Chapter 8

"Ryuto, I prepared the bath at your request, so why are you trying to get in?"

Just as he was about to enjoy his first bath in two weeks, he was stopped by the first princess, the cheeky young lady.

"First Princess... He is from the same hometown as us and misses the hot springs. Can't you treat him the same as us, as someone who came from the same world?"

"It is out of the question, Ryuto. There is a significant difference between the heroes and him. Treating him on the same level is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that we are even allowing him to stay in this castle is due to our generosity. He should be grateful."

Ryuto tried to persuade the first princess, but the cheeky young lady would not listen.

"Furthermore, the Chancellor, who was on an inspection tour, has returned tonight. It is our duty to help him recover from the fatigue of his journey. Naturally, the Chancellor will also be taking a bath. There is no time for someone like you."

The Chancellor, huh. I haven't seen him. If he was on an inspection tour for over a week, he must have gone quite far.

"No, about the time—"

"No, it's fine, Ryuto. I'll just wipe myself down as usual."

"But—"

"Hmph. That's fine. Understand your position and be grateful."

But how am I supposed to be grateful in this situation? It's getting more and more forced.

Ryuto tried to stop me, but I quickly returned to my room.

Honestly, I was relieved.

I was just thinking about how to avoid the bath and come up with an excuse. Perfect timing.

Why did I deliberately give up the bath I was looking forward to? Actually, I used clairvoyance to observe the bath earlier, and it looked like a public bath.

Since it resembles a public bath in our world, it was probably the work of the previous hero, who seemed to have enjoyed his life in this world.

Because of the faithful reproduction of the public bath, a certain item was installed in large quantities.

In the changing room, the men's bath, and the women's bath, there was something that is always found in Japan.

"Mirrors."

In this world, mirrors are quite expensive, and this castle, which is in a financial crisis, hardly has any. However, the bath, which faithfully reproduced a public bath, had a lot of them. I wonder where they put their effort.

As a vampire, there's a possibility that my reflection won't appear in the mirror. I've been avoiding mirrors so far, but I can't avoid the bath. If it's discovered that my reflection doesn't appear in the mirror, even if I'm not identified as a vampire, I will be feared or suspected. At this stage, that would be a problem.

So, the first princess's words were a godsend for me.

Not being able to take a bath is disappointing, but it can't be helped. I'll just have to endure.

On the way back to my room, I encountered a teacher with two guards.

"A book with information about monsters, right?"

"Yes, if possible, I would like to borrow a book that also has information about demons."

The teacher thought for a moment with a smile and answered.

"I believe there is an encyclopedia in the library. It has precise and clear illustrations, and it includes famous demons. Would that be suitable?"

"Yes."

"Then I will go and find it."

Wait, aren't you going to send someone to find it? This is really an unfortunate position.

"If you could just tell me where it is, I can go and find it myself."

"That library is only accessible to the royal family and the librarian."

That can't be helped.

"Can I at least accompany you?"

"You won't be able to enter the room."

"That's fine."

"Understood. Let's go then."

I followed the teacher to the entrance of the old library. It was dirty and moldy, with a bit of dust accumulated.

This is inside the castle? Why is it so dirty? Hasn't it been cleaned?

"Please wait here, Ryuto."

The teacher entered the dim room.

This is a place where the princess can enter? The guards don't stop her either.

Oh, her dress is getting dirty.

While the teacher was looking for the book, I used clairvoyance, clairaudience, and microscopic vision combined with photographic memory to memorize the contents of the books on the shelves.

However, it's difficult to read each page. It requires a lot of concentration, and the reading speed slows down even for a moment.

"Aha, here it is."

The teacher took out a relatively new book from the library.

Damn, I've only memorized about a tenth of the library.

But staying here any longer would be unnatural.

"Thank you."

I said a formal thank you and parted ways with the teacher, returning to my room.

Now, why did I go to such lengths to get a monster encyclopedia? I wanted to know what kind of being the vampires in this world are.

Depending on that, the range of my actions might change, even if only slightly.

Also, the "Appraisal" skill is convenient, but it provides detailed information about objects, while only showing the status of living beings.

So, I can tell how strong a Ketchou is, but I don't know what biological characteristics it has. Once it becomes a corpse, I can appraise what can be made from its materials. It's really a mysterious setup.

Therefore, I also wanted to learn more about monsters. So far, I haven't seen any monsters properly except for Ketchou.

After wiping myself down, I thought it was time for my night activities, but that wasn't the case.

Since the sun has just set, most people are not yet asleep.

Therefore, the fun of skill training and level-ups happens in the middle of the night.

I use this time of being awake but idle to reflect on the current situation and future plans.

Now, let's start the brain meeting.

The topics are "What are the vampires in this world?" and "I might be expelled, what should I do?"

Let's start with the first topic.

Well, the answer is already decided. Not ggrks, but hymks.

I have to read this monster encyclopedia to find out. I'll use photographic memory and absolute dynamic vision to speed read through it like a manga.

This monster encyclopedia has illustrations of monsters (there are no photos, of course), and they are quite accurate.

I can tell from the accuracy of the illustration of the Ketchou I saw earlier.

Now, let's open the page on vampires. This will give me a basic understanding of the characteristics of vampires, although there's a possibility that the information is false.

'Vampire, a type of demon. A powerful monster that drinks blood. ………'

The existence of vampires seems to be similar to my understanding.

The real issue is the weaknesses of vampires.

'Vampires do not appear in mirrors.'

