LIQUOR IS THE BEST MEDICINE

One day, Vampy suddenly became super-duper docile.

She woke up and apologized to me out of nowhere, although I wasn’t really sure what she was apologizing for.

But it meant that she stopped being so rebellious about my super-fun training plans, so I was all for it.

I feel like the protagonist of a raising simulation game.

I’m gonna raise this bloodsucker into the finest young lady (LOL) you ever saw!

So, I’ve been improving her skills in training mode every day.

I’m working on my own skills at the same time, of course, but that part isn’t going as well.

Since so many of my skills are really high-level at this point, it makes it a lot harder to get them to go up any further.

Their levels raise on their own once in a while, which I think must be thanks to the Parallel Minds I transferred into their own bodies.

But even if I work as hard as they are, my growth rate is awfully slow.

And that’s with the effects of my cheat skill Pride.

Without it, I probably wouldn’t be growing at all anymore.

But if I just accept that and stop trying, I’ll never catch up to the Demon Lord.

For now, I’ve decided to mostly put the harder-to-raise skills aside for now and focus on the really important ones.

Especially Warped Evil Eye.

As far as I know, that’s the only skill that can deal with Potimas.

Inside that barrier that cancels out stats and skills, my main specialties of thread and magic are practically useless.

Warped Evil Eye is pretty much the only long-distance attack I can still use in there.

I’d prefer never to see that guy again, of course, but it can’t hurt to be prepared.

And judging by what the Demon Lord said, the Potimas we fought was actually just some kind of remote-control puppet, so there might be plenty more where that came from.

If Potimas really is after Vampy, I might end up having to fight him again.

I managed last time because the Demon Lord came crashing in, but who knows what’ll happen next time?

To be honest, if she hadn’t shown up, I think my chances of winning were less than 5 percent.

I don’t know if my Immortality skill would’ve even worked in that barrier or if I could’ve used egg revival.

In the worst-case scenario, I might’ve actually died for good.

Can you really blame me for wanting to be fully prepared in case he shows up again?

That’s why I’ve been training up Warped Evil Eye, but I don’t think that’s enough.

Potimas has seen my Warped Evil Eye once now. For all I know, he’s preparing ways to counter it just like I am for him.

If he finds a way to prevent me from using even Warped Evil Eye, I’ll be totally screwed.

Which means I’d like to find a few more countermeasures besides Warped Evil Eye.

So far, I’ve come up with only one good way to do that.

Namely, leveling up so I can beat him physically.

The Demon Lord defeated Potimas by simply destroying his metal body with sheer brute strength.

That certainly seems like the most practical idea to me.

Potimas’s barrier nullifies any skills and stats that affect things outside the body.

In other words, skills and stats that function inside the body still work, so even if your physical abilities go down a little, you can still move in accordance with your stats.

That means the most effective method is to boost my physical stats so I can beat the crap out of him next time.

Sadly, though, it’s not that simple.

See, my physical stats are already pretty high.

They’re not as impressive as my magic stats, but they’ve gone up so much that I could probably fight Mother without magic at this point.

But when I faced Potimas, it still seemed like my only chance of winning was Warped Evil Eye.

If I want to be truly, devastatingly powerful, then I really need to get stats on par with the Demon Lord’s.

And yet, my growth has slowed down dramatically.

Raising my stats now takes a huge amount of effort, and they’ve only gone up ever so slightly since we first began this journey.

On top of that, my level isn’t going up, either.

It’s been a fairly long time since I evolved into an arachne, and I’ve been hunting a pretty significant amount of monsters along the way, but my level refuses to rise.

The amount of experience it takes to level up at this point is so huge that just killing whatever monsters are around isn’t gonna cut it.

I need to kill either some really strong monsters or some humans.

But it’s not like really strong monsters are that easy to find, and I can’t go around killing humans indiscriminately.

I don’t really mind if they’re robbers or whatever, but since we’re avoiding people by traveling through forests and mountains and stuff, we never run into any humans in the first place.

Even robbers and bandits and the like don’t hang out deep in the forest or on some inaccessible mountain.

We’re never gonna meet anyone if we stick to this path!

Heh, I sound like a loser who can’t get a date.

Anyway, I’d love to just run off somewhere to work on this, but the Demon Lord’s always watching, so I’m better off staying in line for now.

Besides, if I stick by the Demon Lord, she can deal with it if Potimas comes back.

At any rate, I guess my only option right now is the slow and steady route.

