In the lightless gloom, a strange, faint sound came from inside the coffin.
(Click.)
It sounded like someone tapping softly, or perhaps clawing feebly with fingernails worn down to nothing.
There was someone in the coffin.
Someone alive!
At that moment, with the surroundings lending just the right atmosphere, Herbert couldn't help raising his eyebrows and sucking in a cold breath.
"Hiss!"
He swallowed, his lips trembling as he whispered, "Th-there's a zombie in there."
Oh, crap.
I've run into a zombie while raiding a tomb!
Herbert wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run... of course, that wasn't actually true.
Naturally, there was a living creature in the coffin. Well, perhaps calling her a dead creature would work too?
Who knew how vampires were supposed to be classified?
By now, how could Herbert fail to guess that the coffin before him belonged to the second prisoner held in the Lightless Prison?
Clearly, Archmage Svanney, who secretly controlled the paths through the Lightless Prison, didn't want to see him.
She had compromised.
But she hadn't completely admitted defeat. She had only compromised a tiny bit.
Svanney didn't want to see anyone herself, so she had shoved another roommate out to serve as a shield.
[Bloodfallen], [Kinslayer], [Blood-Hating Prince]-Eliza Fatt.
A vicious member of another race with no famous exploits or records in the human world, imprisoned on the strength of the title "Vampire Prince" alone.
Looking at the Gothic black iron coffin, Herbert mused, A Vampire Prince... just hearing that title really makes this feel like a fantasy world.
Something like "Forced Out of My Party, I Awakened a Vampire Princess Who Had Slept for Three Hundred Years in a Dungeon," or "There's No Way I'm the Hero When a Vampire Prince Is Obsessed with Me"...
Never mind whether the content made any sense. As long as the title was long enough, someone would want to read it-let's see what the hell they wrote under a title that long!
(Click.)
"Well, it probably won't turn into something as ridiculous as those novels. I wonder what her personality's like. Is she easy to fool... easy to talk to?"
(Click!)
"What if she's another shut-in kid like Svanney? Wouldn't that make this area really hard to clear?"
(Click, clack...)
Herbert thought for a while, then suddenly realized something. He turned back toward the motionless coffin and tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Huh? She's taking ages."
"I've been waiting forever. Why hasn't she come out yet? Surely she isn't shy?"
After watching silently for a while, until the coffin fell completely quiet, Herbert finally confirmed something very important.
It seemed the vampire wasn't unwilling to come out. She genuinely couldn't.
Was she too weak?
Knock, knock.
Herbert knocked on the coffin again and asked tentatively, "Um, do you need help?"
A series of taps answered him.
(Click-clack-clack-clack...)
From the speed of the tapping, he could tell that the person inside was truly desperate.
Although the vampire hadn't spoken, Herbert could already imagine a string of cries-save me! Save me! Save me!
"All right, then."
Judging by the situation, their first meeting probably wouldn't be as legendary as something out of a fantasy story.
But from another perspective, it was pretty legendary too.
Had you ever seen a story's male lead dig up the female lead's grave for her?
Hello, miss. I'm your gravedigger!
Herbert did intend to help, but a new problem immediately arose.
"Come to think of it, how am I supposed to help you?"
He looked at the black iron coffin, over three meters long and at least two meters wide, then at his own scrawny limbs. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Do I push? Pull? Or lift?"
Buddy, does your coffin have a sliding lid or a hinged one?
Herbert pushed with all his might for quite some time before he barely managed to budge the lid, revealing an incredibly narrow gap.
The gap really was tiny, only a few millimeters wide, just enough to slip a sword blade into.
Herbert hesitated, but ultimately decided against using his sword as a crowbar.
That would be a little too extravagant.
Let me go find an actual holy sword of physics first...
Just as Herbert was about to leave to upgrade his equipment, the vampire, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.
"...Blood."
"Give me... blood."
An extremely weak voice drifted out through the gap in the coffin. Merely hearing it gave Herbert goosebumps.
"Help me. Give me... blood..."
An ancient being called softly from within the coffin, trying to persuade the person outside to offer her a little help.
"Help me!"
"Drip your blood onto it!"
"Save me!"
"I'll repay you, I promise..."
The woman's voice betrayed no hint of her age. All that lingered in his ears was a hoarse, strained rasp, like two sheets of sandpaper constantly rubbing together, making his skin crawl.
At the same time, however, that voice seemed to possess a strange magic that made Herbert involuntarily want to obey her.
[Draw your sword!]
[Drip your blood into the coffin!]
The vampire hadn't explicitly said those things, yet these three voices kept echoing in Herbert's heart, beguiling him.
"..."
Gradually, every trace of expression vanished from Herbert's face, and his eyes became blank and cold.
He placed his hand on his sword's hilt and slowly drew it from its sheath.
Shhh-
The vampire seemed to have heard the sound outside. Knowing the crucial moment had arrived, she intensified her calls.
"Come!"
"Come help me!"
"Good boy, come qui... Ah!!?"
The person inside the coffin let out a startled cry.
The mortal had indeed approached the coffin with his sword, just as she had expected, but he hadn't slit his wrist as instructed.
Instead... he thrust his sword into the gap in the coffin!
Clang-
The sharp blade struck straight into her chest, without the slightest deviation!
"Cough!?"
Caught off guard, she coughed up some of her already scant blood. Elisa hurriedly sucked it back in before it could finish falling.
My blood!
The already weak vampire grew even more listless, her mind full of questions.
Wait, how on earth did he do that?
Unable to hold back, the vampire hurriedly asked, "Y-you, what are you doing?"
Herbert curled his lip and answered as though it were obvious, "Didn't you need blood? I'm helping you, aren't I?"
Damn it!
I wanted your blood!
That's not how I wanted you to help me!
Even now, Eliza hadn't doubted her hypnotic abilities. She simply thought this mortal's mind worked in a rather abnormal way.
But Herbert had no intention of keeping up the act.
Playing along a little was enough. Overdoing it would take all the fun out of it.
He said bluntly, "Miss Vampire, do you know something? We could have had a perfectly civil conversation, but you just had to provoke me."
The thing Herbert currently hated second most was "people trying to control his mind," right behind "being flattened."
Enough was enough.
As Eliza hesitated, Herbert said coldly, "By the way, didn't you want my blood?"
"Fine."
"I'll give it to you."
Herbert grabbed the blade wedged in the gap!
Slice-
Before you continue