As Long as the Other Side Is Bad Enough, Even Vampires Can Be Good People

Chapter 7: As Long as the Other Side Is Bad Enough, Even Vampires Can Be Good People

"A-Cha! A-Cha, are you okay? Are you still alive? If you are, at least make a peep!"

At the "scene of the accident" in Morland Village, where flames blazed everywhere, Leading Pigeon picked himself up off the ground, his head spinning.

He definitely had a mild concussion.

The symptoms felt exactly like the last time he'd been hit in the head by a "random" soccer ball while trying to pick up girls on the school field!

Damn, was this experience ever too realistic?

His first reaction was to call out to his two buddies. During the explosion, he thought he'd seen Coo-Coo Chicken—the unlucky one standing closest—blown away.

Sigh. Most likely, he was already dead and roasted.

But things were a little better than Ge Bao had imagined.

Coo-Coo Chicken wasn't dead. The force of the explosion had hurled him straight into the wooden gate across the village street.

His back felt like it was about to snap, but at least he was otherwise unharmed. He'd only been hit with the blindness and deafness debuffs, and was lying on the ground groaning, unable to get up.

A-Cha had fared the best.

The lucky guy had been farther away at the time, chatting with Maxim in half-baked sign language to get on his good side. When the village warehouse exploded before their eyes, Maxim had shoved him to the ground, and he hadn't even lost a hair.

But the scene before the four of them was utterly horrific.

Morland Village had only one street. The warehouse at its eastern end had been blown apart by the Witch Hunter's alchemical bomb. A substance like "blazefire gel" inside had made the flames burn fiercely, quickly setting the surrounding buildings alight. Most horrifying of all, villagers who had caught fire kept screaming as they ran out of the warehouse.

But there was no saving them.

They'd been doused in some kind of oil, and most collapsed into the flames after thrashing around for a few moments.

Normally, whatever happened in a game, no matter how horrifying, was just a story sequence or cutscene to players. But the "game" these three players were in was far too realistic. The shocking scene left the three innocent college students rooted to the spot, too helpless to know how to help.

A-Cha tried to rush forward, but Maxim held him back. Get too close to a fire like that, and you'd get burned.

The innocent little players couldn't understand why the Witch Hunters had locked villagers inside a warehouse—or why they'd set off a bomb in their own hideout.

But Maxim had heard of things like this before.

He climbed to his feet and spoke to A-Cha with hatred and disgust in his voice:

"The Witch Hunters declared this village a gathering place for vampire worshippers and sentenced the villagers to 'burning at the stake.' Those lunatics locked the innocent people in the warehouse. It seems they meant to execute them after killing Lord Murphy.

"But we won.

"So the Witch Hunters, knowing they had no chance of escaping alive, chose to take everyone down with them.

"Despicable!"

Maxim explained in great detail, but the illiterate little players couldn't understand his Transian. Still, from Maxim's grief-stricken, furious expression, they could roughly piece together what had happened.

Especially when the burning warehouse's outer wall collapsed, revealing the still-burning corpse of a Witch Hunter. Leading Pigeon immediately flew into a rage and swore:

"Fuck! Fine, fight each other! Kill vampires if you want! But what the hell is with killing civilians? These Witch Hunters are disgusting! How are they any different from those Japanese bastards who belong in hell?"

"I think this scene is kind of sick."

A-Cha reluctantly turned his head away and said quietly,

"Did they really have to make it this realistic? They could've just used a few textures and called it a day. If everything's like this, I'll be damned if the game ever passes review after testing is over."

"Uh, I can't see anything right now."

The temporarily blinded Spicy Gugu Chicken sat off to one side, catching his breath. He spoke softly:

"But from how you're describing it, being blind doesn't seem so bad after all. Amitabha. This is just awful."

Maxim had been born in a village much like this one. Seeing the tragedy, he couldn't hold back any longer. He went over and knelt before the silent, smoldering ruins, whispering a prayer.

The darkest irony was that although the Old Church's Witch Hunters had slaughtered everyone in the village, he was still using the Old Church's prayers.

There was no helping it. Vampires had no gods or churches of their own, so vampire worshippers had no choice but to use the scriptures of a religion that had disappeared ten years ago when they buried their dead. The other faith of human civilization lay far to the north, in the kingdom of Nordtov. The Winter Wolf Church's teachings had never taken root in Transia, a region whose way of life was utterly incompatible with theirs.

