Do-jin, who opened his eyes, was embarrassed.
It was because I was in a place I never thought of when I had to wake up in a capsule.
‘Where is this again?’
There must be some context to the change of location.
It’s the first time I’ve seen an empty field in my life.
Dojin turned his head around to grasp the situation.
Then I found it.
Familiar… no, vampires.
The vampire girl with long jet-black hair was looking up at the sky.
But something was strange.
She seems like she’s always smiling, and she’s supposed to be excited like an idiot… … .
‘It’s like a doll.’
It seemed inanimate now.
I wondered if dolls or mannequins would feel more lively.
“hey.”
It was the moment when Dojin called her.
[Memories in blood play.]
[The owners of blood and memory are ‘Carnes Tirund’ and ‘Carin Tirund’.]
Carnes Tirund? It is the name of the Archduke of Tyrund.
So what about Karin Tirund?
In context, it must be the name of the ugly Elder right in front of you.
‘no way… … .’
Was it because the elder called the Grand Duke of Tyrund ‘Father’ because he was really his real daughter?
The moment Do-jin realizes the unexpected truth, his eyes widen.
The landscape has changed.
see the bed Lying down was Karin, who was sickly.
She was, by all accounts, dying.
“As much as you… I will make sure to live as much as you do. Karin, you must be… … !”
In front of him, the man who was probably the past of the Grand Duke of Tyrund was shedding bloody tears.
“This is the only way. This way… It is the only way to save that child.”
The Archduke muttered in a space that looked like a magician’s workshop.
A magic circle symbolizing ‘blood’, which will become his own magic, floats around him.
The forbidden arts were enforced by the Grand Duke.
The Archduke’s territory is stained with a vampiric curse, and Karin wakes up as a vampire with no memory of her life.
“This… It wasn’t what I wanted!”
The Grand Duke sobbed in front of the half success.
However, instead of tears, blood flowed from his eyes, which had already become a vampire.
After that, Karin’s growth period passed quickly.
It was a period of growth of the mind that had stopped as it was at the age of 18.
However, it was a time stained with a terrible achromatic color.
The grand duke, who was soaked in regret and remorse, and stopped showing his emotions.
All the vampires who were affected by the grand duke’s feelings and turned into puppets.
Karin, who grew up between them, also became no different from them.
Then she stared at something.
It was to look at what I imagined, recalling the human world I saw in the book in my hand.
Karin tilted her head.
Looking at books, people, and myself alternately, I have questions.
Touch the mouth and notice the difference.
Karin longed for the happy human story contained in the book.
Then, she started imitating the lines and actions in the book.
Between scenes that flowed like a panorama, Karin’s acting went from awkward to natural.
Before long, Karin, a brightly smiling figure whom Dojin knows, appears.
But only half smile.
The other half of the face was still as expressionless as the first.
And she was still looking with envy at the humans in her imagination that were reflected in the distance.
‘To think that the stupidly bright appearance was all made up… … .’
Whether it was because the memory contained in the blood was incomplete or because the owner of the memory was unstable, the recall of the memory was very disorganized.
Just like a picture drawn by a child suffering from a mental illness.
So it was more bitter.
I think I can feel the loneliness, the futility, and all the other emotions that Karin went through.
[Memory regeneration in the blood ends.]
The landscape gradually recedes.
So far away, Dojin woke up on the wide bed.
The system messages that had been pushed in front of his eyes exploded.
[The oldest vampire Carnes Tirund’s ‘True Blood’ has been infused.]
[The blood of the vampire elder Karin Tirund has been injected.]
[※warning※]
[Irrecoverable contamination is in progress.]
Do-jin’s back, which was sentimental after seeing Karin’s past, became damp.
The first vampire was not enough, so the vampire elder’s blood was injected as a bonus, and irreversible contamination proceeds?
Do-jin, whose heart sank because he had walked the path of an asshole in a similar vein in his previous life, read the accumulated messages quickly.
‘What kind of warning messages are piled up like this!’
