"Whew."

I let the tension drain from my body and heaved a long sigh.

I thought this every time, but mind reading was as inconvenient as it was useful. Every time I killed someone, I got far too caught up in the dying person's perspective. Living things poured out such fierce emotions as they died that delivering the final blow always felt like being swept away by a wave.

It made me feel like I was somebody important. All I'd done was barely manage to kill them one at a time, desperately pulling all kinds of bullshit just to survive.

Still, mind reading had saved my life, so I supposed I couldn't complain.

Whew. Everything hurt. Between all that frantic running and being grabbed by the collar and slammed into a wall, there wasn't a part of me that didn't ache. As I took a moment to recover, a voice came from behind me.

"You have blood on your hands."

The vampire? Had she smelled the blood? Honestly, she was downright supernatural.

Wait, she actually was. A vampire. A blood-drinking supernatural being.

I spoke without even turning my head.

"Hurry up and take the blood. Freshly killed, still warm."

"I am already taking it, without your prompting."

True enough, the blood had been flowing behind me for a while without so much as staining my body. That hadn't needed saying. Spilling blood here in Tantalus was practically serving the vampire a meal.

Oh, right. Since she was here, maybe I could ask another favor.

"While you're eating, could you get rid of the body too?"

"The body? I doubt he would much care to become part of me. Why not bury him instead?"

"No. This is the bottomless pit, so there isn't anywhere suitable. The ground is concrete. However carefully we bury him, we'd just be encasing him in cement. He wouldn't rot, or return to Mother Earth's embrace. He'd be preserved like that forever. Better to sleep in a vampire's coffin than that."

"Without even a funeral?"

"It's all right. I closed his eyes myself."

"I was not aware you were an undertaker."

"Isn't a funeral an act of remembering the traces of a life now past? In that sense, they've had a perfectly fine funeral."

The vampire waved a hand as though she understood, and blood gathered to swallow the corpse. I heard a sound that might have been dissolving or crushing. It was like the sound of waves wearing away rock over thousands upon thousands of breakers, compressed into a few seconds.

It didn't take long. The corpse vanished with the wave of blood. Only the discarded restraint suit remained, as though no one had ever been there.

Silence fell.

When I remained still without much of a reaction, the vampire, who had been standing quietly, soon grew bored and stepped lightly toward me through the darkness.

'He recognized me without even looking. This is not quite the situation I anticipated... Still, someone with keen energy perception ought to be able to distinguish a presence.'

My presence? Well, if mind reading counted as energy perception, then I supposed that was accurate.

'Yet he has hardly moved. Is he brooding over having killed someone? I suppose that is inevitable at his age. Perhaps I should offer him some comfort.'

Comfort? For what?

As I sat there dumbfounded after reading her thoughts, the vampire approached until she was right in front of me and spoke.

"Blood flows too, and in time it is bound to reach the sea. Besides, were these not your enemies? Their strength may not have matched yours, but they were warriors, just as you are. You staked your lives on equal terms. You need not grieve."

"I'm not particularly upset."

"You have kept your head bowed all this time. Raise it proudly. That is how you show pride in the strength you have acquired, and respect for the warrior you defeated."

"No, really. I told you, I'm fine."

My head was bowed because my neck hurt from being grabbed earlier. Plus, I was exhausted from running around and tearing up the building until just a little while ago. I had an ordinary physique. After all that strenuous activity, I needed a rest.

Meanwhile, the vampire looked down at the blood that had wrapped around her wrist and circled it once, then spoke.

"According to this blood, the man whose corpse I took must have been a renowned knight in life. To subdue and bind such a man without suffering so much as a wound... You certainly have grounds to call yourself the administrator of the bottomless pit."

Not so much as a wound? Apparently, she couldn't tell because I wasn't bleeding, but I'd just been overpowered with one hand and pinned against a wall. Under my shirt, I was probably covered in bruises.

How was I supposed to clear up this misunderstanding...?

Wait. Did I have to?

I cleared my throat and spoke.

"I wasn't really brooding. I merely closed my eyes for a moment to honor his feats of arms."

"That is precisely what one calls brooding."

"If you insist."

"At any rate, you greet me without so much as attempting to look me in the face. How long do you intend to remain seated?"

"I was just about to get up."

After talking for a bit, I was finally starting to feel alive again. I rose with a groan. The vampire stood right in front of me, her red eyes gleaming.

What was this? She was making me uncomfortable.

When our eyes met, she tilted her head and gave a superior smile.

"Well? Do you recognize me?"

Huh? What was she talking about? Of course I did...

'This should be his first time seeing my true body. I do not show it to just anyone, but since I am out and about, I suppose it would do no harm to show my face.'

What was she thinking now? Why was she making such a fuss about getting out of her wheelchair? Had she successfully completed physical rehabilitation or something?

'Let us see if you can still treat me like an old woman after seeing my true appearance.'

