"Vampire?" Lathel was a bit surprised to hear that, but that was all.
"Heh?! You don't seem worried or scared at all."
"Why should I be worried or afraid?" Lathel asked confusedly.
Charlotte also felt strange: "I am a Vampire, a race that specializes in sucking human blood."
"Ah! I know… that." Lathel nodded and said. Of course he knew what a Vampire was.
When he lived on Earth, he watched many novels and movies about the Vampire theme.
Immortal humanoid bats that live in gloomy castles and suck human blood to survive.
The person whose blood was sucked will turn into a Half-Vampire. Of course, a legend is a legend, as no one knows what the reality of it is.
A vampire is even considered a product of human imagination, so all information surrounding it comes from human imagination.
No to be accurate... no one has verified that information either.
However…
Charlotte tilted her head to look at him, her eyes filled with both surprise and incredulity: "You... aren't you afraid of me?"
"Hm…" Lathel thought while looking at Charlotte: "Actually, I find you more pitiful than scary. No matter how strong a person is, if you live alone in this gloomy castle for a long time you will go crazy."
Lathel spoke his mind, he did not just say this to comfort Charlotte.
He had also experienced that feeling. After all, humans are animals that live in groups, no, to be more precise, they live in a society.
Even though Lathel had everything when he lived on Earth, what killed him in the end was not illness but loneliness.
When he became homeless, he lived alone. That loneliness gradually killed him and made his illness more serious.
That's why Lathel understands very well the feeling of loneliness. He thought that since only Charlotte lived here, she probably felt very lonely.
Charlotte looked straight into his eyes, she didn't think that one day, a normal person would say a Vampire like her was lonely.
However, Lathel's voice and eyes were sincere, without any lies at all.
At this moment, Charlotte's heart beat fast, however, it only happened for a moment.
She tried to calm down, then smiled gently: "This is the first time someone said I'm lonely. You're so strange, Lathel..."
After all, the other party had signed an equality contract with him, and his name also appeared on the contract, so it was normal for Charlotte to know his name.
Charlotte raised her hand, signaling him to sit across from her. Lathel looked in the opposite direction, it was an empty space, and there were no chairs at all.
However, she didn't care at all, as she once again looked outside the window.
Lathel sighed, he found another chair, brushed it off, and placed it on the opposite side.
He sat on the chair, silently looking at Charlotte, he never thought he would meet such an old Vampire.
In most movies or novels, Vampires were a race with a very long lifespan, their beauty was preserved almost forever, and they did not age at all.
Except for the Half-Vampires, of course.
That's why he felt a little confused when he saw Charlotte in the form of an old woman, who was over 70 years old.
'Could it be… she's using a disguise?'
Lathel felt that this was likely to be the case. After all, in novels, mysterious people or high-class people often masquerade as ordinary people.
'Ah! I don't need to think too much. As long as she allows me to stay here, take a large amount of gold coins and elemental stones.'
'Finally, I will be able to leave this place with a huge fortune. With that amount of gold coins and elemental stones, I can go anywhere I want or live a happy life like a small noble.'
In his mind, Lathel had begun to create a plan for when he leaves this place.
At this moment, Charlotte suddenly looked towards him. She looked at him with eyes full of curiosity: "You... don't really seem to be afraid of me."
Hearing that, Lathel immediately explained: "Heh?! Ah, actually… I come from a remote village where there are no magicians or adventurers."
"My knowledge is quite limited so I don't know how scary Vampires are, hahaha…"
"However, as I said earlier, I feel that you are more pitiful than scary. An old woman living alone in a gloomy castle like this."
"Don't you feel lonely?"
He smiled and spoke nonchalantly.
Hearing that, Charlotte suddenly fell into deep thought, her eyes looking out the window.
Lathel was not in a hurry, he sat quietly and waited. To Charlotte, he seemed very patient.
After all, opposite him was a rich lady, even if he waited for her all day, it would be fine. As long as every day, she would really give him 200 gold coins, 3 Rank D elemental stones and a 2-color elemental stone.
Ah! She also had to teach him some magic. No matter how he thought about it, he was the biggest beneficiary of this transaction.
Is he afraid that Charlotte will kill him? After all, she is a Vampire.
The answer is... he was not afraid, on the contrary, he felt more curious than afraid.
Opposite him was a Vampire, a race that he could only see in mangas, novels or movies.
Besides... he had never seen any movie or manga that said Vampires could become old like this.
Or perhaps his knowledge was really limited so he didn't know if it was normal.
He also wasn't worried that Charlotte would kill him. If she wanted to kill him, she could have done it as soon as she met him without having to do so many troublesome things.
'It's okay, everything is fine. As long as Charlotte has enough money to pay me, everything will be fine.'
Lathel stared at Charlotte's face, he felt like she rarely showed emotions.
Her expression seemed to show only indifference and boredom.
"Of course, I feel very lonely." Charlotte suddenly spoke up.
"So… why don't you go out, go to big towns or cities to live?"
Charlotte lightly shook her head: "I can't go. Vampires are forbidden from entering the territories of other races."
"To other races, I am like a plague. As long as I appear, that place will be filled with death and pain."
"That's why I locked myself in here."
"No one can come here, and I can't leave this place either."
"Wait! You said… no one can get to this place, so why am I here?" Lathel frowned and asked.
"Hm… I don't know either." Charlotte looked at him, her face bewildered like a girl who had just woken up.
"The Goblins brought me here, there must be some way to escape this place, right?" Lathel asked, he also didn't want to stay here for the rest of his life.
Thus, no matter how many gold coins he gets, they would just be like stones.
Besides... he wanted to escape this place and set up his own harem.
"Those Goblins are under my control, they are in charge of keeping watch around this place."
"So… the maze in the mountain was created by you?"
Hearing Lathel's question, Charlotte nodded slightly: "I guided those Goblins to create a maze to prevent others from entering this place."
"Don't worry, if you use bird monsters you can get out of this place, or you can just follow the Goblins."
Hearing that, Lathel breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ah! So that's it... can you control Goblins?"
"I Just used a little magic, it's very simple." Charlotte said with a face filled with indifference.
"But… I feel like you are no different from normal people. You can also disguise yourself and live inside a small town, isn't that okay?"
Charlotte shook her head: "You think too simply. If my identity is revealed, then I will have to… kill everyone there."
She said as she lowered her head and looked up at her hands on her lap, her eyes seemed to be recalling some not so good memories.
'Kill them all? Could it be that... if her identity is revealed, it will cause something terrible?'
Lathel felt confused, but when he looked at Charlotte's eyes, he didn't want to ask too much.
"Hm… but, if you only stay in this place, how do you suck other people's blood? Are you going to… suck the blood of Goblins?"
Hearing that, Charlotte smiled: "No… I don't want to drink the blood of such a lowly race. Goblin blood is very fishy, very dirty."
"I am a pure-blooded Vampire, so I can continue to live normally without sucking blood."
"However, if I don't suck blood, I can't level up, nor can I replenish my own magical energy."
"That's why, I will grow old like a normal person. If I don't continue sucking blood, I will die of old age."
"So… you don't intend to suck anyone's blood? If you don't suck blood, you will die of old age, right?" Lathel frowned and asked.
Charlotte was silent for a long time, then slowly said: "Lathel, do you know that the Vampire clan has been infected with a curse?"