Again, it will be double update this week! So expect another one either tomorrow or in two days! Enjoy!

TL: clover

ED: xtostos “HA! FIRST!” , eristol (Lol!)

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“This, just what exactly……”

Lièvre exclaimed in confusion .

“It’s probably an altar which has had its ritual rewritten by somebody . I don’t think it’s a good thing . ”

I replied while glaring at the altar .

As a matter of fact, it’s not just 「not a good thing」 but 「corrupted」 .

This would be a corrupted altar, similar to the altars in the nearby religious buildings in Knot Reed .

The difference, I guess, would be that there are many containers that look like specimen boxes .

Chloe took out her amulet accessory that was in the shape of a snowflake from her pouch and wore it .

I activated the spell of Levitation on the boots I wear to avoid stepping on a strange trap .

“It’s dangerous, so please wait here, Lièvre-san . ”

“Y-yes!”

Chloe and I slowly approached the magic circle while having Lièvre on stand by .

“Ericsan, is that……?”

Chloe pointed at the magic circle in the back, so I illuminated it with the pale light of the star crystal lamp .

On top of the magic circle were dozens of white creatures—the white worms .

“White worms……no, this is—”

Then, in front of us, five of the white worms turned into huge chunks of meat and gradually began to take on another form .

A phenomenon similar to the golem of that time1 is happening .

The mutation curse which overwrites even pseudo-life form, overwrote the body configuration of the white worms .

They undulated as if dancing, increased in size, and several segmented legs grew from the wriggling lumps .

The white worms had changed into something similar to a spider .

“Those white worms have become mutated . It’s a corrupt curse that erodes and mutates life forms . ”

When I said so, Chloe swung her snowsilver sword and stabbed it into the magic circle .

The black light that was gus.h.i.+ng out from the magic circle clung onto the sword like tentacles .

However, the snowsilver sword cut through the magic circle with the black light regardless of the bouncing curse .

When about 30% of the magic circle was destroyed, the mutation of the white worm ma.s.s stopped and the light from the magic circle receded .

The body of the imperfect spiders shrank gradually, leaving only the white worm carca.s.ses .

“The monstro we killed up until now, were those these white worms mutated inside this magic circle?”

“Yes, that seems to be the case . Those monstro were made using the specimens and the worms which were stolen by someone……”

Chloe quietly nodded to my words .

“As expected, did the museum staff or someone around them do something like this in these ruins?”

“That, I don’t know . It would be difficult for us to search for the person who set this up, so we should escape quickly and tell the princ.i.p.al about this place . ”

The one who has sneaked into this academy is none other than a vampire .

We cannot keep such dangerous facts to ourselves .

“But let’s dispose of the white worms before they escape . ”

I saw some of the white worms moving slowly so that they could reach the place where the magic circle was .

When the lamp was used to illuminate the opposite direction of the white worm’s direction of travel, we found what we were looking for .

Just a distance away, there was a big gla.s.s jar .

White worms were overflowing about two meters in radius around the jar .

“There is a possibility that someone will use them again, so I will burn them after deactivating them . ”

First of all, I deactivated them using the wand of Grease .

Next, I baked those white worms using the wand of Lightning Bolt .

Just in case, to make sure there are no worms in other places, I activated the Eyes of Overworld .

It seems that there are no other organisms than us on our current layer .

There are some monstro wandering about in the upper and lower layers, but there is no large group that we can’t handle .

We may be able to feel relieved at least for a while, as those monstro do not have the ability to proliferate like white worms after mutation .

As I raised my field of vision, I found three lights that mark living beings in the upper layer .

Two humans and one small dragon .

Perhaps, they are Klaus, Auguste and Goldberry .

After confirming it, I could feel myself reaching the limit of the visual information load and ended the demonic eye magic .

“There are no white worms anywhere else, and I think we have successfully eradicated them . And it seems that my friends are coming here . ”

“What a relief . That would be great . ”

Why were we transferred? And who created this mechanism in a place like this?

There are many things that are still worrying me, but it appears that this is it for now .

When I informed them of the current situation, Chloe seemed to be calm, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath .

“N-now then, you guys . Let’s go home quickly……!”

Just as I said so, the fragile body of Lièvre suddenly fell on the ground .

“……!?”

Confused, I stood still for a few moments .

Sounds like metals colliding with each other could be heard in the immediate vicinity .

I realized that Tirnanog had gotten in between me and Chloe unnoticed .

I finally understood that Chloe attacked Lièvre .

It seems the reason I wasn’t hurt the first time was because Tirnanog helped me .

“Two criminal candidates . ”

Hearing Chloe’s words, I was able to understand her intentions .

If there is a perpetrator involved in the altar of vampires, it should be among the people in the museum tonight .

There is me, who had mobilized together with Chloe, and unintentionally enticed her to follow me to this place .

And Lièvre, who went to a dangerous area when one normally doesn’t have to .

It may be inside the gray area, but from Chloe’s perspective we are both black .

It’s not strange that we would be misunderstood as vampires or manipulated human beings .

(Uwah, even looking at this situation objectively, I’m on a suspicious level that cannot be explained……!)

