WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 408: It Wasn't Innocent?!

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For vampires, whose blood was both their strength and their source, the authority of a higher vampire was absolute. Above all, the Progenitor's power and symbolic stature were beyond comparison.

Only direct blood descendants could have their bodies directly controlled through bloodcraft. Even an Elder could not directly control another Elder's thralls. That was why only the Progenitor could wield absolute authority over every vampire.

Of course, bloodcraft was not the only means of control.

"What is this idiot who doesn't even know their place? My sister is finally spending time with her beloved consort, and you dare interrupt? A mere thrall? You have no sense and no use!"

Strength and fear were methods as well, as the Blood Weaver Cabilah was demonstrating to Jazra.

An immortal vampire was only immortal when facing someone ordinary. A higher vampire could interfere with the bloodcraft that was the source of their regeneration. The bone saw digging through Jazra's body threw their blood into disarray.

Jazra barely restrained their rampaging blood and spoke.

"Cough...! Lady Cabilah, why are you doing this to me...?!"

"Why? Hehe. Why, you ask?!"

Cabilah narrowed her eyes and twisted her wrist. The bone saw embedded in Jazra's flesh fed on their blood and meat as it grew. Cabilah whispered viciously.

"The fact that you dare ask why is the reason you must die. Die. Die. Just die."

From Jazra's perspective, this was infuriating and unfair. They had only come to petition the Progenitor, yet now they faced death.

‘...The blood bond. If even the Progenitor has escaped that bond which makes vampires submit to their masters and control their thralls...’

Having reached that thought, Jazra realized something.

Then they despaired.

‘Lir Nightingale, that traitor, escaping the bond means nothing. If the Progenitor has escaped it, if she intends to abandon all vampires...! Now that I know, I cannot survive!’

People did not generally become brave when facing death. Most beasts denied the death closing in on them until the end, struggling desperately to live before dying consumed by terror.

But Jazra was a vampire, a high-ranking thrall who had endured all manner of hardship. With their heart already stopped, they calmly observed and accepted reality.

Only death remained for them now.

‘Lord Luscinia! Forgive this inadequate thrall who could not avenge your resentment...!’

The grown bone saw burrowed into their entire body. Most of Jazra's blood had been devoured. Yet they were still a thrall. Controlling the last handful of blood remaining in their body, Jazra shouted.

"The Progenitor... has abandoned us...! She has escaped the bond...!"

That was their last act.

The grown bone blade pierced Jazra's head. Jazra, once part of a great vampire's line and a thrall who had shared in the Duchy's history, was utterly annihilated. Only a handful of blood trickling down the bone saw and darkness like half-burned ash remained.

A wind blew in from somewhere.

The ashes that had been Jazra rose on the wind. They ascended as though a soul were rising into heaven, then melted into the pitch-black darkness of the Fog Duchy. I did not know whether they had gone to the sky or become part of that pure darkness.

"Sister, you don't need to spare things like that. You have to crush and discipline them whenever they act up. Luscinia went and died as he pleased, so it's the only way to keep those thralls without an Elder from running wild."

Cabilah withdrew the bone saw, which had grown as large as a small tree. Composing her vicious expression, she spoke with a bright smile.

She was so friendly that I could hardly believe she had just killed one of her own kind.

"How presumptuous. My sister would never abandon us, would she?"

Cabilah was an Elder who handled bloodcraft better than anyone. In technical skill, she might have been more adept than Tyr, the Progenitor herself. None of the Elders had said it aloud, but they had all sensed something strange.

Tyr's control had weakened.

Having composed herself, Tyr nodded.

"Of course not. If I intended to abandon you, I wouldn't have returned."

"I believe you. I know. You split apart your body to block the sun and squeezed out your blood to share with everyone. Sister could never abandon us. You are our god, our life, and our nation."

Cabilah shoved the bone saw into the belly of a teddy bear. The bone saw was several times larger than the bear, yet it vanished as though it had been sucked inside.

Having hidden the grotesque saw, Cabilah approached Tyr with a bright smile. Her smile was as cute as a child's, but after witnessing that execution, I could not take it at face value.

Scary. This vampire world was terrifying.

I was lucky to be human.

"Sister, may I ask one thing? What happened to your authority?"

"I recovered my heart."

"Your heart...?"

"Yes. My first life ended long ago at the hands of the Sanctum. I recalled the heartbeat I had forgotten then and recreated it through bloodcraft. Time that had stopped began to flow again."

Tyr placed a hand over her chest and murmured.

"Thanks to that, I gained emotions. This heart that beats as it pleases leads me somewhere unfamiliar. It teaches me emotions that even I do not know. Yes... I have found life again."

"Sister's life..."

Cabilah slowly considered Tyr's words. Soon, she smiled brightly and took Tyr's hand. Taking the opportunity to fidget with it and satisfy her own desires, Cabilah pretended to sympathize.

"That's wonderful, Sister. You always sacrificed yourself for us, and now you've found life again."

"Thank you. I will find another way to deal with the bond. I'm not overly worried. There are still Elders to govern the thralls..."

Tyr trailed off as she recalled an Elder who was no longer there. Her expression darkened.

"...Except Luscinia. This matter must be resolved quickly."

