Dark Knight Kroki

Hey Tiber. What do you think?
'Hmm. I have a strange feeling~

　Tiber gives me a subtle look.
　Now I am dressed like the adults in this village.
　The plan is to cover up by wearing a white hood with only the eyes open.
　I don't think it's a good strategy, but I can't think of a better one.
　So, I think I'll go with this.
　This costume was brought to me by Wendy.
　I got the idea when I heard about the adult outfits in the village, and I had it ready just in case.

'Well, let's go, Tiber.
Yes, Master Kroki?

　As he says this, Tiber hides behind the hem of his own clothes.
　Undead monsters have the ability to sense the living.
　Therefore, Tiber's invisibility (Invisible) magic is meaningless.
　I will be discovered as well.
　If only this disguise could somehow get through.
　I'm leaving the abandoned house. The time is not night.
　To begin with, it's always dark in the vicinity of the lord's castle, so the time of day is sometimes irrelevant.
　I walked around the village of Sanshos.
　I don't feel popular. No one seemed to be there.
　Or are they hiding?
　Well, there's no point in thinking about that now, so we continue on.
　As we leave the village, we see a large farm.
　We can see the shadow of a person in the farm. They seem to be working on the farm.
　Perhaps they are producing food and other items for the children of the village.

I hope they are not undead. I hope they don't get suspicious: ......

　Basically, undead can't farm.
　Because all undead produce miasma. Where there is miasma, normal plants will die.
　I ate food in this village and it was normal. That's why I think they grow normal grains and vegetables.
　I don't know who they are, working on the farm. If they are being forced to be brought in to farm, I'd like to help them, but if they are worshippers of Zarxis, I have to be careful.
　Walk on the road between farmlands.
　The people working on the farm do not even look at us and continue to work in silence.
　Do they not notice?
　I look at the men who are working on the farm.
　All of them are huge men, and they all have the same white hoods covering their faces.
　Then you realize.

'These aren't normal people!

　His face is hidden, but his arms are bare. Its arms are full of claws and hairs.
　The eyes peeking out from the hood are disturbing. It does not feel the will as if.
　It might just ignore it even if I take off the hood and walk.
　I walked past such a group of men who were working.
　Even if you walk right next to them, you don't notice them or even try to look at them.
　They are like robots.

I wonder if they've been modified in some way?　Tiber. Were the adults in that village like this?

　I ask the tibel in my pocket, and he nods his head.

'Well?　I don't know~. But I think it was more solid.

　Tiber replies.
　Apparently, this is not the same as the adults who were in contact with Wendy.
　The ones doing the farm work have no will. Perhaps we should look at them as having been modified just to do farm work.
　So they don't care about anything when they see themselves.
　We continue onward.
　We come right up to the lord's castle.
　A skeleton gatekeeper is standing in front of the castle gate.

"A skeleton, ....... Can you fool me with this outfit?

　They should already be within range of being detected by the skeleton.
　But the skeleton doesn't respond to anything.
　It might be able to do so.

''Kuroki-sama. I have a feeling this one will be fine.''

　I'm about to head for the gate, and Tiber stops me.

'I see. I'll do that.

　Tiber's ability to sense danger is very useful in these situations.
　It helps me to find the least dangerous places.
　I go in the direction Tiber tells me to go.
　I go from the main gate of the lord's castle to the side of the castle.
　Then I see a row of logs there.

'Logs?　Yeah, right!　You're using this!

　Logs. Somehow I feel like I could use this.
　I nodded my head yes.

'What do you mean?　Kuroki-sama. This way~

　Ignoring his own nodding, Tiber walks past the log.
　That's right!　I knew it. ......
　Where would they go with the logs in the first place?
　I follow Tiber.

'What?　What's that?

　As you walk, you see a man in a white hood walking.
　He has his back to us, so we don't notice him.
　The man with the white hood is moving in the same direction as us.

'Master Kroki. That's one of the humans who took a servant~. What is he doing here~

　Tiber tells me in a whisper.

'I see, it looks like I'm alone, let's get him.

　There's only one man.
　No one else around. I don't feel eyes on me.
　His body isn't back to normal, but I think I can handle it if I'm alone.
　I quickly move behind the other man.

