After I leave the dungeon, I join back up with the other three.

Chloe asks me, "How much longer did you stay?"

"Not much, the boss on floor 30 was just too dangerous. It has a ridiculous [Earthquake] skill that would hit everyone on the whole floor unless they are flying. I'm not even sure I could survive a single hit of that. Elly could avoid that but would be unable to damage the boss. And out stalling its resources wasn't on the table either."

"Still", Marca adds, "even our floor 17 is much further than most groups can ever reach. We simply lack the necessary SP or means to regenerate it."

"If that is so, how could someone even find out that this dungeon is supposedly 120 floors deep? I'm not just talking about the required SP but also the necessary strength. If it goes on like this, fighting hordes of monsters with level 100 or more in several classes seems impossible."

Chloe knows something, "There are a couple of theories about this. In one of the legends about the first hero, it was claimed that they cleared all the major dungeons and ours was explicitly called out as the hardest at 120 floors deep with monsters going up to level 30."

Geoffrey is surprised, "I have never heard about this."

"So something has changed since then? Level 30 sounds quite doable."

"That is one theory. Another calls that particular story false and claims God told us about it with the task to conquer it. This was obviously never achieved."

"Considering what I know about your dear gods this seems unlikely."

"The third theory I know of... it claims that either the monsters were weaker or mankind was stronger, even at the same levels compared to now. Then... something happened."

"Huh... well, considering how the last few system updates were to my detriment, I'd certainly believe that."

"Quite possible. Now, we need to get going. You have your grand speech later and I think you wanted to still prepare something?"

"Yeah, true. We'll take care of the dungeon loot tomorrow? I wanted to check the vault for artifacts with Therese's permission. And you two, Geoffrey and Marca, will afterwards go with me to a trader to test the glitch item idea."

"You got it", Marca confirms.

Geoffrey nods.

"Good, then see you later."

I return to my mansion to perform some last-minute checks for the planned tax changes.

I had expected to gain more exp from the dungeon trip and with that increase my title level after hitting Lore Seeker level 5, but it seems I was just spoiled in the previous glitched dungeon crawl with its hundreds of mid to high-level monsters per floor and damage over time status effects that never end.

Well, there's nothing I can change about that now. I just have to make the most out of the flood monsters and eventually grow strong enough that I, or better we, can reach much further in the dungeon. My supply of blood packs isn't endless, so even if it wasn't for the demon artifact posing an unknown time limit, the food supply still is one.

Anyway, I check my options and it looks like I can add temporary tax cuts for blood donors, so that's something at least.

I rehearse my speech one last time and then head towards the stage prepared for today.

I arrive at the designated place ten minutes before the speech is scheduled to start. I can see a lot of people gathered before the stage and some soldiers stationed to keep public order.

Behind the stage, they've prepared a small cabinet for me in case I need to escape the sun. It shouldn't come to that, my speech should last ten, fifteen minutes at most. I'm... not really an elaborate speaker.

Therese finds me, "Jared, have you prepared everything?"

"As good as I can, Therese, but I'm still very nervous."

"Can't help you there. This is something that has to be done. The sooner the better, and now everyone is already present. Well, minus the soldiers guarding the gate."

"Yeah, yeah. 'The future of the world depends on you now but no pressure', right?"

"It is good that you are quick on the uptake."

"You could at least wish me luck."

"I'm confident you're able to pull this off without the need of luck."

Yeah, we're clearly not getting along. Good thing I don't have to put up with her in combat at least.

Maybe she would be less of an insufferable bitch if I made her a familiar? No, screw that, I have neither the resources for that nor is any form of mind control an acceptable way to improve a relationship.

It is finally time. I send Elly and Maria to join the guards in keeping order, then move to the main stage and begin my speech. The people in the crowd are clearly confused and terrified. That ends when I finally reveal the symbol of 'God's Lost Child'. Too bad that is its last use already.

I give the people a moment to let this revelation sink in.

I notice Elly yawning. Please pull yourself together over there, I know that standing around pretending to watch the order of this is boring but can we have at least that bit of dignity?

