30. Dirty Mission in Clean Snow

One day later, Yumino was walking through the thick snow on the outskirts of the kingdom, regretting every choice he had made along the way.

"And this is the last time I listen to you!" The elf screamed into nothingness, taking advantage of the fact nobody was around to hear him talk to his "elven scripts."

"Are you still thinking about that lie? But I must admit, it was pretty lame indeed..." Gauntmere changed the subject, teasing the struggling elf.

"I swear the day I find out how to fight ghosts is the day you'll start talking about the third elven disaster!"

Gauntmere was not impressed by Yumino's empty threats. She knew he was bluffing. Just like many other times when he had been put in a tough spot, the elf had a bad habit of letting the emotions of that moment speak for him.

"I think that's all the more reason to help those poor souls run away before it happens."

"You always have a comeback, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" she answered joyfully. "Also, I think it's time for you to quiet down. We're getting close."

"Close to what? There's nothing around."

Yumino took another look around, only to see the white plains stretching beyond what the snowfall revealed to him.

"Below you, hero!" another voice spoke. "They're hiding underground; hold your steps!"

As soon as those words were spoken in his mind, the ground right in front of the elf crumbled.

"I guess your debts keep piling up~" Gauntmere added in a smug voice.

With a click of his tongue, Yumino took his bow and aimed at the hole.

Before long, a group of vampires flew out from beneath the ground. Yumino managed to shoot a couple as they were sprouting out, but many of them still ended up standing before him.

"No time to get away! Jump! He won't expect it."

With no time to exchange pleasantries, Yumino followed the command of the elven spirit and jumped right as one of the vampires tried to lunge at him.

The vampire who had missed his target could do nothing but look up, where what he saw was the tip of an arrow— an arrow which was soon released, ending the undead.

"Like I've taught you, three at once!"

Yumino readied three of his arrows, and without batting his eyes from the targets, he lit up their tips. After the arrows hit the vampires, nothing was left of them.

"And don't forget that trick!"

The most recent trick Yumino had learned was to create his own arrow out of pure energy. It was a hard to master feat that elves often used in combat, as their mana reserves were much higher than that of the average human.

One of those arrows was enough to take out the rest of the enemies. Yumino's shot left behind a shockwave that knocked everyone back, leaving him enough room to pick the rest out one by one.

By the time he was done, only one vampire was left breathing.

"Ahhh..." Yumino sighed. The one thing he hated the most was to end someone's suffering by killing them, but he had no choice, as leaving them to suffer would have been much worse and would have angered the spirit.

So Yumino pulled out another arrow and aimed it at the vampire.

"At least let me know your name, murderer," said the vampire.

"Enkazan Yumino," the elf answered bluntly.

"Enkazan... Yumino? The hero of the elves?"

The only answer Yumino gave was a "hmph."

"Ha... Hahaha! To think you'd still struggle like this even now! Give up, hero! You've already failed! There's nobody left for you to save—"

Yumino quickly ended the vampire who kept rambling. His mission completed, he dug a grave for the bodies and went back home. There was no hint of relief on his face. This was the one part of his life he hated with all that he was.

And as much as he tried to ignore the vampire's words. There was something that stuck with him. In hindsight, it was a superficial problem, but one that didn't give the elf peace, as it resonated deeply with what he wanted to be.

"It seems the vampires got to know my name for all the wrong reasons..."

*****

By the time Yumino got home, it was already dark.

Looking around, there was no sign of Nima, but that wasn't the first time she had been on longer missions, so the elf didn't think much about it.

Still, being alone on a day like that made him feel some type of way. He had used his bow to kill once again. What's more, because of the spirits filling his mind with hate towards the vampires, it didn't feel that bad. With time, Yumino came to think that if he refuses to take out the vampires, he does something even worse to the elves.

Gauntmere often comforted him by reminding the elf that those bodies belong to the elven spirits within him, but what Yumino was shooting at also felt real—even more real than the ghosts wandering around his thoughts.

No option seemed better than the other, so the elf preferred not to think about it in his day-to-day life. He preferred to switch between two modes within himself.

"Still, it's days like those that remind me what I'm truly here to do..."

Unrelated to his own goal of making a name for himself, the goal of the elves was still weighing heavy on Yumino. He felt it would be much easier to attack at Death and be done with it, but Gauntmere would never accept that. They had a plan to respect, even if Yumino was never told the full story.

"Besides, it's not like I could find that rider so easily," he said to himself in an attempt to accept the situation.

Such lonely nights were the exception to his otherwise peaceful life, and with nobody to talk to, he quickly went to bed.

Thanks to the fatigue, it didn't take long for the elf to fall asleep.

*****

"Thank you, hero!"

With a quick bow to their liberator, the spirits slowly vanished from Yumino's dream, moving on to the afterlife.

His mission completed, the elf turned towards Gauntmere with a question.

"Why do you need me to kill them?"

To his question, the witch opened her eyes wide, unsure what to answer.

"Well, that's rather sudden. I thought you had long made peace with taking revenge on the vampires..."

"That's not what I mean. Why can't their souls be satisfied through something else? Why does death have to be the solution?"

"If it were that easy, you wouldn't have to be put through all this..."

As Gauntmere spoke, she reached to caress the elf's face, but Yumino pushed her hand away.

"Once again, you're trying to deceive me. You know how much I hate that."

"Am I? I haven't said a single lie, though..."

Realizing it was useless to argue with her, Yumino changed the subject after a long sigh.

"Then let me ask you something else. Is your plan to have me repeat this until every vampire on the face of the Earth is gone?"

"Oh my! That is a rather bold accusation! Of course I don't plan to have you erase an entire species one vampire at a time! Imagine what kind of reputation that would bring to our hero's name!"

Gauntmere paused for a second to ponder.

"However, wiping out every vampire on this continent may be a solution..."

"Not happening," Yumino answered almost instantly. "Besides, there are also good guys around. Lucien, for example, has done nothing wrong. His goal is to help us elves fit in. He likes us. You can't ask me to bring harm upon such vampires."

"Lucien... He is a bit of a special case... After all, his spirit isn't even among us."

"Now that you mention it... why isn't he here?"

"In his case, the spirit of Lucien felt satisfied with his life as a vampire. He left this cursed space long before most of the elves got here."

This explanation made sense for Yumino. After all, Lucien was leading a kingdom filled with his kin. It was to be expected that he would feel satisfied with such a life.

"He also lets me do as I wish within his kingdom, even if I go around taking out vampires. Could it be that he's actually unable to do anything to stop me?"

"Oh no, dear hero. On that alone, I have something to say."

Gauntmere's silhouette disappeared for a second, only to appear again even closer in front of the dreaming elf. If she would have had a breath, Yumino would have been able to feel it.

"That vampire is extremely strong! Do not think for a second that fear is holding him back!"