"It's okay, it's just discipline. We're both vampires, but her head is only at the level of a brat or an animal. So we have to hurt them a little to discipline them, right?"
"I see, and I agree. Then, I'll keep a separate record to verify the effectiveness of this educational method."
"Please forgive. Please! Please! Vee, will do it properly next time—"
"Error. ......Vee?"
Fem wondered about the name the girl had said. She was probably talking in first person, hence referring to herself, but the name was unfamiliar to Fem. Fem knew that this individual had never been called that.
The question was answered by Charl, who clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Damn, you’re so stupid! ......No, it's no wonder Fem doesn't know. This thing can’t even remember her own name. ......Hey! I'm gonna ask you nicely again, so make sure to give the right answer! What is your name!?"
He brushed his dusky blond hair to expose his earlobes, and then shouted angrily.
Finally, the girl answered with tears.
"I know! V-V-01Y! V-01Y! Vee is for Vampire! Y is for… Y is for……"
"It means prototype Y! Prototype mass production vampire number one! That's the code name Master gave you instead of your shitty ass name, right? Make sure to remember it!"
"Yes, yes!"
V-01Y shook her head repeatedly while sobbing. Charl ignored her with a sigh and looked towards Fem.
"Well, that’s how it is. I don't know how many times I've told her already......I’m already sick of this."
"Affirmative. What is the cause of the deterioration of her intellect?"
"Well, who knows? Our master was randomly testing her useless body to make sure she wasn’t wasted. Perhaps she had been vampirified to the extent of losing her mind. Or—"
"Or? Elaborate please."
"—This technology is designed to stably change a person into a full vampire instead of a lesser, even if they are a non-virgin. It's possible that the technology and skill isn’t perfect......"
I knew it, it can’t be anything but virgins, he thought, as he looked down at the failed attempt that was still sobbing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pointed but short ear that had pushed back a tuft of hair.
It was about three months ago that Charl was informed of the trial to mass produce vampires. It was about early summer.
He had no experiments to do that day, and was bored with playing with the toys he had been given, so he went to the room to ask his master for something to do.
"Hey, Oubeniel-kun! Do you still have that half-elf girl you said you got the other day?"
"What is it, Charl? Last time you said no, you said you didn't want her because you didn't like her. You said that a mixed was inferior."
Indeed, Tullius had asked him once if Charl wanted her, and he replied with a firm no.
A half-elf adventurer who was successfully captured in Marlan’s dungeon, the Sea of Darkness. Upon a single look, he immediately made his assessment and gave his reply.
—not enough, he said.
She wasn’t bad looking. No, she was in fact good looking. But she was thin and short. It would be fine if she was just skinny, but she was too small. Charl prefers women on the mature side.
Besides, he could already smell the brokenness in the girl's heart. Her soul was already darkened in despair. Charl's hobby was to destroy and defile them himself, and thus, was not interested in things that have already been polluted. He would torment and break the heart of a determined and prideful girl before making them beg for mercy before finally sucking on their blood. Such games were the most fun.
So he had declared, "No, I don't want it."
"Well, you're not buying many slaves these days, are you? Or, more accurately, the number of slaves that are coming my way."
"For the mass production of the S series, I buy only male slaves with a good physique these days...... No, more than that, you are using up female slaves too fast. 10 of them per year, of course it’s too much."
"How depressing to hear that from the roughest slave-user on the continent, Oubeniel-kun. Well, in any case, could I please have that leftover?"
Tullius scratched his cheeks lightly before opening his mouth.
"Bad timing. I had just used her for a little experiment."
"Huh? And, but if she’s still alive—"
"Well, she is alive. But I think she isn’t ideal for your hobbies."
"I don't mind, though? As long as she’s still a virgin, I can put up with me just sucking her blood..."
"I'm sorry, she isn’t a virgin anymore."
"What?"
For a moment, he didn't understand what he had said.
He deflowered an experimental subject? This Tullius Oubeniel? A man who has always had the finest looking female slaves in his service, and has never touched them?
Of course, there was no way he had embraced her. His master explained the situation indifferently to the look he was given.
"Didn't I tell you about this before? The experiment of brainwashing priests to find out the working principle of sacred magic."
"Oh, that thing. Playing with their brains to change their belief in a god, or manipulating them to break commandments — no way."
"Yeah, that. The party we captured came together with a priest. I used that priest for my experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if I let them break the commandments while their belief in the Holy King religion was still intact."
In the process, he said, she lost her innocence. What a waste. If they were to be used for such a purpose, there would be no problem with using the mass-produced models instead.
But, according to Tullius, this was not ideal. The mass-produced model, though expressionless, still possessed their own minds, and excessive stress could be a burden. Even though they are mass-produced models, they have been modified with great care. It would be a shame to waste them like that, he said.
Therefore, he said, it would be cheaper to experiment on suitable prisoners.
"So, that experiment... I got some surprisingly interesting results, you know? There was quite a difference in the disadvantages of breaking different commandments. In some cases, there was no effect, and in others, their sacred powers were greatly impaired. Sometimes they would completely lose the ability to use a type of sacred magic. There are very few samples, so I can't say for sure, but I think there is a difference between the precepts that the church teaches and what God actually forbids or considers unclean. So there will be differences in what happens depending on the commandment broken."
"I-I see......"
"The most brilliant finding is that the sin of infidelity, which the priests forbid at every turn. It had zero effect! I almost laughed when I saw the results. Apparently, God had said, ‘Give birth, and multiply, and fill the earth.’ I wonder what the people in the church were thinking when they came up with such a prohibition?"
Tullius explained the results of his blasphemous experiments. It made him, a vampire, want to cover his ears. Perhaps it was because he was an undead who feared God's powers and hence was much more pious and God-fearing. He might hate the church, but he feared it just as much or more.
Manipulating a priest to humiliate a young woman and concluding that a commandment was a lie? Never before had a man conducted such a disgraceful act to the church. Charl hoped that such events would never have to happen again. Once a necromancer and now a vampire lord, he could not believe the sins carried by this alchemist.
"Well, I used her as a partner for such an experiment. So she isn’t pristine. I'm sorry, Charl. I'll leave you to your new toy. I hope you'll be patient with the current situation."
"Uh, yeah ...... I get it. I know, I know, it's an amazing experiment. Well, I guess I have no choice......"
Charl's voice trembled as he answered, and cold sweat appeared on his face. His habit of stuttering, which he had overcome by becoming a vampire, was returning. Tullius didn't seem to notice the change.
"Oh, yes. While looking at you, I thought of something interesting."
"Huh......?"
"On how to use that half-elf captive. After I used her in the experiment with the priest, it seems she lost it. Even though she was brainwashed, I guess it was too much for her to endure being roughed up by her former comrades turned predators. And that's why she is now useless in many ways..."
—And I have just the perfect way to reuse her, he added with a grin.
"R-Reuse?"
"Yeah. You vampires can't make non-virgins into a complete kin. Is that right?"
"Yes......"
"Isn’t that strange? The line between a full vampire or a lesser vampire is a single sexual experience. Why can't non-virgins become full vampires? ......And that is a worthy topic of research, don't you think? And a vampire who has overcome all its flaws would not be a bad way to perfect immortality. This experiment may be a clue in figuring that out."
