Hiro didn’t know what he was expecting about this secret and isolated tribe. But the batkin tribe was living right next door. Only a ten-minute walk, less than a kilometer away. However, their house was placed in the dovekin way. They must hop from branch to branch to reach it. No one walked on the ground.

"Thank goodness. Without Hiro, we would have trouble navigating between houses." Cecile muttered as Hiro entwined his tentacles between the branches and created a bridge for them.

"Well, for birdkin or beastkin with an agile body, this might not be so bad. I mean, Nana could hop between the branches just fine, but if you plan to welcome outsiders, you should start thinking about accessibility." Rebecca muttered.

"Ah, we are doing this on purpose. We welcome the mining village as it creates a food lifeline for us. But living with them is another matter. We don’t want that," Sara said. "I have to be honest, but even a good-natured foreigner can be exhausting. We simply do not have enough houses for an inn."

"I see. So you want to maintain the status quo? Selling your molted feathers and then sometimes buying food if things go bad?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes. At least for the time being." Sara nodded.

Hiro contemplated. That sounded reasonable, but such arrangements rarely worked in real life. Litmus might be different, but even in modern times, when interest was there, people would come swarming in. Luckily, this region was devoid of useful resources. Even the new mining village that was built recently was not vital to the empire. It was just excavating red dirt for iron production. There were other places with that kind of resource.

If something valuable, something like diamonds, gold, salt, or oil, was later found near here, the country might have to go to extreme measures to secure them. Rebecca seemed to notice Hiro’s thoughts. As a noble, she thought the same thing.

However, she stayed silent. "As long as there is nothing valuable in this land, I don’t think the empire will have any desire to expand here in the future."

"Well, will you really subjugate us for trees, nuts, and worms?"

"Of course not." Rebecca and Cecile shook their heads.

But we will subjugate the undead nest. It is mandatory.

Such words were not uttered, but their gaze alone spoke more than words could. They were not sure if these batkins were undead.

"By the way, I heard you have been giving batkins your blood. But what did you receive in return?" Rebecca asked.

"...Why did you ask that?" Sara turned.

"I was wondering whether you gave it willingly. Were you coerced in any way?"

"No! It was under our pact from over five hundred years ago! In return for giving them some blood, they will protect us when the gathering is low."

"Gathering?"

"We dovekin were foragers. We searched for nuts and worms, while the batkins were hunters. Sometimes, batkins share the spoils with us. However, batkins could only drink blood. So sometimes we gave them our blood instead. Blood doesn’t keep, you know."

"So you get the meat and they get the blood?" Rebecca asked, and the dovekin nodded. She frowned, "Their physiology was stranger than most beastkin. Most beastkin were okay with eating human food. Luna, for example, could eat potatoes just fine. Are you sure batkins were not vampires?"

"The contract is the contract. They have held their end of the bargain for centuries. We are sworn allies. Ah, we are here." Sara’s words were final. At the very least, Rebecca knew they weren’t coerced.

The batkin tribe’s houses were similar to the dovekin’s. The only difference was the lack of occasional feathers on the floor.

"Sara. Who are they? Are they from Litmus?" A man hopped from a nearby tree toward Sara. Cecile and Nana instinctively reached for their weapons when they looked at the demon that came hopping in.

They were just like what the knights described them to be. Bat wings, sharp fangs, and rather pale skin. Not ashen. Hiro could see some color on it, more like jade white. This vampire guard was, by Hiro’s standards and even his hosts’, handsome. Cecile and Rebecca stared at his sharp features before knocking themselves out of their stupor.

A mix of awe and fear came over them as the batkin glared at the intruder. Hiro, who didn’t pay much attention at the beginning, grew alert at his hostility.

"Yes. Jacob. Don’t glare at them, they are diplomats from Duke Daneswald, where our territory resides. We want to meet Elizabeth to discuss a possible peace treaty," Sara said.

"Peace treaty? They attacked us unprovoked! What? They don’t like the food? If they don’t like the food, they can just leave! Why did they kill helpless women and children? These invaders!" The batkin scoffed. Cecile reeled back, her head nodding as the man intimidated her.

"Regardless, it is better for both of us to negotiate. You don’t want to officially start the war, right?" Rebecca glared back. The man went silent, scoffed, and left. While Cecile was demure, Rebecca stood her ground. She was a symbiote user. A symbiote user shouldn’t be intimidated by normal people. People relied on symbiote users to lead them.

