Side Story: Worries

"… Another day without incident."

I am Rei, the vampire. A monster.

Summoned to a dungeon, a monster's job is to repel intruders…

Or so it should be, but my job is to welcome intruders.

The other day, I received the name Rei and officially became a named monster. The title of named monster is something incredible, enough to qualify one as a boss on that alone. Despite that, my job is inn receptionist. And just support staff at that.

Since I received my name so grandly at that naming ceremony, I want to contribute to the dungeon no matter what, but honestly, it's been a bit of a letdown.

I want to mow down intruders, squish them, and offer their DP to the dungeon.

That said, this dungeon's Dungeon Master, Kehma-sama, is a human. In other words, does that mean he chose the path of survival by cozying up to his own kind? … No, Master must surely be sharpening his fangs as we speak. Even if he usually looks sleepy, the commanding presence he showed at the naming ceremony was extraordinary.

Just recalling his honorable form clad in that gorgeous gold and silver armor, tasteful rather than gaudy, equipped with that transparent, gleaming blade, makes me want to pledge my loyalty all over again.

… And yet, the job assigned to me is inn receptionist.

"Haah…"

I opened the window of my assigned room and looked up at the sky… The sun is blinding. Horrible weather.

Bathing in sunlight once more, I reconfirm what I am. I'm a vampire, but sunlight doesn't bother me.

Originally, vampires have many weaknesses.

But true ancestors have none. They wield overwhelming power both physically and magically, striding freely not just under the night sky but even in broad daylight. That is a true ancestor. The progenitor of all vampires, and the mightiest of their kind.

Even among regular vampires, some possess resistance to certain weaknesses, like a throwback trait.

Among vampires, this is called a true ancestor reversion.

I am one such true ancestor reversion, possessing those resistances. Moreover, all the resistances have manifested in me, just like a true ancestor.

Couldn't I just be called a true ancestor at this point?

… If not for the curse that reduced my attack power to zero as its price, that is.

Or rather, I can't use any of my vampire powers at all. This makes me no different from a regular human. No, worse than a human. My combat ability is even lower than a goblin's.

I sighed again.

At first, I wondered what they planned to do with a monster that has no combat ability. When I heard I'd be working at an inn, I thought they might make me do succubus-like work.

But what I actually do is sit at the inn's reception, tell the occasional guest the price, receive their money, and give change. That's it. The [Abacus] even tells me how many coins to hand out for prices and change. All I have to do is not miscount… Does my being here even matter? That's how easy the job is.

Despite doing work that anyone could do, I'm given excellent food and lodging. Apparently the same food that Master and Rokuko-sama eat… This can't possibly be a fair exchange. In fact, considering that Ichika-kyoukan and Niku-senpai share a double room at the inn, we who were given private rooms might actually have better treatment.

… I can't understand what Master is thinking. At this rate, I'm nothing more than a pet. No, even a pet serves the purpose of comforting its owner, so doesn't that make me less than a pet?

This is… bad. As a (lowly, but still) proud vampire, this is a grave situation.

I need to find a way to be useful to Master, or I won't be able to maintain my pride. I was given a name, and yet here I am.

There was a knock at my door.

Who could it be? Well, it's obvious. Kinue, the silky.

Nerune, the apprentice witch, is learning work and magic from Niku-senpai as a preliminary step before Master teaches her magic. Since it's not mealtime right now, she's probably doing magic practice.

If Master or Rokuko-sama needed something, they'd use the dungeon's communication function. And Ichika-kyoukan wouldn't do something as refined as just knocking; she'd call out while knocking.

Since the [Employee Dormitory] attached to the inn is off-limits to non-staff, the only one left is Kinue.

"Rei-san, I'd like to clean."

"… Kinue. Cleaning can be done quickly with [Purify], so why did you bother bringing cleaning supplies?"

"If all cleaning could be done with [Purify], cleaning supplies wouldn't exist."

"Well, that's true, but…"

For some reason, this silky wants to clean without using [Purify]. I vaguely know from the knowledge imprinted when Master created us that silkies are that kind of race, but she just cleaned not long ago. What a peculiar one.

Well, I do leave it to her since having a clean room feels nice.

"I'll be cleaning now, so please step out."

And so I was kicked out.

… Nothing to do. Hmm.

Come to think of it, Kinue also cleans the inn and is learning to cook. Nerune is training in magic too… Once she can use more magic, she'll probably be useful to the inn in some way.

… I'm the only useless one, aren't I… This is bad. At this rate, my only use would be for nighttime services… "Hehehe, you're a vampire, so you're good at night stuff, right?" "Ah, no, please give me back my clothes!" "A freeloader like you has no other way to be useful…" … something like that.

… Uu, thinking weird things made my face hot.

I wouldn't be unwilling if it were with Master, but in any case, I need to find some way to be useful to the inn.

For now, standing around in front of my room isn't helping, so I left the inn for a walk.

The blazing sun makes for horrible weather, but right now it suits my mood.

After walking a bit, I came to a field. The golems Master controls were in the middle of harvesting crops.

There were several kinds of vegetables, but what they were harvesting now appeared to be radishes used for making sugar… Should I help with the harvest?

"…"

… There's no room for me to help. It's entirely simple golem work. Moreover, since I don't have command authority over these golems, forcing my way in would just get in the way. And since golems don't get tired, there's no point in me helping anyway.

Ugugugu. Am I useless here too?

I continued my walk.

I arrived at the [Tsuia Mountain Tunnel]… Hmm. And what exactly am I going to do here?

Entering the cave costs money, and there's no point in me going in anyway.

… Ah, a merchant is passing through.

A trader with a carrying frame on their back, the type called a peddler-adventurer.

Merchants who pass through here mainly transport salt from Pavera to Tsuia to sell. Then they carry woodcrafts and dried vegetables from Tsuia to sell in Pavera.

Right, maybe I could earn money the same way… No wait, I can't even do math properly to begin with. Not without [Abacus]-san's help…

Uu, I need to keep studying the [Times Tables]. Oh, but first I have to learn addition and subtraction without making mistakes.

I'm bad at math… Is there anything else I can do…?

… Next time, I should ask Master if there's something I can do.

Ahh, I'm so sick of not being able to do anything.

I finally received a name, so I don't want to be useless.