"Angh!"
Jerking my hands off as I loosened my grip on her, the orange-haired girl rushed to the fallen vampire's site.
I… just stood there, watching her as she continued to cry over Reina's dead body.
Her remorseful screams told me how close they must've been.
Vampires harbor a deep disdain for humans, viewing themselves as a biologically superior race.
Their limitless growth potential, unlike the members of other races who are all born with a potential cap, puts them on par with elves who possess an exceptional affinity for mana.
This fact only reinforces their belief of being superior.
With the exception of elves, vampires deem no other race as their equal, regarding dwarves and humans as mere blood bags.
Yet….
Despite this ingrained prejudice, Reina, one of the strongest vampires, gave up her life to protect a human girl, treating her with the same devotion as if she were her kin– her family.
Whereas I, a human, took her hostage and threatened to harm her.
As I stood there, listening to Mary's mournful cries, a sense of guilt churned in my gut.
I was fully aware that what I had done was wrong, but I had no choice. It was either doing what I did or getting killed on the spot.
Admittedly, my life wasn't actually in danger since I had discarded my armor's protection, so I would have been able to revive myself in case I were to die.
But by then, Reina would have fled with the legendary beast egg, and my chance to acquire it would have been lost.
As I said, I had no other choice. It was the most efficient way.
Besides, what happened wasn't totally my fault. A part of the blame could be put on Reina too.
Why?
Because love is a weapon, a powerful and treacherous one at that.
It can motivate you to triumph over any adversity, but it can also be used against you. And when it is used by your enemies, it becomes a fatal weakness.
How can Reina not expect her enemies to use her weakness against her? It was a blunder on her part, and she paid the price for it.
I won because she was careless.
"Heik! Heik!"
The sobbing of the orange-haired girl shook me out of my self-justification-filled thoughts.
"Haaa," heaving a sigh, I walked over to Mary, who was kneeling over the vampire's corpse.
"...You!" she turned her bloodshot eyes to me, her gaze filled with hostility. "You killed her! You are the reason she is dead!"
"She was a vampire," I justified. "Their kind is our enemy. Sooner or later, she would've been tracked down by the United Military and killed anyway. Besides, I allowed her to live and avoid this fate."
"Enemy? The only enemy I see here is you! You killed children! They weren't humans anymore, but they were still children, and you killed them all! You know what? She may have been a vampire, but you are the monster here!" Mary screamed.
Even though I already knew what she said was true, the realization still hit me like a thunderbolt.
There was no escaping the harsh truth - I was the villain of their story, no matter how I may twist the words.
I arrived at the scene, ruthlessly slaying a group of tender children without a second thought.
After that, I brazenly took a young girl hostage, using her life as a bargaining chip to manipulate the person she held dearest. I forced that person to make an excruciating choice - to take their own life to spare the girl's.
No matter how often I may justify myself by saying, 'It was the only way,' I knew the truth….
It was a heinous act, one that stained my hands with the blood of the innocent and left a mark on my soul that would never fade.
Yet, I felt no regret. Guilt? Yeah.
But if I were to find myself in the exact same situation again, I'll repeat the choice I made in a heartbeat.
"Haa," I let out a deep sigh as I squatted down to examine the lifeless body of the vampire before retrieving my spear, which was still impaling her heart.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Mary shrieked in anger as she watched me rifling through the corpse. "Stop it! Can't you at least let her rest in peace now that she's gone?"
Despite her protests, I remained unfazed. My attention was fixated on the task at hand.
Mary attempted to push me away, but due to our significant differences in size and weight, she was unable to budge me an inch.
I spoke in a curt and impatient tone, "What does it look like I'm doing? I came here to take something from her, and I'm not leaving until I've acquired what I came for."
Mary hissed in anger, her tears of grief still streaming down her face as she failed to push me away.
She rose to her feet, picked up a rock from the ground, and threw it at me in resentment.
Thwack—!!
The rock struck the side of my face, but I remained stoically focused on my task, ignoring her outburst.
I could sense the depth of her rage, and it was understandable.
She was angrier with herself for being so weak that I had been able to capture her and use her in such a cruel manner so easily.
She was helpless as she watched the person closest to her fall victim to my machinations because of her– because she was weak enough to get captured.
I couldn't begin to fathom the kind of trauma that an experience like this would inflict on a girl of her age.
But one thing was certain - this pain would drive her to become stronger. Her hatred for me would fuel her determination to improve.
"Leave! Just get out of here!" Mary spat out, her tear-filled eyes blazing with a seething fire of resentment.
If left unquenched, this fire would devour me one day.
Just as I was lost in my thoughts, fixated on my inner turmoil, my gaze happened upon the ring on Reina's finger. I couldn't help but whisper under my breath, "There it is."
