Father said that living humans are our food.

Mother said that dead people are our toys.

I was born to a great vampire father and a necromancer mother. My father and mother were very happy that I had inherited only the merits of both races.

The way the vampire is, the way the necromancer is.

He taught me many things, such as his instincts as a monster and his absolute hostility to humans.

My parents were very kind. There was no loneliness in the lives of the three of them, which are now distant memories, and they were happy.

However, his parents were killed by humans.

I was about 10 years old by counting.

The two people who were killed because they were considered harmful to humans turned into demons and disappeared from the earth.

In retrospect, it was a no-brainer. Father and Mother went too far. It deviated from the food chain and took too many human lives for fun.

As a young child, all that was left for me was my mother's library, a small village that my father ruled, and the large mansion where we lived.

I didn't know what to do.

Revenge? The man who killed them had already died in the form of a fight, and I could only sob for days, seeing no point in doing so.

But the empty mansion was too big, and I, who was supposed to be a vampire who was a night monster, was afraid of the darkness alone.

So, I couldn't help it.

Lonely.

A feeling of hunger and longing for people came upon me impulsively.

 

I couldn't stand the loneliness, so I went under cover as a daughter in the village where my father ruled.

 

My first thought was what a weak creature humans are. Children cry when they are injured, and even adults can easily be seriously injured if they are attacked by a monster.

But strangely enough, I didn't feel lonely in my strange communal life with humans.

At first, as the younger sister of the eldest daughter of a family,

The second time, as a girl living alone,

The third time, as the sister of a girl who lost her parents,

The fourth time, as an owl watching over the village,

The fifth time, as the daughter of another family,

The sixth time, as a substitute for her parents who have no relatives,

The seventh time is as her daughter, who has lost her daughter and husband.

I have spent 300 years playing with my memories and blending in, and I have spent a long time there.

In that time, I was able to learn three spells, and I had read most of the books in my library. However, I was tired of the small world of going back and forth between this mansion and the village.

I felt that there was a limit to listening to people's memories, which I started 200 years ago.

Anyway, there is no stimulation. Everyone lives a normal life, and there are very few people who can tell me fun stories that excite me.

So, I won't miss out on my next prey.

A healing wizard from another world and a princess with rare precognitive magic.

Absolutely catch it by any means.

That's what I thought.

 

 

 

"--Keho, ah, I'm going to end up like my father and mother, ......."

 

I am battered all over my body and I can't move. I can barely sit up, but I can only move my right arm. The power of the evil dragon was so great that it was so badly injured by just a slight grip.

Usato used to live under the attack of such monsters. He was just crushed and smashed like this, but when I think that he fought a fierce battle outside after being attacked more than me, I am reminded that he is not a normal human being.

 

"Usato defeated the Evil Dragon, didn'......?"

 

Just a moment ago, the evil feeling from the outside disappeared.

As if relieved by the fact that the evil dragon has been defeated, he leans his body against the cracked wall.

It would be a good thing to think such a thing after being defeated by your trump card, but I couldn't help but think so. After all, you are the fool who resurrected the evil dragon, and you are also the one who is cornered by the evil dragon in your current situation.

Most likely, they will come here.

To subdue the harmful monster that is me.

 

"Heh, heh......

 

After all, I was the same as my father and mother, who were killed in the end of their lives by using humans as playthings.

Manipulate living and dead villagers to catch and detain visitors, and when they get tired of it, erase their memories and let them escape. I didn't think I was going to be resented that much...... To varying degrees, what I was doing was no different from my parents'.

 

"Maybe they don't need me anymore."

 

Or rather, I felt like I wanted to disappear.

He was driven by an evil dragon that he revived in his condition, and in the end, the evil dragon was also defeated by Usato. There was no miscalculation in the development leading up to the resurrection of the evil dragon. If there's one, it's that he didn't understand that the Evil Dragon was a monster more prone to destruction and death than he thought.

He was insulting.

It's a soulless corpse, a stuffed animal that has been abandoned for hundreds of years. It's an excuse, but I've never seen or heard of a corpse with a soul before. In the first place, the soul dwells in a living body. In other words, the vessel called the body moves with the element of life, and the soul is contained in the vessel.

 

「...... Someone's artifice...... ...... bound the soul of the evil dragon to this world."

 

It's natural to think so.

It is usually impossible to bind the soul to this world. But there are people who could do it. A legendary hero of this continent, a monster who sealed even the Demon King with his immense power.

