Fallen Forest

Fallen Forest Ch.3

"I'll repeat once more, Lute, have you ever attacked or killed anyone as a vampire?" repeated Rodas in a concerned tone.

Lute's eyes widened a little while his heart thumped loudly from the man's question. His ears drooped and remained silent for a bit before opening his mouth. What Rodas is talking about is what almost happened earlier, has he ever attacked or killed anyone as a mindless vampiric beast?

"It's not like I haven't but... those situations were... " replied Lute with a sigh. Lute thought it was for the best to let them decide, so he told them what happened and explained everything.

When Lute attacked these people, it was for self-defense, or he couldn't hold onto his sanity anymore. They were people who provoked and stalked him, even tried to kill him. He never attacked first and warned them that they should leave him alone, but they didn't. A couple of them were Hunters while others were people who found out he was a vampire and attacked him. Lute, during those times, was either heavily injured or was on the verge of losing his sanity from refusing to drink blood for long periods. Lute did his best to keep his vampire instincts under control and keep his sanity so he wouldn't attack them, but it didn't end very well.

When vampires like Lute are heavily injured, their bodies require the missing nutrients which are blood and other bodily fluids. As a life-saving action, their instincts kick in, and they attack those nearby to fill in what's missing. During times like these, if he had to choose something to drink blood from, it'd be animals, but none were around at the time.

After hearing Lute's story, not only the Hunters had grim expressions, but also those who were concerned for Lute as well.

"As you can see, they were situations where I didn't have many options, is what I'd like to say, but I'm not sure. What do you think?" asked Lute with gentle eyes.

Lute wasn't happy that he ended up attacking and sometimes killing those people, but what choice did he have? They didn't leave him alone and kept it up which resulted in them being dead or badly hurt. Because of this, Lute avoided towns and cities as much as possible along with other populated places. The only time when he comes near places like that is for the needed supplies he couldn't get in the wilderness which resulted in those confrontations.

"Fu, those are the actions of foolhardy people, Lute. You did warn them multiple times to leave you alone and to stay away, but they didn't. That was the result. You feel bad about it even though it wasn't your fault, they asked for it," comforted Gale as he pats Lute's shoulder.

"Gale, that might be true, but we're talking about our higher-ranked colleagues here. Will that be enough for them to pardon Lute?" explained Jean with worry.

The rule is if the vampire hadn't attacked anyone, they were safe, but what about situations like this? Lute's predicaments made it hard to judge.

"We can just tell them the situation back at the branch office, can't we? It's doubtful that they'll be too unreasonable, and Lute is already under our control, so I doubt they'll be too harsh given the circumstances," said Rodas with a carefree voice.

"Ah, that's true," replied Jean.

"Control?" asked the puzzled Lute.

Gale explains the situation to Lute that he is under a magical submission contract with both Rodas and Jean. If Lute is unable to keep his sanity and goes wild, then they'll be able to stop him with the contract's submission magic. Lute understood the situation and decided to follow them back to their branch HQ to await his fate. Even if he didn't want to, these Hunters would likely force him to come anyway.