Rumble!
"Did you guys feel that?" Alex jumped out of his seat, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Yes, we did," Sarah said, walking to the entrance of the hollowed tree that we took as refuge for the night.
We were all exhausted, having battled monsters for the entire day. As the report said, we came across animal-like monsters, bears, wolves, etc..
Goblins, of course, but later in the evening, we spotted a single gnoll, a warrior. Slaying him took some effort, and the battle left us with little energy and a few injuries, so we decided to call it a day and camp out in this hollow tree.
Rumble!
"This isn't a storm," Sarah said, trying to step out of the tree, but Miss Harper stopped her.
"Don't!" She commanded, "Stay inside."
"Miss Harper?"
"Listen..." The teacher said, looking at us with a serious expression. "What you're all feeling right now is the shockwaves of a battle."
"Battle?" I repeated in confusion. "What do you mean? And with what?"
"Don't know," Miss Harper shook her head. "But from the looks of it, a fight is happening in the east. Maybe one of the other teams encountered a strong monster where the teacher had to step in."
"But Miss Harper," Ella raised her hand, which was slightly shaking. "This is a Rank-E dungeon. How strong should the monster be to force the teacher to step in?"
"..."
There was a moment of silence, where we waited for Olivia to speak.
"Only one monster," she finally said. "The dungeon Boss."
"Of course, that makes sense," Sarah nodded, returning to her seat. "I heard from my father that some bosses can be one or two ranks above the dungeon."
"What!" Ella exclaimed in shock. "Really?"
"Yes, it's rare, but it can happen," Miss Harper confirmed. "A few years ago, I even encountered a Rank-A boss in a Rank-D dungeon."
"Rank-A Boss?" I repeated in disbelief. "That's way above the dungeon!"
"How did you even survive?" Alex said, sitting close to the teacher. "I mean, a Rank-A monster is like a walking disaster."
"..."
"Miss Harper?"
"I was saved by someone," she answered, her tone was low, but there was a hint of sadness in it. "My teacher."
"You mean..." he paused, stealing a glance at her, hesitating to speak. "The Blood Queen?"
Slap!
"Shhh... Don't talk about her," Ella slapped him on the back of the head, glaring at him.
"Sorry"
"It's alright," Miss Harper sighed. "Yes, she was the one who saved me."
"So cool!" he exclaimed in excitement. "Can you tell us about her?"
"Well..." Olivia hesitated, glancing at me. Our eyes met for a split second, yet it was enough for her to understand what I was trying to communicate.
"Sigh... What do you want to know about her?"
"Everything! But more importantly," Alex grinned, pulling out from his inventory a book, or as people like to call it.
Manga.
"Is it true that the Blood Queen reclaimed the lands in East Asia just for the sake of saving her favorite manga?"
"..."
"Pfff... Hahaha..." Ella burst into laughter, followed by me and then the teacher. Sarah was trying hard not to laugh.
"Miss Harper?" Alex turned to look at her in confusion. "Why are you guys laughing?"
"Hahahaha!"
"Oh, Alex!" Miss Harper sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "You have so much to learn."
"What?"
"Never mind," She waved her hand. "The answer to your question is yes, it is true."
"Seriously!" He exclaimed in excitement, "That's so cool, that means she was a man... I mean a woman of culture"
"..."
"Pfft... Hahahaha," Olivia burst into laughter again, dropping her teacher character. "If you want to know that, you should ask Jane. The Blood Queen was her grandma..."
"..."
"Fuck!... Sorry, Jane."
"WHAT!" Alex and Sarah exclaimed, staring at me with shocked eyes. Alex had his finger pointing at me, shaking and unable to form words.
"Yes, it's true," I replied, sitting down on the floor, in my hand was an empty cup of tea. "The Blood Queen was my grandmother."
"B-But" Alex stammered, "How? You don't have the unique features of her family."
"Alex!" Ella suddenly yelled, glaring intensely at him. "Shut up and sit down."
"But..."
"NOW!"
"It's fine, Ella," I said, giving her a smile. "I have no problem talking about this."
"Are you sure, Jane?" she asked with concern since she was one of the few people who knew about my situation.
"Yes, it's not something special, and it's good for a break anyway," I said, turning my attention back to Alex, who was still in shock. "Alex."
