058 – Pet
The moment he heard that Isabella had returned to the nest right behind him,
The Lord, with his arm in tatters, immediately rushed to Isabella’s chamber…
Knock knock…
I could see him knocking with utmost politeness.
‘If he was going to act like that, why rush so quickly?’
“Mother… are you there?”
Isabella was fast asleep, so she couldn’t answer Nepira Lillith’s question.
The Lord stood there silently for a long while…
He turned and slowly began to walk back this way.
“…I don’t sense Mother’s presence, so how do you know she’s in her chambers?”
*To say, ‘I’ve been stalking your mother this whole time,’ seemed a bit premature for dying just yet.*
“You’ll see if you open it. Lady Isabella is resting inside the chambers.”
*He told me to open it myself instead of just knocking…*
“…Huh?”
Watching Nephira Lilithe wear such a displeased expression, I understood.
My earlier answer… it had not been to the Sovereign’s liking.
“Since when does a pet barge into its master’s chambers without permission?”
*My cat at home barges in even when I’m showering… No, wait, she actually shouldn’t come in at all.*
It was only now that I realized this, after Isabella-ssi had dismantled all common sense.
Regardless of who the other person is, walking into someone’s room without permission is impolite, indeed…
“…My apologies. That was a slip of the tongue.”
I immediately acknowledged my mistake.
And the plan to summon Isabella-ssi in an emergency with my kidnapping skills was promptly scrapped.
Who knew, if I woke Isabella-ssi, the Sovereign might suddenly become a filial son, scolding me for disturbing his mother’s slumber…
“In any case, you’re saying Mother is in her chambers, then?”
“That is correct.”
“Do you know when she’ll awaken?”
“I… I am not certain.”
“..Very well, you have done well. I value your service, and shall allow you to dwell here in comfort.”
Thanks to the Sovereign deciding he couldn’t glean any further information from me and losing interest…
“Prepare a place for Mother’s pet to reside.”
“As you command, Sovereign.”
I managed to secure some measure of safety within the vampire’s nest.
“Wait here for a moment, I shall have a haven prepared for you until Mother awakens.”
“Thank you.”
While my temporary abode was being prepared, I would spend awkward moments with the Sovereign here…
“Bring me another human.”
“?”
As soon as he had no further use for me, the Sovereign summoned another human to this place…
“Mama… Mama…”
“I’ll allow you to utter a last testament before you die.”
He began to ask the newly dragged-in young boy for his last words.
Soon after…
“Mama… Mama-ah…”
“You miss your mother, I see. I shall send your mother to you as well soon enough, so go ahead and wait.”
The Sovereign raised his sharp fangs, poised to bite into the boy’s neck without hesitation, and so…
“You mustn’t!”
“…Huh?”
Instinctively, I couldn’t help but halt Nephira Lilithe’s actions.
“N-No, you mustn’t bite…!”
“..Bite? Me? A human? Why ever not?”
“That is…!”
“Didn’t you lot snatch our little ones away, only to kill them? Surely you don’t expect me to abide by some silly ‘don’t eat human children’ logic, do you?”
“..!”
Frankly speaking, the thought of suggesting the old crone over there as a first course… vanished before it could form!
Never!
Absolutely not!
“It’s not that. Lady Isabella… she despises harming humans above all else.”
“..What?”
To protect the crying boy before me, I had to unleash a preemptive strike.
The ‘Your Mother Will Be Upset If You Do That’ gambit, so to speak.
Every ruler I’d witnessed thus far had been dutiful enough to heed their mother’s words.
I held a certain amount of faith in its efficacy.
And, just as I suspected.
“…”
Upon hearing my words, the Liege Nephyra Lilith…
Slowly released the boy she’d been holding, abandoning him before what, why is she striding toward me?
*Clench-*
“Hnghk…!”
How terrifying a pale face could become when consumed by wrath…
The Liege, who had tightly gripped my neck, began to speak to me in a voice brimming with fury.
“Mother resides in her chambers.”
“Ugh…!”
“Mother… detests our harming humans.”
“Kkh…!”
“If even one of those statements is tainted with falsehood, you shall not meet a clean end, pet.”
“!…”
“Whether you are a human who has fortuitously learned Mother’s name, or truly a pet fostered by her… it would behoove you not to overstep your bounds.”
*Thwack-*
“Kkh…!”
The instant I was thrown against the wall, like a discarded ragdoll, I knew.
If I failed to circulate Aether here… I might genuinely perish.
And so, with no other choice.
“Recon…! Silence, unbind…”
With the boy now a designated subject for recon, the Silence skill was lifted.
As Aether began to regenerate within my body once more…
I channeled it throughout my shattered frame, a makeshift scaffold for broken bones, desperately trying to hold my collapsing form together.
“..If Mother does not awaken by tomorrow, I shall open her chambers.”
A stroke of fortune amid misfortune, perhaps.
Nephella Lilith, as if convinced by my, shall we say, persuasive arguments, whirled around and vanished somewhere.
This, of course, left the doppelgangers in a state of awkward indecision, darting their gazes this way and that.
“Send them back… to where they belong.”
“..Who are you, human, to give me orders-.”
“Don’t say things you’ll regret and just hurry it up. Didn’t you see how friendly your lord and I are?”
“..Friendly?”
“Otherwise, how would a normal human be flapping their gums and surviving here? If you were here in my place, do you think you’d have survived?”
“…”
“Just send them back. The kid’s crying.”
I pressed on with brazen confidence, spouting words as if I were someone important.
Indeed.
The thought that no sane doppelganger would dare touch the one who spared even their lord lingered in my mind.
And, should Isabella awaken.
I suspected that even the mama’s-boy lord who seemed to lead this place would treat me with some respect.
