Tourists
The scroll was ancient enough that the edges had begun to curl inward on themselves.
Seraphine unrolled it carefully, her eyes moving across the text with attention.
Most of it was exactly what she had expected from this particular author. The last primordial of his generation recorded a tale of superiority in considerable detail, from his achievements and capabilities of a being who had lived longer than most civilizations. Knowing what she knew about primordials, she was inclined to believe most of it.
But toward the end, her reading slowed.
"Found it."
Ashen looked up from his own book.
"Look at this. It's a scroll written by the real vampire lord," She summarized without preamble. "He writes about something called Origin blood."
Ashen followed her words while reading.
"It's a single drop, unique to primordials, and for them, it's as vital as a heart to a human. If it were lost, the vampire would die regardless of how much of their remaining blood survived." She kept reading alongside him, pausing on a few lines. "But it's not merely a vulnerability. It acts as their true source of power. Any vampire who consumes it can progress in blood-related concepts at ten times the normal rate."
She set the scroll down. "But what they'd actually want it for is immortality. And it's not any immortality we are talking about here, but one of the caliber of the Primordial. What's more, the vitality it contains apparently reaches the ethereal; it can heal even the soul.
Ashen was quiet for a moment.
"Since you are the last primordial," she said, "you naturally carry the last drop. This is probably why they are targeting you."
He didn't answer immediately. He turned the scroll over in his hands and looked at it with a thoughtful expression that, with his personality, was one of the clearer signs that he was actually taking something seriously.
"...Nice. Our conjecture holds more ground now." He reached across the table and slid a book toward her. "I also found something."
It was a record of extinct flora. He had already opened it to a specific page detailing an illustration of a red flower with drop-shaped petals.
Seraphine read the description aloud.
"...If consumed by a human, the bearer's blood changed. The first vampire to drink from them afterward would fall for them so completely that nothing else remained as a priority."
"Your blood probably contains this before you even occupied the body," Ashen explained.
Her eyes reached the final annotation. "Note: the flower is entirely harmless if the consumer is already in love with the target."
She looked up.
Ashen had a sheepish expression on his face.
"How wonderful," she said, flatly. "It seems that you dodged their scheme. Though I suppose they didn't need an elaborate plan in the first place."
He brought one hand up to rub the back of his neck. "humhum…"
"Come here."
Her hands reached for him, drawing him down to her level so that she could intertwine her tongue with his for a searing kiss
Chu~
That night, their time together in bed was surprisingly more wholesome than usual.
*
*
*
The carriage moved fast, pulled by creatures that bore only a passing resemblance to horses.
With their monstrous size, utterly silent hooves, and apparent happiness to run through the night without complaint, they were the perfect means of transportation in this era.
Inside the moving vehicle, a couple was intertwined with each other.
They were none other than the Vampire Lord and his Consort.
Ashen had decided to have them take the next couple of loops as a vacation and tour the world. It was interesting to see how it was in 1202, but wherever it was, 1202 or the present time, the demihuman empire was a novelty to both of them since they had never visited it.
Seraphine wasn't really buying this 'vacation' excuse; Ashen was probably looking for any traces of the individuals who orchestrated all of this.
Since they targeted him, if he got out of the open, there was bound to be some reaction, right?
A normal Seraphine would have probably been against this since, whoever they were, they were able to produce a flower of such a terrifying effect that basically rendered a vampire a slave after a sip of blood, and above all, they could induce an endless loop of time…
Unfortunately, she didn't care. 'If we die, we die. As long as I die in his arms, I won't mind.'
What she didn't know was that Ashen really wanted her to have a change of pace, and his investigations were actually the secondary objective.
***
After roughly ten loops of the demihuman empire, Ashen got bored.
"I miss home," he said, as if it were a perfectly reasonable thing to announce. "Let's go to Esperra."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Yes! Those guys don't even have the system right now. We pass through and use the teleporter, simple and easy."
"...you said that."
He snorted at her tone and began his chant.
"Guide our steps along the gentlest path,Carry us where distance yields and roads unfold."
Mana structured itself gradually, forming a luminous procession that hung in the air before them.
"...Pretty," Seraphine said.
"Aside from being stunning, it also has an auto travel function, which only works on previously visited destinations. We'll go straight to Paradise. The only teleport point operational in this era."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Okay." She followed, as always.
