Vampire and Chocolatier 〜The genius alchemist’s sweet quest〜

“How are you feeling? My darling Al.”

“I’m feeling like a princess trapped by an evil wizard, damn you,” Alfred replied. Sin chuckled. Apparently, sarcasm didn’t work on vampires. And also sunlight. 

It was bright outside the window and the room was filled with pleasant morning sunshine. This must be the mansion owned by Sin. Alfred’s glasses must have been removed when he slept, so his vision was blurry, but he still could see that he was in a big canopy bed, truly fit for a princess’s bedroom.  

When he got up, he felt dizzy. It was because so much blood had been sucked out of him last night. The nape of his neck flared in pain and when he put his hand on it, he realized he was not wearing any clothes. 

Sin was sitting in a chair in the same clothes as last night, and was taking in the sight of Alfred’s immodest figure, enraptured. The scene felt more like he had become a heroine in some erotic novel.

“I want to ask you some questions. Am I still human?”

“For now. But after a few sucking sessions, you will start to change.”

Should he be relieved or absolutely pessimistic?

Either way, he understood well that he found himself in a world of trouble.

“What is my role now? Am I just supposed to be a domesticated animal that gets its blood sucked?”

“You are my beloved pet, my favorite toy, an outlet for my desires. Maybe we can become lovers, too. But that is up to you.”

“Don’t say such absurd things for the sake of sophistry. I’d like to be free, if possible.”

“Why? Isn’t it the alchemist’s mission to achieve immortality? If you become my companion, you won’t need to agonize trying to repeat the experiment.”

“I am interested, but that does not mean I want to become immortal. I planned to make my name known as an alchemist, gather beautiful women from all around the world build a harem, and enjoy a leisurely life that everyone would envy. Wouldn’t it be sad to become just a pet of a twisted vampire?”

“You wound me with your words. And you were so obedient last night.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about! You are really pissing me off, I want to punch you in the face!”

The first thing he did after getting up was get emotional and raise hell. But soon after, anemia set in and he collapsed on his bed. The alchemist has always been a shut-in, so he was not strong to begin with. Stark naked, he was even more miserable.

Alfred only spoke off-handedly; he was sure that his proposal would be met with disapproval.   

But Sin quickly replied, “If you really don’t want to do it, I will consider it.”

“…Really?”

“But I’ll ask you to pay a reasonable price.”

As expected, he shouldn’t have said that he would give anything but his life.

“What do you want? Don’t demand something unreasonable, though.”

“You are such a selfish man. There is only one thing of more worth than you.”

Alfred waited for the answer.

And when it came, he was convinced.

“Chocolate. Made for me the best chocolate there is.”

　◇

“Before I agree, I need you to confirm something. You say ‘the best chocolate there is,’ but what criteria are you going to judge it by? If I’m doing it, you need to set clear criteria as a basis.” 

“If I said it all depends on my taste and that’s that, then it wouldn’t be fair for you. But since I have no intention of leaving the evaluation to the third party, I guess we need to arrive at mutual consensus as to what ‘best chocolate’ is.”

“You are making a face like you are dying to share your ideas.”

“That’s part of the fun. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me take you on a tour of the dazzling world of chocolate. I’m sure you will agree once you come to know it.”

Saying that Sin led him to the collection room. 

Since it was the residence of the city lord of Ruviria, the corridor was spacious, and the pillars and ceilings were decorated with fine and gorgeous patterns. A real palace. Just by scraping off a piece of decoration and pawning it off, he might be able to pay for half a year’s rent for a workshop.

Speaking of gorgeous, the same went for the clothes and glasses Sin gave him. Aside from the horrifying fact that he got his previous clothes torn off when Sin got too excited sucking his blood, these ones were incomparably superior to his previous attire. 

