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Having appeased Jezsere and Zurnalin who were clamoring to hug me to sleep, and Ann, I leaped onto the roof by myself.

The night sky was overcast and dreary, just like my heart. From within my dimensional ring, I pulled out a ruby-red crystal the size of a small apple and began channeling my mana into it. A while later, I sang into it and it started glowing in response. Having done that, I channelled a little more mana into it, causing it to shake, after which it began playing the exact same song I sang…

“I have a pen, I have an apple, ah apple pen. I have a pen, I have pineapple, ah pineapple pen…”

(TL: original lyrics were taken from a Vietnamese song/cover? called Thêm Một Lần Đau. That’s out of my expertise so Pineapple Pen is all you’re getting.)

Oh crap! This recording crystal actually works! A fantasy world version of a voice recorder… I’m leaving it a five-star review! Still… it seems rather rare, given that I only had this single crystal inside. Also… how do I erase that part… someone, tell me quick!

A time of crisis and yet Ferti’nier is nowhere to be found… guess it’s all up to me then…

Without my knowledge, half an hour had passed and I still had no idea how to erase a previous record in the crystal. It was then that Regine popped up, thin nightwear clinging to her toned, beautiful body, golden hair dripping with water…

“Master.”

“Regine… it’s late, don’t you want to get some sleep?”

“I want to accompany Master.”

Regine gently slid herself beside me, her distinct fragrance wafting into my nose, mixed with the refreshing smell of a recent bath.

“Oh, in that case, just give me a second while I settle this…” I continued fiddling with the recording crystal. Unfortunately, no matter how I tugged, scratched, bit or knocked, I couldn’t figure out how to use the crystal.

Seeing me struggle a good while without result, Regine leaned in with both her hands wrapped around my own and whispered, “Master, is that a voice recorder?”

“Mhm.” I gave the crystal a quick spin before saying, “I know what it is, but I just can’t figure out how to work it and it’s giving me a headache.”

“Master, you need to infuse your mana into it.”

“I know, I’ve already tried it.” She seemed to have misunderstood my question, so I decided to infuse my mana into the crystal once more to show her. “I vaguely know how to record, but…”

A second later, I began to regret my choice of actions…

“I have a pen, I have an apple, ah apple pen…”

“…”

“…”

Awkward…

Finally, after an excruciating few seconds, Regine broke the silence. “Mas-ter, I’m assuming you wish to erase that recording?”

I nodded woodenly. “Mhm.”

“I used to be a Thief in the past so I have experience with such rare tools. The recording can be erased. Since the recording is created from the stored mana within, that mana just has to be extracted to erase the sound…”

Hmmm… sounds simple enough. Extract and infuse again.

In a lot of ways, the magical tools in this world were rather simple to operate, they just required Mages to do so. That was one of the main reasons why magical technology wasn’t able to prosper. Take this recording crystal, in order to erase the recording, it not only required a Mage to do so, but that Mage had to have a fine degree of control as well. In other words, not every Mage could afford to use it if they wished to reuse it.

Either way, I was able to erase the song within the crystal under Regine’s guidance. From now on, there would be no talk of pineapples or pens…

“Master, you wish to sing with this?”

“That’s right. I know. How about I let you hear it first?”

“Sure.”

“Here goes nothing then…”

Today’s sun came earlier than it had ever before. With the Undead horde surrounding the village, the villagers were barely able to get any sleep at all, each more tired than the other as they dragged themselves out of their homes, dark rings around their eyes.

When the first ray of sunlight hit me, I gently shook the blonde girl resting by me. Her sleeping face was a sight to behold. The way her mouth was slightly ajar as she breathed in and out was especially alluring. Her faint fragrance was a feast for my senses as I hugged her to sleep last night. And perhaps it was because I was with her, but she seemed to have rested well too. In fact, her frosty demeanour threatened to fall apart as she woke up with a smile on her lips. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but want her to rest a little longer. But the sun had risen, and it was now time to fight.

With the village completely surrounded, there was no avenue of retreat to be had. If the Vampire did not have anything else up his sleeves… No. He had to have something!

Regardless, there was no escaping without a fight now. All I needed now was an excuse to take Nicole away without her hating me.

Under the leadership of Leeder, the villagers had gathered up all the horses and carriages they could find. These were meant to transport the young and elderly in the village. Bandwagons weren’t exactly the most suited for our purposes, but thanks to the hard work of the carpenters, external defenses had been bolted onto the wagons in the form of metal boards and planks. It was a difficult task, but it was all for the children and elderly.

The young men of the village had gathered with simple weapons, some dressed in leather armor. Those who weren’t armored wore more layers of clothes than usual. Even though a layer or two of hemp clothing wasn’t going to change much in the battle, it at least gave them some degree of comfort.

So… the question now was… should I leap off the roof while hugging Regine?

As I seriously pondered this question, Regine began to stir, rubbing her eyes gently as she murmured, “mmm… Master? Is it dawn?”

“Mhm.”

Judging by the sun, it was probably five to six in the morning now. The villagers below were all hustling and bustling about like a bunch of worker ants. As the men prepared themselves for battle, the women helped to pack up all the valuables.