Then I remember about the existence of weapon skills.

I got a skill called Shieldsmanship before that came with a title.

The one that was like, “Good things will happen if you’re using a shield!”

I hadn’t evolved into an arachne yet then, so I was just like, “I can’t equip a shield, dumbass!” and dismissed it as useless.

But now that I’m an arachne, with a human-shaped upper body, I can totally equip weapons!

Which means I can use a shield or anything else!

But to be honest, that’s still pretty useless.

I mean, sure, I can hold a shield now, but it’s gonna be softer than my body.

Like I said, my stats are really, really, reeeally high.

To the point where my defense is higher than a metal shield would be.

If the shield is softer than I am, what’s the point in using it at all?

And weapons would be pretty much the same way.

I got the puppet spiders to lend me their equipment, but I couldn’t even put a scratch on myself with it.

When I think about how those same weapons once sliced me up to the verge of death, it makes me realize all over again how strong I’ve gotten.

But forget that for now.

In other words, even the weapons the puppet spiders carry can’t hurt my flesh.

Frankly, hitting someone with my fist would have more impact than any weapon.

You might think that means there’s no point in me having any weapons, but there are exceptions, you know.

For instance, if there was a weapon that was stronger and more destructive than my own body.

But it’s not like I’m gonna stumble across a weapon like that randomly.

I mean, the puppet spiders’ stats average higher than 10,000, which is crazy strong, and their weapons still didn’t work on me.

Unless I happen to get an ultrarare drop of some legendary item or other, weapons are of no use to me.

But wait!

If I don’t have one, why not just make one?

Huh? You don’t think it’s that easy to make a legendary-class weapon?

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Sure it is. It’s actually quite simple.

’Cause I’ve already got the materials.

The materials of my own body, that is!

If most weapons are more fragile than my body, why not just use my body to make a better weapon?

And as it happens, there’s a particular part of my body that just screams “weapon.”

That’s right. The two front legs of my spider body, which are shaped like scythes.

If I cut one off, I can just grow it right back with Healing Magic, so there’s no reason not to use it as a weapon.

With that decided, I lop off one of my front legs at the base, use that to cut off the other one, and then tie it all together with some handy thread.

And just like that, voilà! It’s done.

Da-da-da-daaa!

You’ve got the Giant Spider Scythe!

It looks like a weapon fit for the grim reaper.

Since it’s made from my own body, it’s not gonna be softer than I am, and it’s guaranteed to be destructive.

And perhaps because of that, it fits very nicely in my hands.

It fits so well that taking a light swing with it nets me the Scythesmanship skill.

Now I’ve got one more technique I can use in a physical fight.

So far, my physical stats besides speed have been bonuses that I never had a chance to use, but from now on, things will be different.

If I rely on magic all the time, I’ll be in huge trouble if I can’t use it. Besides, I need to be better at close-quarters combat.

To make that happen, I’ve added practice swings to my daily training with Vampy and Mera.

The baby let out a scream when she first saw it, but that’s not my problem.

Our journey continues as I train myself and Vampy.

It’s been about two months since we left, but we still haven’t reached our destination.

In this world, though, that’s pretty standard for a journey.

Unlike my old world, which was full of planes and cars and stuff, it takes a very long time to get around here.

Since I’ve walked through the Great Elroe Labyrinth, I know that very well.

I never realized how amazing Earth’s technology was before.

I’ve got a way to cheat around travel in the form of Teleport, but that works only for places I’ve been before.

Since I’ve never been to the capital of Sariella, of course I can’t teleport there.

If it takes this long to get from one part of the same country to another, wouldn’t it take years to travel to another part of the world?!

Even the towns we visit once in a while tend to be at least a week’s journey apart.

Aside from those, every day is pretty much the same.

Right now, the rest of my party is in one of those towns.

That’s right—I’ve been leeeft alooone, ooon my oooooown, again.

Although, I’m not as bummed about it as I was the first time.

The Demon Lord must have felt bad about ditching me, because starting the next day, she took over cooking duties.

And her cooking is crazy, crazy good.

How good, you ask? So good that I actually started crying the first time.

So good that it actually made me think, Hey, maybe joining up with the Demon Lord won’t be so bad if it means I get to eat like this.

I guess that’s another benefit of her long life.

She is the grandmother who raised Mother and the rest of the spider army, after all.

Anyway, she picks up fresh ingredients when they go to town, so the food she cooks the next day is always extra good.

That makes being left on my own a little more bearable.

