The Military Chef of a Ruined World

-While I understand why you call me a vampire, the pronunciation of my species’ name in my own language doesn’t overlap with ‘vampire’ at all.

I see.

The monsters are beings from another world, so it’s strange that their species would match common human myths.

Now that I think about it, this one has always introduced itself as a ‘Night Noble’, not a vampire.

The same goes for the vassals I fought before.

The reason I’ve been calling them vampires was…

[Vampire Baroness]

‘It must have been because of the status window.’

The status window doesn’t lie.

…Wait.

Maybe I just defaulted to labeling them as vampires since I didn’t have a better translation for their name.

‘How careless.’

This status window can be a bit sloppy in many ways.

Anyway, this one has simply learned the human language, like the goblins.

It seems they cannot communicate with regular monsters.

‘Hold on a moment.’

This one said their case was special, didn’t they?

I looked back to the shadow.

“You said you learned the human language by drinking blood, right?”

-Yes.

“Can you then learn the language of those fishmen monsters as well?”

The monsters who turned this city into a dungeon.

From our perspective, they’re not much different from other monsters.

‘They not only use language but have their own architectural styles as well.’

Perhaps these monsters possess a more advanced civilization and knowledge than we thought.

‘They might know something.’

These monsters that suddenly appeared on Earth – the reason for their invasion was still unclear.

The only one I’ve managed to make a vassal is Arielle, but even she didn’t understand why she ended up on Earth.

But these monsters are a bit different.

In such numbers, and even progressing a terraforming on Earth.

‘I might be able to learn the reason for their invasion of Earth.’

However…

-While I understand your intent, it would be difficult.

“Why?”

-I’m just a low-ranking noble, you see.

It seems the method I had hoped for is not available to me.

-Fully absorbing the memories of an existence is only possible for the higher nobles. Even just absorbing language knowledge requires being of a similar species.

“Tch… The vampires are more incompetent than I expected.”

-…Haha. I didn’t expect you, my lord, to say something like that!

“?”

-If things had gone as planned, I would have already risen to at least the rank of a true baroness by now. But then someone came and killed all the vassals I had worked hard to raise, and even drank my blood.

“Ah.”

I see.

My own actions have led to her incompetence.

Now that I think about it, the [Shadow Veil] has shrunk tremendously at the same time as her weakening.

Originally, it was large enough to barely hold the [Mobile Fortress], but not anymore.

And there’s one more important point.

‘Can monsters grow as well?’

Compared to the monsters I’ve encountered so far, we have a clear growth metric in levels, but that doesn’t seem to be applicable for the monsters till now.

But after witnessing the vampires my world view shattered.

I recalled the description that came up when I made her a vassal:

[Though her rank as a blood relative is low, she possesses exceptional talent]

[Cherish and raise your vassal!]

[With your support, they may reach even greater heights]

‘I just thought of using them as monsters without properly cultivating them.’

To make proper use of them, I’ll need to help them grow to a certain degree.

This measly baroness is practically useless.

I’d need them to at least reach the level of a count before they’d be truly useful.

‘But it seems communication will still be difficult.’

Regrettable, but unavoidable.

To casually converse with other species would require an incredibly advanced being.

After that brief rest, we continued advancing, engaging in several more battles.

“The water is rising steadily.”

“Mm.”

After those battles, I suddenly realized the water that had only reached our waists before had risen considerably higher.

The shorter soldiers were starting to feel discomfort as the water reached their chests.

“Look! There it is!”

The drowned cityscape disappeared, and a massive architectural structure made of a pure white material came into view.

“A temple… perhaps?”

“Who knows.”

The building was surrounded by giant columns, their walls etched with mysterious patterns.

The grandiose atmosphere did evoke a temple-like feeling.

Whether that was its actual purpose or not, I couldn’t say.

There were smaller structures built around the central building as well, giving the impression of an ancient sunken city.

The main difference being that this was likely built underwater from the start.

I gazed at the water now rising to our chests.

‘Now is the time to attack.’

Originally, even that massive building was completely submerged in water.

No matter how much [Environmental Adaptation – Water] buff we had, fighting underwater would not have been easy.

But the mages’ large-scale lightning spells have now dealt damage to the boss, making entry possible.

‘In other words, we need to quickly defeat it before it can recover.’

That’s why we’ve rushed in a bit hastily.

If the creature recovers and the environment changes, the difficulty of the assault would escalate dramatically.

I approached the temple-like building.

At the center, there was a massive door.

“It’s enormous.”

“Even accounting for those monsters being around 2 meters tall…”

“That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?”

At least 5 meters tall, that colossal door.

The moment I reached out to open it:

[Retreat]

“…Huh?”

Though I looked around at the surprised expressions of the others, the voice came again:

[Withdraw]  

This time, I realized it was not in our language.

It must be the language used by those monsters.

While I still couldn’t fully understand the speech, the meaning somehow translated itself into my mind.

Just a few hours ago, I had the thought that communication with an entirely different species would require an advanced being.

-Oh my?

A voice came from the shadow.

-I can smell an incredibly delicious blood scent from the inside.

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