"Right. Let's clear away this troublesome business quickly and hold a banquet at the Castle of the Full Moon. We can bring in livestock, gather blood, and celebrate your return properly!"

"Yes. Hughes, let us continue our conversation once we arrive."

Cabilah looked at me, wearing the same innocent smile she had shown Tyr. Under the burdensome gazes of those two girls, I nodded.

"Sure."

...Vampires had faint emotions. It was extremely difficult to surprise or delight those who could control the blood flow throughout their bodies. If a vampire showed an expression, it was a creation made after cold calculation.

That expression Cabilah wore was a fabrication too.

Scary. Terrifying.

I was truly lucky to be human.

The procession bound for the Castle of the Full Moon was prepared. Following Tyr's wishes, it was splendid but not noisy. One enormous carriage was guarded by three Elders and one animal Elder, while several of their direct thralls quietly followed behind.

The numbers were few, but the members of the procession were extraordinary.

Other than the fact that Rallion pulled it, nothing about the carriage resembled a carriage. It was larger than a luxurious two-story house, and its body was painted pitch-black. It had no wheels at all. Instead, darkness that seemed to have taken shape supported it from below.

The carriage moved quickly and smoothly, as if sliding over polished ice. The ride was comfortable, so the journey was not unpleasant.

A carriage without any shaking. It might even get a little boring...

"Progenitor's consort!"

Maybe not.

I turned to find Lungken glaring at me. Since we would be seeing each other often from now on, I responded as kindly as I could.

"What?"

"I heard you are the King of Humanity! They call humans the crown of creation, and I want to know how strong their king is! How about it? Will you spar with me?"

"I said no. I told you, I don't have any strength."

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't have any strength!"

We shouted at each other. Lungken was simple at best and stupid at worst, so unless I shouted directly at them, they could not understand a word.

Lungken also did not get upset just because a human raised his voice. Lungken grumbled, purely dissatisfied that I would not fight them.

"Hmph. Where did you go leaking your strength? If you're the King of Humanity, you should've kept your strength safe!"

"It's not like I lost it. My great-great-great-great-great... Ugh, I'm out of breath. One of the previous Kings of Humanity lost it on their own. I'm a victim too."

"Do you not know where they lost their strength? If it is close, I can help you find it!"

"That's wonderful to hear. Please find the nearby Demon God. If we find every Demon God and I awaken as the King of Humanity, I'll fight you first."

"Haha! Good! A man's promise must not be broken!"

That gave me one more ally to search for the Demon God. It probably would not be much help.

Lungken nodded energetically, threw open the carriage window, and shouted.

"Demon God! Come out right now!"

My prediction was correct. Lungken was useless.

They did not know a clue about the Demon God, much less how to approach one.

I had only raised their favorability a little. I had not expected them to actually find one. As I watched Lungken shout at the top of their lungs, Cabilah extended her bone saw and hooked it around their neck. Then she abruptly yanked them back.

"Did someone slit the boar's throat or something? Sister is traveling through the Duchy, and you're going to ruin her mood?! Stop interrupting, shut up, and sit down! Show at least as much patience as a pig's tail!"

Apparently, putting a saw to someone's throat was trivial to a vampire. Even as their neck was being cut, Lungken peeled away the bone saw without much reaction and grumbled.

"There's nothing to do in the carriage anyway! Then shouldn't I at least search for the Demon God on the way?!"

"Is screaming your job?! You really have nothing to do! If you're that bored, race Rallion or something!"

"Hm! That's a good idea!"

Naturally, a joke could mean something different depending on who heard it. Lungken immediately jumped from the carriage, somehow caught their balance, and began running on two legs. Thud, thud, thud. The footsteps of the boar beastkin echoed right beside us.

But Rallion was a horse. Compared to Lungken running on two legs, Rallion, striding powerfully on four, was inevitably far faster. Lungken charged ahead boldly, then gradually fell behind.

"Hah! Hah! As expected, Rallion is fast! I can't catch up with..."

Click.

Cabilah shut the carriage window in front of Lungken's eyes.

The interior of the carriage became quiet. The window filled with darkness swallowed even sound.

"Sister! I removed the noisy obstruction. Your journey will be comfortable now!"

Cabilah spoke to Tyr as though asking to be praised. Since it had been noisy for me too, I decided to welcome the result. Tyr seemed to feel the same.

"Now that it's quiet, we can finally have a serious discussion."

Sitting close beside me, Tyr stared steadily at Hilde, who was calmly reading across from us. Hilde had somehow obtained dozens of thick books and piled them up. Pretending not to notice, she flipped through a page, glanced this way, and let out a sigh.

"Your stare is so intense, you're going to burn a hole through my book~. What is it, Tyrkanzyaka~?"

Tyr questioned Hilde softly.

"Hilde. It is time you spoke of your nation's important affairs."

"Inside a moving carriage?"

"It is the best place to discuss important matters. It will be harder for anyone to eavesdrop here than at the Castle of the Full Moon."

"That is true. Fine. ‘I’ was starting to feel like speaking too~."

Hilde snapped shut the book she had been reading. Setting it on her lap, she clasped her hands together and raised her chin. In an instant, she changed from a carefree reader into a seasoned politician.

Looking Tyr straight in the eyes, Hilde said,

"I'll be direct. ