Mrs. Kiriko disappears from the ground and suddenly appears in front of me in a dark blur.
The force I used was everything I had. I'm sure it would have pulverized a ghoul. No, in fact, I felt in that moment that Mrs. Kiriko's head disappeared.
Absurd regeneration, huh...
I prepare to face what would probably be the toughest battle so far, but she doesn't attack me this time.
She stops a few meters away and plants the tip of her spear in the ground.
"I underestimated you for being just a child."
She shakes the dust off her clothes.
"But you're quite strong for your age. And you already know how to perfectly use your kagune. Even that unknown claw on your fingers."
Her glowing red eyes stop emitting light and return to being normal eyes, though red in color.
"You won't attack me anymore?"
At my question, she shakes her head.
"I'm more curious now about your true origin. I'm not sure what you are."
"On one hand I smell ghoul in you, that explains you having a kagune. On the other hand you smell different from a ghoul, and I can assume it has to do with your claws. At the same time the core of your being smells strange. Or is it that it doesn't smell like anything specific? Mmm... maybe you're also an experiment?"
"Either way your scent is pleasant and tempting to supernatural beings like me."
"Is that so?"
I feel interest in her words. So far, she's the one who describes my scent the most. The core of my being, huh? Is that what I call being a zombie? Or maybe it's different.
She sighs.
"I don't know how you've managed to keep living until now without being discovered and hunted."
"Because I've been carefully hiding since I was a child?"
She shakes her head.
"That's not enough. They would have found you long ago. Whether it's the organizations that hunt monsters, or the hungry monsters themselves attracted by your scent."
I furrow my brows and think if that's true.
I thought they didn't find me because I hid well. But considering the heightened senses of ghouls and vampires, they would have located me long before I turned six.
'That means my situation is different from what I thought at first.'
I stop thinking about that for now and make my kagune retract. The tentacles disappear into my back with a wet sound. At the same time my fingers also return to normal.
From Mrs. Kiriko's stable frequencies I know she no longer has any intention of attacking me.
"Is that why you followed me then? Just to satisfy your curiosity about what I am?"
"It may be partially so."
She admits and is honest about it.
"But mainly I came to make sure you're not a threat to my family. I've carefully built that life over the years and I won't allow anything or anyone to endanger their lives."
I shrug.
Seeing my carefree action, the corners of Mrs. Kiriko's lips rise.
"Don't you trust me? But if it's because of the mental manipulation I did through my vampiric powers, then you have no moral right to judge me. Because you also hide what you are, right?"
"I don't play with the minds of people I care about."
I respond in a cold voice.
"Don't you? Isn't pretending to be normal when you're not, and hiding what you are also a form of emotional manipulation?"
"Well... You may be right about that."
In any case, I really don't like that my friend Rei was the target of a spell that can turn her into a puppet without free will.
This time I can let it pass since the other party is her own mother. And maybe it's true that she wanted to follow me and verify whether or not I'm a threat to Rei.
But if it were someone else who wanted to use that kind of mental spell on Rei or anyone else I care about, I wouldn't hesitate a second to permanently end them.
Mrs. Kiriko smiles and says.
"You've passed my test."
"Really? Can you really trust me?"
She nods.
"The moment you got angry when I mentally manipulated Rei. That showed me you care about her. And that's enough for me."
She pauses before continuing.
"That's why I propose an agreement between creatures living among humans."
I tilt my head and ask her what kind of agreement she means.
"At first I intended to reveal your existence to the organization I work for. But thinking carefully that would make my dear daughter sad. And if she found out it was my fault, she might hate me forever."
She explains in a softer voice.
"So I'll keep your secret about what you are. And you'll keep mine about being a vampire. And I ask that if possible you take care of my daughter when I can't be present."
She extends her delicate hand toward me, waiting.
"What do you say about this agreement?"
I look at her extended hand for a moment before responding.
"I would protect her even if you didn't tell me to. She's my friend."
I take her hand. Then I look into her red eyes.
"But I'm curious. What is this organization you work for?"
She answers my curious question, and the answer makes me startled.
"Hellsing Agency."
×××
20 advanced chapters on Pa-treon.
pa-treon.com/OlwinMoriarty