WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 7: Carmilla’s Night (4)

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“Please, spare me...”

Her silver hair was a mess.

Tear tracks stood out clearly on her pale cheeks.

“This princess still has an unfulfilled wish...”

“...”

Carmilla showed no sign of stopping her sobs.

All I could do was stare blankly at her.

Countless thoughts ran through my mind.

‘Why is she crying?’

The question crossed my mind for a moment, but I soon understood.

She must have mistaken me for one of the people after her.

She probably thought I was no different from those assassins.

Considering Carmilla’s circumstances, it was a perfectly reasonable conclusion.

‘Then again...’

Carmilla was one of the few pureblood vampires on the continent.

Even aside from her uncle, plenty of factions would want to get their hands on her.

What was more, the dynasty led by her predecessors had just fallen.

Even the shelter that had protected the girl was gone.

Anyone, anywhere, could come after her.

‘She’s been running from assassins this whole time. She must’ve been at her mental limit too.’

Of course, I was still flustered.

‘I’m a weakling, though.’

Every one of my stats was E-rank.

There wasn’t even room for growth.

At least in this world, it wouldn’t be easy to find someone weaker than me.

Carmilla could rip me apart with a single finger.

‘No, if anyone should be scared, it should be me...!’

She was the lion, and I was the mouse.

Yet the lion was trembling in fear of the mouse.

I swallowed my indignation.

‘First... I need to calm Carmilla down.’

I’d taken care of the assassins who had followed her, but there was no telling when reinforcements might arrive.

Getting out of here came first.

What I needed now was persuasion.

I had to make Carmilla lower her guard and follow me.

“Your Highness.”

It wouldn’t be difficult.

Not if I could make use of my knowledge of the original and spin a few lies.

“Please, set aside your fear.”

Carmilla hunched her shoulders.

I went down on one knee before her.

I lowered my head as well, looking at the floor.

Like a knight pledging loyalty to his lord.

“Sniff... Huh?”

At my sudden action, question marks practically appeared over the girl’s head.

I calmly began spinning my tale.

“The late king sent me.”

“The late king? My father...?”

“Yes.”

Carmilla’s pupils widened in surprise.

Without hesitation, I pressed on.

I searched through my memories and pronounced the words as faithfully as I could recall.

“Leira de Levialan. De Roni Giblriase.”

“...!”

It was a phrase passed down through the royal family, said to be direct descendants of the True Ancestor among all vampires.

An ancient vampire language.

A phrase said to have been left behind when the True Ancestor vanished a thousand years ago, passed down only among purebloods.

The surprise didn’t leave Carmilla’s face.

“Slay, but do not be base. Survive, but do not be cowardly. That is what it means.”

“H-how...? You even know what it means. Th-that phrase is surely only permitted to royalty...”

“Didn’t I tell you? The late king sent me.”

I only knew because I’d read it in the original’s setting guide, but that didn’t matter.

A lie that couldn’t be verified was no different from the truth.

“It was when the late king, Your Highness’s father, was still alive. He always prepared for tragedies such as this. I am one of those preparations.”

“A preparation...?”

“The late king entrusted the princess to me. He asked me to protect you if anything happened to him and the dynasty collapsed.”

“Then that phrase just now...”

“The late king taught it to me. He said that if I spoke those words, the princess would believe me.”

“...”

Carmilla fell into thought.

Her mind must have been a mess, but something seemed to come back to her.

“...Father did say that. He said that even in human society, there were retainers who served him in secret. That I should run, run far away... and find them. That I would be safe then... He told me that on the day he died...”

Her voice began dry, then gradually filled with tears.

Her eyes looked as though she had found her last hope.

With her silver hair hanging pitifully around her face, she asked, “Are you... the knight Father spoke of?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t hesitate.

“From now on, I’ll take responsibility for Your Highness’s safety.”

“Ah...”

A breath escaped the girl without her meaning to.

Her watery red eyes shone.

Sway.

“Thank goodness... Thank goodness...”

“Whoa there.”

Carmilla staggered hard, then collapsed forward.

I spread my arms and caught her.

Plop.

Her small body fell into my embrace. Her skin was cool to the touch.

Even as I laid her on the floor, she continued to murmur.

“Father, I... I lived... Just as you asked...”

“You’ve been through a lot. Rest for a while.”

“Thank you... Thank, thank you...”

Her eyes slowly closed.

Perhaps because the tension she had been holding onto suddenly broke, Carmilla soon lost consciousness.

‘Was she at her limit?’

She must have spent the past few weeks constantly running from assassins.

There was no way she’d gotten a proper night’s sleep.

‘Her body’s a mess too...’

She’d been shot by the assassins, then beaten senseless.

If I left her like this, the wounds would fester.

Rustle, rustle.

I rummaged through my robe and took something out.

Blood drawn from livestock.

‘I brought this just in case.’

Click.

I opened the blood pack and placed it between the girl’s lips.

Drawn by the sweet scent of blood, Carmilla soon began to drink.

Gulp, gulp. The pack was quickly drained.

Then her battered body began to recover little by little.

‘Good.’

I left her alone for a while to let her wounds heal.

In the meantime, I headed over to where the assassins had been.

