Chapter 174 (1/18): Breaking the Shell

For better or worse, Kagriss’s friendship with Eva wasn’t deep enough that she’ll feel sad for a long time. After a few minutes, Kagriss recovered, although she still looked glum and probably will be whenever she thought of that playful vampire woman. Camilla shared the heavy weight on her height through their bond. It was a constant reminder of the volatility of magic and dangers present in the world.

Being a hunter wasn’t safe at all, yet they were still heading toward that very same danger that consumed Lavitte, Eva, and dozens of other hunters.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked when Kagriss straightened her back, regaining her unflappable aura. Kagriss nodded but didn’t say anything else. Suddenly feeling awkward at asking an obvious question, Camilla cleared her throat. “Kagriss, Elyss… I accepted the joint commission. It’ll probably be very dangerous.”

Elyss snorted. “I can tell. You can probably survive the collapse of a mountain though. No guarantees on whether you can ever get out though.”

That did sound like a terrifying pause that managed to give Camilla pause. Could undead end their own life if the only alternative were to be trapped and suffer eternally? Was there even enough mana inside of a mountain to sustain a high-ranked undead? Camilla had no idea. But she already agreed and there was no backing out, so she shook her head and cleared her mind of those thoughts. “I was just thinking that since it’s so dangerous, the both of you don’t have to go. I imagine that my mother wants me specifically to go and whether you two go or not is optional. Besides, it is my own mission, so…”

Kagriss cut her off, looking angry. “How could you say that after coming this far?” she asked, voice quiet and deadly, making Camilla feel like she was walking on the edge of a knife. “Do you think we’ll leave you to danger now?”

Camilla swallowed. She just didn’t want to put Kagriss into danger for something so petty as a passing dream of hers. After all, their enemy was undead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean you… Elyss...” She looked behind her, catching Elyss staring at her with narrowed eyes.

“What kind of creature do you take me for? Some kind of fickle mouse that shys in the face of danger?” There was a dangerous glint in her eye and Camilla immediately realized her mistake. Although Elyss didn’t exactly share the same bond that existed between Camilla and Kagriss, what Elyss did not lack was bloodthirst. Perhaps she might make a tactical retreat after realizing she couldn’t win, but there was no stopping her from checking out the unknowns fearlessly.

In a way, it was relieving that she would not be going on the commission alone, but she was still uncomfortable taking on such a mission that involved mysterious things. She never liked taking risks and this time, she had no idea what the cause of that mountain-collapse phenomena might be.

“It’s not all bad,” Kagriss said, patting her back. Camilla looked at her. Kagriss’s eyes had softened after Camilla apologized. “At least you’re getting something out of it. Besides, Ismelda seems to be going as well, as I understand it. I doubt Victoria will send Ismelda into anything too dangerous.”

Elyss licked her lips. “On the flip side, sending Ismelda means that the old vampire considers the difficulty of the mission hard enough to justify sending a monster like that. I’m kind of sad that we got interrupted.”

Camilla and Kagriss both looked at her wordlessly and decided to ignore the lioness. Honestly, Elyss would fit right in with the trolls. Both she and that race was full of bloodthirsty warriors that revel in violence and challenge.

At first Camilla thought that Ismelda might be different from her former brethren thanks to how calm she usually acted, but the speed at which Ismelda turned to violence proved that a love for books and a love for battle was not mutually exclusive.

“Kagriss, you were saying?”

“Don’t ignore me!” Elyss growled, but she might as well be talking to thin air, if Kagriss hadn’t hid a smile. Camilla almost smiled with her at the sight.

Kagriss cleared her throat. “I’m not entirely sure since it’s just my guess...that I’m fairly confident about...but breaking through to lord-class for us zombies tends to have something to do with emotions.”

“Emotions? But don’t most undead not have emotions? Just a natural aversion to harmful things and an instinct for self-preservation.” Camilla thought back to the times she fought other undead. They feared being destroyed, but she always chalked that up to the fear of oblivion, but wasn’t fear an emotion as well?

