WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈
Chapter 64: The Knight and the Prodigal (3)
──────
Lady Fand, who had watched the subtle exchange of glances between the two, crooked a finger.
“One blood draw might not yield enough. Come. Take some.”
“...Yes.”
With practiced movements, Alberic found a vein in her arm and drew blood.
Afterward, Lady Fand blinked slowly a few times before falling asleep. Alberic quietly stepped out of the room and tossed the blood collection tube to Kriel.
“There. Can you tell now?”
“Hmm.”
To be honest, there was a faint trace of the Abyss. Still, considering that the wound which had aged Lady Fand had been inflicted by the Abyss, it was only natural for some remnant to remain in her body.
No matter how closely he examined the faint trace in her blood, he could not sense any obvious Demonic Nature like he had in Tushkin’s blood.
It felt less like Demonic Nature rooted in the soul and more like an illness tormenting the body. Even if he overstated its danger, it would not amount to a Monster.
It would not be wise to reveal that he could identify Abyssal corruption at a glance. Kriel tapped the Horn Dagger a few times.
[Orisin the Abyss Appraiser Appears! In the name of the unicorn, guardian of purity, I will not forgive the Abyss!]
Orisin’s words, delivered amid the usual bluster, were not entirely empty boasting. They were the result of a unicorn’s nature combined with the Abyss-purifying power Morgina had granted the Horn Dagger.
After peering at the blood collection tube, Orisin simply summed up the situation.
[Lady Fand is purer than I am!]
[Do you believe that was a compliment, you vulgar curved blade?]
“We would need to examine it further, but I do not sense anything unusual. It seems the Lir Family’s defenses are secure.”
Alberic let out a sigh of relief. That was when Tuon whispered to Kriel.
[Master.]
‘Yes?’
[Niam. Was Niam not the low-ranking member who first came to greet you? Yet Niam is trusted enough to tend to the Elder’s wife at her bedside. Something is strange.]
* * *
“I’m going to check in at the prison for a moment. Since I’m temporarily released, I need to report where I’ll be going. What a pain.”
Back in his room, Kriel sorted through everything he knew about Niam. Niam had been the first member of the Lir bloodline he encountered. Judging by the way she had acted while accompanying Oife, the two clearly knew each other.
[Come to think of it, didn’t you ask them to send a Spiritist? Niam introduced herself as a mage.]
[It is also strange how strongly Niam reacted to the Abyss. You should remain wary, Master.]
[Hey. Honestly, reacting strongly to the Abyss is normal, isn’t it? The world nearly ended because of it.]
Orisin grumbled. The Demon King War had ended for now, but the Abyss had always been Tirnanog’s most dangerous enemy. Even if the Demon King had been destroyed, Demons remained, so staying alert was only natural.
It was difficult logic to refute. Tuon abandoned the point and attacked Orisin instead.
[Do you have no intention of reacting strongly to your own existence?]
[Aaaargh! Where did you learn to speak like that? If we’re counting seniority as blades, I’m your elder!]
[Ah, is this the limit of a horse’s brain? Let us compare Gratuon’s history to that of your lewd Horn Dagger.]
[You said you weren’t Gratuon!]
[I am always prepared to interpret the facts more actively in order to win.]
Kriel scratched his head. An excessive reaction to the Abyss...
He thought back to his own behavior when he entered the Lir Family estate. Calling Niam’s reaction excessive was questionable. Kriel had begun the conversation by shoving an Abyssal byproduct right in front of her.
If it had truly been an excessive reaction, she should have attacked first. Even that might not have been enough to call it excessive. It would make his own behavior look condemnable as well, but honestly, given the circumstances, it would not have been strange to think, Is this bastard a servant of the Abyss?
[Anyway. I believe Niam is completely clean. My unicorn senses detected something special.]
[Then why could those remarkable unicorn senses not drive away the servant of the Abyss that approached you?]
After thinking it over, Kriel changed his approach.
“It would be better to just ask.”
[Huh? Ask who?]
“Hey! I’m coming in!”
“Here he comes.”
The door creaked open as Alberic entered, carrying two dark earthenware bowls stacked one atop the other. The bowls might have looked unfamiliar to others, but Kriel recognized them immediately.
“Do you know scorched rice? You seemed to know rice when I saw you in prison, so I brought some. Pour in some warm water and let it soak before eating it. Nothing settles the stomach better. This family’s atmosphere is enough to give anyone indigestion.”
They were earthenware bowls.
* * *
“Ah, you really are enjoying it!”
It was just about time to feel hungry. It had no special flavor, but its warm, savory taste soothed his stomach.
This was an unexpected discovery for Kriel. Alberic had been looking for rice before, and his palate felt remarkably familiar. If the World Tree contained every plant in this world, perhaps it even had kimchi stew.
...And if there was food as similar to Earth cuisine as kimchi stew, there was a strong possibility that Heroes, players, had been involved at its origin.
