Vampire Reborn

Chapter 32: Society

Alucard did not tire nor require any kind of sleep due to his undead nature but, he was still unable to break out of some of his human habits so he always made sure to get some sort of sleep whenever he could. And, now was a better time than any considering how drained he felt.

He took one last whiff of the not-so-fresh air before once again grabbing his thick black mask, slowly entering the first bed he felt in months as he stared up at the creaking boards of the room's ceiling. Although the mask blocked much of his airflow from the outside world, he was not about to take any chances of people somehow peeking inside his room only to find out he was a vampire. Besides, Alucard thought that the thinner air entering his nose as he slept would slowly train him to be able to utilize his undead body's strength of not needing air to its full advantage and eventually break out of his human practices.

As he laid down on the bed, he could not help but find many similarities between it and the hard stone ground of the moist cave he used to reside. Even after readjusting himself multiple times, the feeling of rock hitting his head and back could not be escaped.

This was all a reminder of how he was currently at the bottom of society. A rich, well-endowed man like him slept on the most comfortable of beds, yet now he could not remember that feeling nor did he think of it too fondly. To him, it was all the same now.

He had seen more than enough horrors in his single month of being here and people who had it far worse than he did. He had no right to complain about a slightly uncomfortable bed.

He looked up mellowly at the ceiling and began to slowly ponder.

Just like the game, the world was lacking in technology but made up for it with its heavy origins in magic. But, that did not come as a surprise to him at all.

Alucard had seen many things upon entering the city and had learned much about the reality and culture of this new world. It was rooted in strict tradition and social laws far more than the rather free in comparison world he was used to.

It was a rather jarring, eye-opening experience when he first set foot on the busy roads of the city. The social divide between the classes were more than clear at but a glance. It was like half the people he would see on the streets wore nothing but rags and a good chunk of them claimed certain corners of the roads as their homes. It was like he could not go a few steps without noticing at least one man begging for money. The rich and nobles walked around proudly like they were on top of the world while the poor in rags seemed to try their best to survive and get by without getting in trouble as guards could not care less about them.

But, not even those people had it the worst No, it was by far the non-human slaves. Those were the true dirt of society. It was impossible to see any non-human sentient creature in anything outside a collar and thick chains. They were publicly beaten senseless if they did not do as they were told and were treated worse than the worms that slivered on the ground on rainy days. They were common to see amongst certain rich and nobles.

From the brief moment' Alucard took to find the adventurer's guild he managed to come across all kinds of slaves Everything from elves, lizard-men, wolf-men, orcs, and far more.

That alone spoke volumes about the state of this country's economy and social systems.

Alucard had never been an advocate or anyone's life other than his own and there was no way he was about to begin now. Not to mention, he had no business discussing something he lacked complete knowledge of. He had no idea about anything pertaining to the history of the country or its people like any previous wars that would have made this happen.

He had only gotten a surface view from the first few minutes he saw of the city. There was still much for him to learn and much for him to adapt in order to fit in and not stand out.

At a first glance, this world was very similar to that of the game he knew and loved, but upon closer inspection that could not be farther from the truth, especially in one area

When he walked around the city, it was nearly impossible to see a woman that did not wear a dress or skirt, walking around trying their best to appear as pretty and dignified as possible, this was especially obvious in the rich but oddly existed in even the lowest class.

Not only that, out of all the guards patrolling the busy roads, not one of them was a woman. At that point, he could not come to any conclusion considering he had only visited certain parts of the city, but once he entered the guildhall, it was more than clear

It was the most masculine gathering he had ever seen. The testosterone was almost oozing out of the walls. Every single adventurer with no exception was male, while a bulk of the staff were the only females around.

They were all treated like second-class objects that the men used for their own purposes, harassment was not too far off the table. It was truly a medieval society through and through. It was truly despicable, yet at the same time, he was no hero and felt no obligation to do anything about it.

But that made him wonder even more as the sudden image of that golden-eyed woman popped up in his mind along with that piercing stare that was etched deep down in his subconscious and still sent shivers down his spine to this very day.

"Hey Lord Alucard Are you going to sleep now?" His thoughts were immediately interrupted by a sudden glowing figure flying directly into his line of sight.

"Yes Luck, I am" He smiled underneath his mask.

"Can Can I sleep beside you?" He nervously asked, taking Alucard by surprise.

"Sure, why not, it's not the most comfortable place but here you go," He scooted over to the left side of the bed to allow Luck some space on the pillow.

"Thank you so much, my lord!" He fluttered down and snuggly made himself comfortable on the rock-hard pillow, the light turning extremely dim around his body as he slowly closed his eyes and went to sleep like a little child.

"Hey, aren't you scared I might move while I sleep and accidentally crush you?"

"Uh, uh," He gently shook his head. "I trust you my lord just like you trust me I'm certain nothing like that will happen" Luck smiled, closing his eyes once again and peacefully went to sleep.

Alucard's eyes suddenly softened as he looked at Luck's peacefully sleeping figure and he could not help but be once again overwhelmed with a sudden wave of guilt.

The memory sprung back into his brain like a volcano The memory of outrage brought upon by his thirst for blood and the sight of the beyond scared face Luck wore which was brought upon by his actions. In Rebirth, that outrage was the vampire passive, "Blood Furor," which simply increased certain vampire powers but made the user agro on every enemy in sight indiscriminately, unable to escape or flee from battle The player was had lower defence and was slightly harder to control in such a state but was still very playable, not to mention that the state did not force attacks on allies due to the no friendly fire set in place by the developers. To a certain point, it was almost a joke debuff that players at times even resorted to on purpose depending on the situation.

In hindsight, he should have completely expected for this mechanic to be tweaked to translate to this new world but he was too ignorant. And as such, he had to pay the price. Yet, despite all of that, Luck still acted the same towards him and even felt comfortable sleeping next to him. If he did it out of his own free will and not out of some programmed AI embedded in him, he couldn't imagine the strength needed to do what he did.

He wondered if that was how a true partner was meant to be...

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