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––Edim’s Perspective

My gait was unsteady thanks to Ortissio.

Haah, haah.

P-, Perhaps I could throw it up. I was exhausted but it would be a hundred times better than continuing like this. I waited until Ortidiot couldn’t see me before forcing a finger down my throat.

Oerghh!

Uu, I’d die if Lady Camilla ever saw me like this. It was disgraceful. But I paid it no heed and threw my guts up. I was so dizzy. I had thrown up all the blood that I could.

It was a blessing that I had thrown up, but now I was lacking blood. I was feeling anaemic. Haah, haah…

This brought back some memories to mind. Specifically when some unpleasant upperclassmen at the academy welcome party had forced me into downing one drink after another.

When I tried to refuse they called me an impudent brat. Had I thrown up like this too, back then…? It wasn’t a pleasant memory. And it wasn’t just the once either. After that day they continued giving me unreasonable requests.

I almost thought of dropping out, but then Jessica got the teachers involved and stopped it. Jessica couldn’t help me now though. I was going to fix this myself.

Damned if I was going down with Ortidiot because of this. Trying to complete the mission in this condition would be a stretch though. Admittedly the mission would have the highest success if I just left the infiltration up to Ortidiot. It would also result in merits for him and demerits for me.

Lady Tilea had given me a direct order.

I’d have no standing in the army any longer if I had given up because I was feeling unwell. Lady Camilla in particular would be disappointed beyond measure… I couldn’t accept that.

This was all Ortidiot’s fault to begin with. Why did I have to go through all this? Why would I have to fail everybody because of him! It was unacceptable.

This meant I only had one choice left. I had to call in help from my kin.

Telepathy, activate!

『Can you hear me, Dalf?』 I asked, 『I need you to depart for here immedia―』
『M-My apologies, Mistress Edim. The encirclement… Sir Ortissio has―』

W-, What have you done now, Ortidiot?

『What’s the matter, Dalf? What did Sir Ortissio do? Explain!』
『I-I sincerely apologise. Sir Ortissio is attacking Jin’s squad and Cass’ squad.』

H-, Haah!? What the f̲u̲c̲k̲ was he doing!? Had he sunk so low as to attack his own allies!?

『Dalf, for now just―』
『I’m sorry, Mistress Edim, Sir Ortissio is headed this way. I must― Guaah! Sir Ortissio, w-, what are you…?』
『D-Dalf? What’s wrong? What happened? Da-』
『Edim, you b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! Why the f̲u̲c̲k̲ are your kin encircling the area? You better not be plotting to steal all the merits!』 came the roar in my mind.

Uu, my head hurts.

Ortidiot had forcefully hijacked Dalf’s transmission.

God, he was such an overbearing b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲. Still, I understood the attack now. So he was suspecting me of monopolising the achievements. What a small-minded r̲e̲t̲a̲r̲d̲. The reason I have them surrounding the mansion is to insure against your failing, idiot.

Obviously I couldn’t just say that though.

『I-, I apologise. I would never consider such a thing. I simply hoped to be of use to you, so I brought them there of my own accord.』
『You don’t understand a thing, Edim. Taking action beyond the scope of the plan will only hinder others.』
『I-, I see.』
『Listen well. My soldiers are perfectly surrounding the estate. There is no role for your kin here. Understood?』
『Yessir. But my kin are already there. Even in a ring surrounding your own troops is fine, so may I deploy them?1』
『Hmm. And I assume they won’t get in the way?』
『Of course, sir. They will be as low-key as possible. So if it’s fine with you…』
『Fine. Then we’ll station your men a kilometer away from here. Their units will fall under my command.』
『Yessir.』

『Also Jin and Cass, was it? Remove them from their units.』
『B-, But why? They’re two of the best warriors in their units.』
『Best warriors? With their meager skills they dared obstruct me and told me that they wouldn’t listen to anyone’s orders but yours.』
『Wha-…』
『Honestly, those cocky little half-demons dared oppose a Division Commander like me. I can only interpret it as contempt for the Evil God Army!』

T-, Those idiots. Now even my loyalty to the Evil God Army would be questioned.

『M-My deepest apologies. I will strictly discipline them.』
『See that you do!』 he said before cutting the transmission.

