Volume 6, Chapter 10 – The Fallen in the Holy City

Intentionally avoiding the public parade, Yisi took Mary to the central temple after breakfast. Although it would have been fine to bring Camilla and Tiffany along, Camilla was still sleeping because she had stayed up too late last night. Tiffany couldn’t come either because she couldn’t touch holy water—the central temple was the seat of power for the Ymir Church. Needless to say, the church’s elite members resided there, as did the Popes of successive generations. For security reasons, the church stipulated that everyone entering the central temple must wear a cross and drink holy water, otherwise they would be considered intruders.

Similarly, Edith and Refina couldn’t enter either. Although Edith was not afraid of crosses and sunlight, she was not immune to the holy water consecrated by the church. Just a touch on her skin would cause an effect similar to a burn, let alone ingesting it.

By the time Yisi went out, the snow had stopped falling. People came out of their houses one after another. On the road, some had already begun to sweep the snow. Horses moved forward slowly under the careful command of their drivers, and the shouts caused by the congested roads rose and fell.

“Compared to the night, the daytime is a completely different scene.”

Perhaps because she was walking on the main road, the spacious and bright street was filled with pedestrians. Most of them wore thick cotton jackets and pants. Although there were patches of various sizes and colors on them, their warmth was not diminished in the slightest. The only bad thing to say was probably about their shoes—only a few could afford leather boots. Most people still wore straw sandals woven from some unknown dried grass. Stepping on the snow in such shoes must be no different from stepping on knives. Both adults and children were dressed this way.

In addition, what caught Yisi’s attention the most was the city’s culture and customs.

“As expected of a holy city, there are people praying everywhere.”

On the street, one could see people everywhere holding the church’s holy seal that hung around their necks in their palms, their hands clasped tightly to their chests, their eyes closed, their heads slightly raised, and their mouths constantly muttering something. What was very much in the style of another world was that people’s prayers were not just a psychological effect; they could receive a tangible response.

After these people finished their prayers, the holy seal in their hands would emit a faint golden light. According to Yisi’s observation, anyone enveloped by the golden light would show a refreshed and peaceful expression. Even if the person praying was crying or had a worried look on their face, they could quickly calm down. So Yisi guessed that the golden light might have the effect of clearing people’s negative emotions.

As for the specifics, she would only know by trying it herself.

“Anyway, I’ll have to pray at the central temple, so I’ll try it then. Hopefully, it won’t only react to believers.”

Feeling her right hand being squeezed, Yisi tilted her head to look at Mary, who she was holding hands with. The latter had an expression of wanting to say something but hesitating.

“What is it, Mary?”

“Um… Master is also of the Blood Clan. Will it be okay to touch the holy water? For me, it’s fine not to see Miss Evelyn…”

“It’s fine,” Mary’s concern made Yisi smile, “I’ve already tried it. The holy water has no effect on me. Maybe I’m really not a vampire, just as Pepe said.”

Of course, this was just Yisi’s joke. If she wasn’t a vampire, how could she have a craving for blood? It turned out that if she didn’t drink blood for a long time, she would still enter a blood frenzy. It was only because of her strong mental power that she wouldn’t lose her reason and attack those around her indiscriminately.

“Speaking of which, it’s really cold today.”

Unable to resist blowing on her hands and then covering her ears, Yisi looked up at the Tower of Alexia not far away.

“Is it because of the Tower of Alexia? It was early winter yesterday, and it’s snowing today.”

“If Master is very cold, you should put on your scarf.”

As she spoke, Mary prepared to take off the red scarf around her neck. This was a gift from Andrea to Mary before she left. Although it wasn’t hand-knitted by Andrea, the materials and craftsmanship were of a quality that ordinary people could not afford.

Holding Mary’s hand down, Yisi gestured for Mary to look at the passersby.

“If I snatch Mary’s scarf and wear it myself, others will definitely think I’m bullying you. This bit of cold is just normal for me. Mary doesn’t need to worry about me.”

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“My things are Master’s things. And Master is very good to me. I can’t even thank you enough, so how can it be called bullying? This is what I should do.”

“I’m not talking about what others think,” Yisi patted Mary’s head. If Mary hadn’t mentioned it, she would have almost forgotten that this was a world that retained slavery. “I like how you look wearing a scarf, Mary. It’s very cute.”

If paired with light-colored earmuffs and mittens, she’d be the cutest in the world.

Her face immediately turned red. Mary covered her face with her hands, pretending to be warming them—in reality, she was shy.

