The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 52: Indra & Lucia's Outing

"In the middle of the day, at the end of the night, believe me I'm right by your side~! So if you need me, you can call me, I'll be running for you darling~ Whatever it is, whatever you need I'll come full speed, guaranteed to-"

"Lucia... what are you singing, my friend?"

"I do not know, it's one of those songs from Vermeil's world that she always sings." She admitted. "Do I sound bad?"

Indra would normally have opted for a fair bit of teasing when he heard a question like that, but since Lucia was the most sensitive out of all of his companions he decided against it.

"Not particularly. You actually sound even better than she does."

"Hehe, don't I?"

The two of them were walking side by side on the streets of Ferran, attracting no small amount of attention.

To outsiders, the two of them looked like they were on some kind of date and enjoying each other's company.

However, this also resulted in Indra receiving no small amount of strange looks.

No matter how pretty Lucia's upper body may have been, she was still a snake woman.

To voluntarily get into bed with her was not only gross but also socially frowned upon.

To fallen, it was only a step above co-mingling with a human of your own volition.

However, Indra didn't care about these looks.

For one he would kill anyone who actually tried to harass them and for two he and Lucia weren't in that sort of relationship.

Besides, his mind was much more focused on other matters.

"Alright then, what do you want to buy, Indra?" Lucia suddenly asked.

"Clothes for myself and Vermeil... and a wedding ring for Enyo."

Lucia felt her ears twitch and she looked at Indra with sparkles in her eyes.

"T-Then you two really...?"

"Last night." He confirmed.

"Eeep! Congratulations!!"

Lucia immediately threw herself at Indra and gave him a fully unrestrained hug.

Though she was a tiny bit jealous of Enyo, Lucia was a romantic at heart who loved love.

So to have two of her closest friends suddenly tie the knot, she was more than a little excited.

And because Indra could sense the pure emotions flowing from her, he did not push her away and allowed her to embrace him for a few moments.

"O-Oh but wait!" She suddenly realized. "I think I might be able to get clothes for you and Vermeil but a ring is kind of..."

"You're silly."

"Uwah! Indra, let go of my face!"

"No."

Once again, Indra had grabbed onto Lucia's perfect cheeks and started to pull them like taffy.

"I'm slightly insulted, Lucia. You've already done a lot for me and you think that I will ask you for more? I'm hurt to know that this is what you think of me."

To really sell the act, Indra put on a pitiful look like he'd just been kicked while he was down.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't know you had money!"

"I don't. I'm going to go make some first."

"Eh?"

Lucia thought of possible ways that someone like Indra could make money quickly.

The longer she looked at his face, only one idea came to mind.

"Indra... judging by how Enyo seems to have a real jealous streak, I don't think she'd approve of you selling yourself..."

Disbelief and utter confusion were shown on the vampire's face as his grip on Lucia's cheeks finally loosened.

"Why on earth would you think-"

"Excuse me, pretty boy!"

The pair were suddenly approached by a woman with demonic horns curling from her head and mischievous black eyes.

"Did I hear that you're for sale? Because I would love to take a turn on you~!"

She opened her purse and flashed Indra an amount of money that would have immediately made a lesser man drop his draws.

Not just her, there were a few more women and a man on the street who looked like they were going to break the bank just to have Indra break them.

"Lucia.."

"Yesh?"

"Just... take me to the nearest auction house before I kill everyone on this street."

"Oh, okay!"

-

Lucia led Indra to a red building on the other side of the city that was already attracting a fair bit of attention.

A steady stream of fallen were flowing into the building, some of whom looked to have very deep pockets and others who looked like they were just hoping to get lucky.

Lucia and Indra clearly looked like they belonged in two separate classes, leading to a pot bellied boarkin running up to Indra while completely ignoring his companion.

Wearing a simple dark suit and monocle with a medley of gold rings across his fingers, he was clearly very well off.

Even without doing or saying anything, the man revealed himself to be greed personified.

"Good day to you, sir! I don't believe that I've seen you around these parts, is this your first time visiting our fine establishment?"

"...."

"...?"

With Indra only staring at him and not bothering to speak, the auction manager believed that he may have been incapable or even had some sort of disability.

Left with no alternative, he turned his attention to Lucia for the first time since approaching.

"Pardon me, but is your master possibly mute?"

Lucia was not particularly unused to being treated like some sort of secondary character in her life, so she did not take offense to his rude behavior or assumptions.

"He is my friend, not my master. And try not to take it personally, he only rarely speaks to people upon first meeting them. He was the same way with me when we first met."

"I... see then? Were the two of you hoping to attend the auction?"

"Not in the normal sense, I believe he has an item that he'd like to have put up today."

The auction manager stoked his fat chin as he thought about today's current line up.

"Today is already full of items and I don't know how much extra space we have to..."

The words of the auctioneer gradually trailed off as Indra reached inside of his storage ring and pulled out a booklet.

When the owner of the auction house saw the red binding, he knew that it was an advanced grade cultivation technique.

And it was very, very, old.

"M-May... may I see it?" He asked weakly.

Indra looked at his plump hands coldly and waited for him to put on a pair of black gloves.

The auctioneer treated the book tenderly as he flipped through it, almost like it was the virgin body of a woman whom he was madly in love with.

With every page he flipped through, his eyes became wider and wider until they were on the verge of falling onto the floor.

"Oink..."