The blue satin justaucorps and the vest to match, simple white trousers at the bottom, but with the silk as material. Overall it was old-fashioned and overly pretentious, but in good taste. As for the glasses, the lenses were fitted as if they were made just for him, which was a surprise, but what was astonishing above all was how light they were. It wasn’t made of glass, but of a different material altogether without a single blemish or scratch – he could almost believe it was some magical artifact made by the elves of old.

“How much do you know about cocoa beans, the main ingredient of chocolate?”

“It is a product said to be traded from far across the south sea, from the lands where the People of the Earth live, where it is used as currency for commercial transactions. It is very nourishing and an aphrodisiac… Well, I don’t know about the latter, but the nutritional value is indisputable.”

“The people of that land consider the fruit of cocoa sacred, and it was drunk both by the royalty habitually and by the populace before the sacrifices were offered to the gods. It is said that the fruits were roasted and mixed with corn flour and spices before being drunk or served like porridge. All in all, not that different from what we know as chocolate.”

“I see. So it was improved after coming to Ruviria.”

“Three hundred years have passed since cacao first came to this land, and through the triumph of the ingenuity of fragile human beings, it has been transformed into a delicacy that even a vampire like me could indulge in. The owner of the glasses you’re wearing right now was one of the key players in bringing the miracle of cacao,” Sin said, squinting his eyes.

“He called himself a ‘chocolatier.’ A word I didn’t understand had the meaning of a craftsman making chocolate, but it still has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? But since you’re an alchemist, the name of ‘Leonardo’ might be more telling for you.” 

“That… Do you mean that legend?”

Alfred’s glasses almost slipped off his nose. He pushed them back up in a hurry. 

Leonardo the Foreigner – a genuine genius who, at only ten years old, invented such groundbreaking technologies as gas lamps, steam turbines, and airships. After suffering from an incurable disease he decided to pursue alchemy as an adult but died prematurely in his twenties. According to one theory he was born with memories from a different world, but since it has been over two centuries since his time, the truth remains a mystery.

“Huh, you really are a vampire. You really know an unreasonable amount of people.”

He tried to joke, but he couldn’t hide the shaking in his voice. He had undermined the challenge as just making chocolate, but it wouldn’t be so bad to be put in the same league as the legendary alchemist of old. Agreeing to this would release him from the status of livestock, of course, but also give him motivation to test his own abilities. 

Perhaps sensing a change in Alfred’s mind, Sin sent him back a boyish smile. Maybe they were not that different after all. Both were always seeking something new, hungering for the thrill of it. 

Sin stopped in front of a conspicuously imposing door.

That was probably the collection room. It had glass walls like a greenhouse, with trees as high as a man thickly growing as far as the eye could see. No one sane would create such a space inside a mansion. 

Passing through the door was like stepping into a dream. When he touched a white flower growing on the trunk of what appeared to be a cacao tree, it was as if everything froze in place.

“Since it’s a plant that doesn’t grow in Ruviria, I stopped time to preserve it.”

“Don’t try to brush it off. Why wouldn’t you just make that greatest chocolate of yours with magic?”

“I am just distorting the world with the power I was born with. You are the exact opposite: using the reason to create worth. To put it simply, beings like me are not very good at ingenuity.”

So that’s why he couldn’t create things by himself, leaving it all in the hands of humans. 

First Leonardo, then Alfred – Sin spoke of companionship, but he was planning to make them make chocolate from the very beginning. So far everything was proceeding as Sin planned.

“Making the best chocolate is also a tribute I want to pay to the friend who fell, unable to achieve his goal. For you, it could be a wager with your pride on the line against your great predecessor.”

“What are you talking about, so suddenly?”

“Have you already forgotten about the issue at hand? You were the one who said we need to set the criteria.”

Before he knew it, Sin was holding up a small box.

It was made of paper, red in color. All around plain for one of the vampire’s possessions. 

He carefully opened it up and from the inside took a jewel-like object.

“…This is Leonardo’s chocolate. The magnum opus he left behind two hundred years ago.”

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