Chapter 74: Right or wrong decision

April 29th, 2023

Beta Reader: My_Own_Worst_NPC

=============================================================

The next morning, I appeared in front of everyone properly clothed.

I was wondering whether the other would still be in state of nakedness, but it turns out the other had also worn clothes. You could say we’ve returned to being civilized.

Farewell, days of being in the garden of Eden. Though objectively, we’re about to enter a forest so it will be hard to walk naked there.

After breakfast, we proceed to investigate the island, but as expected there were no rivers or springs, and also no large mammals. The good news is, there was no sign of monsters, which gave me some relief; it would mean there’s no risk of being preyed upon by monsters even if we’re just lazily loitering around while being naked. [1]

I wouldn’t mind being preyed upon by a cute girl, though.

Since I’m not planning to make a field here anyway, I quickly accept the situation that there’s no fresh water source here. It’s not so crucial for me, since I can just make it up by using creation magic.

“Hey Sierra, can you come with me for a bit?” I asked Sierra to follow me walking toward a hill. We then climbed up the rugged rocky terrain toward the higher ground.

“What’s wrong, elder brother? Why do you bring me to such place away from the others?”

“I’m sorry. We’re not going to do anything weird; I just want to ask for your help for hiding this stuff.” I pulled out a leather bag from my shoulder bag and show it to her.

“I see, you want to hide some gold.”

“Yes. There are a lot of adventurers in Monte Chris Island, and some of them may be dangerous, so this is for a just-in-case situation since we never know when we might get robbed.”

Sierra agreed to help, and eventually we found a large rock that could be used as a landmark. It looked like a turtle stretching its neck, which is a perfect place to hide it since it’s easy enough to remember. Sierra then drilled a hole in the rear of the turtle and hid the leather bag there and seal the hole afterward with a large rock. Gold and magic stones do not corrode after all, so hiding it like this would not be a problem.

“In case that I somehow pass away, I want you to make good use of it, Sierra.”

“I don’t need it; I have plenty of gold already…”

“Then, please give it to Cecily or the others.”

…

Thinking back, it was really a terrible statement that I made.  I was only thinking that it would be better if the money that I have would be beneficial to someone else if I no longer around.

After all, I’ve had such experience once, by being transported away to this world from Earth. I don’t know what happened to my property I left behind in Japan, but I’m sure it went to my parents and siblings. I only thought that I would be happy if the people close to me would get something out of the money and possession that I left them behind.

But Sierra, after hearing what I said, had an incredibly sad look on her face.

“Sierra?”

“I… I don’t like being entrusted with things like this. Everyone keeps leaving me behind.”

I realized then, that the lifespan of a human being is different from that of a vampire. Even if I managed to live until I die of old age, Sierra will still be alive. She will still be young and would live long into the future.

Perhaps, from Sierra’s standpoint, she will always be the one who got left behind, and it wouldn’t be surprising if she already had to say goodbye to someone important to her in the past.

“I’m sorry. That was inconsiderate of me.”

“Twas fine, since for me it’s a reality that I have to come to term anyway.”

Our conversation then interrupted by a sound of a bird that I don’t know the name of.

“Let’s go home, Shirou.”

I guess, each of us have no other choice but to accept the fate that has been presented to us. No other way but to live in the moment of our life.

As we begin to make our way home, my foot somehow slipped and stepped off the rock. As I tumbled and rolled down, I hit my elbow and knee hard. Well, this is because I’m still unfamiliar with uphill hiking.

“Shirou!”

Ouch. It kinda stings.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. It just hurt a bit.”

When I checked my elbows and knees, there were scratches and were bleeding. Tears begin to run down the corner of my eyes.

“Ahaha. It’s a little early in the day, but do you want to have some snack?” I jokingly said. Half the reason was to take my mind off the pain from the fall, and the other half was to hide my embarrassment for my clumsiness.

Forcing a smile, I held out my bleeding arm toward Sierra. The wound was not only covered with blood, but also with mud. Since it’s dirty, I don’t suppose a vampire would be fine with drinking it as a snack.

Or so I thought, but Sierra took my arm in her hand without hesitation. Then, she crawled her own tongue over it as if she were slowly tracing back the blood.

“Sierra… It’s dirty, you know…”

“……”

Sierra was crying.

