71: Catching A Thief

Catching A Thief

Walking through the manor in the early morning, I rubbed the leftover fatigue out of my eyes as a yawn came up to the surface, which was due to the fact that I had just woken up a few minutes ago.

I was supposed to have a little bit of training today, and that's why I was currently up at such an unusual time for me, but it didn't bother me all that much.

Deciding to see whether or not Norvella was awake yet, I opened the door to her room without thinking beforehand, and it resulted in quite an interesting sight to behold.

The Vizac household's white haired maid stood in front of her bed in nothing but a black pair of bra and panties, along with dark colored stockings that gripped her meaty thighs like a glove that was a tab bit too small.

(For reference.)

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~Norvella's POV~

She immediately turned her head at the sound of a door opening, a mixture of surprise and shock overwhelming all of her other senses once the woman discovered that it was the young master standing at the entrance of her room in a daze, his red slit eyes struggling to pull away from her amazing figure.

It felt like her entire body was suddenly enveloped in a wave of heat, nearly knocking the woman down to her knees, which was due to the fact that it was so powerful. However, Norvella was able to hold on by a single thread, but trying to resist it became harder as time went on.

In the back of her mind, she noticed that it seemed to be coming from the young master.

With that knowledge, Norvella found it even more difficult to fight back against the invisible force.

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~Dante's POV~

Using nearly all of my willpower, I quickly turned my back to the scantily clad woman, and raised my hands in the air as a sign of peace.

In my past life, a lot of anime that I watched had situations just like this, and so I wanted to make sure that I got in the first word before she transformed into a raging monster and beat the dogshit out of me.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to walk in on you like this, Norvella! My mind was still foggy from waking up so early." I tried to explain, hoping that it might reduce the amount of pain inflicted onto my body.

During all of that, Norvella was trying to keep herself from keeling over, seemingly fighting against an invisible force. However, it suddenly disappeared after a couple seconds, which allowed her to finally regain her composure.

"It's perfectly fine, young master..." Norvella said in a quiet voice, her body still feeling the remaining effect of whatever that strange heat was.

Nodding my head with a sense of relief, I left the room with one last glance at her shapely form before the door closed.

"I'm just glad she's not upset with me over something like that. It was an honest mistake." I whispered to myself, making my way towards the bottom floor.

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The environment was permeated in the sound of birds chirping, along with other small animals interacting with their nature-filled habitat. I was currently traversing the incredible forest that was located a couple miles away from the village.

Walking through a large amount of foliage, suppressing the volume of my footsteps as much as possible, I eventually discovered the meal of the day.

A massive body covered in brown fur was curled up on the grass in front of me, possessing two big tusks on each side of it's face. The animal had to have been bigger than me by a couple feet in both width and height, which meant that it was currently making me look like a dwarf, and it wasn't even standing at the moment.

However, I was only eight years old in this world now. I still hadn't reached my peak height yet, which was beginning to raise a few questions in my mind. They had already been festering for a couple of years but I never really gave it much thought until recently.

This body of mine... some kind of vampiric creature. I don't think it's actually a transformation. Not in the usual sense, at least. However, before I lost focus on the task at hand, I decided to muse over it a bit more later on instead.

For now, I just needed to find a way to kill this huge bitch.

Due to the fact that it appeared to be asleep, I figured that going for it's throat would be a good idea. That way, all I really had to do was keep my distance afterwards if it didn't die straight away.

The animal would just bleed out as a result.

My nails quickly grew into two inch long claws that were pitch black in color, which became dangerously sharp and very capable of ripping through flesh with ease.

It was one of the few abilities mother had taught me after I started receiving quite a lot of affection from the residents living in my village. Personally, I thought that there was still a bunch more that I could do for the community, but I still appreciated all of the love that I've been getting as of late.

Red slit eyes locked onto the sleeping creature as I gradually shortened the distance between us, my right hand was prepared to come sweeping down for a quick kill.

Unfortunately, I hadn't thought my plan through well enough.

Even though it was asleep, the large mammal's powerful sense of smell caught my distinctive scent, which caused it to awaken with the presumption that there could've been a predator nearby.

Turning it's bulbous head in my direction, the eyes of the animal widened in a panicked state before the rest of it's body started to move. It let out a sound that was a mixture of a grunt and a squeal, which basically threw any sort of stealth approach out of the window.

However, I had the advantage due to the fact that it was still laying on the ground, trying to get up as fast as possible in the hopes of defending itself. Fortunately, there was just enough time for me to lunge forward in desperation, my razor sharp claws luckily shredding through it's throat before it was able to fight back.

That wasn't the end of it.

Standing over the animal with a copious amount of blood soaking my right arm, as well as a bit of my face, my head snapped towards the left when I picked up on a strange noise coming from the bushes aggressively rustling for an unknown reason.

