Chapter 9: Serpent Strike [1]

Stepping out of the wooden house, he stretched his body with a few loud cracks; Lucifer felt much better.

His steps were light as he approached the town centre.

'It was too comfortable being with Gwen that I almost got lost in my past feelings, although she is a wonderful woman. Right now, I don't match her in status or worth.'

Lucifer observed the town with his keen eyes; despite his physical attributes being half, thanks to boosting them, it didn't make him feel frail in the sunlight anymore.

To the south of the town, near Gwendolyn's home, was the large wooden wall and gate; this gate protected the entire town, with exits only in the west and south.

His body turned around, the gate now behind him, meaning he was facing the north if this world followed the game.

'I still don't know if this world even has a hero; I am sure I will know when the rumours of a great evil returning will spread in a few weeks.'

Using his knowledge and memories from the game, he tried to change those anime-style images and pictures into the world he was currently seeing.

"Come to think of it, did that great evil ever appear? It was hinted that the 72nd lord would appear. Despite clearing the game several times, I don't remember ever meeting the last Lord, said to be charming and deadly for parties with women below 100 affection and loyalty values..."

Thinking of the Hero being NTR'd was shocking, but the game had a hidden dark ending.

Lucifer wondered how it would have felt to be reincarnated as that [Lord], then sleeping with the heroines and making that arrogant [Hero] cry and wail.

His eyes looked down, and he gave a wry smile; this new life is too gentle compared to the men of this world; my sleeping state is beyond their fighting state, the [Hero] included.

Shaking his head, he ignored those daydreams; right now, a mere wolf was enough to cause him issues.

The dagger wasn't his weapon, although it was nice having the skill; thanks to the enjoyable system of [Sword of Celestia], Lucifer could exchange it for another skill, but only every 5 levels.

'I always found heroes from the Romance of the four kingdoms to be amazing... Lu Bao and Guava Mu... A spear... Maybe Halberd... this game does have the feature later on to have weapons that transform with magic... But that's too far now.'

He started to jog forward, filled with a sense of wonder as if the young body was filling his old and weary mind with enthusiasm.

Not only did his morning wood return, and his libido became extremely strong, but it even gave him the desire to fight, improve and enjoy his new life!

'As long as it doesn't affect my mental age too much, fuck acting like those stupid novels where a grown-ass man, or sage 1,000 years old acts like a blushing 15-year-old...!'

To the west was a small gathering of stone buildings in a haphazard shape, their thick chimneys billowing with thick black smog even at this time of day.

'The blacksmith... Is it still old man Bernard? I hope so...!'

For some reason, the west of the town didn't have dirt roads but stone and cobble pavement; the buildings, in reality, felt so different compared to the rest of Fallon town.

To the north was the vast adventurer's guild, a massive building almost the same width as the town itself; he would be heading there first, then to see if old man Bernard was in this world.

In the east, a place he would probably need to visit to find trustworthy comrades, although he wanted to meet and join other parties for a fun life.

The world of Celestia is a dark world where people will betray their allies for a good item drop or gold, it's not uncommon, but if the game world is similar to here, he would need to be careful.

Male or female, they were dangerous.

'Probably just wanted to make the hero seem even more holy and amazing, to justify all the women joining his harem.'

Just beyond his current path was a huge white fountain, beautiful and nothing like the town, a large church with white walls, colourful stained glass walls and a sharp towering steeple.

A blacksmith to the west, a guild to the north, merchants and a slave shop to the east, while the church was in the centre, with a huge fountain.

'I don't want to go to that place... the damn church... might try to [Purify] me on sight.'

His steps were light, whistling the tune Gwendolyn was humming last night, his pace brisk, giving a soft greeting to the townsfolk slowly setting up their daily stores.

The market seemed to be opening soon as various elderly women filled the stalls with giant watermelons and oranges.

"Good morning, young man!"

"Oh, what a pretty young boy. Are you new to Fallon? Need any help?"

"Ah, thank you, kind ladies; I arrived last night and was helped by the lovely Captain Gwendolyn."

"Ohh... a poor girl, so pretty yet..."

"Mmm, that girl, I hope she finds a nice boy.."

"Haha, I need to visit the guild; she is lovely; I might just take her when I leave!"