While I wait, a system prompt starts distracting me.

More or less as expected... does that mean I'm finally rid of the stat and exp penalties?

I continue my speech more or less on auto-pilot. At the same time I check my stats... no the penalties are still in place, the title is also still present. So much for getting my hopes up.

Will you shut up!? I'm kinda busy here!

Good, then cancel the deal and leave me alone!

That shit system! Stop making decisions in my name!!

By the time I've calmed down, I'm already back home at my desk... Great, even as a vampire I'm not immune to getting a blackout from stress. Wasn't the [Undead] skill supposed to prevent such things? So much for that.

Apparently, I wanted to read Therese's documents again. Shit, what did I miss?

(Elly, what is going on?)

(What are you talking about, Jared? *yawn* Sorry, I didn't notice any oddities.)

(I was... just in the middle of my speech when the system annoyed me with some messages and then... I was here. What happened since then?)

(Huh, that would explain why you seemed so absent-minded on the way home. At least, I didn't notice that you were occupied otherwise so I doubt anyone else has. Anyway, what was the last part of your speech you remember?)

(Shortly after presenting the symbol of the 'Lost One'. Everything after that is just a blur...)

(Umm... your speech went well. I think. I nodded off a bit during it. But from what I noticed the people still seemed a bit confused about the whole vampire business but after it has sunk in that you are their newest present from the gods, I'd say that they took it as well as they could.)

(That is reassuring-)

(Though I was a bit surprised when you forced them to cower before you. *yawn* I didn't think you were going for that angle.)

(I... what?)

(Ok, just kidding. They knelt down on their own accord.)

(Elly...)

sigh

(Anything else I should be aware of?)

(I think you covered all the parts you wanted to, except for the part about giving slaves more rights. But maybe I just missed that.)

(...could be worse. That is a mistake I can still correct in the future. How did the people take the part about blood donations?)

(About as expected. Even if you are potentially their last hope for survival, they are even less enthusiastic about donating some blood to you than in your old world. Sorry.)

(As long as I get enough volunteers that I don't need to turn this into a horror movie...)

knock knock

"My liege", Maria enters the room, "you have guests waiting for you. Can I call them in?"

"I'm not really in the mood but... Who is it?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know their names, they just said that the head priest of the local church requests an audience."

I'm afraid this day is about to go even further downhill now...

(Sorry, Jared, I'm too tired. Didn't get much sleep recently. Mind if I take a nap now?)

(Sure, go ahead. If worst comes to worst I've Maria with me.)

(Thankzzz...)

"Fine, lead them to the meeting room next door. What are the two kids doing?"

"They are up in their room trying to get their heads around what happened today."

"Okay. So you'll stay at my side while the guests are here, I still don't know how much I can trust the people here, especially if it concerns matters of faith. When our guests have left, you should go and watch over the two brats. Please make sure they don't get a wrong impression about their situation."

"Understood."

Maria goes and fetches the guests, I already go next door to wait for them.

I don't know what they could want but there are several guesses and I don't like any of them.

After a few more moments of waiting, Maria leads three guests into the meeting room.

First is an older man in more fancy priest gear. Maybe the head of the local church?

The second is a middle-aged nun. If I had to guess, she might be the reverend mother Lucia looks up to.

And finally... Lucia. She seems afraid and by the looks of it her accursed skill hasn't changed one bit, this can only end well...

Graham, if you had to 'fix' something why not start with THIS skill instead of ruining my whole life plan by nerfing status effects!?

"My liege", Maria announces, "your guests have arrived."

"Thank you."

Just shortly after Maria finishes, the man throws himself onto the ground to grovel. The nun frowns and then also kneels down. After a moment she notices that Lucia is still standing and pulls her down as well.

"Oh, revered child of God", the man starts, "we greet-"

"Get up."

"What?"

"I said get up. The ground is dirty. We didn't have time to clean the room this week. And chairs exist for a reason."

"A-alright."

The three of them get up again and I spot Lucia trying to suppress laughter. The man tries to dust his robes off but doesn't find any dirty spots. Whatever he wanted to achieve here, he's already been thrown completely off track.

