I Killed the Player of the Academy

e’s office.

 

  ****

 

  Using the key we received from Count Casseus, we opened the office and entered the antique-looking room.

 

  The bookshelves were full of old books made of orc skin.
From what I heard, it seemed that Count Casseus kept this office as it was without touching anything. 

 

  “So this is the office of Sebancia Duke, huh…”

 

  Sebancia Duke.

 

  He was the grand general who had the entire continent under his command 800 years ago.
He was a legendary figure and a Hero of the kingdom.

 

  You could say he was like the combination of Yi Sun-sin1 and Cheok Jun-gyeong2

 

  Since this was the actual castle and office used by someone like that, Count Casseus must have kept things as is since moving things around would be a waste. 

 

  Who knows, this castle might become a famous tourist attraction after a century.

 

  “Korin.
What are we looking for here?”

 

  “Hmm~.
Anything is fine.
Let’s try to look for Sebancia Duke’s traces.”

 

  “Nn!”

 

  Marie and I started searching through the office.
I first went to the bookshelves and found a familiar journal.

 

 

『Story of the Duke Duchy』

 

  “This…”

 

  This was the article written by Cecilia Duke and was an item describing the histories of Ruina, the wife, and Cecilia, the daughter, that the player had to search for in the game for Sebancia Duke’s questline. 

 

  Taking this item to Sebancia Duke was the way to complete Sebancia Duke’s quest.

 

  But even in the game and in the last iteration, he never talked about ‘searching the office’ so what exactly was it that we needed to look for?

 

  For a long time we searched through the office in vain.
Drenched in sweat, we threw our body on the couch.

 

  “Uahh, I can’t find anything!”

 

  “It’s certainly not easy.”

 

  “Are there any clues? I was expecting to find some kind of secret passage but there’s nothing!”

 

  “Hmm…”

 

  We mindlessly searched through the office but couldn’t really find anything.
Adding this up with my experience from the last iteration, I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be able to find anything at this rate.

 

  “Uhh… I’m hungry.”

 

  “Did you not eat anything at the banquet hall?”

 

  “I didn’t have time to… Umm, Korin?”

 

  “Yes?”

 

  “…”

 

  That gaze on her eyes was a signal that was naturally formed as we started this relationship.
Undoing my tie, I placed it on top of the coat that I took off a long time ago as Marie started deeply staring at my neck.

 

  “Not sure if I mentioned this already but… your neckline and your collarbone are really pretty, Korin.”

 

  “…I would prefer hearing handsome over pretty though.”

 

  “O, of course, you’re very nice and handsome too!”

 

  “I might smell like sweat a little, but please bear with me.”

 

  “Even bette… I mean, don’t worry!”

 

  In a fluster, she sat on my lap with me still sitting on the couch.

 

  “Uhh… can I start?”

 

  She carefully buried her face into my neck after seeing me nod.

 

  – Stab

 

  I could feel her sharp fangs digging into my skin, as her soft lips rested on my neck.

 

  – Gulp! Gulp! Haaaa…

 

  —The sound of a gulp and heated breaths echoed at a regular pace.
After who knows how long…

 

  I opened my eyes and took a deep breath and Marie flinched in response, but she refused to move away.
It seemed that she still hadn’t had her fill yet.

 

  “———”

 

  My blood was being sucked out in an irregular direction.
At the start, it felt a bit spooky because it felt like my life was being drained away but these days…

 

  ‘It feels like I’m sharing my life with her.’

 

  Perhaps thanks to Pain Tolerance, it wasn’t painful in the slightest now that we repeated this process a few times.

 

  – Squash!

 

  Indulged in sucking my blood, Marie pressed her body on mine and squeezed my body.
As if trying to make up for the decrease in my body temperature as a result of having less blood, she increased our touching surface area and squeezed me towards her in an attempt to bring our hearts together or something.

 

  “Huu…”

 

  Now that I had more room to take in the surroundings after my heart started fiercely pumping out more blood, I gazed down at Marie mindlessly sucking my blood.

 

  “Gulp.
Haaaah…”

 

  What I could tell from her rushed and heated breath was that Marie was frantically craving my blood without even taking a break.
And the heat being conveyed from her cheeks was a sign of her satisfaction.

