Chapter 100: Chapter 94 – Everyone’s Losses

I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually I pulled myself out of that daze.

The little shirt was dripping, and I was pretty sure that not all of it was leftover water from the washing.

My eyes were sore, my top was even a bit wet, and my nose...well, anyways, I forced my emotions down. I couldn't just spend all night feeling sorry for people who were no longer around.

I cleaned myself up and finished up taking care of the clothes.

All the adult clothes went into my bag, but the children ones...I left them to the side. I didn't want to take some of them out by accident, and I couldn't think of any way to actually use them. Even the babies in the other room couldn't wear them any better than any other clothes, so it would be better to just use the larger adult clothes as base material for them instead.

Once I was done, I went back to the previous rooms, and in each one, I gathered up the remains then placed them all into a stone container and incinerated them, reducing all traces of the people they were into ashes before collecting what was left and placing them into a single jar.

I didn't know what these people's custom was for the dead, but I was worried that if I didn't do this, some of the women sleeping in the other room would become obsessed with the remains of these people, even if it was only to find the bones of those that were dear to them.

We simply didn't have time for that.

The bones of well over a hundred people condensed into a single large jar. While the jar was huge and taller than myself and wider than my outstretched arms, it was still a single jar that fit within these rooms.

To be honest, I figured that the remains would be much smaller, but even the bones when reduced to ash still took up a surprising amount of space. Doubly so when it was the remains of so many people.

Once I was done, I decorated the giant urn by modelling flowers of every kind I could think of onto the surface.

I didn't know if it was appropriate, but leaving it plain felt too dispassionate.

Then again, since the remains interred inside of this giant vase was that mostly of men, would it have been better to go for something masculine instead? For this world, such things would probably be weapons or something?

But they were all killed in violent acts, so that was probably not appropriate at all. Especially considering that most of them were likely peaceful people in the first place. Farmers and craftsmen, merchants and administrators.

With a sigh, I put the vase into my bag, somehow stretching its mouth to go around its wide body.

[Sorry Alicia, making you go through all that.]

[...Those people were really bad, weren't they?]

[Yea. I guess they were.]

[What about the ones you kept alive?]

(Those huh?)

[I don't know. They're just kids after all.]

[But what if they do something bad again?]

[Then they need to be punished.]

[Don't they need to be punished for already doing bad things?]

[...Yea, I guess they do.]

That point wasn't really my choice though. I probably had no say in what sort of punishment they'd get. Since they were basically bandits, normally in a setting like this, they'd be executed or condemned to be slaves.

Both options kinda ruined the entire point of sparing their lives though.

(But it's true that they probably helped destroy quite a few lives. Or rather, the lives of everyone who was forcibly brought to this mansion.)

I wasn't looking forward to discovering what their fates were to be. While it would be nice if there was some sort of concession due to their age, the crimes they had obviously committed were quite severe as well.

*sigh*

It was better to simply concentrate on the present rather than the uncertain future at this point.

Once I confirmed that I hadn't forgotten anything in these rooms, I went upstairs to the ground floor.

Since I would probably be bringing the women to the bastard's throne room place for some sunbathing, making sure it was a safe place was the priority.

I went around and examined the walls and remaining fragments of the ceiling. With a hand on the fragmented stone and prodding the cracks with my shadow, I fused the stone so that despite its rough appearance, it wasn't likely to collapse without a decent amount of force.

And with that, I returned to where everyone else was.

 

The view through the large, open windows was still dark, though if my estimate was right, it was nearing daybreak.

Nobody had blankets and there wasn't anything to block the dissipation of heat from the room, but fortunately it was reasonably warm in this room, thanks to the sheer number of people. Everyone huddled together to preserve their body heat with the babies in the middle.

From what I could see, there weren't any people who looked uncomfortable in this bizarre arrangement, but most likely it was because they had gotten used to living like this.

When I thought more about it, the groupings looked similar to the groups that were put together for exploring the building. Most likely the groupings were these people's closest circles in the first place.

Well, it was probably a good thing that they had people they could implicitly trust like that.

I cleaned up all the cooking equipment and dishes then got to work on breakfast.

Today was going to be oatmeal.

It felt like such a grandparent food, but I liked to have it once in a while before.

With lots of berries...and honey.

In fact, that was exactly what I was going to do. Make it close to a quarter fruit and a large dollop of honey.

Fortunately oatmeal was a simple affair. Just throw in flattened oats into a pot of water and let it simmer until soft, then add everything else in.

The only choice ended up being more or less whether the fruit was stirred in or placed on top of each bowl. I was in the latter camp, with only the honey stirred in, so that was what I did. The pot had lots and lots of honey added as it was nearing finished while I chopped up all sorts of fresh fruit into bite-sized pieces and mixed them in a bowl of assorted berries.