A couple seconds later, there was an animal rushing out of the trees, which also looked identical to the one that I had just killed. Not only that, but this new arrival was even bigger, probably twice as large as the average grown man. Instead of two tusks on each side of it's face, this creature had three, the very bottom being much larger than the upper four.

(For reference.)

Letting out a high-pitched shriek before trying to skewer me on it's tusks, that was until three different blades were quickly plunged hilt-deep into the large animal's bulbous head, effectively stopping the creature's attempt on my life.

It dropped to the grass beneath it's feet like a sack of potatoes.

The blades had come from behind me, which caused my whole body to turn in that direction, already knowing who the person was that did it.

Norvella stood next to Helena, the white haired maid's arm outstretched before it quickly went back down to her sides. My mother gave me a proud smile, both women approaching the scene in a calm manner.

"Thanks for that. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would've been able to eliminate it, especially considering the creature's sheer magnitude." I chuckled, using the hand that wasn't covered in blood to rub the back of my neck sheepishly.

The voice in my head begged to differ.

Norvella walked over to the larger animal of the two, pulling out the blades from it's corpse before pulling up her skirt, which gave me a brief view of the woman's beautiful thighs. Her black panties had only appeared for a split-second, a little white bow in the center.

She always carried a unique holster for her knives around with her. This was something that I had only learned recently, perhaps just a couple of months ago.

Norvella had been trained in certain aspects ever since a young age in order to defend herself, but the members of the Vizac family more importantly, due to the fact that it was Helena who took her in and gave the woman a reason to live.

Helena told me that she had been living on the streets beforehand, an orphan that was almost dead from the lack of food and care when my mother found the malnourished girl.

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~Norvella's POV~

The knife-wielding maid glanced at Dante, her face turning a slight pink color, which was due to a sense of embarrassment with the way his eyes were so focused on her unblemished skin.

It made her feel good. She could feel butterflies in her stomach whenever something like that happened between the two of them, as well as a certain kind of feeling that traveled to the woman's nether regions.

The white haired servant couldn't help but think of a few other different things that she wished to occur. However, she wouldn't dare act upon her strong urges at a time like this.

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~Dante's POV~

"You did very well, honey." Helena stated in a motherly tone, wrapping her arms around me in order to push my head into a special place. "I'm proud of you."

That would be her wonderful cleavage, of course.

Subtly breathing in her scent, I placed a brief kiss on top of the vampiric milf's breasts, which probably would've been seen as a daring move if I hadn't been her son.

I could've sworn that I heard the woman's breath hitch as a result of my actions, but I didn't pay it too much attention, my mind stuck on other things.1

"There's still a lot for me to learn in order to get better." I breathed, shaking my head. "For instance, I shouldn't have taken such a long time to kill the animal. I didn't use my natural speed advantage to get the job done. Instead, the slow and quiet approach left me vulnerable to the fact that it could easily wake up and possibly alert it's mother, which is exactly what it did."

Norvella came over, patting my head in a placating manner. "Every situation can be turned into a learning experience, young master. It wouldn't be right to constantly dwell on the past, nor overly-criticize yourself for not being good enough at a particular activity or subject."

Looking up at the white haired maid, I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

She gave me a pretty smile, taking her hand off of my black locks. "However, it could serve as motivation to better yourself in the long-run."

'That was some pretty good advice.' I silently thought to myself.

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"It appears to be quite busy around here today..." Helena mused in interest, walking by my side as we both explored the streets of Malak village.

Norvella was back at the manor, taking care of things there while I decided to invite my mother on a date of sorts, but I never described it as such during the proposal. However, the vampire milf would still probably see it that way.

"Well, this is the merchant district... It makes sense." I hummed in thought, glancing at a few of the stands that caught my attention. "Although, this place does appear to be a bit more crowded than usual."

A hooded figure bumped into my left side from behind, putting our conversation to an immediate stop once they continued walking like it had never even happened in the first place. Honestly, I probably would've just let it go if it wasn't for Helena, who seemed to interpret the action as a very offensive insult.

However, a middle-aged man came running just a few seconds afterwards, clearly out of breath and in a panicked state of emotion. They were completely bald on the top of their head, possessing a pair of tawny brown eyes that was reminiscent of a muddy orange color, along with a white haired medium-length goatee.

The only way he could breathe was through short gasps of air, his heart most likely pounding due to his old age, which couldn't have been all that good for him.

Quickly trying to piece the clues together, I looked down at the older man's attire, as well as the items that he was carrying on his person. He looked very similar to a lot of the other merchants in the area, the variety of bags he held with him just further increasing the chances that my assumption was correct.

