Chapter 157: 085. Ruppel Olfolse -3 (Part One)
Blood began shooting out like fountains in front of the royal palace’s entrance.
Desperate screams rang out as spikes of blood mercilessly impaled the Paladins on guard.
The Vampires immediately ripped into the corpses of the Paladins, and drank their blood before injecting demonic energy into their victims.
Just as the Vampires began roaring out with demonic laughters, the corpses reopened their eyes. The dead Paladins were reanimated into zombies as they staggered back up their feet.
“Ahaha! Lord Ruppel, what should we do now? Do we force our way into the palace itself? Or…”
“I told you, didn’t I? Just slaughter whatever you come across. Actually, you guys should just remain here and act as distractions. If you see any livestock around, kill them and turn them into zombies. That’s your role.”
“Eh?”
The Vampires all formed troubled expressions at that order.
“As for me, I’ll enter the palace on my own. This body of mine won’t last for long. All of you are going to hunt some fresh livestock and make sure that my quest to acquire a new body will be trouble-free. Understand?”
“Just… us alone, sir?”
“What’s the matter?”
Ruppel stared at the Vampires in slight confusion.
They stared back at him and smiled awkwardly.
“We heard that both Oscal Baldur the sword king and the Crown Imperial Prince are here.”
“And we also heard that they are weird perverts who go out of their way to rip off the heads of Vampires to add to their collection…”
“We won’t be strong enough to fight them with just us…”
Second Imperial Prince Ruppel continued tilting his head. “So what are you trying to say?”
“…”
“You won’t do it?”
The boy’s unflinching crimson eyes were issuing an absolute command. The ends of his lips might be currently curled up in a grin, but the muscles around his eyes remained the same as before.
His chilling expression prompted an outbreak of cold sweat to flood down the backs of the Vampires, and they hurriedly bowed their heads.
“W-we shall obey.”
“Of course you will. Yup. You should’ve done that from the beginning, you know? Besides, I never planned to make you do something impossible in the first place. I just want you lot to buy me some time, that’s all. When Oscal and White show up, just turn tail and run away from here. In the meantime, I will…”
Ruppel snickered insidiously as he stepped into the royal palace.
“…Sneak into this palace and steal my little brother’s body.”
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
I hurriedly blocked my nose.
Gee whiz, how long has it been since I picked up a stench this bad?
This distinctive scent could’ve only come from demonic energy, and to make matters worse, it belonged specifically to rotting corpses.
So then… This energy had to belong to…
I quietly held my forehead.
Ah, aaah, dear Gaia! Are you still unwilling to give me some time off? Is that how it is?
“Those stinking Vampire motherf*ckers! Can’t they just give it a bloody rest already?!”
I exploded in indignation.
White, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, flinched in shock and stared at me.
He looked puzzled by the sudden change in my attitude. “What’s gotten into you, Allen? Why all the…”
Clang-! Clang-! Clang-!
Suddenly, sounds of bells and horns meant to warn the palace’s residents urgently rang throughout the structure.
Torches were being lit up from various places in the palace, and the Paladins were hurriedly rushing off to somewhere.
It was at this point in time that knocking sounds came from the door. Oscal Baldur opened the door and peeked his head in. Which only served to amplify my worries even further.
“It seems that some Vampires have decided to raid the palace,” Oscal informed us.
“Tsk.”
Those f*cking as*holes!
I angrily massaged my temples.
Man, I thought those bastards were behaving themselves nowadays, but here we go again. Look at how they started yet another crap!
No, hang on a sec. Before all that, those fools must be completely insane.
There’s no way that they didn’t know about the sword king and the members of the empire’s five forces being present in the palace, yet they still chose to raid this place?
They weren’t even some low-rent S*icide S*uad copycats or something, so why were they so hell-bent on killing themselves?
“Vampires, you say?” White looked quite stunned before he shifted his gaze back to me. “Hold on, Allen? How did you even know that the Vampires launched a surprise raid on the palace? Could it be that the empire really found a way to distinguish the Vampires?”
“I had a hunch, that’s all. In any case, can you stop them, Sir Oscal?”
I came up with some random excuse at White’s questioning and shifted my attention over to Oscal instead.
The old man replied with a relaxed smile as if this event was nothing to be concerned about. “These Vampires won’t present any problems whatsoever. As you know, many hardened Paladins are encamped within the palace. Although one of the creatures is using a technique that’s a little troublesome, we can still deal with them quite easily, your highness.”
I became so much more relaxed by Oscal’s answer.
What a relief that there didn’t seem to be anyone strong among the invading Vampires. In that case, the Paladins should be able to suppress the incoming undead. Of course, things would become even simpler if a man who’s been feeling rather pissed off at the Vampires decided to personally step up here.
“This is actually rather convenient,” said White, while standing up from his chair. He cracked his knuckles and loosened his wrists, his expression crumpling unsightly in anger. “I’ll collect the heads of those Vampire bastards. Interrogating them should net us some new information.”
