stand-in creed

Nero just listened carefully to the fortune-teller's words, with complicated eyes.

Suddenly, the gypsy girl coughed again.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"Your body?"

"It's an old problem, don't worry about it. I won't die until the fateful day comes."

The gypsy girl is clearly reluctant to talk about her illness.

Immediately after the gypsy girl put the remaining cigarettes in her pocket, she was ready to go back to the house.

Only then did Nero speak.

"I need your divination, I want to investigate a person!"

"……follow me."

The gypsy girl led Nero to the house and came to a crystal ball.

After Nero sat down, the gypsy girl led Nero's hand to put on the crystal ball and said, "Close your eyes and think about the person you are looking for."

"I don't know what he looks like."

"It doesn't matter, just think about it as much as possible."

"it is good."

Nero thought about it seriously.

He didn't know Dior's height, shortness, fatness, or whether he was white or black. Everything was an invisible mystery to Nero.

All Nero can do is just try to repeat the name "Dior" in his heart silently over and over again.

And the crystal ball, responding to Nero's spirit.

"Open your eyes."

The fortune teller said softly.

What caught my eyes was the increasingly clear picture in the crystal ball.

It was a dark bedroom.

A blond man with knotted muscles, a star-shaped birthmark on the back of his neck, and translucent white skin was sitting quietly on the bed, holding a book in his hand.

Nero didn't know what kind of book it was. The dense tadpole-like Arabic writing on the cover was beyond Nero's knowledge, which made him puzzled.

'This man... is Dior. '

Nero thought to himself.

Just when Nero was about to ask the gypsy girl if she could observe any further information, the man in the picture suddenly raised his head.The scarlet eyes seem to have crossed time and space, looking straight at Nero behind the crystal ball.

"You are watching, descendants of Zeppelin."

"!"

Hearing Dio's calm but domineering words, both Nero and the fortune-teller in front of him widened their eyes.

"Want to find me Dio?

"Divination is really a convenient tool. But it doesn't matter, I, Dio, am not the kind of rat who hides his head and shows his tail.

"It just so happens that I'm also curious about how much you have improved or how much you have regressed compared to William A. Zeppelin, whose rippled brilliance was as weak as a firefly, so——

"If you want to see me, come to Cairo! Just like the waiter respectfully serving the "pre-dinner" desserts to the guests, send yourself to my Dior!

"The premise is that you really dare to come? Hahahahahahaha!"

Click!

In passionate laughter.

The crystal ball reflecting the figure of the vampire was shattered into countless fragments and piled up in front of Nero and the fortune-teller.

The fortune teller was silent.

Nero just stood up and bowed to the fortune teller.

"Thank you."

Leaving this sentence, Nero was ready to leave.

The fortuneteller stopped Nero.

"Don't you ask about the future?"

"No need." Nero's eyes were so clear, "I understand, if fate determines that I will return triumphantly, then it doesn't matter if I don't ask. And even if fate determines my defeat, as a son of man, as a Full of honor Zeppelin, I will still go this way.

"The prophecy of defeat will only increase my troubles."

After leaving these words, Nero left the supermarket and disappeared into the rainy night in Rome.

Chapter 6 The Unicorn

It's still raining.

Not far from the fortune teller's supermarket, Nero, who was returning home, saw a strange young man far away.

A young man with pink hair.

Wearing a fashionable cardigan, holding an umbrella in his left hand, and holding a thick suitcase filled with a pile of cash in his right hand, he was not in a hurry to rush on the night of howling storms, but squatted in the The side of the road looked at something on the road.

It was only after Nero got closer that he saw what the pink-haired youth was looking at.

It was an insect—

Unicorn.

I saw this beautiful unicorn crawling on the asphalt road, being blown a short distance by the strong wind from time to time, and being blown upside down from time to time, but even so, it still walked its own path resolutely in the wind and rain.

As for the pink-haired youth, he stared intently at the Unicorn Immortal.

Sometimes he opened his mouth, sometimes he showed a panicked expression when the unicorn was blown away, and sometimes he clenched his fists to cheer when the unicorn turned around and got back on track.

'Insect observation?

'It's such a leisurely guy to be able to observe insects leisurely in this kind of weather.

'This guy probably enjoys life too, right? '

Nero thought so.

