Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 48: Blood Partner

Mio looked around the warehouse with cold eyes as she drew her katana back smoothly from Tetsu’s skull.

The blade made a wet sound as it pulled free, and Tetsu’s body slumped to the ground like a discarded puppet.

’Mission accomplished,’ she thought with clinical detachment.

The Order had dispatched her on a recent assassination contract involving the elimination of a target known as Tetsu Yagami... a four-liner who specialized in ranged combat.

Though he couldn’t use actual spells like most four-liners, he was very well known throughout the underworld for his exceptional accuracy and precision, which made wielding crossbows and thrown weapons devastatingly effective in his hands.

This warehouse was their hideout and she had simply infiltrated it to complete her kill order but unexpectedly, she had run directly into Kōya and Renji... two students and "friends" who had been reported missing from the Academy for the past few days.

’I see... so they were kidnapped and held here,’ she thought, glancing briefly at Kōya’s collapsed form on the ground.

He was heavily wounded... bleeding from multiple injuries, one arm hanging limp with ribs clearly broken from how he was breathing. However, she did not care about his condition in the slightest.

She hadn’t even been looking for him specifically. Sure, he was somewhat important for her long-term plan to gather intelligence and potentially strengthen the Order’s position within the Academy but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be easily replaced with another target if he died here.

’Imagine losing so pathetically to this weakling...’ she thought with internal disdain, though her face remained completely expressionless as everyone else in the warehouse stared at her like she was some sort of devil incarnate.

She reconsidered that assessment slightly.

’I suppose I can’t actually call Tetsu a complete weakling since he was a four-liner with significant combat experience, and Kōya is only a two-liner who was also being heavily restricted by mana suppressors the entire time.’

The fight had been somewhat impressive given those circumstances. However, she still couldn’t say it was a particularly good showing from Kōya. He was simply far too weak for her professional standards and expectations.

"If any of you say a single word about what you saw here today..." Mio said coldly, her voice cutting through the shocked silence as she looked around at all the terrified captives. "I’ll hunt down every single one of you and kill you. Understood?"

They all stiffened in absolute terror at her casual threat. She walked calmly toward the fat man who was trembling on the ground, having fallen during Renji’s desperate tackle.

"Turoshishi Megumin," she said, reading his name from the intelligence file she’d memorized. "You’re also a designated target on my elimination list."

He began trembling violently as he looked up at Mio glaring down at him with those cold, emotionless eyes.

His entire body of fat rippled as he desperately pushed himself backward across the ground, trying to create distance.

"N-no... please, I’m meant to summon th-the god, I’m essential to the ritual, you can’t—"

"Fuck off," Mio interrupted flatly. She stabbed him straight through the head with her katana in one smooth, professional motion.

The blade penetrated his skull completely, and he died instantly without even finishing his sentence.

Several screams sounded from the captives all around the warehouse but despite the brutal execution they’d just witnessed, it was becoming clear to everyone that this woman had ultimately come here to save them from their captors.

Mio pulled her blade free and gave Kōya’s unconscious, bleeding form one final dismissive look.

She shook her head slightly, whether she was disappointed or unimpressed, it was impossible to tell and then she vanished into thin air as quickly and silently as she had arrived, her presence disappearing like she’d never been there at all.

Watching the entire exchange from the shadows in her bat form was Victoria and upon seeing that Mio didn’t help Kōya or Renji at all despite clearly being capable... despite Kōya’s emotions having spiked intensely the moment he’d seen her before losing consciousness, Victoria immediately understood something important.

She could take significant advantage of this situation to get much closer to him, to make herself indispensable and to secure her own survival.

’At least I managed to get the ritual scroll...’ Victoria thought as she glanced down at the ancient scroll she now carried clutched in her small bat legs.

She’d retrieved it from where the fat man had kept it while everyone was distracted by the fighting and now she flew out of the warehouse through a broken window, escaping several minutes before Academy officials and security teams would storm the entire location.

...

"Wake up..."

"Wake uppp...."

"Wake the hell up already!"

Kōya heard someone’s voice as they shook his body insistently, and his eyes finally opened slowly.

He was lying in what clearly resembled a hospital room with clean white walls, the smell of antiseptic and medical equipment beeping softly.

He was wearing a standard patient’s gown, and there were several medical tubes connected to his left arm where the paralysis needle had embedded itself.

"Where the hell am I...?" Kōya muttered groggily as he pushed himself up to sit against the hospital headboard.

He looked around and confirmed he was the only patient in this private room.

"I think you’re in a place called the Academy Infirmary," he heard a familiar voice say from somewhere to his side.

He turned his head to see a small bat perched on the windowsill... it was that self-proclaimed Vampire Princess, Victoria.

"They brought you here unconscious, plugged you full of IV tubes, and extracted the paralysis poison from your system using some kind of filtration magic," she explained casually. "Even I have to admit, you’re extremely lucky to still be alive right now. You were really, really pale when they brought you in—I genuinely thought you might die."

Kōya’s Calm Mind skill activated automatically, helping him process the situation rationally despite the confusion and lingering pain. He took a deep breath and began analyzing what must have happened.

