Chapter 88: The Vampire

And so, Kargato had to endure the experience of watching his entire race being stolen away with his eyes wide open.

He tried desperately to resist, but an unprepared shaman is powerless.

Kargato had no choice but to disappear into the cold plains with a vow of endless revenge.

Without knowing of a young girl who hid beneath his shadow.

Shane purposely let Kargato live.

It wasn’t time to kill him yet if he wanted to give the Princess full credit.

“Well then, shall we get to the main point?”

“Messenger, what do you plan to do?”

“The humans won’t be able to reach this place.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve already made my move. But first, I need to meet the vampire.”

“Are you sure about that? She is…”

“It’s fine. I’ve already thought it through.”

Vampires were a dangerous race.

Didn’t they reduce Urbulak, the orcs’ former homeland, to ashes overnight with just a handful of them?

It was uncertain whether Shane could handle even one of them if they went berserk.

However, Shane was not without a plan.

“This time, I’ll be the one holding the upper hand.”

With that, Shane headed toward the temple.

***

A dark space where nothing could be seen.

In this place, where not a sliver of light could enter, a girl sat trembling with a face full of fear.

Her silver hair gleamed like the moon in the night sky and her skin was paler than the snowfields of Arunvida.

Her red eyes were the same color as blood running through her veins, and they showed no trace of will.

The orcs had been using her to awaken their magical powers, forcing her to feed on them and then extracting her blood.

They learned to harness magic by drinking that blood.

But blood was life itself for a vampire, and each time they drained her, the girl endured the agony of having her flesh torn away.

She had suffered that pain for hundreds of years.

Now, she no longer had the strength to writhe in agony, and only lifelessness remained in her eyes.

Why did she have to suffer like this?

She had thought about this question countless times, but the young vampire who was kidnapped when she was too young to remember had no way of finding the answer.

“……”

Shane looked at the girl’s back and felt a sense of kinship.

This was the imprisoned girl’s mental world.

The world she had created was nothing more than an empty, black space.

It meant that, to her, nothing remained in her memory.

Even in his past life, Shane had never experienced anything like this.

Unlike Shane, who at least had someone to talk to, this young girl had endured hundreds of years alone in this pitch-black space while fearing the pain that could come at any moment.

Who could possibly understand the agony felt during those endless years?

The only person who could understand the girl before him was Shane. Only he could.

But Shane didn’t come here to save the girl in front of him.

Shane reminded himself of that and opened his mouth to speak.

“Do you want to leave?”

“Who…?”

The girl didn’t know human language, or even the concept of language itself, but such logic didn’t apply in a mental world.

“Do you want to escape from this place, filled only with pain?”

“Ah…”

Her eyes which were colored like thick stagnant blood widened in surprise.

Another existence—something she had never encountered in her life.

To the girl, whose entire world had been this black space and constant suffering, this experience was a first, and she seemed too shocked to respond for a while.

Shane patiently waited for her to speak.

He couldn’t claim to fully understand all the emotions the girl was feeling, but he knew them well enough. He had gone through a similar experience before.

“Does something like ‘outside’ really exist?”

Shane nodded his head in response to the girl’s question, who had not yet established a proper concept of the world.

“There’s a much more colorful world out there.”

“Is it as painful as this place?”

“Well, that depends on you. But unlike here, you won’t face pain without reason.”

“Ah…”

At that, a small tear welled up in her eyes and soon trailed down her cheek.

Why was she crying?

Hadn’t tears only come when she was overwhelmed by pain?

Without even the time to grasp this new realization, the girl nodded her head.

“I want to leave. I want to get out of here… out of this place.”

“…Alright. It will take some time, but I will help you.”

“Are you leaving…?”

Suddenly, her eyes trembled with unease.

She must have been scared. Scared enough to want to cling to this being she had never seen before.

“The longer I stay here, the longer it will take for you to leave. Are you okay with that?”

“……”

“I’ll come back often. You won’t have to suffer in this place anymore, so rest easy.”

“Ah…”

Could it really be true? That the pain she had endured for so long wouldn’t return?

Shane left the girl with a few parting words, telling her to take care, and then disappeared from the space.

The girl wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks as she waited for the day Shane would return.

***

“You returned safely, huh?”

The one who greeted Shane upon opening his eyes was Batukan.

As the temple keeper, Batukan had been standing guard and making sure of Shane’s safe passage while he entered the vampire girl’s mental world.

“Yes.”

“Remarkable. She remained conscious all this time.”

Batukan gazed at the vampire girl with a strange expression on his face. In reality, the two had every reason to be enemies.

Batukan’s ancestors had been massacred by vampires. This led to the loss of his homeland.

The girl, on the other hand, had been abducted and brought here without knowing anything.

Up until now, Batukan didn’t pay much attention to the girl’s existence, but as Shane continued explaining, his expression grew tense.

“Her personality developed, and each time we drew her blood, she felt pain?”

