Translator: Mukyuu
Editor: Mikyuu
The Kindred guests picked themselves up from the ground, one by one.
It was like a spring wind caressing the earth, teasing the earth into revealing its vibrant life… if people could ignore that nauseating stench.
As he watched the Kindred guests’ heads appear like mushrooms after rain, the bar owner nodded in relief. He took out the calculator and started to calculate the damages. He was pretty tired of the bar’s decorations and it was a good thing if he could find a sucker and get it redecorated.
“Lord… Daniel.”
The band member was the first to figure out what had happened and called out in a shaky voice.
To Daniel, that call was like a thunderclap on a bright and sunny day, instantly jerking him awake from the thoughts he had lost himself in. His eyes looked dazedly at his surroundings and the shattered fragments of memory began to piece themselves together, bit by bit.
Baal, cackling among the bats.
The sight of the bats he had hand-raised constantly dying.
… And his powerlessness.
“Lord Daniel?” The call this time also contained a trace of caution and a fear of interrupting him.
The memory instantly became whole.
Daniel suddenly jerked into a standing position and looked fearfully at Baal.
That black flame was definitely not something that a sixth generation could do! No, more precisely, that black flame was not something that should appear in a Kindred.
That force, so strong it made even him tremble… How could he be a sixth generation Kindred?!
Daniel’s lips trembled as he asked, “Who are you?”
Wang Xiaoming covered his nose and answered, “Edward Louis McAvery, a sixth generation Kindred. He had been a wandering artist in the past and joined the McAvery clan because he earned Edwin’s favor.” Thankfully he had memorized everything so that he could recite the backstory Edwin made up flawlessly.
…
Imposible, a sixth generation should not have that much power.
But the scent and smell that came from him really did belong to a sixth generation Kindred.
Daniel’s thoughts were in disarray.
Baal didn’t care about any of that. At that moment, all of his thoughts were on the game of chess in front of him.
He waved a hand at Daniel. “Let’s finish the game.”
Daniel, “…”
Baal studied the chessboard studiously. “Are there many traps here?”
Daniel suddenly said through gritted teeth, “Kill me.” He reached out a hand and wanted to touch his own face but quickly lowered it. Actually, just looking at the damage around him allowed him to imagine his own appearance—it would definitely be something intolerable.
Baal frowned. “But we haven’t finished the chess game.”
…
If they were going to continue the game, then why had they fought just then?
Daniel silently imagined himself waging war on the chessboard, forcing Baal to lose everything and then become his slave.
… But it was too late to say anything.
He looked at Baal blankly and repeated, “Kill me.”
Baal demanded impatiently, “Satisfy me first and then I’ll satisfy you.”
Daniel’s lips twitched. “If I’m going to die anyway, why would I play?”
Wang Xiaoming couldn’t stand it anymore. “Why do you want to die so much? It’s actually not that easy to live and you’re so beautiful.”
Daniel’s eyes looked over.
Wang Xiaoming assumed that he had struck a nerve in Daniel and continued, “Really, you’re so beautiful. I’ve seen a lot of people and you’re the second most beautiful one!” He still thought the most beautiful one was Isefel.
Daniel kept telling himself, “He’s torturing me, violently torturing me psychologically!”
Despite thinking that way, he couldn’t resist shouting, “Dammit! Look at me now, where am I beautiful? Where?!”
Wang Xiaoming answered very seriously, “The left side of your face.”
…
“What’s wrong with the right side of my face?!” Daniel’s eyes flew open in shock and he slowly took out a mirror from his sleeve.
Bang.
Half of the mirror shattered.
With trembling hands, Daniel slowly raised it up to his face.
Right afterward, the entire bar was treated to an ear-shattering shriek.
“No—”
Wang Xiaoming stuck his head between his arms. When both his nose and ears needed to be covered, two hands were clearly not enough.
Baal frowned and picked up a bat’s body from the floor, tossing it directly into Daniel’s mouth.
It turned out that he was quite accurate.
Very quickly, Daniel passed out from the stench in his mouth.
From the very beginning, the other Kindreds had gathered around to watch the drama unfold. After all, someone who could so easily defeat a fourth generation Kindred was not a typical Kindred.
They clustered together so that they weren’t that easily visible in the other person’s eyes.
The door suddenly creaked open.
The newcomer stuck one foot in and then withdrew, followed by a series of retching sounds.
The retching sound only ended after a whole two minutes.
But thanks to the sound of retching, Wang Xiaoming and the Kindred started to taste bile in their mouths despite having gradually gotten used to the air in the bar.
When that foot poked in again, it was greeted by wave after wave of puking. So the foot retracted itself.
The puking sounds started again from the outside.
Baal looked at Wang Xiaoming’s gradually paling face and silently put the chessboard and the two bats into his space. After all, everyone had their eyes focused on the ground and nobody had the mind to pay them any attention.
