POV: Therese

Chloe just handed me her report on Jared. I skim through it.

"Are you kidding me?", I can't believe what is written there, "You CAN'T be serious!"

"I'm afraid I am", responds Chloe.

She must be mistaken, "How can that be? We've both seen that he has a family name. He MUST be a noble, a 'Vampire Noble'. You know as well as I do that commoners aren't 'allowed' to take a family name. The accursed nobles won't let us."

Chloe sounds uncertain, "He claims there where he is from this is different."

"A place spared from nobles? Get real. Not even in fairy tales do those exist!"

She is insistent, "What if it is true?"

"I won't believe it until I see it. None of the 24 Lost Ones god sent us managed to free us from the noble's terror, didn't even make any lasting change to that problem. So why should a random vampire know of such a paradise... Did he say where that should be?"

She shakes her head, "No, he couldn't recall."

"Of course not because it can't be real, Chloe. I believe that as much as his cover story. The conveniently deceased vampire Erwin supposedly was in a conspiracy with an unknown vampire noble. For how stupid does he take me!?", I hit the desk in my anger.

"Calm down, Therese!", Chloe tries to quell my anger, "he wasn't the vampire that killed your daughter, you know that! That was years ago!"

I suppress my tears, "I... I know... I never even got to properly know her."

She comforts me, "Yeah, I know the story of how the nobles drove you apart."

knock knock

"Hi, it's Jack."

I sigh, "Guess we'll need to continue this later", I order Chloe, "Can you let him in, please?"

Chloe opens the door and Jack stumbles in, "So, what did you order me here for?"

"Three! Three times!"

"Uh...", Jack has no idea what I'm getting at.

I'm getting worked up, "Alone in the last week you've abandoned a suspicious person you were supposed to escort THREE times before they arrived where they were supposed to go."

"Oh come on, nothing bad happened", he just shrugs it off.

"NOTHING?", does Jack really not ever get anything? "We've potentially a Vampire Noble running around and your charge is a prime suspect. A lot of people died in the ghoul outbreak. And you say nothing bad happened? You were supposed to keep the situation under control!"

"Therese, calm down", Chloe interjects, "we've no lead that links him to the incident."

Jack is puzzled, "Who are you two talking about?"

Chloe gives him a push on the back, "Jared, the silver elf. Turned out to be a vampire. Ring any bells?"

"Oh, him. Dunno, I have a feeling he's a good guy. Maybe a bit too curious for his own good but at least not hostile."

I'm not in the mood for guessing games, "as if I'd believe that. Out of over forty recorded vampires since I started working here EVERY! LAST! ONE! just caused problems."

Chloe scolds me, "Therese, please stick to the facts. I think your judgment is clouded by your experience with nobles and vampires."

"Did you - did you just imply Jared is a noble?", Jack is going a bit pale.

"At least by the rules we know", I explain, "he has a family name after all. Chloe has seen it as well."

Jack doesn't sound convinced, "Weird, he didn't give me the impression that he'd be one of those arrogant jerks."

Chloe tells him, "I think Therese is overreacting because of her history with those two groups."

"Maybe...", I kind of agree with Chloe.

Jack asks, "May I know what this history is?"

Please don't...

"So you know how in some areas nobles are so fanatic that they not only disallow us commoners to take a family name", Chloe explains, "but also literally hunt down any commoner that dares have a relationship that goes beyond creating and offspring and then dumping said child in an orphanage?"

I slam on the table, "Hey! That is private!"

Jack ignores me, "I've only heard rumors of this messed up behavior, so does that really happen?"

Chloe answers, "Afraid so, she lost her lover that way and then fled here while pregnant."

"Can you please stop reminding me", I feel some tears on my face. I didn't need to recall that event...

Chloe continues, "Over here it is better just because we're currently spared from having any nobles in charge at all."

"And what happened to the child?", asks Jack.

Ah, screw it, might as well finish it myself, "I had to give my daughter up to an orphanage. Even if you don't have a noble hunting commoners here, not having a family is too ingrained into the culture. I... wasn't even allowed to watch over her, then lost sight of my child. Years later I found out that she died during a vampire attack..."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Chloe frowns, "Sorry for bringing this up, Therese."

"Yeah, I'll pay you back for that once I can recall any of your embarrassing past stories."

She sweats, "As long as it isn't the story of how I asked out Max I'm fine with it."

Jack wants to know, "What was with Max?"

"She - "

"I SAID YOU TAKE THAT TO THE GRAVE!", Chloe has turned quite red.

Jack is done processing what he has heard, "Okay but how does that relate to Jared?"

I take back the lead, "He is a vampire, we know that much for certain. And we saw with [Appraise] that he has a family name. He claims that he is from an area where nobles didn't forbid commoners from having a family name but I've never heard of such a region. I know at least enough about this continent."

"And if he is from a different one?", Jack asks.

Chloe explains to him, "How would he have come here? Sea travel is impossible since the uprising of the sea demon lord three hundred years ago. And I don't see Jared having a form of space magic."

Jack scratches his head in embarrassment, "Yeah, sorry, thinking isn't my strong suit."

"Geez, I would've never guessed."

...

I need a moment to compose myself again, "Well, since we're lacking any Truth Gems I have no way to verify one way or another. Chloe risked her neck by going to the slums with him earlier but her findings were just as inconclusive. Of course, she didn't take the opportunity to dispose of him in a different fashion."

Chloe cuts me off, "Hey, what was I supposed to do? You know as well as I do that if I killed him there the law enforcement system would end me when I get back to civilized grounds... I... kinda forcefully pulled him into the slums so it would know that it was intentional on my part."

"Yeah, true. Should've sent some disposable grunt like Jack here instead."

Jack objects, "Hey!"

