For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

“Oh, right! Yandel, come to the professor’s lab during lunchtime! We need to have a very, very important discussion!”

With a mischievous glint in her crimson eyes, Iona winked.

Someone from Class A muttered softly at that sight.

“…Graduate school invitation?”

Ah, shush! Keep quiet about big trouble brewing!

---

Lunchtime.

Although I received a bit of a terrible misunderstanding, of course, Iona wasn’t trying to drag me into graduate school.

Perhaps it was about something left unsaid regarding the upcoming cult branch suppression happening tomorrow? She might want to fill me in.

With that in mind, I knocked on the door of Iona’s office, flanked by Carla and Elisha on either side.

Knock, knock.

“Professor? You called for me.”

“Yandel? Come in! Come in!”

Upon Iona’s permission, the first thing we saw after opening the door was… Iona, covered in blood, and the horrific scene of the office.

“I called you to register an owner for this magical tool…”

“Ah!!!”

“Kyaa!!!”

“Byaah!!!”

As I, Carla, and Elisha screamed simultaneously, Iona finally realized her own appearance.

“Oh! Oh! I forgot to wash up!”

With a light flick of her finger, a spell of Cleansing was cast through a Shadowless Window, washing away the blood on Iona’s body and the surrounding area.

Then, reassuringly waving her hands, she said,

“Don’t worry! It’s all my blood!”

“Isn’t that more dangerous?! Do you need a potion? Or, since you’re a vampire, should I bring you a blood pack? Wait. Is this really dangerous? Considering the regenerative abilities of vampires…”

I paused awkwardly, halfway through pulling out a healing potion from my inventory.

Finding my reaction amusing, Iona covered her mouth with her loose sleeve and chuckled.

“Yandel, you’re funny! Bringing out a potion just because a vampire bleeds a bit?”

“…What? Is it really nothing serious?”

I looked around, feeling like I was the only one making a fuss. Carla and Elisha were only briefly startled but have since calmed down.

“Calm down, Master. We were indeed startled by the sudden bloodbath, but I’ve heard that vampires contain an incomparable amount of blood compared to other races.”

“Yes. Especially if it’s not just any vampire but Professor Iona… Such bleeding would be no more than a needle prick.”

“Really…?”

There was no vampire as a playable character in H&A, so I wouldn’t know such detailed settings.

“Ahahaha! Yandel, you have knowledge that no one else knows, but you don’t know the common stuff? It’s okay! Professor Iona here will teach you everything about vampires! Wait, saying it like this sounds a bit weird!”

Iona, surprised by her own words, pretended to cover her mouth.

According to Iona’s explanation that followed, the ordinary blood we knew about was nothing more than a resource like mana for vampires.

That was why vampires were the only race that primarily used blood magic.

Although blood magic was powerful, it was limited by the amount of the caster’s blood. But with an abundance of blood, such limitations were virtually non-existent.

I had thought that, like creating water or fire with magic, the blood used in magic was either conjured or belonged to someone else.

High-level blood magic in H&A covered the entire battlefield in blood, but how could that be from just one person?

Of course, vampires had their own source of life.

Namely, the heart and a special blood called “true blood.”

The heart acts like a mana core, storing energy-converted blood and materializing it when needed.

True blood is like a concentrate; a little dilution could produce a vast amount of ordinary blood.

It also oversees the output of various special vampire abilities and control over blood.

The Blood Crystal I received from Iona previously was also made by appropriately processing true blood.

Additionally, turning a vampire into a thrall after feeding on them would require the injection of true blood.

Iona shared details I hadn’t encountered in H&A before.

Despite my long-standing enjoyment of H&A, it was always thrilling to discover new settings or backstories I was previously unaware of.

But perhaps my keen interest appeared somewhat peculiar.

As I bombarded her with questions, Iona responded with a playful counter-question, her smile tinged with mischief.

“What’s this? I had no idea Yandel was so into vampires. It’s surprising you didn’t know this!”

“Well, I do know a bit about vampires, but… it’s somewhat different.”

“Yeah? Like what? With a real vampire right here, it should be easy to verify what’s true and what’s not!”

“If you say so.”

I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts before responding.

“Firstly, a vampire’s weakness is its heart.”

“…Really?”

“Vampires possess incredible regenerative abilities, making them difficult to kill unless they’re completely drained of blood. They can even survive decapitation.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. That’s why their hearts are vulnerable. It’s a fragile organ that’s challenging to regenerate, and damaging it severely hampers their regeneration by causing significant blood loss.”