The procession lifted, and for a moment, the view from altitude allowed her to witness a much prettier sight.
***
"So… you were saying?"
"Oh, shut it."
The three humans ahead of them held their mana-saturated blades steady, each of them radiating solemn stances.
"Vampire. This is not a place you can simply enter. Return to your empire."
Ashen's concealment spells, which he had been quite proud of, had failed spectacularly on approach to the teleportation circle. And the humans he had mentally filed under "systemless" and "manageable" had turned out to be considerably more than that.
"Now I understand how we held on without a system, dear," he said, with surprisingly honest respect.
"Yeah. Humanity is amazing," Seraphine agreed.
The three humans stared bewilderedly, seeing the vampire crazy enough to consider himself human and speak with such pride.
"But I don't think my transportation spell can bring us over the great ocean in time before the three months are up…"
"C'mon, don't pout, there's no need to go to Esperra anyway."
"Nah, I want to go." With that, a giant magic circle materialised in his hand.
The sword wielder did not wait for him to finish casting.
Slash—!
Before he knew it, Ashen found himself tilting sideways. He blatantly realized that he was cut in half.
Seraphine's eyes widened as she tried to hold both of his halves from falling off. His vampire blood did its work, and he was back in one piece before the next strike came.
A spear arrived before the blade did, meeting it in the middle.
While he did not completely neglect his spear in the past years, it was also true that Ashen only did the bare minimum to maintain his skill. Thankfully, he had a new repertoire of spells to compensate.
Clang—
The parry turned the sword wide, and Ashen stepped into the gap without breaking his stance, driving the butt of the shaft toward the man's knee. just to move him.
While they traded blows, his lips moved, spilling syllable after syllable to complete a chant for his next spell.
Then time dragged.
The air thickened within a three-meter radius, Temporal Drag dominated around him, and the two remaining swordsmen found their forward momentum suddenly working against them. They adjusted faster than he'd expected, compensating from muscle memory rather than thought.
'Good instincts.'
Lag Step.
The nearest man's sword arm arrived a fraction behind his intention. Ashen's spear was already where the arm had been going.
He pulled the strike. Still not trying to kill.
The third came from his left, and Seraphine took half a step back without being told. Ashen shifted his weight, spinning the shaft into a wide arc that caught the blade on the flat and redirected it into the dirt.
The archers at the back had been patient. Two arrows came in low the moment his back was turned, aimed at Seraphine.
He didn't look.
Entropy Acceleration. A flick of one finger, and the arrows folded into themselves in flight and crumbling to rust before they reached her.
"This is fun," he said.
One of the swordsmen drove forward in a full commitment, one arm extended as a sacrifice to guarantee the strike would land true.
Ashen caught the sacrificed arm at the wrist, stepped inside, and used the man's own momentum to redirect him into the ground. He pinned him there with the shaft across his back.
"Stay down," he said with approval. "You're good."
The young man stayed down, chest heaving, but his eyes never lost their fire. Ashen was sure he would lunge at the first opening he displayed.
He smiled. 'At last… I can let off some steam.'
***
"Well," he said, from the ground, "not that fun, on second thought."
Ashen had wrapped himself around Seraphine instinctively, taking the full force with his back.
"Who would have thought that they'd just detonate the whole capital…? Are they crazy? I was just playing around… damn it."
Most of his body had decided to take a brief leave of absence. Thankfully, his vampire regeneration was handling the "paperwork".
"Now… my teleporter is also gone… those whackos, fuck."
Seraphine, beneath him, ignored his ramblings and reached up to touch his cheek. "Does it hurt?"
"Hmm? Not much, I guess. Less than the time I was tempering my body anyway. I'm just glad that the link between us is dormant." He glanced toward where the teleportation station had been. "How are we getting to Esperra now?"
"Are you seriously still on about that."
"Hey! That was the initial objective."
"Aigo…" She exhaled through her nose. "This lunatic."
As the couple argued under the rubble, they were swiftly completely surrounded.
Swarms of reinforcements had arrived while they were having this conversation. Ashen took stock of the circle of soldiers, then looked back at Seraphine.
"We'll try again next loop."
"Fine. Just don't get us blown up immediately."
"I have a plan."
"That's what worries me."
***
The following loop, they stood before the capital of the Lust Domain.
Paradise. Even in 1202, it carried the grandeur the name deserved.
