The sun had set, and the cold, shroud of nightly darkness had long veiled the sky black with dots of white glistening in the midst of the vast expanse.

The village had yet another eventful day, and the bustling conversations seemed to have no end.

However, high up in the sky, where one man sat atop the branch of a tall withering tree looking up at the moon, the air could not be calmer nor more peaceful as he spent time thinking to himself.

"Three more days huh?" He muttered, before a wave of throbbing hurt filled his body, and his mouth began secreting liquid from within.

He inwardly grunted. Alucard had been holding in the pain of it all throughout the journey, yet, now it seemed like he was nearing his limits. He had gone far too long without a single drop of human blood.

Before leaving the city, he had not thought he would need to feed so soon, but after fighting for so long out under the rays of the crushing sun, all the blood stored within his system had been sapped away at a staggering pace, as though they had evaporated out of his very flesh.

Luckily for him, he had managed to feast upon the corpses of the goblins he slew in the forest, but even still, it was nowhere near satisfactory. The blood of a demi-human such as a goblin was far better than that of an animal or beast, but magnitudes worse than that of human blood.

It was a quick, temporary fix, and by no means a long-term solution. He could only survive off such alternatives for so long before their benefits turn to poison working against him.

Naturally, any normal vampire would be panicking, desperate to secure a meal, but Alucard seemed as calm as a soothing lake, patiently staring at the sky contemplating over other things, like blood was the last thing upon his mind.

That was when suddenly, from the corner of his vision, he witnessed as what seemed like a star in the sky began moving in his direction, its light becoming bigger and bigger until it came face to face with him.

Alucard could not help but beam underneath his mask, it was finally the time he was waiting for.

"Greeting lord Alucard!" The emergent figure cheered waving his hands.

"It's nice to see you again Luck, you're just in time."

Ever since the goblin attack, Luck and Alucard had been separated, but at times like those, they had devised signals for Alucard to use to call Luck down in moments that he was in need of his assistance.

It was something subtle, a gaze up along with a simple stretch of his right arm towards the sky, and Luck would dim himself down to his calling master.

Today was the first time he had used the maneuver. After the clue at the graves, Alucard had counted every one of the ones afflicted with poison, then tasked Luck to circle around the city looking for all those bearing signs of the poison that were still alive. And, through that calculation, he would then determine the number was approximately seven percent mortality.

At least, that was until the elder slipped up, and he had heard the truth uttered out of his own mouth with his heightened ears. That was when Alucard had tasked Luck with something else he would be confident of finding.

"I presume you come bearing good news?" Alucard leaned back further on the trunk of the tree.

*Mhm!* Luck nodded, fluttering his purple wings.

"That's all I wanted to hear, you can spare the details for later. It seems like your jitter isn't just from excitement, speak your mind."

Ah—" Luck was slightly caught off guard before he finally opened his mouth to speak. "Y—yes my lord" Luck nodded his head."I'm just a little concerned."

"What is there to be worried about? Do you not trust me?" Alucard casually crossed his legs.

"NO! That's not it at all lord Alucard!" He vigorously waved his arms frantically in front of him. "I had simply heard everything at the elder's house. It seems like this quest will take weeks, but we only have three more days until the house of knowledge closes!"

"So it seems," Alucard narrowed his sights.

"Lord, would it not have been easier to have just gone along with the elder's plan? If you don't mind me saying, maybe you could have somehow convinced Vernon that by killing the beast, it would have helped that Taylor too, no?"

"I had also considered the same, but, that, my dear Luck, would be impossible." Alucard shook his head, and luck stiffened up. "I've known Vernon for but a few hours, and even I assumed that there was no way he would ever be convinced so easily, and seeing how that fact even came out of their leader's mouth, it just has to be the truth. I did a lot of thinking, and simply exposing the elder's plan was the best course of action. Not only will it not allow the Hollow Slayers to relax, making them become more desperate and work harder, it would also make the elder far more honest, and answer truthfully to all my questions."

"Ah— I see…" Luck took a deep breath, plunging in thought before continuing. "So… does that mean that you've given up on the house of knowledge? Or, are we gonna try to slay that beast ourselves?"