Anyway, I knew what was going on now.

Haa…

In that case I couldn’t rely on my kin for reinforcements either. Just one little mistake could send Ortidiot into another frenzy.

Telepathy, activate!

『Are you all right, Dalf?』
『Y-, Yes, milady. There is no issue.』
『For now just follow his orders. Pull back a kilometer and then do as Sir Ortissio says. Also have Cass and Jin fall back to headquarters.』
『Is that all right, Mistress Edim? At this rate the encirclement will be controlled by them. If only you so wished we could stage a confrontation and―』
『Y-, You fooool! Stop thinking about useless things and immediately report to Sir Ortissio!』
『U-, Understood.』

After giving Dalf his instructions I tottered towards the estate.

M-, My body felt so heavy. I barely had the strength to walk. I felt like absolute hell. My kin weren’t here. Instead, I had Ortidiot. Could I even break in at this rate? According to my intelligence, the guards numbered only a few hundred, with nobody strong enough to mention.

Ordinarily I could just waltz in and take his head. At the moment I was running on less than 30% of my normal strength, though. If they swarmed me with numbers my stamina wouldn’t hold.

I suppose I had no choice. I wasn’t happy about it, but I could gain entry by being one of Gordon’s girls. Then I’d just ignore the weaklings and go for the prize.

With the plan settled I arrived at the gates. Some guards noticed me and ran over.

“Stop there! What are you doing here at this time? Don’t you know this is Lord Gordon’s private estate?”
“U-Ummm, I was summoned here by Lord Gordon.”

The moment they heard that their expressions turned lecherous.

“I see. He did, did he… But you might be someone suspicious.”
“She might be, she might be. Hehe, perhaps we’ll do a little body check.”

With vulgar faces they moved to take my clothes off.

I-, I’ll kill you! My body belongs to Lady Camilla! It’s not something little f̲u̲c̲k̲s̲ like you can touch!

I almost killed them on reflex… but barely restrained myself from attacking them.

Don’t be hasty, Edim. If you cause a fuss now it’ll turn into a battle with all of them. Your stamina can’t afford it. Think. What else can you do?

“I-Is that okay? Touching me without permission…”
“W-What are you talking about! We were just doing a body search and―”
“Lord Gordon said he liked fresh girls. If I’m dirtied I have to tell him.”
“Wha-!? Are you threatening us!?”
“I’m just stating the facts. Lord Gordon has a short temper, and is especially ruthless with men. If he found out…”
“This is getting bad, bro. If he thought we touched one of his women…”
“Y-, You’re right.”

Phew.

I somehow managed to escape being touched by these wretches. All they needed to do now was lead me to Gordon.

“Tsk. This way, girl.”

I was led straight into the residence. There were mercenaries everywhere. Practically overflowing with guards. The interior was cramped and confusing too. An anti-invasion measure.

From what I’d seen just now I wouldn’t be surprised if rooms ahead were trapped. A frontal assault was out of the question then. I needed to guarantee this by getting them to lead me straight to him.

We continued walking for a while… down the steps of the dungeon.

“In here!”

Wha-, a prison!?

Wasn’t I to be led to the Fiend’s room?

“U-Umm, Lord Gordon summoned me. Why am I being put in a prison?”
“You go to the prison first. Then when Lord Gordon feels like it he’ll call you to his room. You might just be a little girl but we’ve had older female assassins before. You’re wrong if you think we’ll just bring you in.”

Tsk, damned Gordon. Pretty wary of him. Then again his dealings with women had gained himself quite some hatred. There was probably no shortage of women willing to assassinate him.

“Oi.”
“What is it?”
“We never touched you. You won’t get off spouting b̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲ to Lord Gordon, you hear?”

Having said what they wanted, the guards left. Hmph. What a bunch of idiots. By tomorrow there’d be no reason to fear Gordon any more…

Ah, but then I suppose they’d have the demons to fear instead.

“So you were caught too,” one girl said to me.
“I-, It’ll be okay. Captain Remilia will definitely save us,” assured another as she approached me as well.

I was feeling bad enough without listening to this nonsense. But now the women here had all come over and started talking to me. All the noise was getting on my nerves.