'What is it?'

　The man looks back as he notices his approach.
　But his reaction is ridiculously slow.
　He twists the man's left arm up before he completely turns around.

'Don't move!'

　His strength may be waning, but he has no intention of losing to a normal human being.
　The man tries to resist, but he can't seem to shake his restraints.
　He twists his arm up further. It should be quite painful.
　But something is wrong.

"Enemies?

　The man doesn't seem to be in pain.
　On the contrary, he doesn't seem surprised that he's suddenly twisted his arm up.
　This almost surprises us.
　The man doesn't pay attention to us and draws his sword from his waist with his right hand.

"Don't move," he says ......!　What!

　He rushes away from the man.
　The next moment a sword sticks out of the man's back.
　The man attacked him with his own body and his sword!

I can't believe they went through my whole body: ......

　The man looks at me.
　Then he opens his mouth wide.

"Not good!

　He pounces on his opponent. The man's body movements are slower than before, but the man's movements are even slower than before.
　He ducks the man's sword and presses his opponent's mouth and pushes him down to the ground.

''This guy!　Don't resist!

　When the tibel in his bosom shows his face, he uses magic.
　Then suddenly the man stops resisting.

'What?　Really?　Did it work?

　Incredibly, it worked so easily.
　The man is lying on his back with his sword stuck in his chest.
　His eyes are scandalous. It definitely looks like you're under a spell.

It seems to be working~. But it's weird. I've never seen a person so easy~'

　Tiber also looks at me curiously.

'Tiber. Can you wake this man up?
Yes. Very well, Master Kroki. Hey, buddy. He's getting up~

　The man wakes up when Tiber commands him.

'Well then, can you just stay put. I just want to do some research.
'Yes, sir. Don't just move like that~
Thank you. Tiber.

　I take the man's hood that has stopped moving.
　A clawed face comes out.
　He pulls the sword from his chest and examines the wound.
　Not a drop of blood comes out.

'I don't know what's going on. ......

　I think he was originally human. And was he altered in some way?
　But I don't know how to think about that right now.
　The question remains, but let's move on.

'Tiber. Can you show me where this man was going?
Yes, sir. Master Kurowski. Come on, son. I'm going to show you where you've been going~

　The man nods and turns away and starts to walk away.
　After a while, they reach another entrance behind the castle.

'There was another entrance?'

　And there is no one at that entrance. I wondered why no one was there, but I decided to move on.
　Upon entering, there is a staircase that leads to the basement.
　I let the man walk ahead and follow him.
　The walls are equipped with candles, which are bright thanks to the fire.
　This indicates that there is more than just the undead in this castle.
　This is because the undead can't act without lights.
　And at the bottom of the stairs, there is a door.

'Tibel. Tell the man to stop in front of the door.
Yes. It's stopping.

　I step in front of the man who stops and examine the door.
　He hears talking from inside.
　Perform object detection. There's a small gap in the door, so you should be able to detect the inside.
　There are five humanoid figures moving in the large room.
　They don't feel like the undead. It feels like a living person.
　I also use my recently learned skill of detecting wraiths, but the undead don't seem to be in the room.

'There's someone inside. Probably one of his own. Hey, Tiber?　Can you control multiple opponents at the same time?
Hmmm. It's a bit difficult. But if it's not at the same time, I might be able to manage to put you to sleep~
"Putting him to sleep, I see, I think I'm kind of weak to mental magic. So, let's go. Tiber. Let him go first.

　Considering the man just now, it seems that spirit magic usually works.
　It's the opposite of the undead who have mental magic disabled.
　And if it's sleep magic, I can use it myself.
　I think I can handle about five people with Tiber.

''I understand. Kuroki-sama. Now, you must go inside.

　Tiber says and a man walks inside.
　Once inside, the white hooded men look at us all at once.
　I can see the will in their eyes. They don't look like the ones who were working on the farm.

'What's the matter?　You've got a hole in your gut.　Wait.　What's that guy behind you?

　One of the men in the white hood looks at you and makes a sound.
　I'm immediately recognized.
　Well, I didn't think it was a swell disguise to begin with, so this is to be expected.