Since right before he’d lost consciousness, he had clearly seen Mio saving Renji from Tetsu’s killing blow, it was safe to assume that she had—

"And before you start thinking it was that black-haired girl who brought you here to safety, let me stop you right there," Victoria interrupted, somehow managing to look smug despite having a bat’s face. "From what I could observe while hiding and watching... she had come to that warehouse specifically to assassinate Tetsu and the other fat guy... what did she call him? Turoshishi something? But after killing them both, she gave your downed body a look of complete disgust, shook her head in disappointment, and then just left without helping at all. If you ask me personally, she’s part of the reason the poison even managed to spread through your system as badly as it did. She wasted precious time."

Kōya was silent for a long while, processing this information carefully. He had been incredibly naive about Mio.

She had been acting friendly for a specific reason... gathering intelligence and getting close to him for some purpose. After hearing Victoria casually mention "assassinate" he could finally connect the dots properly.

She was almost certainly part of the Order... the same secretive assassination organization that had killed Renji in the original manga timeline.

’Damn it all,’ he thought bitterly. ’I really let my guard down completely against someone who could kill me at any moment without even trying. What was I thinking?’

The ranks and structure of the Order had been touched on briefly in the volumes of the manga that he’d read and from the way she had appeared and killed Tetsu so instantly... literally within a single blink, he was absolutely certain she must be one of the Unit Captains or someone of similarly high rank.

There was actually a character who fit that exact description in the manga: Pale Sword.

She was an elite assassin who used a katana to execute her targets through the skull... exactly what he’d witnessed.

However, Pale Sword had been described as having distinctive silver hair, not black hair like Mio so he could reasonably guess it was some kind of disguise or identity concealment.

As for whether Victoria was lying to him about what she’d observed, he considered that possibility carefully.

The bat had no obvious reason to lie about this specific situation, but he gave her the benefit of the doubt anyway and remained cautious.

Now that he was treating this world like actual reality instead of some fun part-time manga adventure, it was becoming much easier to find potential faults and hidden motives in people’s words and actions.

"I see... did anybody come to visit me while I was unconscious? And how long was I out exactly?" he asked.

The bat raised one small wing to her chin in a thinking gesture.

"You were completely unconscious for two full days," she reported. "That green-haired boy who was with you... Renji, I think? He recovered and got discharged the same day since his injuries were much less severe. As for who visited you during those two days? Renji, there were also a few girls from your class that I could identify. A girl named Misora came by, that same black-haired assassin actually showed up once, and a blonde-haired girl also visited. Though I should mention, none of them stayed for more than five minutes at a time."

She puffed up slightly with pride.

"Unlike me, who stayed with you through this entire thing and kept watch."

’Well, I’m the one who specifically asked to be reincarnated into this world,’ Kōya thought in amusement. ’A world where absolutely everything is purely political... where everyone does things solely for their own benefit and advantage, especially within ALI Academy. And the Academy is just a perfect simulation of how the outside world operates. That’s exactly how this reality functions... everyone does things exclusively for their own gain and benefit, nothing more.’

"I see... then why are you here specifically?" he asked directly, watching her reaction carefully. "What’s your angle?"

"Me? I’m very interested in you for a specific reason," the bat perked up immediately. "Your blood smells absolutely amazing... it has some certain rare compound in it that’s genuinely to die for. So you could say the only real reason I’ve been sticking around and watching over you is because I want to taste your blood eventually."

"My blood, huh? I guess that’s the only actual worth I have for you then," Kōya said evenly, studying her. "So what’s in it for me if I allow that?"

Victoria looked genuinely surprised by the direct question.

"But I told you all of that valuable information about what happened—"

"I could have easily found out most of that from the infirmary nurse or other visitors," Kōya interrupted with a shrug. "As for the part about Mio being an assassin? I actually saw that myself before I passed out... I watched her kill Tetsu. So the information you provided isn’t quite as valuable or exclusive as you seem to think it is."

He leaned forward slightly.

"So let me ask again more clearly: If I let you drink my blood, what exactly is in it for me? What do I gain from this transaction... eh, Princess of Transylvania?"

"I... I’ll offer everything I have," Victoria said, and there was genuine desperation creeping into her voice now. "Absolutely everything."

Right now she desperately needed fresh blood to survive and regain her strength. The weakening poison agents that Tetsu had been regularly administering to her had already drained her power reserves far beyond the critical point.

And since she was Vampire Royalty with specific biological requirements, she needed certain rare compounds to regenerate back to full strength... compounds that were found specifically in descendants from the Great Clans in this time, she had smelled it all over the Academy since he was unconscious.

What were the actual chances that she would find someone with a compatible bloodline right under her nose like this?

It was fate.

"I’ll offer my body, my power, my soul, my everything... just please let me have even a little bit of your blood," she said, genuine pleading in her voice now. "I’m begging you."

Kōya smiled slightly... the first genuine smile since waking up.

"Sure, go ahead then. I’ll definitely be needing more of your abilities in the future anyway."