"Now grab a chair and start over."

"As you wish."

He clears his throat.

"Oh, revered child of God, we of the church of balance and refinement greet you. I'm the head of the church, this is the reverend mother and this girl...", he hesitates.

"She is Lucia the Holy Maiden, yeah, we know each other a bit. So what can I do for you? Do you want to invite me to your wedding with the lovely reverend mother now that I've all but outlawed the commoner hunts?"

His hands start to shake, "I, I have no idea what you're talking about. No, we're here to deliver the Holy Maiden into your care."

"Pardon?"

That would be the second-worst option I could think of... the worst would of course have been that the church declares war on me for defiling their image of what a 'Lost One' should be.

"You may not be aware of it yet, but it is tradition for the True Hero, the Holy Maiden and - if available - the Lost Child of God to form a party and set out to right the wrongs of this world. We haven't located the hero yet but I and most others I talked to are of the opinion that you two should begin training together as soon as possible."

Have they gone mad!? "Are you even aware of her skills? If you even want to call it that."

If you ask me, [Undead Bait] does not qualify as a skill, it is just a liability.

"It is true that in her current form she's a bit lackluster, but we're certain that once you start working together, all shortcomings will quickly be overcome."

"Lucia, can you please tell him, that this won't work? We both know it."

"I-", Lucia tries to but the head priest immediately stops her, "This is not her decision to make, the fate of the whole world depends on her cooperation, some sacrifices have to be made."

The more he talks, the less I like him, and my opinion of him already started pretty low.

He continues, "I can assure you that all will end well. When I was younger I received an oracle that I would have to force the Holy Maiden into her duties even if it should cost me my life. So, here I am. I ask the two of you to do what must be done. I won't ever budge on that front. If the price I have to pay for that is my life, then so be it."

"If you know about her skills then it should be clear as day to you that you're asking the impossible", my tone of voice takes on a rage I haven't felt in years.

"I have spoken my piece, good day, sir."

He gets up and leaves with a face paler than snow.

"What the... hey, wait!" But he's already gone.

"Shouldn't he know what the result of putting a vampire in the proximity of your [Undead Bait] is, Lucia?"

"I want to say yes. At least the skills of the Hero and Holy Maiden are well documented."

"May I?", asks the reverend mother.

"Oh, erm... yes", Lucia isn't happy that she is sidelined again.

"We're aware of that interaction. However, we put our trust in the oracles we have received. Especially the one the head priest talked about. As a consequence, we trust that you two will do the right thing. I'm sure you can overcome such a minor obstacle. Am I right?"

"Do you REALLY understand what you're getting her into? I have my doubts about that."

"That you as an undead would be a bit more attracted to her than you were normally? Yeah, so what? You're both adults. I don't see anything wrong with you two having a deeper relationship."

"So you DON'T understand it. *sigh* It also draws my hunger towards her. Vampire, remember?"

"I..."

Lucia adds, "I tried to explain that to you before, remember?"

"..."

What is wrong with these people...

"W, well... giving a little blood won't hurt, right, Lucy?"

"What are you really up to? You can't tell me you're willing to send her here knowing the danger she's in around me. And spare me the oracle crap. I have it on good authority that your 'gods' don't know the future more than we do. And your boss's alleged oracle is way too precise for the guesses they can make."

"Yeah, it was obvious, wasn't it... the head priest has lied about the oracle, he never got one."

Lucia is surprised as well, "Reverend mother..."

"It is okay, Lucy, it is not your fault."

Lucia is upset, "If you knew it was a lie, then why did you agree to this!?"

"...despite my title, I have very little influence in church matters. I did what little I could to protect you, Lucy, but this is beyond me."

"..."

"If I may ask... what is Lucia to you? You make it sound like she is someone special to you. Are you perhaps her birth mother?"

"No, I never had a child and my relationships didn't last long enough to get anywhere. I knew Lucy before she became the Holy Maiden. I took care of her while I still worked in the orphanage, just like all the other children."

"Okay, but why did you try to get rid of her in this way?"

