No Hero Volume 5: Fallen Angel
Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)
The Angel Falls Chapter Four: Soft Lips; Sky-Rending Voice—translated by XianBang (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)
Was it impossible to stop Dark Sun even with the strength of three people combined?
The three of us really weren't fighting seriously, or else we wouldn't have lost so badly. But the question was… even if we really tried, would we have won?
I hoped that this question would never have an answer, but I couldn't help remember what Xie Wei once said while facing us three heroes.
"There's no doubt that powerful heroes are useful, but if those powerful heroes choose to stop being good people, they will become the most fearsome criminals! You heroes… frighten people!"
I didn't believe I would fall from grace, and even if it actually happened, it would be okay. There were far too many opponents whom I could never defeat. Solitary Butterfly's situation was similar to mine. Although Dragon Peace had unmatched strength as well as a hard-to-wound body—a truly difficult opponent to stop—Dark Sun could still stop him!
So when Xie Wei said that, I was not particularly worried. But today was the first time I realized: Dark Sun, when you fall from grace, will we be able to stop you? You are too…
Powerful!
Melody wore a small red dress with a neckline plunging down to her waist and a completely bare back. It meant that her upper body only had a strip of fabric as narrow as a palm stretching from her left breast past her neck to her right breast. Thankfully, the bottom half of the dress reached to her knees, perhaps to appear graceful.
Unexpectedly, Ji Luo Chu did not buy his clothes from X-Killer. He had unbuttoned his dress shirt, leaving only the second to last hole buttoned. He had then stuffed his pant legs into his boots, his entire person appearing wild and unrestrained; that was how Melody described Ji Luo Chu when she saw him.
As for Dell, I was really not accustomed to his shiny appearance. He wore a transparent coat with a skintight, sleeveless vest, with earrings and a necklace that were both shining, causing the transparent coat to change color continuously. Although I was not used to it, Melody seemed to like it, even giving rare praise to Dell's upper arm muscles.
This compliment led to Dell using various postures to show off his biceps the entire way.
Because Aren was as massive as a horse, merely wearing a leather jacket with ripped jeans made him appear plenty eye-catching.
Thanks to Melody and my subtle hints to Olga, the young master was dressed like an angel. His clothes were all white, his upper half covered in a Greek chiton yet his lower half had capris and aqua-colored sandals. This caused me to sigh in relief. The outfit caused the young master to appear delicate and pretty, and was not too revealing. Surely, this amount of skin would not infuriate the master… right?
"Tsk tsk tsk, no matter how I look, you, Butler, are certainly not bad today, not bad at all!"
Distracted, I turned my head to see Melody eyeing me as if evaluating a slab of pork. This caused my face to turn red, but not because I had too much skin showing. The outfit I had on was comparable to the previous one in terms of skin coverage; however, the design was…
"Melody, you're bullying Charles again," the young master said on the side, yet he could not stop laughing.
"I'm not!" Melody immediately said innocently, "Isn't this outfit very similar to his usual butler uniform?"
There were certainly some similarities, except my upper half had no dress shirt, only a black vest. The pants on my lower half were approximately three sizes too small, turning into snugly-fitting skintight pants.
Based on the description Melody had accidentally blurted out, I was "super similar to a host club's popular male host." Although she said that, she insisted I continue wearing it, even threatening me with, "You already agreed to accompany me to play at the nightclub, so you can't back out…" Although I agreed to go to the nightclub, I never agreed to be dressed like a host, right?
But no matter what, Melody forbad me from removing these clothes or wearing something over them. With the young master laughing uncontrollably, appearing overjoyed, I ended up buying the outfit and wearing it.
Our party was now standing in front of the entrance to a nightclub called "Seaside." This place's entrance was very similar to N/H's since it was completely black, but it at least had massive blue neon lights outlining the word "Seaside," with a simple outline of a horn by its side.
We entered "Seaside," Melody buying tickets at the front desk in a practiced manner. Surprisingly, a single ticket cost a thousand yuan—certainly not cheap. Perhaps the alcoholic drinks inside would be even more expensive?
In order to get a vampire drunk, it would take at least three bottles of high-proof alcohol. No wonder Melody needed so much money—she spent seven out of ten days hanging around nightclubs.
After buying the tickets, our line immediately walked in… The receptionist seemed to recognize the young master, because he was so shocked that his entire body stiffened. Perhaps he would rush out from behind the front desk in a moment.