In fact, stopping by towns is becoming one of my favorite little events.

Although it’s always hard waiting for the next day to come.

Also, there are other folks who happen to enjoy these events, too.

Namely, the puppet spiders.

They’re beginning to look more and more human.

In fact, I’m starting to think of them as people myself.

I’m working on my modifications to their doll bodies using Divine Thread Weaving right now.

Technically, the skill itself is already maxed out, but the more I use it, the more ingenious uses I can come up with.

As part of my research, I’ve continued my progress on the puppet spiders’ makeovers, and now they’ve reached the point where you would easily mistake them for humans at a glance.

Although if you look too closely, things are slightly off, so it’s still possible to tell that they’re not genuine.

My end goal is to make it so that even if you examine them closely or even touch them, you won’t be able to tell they’re dolls.

Right now, I’m refining some of the minor details to make the bodies seem more natural, and trying to re-create what goes under the skin so they feel properly squishy to the touch.

The puppet spiders are more than happy to help, so my research is going along quite well.

However they might have looked originally, they’re definitely girls on the inside.

Altering them to be prettier seems to make them happy.

It looks like they’ve taken a liking to fashion, too, as they’re in different outfits each time they’re summoned. I think they’re probably making the clothes themselves.

They have all kinds of styles, too, so I never get tired of looking at them.

Their main task seems to be making their six arms seem more natural, so I’m always impressed with what they’ve come up with.

By the way, there are four puppet spiders in all.

At first, they were being summoned two at a time, but I guess they started squabbling about who should get summoned.

So at some point, all four of them started coming at once.

You guys sure are enjoying this, huh?

I get it; you wanted to see me that badly? Guess I can’t blame you.

Am I some kind of master aesthetician now or what?

Boy, this is tough.

I’m so talented that the girls are all scrambling for my attention.

It ain’t easy being popular, huh?

Yeah, I know, it’s not that they want to see me—they’re just happy I’m helping them be prettier. I get it, all right?

Anyway, they didn’t have names, so I figured it would be easier if I gave them some, but the Demon Lord stopped me.

“I’ll name them, all right! You can’t just name them without asking!” she said.

I guess as a parent, she’s against someone else naming her children?

I dunno why she didn’t just name them to begin with, then.

Anyway, next time they were summoned, I asked about their names.

The response: Ael, Sael, Riel, and Fiel.

That seemed sort of half-assed to me, but I got the feeling I should keep that thought to myself.

The fun thing is that they each have their own distinct personality.

Ael is pretty confident but can also be very shrewd. She’s the one who first took a bite of the meat.

Sael, the other one who was there that first day, is the sort of timid and wimpy type.

Riel is a tomboy and a total airhead.

Fiel is a goofball who tends to get carried away.

In a way, it’s pretty impressive that their personalities come through so clearly even though they don’t talk.

Oh right. Maybe I’ll try to give them vocal chords next.

Things will get awfully noisy around here if they learn how to talk, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, right?

I’m sure it’ll be hard, but I bet I can do it.

With my thread, there’s nothing I can’t accomplish!

…Yeah, thread’s pretty amazing.

Between my quest for self-improvement, raising Vampy, and remodeling the puppet spiders, I’m getting all kinds of things done on this trip.

That being said, it’s not like all of it is going perfectly according to plan.

In fact, this journey has been full of nothing but problems.

I guess that makes sense, since we started the journey because we had problems in the first place.

Vampy and Mera lost the town where they lived, and they had to go on the run to escape Potimas, too.

And the Demon Lord and I are keeping an eye on each other to make sure neither of us pulls anything funny.

So basically, we’ve all got our share of issues.

When you think about it that way, it’s actually a miracle that we’ve come this far without any major problems.

Really, even if nothing’s going wrong right now, we don’t know what will happen down the road.

No matter how much you try to put it off, there comes a time when you have to face your problems head-on.

In my case, it’s my relationship with the Demon Lord.

Right now, we’re basically in a state of cold war, but eventually I’m going to have to give her some kind of answer.

Will we settle things once and for all, or will we actually join forces for real?

The Demon Lord has the same problem.

But both of us are putting that question on hold for now. It’s not like there’s any rush.

As long as I can keep up my quasi-immortality, I can at least survive any clashes with the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord is stronger than I am, so she’s better off keeping me around than risking letting me run free.

We both just want to maintain the status quo, so as long as nothing major happens, this relationship can probably stay the same way indefinitely.

