Ancient Empire Calendar, Year 1832
Ricardo was searching the possible areas where the vampire might be, following the envoys' description.
"This dark, mountainous forest with dense trees is a perfect place to hide and hunt humans. Let's see where our blood-drinking vampire is."
After examining his surroundings for a while longer, an idea came to him.
"This won't work like this. I need to use my Nur Force and add some Dark Magic to perform a tracking spell."
Ricardo combined his Nur Force with his Dark Magic and cast a tracking spell.
"Let's see if it works."
As Ricardo released his spell into the surroundings, he saw and felt everything—from animals to insects, from them to microorganisms.
"What are these disgusting beings, so small they can't even be seen with the eye? How repulsive... Wait a moment, someone's there. A woman, I think."
When Ricardo looked more carefully, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"What is she doing? Is she biting someone's neck?"
When the woman lifted her head and turned around, her lips were bloody.
"I think I've found our blood-drinking vampire."
Ricardo channeled his mana into his legs, cast a speed spell, and began running towards the vampire's location.
As he approached, the vampire noticed Ricardo but was too shocked to react.
"What is this? Ahh!"
Receiving a hard punch to her stomach, the vampire was sent flying meters away, slamming her back violently against a rock.
"Ahh... aha... ahh... it hurts."
As the vampire writhed on the ground, Ricardo stomped hard on her back.
"Alright, you'd better talk. I saw you drinking blood. Are you a vampire?"
Realizing she couldn't resist, the vampire submitted.
"No, I'm not a vampire. I am a Vamparos."
Ricardo didn't know what this word meant.
"What in the Five Lands is a Vamparos?"
The Vamparos, crushed under Ricardo's foot, moaned in pain.
"I'll talk, I beg you, take your foot off."
When Ricardo removed his foot from the Vamparos's back, she breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the rock.
"I'll tell you what Vamparos are, but fair warning, the story I'm about to tell is very old and very long."
Ricardo sat down across from the Vamparos. He healed her wounds with a Healing Spell.
The Vamparos was impressed by this.
"Wow, that's actually impressive. So this is the fabled Healing Spell unique to the Ashbrum bloodline."
"What's your name?" Ricardo asked.
"Vereina Vamparos. But why did you ask?"
"So I can address you by your name, of course."
Vereina laughed.
"Funny?" Ricardo said sternly.
Vereina panicked.
"No! It's just... it was an unexpected thing to hear from a man your age."
"How many men have you seen, aside from the ones you hunt to drink their blood, that makes you think that way?"
Vereina exuded a melancholic aura.
"Only my father. No one else besides him."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain. The story of my race, the Vamparos race."
Our story goes back a long, long time, to 11,880 years before today.
Ancient Empire Calendar, Pre-Year 10,048
Virion Vamparos, the ancestor of all Vamparos, was born on this date and appeared suddenly years later.
He attacked human tribes, massacred them, enslaved them, and conquered the Five Lands.
He forcibly took the most beautiful girls from the tribes of the Five Lands as his wives, bit them, infected them with his Curse, and transformed them all into Vamparos.
Then he raped them all, impregnated them all, and continued his lineage.
The males descended from him also continued their lineage by transforming human women.
The women, on the other hand, would take a man they found handsome as a spouse.
Within just a few generations, the Vamparos became so numerous that they surpassed the human population. But there was a huge problem they overlooked.
Due to the Curse, Vamparos fed only on human blood.
When the number of Vamparos exceeded the number of humans, the result wasn't hard to predict. And at that moment, the ancestor of the Vamparos intervened.
He killed hundreds of thousands of Vamparos descended from him, balancing the population until there were enough humans—about ten humans per Vamparos—to meet the blood needs of one Vamparos.
Virion Vamparos enslaved humanity and became the progenitor of the Vamparos race. He ruled for 10,000 years.
Virion was also the first person to possess both Aura and Mana.
Who Virion Vamparos was, how he was Cursed, how he discovered Aura and Mana, how he lived for 10,000 years—none of this is known. He never explained it to anyone.
The only thing that can be said about him is that he made the Vamparos race the superior race, bequeathed Aura and Mana to his descendants—the Vamparos—and kept all humans enslaved for ten thousand years.
Virion died 25 years before the founding of the Ancient Empire. Upon his death, a bloody war for the throne broke out that lasted 15 years.
He lived for ten thousand years, but his descendants had lifespans as long as an ordinary human's.
His wives, children, grandchildren, all his descendants, died while Virion was still alive. Even worse, he never chose an Heir.
I think he wanted the strongest to earn his throne through battle and merit.
Of course, that's just my opinion. But if I'm right, the price of Virion's thinking was heavy.
More than 70% of the Vamparos race perished in that bloody civil war. And the humans they had enslaved for ten thousand years, under the command of your ancestor, Harloumen I, and his half-brother, Carl Ashbrum I, started a rebellion.
These two brothers had one thing in common: they were the first humans to use Aura and Mana, and their descendants inherited these powers.
