1.2

“This should be the place. Did the paths change in the meantime?”

Helena muttered as she adjusted her robe. After wandering through the now denser forest a couple of times, she finally emerged to be greeted by a vast rye field stretching under the bright sunlight. The not-yet-ripe fields, tinged with green, brought an inexplicable sense of peace to her heart. How unfitting.

“…I’ve found the right place.”

A small village nestled amidst the rye fields. Even after 20 years, this place remained unchanged. The clustered brick houses, the savory scent of rye bread wafting from afar, and the cheerful laughter of children—it was all the same.

“Hello, pretty lady!”

Children who had approached her unnoticed now surrounded Helena, an outsider. She crouched down to meet their eyes. Their sparkling gazes were filled with curiosity, and they were eager to speak to her.

“Hello.”

“Miss, where are you from?”

“Did you come from the capital? What’s it like there?”

“Are you here on a trip? Or for work? The adults said there’s no work around here!”

With just a single greeting, a flood of questions poured out, but Helena was not flustered and answered each one patiently. Where she had come from, what the capital she had briefly stayed in looked like, and even her absurd occupation.

“I’m a traveling doctor.”

“A doctor is someone who cures illnesses, right?”

“There’s no doctor in our village, so everyone has to go to a village an hour away!”

“Then, are you here to become our doctor?”

As the children chattered noisily, like baby birds clamoring for food, Helena tousled the brown curly hair of a boy. Medicine was something she had learned after much contemplation about how to drink blood with less repulsion while hunting humans. It was also a profession that made it easier to blend in among humans. Though she had no intention of setting up a clinic here, she thought it wouldn’t be so bad to live as she once had, even if just for a short while. After all, the wager with Dennis had a generous time limit.

“Well, that depends on the Village Chief.”

“We’ll take you to him!”

“The Village Chief will definitely allow it!”

Helena, unable to fully enjoy the nostalgic scenery, was led down into the village by the children. The people, who showed no wariness toward strangers, were just as they had been 20 years ago. Back then, too, while passing through, she had accidentally helped the villagers, which had led her to stand in front of the Village Chief’s house. Now, she found herself in the same situation, standing before the unchanged house of the Village Chief, feeling as though she had gone back in time.

“Village Chief!”

“Look who we brought with us!”

“Well, well. Kids, what’s all the fuss about… huh? Ippolita…?”

Hearing the Village Chief call her by her old alias, Helena clicked her tongue softly. He hadn’t been young even back then, so she hadn’t expected him to still be alive. Just as she was about to open her mouth to offer an excuse for this unnecessary bother, the Village Chief spoke first.

“No, that’s not right. If it were Ippolita, she’d be a middle-aged lady by now. My apologies. You just look like someone I used to know….”

“It’s fine.”

A human who hadn’t aged in 20 years. In the capital, such a thing might have raised suspicions of vampirism at least once, but here, the people were so pure that they didn’t even entertain such thoughts.

“Village Chief, this pretty lady is a doctor!”

“A doctor…?”

The same face, the same profession. But even this didn’t seem to bother the Village Chief much. Instead, he smiled brightly and welcomed Helena.

“Oh-ho! A doctor, you say! So, are you planning to settle down here?”

“Not exactly… I’m just looking for a place to stay while traveling. I wouldn’t mind acting as the village doctor during my stay.”

“That’s great, wonderful. As it happens, there’s one house currently vacant! Delphan’s son made it big and took his parents to the capital.”

Helena tried to recall who Delphan was.

‘Ah, the couple who ran the herbal shop. Their youngest son was quite bright. It seems he grew up well.’

For someone who lived an eternal life, news of old acquaintances finding new success felt oddly refreshing.

“Let’s go right away. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to stay at my house. The guest room has been empty for years.”

As she followed the Village Chief, Helena remembered that Delphan’s house was near the chapel and thought it was quite convenient. Dennis had told her that the young priest was still at the chapel, so the closer she stayed to her target, the better it would be for her.

“This here is the grocery store—.”

The small paths winding through the village remained unchanged as Helena followed the Village Chief’s guidance. The houses looked older and more faded compared to her memory, but there was a charm that came from their age.

At the very top of the village’s highest hill stood the chapel, and midway up the slope was Delphan’s house. Though the hill was called the highest, it was no more than the height of a backyard hill, so climbing it wasn’t too strenuous. When the Village Chief unlocked the door with the key he had been keeping, a warm and inviting scene greeted them, as if someone had been living there until just moments ago. Helena, as she glanced around the house, gave a short exclamation of admiration.

“This is nice.”

The furniture, though old, was well-maintained, and the household items were all neatly in place. It didn’t seem like an abandoned house at all.

“Delphan said he wanted everything here to remain as it was, so it’s just as they left it.”

“Would it be alright for me to use it?”

“Of course! Delphan specifically said to let anyone who decides to live in the village use it freely.”

The Village Chief laughed heartily, stroking his white, snow-like beard, clearly pleased that Delphan’s prediction of “unlikely” circumstances had been proven wrong. Helena, nodding as she observed the traces of 20 years etched into the Village Chief’s face, quietly agreed.

“Is that all your luggage?”

“Yes. As a traveling doctor, I don’t have much.”

“I see. If there’s anything you need, you might want to visit the chapel. They’ve set up a small treatment room there. Though calling it a treatment room is an overstatement—it’s really just a place stocked with emergency herbs.”

‘A treatment room, you say.’’

The fact that something like this now existed, which hadn’t been there in the past, piqued Helena’s curiosity. Even in this small village, which she thought had remained unchanged, time had passed, and everyone had changed, even if just a little.

“Ah, yes. It would be good for you to come along and introduce yourself.”

Without waiting for her reply, the Village Chief stepped outside, and Helena followed him out. Walking behind the Village Chief, she looked down at the village below, which was brimming with peace. In front of the chapel, a group of children had gathered, and in their midst sat a man who seemed to embody the essence of the village.

His brown hair, the color of warm rye bread, looked as though it carried the faint scent of roasted grains. As the sunlight kissed his hair, it fell in soft disarray. His light green eyes, set beneath his deep brows, curved gently whenever he smiled, creating a warm and comforting atmosphere. His black priestly robes, perfectly tailored to his broad frame, were meticulously buttoned up to his neck, exuding an air of austerity. Yet, the way the robes concealed the masculinity of his strong build only served to stir a sense of improper fascination in those who looked at him—even vampires.

“Vampires are incredibly strong; they can snap trees with their bare hands.”

“Wow… Then I want to be a vampire!”

When an innocent child, eyes sparkling, declared this, the man gently tousled the child’s hair and softly corrected him. His voice, calm and warm as though in prayer, carried a soothing quality that made one feel at ease just by listening.

“But then you wouldn’t be able to go to the Goddess. Not even to the gods’ prison, where one could repent for their sins.”

“Then! What happens when a vampire dies?”  

“Death is the end. Their soul is extinguished, and there’s no ‘next’ for them.”  

Hearing something that sounded oddly familiar, Helena realized it was the same story she had once told Isaac. Stories about vampires weren’t the kind of tales priests typically shared with children. The fact that he could speak of such things so casually… With a growing sense of disbelief, Helena overlapped the young priest from her memories with the man standing before her. At that moment, the Village Chief called out his name, and it struck her ears like a bell.  

“Isaac!”