The three little players fell silent, too.

"Do you see?"

Murphy's voice sounded from behind them.

The vampire looked at the evil, frenzied scene before him, and his mood darkened. For the players, this was just a game. But to Murphy, all of it was real.

Taking advantage of the mood and the firelight, Murphy lowered his voice and drew out his words, speaking to the players with half-truthful sincerity:

"Things like this happen every day in this cruel, barbaric world, yet everyone else turns a blind eye! The fallen have sunk into dreams of desire, power, and war, and have nothing to say about the real suffering inflicted on the living.

"That is why I summoned you, warriors from another world.

"This is the grand plan I mean to prepare and carry out.

"Perhaps if we unite, we can turn all of this around!

"I believe it!

"Together, your strength and my wisdom can create a world where no tragedy like this will ever happen again."

Murphy stood before the burning flames, his back to the three little players like one of those resolute protagonist NPCs. After a few seconds of silence, he turned to face them and said:

"This is indeed the sort of work one wouldn't expect a vampire to do. But no one else is willing to step forward! This world has always lacked true heroes, so they have to make do with me, a vampire.

"Warriors.

"Will you help me?

"Now that you've witnessed cruelty, ignorance, and darkness with your own eyes, will you join me and devote yourselves to this grand plan?"

"This is where a quest window should pop up."

Leading Pigeon turned to make a snarky remark to his two buddies. They both nodded, but the next second, Ge Bao stood resolutely and took Murphy's outstretched hand.

He spoke with earnest conviction:

"Of course. We, the righteous, won't turn a blind eye to such dark evil. Lord Murphy, we remnants from another world will board your ship to a wonderful new world today!"

"Fuck! Do you have to get so into character? How are you even better at acting than I am? Why don't you become an NPC?"

Murphy looked moved on the outside, but inside he was cringing.

How was this guy still such a chuuni?

You could look as righteous as you liked, but don't think I didn't know you were quoting Kamen Rider and Whitebeard! I might be young and handsome now, but your old uncle here was a veteran otaku before he transmigrated.

"Excellent."

Murphy suppressed the flood of snark rising in his heart, withdrew his hand, and said to the three little players:

"Then our cause begins now! I'm very weak at the moment, and my servants need to rest as well. I'll leave it to you to search the village for survivors. Perhaps they can join our cause, too.

"Buying well-fitting armor and weapons for brave warriors like you will cost money, so I hope you'll collect any unclaimed currency you find and use it as operating funds for our organization.

"I know that sounds a little vulgar.

"But a righteous cause still needs practical support. We can't fill our stomachs with ideals."

"Tsk. Our NPC's a real talent."

A-Cha'en winked at Ge Bao and Coo-Coo Chicken as he spoke:

"He makes looting sound so noble. This guy's a pragmatist, too. Hey, he's not like those impractical, conventional heroic NPCs.

"I like that."

"Come on, let's loot."

Leading Pigeon shrugged. He and A-Cha supported Coo-Coo Chicken, who still hadn't recovered from the shock-induced blindness, and headed into the village, leaving Murphy and Maxim behind.

"My warriors can handle the search. You should rest, too."

Murphy sat on a fallen door and spoke to Maxim, who had finished praying:

"You'll need to learn how to communicate with my warriors. They're all good people—warmhearted and tireless. Whatever you need, just tell them, and they'll do their best to find it for you.

"Of course, you have to pay them when you ask them for help.

"That's the custom in their world of warriors. If you don't pay, they'll treat you like an enemy."

"But I don't have any money."

Maxim looked embarrassed.

For a defective blood thrall like him, having enough to eat was already a luxury. Even they themselves were the private property of Lord Jade. What would they need money for? Planning to raise an army and rebel?

But Murphy shook his head and explained:

"It doesn't have to be money. They're interested in everything here, and apparently they have a serious collecting habit. You can pay them with goods—anything at all. Of course, coins, weapons, and armor are their favorites.

"If you can get your hands on a handsome warhorse or some rare, valuable oddity as a reward, they'll be even happier and consider you closer and more trustworthy."

