Skarn walked over, crouching his broad frame.
He gave Bai’s head a gentle rub and asked with a warm smile, “Little one, where’s your hometown?”
“Aitansiya,” Bai answered.
“Aitansiya?” Skarn hesitated, seeming unsure.
He asked again as if to confirm, “You mean that Aitansiya in the northern Fiorare Territory?”
Bai nodded.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Skarn stood up, visibly surprised.
Aurelia, seeing her commander so shocked, couldn’t help but ask,
“Is Aitansiya far?”
“Far? It’s more than just far. Even riding a drake, it’d take four to five months to get here. I can’t imagine how you and your sister made it all the way down.”
Skarn clicked his tongue in wonder.
Aurelia’s eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing that.
“Four to five months?! A drake can cover thirty thousand li in a single day! That’s insane!”
Bai stood frozen, her expression blank.
She lifted her small hands and started counting on her fingers, murmuring in a daze,
“Thirty thousand a day… thirty days in a month… that’s… nine hundred thousand… and five months would be… ugh…”
After going through all her fingers, she still couldn’t figure it out.
Her eyes were already spinning, her tiny head full of question marks.
In the end, she dropped to her knees with a plop and muttered in despair, “Bai… doesn’t have a home anymore… Even if Bai grows three more legs, she can’t run back…”
Skarn couldn’t help but laugh again at the sight of the little one (even if it was a bit rude).
He patted Bai’s back with his large hand, nearly knocking her flat, and comforted her, “It’s alright, it’s alright.
Who knows how you two really got here, but magic’s advanced these days.
Maybe there’s a shortcut teleportation route now or something.
Anyway, just stay with Aurelia tonight, and tomorrow I’ll have someone take you back to the city.
That’s that. Hahaha!”
He turned to Aurelia and added, “Grab a sleeping bag from logistics later, get a thick one! This little thing looks frail; don’t let her freeze at night.”
“Yes, Commander!”
Aurelia gave a proper salute, then stepped forward, scooped the collapsed Bai into her arms, and turned to leave.
Along the way, Bai was still counting on her tiny fingers…
After the two had left, Skarn’s smile disappeared instantly, replaced by a cold, serious expression.
He turned to another knight inside the tent and said in a low voice, “Tell the others to keep a closer watch on that child.”
“Huh? Why? What could a child possibly do?” the knight asked, puzzled.
“There’s a very familiar scent on her.”
“What scent?”
“The stench… of blood. The stench of a vampire,” Skarn replied coldly.
………
In the study, Yare was still silently flipping through an enormous book, her blood-red eyes as calm as still water.
No one knew how much time had passed before Yare suddenly spoke, her tone laced with displeasure, “It’s not very polite to enter someone’s manor uninvited, Yalbera.”
The air in the room twisted, forming a red vortex.
A long, slender leg stepped through it, followed by Yalbera herself, her face dark and frightening.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to touch what’s mine,” Yalbera said coldly.
“Oh? But the girl came with me willingly. I didn’t force her,” Yare replied, closing her book with a mocking smile.
Yalbera’s face grew even colder.
“Give Bai back to me. She belongs to me. There’s no way she would ever choose another master besides me.”
“I already told you, she chose me. I merely answered her request, nothing more,” Yare replied arrogantly.
“You said you wouldn’t interfere with my plan. Or… are you afraid that once I ascend, I’ll eliminate you?”
“Eliminate me? Hehehe~”
Yare chuckled, as if she’d heard the funniest joke in the world.
She sat cross-legged, resting her chin elegantly on one hand, looking at Yalbera with a calm and confident smile.
“I have no interest in your little scheme. That kind of low-grade forbidden magic? Even if you laid out all the materials in front of me, I wouldn’t bother. I took in the girl simply because her blood tastes good.”
“That’s all. And… even if you succeed in ascending hundreds of times, you could never pose a threat to me, Yalbera. I think you need to understand that.”
“What do you want?! Bai is mine! She can only be my blood slave! There’s no way she would choose you! Her soul and her body have belonged to me since five years ago!”
Yalbera’s pupils narrowed, and the twin golden pigtails behind her floated into the air.
Black flames swirled around her, ready for battle.
But Yare remained calm and smiling.
She simply extended a slender finger and tapped the air.
In an instant, the black flames behind Yalbera vanished.
“You may have forgotten… this is my domain. Not a place where you can act as you please. And as a guest, this behavior is quite rude.”
Yare said teasingly.
Yalbera’s expression darkened, but Yare wasn’t wrong.
This was a realm crafted by Yare herself.
Within it, Yalbera’s strength would be greatly diminished.
Not to mention, the woman before her was already a monster in her own right.
In a one-on-one fight, she had no chance, especially not now.
But Bai was hers! Bai had longed for and looked up to her so deeply.
She was supposed to devote her life to her! To serve her! Bai had no right to choose, no right to leave!
She had saved Bai’s life, given her a home, let her serve a True Ancestor as noble as herself, even trusted her to tend to her daily life.
Bai’s everything belonged to her, she didn’t have a choice in the matter!
The black flames rose again behind her.
Yare’s gaze flickered with surprise, and her tone turned colder.
“Are you really going to break with me over a blood slave?”
“I simply don’t want my plan delayed.”
“Is that so.”
Yare sighed, shaking her head with exaggerated disappointment.
Then, smiling with amusement, she said, “Then let the girl decide for herself.”
……
“The forest gets cold at night. You should sleep with your clothes on.”
Inside the tent, Aurelia had brought in a sleeping bag and cleared a space where Bai could stretch her legs.
“Those people… aren’t they sleeping?”
Through the curtain, the firelight outside still flickered, and the murmurs and laughter of the knights drifted in.
They wore heavy silver armor, cold and dirt-stained, spattered with dried blood.
Some sets even bore claw marks from unknown creatures.
“We take turns resting in shifts. Bloodbeasts could attack at any moment. Most warriors must stay alert until we return to the kingdom,” Aurelia explained.
“Aren’t they tired?”
Though they appeared tireless, Bai could see the exhaustion and weariness etched beneath their eyes.
“They’re tired. But if even we close our eyes, then who’s left to protect our home?”
Aurelia gave a weary smile.
She rolled out her sleeping bag, unbuckled her sword, and leaned it against the side.
Bai gazed quietly out of the tent, deep in thought.
Her homeland was in the north.
There, humans didn’t face the same relentless vampire threat as the south.
What they dealt with were internal divisions, wars between nations, slaughter between people, and the oppression and exploitation of slaves.
But she… was a blood slave.
The mark of the blood clan was already seared into her flesh, never to fade.
That thought led Bai into a spiral of uncertainty.
If one day… she had to choose between the blood clan and the humans…
What would she do?