Vampire Reincarnation

A couple of thousand corpses lay at my feet, all slain by my hand. Worthless scum that tried taking my life, now ending up as nothing more than fodder.

Outside, Kai took a deep breath, enjoying the chilly breeze crashing against his body, and cursing the mask for not having better ventilation. I definitely need to make some holes, this is absurd.

He walked toward the guild, greeted by the same atmosphere as the nights before, except there were many more gazes on his this time. Paying them no heed, he hurried toward the guild, rubbing his spatial rings and checking their contents.

Looks like I have everything I need, and some extra. I hope there’s no expiration date…

The large headquarters quickly appeared before him, the dozen or so flags fluttering in the wind, despite its strength not being enough to make them do so. He rushed through the entrance, straight toward Wildfire’s side, where Anna stood at the counter, filing her nails. Does she work every day? He thought as he snuck through the crowd, alongside Onyx who had an even easier time doing so.

Like usual, a long line separated him from Anna, however, he didn’t mind, as she worked as fast as a bee, and in less than five minutes, he found himself before her again. He raised himself and presented the papers, and before he could say anything, Anna’s lips parted. “Hello again. I see you’ve completed your tasks. In that case please walk through the door on the right and someone will process everything for you.”

Kai nodded and only managed to say an awkward “Alright,” before getting down from his molehill. He glanced at Anna, who already started talking to another adventurer, and made his way to the right, where a designed door greeted him. I guess this must be it then.

He knocked gently and opened it with a click, accompanied by the cheerful jingle of a bell. Walking through it, a sensation of his body being pulled apart and put back together washed all over himself, and a shiver ran down his spine as he fully passed through the door. Closing it, and looking around, he was surprised to see such a large room hiding behind that little door.

Unlike the office he was in to get tested, or the field right next to them, this room was twice the size of both combined. Countless shelves with drawers stood on either side, and the floor was decorated by a beautiful ebony carpet with red embroidery and a lotus flower pattern.

Engraved flames danced around multiple stone pillars stretching across the room, in between which stood large desks filled with documents and miscellaneous items. Behind each one of them stood a person working for Wildfire, as suggested by their uniforms and the fact that countless people lined up before them.

Mages, body mages, women, men, old and young. Large groups formed around these desks, discussing and handing over their completed tasks, along with proof. So this is how it works… interesting… Kai thought to himself as he advanced through the crowd, looking for a smaller line he could get into. However, no matter where he looked, the amount of people at each desk was about the same, except for one.

Far away at the back of the room, between two pillars, lay an empty desk, with very few documents and no one sitting behind it. Kai looked around, however everyone seemed to be too busy for him to bother so he decided to make his way over to the abandoned desk. Gazes followed him, and scoffs of disdain echoed behind him, however, he paid them no heed.

He stopped in front of the desk, its neat, arranged yet eerily empty table making him get second thoughts. “Uhm… hello?” Kai called out, and Onyx sat down and yawned next to him, happy to be out of such large crowds for a change.

Seconds passed and no one showed up, a frown manifesting under Kai’s mask, and he prepared to leave. However, before he could even turn around, a sharp, yet to be mature and desperate-sounding voice echoed from under the desk.

“Wait, wait, I’m here.”

An “Ouch-” accompanied by someone slamming the wooden frame resounded in the air, shortly after which a figure appeared. A boy, seemingly younger than him, with square glasses and a red nose, rubbed his head decorated with black, short hair. He brought his chair out, and sat down on it, supported by a couple of books to reach the desk. Adjusting his glasses, a soft smile creased his lips as he said cheerfully. “How can I help you, dear adventurer?”

His customer service and professional words stood in stark contrast compared to his childish figure and voice. Kai shook his head, snapping out of his shock and saying in an awkward voice. “Ah- Yes, I want to turn in my tasks.”

“Tasks? Yes, yes, tasks! Please, show me your tasks.” The boy said with unexpected excitement, making space for Kai’s documents on the table. His eyes shone as Kai placed his tasks on the table, and he immediately grabbed them, pulling them closer to his face and reading them aloud.

“Hmm, hmm, collecting Moonpetal, Spiritvines, Antlers, and killing Horned Pigs.. I see, I see, very good tasks for a novice. Follow me, we’ll check those in a moment.”

The boy jumped off from his chair, tasks in hand, and walked toward an empty, solid wall. Kai raised an eyebrow and followed behind him alongside Onyx. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the young man phase through the wall like a ghost, disappearing on the other side.

Perplexed, Kai walked over, and pushed his hand forward, only to be met by the cold smoothness of the wall. He tried again, with the same result. Behind the mask, a look of confusion manifested on his face, and he glanced at Onyx, who curiously sniffed the wall. The Obborik wagged his tail, and walked forward with confidence, his head phasing through the wall before his entire body disappeared. What the fuck? Then why can’t I?

Slightly angry, his eyes closed shut as he took a deep breath, and stepped with his head forward. The same feeling of his body being torn apart washed over him, and, as painless as it was, it still felt weird. His body shook as a warm light shone on his hazy vision, and he once again found himself in a different place. What kind of teleportation magic is this…

Looking around, he saw Onyx sniff some plants and decorative flowers, and the little boy searching through a large set of drawers. “Hey, what did you say your name was again?”

“Uh, Ichor,” Kai replied, his footsteps clicking as he walked on the hardwood floor. He sniffed the air, an intoxicating smell of burning incense inundating his nostrils, but weirdly enough there were no sticks of incense anywhere. Instead, he saw half a dozen balances of varying sizes, accompanied by a large amount of weights.

