NOVEL NEXT Chapter 187: Fixing Problems
"Eh, erm, I don't understand?"
Claret tilted her head to the side once again, though I wasn't really surprised.
"What I mean is, you've really been mistaking me for your previous master the whole time. This girl here is the real reincarnation of your old master, not me."
I gestured at Letty, who was practically ignoring the conversation and simply rubbing her cheek against my thighs. Though if I didn't know better, I would've found this pretty creepy.
(No, actually it's still a little creepy.)
But this was still the first day. I've already made her face her trauma so many times since meeting her. So as long as it calmed her heart, I would let her do this for the time being. Though I did intend on instilling within her what sort of touching was good and bad in the future, even amongst family members.
"Erm, but Master is Master. Nobody else's soul shines as brightly as yours. Especially not hers."
"No, well, I suppose that's true, but I think you're making a mistake there."
My ever faithful familiar tilted her head.
"What I found out in the place where I found Letty, was that it's possible to measure the quality of a soul. And that quality can change."
Most likely, what spirits like Claret was capable of perceiving, was a soul's enlightenment value. At the very least, it was the only thing I could knew about that could be described as pure or brilliant.
Even if there was more factors to what Claret was able to perceive, most likely it would be tinted by the fact that we were both vampires. There was the idea that the body affects the mind, so it wasn't a stretch that a body would affect one's soul to at least a certain degree.
And when faced with nothing but souls that didn't resemble her old master's at all, especially since so few of them were vampires nor did they treat her fellow spirits in a similar way, it didn't feel like such a stretch that she would be overwhelmed by the similarities and wouldn't notice tiny differences between our souls.
Though, this would presume that such a high enlightenment level was actually a rarity. It did make me wonder what was the prerequisite to achieve such an enlightenment level in the first place.
"A soul...can change?"
"That's right. What do you know about the clarity and radiance of a soul that you can see, anyways?"
"Hmm...just that. Spirits can see the purity and how bright a soul shines."
"So you're saying that's the only reason why you presumed I was the reincarnation of your master?"
But Claret shook her head.
"No. I talked to the little ones too. They way they described you was exactly the same as Master! And you were a vampire like Master. And then, you treated me well like Master. You even gave me treats like Master!"
That foolish yet ever fanatical familiar of mine hovered in close, holding her hands to her chest as her eyes sparkled.
(She...probably just wants another mana treat, doesn't she?)
I could only sigh, though that made me think of something I could try.
"Letty? You know about the mana treats, right?"
"Yup."
"Than can you give one to Claret? It might help convince her."
"Okay!"
Flashing me a smile, she turned to the floating familiar and raised a hand, concentrating on it. The other held me a little tighter around the waist.
As she focused and exerted her energies, I saw little motes of light rise up from her fingers, gathering into a ball.
But...
(The density is too low.)
As a person who's been making mana treats for years, I could tell in an instant that the density of the treat Letty was making wasn't nearly high enough. Without reaching a critical density, it wasn't possible for the mana to overcome its innate repulsion and stick together as a crystal.
And as expected, the moment Letty had stopped trying to force the mana she expelled together, it all dissipated into the air.
"Ah...!"
"...Right. I guess your level is too low to be able to make mana treats yet."
I stroked Letty's head as she went back to hugging me.
"Umm...anyways. While it wasn't exactly successful, you see? Letty here knows how to make mana treats, even if she doesn't have enough MP to actually make any yet."
My eyes shifted a bit as I mumbled those last words.
"And those names she called you by earlier. It sounded like you knew them?"
"Of course! You called me that all the time!"
My mouth gaped a little as I stared, that familiar of mine smiling brightly with what I could only describe as a nostalgic glint in her eyes.
"You know I don't remember doing such a thing. And how, I have to ask, do you think she knew about that name? I've never called you that, nor has anyone else in the nation."
Holding back a sigh, I pointed out the contradiction Claret clearly hadn't noticed.
"I...er...umm..."
"Really, the only reason I can think of, is that she really is your old master. That's why she knew that name."
To be specific, there was the possibility that other people had overheard her calling Claret by those names before her death. But the likelihood that such a witness would still be alive, as well as the fact that such information would've been passed down the centuries was virtually zero. No need to entertain such unlikely events.
Though admittedly, the chances of Claret ever finding another vampire with such cordial relations with a group of fluffballs who also had just as high enlightenment value was also absurdly low, so I couldn't exactly laugh at such odds.
"Then...that means...?"
