466 – A Life of Vermin
Vampires don’t need anything other than blood to sustain themselves. Therefore, paradoxically, they are the most reliable when it comes to storing food. If you were to entrust fish to a cat, you’d suspect they would steal it, but if you were to entrust grains, they would leave it be. They would catch and eat the birds that come searching for grain, ensuring safety.
Billytear Village Chief’s basement was filled with long-lasting food provisions. Wooden barrels of alcohol, round-shaped cheeses, and even sausages on rusk. Though the quantity wasn’t large, it was enough for the two of them to live off of.
“Did you gather everything? Let’s go!”
“Yes.”
Hilde packed her arms full of food and slid down into the hole. After sending Hilde first, I followed behind and pulled the lid closed. I grabbed the lid, which felt like it had been cut with a sharp knife, and covered the passage with my hands.
The ground is originally one. Even if it appeared to have fallen momentarily for some reason, it remained the same in the eyes of the Earth God. By using earth magic to fill the ground, the floor of the basement became as flat as if it had never had a hole.
This is a skill. Does a skill have to shake the world and cut through the wind to be considered a skill? The true skill is something that melts into everyday life.
Hilde placed the food on a patch of earth and spoke.
“Vampires are really dull, aren’t they? They can’t even steal the food right below them.”
“Their senses are dull, so they wouldn’t notice it even if we stole all the food right under them.”
“It may be good for us who gathered the food.”
Although they were inside the burrow, they had arranged it to some extent using earth magic. Even when seated, if they raised their hands, the ceiling was at a height that they could touch, and there was a fairly spacious area with a mat and a makeshift dining table.
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If they had more time, they would have widened it and decorated it like a home… But since it was a burrow prepared just below the house, they couldn’t do it because it might collapse. It’s a shame.
“It turns out you have experience in construction work. When did you learn this skill?”
“It’s a basic skill. It’s more amazing that humans have forgotten about it. Creating a hiding place is an essential skill if you want to survive.”
Muttering, I threw the cards onto the floor. The spade 9, from the false idol holding the origin of the tree, a stem sprouted and lush moss grew low and soft. I laid a mat on top and sat down, satisfied with the soft texture, and ate the food.
“Well. Have you been working for too long? This is the vacation I’m giving you. Rest here, do all the maintenance, and then go.”
“Wow~. A vacation where I eat moldy cheese in a cramped burrow, it’s so good.”
“hahahaha. Seeing you happy puts my mind at ease. Make yourself comfortable as if it were your own home.”
Even in such adverse circumstances, Hilde and I simply passed food to each other. It wasn’t really uncomfortable. It was because both Hilde and I had experienced countless situations like this.
Where? In the military.
“Since you’re eating cheese in a burrow, the military where you were fed canned beans in an even smaller single room feels remarkably great.”
“Mumble mumble? Suddenly?”
Provoked by Hilde’s disparaging remark about the military, I swallowed what was in my mouth and retorted.
“If this cramped burrow is better than the military, then why does this country have so many fugitives? They could just live peacefully, offering their blood to the vampires and survive. Why do people who are prepared to die choose to escape?”
“Because of crazy vampires like Ruskinia. It’s better to run away than live under such a person.”
“And what about your father? Why did he run away, becoming the concubine of a deceased ancestor and being able to live comfortably here?”
Hilde suddenly pierced the core.
Yes, it’s best to be by Tyl’s side if you want to live comfortably. Even from a human perspective, Tyl doesn’t have any major flaws, so nothing bad will happen.
“Well…”
The kingdom is a country of dull livestock. It is a land where an emotionless ruler takes care of humans forever. They work tirelessly without rest, and in terms of the quality of life, they cannot be compared to a militaristic nation. If there is a heaven, this place might be it.
But in the end, I chose to leave.
“Tyl seems to want to be with me as a devoted companion forever, but that’s a wish I can’t fulfill. However, Tyl tried to restrain me with force, so I had no choice.”
“You explained it well~. Then you must also know why humans try to escape, right?”
Hilde wiped her mouth with the edge of her cloak and spoke confidently.
“Humans cannot easily accept being treated as livestock because they think they are special under a helpless subject.”
“But there are still people left in the kingdom besides me.”
“That’s one of two options. Either they don’t know that they are livestock, or they have resigned and accepted it. No matter how cynical a person may be, if you say that you are nothing more than livestock and that your worth is neither higher nor lower than that of a cow, they won’t accept it.”
It’s a well-kept secret. Strictly speaking, humans in the kingdom are livestock. But no one speaks it out loud or even thinks about it. They just treat them as those in power.
In fact, apart from the fact that they harvest blood instead of taxes, there is no significant difference between those in power and the rulers… But blood is strangely important.
“In the kingdom, just having something to eat is enough reason for humans to run away. Do you know why the Holy Church continues to dominate the world despite all the nonsense they do? At least they give humans dignity and rest, even if it’s a lie!”
