Jerry Dracula Junior.
Anyone who heard that full na could probably guess, but the weight of that na was not light at all.
It was like that from the very beginning, from his birth.
That na was directly inherited from a historic figure who left one of the most distinguished marks in the long history of the Beastkin clans.
Count, Jerry Dracula Senior.
It was the heaviest na any Vampire could bear.
Especially for JJ, this was all the more true.
『Half-Vampire.』
He was the direct heir to the Dracula Family, which had led the Vampire Clan for generations, yet he was also a 'Half' Beastkin, a rarity among the proud Vampire Clan.
He couldn't recall exactly when he had learned that fact, but the oldest mory JJ could rember was related to it.
It was around the ti when he had just started to speak fluently and was beginning to learn the etiquette and basic martial arts of a Vampire.
『…Do you think the Young Master can succeed the Count?』
『Well, I don't know for sure, but I think we have to assu it will be difficult. Since Lady Jamie is the Count's only bloodline, it's right that the Young Master, as the eldest son by family law, should beco the next leader of the clan, but.』
『…….』
『…The Young Master is a Half, after all.』
『Hey! Won't you lower your voice? What if the Young Master hears you…』
『What does it matter? It's not like I said sothing that isn't true. The Count hasn't particularly hidden it, and it's sothing the Young Master will have to bear soday anyway.』
A mory of accidentally overhearing a conversation in a secluded spot outside the mansion between the tutor who had just been teaching him etiquette and the instructor who had been teaching him martial arts.
It was the day he first heard the word 'Half'.
And the phrase 'Half-Vampire' stuck in his ear so strangely that the mory was intensely engraved in Jerry's mind.
JJ still clearly rembered the inscrutable expression his mother, Jamie Dracula, wore that night when he asked her what the word 'Half' ant.
…But in truth, being a Half itself wasn't that special.
More than half of the Beastkin clans that made up the Beastkin Nation already had the blood of Halves, and in fact, not many clans had maintained a pure bloodline throughout their long history.
Even within the Vampire Clan, which, as a clan in charge of combat, placed greater importance on bloodline, there were already quite a few Half-Vampires, so being a Half wasn't sothing special enough to point out or hide.
…The problem was that JJ was of the direct bloodline of the Dracula Family, the leading family of the Vampire Clan and a renowned combat house.
Although the number of Halves had naturally increased over ti among the Beastkin clans, the Lycan Family and the Dracula Family, considered the greatest combat houses, had strictly maintained their bloodlines.
Never before had a direct heir of the Dracula Family possessed half-blood.
It was so unusual that even when a Half was born in a collateral branch, it was common for them to be left as illegitimate children without their nas being engraved on the family register, disappearing into the back alleys of the family's history.
It was after he ca to understand this fact to so extent that Jerry began to be careful with his words and actions.
The title 'Half-Vampire' followed every word he said and every action he took like a tag.
Even for sothing not particularly remarkable, the words 'For a Half-Vampire…' would be attached, and even if he made a mistake, the words 'Because he's a Half-Vampire…' would be added.
Of course, given the nature of the Vampire Clan, which valued hierarchy based on bloodline, no one could say such things openly to his face.
But perhaps because repeated experiences from a young age had sharpened his ears, Jerry was particularly keen at hearing what other people said about him.
And so, around his 7th birthday.
JJ realized that the smiles the mbers of the Vampire Clan showed him were not real.
Almost all of them wore smiling masks in front of him, saying this and that, but none of it was sincere.
The only one who showed a genuine smile to him, whose very existence was a disappointnt, was JJ's mother, Jamie Dracula.
The rest rely wore smiling masks in front of him, performing a pleasing clown show according to the Vampire hierarchy.
That artificial world was too harsh for the young JJ to simply accept as the way things were.
To survive in such a world, JJ chose a thod.
To wear a mask himself.
But, while everyone else wore a 'smiling mask'.
JJ himself wore an 'indifferent mask' to everything.
It wasn't that he was truly indifferent, but living bare-faced alone in a world where everyone wore a mask was too overwhelming.
The smiling masks and the clown show that twisted even more bizarrely whenever he cried were just too artificial.
It was better to cry only beneath the mask when he wanted to.
When he did that, it actually felt like he beca a little more indifferent.
As ti passed and the years went by.
Around the ti his 8th birthday ca, another phrase began to enter Jerry's ears.
Behind the 'Half-Vampire' tag that was added after any ntion of him, sothing else started to be attached.
『No matter what, he's still a Jerry Dracula…』
A single phrase his martial arts instructor had unconsciously uttered one day upon seeing him progress slower than a pure-blood Vampire from a collateral branch.
