A Dark Fantasy Spy

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If the graves of deceased family members or friends have been disturbed, suspect tomb robbing.

One day, if someone knocks at your door in the dead of night without revealing their name, it may be a relative who has not found rest. Endure and withstand until dawn, then seek out a priest at the first light of day.

However, if a voice answers your question in a clear tone, speaking in the voice of someone you know…

Immediately lock all doors, clutch a holy relic to your chest, and pray until the moment the sun brightens all things.

Never open the door.

Allowing uninvited guests is an act of courting danger, and it is an enormous rudeness for an uninvited individual to knock at your door. If a guest comes to find you tonight, be sure to explain the situation and advise them to sleep at the church. Even if the guest begs to be let in, firmly refuse.

The doors of the church are open to all, and it is natural for travelers to spend a night in the church; remember that priests do not refuse guests who come to the church in the dead of night.

If you are a traveler wandering in the deep darkness, follow the priest or monk holding a lantern. If you are a good citizen, they will guide you to safety in the church, and if you are a poor soul unable to find rest, they will lead you to a crossing where the river flows.

No matter what horrors or temptations seduce you, do not look or listen.

If you hear the screams of livestock, the barking of fierce dogs stop, or your neighbor knocks on the door seeking help,

you must first attend to your own safety and that of your family.

What is knocking at your door now is neither your kin, nor a friend, nor a neighbor.

…This passage is an excerpt from Friedrich von Rinyu’s novel ‘Vampires and Nosferatu.’ Friedrich, rumored to be the finest writer of his time, made his literary debut with a tale about vampires.

Ironically, Friedrich’s death resembled the victims described in his novel. He was killed by a mysterious thug who visited his home while he was writing a letter to his child with a friend.

The cause of death was excessive bleeding.

Since it was dawn when everyone was sound asleep, there were no witnesses. The only witness, his friend, suffered from a mental illness presumed to be aphasia and refused any testimony before entering a monastery, and his whereabouts cannot be found in any articles or literature thereafter.

The investigator responsible for Friedrich’s autopsy later recalled, “I have never seen such a gruesome corpse in my life.”

-Book Review, ‘The History of the Undead through Literature’ / An excerpt from records submitted during the academy application process.

[Teacher’s Comment: Ayla Nostrim. While it’s commendable that you read a variety of books, I urge you to focus on texts related to your intended major for university admission. Still, as a teacher of Kien language, I take great pride in your ability to read foreign literature in its original language. A revised edition of the Introduction to Elemental Studies that you submitted back in April has just been released in the Kien Empire, so please read it again and write a new review. – Your language skills are expected to be quite exceptional. I will assess your level with questions related to Kien language and contemporary issues during the upcoming interview.]

Episode 17 – The Tree that Drinks Blood

If you’ve served in the military, you’ve probably heard that security is a matter the Information Agency emphasizes until it’s drilled into the ears of its employees. That’s because they produce and distribute state secrets.

As is often the case with murky and closed organizations, the company’s obsession with security borders on madness, even veering into slight perversion.

There was a company based in Seoul like that, as well as others that moved to Gwacheon and Anyang, and a company located in Seongnam, the heart of the IT industry in Pangyo.

But they say a lot can change in ten years. Even companies that were as clogged as a toilet seemed unable to resist the flow of time.

I can’t remember the exact timing, but I still clearly recall the event my junior experienced shortly after finishing the training process and entering the team. The colleague, while looking at their smartphone late at night, was suddenly confronted by a drill instructor who mercilessly chewed them out.

When I underwent training, all phones were confiscated, but somehow, from a certain point, smartphones became permissible even during the training period.

According to the story my junior recounted, the person caught using their phone was reading a novel. To be precise, a web novel.

“Everyone knew they were reading late into the night, but… How did the drill instructor know? The colleagues sharing the room didn’t say anything.”

“Was that smartphone theirs? Or did the company issue it?”

“It was one given by the drill instructors.”

“Then it makes sense they’d get caught. Why would the company give you something you can’t even take into the training room? Didn’t you ever think that was odd?”

“Ah.”

“You’re going to have a tough time moving forward. Good luck.”

At first, I worried about how I’d shape this kid into a proper person, but as time passed and I thought about it, the junior who got caught reading a novel suddenly came to mind.

What could be so interesting that they read it until dawn?

So, I decided to take a look myself.

From works released by conglomerates like Naver and Kakao to those serialized on platforms with mascots munching tteokbokki while sitting on a server. Occasionally, when I stumbled upon something about a known company in a novel, I chuckled with my acquaintances.

