The sun was beginning to set when we arrived at the bookstore. When we entered, we were greeted by the sight of Anatoly and Natalya lounging about near the desk at the back. Anatoly waved at us cheerfully, and Natalya smiled at me in a way that made me very uncomfortable.

  “Lucy!” called Anatoly. “Pierre, Alphonse, Christine! It is good to see you again. I take it your trip to the Dungeon went well?”

  “Yes, very, thank you for asking, sir,” said Pierre respectfully.

  “Anatoly,” I said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. Can you set up one of those sound barriers?”

  Anatoly did not move, but Natalya did. She snapped her fingers, and I felt a ripple of mana.

  “Done,” she said. “But if you didn’t want them to hear us talk, then why did you bring them along?”

  I glared at her for a second. I didn’t really want her to be too involved, but I had no reason not to tell her, so I continued.

  “Because I need to tell them the truth. Or at least a convincing lie,” I said.

  “What for?” she asked. “Have you become close enough that you feel guilty for deceiving them, or did something happen in the Dungeon?”

  “Something happened,” I said. “I almost died. They saw me drink blood and heal from what should have been a fatal wound. I promised them an explanation, but I don’t know them well enough to trust them with the truth unconditionally.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, that is no problem. I have just the thing.” He raised his hand with a flourish. “If you have them sign these and give a drop of blood before telling them, then they will be unable to disclose whatever you tell them. Unless someone breaks the spell. But that would be nearly impossible, as whoever was breaking it would need to be higher level than myself.”

  “What happens if they tell someone else anyway?” I asked.

  “Oh, you misunderstand. They will be incapable of disclosing the truth. If they try, they will be unable to. And if someone tries to force it out of them, they will simply lose their memories of the truth.”

  “Oh. That sounds perfect!” I said.

  He handed me the papers, which I accepted gratefully, and Natalya snapped her fingers again and I felt the mana around us disappear. I turned to the adventurers who had been waiting patiently a few feet away.

  “I promised you an explanation, but first, I’m going to need you to sign these,” I said, holding up the contracts.

  “What are they?” asked Pierre.

  “Contracts. You won’t be able to tell anyone else what you’re about to hear.”

  Pierre looked at me with suspicion, and Al and Christine looked at me with confusion.

  “I can guarantee that neither she, nor those contracts will bring you any harm,” said Anatoly. “Well, nothing more than a small prick to draw a drop of blood. However, it is necessary if you want the truth.”

  Pierre seemed suspicious still, but after a few seconds relented.

  “Alright,” he said, walking forwards to collect the contracts.

  Al and Christine had been looking at him in anticipation, apparently deferring to his judgment, so when he acquiesced, they followed him. Once they signed, Anatoly gathered the contracts, and I sensed him push mana into them.

  “You may begin,” he said to me.

  “Ok.” I looked at the three adventurers, trying to decide how I would say it, but ultimately decided that it needed no sugarcoating or added flair.

  “I am a vampire,” I said.

  Al and Christine gasped in surprise, and Pierre’s eyes widened in realization.

  “Like the ones from all the old stories?” asked Christine.

  “Depends on the stories,” I said.

  “Does that mean that you can fly and turn into a bat and mind control people and things like that?” asked Al.

  “No, no and yes,” I replied.

  “You can mind control people?” asked Pierre.

  “Not completely,” I said.

  “Did you mind control us?” asked Christine, backing away slightly.

  “No. I would never do that.”

  “How come you seem to be ok in the sunlight?” asked Al.

  I felt Natalya’s piercing gaze on the back of my neck as this question was asked. Fortunately, I had already recognized that this was a big hole in my story, and had come up with a reasonable explanation for it.

  “I am the last of the vampires. Because of that, the System gave me a special class to help me survive. I have a skill that cancels out my weakness to sunlight,” I said.

  I felt Natalya’s gaze lessen in intensity.

  “Woah. Cool!” said Al.

  “What else can you do?” asked Christine.

  “I can control blood.” I summoned a bit of blood from [Greater Inventory] and moved it around in the air in front of me to prove my point.

  “So it was blood that you drank down there,” said Pierre.

  “Yes,” I said. “Monster’s blood. I don’t drink human blood usually.”

  “Usually?” Pierre raised his eyebrow.

  “Well, if there’s spare blood lying around, I’m not just gonna leave it. I won’t go out of my way to take it though.”

  “Mhm,” he replied.

