Before they could continue on with their topic, the sound of a book being slammed shut reached their eyes. Camilla looked up, meeting Ismelda’s eyes. The red eyes were full of anger.

“That’s enough out of the two of you. Victoria isn’t someone you should be gossiping about,” she said, setting down the book next to her. “So? What is your decision?”

“What’s the rush?” Camilla asked, lifting her chin, refusing to be intimidated by the fuming vampire. Although she sensed an incredible amount of battle lust coming from Ismelda, probably from the troll side of her heritage, Camilla wasn’t scared at all. She had Kagriss with her, and Elyss as well.

Ismelda outmatched those templars because she had the element of surprise, and humans were fragile. In comparison, undead were notoriously resilient to all kinds of normally fatal wounds, and as far as Camilla could tell, Ismelda couldn’t use holy magic.

The vampire lord glared at her. Her eyes glinted, the red becoming richer, deeper, becoming less like rubies and more like a pool of blood. A faint red mist rose from her skin, coloring the air around her.

Thump… Thump…

Camilla gritted her teeth. There was that sound again. She had heard it once on the battlefield during the final battle. She knew that sound. It was the sound of a giant’s heartbeat.

Thump... Thump... Thump. Thump.

The trolls were not skilled at magic. What they did excel at was regeneration and body reinforcement. Blood surged through Ismelda’s body as she ramped up her power, and her heartbeat became increasingly audible.

The last time Camilla heard that sound was when they managed to corner Ismelda and forced her to go all out for a final stand. This time, Ismelda started with it right away. “It is my honor,” she hisses with a sneer.

The moment Ismelda made a move, Camilla did too. They each clawed open the palm of their hands. Blood flew out before congealing into a ball in the air, shaping into long shapes. Ismelda’s weapon materialized first, falling out of the air into her hand while Camilla’s great sword was still in the process of forming. The difference in their skill for blood magic was obvious at a glance.

There was no time to complete her manifestation. Leaving her weapon to continue forming, Camilla brought up fists in front of her in a guard. Kagriss jumped back as well to take a wider view of the soon-to-be battlefield. Even Elyss had jumped to her feet, her back arched slightly and her fur bristling.

As all that happened, Ismelda drew her sword from its scabbard, revealing a beautiful long, curved blade half as long as she was tall. The mysterious metal that formed its blade was a mesmerizing silver that seemed almost liquid, dappled with bloody spots.

When the sound of air parting from the passage of a fast object reached Camilla’s ears, the sword was around in front of her. Camilla’s eyes widened at the speed and stepped away, leaned back as she did so. It was the first time since she became a vampire that she met an opponent faster than she was, and for a moment she couldn’t adjust.

The blade that was originally aimed at her neck whistled over her, cutting through her hair as if they didn’t exist.

Camilla couldn’t help but gasp. Thanks to her tough undead body, her hair should’ve been almost as hard to cut through as metal wire, yet Ismelda easily severed them. She was so shocked that she lost her balance as she dodged and fell flat on the ground, hitting the floor with the back of her head, shattering the marble.

Ismelda stood above her, red mist billowing from every inch of her skin, the sword already angled to stab down. A black barrier began to form between Camilla and the tip of the sword, but anyone could tell that Kagriss wouldn’t be able to make it in time. Elyss hadn’t even begun to move.

Did Ismelda get even faster since they last fought? No. Ismelda was slightly slower now compared to before, but she caught Camilla off guard. Mentally berating herself for underestimating her enemy and not being prepared, Camilla gritted her teeth and began planning what to do after being stabbed. Even decapitation wasn’t fatal, so naturally a stab killing her was out of the question.

As the sword began to fall and Camilla got ready to kick Ismelda’s feet out from under her, a heavy burst of blood mana came from the room next door and Camilla felt the breath catch in her throat. The sword hanging above her froze as well. It was like time came to a stop.

Without a word, Ismelda stepped back and sheathed her sword. The bloody mist faded. She hung her head.

“That was… Victoria? Well, I wouldn’t want my dining hall to be taken apart either,” Camilla muttered as she got to her feet, absorbing her unused great sword back into her blood. She looked to her right, where a portion of the long dining table laid on its side. The table had been cut and kicked away when Ismelda charged at her.

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward. While Kagriss glared at Ismelda, Camilla pursed her lips and simply moved further down the dining table where there were still intact parts of the table and chairs. Ismelda mirrored her silently, sitting down across from her. In the end, they merely changed seats and they were back in the situation they were before.

Camilla began. “…I’m sorry for gossiping about Victoria.”

“…I’m sorry for starting a fight.”

They were apologizing to each other like children after a fight, and it was no less strange-feeling and humiliating than when Victoria forced them to make up when they first met that night in the forest.

It seemed to work, as it felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders and allowed her to relax as well. With a flick of her fingers, Camilla beckoned her severed strands of hair back to her and reattached them with the help of undead mana. It was fortunate that body parts of undead remembered where they should be, or Camilla would’ve already changed hairstyles.

“Anyways, we accept the joint commission. But can you tell us what it's about?” Camilla asked. “I would like to prepare.” She kept her voice calm and even, friendly even, in an attempt to be extra polite and hopefully smooth things over.

Thankfully, Ismelda accepted the olive branch. “…Yes. It’s a high ranked commission, which are almost always joint commissions unless the client specifies secrecy. The commission this time is by none other than Victoria.” When Ismelda mentioned Victoria’s name, some of the frostiness and gloom about her lifted.

