Chapter 1 - The Moon is Waning
I've heard that it is called 'Matsuyoi Moon' because people look forward to the full moon the next night.
The moon shining in the sky is so beautiful, and when I think about how beautiful it would be if it was a full moon, I can't help but feel sad that tonight is the fourteenth night.
No one passes on this road after midnight, and the occasional cars that passed by didn't stop. Maybe they thought I was just some drunkard. Or maybe they didn't even notice me.
Scattered on the ground are my new novels, which I had planned to read when I got home. The sales were less than flattering and the reviews were harsh, describing it as a boring story with the main character who has no goal. Even so, I found myself empathizing with the unpopular main character of this unpopular novel for some reason.
The fact that the main character doesn't have a goal is certainly a valid point, and a flaw in the story. If you don't know what the main character wants, then you can't even determine the direction of the story.
It’s just.... I wonder if the people who wrote those harsh reviews have some goal in their life. I wonder if the person in the car that just passed by has a clear goal in life, like 'I want to be this' or 'I want to do that'.
I can hear the sound of a train running in the distance.... I wonder if the office workers on that train on their way home from work want to be an office worker. Is that his or her goal in life? I don't think so. Not mine, at least.
If you're a hero in a fantasy world, your goal is to defeat the demon king and save the world. If it's a boxing manga, your goal is to become world champion. But in reality, how many people are there who clearly set a goal and work hard to achieve it?
'What do you want to be when you grow up?' --- is a question that will likely be asked at least once in childhood, and children would answer it with their dreams, such as 'I want to be a baseball player.' , 'I want to be the president.' , 'I want to be a scholar.' , 'I want to be an idol.' , and so on.
It's a childish response from those who know nothing of the harshness of reality, the pain, the path, and the difficulties of getting there. However, those are genuine words full of hope. Everyone is the main character with a goal at this time. The main character in their own story (life).
The world shines brightly when we are children. But as we grow up, we experience failure, we experience talent, we experience reality, and before we know it, we forget our dreams and we simply live to survive another day. Then, we all become the main character in a story without a goal.
Like that moon in the sky, which will never be fulfilled....
The moon that lacks something important called a purpose, and it will remain lacking forever....
Isn’t that just like what we are?
And now, this story (life) of mine is coming to an end.
The ending isn't particularly dramatic. It would have been a little more impressive if I was involved in an accident while saving a kid, but.... when I was climbing the stairs of the pedestrian bridge, someone who was running in hurry bumped into me, then I fell, and hit my head. The person in question immediately fled the scene and is nowhere to be seen.
My blood soaked the ground, my limbs paralyzed, and my consciousness slowly fading away. Feeling all of this, I thought to myself;
Ahh.... what a boring story (life)....
With those last words, I closed my eyes that were gazing at the night moon until the very end. My eyes that would never see the full moon again.
*****
I wonder when did I became aware of the memories of someone that is not mine.
I wonder when did I realize that this life is my second life.
One day, the girl suddenly realized that the life of someone she had no recollection of has taken up residence in her memories. The girl's name was Mercedes and her family name was Grünewald. She was born from one of the many concubines of Lord Bernhard, a vampire who ruled over a vast territory.
I think I was already aware of them by the time I started developing my sense of self. In other words, it's pretty much from the beginning
However, rather than her past life, Mercedes considered it as merely the knowledge of someone that was not herself.
I know what kind of person she was, what her hobbies and interests were, and I even know the cause of her death. Yet, it feels like a stranger's life to me.
If you were shown a digest of the life of someone you've never met and were told that it was your previous life, there's no way you would just nod and accept it, right? Moreover, it was terrible.... the story in the digest was terrible and boring.
To Mercedes, the source of this knowledge was not ‘her past life’, but merely ‘someone who seemed to be her in the past life’. But in terms of whether this knowledge was useful to her or not, it was definitely useful. Thanks of this, Mercedes was able to establish his own sense of self at a very young age, and even developed thinking abilities that rivaled those of adults. Thus, she understood how precarious her current situation was.
Mercedes walked through her house, which was a little too small to be called a mansion, while deep in thought.
Mercedes Grünewald is a vampire. But although I’m a vampire, I’m not an undead like the vampires from my past knowledge.
In 'this world', vampires are creatures that are strong, have a special power called magic, have long life spans, have excellent regenerative abilities, and are a little weak under the sun. Vampires do drink the blood of other creatures, but we only need a small amount of it.
Maybe it sounds disgusting, but there are creatures that consume blood out there. I mean no offense, but mosquitoes also drink blood.
Vampire can have children normally. We also have no problem of crossing running water. And obviously, mosquito coils don't work on us.
Just hearing this, you'd think that I've pulled a winning ticket in life. Well, it's certainly not a losing ticket when it comes to my race. Then, how about my appearance?
Mercedes looked at her reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall.
My hair, which can appear either blue or silver depending on the angle of the light, is tied behind my neck, and reaches down to my waist.
My face, which is still that of a child at the moment, can only be described as beautiful. In fact, it's so well-proportioned that if I were to be humble about it, it would sound like a sarcasm.
Behind the glasses, my golden eyes are slightly upturned, exuding an aura of confidence. My pupils change depending on the light and my mood just like a cat's, but right now, I don't look any different from humans.
