WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 201

──────

Land Flowing Like a River - 3

Humans had always feared the night. Darkness concealed the enemy, and sleep was an attacker's greatest ally. Everything that came in the night was dangerous.

That was only true when the night was not on our side.

If Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka stood with us, night became a warm, peaceful hour, a curtain of silence wrapping around us.

[The sun has set.]

When everything around her was dark, Tyr could stay awake for days. Her heartbeat had returned and some of her functions were restored, but bloodcraft still powered her body.

And one of the things she had thrown away was the ability to endure the sun.

It could not be helped. Back then, asking a young girl barely clinging to life underground to also preserve strength to withstand sunlight would have been too cruel.

When the sun went down, Tyr emerged from the coffin. Her red eyes gleamed as she looked down at the world.

"I have waited long enough. You may rest your eyes now. Darkness is my time and my territory. I will let nothing enter it."

Tyr declared proudly. At the same time, layers of darkness wrapped around us. Even the glowing sunset beyond the western hills could not reach this place. Maybe it would be different with the midday sun that looked down on all things. But at equal height, this darkness did not lose to tired sunlight.

Anyway, Tyr had opened her eyes.

And I started pressing her.

"Tyr. Do you have a moment? Just between us."

"Yes. Ask whatever you wish."

"We need to confirm everyone's full capabilities, so can you explain your weaknesses one by one?"

"...Hm?"

'Weaknesses? Mine? Why so suddenly...? Ah, I see. You must be anxious. Then as the elder, I should show confidence.'

Wrapped in a strange sense of duty, Tyr cloaked herself in darkness and declared confidently.

"I have no weaknesses. I am Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka, once feared by the entire world. Would fear itself have anything to fear?"

"Not necessarily, right? You avoid sunlight pretty openly."

She flinched at my questioning and answered like she was making excuses.

"That is not a weakness, only a dislike. I once walked beneath the midday sun while wrapped in darkness, and now that I have regained my heart, I could stand under it with my bare body and suffer no issue. I merely rested for a while to gather strength for an important battle."

"Isn't that still a weakness?"

'It is true that my movement is restricted under sunlight, but to call that a weakness...'

I don't think she knows what weakness means. If your movement is restricted under sunlight, that's a weakness.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Tyr lifted her narrow shoulders and boasted.

"I do not fear the sun at all. To vampires, sunlight is no more than slightly stinging rain. Perhaps low-rank Ain or Yeling would differ, but Elders can endure the sun, and to me, a Progenitor, it is merely an irritation..."

"I'm asking to verify exact combat power. Under the sun, can you use your strength well or not? Answer yes or no."

If slightly stinging rain pours all day, wouldn't it punch holes in your body? And if it stings at all, isn't that already a problem?

Tyr hesitated, looked away, and said,

"...Yes."

"Okay, confirmed. You get weaker under sunlight."

"But that was only before I regained my heart. Now I can exert equal power. What you should worry about is..."

"That only works because your power doesn't leave your body. If you could use bloodcraft outside your body, then at night we'd have a walking legion, not Dirt Grunts."

"...Urgh."

That shut her up. Since I was already at it, I decided to dig out more under the pretense of checking capabilities.

"If we fight during the day, how much darkness can you control?"

"How could darkness be measured by amount? My darkness is infinite. It will not run dry until the next night comes."

Huh? That's strange. Why does she sound sincere?

She clearly believed it herself.

But something was off. If she had no limit, there'd be no reason to store power all day. She was gathering power because she knew she had limits, yet she sincerely said it wouldn't run dry?

Ah, wait.

"Tyr. Do you mean you do have a limit, but you've never actually run out, so that's why you say that?"

"You could think of it that way. Even the longest day is not enough to exhaust all my darkness. Unless I shield my entire legion with it, it is enough to protect you, me, and Shei."

You say that so casually, but that means there is a capacity limit!

"Hey! What if your darkness runs out at a critical moment and we end up in danger! Do you want to turn me into a vampire that badly? Are you planning to kill me on purpose, then say it couldn't be helped and forcibly vampirize me?!"

"...N-no, of course not."

'If I turn you unnaturally into a vampire, I will earn only your resentment. I will protect you with all I have... Though if something happens to you despite my best efforts, that cannot be helped.'

Her vampire death insurance was very reassuring. It almost made me happy.

But before that, how about just keeping me from dying? With that mindset, she might let a bullet slip through in a crisis.

Anyway, I decided to seriously assess our strength now.

"If we want to stay safe, we need to know each other's weaknesses and limits clearly. Be honest. How much darkness can you use?"

"What could measure darkness? Still, I spent all day gathering darkness and storing power. Even if a fierce battle breaks out, I can unleash it until sundown... Unless the Sanctum uses some bizarre trick."

"And if you use up all that darkness?"

"Even so, my body remains. I can simply crush the enemies one by one."

"Got it. Darkness confirmed."

'...You truly do not trust me. Long years of fleeing must have unsettled your mind and body. This will not do. I must give you faith so you will not be anxious.'

No, it's not that. This is just a straightforward capability check, so stop giving false reports. If you start believing your own reports, even I might get fooled.

"Now what about your other weaknesses?"

"If even sunlight does not frighten me, what other weakness could there be?"

Huh? Really? As far as I know, vampires have a few more.

Why is she being sincere about this? Bragging is one thing, but can she really not think of a single weakness?

