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The effect of the gold coins was as good as I had hoped for, so I quickly closed the lid back on the chest. Sweeping my eyes across their disappointed faces, I couldn’t help but sneak in a grin. “I’m sure it will be difficult living in a new environment, but worry not. As long as we successfully make it out of this place, I will divide up this chest to everyone equally, even the young and old.”

There were at least a few thousand gold coins in this chest, from a quick count. Based on what I knew of a gold coin’s purchasing power, that was probably a few hundred thousand dollars worth of money right there. But even if our escape was a success, there would be casualties…

So… if more people died, the more gold coins each person gets… Meaning that even if someone were to die along the way, those alive could at least take solace in the fact that their share of gold would increase… maybe some of the more extreme amongst them might wish that more died…

Yup. Sounds about right. Anyway, as long as those villagers do their best to break through the siege of the Undead, I’m sure even Nicole will have no reason to object. It’s just a matter of how many of them survive in the end… probably not a lot?

Naturally, all that was prerequisite on the Vampire not having a means of immobilizing us. Vampires were afraid of sunlight, and even if his Lycans could act in daylight, it’s not like they would be at full power like they would have been at night.

Speaking of sunlight, why does it feel like today’s sun is missing something? Missing something… what the heck am I even saying… probably just my imagination…

With the prospect of gold on the horizon, the villagers of Lyon were noticeably more motivated as they went about their work. In just a short span of three hours, the majority of the preparations had been completed, not that there was much to carry with them in the first place. The children and elderly had all boarded their wagons and carriages while the men took up guard on the flanks. The defenseless housewives followed closely behind the wagons. Hopefully with those wagons as a front, they shouldn’t meet too much trouble. If there had to be an issue now, it would be my confidence… this is going to work, I think…

“Master…” Jezsere’s uneasy voice came echoing from a distance away as she ran towards me, most likely startled when she woke up to find me missing from her side.

With her arrival, came Jill, holding onto our newest addition, Ann, then Zurnalin, Reyage, Nicole and Neneth.

“There, there. Did you sleep well last night?”

I smiled and spread my arms wide open to receive her. “Master is a big liar…”

“No way. I just had some matters to take care of, that’s all.” Even though it was kind of mean to just leave her alone like that, Regine needed my company more. Sorry, my little white rabbit…

Zurnalin, on the other hand, was more silent than Jezsere. She merely glared in my direction, giving me the goosebumps. She’s not going to just jump me all of a sudden right?

“Master, the preparations are done.” Regine called out while leading Mo Ning along with her from the stables.

Upon seeing me, Mo Ning broke away from Regine, trotted up to me, then nuzzled against me and gave me a couple of licks on the face. However, I quickly pushed her away. “All right, all right. We need to settle the matter at hand first.”

Being the reasonable horse that she was, she was still level-headed enough to know that now really wasn’t the time for being affectionate. Thus, she backed away a couple of steps and took up position behind me.

“Ahem.” I amplified my voice before clearing my throat to grab their attention. As expected, the villagers all turned their heads towards me in unison. By now, our preparations were mostly sorted out and breakfast was about half an hour ago. Everyone was nervous as you would expect. Most people reacted with anxiety when faced with such uncertainty, though there were those who were more distracted by the gold. Thankfully, I already had the Assassins scour the ground for any stray gold coins, lest a riot suddenly broke out.

Taking into account the direction in which the Vampire left and that he would probably be asleep right now, we decided to break through the north side of the village. And if we were lucky, we might stumble upon his coffin along the way. Hopefully… we can roast him to a nice doneness this time.

With everyone ready, it was now time to break through the siege.

For the most part, the plan was pretty self-explanatory. My hundred Assassins would act as the spearhead while my summoned Devils would protect the villagers. Until these Devils all died out, the men protecting the carts wouldn’t act.

Naturally, there was nothing more motivational than good old cash. That was why I decided to speak to them one last time before setting off. “Even though the future ahead after breaking through the Undead is unknown, staying behind is certain death. I vow to protect everyone here to the best of my abilities. And as long as we succeed, I will divide up that chest of gold equally to everyone. Mark my words!”

“Wooaahhh!”

It was said that gold clouded the mind, but were these villagers truly so simple? In actuality, that wasn’t true. It was just that I had infused my little speech with some psychic magic to persuade some of the less strong-willed amongst them.

Ever since I found out that I won’t gain any more abilities from evolving, I started to seek out Ferti’nier for lessons. Thus began my journey of self-learning. Honestly, with my three Original Sins and Lucifer’s own bloodline, I was pretty much a genius at this point. My learning speed was quite impressive, and if it wasn’t for Ferti’nier always siphoning away a large amount of my souls, I would have been a Seven-star by now.

My own mana reserves were nothing to scoff off. Even with a small amount of psychic magic infused into my words, that was enough to send the villagers into an excited frenzy.

Unlike the villagers, however, Nicole had noticed me using psychic magic. But she knew that I was just trying to raise their morale and stimulate their desire to live. In the end, she kept quiet about my little display of underhandedness because it was all for the greater good… Well, that’s a good start, at least…

“Aren’t you guys a lively bunch? So what’s the occasion? A feast of some sort?” A decidedly out-of-place voice abruptly cut into the cheering with its annoying yet strangely familiar tone…

Hold on… that voice… I whipped my head around to check. There stood five humanoids, with the most prominent amongst them dressed in the typical garb of a Vampire. He was a blonde-headed youth with a pale countenance, devoid of any blood whatsoever. When he smiled, he revealed a pair of fangs that glittered in the sun… Umbra… that’s Umbra!

“…”

I silently lifted my head to look at the sky. It was still there… So what is that guy doing here? What the heck?

“Don’t bother, even I’m amazed as well.” Umbra arrogantly smiled back at me. “No matter how many times I look up, I’m always taken aback by how the sun feels on my skin. It’s like I’ve been reborn.”

Reborn, huh? So you do know you used to be a human.

But when he said no matter how many times… this isn’t his first time then? No way. This may be my first time encountering a Vampire in the Western Human Realms, but according to the lore on Earth, Vampires face certain death under the sun. Not unless they sparkled, of course… Maybe Umbra is the sparkling kind of Vampire?

With regards to Vampire lore, there was no one present more proficient than Nicole, a professional Demon Hunter. With that in mind, I turned towards Nicole but found her just as stunned as I was. In other words, they were supposed to die in the sunlight!

So why was this Vampire immune then? Was I missing something…missing something… Wait… didn’t the sun feel like it was missing something…

“What did you do to the sunlight? No, what kind of magical tool are you using?!”

“As expected of the girl I chose, your mind reacts quickly.” Umbra flashed me a lewd grin, proof that I was at least on the right track even if it wasn’t the whole truth. He then began to explain his methods calmly, as if to lord his superiority over us.

“An Anti-light Barrier. It blocks out the portion of the sunlight that is harmful to us Bloodkin. It’s a barrier we developed after tens of thousands of years of research. You should feel honored; this is the first time we’ve employed it. How is it? Stunning, right? Now that the noble Bloodkin possess a means to bask in the sunlight, there’s no one who can stop us now! Humans, you are all our food!”

Back on Earth, I had once watched a film that said Vampires were afraid of ultraviolet light. If that was the case here, then that barrier was an anti-radiation spell.

Looking around, I found that the Undead were not affected by the sun as well, meaning its radius most likely covered the entire battlefield.

But how big was it, actually? Depending on the size, it might even be enough to cover an entire city. If that was true… a Vampire could really function in the day as well. Given time, they might even discover a method of miniaturization that was portable… Humankind would face the same fate as cattle then…