(The Great War Arc starts)

With all the preparations finished, Angelina set off with over a hundred soldiers with B-class being the weakest, even a kingdom would be hard pressed to provide this much military strength in such a short amount of time. The only reason Kai could gather these forces was because he took about a dozen or so knights from each black gold card member and about twenty mages from Cthulhu.

The knights weren't transporting the ballistae because Angelina had a storage space of her own provided by Kai. Even if Kai was very strict when he trained her, he still spoiled her quite a bit though the person in question would deny it with all his might.

"Alright, men! Our mission is to kill the low-class dragon who made a nest in Amber Mountain."

They were only an hour of hiking for a normal person away from the entrance of the cave which held the dragon which meant that for B-class knights, it would only take about five to ten minutes if they rushed even if they brought supplies.

Next to Angelina was a fidgeting female knight, she was strong but she looked very awkward when with her group, it appeared that this was her first time fighting with them. But that wasn't all there is.

"What's wrong? Are you getting cold feet?"

"No..."

The female knight avoided eye contact with Angelina while the rest of her group were shaking their heads repeatedly.

Angelina narrowed her eyes at the knights and pointed her sword.

"Spit it out."

"Eek?!"

The knight that the sword was pointed out didn't let out a noise and tried to keep his mouth shut but the female knight shrieked and began to talk.

"I-it's just that we were ordered to keep it a secret!"

"And what's that secret?"

"It's about how this is your training with a mid-class drag-!"

The other knights covered her mouth but they were too late.

Angelina retracted her sword and sheathed it.

"I see, well I'm not particularly mad. I guessed that it would be that way when I saw the strength of the troops dispatched. Seriously, master is so strict but when it comes to matters like these, he's too gentle."

Angelina sighed and faced forward while apologizing to the knights.

"Your master?"

The female knight asked.

"Hm? Didn't you receive the order from a black haired man?"

"No... We were told by the leaders from our camps, in our case it was Lord Lion."

Angelina nodded repeatedly as she understood while the knights were muttering things like 'so the Dragon Slayer's master is a black haired man!', 'I want to see how strong that man is!' and so on.

"Alright, let's move on forward."

Without much problems, they set camp about a hundred meters away from the dragon's cave, although this was a bit close, they still had to prepare the ballistae in case it tried to escape. The real battle will be done by Angelina and only a dozen or so knights and if they managed to subdue the dragon, everybody else won't have to do anything.

"They're going inside."

Amelia told Kai who was next to him. It was obvious but she felt the need to state it when she saw Kai. Erina was also next to them and looked at the mountain with a bit of worry in her eyes. Only the three of them were there, Kai didn't bring along Natsumi and the others because there would be no point, only Kai could see inside the mountain from this far away with his skill, [Infrared], an original skill in this world used to track heat and create figures from them and [Hawk Eye], a skill to see from far away with clear accuracy.

"I can't see anything..."

Erina muttered beside them.

"Really? Kai had taught me [Hawk Eye] before so I can see far places and vampires can see through certain things, it's like I'm watching the battle from right in front of me."

Kai looked at Erina gestured for her to go nearer with his hand.

Before Erina could ask, Kai pulled her close and covered her eyes.

"Eh!? Ehhhh?! Kai, we're still outside! Not that we can't do it if you don't want to but please resist until..."

Before Erina could continue, she saw her darkened vision change and saw the inside of the mountain. Kai removed his hand from her eyes and the scene inside the mountain was as clear as day.

"Amazing... You could actually give me a technique with just that..."

"No, I didn't give it to you. It's a technique called [Bestow] given to me by my master, it temporarily gives someone a technique the user chooses, though it takes a lot of strain on the body depending on the strength of the bestowed skill."

Kai released Erina's shoulder and focused his gaze on the mountain.

Kai didn't treat it as a lot but to Erina, that skill was monstrous. A demand for such a skill would know no bounds.

"Say Kai, why are you so worried about Angelina anyway? I know that you're her master but..."

Amelia answered for Kai who didn't seem to be giving an answer.

"It's because he felt the same situation as her. Both of their families died and they both think it's their responsibility, wanting to get stronger to protect something yet it was too late. Honestly, if he hadn't taken her in as a disciple, he would've made the village she stayed in as safe as possible and that would've divided his training time, so I had to make him accept her as a disciple. It's more like a father and daughter relationship despite the fact that Angie is older."

Amelia gestured for Erina to create a seat to which she complied.

"Let me tell you a bit about Kai first."

Amelia sat down next to Erina and began to talk.

"I hadn't seen him the time after the tragedy but grandmother did. When I asked her about his mental state at the time, she told me he was a 'broken doll', he didn't show any emotions, followed each and every command, he gave her a lot of trouble even though she tried to shower him with affection or so she said. In truth, I had planned to turn him into a ghoul who followed all of my commands even after he rescued me. But before that, I needed time to prepare so I stayed with him for a month before finally trying to do my plan."

Erina's eyes became round and she listened intently.

"When he slept that day, I approached his neck and I hesitated. I thought about the month that had passed and felt pity for him but I needed his power but do you know what he did?"

Erina opened her mouth then closed it before opening it again.

"...Did he allow you to bite him?"

"Yes. He told me this, 'I don't care about my life anymore, if someone can take value from it, then I'd be happy to give it away.' When I heard that, I stopped and abandoned all thoughts because at that time, he told me his own feelings which were also coincidentally my own. I had already gave up on life yet knew I had to live on for my country so I had to use someone with power, someone who could defeat my enemies, yet he made me hesitate, how cruel right?"

"No, I think you're the cruel one for trying to turn him into a ghoul..."

"Anyway..."

Erina was ignored.

"When he saved Angie, she had the same eyes as him. Even when she begged him to be his disciple, the light in her eyes never returned. They were only restored after she killed the dragon that had once murdered her parents, the night she did that, she cried in my bosom and since then, became overly attached to Kai. In her eyes, he had become her parent, not her lover or anything of the sort so don't worry about that. I saw you taking glances at the both of them and deduced that was the case but I can tell you that there's not any hint of a romantic relationship forming between them, I would notice that immediately because vampires are only second to succubi when it comes to seduction and love. We subconsciously know how to please a person's emotions and manipulate them- a normal person's that is. This is why I can put on a mask at anytime except in front of Kai alone, he's my one and only special person after all."

"Hahaha..."

Erina gave a dry laugh because she had been seen right through. Although it had only been a week since they had confirmed their relationship, Erina was very watchful of Kai. When he talked to girls, she always listened in and looked for any signs of romance. When he left, she made sure to follow or at least get someone to observe him. Though she also stares at Kai whenever he's talking to Amelia.

"Though I guess I can understand why he's so worried now. A master is someone who teaches and nurtures their disciple like a child, if a master's disciple was killed, it would be due to the inability of the disciple but the master would most likely carry the blame for their entire lives about not teaching them enough."