Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? - Volume 9 : Interlude THE VAMPIRE PRINCESS’S MIDNIGHT LESSON

“Aaaaargh! It just doesn’t make sense!”

I scream into my pillow in my guest room.

That alone isn’t enough to cure my irritation, so I grab the pillow and start smacking it violently against the bed.

“Why was it so impossible to fight back against her?! She was drunk! Drunk!”

As I continue to smack the pillow, the cloth tears open, sending the feathers inside scattering through the air.

Finding them annoying as they swirl around the room, I freeze all of them in an instant and shatter them to tiny pieces.

That’s become easy for me after all the sleepless nights I’ve spent training.

Ever since I lost to that horrid oni in the Mystic Mountains, I’ve been training in secret late at night. I haven’t been able to do anything too big lest I wake anyone, but thanks to that, I’ve gotten very good at precise manipulation.

At this point, my control is such that I can use even a fairly powerful spell indoors without causing any damage to the room around me.

It might not be flashy, but I definitely feel like I’ve been steadily gaining strength.

So why?!

I couldn’t even lay a hand on that lush!

Literally! She tied up my arms and legs with that damn thread!

It doesn’t make sense!

I mean, yes, White has always been incredibly powerful, so it makes sense that she’d be stronger than I am if she got her powers back. I know that, all right?

But how could she get her powers back by going on a drunken rampage like that?!

It could’ve at least been something a little more dramatic!

Like when she managed to produce thread again to save me when my life was in danger—now that was a pretty good scenario!

I was actually a little moved by that, you know?!

Give me those feelings back!

Whew.

The glittering particles of ice on the floor are rather pretty in their own way, I suppose.

I feel a bit calmer now.

Sael looks flustered in her corner of the room, but that’s her default state of being, so I’ll just ignore her.

As difficult as it is to swallow, I have to recognize that this is the reality of things.

I should be happy that White got her powers back.

If she stayed that frail forever, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. And we don’t know when the elves might attack, so it’s best for all of us if she has power.

But if she’s back to her full strength, that puts me lower on the power hierarchy again.

She’s already proven that I’m powerless against her.

Remembering the ungainly way she hung me upside down and tormented me, I feel my face flush with humiliation and anger.

Aaargh!

What in the world is that thread made out of anyway?!

Why wouldn’t it budge or freeze no matter what I did to it?! It’s unbelievable!

I’m actually pretty strong myself, you know.

Of all the private combat instructors who work in the mansion, not one of them is stronger than I am.

And these are employees of a high-ranking royal demon family, so surely they’re exceptional even for their race.

Frankly, they were so weak that they couldn’t teach me a thing.

From a normal perspective, that means I’m quite strong, doesn’t it?

So why couldn’t I lay a finger on her?!

During our journey, I was never once able to beat Ael in a mock battle, either.

If I couldn’t beat Ael, that probably means I can’t beat Sael, Riel, or Fiel, either, doesn’t it?

And of course, Miss Ariel goes without saying.

But now I couldn’t even defend myself against White?

Why am I surrounded by such freakishly strong people?

I started to suspect this while we were traveling, but now I’m sure: It’s not that I’m weak; it’s just that the people around me are way too strong.

So it’s not my fault I can never beat them!

Even if it is frustrating to lose all the time!

Is it just me, or have I spent my whole life losing?

I lost against that oni last time, too.

Aaaah! Just thinking about it again makes me so angry!

Next time I see him, I’m going to beat him to a pulp!

That’s right. I’m not weak at all.

It’s just bad luck that I’m never able to win in spite of that.

My specs are definitely high, so if I just keep honing myself like I have been, then I should get stronger. Maybe I’ll start spending more time raising my skills, too.

…But is that really going to be good enough?

Not to brag, but I think I’ve been training quite intently all this time.

And yet, I still wasn’t able to beat White.

If I keep going at this rate, I don’t see how that’s going to change.

I need some kind of weapon.

Next time I fight that oni, I do think I can win.

I was at a major disadvantage because I didn’t have my weapon last time.

I glance over at my personal weapon, which I keep in my room: a huge broadsword that’s currently taller than I am.

Miss Ariel picked it up at a secret auction, among other fine items.