So the Demon Lord and I are putting off solving our problems, but not everyone can do that forever.

Especially not Vampy and Mera.

The baby bloodsucker has to choose how she’s going to live from now on.

Will she hide the fact that she’s a vampire and live among humans or follow the Demon Lord to the land of demons?

It seems like even the people in this world hate and fear vampires, so if she wants to live among humans, she’ll have to hide the fact that she is one.

And in that case, she’ll lose the protection of the Demon Lord, who’s going back home to the demon territory.

In other words, she’d have to fend for herself without the support of the Demon Lord.

On the other hand, if she goes with the Demon Lord, she’ll have to throw away her status in the human world.

She is still a child of nobility, not to mention the sole survivor of the Keren family, since the rest were all killed in that battle.

If she exploits that position to her advantage, she might be able to stage a comeback in Sariella.

But that’s all hypothetical, of course; whether it would actually work is up to Vampy and Mera.

And whoever makes the decisions in Sariella, I guess.

Following the Demon Lord would mean giving up on all that.

Going to the demon territory would essentially be casting aside her humanity.

It’s a huge decision that will affect the rest of her life.

And she only has until we reach the capital of Sariella to decide.

Her deadline is closing in.

No matter what she chooses, she’ll have to give something up in exchange.

And I’m sure she’s going to have a difficult life ahead either way.

But that choice is up to Vampy. It’s not for me to say.

She’ll just have to mull it over a bunch and decide on her own.

Frankly, whatever she chooses makes no difference to me. I don’t care as long as it doesn’t inconvenience me.

But I can’t say that for our other comrade. He’s inconveniencing me as we speak.

That’s right. My fellow traveler Mera.

How is he inconveniencing me? By being super-annoying.

Day and night, he spends every waking minute brooding nonstop!

Basically, he’s being so depressing that it makes me mad just looking at him.

Now, if that was the whole story, it’d be fine.

I mean, I don’t like it personally, but I could still let it go.

What I can’t let go is the fact that Mera is hindering my Vampy-raising project.

I mean, if your beloved servant is acting unusually gloomy, of course it’s gonna get to you.

As a result, she’s distracted during our training, which means it’s not as effective as it could be.

Aaargh!

I hate it when other people hold me back!

Why do people have to do that?

In fact, why do other people have to exist at all?

It’s only because of other people that I have to experience all these annoying feelings.

So if I just got rid of all the other people in the world, I could live in peace and quiet, right?

Then I’d never have to have another painfully awkward conversation again.

What an incredible plan!

Oh, but one of those other people is the Demon Lord, who I can’t get rid of.

Okay, never mind.

That was a terrible plan.

See? I’m so annoyed that I’m not even thinking straight.

So Mera’s moping around, Vampy’s too worried about him to concentrate, I’m getting annoyed looking at both of them… Basically, things are growing tenser by the day.

Mera himself does appear to be aware of the tension and that it’s because of him.

But he can’t seem to help it.

He’s trying to act like he’s fine, but no matter what, it always ends up feeling like there’s a cartoonish rain cloud over his head.

It’s especially obvious whenever they come back from town. The dark mood always multiplies right afterward.

That’s when the Demon Lord makes us extra-delicious food with fresh ingredients, but thanks to Mera’s gloominess, I can’t even enjoy it properly.

And that only makes me even madder.

I feel like I’m going to snap any minute now.

“Ta-daaa! Let’s have some drinks to lighten the mood today.”

It’s the next day after everyone else took a trip into another town.

The Demon Lord, perhaps trying to lighten the tense atmosphere, brought back alcohol for the first time.

Maybe she’s suggesting we should drink to forget what’s bothering us?

Well, I guess she’s not wrong that we need to let off steam somehow, and soon.

“Okay, here you go. You too, White. Sophia… Uh, you probably shouldn’t have any.”

As she talks, the Demon Lord pours the liquor into cups, handing one to Mera, then one to me.

Wait, me too? Really?

I accept the glass from her without thinking.

Well, I guess I should drink it, since she gave it to me.

I was underage in my old life, so I’ve never had alcohol before.

I don’t know what the laws about alcohol consumption are in this world, but it feels like I’m doing something bad, so it’s almost a little exciting.

Although as far as the laws of Japan go, I’ve already committed all kinds of crimes way worse than underage drinking.

I take a little sip of the clear liquid in the glass.

Ooh, it’s sweet.

Maybe this is that fruit wine stuff?

Whatever it is, it’s nice and easy to drink.