“M-Miss Andrea is much cuter…”

“If Andrea heard that, she would protest.”

Andrea’s goal was to become a mature woman who could do everything perfectly. Although she would be happy to be called cute, she always pretended to be angry on the surface.

However, seeing Mary’s shy look was enough for her. Yisi pointed to a nearby shop from which the aroma of food was wafting. Judging by the tools alone, it already had the style of a grill from Earth. Besides chicken legs skewered on wooden sticks, there were also foods that looked like sweet potatoes and potatoes on the charcoal fire. It was worth noting that even in this nation with abundant material resources, the food grilled by the vendors was more vegetarian than meat, and there were very few customers willing to buy meat.

“I remember there’s no such dish in the Blood Clan… Let’s buy some more and give them to Andrea, Camilla, and Edith later. What about you, Mary? You can order whatever you want.”

“I’ve already had breakfast.”

“It’s fine. Isn’t there a saying, ‘For girls, dessert goes into a separate stomach’? Although this isn’t dessert, it can be more or less classified as a snack.”

“Master always likes to say things I don’t understand…”

“Eh.”

So there’s no such saying in this other world. But that’s to be expected. It would be strange if there were.

Unconcerned, Yisi led Mary towards the stall. Having been with Mary for so long, she naturally knew that Mary was just using the excuse of having eaten breakfast to put her off, and was not actually resistant to delicious food.

“I’ll have this, this, and this. Wait, this fragrant-smelling meat skewer seems pretty good too—ah, isn’t that the smell of chestnuts over here? It’s roasted just right. I feel like I’m drooling.”

“Th-this young lady, do you mean you want to buy everything you just ordered? It’s almost two silver coins already.”

The shopkeeper looked at Yisi with a very exaggerated expression. It wasn’t that he thought Yisi was a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, but because no one had ever ordered so much food at once. Two silver coins was half a month’s salary for an ordinary carpenter.

“Mm, that’s right,” Yisi nodded at the shopkeeper, then turned to look at Mary, “What about you, Mary? You can order whatever you want to eat.”

“Then… I’ll have this…”

Carefully, Mary pointed to a chicken leg that had been roasted to a golden brown.

“Alright, shopkeeper, give me ten of everything this child and I just ordered.”

Considering that Tiffany’s appetite was larger than the others, Yisi ordered a lot more. Because everything stored in her inventory was in a state of suspended time, the food she took out would not even change in temperature, so there was no need to worry about the taste being affected after being stored for a long time.

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The shopkeeper’s eyes widened. After a moment of surprise, he rubbed his hands together sheepishly.

“T-ten of each? I’m sorry, customer, I haven’t prepared that much stock… But if you’re willing to come back tomorrow, I can prepare twenty of each, no problem!”

“Alright, I don’t have enough time right now anyway. A few of each will do for now.”

…

Soon, there were two more girls on the roadside, each holding a sweet potato in her hands.

“Mm~ It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted this sweet feeling. It’s a pity there’s no spoon, otherwise I could have had a retro experience.”

In the unofficial histories she had read, in the early 21st century, people used spoons to enjoy sweet potatoes bought from the roadside. In the era she lived in, trivial matters were handled by robots, and people didn’t need to work, so she couldn’t eat roasted sweet potatoes sold on the roadside.

As for the tradition that when out with a girl, one should buy desserts like crepes, Yisi didn’t care at all. Buying crepes should be part of a date, and the one who came out with her was Mary.

“It’s so warm. I want Tiffany and Miss Camilla to try it too.”

Taking small breaths, Mary had a blissful expression on her face.

Yisi couldn’t help but feel the urge to tease her a little. She deliberately put on a regretful expression and said maliciously.

“The one Mary picked looks a circle bigger than mine. Damn it, you actually chose the best-tasting one.”

“Eh? Is that so? I-I remember I chose the smallest one… Wait, Master’s is bigger!”

“Puhaha, just kidding.”

“…Master is mean.”

Biting the sweet potato resentfully, Mary had an unhappy expression on her face.

Her pouting look is also cute—it makes me want to kiss her.

But that would probably make Mary so shy that she’d drop the food in her hands and scream in surprise, so I’d better not.

In any case, Mary has already passed the age of adulthood in this other world. In terms of age alone, she is one year older than Edith.

After walking a little further, Mary suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

Stopping with her, Yisi tilted her head to look where Mary’s gaze was fixed—a small alley whose entrance was blocked by clutter. Through the gaps in the clutter, some shining things could be seen. They were not gems or metal, but human eyes.