"Y-Yes?"
"Sit down."
"Okay!" Alex sat down instantly, staring at me with eager eyes. Sarah also sat next to him, clearly interested in hearing my story.
"Alex, can you tell me what are the unique features of the Nosferat family?" I asked, wanting to know what he knew before telling him my story.
"Sure!" he nodded. "It's public knowledge."
"Blood magic, pale skin, silver or black hair, and crimson eyes."
"Good," pointing at my face, I asked, "Do you see any of those features in me?"
"No?"
It's obvious the answer was no. I have blond hair and blue eyes, which are totally different from my family members.
"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "That's why I don't use Nosferat as my last name."
"Why?" Sarah suddenly asked. "You have every right to carry her last name."
"..." I went silent for a moment, staring at the ground. "They said I don't deserve to use her name."
"Jane..."
"Miss Harper," I called, stopping her from saying anything else. "It's alright."
"When my grandmother was alive, everything was fine," I said with a smile on my face, recalling those days. "Grandmother was the type of person who didn't care about bloodline, rank, and magic. She did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and I loved that about her."
"Hehehe... A free spirit," Olivia chuckled slightly. "I remember that about her."
"Haha..." I laughed. "Yeah, she was."
"My father was the last child, and he was born with less affinity toward blood magic," I paused, collecting my thoughts. "Grandma didn't care and treated him with love like the rest of his brothers and sisters. However, they didn't share the same thoughts."
"They even refused and threatened to expel him from the family if he married my mother, who was from a rival family," I continued, my tone getting colder with every word. "But with The Blood Queen around, no one dared to make a move."
"Strength is everything," Sarah whispered. "And when your grandmother died, everything changed?"
"Yes, strength is everything," I repeated, nodding my head. "Without her around, the family was divided. The sons who wanted to expand the family took the opportunity and exiled my father and mother."
I didn't know why I was telling them all of this, maybe because I needed to vent or maybe I just wanted someone to listen.
True, but what I didn't say was that my grandma knew that this would happen, so she kind of made some preparations in advance. She bought a few lands around the town and handed them over to me and my father.
She also gave me the key to her secret vault, the one where she kept her most prized possessions. There, I found a great amount of money, gold, weapons, and of course, her manga and anime collection.
'Sigh... I couldn't believe that grandma, the Blood Queen, the woman that just mentioning her name would send people running in fear, was a big pervert,' I thought, recalling the toys I found.
Naughty toys, and for the sake of science, I used some... Ahem, I mean, I kept them for research.
"What happened after that?" Alex asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.
"We moved to my father's land, and started our lives as a family of hunters," I answered. "The rest is history."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Jane," Miss Harper said with a sad tone. "I knew your grandma for a few years, and she was a good person."
"Thanks, Miss Harper," I smiled. "Your words mean a lot."
"We're sorry to hear that too," Alex and Sarah both said, bowing slightly.
"It's alright, it happened years ago, and I'm over it," This was a lie, I'll never forget what they did to us after Grandma died.
The Nosferat family, now led by the first son of the Blood Queen, were stronger than ever, at least on the outside. From the inside, it was a bloody war for leadership among everyone.
"Alright, everyone, enough talking," Miss Harper said, standing up. "Go and rest, I'll guard you all for tonight."
"Okay," We all nodded. I turned to my side and prepared the bedroll. I lay down but couldn't sleep, my mind was in turmoil.
'I miss you, grandma.'
[Warning] [Warning]
"!!!" My heart skipped a beat, as a system notification popped up.
"What is happening!" I jumped out, looking around, seeing that everyone was staring at their system window.
"A warning?" Ella asked, gazing at Miss Harper, who was equally confused. "For what?"
The answer to that question came in the very next second, shocking every single one of us.
[The Queen's Web is active]
[The Queen's Web: An area of effect debuff that targets all living beings inside the dungeon, reducing all of their attributes by 50%.]
"What the fuck!" Alex exclaimed in shock. "A debuff!"
"Miss Harper, what's happening?" I asked, turning to look at her, but she didn't respond, only gazing with serious eyes at her own system window.
[Warning] [Warning]
[You have been marked as prey by the Spider Queen]
[Your location is exposed]
"Shit!"