461 – Escape from the Palace no.3
Long ago, humans, who were slower and weaker than other animals running on four legs, had to rely on other advantages to survive. Fortunately, humans had other advantages to boast about besides their big brains. That was their stamina. Whether it was meat or plants, humans hunted down and consumed them indiscriminately, and their fuel efficiency was good enough that they could persistently chase and hunt down even the fastest animals.
Was it revenge for the animals that were hunted down? I found myself in the exact position of prey.
“Find them! Don’t let them escape!”
“Search every nook and cranny!”
“Don’t need to catch them! But don’t lose sight of them! We’ll pursue with the Yeilings when night falls!”
Several Eins, including Count Genryu, were leading a group of humans and searching for us. There weren’t many humans who had mastered Ki Gong, so they weren’t much of a threat, but it was almost impossible to fend off their relentless pursuit as they traced our tracks.
Hilde muttered behind me.
“Those annoying vampires! They just keep following us without getting tired!”
“You’re saying such stupid things. Vampires don’t get tired, you know?”
“I know that! I don’t mean that literally. It’s daytime and they’re still chasing us even with the scorching sun! If they’re vampires, they should stick to their vampire concept!”
“It’s the sunlight that’s the problem, not the time of day. If we have a means to block sunlight, we can keep up with them.”
The plan had gone a bit awry.
For vampires, sunlight was like a sharp sting. It went beyond just making them weaker; it imposed restrictions on their actions, much like trying to move in a room full of bees. So we targeted Count Genryu first and took away the horse that was causing him trouble.
But unfortunately, he belonged to the Dark Knight Doona Clan. Being a proper knight, he had prepared extra horses, so as soon as we escaped, he switched to another horse and pursued us. While he wasn’t as fast as us during the day, he was enough to direct the chase.
“Look at how relaxed he sounds! Like he won’t die! I want to give him a good punch for being so arrogant!”
“I’m not particularly relaxed, but I have a plan, you know.”
“What is it?”
“To take out Count Genryu.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to attack him by surprise right now? You really don’t know anything. Counterattacks are the number one thing you should never do when running away! And the opponent is not just any Yeiling; it’s an Eins. It will take at least a week to completely kill them! By then, they’ll have us surrounded with a triple-layered pursuit squad!”
“That’s a vivid explanation. Seems like you’ve gotten away a lot in the past.”
She probably knew because she was an experienced person herself. Hilde had a reputation as the Empire’s public enemy before becoming a Holy Sword, and she spent several years on the run before joining the Holy Sword Knights. In the first place, the reason she learned transformation magic was to escape, so no more needs to be said.
If she wasn’t following behind me even now, I would have brazenly escaped from this encirclement. It’s only natural that she would grumble.
“Don’t worry. It’s not such a flawed operation.”
“Then what is it?”
“Just wait a moment. Ah, ah.”
After calming my voice, I turned my head back and shouted loudly.
“Count Genryu! I will tell you an amazing fact, so open your ears and listen carefully!”
My shouting echoed through the quiet gorge. There was no reason for him to respond from over there, but perhaps because he was a knight, Count Genryu personally answered my shout.
“I will listen! After I catch you, I will make you kneel!”
The sounds are clear despite the distance. I strained my voice from the bottom of the boat and continued shouting.
“Your master, Duke Lahan-gyeong, is in danger! Just before I escaped, there was a commotion at the Moon Castle, and Duke Lahan-gyeong was swept away and falsely accused! He needs your help!”
“Hah! Are you expecting me to believe that?”
“Whether you believe it or not, if we don’t confirm it quickly, Duke Lahan-gyeong will be in danger, right? Are you going to ignore the crisis of your master?”
“Are you trying to divert my attention and that of my troops! If you think I would fall for it, you are mistaken!”
I’m not trying to deceive him. Duke Lahan is indeed in danger. The problem is that he may already be dead.
“While Duke Lahan values honor above all else and would never incite rebellion, you dare to spread false rumors! I will make you pay for insulting your master!”
…Actually, he’s the one being deceived. He may be honorable, but he ignited the rebellion faster than anyone else.
“It’s true, I swear! Your friends who were heading to Moon Castle will soon appear, so find them and hear their story!”
“Noisy! Did everyone hear that?! Head towards the direction where the voice just came from!”
With that, Viscount Zenryu closed his mouth. Instead, human presence from all directions gradually closed in. Hilde pushed me even harder and agitated me even more.
“Instead of a counterattack, are you planning to bring the enemy to fight? That’s a great plan!”
“It’s a great plan. What I said is completely true. With this, he will soon break free.”
“When is this ‘soon’?”
“Let’s see. The news should reach the capital…in a day?”
“Wow~. A vampire’s ‘soon.’ But it seems like we’ll be out first tonight~.”