So, I admit, there was a certain amount of bluffing involved.
“…Shit.”
The doppelganger, after grumbling that single word, took the remaining hostage to the prison where the others were gathered and then returned here.
“Hey.”
“…”
“Oh? You’re not answering? You’re going to be in *so* much trouble later, you know. Once Mother wakes up, you’re all dead, I swear.”
“…What, why?”
“Why??”
“..Why is that?”
“That’s better. Take me with you.”
“Where… to?”
“To where the hostages are gathered.”
“..Then you should have just asked to be taken along together.”
“A doppelganger… talking back?!”
“..Alright! ..Understood.”
“Just adding ‘yo’ doesn’t make it polite, you insignificant speck.”
How dare a human copy machine try to defy a human who keeps the pinnacle of all creation as a pet.
You’ll listen, that’s right.
Shuffle… shuffle…
“Ahem!”
“…What now… Sir?”
“Escort me with the utmost care! My body aches!”
“…”
“That’s right. I promise, I will most certainly spare your life.”
“Haa…”
Being carried princess-style by a doppelganger wasn’t so bad, after all, it seemed.
“We’ve… arrived.”
“Set me down gently.”
“Understood… sir.”
“This little weasel, tsk. Back in my day, eh? Where do you think you’re going?”
The doppelganger, vanishing before his elder could even impart a little wisdom.
Did you see that disrespectful brat?
Still, I shall highly commend his effort in transporting me all the way here, and personally spare him when Isabella awakens.
Slowly, I turned my neck to regard the hostages… why are you all looking at me with such eyes?
“…Hello?”
“…!”
“!!!”
“P-please, spare me…”
“…I am on your side.”
“Just my life… please just spare my life…”
“I’ll do whatever you want, just please, spare me…”
“…I’m also… a hostage who was captured together with you… Ah, I suppose you wouldn’t have seen me.”
Come to think of it, that was so.
When the hostages were dragged here, I alone was brought in a baggage cart, thus they never had a chance to see my face, and.
Because the doppelganger, with respectful albeit artificial words, treated me as if I were a treasured guest, they would certainly have ample reason to misunderstand my position.
Then…
“Do you wish to live?”
“Yes…!”
“Yes! If you spare us, we’ll do anything…!”
Since I’ve decided to survive in this place.
I too, have decided to do the very best I can.
“Haa… Understood. I will save you all. However…”
“…However?”
“Once you are freed, each of you must pay me 2000 shillings.”
Only, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
“That aside, is there anyone else who happens to have a healing scroll?”
“…Why…?”
“The more healing scrolls you use on me, the higher your chances of survival.”
“I have one…!”
“I have two with me.”
“Right away…!”
*
“My Lord, your arm wound…”
“It is unnecessary.”
I was not able to heal my arm because of the human, who declared himself the pet of her mother.
Vampires, by their very nature, heal wounds through the consumption of human blood…
But since hearing his words, the mere thought made it difficult to mend the injury on my arm.
“However…”
“Pay it no mind.”
“…As you command.”
I dismissed the other vampires, who were concerned about my injury.
Then I sat before my mother’s chambers, and began to sense for her presence.
‘…’
Frankly speaking, I felt nothing.
If I, who inherited her blood most strongly, stronger than any other vampire, could detect no trace…
It was almost certain that Mother wasn’t within the chambers…
Yet the nagging doubt still made me wait.
“…”
After waiting in silence with my eyes closed for a long while…
“…?”
I began to feel it.
A vast presence, arising in the empty chamber.
And at that same instant…
“Hngh… I slept well.”
I heard it.
The voice I longed to hear so desperately… my mother’s voice.
“Mother?”
“That voice… is that Nephir?”
“Mother…! Mother…!!”
“Wait just a moment, dear.”
“Yes…!”
The chamber doors, sealed shut, began to open.
The doors, unlatched for hundreds of years, opened to reveal… the visage of my mother, whom I had awaited for so long, was finally before me once more.
“It’s been a while.”
Tears flowed.
An overwhelming rush of emotion.
The clan’s dream had come to fruition.
Our lost mother had returned.
“Mother… Mother… I’ve missed you so… Mother…”
Some may have entertained the blasphemous thought that she was dead…
But I, for one, never doubted that she would one day return, and as if to reward that faith…
My mother, whose expression rarely wavered, had returned to this place.
However…
“It was good to see you again.”
“Yes! Mother…!”
“But, I’m a little busy right now. I’ll come again later.”
Mother declared, citing business, and prepared to leave immediately.
“…”
How could I, her son, possibly block her path?
I could only… bow my head in accordance with Mother’s will.
“Next time I come, I’ll bring a human with me. Someone I cherish very much.”
Immediately following Mother’s words, I instinctively knew the human was a pet.
“The human you mentioned is already here!”
The brief happiness of being able to stay by Mother’s side a little longer, under the guise of a pet, vanished.
“Bring me the pet this instant!”
She commanded the human be brought here.
“That human is… Mother?”
“…”
The faint fury that began to surface on Mother’s perpetually expressionless face was plain to see.
“Th-the pet is already on their way here…”
“I have never kept anyone as a pet.”
“The human lied…!”
“But, there was someone who became my pet. Someone who loved me so much that I loved them too.”
“..!!”
“So, the human I said I would bring a moment ago was my master.”
“!!!!”
“And… you’re bringing my pet?”
“Th-that… thing…!”
“I suppose I should see who’s coming.”
*‘Bring them with utmost respect…! Please…! Please…!!’*
At this moment…
Whether it be telepathy or mental whispers.
The inability to secretly relay my thoughts to another of our kind, without Mother knowing, was terrifying.