I nodded, and both of us looked at the vampire that was practically irradiating a purring aura.
"This is the master you had originally served."
"I...I...Master...no, Master...but...Master..."
The gears in her head were turning so much harder than they were made to, that if the dark spirit could, steam would've been spewing from her ears.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to forcefully release you from your service. But I do want you to help me care for Letty here. She needs someone to help her, and I can't be with her all the time. Can I trust you on that, Claret?"
"Ah! Erm...yes, Master!"
Snapping out of the overheated brain induced daze, Claret sharply responded.
Hopefully, this was enough to ensure that Letty would have a good ally to turn to when she needed it, even if it was someone to give her some peace of mind. Frankly speaking, with how long ago it was since she had died, Letty didn't have many people she could turn to.
(Actually...there was still one more person that was still alive after all this time...)
As I thought about contacting that one other person, the door opened and the sound of little feet pitter pattering entered my ears.
""Mommy!""
"Welcome back Alicia, Fate!"
I turned to my daughters, a smile beaming from my face.
"Ah!"
"Who're you?!"
But as the two turned the corner around the couch I was sitting at, they pointed at the figure half curled up in my lap.
"Mmmm...!"
""Get away...!""
"From Mommy!"
"Huh?! Ah! Wait! Who're you two?!"
Alicia and Fate, with their cheeks puffed out, grabbed Letty by her feet and started pulling her off of me. All the while, my newest daughter tightened her grip on my waist, though the difference in their stats meant that the attempt was entirely fruitless as she was easily being overpowered by children less than half her size.
"Okay, that's enough you two."
With a wave of my hand, my shadow stretched out and lifted my twins into the air.
""Kya!""
They both squealed in delight, entirely forgetting their misplaced misgivings, letting go of Letty's legs as I lifted them up and over to my sides. But their frowns came back despite my arms pulling around their backs, as the newest member of our family was squeezed in between them.
"Mommy! Who's this?"
"Yea! Why's she hugging Mommy?"
"This is Letty, your new sister."
Alicia and Fate's eyes bugged out, and as if as one, they looked over at the new smiling face before turning back to me with their cheeks puffed out.
"No, really. I'm serious. Her body might be bigger than yours, but she is your new little sister."
"Uuu..."
"Little sister?!"
For once, the twins' reactions were far different from each other. Alicia had an expression of discontent at the idea, not really any better than before, but Fate's eyes sparkled instead.
"That's right Alicia, Fate. From now on, Letty is your little sister."
I pat both of their heads while giving them a gentle smile.
"Eheheh. Alicia and Fate, my new big sisters!"
Letty as well gave a big grin as she moved her arms to hug all three of us.
"That's right! We're your big sisters!"
"Mmmm...you listen to us!"
For once, Fate was the one to strike ahead out of the two as she smiled brightly at Letty. Alicia acquiesced after a few seconds, though it felt more like she did so to avoid losing her position as the eldest sister.
We ended up spending the night as a family.
Against all expectations and trends, Fate pushed ahead, excited at the idea of not being the youngest anymore. Though in many ways she really was, Letty had no problems letting her take the lead. I still wondered how much of it was because she was enjoying being a part of a family, and how much of it was due to her psychological regression.
Though in the end, the reason probably didn't matter. It didn't seem like it was an act, so if she enjoyed it and it helped her recover from her trauma, it was all fine.
And on the next day after seeing off Alicia and Fate playing with their friends...
"...So how long are we going to be doing this?"
"...Forever?"
*Sigh...*
My eyes flicker down for a moment before returning to the screen in front of me as I slowly scrolled through the countless lines of text.
I was reading through the details of the dhampire race at the bottom floor of the dungeon.
Letty was attached to my body, hugging me while keeping her face buried in my chest despite how awkward it forced her posture. She couldn't be stuck on even if glue was applied.
Frankly, I was more worried that her back would tire out or promote bad posture than anything. The slight annoyance of my newest daughter snuggling me like this wasn't much of a problem as long as she didn't get bored with me concentrating on something different.
And what I was concentrating on, was the details of the dhampire race.
To be exact, it was actually quite a few different races with their own peculiarities, but the similarities were enough for me to easily grasp that they were all referring to the dhampire kids, with each entry being related to a mother of a different race.
After confirming with Letty that she was the one who was responsible for making vampires fertile and capable of progeny in the first place, it was easy to conclude that there was nothing prebaked within the system to handle races that came out of unity between a vampire and other races.