  It was clear that Pierre did not entirely trust me yet. That was fine though, since he had signed the contract. Al and Christine on the other hand looked more excited than put off.

  “What kind of monster blood tastes the best?” asked Al.

  “So far, the puppies had the best blood,” I said. “But I haven’t had that many different kinds yet. I was mostly drinking goblin blood until the Dungeon.”

  “What does it taste like?” asked Christine.

  I opened my mouth to share my watered-down lemonade analogy, but caught myself, and changed my story.

  “Bland,” I said. “It doesn’t really taste like much of anything.”

  If I referenced human foods, I would become even more suspicious in the eyes of the elves. So far, in my experience, human food didn’t taste very good to me. That was probably the case for all vampires. If I revealed that I knew what human foods tasted like, Natalya might arrest me right there.

  “Oh,” said Christine, slightly disappointed.

  Al opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, Anatoly cut him off.

  “I’m sure that you three have a million questions that you want answered, but answering them would take all night, and these contracts have a limit to how much they can cover. You have about a minute longer to keep asking questions before that limit is reached, and I end the spell. I would recommend that you save your simple questions for later, and only ask what you believe to be the most important ones.

  The three adventures grew momentarily thoughtful, then Pierre spoke.

  “If you’re not hurting anyone, and you’re not a criminal, why are you trying so hard to keep your race a secret?” he asked.

  That question stumped me. Before, I had the reasonable excuse that I didn’t want the church to be too suspicious of me. However, now, most people, the adventurers included, believed that there was only one Demon King, and that they had already been defeated, so to them, hiding from the church’s attention would not be a good reason. I could try to tell them what Anatoly had told me about there being multiple Demon Kings, but then it would be suspicious how concerned I was about appearing to be a Demon King.

  I couldn’t say that it was to avoid attention, because they knew I was going to accept Sylvia’s offer, which could possibly draw more attention than the discovery of my race ever would. Clearly, based on their reactions, Vampires were not as feared as I thought they might have been. There wasn’t any concrete reason for me to be hiding my race, so I settled on a more abstract one.

  “It’s just annoying when too many people know,” I said. “I’d rather keep it to myself.”

  “Whose blood have you drunk?” asked Al.

  “Only the blood of people who tried to kill me.” I decided not to mention Jacques and Valentino

  “How many was that?” he asked.

  “3, so far.” I said.

  “Who-” he started to say.

  “Shut up, Al,” said Christine, elbowing him in his now unarmored gut. “We only have like 30 seconds left.” She looked at me. “How many other people know?”

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  “Just the people in this room,” I said. “And a few more who don’t really matter.”

  “So we’re the only adventurers that know, right? Does that mean we’ll still adventure with you, since you can trust us more?”

  “Maybe,” I responded. “But I expect that I will be too strong to continue working with you before long. I’m probably already nearing that point actually.”

  Christine and Al looked slightly crestfallen.

  “15 seconds,” warned Anatoly.

  “Would you have told us if we didn't see what happened down there?" asked Pierre.

  "No. Probably not," I replied.

  “Aaaand, time’s up,” said Anatoly as the mana around the contracts dissipated.

  He handed them over to me. “You should put these into your inventory to keep them safe. If you ever want to cancel the contracts, you can do that at any time by destroying those papers.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The three adventurers looked at each other, then looked back at me and the elves.

  “Thank you for keeping your promise,” said Pierre.

  “Yeah!” said Al. “It was really cool to hear that…” his voice trailed off. “Wow, that contract thing really does work!”

  “No problem. I owed you guys an explanation anyways. I’m not sure I would have survived if you weren’t there to help.”

  “If you ever need an adventuring party, and for some reason don’t want to ask the Lions, don’t forget about us,” said Christine.

  “Of course not. I’ll definitely look for you guys if I need you.”

  “Do you wanna travel with us to Claude?” asked Al. “Y’know, since you’re going up there with Lady Sylvia, and we’re going up there to challenge stronger Dungeons?”

  Before I could respond, Natalya answered for me.

  “No, she can’t,” she said.

  “What?” I said. “Why not?”

  “We’ll talk about that in a moment,” she said to me before turning back to the adventurers. “Her travel arrangements have already been taken care of.”

  “Oh,” said Al. “That sucks. Will you contact us later though?”

  “Yes,” I said firmly.

  “I can assist with that,” said Anatoly. “You have no need to worry.”