I haven't confirmed it, but it seems that vampires don't appear in mirrors.

'They become weaker during the day, and turn to ashes when exposed to direct sunlight. They are averse to garlic. They cannot be killed unless their heart is destroyed. They become weaker when they see the Star of Light, and they are weak against mithril weapons. Fire, water, and light magic are effective.'

Even though they become weaker during the day, they don't die immediately from direct sunlight. Is this due to a skill?

And it seems I can't avoid garlic. It's not poisonous, but I can't eat it.

If they can't be killed unless their heart is destroyed, does that mean they can regenerate from anything else?

The Star of Light is a symbol representing the six attributes of light, fire, water, wind, earth, and darkness, with the corner representing darkness removed. It is known as a symbol of faith, but is it a substitute for a cross?

I haven't seen a cross since coming to this world. It makes sense since Christ doesn't exist here.

And surprisingly, mithril. The representative fantasy metal known for its silver luster and steel hardness.

In this world, mithril has a higher affinity with magic and is light. It doesn't have a greenish tint and is purely silver.

The weakness of vampires being mithril rather than silver is surprising, but it makes sense since mithril is also known as "the holy metal" in this world.

Being weak to light attributes is a characteristic of the undead.

Since fire is also effective against vampires, it makes sense that they are weak to fire magic.

Being weak to water attributes might be related to holy water or something similar.

When listed like this, vampires have many weaknesses.

For now, I just need to be careful not to walk in front of mirrors.

I can shrink my sharp canines to a natural level at will. They are slightly noticeable now.

I can apparently make wings appear when I concentrate, but I haven't tried it yet.

Since I have memorized the entire monster encyclopedia and skimmed through it, let's move on to the next topic.

The situation where the teacher said I might be expelled.

It's possible that it's a lie to motivate me, but if I keep slacking off like this, it's not impossible to be expelled. If it's a situation that could happen, it's better to consider it.

First, whether I will obediently accept expulsion or not, I honestly want to avoid it.

With my current daytime stats, I don't think I can defeat monsters, and more importantly, I don't want to lose this situation.

Being able to stay in the castle is a rare situation. In the castle, I can obtain information that is only available in the castle.

Books are expensive in this world. They are probably all handwritten, so it's natural that they are expensive.

Did the previous hero not introduce movable type printing? Did he not have the knowledge?

Well, according to the appraisal, books are quite expensive, so it will be difficult to come across them once I leave the castle, especially those with viewing restrictions.

I still lack knowledge, so I don't want to leave the castle yet.

There is another concern.

The existence of magic-powered devices.

In this world without the concept of levels, how can humans fight such powerful monsters? I think the answer is the existence of magic-powered devices.

However, I haven't been taught the details by the teacher or the captain. Why is that?

I want to obtain detailed information about these magic-powered devices before leaving the castle. Being expelled at this timing would be unacceptable.

For the above reasons, my conclusion is that I want to avoid expulsion as much as possible.

Now, how can I avoid being expelled?

Serious training is a surefire but difficult method. Like dust accumulating into a mountain, trust must be built up gradually.

What I need now is not the long-term "trust" but the immediate "value." And it should come with the evaluation of being "harmless" at this stage.

Revealing the cheat information is out of the question.

Rapidly leveling up combat skills would also be unnatural. While my current stat growth is unnatural, it is hidden by the high stats of the heroes. I am perceived as a normal person in terms of physical ability and talent.

Therefore, I need to demonstrate the value of the "Detection" skill.

The best method would be to go on a practical training mission with a party of four, including the three heroes, and show the usefulness of the "Detection" skill as a scout.

However, this is not possible.

No, it's not that I'm afraid of setting a flag.

It's not about the practical training being a flag or anything like that.

The practical training is not scheduled for a long time. Probably because fighting monsters without magic-powered devices would be too reckless. Practical training won't start until we learn how to use the magic-powered devices.

Since there is no leveling up, it makes sense to wait until the heroes are somewhat trained before engaging in practical training. At least, the heroes are only necessary to obtain the rewards from the suzerain country, not for their skills.

I went off-topic.

If that's not possible, I should negotiate directly through the teacher or the captain. The teacher might understand, but the captain is a bit tricky. I've been waking him up too often.

However, as the second princess and the captain of the knights, she has more influence than me or the heroes.

From the conversation earlier, it's clear that the heroes don't have much influence.

Since I couldn't reclaim my bathing rights, it's unlikely that I can stop my expulsion with the heroes' opinions.

The third method. Become a servant.

There seems to be a shortage of personnel, and with my modern knowledge, I can handle some administrative work.

The problem is the lack of salary and the fact that it would tie me down here.

I can't side with a country in a financial crisis. The benefits are too few. It would be better to be expelled.

It's hard to come up with a good plan.

There's no "M, m, m, m, such a move...!" kind of plan.

Let's just accept that it's a story. No good plan will come from thinking about it for a night.

By the time I was thinking, it was time for everyone to be asleep. Let's forget the complicated thoughts and start training.

When learning a skill, thinking about other things reduces concentration and efficiency. So, I can't think about other things while learning a skill.

It's a good way to change my mood.

Let's transfer to the usual grassland...

Sword skill level up!

So, I'm in training.

Where? It's obvious, right?

On the stone pavement outside the castle...

This is not the usual grassland but a stone pavement in a square inside the castle walls.

Why not the usual grassland? Because there were villagers or townspeople having a festival with a campfire, dancing, and drinking.

There was even