In my previous life before my regression, ‘Dane’ had survived longer than any other slave of Ralke I knew.
Perhaps that was why.
From time to time, Dane would ramble on about his circumstances.
“I was sold here, Number One.”
“You were sold?”
“Yes. My father is no ordinary high-ranking demon, you see. I was sold as a sort of ‘bargaining chip.’”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t have parents.”
“You’re better off not knowing.”
Dane gave a hollow laugh as he answered me.
“Some parents are better off not existing. At least, mine were.”
“…….”
“Do you know why I’m clinging so desperately to life?”
“Why?”
I was curious.
I wanted to know why someone who seemed to have so little attachment to life still did everything he could to survive.
Dane told me.
“To kill the parents who gave birth to me.”
“Parricide?”
“Yes. Parricide.”
With that, the bastard chuckled for a long time.
It was a self-deprecating laugh, as though he found his own circumstances utterly ridiculous.
“I don’t care. Parricide or whatever else you want to call it, I’ll kill those people who call themselves my parents, no matter what it takes.”
Dane’s eyes as he spoke overflowed with a venom and hatred that were difficult to put into words.
“If that’s what it takes, I’d make a contract even with a demon.”
***
……That was roughly how it had gone.
I briefly recalled that memory and looked at Dane.
Naturally, we had moved elsewhere.
Somewhere our location could not be identified.
“How long are you going to pretend to be unconscious? I know you’re awake. Get up.”
“Ahem…….”
At those words, Dane, who had been lying there with his tongue hanging out as he pretended to be unconscious, quietly sat up.
“Well now. According to the ‘order,’ I should have fought you to the death by any means necessary.”
“No. That’s not right.”
I grinned.
“The First Wife ordered you to ‘stop’ us, not ‘kill’ us, didn’t she?”
“Hmm. Now that you mention it, she did.”
“And your current situation is rather ambiguous. Can you really say you stopped us in the end?”
“That is ambiguous. I certainly made a pathetic showing if I were to claim that I stopped you…….”
“But you didn’t completely fail either. The First Wife managed to get away safely, after all.”
“Hmm…….”
Dane kept tilting his head from side to side before speaking.
“……Isn’t that just wordplay?”
“You know as well as I do. Magic is a discipline where that sort of wordplay works remarkably well.”
“That is true.”
Dane nodded, then looked around.
“A fallen dragon, a Master, and on top of that, a Nymph half-blood…….”
As he muttered to himself, Dane’s gaze stopped on Raul.
“Well now. We even have a celebrity from the mercenary world here.”
“……!”
Raul’s eyes widened.
He had apparently never expected Dane to recognize his identity.
“Ah, don’t worry. The First Wife knows nothing. I had no intention of telling her either.”
Silence settled over the group at Dane’s carefree words.
Amid that silence, Raul cautiously asked.
“Client, can’t we just kill him? If he’s a Half-Demon, that means half of him is a demon.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind.”
Dane agreed with Raul with an utterly unconcerned expression.
But I had no intention of doing that.
Why would I kill someone as capable as Dane here?
Especially when I knew exactly how to make Dane cooperate with my plans unconditionally.
“You don’t need to worry about the command authority. The suggestion on your end probably conflicted with it and rendered it partially ineffective.”
“So the young lady’s…… Hmm, no. There’s no reason for me to call her that anymore. In any case, you mean the First Wife wasted her command authority for nothing.”
“That’s right. It means you’re free.”
Even at the word ‘free,’ Dane looked thoroughly indifferent.
He had been the same in my previous life.
Unlike ordinary slaves, Dane’s goal was not freedom.
It was revenge.
That probably had not changed even now.
“I’ll get straight to the point. Help me. If you do, I’ll grant your wish.”
“And you know what my wish is?”
“To kill your parents. Isn’t that right?”
“……!”
Dane’s eyes widened.
He had probably never imagined that I would suddenly reveal circumstances and a goal he had never once disclosed to the outside world.
“How…… do you know that?”
“Of course, I also know it won’t be easy. Your father is a demon of the highest order.”
There were ranks even among demons.
And the demon who could be called Dane’s father stood extremely high among them.
“The Demon Blood Duke.”
“Wait, the Demon Blood Duke……?!”
Deckard’s eyes widened in shock.
It was a name worthy of such a reaction.
Demon Blood Duke Rykard Blood.
He was the king of all vampires, a colossus whom no one on the continent could afford to dismiss.
“Young Master, are you saying this black mage is the son of that Demon Blood Duke?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then why in the world is the Demon Blood Duke’s son here……?!”
“It was a deal.”
The one who answered Deckard’s question was Dane.
His eyes dripped with hatred as he continued.
“The Demon Blood Duke has a great many illegitimate children. He spread his seed among countless women because he wanted to create a ‘perfect vampire.’”
“Good grief…….”
“Countless failures were born. I am one of those failures.”
After saying that, Dane looked straight at me.
“I understand. You seem to know exactly what my circumstances are and what I want. What would you have me help you with?”
“The downfall of Ralke.”
“Oh, now that sounds interesting.”
Dane nodded with interest.
“But interest and feasibility are separate matters. Do you actually have a concrete plan to bring Ralke down?”
“A plan, huh.”
I smiled at those words and looked around.
Only those who had decided to accompany me from now on were nearby.
Then this should be fine.
