Chapter 38.1: Blood Magic (1)

Elrod Forest was a vast forest in the northwest of Calderic.

It was in Calderic’s territory. It was one place that remained in its natural state since civilization blossomed on this huge fantasy continent.

In Calderic alone, there were many large and small cities in the Overlord’s territories and the other nine Lord’s territories. However, there were still lands that remained abandoned on the outskirts.

Oh, it’s shaking badly.

And that meant that the road to Elrod Forest had not been reclaimed at all, unlike the roads to cities and such.

I looked at the other side of the carriage, which was shaking more violently than usual, keeping my expression expressionless.

The vampire sisters sitting with Asher, leaned on each other and had fallen asleep.

A few days had passed since we started heading from the city of Domihawk to Elrod Forest.

It was the same journey as always, but if there was something different, it was that the two vampires were accompanying them.

“···”

I gazed at the two sleeping sisters.

Rubika was obviously trying to act more like an adult as she was an older sister, but looking at them like this, she was just a child sitting side by side with her sister.

Asher, who was sitting next to them, was also looking at them with strange eyes, but when our eyes met, she looked away as if hesitating.

She probably thought of her dead brother as she looked at the vampire sisters.

Then Asher muttered and said;

“Can I ask the Lord something I’m curious about?”

“···?”

My eyes widened in surprise.

Because she had never asked me anything before.

“Go ahead.”

“That… No, Sir Ron has been looking for places like ruins until now.”

Asher stuttered and asked a question.

During the journey, I told them to call me by my first name, not the title of ‘Lord’.

But Asher rarely called me in the first place, so she looked unfamiliar with using my name.

But why did she suddenly ask that question?

“It’s just that I’m curious what your purpose is for doing that.”

Ah… that’s it.

She is asking that now too.

I was continuing a very fruitful journey, finding and absorbing the mysteries, but I didn’t consider Asher’s point of view, so it was natural for her to wonder what the hell I was doing.

Besides, the reason she’s following me as an escort right now was because of my promise to make her name known all over the continent.

However, what I was doing was not like something a Lord would do, so maybe she was frustrated in her heart right now.

I’m going to do a lot of things in the future, that’s what I said to her…

But I didn’t mean to say anything like that.

Even after completing this journey and returning to my territory, there were still piles of obstacles to overcome.

In particular, the Invasion of the Demons, the Hero of Santea, the Succession of the Holy Sword…

These events were too big to plan anything right now.

Anyway, when the next Lords’ meeting comes, the Overlord will probably trust me enough to order me to do something.

Once I found all the mysteries in Calderic, I had to think about the overall situation.

I felt sorry for Asher, but I hoped she would wait until then.

I thought to myself and said.

“I’m looking for something. I know you’re curious, but I can’t tell you what it is yet.”

“···”

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely keep the promise I made to you.”

“···Yes?”

Asher blinked, as if not understanding what I said. Then she said, “Oh,” and nodded.

“I was just curious. I never doubted what Sir Ron said.”

“···”

My conscience pricked me again because of her undeniable trust.

I slowly looked out the window.

As the sun was rising in the middle of the sky, the carriage stopped for lunch.

The sisters, who had been asleep, also woke up.

The menu was meat, soup and bread as usual.

Baros finished getting his meal quickly and sat down to eat in a suitable place, while Rudica stopped eating the soup and looked at Rubica.

“What is it, Rudica? Do you want blood?”

Rubica immediately noticed her sister’s condition and raised her arms.

But Rudica hesitated and just looked to the side where I was sitting.

I opened my mouth.

“It’s okay, come here.”

Then Rudica looked at her sister once more and approached me as if she had been waiting.

Rubica put on a puzzled expression as Rudica clenched my forearm and sucked blood as if it were familiar.

“Ru, Rudica?”

It was the first Rudica drank my blood after Rubica joined the party. For her, it must have been an embarrassing sight.

“What are you doing, Rudica? Come and drink your sister’s blood. Don’t do that to our benefactor.”

But Rudica shook her head and continued to focus on drinking my blood.

Seeing that, Rubica had a shocked face. It looked just like how Baros had looked the last time.

“You, you. You always said that my blood was the best…”

···Why did I have a feeling that I was the bad guy in this situation?

Seeing her crying and muttering, I became embarrassed and just asked.

“Are you okay without blood?”

Although older than Rudica, Rubica was not yet a fully grown vampire. I wondered if her vampire instinct was running wild.

As I wondered about that, Rubica stared at me, swallowing her saliva.

And she shook her head in my amazement.

“···I’m fine. I’m a grown vampire, so I can stand it.”

It didn’t look like that though, but I didn’t want to ask for more because I didn’t want a scene where these two vampire sisters were stuck on both my arms, drinking blood.

Then Baros stepped forward and said to Rubica;

“Hey, vampire. If you want my blood….”

“No. It smells bad.

With the same reaction as Rudica before, Baros grew a little pale again.

Apparently, the blood of an elf was not appetizing to a vampire.