We entered. The interior that initially seemed pitch black turned out to be a sea of aqua colors. There were even holographic projections of schools of fish swimming above everyone's heads. The walls were inlaid with shells, and in the center of the lounge was a dance floor. Yet surrounding the floor were numerous couches and seats. Surprisingly, they were all in the shape of coral reefs, seaweed, and deep-water fish. This nightclub should not be called "Seaside"—it should be called "Bottom of the Sea," right?
"It's so beautiful!" The young master widened his eyes when he entered, releasing sounds of surprise nonstop.
Melody smugly said, "I knew Young Master would like this place."
By this time, there were already many people in the nightclub. A third of the dance floor was covered with people dancing. Thankfully, there were many people and low visibility, so it was unlikely anyone would pay attention to us.
"I did not think they would be playing crystal music." I was slightly astonished. I had initially thought that the nightclub's music would mostly be rock-and-roll or pop, and had never imagined that it would be glass-beating and crisp crystal music.
Melody shrugged, saying, "That's because it's still early. The music gets more energetic the later it is!"
The young master picked a seat at a clamshell-shaped table, sitting down on a pearl-shaped chair delightedly. He and Aren examined the different shells compressed beneath the table together.
Melody ordered a pile of food, mostly seafood. It certainly fit this place's atmosphere.
I really never expected the atmosphere to be so unimaginably cheerful; I had thought that it would be a loud and rowdy night.
"Looks like you're hugely relieved." Ji Luo Chu laughed, saying, "Relax, the club Melody picked is excellent. It isn't too youthful."
"No matter which one is picked, it would be too youthful." I laughed. "I was born in 1960."
Melody rolled her eyes at me, saying, "Hmph! Whenever you were born doesn't matter. I was born in 1762! But I can tell that your personality is way older than mine!"
Endless muffled laughter was heard from Ji Luo Chu.
The young master cried out in surprise, "Whoa, Melody, you're three hundred and fifty years old?"
"Nooo, Young Master, don't say others people’s ages out loud!"
"You said 1762 yourself." The young master happily laughed.
Melody opened her mouth to grumble, "It was an accident," then shot a glare at me, reprimanding, "It's all your fault! Why mention your age for no reason?"
After that, the waiter served dishes one after another. Everyone started chatting while eating, creating a very pleasant atmosphere.
After eating two seafood platters, the young master suddenly asked me, "By the way, Charles, why did you say we have the same father but different mothers? Wouldn't it work if we have the same mother but different fathers?'
Before I could answer, Melody laughed and explained, "Young Master, it's because only female vampires can deliver pureborn vampires. Male vampires and humans cannot have a vampire as their child, so you two couldn't have had the same mother."
Vampires have low fertilization rates, and only female vampires could deliver vampires. Besides, female vampires often did not want to deliver a child, because giving birth consumed just as much of their blood ability as a "First Kiss." Furthermore, a pureborn vampire did not have the inclination to obey their sire like common vampires did. These were the reasons why pureborn vampires were quite rare.
I further explained, "I am afraid many non-humans know I am a pureborn vampire. Now that non-humans walk among the human crowds in broad daylight, I am worried that someone will suspect you of being a vampire as a result."
"Many non-humans?" Melody widened her eyes, saying, "Before this, the most famous vampire was E.X., but you're no pushover now, either!"
"Is Charles really famous?" The young master's eyes were both shining.
Melody nodded and said, "Actually he's never been an obscure guy, but most people have only heard rumors of a vampire being a butler, and have never met him or known his name. But right now the butler has become really famous, to such a degree that his fame almost reaches that of E.X.!"
This was not good news because the more famous a vampire was, the more tragic the downfall they usually had. Count Dracula, the most famous one in history, was encircled by the Church and burnt to death by the sun. A wanted vampire like E.X. who could escape for thousands of years after being pursued by the Church was truly a marvel.
After hearing the explanation, the young master nodded just as a waiter delivered an entire plate of desserts. He and Aren continued, attacking the dessert.
"What's with the long face?" Melody impatiently said, "Your nephew is protecting you! The Church is afraid to attack you directly. What are you afraid of then?"
I bitterly smiled. How could I let Curtis worry about my affairs all the time?
At this moment, the young master suddenly turned to look to the side. I followed his eyesight and discovered that a few young people at the nearby table were staring in shock at the young master… This was not good, but it really was impossible that no one would find out the entire night. Now, it all depended on how the young master was going to handle this.
