The Bloody Valkyrie

Even if she was charmed, her memory would not disappear completely. The safest option would be to kill her. The problem with that method was that she did not know her master’s intentions as to why he gave the woman the potion.

If he gave it to her with some objective in mind, then killing her here would create a problem for her master. That was very dangerous.

If she let her return alive, the others will question why she was the only one spared. Then, all kinds of information – especially Shalltear’s appearance, would be revealed. While that may not pose too big of a problem at the moment, there was no telling what would happen in the future.

The best way was to contact the master, but Shalltear did not know how to use the「Message」spell.

Then what was she supposed to do now—.

“Ahhhhh… I’m going to be scolded by Ainz-sama…”

Muttering in a voice small enough so that no one could hear, Shalltear wrapped her hands around her head.

“If only I didn’t have Blood Frenzy… No, that’s rude to my creator, Peroroncino-sama. If only I could suppress it…”

It was already too late for regrets. No matter how she dealt with the female warrior— it didn’t matter now, a scolding was inevitable. The only thing left was to decide which way would best mitigate the damage.

‘Worse’ rather than ‘worst’.

Shalltear thought about it over and over until smoke rose out of her head, and she made her decision.

Instead of killing her, sparing her would create more options. Killing her was irreversible, but if she let her go, then something could be done about it.

Shalltear decided so. No, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she was fooling herself.

“Your name?”

“It’s Brita.”

“Okay… I won’t forget it!”

Shalltear had the woman named Brita stand a bit further away. She then called over her two servants, the vampire brides.

“We are going to collect everything here and withdraw.”

She was worried whether there was enough time to pillage. Nevertheless, she had to bet on fooling the others into thinking that this was an attack to steal the loot. Since she had already failed, the least she could do was try to spread false information.

“Shalltear-sama, how shall the women be dealt with?”

Shalltear fixed her gaze on the woman who was standing a small distance away.

“Leave her like that.”

“No, I mean the other women.”

“…What? What other women?”

“Yes, Shalltear-sama. We searched the inside of the cave for survivors and found several women who looked to have been used to relieve their lust. How would you like them dealt with?”

Shalltear frowned.

What the heck.

Shalltear, turned and looked again.

Since they didn’t see my face, it wouldn’t matter even if I let them be. But was that the correct course of action? It’s annoying so should I just kill them? No, then it would be suspicious that I didn’t kill Brita as well.

Unable to decide which way was the most advantageous, Shalltear held her head.

“What should we—.”

“Haaaaa? How should I know!”

Why did you have to ask me something like that, you fool.

Her face said as much. If she didn’t know, she could claim ignorance if it came down to it. But willfully ignoring it after having been told was clear treason against her master.

“Enough already, I don’t know! I don’t know! Leave them here! Stick Brita with those women!”

“Is this okay?”

“Okay or whatever, I don’t know, damn it! Shut up for a minute!”

“I am sorry, Shalltear-sama.”

“We’re leaving! Move it!”

The vampires bowed their heads and began to carry out her order. Meanwhile, Shalltear slowly pulled at her head while crouching.

“…..I’m going to get scolded…. what should I do…. but…….. huh?”

Shalltear raised her face and her eyes stared in the direction of the forest that the Vampire Wolves disappeared into.

“….They found something?”

She felt her kin disappear in the blink of an eye. They weren’t sent back with magic, but instead, killed by someone.

“Throw that woman with the rest and follow! I’ll leave behind a marker!”

Her decision was swift. Having shouted just those words, Shalltear broke into a run at a speed that seemed to cleave through the wind.

Although she was slowed by the forest, even a human on horseback wouldn’t have been able to run from the present Shalltear.

Having cleared free of the forest in a single breath, Shalltear ran towards the area where she last sensed her kin.

At that location were twelve humans.

They each had a different set of equipment.

Their equipment weren’t plain in appearance, and had unique look to them. For the sake of comparison, they were similar to what Shalltear was wearing. They emanated a great power. Needless to say, since Shalltear did not have any abilities that could identify magic items, it was all based on her intuition. Regardless, the feeling their weapons gave off reminded her of legendary class items.

Shalltear burned with questions over who these people were. The twelve men and women had an aura that was hugely different from the humans that she had encountered so far in this world. It was like the difference between a rat and a lion.