"What? All I've seen from you so far just points to you being a liability, not a reliable soldier."

"That's... fair enough I guess", Jack admits sheepishly.

...

"Hey, so that might just be my inexperience", Jack offers his 'expertise', "but IF Jared was a 'Vampire Noble' as you suspect wouldn't he be way higher level? I always thought that when monsters evolve to their next stage that all their levels increase by quite a lot. In the mission paper I got it said he was still level 1."

"That's...", could he really be right? "We don't really know if this is true. In the stories about how vampires came to be this was indeed the case but no one really ever had the opportunity to verify. At this stage, it is just a theory."

"You're as skeptical as ever, Therese", Chloe interjects, "why not give him the benefit of doubt for now? We've both seen with [Appraise] that he is too weak to be a threat to us even if he tried. And honestly? We seriously need mages. Especially with how bad this flood has turned out."

I know the need but not like this, "And how do you intend to keep him from going blood crazy? You know as well as I do that vampires can't subsist on two or three vials of monster blood per week. Not for long. If we're honest they need more like six to seven at a minimum. We just don't find enough in the dungeon. This is just an accident waiting to happen."

"Uh, hey", Jack speaks up again, "how'd you then manage to keep the other vampires under control for so long?"

"Honestly? We don't. We know that they go to the slums and kill people there. It is just that we don't have the manpower to catch them in the act. So we... just turn a blind eye."

"You can't be serious!", Jack is appalled. If Jack of all people calls you out you just know you've messed up.

"Morally it is wrong. Legally it is questionable but the system ignores it. And personally? I have no way to change it and have bigger problems to care about. I'd rather sacrifice a few bums than lose another soldier. We're already barely holding on as is."

And that's not only limited to the gates...

"Therese - ", Chloe is disappointed in my flippant handling of those people.

"If you know a better way just tell me. I don't. I just deal with the hand I'm given and currently? It sucks. Big time."

You haven't the faintest clue how bad our situation truly is, and it is better if it stays that way.

"Yeah, sorry. I got nothing", Chloe looks down, clearly frustrated.

"Seriously, as long as something like today doesn't happen again or you catch them in the act my hands are tied. If you don't like it give me an alternative. I'm not born to be a leader, never learned it. I'm just in charge now because everyone more competent is out of commission or dead."

"I think you're doing a decent job", Chloe says trying to console me, "But hear me out. We just continue with Jared as we have. And when we either catch him in the act we can just deal with him then."

"Urgh, FINE. But only until Darius wakes up and takes charge again, everything after that is not my problem anymore."

"So, uhh, can I go now?", Jack tries to get away, "We're done now, right?"

"No. We're not finished with your evaluation!"

Jack winces, "Worth a try..."

"As I said you were three times in charge of bringing Jared somewhere and all three times failed to see it through, let's ignore the other dozen infractions from last week alone."

Jack tries to weasel his way out, "Hey, how was I supposed to know that he'd be a vampire the first time?"

"It was an ORDER!", I sigh, "I really don't know what to do with you. It is just one disappointment after another."

"Hey, Therese, how about just putting Jack in charge of Jared for the near future?", suggests Chloe.

Jack is terrified, "You want me to run around with a bloodsucker on my neck?"

I point at him, "Hey, YOU said that you trust him to be not dangerous. That's the perfect opportunity to put your money where your mouth is."

"Me and my big mouth...", curses Jack.

I don't need long to agree, "Good enough for me. That way at least two problems are in the same place."

Chloe asks, "Umm, Therese, how about giving Jared library access? He asked about it earlier and honestly if he's busy reading he won't have time to cause trouble elsewhere."

"Good idea. Do that."

Jack is confused, "Wait, does that mean I'll have to learn how to read?!"

"I don't think you'll have time for that. Just let him borrow some books and then keep him busy for the rest of your shift. If he feels hungry subtly nudge him towards the slums and 'lose' track of him, I'm certain you're an expert in that field."

"But how would I keep him busy then?", Jack interjects, "He only has one hour in the sun with the ring. What then?"

"Not my problem, just let him lead the way. Your task is just to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble for the people that matter."

Jack doesn't really seem to care anymore, "Got it. And what about nighttime? I'm not taking him in with me!"

"We'll just leave that to the night patrols. We don't have sufficient manpower for 24/7 observation anyway. Just... do as much as possible and pray I'm wrong about my suspicion."

Jack agrees, "Understood. I'll... start with that tomorrow. When should I pick him up?"

"We start training at 800", Chloe adds, "he currently manages five hours, then casts some spells at the west gate."

Jack is relieved, "Perfect, I can sleep in at least."

I scoff, "We'll certainly need to take some disciplinary actions with you... Jack, you're dismissed. Get out of my sight before I change my mind and decide on a proper punishment for you."

"Yikes, ok bye", Jack hurries out of the room.

"He doesn't take this seriously at all...", Chloe sounds frustrated.

"Yeah", I agree with Chloe, "all of our lives are at stake here."

She asks me, "Therese, did the doctors say anything about how long it'll be until the commander is ready to take lead again?"

"Darius? No, they don't know. Probably at least another week until he wakes up and then some more days before he can leave the bed again. Why? Dissatisfied with my job?"

She avoids looking me in the eyes, "No, not really. But Margret... she didn't take the news well."

"She's still crushing on him?"

Chloe nods, "Yep, clear as day. But don't tell her. She still thinks that is a secret between her and me."

"Goddammit, girl", I facepalm, "He's got what? Ten years on you."

Chloe guesses, "I think it is only eight."

I sigh, "Bad enough."

"Wanna help me set them up?", she asks.

"I give her three weeks. After that, we can force the issue."

Chloe sounds happy, "You're on."