Before Renny could take his leave back to the lower sector post, he took a step toward the imposing silver-wrought gates of Manor 12 and struck the heavy iron knocker against the plate. The sound echoed crisply through the manicured hedges of the estate. Almost instantly, a specialized house guard clad in the refined, deep-blue livery of the Calico household stepped out from the security kiosk.
I stood perfectly still, a silent, menacing phantom draped in my tattered crimson trench coat. Because I had no intention of wasting the valuable parchment pages of my notepad on simple gatekeeper pleasantries, I shifted slightly, letting the intimidating aura of the Leech's Hollow Mask do the talking while Renny smoothly took the lead on the conversation.
"Greetings, brother, I've got the Bureau's top bounty hunter here on official business. King's clearance, high-tier status. She needs immediate entry to see the family regarding an active investigation." Renny said, leaning casually on his halberd with the easy confidence of a veteran gatekeeper.
The house guard's eyes darted from Renny to the calcified expanse of my bone mask, his gaze lingering on the empty, withered sleeve where my left arm used to be. The terrifying rumors of the bounty hunter who had single-handedly slaughtered three S-rank threats in three weeks had clearly penetrated even the high-society circles of the Royal Sector. Recognizing the sheer folly of delaying a walking engine of destruction, the guard swallowed his aristocratic pride, unlocked the silver-wrought barrier with a heavy click, and bowed his head respectfully.
"Understood, follow me. I will escort the hunter directly to the inner manor."
With a final, parting wave from Renny, who turned to head back to his 15-square-kilometer patrol zone, I stepped through the threshold. I followed the Calico house guard down a sprawling marble walkway that cut through the center of the estate.
As we walked, the sheer, staggering complexity of the Calico family tree began to click together in my mind, pieces of a grand, multi-continental puzzle locking into place beneath my mask. This massive manor wasn't just the playground of three annoying, aristocratic brothers; it was the official residence of the Chief of the Capital Knights Bureau Association himself… Chief Roman Calico.
The generational lineage was a brilliant masterclass in high-society political maneuvering. Chief Roman Calico was the patriarch, the absolute authority of the capital's military arm. And the three troublesome brothers I had encountered months earlier… the arrogant bureaucrat Calix, the disciplined middle brother, and the infuriatingly boundary-crossing sociopath Cassius… were Roman's biological sons.
But the true web of ironies lay in the matrimonial alliances. Following the complete disappearance of the S-rank flesh-merchant Laulif Flower, who had abandoned his family to build the Bloom Syndicate across the dimensional currents of the Milky Way Continent, the gentle lady Snow Flower had eventually remarried. She had wedded Chief Roman Calico, unifying her wealthy vineyard holdings in Town Allure with the iron-clad military prestige of the capital's elite.
This meant that Chief Roman was the stepfather of White Flower, my silver-haired friend and former guild leader. It meant the three annoying Calico brothers were technically her stepbrothers. White Flower wasn't just hiding out in some random noble estate; she was staying under the heavily fortified roof of her mother's powerful new husband, trying to rebuild the Yellow Flower Guild from the ashes of our scorched hometown.
The estate was meticulously clean, a pristine paradise that felt entirely alien to my dark, half-vampiric nature. The air was thick with the scent of premium soil and blooming flora, the gardens arranged in flawless geometric patterns with glowing arcane crystals illuminating the pathways. Every leaf looked hand-polished, every stone entirely immaculate… a stark contrast to the chaotic, chemical-stained "meth lab" kitchen of House 132 where I spent my days synthesizing 12 kg of weaponized tear gas. I felt like an absolute street rat stepping into a palace, a lethal predator walking disguised among the sheep.
We finally ascended a short flight of polished marble stairs, arriving directly at the towering, solid mahogany doorstep of the main mansion. The guard reached out, rapping his knuckles against the heavy gold-plated hardware. Inside the mansion, the faint, chaotic echoes of a familiar, screaming argument and the distinctive sound of a frantic, theatrical voice began to filter through the wood, signaling that the Calico circus was in full swing. I adjusted my purse, shifted my right hand closer to my hidden firearms, and braced myself to step through the front door.
The heavy mahogany front door swung inward, and the grand, cavernous foyer of Calico Manor opened up before me. Standing right inside the threshold was Snow Flower, the gentle, elegant former ruler of Town Allure. Her silver-streaked hair was pinned up gracefully, a stark contrast to the deep, mourning velvet of her gown.
The moment her eyes drifted past the Calico house guard and locked onto the unmistakable, tattered crimson trench coat and the calcified lines of the Leech's Hollow Mask, she froze. Her aristocratic composure completely disintegrated.
"Roxy...? Wait... my sons... Cassius wasn't lying. You're actually alive!"
Before I could even shift my posture or offer a warning, Snow rushed forward. She threw her arms tightly around my shoulders, burying her face into the rough, weather-beaten fabric of my trench coat.