Starting from some of the closest groups, people were slowly waking up.

Why they woke in such an order didn't need to be said though, despite the sun's rays having hardly started to bounce off of the leaves past the rough windows.

"Those of you who've woken up, walk three laps around the room. Everyone needs to build up their strength before we head back to the village. No breakfast until you've finished."

With my reasoning quite clear, the groggy women all did as I asked, each even waking up their closest friends.

The room was quite large, maybe around twice the size of a school gymnasium, but still three laps wasn't much. Most children could run that, let alone walk. Even then, many of them had trouble doing the whole thing. Some even had to rely on others to help them make the whole distance.

If they were this bad off, then making the day trip all the way back to the village on soft and uneven terrain was going to be a nightmare. If only I had realized their atrophy on the first day, we could've made quite the progress by this point.

But lamenting about such a regret wasn't going to make things better. All I could do was make sure that everyone did what was needed from here on.

On the other hand, while everyone looked pretty tired and a few had wobbly legs when they reached the cooking station, when they finally sat down with their food, they ate at with renewed vigour. It looked like there was a nice fringe benefit to this exercise, it seemed.

 

"So, after doing some investigations, I have some announcements to make."

After everyone finished their meals and were resting on the floor or in the refilled baths.

"First, the good news! You might be aware that yesterday one of the groups explored a bit of the floor upstairs and ended up enjoying some...sunbathing."

Frankly, the word itself grated at me, and my recently born prejudices had made me shudder at the very thought of enjoying something as evil as sunlight. But the fact that as long as you weren't a vampire, it was actually something enjoyable was a fact, and standing in the way of something that these people could easily enjoy was in poor spirits.

But despite how I hesitated to say the word, the response itself was quite good. The very idea struck a chord with them all and even the ones who got to enjoy their time upstairs told the others how great it was.

(The sunlight huh? I never did actually see the sunrise for myself. Looks like I'll never get the privilege to either.)

It was something that I never really thought much about before, or even cared much about. I was an indoor person and never really thought about enjoying the light of the sun on my body, but now that I was unable to do such a thing...

"Haaa. Is it really such a good thing? So you really want to drown yourselves in sunlight until your skin burns to a crisp!?"

Before I knew it, those words came out of my mouth.

"Ah, umm, sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

You can't unring a bell, but at the very least, those apologies needed to come out. What I said wasn't right.

[I don't regret losing my body, Scarlet. Even if I don't have any limbs of my own to move, I still don't mind. Since I'm with you.]

I had to catch myself as surprise almost overtook my body.

[Thanks Alicia. I'm happy you're with me. You too Claret.]

"Master..."

A few of them looked like they wanted to speak up, but I cut them off and continued my talk.

"Anyways, so it seems like you guys will enjoy it, I figured we'd increase the size of the groups and let everyone spend some time upstairs in a room without a roof. How does that sound?"

The sounds of cheering and excitement filled the air. It looked like most of them were looking forward to it.

"So, we'll go with the same order as before, but three groups at a time. Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy some time today."

Even more cheering broke out and quite a few people started to talk to each other about the day they were now looking forward to.

"The other talk...we'll leave for later. I think you all deserve a chance to enjoy yourself first! Can the first three groups gather around?"

While my words were a bit ominous, the excitement overtook it immediately.

Originally I was going to announce the news about the dead, but when it came to it, bringing up such bad news right before everyone was allowed to have a bit of fun was completely counter-productive. The news could wait until until they've had their fun.

 

Dim, purple light made its way through the enlarged windows at the back of the room.

Everyone was enjoying a nice, hot bath after getting covered in dust from the room upstairs.

Keeping everyone safe in a room filled with broken stone slabs all day was frustratingly difficult when I could barely move a handful of steps from the entrance of the room.

Even if there was no worry about any pieces of stone falling from above, the ground was littered in the broken slabs that once made up the walls and ceilings. I naively thought that everyone would just find a nice place to lie down and enjoy the touch of the sun's rays, but every group ended up having a few people who wanted to wander around, exploring the room.

They balanced themselves on narrow pieces of stone, they crawled under overlapping slabs, and some even tried to climb the walls, using the cracks in them as hand and foot holds.

While they've all healed, I had more than a few burns to show for all the work I put in keeping them safe.

But in the end I could only sigh about it all. It wasn't like I couldn't understand that they wanted to be able to do things they were denied for so long.

I only wished that those desires would manifest in ways that wouldn't make me panic.

(Well, at least they apologized about it and toned it down afterwards.)

Dinner was cream stew, full of hot milk, soft potatoes, and sweet corn along with a healthy dose of vegetables.