There was certainly a time when I would laugh and chat while reading the characters on the screen.

“……”

This time, however, I couldn’t muster a smile at all.

*

The steel frame supported the rock, and the concrete absorbed the light emitted from the sharp illumination.

The revered Earth God, worshipped fervently by Al-Yabd. In a vast underground cave, people congregated.

Blinding lights suddenly bathed everything, but the faintly writhing shadows flicked their tongues like a starving viper. Staring into the pulsing darkness lining the edges felt like gazing into an unfathomable well.

Ultimately, I had no choice but to tear my gaze away and turn my head.

“I can’t believe vampires, who I thought belonged only to literature, still exist….”

I turned my head while speaking, and my eyes met those in midair.

A camouflaged shirt and military boots. Ibrahim certainly maintained a style that made him unmistakably a soldier. I asked him.

“Vampires are extinct, aren’t they?”

Ibrahim, crossing his arms, cautiously responded to my question.

“That’s correct. With the last extermination order for the vampire ‘Count Erzsébet’ issued by the Holy See in 1614, they became extinct. Both officially and unofficially.”

I gestured toward the coffin.

“Then what’s that?”

“……”

Where the lights along the steel frame illuminated, the coffin lay right there.

A coffin made of cedar. A smooth gloss ran alongside a red aura, the angular corners clasping hands to form a hexagon, while the subtle fragrance of cedar wafted by with a breeze.

Though its hardness might be less than that of aromatic wood, its exquisite fragrance was the pride of cedar.

Considering that the coffins of all past popes were made of cedar, one could surely guess its reputation; thus, cedar was deemed high-quality for soothing the souls of the departed.

However,

The statue of an archangel holding a sword while stepping on a serpent’s head, a small religious text that covered even the tiniest gaps,

Thick salt band surrounding the coffin, and lights suppressing the darkness,

Massive jars of holy water densely stored in magical tools, and the solemn faces of religious figures.

Anyone witnessing such things would think.

That a monster lies asleep within that coffin.

“……”

Ibrahim averted his gaze.

“We’re doing our utmost to ascertain the details. Alongside many religious figures.”

Just after the report came in about a coffin in which a vampire was sealed being discovered in the Necropolis, the Holy See made a quick decision.

The Order of the Holy Knights, stationed in the holy land Lateran, mobilized, and specialized personnel, including Inquisition Officers, exorcist priests, and scholars were dispatched. They did not stop there and immediately notified Al-Yabd, asking them to lend their strength to solve the vampire issue.

From the fact that they immediately accepted the proposal without any rejection, one could catch a glimpse of how seriously both the sect and Al-Yabd regarded this situation, which had previously caused them to regard each other like livestock.

I lowered my head as I continued to glance around the facility provided by Al-Yabd.

“I thought this would just be a matter of safely recovering the blood.”

Nimiral. Now they were worrying about a monster that had been consuming blood for centuries.

With a troubled heart, I grazed my chin. The red glimmering coffin—that vampire exists within.

“What were the results of the investigation?”

“We’ve confirmed that this coffin was not made in the Mauritania Continent. Cedar only grows in that continent, so it’s likely…”

“That it came from across the sea?”

“Indeed, that would be the case.”

Ibrahim nodded with a grim expression, and I remained lost in thought, staring intensely at the coffin.

Just as he just said, that coffin came not from Mauritania, but from the continent. Even if cedar could grow here, it was still the case.

The burial of the deceased in a coffin is not part of Mauritania’s cultural practices.

The religion encompassing the entire Mauritania Continent, ‘Al-Yabd,’ bears many similarities to Islam. This is evident in their burial procedures, which diverge from European and Eastern customs, where the deceased are buried within 24 hours of death—a principle upheld in predominantly Islamic Middle Eastern funerals.

For those dying not through accident but from illness or natural causes, Muslims, just before death, complete the Wudu (الوضوء), a process of washing all parts of the body clean before prayers, while facing Mecca, and then begin the Shahada (الشَهَادَة), the declaration of faith. If they cannot move, family or friends often assist in this process.

During this time, Muslims dress the deceased in their favorite attire, wrap the body in a clean cloth, and bind it with twine.

After the funeral prayer concludes and the body is embalmed, family and friends transport the corpse on a stretcher made of cloth to the burial site. If thought of in Korean terms, it’s somewhat analogous to a funeral bier.

The burial concludes once the flat stone is placed over the body and dirt and gravel are laid atop it. This process takes place during daylight hours, and it is almost nonexistent to place the coffin into the grave, as it contradicts Islamic doctrine. Even when the Saudi King passed away, he was buried according to tradition.