For a while, no matter how low it was, it was full of bloody warning messages.
Then, at some point, the content of the message changed.
Fortunately, it was very encouraging, unlike my worries.
[Contamination has been suppressed by the intervention of the owner of ‘True Blood’.]
[The action of ‘True Blood’ is stopped.]
[The effect of ‘True Blood’ improves mana aptitude.]
[The regenerative power of the body is improved by the effect of ‘True Blood’.]
[Intelligence increases by 30 due to the effect of ‘True Blood’.]
[The attribute 「Mana Affinity」 has been created.]
[The attribute 「Excellent Regeneration」 has been created.]
The grand duke, who injected true blood, directly controlled it, suppressing negative effects and leaving only positive effects.
As a result, two characteristics related to mana and vitality were created.
「Mana Affinity」 was a property that literally increased the overall ability for mana, and 「Excellent Regeneration」 was a property that slightly increased the natural recovery ability.
Not to mention, the increase in the intelligence stat was 30.
In terms of bonus points alone, it is equivalent to a 6 increase in level.
‘It’s crazy.’
In fact, it is the true blood of the Grand Duke of Tirund, who had never appeared in his previous life.
It was like swallowing a high-end elixir that was difficult to measure the price, so if the side effects were resolved, this level of growth was probably a natural phenomenon.
Still, just because he drank blood once, his stats went up by 30 for each of his two attributes.
Even if this was a fate quest reward, it was at a level where I had to nod my head and admit it.
‘This is done.’
After grasping the situation, the true Do-jin put away the messages.
Scarily, the door to the bedroom where Do-jin was located opened with a bang.
no one opened it just opened
And then the black fog came, and it was dragged somewhere in an instant.
While being dragged away, Dojin thought.
Damn it, it’s a game that doesn’t let time stand still.
* * *
“It took quite a while. How is it? How do you feel about peeking into the memories of me and my daughter?”
Like Karin, he is a terrifyingly handsome man with black hair.
It is the appearance of the grand duke in the regenerated memory.
Dojin roughly expected this to happen, so he calmly looked around without panic.
‘Is it a study?’
It was a study, nothing special.
It seems that a few candles are playing the role of lighting, which seems to be out of place for Do-jin, a human being.
Dojin sat down on the chair in front of him and opened his mouth.
“Are you the one who showed me that memory?”
The Archduke nodded.
“May I ask why?”
At Do-jin’s calm question, the Grand Duke looked at him as if he was surprised.
“Nothing. I had to save you in order to fulfill your daughter’s request, and it was only shown in the process.”
“If so, I don’t think you would have had any reason to ask me for my impressions.”
If the only purpose was to save lives in the first place, there would not have been a need for Karin’s blood.
It would have been possible to achieve the purpose only with the blood of the Grand Duke.
No, you don’t even need blood. He is the Archmage and the most powerful vampire.
Nevertheless, the fact that he used Karin’s blood in addition to true blood means that he deliberately showed his memory to himself.
‘In addition, almost all of the scenes I saw were Karin’s memories, except for the beginning. As if I intentionally unfolded it and showed it.’
Dojin wondered why.
So, I asked the silent grand duke once more.
“I want to know why you showed me those memories.”
Archduke Tirund sighed lightly.
“I’ve seen it, so you know. My daughter, Karin, became increasingly unstable after becoming a vampire. Maybe it’s because I lost my memory when I was human and lived that long time with a clumsy self formed from a blank slate, maybe… Maybe it was because of my heart not beating anymore. But for the first time, that child expressed his true feelings. before falling ill. It showed what it looked like back then.”
The Grand Duke raised his hand and pointed at Dojin.
“The reason was none other than you. The eyes of the child who was worried about you were real. A child who longed for the memoryless days of a human being, read books and imitated human emotions and speech patterns, was swept away by his own emotions and asked me for a favor.”
That’s why. What I showed you not only me but also the memory of the child.
