"Mum, Dad? Who is this person?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"Ahh, Azure you are back. Meet our guest Master Rin," James said introducing me to this girl.
Azure looked at me and reached out her hand as if to shake mine. "Pleased to meet you, Mr Rin," she said with a blushing face.
In turn, I took her hand and shook it, "pleased to meet you too young miss." She looked a little red. "Perhaps she was working hard," I thought to myself.
"Master Rin is new to this country and was just passing through. Actually he even took out a bandit group nearby," Jenet told her daughter in a happy voice. It seemed she was still thankful for that.
I could understand the reason for their thankfulness. It must be that these villagers are all far too weak to handle such a threat.
"Wow, that is quite amazing Master Rin. Thank you for this," she said once again blushing the whole while.
"Do they really intend on being so formal all of a sudden?" I asked myself internally. It was a little weird but it didn't exactly bother me. It was kind of nice actually.
"I will begin making dinner now. Azure please show him to the spare room," said Janet in a motherly tone. She was aggressive and fast-paced, but nevertheless still a mother.
"Oh before you leave. I have noticed that you seem to be travelling without any other clothing. Take some of mine," James said handing me a shirt and pants.
The pants and shirt I received from him were very nice compared to his current ones. I didn't exactly know why he was giving me these when it appeared he couldn't afford them easily.
I couldn't accept them. "Haha, are you sure about this? Even if it's only just to borrow..." I asked.
The man nodded in approval, "Sure it's fine. I don't mind at all."
I could tell James was a kind person. Well, that or it's just being thankful. Either way, I would accept it.
"This way Master Rin," Azure said leading me away from the table.
I followed her to one of the bedrooms. The room was small, but anything would be better than sleeping on the floor like back in the dungeon.
"This is where you can sleep tonight. Get comfortable and if you need anything don't be scared to ask," she said in a soothing voice. She was pretty, kind and calming to the ear. The perfect girl.
"Uh, I actually just have one question to ask you. Is it fine to do so?" I asked curiously as I sat down on the bed.
"Of course. So please ask me," she replied almost instantly.
I thought about how to ask the following question before asking it. "Well... What do the people of this nation think about vampires?" I asked.
I was a Twilight vampire. I didn't exactly know what that meant, but if it was anything like a normal vampire then I could imagine people hated them. If I could know this then I wouldn't have to hide my face using the skull mask. That might mean socialising could be easier. Also, people would be less scared of me.
She took a while to give me an answer, "You see... That question is hard to answer. Did you know that one of the strongest adventures in the Kingdom is known as the vampire huntress? Vampires are evil creatures of legend. Or at least that's what we are told. They are extremely rare creatures and not many have ever seen one let alone lived to tell the tale."
"I see... So everyone hates them then?" I asked. "This is bullshit. Does this mean I have to wear a mask forever?" I thought in annoyance.
Azure continued, "Well yes. We are taught that they are evil monsters of the night who kill innocents. But there are also rumours of certain vampires who aren't evil. They still feed on the blood of others however they also don't kill their victims. In other kingdoms some even become adventurers. Or so I've heard. Nobody knows for sure."
"Thank you for all of this Azure. I really appreciate it. By the way, just call me Rin from now on," I said with a smile. Although of course, she couldn't see that smile.
"If that is what you would like then I will call you Rin," she said happily, "Alright if that is all then I will come and knock on your door when the food is ready."
The girl turned around and left the room without any more discussion. I was intrigued by her for some reason. She seemed very knowledgeable just like her mother. The reason I had asked her this was because it may have seemed suspicious if I had Janet.
Once the door had closed I removed my mask. It felt great to do so as I hadn't had it off since the massacre of the bandits.
After taking off my mask I went into my inventory and scrolled through the items. I found the five things I wanted to take out. They were the three spell scrolls I had just purchased, the frost lich body and finally the spell book I had received after beating the boss.
I opened the three scrolls first and received three new spells.
[New spell learnt: Fire burst (Shoot bursts of fire from your hands) tier 2/11]
[New spell learnt: Acid spill (created a puddle of intense acid which can melt through iron) tier 2/11]
[New spell learnt: earth arrow (shoots an arrow made from whatever earth element you are touching or standing upon) tier 2/11]
Next, I searched through the frost lich corpse. I found three things of interest. A frost magic ring, a ring of mana regeneration and a frost lich robe. The frost magic ring gave a 10% increase to all ice type magic, the ring of mana regeneration increased mana regeneration by 12%. Finally, the frost lich robes gave increase damage of ice magic by 16% and reduced resistance of fire magic by 10%.
I took out the frost lich core and drained it.
[Vampiric drain: +1 stat points]
I put on the two magic rings and then placed the robe and corpse into my inventory.
Lastly, I opened the spellbook of a fallen ice mage. As I opened it I began reading.
[This book belongs to the fallen ice mage cursed by eternal life at the bottom floor of a dungeon. Read further to learn spells.]
