the life of the king Giorr, who destroyed my country and massacred my people. To destroy him, I came tonight to those lands.」

「I see, and our aim is the rescue of the girl abducted from Fraupa village, in other words, this Rita here. Moreover, the rescue of my school friend Fatima, who was similarly abducted and had her blood sucked. As the objective of rescuing Rita was already fulfilled, I’m intending to concentrate my efforts on the rescue of Fatima.」

「So Giorr still has more prisoners. Dran, heed my word. You should return to your village for now. You seem to possess extraordinary physical prowess, but Giorr is a tyrant famed to be the strongest and the worst of all successive monarchs of Glossgrier Kingdom. A fiend far too much for a human to deal with. I shall wage my soul to rescue your friend Fatima and deliver her to your place. I promise you, swearing on my now lost country, people, and my own self. 」

Giorr would be the name of Bran’s father, the king of Glossgrier Kingdom. After a short「Fumu」, I replied to Dramina who was looking intently at me.

This beautiful woman, whose beauty can be considered even excessive, surely will try to keep her word even at the risk of her own existence. In this short time, Dramina showed enough pride and dignity to make me understand that.

「I appreciate your proposal, but this won’t do. There also is the fact that I’m not the only one trying to save Fatima, so it is not something I can decide on my own. And I also cannot return to my village until I confirm the well-being of Fatima with my own eyes and ensure her safety. However, I’ll have Rita return to the village along with the other villagers.」

「Looking at your eyes I see that you won’t yield on that. No matter how many words I use, your mind will not change. Most likely the same is true for those friends of yours as well.」

I pictured Nell and Selina in my mind, yes, indeed, just as Dramina says, those two as well wouldn’t turn back until they save Fatima, no matter how much you persuade them and what kind of logic you would use.

Especially Nell, who is the closest with Fatima, I’m afraid that even if she were to lose both of her legs, she would still crawl to her rescue on her hands alone.

「『In that case, I can only destroy Giorr and rescue Fatima before you Dran』 is what is written on your face.」

When I pointed this out, Dramina, who until now was dwelling on her thoughts, looked at me in surprise. Then, she brushed her right cheek with her right hand and laughed bitterly.

「I don’t recall having such an easy to read face, but looks like conversing with others after a long while made me a bit lax. This won’t do.」

「I greatly appreciate your concern, but this opponent doesn’t seem to be easy enough to allow you to worry about others. Please leave us to our own devices, and commit your efforts to your own goal. If you at least take care not to involve Fatima, that would be enough.」

「I wonder if you are this cheeky or just stubborn.」

Without showing any discontent at my request of taking care not to involve Fatima despite telling her not to worry about us, Dramina donned a breathtakingly charming smile.

I return a smile of my own to Dramina.

After that, I continued my chat with Dramina, and the short carriage ride soon came to an end.

This time I ended up alone with Dramina and Rita because sensing Rita leaving the gates I chased after her on my own, leaving Nell and Selina, who were unable to keep up with me behind.

Therefore, there was quite some distance between us and Nell, but as expected of the demon horse Sleipnir, they were fast, and we could reunite in a short while.

As Nell and Celine were walking along the road wide enough for two carriages to pass, a giant figure of a carriage suddenly appeared out of the mist as well as the presence of a vampire with which none of the vampires they encountered this far could even begin to compare, leaving them unable to move even a finger.

Ah, this is bad, I thought, as the Sleipnir driven carriage stopped only a few human steps away from Nell, and hurried out to relieve their nervousness.

The luxury and extravagance of the carriage, even compared to the one which Bran used, as well as the dreadful demonic aura released by its owner, left Nell and the others shook to their core, completely paralyzed until I got off the carriage and called out to them.

「Nell, Selina, and everyone from Fraupa village, I’m glad that you are fine.」

With a nonchalant way I spoke to them they finally broke through their nervousness and shivered.

「D-Dran-san, we were so worried since you went ahead on your own. We also got attacked by monsters and vampires, so we couldn’t help but be anxious about you since you were all alone!」

「Well, sorry. Vampire’s presences suddenly multiplied, so I thought that something must’ve happened and went off to check. Though a big factor also was in that I could move faster alone, so even if something happened I will be able to get away.」

Such a talk between me and Selina, which completely lacked nervousness, was interrupted by Nell’s shaken voice.

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