Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat Volume 2 (eBook)

Fire Head (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-0818-3 (ISBN)

Infos

After coming face-to-face with her father, Mercedes is no longer the shunned daughter of a concubine, but the man's pride and joy (that is, if he's even capable of such emotion). She's been taken into the main residence where she's received knowledge, education, and a much higher standard of living, and while she has no plans for becoming heir to the Grunewald family, she knows how to take advantage of an opportunity. She's plenty ready to use her father to propel herself toward her goal of finding something to live for, and her father is completely okay with being her pawn, just like she is his.

However, her days at the Grunewald residence are short-lived. Soon, Mercedes is enrolled at Edelrot Academy, where she becomes embroiled in a secret struggle for the throne. What truths will she discover there? Find out as Mercedes's journey toward a full moon continues.

Textauszug

Chapter 24: Life at the Grunewalds’ Residence

Over a year had passed since Mercedes had come to live at the main Grunewald residence. Life here was oddly relaxed; while training and studying were compulsory, her father Bernhard left her alone as long as she completed what was required of her. In fact, so much of the knowledge available to her here was hard to come by elsewhere, so she was proactive when it came to learning. One piece of this was especially impactful to her: the art of Blood Manipulation, a method of increasing physical strength exclusive to vampires.

“All right then, everyone. Let us practice the art of Blood Manipulation today,” announced the tall vampire who served as tutor to Mercedes and her siblings. He surveyed the room: Mercedes and Felix were present, alongside Gottfried, Monika, and Margaret. For some reason, Bernhard had invited all the children of the concubines (except for Boris, whose whereabouts were unknown) to the manor and afforded them the same education as Mercedes and Felix. He must have assumed another gem might be among them considering that Mercedes, the perfect daughter, had appeared from the place he least expected.

“Unlike the other Falsch, the flow of our blood can grant us vampires extraordinary physical strength.” As Mercedes quickly jotted down these words, she pondered how there could be such a vast difference between human and vampire when her current body resembled her old human one so much. Before she had come to this manor, she had not known that blood flow could create explosive strength beyond that which vampires were normally capable of. Like humans’, vampires’ hearts pumped blood to every corner of their bodies, but vampires were able to accelerate that and heighten their physical strength in the process.

“Blood Manipulation” was the name for controlling this speed at will to strengthen oneself, and despite having no knowledge of this art, Mercedes had already made use of it—the gravity training she had used to simply increase her strength. Increasing the force of gravity acting on herself naturally made her blood heavier as well. However, her body had resisted this, strengthening her heart and increasing both the speed and strength of the blood flowing through her body. In fact, she constantly increased the gravity acting on her, meaning she had been honing this art every second of every day. This was the secret behind her phenomenal strength.

Considering how effective gravity training was, one might assume that every vampire should do it, but things weren’t so simple. This world had no concept of “gravity” or “attractive fields.” Geocentrism—the idea that the earth was stationary and the planets revolved around it—and flat earth theory were the two main principles of scientific education in this world; all the Falsch here, including vampires, who had developed into civilizations were ignorant of the fact that they lived on a sphere. Anyone who claimed as much would probably be laughed off by academics for the fact that those on the bottom would simply fall off. To the residents of this world, things falling from up to down was just a fact of life; they had yet to discover the concept of gravity. Thus, none with earth affinity in this world thought to use the ubiquitous power of gravity.

Of course, that raised the question of what the gods from the Blue Planet had done to stay on their moon, and there were those who asked it. However, the response of the church (as surprising as it may be, vampires believed in gods and had such institutions) was thus: “That is just the work of the gods. Given their powers, they are able to walk along spheres.”

Thus, none realized the obvious potential of manipulating gravity, and as an ability held by Mercedes alone, it gave her a unique advantage.

“In that case, let us first focus on our hearts. Next, we shall feel the blood flowing through our veins...”

Mercedes watched Felix as she listened to their tutor’s explanation. Ever since the incident that brought her here, he hadn’t done anything to meddle with her, but she was certain he had mixed feelings on the matter. He handled his mother—Bernhard’s legal wife—whenever she protested against her husband. Furthermore, while the events of that day had been partially caused by his oversight, it had been a tragic incident for him as well.