“you… This is a clue. A clue to recover the mind of a human that my daughter has been looking for for a long time, and has no memory of it. At least he feels that way. But if you realize the child’s true self and show disappointment… … .”
“You’re saying that the already unstable state of the princess will become even more precarious.”
Archduke Tyrund nodded.
“If that’s the case, it would be better to quietly send you back to the Central Continent. So answer honestly.”
The Grand Duke of Tirund, with all kinds of bloody nicknames, was also a father after all.
but. He became the founder of vampires after caring for his daughter terribly.
Even 1,000 years of time could not dilute his love for his daughter.
Seeing such a grand duke, Do-jin thought for a serious answer.
Do-jin, who eventually came to a conclusion, gave this answer.
“My impression is… It was sad. The princess who opened her eyes as a vampire would have been in a state like a newborn baby. But she’s been alone ever since. The Grand Duke loves his daughter like this, but in the scenes I have seen, there is no scene where the Grand Duke directly expresses such feelings.”
“… … .”
“Princess, no, Karin is always alone. Read a book alone, imagine alone, laugh and cry while imitating the characters in the book alone.”
“that… … .”
“I know. What was the Grand Duke doing at that time? For the people of the principality who could no longer live under the sun, they were building an eternally dark principality at the bottom of the floating continent.”
“That was the only thing I could do for Karin. As a father who turned his daughter into a monster who can no longer live among humans, at least he had to create a place where people similar to him live together… … .”
Dojin nodded at the words he said calmly.
“I don’t think the memories I saw of you and Karin wouldn’t have been so sad if you had expressed that kind of heart, even a little bit of caring for Karin.”
Upon hearing Dojin’s words, Grand Duke Tirund was lost in thought.
‘Every time I saw Karin, I regretted it. My choices that turned myself and Karin into monsters. so i avoided I’m sorry that my greed turned me into a monster outside the providence. However… Was it something else I really had to be sorry for?’
Looking at him like that, Dojin confessed all the rest of his impressions.
“I still feel fortunate.”
“Relief… say?”
“yes. The Grand Duke is not good at expressing himself, but he is sincere when it comes to his love for his daughter. Now, all you have to do is express that feeling little by little. It will be difficult at first, but you will get used to it. And Karin also grew up very well for someone who grew up alone, right? Although there are minor problems such as emotional instability and lethargy, it can be said that he grew up very well considering the environment he grew up in.”
“… … .”
The Grand Duke’s eyes twitched.
I was fed up with Do-jin’s aggressiveness of blunting the 1,000-year-old history between father and daughter in just a few words.
“Not the worst. So all you have to do is change. You will have plenty of time.”
The archduke’s eyes, which had been shaking, were fixed.
Dojin’s words were so shocking.
Up until now, time had been nothing more than a thing that broke himself and his daughter.
Because it has been rusted by just enduring 1,000 years.
However, Dojin was saying the opposite.
All that has been broken and rusted up until now can be spent time fixing and polishing.
‘He’s a mysterious person.’
It wasn’t enough to change her daughter who had wandered for a long time in an instant, and she was shaking even herself, who had spent years only with regret and remorse.
‘No, maybe I was just waiting for an opportunity to be shaken.’
Until recently, living was just enduring time. But now it felt a little different.
Not to endure, but to fill out. It will take quite a long time to do the things you couldn’t do, but it doesn’t matter.
‘As this human said, I have enough time to overflow.’
The moment when the attitude towards life of the Archduke of Tyrund changed.
In front of Dojin’s eyes, a message announcing the progress of the quest appeared.
[Unbelievable achievement!]
[You have bought the favor of First Blood Carnes, Grand Duke of Tyrund.]
[The probability of vampires becoming hostile to humans in the future is significantly reduced.]
Then, welcome words came out of the mouth of the Archduke of Tirund.
“To stay in the principality for a while. As much as I owe you, do you need time to prepare a suitable reward?”
Injecting true blood and even controlling the side effects neatly, he took care of additional rewards.