But unlike ordinary fruit juice, it comes with a mysterious sensation I’ve never felt before.

What is this? Huh? Fwuh? Whuh?

I dunno, but it’s pretty weird.

I keep taking sips of the wine as I dig in to the food.

The Demon Lord fills her own glass, too, and drinks it down in one gulp.

Ooh, she’s good at that.

Mera seems hesitant about drinking at first, but seeing the Demon Lord and me go at it, he accepts his fate and gingerly starts taking sips as well.

“Go on—don’t be shy. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

The Demon Lord pours herself a second glass and gulps it down like the first.

Then she does the same with a third glass, filling it from the barrel.

Did you catch that part?

That’s right. A barrel.

The liquor the Demon Lord brought us comes in the form of a barrel.

Can we really drink all that?

Yes, I wondered about that at first.

But the Demon Lord keeps chugging away, and she drains most of the barrel by herself.

And next thing you know, we’re on to the second one.

A second barrel!

Even so, the Demon Lord’s gusto shows no signs of slowing.

This lady drinks like a fish.

Honestly, she could probably finish the second one by herself, too.

But that wouldn’t be much fun, so I speed up my drinking along with her.

This is my first time drinking alcohol, but the more I drink it, the more my head spins.

But for some strange reason, I feel like I’m getting lighter and happier.

I’m totally unstoppable right now!

“Nnngh… Hic… Weeeh…”

In direct contrast to my excitement, Mera is…crying.

So he’s one of those weepy drunks I’ve heard about in stories!

I guess it’s true; they really do cry as soon as they’ve had a drink!

Wait, now things are getting even more depressing!

“That’s no good! C’mere, you! You need to drink more!”

“Guh?!”

Ah geez, he’s coughing it up. What a waste.

I guess he doesn’t like it when I try to forcibly pour wine down his throat.

“Wh-what are you…?”

“Quit looking so depressed already!”

I grab his face, pinch his mouth open, and pour wine down there again.

“Bwuh?! Cough!”

He starts choking. Maybe it went down the wrong pipe.

For some reason, it’s so funny to me that I can’t stop laughing.

“Whoa, White’s laughing. And talking, for that matter! This is wild.”

The Demon Lord seems amused, but my stomach actually hurts from laughing so much.

Mera’s having a coughing fit, I’m rolling around laughing, and the Demon Lord is watching on.

This would probably look pretty weird to a random bystander, huh?

Just thinking about it makes me start laughing all over again.

Vampy is asleep, by the way. She was peeved that she didn’t get to drink with us, so she snuck a single sip, and it knocked her out immediately.

I guess she’s what you’d call a lightweight.

“Cough! Cough! Whew…”

Mera finally regains his composure a little but still keeps hacking as he glares at me.

I guess even Mera can get mad.

His face, which has turned red from the alcohol and the coughing, is showing much stronger emotions than usual.

“Hey, that’s a good face. Much manlier than moping around all the time.”

My casual comment sends Mera’s rage over the breaking point.

“What would you know about it?!”

He’s shouting, raising his voice in a way he would never normally do.

“Do you have any idea how it feels to have lost everything and, on top of that, to become a vampire?!”

He’s even forgotten to be mindful of the sleeping baby bloodsucker.

Luckily, the alcohol has her sleeping like the dead, so she doesn’t even stir.

Y’know, if she heard that, she’d probably be pretty upset…

Whether because he shouted right after choking or because his pent-up emotions finally burst out, Mera is heaving as he keeps glowering at me.

Come on, though.

“Ooh, so that’s the whole reason you’ve been acting like the whole world’s ending, huh? Big whoop.”

I take another gulp of wine.

Emptying my glass, I let out a nice big “aaah” before returning my gaze to Mera, who’s now staring at me in frozen shock.

But then his expression starts twisting back into anger.

I keep going before he can even open his mouth. “I mean, I’ve died and lost everything once already, too. And I’m a spider—y’know that, right? Not even human shaped. Vampires are just a little weak to sunlight, and they have to drink blood or whatever. You’re not winning any misery awards with that one, pal.”

At that, his mouth just hangs half-open, but no words come out.

You lost everything, huh?

Well, at least you’re alive.

You still have your life, at least, and the thoughts and beliefs you’ve built up this entire time.

I got dumped in a whole different world, where all of that is totally useless.

All I’ve got left are my memories and a bit of knowledge.

Even my body changed from human to spider. I had to start over from square one.

You’re a vampire now?