Huuuh?

I frowned and took another look at the vampire's face. A small face, a snow-white complexion, and red eyes. Her black dress was an antique garment you might see in a museum, and behind her, a large coffin followed half a step back like an attendant.

She rested a black parasol on her shoulder, as though darkness had been gathered to make it. For some reason, beneath it, her face was perfectly visible even in this pitch-black gloom. It was as though the black parasol had sucked up the surrounding darkness.

Sure, she looked striking. But what was all this about her true appearance? Had she expected me to fall over in shock at the sight of her face?

Oh, wait. Surely not.

Unbelievable. Should I play along?

I looked at the vampire's face and pretended to start in surprise.

"Huh? A woman? Wh-who? Could you be... Trainee Tyrkanzyaka?"

"Indeed. Who else would I be?"

A faint smile touched the vampire's lips as she spoke. Apparently pleased, she gave her parasol a half turn and continued.

"What a peculiar fellow you are. You were calling my name only moments ago, yet now you act as though you do not know me."

"Well, your appearance changed so suddenly that I... I suppose I was taken aback... When did you get out of your wheelchair—no, your coffin?"

"Only just now. I revealed my true body for the first time in quite a while to receive an unwelcome visitor. I had intended to return as soon as I finished, but a rich scent of blood drifted in from outside, so I came to investigate."

As we exchanged those few words, I deliberately avoided meeting her eyes. For a while, I would glance up, then duck my head whenever our gazes met.

Watching my obvious nervousness, the vampire narrowed her eyes and thought:

'He is behaving like an innocent virgin who has never so much as held a woman's hand. Tsk. For a man who claims to have trained, how can merely seeing a face change his demeanor so easily?'

She was criticizing me in her thoughts, but she was clearly enjoying my behavior. With a little hum, the vampire took a step closer.

"Yet even now that you are standing, you cannot meet my eyes. Why is that?"

"W-well..."

"What is the matter? Usually, you are all talk, prattling away without a care. This is unlike you."

'He must have spent his youth training, with no experience of women. I do wonder whether my teasing is tormenting this innocent child a little too much.'

Thoroughly delighted, the vampire came right up to me, leaned forward, and peered into my eyes. Shimmering silver hair spilled down, and blood-red eyes filled my vision.

"Still, this is the first time we have met face-to-face like this. It saddens me that you keep looking away. Come now, say something."

'This is entirely your own fault. Had you not teased me so, I would never have resorted to such childish revenge.'

As the vampire inwardly basked in her superiority, I spoke in a barely audible voice.

"Um, I'm... sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

'Do you think an apology will earn forgiveness for all your impertinence? Not a chance. I shall make you squirm for all the teasing you have put me through.'

Oh, really?

That's enough flattery for you, old woman. My expression changed completely, and I answered coldly.

"What else? For not being able to flatter you any longer."

"Hm?"

"Inside the coffin or out, with the way you think and talk, what difference does it make? You're the same as always."

Why was she still leaning in like that, anyway? I frowned and thrust my own face toward hers. As our faces came close enough to touch, the vampire recoiled in alarm.

I picked at my ear with an indifferent expression and spoke.

"We just had a battle. What the hell are you playing at? If you know this is the first time you're showing your face, you ought to start by identifying yourself. How can you sneak up behind me and ask if I recognize you?"

"H-huh? Well..."

"What do you want me to do? Gasp in amazement and recite a poem praising your beauty? Or take a fresh look at your appearance, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, and apologize for treating you so casually all this time? Is that what you expected?"

'N-not particularly... I was merely feeling playful...'

That was exactly what you'd expected.

Many stories had been passed down over more than a thousand years, but the vampire's beauty was one legend that came up again and again. People didn't speculate that she possessed the power of enthrallment for no reason. The Church, of course, stubbornly emphasized only her hideous side.

But hadn't all that inflated her opinion of herself a bit too much? I'd appreciate it if she acted her age.

Good grief.

"Stop making a fool of yourself."

"A-a fool?!"

"I understand that wanting to be told you look young is a common trait among older people, but there's a time and a place. A fierce battle was raging here barely ten minutes ago. Please behave yourself."

At least age hadn't swallowed up her sense of shame as well. Utterly mortified, the vampire clutched her parasol in both hands. She gripped it so hard that what little color her hands possessed drained from them.

I'd considered teasing her a little more, but the shame I sensed from her was beyond anything I'd imagined. Any further prodding might make her explode, so I stopped.

When scolding an immature adult, what mattered most in the end was showing that you accepted them. Unlike children, they were older than me. They assumed they held the upper hand from the start, which made them troublesome: when embarrassed, they didn't run away, but went straight to getting angry.

What could I do? Young and weak as I was, I'd have to put up with it.

"Well, anyway. You're better than most. If someone knew nothing about you and looked at you objectively, you are pretty. Still, please rein in the foolishness. There's a time and a place."

