Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He had been awaiting their arrival for two weeks now. While he was staying behind to guard the castle some brave courier approached the grounds with a letter saying that they were close by, having finished their latest mission in the north visiting the speakers and dealing with a demon problem. They may have put an end to his father's war but demons still roamed the land, and with no master to direct them they ran wild.

He had his equipment on him today as a precaution. The three of them had terrible luck and he wanted to make sure nothing would interrupt their reunion. He had on his signature coat on, which Trevor lovingly said it made him look like a "pretentious as fuck noble", and of course he had his longsword on him along with some other tools on his person.

It wasn't long before he could hear their wagon off in the far distance almost 300 feet away. Of course any normal person wouldn't be able to hear that far but vampirism had its perks. Filled with anticipation he moved to open the castle doors to welcome them back. He was hoping to surprise them with how much he's changed the castle since they've last seen it

During the time they were gone he'd had taken to cleaning up large parts of the castle and the entrance was one of the biggest undertakings. Debris had been the first thing he handled, sweeping away broken class, dust, stones, and the occasional vampire corpse and depositing them in a trash heap towards the back. Cracked stone pillars were filled in and restabilized. Luckily none of them were completely destroyed so they only needed touching up. The rug on the other hand was torn in many places and ultimately he decided to just have it replaced rather than wasting time or resources replacing it. The scratches and burns on the door had been sanded out and restored to its former glory. It was a good thing he could levitate or he'd never be able to fix the top.

He must have been lost in his thoughts as he heard a wagon grinding to a halt and didn't notice it coming in the first place. Stepping outside he was greeted with the sight of his two companions climbing off the front of their wagon, and Trevor nearly falling off before catching himself. It was a minute before the two of them noticed him standing there waiting for them. Trevor walked over to him first, disregarding the luggage he was unloading.

"Quite the homecoming. Expecting someone?" He said with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Of course I knew you were coming. I could smell your stench from a mile away."

Trevor grinned and punched his arm "And I see you're still the same cockwart as when we left."

Sypha on the other hand made a loud ahem noise. "Not even a minute back home and you two are already fighting like children."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Agreed."

She glared at them with a slight pout for a moment before all three of them started laughing. Adrian in that moment felt such warmth blooming in his chest that only these two could inspire in him. Having them here in front of him reminded him just how much he missed their presence in his life.

He looked to his two companions with a gentle smile "it really is good to see you two again. "

"Oh don't get sappy on us now I might get sick" Trevor said as he turned his head to make exaggerated gagging gestures.

"It's good to see you too Adrian."

He couldn't help but smile at that. Hearing them calling him Adrian made him feel at peace with himself, happy even. After the battle with his father he felt like he was slowly breaking apart from the inside out. Alucard's job was over. Humanity seldom needed a savior anymore, what it needed now was to rebuild and recover. What reason did he have for living anymore as well? His family was gone and he'd never be accepted by either side of his heritage. Too human for vampires and too vampire for humans. He was fully prepared to make the castle his tomb but then Trevor stopped him. Instead of leaving him to rot he gave him a new purpose, a new life. Instead of leaving the castle and the hold to rot he said to make it their new home, to make something out of it. And he said to do it by both of their sides.

While they were busy traveling he was fine staying back to watch over the grounds. There were many times where he felt he couldn't take it anymore and wanted to run to their side or even worse bury himself back in Gresit but he resisted the temptation every time. He knew they cared for him deeply, just as he did for them. So he'll continue to live each day waiting for their return, eager to hear their new stories and to have them home again. He felt like a lovesick puppy in that regard almost but of course he wouldn't show it too much.

Shaking him out of his thoughts was Trevor loudly groaning off to the side. "So are we are we gonna stand around all day being mushy or are we gonna unload the wagon?"

"I think I'm more partial to standing around all day. Quite relaxing."

"Oh shut up you..you fangy bastard."

"I swear your insults are getting better and better by the day." He said as he began helping them unload everything. He was moving several boxes at once as Trevor called him a show off under his breath when he noticed something.

From the pile of goods that they came home with one item stuck out to him as odd. A book to be precise. While normally a book would never really be abnormal or out of place it was different with these two. Trevor had no interest in literature beyond his own beastiary and the only books he's ever seen Sypha handle were the ones found in the Belmont hold. Though it is possible she picked it up on their journey, maybe she's starting her own collection despite speaker tradition.

"Sypha, what is this?" He held up the book in question for her to see.

Sypha looked visibly confused when she saw the book in question. "I don't know, I don't remember picking up any books on our journey. And I certainly know Trevor didn't get this."

"I take offense to that. Just because I'm not a nerd like you two doesn't mean I'm illiterate."

"Is this your book then?" She held it up for him to see.

"No..?"

"Then my point stands."

They had a good laugh at Trevor's expense and that was that. They all continued unloading the wagon and began talking about more mundane things like what to make for dinner.

It wasn't until the evening he thought about the book again. The three of them after dinner had taken to relaxing in front of the fireplace in one of the spare rooms on the lower floor. Trevor was dozing off to the side while Sypha handled the fireplace. As she was stoking the fire he wondered about the book again. He didn't even remember it's title at the moment but he was still curious about it.

"Sypha."

"Yes Adrian?" She took her eyes off the fire to look at him, the light coming off of it giving her face a soft orange glow.

"Do you still have that book on your person still?"

"Uh yes! I should have it in my bag one moment." She leaned back and scooted towards the chairs behind them where she left her bag. She looked to leave the heat of the fire in the first place so she was rather quick to dig through her bag and sit right back down.

"Here you are. I flipped through it a bit earlier and it just seemed to be some sort of story for children. A rather simplistic one at that." She handed him the book as she spoke and he finally got a good look at the cover. It was extremely worn out and stained, smothering the original red binding. The title was 'The Records of the Four Cardinal Weapons.' Odd title but he's seen worse. At least it wasn't a book entirely dedicated to penis spells.

The book itself was just as Sypha said. Simplistic and boring. It was about these four magical heroes each wielding a magical weapon, a bow a sword a spear and a shield to be exact, being summoned so that they might save the world. The story itself however mostly just had them wandering around, gaining strength and over all doing nothing important to the grand scheme of things. Not very riveting. There weren't really any other characters besides the heroes themselves but one character stuck out to him as particularly annoying. The princess character in the story seemed to be obsessed with the heroes, constantly jumping from each one and bringing nothing but disaster wherever she went.

"I thought these characters were awful but the princess is something else entirely."

"I know right? It's amazing how little shame she has. Whenever she's around it's like a complete tonal shift too. Maybe the author was writing from experience."

Trevor decided to chime in for once "Oh yeah venting about your bitchy girlfriend in a children's book. A real champ."

Adrian smirked at that before continuing reading. Towards the back of the book every hero seemed to have a section describing their personality.

"Weird way to structure your book. Why would you put these in the back?"

"Put what in the back?"

He leaned over to show her what he meant. "See these? They put character descriptions towards the back."

She looked rather confused. "That's odd. When I was reading it there were nothing but blank pages back there."

He flipped through the character sections for each of the heroes in order. The sword, bow, and spear each had their own descriptions, describing them as extremely strong, fiercely loyal, and justice seeking individuals. Overall par for the course for a hero. When he turned the page to read the section on the shield hero he found it...blank.

"You're right. The back is filled with blank pages, but only with the shield hero section."

He was going through the remaining blank pages when the pages started flipping themselves at a rapid pace in his hands. The book itself started softly glowing, alarming everyone in the room.

All of a sudden he felt wrong, like something was tugging at his very being.

He could hear Sypha ask him "Adrian are you ok-?" Before being consumed by a bright yellow light as both Sypha and Trevor reached out for him yelling.

He felt himself rapidly falling through the air, light blinding his eyes. And as quick as it happened he stopped falling as his body thwumped onto the ground. He could hear muffled voices saying something about a successful summoning.

"Oh great heroes, please save our world!"

...what?

At the same time he heard 3 other voices speak out loud the exact same exact thing he was thinking.

"What?"

From where he had fallen he could see three other people to his left. Harsh shadows were obscuring their faces but their voices sounded rather young. They wore unfamiliar clothing and looked to be holding various weapons. A sword, a bow, and a spear.

Just like the weapons in that book.

Taking his surroundings in more he saw he was surrounded by various people in robes. His vision was slightly obscured by a profit glowing light coming from his feet and looking down he found himself standing on top of what looked to be some sort of magic sigil.

As he brought himself up to stand he could feel something weighing on his arm and when he looked down he found a shield..?

A sword. A spear. A bow. And a shield.

What the fuck?

What looked to be the head of the group of cloaked figures repeated his statement. "Great heroes, I beg you please save our world!"

This didn't seem real. This was too much like that fairy tale for children to be real life. Maybe he had fallen asleep in front of the fire place after reading that book. "I think there's been some sort of mistake." Was all he could really say.

One of the other people to his side nearly talked over him as soon as he got his words out. "What do you mean by that?"

"There is a long and complicated story behind this-"

"Shorten it."

He was ignored as the robed man continued talking. "-But we've summoned you Four Cardinal Heroes here using an ancient ritual. Our world teeters on the brink of destruction. We beg you, O' great heroes! Please help us!"

All the robed figures bowed before silence took over the room. He understood their plight but this was not his battle. Instead he chose to give them a simple answer.

"No."

Apparently the others were just as against fighting as they voiced their opinions right after him.

"I refuse as well."

"Likewise."

The one closest to him with the spear asked the question that was foremost on his own mind. "We can go back to our world, right? We'll talk about your problems after that."

The one wielding the sword seemed to agree as well as he raised his weapon towards the robed figures. "Don't you guys feel any guilt at all for bringing us here without our consent?"

Next the wielding the bow spoke up. "And if you throw us out as soon as peace is restored, we'd have worked for nothing."

Each of them brought up valid points he found himself agreeing with but somehow it felt disingenuous, like they had a different motive. This suspension wasn't helped by the spear wielder's next statement.

"How willing are you to compensate us? Depending on your answer, we might end up becoming your enemies instead."

Ah. So that was their motivation, the rewards and benefits. He really shouldn't be surprised but at the same time their almost familiarity with the situation was questionable. He would have expected them to be more confused, not asking for rewards upfront without even knowing where they are.

The head of the group was obviously taken aback, stuttering as he answered their questions in a non answer way. "F-first, we'd like you to have an audience with the king of our country, Melomarc. You can negotiate your reward after that, so please..." The man then gestured for them to follow him out of the room. The kid pointing his sword at the man lowered it before giving his answer. "Fine I guess."

The others quickly followed suit, the bow hero being first. "I suppose we could consider their offer."

The last was the spear hero who just smirked and slugged his weapon on his shoulder. "Not like our demands are gonna change, no matter who we talk to."

They were led up a stone spiral staircase and he got his first glance of the outside world. In the far distance there seemed to be a mountain range.The surrounding buildings reminded him of Italian style architecture with its pale bricks and red clay roofs. It was very sunny and he could feel the humidity hanging in the air. The ones with the sword and bow had stopped to admire the outside landscape as well.

"We really are in another world, huh?"

"Seems so, and judging by the weather it seems to be a Mediterranean climate."

He also got his first good look at the other heroes. The one with the sword was short with black hair, blue eyes and slightly effeminate features. The one with the spear had a longer face and reddish brown eyes. His hair was blond and pulled into a high ponytail, he also looked to be the oldest of the three. Meanwhile it was the bow hero who looked the youngest with baby fat still on his cheeks. He has dirty blonde hair with light green as and was just as short as the sword one. Overall they all looked incredibly young and inexperienced. Surely they don't want these children to fight for them ...do they? This was getting more sketchy by the minute. Forcibly taking four people from their homes to fight in your war they have no part in is bad enough but sending what is essentially children to the front lines? He's not liking this one bit.

While they were still walking up the stairs, the one with the spear turned back to face him.

"Soooo are you a cosplayer or something?"

There was a moment of pause.

"Pardon.?"

"I mean with that fancy coat, the high boots, and the belts strapped on you look like you walked straight out of Harajuku. You get summoned during a bad time?"

"I'm not following at all." Cosplay? Harajuku? The fuck is that?

He looks like he's about to say more when the swords man puts his hand on his shoulder and tells him to drop it.

They remained silent for the rest of the walk. It was uneventful beyond walking through a courtyard. For a brief moment he thought they were being watched but when he looked around he found the courtyard was deserted. There wasn't anyone in the windows either so it was probably nothing, at most a passing servant. He couldn't help himself feeling tense. He didn't know what kind of man this king would be and for all he knew he could be walking into a trap.

Eventually they were led into a massive space. It had an entire wall covered in windows flooding the room with light along with half a dozen chandeliers with lit candles. There were high arches spanning across the room, all white and gilded with gold. He could see guards lined up the entire stretch of the room as well as several people who looked to be nobles, and at the end of the hall sat a man adorned with a crown and various jewels and furs. It couldn't possibly be anymore obvious that he was the king. They were led down the room until they were stopped about ten feet before the king, and the men in robes bowed towards him before stepping off to the side.

The man before them on the throne was old with silver hair and a silver beard to match. He had a somewhat portly body and had high quality purple robes on along with various pieces of jewelry besides his crown. He looked at them with barely a twinkle of interest in his eye. It looked fake.

"So these four men are the cardinal heroes of ancient legend?" He said in a dull tone.

"I am the king of Melromarc, Aultclay Melromarc XXXII." His brow furrowed as he looked towards them once more. "Heroes, name yourselves."

The swordsman was the first to introduce himself. "Amaki Ren, sixteen years old, highschooler."

The one with the spear followed suit and stepped forward with a cocky look on his face. "I'm Kitamura Motoyasu. Twenty one and a college student."

"I suppose I'm next." The bow hero spoke. "Kawasumi Itsuki, seventeen years old, and a highschooler."

One would presume he'd be next to introduce himself but before he could even think about getting a word in the king continued talking.

"I see. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki I take it?"

He narrowed his eyes in slight annoyance. The cold shouldering from the king couldn't be more obvious. If he didn't want to acknowledge his existence then fine, he didn't owe him anything. The others seemed to notice that he had been blatantly skipped over but they didn't say anything, rather they seemed to be waiting to see if he or the king would say anything about it. However, he wouldn't be giving him the satisfaction. He knew how court politics work and he knew that this was a power play. The king looked him in the eye for a moment, almost challenging him to call out the mistake but instead all he got was a blank stare and silence. He coughed into his hand before speaking once again.

"Now then, I suppose I owe you an explanation. My country, Melromarc, and the entire planet is being threatened with total destruction."

As the king continued talking it was obvious his silence was bothering him immensely. Melromarc must have been waiting for him to speak up about it so he could make a fool out of him but it never happened. The nobles seemed tense as well, not expecting this either. This reminded him too much of the vampire court his father would regularly attend years ago. Every move and stare would be calculated and pointed, every subtle action a power play. They were all too obvious.

The story he proceeded to tell was nearly identical to the plot of the book. Apocalyptic waves were threatening to destroy the world, each wave stronger than the last. Each county had something called a "dragon hourglass" that would keep track of the time between waves and predict when they would arrive next. Apparently the first wave already happened before they were summoned. Various local adventurers and knights were able to fight it but just barely. The devastation from the first wave led them to the conclusion that they needed the four heroes of legend, or they'd never survive a second wave. So that led them to perform a ritual to summon said four heroes, which led to their arrival.

"-This is why we have no time to lose! The next wave is in a month's time and we need you."

The one he knew as Ren loudly slammed the blade of his sword on the ground, grabbing everyone's attention. "We get the gist of it now. Anyway, surely you didn't summon us expecting us to save you for free."

Another expensively dressed old man who looked to be some sort of shady advisor answered them instead of the king himself. "Of course, once you repel all the waves we shall reward you handsomely."

The three of them had what looked like a silent agreement before replying in succession.

"Will you now? Well, as long as we have your word."

"We'll work with you provided you don't turn on us. But don't think for a moment that you can tame us."

"Exactly. We can't have you looking down on us."

Such pure arrogance. Only fools would respond like that. The king however looked satisfied at their conclusion, meanwhile not even sparing a glance his way for his own answer.

"I trust we have an agreement then-."

He's had enough of this. While the others might be content to play hero and live out this fantasy he had his own problems to deal with. What he needed was to get home as immediately not be fighting a war for some other world without his consent. Sypha and Trevor must be screaming their heads off back home wondering where he's gone.

"No."

The king looked absolutely confused, whether it'd be his refusal, or the fact that he's actively challenging him.

"Pardon?"

"I said no."

This was the first time he had spoken at all in front of the court and there were mixed reactions from everyone present ranging from surprise, confusion, even anger. The once cocky heroes looked baffled, with the one named Motoyasu verbally stuttering out a "what?". The king himself had a look of confusion still on his face, but his eyes spoke of annoyance at his insolence. But maintaining appearances was more important to him so his next question had a much kinder tone than what he was truly feeling.

"What do you mean by no? Is there a problem?"

"I understand your plight but I cannot fight for you. I never asked to be summoned here and I must ask to be returned home immediately."

The king quickly dropped any illusions of pleasantry at that moment and snapped back at him. "Why is that? What could possibly be more important than the fate of our world? And who are you to demand such a thing?"

He held his head up high as he stepped forward with fire in his eyes. If he finally wanted to know who he was then he was going to get it. "I am Adrian Fahrenheit Tepés, Known to the Wallachians as Alucard, the sleeping soldier and defender of humanity. Age 19." He said that last part to be a bit cheeky. A sort of reflection of the other heroes' introductions.

He would have to choose his next words very carefully. While he wanted the respect of the court he did not want them to outright fear him in case of panic or retaliation. It was even more important to get his point across as to why he couldn't stay.

"My world is already under constant threat from all manner of monsters and demons. They wish to snuff out the entire human race or turn what's left of them after mass slaughter into nothing but slaves. The people have no means to defend themselves as all those who could have fought back have long since passed except for me and my companions. We are the last line of defense for humanity and I know they cannot fight without me as I cannot without them. That is why I cannot fight for you. Without my presence my world will suffer."

He gave them a few seconds to linger on his words. The other heroes looked at him in disbelief, as if they couldn't believe what he was saying was true. The other nobles and officials in the room seemed to be whispering amongst themselves. Melromarc on the other hand was silent for the most part, staring him down while he looked to be contemplating something. It was an agonizingly long two minutes before the king made his reply.

"I see that your circumstances are dire but I'm sorry we cannot send you back. We need all four cardinal heroes and only once the waves have been defeated that you can be sent back."

"Why not find a replacement then? Surely there's someone out there who'd certainly want the honors more than me."

He must have said something because he got odd looks from people around the room.

"Legend states that new heroes may only be summoned once all four cardinal heroes perish. Just as that weapon is bound to you you are bound to here."

He felt like he just got slapped in the face or rather punched through several walls again. He was stuck here? This can't be he can't just leave Sypha and Trevor behind to fight in some random war, but if what he is saying is true then...

"My only option is to fight the waves..."

"Yes and we are offering our support to you heroes so that you may fight these waves in the most efficient way possible."

"I see. Then until I am able to find a way home I will offer my services to you. But know that my loyalties lie to my world first. "

As of now there seemed to be no way around the situation. Even if they were lying he still has no clue how to return to his own world or even where to start. So it would seem he would have to play the part of their shield hero, just for a bit at least.

The king looked to be pondering his words for just a moment before quickly brushing it off and pretending nothing happened. "Hm. Anyways heroes you should all go ahead and check your statuses."

'Well that was a quick change of tone. And what the hell is a status?'

The others seemed just as lost except for Ren who looked rather smug despite the attempt at a blank face. "What's wrong with you guys? It should've been the first thing you noticed in this world. Don't you see an icon in the corner of your field vision?"

No he hadn't noticed some sort of 'icon' when he first arrived. He was more focused on his surroundings and mentally screaming to himself. His field of vision was completely clear until all of a sudden a black dot appeared in the lower right half of his vision. There was no such icon there a second ago until Ren mentioned it.

"There it is, what do we do with it now?" Inquired Itsuki.

"Try focusing on it."

He didn't really know what that entailed so he settled on staring at it until something happened because what else could he do.

Something quickly flashed across his vision leaving behind a strange floating image in front of him. It was semi transparent with various abbreviations with numbers next to them which he had no idea how they correlated. In summary:

He didn't know what the fuck he was looking at.

The only thing that immediately made any kind of sense was the equipment section. That was blatantly obvious at least listing everything he had on him. Small shield, otherworld clothing, Alucard's Heirloom sword.? Not what he would call it but he doubted he could change the label.

While he was completely baffled at the 'status menu' the others were a lot more calm, seemingly familiar with. He didn't quite understand what a lot of these numbers meant or even correlated to but he knew something was wrong with his when itsuki complained about his own stats.

"Level one? That's worrying."

"Yeah, no telling if we can fight like this."

His level looked rather different as instead of only just level one it had more numbers tacked onto the end.

Level 1+60

Max HP: 85+1043

Max MP:30+281

Max SP: 45

It'd probably be best not to mention it. Actually there were a lot of things that would be best not to mention at all. It'd be best to keep as many cards as possible to himself and not alarm them. But currently the most that would happen would perhaps be some jealousy or confusion from his higher level. If he had to guess as to why their own levels were so low he would say it's because those three have never seen combat. And if that's the case then these "levels" log the amount of experience a person has with a numerical based system.

His own speculation could only get him so far. As much as it pains him he needs to ask what the hell this is.

"What exactly is a 'status'?"

"Status magic, is ability exclusive to the heroes." The old noble from before answered, looking satisfied with his response.

That was incredibly unhelpful.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Ren questioned.

"You must leave on an adventure to develop and upgrade each of your individual legendary weapons."

Itsuki continued to complain, and his familiarity with all this still bothered him. "Our weapons aren't maxed out already either? This is a bad start."

"Couldn't we just wield other weapons until these are usable?" Motoyasu grinned while twirling his spear, striking a pose at the end and making a big fool out of himself.

"They are usable as long as you're not lazy about learning how to use your own weapon." He snapped. Good god he was getting quickly annoyed with these three.

Motoyasu looked offended but Ren spoke up before he could say anything. "We can just figure it out as we go. Anyways, it looks like we'll have to train ourselves."

Itsuki finally stopped his bitching to agree with something. "We'll have to level up as much as we can."

"Just don't get too ahead of yoursel-"

"One more thing heroes."

He was of course cut off by the old decrepit looking nobleman from before. Because apparently manners were dead in this country.

"It is important to know that each of you will need to recruit and adventure separately. Partying up with each other is unfortunately not recommended."

"And why is that?" Itsuki scoffed.

"It is said that the legendary weapons repel each other by nature. If you work together, it apparently hinders their development.

As he spoke a warning popped up in his vision under the bold letters of 'HELP'. "When two more wielders of the legendary weapons operate together, it causes an adverse reaction in the weapons. Working separately is advised."

Well that sounded like a major design flaw. Why divide up your four heroes up and risk one of them being killed off? He was personally fine with this but it seemed more so inconvenient overall.

After a long period of silence the king seemingly remembered their existence. "The sun is about to set. Rest up tonight, and set forth tomorrow. In the meantime we'll gather the best of the best to form your parties."

He waved his hand and a well dressed woman came to approach their group. "We've prepared rooms for you. Please come this way." She bowed to them before motioning for them to follow her.

For a potential trap they were acting rather chivalrous.
--------------------------

Before being taken up to their rooms they were asked if they needed anything after dinner. He tried asking if he could actually visit a library before retiring for the night but he was met with confused stares. Their escort looked uncertain on how to respond like she was never expecting him to ask that.
"I'm unsure if I'm allowed to take you so I'll have to ask a higher up."

"Why is that? It's just a library."

"Well um you see.. the librarian.. is very strict in maintaining the collection and he doesn't allow just anyone into his collection. Not to mention he has already retired for the night so unfortunately you'll have to wait for his supervision."

She was then quick to move past him and ask the other heroes if they needed anything else for the night. It was obvious she was lying out of her teeth but what he didn't get was why. Unless they were hiding some terrible secret there should be no reason he can't visit something as simple as a library. He doubted it was anything like the Belmont hold or his father's study and it did nothing but raise his own suspicion. He'd let it go for now but it rid himself of the feeling of unease.

Soon after they were finally escorted down a hallway to their rooms. Four individual bedrooms with two on each side facing each other. He was about to turn in for the night before Motoyasu called out to him.

"Yo dude, meeting in my room!" He hung out of his door way to wave at him before popping back inside.

The other heroes were already filing into his room so might as well follow suit. Stepping inside, the bedroom was rather spacious but was sparse in terms of furniture or decoration and looked rather nondescript. It had a queen sized bed with no pillows just a quilt and a small table at its foot with some chairs spread around it. The room was illuminated by several candles hanging from a small chandler and the occasional candelabra. It had a large window mirrored by a balcony on the other side.

Alucard and the other heroes each took a seat around the table while Motoyasu stretched out on the bed.

"I guess you get special treatment when you're heroes of legend huh? And the girl who showed us here was a real cutie pie too."

"And our dinner was sumptuous, though it did taste unusual." Itsuki commented.

'Well obviously' he thought to himself but he decided to say something a bit more polite. "Considering this is an entirely different world it makes sense that they wouldn't have exact equivalents to food commonly found in ours."

"That's true." Motoyasu turned his attention to Alucard.

"By the way, that was a real good performance out there in front of the king well done."

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by performance?"

"The whole "I'm a high class warrior from another world send me home immediately or face my wrath" bit in front of the court. You practically had the whole room shaking in their boots man. Are you also a theater nerd or something?"

"That wasn't a performance. I meant every word of it."

"Seriously man? Aren't you a bit too old for a chuunibyou phase? I know we're in a game and all but you don't gotta role play."

"You keep saying these strange words and referring to things but I have not a single idea of what they mean." He snapped with annoyance laced in his words.

He looked dumbfounded. "Have I been talking gibberish to you this entire time? I mean, you at least got to agree this place is just like emerald online right?"

Itsuki quickly interjected, scoffing at Motoyasu. "Of course it's lost on him. What kind of game even is that? This place is obviously like the console game Dimension Web, not some obscure MMO."

"Hey! Emerald Online is a mega popular game, you're just out of the loop like Alucard over here."

Motoyasu gestured towards him and he suddenly had the intense feeling of wanting to disappear from existence.

"By the way I can call you that right? I didn't catch your surname and I don't think we're on a first name basis yet."

"I would prefer if you would call me Alucard."

"Cool. And Itsuki you're still wrong."

He looked offended but was quickly cut off by Ren before he could offer any sort of rebuttal.

"Well not like it matters anyways because you're both wrong. It's a VRMMO, exactly like Brave Star Online."

He swore he could feel an argument brewing and started shifting his chair away from them. But he was quickly surprised to see Motoyasu actually trying to diffuse the situation instead of escalating it. He banged his spear on the ground loudly to gather everyone's attention.

"Something doesn't seem right. So let's try sorting out the information we do have. Ren, can we take "VRMMO" seriously?"

"Yeah."

"You guys get what that means too right?"

"I think a sci fi game I'm familiar with explored the concept." Itsuki replied, meanwhile he responded with "No. I'm completely unfamiliar with the term."

"Ok I'm starting to sense you're a bit of an outlier here. Before asking anymore questions I have to ask. What do you think games are?"

He decided to answer as honestly as he could. "Games are typically activities invented by children or in a more serious context a tabletop game such as chess or various games using a deck of playing cards. But I very much doubt you mean any of these."

Motoyasu grimaced. Hard. Along with just about everyone else present. "Yeah....Just..To check all of our general knowledge I'm gonna ask some more questions and I want you to answer as best you can along with everyone else ok man?"

