The Reincarnated Vampire Just Wants to Enjoy Her New Life

Chapter 133: Trespassers

"Ugh, seriously. What the hell!"

A tall human woman wearing a revealing white dress yelled out in frustration.

"Quit complaining. It doesn't just suck for you."

A dwarf man fully covered with black metal plates and a shield big enough for him to hide behind yelled back.

"But you at least got to buy booze back in the last city! I was looking forward to buying those really nice scented soaps I've been hearing about! Why the hell did they all have to be sold out!"

"That's what you're complaining about? What about this damn forest! The target's so far, monsters are stronger than expected, and worst of all there's no roads of any kind!"

"It sucks. It sucks too. But at least it's only been a month to the city, and we've only been walking for about two weeks. If it was the demon lord's castle, we'd be travelling for most of a year!"

"But at least we'd be on roads the entire time. The ground is so soft and uneven here. It's hard to take any steps in all this heavy armour. And this snow! All the snow had melted when we left, yet the target's so far north that everything here's covered in snow despite being inside of a damn forest!"

"Quit it! Stop complaining all the time you two! It's only to the sacred Hourai Mountain! We go there, kill the demon lord, and go back! Once we do that, you can rest and buy all the soap you want!"

The human in the lead, wearing a full set of pearl white armour turned around to berate the two behind him.

"You're the only one who actually cares about any of this anyways! Demon lord or not, this one's just stuck in the middle of nowhere! There hasn't even been any attacks yet!"

"And that's why it's so important to strike first! Whatever this demon lord's doing, it's something bad enough that even god sent an oracle about it Hylas!"

The man in the lead shot back at the tall woman, the interlocking plates of his pearl white armour lightly schliking as the plates slid over one another when he turned.

"I actually agree with him on this one. While Meleager only actually cares about fighting something strong, the fact that there was an oracle this time means that something really bad is happening."

As reluctant as his tone was, the lanky man in all black put in his own opinion in an attempt to diffuse this all too common situation.

"Bah! I know that Euphemus. But that doesn't make it any easier to walk through this forest in such heavy armour. If only we could've brought a wagon, or at least some horses."

"Ha! And I guess a bath then? With how much you've been sweating in that tin can of yours, you really need one Ancaeus!"

"Oh shut it. Just because you're you're willing to sacrifice defence to have lighter armour doesn't mean that I made the wrong choice about mine! I doubt I'd still be in once piece after that crusher minotaur if I was wearing flimsy armour like yours."

"You just have to avoid getting hit then!"

"My legs aren't as long as yours damnit!"

"Look, we each have our own way of fighting, and while heavy armour makes travelling more difficult it is quite useful in battle."

"Yea, alright. Let's get a move on. We've been taking too many breaks as it is."

"Fine. The longer we take to get there, the more I have to hear this harpy whine."

"Who's the harpy?!"

"Don't listen to him Hylas."

With the easily agitated party members mostly placated, the group turned to continue their tiresome trek through the forest where ever larger trees grew and ever stronger monsters appeared.

"Is something wrong Idmon?"

But quickly the wolfkin who worked so hard to calm his party members noticed one of their group hadn't continued moving.

A slender elf, their final member, was staring through the gaps in the canopy. The fact that her usually sleepy looking eyes were fully open and her weak posture had straitened unnerved the party's assassin.

"There's so many spirits here. How?"

"Spirits?"

Euphemus followed the woman's gaze, but merely frowned.

"Is there a lot here?"

"Too many. There's more here than even at Arcadia."

"That many? This really is worrisome. Maybe it's connected to whatever the demon lord's doing. We should hurry."

The robed woman nodded and increased her pace from before, not even bothering to rely on her favourite walking staff for support.

"Scarlet! Look! Look!"

"That's very nice. Good job."

"Ehehehe!"

(Really, just how the hell did you do that?)

I was looking at the snowman one of the fairies had made. Rather than simply a snowman, it was closer to a professional snow sculpture. A life sized fairy with all the details.

As to how this one managed to get it to stand without the thin limbs and wings crumbling was anyone's guess.

