Last time, Ark had abandoned Liliana, the red hair elf, after making her cry.

A very trashy man.

Since he wasn't eager to get caught, he entered from a different door and tried to find a place to hide in the main building.

Having never been given a tour before, it was hard as he didn't know where to go.

Except the lounge and training facility, there is also a kitchen, a library, shared baths for both genders, and a dining room.

Waking the earliest, Ark only took some food and returned to practice right away, so he hadn't seen anyone else. That is why he didn't meet Liliana before, nor other members.

"Hiding hide.... gotta find a place to hide..."

Ark is usually talentless, but his songs he improvised suck even more. It deserved a new rank, I, going beyond F and G!

"What are you humming boy? Wanna share the song with big sis?"

"Hiikk!"

Startled, Ark turns to see the owner of the voice. And the moment he sees her, he is rendered speechless.

Blonde hair reaching the waist. Shappire eyes and pursed lips emitting seductive vibe. Slender figure carried in a refined manner. The skin white as porcelain, making her look as delicate as a doll.

(Oh, this chick is hot! But wait, don't get deceived by that just like with the stupid elf. She could be an idiot!)

Having stupid thoughts of a stupid person, it is compeltely blocked by his excellent acting skills, which leave him with an indifferent look.

Countless men got in trouble for staring and having these impure thought, yet the worst of them is able to avoid punishment. The world sure is unfair.

"Oh? You are one interesting boy, not losing yourself in front of big sis."

"I don't have older siblings."

(Damn, it's huge. I can bury my hand in it...)

Nope, Ark lost himself completely like any men facing such beauty would.

"Is that so? I have too many siblings, but my real family is the Solitary Wolves, so that makes Ark my younger brother."

"Who are you again?"

(I will cut my arm for an opportunity to bury my head between these thighs...)

"Ah, I am sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I am Scarlet Nylph, a dhampir."

Dhampirs. The only halflings of the demons that got an official names of their own. As children of the vampire race, they possess inhuman beauty and strength, keen senses and many more perks. Moreover, they have none of the vampire's weaknesses, with the most glaring being weakness to sunlight. Another name of the dhampir race is Daywalkers.

However, because dhampirs also find blood tasty, depite not necessary for sustenance, and their supernatural charm they were feared by many.

Ah, but our protagonist that doesn't hold prejudice is sure to show acceptance... let's hope.

"A dhampir... that's cool. I heard it difficult for dhampirs as most food feels bland compared to the taste of blood. I don't mind giving some if you want."

"Ah, how considerate. I will be sure to take your offer eventually." Smiling seductively, Scarlet licked her lips.

Thank god, our protagonist has some hope...

(I'll be sure to get something in return though. But even without it, getting my blood sucked by a beauty and not dying from it would be exciting.)

Nevermind.

Trash will always be trash.

Irredeemable that should get sucked to death, unworthy of the dhampir seductions.

He was after the experience of some mature novel described as pleasuring, as well as reaping benefits.

Why, just why no one is aware that a guy that deserves to be in hell is setting all the beauties are interested in him? The silver haired prodigy, the red haired elf, and the dhampir! You can find better!

Seriously, just look properly!

"...Kristan! W-what are you doing?" With a trembling voice, Ark questioned the behavior of his senior; that appeared behind him and attached a dagger to his throat again.

"Nothing. Did you know that offering blood to vampires and dhampirs is considered a confession?"

"N-no..."

Kristan's cold voice terrified Ark to the bone. The dagger slightly cut the skin and blood oozed out.

"Kristan, you can't go scaring the boy. He didn't know. My, what a troublesome boyfriend you are." With a casual tone, as if Ark's life weren't in mortal danger, Scarlet reveals their relationship.

Yes, it seems Scarlet was just playing with Ark. She has escaped the heroine path and no longer be of danger of dating this asshole.

Pulling the dagger, Ark finally remembered to breath.

(Damn bastard, I will beat the shit out of you one day!)

"You suit each other... sorry for the rude remark. I may need to learn some demons etiquette."

"It's fine..." Scarlet wiped a drop of his blood with her finger and tasted it. "Yep, it's as bland as water. I would rather have normal food than living on this tasteless blood."

"That's a shame... I mean, I am sure Kristan would love to give you his own blood." Uncertain of what to say, Ark tried to expressed disappointment, but quickly changed as Kristan's face turned demonic.

