Chapter 54: The Vampire Girl [Bonus Chapter]

When Asia saw Shadow, Hades, Luna, Bella, Ruby, and Ivy, she wasn't afraid at all. On the contrary, she was excited about them and even started playing with them.

"Wah, wah, so cute~" she sang, petting Luna.

Bella rubbed against her leg while Shadow looked on proudly but didn't approach voluntarily. However, Zaydas knew that he was just being proud but still wanted to get close to her.

Making a tree branch float toward him, Zaydas shaped it into a Frisbee disc.

"Asia, take this." Zaydas handed it to her.

"Hm?" she asked. "What is this for?"

"Throw it with all your strength, and the wolves will fetch it," Zaydas explained briefly.

"Like this?" She made a throwing motion, and seeing Zaydas confirm, she launched it. "Ey!"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The sounds of barking echoed as the wolves were drawn to the disc thrown by Asia.

Even though Asia wasn't very good at sports, she was still a Devil. When she used a lot of strength, it went from 0 to over 100 kilometers per hour.

However, the wolves were far from slow. Running at high speed, Shadow and Ivy jumped and caught the Frisbee at the same time.

"Ehehe. This is fun~" Asia said cheerfully.

"If you liked it, you can play with them whenever you get the chance," Zaydas said. Seeing the longing looks of the elves as well, he made several tree branches appear from red magic circles and soon transformed them into multiple Frisbees—one for each of them.

"Thank you~" they said in gratitude.

After that, each of them got serious and threw their Frisbees.

The wolves, seeing this, quickly moved.

"No need to rush. I will prepare something for us to eat. You can stay and play with the wolves for a while," Zaydas told them, and they nodded.

...

In the kitchen, Zaydas started preparing Shabu-shabu.

[Shabu-shabu is a dish consisting of a hot pot with meats (beef, pork, chicken, shrimp), vegetables (watercress, shinkiku, Chinese cabbage, leek, green onions, bean sprouts, etc.), mushrooms (shiitake and shimeji), and other ingredients (udon, konnyaku, kamaboko, etc.).]

Since there were many of them, Zaydas prepared it in four large pots, which could easily feed several people—enough to invite Hiraku and the elves on his side.

Thinking of this, he telepathically informed Ria to go and ask them if they wanted to have lunch with them.

───────────

Meanwhile, in DxD, at the Zaydas family mansion...

Shizue was in the room that was now hers, sitting at a desk in a presidential chair, drinking coffee, and working on a laptop.

She wasn't typing very fast, but she wasn't slow either. Although she wasn't used to laptops, she quickly memorized the key layout and gradually adapted to the point where it seemed like she had been doing it for months, even years.

She was mainly searching for information about napalm in World War II.

She saw several photos that made her cry. There were very graphic images recorded from that day.

Seeing photos of burned people, she touched her own body and sighed as she remembered that she had been reincarnated with Devil, and all her scars had disappeared. Even her curse had been devoured by the dragon that Zaydas had linked to her.

[Hey, partner. Sorry to bother you.]

Shizue stopped what she was doing, looking at her left hand, seeing a beautiful green jewel while an equally beautiful but proud feminine voice spoke.

Shizue murmured as she brought the back of her left hand closer to her face: "Dragon-san, what do you want?"

[It's not that I want something, but rather that I can feel your emotions very strongly. It woke me up. I have no idea what happened to you in the past, but I can feel your pain. Err... Should I say, they say that in moments like this, isn't it better to talk to someone? How about this—since I'm awake, I can talk with you, partner. By the way, my name is Ddraig.]

Letting out a long sigh, Shizue said with a serene smile: "Ddraig-san, thank you. Do you want to hear my story?"

[Of course.]

Softly, she began to narrate her past to Ddraig, from when she was a child up to the present moments.

[I see... You've been through a lot, partner,] Ddraig sympathized with her. [But if there's one thing I've learned from being linked to various humans before, it's that you can't let the past define your entire future. If you do that, the chains of the past will bind you, and you will stop living—you'll simply be 'surviving.' Do you understand what I mean?]

"Surviving, but not living..." she murmured. Then she nodded: "Yes, many times I feel that way, though it hasn't always been like that—especially with my students and when I was with the Hero... But for the most part, I was simply surviving..."

[But don't worry, partner,] Ddraig assured her. [Now it's different, right? You feel that, don't you?]

Thinking of Zaydas, she smiled: [Yes, by his side, I feel like I will start to live~]

...

There was something Ddraig wanted to say to her, but she held back.

In fact, this was the second time she had awakened. Ddraig first awakened when she sensed Shizue's desire to rid herself of her 'curse'—Ifrit. And while she was awakening, she heard whispers—so many that Ddraig couldn't count them all, but they all said the same thing: You are one of us, you are one of us...

It frightened her so much that she felt as if something was trying to pull her in, forcing herself to sleep again. After that, Ddraig awakened for the second time now.

For the next few hours, they talked a little while Ddraig spoke about various topics, mainly explaining to her everything she didn't know about Devils, Angels, etc.

