For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Chapter 149: Iona's Observation Diary (4)

Thanks to the lights left on, I could take in the whole scene of the laboratory at a glance.

Unidentifiable experimental tools. A large desk. Piles of books on it.

And lastly, a portrait of Iona in the center of the wall, asserting its presence.

Oh my.

Who would hang such a large portrait of themselves?

It felt as if I were hearing a phantom voice announcing, Iona has arrived! from the portrait.

Sigh.

It was somewhat absurd, but the laboratory itself was quite well organized.

However, since I didnt know when Iona might return, I couldnt stay long. I must quickly finish my business and leave.

For that reason, I first headed towards the desk.

After all, even if I looked at the experimental tools, I wouldnt understand any of them.

If I had to say, maybe the bubbling dark red liquid emitting a smell of blood?

Even if not, it was like a magicians instinct to record important matters. Something would turn up if I searched.

Lets see

The first thing that caught my eye was a book, opened as if someone were just about to read it, and a sprawled notebook beside it.

First, I skimmed through the book.

The genius magician does not kneel!

Pink Lotus squatted down with her legs spread in an M shape.

It was a natural and dignified pose.

Yikes.

Wasnt this the so-called genius magician book I borrowed from the library last time?

I read it out of curiosity, but it was just a plain erotic story.

No. Maybe it was an exceptional erotic story because it was somewhat arousing?

Anyway, it didnt feel like it contained any great secrets.

Well, there could be a cipher that only appeared if you knew the decryption method

But thinking that far was endless. Id have to see if I could get another copy at the bookstore this weekend.

Since it seemed to be a mass-produced book with a publishers logo on the cover, not a one-of-a-kind item made by an individual.

Nodding to myself, I returned to the original page and reached for the notebook beside it.

The touch of soft, durable, high-quality leather. It even seemed to be enchanted with some kind of magic, as I could feel a strange flow of mana.

If it was an enchantment that could be useful for a notebook, maybe a preservation spell?

It was a relatively common magic, but permanent enchantments were quite expensive on their own.

This notebook alone was probably worth all the books piled around it.

Realizing that made me snap back to reality.

Using such an item meant that Iona treasured it greatly.

A student sneaking into a professors lab and peeking at a treasured notebook?

Even in the best case, wasnt this stalking, and in the worst case, was it spying?

Hesitating at the thought, I realized it was too late to second-guess.

Once inside the lab, there was no turning back.

Suppressing my racing heart with the thought of doing something wrong, I opened the notebook.

Rustle.

And the moment I read the contents, I could think of nothing else.

---

-The Lord gifted me this notebook and commanded me to write in it daily, even if only briefly.

He jestingly called it homework, but its deeper meaning was clear.

To organize the past and live looking towards the future. Tomorrow. The day after. And the days following. Continuously.

The reason this notebook is thicker than it appears must surely be because of that.

-For the first time, I drank blood. Initially, I was repulsed, but once I tasted it, it was unexpectedly sweet.

Perhaps thats why I overdid it.

Fortunately, thanks to the Lords intervention, the woman we kidnapped did not die.

After erasing her memories and sending her back, the Lord seriously told me,

Vampires must rule over blood, not be ruled by it.

But to me, it seemed like he simply didnt want to kill the woman from earlier.

As if he were sharing his blood with me, who didnt need to be made a retainer after just a few conversations.

Even to another woman, he seemed to be as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside.

-After a long time, when I looked in the mirror, my face had changed significantly from my memory, and for the better.

The Lord said my body was gradually becoming more vampire-like, and he pinched my cheeks.

When I complained about being treated like a child, he replied that we were now family, sharing the same blood, and I was no different from his child.

It was funny how someone who could be so silly and playful could be serious at times like this.

I felt a bit moved.

To me, family was nothing but pigs trying to sell off their children for a high price.

I was lucky to be taken in by the Lord, but what about my sister? What happened to Ayla?

I was so worried that I couldnt sleep.

-I finally arrived at the rumored castle of the clan.

Lord Francesca.

A name so famous that even a mere country girl like me knew it.

I was worried that the Francesca Clan might be as frightening as their reputation, but all that worry was for nothing.