“If we hold on just tonight, there is a possibility.”
Night is the time for vampires. The path is not even, so we can’t ride at night, and if we emit light, it will expose only our appearance to them. But if we hide in the darkness, the vampires will become faster and stronger, chasing after us.
“How are we going to hold on?”
“Do you happen to know how we escaped from the military country?”
Hilde wasn’t there, but she is Ellen’s attendant. She must have heard the story.
“You used Lallion as bait and fled, right? Ellen also fell for it because she couldn’t see through the darkness, but that was possible since it was on a moving meta conveyor belt! It sounds too cliché to call it a strategy.”
“Cliché means traditional. We can’t just live by bluffing our entire lives. We have to succeed in a legitimate method at least once.”
Of course, for that to happen, we need a better hand than the opponent, but I had a good encounter recently.
When I confidently said that, Hilde reluctantly agreed.
“…Fine. I don’t understand, but let’s give it a try.”
***
The time of the vampires has arrived. Viscount Zenryu, who judged that the sun had set enough, finally took off his heavy armor.
“Well done, seed.”
“Ouch, it’s heavy…. You’re just getting up now.”
All day long, the human seed that had been covering the Marquis’s head with a sunshade clenched his trembling arms and grumbled. Marquis Jenryu frowned slightly.
“Just one day, carrying just one parasol, and you’re crying? When I was in the military, I couldn’t put down the flag until my arm fell off from flag fever! I even had to hold up the pole with my mouth when my arm couldn’t move anymore!”
“But that’s not possible for someone as great as you, my lord….”
“Do you think I was always strong and great from the beginning? I overcame those pains and hardships to become who I am now! Same goes for you. If you could carry the parasol even more faithfully, someday you could become a great knight like me!”
“But I’m a human, unlike you, my lord. Even if I died and woke up, I couldn’t be like you….”
“Life is unpredictable. I never dreamed I would become a knight like Ain after receiving an appointment from my honorable Duke Lahann. Do you understand?”
Marquis Jenryu, who couldn’t even imagine Duke La Han Kyung dying, threw an impossible proposition. As the seed’s expression relaxed a little, Marquis Jenryu thumped his shoulder vigorously and said.
“Take a break. You will be carrying the parasol tomorrow too!”
“Tomorrow…all day long….”
Leaving the despairing seed behind, Marquis Jenryu raised his hand and gave a signal. The blood vessels that flowed out of his fingers shook twice like a flag. And shortly thereafter, knights with dark armor one by one appeared behind him.
“Knight Puanyu, I responded to my lord’s call following the oath of blood.”
“Knight Mainy of Ul’tari Gureong, I responded to my lord’s call following the oath of blood.”
“Red Weasels, I responded to my lord’s call following a red oath!”
Ten short-term knight servants. Marquis Jenryu’s Yeilings. The knights that he selected and turned into vampires lined up behind him, spitting out red smoke on a dark night.
Marquis Jenryu began his speech, looking satisfied with his knights.
“Before we embark, I thank my faithful followers and loyal members of my family. Your hearts that have not forgotten the oath of blood have been conveyed.”
If there is one advantage of being a vampire, it is that they do not feel bored even when they hear these boring speeches. Although the human soldiers under his command made nauseous faces, Marquis Jenryu continued his speech as if nothing had happened.
“The night is our time. We must pursue the fugitive who dared to attack me, claiming to be a vassal of Sijo, and insulted my lord, the honorable Duke La Han Kyung. Even though it is day, who are we? We are the Knights, guardians of the honorable Duke La Han Kyung and protectors of this land. No one can take away our honor, our lives, or our pride.”
Marquis Jenryu is also a vampire. He does not feel the excitement and emotion rising in his chest even while making these boring speeches. The reason why Marquis Jenryu does these boring speeches is that he is a boring knight himself. To him, the speech before the expedition is “common sense”.
It must be more terrifying for the human listener than for vampires, but it doesn’t matter. Marquis Jenryu did not know the vampire attack.
Marquis Jenryu, who only reduced morale instead of encouraging, pointed forward.
“…I’ll stop here because we have a tight schedule. Start the chase. Glory to Sijo.”
“Yes!”
The knights who were once a source of horror for young children with their tales continued their pursuit of the fugitive on a dark night. It was not difficult to find traces despite the night. Since the horse that carried the two people left hoofprints and galloped noisily.
“They stole my Aema Nox, but those who are not even vampires cannot make haste tonight. They could not have gone far, so follow the trace.”
“Yes!”
The Yeilings spread out widely along the path. Marquis Jenryu cautiously followed the path in a position where he could go anywhere.
The traces were long and clear. The human seed, who had been wandering around, approached Marquis Jenryu.
“My lord. Will you continue to follow the path?”
