Ancient Civilization

“Small help?”
“Yes.”

Vlad Țepeș moved. As if to prove he was a vampire, he lightly bit his fingertip with sharp fangs, then pointed to the blood bead that had formed like a droplet on his finger.
Then something astonishing happened. The blood drop that should have fallen with gravity floated in midair, drifted toward Solomon…… and seeped into his stealth coat.

“What are you doing?”
“Didn’t I tell you? It’s help.”
“…….”
“An Uptown commission will be beyond what you imagine, Mr. Solomon. The more insurance, the better.”

It was suspicious beyond belief, but Solomon stayed silent. Like he said, Solomon couldn’t tell how dangerous House Arrowhead’s commission would be right now. And he could tell something else too.
The blaze of ambition burning in Vlad Țepeș’s eyes. To fulfill that blaze, his plan clearly needed a ‘human assassin.’ For that reason alone, Țepeș would not let Solomon die carelessly.

[Insight Success! Vlad Țepeș’s ambition]

A crisp sound rang out. He read it. The burning passion blazing hot within the eyes of the monster that had been impossible to grasp at first sight.

Before long, the carriage pulled by four steam horses was crossing Downtown and heading toward Uptown. The boundary between Downtown and Uptown.
What formed that boundary was an unmistakable wall. Not a barrier of unknown alloys and running pipes, but a gray stone fortress wall built from medieval-style bricks.
Flags fluttered along the stone wall. At the front were five banners bearing the crests of the Five Great Houses, and behind them, the standard-bearer houses loyal to each and their subordinate nobles occupied small places of their own.

Lastly,
A single flag stood out, swallowing all the other flags like mere background, flying most majestically at the center of the wall.
The emblem symbolizing the 「Ancient Council」. Five swords aimed toward a platinum holy grail at the center.

At a glance, it looked like five swords protecting the grail, yet at the same time it also looked like five blades fighting over the grail.

“Ah, the Holy Grail.”
The Holy Grail, the vessel that once held the Messiah’s blood, the holy blood, as the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Chairman Țepeș giggled as he looked at that symbol visible even through the carriage window.

“Take this, all of you, and drink it.”

Recalling the words that Son of Man was said to have left behind.

“This is the cup of my blood, making a new everlasting covenant, blood to be shed for you and for many, to forgive sin.”

The redeemer of sin, believed in as faith in this world as well. The only proof that the silent god, the ‘Father of Gods,’ once broke that silence and acted upon this world.
And at the same time, even by this world’s standards, it was a tale from a past whose centuries could no longer be counted. So, without meaning to, curiosity rose.

“You’re a Vampire Lord. It’s not like you’ve lived just a day or two. Have you ever seen him in person?”

So he asked. Vlad Țepeș giggled.

“Oh, I may be old…… but I’m not that much of a fossil.”

As if it was truly ridiculous.

“I was once the Impaler of Wallachia, a king who ruled the medieval night…… but I was never a witness of ruin who lived in the era of ancient civilization and saw their end with my own eyes.”

[Clue acquired! The Fall of an Ancient Civilization]

“I was born fifteen centuries after their civilization fell.”
“Ancient civilization…….”
“They are fallen now, but I’ve heard their old civilization could hear the voice of the silent absolute being directly and communicate with the Father.”

In this world, hearing a god’s voice itself is not special. Like the troll clergyman Jean Baudri, even being answered is nothing surprising. Because it’s a TRPG world.

Even so, the ‘Father of Gods’ was different. Silence as an absolute being. The one god called the mightiest, and at the same time the God of Humans, and in the end it never answered anyone’s prayers. Just as it does now.

“But paradoxically, the bloodlines of that ancient civilization, just because only their clan could hear the silent absolute being’s voice…… were far too arrogant. That brought about their downfall.”
“Arrogant.”
“Perhaps we should say they couldn’t hear, precisely because they heard too well.”

Before long, the mechanical carriage passed through Downtown and was approaching the towering stone wall that symbolized Uptown.

“One theory says that even after the Son of God was born, they mocked him, persecuted him, and nailed him to the cross, earning the absolute being’s wrath.”

Țepeș said. It was a strangely familiar story. No, not just familiar. There was no way he wouldn’t know it.

“And so the Iscari civilization drew the absolute being’s wrath and perished in sulfur and firebolts. A great empire that spanned the world, overnight─”
“…….”

[Clue acquired! Iscari civilization]

“Even so, the technological power of their civilization, sometimes excavated even in this era, is astonishing. Frankly speaking, our Wallachia Co. also owes no small debt to their ancient civilization.”
“…….”

A story of an ancient civilization collapsing for a ridiculous reason. The cliché itself wasn’t surprising.

“Stop.”

That was when it happened.

Kkiik!
With a sharp braking screech, the carriage came to a stop. Before they knew it, they were at the boundary between Downtown and Uptown, before the arched gate in the gray stone fortress wall. The steam horses stopped moving, their springs and pipes and mechanisms that throbbed like hearts falling still. A sound slammed against the carriage window. A metal gauntlet, rough enough to smash the glass at any moment.

“Show yourselves.”

Then a voice rang out. A low baritone. At that voice, Vlad Țepeș moved his hand without surprise. Like lowering a car window, he pressed a button, and the carriage’s glass window slid down.

Cheolkeok, cheolkeok!
A metallic clank rang out next. The noise of steel and steel, the iron riveted together and fixed, striking and sounding off. Solomon also turned his gaze outside the window.
And there, beings stood that looked absurdly anachronistic even by this era’s standards.

Knights wrapped in shining silver-white full plate armor. As if they loathed even the ‘engineering’ of magitech, they rejected every civilized tool from head to toe, not even using an automatic crossbow.
Their weapons were shields and spears. Even the sword belt holding their knight swords wasn’t mechanical, just ordinary leather.

“This is Uptown, the territory of noblemen who are noble and blessed. Without permission, a ‘low one’ from Downtown cannot pass.”

The knight blocking their way spoke, his voice echoing from within his helm.

“You cannot pass here, reeking of nauseating steam and oil.”

The moment he saw the steam carriage, he defined it as a ‘nauseating smell,’ despising it and looking down on it.

‘Do I bring up Rosetta’s name here?’

Solomon didn’t panic, and calmly thought of the most fitting answer for the situation. But before Solomon’s ‘rational answer’ could come out, someone moved.

“Oh, well then. I’ve heard that Uptown’s inspections have tightened lately…….”

He leaned his face out past the window without hesitation, wearing a more relaxed expression than ever.

“I didn’t know it had come to the point that even the Count of Wallachia would have to kneel and beg for qualification.”

Count of Wallachia. Another name and title that symbolized Vlad Țepeș, separate from his name, slipped out.

“……!”

Soon, the medieval knights there also stiffened cold the instant they saw Vlad Țepeș’s face. That was the end of it.

Țepeș didn’t even wait for a reply. He curled a finger and closed the carriage window again, as if that was all he had to say. He didn’t even pay attention to the hurried voice that rang out as the window closed.

“O, open the gate at once!! It is the procession of the Count of Wallachia!”

The glass rose, and once more the carriage’s interior, separated from the scenery outside the window, came into view.

“I heard Uptown and Downtown were a conflict between nobles and bourgeois, but it doesn’t seem that simple.”
“The bourgeois. Those who live within the city walls.”

Watching it, Solomon added as if it were someone else’s problem. Vlad Țepeș, Count of Wallachia, answered with a smile that looked more pleased than ever.

“I don’t dislike that name. No, rather, it’s a name I like several times more than some half-baked noble title. In fact, noble titles are overflowing to the point of being sickening. Ah, since it came up, shall I give you one?”
“……I’ll think about it.”

In this era, there are still nobles. Bourgeois replacing nobles as the symbol of nobility is not, at least, a thing of this era.

“It’s truly ridiculous. That those who are protected within the walls of the 「Ancient Council」 more than anyone call the bourgeois who come outside the walls and struggle ‘those who live within the walls,’ mocking them.”

And what was here was that very wall. The territory of those with impeccably ‘noble blood’ running in them, led by the Five Great Houses.
Without meaning to, Solomon recalled the words of Mikhail, the 2nd-rate swordsman, though he had been fired now.

「What is a noble?」
「Are you called a noble because the blood running from birth is noble? Are human nobility and baseness decided by nothing more than a single bloodline running in the body?」

“Interesting.”

So Solomon said. Interesting. It was said to the man before him, a Black Museum curator and Vampire Lord, the head of Wallachia Co., a mega guild counted among the greatest in Downtown District 1.

“What is?”
“You.”
“Me……?”
“Yeah. Because you’re a pretty funny bastard.”

For an instant, the air around them froze cold. It was proof that, toward a king, Solomon had clearly crossed a line he was supposed to keep.

“Do you know who you’re daring to speak to like that?”
“I know perfectly well. You think I’m like that stone-headed knight outside?”

Even as Vlad Țepeș frowned slightly at those words, Solomon didn’t care.

“Ahah. And even so, you dare call me ‘funny and interesting’?”
“Honestly, it’s beyond funny. It’s so entertaining that I can’t hold it in. I’d like to have a drink together sometime.”
“Hah.”

Solomon shrugged.

“I want to hear more of that ‘funny and entertaining’ story.”

It wasn’t sarcasm or mockery. In a sense, it was pure curiosity. Not even as a TRPG player. It was ridiculous. That he, who knew nothing but efficiency and had no interest at all in the world’s ‘lore,’ was being drawn by a story purely.
Of course, he knew it. The story he was hearing now wouldn’t end as mere entertainment. To survive in this world, it was information that became flesh and blood.
That was why he had to know all the more.

“Even if you’re not a fossil, how interesting would a story be that pours out of the mouth of a bastard who’s lived for centuries? I wouldn’t get tired of listening all day.”
“Haha.”

[Speechcraft Great Success!]

At those words, Chairman Vlad Țepeș let out a hollow laugh. And after that hollow laugh, he laughed.

“Ahah, ahahahahat!”

It wasn’t a mocking laugh. It was laughter bursting out as if he truly couldn’t contain his joy, from deep within.

“Very well, Mr. Solomon!”

After laughing, he spoke. By now, at the command of a knight trembling before the Count’s name, the carriage was already entering Uptown’s streets without hesitation. As if reversing time, the scenery around them changed. From a city of springs and steam devices, to medieval streets where swords and magic, nobles and knights, held sway.

“After you finish the commission, I’ll prepare a place to raise a toast! You should look forward to it!”
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to that.”

Solomon spoke. Clack. Right after, the carriage stopped. He could tell instinctively. This was the destination.

“How entertaining a story I’ll tell you when I come back alive.”

House Arrowhead’s territory was there.