The young master gave them a brilliant smile and waved, and they finally woke from their daze. One of the girls suddenly screamed, "Ah! Angel!"
Her scream silenced the entire club. Immediately, one employee walked to their table with an apologetic expression, saying, "Sorry, our club prohibits drugs. Please leave and we will return all the ticket fees…"
Hearing the warning, those young people gave a contemptuous look and passionately pointed at our table. "We didn't do drugs! Look over there! Over there!"
The employee and everyone else turned to look at us. Some people whose sight was blocked even stood on their chairs to see us. Seems like we cannot go unnoticed anymore.
Luckily, the young master did not feel he was being disturbed. Rather, he revealed an amused expression. Seeing everyone's wide eyes and rigid bodies, he laughed even harder.
"Hello, everyone," the young master casually greeted everyone.
The crowd finally unfroze, like waking up from a dream, screaming in waves. The word "Angel" could be heard coming from all directions. The young man next to our table smugly said to the employee, "What, is the whole crowd doing drugs now?"
The situation did not look good. The crowd seemed intent on rushing over; all they needed was one person to go first…
"What is going on?"
A bald man with a horn tattoo on his head walked over. An apron was wrapped around his waist, so he seemed to be a chef here. But appearances did not matter, for most importantly, he was a nightwalker!
He walked over and looked at us with confusion, asking the employee nearby, "Are there any problems?"
"Manager!" The waiter actually called him manager, and quickly explained the situation.
"A nightwalker opening a nightclub?" Melody laughed crazily. However, the other people did not understand what a nightwalker was, and the young master inquired directly.
Melody explained the nightwalker race to everyone while laughing.
Another nightwalker? Slightly curious, I asked, "Do you have any relationship with Nitewalker?"
The manager glanced at me, saying, "I'm a nightwalker."
"No, you misunderstood me." I quickly took out Nitewalker's business card and showed it to him.
"Oh, this is my clansman. We two first came here to ascertain whether this city is a suitable place for us." The manager passed the business card back to me, saying, "My name is Nitesea. Nitewalker has mentioned you before. You are Charles Endelis, right? I heard that you know Poseidynne?"
"Yes, do you know her as well?" I asked in surprise.
"Our clan follows her orders." Nightsea thought for a moment, elaborating, "We follow most of her orders. But if it threatens the existence of the clan, we do not have to obey the order."
"I see now. Then could you please help us handle this situation? Please do not let other guests disturb us."
Nitesea nodded, ordering the employees with a few words, and said, "Send three bottles of alcohol and a plate of small octopi for our guests."
I quickly expressed my appreciation.
The employees shouted to everyone, "Please do not disturb the guests at this table…"
After their announcement, although everyone's attention was still focused on our table, at least they did not appear to want to rush over.
I turned to ascertain whether the young master's mood was affected. Surprisingly, he was busy snatching up small octopi with Aren and Dell, paying no attention to the people who were sneaking glances at him. He merely exclaimed while eating, "This is so delicious!"
Melody enviously said, "You need a reservation for this dish! Allegedly the manager feeds the octopi himself. There's a limited amount and you need to have a reservation really early to be able to eat this."
But she did not reach to grab a small octopus. Fresh small octopi and stale ones were the same to a vampire's sense of taste—it felt like chewing a piece of rubber, a true waste of fresh food.
Melody glanced at me and asked, "I'm really curious, how do you cook? Your dishes aren't too salty or too plain."
I smiled and explained, "I use what remains of my sense of taste and my experience to make my judgment. The amount of salt needed for different amounts of food can be determined by experience. The other spices were thanks to Father--who told me what flavor each was, and to which dish it could be added. But I still cannot make chef-level exquisite cuisine. Those dishes need many various spices, and I absolutely cannot distinguish them to that degree."
"What remains of your sense of taste?" Melody mumbled, "Except for ridiculously strong alcohol, I can't tell the flavors of other food at all…"
It mostly depended on experience, I had to admit. The amount of dishes in a meal I made at home now was far too large. I could not slowly taste every single dish, and would at most test the soup. The rest all depended on experience. Luckily, no one in the household was really picky about flavors.
"I'm full!" After swallowing down the last octopus, the young master did not know what to do next; he turned to ask Melody, "What are we doing now?"
"Dance!" Melody flirtatiously said, "Young Master, come and dance with me!"
