Rattle-rattle-rattle. Rattle. Rattle-rattle-rattle.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Uh……?”
While walking across the grassland, Astan encountered a farmer driving a freight wagon.
The farmer appeared to have delivered grain to the city and was on his way back to his village.
“Where are you headed?”
“R…… Rabin Village…….”
“Rabin……?”
The farmer stroked his chin as if lost in thought for a moment.
“Ah, that place. Hop in! I can't take you all the way to Rabin Village, but I'll take you as far as Osen Village.”
“Osen……?”
“It's about a twelve-hour walk from here to Rabin Village.”
“T-twelve hours?!”
“Yeah. From Osen Village, you'll only have to walk five hours.”
“Ah…….”
“Normally, I'd charge you five thousand wid for a ride, but I'm in a good mood today, so I'll take you for free!”
“Pardon……?”
“Ha ha ha! I heard that trash of a lord got demoted! From a count to a knight! Our village passed into imperial hands, so our tax rate dropped considerably.”
Astan flinched at the word ‘lord.’
“Anyway, get in before I change my mind!”
If Osen Village was five hours from Rabin Village, that meant he would have to walk seven hours to reach Osen from here.
After doing the arithmetic in his head, Astan scrambled into the back of the wagon.
“Th…… thank you.”
“Sure.”
The driver answered with an impassive face and tugged on the reins.
The wagon took a full four hours to reach Osen Village.
It was only an hour different from walking, but Astan had saved his strength.
“You will find Rabin Village if you go that way.”
Astan set off in the direction the driver pointed.
The problem was the magic beasts he met along the way.
At the sight of goblins leaping out of the undergrowth, Astan began to run like mad.
SKREEE!
“Eek……!”
He had never heard such a grotesque cry in his life.
Pale-faced, Astan stared at the mountain ahead.
There.
I have to run there.
Goblin cries sounded from all directions, making his whole body tremble.
'No…… no…… no……!'
SKREEE!
Green-skinned magic beasts walked on two legs, each clutching a small dagger in both hands.
Their faces looked like those of evil spirits.
SKREE!
“Eek……!”
Astan's eyes met a goblin's, and he changed direction in a frenzy, running up the mountain.
“Hah…… hah…… hah.”
How long have I been running?
Sweat poured down him like a waterfall.
He could not run any farther.
His breathing grew so ragged that it seemed he might collapse at any moment.
'I…… I have to hide.'
Yes. If he could not flee, he had to hide.
Astan slipped into the thick undergrowth and concealed himself.
Just then,
SKREEE!
A goblin's cry came from right in front of him.
Astan held his breath, curled up, and shivered.
Step. Step. Step.
The footsteps grew more distant.
'P…… please…….'
The goblin's cries gradually faded as well.
Astan carefully pushed deeper into the undergrowth.
He wanted to be even harder to see.
Gnats flew before his eyes, and insects crawled all over his body.
Despite the horror of it, Astan made no sound as he worked his way into the thicket.
Tap.
'……Huh?'
Backing away while keeping his gaze forward, Astan was startled by something cold against his palm.
He turned his head and saw a small cave.
Its entrance was about two meters wide and one meter high.
It really was a tiny cave.
SKREEE!
Startled by a goblin's cry nearby, Astan hurried inside.
The entrance was hidden by undergrowth.
The goblins would not find it easily.
The problem was his way out.
'Th…… there's nowhere to run…….'
If he went back out now, he would be caught for certain.
'I have to go…… farther in.'
The entrance was small, but the inside of the cave was quite large.
It widened to five meters across, and the ceiling rose to three meters.
The trouble was how dark it was.
For a child of only twelve, darkness was a terror in itself.
But Astan was more frightened of the evil-spirit-faced goblins than of the dark.
“Ugh…….”
“Eek……?!”
Astan flinched at the sound of someone groaning.
“A…… a ghost?”
Should I run?
“Wh…… who is there?”
At the sound of a man's strained voice, Astan slowly moved forward.
What on earth was he thinking?
Was it simple curiosity?
Rustle.
Something stirred in the pitch-dark cave.
At the same time, a small flame sprang up in the air.
WHOOSH!
Astan startled and fell onto his backside.
“Wh…… who……?”
“……A child?”
A black-haired man sat on the floor, bleeding profusely.
Astan trembled at the sight of him.
It was not because his face was frightening.
Red eyes.
Yes, the bloodred eyes possessed by demons gleamed at him.
“A…… a demon?”
The man gave a faint laugh and nodded.
“Yes, a demon. One who is dying…….”
His eyes looked as if he had given up on everything.
“Are…… are you hurt?”
“……Go.”
Astan flinched at the man's voice.
Demons were frightening beings.
Some were even said to eat people.
“If…… if I go out now, the goblins will kill me.”
“……Did you come alone?”
Astan nodded and sank to the floor.
He no longer had the strength to stand.
“My mom and dad, the crown prince……. And Cecilia, who was my fiancée, too……. Sob…….”
Astan began telling the man what he had been through.
His parents had been killed by the crown prince.
Cecilia had ruined his family.
The man listened quietly to Astan's story.
In the end, he let out a small, hollow laugh.