Can’t you lot just sit quiet or something?

“Uuuu, save me mama…”
“Ugh, I-I’ll never f-forgive you, Fiend… How d-dare you kill him…”

It was a cacophony of vengeful muttering and crying. Maybe I could just kill them all now! Hm!? Oh right. I could clean my palate with them. I’d get my stamina back too, so it’d be killing two birds with one stone.

I looked over the girls in the cell.

Gordon had gathered a range of them, from little girls to beauties in their middle ages. Quite a difference in age. What an incorrigible deviant. Still, I couldn’t say he had bad taste.

Every person in this room was an incredible beauty.

Huhu, they wouldn’t amount to much mana but with this many beauties to consume my strength was in reach. In that case, the first sacrifice would be…

I scanned the room.

Mn!?

There was a pretty girl in twintails.

Looks like you’re firs-, hang on―

“Jessica!”
“Edim!”
“Y-, You got caught too?”
“Y-, Yeah. Gordon was too much at the town square. So then I stood up to him and then…”

Haah, still playing the good girl as always? I wouldn’t have minded killing her right then, but Jessica was Lady Camilla’s.

“Be still, Jessica.”
“Eh!?”

I brought a knife hand down on the chains binding her. The metal snapped with an audible clang. Obviously I had freed myself of my own long ago.

Even weakened as I was, chains designed for humans could never hold a vampire.

“Hurry up and get out of here.”

You’re Lady Camilla’s property. I’d be damned if I let that Fiend r̲a̲pe̲ you.

“Uu, thank you, Edim!” Large tears began gathering in her eyes.

Whatever, just hurry up and escape already!

“Jessica, forget about thanking me. Hurry up and―”
“Uu, hic, I-I always thought that the Edim I used to know was gone now. But I was wrong. You saved me, Edim. I’m so happy. I’m so happy, Ediim!”

Crying, Jessica hugged me with everything she had.

“Okay, okay, I get it already. And to begin with you’re Cami―”
“Hehe, Miss Tilea was right. Even though you’re a vampire now, your heart turned human again, didn’t it.”

H-, Haa? What the heck was that? Heart turned human? And Miss Tilea?

“Jessica, what do you mean?”
“Ah, well, Miss Tilea said―”

From there she began a summary of her conversation with Lady Tilea.

Apparently she wasn’t aware of the Evil God Army. Well, I was sure that Lady Tilea had some reason for concealing it. All I had to do as her faithful retainer was to try my best to accommodate her desires.

But, Lady Tilea… Isn’t ‘a vampire whose heart is human’ a little too hard!? I mean, I could understand wanting to hide the existence of demons, but Jessica had a good instinct.

I couldn’t imagine that she’d buy into these lies. Ah, but she certainly did believe me for the moment. It was the reality that just saving her had her believing in me.

“U-, Umm, Jessica―”
“Thank goodness, Edim… Thank goodness…”

Ah, I see. It was because she wanted to believe in me. So Lady Tilea was manipulating her emotion by setting up a story like this?

Hmmm… But was there really a point in deceiving Jessica like this? I found it hard to believe that she had all that much value. And even if she did, wouldn’t it be easier to just hold her down and make her one of my faithful kin?

I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand what Lady Tilea was thinking at all.

But there was one thing I did know, and that was that she seemed to want me to be a ‘vampire with a human heart’.

…Then I’d do it. I’d act it out. If Lady Tilea desired it, then as her loyal retainer it was my job to make it happen.

“Uhh, Jessica, it seems I’ve been worrying you. Sorry.”
“You really did have me worried, Edim. You weren’t really coming to school, and I heard you were avoiding everyone too…”
“I really am sorry. The reason was, well, I had a lot to deal with after becoming a vampire, you know? I thought it’d be better to put some space between me and everyone else. But thanks to La—… Miss Tilea, I’ve decided to look forward and keep moving.”
“So that’s what happened. That’s Miss Tilea for you. Mmn, let’s start going to school again together, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Huhu, oh yeah, Edim, John was really worried about you too, you know?”
“U-, Umm…”
“Of course he just sees me as a friend. The one he really liked was you, he said…”

Jessica, from the bottom of my heart, I don’t care.