'Wh-what is this? I am certainly offended... Yet nothing he says is wrong. Getting angry would seem petty... But staying silent feels as though I am being slighted...'

"We're done here, so I'm going to check the supply crate. There's a fresh supply of blood over there too. Shall we?"

"Ah, yes. Indeed. Let us do that."

I walked off without looking back. Looking embarrassed and confused, the vampire followed, clutching her parasol in both hands.

The body still lay abandoned where the supply crate had landed. The vampire swallowed that corpse too. A human sewer, as always... Oops. Better not say that out loud. It might actually hurt her feelings.

Whew. Such little acts of consideration, knowing what to say and what not to say. I was pretty sweet.

Now, let's have a look at those supplies. Whistling, I opened the supply crate.

Inside were countless cans of compressed beans.

"Huh?"

That was odd. The Military State might have a fetish for canned food, but it wasn't ignorant of the importance of nutrition. No bread or rice at all?

As I puzzled over it, I finally spotted the pitiful remains farther inside the supply storage. Traces of what had once been bread, as though rats had gnawed it all away and fled.

Even the cheese packages had been torn open, and the milk containers were completely empty.

Oh. Right.

Five Resistance members had snuck in inside the supply crate.

What had they eaten in there? The answer was obvious. They couldn't have opened the compressed canned food, which needed plenty of water and cooking, so they must have settled for the easy option: bread and milk.

Haha. So, in the end, our supplies were just canned food?

"Aaaaaargh! You fucking bastards!"

Enraged, I kicked the supply crate as hard as I could. It gave me a fresh appreciation for the sturdiness of Military State supply crates. Damn it, now my foot hurt too.

With an inarticulate howl, I turned to the vampire.

"Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, get those bodies out right now! Today, I'll show you what it means to dig up a corpse and desecrate it!"

"What is it now?"

The vampire asked, still looking sulky. She must have seen the bread scraps, but since it wasn't her food, she had no particular reaction. I pointed inside the supply crate and shouted.

"The bread! It's gone! Those intruders ate every fucking bite! What are we supposed to live on?!"

"Is what is inside those round tins not food as well? There seems to be quite a lot. If there is no bread—"

"Telling people to eat canned food is how you start a revolution. Don't even say it! Unlike a vampire like you, who lives on human blood and just keeps getting older, people need good food!"

"Wh-what?! Just keeps getting older?!"

Oops. In my agitation, my true feelings had slipped out. The vampire was on the verge of an explosion of hysteria honed over centuries.

Someone emerged from the prison entrance. It was the Regressor. A thin line of blood ran from the corner of her mouth, suggesting she was injured, but she looked remarkably satisfied for someone who was hurt.

Well, compared with her opponent, she had every reason to be satisfied. In her other hand, she was dragging a headless corpse. The huge body, clad in military armament, trailed limply behind her, blood spurting from its severed neck.

'I can cut through military armament even with my energy arts sealed... That must mean I've improved, if only a little.'

Why could she cut steel without energy arts? I couldn't begin to understand it.

At the sight of the Regressor, the vampire greeted her warmly.

"Shei, do you happen to know who I—"

"You're Tyrkanzyaka, aren't you? You came out of your coffin. Here, have some blood."

The Regressor handed the corpse straight to the vampire. A little disappointed at being identified immediately, the vampire engulfed the body in blood.

'Do children these days carry portraits of me? They are not surprised in the slightest. In the past, when I teased those who visited my mansion, merely showing myself left young and old, men and women alike unable to meet my gaze... Why are young men nowadays such stone Buddhas?'

Look at her feeling her face, wondering whether she'd developed wrinkles. What an embarrassing sight. A corpse frozen in time at death wasn't going to develop wrinkles.

More importantly, she'd drunk her blood and still hadn't realized she was a woman dressed as a man? Honestly, this vampire couldn't get anything right.

As she swallowed the corpse in a wave of blood, the vampire gazed steadily at the Regressor and spoke.

"You seem to have made progress. I can feel that the blood within your body is wholly under your control."

"Nothing beats a real fight for improving your skills."

The Regressor grinned and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

Despite the vampire standing right in front of her, her blood didn't fly toward her. It merely remained on her skin, clinging in glistening droplets.

Even blood outside her body wasn't being stolen. That was evidence that the Regressor could at least control her own blood.

With a satisfied smile, the Regressor looked around.

"What about the others?"

"This child seems to have dealt with them all. By the time I arrived, only corpses remained."

"Hmph."

'Tsk. I'd wondered if he might just get himself killed, but apparently he does have some skill. I can't trust his character, but I suppose I can count on his abilities.'

Count on what, you idiot? Please don't count on me. Handle things yourself.

I didn't even have the energy to speak anymore. I just stood there blankly, staring at the mountain of canned food.

Nothing for it.

Azi. You're going to eat all of that.