He raised an eyebrow to this but didn't verbally disagree so he decided to take that as a yes.

"Great! Now first question, who's the person on the thousand yen bill? One, two..."

He pointed his spear towards them in the place where three should have been said. They all proceeded to tell their answers at the same time and it went as smoothly as one would think.

"Yawara Gotaro."

"Yuda Masato."

"Kodaka Enichi."

"What's a 'yen'?"

It was nothing but chaos from there.

"Who the hell are those guys!?"

"Do all of you live under a rock?"

"What do you mean you don't know what a yen is?? The heck do you use!?"

"There's not exactly a single straightforward currency used but the Florin is fairly popular, and last I checked St John the Baptist is stamped onto it."

From there all asked several questions at a rapid pace from there and each one would garner a different answer each time. Besides himself. He didn't know what the hell they were talking about but they all seemed to have an understanding of what was being asked besides the vastly different answers.

"Which countries won World War II?"

"Who's the prime minster?"

"What websites do you guys use for streaming?"

Eventually it looked like Motoyasu finally came to a conclusion.

"it seems we're all from different versions of Japan, except for..."

He turned to face Alucard once more.

"Alucard do you really know nothing about what any of these are? I mean at least with the rest it seems we're all generally from some version of Japan but you didn't seem to know anything. Not to mention you use some currency not a single one of us knows..."

"Well for one I'm not from Japan I'm from Walachia."

"And that is...?"

Ren held up a hand to interject. "Wait Motoyasu, I think I've vaguely heard about that place in history class once.It's where Romania is now but Walachia hasn't existed for hundreds of years."

"Seriously? And that's where you're from?"

"Yes..?"

His eyes widened for a moment and like that it was as if he had some sort of realization.

"Ok guys one more question for everyone. What year is it where you are? Ready, set-"

"2017."

"2025."

"2013."

"1476"

Everyone in the room was alarmed by his answer. "WHAT!?"

"I figured some of us could be from different eras but you take the cake."

"A 500 year difference is definitely a big cultural difference to say the least. No wonder you didn't know what we were saying."

"Ok either you're the best role player I've ever seen or you're really this noble warrior guy from medieval times. If it's the latter then you gotta tell me your secrets to self care cause damn." Motoyasu vaguely gestured to his upper half.

Ignoring that last comment he focused on the rest of his response. "Do you really think everything I've been saying this entire is a lie?"

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "W-welllll it'd be awfully convenient...."

At that moment he thought to himself, 'What would be the simplest but most effective way of getting his point across?' His patience was completely worn and his solution was of course fairly overdramatic but effective. Looking back there would've been many other ways to prove his point but he was very tired of dealing with those three.

He took a deep breath and dead dropped to the floor.

This alarmed the three of them and they called out to him but no loud thump to the ground followed. One of them asked if he was ok but he didn't respond. Instead he started slow clapping and slowly rising from the floor, back completely straight and legs together.

Clap

Clap

Clap

In their dead silence and shock his clapping seemed all encompassing.

"Oh yes of course, the moment I arrived in this world I flawlessly started acting out this elaborate persona and backstory so I could start living out some sort of pathetic fantasy. I planned out an entire speech to the court and made up all sorts of tidbits to seem more believable. Well done and congratulations Motoyasu you figured it out." Alucard drawled.

And by the time his small rant was over he was floating a foot over the air. This immediately caused some uproar from the other heroes.

"ALUCARD HOLY SHIT."

"Are you using cheat codes already!?"

Ren didn't speak out so much as his jaw was practically hitting the floor. This was honestly the most emotion he's seen out of him thus far.

"This is an ability I had possessed long before I arrived here. Have I convinced you yet?"

Everyone seemed to believe him except for itsuki who would spend a couple minutes frantically searching the menu before begrudgingly accepting the truth. Though he couldn’t help rubbing in the salt in by hovering over a good half meter over his head as he searched. The others got a good laugh out of it.

When the room eventually settled down, Motoyasu continued talking out his ass once more.
"It's a shame you ended up as the Shield Hero. Bad luck of the draw, huh?"

"What do you mean? What is wrong with using a shield?"

The room grew deathly silent as they all stared at him.

"Oh yeah you really don't know huh. Well never fear big bro Motoyasu is here to help."

"I'm older than you."

"Semantics. And you haven't technically lived those 500 years so it doesn't count. Either way I'm here to catch you up to speed on the basics."

He was not looking forward to any sort of lecture put together by the idiot before him and didn't appreciate being called his "little bro." If this is what siblings were like then maybe it's best his mother never had anymore children, no matter how much he pleaded as a child.

"Ok so first I'm gonna give you a quick rundown on what video games are. I consider myself a game historian so I'll try to explain it as best I can. They're basically simulated, or at least in this case, fantasy battles using technology that lets you control a tiny figure representing you to let you play in an environment that otherwise wouldn't exist. People tend to play these either for fun or competitively. You getting the gist so far?"

"Sure."

"Cool. Now typically in these games you can play various classes with different weapons and abilities including ones similar to our current weapons. However when it comes to the shield class-"

His expression slowly turned more serious as he finished his lecture. "No high level players play the shield class, only losers play as shielders."

"But why?"

"Well the thing is...shielders tend to have a bad rep because they're super useless. They barely get any abilities outside of being a damage sponge and at higher levels they can't even keep up anymore. Enemies do more damage then they can take and at least in my game the developers never patched it. Plus no one wants to play as support when you could be the one doing the damage."

"And I'm guessing this is the case with both of your worlds as well?" He referred to the other two.

"Yes."

"Likewise"

"Hm. Well luckily this isn't a game and that won't be the case. A shield has many applications when used correctly and can be quite invaluable in battle."

It's been awhile since he has used a shield but he was trained how to use it in his youth. So he was at least confident he wouldn't be flailing around with an unknown weapon.
However, the others didn't share the same sentiment and looked at each other uncertainty, almost pity. Motoyasu clapped him on the back. "That's the spirit my dude. I'm sure you can make it work."

He scrunched up his face in subtle disgust. "Thank you for the vote of confidence..."

He didn't understand the sarcasm and proceeded to grin widely like an idiot.
He was completely done with all of this. He doesn't understand how they could act so casual about all this. At some point their conversation turned to how they arrived to this world, or rather how they died. Ren presumably succumbed to injuries inflicted by a serial killer after he tackled them to save his best friend. Motoyasu's death wasn't all that surprising. He had been caught having relations with another woman and was more or less stabbed to death. He didn't quite understand what "cram school" or a dump truck" was but he could at least understand that Itsuki died from some sort of collision on his journey home. When it came for his turn to share he didn't know what to say because...

"To my knowledge I never died to get here."

"...Say what..?"

"Then how did you get here?" Ren inquired.

"My companions had come home from a long hunt with a strange book. We had brushed it off as nothing initially and forgot about it until later in the evening. While we were in the study skimming through the book the pages started glowing. I start falling through the air and next thing I know I'm in some sort of summoning room. That answer your question sufficiently?"

He was met with different reactions. From across the table Itsuki and Ren stared at him with contempt. They were seemingly offended over how he never experienced some horrible death to arrive there.

Motoyasu on the other hand, was quick to change the subject to something else. "Since you're not from Japan, how about you tell us about what your home is like."

"Covered in shit, piss, and gore. The church is corrupt and everyone is dead or in the process of dying."

"Um...Anything more lighthearted? I mean there has to be something good if you want to go back so bad."

He was silent for a moment, contemplating his answer before responding.

"I do have something worth going back for, it's my companions....Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades. We had just started carving a life for ourselves before I was summoned here. I had fought for so long and lost so much and yet I gained something in the end. There was finally a place for me. And said my place is with my friends."

"Hmmmmm "friends" huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows while giving him a cheeky grin.

He mentally apologized to Sypha in his head before making a quick comeback. "They're both male Motoyasu."

"Well. Huh. Guess you swing that way..." he muttered under his breath. "Oh wait! If you live in like the medieval times and you're some noble looking guy do you live in a castle?"

"I certainly don't live in "medieval" times as you put it. You're approximately 300 years too late with that. And to answer your question yes we happen to have the castle grounds, not including the underground hold."

Itsuki quickly interjected with an annoyed look on his face. "So let me get this straight. You're already an experienced fighter, you have your own equipment and abilities you came with and know how to use, you're already used to fighting monsters, and you live in a large castle with party members who also know how to fight said monsters?"

"In quick summation, yes."

He looked down right infuriated to as his face quickly turned an unflattering shade of red. "This is completely unbalanced. You've got a clear unfair advantage over the rest of us."

"Well if you can find someone to complain to be my guest Itsuki."

Motoyasu quickly moved in to diffuse the situation once again. "Hey hey chill out itsuki. It's only fair in a way since he got the shield. That's practically a full on handicap."

"I suppose you're right on that account." he huffed.

God he's not even the oldest person in the room yet he feels surrounded by children. Really he should be more offended by all the doubt on his ability but ultimately actions speak louder than words. He doesn't have to prove anything to anyone either. All he cares about is leaving this place as quickly as possible. To aid in that objective he has some work to do, and not just simple monster slaying.

"I'm going to retire for the night. If what the king said is to be believed we're going to have a very long journey ahead of us. I believe it's best we get as much rest as possible then."

"Yeah you're right. It's getting pretty late. We should probably all go to bed."

"Agreed. Let's head back to our rooms and get a good night's sleep."

Alucard swiftly stood up and left the room, only giving the other heroes quick glance before heading out. The other two soon followed him out after wishing Motoyasu good night. Finally stepping into his own room it quickly came to his attention the differences between his room and Motoyasu's.

For one it was noticeably more shitty.

The most obvious thing was how much smaller the room was in comparison. It was barely half the size of the other bedroom and in comparison to the ones back home it was pathetic. The furniture was noticeably more worn out; The bedpost was splintered with old age and the varnish long since had faded. Above it there was a window just big enough for a person but not nearly as massive as the other one. The nightstand, if it could even be called that, could barely even fit a book on top of it. There was a door to the left side that presumably led to a bathroom but he couldn't imagine it'd be in a better state.

The state of his room came off as completely bizarre considering how well they wanted to treat their "precious heroes." Although he was starting to suspect a strange sort of bias was in play. In the end it didn't matter how shitty his room was. He wouldn't be using it much if at all tonight since he had other plans.

Sitting upon the poor excuse for a bed he couldn't help but cringe inwardly. It's sad that a full on bed is more uncomfortable to lay upon than a coffin. Nevertheless he sat there concentrating, fine tuning his hearing for a moment. The heroes weren't quite asleep yet with only Ren currently in bed. In the nearby halls he could hear people moving around and vague whispers of conversation. This was no good. There were still people up and active. It was an annoyance but he could be patient.

He waited a full hour before getting up again, just to ensure the heroes had settled for the night. He could never be too careful for his hearing to heighten. In the distance he could hear the clinking of armor but luckily it was moving away from him. Other than that there was nothing but dead silence to be found. Feeling secure, he crept slowly across the room to the window.

If they wouldn't assist him then he would find his own answers. Surely there had to be some sort of library or archive within the castle. Slowly he opened the window, preventing it from creaking too loudly. Climbing onto the window sill he did one last check before facing towards the dark skyline. Taking a deep breath, Alucard leapt from the window and a bat flew into the night.

Chapter Text

Finding the library itself wasn't too difficult. It happened to be a floor just below his own and had an oversized window connected to it. Getting in was a bit more tricky since the windows were locked but it wasn't impossible. Switching over to his mist form and slipping in through the crevices worked like a charm. Landing on his feet, Alucard took a good look at his surroundings.

The room itself, while grand looking with its high arches and chandeliers, was horrifically messy. Scrolls were stuffed in between book shelves as papers and quills were scattered everywhere. "Particular about his collection" his ass. They should dismiss the poor excuse for a librarian they currently have on staff. While he doubted they could have someone as efficient as the librarian currently curating over the collection in Castlevania they should at least make an effort in keeping their precious "collection" tidy.

Moving over to the bookshelves he plucked a random tome and quickly ran into a major problem. He couldn't read a single word. At first he thought it was just that particular one but flipping through several other books he found that they were all the same. They didn't make any sense. The symbols were all unrecognizable and a common root to any of the languages he did know couldn't be found.

This didn't make any sense. He couldn't understand the king and his nobles just fine. He could even understand the other heroes-

Wait.

'If those three are from a completely different country than myself and the residents of this world than why can they understand me or even the king. For that matter why can I understand them as well despite the fact that they should be speaking their respective languages.' Alucard thought to himself.

He was utterly baffled by all this. Logically none of them should be able to understand him or for that matter each other. So why could they all communicate so flawlessly with each other when evidence should suggest otherwise. As he pondered this, he looked down at the small shield bolted to his arm.

Since arriving here he never thought much on it besides the strange fact it somehow didn't seem to hinder his ability to put on and remove clothing. Staring into the massive emerald jewel in the middle he swore he saw it glow if only for a split second. In that moment he had an absurd thought. What if the shield had something to do with it?

He hasn't explored it all too much before beyond a few minutes of reading up on its basic abilities like material absorption and something called weapon trees. However, to find his answer he would have to search through that blasted 'status menu'. For a moment it wouldn't pop up until he remembered he had to focus on the little symbol in his peripheral first.

The strange menu before him looked to be divided up into various sections. 'Status', 'Equipment', 'Magic’, ‘Skills’, ‘Recipes’, ‘Party’, ‘Contact’, and finally 'Help'. Diving through the help section he found dozens of subsections on various subjects and inquiries. Luckily the list seemed alphabetized and not even midway through the list he found the section labeled "Language".

ATTENTION:

Your Cardinal weapon will automatically translate any foreign languages to your native one. Vice versa your weapon will also translate your own speech to the listener's own language. HOWEVER any written text cannot be translated for you. You are required to learn any language yourself as apart of the "Language Comprehension" skill.

He couldn't help but sigh. Did everything in this world have to be half assed? From his treatment from the king, to his quarters, to the library, and now with this translator that only did half of the work. He supposed it could be worse, at least there is as a translator in place in general. It could've been so much worse in hindsight.

This still left him with a problem. He couldn't read any of the text in front of him. It seemed like his only option was to manually translate the language himself. However, with no common root to work off of or any sort of reference it made his job significantly even harder. Actually it just made it more annoying than difficult but nevertheless.

Searching around the library he tried gauging what were the simplest texts they had. A children's book would be the most preferable as ridiculous as it surprisingly enough. Since they're designed to teach children how to read they're simplistic and will most likely have recognizable objects next to clear illustrations. If there was any way for a beginner to start learning a language it would have to be with the basics.

As he opened random books he happened to come across something interesting. While it still wasn't legible it looked to be an illustration of a branching tree. It had dozens of small portraits of regal looking figures, most of which were strangely women. Turning the page he finally caught a break. The branching illustration continued over to the next page and towards the bottom was a familiar looking illustration. It was the old king though he looked like he had seen better days. He lacked the wrinkles and white hair he had in present time and somehow looked even more smug. Next to him was a much younger looking woman with a stern look on her face. If he had to guess this was his wife though oddly she had a bigger and more decorated portrait than her husband. Actually now that he thought about it every woman on the illustration seemed to have a bigger emphasis than their husbands.

Nevertheless he potentially had a lead here. He had a spelling of aultcray's name and if his understanding of the spelling was correct it was a rather straightforward translation process. In some ways it almost reminded him of English with its simplistic spelling and structure. Though he prayed the grammar rules wouldn't be as complicated.
----------------
If the rising sun wasn't a good indication that he had been at this for quite a few hours then the large pile of books in front of him definitely was. At some point he was fortunate enough to find a stack of childrens books stashed far away into a corner. Within a few hours he had an understanding of the language on the level of that of an adolescent. Not too bad for a language with absolutely no basis to work off of, though it still wasn't much.

At least now he was starting to have a greater grasp of this country's history and culture. Apparently it was a matriarchy, meaning the king was second in command to his so far absent wife. The country was also named after the royal family itself, rather narcissistic in his opinion but in the end it wasn’t really important. He was about to continue further into a text about royal politics of the last few decades when he heard the jangle of keys falling and an old man cursing.

Alucard's eyes widened. Shit. He didn't expect anyone to be coming so soon. He looked to his own pile of materials and cursed to himself again. He didn’t know if he could put everything back but he had to at least try to cover his tracks. Also, there was a good chance that the librarian wouldn't even notice in the midst of all this mess and clutter. He quickly gathered his collection of books and scrolls into his arms as his form began to glow. In an instant his body became a red blur, bouncing around the room faster than the human eye could track. He vaguely remembered where everything belonged but time was of the essence. He couldn’t afford to raise suspicions by being caught in their locked off library. The moment he stopped warping he could hear the wooden door creaking open. His eyes widened and he quickly made a break for the window, turning into fog. By the time the old man stepped inside all he could see was his usual mess and the morning fog from out the window.
——————————

He couldn’t help but collapse on the bed once he got back into his room. Rapid usage of so many powers in only a manner of seconds was exhausting. He just prayed that the old man wouldn’t notice anything was moved or shifted and that his scramble to put everything back wasn’t in vain. As he stripped off his coat and remaining gear he doubted that he would get any rest beyond a few minutes. Any respectable castle started their day early with a strict schedule so it'd only be a matter of time before someone comes.

He would be right in a way but he was quite off the mark on timing. Around 9 am he heard someone knocking at the door. It abruptly woke him up and he felt rather confused about the amount of rest he had gotten. The sun was already high in the sky and shining brightly which was mildly alarming. Shouldn't someone have come for them earlier? The knocking started up again and he heard a female voice speaking.

“Excuse me Shield Hero? I'm here to escort you and the other cardinal heroes. I hope I didn't wake you.”

“No no you're fine. I'll be just a moment.”

Alucard almost reluctantly rolled out of bed and began suiting up for the day. When he went into the bathroom to freshen up all he found was a small basin of water, a bar of soap and a splintered tub that looked as if it would fall apart at any moment. He sighed heavily, what did he expect. He did his best to clean up with what he had and geared up. He didn't even have a brush on his person and couldn't help but feel frustrated with how tangled his hair felt. With his coat and equipment on him he stepped out to greet the servant sent for him and the others.

Outside his door was a young woman dressed in a modest uniform compared to the noble women he interacted with yesterday and by her side were the three others. To his amusement they looked significantly more groggy and unprepared, as if they weren't used to getting up “early”. It was still annoying how well kept their rooms were in comparison but it didn't really matter in the end. He's had worse. Itsuki and Ren seemed completely out of it a half dazed while Motoyasu at least had the courtesy to greet him. “Yo, Alucard…”

“Morning.” He turned to face the servant. “I presume you're here to take us to the king.”

She looked a bit embarrassed as she replied. “Well… not exactly, because you see…”

Apparently the king liked sleeping in and wouldn't be meeting with them until 11 o’clock. Instead they were being taken to breakfast before being escorted to a waiting room until the king and his entourage filled in.

They were being taken to their own dining hall to enjoy breakfast today. The other three threw a fit the previous night about having to share their dinner with lesser knights. They were acting more like spoiled brats than any sort of respectable “hero”. If he had his own way he'd most likely skip breakfast all together beyond a quick snack. He'd much rather do something more productive like gathering more information or exploring the surrounding area. At the moment, figuring out a way home had a higher priority than potentially antagonizing them so he would have to follow along for now.
--------------------

Breakfast didn't take too long and before they knew it they were being taken to their meeting with the king. As the massive doors opened before them they could see it was even more packed with people than the day before. Lined up in front of Aultcray were twelve people of various genders dressed in various types of armors and robes.They didn't look like anything special.

“Welcome heroes”

They all bowed in response though Alucard was slower in doing so. The king ignored this, instead choosing to cut right to the chase.

“Now as promised we have gathered various brave warriors who will fight the waves with you legendary heroes.”

He looked over the people lined up once again, most of them dressed up in generic armor to completely impractical clothing. Some of the women were wearing revealing clothing with little or no armor. While in terms of fashion this was acceptable enough, in an environment where you're constantly fighting showing off your stomach or chest was just asking to get hit. For example there was a red headed woman towards the middle with her entire upper half of her chest plate gone and no protection on her lower half beyond a tight miniskirt. One well placed arrow or stab could easily down her easily.

As he looked over their potential future companions the red headed woman caught his eye flashed him a smile. He was not impressed and ignored her. She seemed off put by this but quickly pretended that nothing happened.

“Now, future heroes of this country time to begin your journey! Choose the one you wish to serve!”

This was surprising, letting them choose who they would serve. It's unexpectedly fair in a way that he hadn't expected coming from that man. Alucard watched one by one as each volunteer filed behind their hero of choice, but he was starting to notice an odd pattern. So far no one had even passed him or even made eye contact. Before long everyone was sorted and glancing behind him he found that Motoyasu had four people, Itsuki had three and Ren had five.

And he had absolutely no one was behind him.

Everyone in the room was staring at him with expressions ranging from disbelief to pity to barely concealed amusement.

“I believe there's a small issue your majesty.” Alucard stated. It was all he could really say.

Aultcray looked unsurprised beyond a slightly raised eyebrow and the beginnings of a smile. “I have to admit, I wasn't expecting something like this to happen.”

The minister next to him decided to smuggly chime in. “Not a single volunteer? He really must be off putting.”

He couldn't help but shoot the minister a death glare for that comment and he would be lying if he said he didn't delight watching him uncomfortably sink back into his seat. Luckily the king didn't notice as someone shifted over to whisper something into his ear. Whatever that man was saying definitely negative as he wasn't being very discreet with the look of disdain in his eyes that never left Alucard. The king nodded and brought his attention back to Alucard and the other heroes.

“So there have been rumors.”

“Oh? And what exactly are they?” He was very quickly getting annoyed with all this pettiness.

“Well the rumors are that the shield hero doesn't care for this world and he remains ignorant of its ways and cares not for it.”

He didn't respond to this. Motoyasu looked like he wanted to interject but the king continued to explain.

“Legend states that the heroes come with a firm understanding of our lands. However, if I'm not mistaken I believe this doesn't apply to you now does it? Not to mention the established lack of loyalty to both this country and the world.” The king gestured towards him with a lazy wave of his palm.

Motoyasu leaned over and staged whispered towards Alucard. "Someone must have been eavesdropping on our conversation last night.”

At this point he could hear some members of the crowd snickering, no enhanced hearing required. He didn't know why they were so quick to turn against him but he wouldn't stand for this. Were they really upset over the fact that he's never played some so called “videogame”? Do they really value that more over actual combat experience and knowledge? Instead of reacting in offense to his words he instead gave a sardonic smile and stepped forward.

“Just one moment your majesty I wish to test something it won't take long.” He got a few odd stares but decided to go ahead anyways. He was going to prove that all their precious heroes were woefully uncultured. He turned towards Ren first.

“Ren what type of government is the kingdom of Melromarc.”

He looked very confused and only responded with a quick “Excuse me?”

He didn't answer Ren, instead he move on to Itsuki. “Itsuki what are the names of the closest bordering nations.”

Instead of confusion Itsuki reacted in a very offended tone. “How am I supposed to know that?”

Lastly he turned towards Motoyasu. “Motoyasu what is the conversation rate of gold to silver to copper pieces?”

“Ummm...could I have a hint?” He nervously laughed off the question.

In the end, not a single one of them could answer his questions. Seems like his excursion to the palace library was well worth it so far.

“As you can see not single answer so far. For reference this country is a matriarchy as opposed to a more traditional monarchy. Siltvelt, Shieldfreeden, Rockvalley and Zeltoble are the countries surrounding Melromarc and 200 copper pieces equate to one silver while 100 silvers equate to one gold piece. Seems like this knowledge isn't commonly known, a pity. You know I could keep going with these questions. For example what is the structure of this country's military or the state religion-”

The king's eyes widened and he quickly barked out “ENOUGH.” Effectively silencing the room. All attention was brought onto the king after he loud outburst. Alucard wondered what he said was touchy enough to cause this much of a reaction. Shame that he couldn't prod at Aultcray anymore than he already had. Meanwhile the king just sighed before regaining his composure.

“You've stated your point well enough, and as I've stated already they're merely rumors. They don't reflect everyone's opinion. Nevertheless there is still the issue of your lack of companions.”

“Yes I've quite noticed the uneven distribution.” Alucard turned back towards the others. “However, I very much doubt that they are willing to give up any of theirs.”

Ren made a scoffing noise. “I'm actually more of a loner myself. If any of you can't keep up or slow me down I'll leave you behind.” He regarded his new companions in such a cold manner yet it yielded no reactions, nor even a change in expression. Alucard inwardly cringed at Ren’s words while resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his non answer. Spoken like a true moody teenager.

Motoyasu piped up next. “Well, to be honest, I'm pretty comfortable with my group. Surprisingly they're even all girls! But in the end, it's really not my decision to make…”

Finally Itsuki decided to add his opinion on the situation. “I agree the follower ratio is uneven and that it would be best to have groups of three each, but if we force it against their will it could be terrible for morale.” The two girls behind him furiously nodded in agreement.

Are these three fucking serious. He's literally never heard more asinine reasoning than from these poor excuses for human beings. Whatever, he can work with this. “Then I'm afraid I have no choice but to go alone for now it seems. I'm ok with this outcome.” The others seemed accepting of this except for Motoyasu who quickly stepped in front of him sputtering.

“Wait seriously?? You only have a shield on you man you could really get hurt out there.”

Ironic coming from the man who desperately wanted to keep every single member of his budding harem. “I've fought by myself before, I assure you I will be fi-” He was cut off by a female voice emanating from behind Motoyasu.

“Sir Spear Hero!”

Glancing behind Motoyasu he saw it was the red headed woman again. He had a better look at her now that she was closer. She had bright acid green eyes and a fancy blouse with a choker on her neck. Over top of that was leather armor that still left the entirety of the upper part of her chest exposed along with matching leather gauntlets. She had a royal purple skirt with belts strapped over top to support the scabbard for her short sword.

She stepped forward into the forefront and grabbed the attention of everyone in the room. She put on a gentle smile as she put a hand on her chest.

“Would you allow me travel alongside the Shield Hero?”

This shocked everyone in the room. Almost everyone. The king strangely didn't react at all to this, meanwhile Motoyasu was stuttering over his words in shock. “Really?? Are you sure?”

With all the resolve she could muster she responded with a simple but clear “Yes.” She turned to Alucard for some sign of approval. Instead she received yet another blank stare.

“Apologies but I'm afraid I will have to decline.”

She stopped in her tracks and had a blank expression on her face. “Eh?”

He didn't trust that woman or this situation. The look in her eyes was frankly off-putting and everything about her seemed false. Not to mention the look the king was giving the both of them was suspicious as all hell. Beyond that he had to ask himself, what would she gain by spontaneously deciding to join up with him when just a minute ago she avoided him just like the rest? It didn't make any sense.

And as he looked at her he couldn't help but think back to that story book and the meddling princess. There were already four heroes so what if the princess showed up as well? Her clothes stuck out from every other volunteer due to its high quality, every other Hero had simple clothing and armor but hers looked custom tailored. The way she held herself in comparison was different as well. If she somehow wasn't royalty than she at least had to be some sort of nobleman’s daughter. Either way, better safe than sorry.

“It's as they've all stated, it would be unnatural and unfair to take any of you away from your hero of choice. I don't wish for you to accompany me out of guilt or pity either. And as I was saying I assure you all that I will be fine on my own.”

The king looked highly offended by his answer and he stared down upon the Shield Hero. “How dare you...” he growled.

“A lady has offered to become your companion out of the goodness of her heart how could you deny her!?”

That rat bastard. He's trying to make him look bad by disrespecting a woman. Though what he doesn't quite understand is why he's doing this. Nevertheless he's not going to let this stand.