Lucanrant’s people seem to have a mindset of sealing the movement of anyone suspicious .

On a second look, Chloe’s sword is sheathed and Lièvre is not even bleeding .

Perhaps, Lièvre is only unconscious .

For now, it seems determining the ident.i.ty of the suspect is the utmost priority and she has no intention of killing us .

(If so, it would be better to surrender completely rather than deny things unskillfully . )

Deciding so, I called out to Tirnanog .

“Tir . Don’t protect me . ”

『……!?』

After flinching for a bit, Tirnanog loosened up his stance .

“You don’t have any intention of taking our lives, do you? If so, do as you will . ”

Turning towards Chloe, I held up my empty hands and smiled .

I surrendered without a fight .

Will she believe me a little with this gesture?

Then, the depths of Chloe’s eyes that look like a lake of ice shook for a moment .

“I thought that there is no way that you’re the culprit……that this person is more suspicious, but Ericsan……it’s really you?”

Chloe murmured with hoa.r.s.e voice .

Even though I intended to raise a white flag, it seems I was strongly misunderstood .

“How did you come to that conclusion? You see, I’m surrendering without a fight, you know?”

“……Because you’re not good at pretending to be a human being, right?”

“Pretending? It’s not pretending, I’m very much a normal human being……”

It seems that I have dug a grave, but I don’t understand what went wrong .

“If you were an ordinary human, I don’t think you would give someone else like me the right to take your life . That’s just like a young bloodsucker who is not good at pretending to be human……”

Hearing Chloe’s words, Tirnanog nodded his head repeatedly in agreement .

I feel like my shoulders are becoming narrower and narrower as even my friend finds fault with me .

What am I to do with this feeling of feeling out of place .

“I don’t want to believe that you’re a bloodsucker, but……”

Chloe pulled out her sword out of its sheath while showing a bewildered expression .

She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again .

This time, there was no more doubt in Chloe’s eyes .

She was full of deep murderous intent to the point that I could even feel them with my skin .

(There seems to be no room for excuses . I just wanted to get along well, so why……!)

『Erica, this woman is serious . 』

“Yes, it can’t be helped since this has happened . If possible, capture her without hurting her . ”

The moment I jumped back with the spell Leap that was charged into my boots, I released Tirnanog’s restraint .

Tirnanog transformed from a small golem to a horned dragon that is about the size of an elephant with armor coiling around him .

Chloe and Tirnanog’s battle began .

Tirnanog mowed down and deflected the sword which Chloe swung towards him many times .

Tirnanog is naturally better in terms of physical strength and magical power, but Chloe is agile and hits with powerful blows .

It will be difficult for him to adjust his power so as to not hurt her .

(In addition, Tirnanog’s scale-like armor that was. .h.i.t by Chloe’s sword is flaking off……!?)

The golem character carved on the star steel has been invalidated by the snowsilver sword .

Tirnanog seems to be careful so as to not let her hit him directly, but she is still sc.r.a.ping off his armor little by little .

If the battle cannot be settled quickly, the damage on Tirnanog will increase .

I took out the wand of Gust to support him .

Hold, Disarm and material creation spells that are magical layer-only spells would not work on Chloe .

However, since this wand compresses air with magic and generates gusts in the physical layer, it should be effective .

(Rearrange the spells in a configuration that will not kill her, but able to stun her in a single shot—)

As I interfered with the wand and rearranged the spell composition, a loud voice came out from the darkness .

“Wait a second! Are you serious about killing each other? That would be such a waste of human body!”

Lièvre, who was supposed to be unconscious, was getting up and said so .

At that moment, she was blown away by the gust I reflexively released .

Her body was blown about thirty meters away and she slammed against the wall on the other side of the room .

“……Chloe-san, I guess your reasoning wasn’t wrong . ”

Lièvre was laughing as if nothing had happened, even though she was supposed to have slammed against the wall .

Her lips look redder than before, is it just my imagination?

“Most likely she is the vampire who was trying to corrupt this altar . ”

In response to my words, Chloe and Tirnanog instantly turned around towards that direction .

When I thought that Lièvre was trying to get up, the distance to her was halved at the next moment .

In just one step, she had closed the distance up to fifteen meters .

“It’s troubling that I’m going to be exposed in this way . Aah, I wanted to avoid abducting my students, but—”

While her eyes were showing a sorrowful expression, Lièvre’s mouth curled up into a smile .

“You guys are going to become my sacrifices . ”

Her mouth was as red as a split pomegranate, which made her pure white uneven teeth stand out even more .

1 Referring to ch 89: Altar of Vampires .

#that moment when you fail so bad at life that your acquaintance thinks you’re a vampire (your friend too!)

Changes this past week:

So, there are two terms the residents of this world call vampire with:

血啜り (bloodsucker) and 吸血鬼 (vampire) . The first one has an insulting connotation, and the people who usually use this term are Palug and now Chloe . Until now, I didn’t differentiate how I translate them as on ch 89 血啜り has the reading of ‘vampire’ . But now I have changed a few of them to ‘bloodsucker’ depending on the emotion of the speaker .