If only I had chicken or some other white bird meat.

Other types of bird or reptile meat could be substituted, but the dark meats has stronger flavour that was a little unsuitable for cream style soups.

(Clams would be nice as an alternative though.)

If I had access to seafood, that was an option for sure, but I hadn't even seen the ocean in this life.

(Or rather, in either lives now that I think about it.)

It wasn't like I lived near the ocean in the first place, so that wasn't really anything unusual, even if I was able to eat fresh seafood whenever I wanted. Earth was pretty great when it came to being able to move material around at the speed the demand wanted

Putting all those non-existing options aside, the stew was quickly eaten up and the pot was emptied despite making more food than I had the day before.

Just moving their bodies a little had such a great effect on their appetite. It was pretty gratifying to see such early results.

But as everyone relaxed and rested after their meal, there was one thing I needed to do.

That they needed to hear.

"Everyone, gather around. I need to tell everyone about the continuation from this morning."

My louder than usual voice got everyone's attention. Everyone came in close, making a circle around me.

There was some whispering but that died down when I put down my bag.

"Many of you have been wondering what had happened to everyone who was brought with you, but wasn't in this room."

Quite a few people exclaimed out, asking about what I had found, and many more nodded their heads, staring daggers at me in the hope that somehow that would make me hurry up.

But if anything, I wanted to delay the announcement as much as possible.

Of course I wouldn't do that, as it could destroy the trust I had built up in these last few days.

No, even if I didn't, it could destroy what trust they had managed to create for me, but that I couldn't stop.

I opened my mouth to continue, but the words stopped in my throat.

I tried again yet sound refused to make its way out of my mouth.

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On the third attempt, I only managed a choking sound, and at that point I simply gave up.

Memories of what I had found had drowned out my voice and I wasn't able to say what was needed.

If my voice failed me, then I simply had to show them.

My hands shook, but I forced them to pull out the first body from my bag.

There was an audible gasp. No, many gasps that came so quickly together that they almost sounded like one.

Without stopping my hands, I pulled out the second body, then finally the third.

Unable to make any sounds, I simply kneeled before the bodies, head down in repentance.

I couldn't do anything for these people. I couldn't do anything for those that died to that bastard's hands, directly or indirectly. Most likely I couldn't do anything for those who had a loved one die to his hands either.

All I could do was show my remorse for not being able to do anything.

"D...daddy? Daddy!"

I shuffled back to make room before balling my fists.

It seemed like the first person who recognized one of the corpses rushed forward.

The sound of her sobbing reached my ears, yet I couldn't do anything for her.

I couldn't comfort her.

My condolences would be worthless.

I had nothing of value for her at that moment, and that fact was all too frustrating.

Slowly, the other two bodies were identified and there were more people weeping for the dead.

But as expected, it happened.

"What about Derek?"

"Did you find Joseph?"

"My son! Alex! What about him?"

The rest tried to huddle around me, shaking my shoulders and asking me where their loved ones were.

The words choked in my throat as if they were trying to strangulate me, but eventually through a tightened throat and forcibly suppressed tears, I managed to squeeze out the words I had to say.

"The others...were unrecognizable. I'm sorry."

My voice was quiet, but to those who were desperately hoping for good news, it was deafening.

...

...

...

"That vampire killed them all. The blood of a murderer is in my belly."

Somehow, against all imagination, an icy stone that dropped to the pit of my stomach had been drilled further down.

Disregarding the people who were leaning against me for support, I jumped to my feet and searched for the one who let out those faint words.

"That murderer's blood."

"A killer vampire's blood."

There were more voices that latched onto the first.

The thought that came from that made a shiver run down my spine.

(Who said that?!)

My eyes scanned around, and found a woman with a scowl on her face. One hands was on her swollen belly, and another on a stone bowl, raised up high.

"Don't!"

I leaped over everyone's heads and landed beside that woman. I grabbed her arms and held them tightly to stop her from doing something irreversible.

"Don't stop me! There's a killer, a vampire's blood inside of my belly!"

"No, but...!"

"That monster forced himself on us! All of us!"

"It's a killer's blood!"

"His baby is in our bodies!"

"It's YOUR baby!"

I shouted, far louder than I intended.

But it worked. My words made everyone freeze for a moment, allowing me to collect my thoughts.

"No matter what, the baby inside of you is yours. I know that you didn't want it, but the sins of the father shouldn't be laid upon the children! Everyone is born innocent!"

My tears, which I had been holding back so hard for so long, were flowing freely down my cheeks as I fell to my knees as I begged.

"Please. Life might be common and everywhere, but it is still a miracle. I know it's your body and you deserve to have ultimate control over it, but please, think through it before you do something irreversible."