"I'm so glad you're alive, my daughter... White has been completely worried sick about you. She truly believed you were gone."
I stood perfectly still, a rigid, motionless statue wrapped in her embrace. I didn't hug her back. I didn't raise my remaining pale, alabaster right hand to comfort her, nor did I let the monstrous, skeletal blood wings compressed tightly against my spine shift a single millimeter.
The tragic reality was that the "Roxy" Snow Flower thought she was holding was a ghost. The woman she remembered from Town Allure was a brave, human vanguard who had tragically lost an eye to an archer's arrow and an arm to a demon's blade… a wounded martyr, but still fundamentally human. She had absolutely no idea that the creature currently standing beneath her roof had walked straight through the fires of hell, undergone a full vampiric ascension, and was currently carrying the accelerated, two-month demonic lineage of the executed heretic commander Cameron Gal.
But I didn't push her away. Beneath the cold, absolute psychic barrier of my mask, my tactical mind was spinning with mechanical precision. I didn't need emotional reunions. I needed a target. Snow Flower had spent years as Laulif Flower's wife before he abandoned his family to construct the subterranean flesh trade. She knew his habits, his old connections, and his psychological triggers better than anyone on the Andromeda Continent. She wasn't just a grieving mother; she was my absolute key to tracking down the S-rank trafficker and securing my 3-gold retirement fund.
Snow finally pulled back, wiping a stray tear from her cheek as she looked up at my silent mask. She called me by my old nickname, entirely unaware of the name Eirene currently stamped on my Bureau cards.
"Come, Roxy, Come inside. I will lead you directly to the dining room to tell my sons and White that you're here. They were just talking about you."
She turned, confidently guiding me down the opulent, high-ceilinged corridors of Manor 12. As my heavy boots clicked rhythmically against the polished marble floor, the muffled sounds of the chaotic siblings… and the sudden, echoing clatter of a dropped spoon from White Flower herself… began to grow louder from the dining hall ahead. The Crimson Phantom was about to step directly into the light, and the Calico circus would never be the same.
Snow led me straight into the grand dining room, where the massive mahogany table sat under the glow of an expensive chandelier. But the chaotic welcoming party I expected wasn't there. Instead, the expansive room was mostly empty, save for one person sitting before a cold bowl of porridge.
It was Cassius. The most infuriating, boundary-crossing sociopath of the Calico family. The man who had spent months trailing me like an unwanted shadow back before the world fell apart.
The moment his eyes drifted from his bowl and locked onto my tattered crimson trench coat and the calcified lines of the Leech's Hollow Mask, he froze. The usual lazy, lopsided grin vanished from his face, replaced by genuine shock.
"Roxy… You're alive."
Completely tired of sentimental reunions and wanting nothing to do with his dramatic realization, I didn't say a word. I marched right past him, the heavy click of my boots echoing in the quiet room, and took a seat on the exact opposite side of the long mahogany table, putting as much physical distance between us as possible.
Cassius slowly sat back down, his gaze narrowing as he studied my rigid, silent posture.
"Roxy, you changed,.I heard the news from the central network. You're the ruthless bounty hunter who single-handedly dismantled three S-rank bounties over the last few weeks… especially that monstrous Immoral Knight Commander at Rebelbub Castle. Not only that... you've become completely edgy."
True to his words, I had*m changed. The naive human vanguard who used to tolerate his infuriating antics was dead, replaced by a cold, calculating apex predator running out the clock on her retirement.
Snow Flower stepped up to the table, looking between the two of us with a soft, apologetic sigh. .
"I'm sorry, Roxy. Calix, Constantine, and my daughter White actually just left for the Bureau a short while ago to handle some paperwork regarding our assets. It's just us for now. Care to take your mask off, dear? I want to see your face again."
I reached up with my pale right hand, unlatching the calcified bone mask and setting it down on the dark wood of the table with a dull thud.
The face beneath was a roadmap of brutal survival, heavily marred by jagged, pale battle scars. Since I didn't wear a standard leather eyepatch anymore, a thick, clean cloth wrap was tied securely around the right side of my face, completely covering the empty socket where an archer's arrow had violently gouged out my right eye months ago. My remaining left eye… a sharp, piercing human green… stared back at them with icy neutrality.
But as my lips parted slightly from the exertion of my rapid trek, the true reality of my physical transformation became impossible to hide. Two sharp, elongated fangs gleamed under the chandelier light.
Back in Town Allure, I had always meticulously hidden my half-vampiric biology, keeping my mouth shut and masking my nature to pass as a regular human. But seeing those predatory fangs exposed now, in the pristine luxury of the Royal Sector, sent a chill through the room. It wasn't the heroic return they had imagined. I sat there with my green eye, my scarred flesh, and my exposed fangs, looking less like a returning friend and more like a dangerous creature of the night holding the secrets of their family's past.