“It’s natural. Isn’t there any trace of Nox left?”
“Hmm, is that so…”
As Zenryu the Marquis replied, knowing the seed’s question, the seed raised its head in confusion.
“Could it be that Nox used the traces of the horses as bait and escaped in a different direction… Do you think so?”
“Yes. We haven’t been lax in our pursuit until now, but I don’t think Nox has the strength to carry two people up the steep path, even with a horse.”
“A reasonable guess. But there are two problems.”
Zenryu the Marquis narrowed his eyes solemnly.
“First, I’ve heard that Nox is a resilient vampire. It’s hard to believe that he would be worn out by just two people, especially a woman and a frail-looking gentleman who wouldn’t even be considered my subjects!”
It was the tenacity theory that knights like him loved. Nox’s words, saying that he wasn’t a vampire like you, rose to the tip of the seed’s tongue, but he managed to swallow it down. It was not his anger but his fear of Zenryu’s scolding that made him hold back.
Without considering the seed’s emotions, Zenryu continued speaking.
“And secondly, have you ever seen footprints of people or traces of someone trudging through the bushes other than hoof prints?”
“Um, no.”
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“That’s right. There’s only one path now, and the side is a thick dirt road with dense bushes. Humans have a hard time passing through there, and even if they do, big footprints are bound to be left behind. If they had trudged through the bushes, even you clueless bunch should have noticed.”
“They could have erased the traces, couldn’t they?”
“Erased the traces? You seem to think that erasing the traces is like cleaning a room.”
Zenryu scolded the seed as he grumbled.
“By using the ‘Gongigong’ technique, they could leave no footprints, and by using the ‘Gamigong’ technique, they could protect themselves in the vines and branches, and they could move carefully but quickly without damage. If they have reached such a level of skill, they would be even rarer than Junma, who doesn’t get tired. It would be better to say that they flew in the sky.”
“Ah…! You had everything planned, didn’t you!”
“Your thoughts are too short and lacking. It won’t make you weaker. Wisdom is like training, it must be experienced to be engraved in your body. But if you don’t know something, you should listen and learn more humbly! I’ve been in this field for years, but you couldn’t come up with a decent idea with your short-sightedness! It’s amazing. The reason I didn’t consider your feeble conjecture is… “
“Please spare me!”
While listening to the long lecture that was as lengthy as the pursuit battle, Ye Il-ling, who had gone ahead, signaled to him first. Zenryu stopped his rant and spoke to his soldiers.
“Everyone, stop. Guard the surroundings here.”
“Are we going into battle?”
“No. If there is no unavoidable situation, I won’t leave it to you even in combat. That is the responsibility of the Knights. Be faithful to your role of reconnaissance and defense.”
Humans were resources. They could communicate and were useful in many ways, but above all, their blood was precious, so the biggest loss for vampires was for them to get injured or killed. Therefore, combat was the responsibility of the vampires who were stronger and less susceptible to injury.
As Zenryu followed this common sense, which was similar to the knights he followed, he was able to maintain a consistent character even after hundreds of years of living. With his troops at bay, he headed in the direction of the signal.
“Here!”
Ye Il-ling, who had scouted the furthest and returned, gathered around him one by one. Beyond the bushes, Nox was seen, chewing on grass as if tired. There were no human shadows nearby, as if they had abandoned their horses and disappeared. Zenryu scanned the surroundings carefully and gave orders.
“Find the traces. The tired horses wouldn’t have traveled the night road alone. There must be human traces nearby.”
“Yes!”
As the horseflies scattered in all directions, Count Zenryu approached Ema. Even though he was just a fleeing coward who set fire to the fugitives and ran far away, what could a mere horse understand?
Count Zenryu was a knight who was merciful not only to humans but also to horses. He was a vampire knight superior to horses and even humans.
“I should train you too, my horse. I have been neglecting your training while raising too many horses and letting them go. Both horses and humans become weak without experiencing real battles.”
As he approached the tired horse, he soon witnessed a strange sight. Upon closer examination, he saw that a blindfold was placed over the horse’s eyes, and a small pouch was tied to its mane. As the horse moved, something inside the pouch collided, making a rattling sound.
Horses are cowards. Even if there are no humans around, they run away as soon as they hear the sound of footsteps approaching from behind with limited visibility. The moment they exhaust their strength and stop, Nox is freed from the sound of pursuit.
“…Then when?”
But during their journey, they had not found any traces. It would have been better if it was not visible due to the darkness, but that was not the case either. Count Zenryu was a vampire. Even if human soldiers couldn’t see, he and his horse could penetrate the darkness. He was certain that there were no traces of the Dark Knights advancing through the bushes.
This time, the judgment of the human seed was correct.
Although he didn’t know what method they used, they had a means to erase traces.