I sensed rage permeating like bubbling magma in his voice when he chewed those words out. That emotion must be from his desire for retribution.
I still asked Oscal just to be sure, “You don’t need my help, right? Are you sure that there really aren’t any dangerous-looking Vampires present?”
What I was honestly feeling inside didn’t want to come out of my mouth. Let’s be real here, I just want to take a break and not get dragged in.
“No, your highness. It’ll be alright. Although the report mentions a bastard capable of manipulating blood, his highness the Crown Prince and myself alone should suffice.”
Well, that’s good to hear.
If we were dealing with regular Vampires, then the five forces of the Imperial Family should be more than enough to handle them. And even if some annoying bastards did show up, the sword king and the Crown Imperial Prince should be able to easily get rid of them.
“I’ll be on my way, then. Allen, why don’t you stay here and chat with Ruppel in the meantime?”
After White said that, he left the room along with Oscal.
Once the room became quiet again, I stared at Ruppel still lying on the bed for a little while. “Okay, so… Brother, what’s your plan for the future?”
The thing was, I still hadn’t heard the full details of the crime Ruppel was accused of. All I’ve been told so far was that he was suspected of committing high treason.
Rose Darina was suspected of assassinating Yulisia and colluding with the Vampires, while her son Ruppel was suspected of conspiring with Aslan. Because of this thing about ‘guilty by association’, I wasn’t sure whether he’d get to keep his life or not.
Although Ruppel was pretending to be asleep, his body still shifted around uncomfortably. I could hear the faint sounds of sobbing coming from under the sheets covering him.
It must’ve been despairing for him.
Not that surprising, really. Because of Rose’s actions, Ruppel’s everything had been completely ruined, after all.
He was unlikely to live through what’s to come. Even if I, White, and the other siblings petitioned the holy emperor, the end result would be unknown at this stage, likely to be still unfavourable.
I continued staring at Ruppel for a little while before sighing softly under my breath. Wanting to get some fresh air, I threw open the window panels.
The wind blew in and my once-agitated mind cooled down soon afterwards.
The world tree planted in the palace’s garden caught my eyes. Looking at that thing really helped me settle my mind.
My gaze drifted lower and eventually noticed a boy walking towards the world tree in the palace garden.
I muttered to no one in particular, “Maybe that boy is a servant?”
The boy looked to be around twelve years old, with red hair and red eyes.
Since his attire was that of a manservant, I initially didn’t think much about him, but something about that kid felt a little off.
All the other servants and maids were screaming and running around like a bunch of headless chickens, yet that boy was different. He was way too relaxed, and that only reinforced this air of disharmony oozing around him.
I recalled the incident with Count Fomor. Back then, I couldn’t sense any demonic energy nor any associated stench from him. That was how difficult it was to differentiate Vampires from regular humans.
Just to be sure, I activated [Mind’s Eye] and checked out the boy’s status.
[Name: Ruppel Olfolse.
Age: ???
Attributes: Rotting body, a Progenitor Vampire. Peerage of marquis granted by the Vampire King. Massive demonic energy reserve, ability to manipulate blood, cruel and vicious personality.
+ Argh, my body is rotting away. I need to acquire a new body immediately! And soon, I shall take over Ruppel’s body and…]
My jaw dropped to the floor. “F*ck me sideways.”
I became utterly dismayed.
Are you seriously telling me that the very bastard White had been scouring the whole continent for the past eleven years had just strode brazenly into my proverbial front yard?
No, hang on a second here. That bastard looked like a little kid. Even if that thing stood right before White, he still wouldn’t be able to tell whether it was a Vampire or not.
I stared at Ruppel and wondered if I should call for White and Oscal. Oscal wouldn’t have any problems, but would White really be able to kill that thing without hesitation?
Just as I began pondering that quandary…
I couldn’t help but notice that both Charlotte and Harman were now standing in front of the red-haired ‘boy’. And some distance away, there they were, Dark Elf Tina and the company of hashashins providing her with protection.
I figured that they were evacuating Tina to a safer location. But during their journey, they had run into the wandering boy Vampire and stopped in their tracks after finding the latter to be way too suspicious.
Charlotte and Harman seemed to be interrogating the boy and were walking up to the Vampire.
That undead monster was a bit too challenging for the two of them to handle.
I glanced at the world tree again. Back when I had to utilise the powers of both Amon’s skull and the staff multiple times against Rahamma, that tree’s recovery ability greatly reduced the backlash of the relics to a manageable degree.
I remembered back to when I killed the Black Dragon, and then summoned Amon’s grimoire.
Although it was rather uncool to clean up the crap left behind my father, I still figured that taking care of this loose end would be for the best in the long run.
Besides, I also wanted to find out by how much the world tree’s powers could lessen the backlash from using Amon’s relics, too.
And so, I opened Amon’s grimoire.
