Chapter 125: Fading Skeins of Thread (2)

It turned out, only the entry requirements were strange, and the place this unknown Vampire led Sae-Jin and Rejen into was a warm and normal house found in any typical countryside village. There was a comfortable couch set and a nice little coffee table in the living room; in the kitchen, a pot was quietly simmering away while a delicious aroma wafted out from it.

“Please, take a seat,” said the Vampire while taking off the robe.

And Sae-Jin was surprised slightly. The gloomy and vague voice coming out from the robed figure definitely belonged to an old man, but the revealed face was that of a stunningly beautiful woman.

When the ash-grey coloured hair and pale white skin were added to that gorgeous facial features, he even felt a certain mysterious attractive charm that was uniquely a part of this non-human being.

“It’s an enchanted robe. It’s possible to manipulate body types, voices, as well as wrinkles on the lower part of the face with this robe.”

His questions got answered pretty quickly. The Vampire leaked out a small grin before heading off to the kitchen to serve the guests.

“Would you like some tea?” (Nosferatu Vampire)

Sae-Jin took a glance towards Rejen. She hadn’t said anything until now, but it was enough to understand her intentions after seeing her ears twitching and her nostrils flaring involuntarily. She was saying, Gimme that nice-smelling tea already!!

“We would.” (Sae-Jin)

He had to ever-so-slightly wonder whether it was smart to have a nice, relaxing cup of tea in this place, but then again, he thought it should be fine since he didn’t sense any type of hostility coming from this Vampire.

“Alright, please wait for a moment or two.”

Three minutes later, the female Vampire returned with a tray carrying three cups of tea.

“This is a type of tea that doesn’t exist in our society, so we very rarely drink it.”

Almost immediately, Sae-Jin stopped just short of taking the first sip. If it’s something that didn’t exist among this particular Vampire society, that could only mean…

“It’s not blood, so you can relax and drink it.”

“…Keum.”

Somewhat embarrassed now, Sae-Jin quickly took a sip. It was unexpectedly delicious. It was perhaps even more so for Rejen, since her tail began to sway side to side ever so gently, as if a mountain breeze was blowing around here. Sae-Jin had the urge to reach out and pat that thing.

However, he knew well enough this wasn’t the right time enjoy such a relaxing tea time.

He put the cup down and hardened his expression.

“By the way. Don’t we have something else to discuss first?” (Sae-Jin)

“…Yes. Actually, we’ve been waiting for you.” (Nosferatu Vampire)

Sae-Jin took a glance at the calendar placed on top of the coffee table. There was a cute little circle drawn over today’s date, 4th of May.

‘Did they know beforehand I am coming here today?’

“Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Lillia von Nosferatu. I am in charge of this sanctuary,” said Lillia, as she met Sae-Jin’s gaze head-on.

Her eyes were the colours of blood, just like every other Vampire. But, unlike them, there was overflowing vitality present within those eyes which made him think of a pair of vivid rubies instead.

“We, the tribe of Nosferatu, wish to cooperate with you, Mister Kim Sae-Jin.” (Lillia)

Her attitude while saying these words out aloud was quite relaxed and laid back. Since this was something Sae-Jin had been expecting, he didn’t show a big reaction, either.

“Your reasons are?” (Sae-Jin)

“It’s simple. Unlike other Vampires, we’re quite satisfied with living on this planet.” (Lillia)

“…Did you coax my mother like this, as well?” (Sae-Jin)

A really faint smile stealthily crept up on her lips.

“Not really. She… personally saw the future.” (Lillia)

“What do you mean by that?” (Sae-Jin)

“You’ll learn its meaning later on, by yourself.” (Lillia)

“…”

What a puzzling thing to say. He couldn’t understand what she was trying to imply there.

“I’ve no idea what the heck you mean by that, but… You sure about cooperating with me?” (Sae-Jin)

“Yes.”

“Then, spit it out. Tell me everything about what Vampires are planning to do. Also, what types of underhanded methods they are going to use.” (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin crossed his legs and leaned back on the couch in a slight display of arrogance. However, Lillia didn’t seem to be offended by this and she simply continued on.

“Firstly, I hope you know what a Fissure is.” (Lillia)

“The gap, a space, between two worlds.” (Sae-Jin)

“Yes, correct. However, when a Fissure opens past to a certain extent, it changes into a portal of sorts. This portal is a separate, unstable miniature world, created when two planes of existence meet and intermingle. Inside this portal, the fabric of space and time loses all meaning, and is completely tangled up in a mess. Other Vampires are planning to use this portal to return to their former world – or, more correctly, return to the past version of their former world.” (Lillia)

“But what are they hoping to achieve by doing that? Even if they do return to the past, isn’t that world still facing the destructio… Ah?!” (Sae-Jin)

A lightbulb went off inside Sae-Jin’s head. Lillia lightly nodded her head.

