Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat Volume 3 (eBook)

Fire Head (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-0820-6 (ISBN)

Infos

It's a new year at Edelrot Academy, and the students' first big test is to prove they can make the expedition from Abendrot to Blut on their own using nothing but the measly funds the academy provides. But halfway through the journey, Sieglinde(?) is attacked, and she and Felix are taken to the Beatrix Empire. It's up to Mercedes to save them, but what treasures will she recover-and more importantly, will Felix escape with his pride intact?

Textauszug

Chapter 55: Thus Begins the Second Year

People have feared the dark since times of old, believing creatures unhuman stalked the night. But in a world of the unhuman, night belonged to the people. The Red Planet harbored four such species: the prosperous Elfe skilled in magic, the Chimäre beastmen, the winged Vogel who soared through the skies, and the light-hating vampires who ruled the night. One such vampire was a young girl named Mercedes Grunewald, and this year, she had turned twelve years old.

Although she was born as the eldest daughter of a duke, her lot in life was hardly blessed. Her father, Bernhard Grunewald, shunned his concubines and their children, abandoning them in an old, dilapidated mansion. Still, Mercedes’s birthright as a possible heir meant he provided them with funds—the bare amount to support her and her mother. But the moment he decided on an heir that wasn’t Mercedes, she, her mother, and their loving maid were to be thrown to the wolves.

At least, that was what Mercedes assumed, so she set her sights on the sole job accessible to anyone—that of a Seeker. She would travel and conquer dungeons, garnering the strength needed to support herself on her own. And it went well for her. She gained an Asura ogre named Benkei and schwarz wolfang named Kuro as companions, as well as complete control of one of this world’s numerous dungeons.

However, fate has a way of defying one’s expectations. Despite finally gaining everything she needed to live independently from her father, she’d accidentally caught his attention. As a result, Mercedes and her mother, her sisters Monika and Margaret, and her older brothers Gottfried and Felix all began to live under one roof at the Grunewalds’ main manor.

Well, that just meant she had to use these circumstances to her advantage. Having switched gears, she enrolled in Edelrot Academy a year ago, dedicating herself to her studies and reaching new heights in order to one day live without Bernhard—or perhaps, to one day fight him should their superficially amicable relationship turn sour.

However, during her school days, she became embroiled in a struggle for the throne, and the combined efforts of her and her father ousted the foolish king, instating the true heir, Princess Sieglinde, in his place.

Once the chaos had subsided, Mercedes shifted her focus to increasing her magical capabilities. Dungeon owners could carry their dungeons around as weapons and command the monsters inside as they pleased. Thus, she summoned a goblin hexer—a skilled magician—as her tutor and began her training, though she saw no immediate results. Wanting to maintain her nimble frame, she shirked the method of increasing magical power that the goblin had adopted—gaining fat—and decided to use the same method as her classmate and aunt, Hannah. In other words, she would store mana, but not mass.

According to Zwölf, her dungeon’s administrator, all matter both organic and inorganic was comprised of nanomachines. Therefore, this world wasn’t natural, but man-made—but that could be ignored for now. More importantly, these nanomachines were colloquially known as mana, a substance manipulated to produce magic. By commanding the mana in the air, one could produce fire or ice, but that required using one’s magic stores. By expending one’s own mana, one could produce a variety of phenomena—in other words, magic.

Magic operated on an incredibly simple principle: the more mass one had, the more magic they could use. “Magical strength” was the measure of mana one could store, and while spent mana could be replenished with food, having more mass really did make certain people better suited for magic.

However, Mercedes knew that increasing her weight would dull her movement, so she opted to store her mana as mana, not as mass to increase her magical strength.

While she boasted some slight success, though, things were not as easy as she hoped. She felt no closer to awakening her derivative affinities, and she was resigned to strengthening her gravity and wind magic while she waited.

The time passed quickly, and in a flash, the new school year had reared its head. Mercedes was a second year and Felix a sixth year. This time, their younger sisters Monika and Margaret would be attending as new students as well. As for Gottfried, well... Unfortunately, his age proved an issue. He was a year older than Mercedes, but he had no chance of keeping up with a third-year class. Thus, he was left to study at the manor all by his lonesome.