Before he could even try to speak, I assaulted him with a barrage of questions.

"Are you a merchant?"

The man's eyes widened before he quickly nodded in confirmation, opening his mouth in order to say something, but I cut him off once again.

"Are you aware of the identity of that person? The one that just bumped into me, I mean."

Shaking his head in the negative, there was a spark of frustration in those tawny brown eyes, which was probably because he wasn't given enough time to speak.

"Did he steal from you?"

Frantically nodding in the affirmative, I turned towards my upset mother, who was glancing between me and the person getting away indecisively. The woman was mostly likely trying to decide whether or not she wanted to go teach him a lesson.

"Please stay with this man. I'll be right back, mom." I said, quickly taking off in the direction of the hooded figure before she could even get a word out to reply.

They had already made quite a bit of distance by now, walking away from the scene of the crime as fast as possible. As they turned a corner, I spotted two different bags being carried in their arms.

Picking up the pace, I decided to try out an ability that I barely had any experience with.

Leaping into the air, my body forcefully compressed down into a much smaller size as I quickly turned into a bat, flapping my newfound wings in order to gain a bit more speed.

A few people standing nearby, who had also caught what happened just a few seconds ago, exclaimed in pure shock as they witnessed a child morph into a completely different creature.

Not only that, but Helena noticed it as well, and couldn't help but feel incredibly proud of her son.

Flying over a couple buildings, I noticed the hooded figure was now running as fast as possible, pushing other people over in order to get away from me.

Dipping off into an alley way, I quickly followed not far behind, slowly catching up to the thief as they tried their best to prevent me from getting any closer. However, once I started to fly up a bit higher, there wasn't much that they could do but run until their body eventually gave out.

This also served as a way to give them a false sense of relief, which is due to the fact that I was currently clinging to the tops of buildings while using my echolocation instead of sight, making it seem like they actually got rid of me as well.

It worked like a charm.

Eventually, the hooded figure ran back out onto the streets, frantically turning their head in order to see whether or not I was still around. Once they noticed that I wasn't, their pace slowed down as they cut into a building meant for travelers who required lodging.

Flying into the alleyway right next to it, my body reverted back into it's previous form, and I had a grin plastered across my face. I felt a tinge of pride at the fact that I did so well in my bat form, which was more so because of how inexperienced I was with it.

Slipping into the large crowd of people roaming the streets, I snuck myself into the same building that the hooded figure was currently inside, making sure to stay concealed while attempting to relocate the thief.

Fortunately, the hooded figure appeared to be a lot calmer after our little chase, leisurely making their way back to a room that they probably already had to begin with. Perhaps this stranger was from a different village and simply came here to steal a bunch of shit with the knowledge that this place was known for having really good merchandise.

Watching the stranger go up a flight of stairs, I waited a small bit before following after them, keeping my footsteps quiet in order to stay unnoticed. This continued until we reached the second floor. There was only three stories to this building.

They locked themselves into the last room of this floor, which was the fifth one.

Making my way down the hall, I eventually stopped in front of the door. I cracked my knuckles before gently knocking against the wood, quietly clearing my throat.

A rugged voice could be heard on the other side of the wall, which sounded masculine, as well as a slight bit older. There was a mixture of befuddlement and confusion in his voice as he spoke.

Leaning forward directly on the other side of the door with a knife held in their palm, they asked their next question with suspicion. "Who is it?"

The grin from earlier quickly returned to my face. However, it was a bit more feral this time around as my nails turned into pitch black claws.

"Housekeeping."

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"Thank you so much, kind sir!" The merchant said profusely, shaking my hand with all the strength that he could muster.

He had just finished looking through the bags that were stolen from him, a feeling of relief washing over his body like a tidal wave. My mother was holding the small pouch with a proud smile on her face, staring at me like I was the most precious thing in the world, which made sense considering I was her only child.

The older man gave his smaller bag to me as a reward for the good deed, which is why Helena was currently holding it. Apparently, he really only cared about the other bag, which was the larger of the two. It supposedly contained something that was related to his wife, who had unfortunately passed away just a couple years ago.

I didn't bother asking to see what it was. That was none of my business.

After a couple minutes of talking with the man, we eventually parted ways after he gave me his information, as well as a permanent discount whenever I brought one of his items from now on.

I turned towards my mother, who handed me the small pouch before wrapping me up in a tight hug, nearly squeezing the life out of me as my head was shoved into her cleavage for the second time today.

She proceeded to assault me with a barrage of compliments, noting how good my performance had been while using the ability inherent to vampires in this world to become a small bat-like creature. I simply decided to look at the contents within the pouch at a later date.

There was still a bit more time to explore the village before heading back home. I didn't want to end it too early without getting mother anything of value.

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