"I want her…"
After those words escaped Celes' mouth, everyone's gazes shot at her their surprises evident on their faces. ParticularlyI forgot this word exists Jacob who took it positively and smiled widely.
"Then, will you help them!? Will you!? Please help them, I beg of you, please!" Jacob pleaded loudly with the smile still on his face.
"Calm down, boy. This is Celes we're talking about here. She's definitely thinking of something else," Blake pulled the child by the back of his collar and sat him down.
"Since when have you known me that well?" I asked to which Blake only smiled before I continued.
"Well, just know that I only work for what I think will help me, if I'm going to save anybody then just the ones who I think will be useful to me. Don't get your hopes up, kid…" After I've said those words the smile plastered on Jacob's face quickly disappeared.
"Why..?" As Jacob was questioning my ways, Blake joined in.
"Then what are you planning to do now?"
"Me? I changed my mind, I'm going to stay here for another month then depart for the port city. About time I end our stay here, after all. I got what I most wanted, which was a mercenary group I can rely on."
"Right, speaking of mercenary group… Blake, have you thought of a name for it?" I casually asked to which his face froze.
"So you haven't," I deduced.
"I have, actually…"
"Oh? Mind telling me? I might be able to spread your name through my soon-to-be connections in the port city."
"Oh boy…" Kler who has been listening on the side muttered under his breath.
"… are you perhaps…" I thought out loud after hearing Kler's reaction.
With a cheeky smile on my face, I said, "Oh my, don't tell me the Hunter's Chief is embarrassed by his naming sense..? C'mon c'mon, tell me, Blake~" As I poked his face over the table, Jacob on the side suddenly shouted.
"Wait, you're a mercenary group!? Then, can I request of you to exterminate Nolandro and his bandit group!? And save my friends!?" He loudly asked, breaking the carefree atmosphere that we've created.
(Why is he so fixated on saving his friends? Isn't the fact that he himself survived enough? Is it the attachment? I want to feel such feelings. too… envy and greed, huh… of all emotions I could have left in me, it had to be these… well, without greed there's no envy so I guess it makes sense that I still have that.)
"Phew, I'm saved…" Blake whispered under his breath, too bad that didn't escape my sharp ears.
(Guess I'll let him off the hook for now. It isn't that much of importance anyway.)
I smiled again and said, "I'll leave him up to you, Blake. I might help if you decide to help him so long I get the girl with the unique skills," before pulling Kler by the wrists out of the room
"What is it, young miss?" He looked at me and gently smiled.
A smile that reminded me of my great grandfather. He was the only that fully understood me back in my past life. It's almost laughable how I died before him. Even then, I felt almost nothing. No nostalgia, no nothing, except the drive for my goal.
(I swear I'm getting back my emotions…)
"For now let's get somewhere we can sit before discussing," I smiled back and said as I lead him to one of the benches that were beside the hall's entrance.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?"
"I'll get to the more personal stuff later. For now, tell me what you think of my previous condition?" I asked him as we sat side to side. With me still dressed in my nightgown and coat.
"Right, I vaguely have an idea of what you experienced but I'm not really sure of it as I am not a vampire," He said while rubbing his chin.
"Hm? What does being a vampire have anything to do with it?" I asked, confused.
"Hmm, do you know of the energy called Kai?"
"I don't. Explain what that is."
"Alright," He sat straight and looked to the side, to me.
"Kai is, simply put, the shell and energy that the soul… produces? No, that doesn't sound fitting, it's more like, excrete… hmmm," As he explained, he too became more and more confused.
"Mr. Kler," I waved my hand in front of his confused face.
"Ah! Sorry about that. As to what I was saying. Kai, the energy that the soul secretes. The stronger your soul is, the more Kai you have. Excess Kai degrades into mana in time, because the body can't store much of it, which then strengthens one's body, increasing one's mana pool and a few more benefits such as resistance to mind attacks. Unlike Kai, the body can store a huge amount of mana so you need not worry about it destroying your body. You're a Celestial Vampire too, so your body can store a monstrous amount of mana."
"Right, but what does Kai has to do with me fainting?"
"This is just a guess but, did you turn Aurias into a Celestial Vampire?" He asked.
"Yes, I did. What of it, wait… I think I get where you're going on with this now," I said as I started stroking my hair.
"Yes. I am guessing that in order to make him evolve, you used Kai and gave it to him. How you did it is beyond me," He shrugged before leaning on the bench's armrest.
"Then :Healing Blood: might have done the same?" I looked up to him and asked.
"Healing Blood?" Unfamiliar with the term, Kler raised his eyebrows. As someone whose knowledge of combat is widely vast, this piqued his interest.
"It's the skill that I used on you as an experiment to see how it works. Say, have you looked at a mirror yet, or anything reflective in nature?"
