Manfred questioned his life choices as he prepped the ingredients.
Ever since Warfarin had dropped by last time and caught Lucifer training him and Ascalon, she had decided to move in too.
Consequently, the amount of food he had to prepare increased by one portion.
Why?
Just why?
Manfred couldn’t wrap his head around it.
He hadn’t come here to get a chef’s license or a babysitter certification.
However, these days weren’t entirely wasted on grinding his culinary proficiency.
Although there was no sudden breakthrough, Manfred could feel that his strength was indeed improving.
He felt that he could easily thrash his past self now.
Yet, there was still a significant gap between him and Ascalon.
Manfred glanced back at Ascalon, who was meditating in the hall with her eyes closed.
Even though she should have been in his blind spot, Ascalon opened her eyes as if sensing his gaze, looking directly at him.
Startled, Manfred quickly looked away.
Senior sister is really amazing…
During their training together, Manfred knew full well that compared to him, Ascalon was the true genius.
Moreover, this incredibly talented genius worked harder than anyone else, which was even more suffocating.
However, Manfred didn’t feel any of the jealousy or hatred typical of cultivation novels.
He felt only admiration.
Besides, even though the gap between him and Ascalon was vast, their master, Lucifer, still treated them equally.
How could Manfred easily disappoint such high expectations?
With these thoughts in mind, Manfred put even more effort into his cooking.
…What is he doing now?
Compared to Manfred, who was constantly hyping himself up, the straightforward Ascalon was quite baffled.
It was just like how she couldn’t keep up with Lucifer’s train of thought sometimes.
Men are so hard to understand.
Averting her eyes from her junior brother, Ascalon turned to look the other way.
She saw Warfarin pestering Lucifer, begging for a bottle of blood-wine to satisfy her cravings.
…
Women are also hard to understand.
Perhaps this was Warfarin’s real motive for staying at Lucifer’s place?
Warfarin, you are truly despicable!
In every way, Ascalon disliked this trashy Vampire who was always trying to monopolize her master.
It made her feel strangely insecure.
However, Ascalon was more worried that a heated conflict with Warfarin would displease Lucifer.
Left with no choice, Ascalon could only quietly tolerate Warfarin’s antics.
I need to get stronger quickly…
That way, Master will…
Ascalon continued to ponder.
If she could become stronger than Warfarin in the future and impress Lucifer, she could kick this annoying, trashy Vampire out and have Lucifer all to herself.
But until then—Ascalon!
You must endure!
…
Enduring in silence for three years, or had it been even longer?
Who knew?
Regardless, life still had to be lived one day at a time.
Fortunately, Warfarin didn’t stay at Lucifer’s house forever.
The brief periods when she was away were some of the few times Ascalon felt truly at peace and content.
Bantering with her master, tasting her junior brother’s cooking, and occasionally absorbing some culture and art—such a life was incredibly pleasant.
“…Senior sister, are you actually reading?
The book is upside down.”
“…I don’t like reading this stuff.”
As someone who preferred to be a physical combatant, Ascalon was naturally uninterested in textbook knowledge.
But since Manfred was constantly reading, she felt awkward leaving him isolated.
Moreover, she didn’t want to embarrass Lucifer by finishing her apprenticeship completely illiterate.
With no other choice, Ascalon could only force herself to hit the books.
“What is…
Ægir…?”
Clutching a book titled National Geographic, a desperate Ascalon tried to piece together something that might actually interest her.
Hearing this, Manfred—the resident bookworm and top student—looked up.
“Ægir?
I recall that it’s supposed to be a country even grander than Iberia…”
Among the recorded histories of the nations on this land, Ægir was perhaps the most mysterious.
Rumored to be located beneath the ocean, Iberia had entered its Golden Age simply by acquiring a fraction of Ægir’s resources.
The rest was just scraps of rumors, with no way to verify their authenticity.
In fact, many details about Ægir were fabricated out of thin air by others based on hearsay, making them rather misleading.
Ascalon blinked, continuing to read the passage on Ægir.
“It says the Ægirians have almost no distinct racial traits, but they all possess silver hair and red eyes…”
Muttering to herself, Ascalon suddenly stopped and looked over at Lucifer, who was currently cleaning his fingernails.
Noticing Ascalon staring at him, Lucifer glanced back.
“What are you looking at?”
“I just think…
Master looks a lot like an Ægirian?”
Ascalon tilted her head, a hint of dry skepticism in her voice.
She obviously knew Lucifer was a genuine Sarkaz Vampire, but reading the description of the Ægirians, anyone would find the coincidence striking.
Furthermore, the Sanguinarch and Warfarin didn’t seem to have any prominent racial traits either, and both had white hair and red eyes…
Were Vampires just like that?
“I look like an Ægirian?”
A bewildered Lucifer walked over, leaning over Ascalon’s shoulder to read the contents of the book.
He didn’t know much about Ægir either.
In fact, Lucifer hadn’t set foot outside of Kazdel yet, so he knew very little about any of the other nations.
But if this book wasn’t just unofficial folklore, could Ægir really be full of characters designed for the white-hair-red-eye crowd?
“I’m literally shaking.
What’s wrong with white hair and red eyes anyway?”
Perhaps Lucifer and the Sanguinarch did match the description of “Ægirians” rather well.
But Lucifer felt it was necessary to step up and debunk the rumors for the Vampire race: not all Sanguines possessed the white-hair-and-red-eye combo that targeted a certain crowd’s aesthetic.
A portion of Vampires actually had black hair.
Seeing Lucifer seemingly “shaking with outrage,” Manfred spoke up to defend Ascalon.
“Master, I don’t think senior sister meant to tease you…”
“I know.
She hasn’t hit her rebellious phase yet.”
With that, Lucifer patted Ascalon’s head and went back to cleaning his nails.
However, as he cleaned his nails for the second time, Lucifer had other thoughts on his mind.
“…Senior sister?”
Manfred snapped out of his thoughts, only to notice that Ascalon’s breathing had become slightly erratic.
Hearing Manfred’s call, Ascalon, who had been deep in thought, took a deep breath to compose her mounting excitement.
“Shut up, Manfred.
Don’t spoil my moment.”
“….”
Wait, sister, are you losing your mind too?