Vampire Reborn

Chapter 8: Human Interaction

There he saw an old man carrying a string attached to a horse, shabbily dressed in standard villager clothes sitting at the front of a brown, worn-down-looking carriage with what seemed like a lit small tent in the back to house boxes that Ren managed to spot from behind him.

He had short, ash gray hair that fell down slightly past his thin eyebrows that sat firmly above his eyes that were for some reason closed. He had a sweet, tender-looking smile on his face that had various wrinkles and cracks clearly showing his age and what seemed like small scars on his hard-working hands.

Yet, despite his innocent, loving appearance, he could not help but feel like there was something off about him... Maybe even dark...

Ren was not able to fully admire the character models before seeing how small Luck was, but seeing an actual real-life human left him almost completely speechless before he mustered himself up to talk and see if all the AI was as good as Luck's as well.

"Greetings kind sir! I really appreciate your offer but I'm sorry to say that I am completely broke"

His eyes still closed and his face still tenderly smiling, the old man spoke once more.

"It doesn't have to be money. It could be anything of somewhat value. But I won't force you if you don't want to. The village I assume you're headed to is very far away so I thought I'd give you a lift since we are on our way there as well!"

'Our?' Ren thought, noting it in his mind like usual.

"Would these daggers do? They are clean and in good condition! I can assure you of that!"

The daggers that Ren received from Luck were very standard and did not match what he usually liked so it was a good way to get rid of them since he was never going to use them anyways.

He wanted to join the old man on the carriage for many reasons: to test the new AI, possible side quests, possibly being part of the main quest, and most importantly, because he was unnaturally tired and needed to rest. If the village was far like he claimed, then he knew there was no way he would last.

"So, do you like them? Are they good enough?"

The old man simply put his hands on his mouth, glancing in his direction with his eyes still closed like he was deep in thought.

"Um, sir If you don't mind me asking Why are you not opening your eyes to see my daggers,"

Hearing Ren's words, the man couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"Kid! I'm blind!"

'Huh!?'

Ren could not believe his own ears, but before he was able to respond, the old man beat him to it.

"Those daggers are indeed quite fine! I shall take them! There should be more than enough space for you in the carriage! Climb on back and we'll be off!"

The old man's smile was pure and bore absolutely no malice, one that felt so real and genuine that Ren could not help but stare at him for a few seconds, him seemingly oblivious before Ren walked to the back of the carriage and jumped in.

"Hmm?"

There, as soon as he did, he saw various boxes stacked on top of each other, some opened revealing their contents being food and grains that he surprisingly managed to also smell.

However, that was not what caught his attention. Quietly sitting on a bench near the front of the carriage was a small, blond hair girl no older than 10 years old wearing clothes slightly better than rags. She had purple eyes on her dirty, white skin that looked slightly tanned from clear hard work in the sun, various dried-up scratches and wounds on her small hands.

She was looking down at the wooden floor, waving her feet in the air that did not touch the ground below before her gaze abruptly shifted to Ren's direction. Suddenly, Her eyes and body began shaking uncontrollably, her face immediately changing into a face filled with absolute fear, like her heart was about to leap out of her chest.

"AHHHHH!"

She screamed in a high pitch like she saw a ghost, finding the power in herself to jump out of her seat and rush towards the front of the carriage where the old man sat, catching him along with Ren completely off guard.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! T-that man! I-I I'm scared We need to run! We're gonna die... His face His eyes His hair"

Her eyes completely burst into waterworks, her heart beating faster than machine-gun fire as she began to shake her grandpa vigorously like her life depended on it, whispering in his ears so she doesn't catch the attention of that man at the front.

"Petra! Calm down! What's gotten into you? Don't you think it's rude to be judging someone by their appearance? People have different features and circumstances you know! I thought you were old enough to get this"

He deeply sighed with a great hint of embarrassment towards his client and disappointment in his granddaughter.

"B-but grandpa He- he"

"I said calm down young lady! I promise you he isn't going to hurt! I sensed him with my gift! You know I don't invite people on if I know they're bad! But he's not a bad person! If you disrespect him again then I will be very angry with you,"

The girl whose face was still white as a ghost took a deep gulp, clenching her fists before saying.

"Y-yes grandpa I understand"

She mumbled, walking back into the carriage, sitting back where she previously was, the fear and unease on her face still clear despite her efforts to keep everything under control which Ren found rather cute.

