NOVEL NEXT The city of Scalettia. Once the capital of the Luminous Kingdom, it has now become the true center of the Terra continent.
The land, once reduced to ashes by the aftermath of war, was now bustling with life as if it had never happened.
Streets lined with new buildings ambitiously constructed by the Dwarves. In between, a wide avenue buzzed with countless pedestrians, and heavily-laden carts continuously passed by.
Amidst the merchants’ booming voices, a girl in a robe wove her way through the crowd.
She slipped through the throng with the grace of a needle threading its way through fabric. Some passersby glanced back in awe as she brushed past, but their curiosity quickly faded like waves ebbing away.
After all, this was Scalettia, a place where all kinds of races and professions gathered. Only a few sharp-eyed individuals noticed the scabbard swaying at her waist beneath the robe and guessed she was a knight, but few passerby paid her any further mind.
Having made her way with brisk steps against the flow of the crowd, the girl entered an alley leading to the residential area, finally taking a moment to compose herself and catch her breath. Although there were people here too, it was definitely quieter than the shopping district.
She discreetly opened the bag in her right hand to check if its contents were intact before continuing on her way. Now moving with a more leisurely demeanor, she soon stopped in front of a stone house.
To ensure she had arrived correctly at her destination, the girl scanned the building with her eyes. Only after thoroughly checking the nameplate next to the door did she knock.
“Chief! I’m here!”
About twenty seconds later, with a click, the door swung open. The figure that appeared was a rather disheveled-looking man.
“Oh, Plona. You made it.”
The former chief of the Knight Order Randell Branch, Dave Rakel, greeted her with a lazy salutation that could put anyone to sleep.
Even though he had a constant demeanor, the girl who knocked, Plona, let out a deep sigh as if astounded.
“…Chief, may I ask what’s up with your appearance? I clearly said I was coming to pick up something today.”
“C’mon, it’s a holiday morning. I’ve been running around like a maniac until yesterday, so I might as well relax a bit at home.”
“Unless there’s been a social agreement about the timing of language flipping overnight, ‘noon’ doesn’t count as ‘morning.’”
Seemingly short on a comeback, Dave scratched his head sheepishly.
Indeed, Plona had set today’s appointment for this time, but it was undoubtedly Dave who nodded in agreement.
“Ahem, come on in. I’ve got everything prepared.”
“Thank you! Well, since I’m the one who asked the Chief to do this dispatch, I guess I can let it slide!”
“Someone who owes their life to His Majesty wouldn’t mind a little request from the royal guard. I can easily handle a favor like this. Though whether I’ll be dispatched again is uncertain.”
Dave Rakel, once a knight of the Luminous Kingdom and now a knight of the Scarlet Empire, usually dreaded troublesome tasks, but this time he waved it off as no biggie.
In fact, Plona’s favor was genuinely minor. It was simply a request to gather as many types of weapons used by the Beastmen while on dispatch to the Grand Duke’s domain, nothing more.
Rumor had it that the Dwarven artisans in Scalettia had made the request.
Even if it wasn’t an official request, it was practically governmental business, so it aligned with Dave’s belief that he should at least complete his assigned mission properly, even if he slacked off a bit.
No matter how much he didn’t want to work, jobs were precious—especially in a knight order with generous pay.
“Life’s really unpredictable, huh?”
Dave had never been an exceedingly devout human in the past.
Yet when he heard that the god the Church served was actually a spirit of light that treated its believers like garbage and revealed its ambitions, the shock was immense.
Moreover, the first time he received that news was when he was captured as a prisoner after losing a battle in Randell when the empire was still a united kingdom. Had it not been for the emperor’s mercy, it would have been strange if he had been able to continue living as a knight.
“What’s gotten into you?”
“Oh, I was just thinking that the world has turned upside down in just a few years,” he replied.
Even now, everything was different. A world where all the humanoid races lived in one nation under the rule of a vampire empress, where he could chat peacefully with a former subordinate who had turned into a vampire—if he had heard this a few years ago, he would have scoffed at it.
“Chief, you’re sounding like an old man!”
“…Don’t look at me with that bright smile. I’m still in my forties.”
With a genuinely innocent face, Plona’s nonchalant comments struck Dave to the core.
He wasn’t so delusional as to insist he was young, but being told he was old by someone genuinely young was more painful than he expected.
Feeling the need to redirect the conversation, Dave urged, “But why am I the chief? Technically, you’re higher-ranked, even if we are in different affiliations.”