“I don't wish to take her away from her first choice that is all. I respect that she volunteered to help me but I'm worried how her morale could take a hit by traveling with me instead. And I'm sure I can find my way well enough on my own.”

They had a long staring match before the Aultcray conceded and slunk back into his throne. “I see your point and I accept this. But just to make sure I will ask this. Is there anyone who wouldn't mind going with the Shield Hero?”

The room was dead silent beyond a few people whispering on the upper levels of the court. As he looked out into the small crowds he couldn't help but notice a few people clutching what looked to be a cross. Except, their crosses looked wrong; they had too much decals and details on them to be a proper cross. He also very much doubted Christianity existed in this world. He's had enough persecution from the church already he doesn't need two worlds worth.

If only Trevor and Sypha were here too, then he wouldn't have to be alone in this foreign world. Though it's probably for the best that someone is left to defend the castle in his stead. Besides he's sure he'll be home soon enough one way or another. It's also for the best that he doesn't travel with that woman as well. He knows a trap when he sees one.

“I suppose we’ll have to take other measures then. Alucard, you have to be responsible for recruiting a party for yourself. Every month, we shall provide each hero with the funds that require. This time Alucard’s payment will be higher than the others.” He raised his hand and several servants moved towards each of the heroes with a small bag in their hands.

“Here are your initial funds. Please accept them.”

On his signal each servant walked towards the heroes and handed them a small pouch filled with coins. Alucard noticed the extra heft his bag had in comparison to the others. He guessed he appreciated the extra money though, he couldn’t help but question why a bigger bag was already prepared ahead of time for him.

“Alucard will be awarded 800 silver coins and the others shall receive 600. Use this to procure all necessary equipment and set forth on your journey!”

And with that they were dismissed for the day. Most of the crowd quickly dispersed while all the heroes and their companions were filed into a neighboring hallway for introductions and instructions.

While each party got acquainted with each other Alucard stood off to the side. Once this was all done he could finally start exploring the outside world and figure out a way home. Or at least what the hell was up with this place. He was well on his way to dozing off until Motoyasu excused himself from his new party and strolled up to him.

“Hey, are you really going to be okay all on your own? After all, all you have is a shield. Oh and your long sword too I guess.” He pointed to the sword that was mostly obscured by Alucard’s coat.

“I've experienced enough combat first hand to be well and fully capable of protecting myself. Your concern is fully noted though.”

Motoyasu seemed satisfied enough with this answer to hold back any further objections. “I see. Y'know, it's a shame that we can't team up because I'd live to have you in my party. I'm sure we would've been an unstoppable team. Also thank you for respecting me and my group back there though I'm surprised you said no. I'm sure you would've been able to take care of her.”

Voicing his suspicions to him would be a terrible idea as Motoyasu didn't seem to be the type to keep a secret. So instead he would give a sickeningly sentimental response since he would probably resonate with that better . “Admittedly I can only see myself fighting with my own companions so I'm not exactly ready to accept someone out of the blue just yet.”

“Loyal to the end. I can respect that my dude.” Motoyasu clapped Alucard on the back and flashed him a big smile. “I wish you the best of luck out there.” And that was the end of their conversation ...or at least so he thought. Motoyasu still seemed to be lingering as his focus was pulled to Alucard's face.

Alucard raised an eyebrow “Is something wrong?”

This seemed to quickly knock Motoyasu out of his trance. “Ah nothing I just noticed now your eye color. I've never seen actual gold colored eyes besides cheesy contacts before. But, different worlds and all so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Hell I've seen some crazy hair colors today and I doubt they have hair dye here.”

Motoyasu scratched the back off his head and laughed it off. Meanwhile Alucard could only think of two words. Ah shit. He doubted anyone in this world would recognize his eyes as a sign of his vampiric heritage but he was not taking any chances. He’s had too many close calls during his journey from Gresit to the Belmont hold and even during his childhood. Unfortunately it's much harder for him to hide something like his eye color in comparison to to his teeth and it only takes one suspicious villager to whip up a mob. But luckily for him this fantasy world seemed much more lenient on the features a person's appearance can have. He can play this to his advantage.

“My world is rather...varied when it comes to potential genetic combinations, just like this world. For example the king appears to have violet colored eyes, and I've passed quite a few people with similar cases.”

“Wait seriously?? Man, I must be unobservant as all hell. Anyways I'll get out of your hair for now. I think we're going outside soon.” And with that he finally left to rejoin his party who all seemed annoyed at the lack of attention. Almost all of them. In his peripheral vision he noticed that woman staring at them during their conversation, no doubt trying to eavesdrop. At some point maybe he'd catch her name but he'd rather be caught dead than actually ask.

A few minutes of waiting later a guard dressed in heavy armor announced that they were to be escorted to the drawbridge that connected the castle to the nearby town. ‘Finally’ he thought to himself.
------------------------

Their now large group was escorted through several tunnels and passages for quickest possible route to the drawbridge. Alucard decided to stay more towards the back of the group in case anything went wrong. He also didn't want to be anywhere near that red headed woman again. Eventually they were greeted by blinding daylight and a clear blue sky. Also a very large set of stairs leading up to the bridge exit. Trudging up the stairs was painfully slow as the other heroes quickly got winded. It got to the point where the other three soon joined him in the back of the herd and he had to further slow his own pace.

He soon became lost in his own thoughts as he mindlessly climbed the stairs at a steady pace. It was to the point where he didn't even notice a majority of them had reached the top until he heard Motoyasu call out to him from above.

“See you later, Alucard.”

He looked up to see all three of them looking down at him. Itsuki looked the happiest out of the bunch which was mildly alarming considering he's been pissy the entire time.

“It's sad we can't help you at all, but good luck with your recruiting.”

Ren was the last to say anything. “See you again when the time comes.”

“Thank you.” They took this a their que to leave as they climbed the last few stairs and disappeared from view. Alucard was soon to follow and he was admittedly relieved to finally be outside the castle. It felt overly stuffy in there and he couldn't help but feel tense every time he was in front of the court. As he passed through the bridge he finally got his first good look at the town.

He had seen the town briefly through the windows but it simply couldn't compare to actually walking through it. The architecture of the various buildings and townhouses looked familiar yet so different with its red clay roof tiles, white walls and dark wood accents. What amazed him was the thick crowds of people filling each and every block to the brim. He hadn't seen a town this dense with people and intact buildings since before his father's war. There were mothers happily walking around with their children and old men going on strolls. It was a calming sight to see, humanity prospering so well, even if it was in another world. Alucard smiled to himself as he continued on his way.

Most of the crowd was headed towards the same way he was. Alucard soon found out why as he found himself in the middle of a busy market chocked full of merchant stalls and shoppers. He watched as a massive lizard like creature parted through the crowd. It almost looked dragon like with three massive horns protruding from its skull and the vibrant blue and yellow coloring of its scales. Saddled upon it was a nondescript looking noblewoman and the man in front leading her mount was-

Alucard almost did a double take as they faded into the crowd. That man almost looked as if he had cat ears of all things. He wasn't sure what he saw but for now it sure didn't matter. He assured himself it was probably just messy hair and continued onward with his walk through the market.

The stalls were each filled to the brim with all kinds of goods for sale from various kinds of produce to fish and other kinds of meats. He couldn't recognize some of the fish offered and he couldn't begin to determine where the other meats came from. Not to mention a good amount of the fruits and vegetables being sold looked completely foreign to him. To be expected from another world though, this might prove a problem in the future if he wants to cook anything or make medicine. One stall he was passing by had a woman holding her hands over a basket of eggs. Soon her hands started glowing a bright blue as some sort of glyph floated over the basket. His eyes widened at the blatant disregard. ‘Magic? In the middle of a busy square? What is that woman thinking!?’ He braced himself for a scene but his alarm was quickly laid to rest as the glowing stopped and multicolored birds burst from the eggs. Instead of a screaming crowd there were polite claps and the woman smiled contently.

The tension eased from his body. From the nonchalant reactions from everyone else around him it seemed like magic was common place here. He was envious in a way, especially for Sypha. Here she would never have to worry about being declared a witch and burned at the stake. Maybe if she was here she could freely learn all the magic she wanted instead of scouring dusty libraries and old stories for scraps. His face turned into a slight frown as he thought of his companions. ‘I'll be home soon enough, I swear to you.’

Continuing his walk through town the market stalls slowly faded away, being replaced by various shops and hanging signs. A large majority of the signs had nothing but large symbols emblazoned on them. 'Good for certain people who can't read..'

One such sign managed to catch his eye, it had nothing but a sword carved into it. Looking to to the shop the sign lead to he could see a smaller one pinned above the entrance. His transition was a bit dicey but it roughly read "Erhold's weaponry shop." While he felt he was fine with the equipment he currently had on him he was curious to see what kind of wares a weapon shop from another world could sell.

Even in the lowlight of the shop he could see that every square inch of the shop from the walls to the floor were covered in goods. Various shields hung directly on the wall while several freely standing racks displayed dozens of swords. There were even a few mannequins displaying full sets of armor.

"Welcome!"

A voice bellowed from the back of the shop. Turning his gaze from the many weapon racks he found himself staring at who he presumed was the shop owner. Besides a darkly colored beard he was bald and had a very muscular frame. He was wearing nothing but a simple tunic and a leather belt with several pouches and pockets.

"Is this your first time in a weapons shop? Cause if so you sure know how to pick em."

"It isn't my first time but it has been a while. Though if you go into technicalities this is my first time in a weapons shop from another world."

"Another world? Could you be..one of the heroes?" He gave Alucard a quick once over. His eye caught his shield and he bent over the counter slightly to get a better look at it.

"Ah I see you've got a shield. You must be the dud then.” He had a look of sympathy that Alucard didn’t appreciate one bit. It just served to annoy him. “At least I can see you already have a blade on you. That's good."

Alucard resisted the urge to groan and tried to remain as polite as possible. Emphasise on try as he couldn't help the traces of annoyance that seeped into his voice. “I really don’t see why the shield is by any means a ‘dud’ as you put it. And quite frankly I’m already sick of people whining about it left and right.”

The shopkeep didn't lose his upbeat attitude and was quick to respond apologetically. “Sorry to offend you. Personally I don’t care what kind of weapon you got as long as you’re a regular. Don’t exactly want to start our relationship off on a bad foot so as an apology ill offer you a discount on your first purchase.” He stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you Shield Hero!”

The jovial nature of his response was unexpected but in the end a merchant was a merchant. Dedicated to generating good business to the bitter end. He relaxed and shook the other man’s hand. “Nice to meet you as well. You can call me Alucard.”

“Alucard eh? Works for me!” He laughed heartily before talking once more. “So what can I do for you today?”

“I didn’t come here for anything in particular. I was just curious how weapons here differed from the ones found in my own world.”

The owner brought a hand up to his face. “Hmmmm. Here wait one moment.” He moved from behind the counter and began collecting various swords displayed around the store. He laid them out on a nearby table and motioned from Alucard to take a look.

“Left to right and ascending in order of cost you got standard iron, magic iron, magic steel and silver iron.”

“What are the differences between each blade?”

Well for starters, iron is rather self explanatory it's just your basic metal. Magic iron and steel have the benefit of enhancing any spells you happen to be using at the time by a small amount. Obviously magic steel has a higher percentage over magic iron. Silver iron has a small holy buff and is especially useful against wave monsters. No doubt that’s going to be a top seller soon enough. Not to mention each one of them has a coating of BloodClean.”

“BloodClean?”

“It’s a special coating that makes blood and gore slide right off the blade. Keeps it from going dull and makes it so you don't have to manually clean your weapon every time.”

“Fascinating. Would it be possible to have my own blade be treated?” Something like this could be beyond useful in the coming battles. Not to mention if he could keep the treatment on his blade once he returned home he would never have to sit and clean his blade for hours again. Trevor would be so jealous.

“Sure I could give it a try. Mind if I take a look?” He pointed to the long sword hanging off of Alucard’s hip.

“Of course.” Strangely, while he was unhooking his sword he swore he felt it buzzing under his hand. He paid it no mind as handed over the sword still in its scabbard over to the owner, he was sure it was nothing.

The owner hadn’t expected it to be as long as it was and was struggling to slide it out of its scabbard. “Jeez kid can you even use this thing?” It’s obnoxiously long even for a long sword.”

“I've gotten used to it.”

“A huh.” He eventually settled on setting on a table first then sliding it out. The relieved look on his face when he finally pulled it out was almost comical. From one of the pouches hanging off his belt he pulled out a small eyeglass. At first Alucard was confused as to what kind of purpose it would have but he quickly got an answer as the small glass began glowing brightly.

“Just what kind of blade do you have here? It’s like a pure silver blade but way more buffed than it should be. And I’m reading some really unfamiliar magic here. I honestly don’t know where to begin with this, hmmmm.” He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts as he examined alucard’s sword further. It was at this time that Alucard thought that maybe he should learn the man's name instead of just addressing him as the shop owner.

“This might be a bit out of nowhere but it just occurred to me but I don't even know your name.”

“Oh” He laughed and took his attention towards Alucard. “It’s Erhard. And i'm just about done with that blade of yours a real interesting piece. Id ask if i could buy it off you if I didn't already know your answer.”

“Wise decision.” Alucard could certainly appreciate the man's good humor. Better than that court made up of some of the most stiff individuals he’s met in years.

“That shield of yours, mind if I take a look at it as well?”

He nodded and motioned for Erhard to approach. It was awkward to have to have him come over and examine it while it was still attached but there was nothing he could do. This didn't stop Erhard from trying to pull it off and failing miserably.

“Does it even come off?” Erhard exasperated

“Unfortunately, no. I've tried.”

Erhard grumbled something under his breath that sounded like several curse words and continued his analysis. “Well at first glance that shield of yours looks to be rather standard for a small shield. I can sense a great amount of power in it but either ive become rusty or my appraisal magic just isn't telling me much about either of your weapons.”
Apologies for wasting your time.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. You showed me something interesting so it was well worth my time. On another note I can treat your blade with BloodClean, though it will take a few hours for it to set in after I treat it so you’ll have to leave it here.”

“That might be a slight issue as I was hoping to visit the outskirts of town. I was informed that basic monsters lurked in the fields and it was recommended to all the heroes that we become as they put it “familiar with battle and the enemies of this world.” Really he gave less than two shits about what they suggested but he was trying to get a basic idea of what this world was like. Getting an idea of what he’ll be up against would be crucial for how he proceeded in the future.

“How about you drop your blade off here once you're done for the day? Would that work for you?”

“Possibly. I'll try to stop in later this evening.”

“Great! And while you're here can I interest you in some armor? Since you're heading out into the grasslands and all.” He flashed Alucard a wide grin that was too genuine to call a shit eating one but too ridiculous to be anything other than some kind of joke.

For the first time since arriving in this world Alucard found himself laughing. It wasn't nearly as loud or boisterous as Erhard but it was there. ‘Merchants will be merchants through and through.’
--------------------------

Alucard left the shop in a better mood than he came in with and about 150 coins lighter. He was reluctant to part with his coat in favor of a set of even light armor. After going back and forth they compromised with a light chainmail and a small leather chest plate that easily fit under his coat. He also went ahead and prepaid Erhold for the BloodClean treatment on his sword. With good timing and some luck hopefully he can drop it off before he packs up for the night.

It took nearly an hour of walking but soon Alucard found himself in rolling green fields and nearly a mile away from civilization. For what could be called just a simple field to most people was utterly breathtaking to him. Lush greenery like this simply didn't exist in supernatural war torn Wallachia. Or at least anymore. Everytime Trevor Sypha and he passed through different villages and towns on their way to the Belmont hold it was almost always the same thing. Smoldering remnants of buildings, dried puddles of blood, decaying bodies everywhere and scorched earth. Simply put, it was hell on earth. So seeing clear blue skies and green grass stretching far beyond the horizon instilled such a sense of beauty and peace. If he wasn't aware that this world was being invaded by inter dimensional monsters he would be jealous of how prosperous everything appears to be in comparison to his own.

While they were being escorted to the town a couple of the guards mentioned that monsters infested the fields outside of town and how they would be a good starting point for all of them. It would seem that most of them had heeded this advice as he could hear Ren’s group fighting on a hill above his own location from a short distance. If he really strained the limits of his default hearing he could somewhat hear Motoyasu’s group in the far distance to his left. He could hear more showboating than actual fighting from that direction so it had to be him.

Walking further into the hills Alucard was beginning to question if those guards were correct as he encountered nothing so far in these supposedly ‘monster infested’ fields. These thoughts were quickly dismissed as he saw several lines of fast movement through the grass. ‘Finally some action’. As he slid his sword out of its scabbard he could feel a slight stinging pain. Alucard paid no attention to this and focused on the soon to be battlefield.

Popping in and out of the grass he could vaguely see what looked to be small angry orange orbs..? Charging straight at him. He readied himself with a familiar stance, adjusting for the added weight of his new shield on his arm. In the corner of his eye he could see ren swatting at the things with his sword as if it were a club. While it looked like he was managing to kill whatever those things were his form was absolutely terrible. What was worse was how impressed those followers of his looked. Alucard shook his head and brought his attention back to his own fight.

While he wasn't paying attention those creatures had made their move and tried to pounce on him. The little buggers were fast but a quick shove from his shield had them bouncing away once more. Alucard scanned over each creature and tried to line up his sword swipe so that he could end them all in one go. At this point his hand felt positively on fire as pain inexplicably crackled over his knuckles. It was like something was forcibly trying to rip his sword out of his hand. This didn't matter to him as he wasn't going to fall for such a simple trick, assuming it was some sort of attack from those tiny things.

When he finally made a swing towards these strange creatures a flash of light consumed his vision accompanied by loud CRACK. His blade went flying out of his hand and sunk into the ground ten feet away. Alucard couldn't help but gasp loudly in pain. It was as if lightning had struck his hand. The smell of ozone filled his nostrils and his ears were ringing incessantly to the point of giving him a headache.

“What the fuck…” Alucard hissed, holding his hand close to his body. What kind of attack was that? He couldn't understand why it focused only on his hand of all places.Then a message flashed in his vision.

CAUTION

Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Holding non assigned weapon.

What?

The message continued.

HELP:

A hero may not hold, with the intent to fight, any weapon other than their assigned legendary weapon.

“What!?” He angrily yelled.

“Alucard are you alright?” He could hear Ren running over to him from the distance. His companions stayed were they were watching as their leader ran off towards the downed Shield Hero.

Alucard was too busy reeling in shock to react to him though. If he was reading this correctly he wasn't allowed to use his sword. What kind of bullshittery was this!? It made no sense to force your so called last hope to only use one weapon type. It eliminates any sort of versatility or variety in battle. But the more obvious detriment was how it didn't allow the primarily defensive weapon to do anything but defend from attacks. Oh god what if this restriction applied to his all of his powers as well? If that were the case he'd be completely unable to do anything offensive and defending against attacks could only work for so long. This would just completely fuck over the Shield user. Why would it be designed this way?

While Alucard was debating with himself the monsters came back, this time surrounding him in all directions with greater numbers. They all waited, slowly closing in on him. Then the biggest one of them jumped at Alucard, and the rest soon followed suit. Alucard quickly reacted, blocking one orange ball after another. A few feet away, he spotted his sword still sticking up out of the earth. He focused on it, hoping it would heed his call. To his relief, he could feel the weight of his sword being tugged out of the earth. Alucard smirked, dodge rolling past a couple monsters while blocking a couple more.

He willed his sword to return to him but not before ending his pest problem. The creatures all lined up again to pounce on him, this time choosing to go all at once to overwhelm him. In the split second that they were in the air his sword quickly whizzed past him and swung around in a circular fashion.

By the time Ren finally arrived to give him aid there was no need. There was a soft swishing sound before everything stood still. The monsters seemed to hang in the air for a moment before over twenty of them all popped at once. As their remains slowly rained down upon the earth Ren could see Alucard in the middle of it all with his sword floating right beside him. He had both a look of awe and confusion on his face but Alucard didn't see this.

Instead, Alucard looked at all the orange remains then back at his sword.

Ok. He could work with this.

Chapter Text

A hush had fallen over the land after Alucard's attack. A few seconds later Ren finally shook himself out of his stupor and stepped towards Alucard. "How are you doing that?"

Alucard, who had barely acknowledged his presence before, turned to Ren. "Doing what, exactly."

Alucard was perfectly aware of what Ren was referring to but he couldn't help but fuck with the poor little Sword Hero. It’s been a very long day for him after all so he had to derive entertainment from somewhere. Not to mention with the false emotionless facade the teen seemed to be going for made it beyond easy to rile him up and crack it. At least Trevor was a challenge.

His non answer seemed to do the trick as the ever stoic teenager before him completely broke character for a moment to exasperatedly gesture towards Alucard, then the orange carnage all around him and then back to Alucard. "At first I heard thunder cracking and you yelling. When I get over the hill I see you completely surrounded. And before I even make it close to you that sword you’re always carrying starts floating in the air and takes out an entire hoard of monsters in one swing.”

“To be fair, I would hardly call those little creatures “monsters” never mind a threat. I believe I could even pop one with my bare hands if I wanted to.”

Ren glared. “That’s beside the point Alucard. Just what kind of ability did you use?”

“I told all of you before and I will tell you again. In my world I hunted monsters, so it would make sense I would have some skills and abilities necessary to carry out such a job, no?”
Alucard couldn't give him the full truth and full out lying was even worse. So a washed down version of the truth was the best option. While he was certainly no Belmont he has handled his fair share of monsters and demons well enough on his own.

The pure displeasure was written all across Ren’s face. He looked as if he were about to press on further but a rustling sound in the tall grass stole both their attention. It looked as if another hoard of those strange creatures had arrived. In a split second Alucard’s sword was floating by his side once more, ready to strike.

"Stand back a distance please? I remember being told that if heroes fight together there are 'disastrous consequences'."

Reluctantly he left Alucard’s side as the potential ‘consequences’ of them fighting in too close proximity outweighed his desire to interrogate Alucard. Walking away, Ren shot Alucard one last scrutinizing look before returning to his party. Now that he was finally alone Alucard turned his attention back to the small hoard in front of him. It was an even smaller group than before with only 8 creatures or so. Despite that, the little things were just as angry as before and quickly pounced on him.

For the next hour or so Alucard fell into a rather simple pattern. He’d block any monsters who got close to him, group them up and end them all in one swipe. Rinse and repeat. At one point he indulged his curiosity and actually caught one with his bare hands. The thing tried squirming out of his hands but it was ultimately futile as Alucard squeezed the poor thing. He was right on the whole “being able to easily pop it in his hands thing”. There was no doubt about that, but the popping sound it made just a few inches away from his face was rather unpleasant and he wasn't eager to do it again.

In the midst of fighting he eventually noticed something. Each time one of those strange creatures popped a little notification would blink in the corner of his eye.

+1 EXP

Taking a closer look at his status menu finally gave him a name for the little monsters as he looked over the sea of orange remains. “Orange Balloons” they were called. He also found out that for each creature he slayed he would gain these “experience points” for his efforts. At the top of his status screen there looked to be a bar that would track each one of these points and tally them up. He supposed that's how one would “level up” as he's heard the other heroes mention. This also had him thinking about the second set of stats he had. He's already experienced combat before and slain many different monsters, demons, and of course vampires. Maybe that's why his own level was so high already coming in. This world has counted his own previous battles and adventures as “experience points.”

It was at this point he felt that he should stop for the day. He had been battling for awhile and the amount of orange bits scattered around were getting to ridiculous levels. He couldn't just leave it like this and it would take some time to clean so this was as good a stopping point as any. Besides he had an appointment to catch at the armory, and maybe Erhold would know something about what’s going on with his sword.

He scanned around the fields to see that Ren and his party had long since departed and he couldn't see anyone else around him. The sun was beginning to set, bathing the land in various shades of gold and sun kissed orange. Seeing the sky like this, it suddenly hit him. He's been in this world for a full day hasn't he? It's only been one full day and yet it felt like it's been eons. A small sense of dread washed over him as he thought more about his situation. How long will it take to solve the wave crisis? A year? Two? A decade? What will happen to the castle back home? Will someone try to raid it in his absence? Can Sypha and Trevor defend all that land all on their own? And what about their own mission? Surely, they won't put their lives on hold just to defend a dusty old castle and a broken hold.

These questions swam in his head as Alucard cleaned up the remains of the balloons bit by bit. The pile was beginning to grow, and during his sweep he absentmindedly played with the strange stretchy material. He was surprised to feel a tugging sensation coming from the small piece of orange balloon gripped in his hand. The foreign material was strangely gravitating towards the center of his shield, the gem faintly pulsating with light. Out of curiosity he let his hand wander, hovering it over the green gem. The pulling quickly intensified and Alucard let go of the piece of scrap. He watched in fascination as his shield broke down and absorbed the orange remains. It ended with a small notification flashing in his vision.

Orange Balloon Scraps Acquired.

In tandem to the notification another icon was also flashing in the left side of his menu. Focusing on it he found himself brought to the weapon book section. He hadn't paid much attention to it before as everything was either locked off or blurred out. This time however there was something new. One of the various grey icons began to shine before leaving behind a new message.

New shield unlock: The Orange Shield

Materials still required: 9 Orange Balloon remains.

So to acquire new shields he would have to fuel his weapon with materials picked off of monsters? What an interesting system, to have a weapon evolve with each monster type you face. Turning to his large pile of orange balloon remains he began feeding them into his shield until he received another notification from the weapon book.

Weapon Unlocked:

The Orange Shield

+2 DEF

He still had a sizable pile of remains left after letting the shield absorb a good chunk of them. It seemed both wasteful and messy to just leave them out here in the field so he supposed he could take them with him for now until he finds a proper area to dispose of them. He doubted any scavengers would eat them and he was in no mood to dig a hole for them either. With a slight reluctance Alucard shoved the rest of the pieces into his pocket, creating an awkward bulge on his coat.

And with that he started making his way back to the town.
------------------------------
Erhold had his back turned cleaning the counters when he heard his front door creak open. Without turning around to see who came in he spoke out.

“Looks like you made it back in time.”

“I would’ve been out longer but I decided to cut my venture short tonight… besides obvious reasons.”

This managed to peak Erhold’s interest enough to make him abandon his cleaning and turn around. “Oh? Did something come up?” Alucard looked no worse for wear so he couldn’t guess just off his appearance what was wrong.

“More like something happened. Allow me to demonstrate”

Alucard grabbed his sword and quickly unsheathed it, holding out for Erhold to see. In only a few seconds the blade began sparking and was violently jerked itself out of Alucard’s hands with a crack of lightning. Alucard clutched his hand, holding it close to his body as the smell of ozone once again filled the air.

“As you can see I’m having some difficulties with my sword. Mainly that it refuses to be held.”

This managed to shock Erhold out of his usual leisurely attitude into one of worry. “By the gods are you ok?”

“Thank you for your concern but I’ll be fine. It just feels like pins and needles.”

Alucard quickly stood up straight, only flicking his hand for a few seconds before returning it to his side as if nothing happened. Erhold gave him a quick once over before chuckling to himself. “You're one tough kid i'll give you that. Here-” He pointed down at the floor where Alucard’s sword lay-”let me get that for ya.”

Before Erhold could reach for the fallen sword it swiftly flew into the air, hanging for just a moment before sliding back into its sheath. He looked back at alucard with a look of confusion,

“How did you..?”

Alucard only answered him with a small grin. Erhold swore for a moment he saw his eyes flash red but he just chalked it up to whatever magic Alucard was using.

“Hm. You’re just full of surprises, huh? So, what exactly was that with the lightning and your sword being blasted out of your hands?