I continued to read and received two more spells. While it may seem bad to only receive two spells, I was more than happy. They were both third-tier spells. Two more notifications popped up.
I had received the spell, ice shield, which forms an extremely strong barrier of ice. The second spell was ice buckshot. This spell shoots many high-speed shards of ice.
"Not bad," I thought to myself as the book in my hands disappeared from existence.
Next was to see my status screen. Since coming into the world I have become far stronger. Something I would have struggled with back then is easier now.
I opened the status screen. Scrolling through the stats I was impressed with myself.
[Status]
Level: 24 (4 stat points per level + 3 points for race + 3 points for reincarnation)
Name: Rin
Race: Vampire
Subrace: Twilight Vampire
Vitality: 33
Strength: 35
defence: 27
Agility: 87
Magic: 89
Passive skills...
The stats were good. Magic and agility were my main focuses. Next, I planned on increasing my vitality along with the magic and agility. Of course, I would increase the others too, but these would be my focus.
When looking at my stats I wondered how many stat points humans received per level. As a vampire, I received an extra 3 points per level. Not to mention, as I was a reincarnator, I also received an additional 3 on top of that.
It seemed as though I had some spare time and thus I began to get changed into the clothes which James had given me.
While putting on the clothes I heard a knock on the door. It was probably Azure and thus I called out to her, "Just a minute"
Nevertheless, the door swung open despite me calling out to her. My shirt was off and so was my mask.
The moment our eyes met her face lit up bright red and with superhuman speed, the door was slammed closed.
She had seen my face. Only for a second, but she had definitely seen it. "Although my fangs weren't showing, that was still a little dangerous. Then again I feel like maybe my fangs weren't what she was stating at," I thought while laughing out loud.
Indeed, my body was attractive. I was tall, muscular and lean. I still didn't know what my face looked like. It wasn't necessary thus far so I hadn't tried to find out, however that was quickly changed when I reopened my status screen and saw my avatar. The avatar was a version of whatever I currently looked like, so since I had no mask on currently I could now see.
My face was young looking, defined and attractive. I had pale white skin and bright red eyes. To top that off my long white hair fitted my face. My face wasn't perfect and I wasn't any model, but that didn't stop me from being shocked.
I put on my shirt and mask. I then got up and headed for the door, placing my other clothes into my inventory in the process.
[Bloodline unlocking: 99%]
As I opened the door I was met with a strong and sweet smell. It also smelt like chicken. It made my mouth water.
I continued out into the main room where everyone was finishing food preparations. James was sitting in a chair and talking to his wife while she finished up with the food. Azure was nowhere to be seen, however.
I thought it was a little strange but still continued into the room where the smells became stronger.
"Ahh Master Rin sit down it's almost ready," James called out to me with a wave.
I came to the table and sat down. I didn't know how I was going to eat without my fangs showing and so I started thinking of a solution. I didn't want to be rude after these people being so hospitable do I kept thinking.
"Uhm Rin you can take off your mask. If it's about your identity you can trust us not to tell," Janet said while finishing the last of the meals. She then came over to the table and sat down next to her husband.
"Shit what now," I thought to myself. If I didn't answer it would be weird. But I couldn't think of anything to answer with.
Right as I thought these things, Azure walked out of her room, her face still slightly red.
She sat down at the table right beside me despite all the other spare seats. She then looked at me, "Rin, why haven't you taken your mask off to eat."
I had no clue of what to do...
[Certain conditions met: Bloodline unlocked]
A screen popped up in front of me. It was the crimson blood-red screen of the system I had. In front of me is what looked like a spider web. I had two points to spend.
As I went to close the screen I noticed something. The bloodline skill 'Human disguise' is what it read.
"What is this?? plot armour?" I screamed internally. I seriously hadn't expected this. It was perfect timing and there was no other explanation.
I selected the option and used a single point to unlock it.
[Human disguise: retract your fangs using mana. Cannot remove red eyes]
Instantly I activated the bloodline skill and I felt my fangs disappear. I then took off my mask.
Janet and James were both taken aback by my action. They hadn't expected me to look like this.
"Is something the matter?" I asked. Inside I was still pretty scared.
"Ah sorry, Master Rin. It's just you have the same eyes as rumoured of the vampire huntress," Janet explained.
Janet placed the plates on the table where everyone sat and then sat down herself.
"I wonder-" I began thinking before being interrupted.
"Dig in Rin, my wife worked extra hard today," James exclaimed with pride. He was the stereotypical good husband.
I looked at the food. It was vegetables with chicken covered in honey and some other sauce. It looked pretty good considering I was in a medieval village.
As my teeth sank into a piece of chicken something surprised me. When the food touched my tongue... I couldn't taste it at all.
I thought about it while swallowing the food. I could have been sick, but the more likely scenario was that I would only be able to drink blood from now on.
Hoping that me eating the food wouldn't do any harm, I continued eating.
....