I let go of her arms lowered my head, pressing it against the stone floor. I didn't know why I was going so far for such a thing, but I felt like I needed to. At the very least, I couldn't let everyone's emotions take away rational thought.

Or maybe my own emotions had already taken away my rational thought and I was just trying to justify it.

Things had gotten difficult these last few days, I wasn't sure just how badly my judgment was being clouded.

"Miss...why are you so desperate about it?"

One of the women spoke up, voice full of curiosity.

"Look, your kind might fear and envy vampires like myself, but the thing is, we feel the same towards your kind as well, you know?"

"Huh? But vampires are so powerful, and live so long."

"But our skin burns under the sun. We take damage from typical healing magic. We're born all alone, often fated to die alone. We can smell the sweetness of fruit, yet can't taste it even a little. We vampires have a lot of things to be envious about you know?"

The fact that I knew these things made some things harder, but I've accepted it all. Only some vestiges were left, things that I hadn't realized I had lost.

"Until a few days ago, I thought I couldn't even have children of my own."

There was a few gasps around me.

"Even further, you know about Scarlet, right?"

Someone had mentioned her before, but I didn't know if it was common knowledge here.

"You mean Saint Scarlet? I think there are fewer people who don't know her."

Almost everyone around me nodded to confirm what she had said.

"Did you know, she was a vampire?"

There were a few gasps again, but fewer this time.

"So it was true?"

I nodded.

"But here's the thing. Apparently, the whole reason why she travelled the world was to find the secret behind creating a family."

"What?! But..."

"That's not a secret!"

"That doesn't make sense!"

"It's true. What she wanted more than anything else was to have a family. But she didn't know how. She thought it was some great secret of the other races. So she travelled to seek it out. To find records of how it was done. To find someone who could trust her enough to reveal the one secret she sought more than anything else."

"But...that doesn't make any sense!"

Everyone else nodded to her words.

"Of course it doesn't. Because you were all born to families. To you it's not a secret at all, because it's so well known nobody ever has to talk about it. But for us, for vampires, we aren't born to any families. We have no way to know unless someone tells us. And in the end, Scarlet died without ever finding out the world's best known secret."

"But now you finally know, Master"

I ignored Claret's terribly timed interjection.

"It's the same for me as well. I slowly gathered the knowledge about it all, but I only learned how it all starts a few days ago. I lived my entire life not knowing how I could get pregnant. So please, at least think about it a little before you snuff out those innocent lives inside of you."

I lowered my head once again, pressing it against the cold ground.

"Umm, I'm sorry. You're right. This baby isn't guilty of any sins."

A hand gently touched my shoulder and I looked up to see a gentle smile. It looked a bit forced, but it felt extremely warm.

"Sorry for yelling as well."

"No, it's my fault for doing something so rash."

I sat up and looked around me. The figures around me were smiling, and I smiled back.

"Well, I understand that at least some of you still can't get over having an unwanted child."

I wiped my face with my the back of my hand, got up and made another announcement.

"If you still feel that way tomorrow, I can try an abortion."

"An abortion?"

"It's when you force a fetus out of the body before it is ready. My knowledge about reproduction is pretty lopsided, but I at least know enough on the theory that I should be able to preform an abortion as long as you're not too far into term."

"What's too far?"

"Hmm...I guess when you're showing more than a tiny bump is too far?"

To be frank, if they were showing at all, I doubted that any sane doctor would allow an abortion that late, but since I could also use healing magic, that would probably not cause permanent damage. It was better to allow a bit more leeway than was ethically possible on Earth without healing magic.

I got up to my feet.

"But I'm sure that you all have a lot to process right now. I'll be outside. I don't think you girls want a vampire like me around tonight."

As everyone quieted down, I squeezed my way between them and slowly made my way to the entrance.

But against my expectation, something grasped my hand before I could get all the way through.

Looking down, I saw the one who grabbed my hand was the unresponsive who I fed the day before.

Baffled at the sight, I simply froze, my mind unable to keep up with the wholly unexpected sight of her doing anything proactively.

"Y, you don't have to go! Stay with us!"

A voice echoed through the silence. When I turned, there was a single figure standing amongst all the sitting women, looking directly at me.

"You've done so much for us already! It doesn't matter that you're a vampire!"

That was the one that was following me on the first day. Epione.

I didn't know if it there was a deeper meaning to it or not, but I wished that she didn't say that as if it was bad being a vampire.

But after her words, everyone else ended up agreeing, so I ended up staying for the night.

It wasn't like there was much for me to do outside anyways, and being used as a pillow by that formerly unresponsive woman made me smile so much I thought that my face would be stuck in that position for the rest of my life.

Yet even if it did, I wouldn't have had any complaints.

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