“I was hoping if you could tell me anything about what just happened. I received a message that I wasn't allowed to hold any other weapon besides my legendary weapon. So you’d imagine I would prefer to have a second opinion on that.”

I don’t blame you. Getting stuck with nothing but a shield? I can’t see anyone surviving that long, even a legendary hero.” He chuckled to himself but Alucard looked the complete opposite of amused. In fact his glare alone looked like it could murder him. Maybe he should lay off on the shield stuff...

“I’m well aware that shields are meant to be a companion piece rather than a solo act. But being stuck only using the shield isn't my issue. My issue is not being able to use my own damn sword.”

“I see your point but if I’m being completely honest…” He looked down at the shield attached to Alucard’s arm and back to his sword. “I don’t even know where to begin with this. I can only analyze weapons so much and that shield is just layers upon layers of magic despite looking so ordinary. There’s not much I can personally get out of it. Hell, the legendary weapons haven’t shown up in years so I doubt there’s anyone alive who even knows much about them.”

Alucard’s expression remained as stoney as ever but Erhold could see the disappointment in his eyes. “I’m sorry I’m unable to help you.”

“It's fine, I half expected this outcome before I arrived. This was more so just a confirmation for me. So thank you for that.”

Seeing him like this just made Erhold nothing short of uncomfortable. “Glad I could help in a way. So what are you going to do with your sword now since you can't even hold it? I could take it off your hands if you want.”

His answer was instantaneous. “No.”

“No? But you can’t even lift the thing without getting electrocuted.”

“Yes, but using that little “trick” of mine from before I’ll be able to fight just fine. And besides..” Alucard looked to the long blade resting now on the counter top with a tinge of sadness. “I would rather not depart with one of the only things I have left of my own world.”

‘That was oddly sentimental coming from a guy like him.’ Erhold quickly shook himself out of his thoughts when he remembered the first part of what Alucard said. “Wait. So you can freely control that thing with your mind? I just thought it was a return spell of some sort.”

“I obviously would prefer to wield it like a normal sword but yes, I can control it with my mind as an alternative. So I will be keeping it, though I was hoping if you would still treat it with Bloodclean.”

“Well you did already pay me so how could I say no?”

Without saying anything else Erhold took the sword from the counter and started moving towards the back of the shop.

“It should be ready by tomorrow morning so feel free to pick it up when you get the chance. Have a good night and don't go electrocuting yourself anytime soon.”

“I’ll try my best not to. Good night.” Alucard gave a slight nod before stepping out of the shop.

---------------------------------------
Not even a second after closing the door to Erhold’s shop he heard an obnoxious voice yelling his name.

“Yoooooooooo! Alucard!”

Grimacing he turned around, quickly smoothing his face out into something more neutral once he spotted Motoyasu running towards him. He was waving excitedly while his small harem was a few feet behind him trying to keep up. Rather then delay the inevitable Alucard instead decided to walk forward to greet him. The other blonde quickly reached him but was winded in the process. So he took this as an excuse to lean his arm against Alucard for support until he caught his breath.

“Motoyasu.” He simply stated, shrugging Motoyasu’s hand off his shoulder.

“Hey Alucard.” He started panting heavily again. “Sorry, I’m just out of breath. Need to do more cardio. Am I right?”

“Sure.” Motoyasu received a just a short and deadpan answer. Shifting uncomfortably he tried to change the subject. The first thought that came to mind was the building Alucard just exited.

“Sooo where’d you just pop out of? I thought all the shops would be closed by now.”

“I had a quick appointment with the blacksmith. Just dropping something off to be treated.”

“Treated huh?” Motoyasu’s mouth hung open as he was about to press forward but he was interrupted by a female voice coming from behind him.

“Oh, I know of this shop. You must have good taste.”

Motoyasu looked behind himself and stepped to the side to let his party member scoot into the conversation. It was the off putting red headed girl from before. “You know this place Myne?”

Alucard finally had a name to put to the girl. ‘Myne’ looked surprised to have the focus of the conversation turned on to her. “It’s fairly reputable though I’ve never visited the place myself actually.”

“Well it seems like you're in good hands if this place has Myne’s approval.”

‘Sure Motoyasu, it wasn't an adequate shop on it’s own before getting the approval of some random girl who's never been inside.’

So anyways how'd your first day go? You find any party members yet? Or find anything interesting? Personally, me and the girls had a wonderful time strolling around town and fighting these little balloon guys.”

“Besides exploring parts of the local market I spent a good portion of my day also slaying orange balloons.” To accentuate his point he pulled out the large cluster of remains bulging out of his pocket. “I've been meaning to dispose of the rest of these remains but I haven’t found a good place to do so yet.”

“Woah! You must have killed an entire hoard all by yourself. How’d you manage?” Motoyasu’s eyes trailed down to the small shield clinging to Alucard’s arm.

“I did mention before I fought monsters in my own world. And besides these things are hilariously weak. Even popped one in my hands.”

Motoyasu nervously laughed at that, scratching the back of his head in an effort to feel less awkward. “Well I’m glad you're taking care of yourself at least.”

Their conversation quickly entered a lull as Motoyasu didn't know what to say and Alucard had nothing he wanted to say. Myne took his momentary silence as an opportunity to interject on their dying conversation again. “You know sir Shield Hero, you don't have to throw all those remains away. There are quite a few stalls and shops that will take them off your hands, not much but a copper per balloon isn't bad.”

These scraps are actually worth something..? He couldn't imagine what for. Maybe alchemy? But even then he didn’t have any clues as to what they would actually do. If he took her words at face value and he could actually make some coin with just these small pieces of trash then it made him wonder what about other monster remains. “Hmm. Thank you for the words of advice. I will look into this later I suppose.”

“Hey while I got you here, want to come with us? We’re meeting up with the others at this inn in the middle of town and I figured you could come with. Update everyone on how our first day went and all. Not to mention having a place to eat and rest for the night. What do you say?”

He wanted to flat out say no and be done with it. Or better yet go tell him and his entire party to fuck off. But unfortunately thoughts based in logic were creeping in so he had to bite his tongue. The thought of where he would be lodging for the night had escaped him and he currently didn't know where any other inns were. So unless he wanted to hoof it in the wilderness with no supplies in a foreign land when a warm inn was being presented to him it was ill advised to say no.

So, as much as he wanted to say no it was probably for the best that he said yes. With a bit of reluctance he told Motoyasu just that and he immediately began regretting his decision as Motoyasu once again clapped a hand to his shoulder and began leading him forward, blathering on as they walked. Why does he feel the need to touch him?

Behind both heroes was still the party of the Spear hero. They were almost all disheartened at the fact that the Shield hero would be accompanying them back to the Inn.

Almost all of them.

While the rest of the party was trying to keep as close to Motoyasu as possible Myne stayed a distance back. She instead zero in’d her focus on the Shield hero, and a small grin grew on her face.

----------------------------------

The Inn, which was also a tavern hybrid, was something that wouldn't be too out of place in Walachia. At least, before everything went to hell of course. It really was just a standard inn with wooden walls and furniture, the room lit by candle light, and barmaids walking around with platters filled with food and drink. The other heroes hadn’t arrived yet so Motoyasu suggested they relax and have dinner while they all wait, not wasting any time flirting with any women passing him by on his way to an open table. On the other hand, Alucard quickly cut across the room to the counter where he assumed the tavern keep could rent him a room for the night.

The man at the counter took a nervous glance to the Shield on his arm but soon rebounded with an offer for a room priced at 5 silver pieces. Bit pricey, but he could at least stomach it for now. The man even offered dinner alongside so it wasn't a terrible deal.

Soon he found himself sitting at a table close to the stairs with his complimentary dinner. The main course was some sort of fish he couldn't identify with a side of steamed vegetables. He barely got a few bites in before he heard the voice of Myne speaking in front of him.

“Is this seat taken?” She had a small tray balanced in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

“No it's not-” Before he could continue Myne was already setting her tray on the table and making herself comfortable. Alucard, eyebrow raised and a face crossed between bewilderment and confusion coughed into his glove.

“Shouldn't you be sitting with the rest of your party?”

“Lord Motoyasu saw how you were sitting all alone and I volunteered to check in and keep you company.” She innocently giggled through her hand.

“How kind of him.” Alucard deadpanned in turn, going back to his meal. He was really hoping she would get the hint and let him enjoy his meal in peace.

She did not.

Instead, she started to try engaging him in conversation, further interrupting his meal and his evening. “Lord Motoyasu told me a few things about you.” She took a sip of her wine.

“Oh? Such as?” He responded, not even looking up from his plate. He was more interested in cutting up his fish than the words coming out of her mouth.

“He told me some things about your world and how you’re a noble with your very own castle.”

He raised an eyebrow and continued with his meal. “And?”

“I just thought it was interesting how similar our world must be to yours in comparison to the other three heroes. I couldn't quite get a handle on the things they were saying, things like MMOs and something called twitter.”

For the first time since he's met her she actually said something that didn't immediately piss him off and he could agree with. Maybe there is hope yet. “Believe me. I'm just as lost as you. At least their three worlds happen to be the exact same county during similar time periods. I couldn't understand half the things they were saying the night before. I honestly thought they were fucking with me at first with some sort of elaborate joke.”

She giggled once before giving into a belt of laughter. Surely it wasn't that funny. “You're too much.” She purred. Myne daintily made a grab for her glass of wine and what occurred next was the most obnoxious attempt at being seductive he's seen in a very long time.

With her lips on the glass she made a show of turning her head and downing the entire glass in the most elegant way she thought possible. She faintly gasped as her shiny lips left the edge of the now empty glass. She looked at him with bedroom eyes, the candle light bringing out the green in her eyes and the red blush on her face.

Trevor sloppily chugging through ale after ale was more appealing than whatever the hell this was.

“Would you like to drink with me? The flavor of the wine is truly exquisite. I can certainly order a glass for you.”

He didn’t waste any time replying with a hard but polite no. “Thank you for the offer but I’m afraid I will have to decline. I’m not in the mood for drinking. Besides, white wine goes best with this type of dish.”

“True. Though it's really too bad.” She played with the glass “I was hoping to enjoy a drink with you.”

“But why me? I’m sure your Spear hero wouldn’t hesitate to take you up on that.”

“I find you interesting, and I did volunteer to accompany you after all.

“But you also chose the Spear hero first. And I declined your offer, you have no obligation to spend time with me or seek me out.” He rubuttled.

“But I want to.” She reached out for his gloved hand but it flinched away the moment she touched it.

Keeping an impassive face as he cleaned his table, Alucard tried his best to stay calm and not wring her neck. “I think we’re done here. It’s getting late and I'm retiring for the night.”

He walked away before Myne had a chance to react. He didn’t even bother checking if the other heroes had arrived. He was done for the night.

He quickly found the room for the night upstairs and within minutes of washing up and changing he was slumped on the shitty inn bed falling asleep. Day one and Alucard was already tired of this world. He wanted nothing more than to go home. She was right in that some things about this world were familiar but it was still too foreign to be comfortable. It was too friendly to be his, too strange.

That night his dreams were filled with visions of a once lonely castle being occupied by the two people who loved most.

------------------------------------

In the dead of night Alucard was suddenly woken by a creaking door. His eyes shot open but he didnt move a muscle. Instead he looked to the wall where he could see the vague silhouette of a figure creeping into his room. He swore he locked the door before he went to bed, why would anyone come into his room? He doubted he had any enemies who wanted him dead on his first day here and it was unlikely it was a maid or worker at this hour.

Interrupting his thoughts he heard a whisper so low that even his enhanced hearing could only hear a sliver. “...Just as idiotic as every other man..” It was too quiet to distinguish the gender of the intruder. They were getting closer and closer, until they reached his bedside. They looked to be reaching for either him or the supplies he left on the nightstand. Either way, he wouldn't let them go any further.

Before their hand could get any closer he grabbed their wrist and was met with a sharp gasp.

It was a female voice that squeaked in surprise. Not just any voice though, it was the voice of Myne. He looked up and saw her face twisted in shock, like a child that was caught in the act stealing from a cookie jar.

“Myne! What are you-”

At the moment it looked like she was mentally backtracking. Going from surprise, panic, acceptance, all before settling on sickly sweet. “Sir Shield hero! You're awake.”

Is she seriously acting like nothing is wrong despite being caught red handed? “Drop the innocent act Myne. What are you doing in my room? How did you get in here?” Oh wait, he didn't care how she got in here. Alucard just wanted her gone.

“Never mind that. Just get out.” He snapped, shaking his head.

He dropped her hand like a stone and was making his way to the door to show her out when she grabbed his wrist this time. Her eyes remained on the floor.

“I wanted to see you. Alone” Myne whispered.

“I don't think the middle of the night is a good time for that. Leave.” His hand was nearly touching the doorknob. She gripped his wrist even harder.

“No. You see...I want you sir Shield hero.”

Her other hand reached towards his upper torso while the rest of her body shifted closer, pressing against him and-

She groped his chest.

And she didn't stop.

Myne continued exploring his body with no shame, as if she owned him.

He couldn't be more revolted.

Alucard violently jerked back as if her touch was acid on his skin. “Don't touch me!” He could feel the fangs in his mouth extending, responding to his anger. She jumped at his outburst, slightly curling in on herself out of unconscious fear. If Alucard had a mirror then he would have seen his eyes glowing red with anger in the dark, but in the moment he didn’t care.

He wasn't about to deal with this. Oh no, he was absolutely done. Politeness be damned. Not even halfway through the door his body began to glow. In a blink of an eye he was gone, leaving her utterly confused as to where he went and what just happened.

Alucard made it down the hall to the Spear hero’s room in only half a second. It reeked of his sent so it had to be his. He banged on the door with a fervor, surely waking up not only this room’s tenant but most likely the neighboring ones as well. “Motoyasu!”

A few seconds passed before a very sleepy, bed headed blond answered the door. “Alucard..? What's-”

He was cut off with an scathing command from Alucard. “Come collect your party member. And for the future, keep a tighter leash on them.”

“What do you mean by that, what happened?” The confusion in his voice was thick. So Alucard decided to spell it out for him.

“Myne. She snuck into my room in the middle of the night that's what.”

“Myne? No, of course she wouldn't do that. She's far too sweet.”

“Then explain why she’s in there right now. Why was she there in the first place? Why was she trying to touch me?”

“I don't-”

“I don't care what you have to say about it Motoyasu I just want her out. Take her and go.”

Motoyasu trudged over to the door to Alucard’s room, seemingly still in denial of everything he heard. That is, until he looked inside and saw Myne sitting there on the floor motionless, her face blank. Snapping out of his shock he tried helping her off the floor and out of Alucard’s room and she didn't put up much of a fight. As Motoyasu escorted her out of the room she looked confused, almost dazed.

Alucard watched Motoyasu drag her from his room from down the hall, arms crossed and silently fuming. ‘Perhaps she got drunk?’ Alucard thought. That could be a plausible answer as to why she was behaving so strangely. Even so, it doesn't excuse her behavior. While they were on the road Trevor had once told him “a drunk man's words is a sober man's thoughts”. Meaning Myne must have some level of..attraction to him, and that she isn't just the innocent girl her facade would have you think she is. He thought it was just some baseless flirting but this.. He prayed that this would be the end of it but the pit in his stomach said otherwise.

His room was vacant now but the sense of unease was still there. Alucard didn't know what tomorrow would bring but he could feel the start of a storm brewing. And when he went to sleep this time he dreamt of nothing but darkness and closed spaces.

Chapter Text

Something was wrong. 

Alucard suddenly woke up to the sounds of pounding footsteps and the clanking of heavy armor sets. The sun had yet to even rise and before he could question anything several knights busted into his room. 

“You’re the Shield Hero, yes?” One of the knights asked in a very hostile tone.

Alucard growled. “What is the meaning of this?”

“The king has issued summons for you. You can either come with us quietly or bound in chains.” With that the guards slowly closed in on his bed, as if to intimidate him. Alucard remained unphased by this, choosing to sass them rather than be complacent.

“Were the armed escorts bursting into my room before dawn necessary for just that? I’ll come with you as soon as I get an answer.” Instead of dignifying him with any sort of response the knights instead seize him by the arms and begin dragging him out of bed.

“Do I even get to change? Or are you going to leave me in my nightgown and drag me around like some disgraced maiden-”  He didn’t get to finish talking as the same guard who spoke earlier harshly backhanded him. Alucard had to restrain himself from lashing out at the man and ending his life. Instead, he settled for giving him a death glare, his life spared by the other guards holding him back.

The guard looked at him as if he was a piece of shit stuck to his boot, his arm still frozen mid air  after hitting him. “Speak again and we’ll drag you to the king in chains.” The knight faced his fellow men “Load him into the carriage.”

Without another word the guards dragged him out of his room to the street below with various onlookers watching from their own rooms. While the eyes of these strangers regarded him with confusion the gaze of the knights spoke a different story as they looked upon him with barely veiled disdain. Soon, Alucard was unceremoniously hauled into a waiting prison carriage and within a minute they were on their way to the castle. And Alucard was left without a single idea as to the trouble that awaited him.

-------------------------------------------------------

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the castle, and the knights made sure to personally escort him to the royal audience chamber. So meaning they dragged him onto his feet and gave him a good shove every so often on their walk there. Soon, Alucard was greeted to the sight of a packed court with the king, his minister, the other three heroes, their party members and Myne of all people. She cowered behind Motoyasu the moment his gaze reached hers, prompting the rest of the court to look at him in disgust. He didn't get too good of a further look before he was thrown to the ground, the guards surrounding him with their spears.

Alucard picked himself right back up and locked eyes with the old king. “What is the meaning of this Aultcray? Just what is so important as to drag me out of bed like some common criminal!?

The king furiously snapped “Don’t you dare play dumb Shield Hero!” His voice rang out through the court. This seemed to drain him of his energy as Melromarc slunk back into his throne, holding his exhausted face in one hand. “Myne, you poor girl. If you would please recount your story once more for the entirety of the court so that the charges against the Shield Hero may be stated.”

‘This is a trial...and it’s Myne’s doing?’

“I-I made a mistake that night. I drank one too many glasses of wine and I stumbled into the wrong bedroom. It was the Shield Hero’s and before I could leave he...he pinned me down against my will!”

‘..The fuck?’

“He said the night was still young and that I belonged to him. He threw me to the ground, gripping me roughly. And then he ripped off my clothes and…” Myne clung to the Spear Hero’s back as she spoke through her fake crying.

“When he was done he went to go fetch Lord Motoyasu to come collect me. I was in shock for a good hour before I told him everything that happened.” 

The Spear Hero was next to speak up. “I knew something was fishy last night and if she hadn’t asked me to wait until dawn to call the knights I would have slaughtered you myself.” Motoyasu spat, acting like a tough guy. He brought the weeping Myne closer to him as if to protect her.

This whole display.. Was utter lunacy. In lew of a response Alucard hung his head low and began laughing. It was quiet at first, growing in volume to a clear hearty laugh. He couldn't help himself, this entire situation was ridiculous. It was a shit cherry on top of a shit cake. He barely went a day in this new world without something going horrifically wrong. The everyone in the room stared at him in either shock or further disgust. The king looked the most furious of all, nearly rising out of his throne.

“Disgusting. What could possibly be so funny about committing the most heinous crime in Melromarc Shield Hero? The penalty for even attempting to assault a woman is death!”

Alucard wiped a false tear from his eye, never losing the grin from his face. “Are you serious? Please tell me this is all some elaborate joke because I’m sorry to tell you all but this entire trial is a farce. No such crime occured last night.”

This infuriated the king. “How dare you tell such a blatant lie in front of the entire court-”

But Alucard was quick to cut him off. “King Aultcray I can assure you. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to lay a hand on a woman in a country where the punishment is death, nevermind your daughter.”

This shocked the entire court, leaving them in a stunned silence. The mere word “daughter” was enough to stop the numerous whispers of the tens of nobles packed into the hall. The three heroes looked more bewildered and surprised than anything but the king and Myne however looked absolutely floored. They looked as if the rug was pulled out from under them and then proceeded to slap them in the face.

Alucard suspected it before but with the two of them in such close proximity to each other it became obvious . While they didn't exactly have the same eye or hair color they had similar facial features and eerily similar facial expressions. The royal relation would explain a lot as well, from Myne’s behavior, her expensive taste, and the pre-prepared bigger budget. No doubt that 200 silver bonus was just for daddy’s little girl. But beyond all else it was their blood that gave it away; he could smell the blood relation coming off those two. He knew the revelation would shock everyone into silence for long enough for him to get a word in. He refused to let this false trial go on longer than it needed to.

“The Princess?-

“Myne you’re?-

“Impossible! H-

“How do you-” The king’s sputtering was once again cut off by Alucard.

“The family relation is quite obvious but right now this detail is irrelevant. I promise you nothing happened last night. In fact, I can easily prove that Myne’s story has several flaws. First, I shall tell you my account of the previous night.” From there Alucard went to recount his side of the story, preventing any attempts from Aultcray or the rest of the court to silence him. He gave each minute detail about their encounter in his room and the events leading up to it at dinner. He almost finished off his story without any interruptions before Myne seemingly couldn't take it anymore, cutting off his description.

“-Contrary to what she was telling you she was the one touching me without consent. I barely even laid a hand on her as I demanded she unhand me, before retreating to fetch her party leader.”

“Why are you lying? I was the one who screamed for you to get away before you grabbed me!” She cried.

Alucard remained completely unphased, quickly refuting her claims. “As I recall I’m fairly sure I shouted at you not to touch me, not the other way around.” Before either of them could get another word in, Ren of all people stepped up, armed raised in the air like a school boy trying to get the teacher’s attention.

“If I may interject.”

Aultcray for the first time in several minutes spoke, not before coughing into his hand and gesturing towards Ren. “You have the floor Sword Hero.”

“I was in a room further down the hall and I remember hearing someone screaming ‘don’t touch me’-”

“See! A witness! Thank you sir Sword Hero” Myne was quick to cheer, interrupting Ren mid sentence. He wasn't done talking and what he said next made Myne out look like a fool. Or at least like the massive liar Alucard knew her to be.

“-However it was a male voice who shouted that. And next thing I heard was who I was fairly sure was Alucard banging on Motoyasu’s door and causing a scene.”

There was a pregnant pause before Aultcray spoke up once more, questioning the young teenager. “Sword Hero, Do you swear that this is what you heard?”

The stoic teenager nodded. “Yes.”

The Bow Hero stepped in to back him up “I can also verify both Alucard’s and Ren’s claim. I was woken up by yelling and when I poked my head out of my door I saw Alucard looking almost distressed while he was banging on Motoyasu’s door.”

“A testimony from two seperate heroes is quite irrefutable” The king grumbled. He almost seemed...resigned saying such a thing. Alucard didn’t focus on this fact for long, as he didnt want to waste any time proving his innocence.

“So you see, unless my story is true there is no other logical way I would have yelled that.”

Myne made a choking noise before hysterically near screaming a comeback. “Maybe the other heroes didn’t hear me that's all! And you only screamed at me after I hit you trying to get away!”

“You fought back? You didn’t mention this detail before” he inquired, eyebrows raised. Was she really going to change details of her story?

Myne was slightly taken aback. “O-Of course I did! And the evidence is right on your face!” She pointed accusingly at Alucard.

“Evidence?” Alucard brought a hand to his red cheek. It was still marked from earlier that morning. “Do you mean this? Is this the mark you left on my cheek?”

“Yes!”

This time he really had to keep his laughter in check. “Funny you say that Myne because this particular mark is from the knight who brought me in over to my right after I mouthed off to him. You can even see the indent from his gauntlet on my face.” He pointed right at the very knight who hit him earlier that morning, putting him on the spot.

Myne was taken aback by this, slightly stepping away from Motoyasu’s grasp. The king on the other hand silently gestured for that same knight to step forward.

“Your majesty.” The knight called.

“Captain, if you would compare your hand to his face.”

“No!” Myne called out but she was silenced with a wave from her father. The ring of guards slightly parted to allow for the captain to approach the crouching Shield Hero. Turning his hand over he put it side to side to the marks left on Alucard’s face and the evidence was undeniable. The knight’s gauntlets had specific grooves that matched the bloody indents left on his fact to a tee. Anyone with eyes could see that and the realization settled heavily on the face of the king. And the look of panic was on Myne’s face was oh so satisfying. Inwardly Alucard was relieved he let the marks stay on his face. Such small wounds would have been child's play for him to heal but he had a gut feeling that he should let them lie. After all, it would be suspicious if the mark healed so quickly beneath scrutinizing eyes. 

“It’s a match sir...” The guard stated before resuming his position in the circle around the Shield Hero.

Alucard took this as a chance to be smug, for just a moment. “I believe I have caught you in another lie mrs.Myne. You seem to be changing around details of your story. I wonder why?” 

Myne remained silent but Alucard could tell she was positively fuming on the inside. The whispers picked up once more in the court. It seemed as if he was creating some doubt in their minds. Finally, he was gaining some traction. All he had to do was keep up the pressure.

“I’d like to point out some more logical flaws in her story as well. I ask any of you, why would I have my way with her then purposely alert Motoyasu?”

For the first time since the trial began Motoyasu spoke out. And of course, it was in immediate defense of Myne. “Maybe you were trying to cover up your tracks!”

“And what tracks did I leave? I let you into my room to collect Myne and did she look as disheveled as she said she was? Were her clothes torn like she said they were?”

This almost left Motoyasu speechless. “No...They weren't but...”

Alucard didn't let up. “She also mentioned how I threw her around before ravaging her. Where are her marks? Her bruises?”

“What do you mean?”

“What game are you playing at Shield hero?”

“I have a point to this. Please allow me to demonstrate.” Alucard in less than a blink of an eye punched the stone flooring, leaving a large impact on the ground and shattering the stone work. The spidering of the cracks reached nearly ten feet in length, allowing everyone to get a clear view of the impact. The guards were obviously alarmed by this and moved in closer with their spears. He could feel the weapons poking his back. However, this only prompted the king to roll his eyes.

“Besides ruining my flooring, what is the point of this?”

Wordlessly Alucard picked up one of the palm stone fragments and squeezed. The crackling sound that came from the crushing of stone echoed through the hall. When he opened his hand nothing but dust and small pebbles poured out. He let the implication sink in before elaborating any further.

“If I had truly laid a hand on her she would have clear evidence of that fact. My grip, by no means, is “gentle”. If I had laid a hand on her just last night then she would have clear markings on her person. Where are her bruises? And before you say anything else, no victim would rid themselves of damning evidence like this if they intended to go to trial. Motoyasu, I need you to answer honestly. Did you ever see a single mark on her?”

All eyes were on Motoyasu and he looked paralyzed from all the attention and pressure. Funny, Alucard thought he would be the type to lavish it. 

Myne looked at him with pleading eyes. “Motoyasu please..”

He looked conflicted. “N-No... I didn’t..But surely it was dark!-”

“Did you see any in the light either?”

Motoyasu’s mouth opened for a moment before clamping shut. He had nothing left to say as the doubt settled in his soul. The same doubt was settling in on the entirety of the court as well. With each piece of evidence Alucard brought up his innocence was becoming irrefutable. Even the king couldn't deny this fact and Myne could see it. She knew she was losing the battle. The king meanwhile looked as if he was ready to throw in the towel and end this joke of a trial before it could embarrass his daughter any further. 

“Myne, you said you were intoxicated last night. Perhaps you are misremembering things…” The old man suggested.

Then she remembered what she saw the night before. In her shock she really did forget something so important. So... incriminating . Her mouth curled into a small smirk before she threw herself on the floor, pleading with her father.

“Papa! You surely can't take the word of a monster! I saw it!” She shouted hysterically.

