The Vampire’s Templar

According to Ismelda, some of the plants were rare specimens seen nowhere else in the land of the vampires. “Like that one,” she said, pointing at a bush speckled with violet and blue flowers. It looked fairly normal, but upon closer look, Camilla realized that the innermost portion of the bell-like petals were a rich red.

“What is that?” Kagriss asked, staring at the flower even harder than Camilla was. It looked like she was burning the image of the flower into her mind, which might not be false. Kagriss’s memory was even better than Camilla’s.

No matter what kind of knowledge it was, as long as it might be useful in the future, Kagriss always showed genuine curiosity. These rare flowers were no exception, although Camilla thought that she saw bloodstones in her eyes.

Kagriss wasn’t planning on stealing them, was she? Or maybe she’s just hoping to be able to recognize them in the wild. Camilla hoped it was the latter.

Whatever it was that Kagriss was thinking about, Ismelda showed no sign of realizing as she went on to explain as normal. “This is the venom-bloom,” she said, “also known as the blood of the mirages.”

“Blood of the mirages…” Camilla echoed. She rolled the words around on her tongue. “Blood must refer to the red, but mirage?”

“This flower has different uses depending on the part of the flower, but its most potent part is on the petals. The petals, especially the red portion, can cause hallucinations that last for hours when eaten. On top of that, its victims become paralyzed for most of the effect. A heavy dose overloads the mind and kills its victim. Even while the rest of its body still works, the victim will usually never wake up and will slowly waste away until finally their body dies as well.”

“That’s an interesting…and dangerous effect,” Camilla muttered, inching away even though she was immune to it.

Ismelda nodded. “Its unique appearance and poison make it valuable. That’s why Victoria had these planted. She also maintains them quite diligently as well, although unlike some of the others, it doesn’t seem like she’s very successful at keeping them alive. That’s quite rare…”

“What do you mean?” Elves had a natural green thumb thanks to their innate plant magic. Even if they couldn’t grow an entire grove of trees, a small patch of plants that received their dedicated attention should flourish no matter what. “Is the climate here a bad fit? But it’s blooming even during winter…”

“Who knows?” Ismelda shrugged. “I’m not the person you should be asking since I’m not an elf after all. But I did garden enough to know that a bush of venom-blooms should flower more than this.”

She gestured at the bush, and she was right. Compared to other flower bushes with around the same size flower, the venom-bloom bushes did seem to be a bit scantily flowered. Some had more flowers than others, so maybe one of the bushes was just a runt of the bunch, if plants had runts.

“If even you don’t know, then we won’t know either,” Camilla said. “Since these don’t grow naturally in vampire lands, where are they native to?”

Ismelda paused to think, trying to recall the information. “I’m pretty sure it came from some part of the elven lands. I’m not too knowledgeable on the specifics. It seems like it's rare even there since for some reason the venom-blood doesn’t grow well when planted by hand.”

“Then this isn’t that surprising, is it?”

Ismelda took one last look at the bushes and nodded. “I guess. I guess I was just surprised that there was something that even Victoria could fail at. Not that this was a failure by any means.”

Leaving behind the venom-blooms, Ismelda led them on further into the garden maze.

The garden around Victoria’s mansion was huge. It took well into the evening before they finally finished touring the place, and even then, Ismelda only had enough time to give them a cursory introduction to each plant, at least the ones she knew.

After a full loop, they were once again at the front of the mansion, with the moon high up in the sky. “Now then, what should we do now?” Ismelda asked, clapping her hands together. There was none of the hostility remaining in her voice, and none from Kagriss’s gaze. Camilla could finally let out a breath that she had been holding out of worry that Ismelda and Kagriss might immediately go back to tear each other apart verbally.

“Are there any unique sights in the city?”

“I don’t know what you’d consider unique,” she said, “but there is a place I like to go to. As far as I know, there aren’t any particularly interesting sights. You know my interest.” She gave Kagriss a meaningful look, who returned her gaze with a nod.

“Is there nothing at all?” Camilla asked. Celrantis was bigger than Dianane and had a more diverse population. It’s impossible that there was nothing. “What do you do aside from reading?”

“…I write.”

“Write? Write what?”

“A-anyways, Celrantis is home to a multitude of foreign races,” Ismelda said, clearing her throat and looking off into the distance, taking on the air of a tour guide. “Each race brings their own specialties from food to sports. Are you interested?”

“Such a blatant attempt to change the topic.”

Ismelda’s face reddened, from embarrassment or anger Camilla did not know. “Shut up! What is it to you! Are you interested in it or not?”

Personally, Camilla didn’t care, but the others might. “Ismelda? Elyss?”

Elyss shook her head and rumbled from her throat. “There are only so many ways you can put fire to meat. It doesn’t matter for me as long as it’s cooked. As for your sports, I doubt I can join anyway.”

“I don’t have any interest in playing sports either,” Kagriss said. “It’ll take us a long time to learn and we’ll be leaving in two days or so, so why bother? Perhaps we can do it when all this is over.”

“Sure, we can do that.” Camilla didn’t know if she would enjoy those sports anyway, so she shrugged her shoulders and pushed the decision into the back of her mind to go back to in the future. With both options rejected, they once again turned back to Ismelda.