All the clan members warmly welcomed me, saying we were kin since we shared the Lords blood.

I was moved to tears by this reception, the first of its kind for me.

I later found out that, like me, they all had their stories and owed debts to the Lord.

Maybe that was why the Lord took in people like us as retainers

Anyway, I must do the same when new retainers join someday.

-For the first time, I met a vampire from another clan.

I heard that other clans were quite strict compared to the Francesca Clan, with a strict hierarchy centered around the Lord.

However, it was said that if you had the power, you could change your rank as much as you wanted.

Except for the Lord, the master of blood.

The Lord could issue forced commands to his retainers, so no matter how powerful, no one could oppose him, right?

Of course, it didnt concern me. None of us would think of raising a hand against the Lord.

---

.

After that, the story of the whiny vampire Iona continued for a while.

Anyway, this notebook. I can understand it now that Ive opened it. It was a notebook, with its pages vastly increased through spatial distortion magic.

Even now, after the War of the Gods raised the overall level of magic, it was an expensive magical tool.

To gift such a tool before the war

I wondered if the Lord saw something in Iona? Or was it just, as Iona said, a way to encourage her to live strongly from now on?

Either way, it doesnt matter.

I couldnt know for sure since there was nothing written about Ionas human days, but her past was certainly a bleak one.

To Iona, the affection of the other clan members and the Lords occasional silly pranks must have been a great source of strength.

Indeed, the newly turned vampire Iona was gradually brightening up, delighted, and moved by even the smallest things.

A story never mentioned in H&A. Now, a tale known only to herself, meticulously recorded in this notebook.

Now I understand the Iona who was blindly obsessed with revenge.

From the start, the Francesca Clan was different from ordinary vampire clans more like a family in a good sense.

Having been massacred, the grudge was embedded in her bones, unforgettable even if she wished to forget.

With mixed feelings, I sighed deeply and continued reading the notebook.

The Iona, in the notebook, learned magic, learned to fight, and learned to handle blood.

Thus, she gradually became a complete vampire.

---

-Today, I won in training again. Now, excluding the Lord, there seems to be no one in the clan stronger than me.

Its also because the other clan members do not like to fight but maybe my talent is exceptional.

To think I caught up with everyone in just 10 years.

Of course, my abilities are still but a faint light compared to the Lords.

-Once I was no longer getting beaten up wherever I went, the Lord allowed me to roam freely outside.

Being cooped up in the castle under the guise of training had been stifling. Ill pack my bags today and start traveling and enjoying myself tomorrow.

-The abandoned castle where the clan resides had a barrier created by the Lords power to block out sunlight, and I realized anew how amazing that was.

Avoiding sunlight and only moving at night was quite troublesome.

I found myself missing the warmth of the sun a bit.

-The outside world, which I hadnt seen in a long time, hadnt changed at all, even after 10 years.

I went to see what had become of my birth parents, who had tormented me so, only to find out they had both been dead for a long time.

Apparently, some noble who was originally going to buy me killed them all in a fit of rage?

Serves them right.

However, I became a bit depressed when I heard that my sister, Ayla, had gone missing.

Could that noble have taken her? Im not sure. I hope not

I investigated all the suspicious nobles just in case, but I couldnt find any traces of Ayla.

-I beat up some guys who picked fights with me here and there, but that should be okay, right?

-For some reason, there were people who came to capture me, so I beat them up, too. Thats okay right?

---

From here on, the notebook detailed Iona, causing havoc here and there.

So this was why she was famous even before the War of the Gods.

Iona thought she was using her power at a reasonable level, but to others, she must have seemed like a crazy vampire.

After all, even if someone provoked her first, she did things so easily, like beating up a large band of mercenaries or smashing knights heads in front of people.

And when a lord issued a decree to subdue her, she half-destroyed the lords castle and escaped.

It was no wonder her notoriety grew quickly with all the crazy things she did.

Even more so because Iona tried to avoid killing as much as possible at the time, the survivors spread the rumors and her infamy far and wide.

I knew Iona had made a name for herself in her younger days, but I didnt realize it was like this

Anyway, by the time Ionas notoriety had spread across the entire now-extinct Nerthia Kingdom.

-An Evil God descended.

The Great War began.