The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 152: The Head of the Demonic Cult

"Alright guys, come and get it!"

A small crowd formed around Vermeil as they curiously inspected the amalgamation brewing in a large iron pot.

Even though everyone here was at a cultivation stage where they could go without food for a very long time, the human girl was of the opinion that food could be used as more than sustenance, but also a means of comfort.

And after Taira and Lucia's incredibly rude awakening of the entire camp this morning, she figured they could all do with some comforting.

Over half the people in this camp had to swallow healing pills to regrow their eardrums and stop the blood from coming out of their ears.

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Kinda hard to go back to sleep after something like that.

Vermeil couldn't bake to save her damn life, but she was a wonderful cook.

She had made a dish that was sure to turn all frowns upside down and make everyone forget about the fact that her husband and sister had almost deafened everyone.

However, no one really seemed to be paying attention to the egg dish she'd made with cubed ham, spinach, and tomatoes.

No, they were much too focused on another, much more unorthodox scene.

"C-Can I fix you a plate, Cult Leader…?"

"…"

"Is the weather here too chilly for you? P-Perhaps I could build you a fire?"

"…"

"I see… The attack you used earlier must have damaged your vocal cords. Please, conserve your voice."

A vein bulged in Taira's head as he heard snickering come from his wives who were sitting on both sides of him.

Currently, he was sitting just on the edge of the lake, drawing an extremely lifelike depiction in his spare sketchbook.

Behind him were the same crowd of demons from before, all of whom were kneeling in the fluorescent grass without even daring to look at him.

He had never cursed his luck so much in his life.

Apparently, the demon race has a very stringent and unshakable law that he wasn't made aware of.

If the demon lord is defeated, everything from his throne to his fucking underwear all transfer ownership over to the victor.

Kicking someone's ass had never been so troublesome.

Now, Taira had to deal with an entire race of fanatical warmongers who hung on his every word and buzzed around him like flies.

'!'

A sudden thought made Taira pause mid sketch, and he thought up a way to take back his peaceful life.

"You all will do whatever I say, correct?"

After hearing his voice for the first time in over an hour, the demons visibly perked up.

"Y-Yes, lord! You are our heavens itself! Anything that you ask for, we will comply with to the best of our ability!"

"Great. Kill yourse-"

"Okay!" Keran suddenly interrupted.

Bringing her hands together, she turned back to address the new followers of her husband.

"You all are dismissed. Feel free to go and get some food for yourselves."

The demons looked back and forth between Keran and Taira's back.

They didn't exactly say anything, nor did they move to make themselves scarce as she had requested.

Unfortunately, this caused Taira's patience to finally bottom out.

"I will give you one very simple warning…"

Multiple blue flames appeared in the air, hovering over the heads of the kneeling demons.

The flames produced a heat that was practically unprecedented and absolutely promised certain death upon contact.

"To see my wives is to see me… If any of you ignore a direct order from them again, you and everyone you have ever breathed around will wake up dead."

The flames were dispersed and the demons seemingly took the hint and made themselves as scarce as possible.

Taira tried to go back to sketching, but he made it a point not to draw when he was angry, as those emotions tended to muddle his work and reduce it to an unacceptable standard.

"Damn it… this morning is going to shit."

Aveena brought her head closer to Taira's and gave him a consolatory kiss on the forehead.

"…It's a little better now."

The girls laughed and all took their turns kissing him, trying to make his mood improve even further.

It worked a lot more than he cared to admit.

"I think I'll be able to finish this now." He said with a smile as he picked up his sketchbook.

"Need a new perspective?" Another voice suddenly asked.

Out of nowhere, Ja'Zaki appeared on the water in front of them, striking an overtly feminine pose as he lay on the surface without causing a single ripple.

"Go on. I am ready to be immortalized~"

Keran and the rest of the girls snickered like they found him funny, but Taira remained relatively stone-faced and unmoving.

Something to which the dark elf seemed to take offense too.

"Ah, come on! Not even a snicker? Why must you always treat me like something you stepped in?!"

"I'm not a huge fan of you."

"How can you say that? I'm lovely!"

Because he had nothing but time, Taira put away his sketchbook and leaned forward while resting his chin in his palm.

"I didn't understand it the first time we met… but the longer you buzz around me, the more I understand this feeling of unease.

Your overt overfriendliness, your habit of spying on others, and your… talent in our field of work. They scream loudly of a pretender."

Ja'Zaki listened to everything that Taira had said carefully, and all the while he never lost his vague smile.

Intrigued, the dark elf sat up and mimicked a similar position as Taira; perhaps out of instinct or maybe further playfulness.

"I get it… you don't like me because I'm not like you."

"I wouldn't say that-"

"It's fine, I'm not taking offense to it, nor am I likening you to some brat who's never seen another person of a different background before. But let's just call it the way it is."

The dark elf snapped his fingers, and the shadows surrounding the six of them reached up to encase the five of them in a black dome.

Once inside, the dark elf let out a relaxed sigh that seemed to contain years of piled up tension.

Ja'Zaki's eyes were lifeless, he had lost his visible cheerfulness, and the air around him was suffocatingly bloodthirsty and oppressive.

His natural presence was indicative of someone who had spent a very long time locked away in the darkness, and who had spilled an immeasurable amount of blood throughout his life.

"If this is what I really am… why would I not choose to be something different? Loneliness exhausted me after so many years, but no one would dare draw near me for fear of what I was.

With that in mind, I used my training and observations. I crafted up a persona designed to put others at ease rather than terrify them. So yes, I am a pretender in a sense. And I am quite content to remain so-"

"You don't seem all that scary." Keran said, in a completely normal manner.

"I-… what?"

"We've seen worse. You're as dramatic as always." Taira said dismissively.

For some reason, Ja'Zaki looked offended by this, almost like he was used to being the scariest thing walking wherever he went.

"…Your bluff does not amuse." He said in an unfriendly manner.

"…" Like clockwork, everyone with the Amarok last name turned to stare at Lucia, who was fiddling with the tights on her thighs, not really paying attention one way or the other.

Aveena: "Lu-Lu."

"Hm?"

Enyo: "Show him the thing!"

"What thing?"

Keran: "The crazy thing."

"The burping my ABCs as a dragon thing? I told you it's embarrassing!"

Taira: "No, not that. The thing you showed us."

"Oh!"

Lucia crawled to her knees and shuffled over towards the stunned Ja'Zaki, almost like she didn't notice any change in him at all.

"I'll hold you together best I can, but do me a favor and try not to go insane. It's quite a potent memory."

"A memory? Of what exactly?"

Lucia suddenly paused as she realized she didn't know how exactly to refer to this particular subject.

"I dunno… ancestor feels too formal… he doesn't feel like my dad either… let's call him my Uncle!"

"Your wha-"

Lucia gave him a somewhat hard poke between the eyes and watched his irises loose clarity.

Aveena and Enyo were beside themselves, each of them staring in anticipation.

"I wonder how long it'll take him to-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"