Chapter 1: The Awakening of the Crimson Coffin

The Bayern Cemetery carries a rumor passed down from ancient times.
The first and greatest blood mage.
The hero who founded a new form of magic, Count Vladimir, is said to be buried deep within this cemetery’s soil, where his blood mage treasure lies dormant.
For blood mages, it was a rumor that made their mouths water.

But…

“Hey, just stop. You think those old geezers are watching us? Everyone else who came here is probably thinking the same thing.”
At those words, the man digging with a shovel wiped his sweat and looked around.
Most people had stopped digging, slacking off, which meant the words weren’t entirely wrong.
“But if we find the treasure, our Crimson Tower could soar… The elders told us to find it no matter what.”
“Man, you still believe that rumor? We’ve been digging for months, and not even a hint of it!”

For the ordinary mages who made up most of the tower, it was pure torture.
They couldn’t help but wish the rumor was false.
No matter how you looked at it, the lowest-ranking members of the tower had to dig up the cemetery themselves, and that fact never changed.

And then…

“We can’t even go into the village anymore. Every time we do, the looks we get are downright hostile…”
“Well… that’s true…”

Even though they’d gotten permission, foreign mages were digging up the village’s sacred cemetery where the dead found rest.
They weren’t directly disturbing the gravestones, but to the villagers who didn’t know the details, the idea of outsiders digging up their ancestors’ resting place was outrageous.
Now, every time they entered the village, they felt the villagers’ hate-filled glares head-on.

How could they not be angry?

“Why the fck did I come to this backwater country to do this sht!”
“Hey, calm down! Someone might hear you!”

Startled by the man’s sudden outburst, his companion tried to calm him, but the anger that had built up and exploded wasn’t going to subside easily.
“Fcking hell, how heavy are those old geezers’ butts that they won’t come out here themselves? Did they glue a meteor to their asses or something? They’re so incompetent, even the other towers look down on us! If I’d known I’d end up like this, I wouldn’t have joined the Crimson Tower, no matter how desperate I was! Argh!”
“Well… didn’t you join thinking you’d at least get some scraps if you found it?”
“Whose side are you on?!”

Even though it was his own doing, the man couldn’t contain his rage and kept shouting. His companion looked at him with cold eyes, muttered that he wasn’t on anyone’s side, and picked up his shovel to keep digging.
Watching him with disdain, the angry man clicked his tongue and grumbled.
“Those damn Green Tower bastards… How hard is it to help dig a little?”
“The towers are rivals… It’d be weird if they helped.”

Though he was fed up with the constant complaining, he couldn’t entirely dismiss his companion’s feelings, so he just kept digging with his shovel.

That’s when it happened.

Clang!

“…Huh?”

A strange sensation, like hitting something solid, echoed with a metallic sound, and the digging man froze in shock.
“What’s in there…?”
“What? Hey, fck, just dig!”

For the first time, after finding nothing for so long, they’d hit something.
Fueled by sudden motivation, the two blood mages frantically dug at the spot where they suspected something lay.

Soon, what appeared before them was…

“…A coffin?”

It was a coffin.
“Ugh, of course!”

The moment they identified it, the man’s enthusiasm deflated, and he smacked his forehead.
Grumbling about wasting effort, he tossed his shovel aside, but his companion, who’d been staring at the coffin, spoke up as if something was off.
“There’s no gravestone here, is there? Why’s there a coffin in bare ground…?”
“Probably just where a coffin was buried.”

Even as he said this, he couldn’t let go of his lingering curiosity and started examining the coffin.
He rubbed his chin and muttered.
“…Looks like an ordinary coffin.”
“Let’s open it.”
“Wait, what?”

His companion, shocked, tried to stop him, but the man was already reaching for the lid.
Even with permission, digging up the cemetery was bad enough, but opening the coffin where the villagers’ dead rested? Who knew what would happen?
They were members of a prestigious tower, even if it was from a powerful magical nation.
Surely, even an empire wouldn’t directly challenge them.
This was just a cemetery in a backwater village, after all.
But the Crimson Tower’s already low reputation among the empires would plummet even further, clear as day.

