When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#192 - Do dogs need to smell each other's flowers to make friends?

Logically speaking, the only places left to explore in the entire palace were the spire and this place.

This underground cave was clearly used to hide people, and this woman was actually lying in bed sleeping in broad daylight. She wasn't a vampire, and there was no one else around.

But her sickly appearance made Horn suspect that his initial caution and his anxiety after arriving on the island had been a waste of time.

Horn was prepared to push open the fog gate and fight a BOSS battle; he had even taken his pants off, but this was it?

Should he capture her now? Or should he stick to his original goal and kill the wolf girl to secure a space for survival and sunlit land on Autumn Twilight Island?

Without sheathing his weapon, Horn stood cautiously to the side, his gaze fixed on the wolf girl, who was also staring intently at him. "I didn't ask your name; I asked what you are."

Light streamed through the hole in the floor, illuminating every speck of dust in the air and shining on the wolf girl's face, as if she were radiating a soft glow.

"What are you?" The wolf girl, named Shiloh, didn't answer Horn's question directly but instead asked, "Doesn't a black shell still count as a shell? I'm not 'what,' I'm just Shiloh."

"I'm asking what your race is."

"I'm the same as you."

"I'm human, but you're not."

"'Human' is just how you see yourself. Everyone can see themselves as human or anything else."

Showing off your education, are you?

Horn was momentarily speechless, but he keenly noticed Shiloh's gaze fixed on the Bloodsun Cloud in his hand.

She seemed familiar with it. This type of red steel sword seemed to be commonly used by vampires across the sea, right?

He raised his head and continued, "It seems you know what this sword is?"

"Red steel sword, a weapon commonly used by high-ranking vampire lords. My mother also had one. My legs and Afu's hands were cut off by a red steel sword."

"Afu, is that the blood slave from earlier?"

"Afu is my caretaker. Mother removed his vocal cords, nose, eyes, and reproductive system, leaving only his ears.

I made him a pair of brass hands, intending to communicate with him on paper, but he's illiterate…"

"Wait, wait… you made those brass hands?" Remembering the exquisite brass claws, Horn interrupted impatiently.

"Yes." Her tail wagged frantically again, and the wolf girl, with her frosty expression, seemed to enjoy being able to talk to a living person. "I learned from the craftsmen in the town outside."

"There used to be craftsmen here?!" Horn was even more surprised.

"Originally, there were about four hundred people in the town outside, but Mother didn't allow them to approach me. After Mother left, a group of demon hunters came and slaughtered all the residents of the town. I hid here and escaped, but you found me."

Shiloh looked down at her legs, as if reminded of something, and her tail softly drooped onto the bed. "…Are you demon hunters here to kill me?"

A mother who uses a red steel sword? Demon hunters who committed a massacre?

Horn frowned. In other words, this wolf girl's mother, or rather, adoptive mother, was a vampire?

After thinking for a moment, Horn decided to tell the truth before determining whether the other party was friend or foe: "We're outsiders; we don't know your mother."

Her fluffy wolf tail stood up again.

"Does your mother drink blood?"

"Yes. If that's the case, then Mother is a vampire." After saying that, the wolf girl finally showed a hint of almost imperceptible contemplation. "I also drink blood, but I never think about whether I'm a vampire. Does that fit the definition of a vampire?"

"Will you die if you don't drink blood?"

The wolf girl looked at him as if he were an idiot. "I only drink blood because Mother drinks with me. I'll die if I don't drink water… Ah, then maybe I don't count as a vampire."

"Do you have fangs?"

Shiloh used her fingers to pull back the corners of her mouth, saying indistinctly, "Look, no."

"Then why are you sleeping now?"

"I've always been like this. I go to sleep at 5:20 every morning."

So the wolf girl really wasn't a vampire? Taking precautions, Horn continued to ask, "How did you get here?"

"Mother gave birth to me." The wolf girl's expression didn't change, but the certainty in her tone made Horn suspicious.

A vampire gave birth to a wolf girl? That didn't seem right. Horn narrowed his eyes.

Besides that, another thing that puzzled Horn was that she had almost no expression, no matter what she said.

Although her voice was gentle and magnetic, like a college professor giving a lecture, it was delivered in a theatrical aria.

If Horn hadn't personally felt the wolf girl's body temperature, he would have thought she was an intricately constructed puppet.

"Is your mother here?"

"No, she left ten or nine years ago."

Shiloh's words eased Horn's vigilance somewhat, but he still didn't dare to let his guard down. "Then can you help us open the door to that spire outside?"

The entire palace had been searched. If what Shiloh said was true, then there was no harm in opening the spire.

But if what Shiloh said was false, with a witch and a grand wizard present, and it being daytime, they could easily deal with the vampire.

Shiloh nodded in response: "Of course I can, but you have to answer me one question—even if you're not demon hunters, will you kill me?"

Although there wasn't much expression on her face, Horn could still hear the expectation and fear in her words.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Horn stepped forward and pushed the wheelchair next to the bed. "As long as you're innocent, we won't kill you."

The speed of her tail wagging slowed down, but Shiloh didn't climb into the wheelchair. She looked into Horn's eyes: "I guess you're here to kill Mother, but Mother left a long time ago. I advise you not to kill her; she's really strong."

"If she's not on the island, we have no reason to kill her."

Shiloh turned to lie on the edge of the bed, still not getting into the wheelchair: "If what I said is true, then you broke into my home, and Afu has been captured or killed by you, right?"

Horn was momentarily speechless, while Wickdor, who was standing to the side, said indignantly, "Didn't you pretend to be a necromancer from the Evil God faction to kill beastmen? You're not innocent either."

"No, I didn't." Shiloh shook her head. "I can only tell the undead what I want, but I can't control them. The murderer is Mother, not me."

"Then what kind of compensation do you want?"

"I've lived here since I had memories. Mother wouldn't let me go out. You're the first living person to talk to me."

"So…" On her face, which was devoid of any emotion, Shiloh's mouth opened and closed: "As compensation for you breaking in, after I open the spire and prove my innocence, I want to be friends with you.

But whether we're friends or enemies, as a minimum courtesy, you should tell me your name, shouldn't you?"

Horn didn't answer immediately, after all, who knew if there were spells like true name curses in this strange and bizarre world?

He pursed his lips, and just as he was about to give Patrick's name, he suddenly stopped.

Although the wolf girl's face was serious, showing no emotion, her wolf ears were raised like antennas, and her wolf tail, while curling upward, was also shaking slowly from side to side nervously.

She seemed very expectant.

After a moment of silence, Horn opened his mouth and uttered his name: "Horn, Horn Gallar."

Anyway, his real name was in Chinese characters; it would be impossible for her to guess it even if she had a hundred brains.

"Okay." The corners of Shiloh's mouth trembled slightly; Horn felt that it might have been a smile. "My name is Shiloh."