(Seductive b*tch! Crazy assh*le! You two are perfect for each other. Make your partner miserable in hell!)

Ark's head was filled with rude thoughts toward his senior fellow knights.

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"Blood Heal."

With a short chant, Scatlet casts a spell that causes his cut to heal instantly.

It was the blood magic of the vampires. It is a dangerous power with wide range of application such as offensive, defensive and even healing. Especially effective against weaker opponents, it's a power that could be used to massacre many.

"Oh, dwadling here nearly made me forget! I am in a hurry! Excuse me..." Ark dashed away towards the exit.

(Finally, not between these two psychos. Why was I in a hurry before though... ah, the crying elf. Oh well, I would rather take her on than that crazy pair.)

Yes, Ark couldn't bear the couple at once and had merely used an excuse to escape. Only then did he remember of Liliana, but now he judges it to be the less dangerous place to be at.

"Ark, there you are!"

"Liliana! Listen, I am sorry about before..."

He couldn't avoid Liliana as she called out to him, so he was forced to go and apologize. At least she didn't cry anymore, so no one would misunderstand the situation to be 'that'.

"Forget about that. Commander came and explained your situation to me. I would have been just as stressed if I were in your shoes." Apologizing and even show sympathy, Liliana showed the qualities of a role model knight.

But for Ark, the image of a stupid rude was integrated deep. He won't treat her as respectfully as before...

"Even though I am a cheater? I honestly feel regret as I brought it on my own, but leaving that prodigy girl without a rival felt wrong."

(As expected, she really is a beauty. Maybe I will have luck with her later on when she gains a brain.)

Indeed the image was integrated, but he treats her respectfully because she is pretty again!? To shamelessly think so rudely of a nice person like Liliana and lying blatantly of his nonexisting feelings.

The pretense of humility, regret and sense of duty would sicken anyone who knew the truth.

Unfortunately, Liliana bought it. "That much is fine. Your 'cheating' would save countless lives with the growing Wind Avatar. And I am willing to help you train whenever."

"Ah, thank you. I really aplreciate, really." Ark bowed his head, smiling sincerely.

(Would the training involve kissing? The vampire chick is taken, but I would do just fine with the elf.)

The worst part is that his thoughts escaped even the fearsome woman instinct.

Without doubt, the true enemy of all woman.

Ark had wasted a lot of time so he had wanted to resume training. Joining him, Liliana watched as he swung the sword in the training ground.

"Still, Ark is pretty special. Too adapt so easily both in mind and body to this place. Isn't hatred and distrust for demon blood commonplace?"

"I really don't care. In fact, I have been wanting to learn dark magic for years now."

The same applies to light magic. The two supreme attributes were unreacbable for someone like him. Even if the body adapted to dark magic, he just couldn't learn it for some reason.

As mentioned before, one could learn magic outside the inner attribute, but that is an arduous and redundant path. The effort to resist the natural habit of using your innate attribute makes all spells effectively useless.

Even though Ark could learn all four major elements magic, he would have given it up for an affinity to a single element. But since he can learn as many elements as he wished, the more the merrier.

So no, the Ark that is trashier than evil demons had no aversion from mere demon blood.

"What about Liliana? Do you have any benfit from being a demon blood?"

"Well, I have high rank fire element and huge reservers of magic power. It's so great I can't control it very well and sometimes uses a Fireball as strong as Firestorm."

"Ho, that really is incredible."

(Tch! You just had to flex huh!?)

You were the one to ask!

"Hehe, right? Praise me more!" Liliana was really pitiful to not understand the reality of Ark.

Don't fall for his traps! He is a deceitful man that cheat others' morallity without a heartbeat!

"In any case, the clothes suits you really well, Ark."

"Ah? Thank you, I guess."

The clothes provided by the order were the official uniform of the Solitary Wolves. It was made of elastic and durable materials that are nonflammable, magical resistant, and surprisingly light.

There was also a sense of fashion in mind, and everyone got slightly different uniforms. For example, Liliana's own uniform had a different design and colored red. Kristan had darker clothes with shadow patterns. And Scarlet had red blood as well as ice blue colors, causing Ark to guess she also possessed the ice element.

Ark's own clothes, though, we very plain. White with black lines which was the basic, it appeared as a clean uniform compared to the others, and was by no means flashy.

