Becoming a Mage of the Special Unit in Another World

Chapter 9 – Twin Vampires (3)

“…I’m a mage.”
Lina shut her eyes tightly as she spoke.
Soon, she bit her lip and forced herself to speak again.
“I’m not the mage who attacked me, but a different mage.”
“Is the mage who sold this magical tool the same one?”
Sunal took a doll out of his bag.
A little while ago, they discovered that a ‘listening’ spell was mixed in with the magical tool that Keron and Loren had bought, along with a sticker.
Since there was a risk of tampering with the evidence, he had kept it with him.
Lina looked down deeply when she saw the doll.
“…Yes, that’s right.”
From her words, Sunal could roughly figure out how Keron and Loren had ended up buying the doll.
‘Lina must have informed the mage of Keron and Loren’s movements.’
However, it seemed likely that the mage hadn’t been satisfied with just that and had threatened Lina, dragging her deeper into the incident and turning her into a puppet.
‘I have no idea what the mage wants. From the note Keron showed me, it seemed like they were tangled up in some financial issue with Keron’s grandfather.’
Sunal recalled the note Keron had shown him.
― ‘You filthy vampires, does other people’s blood taste good? If you suck our blood, will gold come pouring out?’
But for now, the opponent was a mage.
In an era where just becoming a mage guaranteed success, what more could they want?
“I never thought it would come to this. Today, I got a call… they told me to plant one more listening device, but I refused. Last time too…”
Lina buried her face in her palms. A sobbing sound followed.
“Last time, I had no choice but to stick the sticker with the listening device…”
Sunal could sense that an excuse would soon follow.
Even if she had no choice, the fact remained that she had committed a crime.
Her situation might be unfortunate and pitiable, but Sunal had no intention of defending her.
In the end, incidents like this would pile up and threaten the peace they had now.
“Then, was it the mage who harassed the two complainants?”
“Most likely… yes, probably.”
Lina lowered her hands.
Her eyes brimmed with tears, and the corners were red, but Sunal didn’t offer her any comfort.
“Can you tell me who it is?”
“…Yes. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Lina looked at Sunal with eyes that seemed to have given up on everything.
“But before that, can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you helping the young master and young lady?”
At Lina’s question, Sunal answered with what he truly felt.
“Do you find it strange that the Interethnic Grievance Resolution Special Unit, which is supposed to help discriminated races, is assisting complainants with power like the vampires?”
“…A little.”
Lina gripped her tail.
“To be honest, I was surprised. I never thought the young master and young lady would ask for help, and I never expected you to come.”
She had been shocked by the mere fact that the daring Keron and Loren had sought help from someone else.
That’s why, when this man had shown up, she had been flustered, and when Loren’s voice had come from behind him, her heart had nearly stopped.
“Now that peace has come… the most important thing is money, isn’t it? Those people seemed to think they could do anything as long as they had money. So asking for help felt awkward and strange.”
“I’m just doing what I have to do as a public servant working for the Interethnic Grievance Resolution Special Unit. In my job, the distinction between the weak and the strong doesn’t matter. I only hope that all complainants can blend into this peace.”
The words sounded somehow too polished, but they reached Lina differently.
The strong and the weak. To say that neither mattered.
Hearing that, words she had never wanted to say slipped out of her mouth on their own.
“If… a snake person, with no money or power, told you they were being treated unfairly because of their fierce appearance… would you have listened to them?”
“Of course.”
Sunal didn’t hesitate.
“At the very least, I would have heard them out, and I would have acted just as I’m doing now.”
At Sunal’s response, Lina bit her lip hard.
A deep wave of regret washed over her.
If only she could have made a different choice, would she have ended up seeking help from this man?
In truth, the reason she could even work here was thanks to that mage. Desperate to hold onto any lifeline, even though she knew it was rotten, she had clung to it because she had been on the verge of losing her job for looking grotesque.
She wanted to survive.
No, in fact, she had assumed that all the departments like the Special Unit for Interethnic Grievance Resolution were the same.
But maybe she had been the one viewing them through the lens of prejudice all along.
“…Thank you.”
And so, Lina swallowed her thoughts again and began confessing her crimes one by one.

“We’re entering now.”
The moment Sunal stepped out of the taxi, he reported to Edina.
Edina had provided the location of the mage behind Lina.
He figured she had likely coordinated with the police to find their current location.

‘Is there such a hospital?’
Sunal thought for a moment about Edina’s words.

“Are the police on their way?”
Sunal moved his eyes around.
The mage’s location was in ‘Ribendong,’ one of the areas under their jurisdiction, notorious for its poor reputation.
Originally, there had been a large factory named ‘Riben,’ but after it was destroyed in the war, the area had died economically and had since turned into a slum.
The tricky part about slums was that the residents generally disliked public servants.
Many of them hated society and the government, so they probably found people like him, who worked under the system, even more distasteful.

“I know. I’ll head in now.”
Since he had already felt unpleasant gazes on him the moment he got out of the taxi, Sunal lowered his voice slightly.