All around me, fairies were wearing outfits which looked like a cross between dandelion puffs and cotton balls were making their own snow sculptures individually or in small groups. From more snowmen of varying styles and quality, to snow structures. There was even a group who made a pair of snow forts facing each other and they were now throwing snowballs at each other from the safety of their own forts.

Since Arcadia was far to the south, most of the fairies hadn't experienced snow before. The first time the yearly diamond dust had fallen from the skies, the fairies made a massive fuss about it. Especially when it came to worrying that something had happened to the fluffballs that made up our current skyline.

But it didn't take much work to convince them that it was just the winter's version of rain.

The novelty mostly wore off early on, as the amount of snow which fell this year didn't add up to much. It was only now, near the end of winter, that the snow had finally started to really pile on, and especially to the degree that proper winter activities could be done.

With more than a light dusting to discolour the grass and shrubs on the ground, I taught them some traditional snowy activities I knew. It was tempting to teach them some proper winter sports, but all the good ones required quite a lot of setup in terms of a place to do them, not to mention that the fact that fairies spend very little time on their feet meant that they might not even enjoy them kinda killed its prospects. The people of the dark side might enjoy them better, but they'd probably be less inclined to even try them in the first place.

Maybe I can try it someday in the future.

"Is it ready yet?"

"Yea!"

"I wanna try it!"

"Me too!"

"Let me check."

I turned my back on Orphne and the group following her and checked inside of a large pot I've been keeping simmering for the last while. The scent of something sweet wafted together with the steam rising out of the pot and I pushed the wooden spoon inside of it. There was a bit of resistance, more than any typical soup.

"Yea, I think it's about ready now. Just give me a sec to serve it."

"""Yay! It's ready!"""

Scooping out the thickened syrup made from treant sap, I poured small quantities of it onto a bed of freshly gathered snow beside me, creating lines of quickly hardening brown syrup. Without any time to waste, I quickly stuck a cleanly shaven stick into each line of syrup before rolling the line on top of itself until I was left with a slightly goopy lollipop.

"Alright. The first batch is ready."

"""Yay!"""

"""Ah! Nooooo~~~~!"""

As soon as I said that, the closest fairy group lunged for the sticks and retrieved their snacks, frustrating those who weren't fast enough to get their own.

"Don't worry, the next batch'll be done soon."

As soon as the bed of snow was clear, I poured more syrup on it and quickly prepared a second batch, which were claimed the instant I declared them ready. Then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth.

Despite all the time spent boiling the syrup, the pot was quickly emptied of its contents. There was the possibility of simply evaporating all the extra water from the sap via magic, but I didn't know how it would affect the taste, so I didn't want to do that for the first set of batches.

Besides, the response to the treat was quite nice.

"Mmmm!"

"It's so sweet!"

"Yummie!"

"Glad you guys like the maple taffy."

Even if I had no idea if it was actually made from maple syrup. Those treants I got the sap from didn't look like they had maple leaves growing on them, so there was a good chance it wasn't, but the taste shouldn't change much because of that.

Hell, the only reason why I even made it in this season was because winter's the traditional time to make it. The sap used for it could be harvested at any time and I could've just made my own snow instead of using natural snow.

But the atmosphere really matters sometimes.

"Wow! This stuff's real sweet!"

Off to the side, Sarah slowly licked her little treat, but she grimaced after getting a taste.

"Too sweet for you?"

"Yea. This is practically all sugar."

"That's what it is."

I didn't know what sort of point she was trying to make when stating the obvious. Even the name said it all.

"Well, if you don't want it, then I'll take it! Ha!"

"Hey! I didn't say I didn't want it! Give it back!"

One of the fairies who had finished his own maple taffy grabbed the one right out of Sarah's hand and flew high and out of reach. Despite what the woman had been complaining about, for some reason the moment the treat was out of her hands she somehow instantly became possessive of her lost snack.

For me, it was a bit surprising that she was so interested in her taffy. She normally only took interest in her normal food, or things that had to do with her gun and shooting.

"Is something wrong Claret?"

All of the sudden, my ever faithful familiar shot her gaze upwards towards the overcast fluffballs.

"The little ones noticed something. I think...someone...has come."