Dell quickly interrupted, "How would the young master know how to dance? Come and dance with me!"
"I can dance!" The young master said, "We had to dance for our high school graduation prom, so I researched a little online."
Researched a little? Can you really dance just with a little bit of researching… Based on the young master's situation, he likely had learned it.
Melody cried in surprise, cheering, "The band's on stage! Perfect! Follow me, Young Master!"
Done speaking, she pulled on the young master's hand while rushing toward the dance floor. At this time, the surrounding people all stopped to look at the young master. The originally soft music stopped, apparently to let the band members onstage tune their instruments. While the four members tuned, they noticed something unusual about the dance floor. They tuned while glancing at the young master in the middle of the dance floor. Suddenly recognizing the young master, the two male and two female band members stopped their work at hand and stared at the young master in the center.
"Music!" Melody dissatisfiedly waved toward the band onstage. Only then did the performers promptly continue checking the sound.
This band's appearance was rather unique. All four had white hair and white clothes; even their faces were painted with white makeup. It was even in the design of snowflakes, giving the entire band a snow kingdom feeling. The bassist was a woman, wearing a white fur coat and skirt, while the two men wore white leather shirts and pants. The female drummer was buried under a pile of drums, and only the upper half of her sleeveless white clothing could be seen.
Compared to the whiteness of their outfits, their instruments were brimming with color and changing light. The body of the bass was transparent with infinite gossamer threads emitting light. The guitar's blackness had pinpoints of starlight within, and the electronic keyboard stand gleamed with silvery blue light. At first glance, all the drums were white as well, but when they were hit by the drummer, the drums would shine.
The performers seemed to be finished with tuning. The female bassist went up front and gripped the microphone. Using a voice charged with energy, she shouted, "Hello everyone, we are 'Aurora!'"
Aurora? The iridescent phenomenon in the sky in the North and South Pole regions? I could not help but smile, for their name and their attire matched well.
Melody responded with a high-pitched scream. The young master glanced at her and copied her with a cheer. However, in the entire scene only the two of them were cheering, because everyone else was looking at the young master with an excited expression. The sounds of "How cute" came in waves. It looked like today's situation would be a grim ordeal for Aurora.
Merely getting the crowd to shift their attention from the young master would be a big hurdle, right?
At that moment, the drummer suddenly started drumming, the clear and clean beat of the drum immediately drawing the attention of the crowd.
"Yeah! Just like this!" Melody cheered softly, swaying her body with the beat.
Seeing this, the performers chose to simply not speak, beginning their performance directly. The female bassist turned out to be the lead singer as well. Her voice was hoarse. Although the tone was not particularly good, it had a very rock-and-roll feeling.
Melody screamed, "Young Master, come and dance!"
Hearing her, the young master grabbed Melody's hand, his other hand placed on her waist. Tightening his grip, he and Melody immediately became dancers in position facing each other.
Melody hesitated, shouting in praise, "Whoa!"
After that, they began to dance, with basic movements like the two-step, twirling, and bending. The young master even did some highly difficult movements, such as letting Melody slide under his legs and then pulling her up, or gripping Melody's waist and holding her up high.
It turned out that the young master could certainly dance, even at a professional level. I did not know whether their cooperation was too perfect, or if the young master's skill at leading was too great, for it looked like the two of them had practiced endlessly, rather than having only danced together for the first time today.
Besides Melody and the young master, the dance floor had no other people dancing. They were all surrounding the sides, with many people pulling out their phones to take videos. Their faces expressed extreme exhilaration.
As time passed, more and more people entered the nightclub. Quite a few people looked around as they entered, saw the young master, gasped, and then immediately pulled out their cell phones to record. Seems they were all called over by their friends?
But not a single person went up and disturbed the young master. Everyone merely watched in a circle, swaying to the music. When they saw a high difficulty move they applauded and even screamed. The scene's atmosphere was lively, and the band was also playing energetically.
Upon seeing this, I relaxed. I had never imagined that the trip to this nightclub would be so smooth, even to the point of being pleasant.
Ji Luo Chu unaffectedly leaned against the sofa, sipping a drink while laughing, "The drummer's not bad, but the others seem to be a bit lacking."
"Certainly true," I wholeheartedly agreed.
Hearing my reply, Ji Luo Chu seemed to be interested, curiously asking, "You play music as well?"