“You fear death, yet you have lost your reason to live. A child like you speaks only in contradictions.”
“…….”
“Do you want revenge?”
“……It's impossible.”
“I asked whether you want it.”
Astan nodded once at the man's question.
“Then entrust…… your life to me.”
“……Pardon?”
“I will take your revenge for you. In return, give me all your blood.”
“Wh…… what do you……?”
“I am a vampire. You said you feared death, did you not? A vampire's bite is not painful. I hear that it brings pleasure instead. You would die feeling pleasure. That would not be a bad bargain for you, would it?”
Astan flinched at the flash in the man's eyes.
He could die without pain?
“After you die, you may well meet your parents again.”
He could see his parents again.
For a twelve-year-old child who had endured such despair, the prospect was too enticing.
Astan clenched his fists and approached the man.
“Please…… please make sure those two die in agony.”
“Yes. I promise.”
The man sank his fangs into Astan's neck.
There was a little pain, but it gradually turned to pleasure.
It did not feel bad.
Cecilia's face flickered past like the images of a revolving lantern.
Remembering her warm smile, Astan shed tears and closed his eyes.
Thump-
With a sigh, the man looked down at the boy sprawled on the floor.
The boy had grown gaunt as a dried mummy.
His breath would stop soon.
“……It seems I am already too late.”
The man clicked his tongue softly.
His wounds were apparently even deeper than he had thought.
One child was not enough to heal them.
“It seems I will have trouble keeping my promise.”
The man lifted the boy into his arms.
“Let us make a new promise. Take your revenge yourself. And…… I ask you to take mine as well.”
The man sank his fangs into Astan's neck again.
He would give this child everything he had.
This child bore a grudge against the crown prince of the Rabadian Empire.
Bellotia T. Edwon, commander of the Second Imperial Knights, had brutalized his subordinates.
To kill the crown prince, the boy might have to go through Bellotia.
'I will die soon anyway.'
He had no choice but to entrust everything to this boy who had offered him his life.
“My name is Dave H. Crode. I am the head of House Crode. If the day comes when you cross to the Demon Continent…… I would be grateful if you visited House Crode and told them of my death.”
Dave drew a dagger from inside his clothes and left a message on the ground.
His shoulders sagged more and more.
Strength was draining from his body.
With the last of his strength, Dave finished the sentence.
And then…….
Astan, revived from death, looked at Dave's corpse and the message on the ground and let out a sigh.
“……Fuck.”
All he could do was curse.
“The Rabadian Empire…… that's the name of a country in ‘The Regressor Hero’!”
The Regressor Hero.
It was a web novel with more than three thousand favorites, though it had not attracted much attention.
A fantasy novel about a regressor who remembered a previous life and fought off the Demon King's Army.
The problem was that the novel had never been completed.
The regressor was a noble from the Zervion Empire, quite far from the Rabadian Empire.
More precisely, he was the third son of a baron's family.
He gained fighting power through his knowledge of his previous life, found companions at the academy, heroes were summoned to countries around the world, and the regressor joined forces with the heroes' party against the Demon King's Army.
Yes. That was as far as the story had been published.
“Ugh…… Fuck, Astan, you dogshit bastard…….”
The Payson count's family was fairly wealthy.
Astan had handed his entire family over to his fiancée and walked straight into ruin.
“This feels fucking shitty.”
Was it because Astan's memories had flowed into him?
Geon-hyeok felt as though Astan's experiences were his own.
The crown prince had killed the former Count and Countess of Payson, and he and Cecilia had taken everything from the family.
A fierce desire for revenge against them burned within him.
“Thank you.”
Geon-hyeok looked at Dave and offered a brief word of gratitude. Then he lifted Dave's corpse and carried it out of the cave.
This was no physical strength a twelve-year-old child should have had.
It must be because Dave's power now dwelt in his body.
According to the message Dave had left, Astan's body had become that of a vampire.
Rustle-
Geon-hyeok emerged from the cave and hid in the undergrowth, looking around.
There don't seem to be any goblins.
He began digging into the earth with his bare hands.
It did not feel right to leave Dave behind like this.
I should at least make him a grave before I go.
“Come to think of it…… is there no way to check my abilities?”
In a low voice, Geon-hyeok muttered ‘Status Window’ and then ‘Status.’
‘Status’ was the right answer.
*Name: Astan
*Race: Vampire
*Grade: Intermediate
*Title: -
*Nation of Origin: Rabadian Empire
*LV: 1
*Strength: 60
*Agility: 50
*Stamina: 50
*Magic Power: 350
*AP: 0
*Skills: Magic(+), Basic Swordsmanship, Crode-Style Swordsmanship, Sword Aura(+), Thrall Conversion(+)
*Help Available
Even though his level was one, his grade was Intermediate.
“Does that mean I'm an Intermediate-grade demon?”
According to the Help information, a sturdy young human's average stats were around seven or eight.
Did that mean Astan's physical abilities were more than six times as great as those of a sturdy young man?
After trying it, he found that he could exert more than six times that strength.
The trouble was that it consumed so much stamina that he could not maintain it.
Using his maximum strength in a fight would be dangerous.
His stamina would quickly run out, leaving him unable to move.