 

  “Haaaah…”

 

  “Are you done drinking?”

 

  “Nn…”

 

  After mindlessly drinking my blood, she powerlessly leaned on my body while gasping for breath.
Her chin rested on my shoulders as we both took some time to take a breather.

 

  We had a moment of silence without saying anything.

 

  – Thump thump…!

 

  I could hear her heartbeat across the aligned chest.

 

  Unlike my heart that was furiously thumping out blood, Marie’s heart was beating at a softer yet more frequent pace. 

 

  After a while, she raised her head back up from my neck and retreated, but she still had a dreamy look on her face as if she had yet to wake up from the pleasure of sucking blood.

 

  I waited a bit for her to calm down and regain her sense of self.

 

  “S, sorry… I drank too much right?”

 

  “I regenerate just as much so don’t worry.
It doesn’t hurt either.”

 

  “Nnn… Sorry.
When I drink fresh blood… my body doesn’t feel like my own.”

 

  “Ah, it’s okay.
Life is about helping each other, isn’t it?”

 

  I wiped the leftover blood around my neck and soon, my skin wriggled and refilled the wound with flesh.
The Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior was at work like always. 

 

  “Hmm?”

 

  Wait a second.

 

 『Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior』 

 

 『Soul Warrior』

 

  A grimoire that we gained from Sebancia Duke at the secret area in the Great Library…

 

  Suddenly, a trail of thought sparked across my head so I immediately said to Marie.

 

  “Senior.
Can you summon Doggo?”

 

  “Hnn? Okay.
Doggo.”

 

  Doggo immediately gained a form from within her shadow.
Since his usual body existed in real life, he was closer to a demonic beast than a demonic spirit. 

 

  “Senior.
Can you make the summon dimmer?”

 

  “What do you mean?”

 

  “Make him closer to an astral body… like how he would look before obtaining a body.”

 

  A vampire’s familiar was by nature a spiritual existence that could gain access to a body using the blood and mana of their master as a catalyst.
In other words, just like how gaining a body was possible, going the other way around was also equally doable. 

 

  “Okay.
Doggo.
Can you hold on for a little?”

 

  – Woof!

 

  Doggo seemed discontent from the fact that his body would now go through a semi-destruction and wailed, but Marie started demolishing his body and made him closer to an astral body.

 

  After a while, he was no longer visible to my eyes that could not perceive spirits, and…

 

  It was then.

 

  – Sheeeeeeek!!

 

  A faint chilliness started to fill the office.
Since I could also perceive this sudden drop in temperature, it was definitely not because of a spirit.

 

  “Senior Marie.
Be caref…!?”

 

  My vision turned upside down before I could even say anything.

 

  Thud—!!

 

  A thick layer of pressure oppressed my body along with a sticky reverberation of mana.
This was something I was used to.

 

  “A Blood Realm?”

 

  Everything flipped upside down and by the time I reopened my eyes, I was at a pitch-black location that was full of darkness.

 

  “Ah~.
I wish he explained this to us beforehand at the very least.”

 

  The one that was sealed inside the grimoire of the Great Library was the soul of Sebancia.

 

  Sebancia couldn’t even kill himself and had to constantly suffer from bloodsucking impulses and thus, what he chose to do was separate his body from his spirit.
After separating his spirit, he sealed it inside a book forever.

 

  And that raises a question –

 

  Duke Sebancia Duke.

 

  The great and legendary Hero of all time.

 

  He, who used to be revered as the strongest man of all time, turned even stronger after becoming a vampire.
At that point, he gained a body that was essentially unkillable.

 

  – The question raised was this.
His soul was sealed, but what happened to the ‘body’ of the strong vampire called Sebancia Duke?

 

  The answer to that question was right in front of my eyes.

  

  “This was supposed to be something my soul left behind for my daughter.
I wonder why a random bloke came here with the scent of my soul.”

 

  A man wearing crimson plated armor with long hair and a dignified beard opened his mouth while gazing at me.

 

  “Let me ask you, visitor.
Why have you come to my castle?”