The reverend mother keeps silent but Lucia answers, "I guess the head priest is still upset that I've kept my smithing job. After people found out that I'm the Holy Maiden he was... very insistent I focus on that and nothing else."

"That is... half of it. He is afraid of you, my lord. Honestly, I am, too. As such..., he intended for her to be a sacrifice to you. Whether you accept and treat her as a member of the heroic party or... do whatever it is vampires do with sacrifices... either way, the outcome was the same in his mind. We had to bring her here today."

"But why today? You should've known about a vampire taking over the Lord's Mansion earlier."

"...we did but he did not. He doesn't pay much attention to worldly affairs."

"Lucia, now I'm not sure where you are safer. With me or with that scatter-brained church lead."

"If it was an option, how about neither? I'm old enough to live by myself."

The reverend mother fights with herself and struggles to find an out for both of them but in the end, she gives up, "That's... not an option, Lucy. As long as you are the Holy Maiden, this duty will follow you. So I ask you again, please, take care of Lucy in my stead, I... can no longer protect her."

"I'll... do what I can."

She gets up and hugs Lucia while crying, "Please be safe, my dear."

"But before you leave, I have a little message for the church."

The reverend mother braces herself, afraid of what damage an angry fortress lord can do to them, "I'm... listening."

"Seeing how important the Holy Maiden is to the future of this world, I originally planned to extend some aid to the church like tax cuts and some law adjustments. But seeing how poorly she gets treated, this is no longer on the table."

"Understood, I'll... pass that on."

They share a final moment together and then the reverend mother leaves, leaving Lucia to her fate.

Lucia is confused, "What was that message for? I don't really believe you would give the church any extra aid."

"Just a little payback. If the people hear that I was willing to work with them but their boss screwed that up, they might decide to get rid of that liability."

"Don't you think that goes too far? He only did this because he is afraid of you. I can... understand that. I'm... also scared."

"That doesn't excuse sacrificing the lives of other people to save his own hide. If it only costs him his position he got off lightly in my opinion."

Are there really no sane people around?

"Anyway, Maria, can you prepare one of the guestrooms for Lucia?"

"At once, my lord."

Maria leaves the room.

"Don't mind her, Lucia. I've already told her several times to drop the formalities."

"I don't mind. You are a noble so that level of respect towards you is appropriate. Though I'll have a hard time getting used to that."

"Then don't. Though I don't see why it would be a problem for you, Lucia, you seem to be doing well when addressing the other two earlier."

"Well, I had problems with that years ago, just got used to it. But you... well, we already spent quite some time together, it would just feel wrong now."

"Anyway, don't worry about formalities. I don't really care about them."

"About the thing you asked the head priest earlier, what is a 'wedding', Jared?"

"It is a big celebration when two people get married. Sorry, I'm still not used to the differences between this world and my old one."

"I think I get it. It is probably similar to how it was for me when I was chosen as Holy Maiden. Before I had nothing to do with religion, afterwards it decided everything in my life, yet I understood nothing. Well, yours is just on a bigger scale."

She fidgets, unsure what to do now.

Getting to know each other is nice and good but first, we must find a solution to the [Undead Bait] problem... are there any hints in her status?

Wasn't she 17 last time? ...well, if the people just grow up in orphanages it really is unlikely they know their exact birthdays. Do they even care about that?

And why do I now think of birthday cake, I can't eat any...

"Do you celebrate birthdays? I see you've become eighteen since we've last met."

"At least here we don't. I've read that a lot of 'Lost Ones' tried to make celebrating birthdays a normal occurrence but as soon as they had to account for the issue of time spent in a dungeon the people abandoned that tradition. Supposedly a vain king once had a lot of people executed for 'forgetting' his birthday after he forced his guard on a week-long dungeon trip; he didn't have much of a guard left during the next flood."

"Makes sense. Well, there are more pressing matters, to take care of. Most importantly, how can we prevent [Undead Bait] from becoming a major problem."

Lucia thinks for a moment then asks with a sad expression, "Jared, tell me honestly. Could you consider... loving me?"