"No, Tyr. The whole world knows your weaknesses. What do you mean there aren't any?"

"How strange. How could the whole world know weaknesses that even I do not know?"

"Heaven knows, earth knows, I know, even a grade school kid knows. Maybe even Azzy, who's suddenly gotten way smarter lately, knows."

For a long time, vampires were humanity's greatest fear.

Calling them simply enemies didn't cover it. There were too many complicated circumstances tangled in that relationship.

Vampires were once human, and they needed fresh human blood to stay alive. They despised the body that violently craved blood, yet had no wish to abandon their perfect flesh. Time could not wither them, and even beasts avoided them. Yet their end always arrived in human form.

Humans stood at the opposite end. They were both vampire prey and beings who could become vampires at any time. Humans hated vampires, but also envied their half-immortality, and sometimes accepted the chance to become one as good fortune.

Predator and prey, yet bound in a bizarre relationship where each side depended on the other from birth to death.

Awe breeds curiosity. Humans always tried to learn more about vampires. Chasing truth while carrying fantasies, they filled that gap with knowledge.

And yet the Progenitor herself didn't know. What irony.

"How ironic indeed. I am the beginning of all vampires, their racial god. Are you saying there are vampire weaknesses even I do not know?"

"That's my line. Whew. This won't do."

Since it came up, I decided to test it. I turned and called the regressor.

"Mr. Shei! Come here for a second!"

"Wait a bit. Let me check on Nabi first."

At that moment, the regressor was busy taking care of Nabi.

After our long life on the run, Nabi was more worn out than I was. Inside the box, Nabi was on edge, and hissed whenever anyone but the regressor came close.

Even now, if not for the regressor's familiar manner, the food in her hand, and the mana herb made from World Tree leaves, Nabi might have flipped the food tray several times.

The regressor closed the lid of the box, shook her head, and looked concerned.

"This is hard. Maybe because she's the King of Cats, she doesn't seem to like long journeys... It'd be better if she could just stay somewhere peaceful and quiet."

"We can discuss where to abandon her later. Let's handle the urgent issue first. Human to human."

"That way of talking... fine. What's the urgent issue?"

Either way, the regressor was this party's main force.

No one could match her adaptability. She was like a universal emergency kit. If I was assessing our strength, it was better to do it with her.

"Mr. Shei. Do you know vampire weaknesses?"

"Of course. Sunlight, right?"

"Other than that?"

"Salt, and spices. Like garlic."

Tyr frowned slightly and denied it.

"Nonsense. I do not fear such things."

'It is true I dislike the sun. The Sanctum made full use of that and troubled me greatly. But I do not fear salt and spices. I have never even come into contact with them.'

Never even come into contact with them. At that point, I realized what Tyr's problem was.

Ah, so folk remedies never reached Tyr. Probably because she always moved with armies.

I left the explanation to the regressor. Listen to anti-vampire methods even grade school kids know.

"Huh? But I heard vampires are beings moved by blood, so they dislike spices that dissolve into blood. That's why tiny doses of lethal poison aren't very effective, but if you dump a lot of salt on them, it causes serious trouble."

"Absurd. Vampires are beings that rule blood. How could they dislike salt, which is not even a poison that clots blood."

Since it came up, try this. I placed some cooking salt on the back of my hand and held it out to Tyr. She tilted her head and replied,

"Surely... that is salt?"

"Yeah. Try some after all this time. If it isn't a weakness, you'll be fine."

She hesitated, unable to bring her mouth to the white salt. I pushed it closer, like, go on, try it.

'Would this not look like kissing the back of your hand? How bold... Though our roles are reversed now.'

No, so that wasn't the reason she hesitated.

After a moment of watching my face, she seemed to make up her mind and awkwardly touched her tongue to the back of my hand. A small tongue brushed the white salt, then pulled away.

Right after that, Tyr frowned at the unpleasant sensation.

"It tastes... bad."

"Tyr, you can't taste things anyway. You only taste blood."

"That is true. It feels unpleasant. It does not suit my blood."

"That's a weakness."

"It is different. This is merely a matter of taste and preference..."

"Boo."

"Eek."

She refused to admit it to the end, so I suddenly thrust the salt toward her, and she jerked her head back as if she'd seen a bug. The Progenitor let out an uncharacteristically cute scream and froze in place.

See? I knew it ever since she made that miserable face saying my blood tasted bad. Such a picky palate.

"Tyr. Knowledge about vampires spread beyond rumor into novels and paintings. You can't let your guard down. The three things people fear most are tigers, smallpox, and vampires. The whole world shares this. Even Mr. Shei knows."

"Wait. I sense a bit of malice in that 'even Mr. Shei knows.'"

Still, Tyr seemed to accept my words and nodded slowly, then froze when the regressor turned to look at her.

Avoiding the regressor's stare, Tyr gave a small fake cough, shook off that gaze, and looked at me.

"Fine. Let us say I dislike things like salt. So what? Who could possibly feed me salt, and how?"

"You can't be careless about that. The military state is a country that uses every possible method without hesitation."

If a weakness exists, there's no reason not to target it. It's rational, and against an opponent you can't beat easily, it's necessary.

I wiped the playfulness from my face and spoke with complete seriousness.

"Today's attack was a probe. They were probably trying to drain Tyr's strength. Luckily, we drove them off with Mr. Shei's power alone, but an all-out assault is different from a probing battle. We need a plan before they return. Once that happens, it'll be too late."

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried