113

“What a strange connection. You knew that child?”

A table laden with food.

David looked toward Apophis and asked, amazement in his voice.

Hamel nodded and replied calmly.

“Yes. I was surprised too.”

He had suspected Apophis might be here.

After all, Apophis had been the one to suggest heading east.

He never imagined they would meet like this.

“How did you end up here?”

“I found them standing in the rain alone and brought them in. Somehow I ended up looking after them for a bit.”

David, wearing a kindly expression, reached out and patted Apophis’s head.

Apophis made an embarrassed face and cleared his throat repeatedly.

“Ahem, I told you not to pat my head.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry about that.”

Only then did David withdraw his hand and offer Apophis a bowl of meat stew.

Apophis quietly tore a piece of bread, dipped it into the stew, and said, “Well, anyway, that’s how it happened.”

“…”

What did he mean by “anyway”?

Hamel regarded Apophis with a baffled expression.

The ancient god who wandered the world to reclaim his epithet was eating meekly like an ordinary child.

What would come next?

Hamel was about to ask when he suddenly closed his mouth.

Apophis sitting side by side with David looked so affectionately like a normal father and child.

Just then David spoke up cautiously.

“So, then they’re… leaving completely?”

“If you mean the heretic inquisitors, yes. If they don’t leave by tomorrow we’ll have to take action.”

The investigation into Count Chepesh will continue.

But they will not be receiving the inquisitors’ help.

David breathed a sigh of relief and replied, “That’s a relief. I used to hunt rats in the lord’s castle. I never thought they’d come to interrogate someone like me, not a servant or a soldier…”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t come sooner.”

Hamel felt a slight pang in his chest.

He remembered the dozens of victims that had been displayed at the village entrance.

David waved his hand. “No, no. You saved me—why would you say that?”

“Yes. How can I ever repay this kindness…”

The hostess, who had heard the whole story from beside them, nodded and agreed.

And one more person.

Apophis, who had been listening, replied calmly as well.

“You did a very fine thing. If it weren’t for you, I would have torn those bastards apart.”

David and Anna’s eyes widened at that, then they immediately embraced Apophis with affectionate expressions.

“…Apophis! Did you worry about me that much?”

“Cute Apophis. Just live with us forever!”

“W-what!… Let go of me!”

Apophis, flustered, tried to pull the two people off him.

“Api! Don’t interrupt the grown-ups—come play with me?”

David’s daughter, pretending to be grown-up, tugged at Apophis.

“No, I have a bit more to say…”

“Let’s continue the doll game from earlier. I’ll lend you the dragon doll Ap-i likes!”

“Hey, when did I ever like such a doll…!”

Apophis tried to resist, but in the end he was dragged away.

The couple watched and smiled at how cute it was, but Hamel and Ono, who knew Apophis’s true identity, could only gape.

To see a forgotten ancient god being hauled off by a girl not yet ten years old.

“What on earth am I even looking at…?”

It seemed like a day he would not easily forget.

---

After the meal, Hamel and his party went to their respective rooms to rest.

The long journey had been tiring, but above all, the horrors they had witnessed that day had exhausted them mentally and physically.

Hamel too was about to wash up and enter his room when it happened.

“Sir.”

“…Apophis.”

Apophis slipped into view at one end of the corridor.

Hamel opened his mouth as if he’d been waiting.

“What do you plan to do?”

“…To be honest, I’m not sure myself.”

Apophis murmured with a complicated expression and continued, “The thing is… I find life here rather agreeable.”

“…”

“I intend to stay here for a while.”

Apophis scratched his head awkwardly.

Hamel found it hard to believe the expression was feigned.

“Have you come to feel affection for people?”

“I don’t know…” Apophis answered with a small, amused laugh.

The expression held a strange mix of longing and remorse.

He had lived for thousands of years.

Hamel could hardly guess what memories and regrets were lodged in that long history.

But there was one thing he could see.

“You… resemble humans.”

“…”

Apophis did not answer.

Was silence a sign of agreement?

Once the most powerful evil god and the enemy of the whole world.

That such a being could resemble humans.

For some reason, a hollow laugh threatened to escape.

It felt as if the common sense he had about the world was collapsing.

Today Hamel had seen humans more cruel than demons, and an evil god more human than humans.

What are good and evil?

It was a night that raised philosophical questions no one had defined since mankind’s birth.

“I am grateful to you.”

“…?”

“I didn’t know what had happened to David today. Had I known, I would have wiped those mongrels out beforehand.”

“But you did not.”

“That’s right. I wanted to continue this life a little longer.”

“…”

It was to be expected.

For Apophis to deal with them, he would need to show his true form.

And if he did…

“At the very least, he wouldn’t be able to remain in this village any longer.”

