Chapter 147.2: Sanshos Village
Chapter 147.2: Sanshos Village
That flying ship seemed to be surrounded by mist, making it harder to see it clearly.
I felt a ghost presence from that flying ship.
When I strained my eyes, I could finally see numerous ghosts surrounding the flying ship.
It was the very definition of the ghost sky ship.
「Kuroki-sama~. That thing is so scary~... And dangerou~s.」
Tibel's voice trembled.
I agree with her.
There might be a formidable enemy aboard that ship.
I looked carefully at the ghost skyship.
◆Vampire Count, Jusio
I returned to my castle with Milady's ghost skyship.
Accompanying Milady was lord Zasha, myself, the maids, and the knights.
「It's been a while since I came to this castle, Jusio. The humans raised in your village taste really good. You're doing a good job.」
Milady sat in the seat of honor, the seat of the owner of the castle, and praised me.
This village was one of the places where humans were cultivated.
After raising the kidnapped children, who were too young to be sucked for their blood, I presented them to Milady after they reached the appropriate age.
Though many children died when their blood was sucked, some of them were fortunate enough to survive and turn into vampires, or maids.
It was my job to take care of this village.
Were the few flowers in that dilapidated house still blooming?
Let's visit that place later.
「No, Milady. It's because the people dispatched by lord Zasha are excellent. It's not my power.」
I looked at lord Zasha who stood beside Milady.
The people sent by lord Zasha were excellent, they were useful in raising the children.
Thanks to them I didn't need to do anything.
「Yes. Then I ought to give you praise too, Zasha. Moreover, the arm that you prepared for me is a perfect fit.」
Milady raised her left arm, looking at it as she praised lord Zasha.
「It's my honor to be able to do at least this much, big sis. Feel free to use the left arm of the demon beast as you see fit.」
Replied lord Zasha as he bowed to Milady.
That moment, a vampire maid entered the audience room.
「My apologies for the disturbance, Milady. The villagers and Bragg-dono wish to have an audience with Milady.」
Bragg, the ratman, led the soldiers of this castle to find the escaped Dark Knight.
Naturally, that meant lowering the protection of this territory alas, the defense of this territory was thick to begin with.
So even if Bragg brought some of the soldiers, it was only equal to a tiny hole in the defense force of this territory.
And there was very low possibility for someone to use that chink to infiltrate this territory.
That's why I'm sure that the Dark Knight wouldn't be able to enter this territory.
「Sure. Let them in.」
After Milady gave her permission, a ratman, and people, whose faces were covered with a white hood and veil, came in.
Maybe Bragg returned in a hurry upon hearing that Milady had come to this village.
He looked slightly exhausted.
And following after him were the villagers dispatched by lord Zasha.
It seems the reason they came was to give their greeting to lord Zasha.
Just to be safe, I ordered them to give a feast to the children since Milady was visiting this village.
It was so that she could suck as much blood as possible.
Coz if Milady wanted to suck some blood, we had to present the children in the best possible condition.
「Long time no see, Zaffrada-sama! Your Loyal servant, Bragg has returned to greet you!」
Bragg, who stood in the lead of the formation, bowed 90 degrees as he stood on his hind leg.
「Yeah, long time no see, Bragg. I heard that you've been looking for the Dark Knight, have you found that person?」
Bragg nodded his head upon hearing Milady's question.
「Reporting, Milady! We caught fifteen suspicious people who infiltrated this territory! Since everyone has pig-like appearances, I'm sure that we will find the Dark Knight among them!」
Bragg reported happily.
And then he looked at Milady as if expecting something.
Bragg had always wanted to become a vampire.
That was the reason why he was willing to do anything.
To begin with, Bragg was a former human, it was a mystery how he ended up as a ratman.
「I see. It seems you've been working really hard, Bragg. In that case, do your best to capture more men with pig-like faces. If you find the Dark Knight among them, I'll give you an appropriate reward.」
「Y-YE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SH!」
Bragg prostrated and then left the audience room.
After he left, only the white hooded villagers were left.
「Well then, you lot are the people who were trained by Zasha, right?」
「Indeed, big sister. You lot, take off your hoods and show your faces to big sister.」
After that, the villagers took off their hoods at once.
Their faces were filled with patches.
Every single one of them was a human who underwent remodeling from lord Zasha.
Different from the undead, the remodeled humans couldn't produce miasma and could survive with just plain water.
For this reason, the children didn't get sick and the maintenance cost was kept at a minimum.
This also spared us the trouble of them breeding themselves.
「O honored child of the Great Reaper. This Daring represents everyone to greet the great one.」
Daring, the remodeled human, spoke as he bowed his head.
Daring was the priest of the religion that worshiped the Great Ruler of Death.
Thus, lord Zasha turned him into a remodeled human as a token of appreciation. Now he was an influential chief of this village.
The other villagers also bowed down after Daring.
Though there were other remodeled humans, the ones gathered here were the only ones with proper intelligence.
The other remodeled humans were robbed of their intelligence and turned into mindless working puppets.
「I see, they're the remodeled humans made by your own hands right, Zasha? Appearance aside, they're no different from a normal human. Alas, did you add something else?」
「My apologies, big bister. I've not added any special features to them. But, I did make other types of remodeled humans exclusive for combat. Shall we go see them?」
Lord Zasha spoke cheerfully.
It seems he wanted his sister to see his creations.
But, Milady didn't seem to have any interest in that.
「My bad Zasha. Let's save that for the next time.」
「... I see.」
Lord Zasha was obviously dejected.
「This matter aside, our current focus is the Dark Knight. It'll be a good thing if the person who chopped off my left arm is among the people caught by Bragg. Still, we have to look for him again if it turns out he wasn't among them. I'll stay in this area for the time being. Zasha, you also have to move like Zalbuth. And then, bring all the people you captured to this place.」
「Understood, big bister.」
Zasha left the room after he said that.
「Well now, let's see the captured people. Honestly, I want to tear him up to pieces with my new left arm, but I have to spare him for now since My Dear Father ordered me not to kill him.」
Milady revealed a ferocious smile as she spoke.