"Reward...?"
Himegami Aisa tilted her head, her dark eyes glazed over with a sleepy, emotionless expression. She gently patted the wide sleeve of her shrine maiden outfit, shaking her head.
"I don't have any money on me. But I have this. If you need it, Mr. Vampire, you can have it as payment."
As she spoke, she reached into the lapel of her white haori—from right around her chest area—and pulled out a compact, black device.
"..." Yuuya's cheek twitched slightly as he looked down at the object in her hand. "That's... literally just a commercial stun gun, isn't it? By the way, how on earth did you manage to fit something that bulky in your chest area?"
"This is a magic wand. Crafted from the latest high-tech materials," Aisa replied with a deadpan expression. She pressed the side button, causing a bright arc of blue electricity to crackle dangerously between the prongs.
"Do you take me for an idiot?" Yuuya raised an eyebrow, then broke into a wide grin. "You really are a bizarre kuudere with almost zero emotional fluctuations. It's actually pretty hilarious."
She was an incredibly eccentric girl with an emotionless face and a slightly delayed reaction speed. She possessed zero aggressive intent, making her look like the type who could be easily bullied or taken advantage of. And despite carrying a stun gun for self-defense, her presence was so faint that she probably never even had a chance to use it.
"I am not lying. Magicians do not tell lies," Aisa said with absolute seriousness, brandishing the crackling stun gun in a dramatic pose reminiscent of a magical girl anime she had once seen on TV.
"Pfft, you really are something else," Yuuya chuckled, touching his sharp, simulated fangs. "Fine. I'll go with you to see your Alchemist friend. But before we go, I want to taste your blood first. What do you say?"
"No..." Aisa shook her head immediately, placing a hand protectively over her neck. She looked up at the vampire who wanted to drink her blood and warned softly, "My blood will force you to kill yourself. It might smell like sweet nectar to you, but it is actually lethal poison."
To her, vampires were no different from ordinary humans. She didn't want to watch another person turn to ash in front of her eyes.
"Don't be so stingy. I'm not some low-tier vampire," Yuuya said, unabashedly spouting complete nonsense. "Have you ever heard of Cain, the legendary First Ancestor of all vampires? A minor curse like yours won't even scratch me."
Flash—!
Before Aisa could even process his words, Yuuya vanished from her line of sight and instantly materialized right in front of her. His arm wrapped smoothly around her slender waist, pulling her close.
Aisa's vision blurred, her waist tightened, and she felt a sudden, mild tickle on the side of her neck.
When her slow brain finally registered what had happened, a familiar pang of profound sadness washed over her. 'I've been bitten... I'm about to kill another person.'
Just like all the times before, she closed her eyes, sadly waiting for the vampire to dissolve into white ash and crumble onto the pavement. The task the Alchemist had given her was almost complete, but this strange vampire was simply too fast to be trapped by her cross talismans.
"Hmm... incredible. This tastes remarkably good," Yuuya murmured, licking his lips. "It's far richer than five-star gourmet cooking. It really does taste like divine nectar."
He had merely used his sharp canine tooth to gently nick a microscopic puncture in her skin, sampling a single droplet just to satisfy his curiosity. Since he wasn't a genuine vampire reliant on blood for sustenance, a taste test was all he needed.
Yuuya slowly released her waist, leaving the girl standing in the breeze, her delicate, sweet fragrance lingering in the air between them.
"Huh...?" Aisa opened her eyes, blinking in utter shock. "You... you didn't turn into ash?"
"Of course not. I told you, I am Cain, the Progenitor of Vampires," Yuuya said with a nonchalant shrug, continuing his shameless performance. "A mere Vampire Killer like you can't destroy me with a low-level curse like that. Pretty miko, you should be honored."
"Eh... Cain, the Progenitor of Vampires...?" Aisa's deadpan expression cracked, revealing genuine surprise. "You are the very first vampire from ancient mythology?"
She encountered dozens of wandering vampires every year, but this was the first time she had ever met a legendary figure straight out of myth.
"That's right. The original cursed existence," Yuuya said with an amused smirk.
"That's amazing..." Aisa said softly. She then looked up at him, a faint glimmer of desperate hope shining in her dark eyes. "Could you... could you please tell all the other vampires in the world to stop coming after me?"
"I could easily do that," Yuuya said, grinning wickedly. "But how do you plan to repay me? I don't do charity work, you know."
"I don't have any money..."
"I don't need money. I have enough gold stored away to buy an entire School District," Yuuya said casually. While it sounded like a boast, the sheer quantity of precious metals and jewels sitting in his System Inventory could easily back up the claim.
"Then... I have nothing left to pay you with," Aisa said dejectedly, her shoulders slumping. She truly believed that the legendary First Ancestor had the authority to order all vampires across the world to leave her alone.
"No, you definitely have something to pay me with," Yuuya said playfully. He reached out and lightly pinched her waist. Even through the thick fabric of her shrine maiden robes, her delicate physique was surprisingly soft.
Aisa froze as if she had just received a mild electric shock. She stood there in confusion for a moment. 'Was I... just tickled?'
Her sluggish reaction time finally caught up to reality. 'Wait... was I just flirted with?'
A faint, pale pink blush crept across her usually emotionless cheeks, and her hands involuntarily clutched at her chest. "If it's for payment... that kind of thing isn't allowed..."
"Although that sounds like a fantastic suggestion, if I actually agree to that, a certain little nun behind me is going to gnaw on my arm with teeth as sharp as diamonds."
Yuuya chuckled softly, then shrugged in mock helplessness as the sound of aggressive, loud teeth-grinding echoed from directly behind him.
"Sigh... Index is standing right there, so executing a shameless scenario right now is unfortunately off the table."
"Yuuya! What exactly do you think you were doing to that girl?!" Index demanded through gritted teeth, her green eyes blazing with intense dissatisfaction.
'Yuuya is so troublesome!' Index fumed internally. 'He can flirt with a complete stranger on the street in broad daylight! Is his romantic luck just absurdly over-tuned?!'
"Miss Index, I merely licked a single drop of blood to test a scientific theory. There's no need to look at me like you want to eat me alive," Yuuya turned around, teasing the flustered Sister. "Is the grand library getting jealous?"
"No way! Hmph!" Index snorted loudly, turning her head away with puffed cheeks.
"How about I buy you three boxes of premium cocoa cookies later?" Yuuya dropped his ultimate trump card.
"Cocoa cookies...?! Really?!" Index froze mid-pout, her eyes sparkling as she nodded vigorously. "Okay!"
"Alright, crisis averted," Yuuya turned back to Aisa, who was watching the exchange in utter bewilderment. He tapped his own cheek with a smirk. "Give me a kiss right here, and I'll solve your entire vampire problem forever. What do you say?"
He looked up slightly, observing the faint, glowing Silver Treasure Chest hovering directly above Aisa's head. He was genuinely curious to see what kind of system reward her unique Gemstone status would yield.
"Eh...?"
Aisa blinked rapidly, her emotionless facade completely shattering as a brilliant, crimson blush bloomed across her entire face.
.....
.....
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Give me powerstones.
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