It was a spontaneous question, but now he was genuinely curious.
Even if he held a decent rank, as just one of many knights at the royal palace, Plona belonged to the royal guard.
In the Scarlet Empire, the title of royal guard carried immense significance.
An entity that followed only the emperor’s orders, it had no fixed duties, but in times of emergency, they wielded unquestioned power to directly issue commands to both the civilian and military branches.
Composed of only three individuals who had supported the empress for a long time, this imperial guard group was made of the highest-ranking nobility, with Plona being one of the three guards who, in the imperial setting where the emperor was only the empress, held a status equivalently high as a Grand Duke, essentially putting her in the upper echelons of nobility.
“…”
Dave’s palms began to sweat.
Addressing her as “Chief!” and mindlessly following the old routine, now made him realize how precarious that was—he could literally face execution for such an oversight.
Looking back, he’d really messed up. Even if it was his home, opening the door in a disheveled state without providing proper hospitality to an imperial guard member was inexcusable, no matter how he tried to reason.
“…Would you like a cup of tea or something?”
“I know what you’re thinking and that’s fine! I never expected anything like that from you in the first place!”
“‘That’ being what? I mean, it’s only natural to treat guests well in your own home, right?”
“…We’ll keep it casual in private, but I’ll be more professional in public!”
“Alright then. Phew, I thought I was a goner.”
Plona rolled her eyes as if exasperated. It had always been this way; while she was serious with a sword, his lazy demeanor on a regular basis remained a perplexing enigma.
Having wrapped up their non-conversation, Dave began pulling out all the weapons piled up in the storage.
The not-so-large yard became packed with weapons. After counting the condition and quantity, Plona divided them into six large boxes.
“Thank you for your hard work! The Dwarves will love these!”
“So, will there be a bonus?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll be deposited by next week! Big sister is excellent at handling these things!”
Plona replied cheerfully as she stacked the boxes three high, creating a pile that still towered over her stature.
For a moment, Dave questioned whether this petite girl could actually carry those all by herself, but she effortlessly hoisted the stack with one hand and stood tall.
“Strength really does differ among races.”
Considering that the contents were metal objects, they ought to have been much heavier than they looked. Knowing that made him acknowledge her true identity as a vampire in a way he hadn’t quite registered before.
“Um, did you say something just now?”
“Just a passing thought. Is that all?”
“Yes. I’ll be on my way now, so you can get some rest.”
As Plona whirled around, there came a clattering sound from the stack of boxes. Her face turned to one of alarm, and she moved more cautiously.
In truth, even if she moved a bit roughly, the boxes were secure enough, so as long as she didn’t drop them, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“…Plona.”
“Yes?”
She turned her head slightly, silently asking what was up again.
Dave gazed at her silently for a few seconds.
He thought of treating her like a proper adult, allowing her to be a competent knight rather than intruding more than necessary.
He believed that she would overcome trials herself if given the time, considering she was a strong child who never lost her smile even in harsh training.
A poor, cheerful girl, who didn’t know the bond of blood, entered the knight order at a young age as a prodigy.
The first person she had fully opened her heart to was none other than the Progenitor of Vampires, and unable to endure a life without her, she ultimately gave up her humanity and returned transformed as a vampire.
Dave often thought, recalling that the girl in the Randell branch could have easily been the age of his own child had he ever had one.
Now, he sometimes wondered if he had acted differently back then, would anything have changed?
If he had expressed any stance regarding Aria’s execution to the higher-ups of the Church, would anything have been different? Or if he hadn’t let Plona go free at that delicate juncture and instead forced her to remain in the Luminous Kingdom, could things have turned out otherwise?
But now, hunting for answers to those questions was impossible. There was no way to turn back the clock, even if he clung to the possibilities of a bygone era.
“Are you happy these days?”
That’s why Dave asked about the present.
A gentle smile spread across Plona’s lips. It was different from the habitual smile she’d worn back when she constantly reassured herself; it was a vibrant expression that radiated life.
“Absolutely!”
So this is what a genuine smile looks like. If she was happy, then that was all that mattered.
This was beyond the realm of an old boss to intervene.
“By the way, was that what you called me for?”
“Yep. Now, you can go.”
As he waved lazily to see her off, with her sharp eyes still narrowed, she turned her back on him.
After Plona left, Dave poured himself another drink. The taste of the midday drink was quite bitter, but it seemed he wouldn’t suffer from a hangover.