To be honest, Leeder was an admirable leader. Under his leadership, the villagers had gone about their work efficiently. If only… Bah. I’ll just head down to say hi first.

I leapt off the roof with Regine in my arms then slowly approached the man. Upon spotting me, he stiffened a little, which was only to be expected, seeing as I slaughtered dozens of his comrades not too long ago. Even now, I still did not know how I was going to explain that to the family of the deceased.

Leeder promptly lowered his head. “Good morning, sir, what are your orders?”

“Nothing in particular, I just wanted to have a look.” I swept my eyes across the busy villagers, spotting a number of unaccompanied children on carriages. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in my heart then. “Those children…”

Leeder immediately knew what I was referring to. He solemnly nodded his head and answered, “are all the children of my brothers… Even… if they are no longer here, I cannot just leave their offspring to die in the village…”

“I see…” I let out a long sigh, my heart a maelstrom of emotions right now. If I hadn’t killed those bandits, they would have gone on to rob more innocents. At the same time, those bandits that I killed had their own families as well… Sigh…

Seeing me silent for a while, Leeder first looked around before boldly asking, “Sir, do you think our escape will work?”

“It will!:

Of course, it would work. It was just a matter of whether those villagers would be with us when we escaped. I couldn’t be sure how many of them would escape successfully, but I couldn’t show the slightest hint of hesitation in front of them. That was the only way I could get them to agree to my plans. At that point, their opinion on this matter wouldn’t matter.

As I spent more time in this world, I was beginning to understand how much being powerless was a curse and a sin at the same time…

Still, Leeder was visibly comforted by my confidence, revealing a smile of his own in the process. “Sir, once we’ve successfully escaped, where should we go to live? After all, our village is…”

“Where is not an issue as long as we have money.”

I knew how bad their financial situation was at the moment. That was why when he asked that question, I generously pulled out a wooden chest from my dimensional ring to back my words. The chest wasn’t locked so its lid came off when the chest banged against the ground. At the same time, it spat out a bunch of gold coins…

Without wasting anymore words, I kicked open the lid, revealing an almost blinding pile of gold.

“Gold… so much gold…”

Having been presented with a miraculously large pile of gold, the villagers, including Leeder, all had on a blank-faced stare as if they were under some sort of spell.

To the villagers of Lyon who hadn’t been out of their village much, such a pile of gold was even more shocking than the Vampire’s invasion. A number of them rubbed their eyes and smacked themselves, just in case this was a dream of some sort. In fact, there were even those who were drooling…

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“It’s Granny Adele…”

A number of villagers gasped in surprise when the old lady walked out of the crowd. Given her age, it was a miracle in of itself that she had survived during the Undead horde’s initial push. Yet here she was, standing before them in a time of indecision.

Based on how she was acting, this granny clearly wasn’t here to help either. Even though Nicole wasn’t too happy about siding with Devils, there was no other choice right now. That was why she sided with me for now. “Granny, what’s your opinion on this matter?”

The old lady known as Granny Adele revealed an almost toothless grin and said, “Granny doesn’t have too many opinions left to share, but she just doesn’t know if those Devils can be trusted.”

Her intent was clear at this point. She was here to stir up trouble and that meant I needn’t hold back either.

“Ever since I’ve come to this village, I have never harmed a single villager. In fact, I have even helped to slay that Vampire. It might have been a failure, but I have never asked for any form of compensation despite our efforts. Is that still not enough to prove my sincerity?”

Having said that, a number of villagers fell silent as well. Everything I had said so far was true. Had it not been for Umbra’s Undead, we would have already left the village. In other words, while I might have been an Occultist, I hadn’t harmed them yet and had even saved them… at least that would have been so if the Vampire we slayed wasn’t Umbra’s substitute. Either way, these were all beneficial acts to the village and anyone with eyes could see that, barring that aunty.

“Little missy, I know you haven’t harmed the village, that’s why I’m also willing to believe you. But… those Undeads outside our village have to be dealt with… there’s no choice in this matter.”

While she might not have said so directly, her meaning couldn’t be any clearer. For the sake of the village, she wanted us to leave the village. In other words, she would rather believe that Vampire’s promise of forgiving the village’s transgressions.

What the heck, she would rather trust that bloodsucker than me?

In actuality, her actions weren’t as absurd as they seemed. A Vampire was a lot easier to believe than a Devil. A Vampire was basically a stronger human except that it had to drink blood to survive. It only had to drink blood from a single person each day, not like a Devil who ate the entire Human whole. Furthermore, Vampires were afraid of sunlight…

Sunlight! That’s right! That Vampire gave us 24 hours to decide, meaning we could just flee with the villagers during the day.

But is the solution really so simple? There’s no way that Vampire doesn’t know of his own weakness, not unless he’s a moron, and he clearly isn’t. If he dared to propose such a timeframe, he probably has some form of countermeasure as well.