“I know. I’m hanging up now.”
The slum was mainly populated by those with experience in war.
It was common for people, after being wounded or having witnessed death, to wander and end up here, so it was no surprise that some of them had violent reactions to magic.
For that reason, Ribendong, unlike other districts, had no magical tools in sight.
Blink, blink.
Even the streetlights that had just turned on for the evening looked unstable, as if they might go out at any moment.
‘It’s not a magical tool, of course.’
The area still used old electrical systems, which Sunal couldn’t fix.
And because the residents disliked public servants, he didn’t bother taking pictures of the broken streetlights.
He quietly walked back toward the community center, thinking about the report he had to write.
Sunal slipped his phone into his pocket and checked the bodycam attached to his public servant ID badge.
In a slum where people didn’t like government officials, it was clear that someone would try to pick a fight.
‘Why on earth would a mage be in a place like this?’
The question kept nagging at him, and frustration began to build.
He didn’t know the exact location yet, so from now on, he would have to find it on his own.
‘Using magic here will be a bit tricky.’
If he openly used magic right now, it wouldn’t be surprising if the people in the slum grabbed weapons and rushed at him—the atmosphere was that hostile.
It was hard to reverse the long-held resentment, so Sunal covered his ears with his hair.
Unable to use magic openly, he subtly traced the flow of mana with his fingers.
Wherever there was a mage, there would inevitably be a concentration of mana.
‘Stop staring. You’re burning a hole in me.’
Ignoring the sharp gazes directed at him, Sunal focused on tracking the flow of mana.
Even if he couldn’t see it with his eyes, the sensation on his skin and the subtle scents guided his path.
As the flow of mana grew stronger, Sunal reached into his bag, thinking of the doll he had stored inside.
“Stop!”
Suddenly, a loud voice called out to Sunal.
“…?”
Sunal adjusted his glasses and looked up in the direction of the voice.
Someone was descending, flapping their wings.
It was a harpy with dull, colorless wings.
The claws on his wings were sharp, but his expression was dazed, one of his eyes covered by an eyepatch.
“There’s a bomb in that bag, isn’t there? Right?”
The man scratched the ground with his thick, pointed talons as he asked, as if ready to attack at any moment.
“I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding,” Sunal replied, pulling out the doll. He immediately felt several suspicious gazes soften.
“It’s just a doll.”
“Are you calling me an idiot? I know there’s a bomb in there! Tick-tock! I can hear it ticking! I can hear it!”
The man shouted as if possessed by something.
Sunal couldn’t tell whether the man had lost his mind or was just picking a fight.
“Ah, geez!”
A gust of wind followed the sound of someone yelling.
“Hey, old man!”
Another harpy landed on the ground and slapped the man’s back, scattering feathers in the process.
“What are you doing again?”
“Look, I’m telling you, there’s a bomb in there!”
“My apologies…”
The woman’s eyes grew wide when she saw the public servant badge hanging around Sunal’s neck.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.”
Her voice grew higher, clearly flustered. She didn’t know where to focus her gaze, her eyes darting around.
“This old man here… he fought in the war back in the day. There was a bomb in a bag, and all his comrades were killed because of it. So now, whenever he sees someone pull something out of a bag, he reacts like this. Please, have mercy on him, officer.”
“No need to worry.”
Sunal waved his hand at her, who was bowing repeatedly.
He understood their behavior—there were plenty of people who found it difficult to deal with government workers.
But this place wasn’t ideal.
Sunal noticed that people were starting to approach him after hearing the word “public servant.” He offered a brief farewell and quickly moved away.
“Well, have a good day.”
After putting some distance between himself and the crowd, Sunal channeled his mana into the doll in his hand.
The thick concentration of mana was unsettling.
Sunal entered the old man’s home and sat down, watching him intently.
Pale skin and sharp fangs that peeked out when he smiled, capable of easily piercing through flesh—it was clear that he was a vampire.
‘…Vampires aren’t supposed to age like this.’
With a lifespan much longer than that of humans, vampires were always supposed to appear youthful.
‣Aging progresses slower in comparison to their lifespan.
That was supposed to be a characteristic of the vampire race.
But this old man was different. Despite his clear, sharp eyes, his skin sagged weakly.
“You’ve gone through the trouble, but it’s all for nothing,” the old man said in a voice that was utterly flat.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do you think peace has truly been handed to the people just because it’s been declared?”
“Someone has to make sure everyone can be part of this peace,” Sunal replied.
“You must think I’m strange.”
“I’m just curious. I want to know why a mage like you is here, and why you used children and hurt them.”
“As you’ve probably figured out by now, I am a vampire.”
“Yes, I’ve realized.”
“Doesn’t it strike you as odd? You must have noticed something unusual when you looked at my appearance.”
“Can you tell me the reason?”
“Of course. I’ve been waiting for you. If I hadn’t done all this, how else would you and I have met, Mr. Sunal?”
The old man smiled faintly as he looked at Sunal.