Nemroy: "...Wait."

Ryu: "By the way, it's a dungeon monster, so it respawns periodically. I can send it again and again, every time it does."

Nemroy: "Please, can you wait…? …I will take responsibility for attacking the human city. The people are innocent."

Ryu: "I think the people of Mimir were innocent too."

Nemroy: "...Please, I beg you."

To Ryujeen's surprise, Nemroy got up from his seat, knelt down, and bowed his head to Ryu.

Ryu: "You think you can be forgiven so easily just by apologizing? You should face the consequences of your actions. You should try to defeat it.”

Nemroy: "It's true, I might be able to defeat the Hydra, but the damage to the city would be enormous. The city will be unusable for a long time because of the poison. It wouldn’t be a fair retribution. The human cities are still there, and humans reproduce quickly. But Demons don’t reproduce like humans..."

Ryu: "That's a selfish argument. Humans may reproduce, but those who have died won't come back. My family and friends won't come back."

Nemroy: "I'm sorry, it's not something that can be fixed with an apology, but I'll make amends as best I can. If you want my head, take it. I'm almost immortal, so I won't die just from having my head cut off, it would actually be convenient for me. Take my head and do whatever you want with it, display it, anything. Just please…"

To be honest, Ryujeen was surprised that the Vampire Lord cared so much about his people. He had always imagined that the leader of the Demons would be arrogant, but he remembered the stories he had heard about how Vampires were not warlike but intelligent.

But that made things a little strange. Why would someone who was willing to sacrifice their own head to protect their people suddenly attack a human city? They hadn't attacked for hundreds of years, which didn't make sense if they were just looking for food.

Ryu: "...Why did you attack the human city?"

Nemroy: "...There were humans who crossed the border into our country. There were humans who would come occasionally, but we tolerated it as long as they were only hunting magical beasts. But… eventually, there were humans who came all the way to our Demon city and started looting and kidnapping. Lesser Vampires, having heard that a Demon child had been kidnapped, went to retrieve it."

Ryu: "...What?"

Nemroy: "The children were rescued. But some Demons developed a taste for human flesh... And they couldn’t stop. The magical beasts who tasted human flesh also went berserk. By the time I found out about the situation, the city had already been destroyed. What I didn't expect was how weak humans were… They seem different from the humans who fought against the Demons during the previous war."

Ryu: "You're saying that the humans were the ones who started it?"

Nemroy: "I'm not lying. But there's no point in making excuses. My subordinates' actions are my responsibility as their leader. It's true that we took the lives of three cityfuls of humans. I understand that saying ‘humans eat animals and magical beasts, too' is just an excuse from the perspective of those who were killed."

Ryujeen had already confirmed using his Divine Sight that the Vampire was telling the truth. The Lord was aware that Ryujeen was using some kind of appraisal ability and accepted it silently.

Ryujeen was a little taken aback. The story was different if it wasn't a one-sided invasion by the Demons, and the humans had been the ones who had initiated the attack.

It was true that human adventurers and merchants in this world were unpredictable and would do anything for money. They probably intended to enslave the Demon children and sell them for a high price.

However, even knowing that, it wasn't something that Ryujeen could easily forgive. He had lost those who were like family to him. It wasn't easy to put down the anger and the fist he had raised.

…It wasn't easy, but it would be cruel and tyrannical to ignore their apology, even though they were admitting their mistake, offering compensation, and even offering to sacrifice their lives for their mistake, which was caused by their subordinates’ rampage.

Ryujeen hesitated, unable to decide immediately.

He decided to ask about something else that had been bothering him.

The Lord seemed to know a lot about the Hydra. That meant…

Ryu: "...Did you fight the Hydra?"

Nemroy: "My father did, yes… More than two thousand years ago. That’s why my relatives all had their lifespans severely shortened. I was still young at the time and couldn’t participate in the war, which is why I’m still alive…"

Ryujeen had been unable to find the Vampire's weaknesses even after researching, but it turned out that Vampires weren't immortal. They were almost immortal, but they were actually weak to a certain kind of poison.

And the Hydra produced and released that poison. It was a lucky coincidence that Ryujeen had decided to use the Hydra. He had unwittingly exploited the enemy's weakness.

But, even though they were weak, they didn't die immediately. So, it might not be considered a weakness. But even Vampires, who had an almost infinite lifespan, if affected by the poison, would gradually become weaker, as if they were given a "lifespan," and eventually meet their end. (But it still took hundreds or even two hundred years.)

Nemroy: "...Unlike humans, Demons reproduce slowly. It took a long time to rebuild the city from that point..."

Ryu: "Two thousand years ago…? Isn’t that when the war between humans and Demons happened?!"

Nemroy: "Yes. During that time, we, the Vampires, fought alongside humans against the Demon King's army."

Wait a minute. This is completely different. He thought that humans had fought against an army of Demons led by a Vampire King. But it wasn't like that at all. The Vampires were actually allies with the humans? The Demon King wasn't a Vampire, but someone else?

Nemroy: "Perhaps humans have already forgotten that. Right, human lifespans are short. Demon lifespans are long. Many of those who fought during that time are still alive…"

Ryu: "But aren’t Demons supposed to eat humans? Don’t Vampires suck human blood?"

Nemroy: "Because they are our food, we couldn’t exterminate them, could we? You humans also hunt animals for food, but you’d be in trouble if you wiped them out. If humans are Vampires’ food, humans and Vampires are essentially a symbiotic relationship. But some Demons believe that humans should be eradicated from this world. Those Demons began to attack humans. Humans fought back desperately. We weren’t particularly friendly with humans, but we didn’t think they needed to be exterminated, so we decided to help. We don’t want to be unable to suck human blood, after all. And as Vampire and human technology combined, a forbidden technology was born and used. The Hydra."

To be Continued...

Next Time

He must also settle the score with the Chagamga Republic.

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