Hearing Luck's words, Alucard's eyes glistened, and his mouth twitched beneath his mask before he let out a deep chuckle.

"Of course not! It's a no to both questions! Luckily, it doesn't have to come down to us taking on that monster alone! Even I'm not that confident!"

"Huh?" Luck seemed genuinely confused seeing his chuckling master. He had already squeezed his brain trying his best to think of another answer, a way out of their predicament until suddenly, his eyes sparkled coming up with a single thought that should have been all too obvious. However, his sights slowly dimmed ever since. It was the only way out, yet the more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.

"It looks like you've figured it out Luck! Yes, that's the only thing left for us to do!"

"Ah... I... I understand, but how my lord?" Luck scratched his head.

"Simple, Luck, do you recognize this?" Alucard smiled, pulling out something from within his pockets, it was that same flower he had seen with the elder, only this one appeared to be slightly more withered.

"N—no my lord…" Luck shook his head.

"In this land, this is known as an ash blossom, but where you and I are from, it's a well-known healing item known as a "Rowa Flower." It was very common, and it was very effective at treating simple status ailments."

"I see…" Luck scratched his chin. "But, no matter how much we get, the chances of success will remain the same right?"

"Indeed, that is the case, Luck, but you're missing one crucial fact. The existence of the 'Reduvia Flower.'"

"What?" Luck softly mumbled.

"In areas where the Rowa Flower grows plentiful, one is surely to find the far more potent Reduvia Flower in their midst. To the naked eye looking at a batch of Rowa, they may look identical, but they are slightly different upon closer inspection. I remember spending so many hours trying to look for one in the past only to fail. That's when I decided to look for a guide to help me, I needed someone very in tune with the forest."

Abruptly…

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

Luck's being trembled. It was clear that Alucard had not paused nor finished his words, but it was as though time froze still, and his mind went into blank white, whisked away by the ring of his beating soul.

"That's when you and I met for the first time, Luck. It really brings me back!" Alucard chuckled, turning his head only to see a sweating, expressionless visage, before remembering about his amnesia.

"Hey, Luck, I hope you still haven't lost your flower searching touch… Luck?" He leaned in closer, before the little purple fairy finally began moving again.

"Oh yes! Of course not! You can count on me my lord!" As though nothing happened, Luck nervously snapped out of his daze and puffed his chest out in pride. "Should we tell the others as well? A bigger search party would be helpful. Much of the forest has been withered away, so the chances of us finding one will be smaller."

"Of course, we shouldn't! You'd think I'd share the existence of such a powerful item with the likes of them?"

"He he... No, I guess not… " Luck scratched his cheeks.

"Besides, to my knowledge, the Reduvia flower should not wither, if anything, it will be easier to spot amongst its dying brothers."

"But, still, Lord, what you're spending so much effort on, what we're doing… this will also be to their benefit. You all seem to also get along not too badly, do you not trust them yet?"

"It's far too early to tell, and I have no plans of anything of the sort," Alucard sighed. "Besides, it seems a little too late for that. The two Hollow Slayers appear to be leaving the town already. They finished far quicker than I expected," Alucard snuck a casual glance at the two figures travelling outside the village parameter without batting an eye, and Luck looked over as well to see the exact same thing.

"Don't worry Luck, you're still the only one I trust, my loyal, former AI companion."

"AI?"

"Anyways," Alucard finally stood up with a hop in his step. "Now, where is that place I asked you to find me? I'm getting rather hungry…"

"Ah yes!" Luck skipped in the air, looking to his side at the slight lights of the village below. "That house in the corner over there houses a middle-aged widow afflicted with the black poison. From what I could tell, she lives alone, there's a picture of her and two men that I assumed to be her husband and son on a table next to two candlelights. It's just as you predicted my lord! I found many others like her, family dead from either battle or disease while being near death themselves, but, her hut's location was nearest to the outside."

"Good, then that will be our first destination," He licked his lips beneath his mask. "We too should leave now while the dark is young, we have a long night of searching ahead of us…"

Alucard jumped down towards the lower branches making his way down to the forest as Luck dimmed his natural light and followed suit.

"Comming my lord!"