Vampire's Slice of Life

In a room illuminated by soft blue light from aquatic vines hanging at the stone walls, an overbearing Giant walked towards a pedestal with slow steps.

A transparent casket big enough to house a family of four lay upon the pedestal, covered in beautiful bright flowers. It was shrouded in a gloomy air of tranquility, bringing out hints of melancholy and quiet from the onlookers.

The Giant stood before the casket and stared at the person inside it with an aged expression. His eyes were hollow and he seemed to have significantly become paler.

This was the current Chief of Giants, Khimav — the strongest Giant in the world.

"Yvonne…"

Khimav called out in absolute tenderness, afraid that even his voice might hurt her.

Within the casket was a sleeping Giant lady with blonde hair. Her complexion didn't seem odd and she appeared normal, but reality was far from that.

Khimav knelt down beside her and caressed the casket as if he was caressing her silky hair. With his eyes moistening, he said gently,

"…Just a little longer, my love. Just a little longer."

After saying so, he silently watched his wife and reminisced, lost in nostalgia.

–You idiot, when are you going to propose? I am sick of you being as dense as a rock. Is there only muscles in your head or what?

–Khimav. Khimav Oljobanga. If you don't stop training right at this instance, and come back home, then just see what I'll do to you.

–I swear to Mother Helvia Khimav, if you confuse Zucchini again with cucumbers, I'll shove that ******* thing up your *** and make you train with your buddies.

–Idiot! I'm the one giving birth, why are you the one getting dizzy!?

–Ok. Ok. Ok. Calm down, calm down, take a deep breath... the baby will come out just fine. I'm a strong lady, I can make one or two of these pop out with no hassle.

–What? No? I'm not in pai— you! Why the **** are you crying like a lil *****? I'm fine, didn't I tell you? Aghhh… go stand in that corner and let me give birth in peace.

–Phew. That was some work. Get me a drink, Khimav. I'm tired.

–What? The doctors said I can't drink?

–Khimav. If I don't get a drink in two minutes, then…

–Haiz… babies grow up so fast. Our Yaza has awakened already, haha. Say… you dense rock… wanna go for—

hm, wait, why am I even asking? Let's go make another baby!

–Naberiu has awakened too now, haha. Time flies so fas—cough! Cough!

–I'm fine. I'm fine. Don't worry— cough! Cough! About m—cough!

–Kh..ima..v… stop cry…ing… I'm fine… didn't I say?

–…Yaza… Nab..er..iu… don't cry… mother's… fine…

–Khimav… sorry… sor..ry… for being a… burden…

–…I… lo… v..e… you… idi..o..t…

Drip. Drip.

No matter how much Khimav tried to keep himself composed, his eyes poured out his true feelings.

Fifty years, eight months, and twenty-four days... that's how much time it had been since his wife stopped nagging at him, cursing him, beating him, and... loving him.

She wasn't dead, but the illness she was suffering through had no cure in this world. Khimav had searched everywhere for it.

When all hope seemed to have vanished, a glimmer of hope struck him as he overheard a group of people conversing about the new goddess in town.

Mother Seia was benevolent. She was kind, magnanimous, and more active in giving blessings to her devotees than Mother Helvia.

Khimav had prayed to Mother Helvia repeatedly but it was to no avail. Hence, as a last ditch resort, he hired a priest and tried to get Mother Seia's blessings for his wife.

The priest told Khimav that changing faith was seen as a taboo and wouldn't be welcomed by Goddesses'.

If one could so easily change faith, they were never a devout believer. They were never someone loyal and faithful to one Goddess.

Khimav was disheartened hearing that, but the priest then told him that there was still a way to get by these things.

To get the Goddess' blessings, there was a way.

All Khimav had to do was get more worshippers to her and perform a few rituals to please the Goddess, then she would understand his devotion and grant him the blessings.

Thus, from that day onwards, Khimav went on to become the Chief to have a commanding position over the Giants. He made many convert their faith to Mother Seia and became a devout believer of her.

What the priest said wasn't a hoax, as soon after he got the Goddess a few devotees, she blessed him.

The blessing was what brought his wife back to normal health, but she was in a coma and her illness still hadn't vanished.

However, her life was preserved and she wouldn't die or wither away with the passage of time.