He did not manage to pick up on what the girl spoke but he clearly heard the voice of the old man. It seemed like the girl was simply scared of strangers. At first, he thought it was because she knew he was a vampire but it seemed like the NPC AI had not been adjusted to compensate for that.

In the old update of Rebirth, the NPCs would not care at all about the player's race, clothing or appearance. A player could walk around a church as a naked demon and they would still receive no reaction from the NPCs and it seemed like that had not been completely fixed which made sense from a game development perspective since all the many races shared the same story mode.

As to not agitate her, he sat on the complete opposite side of the bench and took a glance at her, smiling and nodding in her direction which only led to her immediately turning away from him.

'Awww So cute'

Suddenly, with a small whipping sound, the carriage began to move forward at a steady pace.

"Sorry about that, I'm not sure what's gotten into her. I'm sure she doesn't mean any disrespect,"

"Oh! Don't worry! I don't mind at all! I'm sure she's quite shy so I completely understand! I used to be like that when I was small too!"

Ren, chuckled at himself.

"So, Traveler! What's your name? I'm Adryan, and that little angel over there is my sweet little grandaughter Petra! Say hi to the kind stranger!"

Petra slowly turned her head, trying her best to avoid eye contact with him and bowed.

"H-hello, my name is Petra I'm so sorry for my earlier outburst Grandpa says you're a nice guy and his gift is never wrong...I hope we can get along"

She spoke before turning away once more, Ren still finding it rather cute. He was used to dealing with children in his previous job before streaming, and it felt very refreshing seeing someone like Petra.

"Yes! I hope we can get along too!" Ren nodded back with a smile.

"Thank you so much for all this kindness! My name is Alucard, and it is very nice to meet you!"

"Hmmm? Alucard? That is a rather unusual name You must not be from around here right? Sorry, I probably could have picked up on that if I wasn't blind,"

He laughed heartily at himself.

'He said my name just like how Luck did Either they are both also essential NPCs or the AI had all advanced to that level,' He took another mental note before speaking.

"Yeah, I'm not from here. I come from the continent of Astria,"

Ren said what he said with intent; he wanted to see how the NPC would react as he wanted to extract as much information out of him as possible.

"Astria? I've never heard of such a place"

Ren nodded at his words and took things in.

Astria was the continent that was played in the last update. So, he seemed to be in a new region just like he expected.

"How did you get here Traveler?"

"I washed up on shore a few weeks ago and have been aimlessly wandering since. You're the first humans I've seen ever since I came here so it's very refreshing,"

The old man, Adryan's expression shifted into surprise hearing his words.

"Oh wow! That must have been a very hard life! The shore is quite far from here! I would offer you food but I need everything here to ship to Goldcrest,"

'Oh yes! Food I need to test that out soon!'

Ren once again noted in his head. For as long as he could remember, in Rebirth, food served as nothing but simple consumables that gave no taste so he was really curious to see how that was affected.

"Why are you shipping so much food if you don't mind me asking,"

"Seeing that you're not from here, you might not know this The neighbouring town of Nuxvar was just attacked by, from what I heard, soldiers or mercenaries and many people evacuated to Goldcrest. I need to transfer this food for the refugees,"

Ren inwardly nodded once more before asking a question that had been bugging him for too long.

"So, sir, I have a question You say that you're blind but you're still able to drive this carriage, and you were still able to inspect my daggers How is that?"

"Well, that is simply my gift,"

"Gift?"

Ren raised an eyebrow. He had heard that word tossed around but he had no idea what it meant.

"Oh! I guess you might not have had that in your continent. A gift is a special power given to a very select few and can vary drastically from person to person. I may have been born blind, but I never had any problem seeing. My gift allows me to sense the auras of everything around me, inanimate or not. I can also sense many things about the auras, including if they are bad or good. That is how I'm able to tell that you're not a bad guy!"

Adryan laughed once more, making Ren inwardly nod and note everything down mentally.

It seemed to be a new game mechanic added. He was fairly certain he had not received one and he began to wonder at what level he would unlock it or if it was something exclusive to the NPCs.

Ren took a deep breath, it seemed like he had gotten most of what he wanted off his chest, but now it was time to ask about the very specifics.

"Old man Adryan. If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me a bit about this continent and the general area? I don't know anything and I don't want to look like an idiot when we get to town,"

"Why certainly! I'd be glad to help!"

The old man responded in a good mood, whipping his horse forward down the road.

***********

Don't forget to vote to support the story in the contest and for a chance at an anime adaptation!

Extra chapters if we get to the top 10 of the new/monthly rankings!