The message is correct. If the messenger wasn’t Hilde, a former member of the Holy Swordsmen, it would be hard to sympathize with.
“It’s hard to sympathize when Hilde says those things. Especially since you also ran away from the Holy Swordsmen.”
Hilde shrugged her shoulders and replied.
“Well~. There are circumstances. Maybe I’ve tasted the bitterness of the truth~. There were ups and downs along the way~.”
“What circumstances?”
“Curious?”
“Yes. Please tell me.”
“Where should I start?”
“From the beginning.”
“It’ll be a long story.”
“I won’t be bored.”
Hilde smiled briefly and closed her eyes, closing off her mind as if closing the curtain on a stage.
At times like this, Hilde’s appearance is dark and calm. She temporarily lowered the curtain on the stage called the world and chose her role calmly. It was like taking clothes out of a mannequin, although it’s an event that happens within her appearance.
“I am a holy knight. A devoted believer who carries out the will of God. Only He watches over me. Glory to the gods.”
Dressed in the oldest and most worn-out armor, Hilde raised the curtain again. Before me was the past holy knight who had lost herself and wandered.
Hilde, no, the “nameless holy knight” began her story in a solemn and heavy tone.
“There was a time when ‘I’ was lost. I disturbed the order and broke the rules, eventually killing someone and fleeing. Hired assassins, bounty hunters, mercenaries. Numerous people chased after ‘me’. ‘I’ could do nothing but run endlessly without even considering paying for my sins.”
“Is this a performance now? The tone sounds like a play.”
“It was one of my few talents. A meager talent for causing trouble… But thanks to it, I saved my life numerous times. Pretending to be an assassin, a fellow bounty hunter, a mercenary leader. I hid, acted, and betrayed to prolong my life… But in the end, I didn’t know who ‘I’ was or why I was living.”
‘The Nameless Paladin’ fiddled with his necklace. Hilde didn’t wear a necklace like that, but her gestures were similar to those of the paladins with their rosaries.
“At that time, the deity pointed at ‘me’.”
“The deity?”
“Yes. I have been watching over you. How you survived, fled, and acted. The sight of a lost lamb pretending to be a goat touched the deity with pity and compassion.”
This is acting. But at the same time, it is not just acting. If I continued acting for almost five years, even during rest and sleep, it would have been no different than living.
“The deity is watching over ‘me’. The shepherd guiding the lost lamb to its destination. ‘I’ should have followed and accepted the parents… but.”
“But why did you stop acting?”
“Well~ it seems like, you’re not even aware of my acting and just forcefully put strength into it~.”
The actor went off script. Hilde, who had returned from being a paladin, shrugged her shoulders as if to say “when did I do that?”
“All of ‘my’ actions are acting. Although ‘I’ was discovered and designated as a Holy Sword, it was an error from the start to allow a divine power to be used by an actor standing on the extreme edge! Moreover, the form of the Holy Sword changes depending on what kind of paladin is being acted!”
Hilde changed the shape of her faith. A noble and upright greatsword. A sharp lance that pierces evil. A shield that protects faith. Hilde, who had exceptional talent in acting, could freely change the shape of the Holy Sword.
“Even though ‘I’ was designated as a Holy Sword, as soon as I realized that the form of the divine power changed according to ‘my’ acting, I immediately turned it away! As if I didn’t expect that! How absurd!”
“But you noticed Hilde’s acting in the middle of the performance, right?”
“That wasn’t the deity! They were the rejected strong ones by fate. They were the saintesses who were seeking a Holy Sword that they would fully serve with their bodies and minds even with just a whisper! It was not the deity who was great, but the saintess who could see the future!”
I asked with a puzzled face.
“Whether it’s a saintess or a paladin, it’s the same.”
“No~ They’re different. Yuel may have been a paladin, but she is still a saintess!”
That’s true. Of course, it was almost unheard of for a saintess to become a paladin, but Yuel was an extremely special case.
“The deity was just a kind-hearted grandfather who gives out power if you flatter him. The saintesses who wanted to maintain their faith gradually distanced themselves from ‘me’. ‘I’ just needed someone to watch over ‘me’. And then, the excommunicated saintess Yuel called for the rejected ‘me’ from the Holy Capital. ‘I’ was a despised Holy Sword, but in other words, it meant that no one needed ‘me’! It was a Holy Sword suitable for the excommunicated saintess!”
Hilde exclaimed in a self-deprecating tone and then approached me with a familiar smile. And then, she poked me and grinned.
“I worked as a ‘Vessel’ and met my father then~. Even though it was a demanding job that gave too much work, I was lucky to meet my father!”
A tone of infinite lightness. It seemed as if she had been freed from all restraints, with no worries or troubles in her flying tone.
But this too must be acting.
“What role are you currently acting?”