If his actions were recorded in the notebook without exaggeration or anything, it might have been easy for him to contain his soul.

There's no way to be sure, though.

 

"Anyway, it doesn't matter to me, I ...... now."

 

There would be no point in thinking about a human being who died hundreds of years ago.

Looking at the results alone, my shallow self almost destroyed my village...... That's it.

 

"I don't need it."

 

As soon as I said that, I remembered a distant memory that I was left alone in this building.

My dependable parents were killed, and I was scared and crying because I was lonely.

I suddenly thought about what would happen to the village where the girl named Nea disappeared, and suddenly I felt like an idiot and smiled self-mockingly.

What will change when the existence that did not exist from the original disappears?

You muttered to yourself that you don't need me anymore. I don't need to use that village anymore, and I don't have to go out of my way to spread zombies.

After all, I'm going to be disposed of here.

 

「......!」

 

Footsteps going up the stairs.

- The sound that echoes from below makes me swallow my saliva slightly, but I can't move satisfactorily with this body, so I can't escape.

I slowly closed my eyes, as if accepting my fate.

 

●

 

Climb the stairs of a dark Western-style building.

Behind me as I walked with prescientism, Aluk and Usato. Burlin is waiting outside in case of emergency.

 

"Alc, I ...... better stay with Bullin."

 

Usato says this to Aluk.

Slightly worried, he turned around and saw Alc smiling wryly as he climbed the stairs with the sword in the scabbard that had fallen into the hall earlier for support.

 

"No, even though my magic power is almost exhausted, it doesn't interfere with my physical movements. As for the body, ......."

"I am...... It's still okay. There's still a little bit of magic left."

 

I frown slightly at the word "it's still okay."

Mr. Arc, who was being manipulated, fought a series of battles against a strong enemy called the Evil Dragon. Moreover, the evil dragon has been attacking with poison, so Usato is more mentally and physically exhausted than I realize.

 

"And I've got to get a kick out of it, and I'm going to have to meet her who is the one who started this mess."

 

Before entering the pavilion, he told Usato, who was administering a first-aid healing spell to everyone, about the exchange that Nea had when she was captured by the evil dragon.

He listened to me in silence, but I didn't know what he was thinking. ...... This is something that you can see as soon as you climb this staircase.

Ahead of this is Nea, who was killed by an evil dragon.

And then...

 

「...... There's no doubt about it."

 

The scene I saw in my foreknowledge is approaching.

The scratched walls, the shattered chandeliers, the windows that had been turned into atriums—the one who was lying leaning against the wall in Usato's shadow was Nea.

I'm sure Usato understands this.

He's missing something, but he's not stupid. I am aware that the situation that I have spoken to him about is conforming to the situation that will come his way.

On top of that, he's about to make his way to Nea.

 

"Beyond this?"

 

Usato mutters as he stares at the back of the stairs.

Once again, I brace myself and climb the stairs to reach the place where Nea is supposed to be, in front of the hall on the third floor. He steps into the room that Usato kicked him into during the break-in.

Then, there was--

 

"I'm here."

 

Leaning against a cracked wall, a battered Nea stared at us with a faint smile.

 

 

 

「...... It looks like you've been beaten up quite a bit."

"I'll give you back exactly what you said."

 

He lets out a dismayed sigh and moves in front of Nea.

He approached her too cautiously and tried to call out to stop him, but he gasped when he saw Nea smiling sarcastically.

This is because she was in a state where it is safe to say that she was seriously injured when she was killed by the evil dragon. It may be that she wasn't a demon with great durability, but her forehead was soaked with bright red blood, her left hand and legs were painfully swollen, and she couldn't move satisfactorily.

 

"Hah, you've been through a real mess."

 

Usato, on the other hand, was also quite a man.

His clothes were covered in soot, there were traces of blood on his forehead and cheeks, and although his wounds had been completely healed by healing magic, his complexion was not good.

 

「...... He doesn't seem too angry."

"Huh? You're supposed to be angry, aren't you?"

 

Hahaha, Usato's mood that was laughing teasingly changes to a sword-swallowing one in an instant.

We couldn't see his face, but Nea in front of us had a stunned expression on her face, tears dripping from her eyes, and her injured body began to tremble.

 

"I almost ruined an important trip because of you, and I tried to make Mr. Arc do something irreversible, and most of all-"

 

There, he pauses, crosses his arms, and tells her to tremble.