Thus, the coffin appears to be an alien object incompatible with Mauritania’s burial culture.

“Have you determined the identity of the body placed in that coffin?”

As I pointed with my finger towards the coffin and asked, Ibrahim, who was filling a cup with water from the cooler, brought it to his lips.

“We couldn’t find any circumstantial evidence either from the exterior of the coffin or the site where it was found. However, thanks to the scholars analyzing the style of the coffin, we could estimate the approximate timeframe of the burial.”

“Was it buried a few years ago? 300 years? 400 years?”

The Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights added shortly.

“It was 800 years ago.”

“Wait a minute. What did you say? 800 years!”

“Yes. The style of the coffin closely resembles one from 800 years ago. Therefore, at the very least, it must have been made 800 years ago.”

I was taken aback by the completely unanticipated number. If it was 800 years ago, that meant it was from the 1100s.

Damn it. How has a coffin made during that time survived? By then, vampires should have decayed.

As I was inwardly muttering, Ibrahim, who was looking down at the paper cup, began to frown.

“We gathered the data based on the burial period, but it may not align with the actual age of the vampire.”

“You’re not suggesting the vampire might be older than 800, are you?”

“Unfortunately, yes. There’s a possibility it was placed in the coffin long ago…”

In cases where both positive and negative hypotheses arise, typically the negative is more likely correct. Like Murphy’s Law.

When reading novels about vampires, it was pure amusement. But now that I was experiencing it, amusement was nowhere to be found.

I snapped my flint and asked Ibrahim, “Could it be that the cultists took the saint’s blood to feed the vampire?”

He regarded this theory as quite plausible.

“Indeed, the opinions of the Inquisition Officers and exorcists are similar. Al-Yabd’s stance is the same.”

“The blood was collected intact, right?”

“Yes, all of it has been recovered. It’s currently secured in the vault of Lateran.”

The blood of Lucia, which was the target of both the Order of the Holy Knights and the cultists, is now tightly guarded by the sect. Having retrieved every last drop, it seems safe to say that whatever the cultists’ objective was, they’ve failed.

With that, the only question remaining is.

“What will you do about that vampire?”

*

Discussions began.

The topic was how to kill the vampire. What could be done to ensure that beast does not break free and can be safely eliminated.

“What if we open the coffin’s lid and pour holy water into it? If it’s undead, it should be vulnerable to holy water. How long do you think it’d last getting smashed with a barrel?”

“Probably not.”

“How about driving a stake into its heart or setting it ablaze with consecrated oil?”

I offered common sense methods to deal with vampires.

To put it precisely, they were the sorts of solutions you’d find by googling ‘how to kill a vampire.’

In a hodgepodge of races like beastmen, orcs, goblins, elves, dwarves, dragons, etc., finding undead-related material was not easy. This was due to religious groups, including the sect, preventing the spread of ‘unclean knowledge.’

How they learned the beauty of Chinese culture is baffling, but the sect followed traditions of the people of the Central Kingdom.

Scholars exploring the undead would be ruthlessly hunted down, their samples and research materials smashed to pieces, and all books burned in one fell swoop.

Of course, there was a time when residents would brand any suspected sorceress (likely possessing some form of wealth) as devil worshipers or witches, leading to pyres (something a bit larger) being lit, until they found themselves caught by the Inquisition and thrown on the rack.

In an era where even magic users were at risk, anyone studying the undead would meet a terrible fate.

Nevertheless, as a result of religious organizations concerned about children’s curriculum in the far future, all records regarding the undead were incinerated, leaving only scraps of history that barely survived due to scholarly ingenuity or the creativity of writers.

Essentially, utterly useless knowledge.

“If it was possible, they would have done it long ago.”

“Um….”

While I continued cursing the authors who failed to conduct proper research in an age where outdated information and the Inquisition weren’t as vital, Ibrahim explained the reasons why killing vampires was difficult.

“We’ve attempted most of the methods you’ve mentioned, but they haven’t been effective. When we sprinkled holy water, high-temperature steam was generated, injuring people, and when we drove a silver stake down with a hammer, it merely ricocheted and embedded itself in the wall.”

“Into the coffin?”

“No. What bounced off was a person. They died instantly, crashing their head into solid rock.”

“……”

“The coffin itself is suspected as the origin of the problem. There’s a chance the vampire might die if we spill the holy water by opening the coffin, but… both the sect and Al-Yabd agreed to leave opening the lid as a last resort.”

Hearing that, I reviewed the footage stored in the surveillance equipment; it was truly a sight to behold.