Looking up, I couldn't exactly tell. They seemed to be the same as usual, but at the same time, there seemed to be a bit more movement than usual. Nobody seemed to be feeding any of them, yet the ones to the east seemed to be acting up a little.

What that meant, I wouldn't have known on my own. But since it was Claret there wasn't any reason to doubt her words.

"Can you go ask them what they know?"

"No problem Master."

And with those words, Claret eagerly rose up from my shoulders and flew to have a talk to the fluffballs.

"Orphne!"

"What's up!"

The little fairy who first pointed her spear at me when I originally found the fairy settlement over a year ago rushed over with a bright smile when I called for her.

"The spirits think someone has come."

Orphne looked up at our fluffy skies and her light expression hardened slightly.

"Okay. I'll have some people check it out."

And with a nod, she went to a few of her subordinates. After a few words, they all went off their own ways before returning with their weapons and a trio making their way to the east. The remaining fairies made a circle around me.

"Is this really necessary?"

"It is! We gotta protect our V.I.P. after all!"

Along with Orphne, the other fairies nodded in unison.

"A V.I.P?"

Before I could stop it, my skepticism ended up being voiced.

"That's...!"

"...a vital..."

"...influential..."

"...patissier!"

(They're not even close!)

But at the very least, they were able to communicate the impression they had of me quite well.

After a little more random banter, the trio that went out had returned, this time together with a group of five.

I couldn't help but frown. The group members were pretty varied, and aside from one member, their outfits were suited for the rigours of combat. But they weren't adventurers, at least as far as I could tell. The most telling bit was the two at the front, especially the one in the lead. Both were wearing full plate armour with only their faces exposed as their visors were raised.

But more than simply wearing full plate, the armour was in excellent condition, with no obvious scratches on their surfaces. Pure, pristine, and perfectly white for one and black for the other. The only thing notable was some of the decorative flourishes on it, but without having a closer look, I couldn't make out the highlights very well.

But that didn't matter, because their armour reminded me of on particular's. Especially the man leading the group.

His armour closely resembled the one Sarah wore.

It wasn't exact, and for that matter, it was far more ornate. In fact, Sarah's was just plain utilitarian. But the colour and overall shape was the same. I wasn't an expert on armours in the first place, as I've never even worn proper ones before, so my amateurish eyes could have caused me some misunderstandings.

But even still, it didn't hurt to raise my guard.

In the end, these people were trespassers, and have somehow gone through the difficult monsters that made up our national boarder and had reason enough to push past them. It was hard to think that they had come this far without a reason, and that reason made me nervous.

A few of them seemed to be whispering something to each other, but the fairies who were escorting them didn't react, and I wasn't nearly good enough to lip read to be able to make out what they were saying.

"It seems I have arrived in time."

As we were waiting for the group to be lead to us, Aurae, one of the fairy elders, showed up. It seemed like she was the one who would represent the fairies for whatever these people had come here to do.

While I was glad to be relieved the burden of such a thing, I was one of the elders so leaving to let everything be dealt with by Aurae wasn't really an option. At the very least, I needed to be present to back her up or give her some advice if she needed it.

"Welcome. I am Aurae, one of the elders of this settlement."

"Ah. I'm Meleager."

The man in white armour half returned Aurae's greeting.

"May I ask for what reason you and yours have travelled so far to our homes?"

"Your homes? You live next to the sacred Hourai Mountain?"

(Sacred?)

"We do."

"There's a lot of fairies here. Where did you come from?"

Before our elder could continue on the subject, the man, Meleager, quickly moved on without any regard. The way he was trying to domineer this conversation only made me frown more deeply.

"We have moved from our old home of Arcadia."

"Is that because of all the spirits who have gathered here, or does that mean these spirits came with you from Arcadia?"

"The latter."

Not just me, but Aurae wasn't liking this man's attitude. The tension in the air as he casually spoke grew thicker by the second as the other fairies' expressions changed from cautious curiosity to frustration and annoyance.

"That's impossible! This many spirits abandoned their homes just to follow you fairies?!"

The one to make that outburst was the elf in the back of the group. She was wearing a dark green robe with gold inlays and held a crooked staff in her hand. There were four fluffballs following her, but they looked strange. Each was bigger than any fluffball I had seen before, but they looked...tired?