“Yes. They are hoping to return to the past and stop the end of the world from occuring in the first place. But, the odds of their success are simply far too low. Too long a time has passed by, and that plan won’t succeed anymore. It’s nothing more than a perverse obsession of the foolish Vampires who are in denial about their rapidly fading chances of success.” (Lillia)

Lillia stopped talking and sipped her tea.

“However, we, the Nosferatus, are different from them. We have already come to accept the reality of the situation. Already, we…” (Lillia)

She stared at Sae-Jin with her eyes wide open. It was as if she was trying to recall the fading memories of her past through him.

“…We have seen many things, heard many things, and crucially… have met the ‘saviour’, too.” (Lillia)

Even before Lillia could finish her sentence, Sae-Jin activated the Eyes of the Wolf. Her shoulders quaked visibly when she saw his irides suddenly narrow to a slit. She instinctively sensed a specific, species-unique terror in that moment.

“You aren’t lying, that’s for sure.” (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin couldn’t spot any hostile intentions from her. All he could spy on, was her desire to continue living in this current world.

“Alright. In that case, what should we do to bring about the end to their schemes?” (Sae-Jin)

“….”

Lillia produced a worn-out notebook from her inner pocket. There were fading letters visible on the corner of this book that read, “….diary…”

“It’s not possible to stop the portal from opening up with what this world possesses in terms of battle power. That is why, we need to increase the military strength of the world, and prepare to match what the incoming situation will potentially bring.” (Lillia)

She pulled out a crooked piece of a scale from the pages of the notebook. Seeing this, Sae-Jin’s eyes widened in shock.

“Hey, that thing is…” (Sae-Jin)

“But before all that, there is something we need to do now – to get rid of the biggest stumbling block in our immediate future – to kill Bathory.” (Lillia)

Lillia placed the scale on the coffee table. He was right. Although it was dried up and didn’t look too impressive now, seeing that colour of the ocean still reflecting off of it, without a doubt, this was the scale of a Leviathan.

“Please, take this with you. If you swallow this when you encounter Bathory, you will attain enough power to defeat her.” (Lillia)

“……”

Sae-Jin forgot to say something. If they knew about this scale, then that meant she, or maybe even the other Nosferatus, knew about his Trait as well.

“However, there is a chance that this one alone won’t be enough, so…” (Lillia)

Lillia then produced a crystallised stone of some kind. It was a marble-shaped item, and strange Mana could be felt undulating from both inside and outside.

“Please, allow us to aid you when you’re going to ‘restrain’ her.” (Lillia)

There was a thin line curving upwards drawn on her lips.

****

The body length, 2.3 metres. The body weight: undeterminable, due to the scales that were harder than the finest mithril densely covering his body.

Normally, resembling a puppy dog with ears pressed back, but when frowning, rather scary to look at. Currently, referred to as the Azure Dragon, or as the guardian of the East Sea. Also, the object of worship after a new cult called ‘The Blue Dragon of the Endless Oceans’ was created not too long ago.

…This was the resume of Kim Sae-Jin the Leviathan. The world was deeply interested in the rapid, daily growth of the Leviathan. It was to the extent that when the Azure Dragon hid itself from the world for a bit, the government formed a special investigation team called ‘Azure Dragon Observation Team’ to find out why.

Splash, splash, splash…

At this very moment, Sae-Jin was swimming in the sea after what seemed like ages. And right by his tail, a lone bat was busy flapping its wings and openly followed him. It seemed that, this little thing was either the Bathory woman’s ‘tool’, or some sort of a pet.

‘That Bathory girl wishes to make the Azure Dragon her pet. However, since her lackeys failed the last time, there is a big possibility that she won’t entrust the capture to her people and personally take action. You need to seize that chance.‘

After recalling Lillia’s words, Sae-Jin deliberately shook his tail and splashed around as if he was playing around. He even tried to shake his a*s a bit – since, that seemed like a sure fire way to make Bathory do something, anything, even if it’s her swallowing down her saliva or some such.

‘She’s not coming, though…’

But as if she was exercising caution, or maybe even her subordinates desperately stopping her, unexpectedly Bathory did not show up. Only people he ran into, were a bunch of cameras from a cruise full of tourists, and a couple of deep-sea fishing yachts.

“Hmm.”

It seemed that today wasn’t the fated day. Sae-Jin winked at a certain blonde Elf lady who was busy taking his pictures and dived underwater.

*

At the same time.

“Ah!! Look, look!! It’s gone!!” (Bathory)

Stomping on her feet repeatedly, Prillani Bathory couldn’t endure it anymore and let out an exasperated shout. The scene reflected on the surface of a crystal ball in front of her showed a calm surface of the ocean.

“I should’ve gone there!!” (Bathory)

“…There are just too many witnesses in the East Sea, my lady. That is why…”

“In that case, you should have carried out your job properly back then!!” (Bathory)

As a Monster enthusiast, Bathory found it very tough to get a hold of herself after seeing the much-more cute and coquettish Yong-Yong which hadn’t been seen for almost the whole month. That ‘name’ was personally created by Bathory herself.