But she kept on licking at my injured arm even while crying.

“I’m so despicable, right? Shirou is in pain, and yet I, a vampire, is happily feeding on your wound.”

“No, that’s not true at all. I would never think of Sierra as someone despicable.”

Poor Sierra.

Maybe all this time she has been craving to suck blood like this, like a person yearning for water in the middle of a desert. And yet, all I’ve ever given her was just blood created by magic. This is the first time for her to drink my real blood.

“Shirou… will you become my familiar? If it’s now, I think I have the courage to bite you.”

Sierra’s words made me happy. Looking at her sincere expression, I think she really muster all her courage to be able to bite me.

It… really made me happy, but…

The logical side of me reject such proposal.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. Sierra, I love you, I truly do. But if you turn me into your familiar, I will be forced to love you until the rest of my life, won’t I? But what about you, Sierra, can you confidently say that you will always love me until the day that I die?”

Sierra was unable to say anything.

Which pretty much tell us the reality of the situation.

After all, becoming a familiar of a vampire is not just some kind of love affair or temporary situation; it is something which has a permanent and lasting consequences.

“Can’t we… just become lovers for now?”

“It’s vampire’s ironclad rule…”

“Is it absolute?”

“It is.”

There must be some underlying principle that I don’t understand, why it’s forbidden.

“The truth is, I’ve somehow knew that Shirou would refuse to become my familiar. That’s why I was satisfied with our brother and sister relationship. That way, even if we’re unable to have physical contact, our relationship is still close.”

Yeah, that kind of reasoning does make sense.

“Is it forbidden to kiss you if I’m not your familiar?”

“There’s no such restriction. But, once we do that, we’ll be wanting for more.”

“If it turns out that we want more… we’ll decide what to do when the time comes.”

Afterall, to become lovers is to live in the heat of the moment.

We embraced each other. Our hands moved, as if searching and confirming the existence of one another. My lips move to envelope her mouth, as her is covering mine.

It was a really long kiss.

Finally, Sierra reluctantly part her mouth from mine and whispered resentfully.

“Look what happened now… I want more of you Shirou. I don’t think I can stop anymore.”

Sierra put her lips on me again. It was a longer kiss than before.

“Shirou… I need it badly…”

“Yeah, I’ll make you feel better now…”

My hand moves toward Sierra’s blouse button, and start unbuttoning it…

…

In the end, both of us reached ecstasy while somehow able to hold ourselves from crossing the final line. We took turns to pleasure each other and feel good together.

…

We put on our clothes back, without looking at each other.

There was a mixed feelings of listlessness, love, and emptiness, and I feel like something heavy is gripping me in the pit of my stomach.

It’s the feeling of regrets.

And it seems that Sierra felt the same way.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The evidence of that, is three days after we went back to the Monte Chris Island, Sierra has suddenly left the island and only leaving a letter behind.

Dear Shirou,

Thank you for everything. It is always hard for me to see someone off, so this time I want to try to be someone who leave, so I don’t get to be the one left behind. Or maybe this is just my selfish desire to let other people to know how difficult it is to be left behind.

Shirou, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I wish we could have been together forever, but we are of different race. However, please don’t be sad. I understand your reasoning of not wanting to be my familiar. As much as I love you, I don’t want it to dominate you and rob you of your freedom to choose. Your decision to refuse becoming my familiar is the right one. After all, to force someone to love them back is nothing more than a self-deception.

We will meet again, someday. Whenever you are in trouble, I promise I’ll be there to become your strength. I will quickly come to you wherever you are on this planet. That’s why, promise me that you will never forget about me. Please remember that out there, there is one vampire that loves you with all her heart. A vampire that foolish enough to seek the light.

                                                                                  Loving you with all my heart,

                                                                                                                     Sierra

The faint scene of Sierra still lingers in the now empty room. It too, will fade away in time.

I buried my face in the pillow Sierra usually used and cried aloud.

I wish I had been much kinder to her.

=================================================================

1 That settles it then. Shirou is thinking to turn the Western Island into nudist beach.

———————————————————————————————

((MoWNPC: Poor Shirou… as weird as the bro-con / sis-con relationship is to me, the purity of their love was really sweet.))

So true. If only the stupid vampire ironclad rule didn’t exist.