“Oh…”

“Indeed, a very powerful vampire might not die immediately from a stake to the heart… but they’d be in a critical state. If fortunate, the vampire might even experience the fear of death for the first time.”

“If fortunate…?”

“Ah, and they’re also susceptible to light and holy power. Naturally, this doesn’t apply to vampires like you who align with humanity, but for those who are solitary or allied with evil gods, light and holiness are as lethal as poison. Vampires are technically undead, correct?”

“Um…”

“However, light magic is challenging to combine with other magics and is also difficult to wield, and holy power has its limitations in offensive capabilities. Therefore, there are instances where neither is utilized.”

“Yandel…?”

“In those cases, using fire magic is best. The regeneration speed is significantly slower for burned areas.”

“Um…”

“From a magician’s perspective, that’s it. A knight with only one aura, instead of various elements, would approach it differently. Of course, there are auras with elemental properties, but let’s exclude those exceptional cases for now.”

“Stop, please…”

“Even with a vampire’s regeneration, instant reconstitution of severed parts isn’t possible. So, it’s standard to gradually whittle them down, cutting off even a finger joint at a time without necessarily aiming for a fatal wound.”

“…”

I continued with strategies against vampires’ mist and bat transformations for escape and surprise attacks.

Tips on exploiting charm, the vulnerabilities in the blood frenzy attack pattern, and know-how on temporarily severing the bond between a lord and thrall, among other things.

I shared everything I knew about vampire raids.

While vampires weren’t playable characters in H&A, they did appear as enemies quite often.

Whether they were named or mid-boss level, they were a real challenge when I was a newbie.

It felt good to talk about the game after a long time, but the atmosphere had become quiet at some point.

I glanced around to find Carla holding her head and Elisha just sighing deeply.

And Iona, considering she was a vampire, looked remarkably pale.

“Professor? You look a bit pale. Are you okay?”

“Um… Yandel?”

“Yes?”

“Are you, by any chance… what’s the word… a vampire hunter or something? Wasn’t that a profession that disappeared 300 years ago?”

“Uh, well.”

I pretty much get the misunderstanding.

“It’s not like that. It’s true I know a lot about hunting vampires, but there’s a reason for all this…”

“It’s okay! It’s okay! I’m a good vampire! I go to church at least once a week. I’ve never broken the covenant! Even though it’s because I was betrayed by Ayla, I haven’t drunk human blood since that day! And also…”

Iona, flustered and gesticulating wildly, pleaded her innocence. It turns out her abstinence from human blood was due to some kind of trauma. She mentioned that it was fine to drink from blood packs anytime, and direct feeding was also okay with her consent, though proof of not being under a charm or other mental magic was needed. Basically, there was no need to grimace and drink only animal blood, like Iona.

Iona’s appeal continued for quite a while. I tried to interject with “That’s not it” a few times, but seeing she didn’t quite believe me, I just nodded along.

“Yes, yes. I get it. I really do, so let’s stop this now!”

“Really, really? You won’t suddenly do a ‘whoosh’ from behind because you look tired, okay?”

“Ah, come on! I never doubted you in the first place, so please tell me why you called me here! Lunchtime is almost over!”

“…Oh! Right. I totally forgot!”

Iona hurriedly took out three rings from her pocket. They were plain in design, with a silver band and a single gemstone that didn’t look very elaborate. The gemstone’s color was a dark red, similar to Iona’s eyes, which might be considered a unique feature.

“Here, these. They’re rings capable of location tracking! My blood has a property that draws them together, so they’ll work fine even if we’re far apart or under magical interference. Just in case, each of you take one and register as its owner!”

Iona herself was wearing a ring of the same design on her finger.

“Uh… It would be good to have one of these. Carla, Elisha, come here. I’ll put it on for you.”

After putting rings on both of them and then on my own finger, it didn’t quite fit, so I had to wear it on my pinky.

“Now, all that’s left is the owner’s registration! Just drop a drop of your blood on the gem, and that’s it!”

Following Iona’s instructions, we dropped a drop of blood on the gems, and I felt a strange attraction from the ring, which then disappeared. That attraction must be how the ring locates its owner.

“Well done! Well done! From now on, just infuse a little mana, and you’ll roughly know the direction and distance through the rings’ attraction! That’s all for the important stuff! Sorry for keeping you so long! You can go back to class now!”

“Yes. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yep, let’s do that!”

After exchanging brief farewells with Iona, I left the lab.

Now, all that’s left…

“I just need to stop by Senior Faye’s workshop after school.”

I had asked for a few things.

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