“Master… they seem to be looking at me.”

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They must have their eyes on the food in Mary’s hands. Yisi had Mary give her the half-eaten sweet potato. The people hiding in the darkness immediately shifted their gazes to Yisi.

Mary couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but as a vampire, it was no problem for her. The people hiding in the darkness were all children. From the information provided by the Omniscient Map, most of these children were Fallen.

“So that’s why they can’t get the church’s protection. But there are a lot of homeless people in this city.”

The city’s alleys were filled with light dots of various sizes. Seventy percent of these light dots represented people who were in a state of hunger. Since leaving the Blood Clan’s royal capital, Alvier, Yisi had often seen such cruel realities, but she had never mentioned it to her companions.

Giving her own food to Mary for safekeeping as well, Yisi walked alone to the entrance of the alley filled with clutter. In order not to frighten them, Yisi deliberately took out a bag of steaming roasted food from her inventory. Although the children hiding in the darkness shrank back at Yisi’s approach, they were reluctant to turn and run because of the aroma in the air.

Their efforts to inhale, as if they could get full that way, stirred a sense of pity in Yisi.

If I hadn’t obtained powerful abilities, I would probably be homeless on the streets now. I might have even died long ago.

Leaning against the clutter, Yisi pretended that her hand slipped and tossed the paper bag behind her, then said in a voice that would not be noticed by passersby.

“Ah, I accidentally dropped it… Well, forget it, I’ll just go buy another one. I don’t want this one anymore.”

Then she walked straight away, hiding in a blind spot on the side of the wall where the children couldn’t see.

There was the rustling of the paper bag, followed by the sound of scrambling.

“It smells so good.”

“What are these? They’re potatoes, but they don’t have that tingling feeling when you eat them.”

“They’re from the uncle who sells roasted meat on the street up ahead. The smell is exactly the same.”

“El knows so much.”

“I’m a descendant of a noble family who aspires to be a gourmet. Of course, I know a lot.”

“El… mm, every night… likes to go there… and smell his fill.”

“Don’t eat so fast while I’m talking. Leave some for me.”

“Wow, what’s this? It’s so spicy.”

“Don’t rush to eat it. Let El take a look.”

“…Mm, I don’t know what it is either, but it smells like meat. I guess it’s a chicken leg.”

“Meat? Isn’t meat supposed to be hard and impossible to bite through?”

“The stuff we eat isn’t the same as what the rich people eat.”

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“Was that young lady just now a rich person?”

“Do you even need to ask, you idiot? Not just a rich person, but a very, very rich person. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have deliberately given us the food.”

“Eh, didn’t she say she dropped it by accident?”

“How could someone drop such a big bag of food and not pick it up? The people on this street are more stingy than vampires. Let’s eat quickly, or it’ll get cold.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Although there were many chewing sounds in their words, there was no fighting over the food. They were surprisingly united.

That’s a relief.

If they had fought to the death over the food, I would have had to step out and take the food away.

“Speaking of which, it’s a wonder they realized I dropped it on purpose. Have their minds matured early because of the hardships they’ve been through?”

And yet Mary remains so innocent.

Well, I should be glad that Mary is the pure and kind person she is now. If she became a second Camilla, I would have a headache over the current situation—I might wake up one day to find myself cut into several pieces.

Shaking her head with a wry smile, Yisi returned to Mary’s side.

“Let’s go. It’s alright now.”

“But that food… What about Miss Andrea and Miss Evelyn?”

“Doesn’t Mary want me to do this?”

Mary bit her lip and shook her head, her chestnut-colored hair swaying from side to side.

“No…”

“Then there’s no problem. Not to mention that I saved Andrea’s and Evelyn’s share, even if I didn’t do this, Andrea would definitely have helped after finding out. That woman isn’t someone who can ignore those in need, even if these children are not her subjects.”

“Th-that’s true…”

“I just don’t know what that next Pope, Evelyn, will do.”

Locking onto the next Pope on the Omniscient Map, a trace of nervousness rose in Yisi’s heart. Andrea could forgive her for stealing the necklace, but Evelyn would not necessarily make the same choice. At least from what she had heard from Andrea, according to Evelyn’s personality, she should hate a thief like her, who had deprived her of her greatest interest, to the bone.

“No matter what, we have to meet at some point. I hope it won’t be too much trouble.”

Muttering under her breath, Yisi, holding Mary’s hand, finally arrived in front of the exquisite, complex, and magnificent central temple.