“We can’t go back empty-handed. We have to find something.”
“No… I mean, you’re right, but…”

Unable to find words to argue and half-convinced, the two grabbed the coffin’s handles together.
“On three, we open it.”
“One, two… three!”

With the man’s shout, they pulled with all their strength.

But…

“Urgh…”
“Why won’t it open…?!”

The coffin wouldn’t budge.
In the end, their strength gave out before the coffin did.
“Damn… It’s stuck tight…”
“Even if we’re weak, this is ridiculous…”

Mages were, by nature, physically frail.
How many mages, busy with magical research, bothered to train their bodies?
Still, for two grown men to fail to open it was frustrating beyond belief.

But the man, unfazed, pulled out a needle and said casually.
“I’ll use blood magic. It’s a waste of mana, but whatever.”

He pricked his finger, letting blood drip, and began channeling mana.
Just as the blood started to take shape…

Shudder…!

The flowing blood suddenly trembled and froze in place.
“Huh? What’s wrong with this…?”
“What’s going on?”
“The spell’s getting unstable… Wait, what?!”

Crack!

Before he could finish, the magic circle shattered, and the trembling blood, as if freed from chains, shot toward the coffin and was absorbed inside.
“Gah…!”

The man’s face paled as the spell broke, and he collapsed, coughing up blood.
“Hey, hey! You okay?!”

– Who’s there…

“Eek?!”

Something was wrong.
This situation was undeniably strange.
With a trembling expression, the man turned toward the voice.

There, in the direction he looked…

‘The… coffin…?’

It was the coffin they’d been digging up.
And that coffin…

Clatter, clatter.

“Eeeek?!”

As if it had a will of its own, it floated in the air, shaking.
Then, the tightly sealed coffin opened.

“Phew… F*ck, it’s too noisy to sleep.”

A girl emerged.
Her long silver hair gleamed beautifully in the sunlight, and though she hadn’t fully shed her youthful look, her stunning features and red eyes locked onto the man before her.
“Ah…”

The man, who’d been terrified moments ago, stared at her blankly.
She was beautiful.
Insanely beautiful.
Had he ever seen a girl this breathtaking in his life? Unable to help himself, he started walking toward her.

“…What’s this? Why does my view feel so low?”

The girl muttered with a puzzled expression, looking around before glancing down at herself.
After a moment…
“It’s not just a feeling—I’m shorter? And what’s with this voice?”

She looked down at her body, her face deep in thought.
‘Ah…’

As the man approached the girl, who was lost in thought about her situation, he ignored his dying companion reaching out and kept moving toward her.
It was as if he were entranced.

When he got close, the silver-haired girl finally noticed him and looked up.
“Who’re you?”
“I fell in love at first sight… Please go out with me…”
“Is this guy nuts?”

‘What’s with this creep?’

The girl’s face twisted in disbelief before she sighed deeply and waved her hand as if swatting a bug.

Thwack!

“Guh…”

Out of nowhere, a dark red liquid formed and slammed into the man’s head.
Hit hard, he collapsed to the ground beside his unconscious companion.
“Is he gay? No… The voice, the low perspective, the long hair… Did I change?”

Trying to make sense of the man’s actions, she nodded to herself before suddenly noticing something and turning her head.

Slosh, slosh~♪

“Blood…?”

There, a mysterious dark red liquid was playfully swirling, as if fawning over its new master.
“This isn’t my blood.”

She turned to the man who’d collapsed earlier… and saw the blood pouring from his hand.
Realizing her mistake, she muttered.
“Oh, sorry.”

‘I almost killed someone right after waking up.’

Muttering to herself, she returned the blood to its owner.
‘These guys probably woke me, so…’

She figured she could ask them what was going on.
She healed the man who’d been on the verge of death, flipped her coffin over, and sat on it, waiting for the two to wake up.

It was ten minutes later when they finally came to.