'Tiber!'
Yes!

　A tibel pops out of his pocket.
　When I confirmed it myself, I closed in on the man who had voiced it and used the magic of sleep.

'Ugh. ......'

　The man goes down easily.

"Enemies?

　The white cape that was at the side of the fallen guy is approaching you with a huge hammer that he had at his side.
　The hammer looks heavy, but it is lightly lifted with one hand.
　Maybe it's more powerful than a normal human being.
　However, to me, that's only an error.
　When I avoid the hammer, I release my magic and put it to sleep.
　Then, I make him sleep before the white hood that tried to escape from this room.
　It's strong, but it seems to move slower than a normal human.
　I could easily get ahead of him.

'What about you?　Tiber?

　I looked at Tibel and saw the white hooded one lying at his feet.
　Apparently, it worked.
　There's no sign of anyone else coming here, having heard the commotion.

'Looks like it's all right.'

　We look around the room.
　There are two doors apart from the one we came in through.
　One of them is the door through which the white hooded one tried to escape.
　Perhaps there is a place that leads on.
　Then?　What is on the other side of the other door?
　When I examine the door, I can hear a faint human voice from inside.
　Using object detection, I can see that there are multiple humanoid forms inside.
　Could they be members of the white hood?
　But then they would come out to add to it.

'Tiber. Can you ask who's in this room?
"Yes. Master Kuroki.

　Tiber asks the first man he meets.

'Some of them we've captured,'
The captive?　Is it Wendy and the others?

　But the human form that I feel from inside is huge.
　It seems like an adult human being.

''Kuroki-sama~. I get a bad feeling from inside~
'A bad feeling?　Is it dangerous in here?

　Tiber shook his head when he heard that.

'I'm not sure. But I don't want to go inside~'

　The look on your face is very disgusting.
　I've never seen Tiber look like this before.
　There doesn't seem to be any enemies, but what's inside?
　Maybe something unpredictable is waiting for me.

'All right. Tiber will wait there and come back to check on the inside.

　I take off my white hood and tell Tiber to wait for me.
　If there are no enemies, it should be safe for them to wait here.
　The reason I took off my hood is to reassure the people trapped inside. It's better than hiding my face.
　I open the door.
　It's brightly lit inside.

'Huh?　This!

　I couldn't help but notice the sound of my voice.
　There was an unexpected scene there.
　Fat men all over the room, stripped naked and tied up with rough rope.
　A parade of chest and butt hair.
　The smell of old men's sweat fills the room.
　I pressed my mouth and nose together.

'Who's that ....... Doesn't look like you're one of them, maybe you're here to help?

　A man tied up in the back looks at himself.
　He is a well-built, fearless-looking man.
　He would have been dignified if he hadn't been completely naked and V-legged.
　Something is ruining a lot of things.

This guy is really, really not what I expected: ......

　What's so sad about having to look at an old man naked?
　It made me want to cry a bit.


Wendy in captivity

　We will all be brought to the lord's castle.
　The place we are brought to is high in the castle.
　We can see the mountains in the distance from the windows.
　We are kept in a birdcage-like prison in the middle of the room.
　The window is close, but we can't go near it.
　It will be difficult to escape.

"Wendy, big sister. What are we going to do?

　Mikal looks at me anxiously.
　I want to reassure him, but I can't.
　Because I'm also very anxious.
　Everyone else who was brought in also looked anxious.

'Mikal. We can't let Wendy get into trouble.

　Lili, who was nearby, scolds Mikal.
　Lili has a somewhat resigned look on her face.
　Lili knows what will happen to us from now on.
　Of course I know.
　We will be vampire food. That's what we were raised to do.
　But I didn't think they would bring us all in.

'Tiber-chan ....... Kuroki-san: ......

　I think about them.
　I wanted to say goodbye for the last time.
　Because then I would be able to go to heaven with good dreams.
　Tiber was so beautiful.
　White skin and lapis lazuli butterfly wings.
　When she flew through the air, glitter and light danced around.
　With her, I feel like I can fly too.
　I looked at the sky from the birdcage.