Bah. At this point, all I can do is hope that he’s being careless…

“Everyone, listen to me!” While Granny Adele’s words might have caused a stir amongst the villagers, I was fortunately able to suppress their murmurings by magnifying my voice with mana. “Listen to me for a second. I’m sure everyone knows by now that Vampires are afraid of sunlight. What I’m proposing is this: if that Vampire breaks his word and tries to attack us before daylight, all of us will leave without argument. But if that Vampire doesn’t attack us, we can just flee the village together during the day!”

Having heard the entirety of the plan, Granny Adele nodded her head first, a sign that she recognised the feasibility of this idea. However, she soon shook her head and said, “but little missy, Vampires might be afraid of sunlight, but those Undead can still fight in the day. With so many villagers to evacuate, that plan might not work out too well.”

“The Undead might be able to fight during the day, but their strength will still be weakened. Furthermore, our numbers might be low, but everyone of us is a fighting force to be reckoned with. Escorting everyone shouldn’t be an issue.” If I had to be perfectly honest, those words were like an encouragement for me as well. Could I honestly be blamed for that? My original intentions were to leave with Nicole, and Ann as well. While this might not be too fair for the villagers, the only people I really cared about barring those following me were Nicole and Neneth. For the sake of Nicole, I was more than willing to set aside my conscience. Unfortunately, Nicole was adamant on saving the villagers, so here I was risking my life as well.

Because that Vampire had offered to forgive the village if we left, there was now an invisible rift between us and the villagers. They had naively chosen to believe that Vampire without realising that the whole reason for their despair was that Vampire in the first place!

I swear. The way they treat their saviors is just… I’ve really had it with them!

But what was really concerning now was that the blasted thing did not even react when I amplified my voice just now. Given how much mana I had put into the spell, there was no way he didn’t hear me. Yet he hadn’t shown any signs of acting yet. Was he really not afraid of the sunlight? Or did he have some sort of trump card left to play? I had no way of answering these questions, and probably wouldn’t be able to until daybreak.

Naturally, I wasn’t foolish enough to reveal my inner thoughts right now. But it had to be said that them chasing us out honestly worked better for me. I could just drag Nicole along with me now, but there was no telling how Nicole would react. That was the only reason why I was even bothering to argue with these villagers.

Still, my words were beginning to show effect. At the end of the day, the whole reason why we were even in this mess was because we wanted to save the village, and not everyone in the village was an ungrateful cur. Upon realising that this daytime plan was feasible, a large portion of them calmed down somewhat. Even Granny Adele was lightly nodding her head.

Seeing that everything was going according to plan, I decided to strike while the iron was hot. “Besides, we shouldn’t forget that that Vampire is still a creature of darkness. Without us to protect the village, Lyon would have to live under his shadow, and everyday a single villager would end up being taken away to feed him. Given time, everyone will end up as fodder for his fangs.”

Because the Devil I summoned did not go on a rampage, and also because I hadn’t harmed any villagers yet, the majority of the villagers came to believe in me. Upon hearing my analysis of the situation, more and more of them began to consider the scenario I laid out.

Under the leadership of Granny Adele, the villagers continued discussing the idea until the decision was made to wait till day.

Right now, there were still a few hours left to dawn. It was summer right now and the nights weren’t as bitterly cold as winter. However, who would choose to spend the night outdoors when they had a comfy home to return to? Even though the villagers were still worried that Umbra might suddenly launch an attack on them, spending the night outside wasn’t feasible either. The adults could still cope with the weather, but the young and elderly could easily fall sick in such conditions. With the plan set out, the villagers left for their homes to wait for sunlight.

As for those who died when the Undead were herding them, there were only whispers of short condolences and the crying of their loved ones to mark their passing. After all, the village was still in a state of emergency. No one had time for funerals or grieving in such a situation -they could very well be the next one to join the deceased…

“Phew…” I let out a long sigh of relief… Gone, at last.

My mind was set at this point. In all likelihood, that Vampire had some plan to stop us from fleeing. But to me, whether or not he did was irrelevant. A hundred Seven-stars and Eight-stars could easily cleave a path through the Undead. At that point, I could just simply whisk Nicole away with me. As for those villagers… I’ll try to protect them, but that’s all you guys are getting I’m afraid. If it’s any consolation, I will at least put forth my best, though I will still abandon you guys for Nicole…

There was still some time till dawn. After a round of discussion, we decided to return to our rooms to rest. Guard duty would be handled by the Assassins.

Yet the more quiet the night was, the more uneasy I was. Umbra’s confidence couldn’t have just been overconfidence. Just based on how he immediately prepared a substitute for himself upon returning to his base, it was clear that this Vampire was a cautious one.

On the other hand, that also meant he really wasn’t going to attack us for the next 24 hours… Blast, what is he even thinking? Why is he even trying to get the villagers to chase us away? Isn’t it faster to just roll in his army and overwhelm us? And who even trusts a Vampire anyway?!

I continued griping to myself all the way till I reached the second floor of Leeder’s home. I shook my head at Nicole who was still waiting for an explanation, telling her that now really wasn’t the time for such matters. To my surprise, she accepted my refusal and left with Neneth.

Just like that, I entered my own room under the escort of Jezsere and Zurnalin. As for Regine… she had worked up a decent sweat so she was off to take a shower…