  “Awesome!” said Christine.

  “Well, we should probably get going then,” said Pierre, looking at Natalya. “You guys look like you have some things to discuss, so we’ll get out of your way. It was fun adventuring with you, Lucy.”

  “I had a good time too. Except for the end there.”

  Pierre smirked. “Have a good night,” he said.

  “You too,” I replied.

  “Don’t forget about us,” said Christine.

  “I won’t.”

  “Um. Goodbye then.”

  “Goodbye, Al.”

  After they walked out the door, I turned to Natalya.

  “What did you mean about my travel arrangements already being taken care of?” I asked.

  “I will be opening a portal for us,” said Anatoly.

  “Are you coming too?”

  “Yes,” he said. “After coming to know Sylvia better, I have decided that I will accept her family’s offer as a favor to her.”

  “Oh. What will happen to your shop while you’re gone?”

  Instead of responding, he waved his hand, and I felt a huge surge of spatial mana expand outwards to cover the entire shop. A moment later, we were the only things left in the shop. Every single book had vanished to what I assumed was Anatoly’s own version of [Inventory].

  “Wow,” I said, genuinely impressed. “But why are you packing up now? When are we leaving?”

  “Sylvia is already on her way over as we speak. We will be leaving once she arrives.”

  “So soon?” I asked.

  “Is that a problem?” he replied.

  “No, I just didn’t expect us to be leaving so quickly. This is actually better. I would have been bored waiting to leave.”

  “I thought so,” said Anatoly smiling. “I talked with Sylvia after you went down into the Dungeon and we worked out this plan. She’s had her things packed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice ever since.”

  “Wow. Alright then.” I turned to Natalya. “And I guess you’re coming with us?”

  I wasn’t too enthused about spending more time with the elf woman. She was clearly suspicious of me, and she was one of the people who had hunted and slain the first Demon King, making her an incredibly dangerous person for me to associate with. The less time I spent with her, the better.

  “Yes. Before we leave, though, I have one question for you.” she looked me directly in the eye and her face became very serious. “Lucy. Are you a Demon King?”

  Though I knew she was suspicious of me, I hadn’t expected her to say it so explicitly, and was taken aback by her question.

  “No,” I said quickly.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said.

  “Well, then why did you ask?” I said, annoyed.

  “Because if you had said ‘yes’, then it would have simplified things.”

  “So now what?” I asked. “Are you going to arrest me or something? Keep me locked up until I can prove I’m not a Demon King.”

  “I could definitely do that,” said Natalya with a slight smirk. “But I won’t. Instead, I’m going to make you my apprentice.”

  “Why?”

  “Because then I can keep an eye on you, and I’ll be in a position to stop you if you do turn out to be a Demon King. And if you’re not a Demon King, you are one of the most talented people to ever live. You’ll eventually surpass me and my father, if you survive. Why wouldn’t I want to teach you?” A wide grin spread across Natalya’s face.

  I looked at her suspiciously. “No thanks. I can learn fine on my own. Just surveil me normally.”

  “Maybe, but you’ll learn better with me helping you,” said Natalya, still smiling.

  “I’d rather not spend all my time with someone who could kill me at a moment’s notice if she thought I was too suspicious, thanks,” I said.

  Natalya’s smile remained, but her eyes grew cold. “You will be my apprentice,” she said.

  “Nat,” said Anatoly in a warning voice.

  Natalya glared at me for a second, then took a deep breath, and the warm smile returned.

  “Do you know how old I am?” she asked me.

  “No,” I replied.

  “I am over 3000 years old. Do you know how many apprentices I’ve had during that time?”

  I kept staring at her.

  “10,” she said. “And 3 of those were my children. If you become my apprentice, you will be only the 8th non-elf in 3000 years to apprentice under me, one of the most powerful and knowledgeable people in the world. Not to mention, I am one of a very small number of true archmages, even among elves. You could not find a better teacher if you spent a thousand years searching.”

  I looked at her in silence. What she said was true. She would probably make for an excellent teacher. But having her as my teacher would severely limit my freedom. And she was already suspicious of me being a Demon King. I didn’t plan on ever taking the Demon King class, but it would be all too easy to let slip some Earth knowledge, or accidentally show too much familiarity with the way Demon Kings worked to clue her in on my origins. Having her watching me at all times would be dangerous.

  On the other hand though, if she already was suspicious of me, and was already going to surveil me, even if I wasn’t her apprentice, it would be better to have her in a place where I could see her than somewhere that I couldn’t.

