“L-Little… Lolita!?”
In fact, Aisha Hodhua was hearing this term for the first time. Even so, she seemed to grasp its meaning just from the name alone. Her defenses crumbled in an instant, and she couldn’t help but widen her eyes, staring at Sang.
Seeing his goal achieved, Sang felt a secret thrill in his heart—not afraid of her throwing a tantrum, just afraid of her showing no emotion at all.
He pressed on. “Come on, chat with me a bit~?”
“Hmph, in the end, you’re just a rude bumpkin from some backwater place…” Just as Sang had anticipated, Aisha Hodhua didn’t dare lay a finger on him.
Emboldened, he shot back, “Hey, I’m still the possession of Her Excellency. How can you talk about me like that? Insulting me is the same as insulting the True Ancestor’s judgment! Got it!?”
At those words, Aisha Hodhua’s mental defenses collapsed even further. Though she had lived nearly a century, she had always been cooped up in the airtight confines of the 【Heavenly Key】, treading water her whole life. Her emotional maturity was stunted, like that of a giant infant. The Blood Race looked down on mix-bloods, and humans bowed and scraped whenever they saw her. She’d never encountered a wild child like Sang before.
The once prim and proper maid lolita flushed red in the face. She glared at Sang with her big, watery eyes, a mix of anger and fear. She knew she’d said the wrong thing.
Seeing the little lolita in such a flustered state, Sang knew his purpose was fulfilled. He pulled out a piece of candy and offered it to her. “This young master won’t hold a grudge against a little one. I don’t blame you—in fact, here, have some candy.”
Yes, that’s right. It was one of the three pieces of candy that big sis Yilin had given him before parting.
“Candy?” The little lolita fought to hide her delight, her eyes glued to the sweet in young Sang’s hand.
The Blood Race could indeed consume human food. To borrow a line from the internet in his old world, it was something they could do but had no need for. They had taste buds and could savor the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy flavors, but it provided no nutritional value for their bodies. Blood was the real necessity, after all.
To the Blood Race, human food was like a couch potato’s happy fizz—pure indulgence with no real benefits.
Even so, a little lolita was still a little lolita. What was wrong with liking candy!?
Moreover, Aisha Hodhua was a mix-blood!
In the 【Heavenly Key】, the only sustenance was blood. Unless a True Ancestor blood servant like Sang brought it in, everyday human foods rarely appeared. And candy? That was practically nonexistent. The 【Heavenly Key】 covered all the blood servants’ food, clothing, and shelter to ensure the purity of their blood, so Sang wasn’t allowed to eat sweets.
In the end, Aisha Hodhua snatched the candy from Sang’s hand, spun on her heel, and hurried away.
Sang watched the little lolita’s retreating back. On one hand, he felt smug—ha, trying to go up against me? I’m a crafty transmigrator from another world. On the other, he felt a pang of sentiment, missing the kids back at the orphanage and pondering the nature of the Blood Race.
What kind of existence were the Blood Race, really?
…
Over the next few days, the relationship between Sang and Aisha Hodhua didn’t exactly skyrocket, but at least they could hold a conversation now. She seemed to hold a grudge over how he’d threatened her, constantly warning him with tales of what happened to previous True Ancestor blood servants.
“Human, I’ve told you so much, but it’s all useless. You have at most ten days left before you die! And you’ll go without ever seeing the True Ancestor—drained dry of blood, turned into a withered corpse. It’ll be gruesome!”
He had to admit it: an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl trying to sound menacing was even more amusing than he’d imagined.
Sang couldn’t help but chuckle. “You… are just too cute.”
“C-Cute!?”
Aisha Hodhua was baffled by the descriptor on one level, and on another, she couldn’t fathom why the boy was still laughing.
“Aren’t you scared?” she asked.
Sang nodded. “Uh… terrified, actually…”
“Then why are you laughing!?”
“No reason. I just feel like if I laugh, nothing seems like a big deal anymore.”
“You’re the strangest human I’ve ever met…”
“Eh, I’m pretty ordinary. You’ve just met too few people… How many years have you lived here? Have you never gone out to see the outside world?” Sang asked, genuinely curious.
For all his words, Sang himself wasn’t much of a wanderer. Ever since transmigrating, he’d stayed put in Kaen Town, venturing only to nearby villages at most.
But Aisha Hodhua looked like he’d struck a nerve. A complicated expression crossed her face. “My father once told me that entering the 【Heavenly Key】 and becoming Her Excellency’s maid is the greatest honor in the world. I… am very fortunate…”
Sang rolled his eyes and fired back, “Sounds great—why didn’t your dad come serve the True Ancestor himself!?”
Aisha Hodhua suddenly looked up at him with an inscrutable gaze. She bit her lip. “Father bears the heavy responsibility of our family… Besides, the 【Heavenly Key】 has no need for males.”
Sang shrugged. You could never wake someone who was pretending to sleep. He didn’t bother pressing the issue further but still asked, “Do you… crave freedom?”
“Fr-Freedom…? I don’t yearn for something like that.”
“Hmph… Little Lolita.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Pink-Haired Little Lolita?”
“You…!”
Beyond that, Sang gleaned plenty of intel from Aisha Hodhua’s mouth. To her, he was a dead man walking anyway—knowing more wouldn’t change a thing—so she spilled freely.
Sang mentally sorted through the information he’d gotten from the little lolita. First, the 【Heavenly Key】 looked vast, but it only had two levels: the ground level, with several football-field-sized buildings, and the upper level, the pinnacle of that towering spire where the True Ancestor resided. Second, the True Ancestor had actually awakened from her decades-long slumber but simply hadn’t shown herself. Third—and the most shocking bit Sang had heard yet—this world really did have magic.
Sort of.
They didn’t call it magic. The Blood Race named their supernatural abilities the 【Blood Curse Technique】, while humans referred to them as 【Supernatural Abilities】 or 【Superpowers】. Different names, same thing.
Sang hadn’t realized this after transmigrating because such powers were exceedingly rare, especially in a remote backwater like Kaen Town, where no humans with abilities could be found.
High-level Blood Race members nearly all possessed the Blood Curse Technique, while among humans, it was one in ten thousand. That was the root of the Blood Race’s strength—with these powers, one could take on a hundred foes, or even more.
At that thought, Sang grew curious about his own abilities. So he wasn’t without a golden finger after all; he just hadn’t awakened it yet! As a transmigrator, how could he be limited to just “brawn over brains”!?
The next moment, he asked eagerly, “Pink-Haired Little Lolita, can I see your superpower?”
