L'Opéra De Géhenne VIII
Mari snuffles, dragging in a clogged breath.
I press the back of my hand hard on her forehead.
"Huh?" Mari steps back, her expression shaken. "What are you doing?"
How hot. Too warm, in fact.
However, I have bad senses due to the codex, so I can't tell for sure.
"Nan," I call, turning my head to her. "Can you check for sure?"
Nan nods, tapping the kid's neck with two fingers.
She then rests her palm against Mari's cheek.
"She most definitely has a high body temperature," Nan confirms my suspicions with a huff, resting her other palm on her own forehead for comparison. "Hmh. Most probably caught a cold."
Mari stammers. "What? But I'm feeling alri—"
She sneezes.
"Kid," Nan tsks, pinching her cheek. "I know he's dumb. But he's not that stupid."
The fuck was that?
"You should rest," Nan reprimands, narrowing her eyes.
She then glances at me. "What do we do? I really doubt there are antibiotics in this world."
"Princess, you've dragged us into this pit of hell, the cesspool of death, and yet you haven't even explained how we get food and water here," I say tiredly, grabbing her wrist and checking her pulse.
"Umm… I can generate water; I'm a wizard, after all, specializing in aqua," she says, sniffling. "As for you two—"
Mari points at Nan. "Vampires drink blood. Technically, they can also feed on excrements… but most abstain."
Nan nods thinkingly.
I don't even want to imagine what's going through her head.
"You too," she then points at me, her grimoire clasped against her chest. "You can even eat more things, almost anything. You remember you ate your own heart, yes?"
That's good to know.
I wonder if feeding on myself counts as cannibalism.
Oh well. Who cares?
I yawn, tears welling.
"But…" Mari lowers her eyes, staring at my heart. "You feel tired, yes? That means you don't have much mana left. It'll take a while for it to fill up, and it doesn't help that the core is outside where the time moves differently."
So I shouldn't rely on my regeneration at all, is what she's saying.
I scratch my head. "I and Nan will do just fine. What I'm concerned about is you."
Nan nods, putting her hand on Mari's shoulder. "You most certainly as a human can't feed on blood or piss or the flesh that the walls consist of."
"What will you do?" I follow askingly.
Mari slumps, clasping both hands over the tip of her book with a morbid expression. "I can feed on my mana. Though even without it, humans can survive for weeks without food…"
With my grand strategist being like this, death is not as far as it seems, it seems to me.
I pull out the strand of her hair.
"Ouch!" Mari holds onto her head. "Just why?!"
"Because I had an urge to pull your eyes instead," I explain truthfully as per codex. "You should be grateful."
"I see… how surprising…" Nan mutters to herself from the side. "Hair fetish… first time I've seen that most certainly."
I kick at her knee.
Nan falls face-first to the ashen floor.
Good. Now I feel better.
Though I can bet my balls that the vampire bitch enjoys the pain.
But isn't that… great?
I can make her my punching bag…
Mari coughs, interrupting my stream of thought. "As I've said, we should first formulate a plan before delving deepe—"
I put a finger on her lip.
"Stop talking," I say, tapping her lips. "I've already made up my mind."
I then look at the garbage lying on the floor. "Hey, Nan. Did you die?"
"I wish," she says, pushing herself up with the help of her hands, then curving her knees and pressing her large feet against the floor, standing.
"A pity," I joke
"A pity," she jokes not.
She wipes the dust off her gown, her nose bleeding.
"Hey, try thinking of a window like this," I instruct, showing her my status.
A blue hologram forms.
Chandra |Archdemon |SS||
Murk |E|
Aura |E|
Wise |E|
Luck |F|*
Gifts:
—Ravenous Sea Webster |E|
—The Devil's Wrath |E|*
—The Hero's Curse |A|
—Reverse Plot Armor |S|
—...
—...
—...
—...
Title:
—Villain |F|
—...
—...
—...
"Hmh. Like this?" she asks, extending her palm.
A crimson hologram materializes.
Nanette |Vampire Queen |S||
Murk |F|
Aura |F|
Wise |F|
Wrath |F|
Gifts:
—Sanguine Golemancy |F|
—Sin of Wrath |F|
—Hemomancy |F|
—...
—...
—...
—...
Title:
—Familiar of Wrath |F|
—Queen of Blood |F|*
—...
—...
"So that's my name! Nanette!" she shouts in joy.
"So you're fucking useless, Nanette," I whisper in regret.
This worthless bitch is what I wasted my ass on?
I now have to live with the codex, and for what?
This is the worst financial decision in my life—
My ass. I wish it were financial.
No, instead, I'm now crippled in every conceivable way.
I'm never using that Pandora's box ever again! What next? A pact of blindness? A pact of dick up my ass?
A pact of you get fucked every time you sleep? Ah, of course not.
Because I already have that shit!
The parasite licks the blood off her nose, then freezes, her lips quivering.
"This…" Tears flow down her eyes. "This is the most delicious stuff I've tasted so far in the twenty years of my life!"
"Twenty?!" I ask, shocked, raising a brow. "You're just twenty?"
"Mhm," she blabbers nonsense.
"Is that supposed to mean yes or no?!"
"It's supposed to mean I'm not sure," she says, lifting her head and staring at the eyes across the walls and the ceilings gazing at us, her oval and mildly angular face lit in whites and purples predominantly, also blues.
Patience… patience…
"I did the survey most definitely the day before my birthday. So who knows. Maybe I'm already twenty-one?"
BREATHE in… breathe out…
"Why? How old did you think I was?" Nan asks, blinking.
Come to think of it, she did act like a brat.
I turn and leave, walking on the scorching floor, my feet crying in despair.
"Where are you going?" Mari asks with a high pitch.
"I go murder their leader," I say, raising and waving my hand. "You two stay here."
"You can't just barge alone!" Mari shouts from behind, coughing. "Most go in groups of tens of people! How can you alone just—"
"SHUT UP"
Silence.
I turn, grinning like a lunatic.
"Useless fucks."
"What are you two but dead weight?!"
I point at Mari.
"It's already hot here. I'm sure the lower we go, the hotter it'll get. Your ill body won't endure."
"Take your time. Sleep properly. Use your healing magic," I instruct with manic eyes. Threateningly and menacingly.
I then point at Nan.
"You! Take care of Ma—"
No, never mind.
I point at Mari once again.
"You! Look after this perverted whore! Make sure she doesn't suck herself dry!"
The two look at me with wide eyes, speechless.
I back, clenching my fists.
"Moronic kids... A fucking kindergarten…" I mutter to myself as I march away.
An S-rank Vampire Queen—my ass. What does S even stand for? A S-hithead-rank?
What about the SS-rank Archdemon? Does SS stand for the breasts? SS-rank titties?