Chapter 32

Right after I exposed his identity as a vampire, a chilling silence fell over the exhibition hall.

Looking down, I saw dozens of people who had been loudly chatting moments ago now all turning to face me in unison.

A red gleam flickered in their eyes.

And above their heads…. death flags.

[Notification]

[A death flag has been raised by this character.]

A sudden shiver ran down my spine.

“I’m starting to wonder just how much of this country’s nobility is dancing in the palm of your hand.”

Keith D’Alembert chuckled darkly.

“Just how many years do you think I’ve been planting seeds in this kingdom?”

“You sure bred and spawned like a beast.”

“Hahaha! Comparing me, a Vampire Lord, to a mere animal? You’re quite the cheeky human. Aren’t you afraid? With a single word, I could have all of them charge up those stairs and tear you limb from limb.”

“Don’t bluff with puppets I could crush with a flick of my hand, vampire.”

“You’re not wrong. But if blood were to be spilled here, you’d simply look like a madman slaughtering innocents. Among them are women who aren’t infected…they were only bewitched by me.”

At those words, I glanced over. And sure enough, one of the noblewomen under his control had a startled expression on her face, as if suddenly snapped out of a trance while looking at me.

The hypnotic spell had momentarily broken just from seeing Winter Winslet’s face.

Terrifying.

Such is the power of Winter Winslet’s looks.

Even Keith D’Alembert was slightly thrown off.

“Hmm? I don’t recall lifting the charm…”

“Enough of this pointless probing. You already know who I am, don’t you?”

The Heptagram Society operated under a rule of anonymity, but that only meant one didn’t have to reveal their identity.

There was no rule saying you couldn’t figure out who someone else was.

So in a den of villains who couldn’t care less about morality, there wasn’t a single one who hadn’t dug into someone else’s past.

That meant this guy likely knew I was the Third Point of the Heptagram Society.

Sure enough, Keith D’Alembert let out a soft chuckle.

“Very well, my secret comrade. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Keith D’Alembert, the Seventh Point of the Heptagram Society.”

“No need to introduce myself, I assume.”

“To think my identity would be discovered so quickly. How did you know I, Keith D’Alembert, was the Seventh Point? Did I slip up somewhere?”

“No.”

He hadn’t made any mistakes.

I just happened to be a player of Candela of Judgment.

Keith D’Alembert gave a weary sigh.

“Ah… I really put some effort into crafting this persona to stay above ground. It’s disheartening to have it exposed so easily.”

“Was it really that much effort?”

“Preparing a secure identity that can hold up to investigation takes no small amount of work. All the more so when that identity is tied to nobility.”

“Speaking of which, you seem to have acquired noble status quite nicely.”

“I returned a few ancient artifacts to the royal family and was rewarded with a barony for my ‘contribution’. As you can imagine, that sort of thing is quite easy for me.”

Unless a stake was driven through their heart or they suffer from some rare allergy to fresh blood, vampires live forever.

And with that kind of lifespan, even ordinary objects they’ve stored for centuries can transform into priceless historical relics.

By shifting identities across eras, they accumulate knowledge, magic, and wealth…this was the true power of vampires.

Just how many years had Keith D’Alembert been alive?

The man let out a deep sigh.

“But it’s hard to reuse the same trick. If people keep popping up with relics from the previous dynasty, suspicions are bound to arise.”

“So what then? You gonna erase them all?”

“Haha, what a funny joke.”

[Notification]

[A death flag has been raised by this character.]

Yeah, I know it’s not a joke.

Son of a bitch.

You’re just a boss character, and yet you’re raising a death flag on me?

First Monastrell, now him….why are there so many people out to kill me?

“But there’s a flaw in your logic.”

“A flaw, you say?”

“If you truly wanted to keep your identity hidden, you should’ve acted more like an average person. What I saw today was someone who clearly craves attention.”

“Well… You know what they say—‘It’s darkest under the lamp’.”

“Depends on the lamp.”

If the flame was flaring up like a maniac, even the shadows would light up.

Keith D’Alembert shrugged.

“It’s just a little personal hobby. When you live under so many names for so long, some habits just stick.”

“So which one is the real you? The man from earlier, or the one now?”

“Obviously, both are me.”

So the guy rambling about mating deer was speaking from the heart?

I swore to myself never to get close to this freak.

“This country really does hand out titles like candy. Granting nobility to someone like you over a few trinkets. How generous.”

“What does it matter? It’s just an honorary title without any land. It’s not like giving them out wears them down.”

Technically, it wasn’t that they came with no land; it’s just that the lands assigned were legendary places mentioned in the kingdom’s founding myths. But in the end, it amounted to the same thing.

The Laurencia royal family often handed out noble titles this way. They let others do the work and then take credit by doling out meaningless honors that cost them nothing.

Even Winter Winslet was one of those who benefited from this, so I wasn’t exactly in a position to complain.

Then the vampire spoke.

“I suppose the pleasantries are over. You said you wanted to make a deal?”

“Yeah.”

“But aren’t we friends? Very special, secret friends, even. Feel free to speak your mind.”

“I happened to come across something recently.”

I slipped a hand into my coat pocket and pulled it out.

When I opened my palm, a few red stones clicked and tumbled onto the table.

Bloodstones. They were solidified vampire blood.

Ever since discovering traces of vampires at the academy, I’d been wandering the grounds now and then, hunting down familiars and collecting these as materials.

I said,

“Hand over your surveillance records.”

“……?”