Aultcray sat up in alarm, hearing his daughter suddenly scream. “Saw what exactly?”

The crocodile tears were rolling down her eyes once more. “I saw it last night, when the Shield hero got angry his eyes began to glow a crimson red and he had fangs the length of my finger in his mouth! He’s a beast in the shell of a man and he’s deceiving all of you! Please believe me!”

Alucard was unphased, laughing off her tantrum. “What a ridiculous claim. Trying to save face with a ridiculous accusation are you?” But the king wasn't laughing. No one was laughing. The room was silent and all they did was just stare.

If anyone else was paying attention to the king they could've seen the expression in his face change from grim defeat to one declaring checkmate. The look in Aultcray’s eyes alone were comparable to a starving wolf staring down a wounded rabbit.  

“Guards...Restrain the Shield Hero.” He ordered in a grave tone.

“What are you-” He was cut off by the weight of several bodies restraining him all at once. There was a guard locking every limb. Even his neck was being held back in a choke hold. He could easily throw them off but he knew that would instantly kill any chances to prove his innocence but with how things were going it might just be better to cut his losses. He had just a split moment to make the decision between defending himself or but he was a moment too late as he heard the king give his next order.

“Captain, Open his mouth.”

Next thing Alucard knew a gloved hand wormed its way around his lower jaw with a thumb jammed into his mouth. Another hand was tangled into the blonde locks on the top of his head. With a quick retch backwards and his jaw pushed down his mouth was forcibly opened, exposing his fangs to the entire court. With the quick severity of the action he couldn't stop his body’s natural reaction and was helpless as his fangs automatically extended in length.

The captain quickly shuffled his body aside to allow the best view of his fangs while never letting go of his head. Alucard didn't even need supernatural hearing to hear the gasps of horror and disgust. The entire room was gawking at his fangs. Ever since he arrived in this world he had been so careful not to open his mouth too much lest he expose them but now they were on display for the world. Ideas ran through his head on how he could possibly save the situation and excuse his teeth as something normal in his world. 

Any hopes he had of passing it off were dashed when he heard Motoyasu shout that dreaded word, capturing the attention of the entire room. “ Vampire! ” He pointed accusingly at the restrained Shield Hero.

The word bounced around the tongues of all those present. ‘Vampire?’ They all whispered, the word seemingly unfamiliar to them. But the other three heroes, they were a different story. They knew full well what a vampire was and the king could see the recognition in their eyes.

“Vampire? Heroes I, along with the people of this land are unaware of just what a ‘vampire’ is. If you could, share any information you have?”

Motoyasu was the first to respond, yelling his answer like an accusation. “They're evil undead creatures of the night who feed on humans and drain them of their blood! They prey upon innocent virgin women the most, stealing them away and turning them into their undead brides!” He shielded Myne with his body at that last part.

“In myth vampires are typically identified by their pale skin and their long fangs. As motoyasu mentioned before, yes, they survive off the blood of humans. It's a signature feature of theirs along with supernatural powers and stereotypically a castle, all of which Alucard seems to possess.” He finished, staring the blonde dhampir down like he was the scum of the earth 

“Yeah! That's why he has a leg up on the rest of us! His powers are inhuman!” Motoyasu called out.

The Bow Hero was next to make a comment. “I'm disappointed I didn't see it before. After all, his name backwards spells Dracula. Not to mention the near stereotypical clothing and the ‘I'm better than you’ attitude.” Itsuki scoffed, as if he had any room to talk.

“Yeah!-Wait his name really spells Dracula backwards?” Motoyasu questioned, while Ren rolled his eyes.

“You guys didn't get that? I figured it out yesterday.” 

Alucard meanwhile was in shock. The three of them...truly were still idiots. While the fact that all three of them from across different worlds knew the name of his father somehow did bother him he could address it later. What was more important currently was the ramifications of what those three were doing. They didn't realize they were playing right into the palm of the king! Could they not see this was a ploy to have them turn against their fellow hero? And by turn the public as well? Could they not see that this was taking away from the true purpose of this trial? He couldn't let this nonsense go on any further but something just nagged him to stay collected and remain as innocent as possible. That thought lasted a hot second before dismissed the thought due to the fact that he was being accused of rape and being restrained by his fucking mouth. How could he stay calm!? The last straw that broke the last vestiges of restraint he had however was what the King asked next.

“What is the significance of this ‘Dracula’ you speak of?”

That's it, this ridiculous parade has gone on for too long. He was not putting up with this disgrace any longer. Public perception be damned.

Even though his mouth was already wide open he still had some room to give. Suddenly Alucard threw his head back, taking the captain and the rest of the guards by surprise. He felt the back of his head nearly smash the nose of the guard that had him in a headlock but he didn’t focus on this. Instead, Alucard bit down as hard as he could on the knight's glove while avoiding puncturing his hand with his fangs. Of course the man still yelped in pain but he should suck it up, he’d live. His next move of action was to free his arms, so he did the most logical thing. He lifted his arms and flung the two hapless guards to the side, violently knocking the flanking spearsmen down like dominos.

Surprisingly, that shield of his came to his aid. A burst of green energy emitted from the small shield, blasting each of the guards back even further until they were all at least 5 or so feet away from him. This finally allowed Alucard to stand proud on his own two feet. The green light of his shield added to his look of fierce determination. The king was far from amused.

“You dare assault my guards!?”

“What? Should I be ok with the fact your men have forcibly restrained me? Or the fact they forced my goddamn mouth open on your orders?” He snarled back.

“I am no vampire.” Alucard growled, fully baring his teeth in anger. “And in case you haven’t noticed one key flaw amongst many in your assumption.” He pointed at the open windows, specifically the rays of sunshine streaming into the room.” The sun is up and yet I do not burn.”

Alucard knew deep down it was a flimsy excuse but he was banking on their lack of knowledge to work in his favor. It seemed that the heroes at best only seemed to only have base, stereotypical knowlege that any bum fuck villager in Walachia would know. Christ Motoyasu even brought up the myth about undead brides. What next? Garlic? Though, their knowledge of the name Dracula was still concerning he would have to deal with it later.

Luckily, the king and each and every one of his citizens looked confused. “What does he mean by this?”

Ren was the one to respond. “It’s a part of vampire mythos. One of their defining traits is that they can’t step into sunlight without burning to death.” He looked back towards Alucard, the suspicion in his eyes returning with a vengeance. 

“But you know Alucard, it still doesn’t explain why your name backwards spells Dracula.”

“I said it on the first day that it was a title, nothing more. And what better name to award the man who slayed him than Alucard..” he bitterly spat out. This was the very last thing he wanted to talk about, especially in front of an entire hall of strangers. They had no right to know anything of his father or any more about him for that matter. 

“You killed Dracula? That's-!” Motoyasu once again shouted, getting on Alucard’s last nerve.

“Entirely irrelevant to the situation at hand. Just like how my physical features are entirely irrelevant to this trial!”

“I think not, Shield Hero.” Aultcray interjected.

The king motioned for the room to be silenced, his arms fanning out, capturing the attention of every rinky-dink noble and bumbling knight. “Vampire or not Shield Hero you have proven one thing to us today. You have lied to this entire court and subsequently the entire country about the fact that you are non human. This is unacceptable. Melromarc offers you it’s support and this is how you repay its people?”

“And still you forget the purpose of this trial.” He remarked sarcastically.

“On the contrary Shield Hero, I haven't. Far from it. Even if you didn’t commit any crimes, how could anyone believe you? The mere word of a demi-human is near worthless in the court of law never mind to the citizens of this land. No one will ever believe your innocence no matter how much evidence you present. The punishment alone for a demi-human being accused of sexual assault is imprisonment for life, if not death.”

Alucard stood there dumbly, reeling from what he just heard. Just what kind of system of justice is this!? This is blatant, unapologetic discrimination. It reminded him eerily of the church and what they peddled as “justice”. What was so concerning was there were non human laws like this already in place in this country. Why? And just what is a demi-human? He’s never heard of such a term before. Did that mean there were non-human species native to this world as well?

Aultcray got a sick sense of enjoyment watching the Shield Hero’s icy expression morph into one of mute horror. “However, you won’t be imprisoned. Despite being inhuman, you are still one of the Cardinal Heroes. Therefore, one of the only beings capable of fighting the waves. So instead I shall sentence you with a different punishment. From this day forth the Shield Hero shall be legally declared as a demi-human, with all the accompanying rights of one. That will be your punishment Alucard . You will never find an easy, comfortable life while you are in this country.”

Silence hung thick in the air at the king’s verdict. That is until Alucard harshly broke it. “That’s it...? That’s how you’re ending this trail? Where is the justice?” He questioned, but the king merely scoffed.

“In a month you are expected to return here and fight. Do try to stay alive and actually fulfill your duty.” With that Aultcray said nothing more, waving away at him in a shoo-ing manner. The guards surrounded him once more as if to menace him out of the hall. Meanwhile the room filled with the whispers of the court and Alucard could hear every vile comment.

“ It was a mistake to summon all four together .”

“ Exactly. They never should have summoned the Shield Hero in the first place! ”

“If only we had known he’d be demihuman scum beforehand. ”

“ He should be put down for just existing! ”

“ Shield devil! ”

“ Someone should rip those teeth out before he has an opportunity to use them. ”

“ You should have just let it happen .”

Wait. He recognized that last voice. It came from-

He looked past the crowd of guards and his fellow heroes and saw Myne looking at him straight in the eye. She smirked, showing the pink her right eye and while sticking her tongue out. She was outright mocking him.That disgusting little wench...She planned all of this... All of this from the first day they arrived! Whatever it was... she gained something today. Even if it’s just his humiliation for the sheer want of it. Well, he refused to let her have the last laugh. For in the end, what goes around comes around. But for now he refused to let her have the last laugh, or any of them. The king, those pathetic excuses for heroes, or anyone in this blasted world.

“Fine. Then I eagerly wait to defy expectations. And I’ll keep fighting anyways, if it means I’ll finally get to leave this shithole of a world faster.”

He could feel the weight of dozens of disapproving and judgmental stares but he simply didn’t care. He was done here. Alucard  started making his way out of the room, the various guards parting to let him through. With little effort he violently swung open both great doors but before he left he shot one last remark over his shoulder. “So I hope you are satisfied with making a monster out of me.”

“Alucard wait!” He heard Motoyasu cry, the pounding of footsteps following suit. Alucard felt a hand wrap around his bare arm stopping him in his tracks.

“I have nothing to say to you Motoyasu. You made your choice. Try not to contract anything.” With that he snatched his arm back and thoroughly enjoyed slamming the two doors in Motoyasu’s face.

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, he was barred from using any of the shortcuts he was shown just a day before through the castle. Specifically, he found himself turned away by every single guard he encountered at spear point. So for the sake of avoiding conflict he was forced to take the long winding path down the mountain of a hill the castle sat on to the entrance gate to the town below. His first thought of course was to easily speed down the path in a clean burst of power. This impulsive thought was quickly shut down as logic settled in. He should be conservative of what powers he shows off now. If he’s been made an enemy of the public then he should keep as many tricks up his sleeve as possible.

This unfortunately, also extended to his warping powers. Unless he felt like exposing himself further to the bystanders riding in their carriages or walking on patrol he would just have to suck it up and to walk like a normal person. And so he did just that, keeping at an even pace all the way down. Though his stamina was much greater than a normal humans’ the walk down still felt tiring. By the time he made it to the bridge connecting to the town it was past mid-day.

Alucard went through a quick mental list of tasks as he strolled through the gate. Obviously he had to retrieve his clothing from the inn first. That is...if it hadn't already been disposed of. After being forcibly dragged out by the guards he wouldn't blame the innkeeps for thinking he wouldn't be returning. He could only hope that they hadn't thrown his scarce belongings in the garbage already. He didn't have nearly as high hopes about his bag of coins.

Second, he would need to go to Erhold’s to retrieve his sword. The Bloodclean treatment should be complete by now and Alucard didn't want to spend another moment without it. Even though he couldn't directly wield it anymore he didn't want to be left without his main form of offense, not to mention it’s sentimental value. Out of the few things he came into this world with he valued his sword above all else. It was irreplaceable, now more than ever.

Walking through the town was like his own personal walk of shame. It was the height of foot traffic, making it impossible to avoid the crowds swarming the streets and markets. People were gawking at him left and right and he was sick of it. This was not helped by the fact he was still dressed in nothing but a thin white nightgown. Those damned guards didn’t even let him change or put on his boots before dragging him out into the street. At this point it just made for a shit cherry on top of a shit pie.
...
Ugh,why did he have to imagine that? It was Belmont’s job to make disgusting metaphors not his.

Visuals of bastardized pastries obviously weren't the only thing souring his mood. A deep, twisted knot bloomed in his gut, for the crowds weren't just staring at him for his state of undress. Their glares felt accusatory, and no matter how much he tried to assure himself he had the feeling that they somehow knew already. ‘But how’ he tried asking himself. It hasn't even been a day, there is no possible way that news spread that quickly.

And yet, this world had a way of defying Alucard’s expectations. While the technology found in this world seemed about on the same level of his own at best and archaic at worst, the magic found in it was a different story. Magic was a more open concept here, not restricted to hushed whispers or lost to dusty tomes. There was a good chance that this world had a more efficient and instant form of widespread communication in comparison to mere word of mouth or relying on the postal system. Or rather, widespread magical devices that would allow for it, not unlike the Carpathian mirrors so highly coveted by vampires and magicians alike.

He did his best to stay off the main streets when he could help it, cringing with every step his bare feet took on the filth riddled alley ways. For the sake of his sanity he decided not to dwell on it very long beyond the addition to a bath to his internal ‘to do’ list. As his destination slowly came more into view he pondered the actual possibility of getting said bath anytime soon.

Before Alucard could make it inside the inn he was met with confrontation. Two men of differing ages flanked the entrance with an older woman in the center blocking it off. He recognized the innkeep from last night, and he assumed the two men were her son and husband respectively.

“Excuse me b-”

He was abruptly cut off by the innkeep. “You’re not welcome here.”

“I won't be staying. I just need to retrieve my belongings from my room.”

“You. Are not. Welcome. On my property.” She harshly enunciated each individual word.

Undeterred by the display of hostility Alucard pressed onward. “I understand that but I need to retrieve my own property. Then you'll never have to deal with me again.”

The husband was next to step in, face bright red and furious. “Are you deaf? She already told you twice, but since I’m so kind I’ll spell it out for you. You and your kind aren’t welcome here, demi-human.”

“And last I checked stealing was illegal, human. See?-” He responded with sarcastic snide. “I can point out our respective races too.” The man’s face instantly turned as red as a tomato and his body language grew even more tense.

“Get out of here before I make you regret ever crawling out of your mother.”

Alucard met the man's eyes, challenging him with his own cold stare. “Then go ahead and make me.”

It didn't shock him at all when the husband decided to throw a haymaker at his face for his attitude.

The thing about haymakers is that they're about the most disgraceful move you can pull in a fight. The person winds their entire upper body back before adding in their body weight into the punch, making for a powerful attack that usually knocks a person out, if not their teeth. For that reason it is reviled by any respectable pugilist for being an underhanded tactic. Such moves are usually relegated to usage in drunken bar fights and by inexperienced fighters. While they're hard hitting punches they are also very easy for any actually experienced fighter to dodge. But, it takes a special kind of idiot to stand there and take it.

And yet that's just what Alucard did.

The man's fist hit its mark, slamming right into the left of Alucard’s face. The middle aged man felt a swell of pride in his chest. That should put that filthy monster in his place. Pride was soon turned into confusion as he noticed that despite the force behind the punch he failed to move the blonde haired scum an inch. He didn’t feel the shift of bone and muscle beneath his fist. Instead his hand felt something akin to the cool, smooth texture of marble. This also came with the feeling of his knuckles smashing into the equivalent of a wall at full force.

“ARGHHH.” He yelped, nearly unable to curb the urge to curl in on himself

Alucard meanwhile slowly turned his head, unphased beyond a few misplaced hairs. “Are you done?”

The man in all his fury wildly swung again at Alucard, disregarding both his own pain and the ineffectiveness of his attacks. This time Alucard moved to dodge each punch, weaving around his fists at the very last moment. One swing for his left kidney, another aiming for his face again, with an attempted kick to the gut for variety. His attacks were unbelievably predictable and slow, hardly a real challenge. He quickly started playing with the enraged man, spinning around him as if he was the world's worst dance partner.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see that a small group of passerby and patrons had stopped to watch. Must be enjoying the show. Luckily there were no guards present, at least for the time being.

He kept this impromptu waltz up until the man decided to change tactics and aim downwards.

...

He was not doing this again.

Using long since dormant instincts Alucard put the Shield attached to his arm to work, blocking the man's kick and sending him flying with a small blast of green energy. For such a tiny thing it packed a lot of power in its punch. The man rolled twice before landing on his back, uninjured but dazed. Before he could pick himself up Alucard’s foot pinned him to the ground by the shoulder. No amount of cursing or clawing could make him budge.

“Get off me you-!”

“We can easily end this right now. I have no wish to hurt you but I want what's rightfully mine. Nothing else. Now that's not too much to ask for, right sir?”

The man's gaze wouldn't meet Alucard's, instead he stared blankly off to the side. Alucard would've thought he was just avoiding him if he hadn't caught the slight upturn of his mouth. His eyes slightly widened as he heard footsteps charging towards them.

“Get away from my father!” A younger voice screamed, followed by a boot slamming into his side. Ah, so the son must have finally joined in. The hit was just enough to get him to slightly stumble but not quite dislodge his foot from the man’s shoulder. In response Alucard increased the pressure to insure he wouldn't be getting up, kicks or no kicks. He turned his focus onto the boy.

Realizing what he had done the son looked at him and flinched, expecting a hit that would send him flying just like his father. However, Alucard had standards. He wouldn’t lay a hand on a child if he could help it. But the child didn't know that and neither did his father.

“Stop!” Cried a voice beneath him.

The man shed his look of anger, trading it in for one of pleading. “Leave my boy alone and I'll get you your things. Just some fancy clothes right?”

“That and 600 silver pieces. Don't forget that.” Alucard removed his foot from the man’s chest.

The man scrambled to his feet, shooting one last dirty look at the shield hero before making his way back to his wife. Already understanding the situation she merely nodded before disappearing into the inn. Several minutes later she reemerged with his garments hanging in her arms and a large sack of coins in her hands.

She shoved his clothing at him first, eager to get them out of her hands as if they were burning her skin. Opposing her disgust Alucard couldn’t help but smile. He had underestimated just how much he missed his clothing, especially his coat. He suspected some of that was less out of pure affection for the garments but for the fact that he was still in a simple nightgown. For a moment he was so caught up in the simple joy of having his coat back that he almost failed to notice that the innkeep still had his coin in her hands. He stared accusingly back at her.

“What, you don’t need to count it. It’s all there.”

“That remains to be seen. Now if you would please, hand it over.”

She gripped the bag, seemingly at war with herself. When she found it in the shield hero’s abandoned room untouched by the guards she thought she had struck gold. Or in this case, a lot of silver. And when the news broke with just what the hero truly was? Even better! It was the perfect reward after having hosted a criminal in her esteemed, honest establishment. She was getting ready to go to the bank with a small detour to a second hand shop to drop off some newly acquired goods when she saw him in the distance. She had not expected him to come back. Furthermore she did not expect him to wring out her poor husband and terrorize her family. What could she do? How could she get out of this?

During her internal conflict the answer to her problem arrived. In a stroke of misfortune as she was about to hand over his silver a random city guard on patrol happened to be passing by. This didn’t go unnoticed by the innkeeper. An idea ran through the innkeeper’s mind and she executed it without a second thought.

Without a chance to stop her Alucard helplessly watched as she wretched the pouch straight out of his hands and screamed “Guards! Help! A feral demi-human is robbing us! He attacked my husband, please help!”

Her cries for help instantly grabbed the attention of the lone guard who was one step away from turning a corner. A single yell for backup could be heard before the guard began charging towards them sword drawn. It wouldn’t take long for him to reach them.

He felt a hand harshly grab his arm and a voice tersely whisper “If I were you, I would start running right about now. Times ticking and I could make this much worse.”

Alucard pursed his lips. She didn't receive a response, instead he spun her around and made a grab for the bag. This only prompted her to start screaming murder and make a spectacle of herself. Not only that she threw herself to the ground, curling herself into a ball around the coins, not unlike a pill bug.

She was right the situation was worse now. If he manhandled her in anyway to get his money it would be right in front of the guard. He didn't want to imagine just how bad that would look especially with the events of the morning. That option was out but he couldn't just let this woman take all his money. Speaking of said guard, he was rapidly closing in. Alucard didn't have much time left, maybe only seconds before he had to make a choice. Does he stand his ground and possibly suffer further consequences? Or does he take the cowards route and run?

The guard was a mere few feet away and Alucard knew he had little time left to make a decision. He looked down at the woman pathetically curled up in a ball “Enjoy your hard earned coin.”

A muffle voice responded. “Don’t you worry, I will .”

Swallowing his pride and anger he ran down the alley, the sound of guards following close behind.

----------------------------

Erhold was rearranging a spear display when he heard his shop door open and just as harshly shut. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. “I had the impression that you were the more punctual shows-up-at-the-crack of-dawn kind of person. Did something come up?”

He heard a heavy sigh. “I haven’t exactly had the best morning.”

At this Erhold finally turned around and got an eyeful of his new client. His entire person was disheveled and a stark difference from the collected person he saw the day before. His golden hair was wild and messy, with numerous knots tangled in it. The long black coat he had come to associate with the man was bundled unceremoniously in a ball in his arms. Instead he wore what looked to be a what was once short white nightgown, now scuffed and covered in a layer of dirt. He looked like shit, but Erhold couldn’t just say it like that. So he decided to go the more polite way of phrasing his thoughts.

“You look rough kid…”

“Even I know that is an understatement.” Alucard responded in a deadpan voice. He wearily rubbed his face. “If it’s not too much to ask, do you have a mirror? Or somewhere I can change?”

“Yeah…” Erhold pointed to his left. “-there’s a dressing room towards the back but the mirror is up here.” He watched as Alucard gratefully nodded and shuffled past him, reaching for the thin curtain covering said dressing room. He really did look beat... Ah damn, he couldn’t just leave him like this.

“Wait.” Erhold stared at him before making his way over to his shop door and promptly locking it. Confusion and mistrust was written across Alucard’s face but Erhold beat him to an explanation before he could even ask. “I’m taking a lunch break and you’re coming with me.”

Alucard raised a single eyebrow, slightly cocking his head to the side. “Excuse me..?”

“Kid. You look like the end result of getting hit by a carriage before getting thrown into a tornado. I can’t in good conscience let you leave my shop looking like this. At the very least I have a washroom upstairs and boy, do you ever need it.”

Alucard hadn’t had the faintest idea how to react, considering how his stay in this world had been going so far. But, he couldn’t imagine this of all things being a trap. “That is awfully kind of you, offering your help to a stranger.”

“You're not exactly that much of a stranger and besides I’m really not phased by it either. In my younger years when I was an adventurer I used to help “strangers” everyday. So really it's no problem.” He reassured the man. Alucard understandably, was taken aback.

“I-..” He took a moment to collect himself. “Thank you Erhold, thank you very much. Initially I was planning on finding a stream to clean myself in as I doubt any inn in the city will allow me to use their tubs anymore.” ‘Even then I don’t have the coin for it either anymore’ he thought to himself. “-Nevertheless your kindness is appreciated.” Erhold watched as the young man gave a short bow in gratitude with a small smile on his face. Wow, he didn’t think the guy was capable of smiling considering how austere he appeared to be.

Disregarding that, he seemed so thankful for something as simple as a bath. Did he receive such little kindness in his life that the offer of something as simple as a bath seemed like some great gift? And what did he mean no inn would take him? Erhold knew the shield hero wasn’t so much liked in Melromarc but the guy just arrived a day ago. Just what kind of trouble has he already found himself in...

“Really there’s no need to make a big deal out of it. Now let's just get you upstairs. Can’t have you spreading dirt around my shop. We can talk about your sword afterwards.”

“If you’re worried about dirt in your shop shouldn’t you just kick me out then?”

‘At least he still has the energy for sarcasm’. “Shut up, you get what I mean. Now follow me.” Erhold grumbled. He motioned for Alucard to follow him behind the counter to a curtain concealed stairway.

Alucard wasn’t surprised that the stairs led up to a small apartment that had Erhold written all over it. It made sense to live above your own shop if there’s room instead of renting it out or paying to stay somewhere else. The furnishings all looked lovingly handcrafted, with tanned animal skin upholstery adorning the chairs. On the walls there were well used pieces of armor and weapons on display. By the small fireplace it even had a set of two finely crafted if worn out blades sitting over it. In every corner there seemed to be organized piles of supplies, undoubtedly for a blacksmith. Overall the place was small, but cozy, and obviously quite lived in. He could appreciate homes like this much more than any palace or estate. Felt more human.

As promised Erhold directed him to his bathroom and even offered him a bar of soap. Though he couldn’t lend him a brush for understandable reasons Alucard still managed to make do. He was concerned with the fact that the tub was already somewhat full but Erhold was quick to reassure him that it was no problem. Apparently, there was a well behind the building. So it was no trouble to refill it once he was done.

A quick blast of fire magic had the once lukewarm water positively steaming. A minute later found Alucard completely submerged and in utter bliss. There was no pleasure comparable to hot water after a long day. While this certainly didn’t compare to the massive Roman style baths found within the walls of Castlevania but this certainly wasn’t bad. The fact he was in an actual tub with actual soap to scrub off the street grime was enough for him. The relaxing hot water was merely an additional bonus. His mind soon wandered, reflecting on everything that had happened.

Two days. He had only been here for two days and everything has already gone to shit. The game, as it were to those three idiots who call themselves “heroes”, was rigged from the start for him. From the minute he arrived the vultures of this country’s court had been waiting for the first chance to vilify him. He’s coming to realize that now. The attitude of the king, the whispering of the nobles, the set up with his daughter. At least if anything, it only further fueled his desire to cut this little mis-adventure story short and return home. He remained in the water enjoying the moment of peace and quiet until it went lukewarm again. Reluctantly he slid out of the tub despite the fact he could very easily heat up the water again. He had taken up enough of both Erhold’s time and hospitality. ‘Hell, the man was even kind enough to leave him a towel’ he thought as he changed into his gear.

Stepping out into what he presumed was the living room he found Erhold sat around a table tinkering with a small set of blades. He could see his scabbard poking out from where it was leaning against his chair. The blacksmith must’ve heard the clacking of his boots as Erhold turned around unprompted.

“Y’know, if you like a good soak I hear there’s a town up north filled with giant hot springs. I think that would be a bit better than my old, worn tub.”

Alucard felt a tinge of embarrassment. “I must have lost time. Apologies Erhold.”

He was quick to wave him off “You’re way too formal, I swear. I’m going to say this now and forever for any future inconveniences by your standards. It is no problem.” Erhold stressed, shaking his head. He hoped that this would put an end to the kid’s endless apologizing. He’s painfully formal but at least he isn’t stuck up.

“You might end up eating those words one day.”

“Well we’ll get there when we get there. Anyways go ahead and take a seat”

Alucard tentatively as instructed took a seat at the table, unsure how to proceed. Leaning over to his side Erhold presented Alucard with his newly treated long sword.

“The blood clean treatment was a success. It took a bit more solution than I usually use due to it’s added length but the coating came out even with no splotches or visible pools. Invisible, unless you’re using appraisal magic, just as it should be.” He unsheathed the obnoxiously long blade to allow Alucard to check it over.

