Night Chat

Saint Defile Central Hospital

Late at night.

Scarlet Physicians who had finished their work, along with some hired nurses, discovered as they left the hospital that the Dean's Office, which should have long been empty, was brightly lit by fire deep into the night.

They could even hear the laughter of the Duchess—the chief dean—coming from within.

That laughter, carrying a peculiar frequency, along with the rich, bloody scent wafting from the room, drew a great number of vampire bats to hang neatly from every edge of the hospital.

These vampire bats were not wild. They were raised by the hospital in the caves behind it as "living blood packs."

The blood stored inside the bats could retain peak vitality and temperature for a long time.

Under the Scarlet Physicians' control, the bats could inject blood directly into patients suffering from blood loss, making them exceptionally convenient.

"Strange. The dean should have left long ago at this hour..."

The Scarlet Knight Order had a rule.

As long as they were within the Holy City's hospital district, they had to address their commander as Dean.

"Perhaps the Great Expedition is drawing near, and she can no longer remain in the Holy City so peacefully and leisurely... The Dean must have invited a Good Friend to drink and chat in her office, making her final preparations."

"What kind of person could spend an entire night chatting with the commander like that? Everyone in the Holy City knows the terrifying Duchess's reputation. Even the captains would find it difficult to get along with Commander Shaya like that... Could it be Commander Malone?

Rumor had it that when Commander Malone was still studying at the Knight Academy, he had been a year above the Dean.

Because of Commander Malone's impulsive nature, he was often