The revelation that Victoria was the one to order the commission was not that much of a surprise. Why else would she be so insistent that Camilla helped?

Ismelda paused, as if savoring the way Victoria’s name felt when she said it, or perhaps bathing in the sound. Camilla was starting to think that Ismelda had a complex of some kind, but as a formerly good and by-the-book templar, she didn’t know any further details.

“And the contents of the commissions?” Camilla prodded after she thought enough time had passed.

The vampire in front of her jumped as if waking from a daydream, but her eyes quickly focused. “Ah… the commission this time is an investigation and rescue mission issued by the hunter’s guild itself. A few days ago, some hunters returned with reports of strange phenomena in the Belrian Range.”

“Belrian Range?” Camilla asked. Since the place was a range, then the phenomena were reported to be in the mountains. “What happened?”

“Well, the story starts a few weeks back. A bloodstone mine collapsed in the range, killing many dwarves. At first, we thought that it was a normal cave-in, which can happen for many reasons ranging from mana beast activity to seismic activity.”

“I’m guess that wasn’t it?” Something about the story was familiar and it didn’t take much for Camilla to think of Lavitte’s party. They had gone on a B-rank joint commission to investigate the cause of a mining incident, but when Camilla left Dianene, they had not yet returned. Camilla shared a worried glance with Kagriss, who had thought of the same thing.

“Yeah, it was neither of the two, I think. At least, it wasn’t just the earth moving, but something magical in nature, because the initial investigators detected a powerful mana signal coming from deep within one of the mountains in the range, right where the mine was. Naturally, the owners of the mine hired some hunters to take a look for them. In the end, the strength of the signal made it a B-rank commission, I believe.”

While Camilla wasn’t particularly close with any of Lavitte’s party, Kagriss was good friends with Eva, quickly hitting it up despite not knowing each other for long. Camilla was almost certain that one of the reasons that Kagriss likes Eva was because Eva was a vampire as well. Regardless of how they became friends, it was undeniable that there was a place in Kagriss’s heart for Eva. Not to mention Lucienne was waiting for Lavitte back in Dianene.

Unfortunately, it was becoming more and more likely that Lavitte’s party was one of the hunters dispatched to the secondary investigation. The direction of the story did not bode well for Lavitte either since the ending involved a third investigation. Why did bad things keep happening in mines anyway?

She sighed, warming up her body and covering Kagriss’s hands to comfort her. “I’m guessing nothing good happened. What’s the phenomena that was reported?”

However, Ismelda refused to get straight to the point, insisting on continuing her story.

“When the hunting team entered the cave-in, they had to clear out a bunch of the rocks and make a tunnel deeper into the mountain to access the source of the mana. Around the time that they should’ve made contact with the core, the mana signal spiked. I guess they messed with the source. Either way, they triggered a second cave-in.”

“A second one?!” Camilla felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. The fate of Lavitte’s party looked grim. Kagriss was looking down at the table silently. She didn’t cry, but there was an air of grief about her.

Ismelda nodded, not noticing their reactions. “But that’s not the weirdest part. If it's just a cave-in, then it wouldn’t have caught Victoria’s attention. But instead of the tunnel being sealed, it was as if the entire mountain collapsed. The whole top of the mountain sank in as if a portion of the mountain interior simply disappeared.”

“That…does sound strange,” Camilla muttered. She didn’t want to say any more. She had asked about the situation to learn more about their mission, but what they got instead was news about the demise of a friend. “So do you know what’s causing it?”

“Well, that’s what the investigation is for, isn’t it?” As the story reached its end, Ismelda’s patience seemed to have exhausted as well. Her demeanor changed, no longer as friendly as she had been more. “You’ve already accepted, so you can’t back out of the commission now. Anyways, I’ll be taking my leave. Goodbye.”

Before Camilla could say anything, Ismelda had already picked up her book and was walking toward the door, her low heels clacking against the marble floor. At the sound, Camilla felt a dull phantom pain on the back of her head, right in the spot where her head hit the floor and cracked the stone. She managed to not look.

As Ismelda reached the door, an idea hit her out of the blue. “Wait!” Camilla shouted, stopping Ismelda as the vampire lord reached for the door. Ismelda turned, a mask of impatience on her face.

“What?”

“Do you…” Camilla paused. “Do you know anything about beings with feathered wings?”

“…birds?” The reply came mockingly, and Camilla wanted to kick herself for wording the question so terribly.

“No. Like angels. Only, I’m not sure if they are angels. You know what angels are, right? They’re divine messengers of the Gods, according to the Church.” Once Camilla began, she couldn’t stop. Kagriss had no idea what she was talking about, and neither did Elyss. She couldn’t think of anyone else who might know what she was talking about other than Victoria. “You see, recently, I’ve been having dreams; dreams about angels fighting against the undead, but…”

Camilla trailed off. Despite the distance, Camilla could clearly see Ismelda’s face. The vampire lord looked to have spaced out, and before Camilla could stop her again, Ismelda left, closing the door behind her.

“What…was that about?” she muttered.

Well, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t that important since her dreams didn’t affect reality. But the appearance of both angels and undead in her dreams was slightly concerning, especially given the current undead danger.

Pushing the subject to the back of her mind again, Camilla turned back to Kagriss and just tried to offer as much support as her presence could bring. No words could truly soothe the pain that a lost friend brought.