He was right, Alucard thought as he looked over his blade. By looks alone if he hadn't been told that it was treated he wouldn't have thought there was any change done. He could at least sense the light attachment of a new enchantment on the weapon so he knows he wasn't scammed, something actually is there now. Whether it does as intended has yet to be seen but he would have to wait to be tested for obvious reasons.

“Excellent work indeed, not a single scuff on the blade. I hope the investment will be worth it.”

“Just wait until you leave my shop to test it, yeah?” Alucard simply nodded in response before sheathing his blade and placing it beside him.

There was a long awkward silence that soon followed. The silence continued until Erhold set down the knives and sighed.

“You know, I didn’t want to bring it up but I have a gut feeling that you’re the reason for the small fiasco in the square outside this morning.”

Alucard didn’t react beyond a slight widening of the eyes, his disposition remaining stoney but Erhold continued on.

“You see, I was up and early checking on the treatment of that blade of yours when people started congregating around some guards outside. I didn’t bother checking beyond a glance but it looked like some sort of trial was being shown.”

Alucard didn’t need to respond or look up to know where this line of questioning was going “I didn’t watch but I’ve been hearing the rumors and gossip all day. So, is it true? You’re not human?”

He clenched his fists, branching himself for the inevitable scene. This is it. This is where he loses what little trust he’s earned in this world. He could see it now, the man calling him a monster, throwing him out of his home before-

“-’Cause really I could care less.”

Alucard paused, snapping out of his downward spiral, not processing what he said. This was the second time Erhold had rendered him speechless that day.

“Human, Demi-human, hell you could be a Filolial for all I care. As long as you’re a paying customer I could care less who you are.”

Despite his sour mood Alucard began to softly laugh. “How pragmatic. People like you are a rare breed Erhold, so accepting despite the opinions of your fellow man.”

Erhold merely shrugged. “Can’t be that rare, otherwise I’d have no competition.”

“Fair enough. But, you truly don’t mind? Most humans aren’t comfortable with my presence in the first place, nevermind after learning what I am.”

“If I’m being honest? I don’t get this country’s hatred of demi-humans. They’re just as capable and skilled as regular humans and they’re just trying to live like the rest of us. I don’t get why they’re the country’s scapegoat. I’ve been all over the place and this place is the only I’ve seen that outright discriminates against them. Though I’ve heard it’s just as bad in Siltvelt for humans so I guess in some twisted sort of way it balances out.” He shook his head “But point being I don’t hate people just for being born the way they are.”

“Thank you. Though, to say I am a demi-human isn’t accurate at all. Hell, I don’t even know what a ‘demi-human’ is.”

“Huh? If you’re not a demi-human then what are you? I mean, I believe you. You clearly have none of the defining traits but if you’re not a demi-human then what exactly are you then?”

Alucard didn’t know how to answer that.

“Hey, if it’s hard for you to say you don’t gotta tell me.”

“No, no I’m fine. I’m just very used to keeping my...heritage a secret in my own world. But seeing as the secret is technically out and my kind doesn’t exist here it isn’t nearly as much a risk here. Though, I do fear that the other three heroes are perpetuating rumors as we speak.”

“Well if the rumors are gonna be flying soon wouldn’t it make sense to straighten out the record yourself?” Erhold questioned.

Alucard shook his head. “I doubt it would make much of a difference. I don’t think anything outside of a royal pardon could salvage my soon to be tarnished reputation.”

From there Alucard gave Erhold an explanation of what he was, what vampires were, and other tidbits about his world, albeit an extremely washed down version. As much as he was becoming fond of the brash blacksmith he wasn’t willing to give any further incriminating information to a man he’s known for a day. Erhold patiently listened, asking the occasional question in between and by the end of it he had a basic understanding of where Alucard was coming from.

“And I thought our world had it rough. Remind me to never visit.”

“Duly noted. It’s a real shame though you’ll never see the wide open acres of demons and mud. They’re quite lovely this time of year.”

“A shame indeed...Y’know I do have to say, you’re just about the healthiest undead spawn I’ve ever seen. Practically fresh out of the grave.” Alucard’s deadpan stare in response was enough to send Erhold quickly backpedaling.

“-I’m kidding. You look perfectly human, though maybe I’d suggest that you try getting a tan. Might make your life a bit easier.” Alucard raised an eyebrow but overall wasn't offended. Lord knows he's certainly tried but clearly it hasn't worked.

“-Oh right, to answer your question from earlier, demi-humans are basically humans that have animal features. Things like animal ears or tails for example are really common with them. You also have some demi-humans that are more animal-like than others, they tend to be called beast men.”

“How original. But really, that’s what demi-humans are? The only difference is just a few superficial animal-like traits?”

“There’s a few..other things but essentially yeah. Most don’t look that different from your average human.”

Alucard paused, taking a moment to absorb everything he’s just been told about demi-humans. “Hmph. Even in an entirely different world humans don’t change, for better or for worse. They will always find something to discriminate against another for.” It’s a pattern he’s observed time and time again, whether it’d be accounts from the history books in his father’s libraries or first hand experience. Humans have always hated what isn’t explicitly just like them. Whether it be over religious differences, where they're from, how they speak, their gender, their sexual preference or lack thereof, or something as simple as the color of one's skin.

“You would know that huh?”

“I would say I do. And now as of today by the king’s decree I am legally lumped alongside them.” Alucard faced the blacksmith. “Erhold, be honest with me. What am I to face? Just how bad is the life of a demi-human in this country that it serves as a punishment?”

Erhold considered sugar coating his answer but one look at the sliver of desperation in the shield hero’s eyes made him reconsider. “You want me to be honest, kid? I want to be optimistic but your odds aren’t looking good. Demi-humans have no rights in Melromarc. They’re almost entirely a slave population. There used to be a free territory for them but that village got wiped out in the first wave. Last I heard any survivors got scooped up by slavers not even an hour after the destruction. But point being is you’re really not gonna have it easy. Businesses won’t serve you, guards won’t help you, citizens will despise you. Hell, the fact that you’re a demi-human AND a legendary hero? Makes you the biggest target for every damn slave trader in the damn country. And you’re completely alone with nothing but a shield on your side.” The unsaid but heavily implied ‘you’re fucked’ was there, hammered in by the lingering silence following his rant.

“Plenty to look forward to then.” He rose from the small table, the chair loudly scraping across the bare wooden floor. “I thank you for your hospitality Erhold, I truly do but I think it’s time I take my leave. I've taken enough advantage of your kindness.” With that he started to make his way out of Erhold’s residence, with the man himself following behind once he comprehended the fact that Alucard was leaving.

“Wait a second there,” Erhold said as he scrambled to his feet. He didn’t want the Shield hero to leave his shop on such a dismal note, especially when it was partially his fault. There had to be something he could do...

Meanwhile the thoughts running through Alucard’s head were far from anything hopeful, never mind pleasant. Being outed as a non human was a fear ingrained in him nearly from birth. It was nothing short of a death sentence at best and even though this wasn’t his world it didn’t make it any better. In fact it could be argued it was worse that this world was worse. He was summoned to serve and protect an entire world forcibly with no room to say no. Then said world actively takes measures to make it harder for him to do said forced task by making it legal to enslave and torture him while also still expecting him to do his job. And he would have to go through all this completely alone, no allies to be found, and the only two people he could count on an entire dimension away. Even though Erhold didn’t quite say it outloud he was right, he was well and truly fucked.

His thoughts continued to spiral in this fashion, his mind on autopilot shuffling to the door until something large and dark invaded his entire field of vision just as he was halfway to the exit.

“Before you go, here” Erhold stuck out a large black bundle towards Alucard. He nearly dropped it in his zombie-like state of mind.

“I was going to save this for your next visit but I think you need this now. It’s the least I can do”

Alucard unfolded the bundle to find a long, heavy black cloak with a lighter silk lining on the inside. It didn’t seem to be made of wool but the quality was still very evident. He looked back at Erhold, confused. The man in question simply shrugged. “Some nobleman’s kid commissioned this awhile back and never came back to pay for it. It isn’t so much my usual clientele's style so I’ve had it in storage up until I met you and remembered it again. Thought you might like it instead.”

“Are you implying I’m some sort of rich brat?” Alucard questioned in good humor.

“Hey all I’m saying is I thought it matched your whole tall dark and gloomy ensemble.” Erhold earnestly replied. Alucard smiled, just a bit, but it didn’t last long as he handed the article of clothing back.

“Thank you Erhold, the gesture is appreciated but I don’t have the money to pay for luxuries like this currently.” He thought bitterly to the incident at the inn. He didn’t have the money for anything now. Perhaps, he should have just thrown inhibitions to the wind and caused a scene anyways. Not like his reputation could get any worse at this point.

“I know. Don’t think I didn’t notice the lack of both a coin purse and that armor I just sold you.” He gently shoved the cloak back at the moody dhampir. “-Just take it, it's on the house. Call it an investment, hero.” He felt bad he couldn't give away a new piece of armor as well but he still had a business to run. Next time he showed up he'd give him a discount on a new set.

Alucard took the cloak back into his hands. “Thank you Erhold, sincerely. I promise I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” He fastened the darkly colored cloak to his person, pleased by just how well it fit without any additional tailoring. A truly perfect gift indeed.

Erhold opened his shop door for the reluctant hero. “Focus on taking care of yourself first. Don’t want you dying out there.”

Alucard nodded again, giving one last smile before leaving the shop with only the clothes on his back and a grim determination.

--------------------------

Chapter Text

For the next two weeks or so Alucard fell into a new routine. Wake up, hunt mass amounts of monsters, sneak into town, run errands, sneak right out, go back to the forest, camp out and call it a day.

And his new method of making money? Beating the shit out of people.

Now don’t misunderstand him, it’s not like he goes around prowling on the streets attacking poor innocents, no. Far from that. In fact it was almost the other way around. On a near daily basis whenever he would go into town or even on the open plains some group would try to ambush him. Whether it'd be for his status as the Shield Hero, a demi human, or simply because they didn't like his face. The key word here is try. The men attacking him were nothing but lowly thugs who for some reason or another got it into their heads that they could take him on.

The fights never did last long.

And the idiots almost always carried full pouches on them. At that point it was as if they were just asking to get robbed.

And if he also happened to go over to Erhard’s shop with large bundles of obviously preowned gear and weapons the man never questioned it. It was just more profit for him in the end.

This of course came with it’s own benefits and downsides. On one hand it would deter said groups from attacking him again as his reputation as an unbeatable monster grew. But on the other hand it encouraged others to take it upon themselves to be the first to take him down. So it was a real give and take sort of cycle with no shortage of bruised bodies in his wake. They were lucky his love of humanity outweighed his sheer amount of annoyance. Otherwise, he was sure he would have wiped out 1/10th of the city’s population by just how many have attacked him already.

He didn’t just spend his days beating on thugs left and right though. This was also a time in which he became much more acquainted with the little shield attached to his arm.

It was an interesting weapon to say the least. He's certainly had his experience with various enchanted weapons, items and even shields alike but he's never dealt with one this weirdly... temperamental, for lack of a better word. It obviously had great power hidden within it but it also had a very “figure it out for yourself” kind of attitude. Really, considering how much of this world relies on it's legendary heroes one would think they'd document just how said weapons work. But no, the best he could find was scant rumors and tall tales of previous heroes' achievements. Then again, if any guides or records did truly exist he doubted he could get access to such material now anyways. So it's been up to him to figure out his shield’s features all on his own to varying degrees of success. The first thing he experimented with was feeding it more monster parts.

As he's been spending most of his time outside of town, particularly in the large expanses of fields and woods, he's had a lot of time to slay monsters. Or, the pitiful excuse for monsters that live in the vicinity of the capital. Had they existed in his own world they would either already be extinct or be forced to evolve to a point where they could reasonably survive amongst the various hordes of night creatures and demons or even normal wildlife.

He's fought various shades of what is called a ‘balloon’, living mushrooms and eggs, in addition to mutated woodland creatures like porcupines, rabbits, fish, even butterflies of all things. Fighting was actually putting it lightly, mass slaughtering with no mercy was a bit closer. The thing he found was that his shield responded to the remains of each creature he encountered, not just monsters. Ordinary game he’d hunt to make food would also be absorbed by the shield and turned into an upgrade of some sort, though nothing spectacular.

This got Alucard thinking about what other things the shield could do or absorb. He’s found that the immense amounts of extra material he received from monster drops can be stored in his shield even after it’s gotten full enough to activate a new shield. So it made him wonder if the weapon could be used as an infinite storage space. He decided to test this out with a healing potion he flinched off of one of the numerous thugs he's encountered. What he ended up finding out was that even simple objects could turn into shields. Simple objects such as wood, leaves, tools and even metal scraps all would yield him new shields, all with varying effects and powers. From simple stat increases like defense ups to skills bonuses as the shield called them to skills like cooking or medicine. Something to keep in mind for the future even if these powers were on the more mundane end.

Knowing now just how diverse the criteria for what could create a shield it seemed as if the possibilities were endless. Who knows what powers he could receive from the most unlikely of material. Off-handedly, Alucard remembered the vast collection of shields within castlevania, enchanted or not. If only he was able to use those here. But he’d rather focus on getting home to the castle first then thinking of what he could use from it to aid this pitiful world.

At least now he no longer had to worry about carrying any of his equipment or essentials if the shield could easily store it with no burden.

It was also evident that he would have to leave the bounds of the capital to get anything further done. Monsters in the area were horrifically weak and some had even started to actively avoid him out of fear when he approached. Wiping out a good amount of their population in a week or so’s time give or take will do that. He’s also collected material from seemingly every monster type in the area so if he wanted anything stronger, more challenging he needed to move. Even if it meant moving away from the buzzing sea of commerce that was the city for a while. Not that he isn’t used to roughing it on the road with limited human contact.

Speaking of the local businesses, that was a whole mixed bag all unto itself. Erhard was right in that nearly no business within the entire city would serve Demi-humans, nevermind tolerate them. At first trying to get any sort of supplies or off load his abundance of materials was impossible. But the man, bless his soul, presented him a gift a week later when he came to sell his newly acquired “goods”.

It was a list. Of all shops and businesses within the capital and surrounding settlements that would deal with demi-humans, Whether happily or begrudgingly. Traders, grocers, importers, tailors, medical services, book sellers and more. Tens of businesses he can potentially go to, no more guessing on his own or outright avoiding them. He’s especially interested in seeing the apothecary’s shop, he's heard it has a small library of this world's medical texts. Overall, this list was a godsend and he couldn’t thank Erhard enough.

With his help through the list and his daily excursions he was slowly making back the money he lost. It was slow as the exchange of coppers to silver was rather steep but at the very least he was no longer poverty stricken. Now he was just somewhat poor.

However, he didn’t risk staying in any inns within the city again. The experience on his second night alone was enough to deter that, nevermind the incident when he came to return for his belongings. No, Alucard didn’t trust that he wouldn't be given trouble, and he wasn’t just about to make himself an open target either. Not again. The daily stalking didn’t help at all either, as letting himself sleep in an already hostile city made him an easy, open target. So as far as he was concerned every inn in the city was to be avoided.That did leave him with a slight issue of where he was actually going to stay.

He had a solution to this though; roughing it out in the woods. Or rather, using his more animal-like forms to keep himself concealed. While he’s been making sure to keep his powers on the down low he’s been relying on his shapeshifting heavily in the last two weeks for some semblance of the feeling of safety or privacy. When someone was searching for a full grown man they weren’t going to disturb a giant sleeping wolf. So he had that going for him at least.

In fact his shapeshifting gave him quite a few advantages, allowing him to sneak in and out of places nearly undetected. He loved baffling the hoards of men and women who would attempt to follow him to only have him disappear the moment he turned the corner. For this he preferred his mist form but his bat form was also good for scaring the absolute shit out of people when he's needed to make a quick getaway. Nothing quite jumpscared people like a flying rodent to the face, never mind a swarm.

With this he’s never had anyone follow him for long using this strategy, being able to slip out easily in a non-human form that couldn’t be tracked. He’d make it to his camp in the woods, conveniently near a stream, and rest in his wolf form until the sun rose. Rinse and repeat each night.

At least, until now.

Alucard could hear footsteps behind him barely making an effort to hide themselves. If he had to guess by their gait there were two averaged sized men, one smaller, and one large one following behind him. Yet another overzealous group of thugs trying to take him for all he’s worth. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“I know you’re there. Let’s just get this over with.” He nearly growled, tired of the near constant daily routine. He didn’t bother turning around. There was no need to, yet.

Alucard was surprised, though they were in the open plains and not the woods near his camp yet he’s never had anyone follow him out this far. He was sure he had shook off anyone tailing him long ago.

“So you could tell we were following you, huh?” Said a gruff voice. “Not like it’ll do you any good. No one can help you out here, no one can hear you scream. And even if they could, not like anyone would help a filthy-”

“-Yes, yes I’ve heard this speech a hundred times now. Just get your little one liners out of your system and let’s get on with the fighting.” Alucard cutoff. At this point he’s heard so many of the same threatening phrases that he’s starting to think he should keep a tally. Or at least dole out some advice. For god's sake you're trying to threaten someone not to bore them to death.

“Are you mocking me?” The same voice growled.

“I’m surprised you have enough brain cells to pick up on that. A miracle honestly.”

There was the sound of shifting feet, turning into a dash. Before the man had the chance to stab him in the back with his long dagger Alucard turned and blocked with his shield arm, throwing the man backwards as Alucard readied himself in a battle stance. Time for round umpteenth hundred.

Undeterred, the thug picked himself back up, dashing towards him in a linear fashion. Too obvious, too open. The man was going to feign to the side and strike then. Too easy, Alucard thought to himself. Instead of standing and branching for the hit Alucard instead charged forth to meet him. Using the momentum from his speed he shot out directly towards the man and hit the knife. An audible clang could be heard as the blade vibrated from the force, throwing it’s owner off balance. Alucard took this as a chance to hit his unguarded stomach as the man stumbled, resulting in a muted crack and his ass being launched far back.

The man rolled, spitting out a glob of blood before getting back up on his feet. “That's all you got?” Was all he said before getting back up on his feet and charging again. They would exchange a few more blows, bouncing back and forth before reaching a deadlock, shield and dagger crossed.

“All you have is a shield and a useless sword! What could you possibly do?” The man sneered.

“Hmm. A thing or two.” Alucard responded nonchalantly, not tearing his eyes off his attacker as his sword slid out of its sheath. In less than a heartbeat the blade sliced through the air in a large circle around the man before sheathing itself once more. There was a moment's pause before the man fell, not unlike a marionette having it’s strings cut. Blood began to pour from the man’s ankles in thick rivets. Screaming quickly followed, two of his men looking in horror while the biggest one stared impassively under a large cloak, obscuring his face.

“What have you done to me!?” He choked out, writhing in the ground trying to stabilize his legs while in a state of immense pain. It only caused more blood to spill out onto the moonlit grass.

“I sliced through your achilles tendons. So if you have any desire to walk again I’d suggest you have one of your goons carry you to a doctor.” That is, if they had any proper doctors in this world. He wasn’t quite sure what the stance on science was here with how basic everything seemed, even to him. Eh, there should at least be healers of some sort considering the medicine shoppe he likes to pass through.

The man looked up at him with hatred in his eyes before turning back to his men. “I don’t care.. what that fat old fuck has offered us, kill him now!”

Why his men didn’t decide to attack him all at once in the first place was beyond him, but now it seemed as if they were getting off their asses. Or at least two of them, the biggest one had yet to move at all. Two men of medium and slight build ran after him now, wielding an axe and twin daggers respectively. In a moment's time Alucard analyzed the two men, deeming that the smaller one would be the easier target, but not for the obvious reason of his size. He wielded twin daggers but it was obvious just how unsuited he was to use them. His grip on them was wrong, being simultaneously too stiff and too loose resulting in an awkward grip. To make things worse for his poor opponent the man clearly didn't use both weapons insync. Laughable, he probably thought since he has two knives he could do double the damage! How brilliant!

Needless to say it barely took any effort to disarm the smaller man with a good shield bash, knocking him out with a second one. He tumbled, falling to his companions feet and causing him in turn to trip. He was even easier to knock out, the poor man not even having the chance to swing his axe around. Their defeat was so comically fast that Alucard almost felt bad for them. Almost.

He looked at the three fallen bodies around him before focusing on the biggest one. That one was odd, since this whole encounter started it didn't move a single muscle. Instead it just stood there motionlessly and watched. Alucard regarded them with suspicion before calling out to them. “Did you really just stand there while your comrades got their asses kicked?” He asked in a disbelieving yet sarcastic tone.

The figure stood there silently for a few more moments before gruffly replying. “I have my orders.”

“I think your leader over there was quite clear about what he wanted you to do.” He gestured to the bleeding mess laying in the grass, most likely still from shock. He was rather clear about wanting him dead, Alucard didn’t understand how that could be misinterpreted.

“Those weren’t my orders.”

“Then what were they big guy? Standing around like an oaf? ” Alucard scoffed.

The man shuffled, moving for the first time since their encounter started. A large hand slipped out from under the cloak to reach for its clasp. In an unceremonious fashion it fell from his shoulders revealing the man underneath, or rather the beast man. Now that he was visible it was intensely obvious he wasn't human.

For one, he had the head of a wolf, glaring with steely yet wild eyes. Poking out from his snout Alucard could see several sharp teeth sticking out. The second being the thick patches of fur covering nearly every inch of his visible body excluding the palms and parts of his chest.

Something of note was the man’s garb or rather, lack thereof. In terms of actual clothing he only had a pair of rough, burlap pants on. Besides the the only things he had on his person were thick metal cuffs on each of his limbs, even his neck. The strange circular tattoo in the middle of his chest didn't escape Alucard’s notice either.

Had Alucard not already known that Beast men existed beforehand he would have sworn he was facing down a werewolf.

He glared at Alucard. “To bring you in on behalf of my master.”

Something clicked in Alucard’s head as he thought back to the fallen leader of this band. “Oh I see. You must work for the ‘fat fuck’ that miserable excuse of a human over there being mentioned. Undoubtedly a slaver if I had to put money on it.” He referred to the visible cuffs on the wolf-man’s arms. The man said nothing in response.

Alucard slowly began circling around his new enemy, trying to gauge what kind of threat he was. It was clear the beast man wasn't like the three stooges he just took out. He could see the calculating look in his wolf like eyes, despite how he tried to hide it with indifference. His status was currently being useless, giving him neither his level or even a name. So it was up to Alucard alone to make assumptions.

“So you must be what they call a demi-human, or at least one of the ‘beast man’ variety.”

“And you’re the demi-human shield hero.” He shot back, now also slowly moving around Alucard with a dull expression. “I don’t see what makes you so special. But orders are orders.”

“Why don't you see for yourself.”

The ground exploded beneath Alucard's feet as he pushed himself towards the beast man in a burst of speed. Unlike the vast majority of the men Alucard has fought so far since coming to this world, his current opponent had a good reaction time. Arms crossed he tanked the full blow of Alucard's shield, only sliding back a meter or so. However this didn't stop Alucard as his enemy was already in range of his intended attack.

The beast man hardly had any warning before several bundles of oversized porcupine needles punctured his skin. Getting blasted with unnaturally long porcupine needles at blank range while certainly effective overall didn’t seem to do the amount of damage Alucard had hoped. This was evident by the fact that the beast man began pulling out 8 inch needles with hardly a flinch. Despite the numerous holes in his body it seemed to barely phase him as he put up his fists in a fighting stance. A correct, solid one.

Well shit, looks like he would have to treat this fight seriously. No playing around. But, he didn’t want to kill the man... so he would have to pull his punches. Which might be difficult as he doubted his enemy would be giving him the same amount of courtesy. In this fight he would have to be resourceful with his powers, they would be his trump cards but he doubted he’d get away with using and abusing them more than once or twice each. He had to go about this wisely, but not drag it out either.

Once more they began to circle each other, waiting for the other to strike first. It was more advantageous after all to be the one defending in a fist fight rather than the one striking. Creates more openings. Though, a seasoned combatant can mitigate this to an extent.

Eventually the brute found the wait to be too tedious and decided to strike first. With a strong forward step he swung at Alucard with a right cross. This was swiftly dodged but the bigger man anticipated this, counteracting with a left hook.

In the fraction of a second Alucard turned his head, narrowly missing his fist. The blow forcibly whiffed through his hair as he did so. The force behind it was a lot stronger than Alucard anticipated, silently grateful for having the speed to avoid it.

Taking advantage of his newly open flank Alucard struck his ribs multiple times, with a sickening crack sound following as the beast man flew back several meters.

With a loud skid he regained his balance, leaving deep marks on the earth beneath him. He stood tall for a moment before he stumbled, the pain seemingly kicking in as he put a hand to his probably cracked ribs. He shot Alucard a cold glare.

Looks like he would be taking this fight seriously as well now.

They would exchange multiple blows from here, with neither showing signs of backing down. Their fight could almost be boiled down to an immovable object vs an unstoppable force with how it was going.The beast man, while hitting slower made up for it in force and fortitude. Despite the numerous blows Alucard would land on him he would continue fighting as if he was unaffected, even if his body said otherwise. Meanwhile Alucard hit hard and fast with his speed, never quite staying still long enough for any hits to land. And in the event they did his body would quickly heal it before it left any long lasting damage.

So all in all they were in a sort of stalemate and they both knew it.

“This is getting tedious.” The beast man growled after suffering the effects of another one of Alucard’s shields. At this point the man’s fur was horrifically matted and somewhat bloody.

“I would have to say the same." While he was sure he could outlast the wolf man by a long shot it would still be a grueling, long process. Alucard thought about what he should do. He could simply end the fight if he lifted his own power handicaps but he’d prefer not to outright murder someone for being forced to capture him. Unlike every other attacker who has gone after him who was human he doubted he would get into any sort of legal trouble or take a hit to his reputation if he really did kill him. However, Alucard would rather not have that blood on his hands. He could also simply leave as well but where would he go then? What’s to stop this unknown slave trader from easily tracking him again?

His only opinion was to find a way to nip this problem in the bud. And he would need that wolf man alive to do so.

“You want to know something I don’t understand?” Alucard said as he landed two more blows on his opponent’s body. Said opponent opted out of responding with words, instead choosing to send another punch in Alucard’s direction, which was promptly dodged.

“You’re clearly powerful, so why in God’s name are you a slave if you could easily kill your master?” He punctuated the end of his question with a hard one handed strike that sent his opponent flying.

Said opponent was pushed back approximately two meters, giving Alucard an annoyed glare as he looked up from where he was kneeling. “You’re right. You clearly don’t understand.” He growled.

When the man didn't stand back up Alucard became confused. Surely that small blow wasn't enough to be the straw that broke the camel’s back right? Especially after all the damage he's already tanked? Then he grew suspicious as time dragged on further. As a precaution Alucard heightened his senses and was further confused by what he was hearing. It was being faintly whispered but it sounded like some sort of chant-His eyes widened ‘He has to be planning some sort of trap, I mustn't get any closer!’

But in the short time it took for him to come to this conclusion it was too late, the man already put his plan into motion.

A glow began to emanate from the beast-man’s hands before evolving into something Alucard had never seen up to that point. The glow coalesced into what looked to be some sort of glowing magical glyph. It was a glowing, green double ringed with a six pointed star spinning in the middle. In between the two rings were glyphs and symbols that were entirely unfamiliar to Alucard.

He stood up from his crouched position to flare his hands outward, the circle expanding in the air as he did so. He opened his eyes to stare right at Alucard before muttering the words-

“Zweite Terra: Earthquake.”