The vampire’s patience was running low. She glared at all three of them, gritting her teeth. “Fine! If that’s how the bunch of you are going to be, then follow me! I’ll take you somewhere good!”

“Someplace good?” Camilla blinked at the vague answer while a bad feeling swept over her, but before she could ask Ismelda to explain, Ismelda had already stomped off, taking a shortcut through the hedge maze. She rushed to catch up, not wanting to lose their guide, or they’ll have to resort to guiding Elyss through the maze themselves from the sky.

Despite the size of the maze, Ismelda’s angry steps meant it didn’t take long at all to leave the land belonging to Victoria’s mansion, and head down the hill toward the main city.

“Wait, Ismelda. Wait! Where are you taking us?”

“Didn’t you want to be entertained? Well, there’s one other place I like to go here besides the library,” Ismelda replied, not bothering to turn around. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Even if Ismelda refused to even drop a hint, just her current mood was enough for Camilla to make a guess. Camilla stepped closer to Kagriss, leaning toward her ear for a private whisper. “Do you know where she’s taking us?”

“Some place to take out her anger,” Kagriss said without even a pause.

“Oh, you think so too? That coliseum looks really big. Do you think she’s going to participate in a prize fight?”

“I think she’s going to make us participate.”

Camilla found that she didn’t really have a reply to that other than a nod of agreement. The thought of participating in a prize fight roused something within her, though, despite not being that fond of fighting. Really, it’s because it will be the first battle that she’ll have since she hit her limit as a jack-class undead.

She needed to face off against something to accurately judge her own strength. Besides, just having power wasn’t enough. Power needed to be backed up by technique and experience, something that the undead warriors in Amaranthine Point lacked. Those skeletons had the raw power to beat her ten times out of ten, but because they never fought and honed their skills, she managed to get the better of them many times in a row.

It took Elyss a while longer to notice where they were heading, but by the second half of the walk, there was a bounce to her steps as she gracefully walked through the streets, basking in the gaze of bystanders who marveled at her golden coat.

“Soon, they will all know my name when I stand at the top,” she boasted as her claws slid out and retracted repeatedly. She looked so confident of herself that Camilla couldn’t resist bursting her bubble.

“Can you even beat Ismelda? It looks like she’s joining, and if anything, she should be near the top. I doubt that you will manage to surpass her anytime soon.”

Reality was harsh, and Camilla’s words soon proved right.

Although there was usually already a schedule, Ismelda used her connections and personal power within the coliseum to get Camilla, Kagriss, and Elyss into the matches for that day, one after the other.

The workers looked at Ismelda in awe, their eyes unable to leave her, as they ushered them into the chambers underground where all the combatants waited. Of them all, it was Elyss who went first. Thanks to Ismelda’s power within the coliseum, they managed to get seats with a good view up at the front.

Loud drums sounded from somewhere in the coliseum, bouncing around the walls, causing Camilla’s heart to shudder from the vibrations. They started slow but quickly picked up the pace. A magically enhanced voice rose above the beats and din.

“Greeeetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Celrantis Coliseum!”

Like the drumbeats, Camilla couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from, at least at first. With Kagriss’s help, pointing out the general direction, Camilla managed to find the announcer, as well as the drums. Her curiosity satisfied, she ignored them and focused on Elyss.

The lion was held behind thin-looking steel grated gates that barred the tunnels from the sandy grounds of the arena floor, and despite the apparent weakness of the metal that made up the gates, Camilla felt strong magic coming from it. Elyss might not have an easy time breaking the metal if she tried her best.

“Let us give a warm welcome to a rare guest who joined us today. Many of you have seen and have probably grown tired to beast duels, but this lioness is different. She is smart and intelligent, possessing thought and emotion! Today, she challenges Borax, the Lumberjack!”

The crowd burst into cheers at the defender’s name. Borax, obviously a popular fighter, stood in the center of the arena, a huge axe resting by his side. Both of his hands were raised up high, as if to expose his being to the crowd, so they could see more of him. 

But not everyone was interested in him. Some were looking with curious eyes at the beast lurking in the shadows. They vied to catch a glimpse, while the audience that sat above her gate groaned at their bad luck. After all, the ‘lioness’ was a new sight. Like the announcer implied, the previous beasts that graced this amphitheater were almost all mere mindless animals, blessed with an abundance of power, captured from the nearby lands for the sake of having their blood spilled onto these sands.

Slowly, the cheers faded as Borax’s moment in the light was over, replaced by hushed voices of discussion. Whispers rippled through the crowd as they talked amongst themselves, discussing Elyss’s presence when the gates barred her from the arena rose up with the clanking of chains. When she took her first step out, the audience hushed, followed by an eruption of cheers. Each step she took was graceful and prideful. Finally, she stood in the center, basking in the attention of the audience, her head held high, eyes closed. Her fur seemed almost on fire in the midday sun.

“Behold, Elyss, the Radiant!”

“—pfft—!” Camilla held her mouth as everyone around her looked at her. She couldn’t help it. What about Elyss is radiant? Well, okay, fine; Elyss has a holy magic construct in the back of her throat, but she very rarely used it. And the color of her fur fits…

Perhaps it wasn’t an unfitting name? The mirth subsided, replaced partially by excitement as she was affected by the rowdy atmosphere. The people cheered for the new prize fighter in the coliseum, excited to see what she will bring.