Seraphine watched Ashen standing before its gates with an expression of deep anticipation for what was about to happen.
He took two steps forward and screamed at the top of his lungs:
"HELLO HUMAN FRIENDS!! I COME IN PEACE."
"..."
*
*
*
"So you're saying," the gate officer said with the careful tone, "that you are coming as a tourist."
"Yes."
"...And that you are the vampire Lord."
"That's me."
"...And that you have absolutely no intention to cause harm here."
"Also correct!"
A pause.
"In fact," Ashen added cheerfully, "if I had to choose between humans and vampires, I'd pick humans every time. I adore you all. I wish I were human, for real."
Slap.
Seraphine applied her palm to her face beside him.
*
Against all odds, the pacifist approach worked.
After the City Lord took control of the situation, they were allowed in, under supervision, which was all Ashen needed.
He had mapped the area in his head within the first two days, charted every patrol rotation, and identified the three shortest paths to the teleportation station.
Being allowed so close to it was half the victory. The rest was patience.
He was through in under a week, and a very flustered messenger arrived at the gate captain's office shortly afterward to report, with visible distress, that the vampire lord had used the capital's own gate to teleport to their final bastion.
"My Lord…. I'm… sorry…"
"..." The lord's eyes looked deep in thought before a quiet sigh left him.
"It doesn't matter, I suppose. We are not the final line of defense, regardless."
*
*
*
"Can't believe that worked," Seraphine said, looking around.
"Tsk tsk. Where did my optimistic Sera go? Well, at least you're still enthusiastic in bed."
"Fuck you."
"Not now, baby… how about sightseeing first? It's not every time that you see your homeland of 800 years ago, right?"
Seraphine looked.
The land was quieter than she knew. The roads were mud and stone, and the buildings ran lower to the ground, clustered around water sources.
The market squares smelled of tallow and raw cloth. Voices haggled in a dialect she could only partially follow. The root language was the same, but the centuries had done considerable work to the vowels.
When she passed by a temple, she stood in front of it for a moment longer than she meant to.
Ashen watched her from beside her without comment.
They kept walking.
Eventually, they stopped when they encountered a festival. They stayed in a relatively secluded corner, appreciating the performers, the dances, and the song.
The peaceful moment did not persist for long.
At some point, a man near one of the market stalls darted his eyes in Seraphine's direction. He approached casually and reached toward her… his eyes had been on her since they arrived, and apparently, his judgment had finally abandoned him.
No surprise there. Serpahine's beauty wasn't something a villager could withstand, especially when she wore such an elaborate gown.
His hand evaporated before it completed the motion.
Ashen glanced back at him pleasantly. "That's mine. No touch."
"Uh….- ah—ahhhh!!!!!"
The man looked at his wrist. Then he made a sound that was not quite a word and ran.
Seraphine lightly pecked Ashen's cheek in thanks, as if he'd done nothing more than swat away a bothersome fly.
After that incident, they were not inclined to stay any longer, so they decided to continue on.
They had not gone much further when the world stopped.
zzztt—
The merchants froze mid-gesture. A falling leaf hung in the air. The sound dropped out entirely, everything halted… except for them.
And a voice.
"Haaa~ haha~ aren't you two lively. Did something nice happen?"
Ashen went very still.
'No way… Uncle?!'
"I don't know how you got here," the voice continued, with drawling amusement, "but being naughty in my territory is a no-go, I tell ya~"
From his tone, it was clear that he found the situation mildly entertaining rather than threatening.
"So… Goodnight. Be a good boy in your next life."
Tssshttt—
Ashen felt himself decay from within. Skin first, then flesh, then bone, and finally… his blood.
The droplets he had scattered in hope of revival suddenly lost their connection, as though he had willingly abandoned them. And in the end… even his entire existence decided to evade the concept of life.
The last vampire primordial died.
Just like that.
With a mere gaze and a jolly laugh.
"Lady," Dorian spoke after consideration. "Since you're human, I'll let you stay. But next time, don't keep company with delinquents. It won't look pretty on a mannerly girl like you."
Seraphine looked at the space where he had been.
Her expression did not change.
She brought her mana to her heart unhurriedly and detonated it.
thud—
"Oh." Dorian sounded genuinely puzzled. "Was that her husband or something?"
He shrugged.
"Well. Whatever."
Flash—