“Right, Ichor. Please take a seat while I find your file.” The boy said, hastily slamming the drawer he was looking in, then moving to another one across the room. Kai pulled the chair opposite the boy, its legs emitting a sharp shriek as it scraped against the floor, and sat down.

Shortly after, the boy pulled out a thin file jumped onto his chair, and opened it with a delighted expression.

“Right, Ichor, let’s start with the easiest ones to count then. TOIDN 18239116, Gather ten Emberhorns antlers. Uhm, please show proof of task completion.”

Upon hearing that, Kai hovered his hand over the table and activated his spatial ring, causing about a dozen antlers to fall onto the table. The boy’s expression lit up, and he immediately picked them up and started counting, placing them neatly to the side. “Hum, hum, twelve antlers, task successful. Now, onto the next one TOIDN 13592647, gather… five hundred strands of spiritvine…” The boy let out a heavy sigh and looked at Kai with a dejected expression. “Please… hand over the strands.”

Kai bit his lower lip and placed all the spirit vines he gathered on the desk, creating a small green hill. The boy’s eyes widened, and he lowered his head as he reached for the first strand. “One…” then the second “Two…” and third “Three…” and placed them neatly to the side, similarly to the antlers. Kai wore an awkward smile, and his right leg shook as he listened to the boy count the strands aloud. He’s not gonna… count them one by one, right? He thought, fearing that he may spend the entire night there.

“Thirty-seven…”

He will!

If Kai had any drinks to spit out, he would, but in the end resigned himself to this fate and waited for the boy to finish counting. Minutes passed, and with nothing else to do, Kai looked around and counted the tiles on the floor. These tiles are really pretty actually, I wonder what kind of wood they’re made from. Not to mention the patterns, they seem almost artificial but I’m certain they’re natural. I should tell Aina to use this kind of wood as well. All five hundred and thirty-seven tiles around me have a unique model, indeed, such a beautiful wood…

…

“Five hundred and thirty! Done.” The boy said, waking up the half-asleep Kai. “Phew, that took a while. You know, no one does these quests because they’re so low-paying and take so much effort since we have to be exact with the numbers. I’m surprised you even bothered.”

“Ah, yeah… haha.” Kai laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, then went ahead and dropped the Moonpetals as well, which should be easier to count since they had to be weighed.

“Ah, the moon petals, sure. One hundred grams.” The boy said, and pulled out a balance from under the desk, as long as one hundred grams worth of weight in ten, twenty, and fifty increments. He carefully unwrapped the cloth, revealing the beautiful flowers which still glowed with an ethereal light. Due to the spatial ring’s properties, they didn't wilt or wither, as time didn’t flow inside. The boy gently picked them up and placed them onto the scale, which immediately began to tip. After putting all the flowers, he grabbed the weights and placed them on the other, raised side. The scale tipped slightly, but was still higher than the flowers, which meant Kai had completed the task, and then some.

“Great, then, let me place the flowers inside the ring so they don’t lose their properties, and then we can move on to the Horned Pigs.” The boy quickly pulled out an empty ring from the drawer and placed it on his finger, grabbing the entire bouquet, which immediately vanished.

The young boy jumped off from his chair and walked over to one of the bigger balances, where he had more space to items on. Kai stood up and followed, then threw all the hogs he had onto the scale, piglets included. Similarly, their corpses were still fresh, so the expected putrid smell of decay wasn’t present. The scale tipped instantly, slamming against the floor, and the young boy looked in awe.

Onyx walked over, and licked his snout, his tail wagging and brushing the hardwood as he looked with desire and gluttony at the mountain of meat before him.

The boy picked up a five-kilogram weight, two, two-kilogram weights, and, one-kilogram weights and tried placing them onto the scale, however,, his short stature made him unable to reach it. He clicked his tongue and placed the weights down, walked behind the desk, and brought out a step ladder, which he then climbed while carrying the weights. He placed them, and the scale tipped, but not enough for the corpses to be equal, so the body added more and more weight, until finally, they balanced out at a little above twenty-five kilograms.

“Hum, hum, not bad! I can’t make an estimate right now but be assured we will not scam you!” He said with a wide smile and collected the corpses in another storage ring.

“Now, come sit down, I just need you to sign some papers and then you can go.”

“Sure,” Kai said, taking a seat and nudging himself closer to the desk. He watched the boy pull out a small stack of papers, onto which he quickly scribbled down the TOIDN’s.

“Just sign at the bottom of the page, it’s just a safety measure to make sure the tasks you handed in are correct.” The boy gleefully turned over the paper, holding it with his index finger and pointing to Kai where he needed to sign. His body covered the entire page, making the document unreadable. Kai sighed internally and scribbled down a random signature, fully trusting the boy, as he had been hired by the guild after all.

“By the way,” Kai began, “I noticed that nobody lined up for you, why is that?”

“Ah- that?...” The young boy said as he retrieved the documents, hiding his wide smile with a hand raised to his chin. “Must be because of my appearance, they must not trust me because I’m a kid, their loss though!”

“I guess it is, haha” Kai laughed awkwardly and stood up, his heart racing slightly as he walked toward the wall. I should have asked beforehand… He thought as he passed through it, accompanied by Onyx, and reappearing back in the grand hall. Some people looked at him with mockery, while some with pity, but none of them approached him. He immediately got a bad feeling in his stomach, and, as he turned to re-enter the room, his head slammed against the hard wall. What the fuck?!