Perhaps Kagriss’s ability to feel emotion wasn’t that exceptional. What was exceptional was the intensity of Kagriss’s emotions. Then again, skeletons in particular seemed to have pride in spades while zombies were the ones that seemed more passive. Yet, zombies needed emotions to evolve. “Never mind. Pretend I said nothing. Please continue.” She was always learning new things.

Although Kagriss didn’t smile, Camilla could still feel the mirth coming from Kagriss, and she blushed. Thankfully Kagriss didn’t comment.

“No, you’re right that most undead don’t feel emotions. They evolve them when they become greater undead,” Kagriss said. “But in Amaranthine Point, most of those that show any kind of emotion other than pride get culled for being impure, especially zombies. But for zombies, the stronger the undead, the stronger their emotions, the stronger their desire.”

Camilla froze as Kagriss hooked her arm around Camilla’s neck, pulling her closer. There was a lump in Camilla’s throat that stopped her from breathing. Before she could react, however, Kagriss let go and drew back. “An event that invokes intense emotions that aligns with their desires is usually sufficient to evolve if you’re already at your limit.”

This was the first time that Kagriss talked about the requirements of evolving for zombies.

“Then, that time you…” Camilla still remembered when Kagriss suppressed her own evolution. At the time, all she knew was that Kagriss could have evolved for some reason but chose not to. Kagriss had assured her that she’d be able to evolve any time she wanted to in the future. It meant Kagriss knew what the key to evolution was.

“Perhaps it was a stupid decision, but I didn’t want to leave you behind. It was selfish of me, but who will protect me if we meet something we couldn’t beat after we evolved, especially if we go use my strength as a standard?”

“If it’s you, Kagriss, you won’t need any protection.”

Kagriss just smiled and said nothing in what Camilla assumed to be a silent denial. Without Kagriss engaging with her, Camilla couldn’t start an argument, so she let it pass just like that. Kagriss’s still words made her happy though, because if staying with her was Kagriss’s condition to evolving in the future, then that meant Kagriss’s desire was related to her.

“So by good thing, you mean that being in a dangerous situation might spur me to evolve?”

“Perhaps. After all, isn’t your goal to save humanity from destruction at the hands of the undead? Or a portion of humanity. Perhaps if you’re serious in wanting to achieve that goal, you might evolve in a moment of desperation, while on the cusp of failure.”

After Kagriss laid everything out plainly and simply like that, Camilla managed to understand the conditions of evolving, but her true desire wasn’t helping humanity anymore. Perhaps it once was, but now she had long moved on. Unfortunately, even if she ran into something dangerous at the Belrian Mountains, there was no way that she'd manage to evolve.

By the time they finished the topic, they were almost at the large lobby at the front of the mansion that Victoria resided in. But before they could leave, Ismelda called out to them from the top of the large staircase to the second floor. Looking back, Camilla noticed that Ismelda was wearing different clothes than before.

Changing clothes wasn’t anything inconvenient for a vampire, but the reason a vampire might change clothes certainly varied just as much as any other person.

While in the dining hall, Ismelda had been wearing a white dress shirt under an ironed tailcoat, complete with dull flower buttons of some kind. At a glance, anyone could tell that she was in a position of servitude within this mansion.

But now, gone was the crisp and professional attire, replaced by a thick robe-like dress that seemed to be held closed by a wide, dark belt below her breasts. The red dress had wide sleeves that hid Ismelda’s hands as she walked down the stairs. Over it all was a purple jacket that reached down to her hips, tied together than delicate strings at the front.

With those unwieldy sleeves and skirt that reached down to the ankles, the clothes that Ismelda wore were not fit for combat and was something that Camilla would never have imagined Ismelda would wear. Once again, her image of Ismelda had to be updated.

“Wait,” Ismelda said.

“What?” Kagriss asked, glaring at Ismelda. Evidently, she still had not forgiven the vampire lord. However, Ismelda paid her no attention, as if Kagriss was below her. In a way, that was true, but the edges of Camilla’s lips still dropped at the sight of such disregard.