“Where I’ve been, what I’ve done, who I’ve met, how many times I went to the bathroom and when. Write it all down and send it to me.”

Keith D’Alembert tilted his head, furrowed his brow, crossed his arms, let out a groan… and eventually couldn’t hold back his question.

“Why?”

“Because I need it.”

“Are you worried that I might be a voyeur? Even for a secret friend, that’s going a bit far… I do have a sense of privacy, you know.”

“Hearing you talk is torture.”

“If not that, then what? Are you into the opposite kind of kink or something? Like, enjoying being secretly watched by others… uh, what do you call that again? Exhibitionism?”

“I’d love nothing more than to neatly fold that loose tongue of yours and shove it down your throat.”

Keith D’Alembert still didn’t seem to get it.

“Why on earth would you need surveillance records of yourself?”

That was, in fact, the core of today’s visit.

The reason I had come to see him.

It was to get a lead on what Winter Winslet and Sakis Lubas, one of the Seven Points, had done at the academy.

Winter Winslet had clearly gotten involved in a dangerous deal, but since it happened before the possession, I had no memory of it.

So I came up with another approach.

If I couldn’t remember it myself, I could just ask someone else, couldn’t I?

Of course, there was no need to explain all of that to Keith D’Alembert.

“Are you selling or not?”

“Hmm… that depends on how much you’re offering.”

“A negotiation, is it?”

“Money’s not what I’m after.”

When I gave him a nod to go on, Keith D’Alembert pressed his fingers together and continued.

“Let’s do this. I’ll help you with your business, and you help me with mine.”

“Specifically?”

“I need a Champion.”

***

“A Champion, mercenary, contractor, employee…call it whatever you want. It’s not exactly a noble title, to be honest. Bottom line is, I need a fighter.”

“What, are you going to war or something?”

“Well, something like that. It’s a long story…”

He pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to me.

It read: Guardians of the Night.

“It’s a foundation I run. A charity that helps the poor. We house the homeless at night in shelters set up throughout the capital and feed the hungry.”

“And in return, you take their blood?”

“Hahaha, let’s skip over those minor details. Anyway, there’s a group causing trouble for my noble little enterprise.”

I thought I had a grasp of the situation.

“Sounds like a turf war.”

“Right on. Do you know how many factions are clawing at each other in the shadows of this land of the dazzling royal capital, Lambart? Ah, of course, I mean excluding the rightful rulers of this city, the Laurencia royal family. Long live the King!”

I ignored his hollow praise and dug into my memories as a long-time player of Candela of Judgment.

In the original game, the balance of power shifted as the main story progressed.

But at this point in the timeline…

“The biggest faction would be the Thieves’ Guild.”

“Correct. The Thieves’ Guild controls about sixty percent of Lambart’s underworld. I currently hold around twenty percent. My territory’s mostly the southern and western slums near the river’s mouth. The remaining twenty percent is split among minor groups… but lately, some of them have been running wild in my turf without permission.”

“Why don’t you just deal with them yourself?”

A vampire lord should be about as strong as Winter Winslet.

If he was a master of blood magic, he’d have more than enough firepower.

But Keith D’Alembert only shrugged.

“They’re not someone I care to face directly.”

“Someone you don’t want to face, huh?”

“Someone we both know. One of the Four Pillars of the Heptangam society.”

If it’s one of the Four Pillars, then it’s him.

“Demon worshippers?”

“I knew you’d be familiar. They used to toy with death row inmates in prison, but perhaps they’ve run out of offerings. Lately, they’ve been slipping into the slums.”

“So now you’re hunting the same prey.”

“Exactly. The cult led by that Pillar kidnaps humans to offer as sacrifices. What do you think happens when that keeps going? Naturally, the number of people coming to the shelter to offer their blood drops. Thanks to that, we’ve already had a few skirmishes.”

“And they didn’t back off even knowing it was your territory?”

“Seems they’re weighing the risks and rewards. If I act rashly, that Pillar might show up himself. And if that happens, war will break out. That’s why I needed a third party.”

“Wouldn’t things just get messier with me involved?”

The reason I was seeking information from Keith D’Alembert was to resolve the conflict with Sakis Lubas, and resolving it meant avoiding further entanglement with the Heptangam Society.

Which meant I couldn’t afford to make things worse by stepping in the wrong way.

Then he said,

“Here’s my scenario: ‘Baron Winslet, out for a nighttime stroll, happens to rescue a citizen in danger. The assailants? A group of cultists obsessed with human sacrifice.’ What do you think? If someone as dangerous as you suddenly appears, that Pillar might think twice about trespassing in my domain again.”

“If that’s all it takes, fine.”

And with that, he and I struck a deal.

When the time came, Keith D’Alembert would summon me through one of his agents planted inside the Academy, and I’d also receive the information I wanted through that same contact.

As I stood to leave after our agreement, Keith D’Alembert spoke.

“Oh, right. Since you’ve come all this way, why not say hello to a few people before you go? You’re not the only one here for this exhibition. Someone else has been waiting to see you.”

“Don’t tell me it’s one of your puppets.”

“Hardly. It’s not that person.”

I was already exhausted from dealing with this guy.

“Is this someone important enough for me to spare my time?”

“Important? Hmm. I wonder how many people in this country would dare say she isn’t important.”

Keith D’Alembert spoke with a look that clearly anticipated my reaction.

“Estelle Louise T Paragon Moore Wilhelmina. The princess of this country wishes to meet you.”