Whether it was made of steel rather than wood or not, it wouldn’t break even if struck or prodded, and fire produced no soot whatsoever. No matter how hard one tried, the lovely gloss boasted by cedar remained untouched, and the shadow of the edges merely wiggled ominously, as if in mockery.

Furthermore,

-Blood!

While playing back the footage, a sudden cut in the screen occurred. The facility’s administrator came to attempt to save the devices, but it was all in vain.

“The alchemical card’s completely burned out. I think we’ll need to replace the device.”

“Why did it suddenly burn like that?”

“I’m not exactly sure…”

Despite the numerous methods deployed by the sect and Al-Yabd to kill the vampire, they achieved no results while incurring three fatalities and forty-nine injuries. As for the deceased, I’m not sure what embarrassed them, but they seem to be exceedingly shy.

At this point, wouldn’t it be better to just leave it be? The old folks have enough trouble sleeping at night; rather than wake them with excess noise, it might be wise to just drop a weight into the deep ocean.

Thinking it over, it seemed like a perfectly sound plan, and I cautiously proposed it, but the priests of the sect and Al-Yabd vehemently opposed it. Their reasoning was that one must verify the vampire’s death before ensuring no damage occurs in the future.

Just before departing, I decided to ask Ibrahim one last question.

“Earlier, you mentioned the coffin was made 800 years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Assuming the vampire is around 800 years old. Typically, how strong would a vampire of that age be?”

He was loading the silver bullets into a magazine.

“A vampire’s strength doesn’t correlate to its age; thus, assessing a vampire’s capabilities by their age isn’t feasible. However, surviving in spite of imminent dangers indicates they’ve lived long, which means such undead are generally either cunning or powerful. Most fall into one of those categories.”

Clack! As the trigger was advanced, the blessed bullet ascended into the chamber. Nearby, weapons from the sect were displayed side-by-side, while a priest stood by, shaking a holy water sprayer around.

The commander of the Holy Knights posed a question.

“The vampire I mentioned earlier, the ‘Count Erzsébet’ exterminated in 1614, was a monster that claimed the lives of thousands on the battlefield. Among the vampires vanquished by past Holy Knights and the Inquisition, it was the fourth strongest. How many years do you suppose ‘Count Erzsébet’ lived?”

“Hmm, perhaps four hundred?”

“It was 183 years.”

Clank! Ibrahim shut the weapons case.

“The Holy See was not unaware of her existence. They simply hesitated to exterminate her due to her immense power. Now let me ask you again.”

He draped a strap over his neck, and the silver cross swayed atop his uniform.

“An undead that lived for 800 years or longer—how strong do you think such a thing would be?”

*

Ibrahim declared he would remain at the facility.

“We have to find a way to kill the vampire, no matter what.”

It seemed he intended to stay here for a while.

The deadline would likely be until the vampire was killed or they found a method to do so.

He mentioned he would stay until the reinforcements sent by the sect arrived, but given the determination evident in his eyes and demeanor, it was clear he had made a firm resolution.

“What are you so seriously concerned about?”

As we walked along a side path through the rocks while exiting the facility, Matt threw me a question.

“I was thinking about the vampire.”

“Are you planning to kill it?”

I shrugged and pouted. Matt raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Is it really necessary to worry about such things? The disputes between Asen and Sanya are still unresolved.”

“Work is work.”

“Fine by me, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my tasks…”

The information officer walking ahead paused for a moment.

Turning back, he cast a glance at me and said this.

“Don’t get entwined in unnecessary incidents. If it becomes a headache, you might as well lose your life… or so they say, but…”

“……”

“Consider this a word of precaution. I mean no ill will.”

“I’ll take your advice to heart.”

“Contact me as soon as news emerges from the warlords. Keep a regular line open.”

Matt stepped onto the magic circle and vanished in an instant.

I stared blankly at the spot where he had just been, then sat down on a nearby rock and waited for my magical energy to recharge.

“……”

As he said, the vampire was a secondary problem.

Just as Matt was preoccupied with the dispute between Asen and Sanya, my only focus must be successfully completing the Mauritania dispatch.

No matter how strong the vampire might be, the sect and Al-Yabd are handling it; they’re surely capable of dealing with it. If they can wrestle with demons, they could definitely manage a centuries-old grandparent with ease.

…

That was what I thought just a moment ago.
“…What are you doing here?”

“It seems you’re not very pleased to see me after a long time.”

I hit my forehead with a clap! and closed my eyes.

“Colonel?”

Ah. I almost forgot about this person.