Biologically, it just so happened that it was possible, and simply that the system prevented such unions from being done. At least, until Letty disengaged those parts. I could even see the remnants of her clumsy work, and it was something which I needed to clean up in case the now fragmented code could cause problems in the future.
But between the potential future issues of vampire procreation and the current issue of the existing progeny, the latter was by far the greater concern for me.
And so, I was examining the code that was automatically generated for the sake of the dhampire kids, with far more lines than I liked making my guts twist into knots.
It wasn't like the code didn't work, but the unintended implications were obvious even to my poorly trained eyes. I could really see how the kids had issues with their racial skills not working properly. At least the problems weren't to the point that it seriously impacted their day to day lives.
That said, I didn't want those kids to suffer from half-assed racials. I would rather them be proud of their heritage than ashamed of it. Since everyone else has the social parts of it covered pretty decently, it was my job to get the system level parts fixed up.
And thus, I was hard at work fixing up all their details, matching up where their features where they made sense, and differentiating where it didn't.
A part of me was worried about giving the dhampires full access to most vampire powers. The truth was quite clear that the only reason why vampires didn't take over the world under the strength of our might was due to our low numbers. Originally, we couldn't breed on our own, and relied entirely on spontaneous birth, with inherently limited our ability to work together.
With this limitation removed, if dhampires had the same potential for strength that pure blooded vampires did, it could easily rupture the delicate balance of this world. No, even if the dhampires didn't benefit from it, the fact that us pure blooded vampires can give birth to other pure blooded vampires on the occasion that two vampires decided to give it a try, the balance was already on the verge of being shredded into little bits.
But at the same time, I didn't want the dhampires to feel like they were some sort of half-baked existence as well. And besides, there were further limitations placed on them in the first place, like their inherent weakness to [light magic] as well as sunlight sensitivity. While both weren't nearly as bad as for us true vampires, they were still issues that they had to deal with, especially the latter.
I worked through their data, cataloguing and marking down what sorts of benefits to ensure they would get, and which ones they would be denied. And the features went both ways as well, as also had the heritage of their mortal parent as well.
Working on this really got my game developer blood boiling.
Memories of my work before came flooding back.
Planning out features, working out various mechanics, tweaking the balance of everything, those trying times had become bittersweet memories at this point. And while I had failed back then, now, with the stakes incalculably higher, I couldn't afford to mess this up.
A serious bug could cause catastrophic damage to effectively an entire series of races.
While I wasn't responsible for their creation, I was the only one with the power to fix this error. And to have that power, meant that I carried responsibilities corresponding with that power. Even if that responsibility was to chose whether I would even use such power in the first place.
And I couldn't chose not to. My conscious wouldn't allow such a thing, so really, I could only take on the responsibility to see this through.
It didn't matter what they thought of it. I wasn't even planning on telling them about this. It was probably better not to anyways.
Those dhampire kids might not have recognized me as their elder, but at least until they became adults and decided to align themselves with someone else, they effectively were my charge. And as their leader, I couldn't stand the fact that their data was as messed up as it was.
Even if they themselves felt no discomfort to the odd quirks caused by such a half-baked setup, I wasn't going to be content until their data has been reformed properly into something of quality, matching the level of any other race.
So I continued to read through the vast amount of data, taking notes here and there as sheets of paper I always carried around was filled one after the next.
Eventually, I lost track of time, and we went out for a minute, both to confirm the time as well as a change in environment.
With Letty still hanging onto me, I stretched out my wings and took flight, straight into the ever present colourful cloud of fluffballs.
"Hey you guys. How're you doing tonight?"
I scattered around little mana treats to the fluffballs as they gathered around. They were a little wary about Letty, but such apprehensions were immediately forgotten when faced with treats.
Such behaviour did make me worry about them, something about white vans and promise of candy. But considering their sheer numbers along with the fact that their lives were vastly different from my own, there wasn't much I could do except do my best to keep those sorts of people away from this country in the first place and deal with such problems when they invariably occurred.
And after a short while and a significant portion of my MP later, I rose my body above the opaque mist of glowing fluff.
In the distance, I spotted one of the greater spirits that lived together with their lesser kind. He gave a light wave before disappearing amongst his peers, not even giving me a chance to wave back. But even that was quite the improvement over when I first met them.
In the beginning, when the countless spirits came to this place together with the fairies, I hadn't seen any trace of any of the greater spirits that came with the lesser ones. It took months before I saw the first one, only for me to realize that they constantly avoided me even while the smaller fluffballs kept swarming me. And it wasn't just for the treats I gave them either.
