Chapter 52

It was just like this: after the protagonist succubus, a small and broken mage, silently eliminated dozens of mercenaries who had ambushed her overnight, the atmosphere of the entire team became extremely strange. The middle-aged vampire could clearly feel that the surviving mercenaries were becoming increasingly disloyal.

Dissatisfaction with the current situation and fear of the protagonist succubus mixed together, along with the endless wind and snow, and the long-lasting loneliness, made these guys become increasingly hysterical.

During the noon break, taking advantage of no one paying attention, the middle-aged vampire pulled the protagonist succubus aside and subtly expressed his concerns.

After that, the protagonist succubus nodded lightly and said, "Yes, I can feel it too. These guys are becoming more and more unreliable... Of course, they weren't very reliable from the beginning."

"Who do you think is to blame for this?!" The middle-aged vampire couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

"Anyway, what do you want to do, sir? You've bribed and made promises to them many times, right? Let me tell you clearly, that's not the way. It will only make those guys greedier. Greedier than you can imagine. So..."

"So what?" The middle-aged vampire was more interested because the protagonist succubus made a lot of sense.

"So you're an inexperienced idiot." The protagonist succubus shrugged and replied, "You're at least an elder of a vampire family, right? How can you lack this kind of ability? Are you a fake? Or did you buy your position through bribery?"

"—You!" The middle-aged vampire's face turned red. He looked at the protagonist succubus, unable to speak. After a long while, he finally regained his composure: "Mage, I came to you not to hear your sarcasm, but to ask if you have any good ideas—if not, then shut up, and I'll think about it!"

"Oh, so you did buy your position through bribery—alright, alright,"

This time, before the middle-aged vampire could explode, the protagonist succubus quickly changed her tone: "Then, for the sake of the commission for fifty people, I'll teach you a lesson."

"—Wait, what does the commission for fifty people mean?"

"Hmm?"

"—Alright, as long as what you say makes sense, then fifty people's commission it is."

"That's right. Money, you can't eat it when you're hungry or wear it when you're cold; it's just an external thing. How can it compare to the usefulness of knowledge?" The protagonist succubus nodded and then quickly took out a contract, a quill, and an ink bottle from her dimensional bag:

"By the Abyss above and below, sign this contract, and I'll tell you."

The middle-aged vampire looked the protagonist succubus up and down, then looked at the contract in her hand. Without much thought, he signed his name in a bad temper.

"Very good. Now it's done. Yes, yes, yes, so the spirit of contract in modern society is very important. After all, this is a society where morals have declined, a—"

"—Get to the point!"

"—The point is to use both kindness and authority." The protagonist succubus shrugged: "Using both kindness and authority, the foundation of the foundation. While giving them benefits, pick a few disobedient troublemakers to deal with. Let them know that you have not only a money bag but also a sword that can kill. This way, they will be much more obedient."

"Is... that so?"

Although it sounded reasonable, because the one who said it, the protagonist succubus, seemed unreliable, the middle-aged vampire naturally felt that this reasoning was also unreliable.

"If you have doubts, try it out. Yes, yes, yes, practice is the only criterion for testing truth. You should have heard this before, right?"

"To be honest, I haven't."

"Eh? You haven't heard such a classic phrase? Isn't it said that nobles are very learned? The person who said this is super famous!"

The protagonist succubus's seemingly genuine expression of surprise made the middle-aged vampire feel a bit embarrassed. At the same time, the protagonist succubus, realizing that this world was different from her world, understood that even if the middle-aged vampire was very learned, he wouldn't have heard this phrase.

So, the conversation returned to its original pattern.

"Then, the philosopher who said this is..."

"It's me, this humble one."

"Oh, it's you."

"Yes, it's me."

"Ha ha ha ha."

"Ha ha ha ha."

And just like that, the protagonist succubus dodged the middle-aged vampire's sudden attack for the twentieth time.

In short, after formulating a strategy, the middle-aged vampire had a rare good night's sleep. He was just waiting for another dark and stormy night to pass so he could follow the protagonist succubus's advice and properly discipline the remaining mercenaries to ensure the successful completion of the mission.

However, things changed the next day.

The next day, the middle-aged vampire woke up, stretched, and shook his head. He slowly walked out of the tent, thinking about what excuse he should use to find trouble with which troublemaker.

"Speaking of which, the biggest troublemaker in this team... is that mage." The middle-aged vampire thought to himself: "But it doesn't seem realistic to discipline that guy... Hmm, what if it's an act? If I pay a certain price to have that mage act with me, to make the other demons think I've already subdued him. This way, there would be no problem at all... The question is, how much more money do I have to give that mage... Damn greedy bastard. He'll be crushed by gold coins one day."

The middle-aged vampire muttered to himself as he walked out of his tent—then he felt something was wrong.

The camp was too empty—not that it looked empty to his eyes, but it felt empty. The middle-aged vampire could sense that there was no demonic aura in the camp at all.

He immediately ran to the nearest tent, lifted the curtain, and walked in, only to find it empty. Undeterred, he turned and ran to another tent, only to find it equally empty.

The middle-aged vampire wandered around the camp, counting heads. He discovered that two of his mercenaries were missing, three were gone, and four had run away. More precisely, everyone in the team except for him, the protagonist succubus, and two others had disappeared, including his bloodline!

"Ah, ah, this is great, peaceful, peaceful. I hate crowded places."

Just as the middle-aged vampire stood there, at a loss, the protagonist succubus stretched and yawned as she walked out of the tent, drawing out her words.

Seeing her, the middle-aged vampire felt his temples throb uncontrollably. He took a few steps to the protagonist succubus, grabbed her collar, and shouted:

"It's all because of you!!!"

Looking at the middle-aged vampire who seemed about to faint from anger, the protagonist succubus dug her ear:

"What's wrong, sir? Do you mean that if I had been dismembered and stewed by those bastards, they wouldn't have found fault and fled, so all the problems are on me?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I mean!"

What the protagonist succubus didn't expect was that the middle-aged vampire actually said such a thing.

"…Oh, my temper."

The protagonist succubus was surprised for two seconds, then drew out two magic missile wands and posed with them: "Sir, are you looking for a fight?!"

"Do you think I'm afraid?!" The middle-aged vampire drew his sword. The protagonist succubus observed for a moment and found that his sword stance was very similar to the middle-aged vampire she had fought before.

"Probably all vampire warriors follow the same pattern." The protagonist succubus thought to herself. Then she shouted loudly to the middle-aged vampire:

"Do I care if you're afraid or not?! Just don't push me!"

"What if I do push you?!"

"I get so crazy that even I'm afraid of myself!"

The two of them maintained their distance, circling each other, and facing off. In this way, the middle-aged vampire also noticed something odd about the protagonist succubus:

"This mage... her stance is quite good. It's very similar to a certain bastard I know..."

The two of them circled each other, provoking each other with words, and cautiously waiting for an opportunity—until a whirlwind suddenly blew across the snowy plain, stirring up the snow on the ground and hurling it at the protagonist succubus and the middle-aged vampire.

At the same time, both the protagonist succubus and the middle-aged vampire moved. They pounced on each other. The long sword and the two magic missile wands launched their attacks simultaneously—taking out the two winter wolves that had ambushed them.