It was just like him, in a sense. Plain and average. So he couldn't be so happy for the compliment.

And now, time for the heroine's power to get tested!

Now a breathtaking battle where our protagonist wins with wit and resolve...

"How about we hunt some boars on the plains? I can use my fire magic safely and I can really use a vanguard to protect me."

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Well, Ark stood no chance in the first place.

Ark nodds. "Sure, battle is the best training anyways..."

"You really are desperate."

"I won't kick the bucket just yet. The duke must think I would fail and plans my death, but I won't go down without a fight!"

Thus, with high spirits, Ark and Liliana sets to the plains.

The mission of boar subjugation was initially the adventurers' job. However, the number of boars attacking in groups proved too much for the adventurers of the area and the job was transferred to the closest knight order—the Solitary Wolves.

Officially, the Solitary Wolves is only known for the feats of subjugating monsters and maintaining peace in its vicinity, which is normal for any knight order. So Liliana was considerably known and some farmers even greeted her amicably.

"Do they know of... you know?"

"No. I told them my other half is a human with red hair. I am one of the less conscpicious in the order because my abilities aren't directly related to demons."

"I see."

Kristan's shadow magic is a no go, for example. It is hard to hide your true power in battle as sometimes monsters could pose greater threat than anticipated.

Reaching the plains, Ark didn't need more than a second to understand why the local adventurers gave up hunting the boars.

There were at least fifty on sight. Adding those that didn't appear from here, you would get a number that reached three digits. In addition, it was the annoying Red Boar of them all.

The characteristic of the Red Boar was not only having tough skin, but also high fire magic resistance. Ark would find it difficult to defeat even one with a sword and Liliana is a fire mage, making her a bad fit.

(Can we even do it just the two of us?)

The comission is rather urgent and Ark doubted they could kill so many of the Red Boars themselves.

If they don't do something now, the farmers would soon suffer from boar invasion.

"Hey, Liliana, how about we return and carefully pre..."

"Fireball!"

A ball of fire appeared at poured on the enemy. More specifically, a ball of fire at the size of a house.

The red boars hit were grilled to death, suffocated from the oxygen in their body forcfully consumed by the flames, and died in anguish not even monsters deserved.

That alone killed at least 20 boars.

"Hmm? Sorry, I was already chanting and couldn't hear you. You were saying?"

"Nothing, just nothing."

At this rare instance, Ark was the lesser evil. Liliana showed such cruelity towards the boars in such innocent manner, Ark abandoned all impure thoughts about the girl who could fry him like toast.

After that, the two hunted all the boars in the plains to near extinction. Liliana had the killing count of 89 while Ark killed 17.

Both impressive numbers, but the difference between the two was like a holler in a library.

"We gave the farmers all the meet so it seems this winter will be easier."

"Over a hundred boars. Was it mating season or something?" Ark had turned off his common sense to protect his sanity.

"No idea..."

An ominous premonition crept to Ark. He knew this number was unnatural, but even rare events like stampede or outburst didn't quite fit.

Something must have caused the boars to move location...

(Whatever. It could be something about the ecosystem here or whatever.)

Unfortunstely, the premonition is suppressed by stark idiocity and Ark completely move on.

A shame, because he could have saved himself from a lot of troubles in the near future.

◇◇◇◇

Currently, deep inside the forest near Solitary Wolves HQ.

The earth trembled.

The slight tremor was so weak, no human could detect it from afar. But the animals in the forest could feel it, the presence of great evil looming above their neck, ready to kill.

It was a gradual process over countless years. So slightly it would go unnoticed.

But compared to the past when that spot was brimming with life and vitality, the death and decay rooted in a small circle that all life forms detested.

Finally, the tremor changed.

No longer resembling a quake, it was the sound of metal clanks.

Then, intangible metal chains appear. Weakened by the centuries and millenias, the one imprisoned by the chains smiled.

"Soon, I shall be free!"

It was a sinister being. Only death and destruction followed it.

Persistently and patiently scratching the tether that binded it, the being overcame the torturous ages and soon will taste freedom once more.

As his shackles loosened and the physical form was nearly visible, waves of sinister and unholy power began to spread into the nearby trees and animals.

With the corruption of the forest in motion, an evil laughter resounded far in the forest.