Wang Xiaoming felt a hand on his waist, which half picked him up and half dragged him out.
The Kindred guests saw him getting closer and every one of them moved aside to let him pass.
The bar owner suddenly called out from behind him, “Wait.”
Baal turned around. His ink-black eyes shone with an ice-cold glint.
The bar owner licked his lips and smiled. “I look forward to your next visit. Your bill will be added to Daniel’s.”
Baal nodded, as if he hadn’t expected any less, and then pushed open the door and walked out.
The other guests in the bar and the bar owner simultaneously sighed in relief .
But before the guests completely relaxed, they heard the bar owner say with a dark smile, “I think that now is the time to carefully go over the bill, right?” He raised the calculator, which displayed an astronomical figure.
The Kindred guests, “…” Now they seemed to understand why Lord Daniel had wanted to die just then.
Baal and Wang Xiaoming walked out of the bar and simultaneously took deep breaths of the fresh air.
“Hello, Lord Baal and little Wang Xiaoming.” A young man with average looks but an extremely bright smile stood in front of them. His orange bangs draped on either side of his cheeks, but the hair in the back was tied up in a small braid. It was a young girl’s hairstyle, but coupled with his face, it made him look indescribably sunny.
Baal asked with a frown, “Who are you?”
It wasn’t rare for a Kindred to recognize him, but for it was extremely rare for someone to recognize Wang Xiaoming as well.
“I am Prilli.” He cracked open his mouth and smiled like a bright little sun. “I’m Edwin’s good friend.”
Wang Xiaoming slowly relaxed. “You’re also from the McAvery clan?”
“Not at all. I’m from the Giovanni clan.” Prilli answered with a smile. “But being in two different clans doesn’t erase the deep friendship between Edwin and myself.”
Baal suddenly took out the Blood Chess from the space and asked, “Do you know how to play chess?”
Prilli’s eyes instantly curved into crescents. “Yes!”
The result of answering yes was that despite Prilli’s original intention of bringing them into the Gloom City, he ended up finding a very broken down and unknown little hotel for them to stay at. In addition, they ended up booking the entire lobby and used it for the chess game, though the lobby wasn’t more than ten square meters.
“First, please allow me to explain the rules of the Blood Chess game.” Prilli cleared his throat and continued, “Blood Chess originated with a duel between two third generation Kindred, the Giovanni and the Lasombra clans. Back then…”
“What does that have to do with the rules of the game?” Baal asked coldly.
“Knowing the background of the game will better immerse you in the game,” Prilli answered with a smile. “Believe me, when you know about the moving story behind Blood Chess, you’ll become even more interested in Blood Chess.”
Baal squinted his eyes. “I want the rules.”
Prilli sighed regretfully, “Alright, if you insist… absolutely insist… really insist…”
The impatience practically spilled out from Baal’s face.
Prilli answered, “At most, four people can play Blood Chess.” He pointed at the top. “That’s the die. The ones humans use are a cube and the result is determined by the angle of the toss, the force behind the toss, and the force with which it strikes the ground and the direction of the cube when you tossed it. But our dice are determined by the rotational speed and force. There are a lot fewer objective factors, so there are quite a few die masters among the Kindred.”
Realization struck Baal.
“The so-called chess pieces are the bats that each Kindred member raises. The rank of the bats greatly determines the odds of the game,” Prilli continued and summoned a bat. “Since the chessboard is limited, two chess pieces could very well end up in the same square. If that happens, the two bats will fight to the death and the stronger one wins. That’s also why Kindreds will rarely play Blood Chess with someone of a higher rank.”
Wang Xiaoming asked in curiosity, “Daniel said there were traps. I saw yellow sand spurt out.”
“Correct. Fighting is not the only way to lose the game. There are a lot of traps on the chessboard and there’s no rhythm or rhyme behind them. In other words, you could get a very large number like nine, but what awaits on that square could be a sharp sword.” Prilli said, “But those swords won’t usually really kill the bats. At most, it’ll just kick them out of the game.”
Both Baal and Wang Xiaoming nodded in half-understanding.
Prilli asked with a smile, “Anything else you want to ask?”
Wang Xiaoming asked in confusion, “What’s the fun in this type of chess?”
Prilli thought for a moment and answered, “The happiness you feel when you watch your opponent lose so badly their face turns blue?”
Baal was raring to go. “I’ll wait for that moment.”
Prilli was a chess fanatic and loved nothing more than an invitation to play. ”If you don’t have bats, we can use mine. But let me say first that I won’t have my bats fight with each other and of course they won’t cheat or go easy on each other. This time, the game is built on a foundation of fairness and squareness.”
…
Fairness and squareness?
Wang Xiaoming looked worriedly at Baal.
Baal said without batting an eyelash, “If you can do that, it’ll be great.”