She was clearly an excellent scout with her bat transformation and ability to move undetected and he was genuinely intrigued to see what other kinds of abilities and powers she might possess.

"So how exactly do you drin—"

Before he could finish the question, the bat began transforming. Her small body expanded and shifted, reverting back to her human form in seconds.

Suddenly pressed against his side was Victoria in her full human form. She had become noticeably paler than before from blood deprivation and her skin almost translucent but there was something else he was noticing now with mounting shock.

She was completely naked.

Her bare breasts pressed against his side as she leaned close to his neck and her skin was cool to the touch.

"If I take your blood right now... you’ll become my Blood Partner," she explained softly, her breath warm against his neck. "Which means I’ll have to take your blood regularly on an ongoing basis to survive... which also means that you’ll essentially become my life support system. We’ll be bound together. Do you understand what you’re agreeing to?"

"Just do it already," Kōya said without hesitation.

Victoria’s fangs elongated visibly, becoming sharp and predatory then she leaned in and bit down on his neck, her fangs piercing his skin cleanly.

There was a sharp, intense pain at first that made Kōya grit his teeth hard but as soon as that initial sharp pain came, it went away almost immediately.

All he could feel now was an intense, overwhelming pleasure radiating from where her fangs were embedded. She sucked deeply, and he could feel his blood being drawn out in rhythmic pulls.

Her pale skin gradually became less pale as she fed, color returning to her cheeks. However, Kōya was simultaneously feeling noticeably weaker, a pleasant dizziness spreading through him.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably only thirty seconds, she pulled back carefully.

She licked the bite spot with her tongue, and he watched in fascination as the two fang marks healed over completely, leaving only faint marks.

"Thank you..." she said breathlessly, genuine gratitude in her voice then she immediately reverted back to her bat form in a puff of displaced air.

She definitely didn’t want him to see how she currently looked in her human form right now.

The process of blood exchange... giving and receiving it in this intimate way made both parties extremely aroused as a biological side effect and she was absolutely not going to let him see that she was completely wet between her legs and breathing hard.

However...

’He’s not aroused even slightly?’ Victoria thought with genuine disbelief as she studied him carefully.

Kōya simply stood up from the hospital bed normally, adjusting his medical gown like nothing had happened.

"What do these tubes actually do?" he asked casually while looking at the IV lines connected to his arm.

"They were specifically for removing the paralysis poison directly from your bloodstream using filtration magic... So it’s really not medically advised to pul—"

He pulled all the tubes out regardless without any hesitation and blood immediately began flowing out of the puncture wounds on his hand, dripping onto the clean floor.

"What did I literally just say?!" Victoria exclaimed.

"Heal it and lick up the blood too while you’re at it," Kōya said simply.

Victoria sighed but flew over and did exactly that, using her tongue to clean the wounds.

It seemed he had already figured out instinctively that her saliva contained healing properties that would close wounds.

Within just a few minutes, his arm was completely healed with no trace of the punctures. He pulled his arm back and examined it with satisfaction.

"Shall we leave here now?" he asked.

"We shall," Victoria agreed, flapping toward the window. "I’ll wait for you outside so you can get dressed properly."

With that she flew out through the partially open window, leaving him alone in the room. Kōya looked straight ahead at empty air where his System interface should be.

’It’s been five full days and this damn thing still isn’t back?’ he thought with frustration.

If it was going on some kind of long-term update maintenance break, it should have at least left some sort of notification or countdown timer.

Suddenly, text appeared in his vision:

「ⓘ System x1 is being installed」

「Installing... 1%」

The progress bar was moving incredibly slowly, but at least the System was finally back online and updating.

Kōya walked over to the room door and opened it to leave. He immediately bumped directly into someone standing right outside.

This was someone he genuinely hadn’t expected to visit him at all. The person was Miyuki, and she was holding a large bunch of colorful flowers in both hands.

"Miyuki?" Kōya raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The Aozora clan heiress gradually turned bright red in the face, the blush spreading rapidly then her ears literally exploded with cartoon steam as she became completely overwhelmed with embarrassment.

Her eyes rolled back slightly, and she started falling over backward.

Kōya’s reflexes kicked in immediately.

He leaned forward and caught her smoothly, angling one hand right under her waist to support her weight.

She looked up directly into his eyes from where she was cradled in his arms, her face still bright red.

"Be careful so you don’t hurt your—"

Miyuki suddenly pushed off him with both hands and scrambled away. She ran off down the hallway at full speed without saying a single word, leaving the bouquet of flowers scattered on the ground.

Kōya looked down the hallway where she had disappeared around a corner.

"I can’t possibly smell that bad... can I?" he wondered aloud. He raised his armpit experimentally and took a sniff and his face immediately twisted in disgust.

He really did smell absolutely terrible... like he hadn’t bathed in a week, which was accurate. Fortunately, there was a private bathroom with a shower in every hospital room.

He closed the door and left the scattered flowers on the ground outside in the hallway.

"Change of plans, Victoria," he called out, knowing she could hear him from outside.

"I’ll be taking a bath first before we do anything else."

And with that, he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.