"Phew..." Rebecca sighed. The situation was not hopeless yet. There was still a way to fix this. They were not bloodthirsty maniacs who only desired vengeance.

"Sorry. But that’s how it is going around here. I asked for your help to ease the tension. Maybe we can have more understanding of the matter," Sara said. "Please, come in. She is the chief of the Batkin tribe, Elizabeth."

A red-haired petite girl with huge bat wings, draped in a black dress, sat on a carpeted floor. She matched exactly what Hiro hoped. A petite girl with fangs and small breasts. The only downside was that they sat on a wooden floor with carpets made from leaves instead of a throne in a castle.

Yeah. This is a tribe in the middle of the forest. Not in a castle, Hiro thought.

"Greetings, Chief Elizabeth. I am Rebecca. A symbiote user sent from Daneswald territory to mediate the dispute that recently arose here." Rebecca bowed.

"So, after killing a family, women and children of ours, now you want peace?" Elizabeth said.

"...Only if you can prove that you are not undead," Rebecca answered. She could kneel, ask for forgiveness, or even give remuneration, but Litmus’ terms were firm. They wouldn’t allow undead on their land. Elysia was an exception because she was controlled by Hiro. She was seen as Hiro’s pet or Hiro’s summon, not a real citizen.

"I see. What if I say that I am a vampire?" Elizabeth asked.

"Then we have no choice but to send an expedition to exterminate vampires," Rebecca said. The air grew tense. Hiro could feel a chill down his spine. Hiro tried to inspect Elizabeth, wondering whether she was a symbiote user. Just to be safe, he hid all of his tentacles inside.

"How are you going to test us? As you can see, we share a lot of common features."

Rebecca brought an appraisal ball, which could open a person’s status screen. If the race there was labeled batkin and not vampire, then that meant Litmus was in the wrong. But that meant they had to inspect every batkin citizen in this village, and not everyone would cooperate.

Vampires were like a virus. These batkins might be just beastkin, but that didn’t mean the batkins the knights killed were not batkins. They might be vampires, especially if there were no bodies as proof. Vampires turn to ashes when killed.

"Are there really no bodies to perform an autopsy on?" Rebecca asked.

"You killed and burned the house. The house is in that direction. You could even see it from the porch," Elizabeth pointed to a wall. "We have returned the body to the earth."

"...That’s unfortunate. Will you agree if we conduct a status survey for all of you?" Rebecca said. "If you are beastkin and not vampires, we would formally apologize and could give remuneration of up to one hundred gold for our mistake."

"Do you think we would accept that? You came to our land, making noises. When we welcomed you, you killed us in cold blood. And now, you think our brethren were worth a pile of gold?" Elizabeth glared. Her eyes seemed to glow in fury. "I say you are a spy, trying to figure out how strong we are before you exterminate us all."

"That’s not true!" Cecile denied in an outburst. But Rebecca was silent. Her mind raced, taking in her surroundings.

She could understand Elizabeth’s position. By just being here, visiting their village, they already knew so much. But that only applied in guerrilla warfare. This tribe lived barely five miles away from the mining village. The dovekin were even closer. There was no home advantage when they already lived this close.

Elizabeth’s sole advantage was the strength of her soldiers and home advantage. It was wise to keep it a secret. But then, how would Rebecca prove that they were batkins and not vampires? Litmus had never met a batkin before. If they found a weird trait, the batkins could just say that it was their special trait.

From what Sara said, most batkins were hunters. So they were soldiers. This also meant they couldn’t just ask for children or weak females to inspect. The threat that vampires might roam about was still present.

Rebecca then thought hard. Just how many batkins were there? Since they rely on dovekin’s for food, there couldn’t be that many. Fifty or 70 at most. There are barely a hundred dovekin there next door.

"Understood. We shall leave for today. Peace should not be hurried. This is our initial offer. If you change your mind, please come to us. In the meantime, please allow us to see how you live. Maybe you can convince us that you are batkins."

"Remember, you are not welcome here. We merely tolerate your presence because Sara vouched for you," Elizabeth said, wearing a solemn face. Her harsh remark didn’t reach her eyes.

Rebecca stood up together with the others. They bowed deeply and left. Hiro tilted his head, wondering what went through her mind.

"That should be enough for today. We should go to the mining village. I want to hear the testimony of the knights," Rebecca said. The group nodded.

"I will come with you," Sara said.