"No, I merely learned a bit of superficial knowledge. Being a butler requires one to know a little bit of everything. Because my master may like music, I learned a little piano."
"Hm, piano?" Ji Luo Chu laughed, saying, "That instrument indeed really suits you, I learned a bit of guitar, but it's been a long time since I've played. I've been too busy messing with photography and…" He spoke up to this point, then suddenly lowered his voice, saying, "practicing using a whip."
I laughed, admiringly saying, "Being able to use a weapon like the energy whip, you must have put in a lot of hard work?"
"Hehe, it is rather hard…"
After chatting for a while, the music suddenly stopped. I raised my head to look. The young master was walking over with a defeated face and an incomparably pitiful expression. I immediately stood up, inquiring, "Young Master… Ah Ye, what happened?"
The young master sat down, miserably complaining, "I wanted to sing, to sing Vampire, but they don't know how to play it."
"Then, let me go ask them if they're willing to lend me the electronic keyboard to play. Is it all right if I use the electronic keyboard to accompany you?"
Once the young master heard me, he immediately nodded happily.
To be polite, I first spoke with the manager, Nitesea. Unexpectedly, when he learned that my specialty was actually the piano, he immediately had someone push out a piano.
Nitesea explained, "The club has always had a piano prepared for the slower song period. You can use it."
"Thank you."
The young master and I walked up to the stage. Although we interrupted their performance, the band did not seem annoyed. The eyes of the female bassist lead singer started shining when the young master walked up the stage. It looked like she was a fan of the young master's… How do I phrase this? Not his singing or his acting in movies. After all, the young master's career was that of a model, not a singer or actor.
In any case, it seemed like she was mesmerized by the young master.
The female drummer in the back winked at me, saying, "I can play a simple beat for you."
I smiled in gratitude. "Thank you very much."
I sat in front of the piano, opened the piano lid, and brushed my fingers lightly along the piano keys. A stream of music flowed out. The piano's tone seemed to be slightly off, but since this was not a formal occasion, it was unnecessary to be that particular.
It had really been too long since I had played. I remembered when I played before, Sadina would always lean on the piano, specifically picking difficult pieces of music. If I did not know how to play it, she would say that she would punish me, so I would have to accompany her on her shopping trip and help her carry her purse and shopping bags… Really, having me go out with her meant only going out at night, and my clothes would always attract attention from passersby. But she never got tired of "punishing me."
"Charles… gē!"
I snapped back to reality. The young master was holding the microphone and turning his head. I immediately said, "My apologies, I will start now."
I began to play the prelude to Vampire, and the young master opened his mouth, singing, "The ancient clock chimes twelve times." He sang happily. Although his technique was not that good, his joy-filled voice made people hum along unconsciously as soon as they heard him.
When the young master finished singing and began to sing the second part, the audience below began to hum, louder and louder. The young master was clearly happy to have others sing with him, and he began to sing increasingly louder as well. At the final, fast verse, the audience's voices almost drowned out the sound of the piano.
Vampires stalk the streets; Strangers don't come near; Fresh blood is my favorite drink
Don't cry Hallelujah; God's on vacation; Maria is also asleep
I coolly fling my cape aside; Bare my fangs at you; Don't struggle I'll be gentle
When you meet vampires, hurry and scream
We were finally about to reach the last line. At this time, the crowd was screaming instead of singing. The atmosphere was at the peak of excitement. As I played the last piece, the young master suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, and then shouted, "GOD."
The crowd actually started shouting after him, "GOD!"
"Bless."
"Bless!"
"You—"
The young master's voice was unbelievably high. His volume was even higher than that of the "You" screamed by the crowd, and his tone was rising even higher…
Crack!
…Was that the sound of glass breaking?
I was a little puzzled, but it was clearly not important. The important thing was that the young master was so happy that he cheered with the crowd. He even turned to hug that female bassist, screaming and shouting together. I had never seen the young master so happy. Despite my doubts, it was a good thing that the young master was very happy… right?
But why did I feel a little uneasy seeing the young master making noise so happily?
"…Do you hear me? I'm telling you to do things that make you happy, to do things you want to do! Stop trying to save others so much!"
That fake policeman who could control others once said so to the young master. But doing things that made him happy and doing things that he wanted was not bad, right? The young master was not a bad person. Things that made him happy should be good things, just like singing with the crowd right now.
But… I hesitantly wondered, Is the young master happy when he is being a hero?