Kriel mentally added Investigate the origins of World Tree Elf food culture to his list of things to do, then spoke.
“There is something I wish to ask.”
“Hm? Go ahead. If it’s something I can answer, I’ll tell you everything.”
[What about that friend named Oife?]
“She probably went to report this and that to Father. Father assigned her to watch me so I wouldn’t get up to nonsense, but we’re close, so she’ll cover for me well enough.”
“Tell me everything you know about the elf named Niam.”
Alberic choked as he tried to drink the scorched-rice broth.
“Cough, gasp. Why Niam?”
“There are some strange details when I consider the circumstances. That elf must be near the bottom of the Lir Family. Niam was the first to come meet an outsider like me.”
“...That’s right. Niam is low-ranking. Most of that is because of me, though.”
“Because of you? Were you demoted together after causing trouble?”
“We grew up together at the World Tree as milk siblings. Or should I call Niam my milk sister, considering we are different sexes? Since I’m like this, Niam gets treated as an idler too.”
Alberic went on to explain his family history. Lady Fand had come as the representative of the World Tree Elves to ask the Empire’s famed elven house for aid. Elder Nawiden had volunteered to join the reinforcements after falling in love with Lady Fand at first sight, and the two eventually fell in love.
Like Alberic, Niam had been one of the children born between members of the Lir Family dispatched as reinforcements and World Tree Elves. But Niam’s parents had died in battle. Fand and Nawiden had taken her in.
“They fell in love in the middle of a war. It’s quite different from how stuffy they are now. Anyway, Mother ended up pregnant with me. Fortunately, the Abyssal forces had been driven from the World Tree by then, and the war had briefly quieted down.”
For several months after Alberic Lir was born, the state of the war had remained unchanged. Then the Abyss began its counterattack, and Nawiden and Fand had to return to the battlefield.
The couple sent Alberic to the comparatively safe Lir main house. Niam, Alberic’s milk sibling, was entrusted to the Lir Family alongside him. Oife was the guard the Lir Family assigned specifically to protect them.
[So the three of you were childhood friends?]
Alberic nodded. That was why Oife could call Alberic “young master” while constantly putting him down.
“Niam carries Lir blood, but without parents, she has always been somewhat on the outside. The difference in time between the Abyssal Domain and the outside world also makes it difficult to judge age, and I’m supposed to be her support, but I’m an idler. Still, she knows Mother well, so she prepares medicine and looks after her.”
Alberic shrugged as though that answered everything.
“Hmm. Then we are back where we started. If Niam is as close to you as family, Lady Fand must be like a mother to her as well.”
“What? You suspected Niam? I’m more likely to be the culprit. You have no idea how much she cares for Mother.”
Alberic went on to share other trivial things. Niam liked rice, but more specifically liked soup eaten with rice, so she preferred gukbap.
“I found Niam tending to Lady Fand suspicious. It seems the person who stole the Truth Cup understands exactly how it works.”
“What?”
“Consider it. The cup changes water, and purification occurs when that altered water is drunk or applied. Anyone seeking to corrupt the Truth Cup and use it as an Abyssal baptismal font would need to know how it works. They would also have to know that someone would eventually drink the water from the cup.”
The heirloom was an antique stored away in the vault. An ordinary member of the family would have no reason to see it.
Unless someone deliberately took an interest and sought it out, it would be difficult to learn exactly how it worked. Or they had learned by using the heirloom directly, again and again.
Alberic’s expression hardened, then relaxed.
“No. Niam would never do that. It’s a very convincing analysis, but there is a problem.”
“What problem?”
“You said ordinary family members would have difficulty learning how it worked because it is an antique. Normally, that would be true, but it was used for relief efforts during the Demon King War, so everyone learned about it more or less. Even among the elves currently in this house, more than eighty percent have probably used water from the Truth Cup to disinfect a wound at least once.”
A powerful artifact used in war. Kriel could now guess why the Abyss wanted to corrupt the Truth Cup.
“It seems we have finished everything we can investigate today. Let us begin again tomorrow. Until then, let us spend our remaining time with the Horn Dagger. I shall show you my skill as a Spiritist.”
[I don’t believe you at all. Summon a Spirit, then.]
“Hmph. Are you looking down on Alberic Lir, bearer of the Lir Family’s golden bloodline?”
Alberic summoned a whole mass of Spirits.
From weak Spirits that looked like simple clumps of elemental energy to high-ranking Spirits with clear forms, such as fire salamanders and lightning eagles, Spirits of many attributes appeared and disappeared at his call.
Kriel felt that something was off. Even Spirits of rare attributes like lightning and poison answered Alberic’s summons. The same should have been true for Spirits of the four great elements: earth, wind, fire, and water.
Yet among them, only high-ranking water Spirits were absent.
‘It is not that Alberic lacks affinity with the attribute, considering he can handle lower-ranking water Spirits.’
...Had one already been summoned?
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