"I see, so that's the ability that helped me. No, I actually have not. I was too busy either working or bonding with my granddaughters these last three days. I am only able to be here because they're both sleeping right now," He explained as a smile crept onto his face.
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"Right. The thing is, your face looks a lot younger. And my appraisal says your race is now Apex Human which used to be High Human…" I said before I got interrupted.
"What!? You have appraisal!? What level!? No, more importantly, Apex Human!? This was when you healed me, right!?" He held me tightly by the shoulders which startled my body and shook me wildly.
"Y-yes-s, n-ow s-st-op sh-aki-ng me!" I shouted as I pushed him back.
"Ah, sorry. So that's why I felt rejuvenated that day… so it was because of that. Say, you did say that the worst is I would have become a vampire, right? What do you think are the requirements for that? I don't want to become one but just to confirm…"
"Ingest my blood. I've partially confirmed this already with Aurias' case," I shrugged and said.
"I see. Do you see anything else about my status through your appraisal skill?"
"You also got my [Vigor Craver] title. Why?"
"That's it! Titles and skills are said to be a part of the soul if not entirely in its structure. You must have used Kai in the process when your title was being copied and transferred causing you to faint. I assume that Aurias also got some titles or skills if not the same?"
"Yes, he did," I nodded to his question.
"By the way, now that we've solved your case, what does Vigor Craver does? Or is it just a title with no effects?"
"Oh, it just increases your experience gain by tenfold. By the way, do you know what accumulated strength is?" I casually shrugged off the meaning and asked.
"Oh, accumulated strength is something that only vampires could tell after they make a servant or drinks blood. It determines one's speed of growth as they leve- wait, did you just say tenfold?" As he was explaining it was then that hit him what I had said.
"Yes?"
"Oh lord, this girl is just so full of surprises…" He palmed his face and went back to his gentle appearance and said, "Right, I think it's about time they finish up in there. Let's get in?"
"Not yet, I still have one thing that I want you to do for me," I pulled the side of his long robe before he could get to stand.
"What is it?" he sat down back while asking.
''Can you teach me martial arts?" I asked him eye to eye.
He gently smiled and said, "Of course, young miss. That isn't even enough to pay for this gift that you had granted me."
"I see, then I look forward to it. I'll only be here for another month so I hope I learn much," I said as I reach for the hand he offered me.
"Let's get back in there then," I casually said.
*****
As Kler and Celes left the room, I happily leaned on Blake's desk about to ask him for help before I felt a hand tightly holding onto my face.
"Before we discuss this matter, get back to your seat. Then I'll hear your request out. Just a reminder that we're a group of mercenaries that prioritizes profit, not knights. Though I doubt that the knights will even hear out your request," Blake said to me. No traces of his previous demeanor, replaced by a solemn aura that made my back drenched in cold sweat.
"R-right. I didn't expect you to do it for free anyway…"
"Then? Considering that you're a former slave, I doubt that you can pay us. You wouldn't be here in the first place if you had the seya to buy back your friends."
"I-I know! The bandits' loot! You can have it all, so please just save my friends!" I said, excited that he'll finally be interested.
"It's only natural for the raiders to claim the loot of the raided bandits, so what you're offering isn't something that you could actually offer. More so since we're the ones whose lives will be on the line. And Nolandro's bounty is only valid in the Hyuu Continent, not here in the human continent. It isn't even enough worth going back and forth between the two continents as pretty much half of it will only be used up for traveling expenses."
"T-Then Ahsa and I can make you metal! You know, so you can make weapons with it!?"
"That is granted that this Ahsa, which I assume to be the unique skills' holder, hasn't been killed or sold off yet," He spat out on my face.
"I-I…"
"End of discussion, I suppose?" He said as the door behind me opened up.
"Now now, don't be so hasty on your decisions, Blake," There came in the small lady called Celes.
"Weren't you going to leave the decision to me?"
"I did say that but aren't you being too hasty about this?"
"I, in fact, am not being hasty. I just put the lives of my friends above other things. He just can't offer anything that is worth presenting to them."
"I see. Then I guess that's that?" She tilted her head and asked.
"Yes, that's that. End of discussion. Come back again when you actually have something you could offer."
"Well, that's sad. You just betrayed his expectations. Too bad," she said, emphasizing the word betrayed.
"Urk… I'm sorry but I really want to help, but I just can't afford to go in a fruitless raid. I am no longer just an adventurer, I can't risk mine or my friends' lives," He said with his fists tightly clenched.
"I see. The decision's yours. Just know that you can ask me something three times according to the contract," Celes said before leaving.
"Wait, seriously..? I see what she did there, that scheming vampire…" Blake said with a cheeky smile on his face.
*****