“Victoria asked me to follow you while you’re in the city,” she said. “The scale of the mission this time is quite large so it’s taking a while for everyone to gather and get ready. However, preparations are mostly complete so it should take no more than two or three days before we depart.”

Camilla exchanged glances with Kagriss. They never really had much to prepare. They needed no food, no medicine, no extra equipment to do what they needed, so they were ready when they arrived. Only Elyss needed food, and she could easily outrun and catch large prey even if she crashed through the trees without caring about stealth.

“So what?”

“…” Ismelda looked reluctant to answer, but she must have received an order or request from Victoria, because eventually she spat out an answer too quietly for any normal human to hear. “I’m supposed to get to know the lot of you. So we can work together in the future.”

It was as if telling her to get to know Camilla, Kagriss, and Elyss better was literally torture. Kagriss wasn’t exactly thrilled either, although Camilla didn’t particularly care since there was no harm done in the end. Elyss didn’t mind the idea either. Camilla didn’t like the look in Elyss’s eyes.

“If you’re waiting for an invitation, then I guess you can come with us,” Camilla said after Ismelda stopped at the bottom of the steps.

After fidgeting a little, Ismelda nodded and walked after them. She seemed almost shy, so different from the vampire lord that gave off the dominating aura of a tyrant in that brief skirmish at the dining hall.

That just goes to show that each person had many sides and the side shown first might not be the one on the innermost layer. Camilla was becoming a little interested in this violent, yet bookworm-ish cousin of hers.

“What are you going to do now?” Ismelda asked after they’ve been walking for a while. They were weaving through the large garden in front of the city lord’s mansion. Because Elyss couldn’t fly, they had to take the long way through the flower mazes while Elyss took great care not to step through any of the flowerbeds and bushes. Despite having not seen any gardeners, the plants look healthy and well-tended even during winter.

“I don’t know,” Camilla said. “We came from Dianene, and aside from taking commissions, all we did was read. Elyss, what did you do?”

“Nap.”

“…of course you did… What about you, Ismelda?” Since Ismelda bothered to talk with them, Camilla decided to reciprocate. They were going to be working together after all.

“Read. Victoria has a large library,” Ismelda said. “But you’re not allowed to take them out without permission from her, or bond with them, so I spend most of my time inside the library.”

Camilla’s eyes lit up and she pulled Kagriss over. “Kagriss, did you hear that? Ismelda likes reading too. Maybe you can both read the same book and share your thoughts with each other? No?” She felt a bit of resistance when she pulled on Kagriss.

Kagriss looked reluctant, pressing her lips then. But in the end, she nodded. “Okay, if you want me to.”

Camilla wanted to sigh. It didn’t matter what she wanted if Kagriss didn’t. But this was a start. “Let’s do that then after we take a look around the city. Can you introduce us to some interesting places, Ismelda?”

Thanks to her efforts, the atmosphere had relaxed a lot, and Ismelda was much less reluctant this time around. She took the lead and led them out of the garden, stopping every now and then to point out rare flowers, most of which Camilla had never seen before.

Eventually even Kagriss set aside her enmity toward Ismelda as her curiosity overwhelmed her hostility. Perhaps the only one among them completely uninterested in the whole thing was Elyss who looked like she was falling asleep on her feet.

“How come the flowers are so healthy and well taken care of?” Camilla asked.

“Because Lady Victoria takes care of them after all,” came the reply. For some reason, Ismelda looked proud when she said that, despite her not having contributed to any of the gardening.

Far behind them, a shadow moved by the second-floor windows of the mansion. Sitting by the windowsill, caressing her pendant, was Victoria. Her face was much less pale than before, though still far from healthy. Seeing that Ismelda was getting along with someone else other than she was, she smiled, but before the smile could stay for long, she winced as a headache slammed into her temple. The pain reverberated through her skull for a few seconds before receding to a dull pulse.

“Soon…” She sighed and pulled the curtains shut, blocking out the light. The room fell into darkness and Victoria disappeared within, leaving behind only her quiet muttering voice. “Why won’t you let me in…? Why not me…?”