Volume 4, Chapter 17 – Preparations Before the Main Quest

“Did you hear? The lord is going to lead a punitive expedition against the Frost Giants in the north of the territory in a month.”

Just as her conversation with the count’s eldest daughter ended, Yisi’s attention was drawn to a nearby table.

Five bare-chested men were chatting while tasting blood.

“They’re finally going to deal with those damn invaders?”

“Don’t get too excited. I think there’s something fishy about this. Everyone knows the Pescia family’s young lady isn’t the real one. To immediately go after the Frost Giants right after reshuffling the nobility… It’s a question whether we can even win with the army we have now. That impostor is sending us to our deaths.”

“Yeah, I heard that too. A lot of people have already fled to the neighboring Count Hilary’s territory.”

At the mention of Count Hilary’s name, the other patrons gradually fell silent.

“Count Hilary? Isn’t he the leader of the noble faction who recently raised the banner of rebellion? He united the southern nobles to oppose the Young King’s rule, not only sending assassins after the Queen but also openly declaring himself the new royal family.”

“It can’t be helped. The new king lacks the decisiveness a king should have. I heard from my cousin who works in the royal capital that the new king is secretly called the ‘toothless young lion’ by the servants.”

“I hope the Queen can grow up soon…”

“What about our lord?”

A patron who didn’t know the inside story asked in a low voice. With an outsider joining the conversation, the five men who had been discussing politics immediately clammed up.

“You can’t just say things like that.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? There are no high-ranking vampires or purebloods in the Blood House. We’re all in the same boat.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

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The other patrons chimed in. Under everyone’s urging, the man who had been talking so freely finally spoke again.

“You all better not spread this around. Besides the noble faction and the royalist faction, our lord is one of the few neutral powers. He doesn’t want to get involved in this conflict. Plus, the Pescia territory is separated from other territories by natural barriers, so the other two factions aren’t interested in us. However—”

Halfway through, the man’s volume suddenly dropped significantly.

“However what?”

“However, I heard from people in the black market that the person impersonating the Pescia young lady might be an assassin sent by Count Hilary. Although the Pescia territory is neutral, its strength is among the top of the fourteen vampire territories. Coupled with its geographical advantage, if it sides with the royal family, Count Hilary would be caught in a pincer attack between the royals and Count Pescia. That’s why Count Hilary wants to secretly eliminate our lord.”

“Doesn’t our lord know?”

“That’s something beyond my knowledge.”

A wave of sighs swept through the hall. Although they were not involved in the war, they had grown attached to this land. The thought of it being invaded naturally made them uncomfortable.

After that, the men started chatting about interesting news from various places. Yisi stood up from her seat and left the tavern, the night wind blowing against her.

“So, the impostor might be from Count Hilary of the blood clan, and Count Hilary is using the impostor’s words to make Count Pescia lead his troops to fight the Frost Giants, greatly reducing the Pescia territory’s military strength and thus eliminating a threat.”

I’ll tell Edith tomorrow after she wakes up and see how she reacts.

The time she had might be much shorter than anticipated.

As for what to do next—

“There are still people on the back mountain who are about to die from blood loss. I hope they haven’t wandered off.”

Walking into an empty alley, Yisi activated her short-distance teleportation.

The dark forest was filled with rustling sounds. It being summer, all sorts of insects were out and about. Walking through it gave the illusion that a venomous snake could jump out from the bushes at any moment. Yisi could feel mosquitoes landing on her face and arms. If it weren’t for her defense stat being far beyond ordinary, preventing the insects from piercing her skin, she would have been swollen all over by now.

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But even if the insects couldn’t cause her any actual harm, the feeling of them crawling on her was disgusting, especially the itching sensation on her skin. The physiological discomfort made Yisi use magic directly.

[ Consecutive Fireballs ]

Hundreds of fireballs instantly spread out in all directions with Yisi at the center. In just a few minutes, all the creatures and trees within a twenty-meter radius were turned to charcoal.

“Hmm, I can’t keep going like this…”

If she burned her way through, the spreading flames might burn down the entire forest. Moreover, it was already summer, and the heat of being in a world of fire would drive one mad. Yisi thought for a moment and switched to enveloping herself in Wind Blade.

Thus, with every step Yisi took, a bald, barren patch of land appeared in the forest. A one-meter radius around Yisi was filled with high-intensity Wind Blades. Whether it was a tall tree or a venomous snake ambushing from the grass, it would be instantly ground to dust. In terms of stats, her mana was being depleted at a rate of one hundred and fifty points per second.

“This should be fine.”

Nodding, Yisi began to move through the mountain forest. It was worth noting that along the way, Yisi encountered many monsters that the Omniscient Map identified as Frost Giants.