 

"Above all, I can't forgive you for resurrecting that evil dragon and endangering the lives of so many people."

 

What would have happened if Usato hadn't been able to defeat that evil dragon?

I was the first to suggest that he run away with me, but when that happened, many people might have been killed by the evil dragon.

He can't forgive Nea for reviving such an evil dragon with such an easy feeling.

 

「......」

"You didn't think it was going to happen, did you? But something happened that I couldn't get away with."

 

Nea bites her lips.

Usato sighs again at her.

 

「...... Why did you save the village from the evil dragon? Weren't the people who lived in that village just puppets?"

「...... That's right."

"Then why didn't you use it?" If I had used the lives of the villagers as a shield, I would have been easily caught. You've heard about me from Mr. Alc, haven't you? I'm a member of an organization called the Rescue Team, so if the people in the village who are just being manipulated are taken hostage, I can't do anything about it."

 

Indeed it is.

The only thing on his mind was that he had manipulated the evil dragon, but if Nea took the lives of the villagers hostage, he had no choice but to obey no matter how much Usato did. Even his healing punches can't help a lot of people at once.

 

"I don't need them, that's just my decision...... In the end, it was an error in judgment......

"Hmmm."

 

Usato wrestles suspiciously.

Undeterred, Nea smiled self-deprecatingly and spun her words.

 

"It wasn't supposed to be like this...... If he had been able to control it properly, everything would have been fine......

"Ha, that's not true, it's not like we're being beaten by zombies who only do what they're ordered to do anyway. I'm going to shoot you down before you give your orders."

"You're really a monster--"

"Don't change the subject."

「...... What is it from earlier!? What do you want me to say!?"

 

Nea screams distraught at his gibberish words.

Usato is completely unfazed by her sword curtain.

 

"You regret it, you put yourself in this situation."

"That's it! ...... That's right. But I just did my best for what I wanted. I regret my actions, but I don't have any remorse--"

"No, that's not what I regret. You regret resurrecting the Evil Dragon, but it's not because you couldn't catch me."

 

As if she was sure, she glared at her as she gasped for breath.

 

"What you regret is that you put the people of the village in danger."

「...... Why should I care about them?"

"If it's just a tool, you won't try desperately to convince the evil dragon, I know because I fought it, but I'm afraid of it, right? How important is it to worry about the village in front of a guy like that?"

"Do you want ......? No, no, that's my ......."

 

Nea is visibly upset by Usato's words.

Sighing at this, Usato muttered softly, "I don't feel like it."

He takes a deep breath as he wonders what is wrong with him, and he opens his mouth to the agitated Nea.

 

"You should have figured it out right away. When the evil dragon is released, what is the first thing to target? That village where people gather is trampled by evil dragons, chewed up, poisoned, rotted, and overrun to the point where it cannot retain its original form. If you inhale the poison he releases, your body will be destroyed from the inside, your throat will sore, your lungs will melt, and finally you will not be able to breathe, and you will die in agony. His arms and tail are strong enough to cause a large crack in the ground, and a blow can crush even a large adult. And the most troublesome thing is his cunning and brutal nature. To him, every living creature in front of him is subject to destruction and slaughter, whether old or female or child--"

"Stop...... Whew!!"

 

Did you imagine the scene he described?

Nea, whose expression has changed to one of heartbreak, interrupts Usato's words with a growl like a child. He didn't feel good either, so he scratched his hair wildly as if he regretted it.

But I knew that Nea didn't consciously try to make the villagers fight. I can't say that she never tried to do it to us, but seeing her frightened in front of me now made me feel sorry for her.

But-,

 

"You're an idiot."

"You're an idiot."

 

With that one word, I felt as if I had been punched in the head.

It was because the foreknowledge I saw three days ago overlapped with the words he had just spoken. If you look around, you can see Alc with a sword as a support nearby, and the full moon visible through a gaping hole in the hall full of rubble.

 

"If you regret it, you didn't realize it sooner, what you wanted was already in your hands. But I tried to let it go. Regardless of your intentions."

 

In spite of my impatience, he spun his words again as predicted.

I call his name and try to stop him, but he waits in front of me with his palm instead of turning around.

Usato knows that what happened in the foreknowledge will become a reality...... But why bother to imitate ...... jump in on your own?