Nero had no interest in insects. He just saw what this pink-haired youth squatting on the side of the road on a rainy day was doing and then continued on his way.But at this moment, the high beams were turned on on the road ahead, and the sound of roaring engines and tires splashing water could be heard in my ears.

It was a big blue truck full of goods, driving straight towards here.

However, at the next moment when he saw the big truck, the behavior of this pink-haired youth was beyond Nero's expectation.

"--Danger!!!"

The pink-haired youth suddenly shouted in panic.

Who is dangerous?

No one is in danger?

Nero watched in a daze as the pink-haired young man dropped the suitcase and umbrella in his hand and rushed towards the asphalt road. He rushed up to pick up the unicorn on the ground, and rolled on the road again, dangerously and dangerously. escaped from under the truck's tires.

At the same time, something seemed to have fallen out of the pink-haired youth's pocket, and it shone brightly under the light of the lightning that flashed from the other side.

"are you crazy--!!!"

Because a person rushed out suddenly, he swayed in the direction, causing the car to sway from side to side and almost flipped over. The young truck driver pulled down the window and cursed angrily.

However, the pink-haired young man ignored the scolding of the truck driver, sat on the other side of the road wet and dirty, stroking the unicorn in his hand with a reassuring expression.

"It's great to be fine."

The pink-haired youth muttered to the Unicorn Fairy.

As for Nero, he blinked his eyes, feeling a little confused in his mind.

Desperate for a unicorn?

Neuropathy!

It would be understandable if he was desperate for a living person, and even Nero would applaud him, but for a unicorn fairy, risking being hit by a truck to help him is beyond Nero's imagination.

"Strange guy."

Nero was thinking how this kind of psychopath would not be hit by a car, and at the same time helped the pink-haired young man across the street to pick up the suitcase and umbrella he had dropped just now.

And the object that fell out of the pocket just now.

"……Um?"

Nero looked at the thing on the ground and reached out to pick it up.

"Like... an arrow? Hiss."

Nero smacked his lips.

Obviously this arrow looks quite old, but I didn't expect it to be so sharp.

Just picking it up and touching the edge lightly, without any effort at all, the arrow directly cut a slender opening in Nero's hand, and a few drops of blood ooze out.

Nero only blamed himself for being careless. An old man would not extort medical expenses for such a small injury. He just walked towards the pink-haired youth together with the suitcase and umbrella he picked up just now.

"Hey, you dropped something."

cried Nero.

Hearing Nero's call, the spirit of the pink-haired youth left the unicorn in his hand, and looked at the approaching Nero in a daze.

After seeing what Nero was holding, the pink-haired youth cried out.

"Hey, hey—?!"

The pink-haired youth showed a frightened expression, and immediately took the suitcase, umbrella and arrows from Nero solemnly, and thanked them repeatedly.

"Thank you! This is a very important thing! If I lose it, I will definitely be scolded by the boss!"

It seemed that the wet, pink-haired youth cared more about this little arrowhead than the heavy suitcase.

Nero just waved his hand.

"Then don't do such dangerous things next time. It's not worth losing your life for a unicorn."

After all, they are just passers-by who meet by chance, and they don't even have the meaning of self-introduction.

Say it.

Nero left.

Only the pink-haired young man at the back looked at the drop of blood stained on the arrow in a daze.

……

For Nero, the encounter with the pink-haired youth is just a trivial matter that is not worth paying attention to.

After returning home and taking a hot bath, Nero went to the study with his shirt on and only a pair of shorts, took out his notebook, recalled the scenes that happened in the cemetery, picked up a pen and began to make notes .

"--vampire.

"Features: immortality, scarlet pupils, sharp fangs, strength and speed beyond ordinary people.

"Weakness: Ripple.

"To be verified: garlic, silverware, toon nails, sun.

"--substitute.

"Feature 1: An invisible phantom with special power, only the substitute messenger can see the substitute.

"Feature 2: There is a distance limit.

"Feature 2: The vampire's avatar is the same as the main body, and cannot touch the ripples.

"Weakness: When the substitute is injured, the main body will also be injured simultaneously."

Recalling the battle with the vampire, Nero wrote such a record.

Some were casual utterances of the vampire, others were Nero's own observations.