At first, Yisi thought that “giants” were just enlarged versions of humans, but after actually encountering them, she realized that Frost Giants were actually enlarged versions of ice apes. Their entire bodies, including their faces, were covered in thick white fur, and they were over ten meters tall. They couldn’t speak the language of intelligent beings, nor could they communicate with body language. Their first reaction upon seeing Yisi was to roar and charge at her, no different from any other monster.

So Yisi easily threw them all into a sinkhole in the valley. The sinkhole was over a hundred meters deep with exceptionally smooth stone walls. Although it was barren inside, there were insects and small animals, so they wouldn’t starve to death if they ate sparingly.

If Edith had my strength, she would either slaughter all the giants or take them back to her territory to become slaves who would work themselves to death. It’s a good thing Edith isn’t here.

After finishing this child-like amusement, Yisi soon arrived at the place originally used to bury the dead. Due to being used for corpse disposal for a long time, an open area with a diameter of about a hundred meters had been formed. The surroundings were covered in scorch marks, looking as if it had been bombarded by magic.

In the center of the open space, a total of eleven burlap sacks lay there. The Omniscient Map showed that five people had survived, but they were still asleep due to excessive blood loss.

More people survived than she expected.

According to Yisi’s plan, these people would be sent to Margaret to help Fran and Shinku expand the territory.

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Dispelling the dense Wind Blades, Yisi walked up to the sacks. Perhaps due to the power of money, the sacks were tied neatly with ropes and arranged in an orderly fashion. The vampire servants had even sprinkled a circle of “demon-repelling powder” around them to prevent the bodies from being eaten by monsters.

Picking out the bodies that were completely dead, Yisi piled them together.

“Forgive my rudeness.”

She set them on fire.

Leaving them in the mountain forest would turn them into undead, their souls trapped in their bodies without release.

Next, Yisi teleported the remaining five survivors to an abandoned house in Termi City. This house was a place Yisi and her companions had found while wandering around during the day.

It wasn’t impossible to take them directly to Margaret by repeatedly using Advanced Teleportation, but the problem was that she couldn’t confirm their character. If the people she brought to Fran and Shinku were criminals of bad character, she would undoubtedly be causing them trouble—since she was the one who introduced them, Fran and the others would probably endure and hire them even if they were criminals.

Therefore, she had to make these people realize that she had saved them through “great effort” and at “great cost.” This way, they would owe her a favor, and she could then get to know them and see their true character through future interactions.

Yisi untied the ropes on the sacks one by one.

“Four females and one male… no signs of long-term starvation or whipping.”

All these people had been served as food on the dining table. Considering that female blood generally tasted better than male blood, it wasn’t strange that there were more females. The reason they were healthy was the same—healthy people tasted better than gaunt ones. Yisi’s curiosity focused on the only male.

If they weren’t all naked and lying on the ground, Yisi would have thought there were five women on the floor.

“No… how should I put this… Although I shouldn’t judge a person’s appearance, I can’t help but say that this person looks more like a woman than a man. Not only does he have long hair, but his figure is also slender, and his facial features are cuter than most women’s.”

In terms of appearance, he looked to be under fifteen.

Yisi couldn’t help but take another look at the man’s name.

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“Akarin… Is he a child with a very weak presence? His level is surprisingly 16, and he’s a Fallen. The Fallen mark has spread to his heart… I’ll wait until he wakes up to treat it. That’ll make him feel more like I’ve saved him.”

Yisi took out bedsheets from her inventory and covered the five girls one by one. Since the male looked like he was deliberately dressing as a female, Yisi respected his wishes and treated him as one.

“Speaking of which, I feel like I’ve heard the name Akarin somewhere before…”

Not on Earth, but in this world. Yisi frowned, her fist against her lips as she thought.

“Akarin… Akarin… Ah!”

The sudden recollection of the source made Yisi freeze for a moment.

—That was the name of the first guild master of the Flame Conquerors, the person Clementine had always admired.

“Hey, hey… Is reality really this cruel…”

I’ll ask her in person when Akarin wakes up.

Clementine is so pitiful.

To prevent the nearby lower-class vampires from targeting them, and also to prevent them from escaping, Yisi used earth magic to repair the damaged parts of the house, then sealed the door with a barrier, and left water and food inside.

Although this body would be leaving Termi City tomorrow and heading straight for the Pescia capital, Elden, she had teleportation magic and could come back anytime.

It felt like she was supposed to be starting the main quest but couldn’t stop thinking about the side quests.

“Well, the main quest is Edith’s business. I’ll just be a little NPC watching from the sidelines.”

Making a silly joke, Yisi teleported back to the luxurious big bed where Tiffany was providing her sleep-companion services.