We returned to the main party area from the backroom and with a bit of help from Claus, we soon had Hugo up for a chat. He was with a green haired girl, but with just a quick sniff, I could tell she wasn’t a dhampir. Or a vampire.

What? You don’t think I can tell? It is actually simple. If I swap my race to Dhampir, the cured variant, I can easily identify other dhampirs by scent. I mean I can do that even if I used the cursed version, but I don’t want those impulses pushing on me.

Also, Hugo and Rin were kind of staying to an area by themselves. It looked like the others were giving them a bit wider margin, probably because they were afraid of Rin attacking them.

 

“Ah. Hugo. Just the person I wanted to talk to.” I began. “I have to say, I’m impressed by your willingness to work with dhampirs. Not many smiths are willing to do that.”

“... well, whatever makes the best weapons, right? And didn’t you sponsor a vampiric steel sword? My work must seem like nothing in comparison.” Hugo answered, sounding very humble, but he looked more afraid than humble.

“And may I assume that Miss Rin is the dhampir you worked with?” I asked, looking at the green-haired lady.

“Y-Yes. Yes she is.” Hugo answered, and I could just see a drop of sweat forming on his forehead.

“A - A pleasure.” Rin said, as she gave me a deep bow. 

“Likewise. I’m always impressed to see dhampirs with such exceptional self control. I didn’t really think anyone could match my fiance, but you most certainly seem to.” I complimented her, fully knowing that she isn’t a dhampir. Maybe I should have Lua turn her into a dhampir as a punishment for acting to be one, just so she sees how difficult it can actually be.

… okay, I won’t actually do that, but I could.

 

“I-Is that how Karl was able to make a vampiric steel weapon? Did he work with your fiance?” Hugo asked.

“Nope. I know many, many dhampirs, so it doesn’t need to be my fiance specifically.”

“... but I thought dhampirs can only make blood iron and not vampiric steel, so what is that about?” Hugo asked.

“Half true. Miss Rin, what is the racial skill of dhampirs?” I asked the girl.

“Bl - Blood Magic, sir.” She answered.

“Correct. Now, what is the racial skill of vampires?” 

“... I … I’m not sure. Isn’t it just Blood Magic?”

“Almost, but no. It is called True Blood Magic, an upgraded form of Blood Magic.” I instructed her. 

“I see, but where are you going with this?” Hugo asked.

“You must know how to make blood iron, right?” I asked, but before Hugo or Rin had time to answer, I continued. “I mean, it is super simple really. You just need iron and blood. Throw a little Blood Magic into the mix, and you have yourself blood iron.”

 

I could practically see the gears turning in Hugo’s head as he took that in. Rin next to him was shaking, almost as if she was scared of what came next.

“So if blood iron needs blood, iron and Blood Magic, what do you think vampiric steel needs?” I asked.

“... I would assume it would have to be that True Blood Magic you spoke of. That and steel and blood.” Hugo said.

Wow. I’m honestly surprised he got that. I expected him to be dumber.

With a small, and fake, applause, I complimented Hugo.

“Correct.” I confirmed for him. “Well, you left out the detail where the blood needs to originate from a B-rank or higher monster, but naturally you couldn’t have known that.”

 

That was actually one of those facts I only knew because of Factory testing. Outside of the Factory, basically all of our forging work always uses dragon blood, as it is the best and we have easy access to it, but if you use lower quality blood, even if you mix it with high quality steel, you’ll still only get blood iron, not vampiric steel. The blood quality is much more important than the steel quality when it comes to vampiric steel.

 

“B-But dhampirs can’t use True Blood Magic!” Hugo called out. “So how is it possible that..?”

“Because they can.” I told him. And with Hugo’s yelp having gotten a bit more attention to us, and some of the nearest people to us had clearly stopped to listen, I could hear some quiet murmurs from the closest people. 

“Dhampirs can’t use True Blood Magic because of the blood curse, I’m sure you know that.” I told Hugo. “But, there is a way to cure that curse. And I happen to be able to do that.” 

With that admission, I heard even more murmurs from the peanut gallery.

“That was actually why I came to you. Because of my fiance, I really understand the pain dhampirs suffer because of their curse. So I’d like to cure Miss Rin’s curse, if that is alright.” I offered. “I can even tell her where she can meet other dhampirs that have been cured and have learned to use True Blood Magic. If you are willing to travel a bit. That way, you too can learn how to forge vampiric steel.”

 

“I … no. I couldn’t bother you with something like that.” Hugo said.

“It is no bother really. And it will only take a couple of minutes. I can do it right now.”

“N-No. It really isn’t necessary. Rin can live with what she has now, can’t you Rin?”

“Y-Y-Yes. I am just fine, Sir.” Rin answered, but she clearly didn’t like the answer she gave. 

 

But she isn’t a dhampir, so why? I can understand hesitating, but why would she?

Is she under some other curse Hugo doesn’t want revealed? 

… wait. This area. Another curse. Could she be a …?

I quickly swapped my race from Dhampir to Spiritual Being. It was the most magically oriented race I have and I can see mana the best while I am a Spiritual Being. And with it, the answer to my question became clear. 

The magical mark, or maybe a magical curse, painted onto the skin on Rin practically shined through her clothing.

She is a slave. Marked with the illegal mark. … Well, it isn’t illegal in this country, so maybe I should call it the old mark. 

 

“Are you really sure? I can understand it sounds scary, but I promise, it won’t hurt a bit.” 

“Yes. Thank you for the offer, but no.” Hugo said. “Excuse me please, but I’m feeling slightly funny. I think it is best if I head back to my lodgings now. Rin, let’s go.”

 

The two of them turned to walk out, but before they made their way too far our, Claus called after them.

“Hugo. Just a moment, please.” He said in his authoritative voice. “I have a quick question about your sword.”