I immediately released Disguise Art in front of everyone.
My build and appearance returned to their original forms.
The moment Dane saw my true appearance, his eyes widened.
“Huh.”
“You should know me well enough.”
The smile at the corners of Dane’s mouth deepened.
“Ah, I certainly do. Huh, ha…… Well now…… this…… I never expected this at all…….”
“…….”
“Sigmund Messiah. The sickly, useless Second Young Master who can’t even hold a sword. And on top of that…….”
Dane’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“Destined to fall victim to Ralke’s Secret Arts and be reduced to a Puppet…… At least, that is what I had been told.”
“It was a useful rumor.”
“Ha ha, a useful rumor…….”
Dane muttered those words and sank into thought for a moment before speaking.
“Do you need a contract?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then what about an evil Half-Demon like me makes you willing to go this far?”
“I trust your desire for revenge.”
I answered him as though it were nothing.
Dane had a clear goal called ‘revenge.’
And because I had spent a long time with him in my previous life, I knew exactly how to keep him under control.
“Hah, ha ha……! My desire for revenge!”
“…….”
“Everyone who’s heard me say that until now has been too busy laughing at me, and you actually believe me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Huh.”
Dane stared at me with wide eyes.
Then he gave a faint laugh and removed the mask covering half his face.
Red hair and crimson eyes.
Like most vampires, he possessed a handsome face.
Dane smiled faintly at me.
“What would you have me do? Assassination, sowing division, whatever you need, leave it all to me. My hands are already drenched in blood, so getting a little more on them won’t make much difference.”
“Hmm.”
I silently looked at Dane for a moment before answering.
“You’re in charge of the bed linens.”
“……Pardon?”
Dane looked at me as though I had just spouted some bullshit.
“From today onward, you’re responsible for making my bed.”
“…….”
Dane stared at me in utter disbelief.
“……You’re serious?”
Yeah.
I am.
***
“H-hah……!”
When Schubert finally regained consciousness, he hurriedly looked around.
Then an unpleasant pain ran through his entire body.
He grimaced as he sat up and realized that he was lying on the bed in his own room.
“Wh-what in the world happened……?”
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Schubert turned toward the voice.
The first person he saw was one of the family’s knights.
A knight who supported him, and the Vice Commander of the Messiah Knight Order, Kelson.
“S-Sir Kelson…… What happened? What in the world happened?”
“Do not worry. You were safely rescued, Young Master.”
“Res…… cued? What do you…… Ngh!”
Schubert clutched his head as though it were about to split apart and grimaced.
Then what had happened before he lost consciousness was…….
“Kgh, ugh!”
Schubert instinctively clutched his face.
A sudden wave of pain had struck him.
With trembling eyes, he slowly began recalling his memories.
The more he remembered, one piece at a time, the more twisted his expression became.
“That bastard with my face…… What happened to the bastard who impersonated me?!”
“Young Master, please calm yourself first…….”
“How am I supposed to calm down?! I am a legitimate son of Messiah, yet some bastard whose identity I don’t even know toyed with me……!”
Schubert tried to leap from the bed as though having a fit, but staggered and collapsed back down.
“Young Master, please calm down! Your body has not recovered yet!”
“K-Kravalt…… The dragon, and the Nymph bloodline……!”
“We lost them all.”
Schubert’s head snapped toward the voice coming from the doorway.
His pupils trembled.
“M-Mother…….”
“Everything the main family spared no expense to provide is gone. Not only Kravalt and the Nymph bloodline. We lost the Dragon Heart as well.”
“……!”
Schubert’s shoulders trembled violently.
Most of what they had painstakingly built up until now was gone.
Whatever else could be said, losing the dragon imprisoned beneath the Shadow Training Facility and the Dragon Heart was an enormous blow.
“Kgh…… H-hah…….”
Schubert desperately took deep breaths.
The worse the situation became, the more important it was to remain calm.
He had been taught that since he was very young.
After some time passed and his boiling thoughts finally cooled, Schubert spoke.
“Have you identified who was behind it?”
“I do not know. The only thing we know is that they called themselves the <Seekers>.”
“The <Seekers>…….”
“We suspect they may be connected to dragons, but even that is not certain.”
At the First Wife’s words, Schubert fell into thought.
He admitted it.
He had lost his reason at the Shadow Training Facility and made the wrong decision.
As a result, everything had fallen apart.
But that did not mean they had lost everything.
Losing the dragon and the Nymph bloodline was certainly a major loss, but it was not ‘everything.’
“Mother, would you summon that Half-Demon?”
“……The Half-Demon?”
“Yes. Dane, was it? His bloodline is anything but ordinary. Now that we’ve lost the others, we should at least make sure that Half-Demon…….”
The First Wife’s expression gradually became strange.
Seeing his mother’s reaction, Schubert asked.
“Mother, don’t tell me…….”
“To get you back, I had no choice but to use something else as bait.”
“Ah.”
Schubert’s eyes widened.
He felt the thread of reason he had desperately maintained snap.
“The Seekers…… Ha. The Seekers…….”
THUD!
Unable to contain his rage, Schubert’s Aura shattered the bed with a CRACK.
“Those sons of bitches…….”
Schubert made a vow.
He would never leave that group called the <Seekers> alone.
Yes.
No matter what means he had to use.
He would make them pay.
Without fail.