Holding up to its namesake the ground began to violently shake. From where he was standing Alucard could see great cracks forming in the ground as plates beneath his feet began to involuntarily move and shift. However despite the great magnitude of the earthquake he wasn’t the most concerned for his safety. At all. If anything he just felt confused, wondering as he swayed on his feet if the beast man hadn’t considered the fact that they were in an open plain. Because earthquakes were devastating, ...anywhere that wasn’t an open, flat field.

The danger from an earthquake didnt come from the fact that the ground was violently moving, it came from everything else around you. In a city it could level buildings around you, shatter windows, ruin infrastructure. In a forest it could fell trees and cause hills to slide and collapse. Near a mountain it could crumble weaker points and cause mudslides, rock falls, and even avalanches. Those all could easily maim a person if not outright kill you, so why here? What advantage did that give his opponent?

Alucard soon came to curse at himself for the thought as fate itself seemed to jinx him for it.

“As the source of thy power, I order thee, Decipher the laws of nature and erupt from the earth to impale my enemies. Zweite Terra: Multi Stalagmite!”

Across the wide expanse of grassland sharp stalagmites began to rapidly emerge from the ground of all different sizes. Alucard found himself hopping faster and faster, left right and left again to avoid being impaled just to nearly run into another one. This was made a hundred times worse by the earthquake shaking the ground. It made the stalagmites jut out much more violently and at a faster speed while also making them vary in size and shape due to the shifting earth. In summation? The two combined together turned a once plain field into a literal death pit. And Alucard was no longer having a fun time. Not that he was having one in the first place.

But what he was concerned about at the moment or rather was who were the three unconscious men he was sure were still lying on the now battlefield somewhere. While he could justifiably leave them to their fate and let them be impaled it just didn’t sit right with him. He had to at least try to get them to safety. Curse his human heart for making him care about literal pieces of scum. He sighed as he looked out upon the constantly shifting ground.

The things he did for people.

Dashing towards what he believed to be their last location as far as he could remember he made his way across the field, nearly flying with the speed he was going at. It was hard to tell exactly what direction he was going with the ground constantly shifting and imploding. Relying on his other senses like smell instead of sight certainly made the difference though. He found himself following the heavy stench of blood and body odor to find his three targets before they could get themselves killed.

The beast man didn’t know what he was planning but that didn’t stop him from sending a second round of stalagmites to hound his ass. Weaving in and out, he used forming stalagmites to launch himself to the next one in a more rapid fashion while using his powers of levitation to keep himself steady. To buy himself more time he flung his blade out of its sheath, his hand slightly stinging in the process, and sent it flying towards the spellcaster. Hopefully that would distract him long enough to carry out his plan.

Just narrowly the caster missed having a flying sword lodge itself into his skull. ‘What the hell’ Brutus thought to himself as he began fighting a fucking flying sword of all things. Even though his kind, as foolish as it was, typically worshiped the shield the shield hero was never particularly strong, especially early on. What was this power? He was told to expect a highly evasive but overall weak target. He was told this would be a simple grab and go before he was loaned out to three nobodies. But this was not what he had signed up for. An underleveled twig shouldn't be able to keep up with a level 75 class upgraded fighter. So what is this?

He found himself unable to fire off more spells as he became more and more distracted by the sword assaulting him, his fur becoming further slick and matted with blood.. He was never particularly skilled with magic in the first place having been a bare fist colosseum fighter before eventually coming into the forced possession of Beloukas. Didn’t stop him from being forced to pick up a trick or two.

On the next swing Brutus decided to take a gamble, a rather stupid one infact. Grabbing the sword’s hilt after an awkward duck he found himself wrestling with an invisible force. The damned thing started bucking like a bull, bouncing him up and down within his safe space as if he were standing on his own earthquake spell. “Bastard..” He growled as he used his core strength to find his footing once more. Finding the sword has weakened slightly he knew this was his chance. Grabbing the other end he tightly gripped the sword before bringing it down onto his knee with a shattering force.

But it didn’t break. Despite how thin the metal was and his high strength stat attempting to break it over his knee did nothing. He’s broken larger weapons in his time so what gives? The fuck kind of sword was this?

The pain from the failed snapping was enough to bring him to a knee for just a moment, with the sword hanging in the air just in front of him as if to mock his effort. As he looked up he finally noticed something. He had no idea where the shield hero was. The shaking was beginning to taper off but the stalagmites were still going strong. But the blonde was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have gotten himself impaled otherwise he would have heard the screaming or simply seen his body strung up like a meat skewer.

Brutus looked frantically all across the battlefield, turning a full 360 again and again in an effort to find his target. Surely he didn’t run away could he? He seemed too much like the proud pompous type to give up that easily. ‘No,’ Brutus thought to himself. ‘Blondie must be planning some sort of ambush.’ He concluded, keeping his eyes peeled as he scanned the stalagmites once more.

And right he was as a force came crashing down on his neck. From above that is.

Alucard has succeeded in his objective in finding the three men with two of them stuck between stalagmites and one hanging off one by his clothes. Scooping them all up together wasn’t that difficult beyond maneuvering the tallest one onto his back with the other two under his arms. With his sword keeping the big guy preoccupied he found it so much easier to navigate the field of spikes.

With time left he’s been given Alucard made sure not to waste it. As soon as he was out of immediate sight he launched himself into the air with passengers in hand. Flying right above where the wolf man was fighting his sword he positioned himself in a way that’ll let him fall from the heavens in the most devastating way possible. It was amusing watching him attempt to catch his sword and even more so when he tried breaking it over his knee as if it was some cheap thing. But the attempt did immobilize him long enough to make him a prime target.

Allowing gravity to do its job and with the extra weight of three men Alucard aimed a drop kick right for the brute’s neck. Splitting through the air like a falling star the beast man had no chance of dodging.

Impact.

The beast man crumpled instantly, the sheer force surely knocking him out. As Alucard landed he piled on the extra bodies on top of the fallen man’s back as a bonus. And perhaps, just to rub the salt in a bit. The spell at that moment seemed to cease as well as the ground stopped shaking and the stalagmites began to return to the earth. Finally, this battle was finally over.

He gave a scathing stare to the fallen pile of bodies before kicking it for all the trouble they gave him tonight. He was tempted to spit on them too but that seemed to be moreso a thing that Trevor would do. And as much as he loved the man he hadn't stooped to Belmont’s level just yet.

Alucard looked out to the disheveled landscape and back to the pile. His eyes became steely as he decided on his next task. Tracking down the slave trader that sent these fuck-wits after him. Going back to his camp and forgetting the whole incident was no longer an option. Tonight all he did was cut off another head on the hydra but if he wanted to kill it then he needed to strike right at the heart.

With all four of the men currently unconscious and unable to be questioned, Alucard figured he’d go for the next best thing; searching their pockets. If there was any sort of scrap of paper or call sign on their person it'd be enough, or hell maybe even a coin the bastard has touched if he wanted to play bloodhound.

Out of the first three men’s pockets he did at least find several coin bags. However the scents were so muddled and varied that Alucard doubted he'd get anything out of them. Dammit, what did he expect from a group of thieves. He was about to give up sifting through the garbage found on their persons until he found it. He found a goddamn flier.

It was cartoonish with a grinning face and an illustration of a circus tent. The language was rough but as far as he could tell it was an advertisement for “the finest wares in the land, from demi humans, beast men, monsters, exotic goods and more.” He sneered at the advertisement as he read the small notice that mentioned the additional offer to buy slaves for a good price with ‘free consultation’. Disgusting how this country openly advertised the buying and selling of people as if they were nothing more than livestock.

Resisting the urge to crumple the piece of paper up and burn it he instead folded it and tucked it into his coat. The damned thing had an address at least so that made his job easy. It was within the capital city’s walls so it wouldn’t be a long journey either.

He began to walk away, looking forward to putting this night behind him when he heard the sudden shattering of glass. Time seemed to slow down as he turned around to look only to feel something stab him in the leg. Looking down he could see a small stalagmite but this time oozing whatever the contents of the broken bottle had in it. “Oh motherfu-” He cut himself off with a hiss of pain.

His status menu flared in the corner of his eye kindly informing him that he's been poisoned. ‘Real helpful’ he thought as his muscles began to fail him. Usually his body was able to process most poisons quickly enough to leave no effect beyond nausea and occasional vomiting. But clearly that wasn't the case here as he began to lose feeling in his legs. Shit, if his immune system was having this much trouble it must have some sort of neurotoxin or paralytic in it.

As Alucard's body began failing him he was finally able to look back at the pile of bodies to find the wolf man conscious. He was sitting up, his hand outstretched with the still lingering glow of a spell.

“Should have just killed me if you didn't want this to happen. It's your fault for turning your back.” He smirked as he brought himself back onto his feet. He didn't get any closer to Alucard, instead choosing to watch the dhampire struggle to stay awake. Brutus really missed this feeling of triumph, even if it was underhanded. Life wasn't fair after all.

Alucard’s head was swimming as he fell to his knees, struggling to stay upright as his body continued to sway. At this rate he was going to fall unconscious..he had to act fast! But what could he do? He needed focus to shapeshift, otherwise he’d just become a mess of smoke and body parts. He can’t flee, he can’t fight, so instead could he talk his way out of this? It would be a bit early into his plan but it’d be better than doing nothing at all and giving up.

He stared back at the furry bastard that was just standing there watching him suffer. Mustering what fading strength he had left Alucard called out to him.

“..Are you content with this? Living your life as if you were merely livestock to be sold and used?”

He received no response as the beastman did his living statue act once more. Alucard decided to call out once more, harsher this time.

“If this world is so capable of giving its inhabitants great measures of power then what is stopping you from making your own destiny? Why follow the commands of a man who doesn't have the balls to come after me himself?”

There was an aching moment of silence as the beast man said nothing , just watching as Alucard continued his slow slump onto the ground. Alucard heard the angry click of a tongue before finally receiving a response. “It’s not like I have a choice. And neither will you. ”

Alucard looked at him defiantly right in the eye. “There is always a choice.”

His words seemed to have struck some kind of chord with the demi human, or at least pissed him off as Alucard could hear footsteps quickly becoming closer and closer with a loud stomp. Soon enough the beast man was looming over him, intending to quicken his descent into unconsciousness by force.

“Wait-” Alucard called out as a shadow fell over him.

…

…..

……...

Soon after everything went dark.
-------------------------

Next Alucard awoke he found himself in a cage.

Chapter Text

He was walking without direction. No wait he was running. But why was he running? Everything was going by him so fast he could hardly tell where he was going.

The world around him generally seemed muffled, as if he was underwater. His body was moving but he could hardly see anything at all, so it felt more like he was running around half blind. But with every step he could hear a voice getting louder and louder, if only slightly. Was it screaming? As he got closer he thought it sounded like-

“Mother!” Adrian cried.

It was undeniably his mother and she was screaming in pain. Adrian was still too far away to make out any words but he knew her voice. He knew her voice from the very bottom of his half human heart and said heart was beating out of his chest in fear.

Only now was the smell of smoke and burning flesh hitting his nose, making him nauseous. The thought of where the smell was coming from even moreso.

After what seemed to be an eternity his endless running came to a stop as he finally found her and the sight was horrific. She was tied to a large pike on top of a pillar of burning wood. Blocking his way to her was a large crowd all watching her burn with cheers or insults, calling her a witch at best and a demonic whore at worst.

Immediately Adrian began clawing past countless bodies in an effort to reach his mother, the thought of simply flying above the crowd never occurring in his increasingly frantic thoughts. The only thing he could think about was getting to her before it was too late.

Adrian couldn’t tell how much time had passed as he went through a sea of people but eventually he made it close to the burning pillar. At first his mother didn’t notice him, tears in her eyes blocking her vision as she was distracted by her own agony. It took a few pained calls from her son for her to look down and finally notice him. She didn’t look too happy to see him, rather she looked terrified. Not of him, but for him.

“Adrian! You need to go! It’s already too late for me…” She wheezed, as the smoke caused her to cough and stutter. “I won’t let the church take my son as well!”

Adrian shook his head at the absurdity of her plea. “I'm not leaving! Not without you!” He would never just leave her here to die! Why would she ever ask him to?

Finally remembering his powers he floated towards her with the intent of freeing her, not caring if the crowd saw him. He was more afraid that putting one foot on the fragile burning pile would collapse it entirely, burying his mother rather than anything the crowd could do to him.

The moment he got close enough to her the ropes binding her seemed to fall apart letting her loose. Seeing as his mom was falling forwards towards him he instinctively held his arms out to catch her.

But the moment she landed in his arms she disintegrated, turning into ashes. The world around him went silent, the cries of the crowd fading into nothing.

The fire below him suddenly went out. In fact, every single lanturn in the vicinity went out. His vision went dark.

But wait...he could see in the dark. Why couldn't he see.?

Adrian took a deep breath and immediately began choking.

Ashes..?

Ashes!

That was when it hit him. Oh dear god his mother turned to ashes in his arms he failed to save her he’s failed.

Oh dear God he was choking on his own mothers ashes.

Adrian spun desperate trying to recover his bearings and see again, all the while in a complete panic.

The thought of his father and what he would think briefly passed through his mind amongst the flood of thoughts racing in his head. He didn't have to wait long.

As he was disoriented he felt a pair of hands lightly begin to grasp his shoulders. He whipped around, eyes barely clear to see his father standing angrily before him in all his towering glory.

“How dare you.” The vampire lord hissed. His sclera changed before his son's eyes, going from white to blood red to flaming in seconds.

“How dare you let your mother die!” The fury in his voice caused Adrian to stumble back, his body instinctively bracing itself for a blow.

What could he even say to him? That he tried? That it wasn't his fault? His words would only fall on deaf ears as in the end it doesn't change the fact that she burned and he didn't stop it.

Silence seemingly was not a valid answer as his father loomed over him.

“Well? Answer me boy!”

“Father I..” Adrian thickly swallowed. He had seen his father furious before but never at him. Wait no that isn’t right. He’s…

He couldn’t focus enough to finish the thought as his chest began burning, as if someone had pressed a hot iron to his skin. It was intensely unpleasant and he was so tempted to rip his shirt off as the material repeatedly grazed against his raw skin.

His sudden pain had distracted him from his father’s ranting and raving despite the sheer fury of his words. And when he found the ability to pay attention once more his father had stepped closer to him, his flaming eyes now dimming to a soft pink.

“-And you just had to kill me too.”

..what?

Before his eyes his father began withering away into a corpse. His eyes became sunken and hollow, the light leaving it. His flesh turned gray and leathery, before the weight of the skin seemed too heavy for his decaying body and began sagging off. The exposed bones in his body gleamed a stark white before too crumbling and turning to ashes.

The horribly decayed visage of his father slowly reached its arms around Adrian, rotting more and more with every inch it leaned forward. Adrian was paralyzed in fear, his muscles locked and his mind screamed at him to get away. He couldn’t stand to look at his father anymore and he couldn’t run. The best he could do was look away.

Adrian shut his eyes, waiting for whatever horror that was going to come upon him. He felt the weight of bony arms wrapped around him, and then...nothing.

He peaked one eye open to see no one there. Taking a deep breath the dhampir was relieved that the nightmare was finally over.

But with every subsequent breath he took it became harder and harder, to the point where he started to cough and choke. What? But there’s nothing in here-

In the blink of an eye his vision went from being completely clear to being utterly smothered by ash. Piles of it.

He couldn’t even gasp as the ashes invaded his lungs. But where had they even come from.?

As his body spasmed in an attempt to open up his airways he could hear voices all around him. Two to be precise, a man and a woman, and they were becoming louder and louder until his ears drums started to pop. Soon they started to bleed.

Then it hit him. These were his parents.

And he was choking on ash. He was choking on his-!

The room was spinning.

He couldn't breathe. Ash filled his lungs and his eyes, all the while his ears were being bombarded by the wails of his mother and the yelling of his father. It was nothing short of sensory overload and complete nightmare.

Someone help him please.

…..

And then, he woke up in a dark room.

-----------------

He was slow to wake up as his body desperately tried to pull him back into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

This was not helped by the hand stroking the back of his head, running through the length of his hair. The motion was awfully soothing and a great juxtaposition to the deep, aching numbness running through his entire body. It nearly succeeded in making him fall asleep once more before his brain caught up with him and made him ask ‘wait...who was petting his head?’

After a few more minutes than he would have liked he finally found the strength in him to at least sit up, his arms shaking as he did so. A majority of whatever poison that was in his system had long since passed, though he was still feeling the side effects. The hand on the back of his head removed itself as he heard a body quickly scurry backwards. It was accentuated by the sound of scraping metal, not a great sign.

Alucard tiredly rubbed his eyes before opening them, only to behold the shit situation he was in. The first thing he immediately noticed was the fact that he was currently sitting in a cage. It was squat with barely enough room for his body to even be in, never mind stand. The front of the cage was half covered by a grubby sheet of cloth, not giving him the best view of the outside of his cage.

He sluggishly moved forward in an attempt to push the cloth aside but stopped when he touched the cloth as he finally noticed the weight on his arms. Unsurprisingly, he found that his hands were shackled together. Though the chain surprisingly had a generous amount of length to them, allowing him to move his arms rather easily. That was odd, if not outright foolish.

He pulled the sheet aside to reveal a large room filled wall to wall with cages. It was only lit with a few scattered lanterns here and there but that wasn’t a problem for Alucard. On closer look he could see a person in every cage, all of varying ages, sizes, genders and races. Perhaps the correct word might be species as on a closer look he could see that each and every person had some sort of animal feature on varying scales. Not to mention what looked to be actual monsters caged alongside some of them, but they seemed sedated.

What followed this discovery was the overwhelming stench of unwashed bodies, disease and blood. How he hadn't noticed the moment he woke up was beyond him. It didn't change the fact that the smell was utterly vile. To any normal person it might smell like an uncleaned barn but to him it smelled like pure concentrated human misery.

“Good lord what have I gotten myself into now…” he whispered to himself.

He slumped backwards considering his options. Alucard could still feel his body working overtime to expunge whatever poison was in his system. It still left him a bit disoriented but it wasn’t a minor hindrance. Ultimately he could easily escape, and he was about to snap his cuffs but two things stopped him. One was the lack of a ring leader around currently which was both highly suspicious and throwing a spanner in the works. The other? A set of coughing directly behind him.

Alucard was aware that someone was in the cage beside him but he hadn’t paid them much mind until now. Because now, he could recognize by sound alone that the awful rattling of that person’s lungs belonged to a child.

He slowly turned around, chains dragging on the cage’s floor, to find the source of the coughing. The poor lighting that obscured the room was no problem for Alucard as he looked at the small child curled up in the cage next to him. They were awfully small with long tangled up brown locks going down their back. Peeking out from the wild bushel of hair on their head was a pair of two rounded ears. Just what species of animal they were meant to mimic exactly he did not know. But what he could figure from the tone of their coughing, Alucard could assume they were female.

The child, startled by the sound of the chains dragging, slowly looked up to see Alucard looking at her with concern. Her eyes, a strange pink red color, went wide and for a moment Alucard was worried he was scaring her. Instead, she said something rather unexpected.

“..Pretty.”

————————————-

Time had long stopped having any sort of meaning to Raphtalia soon after she was thrown into a cage. When she had arrived she was near catatonic as her body was covered in bruises and lashes. She did not remember arriving, nor did she remember eating the rotten bread and dirty water that barely kept her alive. The only thing that marked the passing of time for her was her worsening cough. Since she had been ripped away from R̶i̶f̶a̶n̶a̶ her last owner she had been essentially in a fugue state.

That is until the cage next to her got a new occupant.

The tent had been louder than usual as the slave master berated someone for a “failed job” and that “they’d be lucky if he lived through the night”. Raphtalia was able to ignore the argument at first until it got louder and louder. She didn’t realize they were right in front of her until she heard the heavy sound of a cage opening and a body being thrown. She curled away from the sounds, scared that she might somehow incur the slave master’s wrath if she brings even the smallest bit of attention to herself.

The argument ended with a loud smack and a cage loudly closing shut. It wasn’t until a few minutes had passed and the slave master had long since walked away that Raphtalia peeked behind her to see her new neighbor.

She couldn’t see much but the most obvious feature she could make out was the hair. Waves gleaming gold locks flowed down their head. It was covering their face but it didn’t matter in the moment to her as she was distracted by said locks. She had never seen such pristine hair like that, and yet it seemed so familiar as well.

She stared at the mystery person more, making all sorts of observations. They were obviously an adult, a really tall one, though she couldn’t tell if they were a boy or girl. As her eyes were trailing the long chains attached to them she noticed an additional piece of metal sticking out from beneath their body. That’s odd, why would they be allowed to keep that?

When the shouting started again, with several more people this time demanding payment, she curled back up into her corner again. She could hear the slave master arguing back about how they failed the job and couldn’t claim anything. This upset the other men causing them to yell right back. She fell asleep before she could hear the conclusion.

When Raphtalia eventually woke up the stranger hadn’t moved at all. She felt concerned but there was nothing she could do. Upsetting, but it was the truth. She could barely take care of herself after all.

But when he started having nightmares she felt like there was something she could actually do. His head was rather close to her cage, enough for her hand to reach. Raphtalia remembered when her mom would brush her head when she was upset. She kept going until they shifted under her hand. Scared that she had woken them up she retreated to her corner once more, hoping they wouldn’t be mad at her.

She found out that he was a boy when she vaguely heard him muttering to himself. Raphtalia intended on staying out of his view until her body decided to betray her. She flew into a fit of coughing, her lungs rattling as if it was filled liquid, liquid she could never get out. By the time it started to subside the stranger had fully taken notice of her. She was afraid to look up but when she did she was surprised by the face that greeted her.

It was an angel.

His eyes were just as golden as his hair, and his skin was like fresh snow.

Raphtalia couldn’t help but say the first thing that came to mind.

“Pretty.”

The stranger looked somewhat bewildered by the comment, raising an eyebrow, but not acknowledging it otherwise. He lowered himself to a more eyelevel to her so that it didn’t seem like he was towering over her. Then he asked-

“How do your lungs feel? Dry?” That wasn’t what she expected him to say but she answered anyway, shaking her head.

He asked again. “Heavy? Wet?” Now she nodded. “And like..there’s something sharp..” Raphtalia whispered, trying to avoid another coughing fit. She was trying really hard to hold it in.

“As I suspected, most likely a case of pneumonia. And the bastard hasn’t bothered to give you even the most basic of medicine. A child for god sake..” The stranger grumbled.

He looked at her with a bit of sadness in his eyes. Raphtalia didn’t exactly know why though, they just met after all. “I’m truly sorry there’s nothing I can do to help you currently but there is something I need to ask.”

She fidgeted with her chains, curiosity just barely winning over her nervousness as she looked up at him again once more.

“Where is the slave master?”

She was confused …Why? Why would this stranger want to get his attention? When he came around nothing good ever happened. He made them beg for food and water and it was never guaranteed they got it. He brought in strangers dressed in expensive clothes to sell them to. She’d never forget the pain of being branded by one..So why!?

She was about to vocalize this question when she heard the unfortunately familiar sound of a cane tapping.

She became frantic, Raphtalia tried to tell the stranger to look behind him but found herself unable to speak. The stranger must’ve noticed as his body tensed up before his head swiveled around to the direction of the slave master.

“Why, right here of course!”

______________________

Alucard didn’t know what else he expected as he took in the appearance of the slave master. His entire ensemble was incredibly expensive and horrifically ostentatious. He wore a tailored wool tailcoat with a high collar made of vibrant feathers. Underneath, a bright purple silk vest with a ruffled dress shirt poking out, tied together with a dark pink bow.

Not to mention the dozens of jewels and gold embellishments adorning his portly body.

…And for fucks sake he’s wearing some obnoxiously tall silk hat, what even is that monstrosity?

Overall Alucard found himself immediately disgusted with the man before him. His entire person just flaunted his ill gotten wealth earned by enslavement.

He must’ve been making some sort of face as the slave master simply laughed.

“I hope I’ve lived up to your expectations. I made sure to wear my best for our first meeting! Ah, and where are my manners? I am Beloukas, the owner of this fine business, pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Alucard scoffed, raising his chained arms into the air in indignation. “You call this meeting? This is less of a meeting than it is an outright kidnapping.”

This only amused Beloukas further as his perpetual grin widened, his spectacles hiding his eyes. “Can you blame me? You’re the talk of the town and a very elusive man. No one’s been able to get more than a glimpse! That is, without ending up as a bloody pulp.”

“And that somehow wasn’t any sort of hint that you should stay away?”

“On the contrary, it merely enticed me more! Consider things from my perspective. A demi human legendary hero? And the shield hero no less?-” There was a light gasp behind Alucard but he didn’t have the time to pay it any mind “-Why you’re the crown jewel for any slave trader! I just had to have you for myself!” The man laughed again at his own joke.

Alucard couldn’t believe the sheer audacity of this man, smugly telling him to his face how he was nothing more than a some sort of commodity. He was just as furious at the joke of a ruler who knowingly directed these degenerates after him.

As much as he could, Alucard rose up to the bars of the cage, cold fury in his eyes as he stared at the slave trader. “Now you’ve met me. And do tell, what is stopping me from ripping your throat out with my bare hands.” He said in a dark tone.

In actuality, despite the poison still somewhat lingering in his body, there was in fact nothing stopping Alucard from phasing through the cage and killing him. But what he didn’t understand was why this ‘Beloukas’ was so self assured about his safety. It was clear that despite his sheer amount of slaves that he was working alone for the most part. So how hasn’t he had a revolt at this point? Especially considering the seasoned combatants in his possession?

He didn’t know where the wolf man he had fought before was but at very least he wasn’t anywhere near what Alucard had to guess was his master. He seemed so apprehensive even thinking of betraying this tub of lard despite striking Alucard as the type of man to be fiercely independent. So why? What did that wolf have to fear?

If Alucard wanted everything to go smoothly then he had to find out what this man’s trump card was, and provocation seemed like the best method of achieving that.

Beloukas didn’t show any sort of reaction to his threat, instead waving it off. “Yes, yes I know how much your kind adores violence but right now we’re having a civilized conversation.” He said in a very patronizing tone.

The slaver began pacing back and forth in front of his cage, his cane noisy tapping. “I know you’re upset and confused but believe me! You’ll eventually get used to this lifestyle. Appreciate it even! Honestly the king outing you was nothing short of fortunate.”

“Are you hearing yourself speak? What sane person would ever be happy about being enslaved?” Alucard asked incredulously.

He shook his head back and forth. “No no you’re not looking at this the way I am.” The slave master adamantly expressed before going into a further rant.

“You, my dear fellow, are an extremely high value item! One of a kind even! You have buyers lining up all over the country chomping at my heels for a chance at owning the fabled shield hero. Nobles, earls, diplomats, clergy, all sorts of powerful men. Why, you’ll practically be living a life of luxury! I even have a few offers out of the country as well.”

Beloukas leaned in close to Alucard’s cage, examining him up and down. He put a hand to his jaw. “Not to mention you have quite the looks, enough to be a stud. How fortunate the shield hero is as attractive as he is powerful. I can charge an extra premium for that alone.”

Alucard could feel himself seething at that last comment. A slave was degrading enough but to be described as breeding stock, no different than a prized stallion... Disgusting.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself, giving him a moment to think. Hmmmm what would be a move his beloved Belmont would do at this moment? Ah yes.

Alucard looked the slave master in the eyes and proceeded to spit in his face. And as fate would have it it landed perfectly on the man’s glasses, splattering on the lenses.

The slave master stilled, his ever present grin slowly faltering but not dropping all the way. He remained still and for a brief moment all that could be heard was the crackle of torches and the occasional shuffle. Beloukas then slowly reached for his glasses, beady eyes shut as he methodically cleaned his glasses.

He didn’t speak again until they were placed back on his face. And even then he only let out a disappointed sigh before looking at Alucard again.