I fell in love with it at first sight, and she agreed to give it to me as my personal weapon.

It’s a sword made from the claw of a legendary-class monster, Fenrir. I’m sure it could fend off any attacks from that oni’s katana.

I was able to hold my own pretty well against him even without a weapon, and I’ve gotten even stronger since then.

There’s no reason I would lose.

But if I just stop there, then I’ll never get anywhere.

For now, my present goal will be winning against Ael.

My stats should catch up to hers soon enough, and if I train the skills I already have, I think they’ll serve me quite well.

From there, I can see myself attaining perfection.

Close combat with my broadsword, long-distance attacks with water and ice, plus some special tricks with my vampire abilities.

If I combine a solid magic-knight style with my vampire abilities like Kin Summoning and Mist Form, I honestly think I could become quite a troublesome opponent, especially when encountering someone for the first time.

See? I am strong after all, no?

And yet, even if I was to achieve that perfect form, I seriously doubt I could beat White or Miss Ariel. Even against Ael, I think it would be a narrow victory.

It’s hopeless.

Utterly hopeless.

Yes, I definitely need more weapons.

I think I already have quite a few good cards in my hand, but I can’t just settle for that.

Appraising myself, I take a look over my skill list.

Are there any skills I could acquire that would synergize well with my fighting style?

Pacing around the room, I go back and forth between the list of my skills and of skills I haven’t acquired over and over.

Fortunately, I still have plenty of skill points.

White’s brutal training method prioritized acquiring skills naturally through training instead of spending skill points.

If I wanted to, I could acquire tons of skills all at once.

But a bunch of level-1 skills won’t help me in the least.

Perhaps they would expand my options, but considering the time it would take to level up all those new skills, most of them would probably go to waste.

And even if I did have that many, I might not be able to use them all to their fullest potential in battle. Even Miss Ariel says that she has plenty of skills that she barely ever uses.

So the best approach would be to find one or two skills that suit my style well and focus on those.

I already have just about every close combat–related skill that could help me with my broadsword.

And as far as magic goes, I’ve been working hard at Water and Ice Magic, since I’m best suited to those, and I have Dark Magic as a fallback, so I don’t think I need any others.

Which means the ideal addition would be something to strengthen my vampire abilities.

Hmm.

Nothing really jumps out at me, though.

The special abilities of vampires can be broken down into three broad categories: bloodsucking, blood control, and kin.

Bloodsucking, as the name implies, allows me to suck someone’s blood and receive various boons.

For example, I can sap the victim’s stats and skills and temporarily make them my own.

The ability to turn the victim into a vampire, which makes them subservient to me, falls into this category.

Fang-related skills, like Poison Fang and Paralyzing Fang, would probably be the best pairing for that.

But it would probably be more effective to pick up the superior versions of those, like Paralysis Attack and Poison Attack.

Besides, it’s not like I actually bite people in battle all that often.

I did bite the oni when I fought him, but that was only because I had no other weapons.

Blood control is the ability to manipulate my own blood.

It has various uses, like improving my healing abilities or producing blood bullets, spears, and so on just like Water Magic.

In recent training, I’ve learned that I can combine it with Water Magic to improve its maneuverability and ease of use. If I mix some of my own blood into water produced by Water Magic, I can manipulate it completely freely.

I think I’ll be able to use that even better than regular blood control.

Kin abilities allow me to summon familiar-like creatures, separate from those who become my kin when I suck their blood.

The summoned kin exist only for a temporary amount of time, and I can control them to my will.

True to the traditional image of vampires, the kin I can summon are creatures like bats and wolves.

I can also transform myself into the shape of these creatures.

Skills like Cooperation and Leadership might work well with these kin-related abilities, improving my use of these summons.

But there’s one problem: Those summons are pretty weak.

On average, each one has stats around 1,000.

If I train some more, they’ll probably get stronger, but I’d like them to be closer to the 10,000 range.

Since they’re only around a tenth of that strength, I don’t think improving my skills in that department would be very helpful.

Whenever I tried summoning them against Ael, she crushed them immediately. If they’re fighting anything stronger than themselves, I don’t know if they would even be able to serve as a diversion.

In that case, Kin Summoning isn’t very cost-effective.