───────────

In the dining hall at the INN, Hiraku arrived with the elves by his side.

The dining table was lively with 15 people gathered around.

The four pots of shabu-shabu were bubbling as the delicious aroma filled the air.

Asia, sitting beside Zaydas, began a prayer.

Zaydas and the rest listened in silence to her prayer until she said, "Amen."

"Thank you for the food~"

Under the influence of Zaydas and Hiraku, everyone said this before starting to eat.

By the way, Zaydas didn't leave the wolves out. He roasted some wild animals and gave them to them.

"Ohh, this is delicious!" Hiraku was the first to try it.

"Mmm, Hhmmm!"

The elves responded right after with nasal sounds.

"Yes, very tasty~" Asia said cheerfully.

Smiling, Zaydas felt happy with them praising what he had made.

And then, he made two bottles of wine appear.

"Golden wine!"

The elves' reaction was instant.

"One glass for each." Zaydas said.

"Thank you~!"

With that said, Zaydas made the bottles float and began filling the wine glasses that had been placed on the table.

"Me too?" Asia pointed at herself.

"Well, I won't force you to drink," Zaydas said. "But, if I'm not mistaken, wine is something even Jesus Christ drank, right?"

"Jesus Christ?" Without exception, the elves didn't seem to know who Jesus Christ was. That's why they were looking at them, confused.

Hiraku was different. This made him look at Asia once more, probably linking her to his world.

"Wahhh, I... I'll drink a little then!" she exclaimed.

However, she didn't notice the elves' reaction as if they were looking at her like they had seen an alien.

But of course, for them, drinking golden wine was a blessing, not something one needed courage to drink!

"Wow, this is delicious..." Asia let out a warm sigh after taking a single sip.

"Isn't it?!" The elves said in unison.

...

Amid cheerful conversations and laughter, a sound echoed.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The sound of something hitting wood was followed by the sound of the wolves barking.

"I'll go check what happened." Zaydas responded, disappearing from the spot.

"Teleportation... He really has cool powers," Hiraku commented.

"Well, with Zaydas going to check, we have nothing to worry about," Ria said casually.

"That sound..." Asia asked, "Is it some kind of alarm?"

"Yes, Zabuton... The spider that lives here also always warns us when an intruder appears," Hiraku explained. "That sound must be because some wild beast approached."

...

Meanwhile, Zaydas, who had teleported to the top of the great tree, had a broad view of what was happening to the north.

'She appeared...'

Surrounded by the infernal wolves, Zaydas spotted a naked girl with pointed ears similar to those of the elves but slightly tilted upward.

She looks to be in her first year of elementary school. She has silver hair, blue eyes, and an extraordinarily beautiful face. However, her body was covered in scratches made by the infernal wolves. She was currently being confronted by the wolves with a large tree behind her.

The wolves were attacking her one after another, in one place after another. She was being blasted repeatedly.

Teleporting, he appeared right near them.

The girl noticed him and pleaded, "Help me!"

"Stop."

As soon as his voice fell, all the infernal wolves retreated almost in submission.

'Did they think I was reprimanding them?'

Putting that aside for now, he passed by the infernal wolves and reached the girl.

Zaydas snapped his fingers, and clothes began to cover the girl's naked body.

She wasn't surprised, but...

When he got close enough, she attacked him, biting his neck and sucking his blood.

"Slurp..."

"Ahhhh~~"

An erotic and lascivious sound echoed right after she sucked some of his blood while her eyes were glazed over.

Her body began to grow. A short time ago, she looked like an elementary school student, but now she looked like a university student.

With her hand on her lips, she said, "Wow, I've never tasted anything like this... Your blood is delicious~"

The girl showed a satisfied expression.

"Thanks, I was actually curious about how my blood tastes," Zaydas replied.

"... Ah, sorry." She apologized, stepping back a little, casting a spell to change her clothes again, turning them into a long-sleeved blue blouse with a white chest area and dark red details, a dark blue skirt above the knees, and dark red tights.

"I am Rurushi Ru, a Vampire. I apologize for sucking your blood without asking. It's just that I would have died if I had stayed in that state any longer," she explained.

"I forgive you," Zaydas said.

"Thank you~" She smiled.

Turning to the wolves, Zaydas thought for a moment, then made two golden fruits appear and, with a simple touch of his finger, split them into pieces. Then, he tossed a piece to each of them: "Good job, but next time, be less aggressive."

"Woof!"

The infernal wolves barked happily after eating their piece of the golden fruit.

"What is that you gave them?" Rurushi asked with obvious interest.

...

[Author's Note: I may have interpreted it incorrectly, but in the light novel, Ddraig mentions that dragons are beings formed by a mass of power, which suggests that they do not have a defined gender. Because of this, I chose to make Ddraig adapt to their host—which, in this case, is now Shizue, a woman.

I know this change isn't exactly necessary, but it was a personal choice. The only alteration is that Ddraig now has a female voice and refers to herself in the feminine gender; aside from that, I will try to keep Ddraig's personality faithful to the original High School DxD work.]