It was the only way I could explain what I saw. It wasn't like any of them had faces, and hence expressions, but something about them made me feel that they weren't happy. It was the first time I've seen fluffballs like this.

"That's exactly what happened!"

Aurae puffed out her chest while placing her hands on her hips. The smile alone showed off how proud she was of this fact.

"You damn fairies! You made them abandon their homes! Or tricked them!"

"We rescued them!"

The elder glared sharply at the almost hysteric elf.

Between the two, I was fully behind Aurae. Her side was the first I had heard, and it was quite convincing, especially after getting to know the fluffballs who had come with the fairies. They came following the fairies willingly, and were all happy at their new home.

On the other hand, while the fluffballs that were following this elf did look well fed, they weren't energetic at all. They kinda reminded me of someone who worked paycheck to paycheck living off of nothing but cheap instant meals and stressed out from work all day.

I could have been misreading them entirely. I still had no idea how much these thoughts I had on the emotions of spirits were accurate.

"By the way, aren't you cold in that outfit?"

"Me?"

The one in the white armour interrupted the argument between the probably Arcadia natives and asked. I wasn't completely sure, but it felt like he was staring at me for a little while. The smile he had was a little creepy.

"I'm fine. I'm pretty resistant against the cold."

"Resistant or not, it's really quite cold. I'm practically shivering despite the extra layers I'm wearing under this armour."

Whether he was actually wearing more layers or not, I couldn't tell. But that aside, there were members of his party who were clearly not wearing clothes suitable for winter.

"What about those two? Aren't they the same?"

I pointed at the two women behind him. The elf was definitely wearing some sort of sweater under those robes, but it didn't look that thick. It was fine for someone who was used to colder climates, but on the chance that she wasn't, it was more helpful to point her out. The human woman beside her though, was showing off quite a bit of skin. Her upper chest was bare and she only had half sleeves. On top of that, her skirt hardly went below her knees, so I could see that her socks were pretty normal in thickness. Not thick wool ones or something appropriate for winter.

"Me? My dress is enchanted to keep me warm."

Waving off my question, the woman in the dress quickly went back to looking bored.

Then again, the idea of enchanting one's clothes to adapt to differing climates hadn't come to me at all. It was probably pretty easy to do, though maybe it wasn't cheap. But either way, this group looked well off enough that it shouldn't be hard for them to get that sort of thing.

"Yea, I wish I remembered to bring mine too. I didn't think it would still be so cold here despite it being spring already."

"Haaa...I see."

I didn't know what to say. Though I hadn't thought that the rest of the world considered it to be spring already. The winter solstice had only passed two months ago, making me hate the ever increasing duration of attacks the sun made each day.

"Anyways, that aside, I see your companion is human, but are you one as well? I can't quite tell with your hood on."

I glanced over at Sarah. While she was wearing a full set of fur clothes made for the winter, her ears were fully visible under that fluffy hat on her head. She had opted to wear her scarf loose so it wasn't covering much of anything at all.

"Ah, no. I'm not human. See?"

I grabbed my ear through the side of my hood and waggled it around a bit. I couldn't say for sure if they could properly see it, but the motion should be enough to give them my meaning.

"Yes, I do."

The man in front took a few steps towards me, and I in turn took a hesitant step back.

This guy's armour and shield were strongly enchanted with [Light Magic]. Just looking at it made my eyes a bit sore. Enough that I was tempted to put on the enchanted clothes Elli had made so I could ward off the ambient light mana the thing lightly radiated as a consequence.

"Those red eyes, those fangs, and those pointed ears..."

My eyes shot to the man. I hadn't bothered to hide my features for a while, so I had forgotten to do so when these people had arrived.

"You must be the vampire demon lord haunting this place!"

The man's arm shot under his shield.

Not waiting to see what would come out, I kicked the soft layers of snow to create some distance between us just as the armoured man lunged forward, thrusting a now revealed sword.

"Die! For the sake of god!"

And with those words, his four companions readied their weapons. A split second later, Orphne and her fellow guards readied their own spears against our intruders.