  As I contemplated this, I had another sudden thought. I could actually use this to my advantage. To win this game, I would need to defeat the other incarnations. Natalya was part of the group created specifically to target these incarnations. If I stayed with her, I could have insider information on the whereabouts and abilities of my competition, and I might even be able to join their team and work towards my goal, all while clearing myself of suspicion.

  “Fine,” I said.

  “Excellent!” she said.

  As she said that, I received a System notification.

Archmage’s Apprentice

Prerequisites: Become the apprentice of an Archmage

You were lucky enough to catch the eye of one of the pinnacles of magic. Your growth in magic will increase exponentially.

Unlocks: -

+25 [Wil] and [Int] every User level

Evolutions: [Archmage]

[Decline]

[Select]

  “You should have just been offered a new class,” said Natalya. “Take it.”

  “But my current class is better,” I said. “I get better stats, and this won’t even give me any new skills.”

  “It won’t give you any new skills, immediately,” she corrected me. “If I am not mistaken, your current class is not a magic-focused one, is it?”

  “Correct.”

  “And it was not granted for a one-time accomplishment, right? It was granted due to some part of your nature that will not change, right?”

  “Yes…” I said, curious where she was going with this line of questioning.

  “Then take the [Archmage’s Apprentice] class. It might have worse stat bonuses per User level, but you will unlock some skills as you level the class up that would be impossible to obtain otherwise.”

  “I learned how to use magic without a mage class though. Why would I need one now?” I asked.

  “One word,” said Natalya. “Metamagic. System-granted skills that amplify your magic that can only be obtained through mage classes. You would never be able to unlock it without a mage class. With metamagic, you can cast more spells at once, or stronger spells, or faster spells, or you can twist spells in different ways to suit your needs in ways that cannot be replicated without those skills.

  “Additionally, you can always go to the temple of Change later and get your old class back after you’ve gotten the metamagic skills you want. Or, if you level up the apprentice class high enough, you can evolve into Archmage, which probably grants better stats than whatever your current class is.”

  I hesitated a moment, then hit accept. Once again, the class change was disappointingly uneventful. Nothing obvious changed, aside from the section of my Status window that showed my class.

  “I did it,” I said.

  “Good. Perfect timing too. Sylvia is about to walk in.”

  I looked towards the door just in time to see Sylvia walk in, dressed in a thick fur coat and flanked by her two guards. She was breathing slightly heavier than normal, and her cheeks with rosy, either from the cold, or the physical exertion of rushing over. Her guards appeared unfazed though.

  “Lucy!” she said, rushing towards me. “You’re back!”

  “That I am. It’s good to see you again.”

  “It is good to see you as well,” she said, stopping just in front of me. “And thank you again, Anatoly, for accepting my offer. It will be immensely helpful.”

  “You are welcome,” he said, smiling.

  “And you, Natalya for offering to teach Lucy,” she glanced between us. “You talked about that already, right?”

  “Yes,” said Natalya. “We had actually just finished working it out when you arrived.”

  “Great!” she said, clapping her hands together. She looked at me. “We’ll have to work out the exact details of the deal with my father, but I’m so glad that you decided to accept! The duke will be very pleased!”

  “I look forward to working with him.”

  Sylvia’s smile faltered for a split second. “I look forward to having you in our employment as well,” she said. “So, are we all ready? Nobody’s forgetting anything?”

  “I’m all good,” I said. “I don’t really have much to begin with.”

  “Well, that will definitely change soon,” said Sylvia happily.

  “I have already packed everything,” said Anatoly.

  “Same here,” said Natalya.

  “Perfect,” said Sylvia, clapping again. “Anatoly, if you would be so kind…”

  “Of course,” he said.

  He held out his hand to his side and closed his eyes. I felt a massive amount of mana– at least 10 times more than anything I had ever witnessed– start to circulate around his hand. The portal appeared a moment later. At first, it was nothing more than a small circle of inky blackness a few inches from Anatoly’s hand, but it slowly expanded outwards until it was a large, slightly wobbly rectangle. The edges then slowly solidified, and a few seconds later, Anatoly finally opened his eyes, and dropped his arm.

  “After you,” he said gesturing towards the portal.

  When we emerged from the otherside, we found ourselves standing in front of a set of large iron gates.

  “Well,” said Sylvia. “Welcome to my home.”