She is not an investigator.

She... asked me to do something.

“…I know you’re different from those vampires. You need food, and I can give you that. I want to leave here…I think I’ll go up to the city.”

What she didn't know was that all of humanity had long since been unable to return to the Upper City.

The lower town is completely sealed off; no one can leave here alive.

I told her about it, and she cried for a long time. She cried desperately and was in great pain.

Perhaps it was around that time that I learned about emotions and how to grieve.

I tried to comfort her, watching her cry, handing her food, or crying with her.

Time passed, day after day.

She has stopped crying, but she is still in a bad mood.

Without realizing it, she also began to depend on me, perhaps just like how I felt about her. In that world, we only had each other left.

The food was quickly eaten up, and we were both going to be hungry.

She added.

"It's dangerous outside, isn't it? If you're hungry, you can eat me."

It wasn't until then that I understood why she had stopped crying.

She simply couldn't find any hope of surviving.

But she was my only friend, and I couldn't, and didn't want to, watch her die like that.

So, I began my first hunt.

The Bizarre Stage Play – The City of Gluttonous Bloodthirsty Enthusiasts: Chapter Twenty-Nine, Indulgence

My hunt was not going well; it's safe to say that in this city today, it would be very difficult for me to find any food at all.

Whether human or vampire.

Even corpses.

I haven't been back on the streets for a long time, and everything there feels unfamiliar to me.

Broken buildings, congested streets, dark surroundings, and an empty city.

I searched for a long time, until I started to feel hungry, my vision started to blur, and I started to feel weak.

I am like this, so I know that she is too.

So I have to find food, food that will allow both of us to survive, before I go back.

That's what she was thinking, and she was prepared to die out there.

But I went back to the door of that basement again.

I should have come back sooner, even if it was just one minute earlier.

I don't know why, but the basement door opened and a vampire crawled in.

The plot is melodramatic and disgusting.

She killed the intruder with her only bullet, but as a human, she was too fragile.

She was injured, badly injured, in the lower town, with no medicine and no medical facilities; she had no chance of survival.

That was yet another time, and she cried again.

Because the wound was too painful, and because death was finally approaching her.

It wasn't until the moment her body began to lose temperature that she understood just how painful death truly was.

Even so, she still grabbed my hand and told me the words she couldn't say aloud.

"My life has probably come to an end."

She murmured softly.

"Although I had expected it, I am also incredibly grateful to have met you."

She whispered softly.

"Please remember my name—Hugh, and carry on with my share of life."

She sighed softly.

"And finally."

Her soft, boneless hand touched my face, warm to the touch, but quickly turned icy cold.

Perhaps my body temperature was dropping, or my heart was almost stopping.

Even at the end of her life, those words continued to linger in my mind, in my dreams, and in my stomach.

"Please, eat me."

…………

"So I ate her, inherited her name, and lived on as she had hoped."

Bathed in moonlight, Igris saw the smile on her face.

A smile curved her lips, but there was no joy in it, only a sorrow that bordered on despair.

“I ate my only friend because I had to survive, and then… less than half an hour later, the lower city was liberated.”

"Should I be happy and joyful about this news? Because I no longer have to worry about being hunted by my own kind, because I can survive?"

"But I just felt like vomiting, just like when I ate her. My appetite kept driving me to gnaw on her flesh, but my reason kept driving me to vomit it all out."

Her tone was calm, almost a desperate calm.

No one can imagine what she went through at that time, nor does anyone know what her mindset has been as she has continued to live all these years.

She was a sinner because she devoured her own companions, which is why she came to this place of exile.

Everything seemed to be going well; this was a path of redemption that belonged only to her.

Even if she will never forgive herself.

"I see."

"Iglesias said."

Why are you telling me all this now?

On this night, perhaps tomorrow Igris will also leave this place.

However, she probably won't leave so soon.

“You’re looking for Hugh, not me, but her, I know.”

Her gaze returned to Igris, landing on her striking blonde hair.

Perhaps even describing Hugh's feelings as melancholy and sadness would be too general, just as her sadness at this moment is something no one can understand.

“You are looking for her, someone is looking for her, her brother, who has never stopped searching for Hugh, and he firmly believes that she is still alive, still not dead.”

She knew, she always knew, about the crime she had committed, and she didn't even have the courage to face the victims of that sin.

She should tell Hugh's brother, Ash himself, all of this.

But she didn't, just as timid and cowardly as she used to be.

"So, please."

thump.

She knelt on the ground, suddenly and decisively.

"He needs to know the whole truth, so please, tell him all this: his sister is dead, and because of my mistake, she didn't even leave a trace of herself in the end."

"Please, this is my only request."

Even if the price of atonement is... my life.

She lowered her head, her legs giving way, and she knelt on the ground.

As a vampire, she shouldn't be as fragile and sensitive as a human, but she is special because she has a special friend.

And so, this special vampire has lived on, burdened by the wish of that special friend and the guilt that has never dissipated in his heart.

She always faces life with a positive and optimistic attitude, not because she truly loves everything in this world.

Simply because Hugh loves this world.

And now, she is Hugh.

"I should have worn a nun's habit."

Igris scratched her cheek, feeling a little awkward, but still adopted a praying posture and looked up as she spoke.

"The Lord will hear your sins and forgive your sins."

"Of course, I am not a nun, I am not religious, and I do not believe in any so-called Lord, so I cannot forgive your sins on behalf of anyone else."

"But if you really intend to atone, why not do as Hugh once told you—live happily and with hope, what do you think?"

Igris crouched down and reached out her hand to Hugh, who was slumped on the ground.

"Kneeling here won't actually get you an indulgence from God."

God may indeed exist, but He is never some supreme deity outside the world. Perhaps in the hearts of most believers, He is more like a hope and a beautiful vision for the future.

Of course, all of the above is nonsense from Igris; she is not religious, but she can pretend to be religious now.

Her stance has always been flexible and adaptable, so no one will mind this issue.

Even God wouldn't.

"Besides, I don't think he'll blame you."

Igris pulled Hugh up from the ground and patted the dust off her clothes.

"After all, you're just a very, very hungry vampire."

The bizarre stage play – The City of Gluttonous Bloodthirsty Thirty: Hate Every Job You Do

Igris has always felt that she is not good at comforting people, and she still is.