"Where's that coming from?"

"Please, answer me."

"...that is hard to say. My heart says yes, that I might even do already. But my head tells me that might just be because of your skill. So, what of it?"

"That's... good enough for me."

"What?"

She gathers her courage, "If I can't live how I want then... please, make me a vampire."

"You don't know what that would do to you, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The transformation changes your personality, you wouldn't be yourself anymore."

"But you're fine."

"I'm a special case. I wasn't transformed into a vampire, this body was already created as one."

"I see..."

"Even if that was not the case, what would that change? You would still get pressured by people to perform the Holy Maiden duties."

"Well... two things. As an undead, I couldn't use healing spells so there wouldn't be much of a duty left I could perform. And two, I'm destined to die anyway, maybe that way I can escape. Wait, make that three reasons... I could... stay at your side."

"I would like to have you with me but... we should only consider that option if we really have no other choice with your skill. I... like you as you are now."

She blushes, "Alright."

I check on Elly, but the little AI spirit is still sleeping. I need her to help us with that issue, she's the only one that had any success with digging information from Jeff's documents. If we have any source of information on how the system works and how to potentially cheat it, it would be in there.

"You really have no option in your skill tab to deactivate it, right?"

"No, nothing. I've checked several times since our second meeting and there's nothing at all."

"I shouldn't have expected anything else but I'm still disappointed, so what now..."

We discuss a few more options on how to proceed from here but arrive at no conclusion, the threat of her skill to both of our well-being is an obstacle we can't overcome.

"Maybe we should call it a day, Lucia. It is getting late and I think you'd like some food and sleep."

I'm getting hungry as well, and that is not a good sign.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm indeed getting tired. But what was that about food? We have a shortage going on and they distribute only one meal a day."

"I was on a... private dungeon visit and haven't so far gotten around to donating the food items I got then. So I entrust one of my summoned spirits Maria with cooking an extra meal each day for the two kids that were forced upon us..."

"Ah, then I'd like to take you up on that offer."

I get up and want to search for Maria with her, "Great, then let's first search for-"

Maria and then... why did my voice stop? And why does my body not react to my will? Shit!

"Uh, Jared? Why do your eyes glow like that? You're frightening me if you stare like that."

Against my will, I hug her and bring my fangs to her neck.

"Please don't, I'm scared!", she's crying. I feel her tears landing on me.

I bite. Her blood starts flowing into my mouth. It is the most delicious taste I've ever experienced. Nothing I've had before comes even close. If 'love' is the secret ingredient it would explain why there are so many messed-up stories about a vampire grooming a human 'lover' and drinking their blood regularly...

No, stop! Stop that!

Struggle as I might, my body doesn't listen to me anymore. It hasn't even been a day and I've already lost the fight against [Undead Bait]...

Her blood keeps flowing and I feel how she grows weaker and weaker.

Soon her body grows limp.

Yet her delicious life-juice keeps flowing.

Eventually, it stops and I regain control of myself.

I know it is too late for her, yet I refuse to let go.

I know the moment my fangs leave her neck, she's dead. But for now, I still feel a faint trace of life in her.

Please... someone, tell me how to save her...

Please...

...

I know no one can help me now.

Skill or not, I've killed the one I love.

...

I know that the [Embrace] skill said it needs multiple applications before a vampire transformation is successful but maybe...

Please work...

Please...

I black out.

3QGN73

I just couldn't write a proper speech to save my life and we already had the whole thing debated to death three chapters ago, so I just opted to fast forward through the whole thing and torture Jared again with a reminder about his impending doom.

I'm going to call myself out here and say that Lucia (foreshadowed since ch15/18) was always supposed to be the "heroine" the synopsis called out as Jared's victim. Going by semantics, she may or may not qualify for the "heroine" moniker depending on whether you go by the meaning of "lead female character in a story" and see either her or Eva as more important to the story or you go by the literal "female hero" then it could be either Anna or whoever really ends up taking the hero title.

Also, feel free to call foul there since there's still the effect of the [Undead Bait] skill to account for before calling her dead.