There was just one more hurdle he had to overcome and his wife would be back to normal. His two children would also not be sad anymore and cry for their mom.

The cries of his children still buzzed in Khimav's ears. They had been in such a shock that, they changed completely.

Yaza and Naberiu lost their youthful innocence and turned into stoic personalities. The two moved away from the island and went to participate in wars for other races and kept themselves distracted.

They didn't visit their mother even once in fifty years. It was only Khimav who visited her everyday. However, he didn't blame them and could understand their pain. If they wanted to cope in such a manner, then so be it.

"…Just… a little longer…"

Khimav said gently once again.

The ex-chief's faction was the only one that worshiped Mother Helvia. It was due to them that the last few people in the Giant Society were still stubbornly refusing to pray to Mother Seia.

Khimav was strong enough to wipe them out, but doing so would cause a lot of disorder in the kingdom and the last batch of people would never worship Mother Seia.

He thus had to be lenient and pretend that he was neutral in this matter and not doing anything, when in reality, he was the one pulling the strings behind the curtains.

In the past few years, Malros's faction had been provoked quite a lot of times by Cimir's. They broke many rules as they still weren't used to Khimav's reign.

The initial few times, they were simply let go with a warning, and Khimav was successful in letting everyone in the kingdom know how good of a Chief he was.

It got to the point that many from Malros's faction broke apart as they refused to do the 'dirty' work of Malros. They refused to meddle with Cimir's faction and wanted to be out of these politics.

The things that took place in the court two days ago were also orchestrated by Khimav. It was the second last step of his great plans.

The last step would be to forever banish them, then kill them in seclusion, and have everyone in the society converted to worshiping Mother Seia.

Just a little longer… a few more days at best…

…..

Back in the dungeon.

"So… what's your goal?"

Lith was staring at Lucas as if he was a funny animal.

Despite being startled out of his wits and having a chill run down through him, Lucas tried to keep his calm and answer.

Firstly, he asked, "…My goal?"

"Your goal. What are you upto, where are you going to go, what are you going to do, and so on."

[Warning: mentioning about the apocalypse will hasten it!]

[Warning: mentioning about the apocalypse will hasten it!]

[Warning: mentioning about the apocalypse will hasten it!]

.

.

.

[Quest: Lie to the questioner(difficulty: F) has started.]

[Reward: Breakthrough assist for Half King Rank.]

[Penalty: Death.]

"…"

The damned system decided things for himself once again. There was no way to avoid this quest.

However, being an old being, Lucas's brain quickly came up with something that would lead to his benefit.

"I have no plans for now. I've been wandering, trying to avoid wars, and slowly cultivating to achieve a breakthrough."

"I see." Lith nodded thoughtfully. 'If Lucas had nothing to do then—'

"Your Highness… there's a slight problem."

Sylvia's voice cut off Lith's thoughts and made him turn to her.

He instructed Lucas to stay in place and walked over to Sylvia to see what the problem was.

"There's a remnant will of a higher being here." Sylvia pointed at a red strand coiled into a sphere in a certain branch on the tree.

"It's really powerful. If I touch it, it would overpower me and I would die." Sylvia answered flatly. "Do you want me to proceed?"

Again, Sylvia was someone who didn't wish to live. Be alive or be dead, it did not matter to her.

Lith sighed and flicked Sylvia's forehead. "Stop having such thoughts. Anyway, as long as the will's overpowered by someone who has a stronger one, it would be fine, right?"

Sylvia nodded. "That's right. If you could have a stronger bloodline than this person's, it would also work."

"Stronger bloodline…"

Lith said to himself softly and then stared at the will.

'Hmm…'

'…System, can I handle that will? Is it on the level of Grand Lust Sovereign?'

[Analyzing…]

[Answering…]

[The will is weaker than Grand Lust Sovereign's. The Host should be able to handle it. However, caution is advised as pain is inevitable.]

'So I'll have to bear some pain?'

[Yes.]

'Alright.'

Since it wasn't going to be a problem if Lith handled it and chances of succeeding were high, he had an idea.

He turned to look at Sylvia and instructed, "Go home and bring Hyunsuk here."

Sylvia tilted her head in confusion, wondering why the Prince would require someone so weak like that, but it wasn't her place to question his order and thus, giving him a bow, she left.

And thus, Lith awaited Hyunsuk's arrival.