You really think that’s worse than being a spider?

I know Mera’s struggling with his human morals or whatever, but I got shoved right into a kill-or-be-killed survival game where I didn’t even have a chance to worry about that crap.

It’s not like he has to eat poisonous dead monsters if he wants to live.

Vampires? That’s easy mode. He’s still humanoid; he just has to drink a little blood. Yawn.

Besides…

“Would you say the same thing to her?”

I point at the sleeping baby bloodsucker.

“She died once and lost everything, just like me. Then she was born as a vampire. And after all that, she went through the same ‘losing everything’ you did, only for her it was the second time. Get it? She’s lost it all twice. But she’s still doing her best to be positive and move on with her life. Can you say the same?”

Mera gasps and stares at the baby.

Sure, my circumstances are different from Mera’s. It’s not like I can say I understand everything he’s feeling—all I can do is imagine it.

But Vampy knows exactly what he’s going through.

He’s got someone in the same situation as him right here, but he’s acting like he’s the only one who’s facing all these problems.

He’s not even thinking about her.

How’s he supposed to be her guardian when he’s acting like that?

The guy’s just trying to keep up appearances when he can’t even commit.

That’s what’s annoying me most of all.

I don’t wanna see or hear about that kind of half-assed BS.

“If you hate it that much, why don’t you just die?”

I pour myself another glass from the cask.

Mera’s eyes are huge now as he stares at me in disbelief.

What? Did I say something weird?

“If your life sucks that much, you don’t have to force yourself to keep living it, right? If you wanna die, I can help, you know? I’ll make it as quick as I can.”

I wanna live, so I’ve never once considered giving up and dying, but hey, that’s just me.

There are probably some people in the world who do want to end it all.

If Mera says he doesn’t want to live anymore, I don’t see why he should bother to keep doing it.

I drink my wine in one gulp and set down the glass.

Then I pick up my scythe and hold it to Mera’s neck.

“Well?”

Mera, presumably sensing that I’m not kidding around, turns from bright red to pale white.

“I cannot die.”

His voice is faint, and his lips tremble.

“Hmm? I can’t heeear yooou.”

“I cannot die! I must not die yet, especially for the young miss’s sake!”

Mera doesn’t sound cool by any stretch of the imagination; his shout is more like a shriek.

But that just shows how much he means it.

“See? You know what you gotta do, then.”

I put away the scythe.

Freed from its blade, Mera slumps down weakly.

“If you have a reason to live, if you have pride or faith or whatever, what’re you moping around for? You have something to protect, and that’s all there is to it. What difference does it make if you’re a vampire now? Just suck it up, no pun intended.”

I dismiss Mera’s troubles like they’re nothing at all.

Pretty cruel, if I do say so myself.

The only reason I can be so nonchalant about it is that it’s his big problem, not mine.

But I can’t hide how I really feel about it, either.

My words shock Mera back into silence, and he clams up.

His eyes are on the sleeping baby bloodsucker.

He seems to be off in his own little world now, so I leave him to it and go back to drinking.

When I wake up again, the world has turned upside down.

Huh? Looking around, I see that I’m being suspended upside down in midair by a bunch of thread strung haphazardly between two trees.

How did this happen?

I have no idea.

Even when I try to go through my memories to piece things together, I’ve got nothing.

Let’s see…

Yesterday, the Demon Lord brought out some alcohol, and we drank it.

I remember that part.

But the rest of it is kind of a blur.

I remember it being tasty and pleasant, but…that’s it? I don’t know what else happened.

Well, there’s no use hanging around upside down any longer.

I free myself from the tangled thread and descend to the ground.

“Good morning.” An extremely clear voice greets me.

Turning around, I see Mera with a huge, bright smile on his face.

Huh? Was his personality always like this?

“Thank you for yesterday. Thanks to you, my doubts have cleared.”

Yesterday? What’d I do again?

“I understand now that what’s important is not what I have become but what my actions will be going forward. And I know what I must do. Until yesterday, I was so concerned over what has become of me, I was unable to steady my resolve.”

Uhhh… I have no idea what he’s talking about…

“But from now on, I will hesitate no longer. I shall accept the fact that I am a vampire, and I shall protect the young miss with all my strength.”

Oh, okay.

Cool. Good luck with that.

Um, what else am I supposed to say here?

I’m not sure what happened, ’cause I don’t remember a damn thing, but I guess he figured out his issues somehow.

Well, I suppose that’s fine as long as he’s going to stop sulking now, right?