Sofia couldn’t help herself from identifying every person she walked by. About every pedestrian was either an ‘artisan’ or a ‘laborer’ with an average level around five or so. Kids didn’t identify as anything. The only outlier for now was a man in his twenties making a show of playing the flute on a plaza who showed up as [Supporter - Lv.62].

It must be hard hiding when you have a special class… unless… could be that necromancer shows up as mage too?

She would almost feel shame at peeping at people like that if they weren’t all staring at her. The armor is a bit too much. I need to buy more clothes… I need good stuff that won’t burn from the lightning.

“Do we skip the meal and go to the embassy first?” she asked Alith.

“At least let’s buy some skewers for the road, I’m a bit hungry.”

 

Alith had been surprised to find out that some people had animal traits such as horns, ears, tails or even hooves. There were only a few people like this in the large crowds walking around the city but no one paid them any special attention. Sofia explained how they were all descendants of summoned heroes from another realm. A place where people all looked even more like animals.

There had been many wars shaking the human continent throughout known history, and summoning heroes was something that had always existed as far as Sofia knew. It only made sense that heroes would have children. It was hard to imagine anyone not having at least a bit of otherworldly hero blood in their veins at this point.

The city was quite large, the emperor’s palace and its high external walls sat right in the middle, visible from any corner of the city. Finding the Vasperian embassy was a piece of cake starting from the gate they came from, follow the main road, the guard had told them. The familiar red and black blasons were hard to miss in the rows of gray brick houses.

“Hmm, give me some gold, I’ll go find us a room while you do that.” Alith suggested as they neared the vampires’ building. Sofia passed her some sandy coins, “A single room?”.

“Yeah, safer. Want a room for yourself instead? We can do that too.” Alith stated and shrugged.

“A single room is fine, only, please make sure we can have a bath. Go for a nice place, we have money. I’ll wait for you here if you’re not back when I’m done.”

Sofia entered the embassy by herself. The inside decoration was quite different from the Einsen counterpart, it was darker and colder, and felt much more like an actual work space. No one was here to receive her, once the heavy door closed, without the hustle and bustle of the street, the place was completely silent.

“Hello?” she tried.

Did I get the wrong place somehow?

A pointy eared man as tall as her materialized out of thin air, arms crossed, resting his back against a wall, just a few meters away. He wore a yellow and black rhombus patterned outfit with long sleeves. His voice was suave and deep “If it isn’t a rogue Saint, and in this kind of magic armor. You don’t see something like that every day;” he stepped away from the wall “what may have brought such an interesting specimen to this rundown outhouse? Seeking asylum mayhaps?”

As expected, I can't hide from people with [Identify].

[Summoner - Lv.300+]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THREE HUNDRED?

‘[Poker Face] reached level 7’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 8’

‘[Poker Face] reached level 9’

Sofia was grateful that she still had the visor hiding her face, or she doubted she could really hide her surprise, even with the skill helping out.

“Lost your tongue have you?” The man asked, then he loudly sniffed the air twice. He raised an eyebrow. “You already have a card? You won’t mind if I have a look, right?”

It’s in the necklace! How the fuck does he know? Huh! How is it in his hand?

She mentally checked the contents of her necklace only to find the card gone for real.

“Lady A. ? You got my niece to be your guarantor? Even your storage item is unusual… Maybe I should show up again in Skyreach for a surprise visit…”

For a second, he sounded melancholic when mentioning the kingdom.

“Excuse me, how may I address you?” Sofia finally had time to say something in between the man’s ramblings.

“Me? People call me Cardinal, you may as well.” He raised a palm.“ Don’t sweat the small stuff. Tell me why you’re here instead.”

“I’m here to sell blood” Will this monster even be interested?

“I don’t see any in your possession, young lady.”

He's a summoner, so there’s no way he won’t understand what I’m doing. I might as well just say it. Surely a few hundred gold is nothing to someone so high level either way.

“I can summon it. I have a skill for that.”

“You can summon wine?” Cardinal’s face showed a bit of genuine surprise for the first time, if only for a second, again, he probably dislikes showing his emotions too much. “That’s a dangerous skill to have. You better thank the gods that you weren’t born a Vampire or you’d be long dead.”

“Slavery?” Sofia asked seriously.

The man looked at her like she said something absurd. “What? Just what kind of image do you have of us? No Vasperian would stoop so low. No, I meant overdosing. I can only imagine what would have happened to me with a skill like that at your age… Especially if it’s a rich flavor.”

“Your… niece? Said it was worth an eight. No idea what it means, but she bought it for a gold coin per liter.”

“Well, let’s have a taste. Summon some,” the vampire ordered.

“Do you have a glass?”

“Who cares for that, summon it near my mouth.”

Sure…

Sofia couldn’t even see how but the blood she had summoned mid air had disappeared in the man’s mouth.

“About eight indeed. How much can you make?”

“Two hundred liters a day. More if the skill levels up.”

Another vampire in a more traditional suit came out from one of the rooms visible upstairs. “Master! We found another victim! Same pattern!”

“Alright… I’m only staying here for four more days… Here, kid. I’ve placed the things in your necklace, bring back the filled vial in four days. I’ll catch you later, Saintess,” Cardinal said with a wink. He disappeared on the spot, dissolving in the shadows, and reappeared next to the man on the upper floor, already talking to him and entering a side room.

Sofia checked in the sand pendant. Two thirds of the place was now occupied by a large pouch overflowing with gold coins. An empty ornate vial sat on a small pile of sand on the side with the coins that had already been there.

So this is what it means to be rich? That has to be at least 500 coins!

The whole exchange had lasted only a minute and she had been trusted with an advance pay of more gold than most people would see in their whole life, just like that.

Now I need to wait for Alith to come back…

 

“You’re sure you didn’t steal it?” Alith was flabbergasted at the sight of the mountain of gold coins on her bed.

“Vampires are crazy rich, I tell you! He didn’t even negotiate or anything, told me to fill the flask and he was out,” Sofia reaffirmed, brandishing the ornate empty vial the size of her thumb.

“You identified it?”

“Here.”

[Vial of unending pleasure] : May the noble thirst be quenched . Holds up to a thousand liters of liquid. Item level : 0. Grade : Ancient.

“That has to be worth a lot too… I don’t think you can afford to ever erase [Summon blood]. This is too much of a money maker… We could even consider moving to Vasperia and…”

“Calm down Alith, we're at a high level already, I don’t think we’ll ever have trouble making money from now on, even without that. There’s always work for strong people. The level 50 hunter in my village was the richest person there and by a lot.”

“Okay, we follow our plan then? First place to go tomorrow should be…”

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like