Of course, later on, after a war you probably call the War of the Seven, the Ashbrum Dynasty declared independence. And after suppressing the rebellion, the Emperor of that time massacred all of them except the new Dynasty Lord.
As a result, the ancestor of Aura and Mana users went from two to one. Today, all Aura and Mana users are considered descendants of Harloumen I.
Ricardo wasn't pleased to hear historical information he already knew.
"Why are you telling me things I already know? Continue telling me about the Vamparos and Sapharos."
Vereina flinched and continued the story.
Harloumen and Carl's rebellion was successful. They massacred all the remaining Vamparos. The survivors hid in mountains and caves.
After that, the Vamparos hunts began.
To never be enslaved again, humans combed through caves and mountains, massacring every Vamparos they found.
This continued right up to the present day, and here I am, the last surviving Vamparos, standing before you.
Ricardo was astonished by what Vereina told him. After processing the information, he asked a question.
"How do you know all this? And why is none of this written in our history books?"
Vereina replied.
"My mother and father told me. They were told by their parents, and so it went on. Of course, so much couldn't be passed down through mere words alone."
Vereina took a book from her bag and handed it to Ricardo.
"Here is the written history of all these events."
Ricardo examined the book and verified its age with his Nur Force.
"Yes, this book is as old as the current era itself, so to speak, and well-preserved."
Vereina puffed out her large chest proudly.
"Hmph! Of course! What did you think? I empty my Mana pool every day to protect this book."
Ricardo was impressed by Vereina's dedication to her ancestral heritage.
"Ah, by the way, to answer your other question: according to what I've read in this book and what my family has told me, your ancestor Harloumen I hated the Vamparos race so much that he destroyed all recorded history, imposed the death penalty on anyone who spoke of them, and erased their names from history and memory. Of course, this situation allowed our lineage to survive until this time."
Ricardo was sure there were erased faces of history, but he hadn't expected this extent.
His own ancestor had destroyed ten thousand years of history—especially a history that the human race should never forget.
Perhaps even a Founding Epic that could have made the Ancient Empire a permanently legitimate Dynasty that humans could never abandon, all because of his hatred for a single race.
Ricardo snapped out of his thoughts and asked Vereina a question.
"Are you sure no other Vamparos remain?"
Vereina replied with a sorrowful expression, her eyes welling up as if she might cry.
"Yes. I searched the entire world. I wanted to find someone from my own race, to marry and have children. I wanted to continue the Vamparos lineage for just one more generation. But even though I traveled the whole world, I couldn't find a single one."
Ricardo placed his hand on Vereina's shoulder.
"You've suffered greatly. But that doesn't justify killing all these people."
Vereina replied with a stern and serious expression.
"When you conquered the Central Lands, you killed millions of times more people than I have. And you're here, preaching morality to me?"
Ricardo burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE RIGHT! But my massacres are my soldiers' conquest rewards. Even I can't say no to that. Anyway, can't you turn a human into a Vamparos?"
Vereina shook her head as if saying no, burying it between her knees.
"I tried, but it didn't work. This ability atrophied over generations and is now completely gone. Besides, even if I could turn someone into a Vamparos, no man would accept such a life."
Vereina lifted her head towards Ricardo.
"Are you going to kill me?"
Ricardo shook his head as if saying no.
"I'm not going to kill you. Instead, I have a proposal for you."
Vereina asked curiously.
"What is it?"
Ricardo replied.
"You want a family. You want your lineage to continue. I will give you that family. Become my Concubine, Vereina."
Vereina jumped to her feet in astonishment.
"Are you joking? Me? Your concubine? Our ancestors were enemies! My race, my ancestor, enslaved your race and your ancestors!"
"I don't care about that at all. Why should we concern ourselves with what happened in the past? I've lost too much precious time I could have spent with my love because of this nonsense."
Ricardo closed and opened his eyes, furrowed his brows, and spoke with a stern and confident demeanor.
"I will not waste another moment I could spend with my loved ones. I will live for my future, without caring about the past. I don't know how much life I have left, but I will live it to the fullest. So, what will you do? Will you remain stuck in your past, or will you look hopefully toward your future?"
Vereina was hesitant, but Ricardo's words echoed in her mind. Finally, she made her decision.
"I'm nearing forty years old. I have no emotional or sexual experience with men. I don't know how to be a concubine. I'm both curious and afraid of what a hybrid of a Vamparos and a Human would be like. But despite all this, if you want me, then I am yours."
Ricardo grabbed Vereina by the waist, pulled her close, and pressed his lips to hers.
Vereina savored this pleasure, which she was experiencing for the first time.
Their kisses and caresses grew even more heated. Both lost control. They undressed each other with lust and haste.
Right there in the middle of the forest, until morning, without stopping, consumed by lust and pleasure, accompanied by the sounds of insects and animals, on the grass, rolling over each other, they danced.
When the dance ended, both were exhausted, covered in sweat, but in high spirits. Ricardo had taken his second concubine into his Harem.
The Last Vamparos, Vereina Vamparos.