It might be useful against a weaker opponent to overwhelm them with numbers, but if it doesn’t work on any really strong opponents, that’s not terribly enticing.

Still, there can’t be any harm in gaining skills like Cooperation and Leadership, so I suppose I’ll keep them on the list of possibilities.

So if bloodsucking and kin control aren’t all that useful, I suppose that means enhancing blood control is my best bet.

But what new skills would improve my blood control?

I already have any skills that would help with Water Magic, which works in tandem with blood control.

Hmm. Blood…blood…

The first thought that comes to mind is Merazophis’s blood.

The sensation of biting into his neck and drinking up his blood.

Immediately, my face grows hot.

Oh dear. Now is not the time to be imagining that kind of thing.

Don’t I have any other memories related to blood?

Then something hits me—and unlike that memory of Merazophis, it’s far less pleasant.

Ah, I don’t want to think about that.

I believe that was when I was young in my previous life.

It was an old movie I saw on TV, with blood-related imagery that left an intense impression on me.

The movie was part of a famous series, in which alien monsters attack humanity…creepy monsters covered in sticky liquid, with a second set of jaws inside their mouths.

My father in that life loved those movies and often rented them to watch at home.

I was very young when I saw them, so they were a bit traumatic for me.

The monsters were terrifying, and most of the human characters were brutally murdered by them.

That definitely wasn’t anything a little kid should’ve been watching.

I don’t remember the details of the story, but I definitely couldn’t forget those creepy monsters, no matter how much I tried.

And there was one particular feature of those monsters that had to do with blood.

If I remember correctly, their blood was highly acidic.

I distinctly recall being on the verge of tears when a character finally defeated a monster, only to be mortally wounded by the spray of its blood.

Acidic blood.

I don’t want to have anything in common with those awful creatures, but it wouldn’t be a terrible way to increase my offensive power, would it?

In fact, it doesn’t even need to be blood. I specialize in Water Magic, so couldn’t I just make that water acidic somehow?

Sure enough, when I look over the list of skills I haven’t acquired, I find the Acid Attack skill.

It’s only a mere 100 points to acquire it, so I do so without hesitation.

While I’m at it, I pick up Acid Enhancement for another 100 points, too.

To test it out, I produce a sphere of water with Water Magic, add acid to it, and throw the remains of the pillow inside.

Bit by bit, the pillow slowly melts inside the sphere.

Well, I suppose that’s about all you can expect from a level-1 skill.

It seems like it’ll combine well enough with Water Magic, though.

That means I can enhance my attack power without having to change my usual battle style.

Not a bad purchase, if I do say so myself.

Hmmmm.

Well, now that I’ve upped my offense a bit, what can I do about defense?

I suppose my defense is already pretty high to begin with, though.

Thanks to the Undying Body skill I was born with, I can survive my HP being reduced to 0, albeit only once a day. Undying Body also enhances my resistances, and I’ve already acquired every resistance skill available.

I haven’t reached the nullification stage for any of them yet, of course, but it takes long and tireless training to level up a resistance skill, so that’s one thing I can’t really rush along.

I still remember the early days when I thought it was crazy to deliberately hurt yourself for that purpose.

So I won’t be able to enhance my defense right away.

Other than that, I already have just about every buff skill available, though I suppose I could still work on debuffs—skills that weaken the enemy’s abilities.

I already have two debuff methods so far: Cursed Evil Eye and Paralyzing Evil Eye.

Cursed Evil Eye lowers the stats and reduces the HP, MP, and SP of any target within view.

And as the name implies, Paralyzing Evil Eye paralyzes the target.

The Evil Eye skills are said to be quite rare, available only to certain races or those with a gift for that kind of technique. Merazophis and I can acquire them because we’re vampires.

I’m told that White once had many advanced versions of the Evil Eye skills, which have even more powerful effects, but evidently she couldn’t use them without Perseverance, one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues skills.

But even if the limited Evil Eye skills I could acquire are inferior versions, they’re still quite powerful.

However, each eye can use only one Evil Eye skill at a time, so since I already have two different kinds, acquiring more wouldn’t do me much good.

Although if I really wanted to strengthen them, I could always sink a bunch of skill points into the Evil Eye skills I already have.