Hamel nodded lightly.

Apophis continued calmly, “You are hunting the followers of the evil god that were in this domain, aren’t you?”

“You know about that?” Hamel asked urgently.

Apophis slowly nodded. “When I first came here I took note of traces. They had crossed over the eastern mountain range early on.”

“Can you tell me exactly where?”

“I’ll guide you there myself when the sun rises tomorrow.”

“…Thank you.”

Hamel bowed his head in thanks.

“I’m only returning what I was given. That’s the kind of god I am—whether it’s favor or vengeance.”

Apophis waved his hand and went down the stairs.

They had gained a lead on the previously stalled trail of the count’s whereabouts.

Feeling as if something that had been stuck was finally resolving, Hamel entered his room with a smile.

It seemed likely he would sleep well that night.

---

“I’m thirsty.”

Aileen sat up in the middle of the night.

Burning thirst kept sleep from coming.

“Water…”

Muttering, she drank greedily from the jug on the table.

But the thirst did not abate at all.

If anything, it felt worse.

What she wanted was something hotter.

Something to fill the emptiness that felt completely hollow.

But she couldn’t grasp what that was.

Had her body ever felt like this before?

Trying to cool the fever that seemed to boil within her, Aileen thought.

Her head spun and cold sweat dripped down.

Could she have caught the flu?

No—she’d had the flu before, but it had never left her this faint.

She had felt this way only once before.

It was…

Aileen recalled the corpses she had seen earlier that day.

Dozens of bodies cut into pieces.

Blood had dripped from severed limbs and heads.

Ah.

Just thinking about it brought a horrific nausea.

Her head spun and the room tilted.

─drip

A sticky liquid trailed down Aileen’s chin.

“…?”

Aileen wiped it with the back of her hand.

It was saliva.

Thin saliva ran from her bright red lips like water.

When she came to her senses, saliva had pooled in her mouth as if a flood had risen.

Why saliva?

Now that she thought about it, it had been the same when she first saw the corpses.

“Are you all right?”

“…Yes, no. I’m… fine… sob.”

At Hamel’s question, Aileen had to cover her mouth to hide the saliva flowing from it.

Aileen could not understand her condition at all.

To be precise, she did not want to understand it.

It will be fine.

Nothing will happen.

Aileen repeated that to herself and nervously scratched her neck.

The black lace choker scraped under her nails with a clicking sound.

At that moment.

“Aileen?”

Lena, who shared the room with Aileen, sat up.

She looked at Aileen with sleepy eyes and asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, it’s just…”

Aileen, flustered, waved her hand.

Lena, watching her, stumbled to her feet.

“There’s a wound.”

Still sleepy-eyed, Lena rose and examined Aileen’s neck.

It was then.

Moonlight pouring through the window illuminated the pale nape of Lena’s neck.

A defenselessly exposed nape.

Aileen smelled something sweet.

And at the same time…

She lost consciousness.

---

─thud! clatter!

At the sound of something violently rolling across the floor, Hamel sprang up.

The sound came from the room across the hall.

Hamel immediately drew his weapon, broke down the opposite door, and rushed in.

“What is going on?!”

“Father, it’s…”

“…”

What on earth was happening?

Hamel—and the hastily following Daniel and Ono—could say nothing.

“Grrgh!”

Lena, bleeding from the neck, had pinned Aileen, who writhed on the floor.

Aileen, her arm twisted and pressed by a knee, could not move and screamed continuously.

“…Lena, why are you attacking Aileen?”

Hamel asked calmly.

He believed Lena wouldn’t have knocked Aileen down without reason.

Besides, she was the only one who could explain the current situation.

“…I don’t really know either. She suddenly bit my neck…”

“Bitten your neck?”

Hamel’s eyes widened in shock.

He went straight to the subdued Aileen and removed the lace ornament around her neck.

Inside he found a familiar mark.

“She was bitten.”

Two puncture marks from fangs.

Signs of vampirism.

Depending on the strain, vampires can turn those they feed on into their thralls.

Aileen had probably been bitten by Vlad Chepesh at the ruins of Rio.

Hamel gritted his teeth.

“…What about Lena?”

“…I was bitten lightly.”

“…”

It seemed she hadn’t been drained, so perhaps she hadn’t been infected.

But that was only hopeful thinking.

“We don’t have time…”

If Lena was infected too, she would soon have the same sort of seizure as Aileen.

Come morning it might subside, but as time went on the seizures would grow more frequent and intense.

If they couldn’t drink blood they’d die; if they did drink, they’d become irredeemable monsters.

There was only one way to save them.

“We must capture Vlad Chepesh.”

Hamel clenched his teeth and stood.

The dark predawn sky still held the moon.

The plan had changed.

“We leave at once.”