This family suffered many tragedies, and perhaps it was Gottfried who had it worst.

After the entrance exams, Monika was placed in Class A and Margaret Class C. While Margaret scored at the top of her class on her written exams, she performed poorly on the practical section. She really just wasn’t suited for anything ruffian.

Still, a pass was a pass, and all she needed was to make up some ground.

***

“Next month, we will be testing your practical skills with an expedition to Blut. You will go on many excursions in your lives, and if any of you choose to become Seekers, you’ll have to traverse remote lands, as well as ration your provisions and manage your stamina inside the dungeons. And if you manage to become the lord of a domain, you will need to lead hunts against bandits and monsters. Not to mention, feet are a merchant’s lifeline considering how often they have to travel between towns. So, with all that being said, you will be following a certain course to Blut, and while we will be providing you with funds, you will have to choose your supplies, consider your routes, and prepare accordingly. You are free to discuss things with your classmates, but bringing outside provisions and supplies is strictly prohibited,” announced Gustav Balt, the homeroom teacher of the top-scoring Class A, as Mercedes quietly listened along.

So, their first practical test of the year would be an expedition. Just as Gustav had stated, the majority of occupations in this world required using your feet. This wasn’t earth, and there was no internet—you couldn’t work from home. Acquiring any information meant walking where you needed on your own two feet.

In this test, Mercedes’s biggest disadvantage was the fact she couldn’t use any pre-owned supplies. Still, it was a necessary handicap, as otherwise, the richest students would dominate effortlessly.

Thus, the students had a month to decide what they needed. The test had begun far before the excursion, and likely, a uniform—including shoes—would be provided by the academy.

“Let me describe the scenario. Bandits have attacked a neighboring town, which has called for help. Typical travel routes have fallen under bandit control, so you will be forced to use unconventional ones. You can take any route you wish, but set one foot on the traditional highway and you’ll fail immediately. Of course, the town has requested expedient aid, so swiftness is a priority, but bear in mind you won’t be of any help to them if you arrive exhausted and barely standing. You’ll need to balance speed and stamina.”

“What do you think we should buy, Mercedes? I’ve honestly got no clue.” As soon as Gustav had concluded his lecture, students promptly began discussing their strategies among their friends, and Sieglinde had immediately approached Mercedes, ready to borrow her wisdom.

Hannah sat beside them snickering, and she clearly had no intention of offering any advice herself. The two girls would have to figure this one out on their own.

“It depends on whether you want to buy a monster to serve as your legs or use your money for purchasing provisions. Every single monetary choice you make will change your strategy. If you buy an agile monster, you won’t be able to buy much sustenance, which means you’ll get there fast but be too famished to fight. At the same time, focusing your funds on food will get you there in good shape, but given the scenario, taking too long means failure.”

“What about using a winged monster that can fly you straight to Blut?”

“I considered that myself, but one big enough to carry a vampire would be expensive. I doubt we could afford it with the funds we’ve been provided.”

This exercise required maintaining a reasonable speed while retaining enough stamina to fight upon arrival. The staff had provided the students with funds, but they were tasked with figuring out everything else on their own. In just a year, the academic rigor had spiked dramatically.

“The neighboring city of Blut... By carriage, it’d be two and a half days, and probably twice that on foot. Even if we were to purchase an agile monster to act as a mount, the journey would still take at least a day, and we’d need to feed that monster too. The cost would be exorbitant, and directing our funds at a monster would probably just result in it losing steam in the middle of the journey,” said Sieglinde, staring at a map while pondering her strategy.

This test could be a walk in the park for Mercedes if she so desired. She had been making the journey between Blut and the capital city of Abendrot for over a year now. Testing her skills after all that time seemed pointless. As long as she utilized her gravity magic to dash along at the speed of sound, the distance was negligible. If a carriage traveled at ten kilometers per hour and reached Abendrot in about two and a half days, then the distance between Blut and the capital was roughly six hundred...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.9.2025
• 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 • monsters • Overpowered • Paranormal • rpg mechanics • Survival
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-0820-5 / 1718308205
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-0820-6 / 9781718308206