My eyes can also glow in the dark. It's likely that they have evolved to have a reflector behind my retina like cats, so I can see in the dark place with a little light. Lastly, I have a neat little nose, cherry-colored lips, and fair white skin.
I have been blessed with good looks in this life. I have been perfected to the point where I can't think of any improvements. This may sound like me bragging, but I am convinced that I will grow up into a beautiful woman in the future.
There's no problem with my physical abilities either. In fact, as a vampire, my physical abilities can't be compared to those of humans. Up to this point, there is no room for complaint. I can proudly say that I am blessed.
However, Mercedes felt a sense of crisis about her birth...or rather, her environment, or perhaps her current situation.
As I mentioned before, there are vampires in 'this world'. I also have gone to great lengths to emphasize 'this world' to indicate that we are not on Earth. This planet is called the Red Planet.
Like those typical light novels with no twists and turns, appear and multiply at the speed of mass-produced robots that explode in a second, it seems that I've been reincarnated into a different world.
I was reborn as the daughter of a concubine, born to a vampire father and mother. However, it seems that my mother has a very low status among the other concubines. It's obvious when you look at this place. My mother was only given a small mansion like the ones poor nobles in the provinces live in.
You might think that being given a house is a luxury, but the fact that we are not even allowed to live in the main house shows that it’s not the case.
My father governs a vast territory. I’m sure he has all the money and properties to spare. Yet, we live in this kind of place. The window frames rattle whenever a strong wind blows. Parts of the floor are rotting, so they creak when you walk on them. I also saw cockroach and rat at least once a day. This is terrible.
Incidentally, Mercedes had never seen her father's face in the five years since she was born.
I've also never seen my father visiting my mother even once. No matter how long-lived the vampire is, no matter how low my mother's status as a concubine is, it's hard to imagine that he would leave his wife alone for five years. Looking at these circumstances, it's clear that my father is neglecting my mother. Or perhaps he doesn't even think of her that much.
They received only the bare minimum of financial support, and with the service of an elderly maid, the mother and daughter barely managed to get by.
For the time being, we manage to get by, but this won't last forever. The reason my mother and I can have our current lifestyle is because I still have the right to inherit the territory. That being said, my right has almost no priority.
The House of Grünewald will most likely be succeeded by his legal wife's son, which I don't care, but the problem is what happens after that. Once the successor is officially decided, all of the children of concubines, including myself and the unknown number of others, will be of no use.
Considering how he has been treating us, it's too optimistic to think that he would continue to look after us. It’s better to assume that we will be abandoned in the future.
When that time comes, what should I do?
Should I just sit back and wait for a future that may come tomorrow?
No, there's no way I'd do that.
How can I not be prepared for the misfortune that I know is coming?
But what can I do? I have neither wealth nor honor.
All I have is this vampire body of mine.
"Oh, Young Lady, are you going out again tonight?"
"Yes, Granny. I'm going to play in the garden for a bit. You don't have to tell my mother." (Mercedes)
"Okay, please take care."
Mercedes talked for a bit with the elderly maid she met in the hallway and then she passed by the study. The room was filled with bookshelves and there was also a small desk and chair. On the small desk were piles of books that Mercedes had read countless times, to the point she memorized them down to the last word.
Having memories from her past life, Mercedes properly understood her current situation. In preparation for the inevitable future, she first immersed herself in reading books to gain the knowledge to survive even if her father kicked them out tomorrow. Still, Mercedes was grateful because it seemed the Goddess of Luck was on her side. Or maybe she was the Goddess of Bad Luck.
The path is right there. In this world, there's a job that anyone can do, regardless of age or position. The price is your own life. You pay a few tips, buy a few dangers, and earn your daily bread.
This is job called Seeker. You earn money by conquering the world’s many unexplored places and dungeons. This is the job with the highest death rate in the world, along with being a soldier. It’s the only way the five-year-old me can earn money.
However, even vampires would soon become corpses if they take up this job while relying solely on their racial power. First of all, vampire Seekers are not rare. Many of them have died and never returned. So I need to get stronger.
It didn't take long for Mercedes to reach a conclusion that could not be more simple or childish. Her answer was too simple for anyone to come up with. If it were that easy, no one would have hard time to make a living. But no matter how childish it might be, she only had her own body, she had no choice but to make use of it. Therefore, whenever she had the chance, she would go outside to train herself.
Mercedes went outside the house and saw the moon illuminating the night sky.
The moon in this world is blue, and it is also called Eden.
I don't know why, though.
Mercedes looked up at the faintly shining full moon and reaches out her hand to grab it. Of course, there was no way that her hands could reach the moon, but in her field of vision, her young palm was gripping the moon, trapping its radiance.
This life I've been given, I have no intention of letting it simply rot away and end.
These young hands hold nothing right now, but I will grab it someday.
I don't know if it's fortune or honor, but I will hold it in these hands, the proof of my existence in this world.
Then, when this life comes to an end, I want to be able to say it out loud and without regret that I'm glad I was born.
The moon won't be waning anymore.
"I want to live without regrets.... and to pass away with a smile on my face." (Mercedes)
To life to the fullest, to keep moving forward, and to die while smiling. Those were the goals of Mercedes in her second life.
"I'm going to survive. I'm going to live this second life to the fullest." (Mercedes)
No one heard her oath to the moon. However, Mercedes felt like the full moon shone a little brighter.