Chapter 396: Side 12: A Blood Pool with the Color of Defeat

Author's Preface
I'm taking a poll? over in the activity report.

Going back roughly one week prior.
Rust and Mold—who had become stranded in the vast Sea of Trees because Vigilance's half-baked astronomy roleplay fumbled—managed to overcome numerous crises, and then────

"Here Mold, potion."

"Isn't this picture a bit too terrible from a humanitarian perspective...?"

Limiting it to just the past few days, Mold—who had been running shuttle runs between life and death far more often than that bird-head whose mask was stuffed full of recklessness and absurdity—muttered somberly while recovering his HP.
The moment his HP fully recovered, a hand with an unhealthy complexion grabbed Mold's hand. Immediately, his newly recovered HP began to be aggressively scraped away, returning him to a near-death state in mere seconds.

"Isn't it unfair that I'm the only one doing this when there are two of us?"

"Fair or not, I'm already on This Side, you know."

"...I have low HP, so it would be a waste of items."

"Kuu..."

"Um, was I being a nuisance?"

"Ah, no, please don't worry about it."

At the voice that trembled with a sudden flinch, Mold hurriedly returned words of denial.
In the direction of his gaze was a woman—likely originally a Forest-folk—with a face that looked even unluckier than her inherently timid disposition suggested, holding Mold's hand apologetically.

This was a hidden village of Vampires located in the northern part of the Great Sea of Trees, which occupied roughly one-fifth of the New Continent. Amidst moss, earthen walls, and the trees of the Sea of Trees celebrating life, it was a sanctuary for fugitives built around the roots of a giant tree possessing twisted branches and pitch-black bark that looked as if it had completely withered away.

The origin of all this began after they got stranded due to Vigilance's half-baked astronomy, triggered by a bizarre statement from the culprit himself: "I feel like my thoughts are being pulled."
Since they were already stranded at the time, the other two looked at Vigilance with half-closed eyes. However, it wasn't a misunderstanding or his imagination; it seemed there was a "pulling sensation" designed as an actual game system. They hid and let an obviously dangerous three-headed Tyrannosaurus pass by, then the individual with red scars that easily swatted it aside, along with other monsters that were far too dangerous to challenge with just the three of them, and some that weren't... After hiding, letting them pass, climbing trees, descending into holes, and pushing their way through branches and leaves, the place they finally arrived at was here.

An utterly alien, twisted black tree, and a crude settlement spreading out around its roots... Those living there were a diverse array of races sharing a single commonality: "Vampirification."

Forest-folk with slender bodies and long ears, Dwarves with stout bodies and metal arms, Beastmen possessing animalistic traits, and even something as rare as giant people over three meters tall... Gigants and the like. Yet, every single one of them uniformly possessed unhealthy-colored skin and abnormally elongated canine teeth.

Initially, Rust and Mold were treated with caution, but the presence of Vigilance—one of their own kind—dissolved that wariness, leading to the current situation.

"We cannot... quench our thirst with our own blood, tainted by dragons, so..."

"Eh, then how have you managed until now..."

"This forest is overflowing with life, you see... So we either hunt creatures untainted by dragons, or..."

The Vampire Forest-folk... the woman who introduced herself as Meltinare pointed her finger. Over there, with their fangs broken off and likely having had their bellies sliced open time and time again for "blood transfusions," several monsters that appeared to be boars—their skin exposed from missing hair around their abdomens and scored with countless scars—were munching away at piles of moss.

"Throttle Boars can recover from near-fatal injuries via natural healing as long as they have food, so... That being said, creatures untainted by dragons are precious, so we cannot take too much."

Mold's cheeks twitched at the harsh reality of the Vampires' living situation, which was far worse than he had imagined. Unlike players, blood supply was quite literally a matter of life and death for NPCs who couldn't come back after dying. Even so, these heretics, shunned even by their former kin, clung to the roots of the twisted giant tree to survive.
The poor color of their skin was certainly not due to racial reasons alone.

"Were everyone here defeated by Noirlind...?"

"No, I fell to Brockentried."

"I was defeated by Dreadhowl."

"I... by Bryreinyego... Ahh, why did I ever think to challenge her alone..."

Perhaps Meltinare's words acted as a catalyst, but as voices began listing off the causes that transformed them into Vampires one after another, the hidden village, already dim and damp, began to feel even more humid.

".........How depressing."

"Rust, shhh!"

Fortunately or unfortunately, Rust's blunt and completely unsympathetic words, muttered under her breath with half-closed eyes, failed to reach the Vampires as a gust of wind rustled the leaves and branches.
Although Rust and Mold had designated Nephilim Hollow as the Hometown of their souls and were holding off on fully migrating to a new frontier, it didn't mean they hadn't experienced other games.
They had seen NPCs in unfortunate circumstances a million times over, and the overwhelmingly realistic brooding born from ShanFro's fidelity brought out a certain feeling of exasperation in Rust and Mold. However,

"...Hey, you two. If it's players, they wouldn't have any resistance to Vampires, right?"

There was one player right here who took the empathy and sympathy directly to the face.

"...I don't think there would be any resistance. If anything, they wouldn't get angry even if you sucked them dry until they died."

"Tottori the Shimane managed to lead the Forest-folk to the frontline base. So shouldn't we be able to do the same?"

"Eh, that's..."

Mold broke out in a cold sweat inwardly, thinking that regardless of what a normal player would do, as members of Wolfgang, that was a rather unfavorable proposition.

The "Operation to Subjugate Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign" initiated by Akitsu Akane essentially meant going directly against the vast majority of the player base.
Assuming that the majority were currently just waiting and seeing, unable to decide which side to attack depending on the situation, what would happen if they brought the Vampires... the victims of the Colored Dragons, into that mix?

I see, they are indeed your run-of-the-mill victims, but precisely because they are so run-of-the-mill, it would undoubtedly skyrocket the hate towards the Colored Dragons.

"...Recklessness is dangerous. From what I heard, Tottori-whatever guided the Forest-folk with meticulous investigation and the utmost caution. So, impulsive actions might invite not only our own annihilation but the complete wipeout of the Vampires as well."

Rust had only heard the name and achievements of this Tottori person in passing. In other words, the part about meticulous investigation and whatnot was complete and utter Bullshit based entirely on guesswork, but it carried a tone of persuasiveness, and in this place where there was no way to verify it, it had more than enough power to convince Vigilance.

"I see... that's certainly true. To think the day would come when I'd regret not bringing nearly enough mapping items..."

"R-Regrets always come too late, as they say! Yup! A month for prep... Ow!"

"...At the very least, replenishing our items is an urgent task. Even if we set our save point here, and even if it takes a bit of time, we must prepare perfectly."

"You have a point... But are you sure? This is basically me being selfish, dragging you two into this..."

"...I don't mind. However, I have one condition. I want you to hold off on broadcasting the information about the Vampires... I, too, have a normal human's desire to monopolize a Unique."

"If anything, I feel like outside cooperation is going to be essential... but I can't say I don't understand how you feel."

With both sides nodding in agreement, while Vigilance went to explain things to the Vampires, Mold and Rust silently nodded to each other.

【Wolfgang】

Mold: So, that's the situation...

Mold: What should we do?

Pencil Knight King: Let's assassinate them!

OiKatzo: Isn't handling this secretly the better option?

Sunraku: Don't worry, "Scar-red"-kun will definitely get the job done for us.

Rust: No matter how I think about it, I asked the wrong people.

Author's Afterword
The so-called Hero (Tottori) complex. Even if they play it cool, there are many players who want to be fawned over by NPCs.