Most likely, their higher intelligence meant that they had a greater time letting go of the first impression I gave them by simply being a vampire. But now, years later, they at least only acted a bit shy, though it was still a little lonely.
While Claret had offered to make them at least come to me to have a proper conversation, I elected not to. Frankly speaking, it wasn't causing any issues in the first place. I did want to get along with them, but wasn't about to force them outside of their comfort zone just for the sake of talking to them when there wasn't any pressing need for it.
I leaned back and floated through the sky as I let the stars fill my eyes.
As usual, they were beautiful, untarnished of modern Earth's light pollution. Unfortunately the moons weren't out, but it was a concession I was willing to make.
It did make me wonder why the moons were the colour they were though.
On the surface, it didn't seem like they corresponded with mana or anything, nor any common elements. The red of the red moon wasn't like the red of Mars, nor the blue to Uranus. While copper could be used to reason for a green moon, not one so vibrant as the one that trekked across the night sky.
All I could think of, was that it was a product of whoever designed this world in the first place. It must have been some quirk of the creation process.
Only now, after learning what I had, did I think that the moons really felt artificial. The moon, the layout of the world, the races, so much of this place had its origins in such a blatantly artificial place.
Though, the natives probably had no issue with that. God's creations or some such, most likely. I've never really asked about such a thing as I've never really wondered before. Not when I was satisfied with the scientific explanation of Earth.
But I was a fool for presuming that the reason was the same here as well. Of course it wouldn't be the same. Gods were real, or at least something that was close enough to be called such things. But even before that, magic was real, in addition to this underlying system that governed such a large amount of how this world worked.
Though, that's how this world was designed, there was no longer anyone who governed it. And according to the logs I had read, the expectation was that this world would self destruct if left alone.
While that hadn't proved itself to be true so far, I couldn't help but think that the balance in this world was quite tenuous. The two sides of the world was at perpetual war, and it only took one significant event before that balance was broken. Not to mention the pointlessness of this war, along with all the systems that had been helping to perpetuate it, both within the underlying world system as well as the societal ones.
For now, I was simply fixing the issues regarding the dhampires, but maybe I should take a more proactive stance on fixing this world on a greater level?
(...Nah. It's not my problem.)
Sure, I technically had some of the greatest power in the world thanks to my administrative powers, but in reality, I was just one of several leaders of an unknown country. And that country didn't even have much power even if we did decide to reveal ourselves. No, being hidden was what had kept us going, and would continue to allow us to survive.
(Though...how well are we hidden, really?)
Thinking about it, there were a few people who knew of our existence, though they shouldn't have seen much. There shouldn't be any notion of us being any more than just a few dozen people who've settled in the middle of nowhere. A village at most.
Even if that was reported and some important people knew, they had no reason to think there was much of anything here anyways.
So yes, the affairs of the greater world was none of my business. And even if it was, it wasn't like I had the power to fix any of it.
(My problems are here, and only here. Being an administrator was completely different from being a planetary governor or something.)
"Letty, are you happy?"
I looked down at my big daughter.
"Yes!"
Lifting her head out of my bosom, she gave me a full faced smile as she answered without hesitation.
"I see. I see."
I gave her head a little pat as I returned the smile.
(That's right. This is what I need to protect. The rest of the world isn't my problem. It's survived fine up to now. It'll continue to survive on its own without interference from me.)
Authors Note:
Hi everybody! It's your usual furball! (/◕ヮ◕)/
Sorry about the missing chapters, and even an additional delay on top of that. m(_ _)m
Frankly speaking, EW's been amazing, and even after finishing the MSQ, I'm still going around raising other jobs, doing side quests, raids, and a whole host of other things. Doesn't feel like I'll be able to take serious time off of it for a while. For once, I even have a whole set of trial gear for one job! Even Pandaemonium's been great, though P2 is killer on healers. It's almost making me think that SE wants us healers to split up rather than stack heals due to the distances we're dealing with.
Anyways, that aside, I'll try my best to avoid missing any chapters for the foreseeable future. I'm no longer marathoning anything for the moment, and no need to spend hours progging any fights, unless it's for friends, for at least two weeks.
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I feel like I needlessly raised a bunch of flags, so I hope you'll forgive me when a at least a few of them become red herrings. They just keep happening when I'm working on Scarlet's thought processes -_-
So, hope everyone's doing well!
See you in the next one! (·ω·)∩