Confused but unable to move, Usato approaches Nea's eyes.

 

"I don't think I'm going to kill you."

「...... Huh?"

"What's that surprising face?"

 

He shrugs his shoulders as if he's out of his mind, and crouches down languidly to make eye contact with Nea.

 

"Your request to defeat the Necromancer was your intention, and at that point that request no longer makes sense. But if you can swear to me that you will never do anything to hurt someone like this again, you will live as Nea, the daughter of that village."

 

I'll check on you from time to time, right? Nea rolled her eyes at him playfully.

Maybe the future of Usato being stabbed has changed?

It wasn't a prediction that the future would change, but there are exceptions to everything. Maybe this is the case.

 

"Fufufu, fufu...... As a village girl, I ...... I don't know."

 

She mumbles something to herself.

However, the relief was short-lived, as the view from Usato's back and the mouth hidden by the bangs were distorted like a crescent moon.

 

"Usato!!"

 

In Nea's right hand, he sees a sharp object that looks like a knife, and it is wielded.

At the same time, Usato's left hand moves at an unbelievable speed. The future had changed—the moment I had a non-existent speculation, I panicked at what had happened, and all I could see was a drop of blood falling at his feet.

Hurriedly, he and Mr. Alc approach the position where they can see the two of them.

However, what jumped out at me was not what I had expected.

 

"You...... What ...... trying to do now?"

"Huh? What, you know?"

 

Looking at it, Usato's hand was definitely grasping Nea's hand.

What looked like a knife was her claw, which had been stretched to about twenty centimeters, and the brunt of it was aimed at her throat rather than at Usato.

The blood dripped down Usato's hand from the nail that had dug into her throat slightly.

 

"Lord Usato, what ...... this is?"

「...... He tried to stick it in his neck."

 

He said harshly, showing the claws that had slightly scratched Nea's throat.

Based on the circumstances, does this mean that Nea attempted suicide?

I don't understand how he came to do such a violent act, but it wasn't a prediction that Usato would be stabbed in the first place. Relieved by this, he watches the exchange between the two.

 

"I was prepared to be killed just like my father and mother, but how much can I be stupid? Besides, you want me to be a village girl? If you think that I can go back now after putting yourself in danger there, you are very wrong."

"Huh......"

 

Usato sighs in annoyance.

However, Nea, on the other hand, smiles fearlessly despite being prevented from committing suicide.

 

"That's why I finally made up my mind when you stopped me."

「...... What? What's that?"

"Blood is information, contracts, considerations--if you didn't take my hand--I would have died, but you who took my hand--your blood-covered hand of yours fulfilled another condition."

"Huh?"

 

Nea sheaths her outstretched nails and shakes back the hand that was grabbed by Usato.

I was struggling with what I could do in such a state, but I tilted my head because I didn't know what she was trying to do.

 

"--Devil and man, prostrate and prostrate, with the testimony of each other's blood, now make the old covenant."

"Wait a minute, what's that disturbing spell?"

 

In an instant, a large white light emanates from Usato's hand, which is grasped back by Nea.

A familiar light, this light, I change my mind when I see the "contract" she is about to activate.

The contract she is about to make will not hurt Usato.

But it can be even more troublesome.

 

"Usato! Away, this guy--huh!?"

 

He runs to the side and tries to pull Nea away, but suddenly his body stops moving. If you look at the floor, you can see that through the carpet on her floor, the magic that restrained Usato.

How long does this guy ......!? What an obsession...... Huh!?

Mr. Alc!? When I saw Mr. Aluk, who was also trying to run to me, he was holding his head and trying to resist something.

 

"You! See you again, Mr. Alc!!"

"Geho, I just asked you to be a little quieter."

"Huh!"

"Oh, are you sure? If you hit me like this, I'll die, right? I. You don't have any magic left to beat me to death, do you?"

"Damn ......."

 

She replied with a vomit of blood, laughing as she looked at Usato, who was shaking his fists with a bitter expression on his face.

 

"Regret that you missed me!! I'm going to stick with you for the rest of my life!!"

"Huh!? What is that too disturbing line!? Let go of this!! What are you saying?! Don't put your nails up!!"

 

Usato tries to shake off Nea's hand that is smiling with her mouth wide open while covered in blood, but she digs her nails deep so that she won't let her.

In an instant, the light emanating from the exchanged hands increased even more light, illuminating the entire hall as if illuminating the dark night.