It was a length of time Batukan couldn’t even begin to imagine.

The thought of being trapped for hundreds of years, enduring excruciating pain as if her flesh was being torn apart, with no knowledge of the world, left Batukan bitter.

Was it the arrogance of the orcs to blame, or the cruelty of the vampires?

Batukan didn’t prioritize one over the other.

He only hoped the girl could be free now.

But was that truly possible?

The girl’s suffering was directly tied to the future of the orc race, so Batukan couldn’t dare offer his opinion on the matter.

“Batukan. You should focus on leading your people. I’ll find a way.”

“A way?”

“A way for you to control magic without relying on this vampire. I’ll figure it out.”

“…! Is something like that even possible?”

“Humans have done it before. There’s already a precedent, so there’s no reason why your kind can’t do the same.”

“Mmm…!”

However, finding that method would require immense effort.

The reason Shane could speak with such confidence was thanks to the Akashic Records left behind by the human god.

“I’ll visit often. Make sure to manage things thoroughly in the meantime.”

“Understood. I’ll see to it.”

“Focus especially on mastering your skills. The future of your race will depend more on technological progress than on battle.”

“Technology, huh…”

Orcs weren’t simply brutes who only fought with blunt weapons.

They knew how to work with metal and could craft various equipment using monster materials as well.

“Make sure to clearly define what tasks are needed.”

The orcs had many tasks ahead of them to support Shane.

Of course, part of that would involve helping them reclaim their homeland, but Shane already had some knowledge about Urbulak, the orcs’ lost homeland.

In any case, as they continued to fight against the organization, Urbulak would eventually return to the orcs’ hands.

“I’ll stop by from time to time.”

“Understood. But what do you plan to do about the Elder Shaman?”

“Have they settled in?”

“Yes, and there are quite a few of them.”

Although the 500,000-strong army suffered heavy casualties in defeat, many still survived.

Elder Shaman Kargato had managed to regroup the scattered orcs and create a new home for themselves.

Batukan worried that Kargato might march toward them, but Shane shook his head.

“Even if he comes here and starts a war, it wouldn’t be to his advantage. He already knows you’ve changed your minds.”

One day, when he finds some breathing room, he might attempt a bloody revenge, but…

Who knows? Will he ever find such an opportunity?

“For now, he’ll likely focus on dealing with the human army that’s coming for him.”

Kargato no longer had any intention of invading human territories.

Instead, like fifty years ago, he would aim to wear down the human forces through a war of attrition in the hope that they’d collapse on their own.

Moreover, from the perspective of Nameless, who had yet to fully reveal themselves, these fractured orcs were no longer of any use.

The only thing that might still interest them would be the vampires, and as long as they were cautious of that, there wouldn’t be a problem.

Not that they can do much with the presence of the Mountain King’s aura anyway.

Still, to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, Shane returned once again to Viduron Castle.

***

“Where have you been wandering around?”

The one who greeted Shane as he returned through the portal in his room was none other than Anastasia.

“I just got back from the orcs’ stronghold.”

“Is that so? It seems things went well.”

“Yes, they did.”

Unlike with Olicia, Shane had shared considerable information with Anastasia.

This was possible because he trusted that, given her personality, she wouldn’t use such information for political maneuvers.

Besides, wasn’t she someone with enough decisiveness to prioritize the peace of the Empire?

With someone like her, it was more beneficial to earn trust by sharing information rather than hiding it.

“How long do you expect the war to last?”

“At the moment, I estimate about two years at most.”

Including Arunvida, the yet-unnamed northern lands were vast.

And Elder Shaman Kargato was an orc who knew this fact better than anyone else.

He was likely already planning to create more settlements beyond his main base.

Kargato would certainly continue the war through meticulous guerrilla tactics.

On the other hand, the Imperial army no longer faced significant supply issues thanks to Shane’s portal. But since there was still no solution for the harsh weather of Arunvida, the war was bound to be prolonged.

“It weighs heavily on me.”

“It’s something that has to be done, regardless.”

On the bright side, this two-year period provided countless opportunities to keep the crown prince in check.

Samuel, who had already been pushed back by the two princesses in the public opinion war, had no means to withdraw from the war.

As such, during the course of the war, he would try to accumulate as much merit as possible to counter the lost public opinion.

However, Anastasia’s expression wasn’t entirely bright. She was concerned about the soldiers who would suffer in the process.

Surely, there would be many casualties.

But this was an unavoidable reality.

“If we leave it alone, won’t those sacrifices just fall upon our own people?”

“Indeed.”

If things went according to Samuel’s plan, the bloodshed now would pale in comparison to the sacrifices that would come.

In fact, what they were doing now was to reduce the future bloodshed, so even Anastasia had no choice but to accept this outcome.

“We’ll have to work harder to prevent this from happening again.”

“That’s a good mindset.”

With that, Shane picked up the tea Anastasia had brewed herself.

And just like that…. two years passed.