Free Web Novel“Wake up, wake up...”
Half-dazed, Elizabeth saw a small hand waving in front of her eyes, like a carrot dangling to tempt a white rabbit.
Moist, fragrant, and crisp.
She wanted—really wanted—to take a bite.
“Mm? Are you hungry?”
Vieya withdrew her hand, the green of her eyes showing a faint trace of apology. She said helplessly,
“But we don’t have anything to eat right now. I didn’t go out last night either...” As she spoke, she pressed her finger to her lips in mild frustration and sighed. “I should’ve taken some food from the banquet yesterday and hidden it on me. You were locked up by those vampires for so long—you must be starving, right?”
“......”
She... was worrying about me?
Oh, right. I’m her companion now. Her friend...
Elizabeth blinked, a little dazed. She avoided those bright, shining eyes and murmured softly,
“I’m fine... I slept well last night. Even my body’s recovered a little. But you—you stayed up all night keeping watch, didn’t you?”
As soon as she said it, her thoughts stalled. She had clearly planned to pretend to sleep last night to observe their habits and weaknesses—but after the other woman laid her coat over her, she had somehow drifted off completely.
For a nocturnal creature like a vampire, to sleep that deeply...
Could it be that there was some kind of hallucinogenic sedative on the coat that helped induce sleep?!
Had her disguise already been seen through?!
She slowly sat up and picked up the coat.
Thinking her “student” meant to return it, Vieya reached out to take it—but it didn’t budge when she pulled.
“?”
“......”
Elizabeth let go of the coat and coughed lightly behind her hand. All right, maybe she was just being paranoid.
Looking into those clean, pale green eyes, she quietly exhaled.
This generation’s Holy Sword bearer really was a pure, naive little thing.
When a girl like that found out she’d been deceived in love, her reaction would surely [N O V E L I G H T] be... interesting.
Believing her student was simply showing concern, Vieya took the coat back, draped it over her shoulders, and smiled. “Seeing that you’ve rested and regained so much spirit overnight puts my mind at ease. As for me, light sleep gives me all the rest I need.”
After a short pause, she added, “Cat, get up!”
“Meow...” ƒrēewebnovel.com
“Cat, turn human!”
“Meow...”
“Good. Looks like everyone slept well last night.”
Vieya put one hand on her hip, tilted her chin slightly, and looked at the two across from her. Her alluring eyes curved into crescent moons.
“I spent a long time thinking last night—ruled out dozens of plans—and finally came up with a way to rescue everyone trapped here!”
Helcat: ...
Elizabeth: ...
“Eh?”
Vieya’s smile faded. “Why do you two look so unenthusiastic? Don’t you want to get out of here? Don’t you want to expose the vampires’ crimes to the world?”
“Meow.” Helcat shrugged. She honestly didn’t care whether the rescue succeeded or not. To her, the goal was just to fish the kid Hero out, get the job done, and go home.
“I support whatever you decide, meow!” Helcat agreed wholeheartedly—but she wasn’t the type to ruin her master’s mood.
Not embarrassing the mistress at moments like this was a basic duty of a competent maid.
As long as she got her share of dried fish afterward, all was fine.
“I...” Elizabeth tried to think from a Hero’s perspective. After choosing her words carefully, she said earnestly, “If we really intend to save all the captured children—and do it right under the vampires’ noses—it’s going to be very difficult.”
“If they discover our goal isn’t just to escape but also to destroy this place and rescue the hostages... well, this is, after all, their queen’s temporary palace.”
She paused before continuing. “Once they realize our true intent, the chance they’ll fight to the death is extremely high. And then...”
She didn’t finish, but her meaning was clear.
Fighting and winning against the captors was easy.
Saving the hostages safely from them was hard.
That was also what troubled Vieya. If all her effort ended up for nothing in the end... she wouldn’t like that outcome.
Vieya said softly, “So I came up with another way. I’m going to find the missing Vampire Queen, and then...”
“And then?” Elizabeth asked curiously. “What do you plan to do?”
“What else?” Vieya folded her arms. “We’ll have an open and honest talk. I want her to relocate—to live somewhere else.”
Elizabeth said, “And if she refuses? Or what if she sensed danger after realizing I was rescued by you, and slipped away overnight while we were resting?”
“If she refuses, I’ll reason with her,” Vieya said, clenching her fist. “As for your second guess—that’s unlikely. If a Demon King sees me in this state and still runs off in the middle of the night, she might as well retire to the mountains and start farming.”
When she had still been a Hero, she’d punched that bat queen into a cloud of blood mist more than once—and the woman had never run then.
If she ran now, that would mean she was regressing with age.
And if she really was regressing, then why not stay home and farm instead of coming to a human city to get herself killed... though, come to think of it, she was sort of “farming” humans here.
At that thought, Vieya steadied her mind. She should have acted last night, but her teammates had been in no condition to move.
If the Vampire Queen had launched a surprise attack while they were weak, they wouldn’t have been able to react in time.
So now, they’d first check the situation of the survivors.
Once the roles were divided, the three moved immediately.
Vieya went alone to the upper levels to unlock the inter-floor passage seals, while the black cat and Elizabeth began searching for captives once the seals opened.
“Helcat, if you run into danger, saving yourself comes first.”
“Meow...”
“Then I’m off.”
Vieya turned and walked straight toward the glowing red barrier. It was a renewable sealing spell the vampires used as a gate between floors—if anyone tried to breach it, the castle’s core would send out an alarm pinpointing exactly which level was under attack.
But that system had one fatal flaw: if all the layers were breached at the same time—
The pinpointing would fail.
“Well, I’ve broken plenty of these seals before. My body alone should be enough...” She sighed faintly, flexing her weak arms. “Let’s hope the Authorities’ power of speed and strength will be enough...”
Authority II: Strength.
Authority IV: Speed.
Authority XI: Body.
“Comprehensive Enhancement.”
Vieya spoke, and three faint lights enveloped her body, making her seem like a celestial descending to earth. She spread her fingers, then curled them into a fist and murmured, “Enhancement complete.”
Begin.
Boom!
A thunderous roar shook the entire castle like lightning returning to the sky. In less than a second—
From the lowest basement to the first, second, third floors... red light flared in sequence all the way up to the seventh floor!
Before the vampires even had time to react, the seals on every level had been triggered. Crimson alarms blazed through the halls, and shrill sirens echoed everywhere—
The whole castle was under attack!