“I see. I believe we are in need of a demonstration.”

He pointed his cane right at Alucard and ordered him to-

“Sit.”

At first nothing happened, and Alucard stood in his much too tiny cage rather confused. Then all of a sudden arcs of white lightning burst from the center of his chest. He stumbled back from the shock, well not so much the pain as much as the surprise of it happening. Despite literal electricity violently blooming from his chest it didn’t hurt as much as he expected. At worse it was giving him pins and needles, not unlike when he tried picking up his sword-

That’s when a message abruptly popped into his view.

CAUTION

Legendary Weapon Rule Violation(!):

Cardinal Heroes cannot be enslaved using a Slave Crest. Cardinal Heroes also cannot be affected by Slave Magic tiers 1-3.

…Can’t be affected?

Once the sparking stopped he grabbed the front of his dress shirt, as if looking to confirm something. There right on the center of his chest was some sort of intricate marking and it was dripping away. That must be the slave mark his shield’s warning described and the fact that it was wearing away was as good of confirmation as any that it wasn’t working.

As he was staring at his chest and processing his shield’s warning Beloukas spoke up again,
Even more smug than before.
“You see now? I already have you under my power. And every act of defiance will torture you more and more until you drop dead. So the choice is yours! Obey me or kill yourself trying.”

This. This was the slave master’s trump card, this ‘slave crest’. Identical to the one he saw on the wolf man’s chest Alucard recalled. Beloukas must have imprinted it on him while he was unconscious.

That’s why he felt so self assured. With this mark, this curse no one would have the chance to fight back.

For once he felt himself being grateful for the shield for protecting him from such malicious magic. Of course he would never forgive it for dragging him into this world one way or another but it was something. It also made sense as if this world’s precious heroes could be literally enslaved then nothing would get done. Though selling the world’s savior to the highest bidder sounds exactly like the sort of selfish behavior humans are capable of.

Beloukas commanded him to sit one more and this time Alucard compiled in an effort to keep the ruse up. Of course this brought no shortage of satisfaction to the slave master as a loud laugh escaped him.

“See? It’s much easier to listen. Much less painless.” Alucard glared at him but didn’t do much more than that.

The slaver laughed to himself. “Good to see you cooperating. Now then, lean forward for me.” Not long after he did so Alucard felt a hand grab his jaw, turning his head left to right.

“No signs of visible damage on the facial area. Good. Unfortunately can’t say the same for the chest area but what can you do? Now then.” The slaver tipped Alucard’s head up as he maintained a firm grip on the dhampire’s jaw.

“I heard from an informant that you had a rather impressive pair of fangs. A real monster hiding beneath a pretty facade. Show them to me.”

Despite his annoyance Alucard complied once more, lazily opening his mouth for the shit head. This apparently didn’t satisfy the man as Alucard felt the ineffectual crackle of electricity on his chest again.

“Come on Shield Hero, I’ve seen baby rat Demi-humans with larger teeth than that. And first witness accounts claim that you had fangs half the length of my arm! So come on then, show me!

Well. He asked for it.

Opening his jaw further his fangs extended to the desired length, earning a smile from his captor. This was promptly followed by Alucard slamming his jaw down on the offending party’s hand. And this time Alucard didn’t give a shit about mitigating the damage.

Unfortunately the man seemed to have the foresight to move his arm away.

How disappointing.

“Oh ho! That was a close one wasn’t it?” He jovially remarked, stepping away from the cage. Alucard was getting very tired of his incessant laughter and it showed.

“Oh don’t give me that look. This isn’t my first time dealing with unruly slaves. Additionally, I don’t think I haven’t heard about your bite force as well from the poor guard you maimed.”

“Though, I’m nevertheless still surprised you would stoop so low.” Beloukas commented in a drawn out and dramatic fashion.

“You never said not to bite you.”

“That I did.”

Beloukas stepped back, his eyes obscured behind the glare of his glasses as he examined Alucard once more.

Oh, this new slave of his was rather headstrong wasn’t he? Hmmm, that’s no good. He can’t sell a rabid dog to nobles. He had a reputation to uphold after all. So the question is, how should he break the shield hero?

As he pondered this conundrum he heard a coughing emanate from beside the shield hero’s cage. It was too high pitched to be the hero himself so what was-?

Beloukas was baffled as he watched the young man turn his back to him just to take care of the diseased slave behind him. Even asking her how she was feeling of all things! Oho! How peculiar.

He had completely forgotten about the raccoon girl. Beloukas was surprised she was still kicking honestly. But seeing her and the shield hero together did give him a wonderful idea.

‘Let’s see what kind of man the shield hero is.’

“While I appreciate the care you’re showing towards my products I didn’t say I was done with you yet.” Beloukas snarked, enjoying the shield hero immediately tensed up.

“You didn’t give me an order so you can fuck off.” Alucard shot back

He looked at the shield hero literally shielding the little girl from view with his body as much as he could and couldn’t help but smile as he spoke. “Now then for your next task. Kill the little slave child beside you.”

The shield hero was quick to whip around to face Beloukas, his expression one of shock and horror. “What!?” He exclaimed.

“What is there to be confused about? It’s a rather straightforward order. Kill her.” The child squeaked in fear, utterly petrified as backed herself into her cage’s corner.

“She’s a child!” Alucard cried in outrage.

“Peh. And she’s hardly worth anything to me.” The slaver said in a dismissive tone.

“She’s diseased, mentally deficient and has been returned no less than three times. And I am in need of a test of loyalty, so it all works out in the end!”

“So I’ll say again, I order you to kill her.” He firmly commanded, the seal on Alucard’s chest glowing at his words. The dhampir seemingly winced but otherwise didn’t move.

Beloukas leaned down towards the cage, looking Alucard in the eyes, his own still obscured by his glasses. “I won’t accept your refusal to follow orders. Either you kill the girl or suffer the consequences.” He gestured to the growing static bolts emanating from the slave seal.

‘Either the shield hero continues to torture himself into unconciousness or he proves how much of a monster he truly is.

And yet all the shield hero did was glare at Beloukas, as if his stare alone could kill 100 men. He was even disregarding the obvious bolts of punishing lighting emanating from chest. Impressive but not enough, he needs a definitive answer. Perhaps a bit of ‘egging on’ will do nicely.

“In case it didn’t process through your primitive skull I’ll say it again. I order you to kill her.” The threat hung in the air but it didn’t seem to phase the man at all beyond an involuntary muscle spasm.

As bolts of electricity violently raced around the Shield Hero’s body Beloukas watched as his new prize's body, for a lack of a better term, began to disintegrate.

It was subtle at first, the blond’s body going hazy as if his vision was going blurry. But then parts of his body outright began to split apart, the lighting from his core acting as an accelerant to this process. All the while his jaw was left hanging open in an expression of silent agony.

Soon enough there was no man left in the cage, his entire person having dissipated into nothingness.

The child left behind looked around the cage in distress and confusion, the miserable thing trying to figure out what happened to her fellow captor.

Well. That was a surprise. And a major loss. He knew fully well that the slave seal’s curse was potent in its punishment but he’s never seen it reduce someone to mere particles. At least, not that fast.

Was it an effect of the legendary magic assigned to him? Did it grant him the death he wanted rather than being a bound servant? Peh, he was expecting more out of a legendary hero, shield or not. Never would have taken the man for being a coward. Peh.

Honestly he should be lucky he went out in such a peaceful manner, Beloukas supposed.

As the slaver was considering this odd occurrence he felt something sharp poke at his throat.

——————————

“Wait-“ Alucard called out as a large shadow loomed over him.

He knew he didn’t have much time as he felt the poison quickly settling into his body. He had to make whatever time he had left conscious matter.

“I want to make a deal.”

“A deal? A stiff breeze could knock you over at this point. You have no bargaining power here.”

“Perhaps so. But please, hear me out.”

The wolf beast man looked down at his target, scrutinizing him for a good few seconds before responding.

“You got until you pass out. Then I’m hauling your ass to Beloukas.”

“The man on the poster…this ‘beloukas’…he’s your master, correct?”

The wolf man snorted as a response.

“Alright then. Let me free you.” Alucard said with a look of determination, confusing the beast man.

“Excuse me? You? Ha! You must be joking.”

“I assure you I’m not. I have no intentions of being anyone’s slave and I won’t be going down without a fight. Either I fail and become a slave of the highest bidder or I manage to escape, and all I’m asking you to do-“ Alucard looked at the wolf beast man with determination in his eyes, disregarding his trembling body.

“Is to stand back and do nothing.”

There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared each other down. After a few seconds the beast man loosened up, and an amused chuff echoed through the field

“Alright then. I’ll indulge you and say yes. But I can’t wait to see that spark of life die in your eyes, hero.

“We’ll..seeeee….” Alucard slurred before slumping over, his body succumbing to the poison’s effects.

“Sweet dreams blondie.” Was the last thing said between them, but it was debatable if Alucard heard him.

As Alucard finally slumped over Brutus wasted no time in collecting his target off the ground, not bothering to be particularly gentle about it. He even generously decided to collect the little shit’s sword, despite the damage the freaky thing did to him.

The wolf man did pause for a moment to think about the shield hero’s word. Him? Being free? All it would take is one word to put an end to any sort of rebellion. It’s hopeless.

But for a fleeting moment he did briefly think about the possibility. Ha, if only…

—-----------------

Well this was an unforeseen outcome.

He hadn’t anticipated for the “legendary hero” to have been able to escape in such an underhanded yet unique fashion. Faking his own disintegration via the slave crest’s curse? Only to turn around and hold him captive instead? Astounding! Things were getting very interesting.

Beloukas tried to vocalize his surprise but was quickly cut off by a hand clamped over his mouth. How unsanitary.

“If you value your life you will shut up and listen. But if you attempt to bark out a single word-

He felt the sharp pressure at his throat increase, and it only now occurred to him that he was being held hostage by a pair of claws and not a hidden dagger.

“I will cut your throat. Do you understand me?”

He nodded his head to the best of his ability. The shield hero accepted this answer but did not let up his grip once so ever.

“Good.”

Alucard really had to thank whatever force in the universe was listening that that accursed shield on his arm didn’t hinder his magic or abilities at all.

Or hell, the fact that it actually protected him from magic as barbaric as slavery magic.

While the port cities of Europe freely engaged in the slave trade, as you went further inland slavery was moreso frowned upon. This trend was reflected in the pockets of magic communities scattered about the sub-continent.

Only the most low of mages used such magic, and even then not without great cost. For all that it would allow its user to bend the will of others it had great side effects as the mind was not designed to handle more than one consciousness. While the craftiest of desperate mages have developed work arounds it ultimately did not solve the issue. The mind of the user one way or another would deteriorate, any precautions only delaying the inevitable.

And considering for all his greed and lack of basic empathy the man underneath his claws still seemed sane it meant that whatever spell or enchantment he used must be quite different from similar magics from his world. Whether that was a good or bad thing was still to be seen.

Nevertheless Alucard was grateful it seemingly didn’t affect him, allowing for an easy escape from his cage. In all honesty he could have easily left right then and there, having faked his death and all. But there were too many unknown variables and questions left hanging in the air for him to just up and leave just yet.

Would he have to continue playing dead? While he certainly could continue to remain low, there was a good chance that this plan would fall through as soon as the waves hit. Alucard doubted he could refuse to participate one way or another, whether by force or out of wanting to further his own goal of getting home. So inevitably he would be outed as being alive and well.

But this brings up another issue, would he still be considered the property of Beloukas? In his own world, from books to first hand accounts, he’s heard of the lengths that slavers will go to retrieve their “lost property”.

Shortly after meeting Isaac for the first time his father had made sure to educate him on the matters of slavery so that he may better understand the horrors of such practices. He remembered reading of one particular incident documented around the 11th century where a man escaped all the way to the far reaches of Iceland only to be dragged back in chains anyways despite being inches from death.

Considering his lack of rights at the moment he’s sure that he’d sooner be seen and treated as runaway property than a human being. The law wasn’t on his side and there was a lack of incentive on multiple fronts for helping him so he couldn’t rely on the kindness or hell, basic morality of strangers.

And the most important matter of all; he couldn’t just leave the rest of these people here to rot. Men, women, and children were all rotting here in their own filth either all awaiting an unknown fate with whatever owner sees fit to take them or death. It was entirely selfish of him to prioritize only his own freedom while damning those around him.

He had no other choice than to personally deal with the slave master, one way or another.

Alucard turned his focus back to the man in question, the hand clamped over his face tightening its grip while the other dug into the flesh of his throat.

“Is there a way to undo the slave seal?” he asked.

Alucard felt a very stilted nod beneath his hand in response. Good.

“Do you have the means to do so on hand?”

Another nod, the man’s eyes darted off to some distant corner of the winding maze of cages briefly. This didn’t fall past the dhampire’s notice. Oh? What could he be looking at in that direction? The cages that way were either empty or filled with diseased bodies. An escape? Some kind of trump card? Or perhaps a subconscious reaction to his question. Perhaps something to do with the slave seals was beyond the maze? Either way he’ll shortly find out.

“Then this deal will be rather simple for you. Remove the seal and I’ll let you live. The consequences of your refusal don’t need to be stated. So what will it be?” The dhampir asked in a low tone.

A third nod. The despicable creature that dared called itself a man would get to live a bit longer. But in order for him to get any further answers about the process of undoing the slave seal he would have to unclamp the slaver’s mouth which was risky. The man could scream for help from any one of these slaves or someone outside could potentially hear him as well. It was risky but Alucard had no other choice.

“By what means did you put this seal on me? A spell? Enchantment? An Item? ….You may verbally respond to this but don’t forget my warning.” With his warning he gingerly removed his hand from Beloukas’ mouth.

The man roughly coughed upon his face being freed, looking at Alucard warily in the process.

“...The latter. I used a special ink mixed with my blood.” He reluctantly responded.
“I see. And how would you dispel this seal?”

“....”

“I’m giving you one chance to answer properly. And I’ll know if you’re lying.”

“....There’s a potion that can dispel slave seals-” The hand around his throat tightened. “…in my office.” He croaked.

“Thank you.” Beloukas’ face intensely soured as Alucard’s hand yet again clamped over his face. The dhampire of course noticed his disappointment and tsked.

“Now, I’m going to give you the opportunity to escort me to these items. Your continued compliance is appreciated, as well as it being the only thing keeping you alive.”

Alucard shoved Beloukas forward, and the two began frog marching through the tent towards, presumably, the man’s office. As they walked deeper through the maze of cages and crates Alucard could feel a rising sense of disgust through his body.

The tent he found himself in was much more extensive than he realized. There were tens of dozens of cages stacked on high, some as much as four stacked upon another, all towering over them.

Each and every one of them was filled with at least one occupant but a disconcerting amount of them had several people packed inside. Men, women, children, and even the elderly. It was nothing short of horrific and as he gazed on in disgust the man beneath his claws hardly blinked twice as he shuffled forward.

Eventually, through the maze of demi-human misery they reached a sort of clearing in which the cages gave way to a more finely furnished area. There were rows of tall cabinets and desks lining the walls. Bottles and trinkets littered nearly every surface as finely crafted lanterns hung above.

This couldn’t be anything but his office.

Beloukas’ eyes were swiveling back and forth between the cabinets, as if searching for something. Alucard couldn’t see this franticness as he ushered the slaver towards the rows of cabinets but he could smell the stench of nervous sweat emanating from his person.

They stopped moving approximately around the middle of the cluster of cabinets.

“One of these cabinets holds this supposed potion correct?”

Beloukas responded with a muffled yes. Upon hearing this Alucard shoved him towards the nearest drawers, rattling their contents.

“Go on. Fetch it. But remember my warnings as you do so. We wouldn’t want any unfortunate consequences to occur now would we?”

Reluctantly the man began rifling through the collection of bottles and trinkets stored but it quickly became suspicious. After all, how long could it take to find what should be a rather important item in his line of work? It’s not like such a thing would be unlabeled either.

Midway through his train of thought the sound of the slaver rummaging around abruptly stopped. This immediately alarmed Alucard.

“Why have you stopped? Did you find it?” He asked as he harshly turned the slaver around.

“It’s right here.” Beloukas said before splashing the contents of the bottle into Alucard’s eyes.

The Dhampire reeled as the mystery substance caked onto his face, quickly hardening. It luckily didn’t get into his eyes but it still completely blocked his vision. As Alucard clawed at his face in an attempt to free his eyes Beloukas took this as an opportunity to distance himself from the thrashing Shield Hero.

“That magic trick was clever I’ll give you that…. Faking your death, holding me hostage. Simply marvelous on your part. But unfortunately that’s all it was. A mere trick.” Despite having just been a hostage he had a cheshire grin on his face as he ranted.

“You could have made this easier on yourself, submit yourself and live in luxury as a nobleman's prized pet! That’s all you had to do! Anyone in your position with a lick of sense would! But now I see I can’t let a dangerous animal like you loose onto any of my fine clients lest I tarnish my reputation. No…it seems that I will have to properly discipline you. After all, I can always sell damaged goods for a lower price.”

Beloukas adjusted his rumpled clothes, noting in disdain just how wrinkled they had become, before beginning his string of punishments.

“You are forbidden from using magic unless otherwise stated. This is an order.” After stating the order Alucard’s seal began to glow, not that he could currently see that fact.

“You are forbidden from attempting to escape. This is an order.”

“You are only to speak when spoken to. This is an order.”

“Any future dissent, even something as simple as sass, is to be met with self harm. This is an order.”

As Beloukas handed down one order after another the slave tattoo on Alucard’s chest began to spark more and more, becoming a veritable storm of wild electricity. And yet the dhampir remained completely unphased as he continued freeing his eyesight. This alarmed Beloukas as earlier the seal had what looked to be its usual agonizing effect on the shield hero but now it seemed to be doing absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile during the slavers' internal nervous breakdown Alucard had managed to free one of his eyes, with the other soon to follow as the material gave way under his hands.

One golden eye glared at Beloukas from across the room, threatening to send the man into a panic.

“I-If you put your hands on me again you are to immediately kill yourself. This is an order!” He nearly screamed as arcs of lighting grew to the size of Alucard’s forearm. And yet the prince of the night did not flinch, keeping his gaze on the monster before him.

Seeing as the Shield Hero was not flinching at Beloukas for the first time in years began to lose his composure. Never before had he seen the magic of the slave seal fail.

“How..how are you ignoring the slave seal!? It should be killing you by now!”

He didn’t receive an answer. Instead, Alucard slowly stalked towards the cowering man, the storm of lightning obscuring his person. Beloukas was paralyzed in the wake of the Shield Hero’s wrathful image as to him it looked as if a vengeful god was coming down from the heavens coming to smite a heretic.

Alucard reached the cowering man and leaned in to whisper into his ear.

“I will let you in on a little secret. The seal never worked on me.”

Beloukas’ body began to tremble. “..What.? That can’t be right you-“ Alucard cut him off.

“Honestly? I just wanted this ghastly thing off my chest so I played along rather than kill you instantly. But now..?”

Alucard looked him straight in the eyes with an empty look that promised nothing but death. He was bluffing of course as he didn’t kill humans, but Beloukas didn’t know that. The implication was enough.

“Hie…HIEEE..! Stay back!” Beloukas cried, fearing for his life. He stepped back until his body hit the wall. In a fit of desperation he began throwing anything in reach at the approaching dhampir.

“I order you! Stay back!”

Alucard didn’t feel the need to chase, instead only calmly walking towards the slaver. His gaze never dropped from the man, his cold stare somehow remaining visible despite being smothered in light. Projectiles flew harmlessly his way, with those managing to hit him shattering on impact, utterly failing to deter him.

Beloukas stumbled as he tried to back up further into the wall, falling to his knees. He had nowhere left to run.

From the floor Beloukas looked up in fear at the expressionless man before him. There was no fury nor mercy to be found.

“Brut-” He tried to yell, a last bid at salvation, but he was cut off by the shield hero crushing his windpipe. Alucard lifted him into the air high enough that he was just slightly above eye level.

“I had warned you about the consequences of your actions. And I believe that this is far overdue.” Before Beloukas even had the chance to scream, Alucard raked his claws down his throat, ending at his collar bone.

Beloukas’s face screamed in horror but the only sound that escaped his throat was an ugly gurgling. Alucard dropped the man as he began thrashing in his grip, soaking his hand in blood. As soon as he hit the floor Beloukas rolled, writhing in pain as he desperately grasped at his throat. Blood quickly began to stain his expensive rug as he violently twisted.

While Alucard was the one who inflicted the wound, he didn’t particularly enjoy suffering. And while said wound wasn’t meant to be fatal it didn’t mean that the man couldn’t bleed out from it.

So he decided to dole out some friendly medical advice.

Alucard knelt down to his level. “Stop squirming. You’ll only bleed out faster. You should focus on keeping pressure on your throat instead.”

Beloukas must’ve heard him as stopped shifting so much and clamped both hands firmly around his throat.

Satisfied, Alucard got up, but not before snatching something from the man’s coat. A set of keys to be exact.

“Try not to die.”

And with that Alucard strolled out of Beloukas’ office, keys in hand and made his way towards a particular cluster of cages.

As he walked, dozens of slaves still in their cages stared at him. Some in fear, some in indifference but most in awe. They all heard the pleas and screams of their master before they were abruptly silenced. Was he dead? Were they saved?

He continued walking until he reached one cage in particular, one with a familiar face. In there layed a large wolf beast man whose expression quickly went from grumpy to bewildered.

“You..!?”

For the first time that night Alucard smiled. “I kept my promise didn’t I?” He said nonchalantly, tossing up and down the set of keys in his hands.

The beast man stared at the set of keys before defaulting back to being disgruntled with a thick huff. “No need to be so smug about it.”

“I’ll try to remain humble. By the way you don’t have to worry about Beloukas barking orders at you or anyone else here. I took care of that.”

“Yeah, I think me and half the tent could hear that fat bastard's screams. It’s not hard to put two and two together.”

But, despite blondie standing right before him keys in hand he still felt unsure. “…So? Did you kill him?” Brutus said in a quieter tone.

“No actually.” Alucard replied casually.

The wolf beast man looked half outraged for a moment before Alucard continued. “Hmmm I think it would be best if I showed you.”

Alucard then proceeded to swiftly unlock the large padlock on the beast man’s cage. The man was hesitant to exit, and his cage remained open with him unmoving, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. Seeing this Alucard offered his hand to help the fighter stand up.

Amused by this, Brutus took the ‘dainty’ hand of the shield hero. And he was quickly surprised that said hand held the strength to pull him from the ground with no strain. As he regained his balance Alucard’s grip remained firm.

“Alucard.”

“Hmm.?” He tilted his head in confusion in an almost dog-like fashion.

“We never got the chance to introduce ourselves. I’m Alucard.”

He paused, staring in confusion at blondie -no, Alucard. Nothing about this man made any sense, but perhaps that’s why he was able to escape. Why he was the shield hero. “Hmph. Brutus.”

“Fitting. Now then.” Alucard shook his hand once before abruptly turning on his heel and striding forwards. Brutus with only a little hesitation soon followed behind.

On the journey back to Beloukas’ office Alucard took the pleasure of unlocking as many cages as he could on the way. While some were wary, most were overjoyed, enjoying their freedom on wobbly feet. Some had to remain shut though, whether because he lacked the right key or for the simple fact that there was a literal monster inside the cage.

He even passed the cage he was once in before, and the one with the sickly little girl inside. She was curled up in a tight ball, completely unaware of his presence. She stayed that way until the heavy clink of a lock caught her attention. She gazed up reluctantly in fear until she recognized just who was outside her cage.

“You..! You’re alright? But you-! And the slave master-!” The poor girl was getting overwhelmed.

Alucard knelt down to look her in the eyes, his expression soft as he swung her cage door wide open. “You don’t have to worry, little one. I’m fine and you will be too. That man won’t be hurting anyone anymore. I promise.”

“Really?” She quietly whispered, her eyes daring to look hopeful.

“Really. Now let's get you out of that cage.” He extended his hand to assist her out of the cage, in particular, the arm that had the shield attached. Raphtalia was nearly out of her cage when she noticed, staring in awe. Was this? Was he?

Raphtalua was so fixated on the shield that she didn’t notice she had tripped until she felt another arm catch her.

She looked up at her hero in embarrassment.

“Eep! I’m sorry..!”

“Are you alright?” Alucard asked, gently standing her back up on her own two feet.

She nodded furiously up and down, before shyly looking away, her ears folding down. He had the shield…but what if it wasn’t him? He’d still be her hero but…she just had to know. For both her and Rifana’s sake! Just as she got the courage to ask she was interrupted by a very grumpy voice.

“Come on, we don't have all day!” Brutus yelled, spooking poor Raphtalia. The shield hero looked down on her kindly one last time, patting her head gently as he stood back up.

“Sorry for scaring you little one.” He whispered before turning to Brutus.

“Patience is a virtue you know. I’d personally recommend it.” Alucard snipped back. Brutus rolled his eyes but otherwise didn’t respond.

Alucard rejoined his impromptu companion, promising to hurry things along. The two then continued walking, with a smaller set of footsteps following behind.

Slowly but surely a small crowd of demi humans had formed, following a short distance behind Brutus and Alucard. They soon reached Beloukas’ office and a noticeable metallic stench hung in the air.

“Are you sure you didn’t kill him?”

“He was alive when I left. What ever happened after isn’t on me.” Alucard replied as the two stepped into the office, the crowd remaining a distance away.

Inside the two found Beloukas on the floor surrounded by semi dried blood stains and a few empty bottles. His hands were still clamped around his neck as he breathed heavily, though some color had returned to his face. Had he tried using healing potions on himself?

A crunch of broken glass alerted the heaving man to their presence. Beloukas’ head immediately snapped up and he attempted to yell at them, perhaps even a command, but the only thing that escaped his throat was a guttural stream of half formed syllables. Nothing remotely close to coherent speech.

“Huh you were right. No more bark.” Brutus remarked with a clap. He broke out laughing as he watched the man who put him through hell squirm helplessly on the ground. No more orders.

Alucard merely hummed as he turned his attention back to the slaver. “Now what to do with you..” He quietly questioned himself.

Beloukas immediately began to panic once more, backing away as he cried presumably for mercy. It was rather hard to tell. He then prostrated himself in front of the shield hero, hoping to convey his pleas for salvation.

Alucard looked down at the pitiful creature before him, staring a hole into his being before he closed his eyes. A decision was met.

“Don’t worry, I will spare you..” Beloukas perked up at that, his face filling with a kind of desperate joy.

“For it isn’t my decision to make.”

Alucard turned on his heel, exiting the office and leaving a confused Brutus behind. Beloukas meanwhile immediately felt a wave of dread wash over him. Just what was he going to do to him?

Alucard already got enough revenge for one night. But these people had all been suffering under this man’s heel for much longer. It was only fair that they had the opportunity to take justice into their own hands.

Alucard addressed the crowd milling about outside. He sidestepped the office entrance and gestured towards it.

“Inside this office lies Beloukas, prone and unable to defend himself. He was your captor, your tormentor. I wounded him in my escape but I left him alive. It was not my place to kill him. However, you, his victims should be given the right to decide his fate. It’s only just that you do to him what you wish.”

The crowd looked amongst themselves, whispering about what they should do. Then, slowly but surely a few brave souls began to walk forth, passing the shield hero and entering the office space to join Brutus. The others chose to step further back, the adults left choosing to shield the children away.

Whether the man lived or died was up to his former slaves, but Alucard had the feeling that they weren’t feeling especially charitable.

And if the muffled screams and tearing of flesh behind him was any sort of indication, then they had all certainly made their decision.