Hugo turned around to look up at Claus, before he asked. “Y-Yes? What about it?”

“It has this strange mark on it. I simply wanted to know what it is.” Claus requested and at just the correct time, the person he had sent to get Hugo’s sword came back with it. 

… It feels wrong to call it Hugo’s sword, knowing that it was actually made by Wilma.

 

“This mark right here. What is it?” Claus asked, pointing at the HomeBase mark.

“Oh that. It is just a drop of blood we added after the sword was forged. To mark it is made of blood iron.” Hugo lied, seemingly having prepared for that question. 

So maybe he knew that someone uses that mark, but he assumed it was a mark for blood iron weapons?

“I see. Then would you perhaps care to tell me why it is identical to Sir Wood’s family insignia? And I do not just mean similar, but perfectly identical.”

“How would I know? I only met him two days ago and I’ve never seen his family insignia!” Hugo shouted.

“Perhaps because you didn’t make this sword, did you?” Claus asked.

“Of course I made it! Who else could have?!”

“I did.” Wilma said. “And because I work for Sir Wood, I mark all of the tools and weapons I make with his family insignia.”

“No! Don’t think you can say something like that without proof! Even if you got first place and you are a student of that giant! You have no proof!”

“Actually, I do. But before I show you mine, Brian.” Wilma said.

 

“... if you want proof, why don’t you prove yourself.” I said calmly. “You said Rin is the dhampir that helped you make this sword, but she isn’t even a dhampir in the first place. I know because I hang around with dhampirs on the daily, and no dhampir would ever refuse to have their blood curse cured. So, why don’t we do this. Miss Rin will reveal her status to everyone here, and if she really is a dhampir, I will not only apologize for what I’ve just said, I will hand over twice the amount of orichalcum Wilma got for winning as an apology.”

 

For those wondering, yes, I do have orichalcum in Storage. While Athena isn’t the most willing to produce it for us, she does sometimes agree to cook some. I think it is mainly a way to teach Wilma and Karl Metal Magic, but whatever the reason, it is useful.

 

“No way!” Hugo shouted. “Why do I need to prove anything!?”

“Using a noble’s family insignia, even by accident, is a serious crime.” Claus calmly pointed out. “If you get Smorog into trouble with a noble from Ruiso because of your pride, you could be enslaved, banished or both.”

“Besides, is it really that big of a deal?” Asked a new person who just joined the conversion. She was Majken, the craftswoman judge. “Just show us your status, Rin, and this will all be over.”

“... you have no idea how over.” I heard Hugo mutter, sounding like he just snapped. “Rin! Kill yourself!” He yelled, as he got something out of his pocket and threw it at the ground.

 

Because of the ‘kill yourself’ order, I was a bit late reacting to the second part, so whatever Hugo threw down made contact with the floor and began to emit a black smoke.

I didn’t really like what that black stuff was at all, as it likely is poison of some kind, so I’m not going to wait around and find out.

 

“Cloudian - Poison Cloud!” I quickly summoned a monster I think can deal with the issue at hand. “Consume that black smoke!”

 

As I watched my Cloudian clear away the black smoke, I heard a thump and turned around to see that Rin’s body hit the floor. Her eyes seemed unmoving, and she was most likely dead because of the order.

But I can resurrect her, so worry about that later. Let’s catch Hugo first and clear away whatever this black smoke is.

 

After the black cloud was dealt with, we were left pondering where in the F was Hugo, because he wasn’t where he had been. Almost like he had teleported away while in the smoke.

I got some questions from people because a few of them assumed my monster ate Hugo, but I told everyone he didn’t. And people accepted that even if it did, Hugo was the one to put us at risk with the thing he threw at the ground and he would have been given punishment for ordering his slave to kill herself.

 

That was when I got to work on Rin. I got some looks from the people around as I stripped her top-half of her clothing, but I didn’t let them stop me. I then activated Harpie’s Feather Duster and used it to clear away the slave mark. 

Now she would no longer be a slave and maybe we can get some answers from her.

Next up.

“I activate Monster Reborn to resurrect Rin. And I chain my Gift Card to it, healing her 3000 HP.”

Because of the nature of Rin’s death, I had no clue what HP she would resurrect at. That is because of the way the illegal slave mark kills the person. It isn’t physical trauma or them slicing their neck or anything, but by putting the ‘Instant Death’ status onto the person.

… you can probably guess what instant death does.

So because I don’t have that much data on resurrecting people after said status is inflicted upon them, I added the Gift Card for safety reasons.

 

It took a bit for Rin to come to, but she did eventually wake up to the surprise of everyone except those that live on HomeBase.

 

---

 

“... he … he was contacted by the United States. He was supposed to win the competition and bring the orichalcum to them. If he did, he would have gotten a high position in the country.” Rin explained as we questioned her a bit later. She was no longer under any effect of the slave mark and Hugo didn’t order her to forget, so she could tell us everything she had learned while under it.

Rin was a human, in case you were wondering. She was born in one of the areas that is now a part of the United States, and she was forcefully turned into a slave for no reason.

She was then given to Hugo for his operation.

The thing Hugo threw at the ground was a signal that doubled as a poison. It would show that he needed an immediate exit, while also spreading poison that will stop anyone from getting too close and teleporting with him.

The fact that someone has technology like that is honestly worrying. That kind of technology, while possible with HomeBase, takes a lot of mana to upkeep and isn’t easy to set up, so I really don’t like the idea of someone using it.

 

In the end, it was decided that it wasn’t safe for Rin to stay in Smorog. Naturally I offered to take her in. I mean, why wouldn’t I? She was turned into a slave against her will. Her family is likely either also slaves, or dead. And even if they weren’t, she couldn’t return home because she’ll just get turned into a slave again.