She so desperately wanted to bring Yong-Yong home and pat that chubby rear immediately…

“My apologies.”

“Do you think I’m trying to fulfil some selfish wish of mine or something, huh? I’m only doing this, because when we tame Yong-Yong, our plans will become so much smoother to carry out, you know? Seriously, Yong-Yong is hundred times better than those useless Boss Monsters that get killed as soon as they appear….”

Afterwards, Bathory continued to grille her underlings for another hour or so. No matter how many times the hapless goons kowtowed and groveled before her, her hysteria didn’t want to die down. However, without this lone hobby of hers, there would be nothing left to appease her boredom, other than wanton destruction and sadistic torture…

****

[The Wizard of Bangbae-Dong has declared on his blog that he will publish the corrected versions of the grimoires containing the “C-grade” spells “Shadow Conversion” and “Reflection Glass” very soon.]

[He initially said he will favour the Wizard Towers based in Korea when he’s going to sell the grimoires, but now, it is understood that several overseas Wizard Towers are fiercely opposing this.]

[Also, the son of the High Elf Wizard Forden who are credited with inventing the original spells, Crystel Forden, is enraged by the fact the spells created by his ancestors are being changed without the family’s approval and thus is seeking appropriate compensation….]

As soon as Sae-Jin stepped into his house, he heard these words from a news programme, coming from the TV. He groaned slightly as he entered the living room.

“Oh, Oppa, you are home?” (Yu Sae-Jung)

Yu Sae-Jung was focusing on the news – probably because, it was about the Wizard that was making a lot of waves of late.

“Why would a Lady Knight pay so much attention to a measly Wizard, I wonder?” (Sae-Jin)

He spoke leisurely and pulled Yu Sae-Jung into an embrace.

“Well, I might be a Knight, but I’m also the only child of the Dawn, you know. I can’t afford to miss news stories like this.” (Yu Sae-Jung)

“…But, doesn’t the Dawn’s intelligence guys know all of this already?” (Sae-Jin)

“But that’s from the Dawn’s perspective. With news programmes, you can find out what the public thinks.” (Yu Sae-Jung)

It was then, a graceful middle-aged Elf lady showed up on the TV screen. It seemed that it was time to interview the expert on the matter.

[Colleen Rex, Professor of the School of Wizardry, A-class Wizard affiliated with the Seoul Wizard Tower.]

– He’s a genius. It might sound like an easy notion to weed out inconsistencies and enhance an existing spell’s effects, but in reality, it’s just as hard as inventing brand new spells. Well, Knights and Wizards who have circulated Mana at least once before will know what I’m talking about. Taking in that point, although we don’t know who this Wizard of Bangbae-Dong is, he is definitely one of the most outstanding geniuses in the world.

– Then, in your considered opinion, just how far will this Wizard reach in the near future?

– Hmm… As you may well know, the world of Wizardry is separated into field application and theoretical studies. In the school of ‘theory’… he might easily exceed A-class.

– But, exceeding A-class, isn’t that the territory of the Grand Wizards?

– Hohoho… Is that right?

“What do you think, Oppa?” (Yu Sae-Jung)

Yu Sae-Jung suddenly asked him.

“A, about what?” (Sae-Jin)

“No, well. About that Wizard of Bangbae-Dong. I heard that magic spells he corrected now number ten and that it’s almost like new spells have been invented, since the spells’ powers increased by the maximum of double the original. That’s a huge deal, almost as big as business transactions of a single quarter for a Wizard Tower.”

“Oh, really? But still, isn’t this… a bit too much brouhaha over nothing?” (Sae-Jin)

Yu Sae-Jung’s eyes sharply narrowed as if she couldn’t believe what she just heard.

“What the, what do you mean by that, a brouhaha? Uh-whew. Oppa, seriously now – you gotta educate yourself a bit more.”

Seeing her shake her head like that, he suddenly didn’t feel all that nice. Before he hit the books, it seemed that he needed to ‘punish’ her first…

“…Just because you go to the Korea University, that doesn’t make looking down on people a cool thing to do.” (Sae-Jin)

“No, it’s not like that. It’s common sens… Kkyack!!”

Sae-Jin turned the TV off and pushed her down on the couch. And then, as she tried to utter the words of apology with a crimson face, he blocked her mouth with his lips.

“Wait, I’ve got a ton of things… to… do… No, I need to… go… Ah. Aang… Heu.. aang…!” (TL: Aang? Need to *smirks* bend some stuff? Oh, alright. I’ll stop…)

She tried to escape from his grasp by throwing a tantrum, but everytime she did that, Sae-Jin found a way to conquer each of her erogenous zones in brilliant strategic manoeuvres.

Before long, the lights were off, and their clothes formed a small heap on the floor.

Creak, creak, creak…

And also… Accompanied by the constant creaking of the couch’s frame, the pleasured, blurred moans filled up the living room.

< 36. Fading Skeins of Thread (2) > Fin.