In addition to acquiring new ones, skill points can also be used to raise the skill level of skills you already have.

However, since you can raise skill levels with training, it does seem like a bit of a waste.

Besides, if I was going to raise a skill level like that, I’d rather do it for a different skill.

I glance at the skill in question.

Jealousy LV 9.

The lesser form of the Seven Deadly Sins skill Envy, it’s already quite high-level.

Miss Ariel and White told me in no uncertain terms that I should never raise that skill’s level.

The Seven Deadly Sins skills are powerful, but they also have negative effects on your mind, they said. Their advantages are great, but the disadvantages are great as well.

The way the Wrath skill reduced that oni to little more than a rampaging beast is proof enough of that.

If my Jealousy skill evolves into Envy, then I might go on a rampage, too, albeit in a different way than that oni.

That frightens me.

But at the same time, I can’t help thinking…since it’s already level 9, I’m sure it will evolve into Envy eventually, even if I try to leave it alone.

If it’s going to happen anyway, shouldn’t I just get it out of the way sooner?

The Seven Deadly Sins all seem to be extremely strong, and if I’m going to acquire it whether I like it or not, maybe I should just do it right now.

It’s a tempting thought.

Thus far, I’ve been able to hold myself back, constantly reminding myself that I mustn’t do such a thing.

But now, the memory of being tormented by White overcomes that self-restraint.

<Proficiency has reached the required level.

Skill [Jealousy LV 9] has become [Jealousy LV 10].>

<Condition satisfied.

Skill [Jealousy LV 10] has evolved into skill [Envy].>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.

Acquired skill [Taboo LV 1].>

<Proficiency has reached the required level.

Skill [Taboo LV 1] has become [Taboo LV 2].>

<Condition satisfied.

Acquired title [Ruler of Envy].>

<Acquired skills [Divine Scales LV 10] [Root of Evil] as a result of Title [Ruler of Envy].>

Hmm? How very strange.

For some reason, I’ve lost some skill points, and my Jealousy skill turned into Envy.

Oh dear. I suppose these things do happen.

…All right, I did it.

No, it’s not like that! It was just a little whim, that’s all!

I wonder what White and Miss Ariel would do if they knew I disobeyed their instructions…

No, it’ll be fine.

Right now, I’m the only one who knows.

Then I remember that there’s someone else in the room.

Whirling around, I see Sael still crouching in the corner, staring at me with a curious expression.

I-it’s fine.

Sael doesn’t know that I just acquired a skill, I’m sure.

It’s fine. It’ll be fine!

I don’t feel any of the mind-corrupting effects just yet that Miss Ariel mentioned.

It might be the sort of thing that happens over time without one noticing, but as long as I don’t overuse the Envy skill, I imagine nothing too terrible will happen.

The effect of Jealousy is to disable a target’s skills.

And it can’t be blocked by resistance skills, either.

In other words, if I use Envy, I can make it so that my opponent can’t use their skills.

Jealousy did the same thing, but now it can’t be resisted, and the limit on how many skills I can disable appears to have been lifted.

Yes, this could definitely be a good trump card against that oni.

Its only really threatening skill was Wrath, so if I disable that skill, I’ll be able to win for sure.

Besides, by gaining the Ruler of Envy title, I’ve gained two more skills, and my stats have even increased a bit.

It doesn’t look like I can activate the Root of Evil skill, but the Divine Scales skill is amazing!

When I try it out, it produces peculiar scales over my skin.

They’re incredibly hard to the touch.

And on top of enhancing my pure defensive skill, they even dampen the effects of magic.

Now my physical and magical defense have both gone up at once.

Acid Attack for offense.

Divine Scales for defense.

Envy for debuffing.

They’ve all improved at once.

Heh-heh. Yes. This is perfect!

Now I can win!

The perfect form I imagined has become even more incredible in one fell swoop!

If I just keep training without resting on my laurels, perhaps I’ll be able to beat Ael sooner than I expected!

Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh!

Just you wait!

For now, I’ll start by raising my Acid Attack skill level.

And I’ll try to keep the fact that I’ve acquired Envy a secret, if at all possible.

I’m sure I still can’t beat Miss Ariel or White, after all.

As I cackle to myself in the dead of night, Sael seems to look on in silence.