"Hurry! Secure the area. Check if there are any vampires present. Anyone who is inside a cage or looks like batkins must be checked before we can secure them! Save as many batkins as possible!" Rebecca turned to the others.
Rebecca glanced for a moment before running out. Hiro could hear Nana and Cecile's battle cries through the door. Cecile was fighting hard. Even when Hiro had pumped her with adrenaline and amphetamine, she was struggling against a dozen transformed vampires. She couldn't use her bow effectively here.
The stalemate was broken when Rebecca came into play. When Hiro pumped her with his new skill, Rebecca's fireball was boosted, and she blasted six vampires in one go. Then the rest of the vampires were dispatched by Cecile. She had the most balanced build, so she was perfect for close-quarters combat like this.
Nana ran to Sara's house. Thanks to her boosted agility and Hiro's tentacles, she went and came back in less than two minutes, bringing the appraisal ball with her. Rebecca scanned the batkins one by one.
When it was Elizabeth's turn, she curled up. Her hands trembled. Hiro enveloped Elizabeth with his tentacles. Unlike the case with Elysia, nobody was even attacking her—not even Sara, who got up moments later thanks to Hiro's flesh mending skill. However, Hiro understood. Through his sense sharing, Hiro felt immense despair, regret, and guilt. Elizabeth had almost killed her own childhood friend—an unforgivable sin. Not only that, the batkins had also killed dozens of dovekins. Hiro turned to the rest of the group. All the dovekins now eyed the batkins with hostility.
With just one deed, 500 years of relationship had turned to dust. A traitor would forever be remembered. With this, the batkins were finished. They would no longer gain the support of the dovekins. Hiro turned to the batkins, who could only look down in shame. They hadn't done anything, but they knew the dovekins blamed them. Something unforgivable had been done.
Hiro clenched his tentacles. It reminded him of when he was just a NEET. It was as if the entire world was against him, taking pleasure in their suffering. When people felt like this, they often took shortcuts. Hiro had considered such options multiple times in his previous life. But he was not brave enough to do it. Elizabeth was in even greater despair. Moreover, she was also fueled by the desire to protect her friend, Sara, from herself.
"Elizabeth…"
"One shouldn't directly drink humanoid blood except when expecting… I have broken the taboo. I bit you on the neck. I almost killed you. I should die," Elizabeth said.
"No… you are not like them. Not yet! You haven't turned purple! Let's check with the appraisal ball!" Rebecca said.
Hiro was sure that Elizabeth was still a batkin. He saw her status. But Elizabeth didn't even seem to believe it. Hiro understood. She might not be a vampire, but she had that troublesome trait of hers. The blood dependency.
Even after she looked at the appraisal ball, she believed status was a lie. She was not a batkin. She was still a vampire. Why was she cursed like this? She never did anything wrong; it was her ancestors half a millennium ago. Why must she bear the consequences? The vampire was right. Even after 500 years of abstinence, all it took was one sip for them to turn back into vampires.
She then turned to Sara, who looked fearfully at her. Her gaze was the most hurtful of all.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't… I couldn't resist it," Elizabeth said as she crawled on the floor. For the first time, she felt her heart beat. It was as if she were alive. But she knew the feeling was only temporary. Soon, she would need more blood to sate her hunger. At that time, not only the dovekins would be in danger—the human village would suffer.
Hiro patted her head, caressing her cheek and comforting her. Yet, Elizabeth wasn't fazed.
"Um… Sara? Look. Elizabeth is still a batkin!" Rebecca showed the appraisal ball to Sara, but she only turned away.
"Are we… just livestock?" Sara muttered. Now that she had calmed down, her eyes turned to Elizabeth. They were no longer afraid. Just… disappointed. That expression hurt her more than fear.
"No! I would never…" Elizabeth shrieked. However, her voice soon lost strength, and she knelt down. She knew. She couldn't lie to herself. In that last moment, she no longer looked at Sara as a childhood friend. The fact hurt her more than anything else.
"…Yes… I am dangerous… So…" Elizabeth knelt down. Her head touched the floor. It was cowardly behavior. But Hiro still caressed her head. Better to be a coward than to be evil. But Hiro didn't see a coward. Hiro saw courage. Asking for forgiveness is a hard thing to do. Hiro knew.
"Elizabeth…" Sara whispered. Sara was his host now, so Hiro knew what she felt. She was confused. She was torn. A part of her wanted to forgive her. But the Batkin tribe had betrayed the 500-year-old pact. All the blood the dovekins had given them. They had helped the catkins with blood during their times of need.
Elizabeth had almost crossed the line. But she didn't. Not yet. So there was no need to punish her. That was true.