After that, he began to hear the additions that had been buried under the term 'Half-Vampire' and had been inaudible until now.
『He may be a Half-Vampire, but… he still has to inherit the na Jerry Dracula. Will he be okay?』
『He inherited the na Jerry Dracula, so even if he's not on the Count's level…』
Of course, they were expressing their own form of concern for JJ, who had to lead the future of the clan as a mber of the Vampire Clan, but it wasn't easy for the young JJ to understand such complex emotions.
He only knew the fact that he was not doing well.
It was from then on.
That Jerry began to feel the pressure of his own na.
It wasn't a na he wanted, nor was it a gap he could close with effort.
Even Jerry himself had only seen him a handful of tis, but he could tell just from the stories he heard.
His grandfather, Jerry Dracula Senior, was literally the strongest in history.
He was a being that Jerry felt he could not catch up to in even a single area.
From the very beginning, most of the talk about JJ from the outside was a kind of sigh, a single phrase added as if worrying about a bleak future after a long string of flowery complints about the Count.
Except for having the sa na and being a man of few words, one could say there was no resemblance at all.
One was the strongest Dracula in history.
The other was the first Half-Dracula in history.
『Huhu. You really resemble your grandfather.』
The only one who told him he resembled his grandfather was his mother, Jamie Dracula.
Ti passed again to his 9th birthday.
Through a certain incident, Jerry ca to realize one more fact.
That the world, by its nature, is fundantally selfish.
He learned that not only does it not always go your way, but at tis, it can be so thorough in going against your thoughts that you wonder if soone is watching.
『Young Master… you're a Half, aren't you?』
A pure-blood Vampire born in the sa year as JJ, who was considered the greatest prospect of the collateral branches, threw off his mask in front of Jerry.
One per year.
It was because he was displeased that JJ, a Half-Vampire, was given priority over him, who was more talented, for the 'Bloodline Ceremony' that could be held at the age of 10.
『Isn't it right that I go first? You won't be able to learn it properly anyway…』
According to the Dracula family rule that only those who underwent the Bloodline Ceremony and were officially recognized as a Vampire could learn the Blood Demon Art, only one of the two could undergo the ceremony in the following year.
And due to the Vampire culture that emphasized hierarchy, JJ was naturally slated to be first in line.
According to the laws of the world that JJ knew, this was sothing that shouldn't have happened.
People could talk like that where he wasn't present, but there had never been anyone who took off their mask and spoke like this in front of him.
The problem was that the opponent was a child.
Most of the people JJ had experienced until now were adult Vampires, in whom the Vampire hierarchy was already ingrained in their thinking and behavior.
The mindset of a child, not yet mature, had shattered the world JJ knew and crossed the line.
The blatant emotion he was experiencing for the first ti was too intense for JJ to handle, and in the end, he found himself nodding his head and telling him to go ahead.
And then.
『…The Count has passed away.』
What should have ended as a re happening, a childish act of defiance, beca a reality with the death of the family head, Jerry Dracula Senior.
With the absence of a leader, the Vampire Clan ca to receive orders directly from the Demon King's strategist and was dispatched to the front lines of the War against Demons.
In a situation without a leader due to the family head's absence and in urgent need of imdiate military strength, the pure-blood Vampire who had picked a fight with JJ imdiately underwent the Bloodline Ceremony and was sent to the battlefield.
The unprecedented event of a descendant from a collateral branch undergoing the Bloodline Ceremony before the direct heir occurred.
The hierarchy of Vampire society, which had never once been shaken, was now wavering.
…Of course, in reality, it wasn't so much that the hierarchy was wavering, but rather that with the death of Count Dracula, who had supported the clan for so long, the clan's future was uncertain, and things were proceeding urgently.
To the young Jerry, the fact that the world he knew was changing sowhere held a much greater aning than the death of the grandfather he had barely seen.
The Vampire Clan, which was practically being driven to its death, beca more desolate with each passing day.
And the Vampires who had only ever faced him wearing masks without fail began to throw them off, little by little.
Everything beca blatant.
The disappointnt in the Half-Vampire.
The expectations for him, the one who inherited the na of Jerry Dracula.
The days of wearing smiling masks, when it was fine either way, were gone.
And only then did JJ realize.
That the past, when everyone wore masks, was better.
And so.
When his 10th birthday arrived.
There was no one left wearing a mask.
Only JJ was still wearing his 'indifferent mask'.
Everyone was blatantly wanting sothing from him to his face.
And that year.
Jerry and his mother left the clan.
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