Mercedes had heard from Bernhard that he hadn’t been able to extract much information from Boris. Apparently, he’d stumbled across the item on the black market just as his rage toward Felix had reached its peak...but the likelihood of that being a coincidence was low. Instead, it was safe to assume that an enemy of the Grunewalds had tried to use Boris to advance their goals. Mercedes had tried asking the Böse dämon Boris had summoned herself, but apparently, the demon had been sealed right after its birth and had no information to offer them except for the fact it was ordered to “defeat its enemies” and oddly never considered defying that demand. Most likely, this had been an order from its dungeon master, since they’re able to give commands to the monsters from the dungeons they own. Currently, ownership rights of the Böse dämon had been transferred to Mercedes, so she didn’t need to worry about it receiving any more orders...at least, that was what it had told her while it was making some vegetable stir-fry. Thus, the identity of the dungeon conqueror behind the incident remained shrouded in mystery.

As an aside, the Böse dämon had moved into the main residence alongside Margaret and currently worked in the kitchens. Just where in the world was that demon headed? As infuriating as it was, though, its food was beyond delicious.

***

In the colosseum built below the manor, Mercedes folded her arms and appraised the opponents her father had prepared for her. The elite education Bernhard offered her wasn’t just lectures; it included battles as well. Felix had likely received similar training ever since he was a young child.

Her enemies numbered twenty in total. They were all vampires and all armed. She, on the other hand, faced them alone and bare-handed. It was twenty burly men against a defenseless young girl—from an outsider’s perspective, it seemed like an incredibly silly choice of opponent. But just who would prove the silly one in the end?

“Begin!” Bernhard flung down his arm and announced the start of the battle. At his command, the twenty vampires kicked the ground and rushed forward. Their approach was ferociously fast, likely somewhere between fifty and sixty kilometers per hour. All of them took no preliminary actions before launching their attack. Normally, it would have been impossible to deal with such an onslaught, but luckily, Mercedes wasn’t normal. With her arms still crossed, she kicked lightly off the floor, passing through the small gap between two of the men and landing behind them. To them, it must have seemed like she had disappeared; at most, they may have noticed a quick shadow for just a second.

“Sh-She’s gone...?”

“No, look behind! She flanked us!”

“Damn!”

The men raised their voices, turned around, and once again went after Mercedes. But their shouts contained fear. All of them were former soldiers turned bandits, who had been captured by Bernhard once their luck ran out. He had offered to spare all of their lives if they served as his daughter’s training partners, but only if they managed to get at least a single scratch on her.

At first glance, the men had shown visible relief when they saw Mercedes. They believed their task would be simple, and some even tried to hold back out of fear that they would injure her too badly and earn her father’s ire. However, Mercedes’s first movement led them to realize there was more to her than met the eye. Playtime was over, and they threw out one reckless attack after another, yet none could even get her to unfold her arms. Rather, she drew her opponents in as close as possible and dodged when their weapons were only a hair’s breadth away, using minimal movement. Then, she returned to her normal stance. In just a year, her fighting capabilities had improved by leaps and bounds.

“Why can’t we hit her?! She’s not even moving!”

“Our attacks are going right through her!”

“It’s an illusion! Don’t be fooled!”

She dodged so quickly it didn’t even leave an afterimage. Thus, all her opponents saw was an unmoving image of a young girl with crossed arms; they couldn’t even register that she was dodging. Obviously, this was no illusion, and the men’s assumption was completely off the mark.

Mercedes glanced at Bernhard and saw that he watched her movements with a grin of satisfaction. Now, if she just routed the enemy, things would go exactly as her father wished.

Mouth shut and eyes half-open, she watched an approaching blade. Dodging would be easy; her enemy’s movements were far too predictable. She let the blade approach as close as possible and...let it scratch her cheek. Bernhard didn’t even notice.

Now, Mercedes went on the offensive. With a single kick, she mowed down all the men in her vicinity. The attack only lasted an instant, and at the end of it, she had regained her footing. Once again, she appeared to be still to her onlookers. After she repeated that same attack a few more times, all twenty men lay collapsed on the floor. Bernhard’s servants who spectated were stunned speechless; Bernhard alone clapped.

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.6.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat
• Illustrationen: Fire Head
• Übersetzer: Fire Head
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: aristocrats • Isekai • Light Novel • monsters • Overpowered • Paranormal • rpg mechanics
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-0818-3 / 1718308183
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-0818-3 / 9781718308183