However, Sara was afraid. Elizabeth had lost herself when she saw her bleeding. The scent of blood had awakened something that must never be awakened inside Elizabeth. She wasn't afraid of dying. She was afraid her friend would turn into a fiendish ghoul—eternally damned as an undead, dying under the light of heaven and cast into the deepest darkness of hell.
So, should she forgive her and keep torturing her with incessant hunger? Or should she save her soul now and kill her?
"Cecile and Nana, could you please put Elizabeth and the rest of the batkins into a cell and bind them? Tomorrow, the dovekins will discuss this incident."
"Can I attend the meeting?" Rebecca asked.
"…This is our problem… not for an outsider to decide. But seeing as you have helped us and these batkins greatly, we shall give you an exception. You may attend the discussion. For now, please return to your house and rest."
"Like hell I will sleep with these monsters! They have killed my wife!"
"Papa is dead…"
The cries of the dovekins who had lost their families hurt Elizabeth even more. Hiro wanted to defend her. Their deaths were not Elizabeth's fault. But alas, there was nothing he could do.
"Don't worry. They are bound. All batkins are accounted for," Rebecca said. "They are, right, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "No. There are still two more. If Cecile killed ten vampires, and we have a dozen batkins here, then we missed two more bat—vampires," Elizabeth said.
"Let's leave! I don't want to die because of these monsters! We can do something—maybe become laborers in that new mining town!"
"Be silent. We will sleep in a closed area. We have three symbiote users here. As you can see for yourself, symbiote users are invincible. Even vampires stood no chance against them. There is no safer place than here," Sara said.
Hiro was shy, so he would appreciate it if Sara held off on praising him. But he realized her words had some effect on them. Some complained about sleeping next to batkins, but ultimately, they accepted it. Being closer to the symbiote users was safer for them.
The night was silent. A tense atmosphere permeated every crevice of the village. Hiro could sense that everyone just wanted to leave. Hiro dreaded what they were going to talk about tomorrow.
As morning came, Sara gathered in her house with almost all the adult dovekins, while Cecile and Nana took guard around the house, looking for potential vampires.
"So, what else do we need to talk about? It's over. They were the ones who broke the pact first, right?"
"Some batkins certainly broke the pact. But not all of them. Elizabeth and a dozen batkins still retain their humanity. You can't blame the entire tribe for the mistakes of a few," Sara said.
"This is different from some rogue batkins in the past. It was more than half of them! The matriarch has failed to bring order. She was supposed to protect us!"
"…Elizabeth. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Sara looked at her bound form. Hiro thought this discussion—more like a trial—was a bit unfair psychologically speaking. Elizabeth was bound, and the attendees, the dovekins, all hated her.
"No. You all should leave this village. Rebecca said Litmus is willing to cater to you or even found a new village for you. Once you leave this mountain, you won't have to worry about food ever again," Elizabeth said. This was the last thing she could do to atone for her sin.
Hiro nudged Rebecca with his tentacle. Rebecca had been with Hiro for a while. She knew Hiro wanted to defend her. She gave a wry smile, caressing Hiro as she remembered her weak past self, who couldn't do anything.
"That's great! Let's leave as soon as possible!" a dovekin said.
"The offer was for batkins. If batkins were not included, Litmus wouldn't found a new village just for dovekins," Rebecca frowned.
"What? That's discrimination!"
"It is not. The reason Litmus is willing to do it for batkins is because Litmus mistakenly killed an innocent batkin family, thinking they were undead."
"But they were vampires!"
"Then Litmus never made any mistake, and its actions were justified," Rebecca said. Her words sealed the deal. "Litmus never did any harm to dovekins. Why would they have to cater to the dovekins and found a village for them?"
"But…" The dovekins were aghast. Hiro realized that the batkin–dovekin relationship wasn't as one-sided as he thought. They depended on each other. The batkins relied on the dovekins for emergency blood, while the dovekins relied on the batkins for protection and meat from hunting.
Kind of like a knightly order and its citizens.
"Of course, if you want to leave this village, Litmus will accept you with open arms. But Litmus doesn't owe you anything. So you will have to become laborers somewhere. But I must say, living as laborers without land deeds would be rough," Rebecca said.
Without land deeds, landowners would try to exploit them. Since dovekins have no special skills, dovekin labor would naturally be in low demand. Hiro saw it himself through Sara. Her stats were abysmal. He wondered whether they would survive even as laborers. They probably would since they needed less food, but they would only ever be low wage laborer, just a bit better than a slave. They won't thrive. Sara frowned at Rebecca's apparent support for the batkins.
"Rebecca, I am thankful you are willing to hide the truth about batkins. But… what if the truth comes to light?" Sara asked.
Rebecca smiled.