Free Web NovelThe Vampire Castle — lowest level.
“Relax. Those bloodsuckers won’t find us down here anytime soon.”
In a shabby wooden hut, Helcat reverted to her human form and set the two people she’d been carrying gently on the ground. Looking smugly at Vieya, she said,
“We hid down here before, you know. This is where they dump their trash—waste, broken things, even people. Humans who lose their value to vampires end up thrown here too. But guess what? Humans are tougher than we thought. Some of them actually survived down here by picking through the garbage!”
She walked to the barred wooden door, listened for pursuit, and after making sure no one was nearby, continued,
“The vampires sealed all the passages between levels. It’ll take them a while to find this place. Anyway, we’ve got her out. We can rest here for a bit and figure out our next step.”
“......”
Vieya’s attention was fixed on her unconscious student. She carefully propped Rania against her chest, her hand gently brushing over the girl’s wounds.
They were fresh—no more than a day or two old—and still bleeding through her clothes. The white fabric was already soaked half crimson.
What a foolish student. To get tricked into a vampire’s den of all places...
Wanting to save others is good—but you have to keep yourself safe first.
“Cat... can you get me some water?” Vieya adjusted the limp girl in her arms to make her more comfortable, her voice quiet and tender.
“Eh...” Helcat sighed helplessly, glancing sideways at her. She really couldn’t understand what was so special about this brat of a Hero.
You’ve already rescued her—why care this much?
She won’t die anyway, not with that Heroic Power holding her together. Once they got out, they could just dump her off at the Church.
“Please, Cat,” Vieya’s tone softened, uncharacteristically gentle.
“You’re impossible...” Helcat muttered, her shoulders slumping. “Fine, I’ll go. Guess I owed you one in my past life. But the water’s deeper in, so it’ll take a while. Stay put and don’t go wandering.”
With that, she shifted into a small black cat. Casting one last uneasy look back, she meowed at Vieya before slipping out through the window.
“The cat’s becoming dependable...” Vieya murmured softly, then turned her focus back to the bleeding girl and began casting a healing spell.
She knew only the basics of healing amplification magic, but even in her slime-girl body, it should still work—albeit at a heavier mana cost.
After all, even the weakest healing spell was still a healing spell. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
She hadn’t expected, though, that something she’d learned so long ago would end up being used like this...
On her own student.
A faint green glow gathered in her palm and drifted softly over Rania’s chest.
“Cough... cough...!”
The girl’s frail body shuddered, breaking into a fit of coughs as color returned faintly to her pale cheeks.
Vieya startled, surprised the spell worked so well, and quickly poured in more power.
“How do you feel? Any better? Can you hear me?” she asked anxiously as she maintained the spell.
“H... hurts...” Rania whimpered, frowning, curling up in the slime-girl’s arms and trembling in pain.
And then—
She coughed up a mouthful of blood—splattering across Vieya’s hands.
“Wh-what—!? That’s not right! Don’t scare me like that!” Vieya panicked, immediately halting her magic. Her bright green eyes filled with alarm and helplessness.
What’s going on!?
Could it be I’ve gone rusty after all these years, and my spell nodes are misaligned?
Or maybe this slime-girl body’s healing magic only works on other slimes and not humans!?
Rania’s face grew whiter and whiter.
Crap. She survived the vampires only to die in her teacher’s hands!
Vieya’s heart twisted in guilt. She tore a strip from her clothes and frantically wiped away the blood at the girl’s mouth and chest.
“Don’t do this to me... Fine, if you wake up, I won’t scold you anymore, and I won’t spank you either... please...”
Minutes crawled by.
Having scared herself half to death, Vieya didn’t dare to try the spell again.
Instead, she just sat there, letting Rania rest against her as a pillow.
Creak—
The old window creaked open. A black cat poked its head inside, a water pouch clamped in its teeth.
Seeing the two safe, the cat hopped lightly down from the windowsill.
“Meow!”
Handing over the pouch, she transformed back into human form and blinked in surprise at the sight.
“What’s with her? She’s coughing blood again?”
“...Probably got internal injuries from those vampires.” Vieya explained while helping Rania sip some water. “She must’ve relaxed for a moment and her wounds reopened.”
“I see.” Helcat didn’t press further. She sat beside Vieya and said quietly,
“When I went for water, I saw a few vampires down here too. They just poked around and left, though.”
Vieya nodded.
“We’ll need to capture one and make him guide us. This castle’s layout is complicated—without a vampire to lead the way, finding an exit will be tough.”
“Meow...”
“You can rest for a while if you’re tired.”
“You rest, what about you?”
“I’ll stay awake.”
“Fine... call me if something happens.”
Helcat yawned lazily and leaned against the wall to nap.
But just then, Rania started coughing violently again.
The water must have worked its way through her system.
Vieya quickly supported her, letting her lean forward so she wouldn’t choke.
“We’re safe for now,” she whispered softly. “Once we find a way out, we’ll leave together. Don’t worry—I’ll figure out how to free the other humans trapped here too.
As for those vampires who hurt you... I won’t forgive them. Not until every last one of them is driven from this city.”
Rania: “......”
“Look at yourself,” Vieya sighed. “Getting caught like this—some Hero you are. As my junior, you’ve really embarrassed me.”
“...Didn’t you say you wanted to replace my teacher?” Rania asked hoarsely, lowering her eyes.
“Hehe, I was joking.”
Relaxed now, Vieya reached out and pinched her student’s still-youthful cheek, smiling softly.
“If I’d known you’d take it that seriously that night, I wouldn’t have teased you.”
“A joke, huh?”
Rania tilted her face upward, her violet eyes gazing silently into Vieya’s delicate ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) features until the older woman began to fidget. Then she smiled faintly.
“But I didn’t take it as a joke... It was too much. I thought about it—seriously.”
“Eh?”
Vieya froze, her bright eyes darting around aimlessly.
A throwaway joke—taken to heart.
Especially by her own junior—her student. The realization brought a wave of moral embarrassment.
“Actually... if you really want to call me teacher, I wouldn’t mind,” Vieya murmured shyly.
“Teacher? Your body feels hot,” Rania whispered, placing her cool hand on Vieya’s bare thigh.
The icy touch made Vieya jolt, her body stiffening, mind snapping awake.
Wait—why is she so cold?
She looked down sharply—straight into Rania’s deep violet eyes.
Beautiful, translucent eyes that now shimmered with sorrow and pain.
Vieya cupped her student’s forehead with trembling fingers. “What’s wrong...?”
“Teacher...” Rania’s voice trembled, tears pooling in her lashes.
“I... was bitten by the Vampire Queen... I’m sorry...”