Lucifer knew old women could speak too much if you didn't stop them, so he began to walk away rapidly, waving his hand back to them as he heard them gossiping about his last words, but they laughed happily.

'I'm glad the town is like the game, supportive and grateful to Gwendolyn... it's just the church and outside...'

His eyes became a little darker, narrowing as he thought of Gwen's face, knowing if he bit her last night, forced her to drink his blood or semen, she would become his sire, her wounds and scar healing overnight.

But...

'This won't save her heart, those deep regrets and self-hatred shown in her short monologue before leaving the town after the [Hero] rejects her... I will save her and make her feel confident, happy and proud of herself...'

He would then give her a choice, as Lucifer believed every woman deserved to feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

Lucifer arrived at the dark wooden doors; a giant lion on the door roaring towards a colossal dragon with its wings spread wide, while a human warrior with silver armour fended off them both alone.

'Hmmm... supposed to be an image of the first Hero fighting the 2nd Lord in the distant past... I wonder if the myth was true.'

Pushing through the door, he was overwhelmed by the scent of alcohol and smoke; the game's devs likely enjoyed smoking as it was present in this world.

But they were not harmful; they restored mana and recovered their fatigue.

He entered with a quiet step, his body relatively light and lean, currently something that Lucifer wanted to change, maybe adding a bit more muscle mass to his biceps and upper body like in the past when he was a young man.

The entire guild looked at the door for a moment, those at the bar, those eating at the small cafeteria and the ones at the registration desk and delivery counter but to Lucifer's surprise, there were no thugs or rogue types in the guild like when the [Hero] would enter.

It was quiet; a few girls waved to him, from the average-looking to the beautiful women eating huge steaks with tight muscles and abs on their bodies.

Lucifer strolled forward with quiet steps; his posture was quite elegant despite his worn outfit because someone in his past life insisted he had the best posture and temperament, which began to show naturally with his new, agile body.

Unlike the arrogant Hero, he lined up quietly, and the time passed quite peacefully before he found himself face-to-face with a stone-faced receptionist; her glasses were black-rimmed with silky black hair in a bun and red eyes, sharp like a wolf.

"Greetings, I am Marina; you seem to be a new visitor; shall I prepare the registration form for you?" She was a straightforward woman with a low voice as she began to pull out flat brown sheets of paper that shone with a strange golden light.

'Pranal Parchment!'

Pranal parchment was a type of parchment written by using your mana and the prana in your body. It was usually used to detect bandits and create official identification and the church as it was limited in use.

Prana was the word for soul in the ancient language of Celestia.

"Have you used Pranal Parchment in the past?" She asked.

"No!"

"Then press your thumb here, good. Now focus your mind, and The paper will fill in a few seconds."

Marina didn't notice Lucifer's excitement because vampires showed less emotion; he would need to feel jubilated for it to show visibly.

He could feel a strange tingle; at first, it travelled down his finger, touching the parchment, before dancing around his body like a ball of electricity before it split into countless tiny balls, exploring and travelling across his entire body in moments.

Then the paper began to glow a brilliant red rather than gold.

"Good, no crimes, lesser vampire, 19 years old... Level 7." She noted the information before looking at him with the warmest smile and bowing deeply.

"Welcome, to the Adventurer's Guild, Lucifer; your new rank will be G, and the tasks are to the left on the large board. You can take a quest to the difficulty of F rank alone, while party quests are based on the leader!"

Marina changed entirely after showing his parchment, likely worried his attributes would be as horrible as his luck.

A moment later, it formed a small card, which floated in the air and then slipped into his grimoire; nothing strange because everyone had a grimoire hidden in their left arm.

It was why killed bandits needed the left hand to get a bounty.

"Do you require anything else? If you have materials to hand in, the desk beside me with that lovely green-haired elf can help you most. Thank you very much, and good hunting!"

"Thank you, Marina! I will!"

Infected by her change, he responded a little louder with his charming and magnetic voice before turning away with an elegant bow, something he saw in a period drama in his previous life that he used as a joke at parties or nights out.

He felt stunned as the stone-faced woman that didn't even bat an eyelid at the Hero gave him a giggle bowing gently, as her eyes twinkled at his turned back.