Before long, I found what I was looking for inside a large box.

“Oh.”

A crossbow as large as I was.

The Godslaying Crossbow.

It was a relic of the Kingdom of Blandir.

I’d heard it was used to execute pureblood vampires.

Even against things other than vampires, though, it was just a fucking powerful weapon.

“Nice.”

What a haul.

I lightly tapped the imposing thing with a finger.

Ding!

[Robe of the Evil God]

-Item ‘Godslaying Crossbow’ has been stored.

-Stored items: 31/100

This crossbow was mine from now on.

That meant I could do whatever I wanted with it.

‘They probably never expected it to be stolen.’

It was understandable that they’d let their guard down.

How could they have expected the assassins they’d carefully chosen to fail at capturing one exhausted princess?

Especially after giving them an outrageously broken weapon, the strongest there was against vampires.

‘Well... that’s only because I crashed the party.’

It had been the same in the original.

If the player didn’t intervene in the event, Carmilla was executed in these sewers.

“There’s only one stake.”

The stake.

The arrow used by the Godslaying Crossbow.

‘They must’ve brought one for the execution and one spare.’

Then again, there was no way they could carry several of these precious things around.

Apparently, it took a veteran blacksmith two hundred years just to make one.

My mouth watered.

‘It was incredible.’

Hadn’t I just seen it firsthand?

When I fought the assassins earlier, all I’d held was a tiny fragment.

It had already been shattered by the backlash from firing, and it was only a piece that could no longer serve its purpose.

Even that fragment was practically lethal poison to vampires.

‘The Holy See would love this thing.’

It was undoubtedly top-tier among purification and exorcism artifacts.

I hummed to myself as I stored the stake in my inventory as well.

‘I saved Carmilla, and I got the Godslaying Crossbow and a stake...’

The haul was huge.

After hitting the jackpot, it was about time to return to the lodging.

I carefully picked up Carmilla, who was sleeping without a care in the world.

“Ugh...”

Maybe it was because my Strength was E-rank.

Carmilla was light, but my arms still hurt.

My gaze turned more serious than when I blocked the Godslaying Crossbow or fought the assassins.

“Whew...”

I let out a quiet breath.

Then I leisurely left the sewers.

* * *

Several days passed after I returned to the lodging.

Nothing much happened during that short time.

Carmilla remained asleep as she recovered.

I spent my time sitting beside her and taking care of her.

‘There’s no need to worry about pursuit for a while.’

I’d used a bug to return to the lodging as well.

There wouldn’t be any trail for them to follow.

That bought me some time.

I needed to prepare before taking on the vampires.

‘In the end, Carmilla is the key.’

I had to help her grow stronger.

She needed to awaken the power of a pureblood and become strong enough to rebuild the fallen dynasty.

‘I refuse to let the world end.’

A few days passed like that.

Carmilla regained consciousness exactly five days later.

“Mm... Mmm...”

Her red eyes slowly opened.

Perhaps because I’d consistently supplied her with blood packs while she slept, the girl had recovered completely without a single wound.

“You’re awake.”

“...Huh?”

Carmilla froze the moment our eyes met.

It looked like her brain was buffering.

After I waited a moment, she seemed to piece together what had happened and shot upright.

“Ah...!”

She wiped the drool she’d spilled all over herself with her sleeve.

The girl’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

In a hoarse voice, she asked, “Wh-where am I...?”

“The lodging. We planned to stay here until Your Highness had fully recovered.”

“You carried me here...?”

“That’s right.”

I answered warmly.

She was in a vulnerable state.

“My wounds are all healed. I was shot, and I was a complete mess...”

“I kept supplying you with blood. I brought plenty of blood packs.”

“I see...”

Carmilla nodded.

“Thank you... for saving me. I don’t know how I could ever repay this debt.”

“Please don’t say that. I’m only carrying out the duty entrusted to me by the late king.”

“You are a truly loyal knight. Yet you are human, how could you...?”

“He helped me in the past.”

“Is that so?”

We exchanged a few formal words, which kept an awkward silence from settling.

By the time the haze had fully cleared from Carmilla’s mind...

“...?”

The girl seemed to notice something strange and looked down at herself.

She glanced over her arms, legs, and even beneath the clothes she wore.

Then she suddenly shrank back.

Without saying a word, her shoulders began to tremble.

“...Carmilla?”

What was that about? Why was she acting like that all of a sudden?

Was something wrong with her body?

Did she still have an unhealed wound?

Worried, I pressed her.

“What is it?”

“...”

“You don’t look well.”

“...W-well, you see.”

Her lips moved soundlessly for a long while before she finally forced out her voice.

For some reason, her face had turned bright red.

It looked like steam might burst from the top of her head at any moment.

“My clothes have been changed, my underwear is gone, and my body is so clean, as if someone washed me...”

“...”

“Y-you...?”

“...”

“Don’t tell me...?”

“...”

No.

Well.

Um.

I didn’t have a choice.

She smelled like the sewers, and sewage had gotten all over her. If I’d left her that way, there was a risk of infection...

“...That is what happened.”

“...”

Her complexion went beyond red, looking ready to burst.

I quietly looked away.

Footnotes:

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