"Then, little lady, time for a question. Are you a reincarnator? Answer with circle or cross."
The Demon King poses the question via telepathy to the vampire girl who has just woken up.
I already know the answer, but having her say it herself is the quickest way to convince Mera.
A silence stretches on.
During the silence, I eat the food I made.
Hmm.
It's not bad.
But if you asked me whether it's good, well… it's complicated.
I just threw in whatever seasonings seemed right, after all.
If I ever have free time, maybe I should take some proper cooking lessons.
Hmm.
What went wrong?
Was the meat a bit bland?
Maybe they really do eat mostly vegetables here, like in a fantasy setting?
I did drain the blood, and considering the plan was to give it to the two vampires, that should've been the right call.
Would it have been better to make some kind of sauce, marinate it, and then grill it?
"W-what are you going to do with me?"
While I was lost in culinary self-reflection, the vampire girl seemed to steel herself and spoke up.
It's telepathy, so her mouth didn't actually move.
"Bzzzt! I said answer with circle or cross!"
The Demon King drew an X shape with her arms while puffing out her cheeks.
"To put it bluntly, right now I hold the power of life and death over you all. I'm not your enemy, so I have no intention of hurting you, but I'm not your ally either. If you rub me the wrong way, I might just leave you in this deep forest full of monsters and take off somewhere~"
Not that she'd actually do that.
But the effect was spectacular.
An unmistakable look of panic surfaced on the vampire girl's face.
Seeing that panicked expression — or rather, the moment the vampire girl responded to the telepathy conversation, Mera's jaw dropped wide open.
Seeing the vampire girl's reaction, the credibility of what the Demon King said went up.
He understood that intellectually, but his heart was rejecting it.
So he just froze.
"Well, how I handle this depends on your attitude."
"I understand. The answer to your earlier question is… circle."
The Demon King smiled warmly at that response, while Mera gazed up at the heavens.
"Then, how about a quick self-introduction? Ah, make it easy for Melazophis here to follow along too."
"Y-yes."
After a brief pause, the vampire girl began to speak haltingly.
"My name is
"Mm-hmm. And?"
"And, um, I'm a baby of one year and two months."
One year in this world is 411 days, and a month is one-tenth of that.
So a month is 41 days.
The leftover day is called a New Day, and the first day of the year is treated as a special day that doesn't belong to any month.
By this world's standard of one year and two months, that'd be about one year and four months on Earth.
"Mm-hmm. And?"
"Huh? And… uh… um…"
"Are you hiding something important, maybe~?"
The Demon King grinned as he waited for the vampire girl's response.
He probably wants her to admit she's a vampire. But he already knows — making her say it herself while playing coy like that… what a personality.
Come to think of it, that elf shouted "vampire" during the commotion earlier. Did she not hear that? Or did she hear it but forget because she was too busy with other things?
The vampire girl kept stealing glances at Mera.
Mera watched her back without looking away.
"I… am a vampire."
Eventually, the vampire girl confessed as if she had resigned herself.
"Mm. I know."
"Huh?"
"By the way, I told Melazophis just a moment ago."
"Huh? Wh-what?!"
The vampire girl panicked intensely.
Is she really going to be okay?
Mera became a vampire too, so there's no way he didn't notice, right?
"My lady, I am aware that I have become a vampire myself, and I also understand that you are a vampire."
Mera conveyed this not via telepathy, but aloud with his actual voice.
"I'm sorry. Back then, that was the only method I could think of."
"Please don't apologize. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me."
"Huh?"
"I failed to protect you. I am deeply sorry."
Mera dropped to his knees in a full prostration.
This world really does have a full-on prostration culture.
"Furthermore, had you not done that, I would be dead. If anything, I feel gratitude — I hold no resentment."
"But I'm a vampire! I can't live as a human anymore!"
"I have accepted that. If anything, this may be precisely what is needed in order to protect you."
"Melazophis… You still…"
"I was entrusted with your care by the young master and the young miss. If that is the case, I will protect you until my very last breath."
"Melazophis…"
Now that's a touching speech.
Wait, is the Demon King crying?
She's moved by this?
Really?
Is my sense of emotion broken or something?
"I've heard enough! You two, come with me! I'll take full responsibility and protect you!"
Ah.
The Demon King flipped some kind of switch.
Well, whatever. Since we helped them, it'd feel weird to just say "well, bye" at this point.
"I don't think it's a bad deal. After all, I'm the Demon King. And let me tell you, there's almost no one in this world who can beat me. So securing the protection of the strongest being around is a pretty sweet offer, if you ask me. Those guys who were attacking you won't be able to lay a finger on you as long as I'm watching. On top of that, you probably can't live normal lives in human society anymore. So why not come with me to the Demon race territory?"
The vampire girl and Mera exchanged glances.
"I will follow my lady's decision."
"Okay. But please let me think about it a little."
"Sure, sure. Take all the time you need to deliberate."
"Also… could you tell me about various things?"
"I'll answer whatever you want to know."
"Then, um… that… what exactly are you eating?"
"Hm? White's homemade cooking. The menu is elf meat and vegetable stir-fry."
The vampire girl's face twisted terribly.