"That sounds a lot like mercenaries. They have the same disregard for death, the same lack of conscience. Neither gratitude nor grief can sway what they do. They fight only for profit."

Maxim summed it up. Murphy was pleased with the comparison and said:

"They're mercenaries from another world! Pure, profit-seeking, yet fair. When they're good, they're as selfless as the finest angels; when they're evil, even the demons of hell tremble before them. I'm very glad they're on our side.

"But enough about them.

"I'll rest for a while, and then we can discuss how to continue to the Midnight Hunters' camp."

With that, he closed his eyes and appeared to doze. In reality, he was checking the reward for his beginner guidance quest:

Beginner Guidance Quest (3/6): Basic Combat Test (Completed).

Reward: +5 testing invitation codes, game forum feature unlocked.

Developer's Note: The forum is a place to share all kinds of gossip and troubles over tea, but it's also a gathering place where our adorable little players can share how they're feeling.

They need a forum the way adventurers need a tavern. Now you have a tavern of your own. Make good use of it.

Beginner Guidance Quest (4/6): Advanced Combat Test. Lead the test subjects in a proper battle. Defeat or drive off the enemy while losing no more than one-fifth of your available manpower.

Win Condition: Current manpower: 15. Losing more than 3 people counts as a failed quest.

Reward: +5 testing invitation codes, new feature unlocked, with extra rewards depending on how well the quest is completed.

Developer's Note: They're such adorable little players. Are you really willing to use them as cannon fodder? You can, of course, but at this stage we recommend making good use of every precious person. In other words, you need to learn the fine art of micromanagement before you can use the satisfying "A-move" tactic.

"Is this quest difficulty seriously for real? It feels like there's an entire world of difference between quests three and four! Is this forcing me to switch from role-playing to playing an RTS?

"Should I just gouge out my eyes now and complete the class change?"

Murphy grumbled to himself.

But the reward was tempting.

Below his character card, he saw the newly unlocked game forum. When he touched it with his consciousness, as if moving an invisible mouse cursor, brilliant light flickered before his eyes. Then a translucent, shimmering window appeared, shaped like a webpage. It felt just like sitting at a computer and surfing the internet.

This was the forum itself.

Honestly, it was pretty bare-bones, but it had all the basic features: private messages, posts, discussion groups, and so on.

Murphy checked his account information with practiced ease and saw his ID. It wasn't Ravnos Murphy Lasombra, but some meaningless "Alpha."

It reminded him that when the test-plan administrator system had first activated, it had also referred to him as "Alpha" in the description for the first guidance quest.

"What does that title even mean?"

Murphy wondered, but couldn't find an answer. He continued browsing his account information and saw that he'd been given the forum's sole administrator privileges.

Just as he was the sole administrator of the "game" currently being tested when interacting with the players.

"Maybe I can try forcing players offline? That way, I can occasionally show off the authority of an admin."

The slightly evil thought popped into Murphy's head, and the unlucky vampire couldn't help feeling tempted. Then he looked at the forum. It was unusually simple, but not without substance.

There weren't any posts yet, since the feature had only just unlocked. But the user count showed 10/15, which meant that the five testing invitation codes he'd just received were circulating through the players' world in ways Murphy couldn't even imagine, looking for suitable testers.

Come to think of it, what exactly were the criteria for picking players?

Was it really just luck?

Murphy was mulling over these questions. He'd planned to hop onto the forum and make a post to ease his nervous, confused mood, but before he could, a sudden gunshot made him leap to his feet. Maxim beside him gripped the sword at his side.

The Witch Hunters had probably killed everyone in the village.

Where had that gunshot come from?

More importantly, had his adorable little players just been killed?

Fuck!

How dare you kill my adorable little players! You've got some nerve!

Ps:

Thanks to "Newbie Village Chief Taipal" for the generous alliance leader donation. I'll release the five bonus chapters all at once when the book goes on sale—I promise! Love you all~ Also, please try to read the latest chapter every day. This follow-through metric directly affects future recommendations, and during a new book's launch period, it matters more than anything else.

As for how many extra chapters I'll release when the book goes on sale, there'll definitely be a ton. But it'll depend on how many chapters I have banked and the numbers before launch. There's no choice—this industry gets more competitive every year, and even tentacle monsters need to eat and support their families.