The ring was a striking shade of red, crafted from a polished metal that glimmered brightly in the sunlight.
Intricate runes were etched onto the surface of the ring, lending it a mystic and almost antique appearance.
I have only seen one of these things in the weapon vault of the academy, but I could definitely make out what it was.
It was a dimensional ring. These runes inscribed on it were spatial runes to create a pocket space.
"Good," I smiled while taking the ring off the dead body's hand and putting it on my ring finger.
Nodding, I got up and imbued mana into the ring. The runes on the ring shone brightly as I sensed the items kept within its dimensional storage.
There, amidst a variety of several different items ranging from different types of alchemy potions to blood bags, I found a single golden egg.
Focusing on it, I tried to draw it out using my willpower.
Shing—
Almost instantly, the ring shone brighter, and a reddish-golden egg, around the size of a human head, appeared in my hand out of thin air.
Yup, this was definitely it.
I quickly put it back in the ring before turning around and walking away.
"I'll kill you," right then, a hostile yet very familiar voice rang in my ears.
I turned around to look at the orange-haired girl as she knelt on the ground, crying while gritting her teeth in anger and looking at me with fury.
"You killed everyone, you killed her, and you stole from her too! I will fucking kill you for it one day! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
She screamed while repeating herself.
Adding to the fact that Reina died because of her, she couldn't even stop me from looting the vampire's dead corpse, which would definitely scar her for life.
"Haaa," I heaved a long sigh as I listened to her repeating her threats to kill me one day.
As I thought, I couldn't leave without putting out this fire completely. If I leave even a spark, I will be devoured in the future.
With no other choice, I let out another sigh before slowly approaching Mary's kneeling figure. "Fine."
Seeing me coming back, Mary's eyes shook. But before she could open her mouth to speak, I whipped out my Edit Pen from my smart bracelet.
I pointed it at the orange-haired girl's clothes and started waving the pen in the air as if I was writing something on an invisible paper.
"What are you trying to do now– heeik!!"
Instantly, Mary's body dropped flat to the ground as if a ton of weight was put on her, letting out a surprised squeak.
Just like I did with those children earlier, I made her clothes heavy to pin her to the ground.
"Wh-Wh-What are you doing?! Help! Someone help! Please!" Mary screamed as terror replaced the rage in her eyes. "You said you won't kill me! You promised her! AT LEAST KEEP YOUR WORD! I am a human! You can't kill me! NO! HELP! PLEASE! ANYONE! Pl– Mnghh!"
Upon arriving before her, I took out a handkerchief from my slacks' pockets and stuffed it in her mouth.
Shing—!!
"Mnghh! MNGHH!"
I flicked my wrist twice and unloaded my hidden blade once again. Seeing this, a fear-filled glint appeared in her eyes as she continued to shout muffled screams for help.
"Don't worry," I said with a deadpan look in my eyes. "I gave my word to her that I won't kill you. But that doesn't mean I can't leave you here to die on your own."
Without waiting anymore, I stabbed my knife in her right calf muscle, tearing her flesh and letting her blood splurt out.
Kach—!!!
Splurt—!
"Mnghhh!!"
As she let out a muffled agonizing scream, I spoke, "When the night falls, mana beasts will follow the scent of your blood, leading them out of the woods to you. They will be the ones killing you, not me. I am keeping my word."
"Mnghh! Mnghhh!"
Tears started running down her eyes again, and a helpless look flashed on her face.
She was scared. Who wouldn't be in the face of certain death?
I felt horrible for leaving a child here like this. But I knew how far hatred could drive people.
Leaving her alive would only sow the seeds of future revenge. She wouldn't just forget this day and move on with her life.
It's not because she won't want to move on with her life; it's that she just can't.
She would never be happy with anything in her life. Her heart and mind would be consumed with the desire for revenge, and her thoughts will only return back to this trauma that I had inflicted upon her.
Her every waking moment would be spent plotting and scheming, determined to make me pay for what I had done.
And when the time finally came, she would strike with a vengeance.
Whether it be now or then, I would have to take her life regardless.
So it's better to snuff out that flame now before it gets a chance to grow into an inferno.
It's a mercy, in a way, to spare her the pain and suffering that would come with a lifetime of vengeance.
And for me, it was a necessary act of self-preservation.
Simply put, I once again had no other choice.
Telling myself that, I turned around and started heading out of the slums as the girl behind me kept on screaming and crying.
I closed my eyes and clenched my fists.
I felt someone hugging me from behind as if trying to stop me from leaving the girl. But I summoned every bit of willpower I had in me and kept on moving forward without looking back.
I knew if I looked back here, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from going back and letting the girl go.
So I steeled my heart and kept my eyes in front of me. With my voice barely above a whisper, I said, "I'm sorry."
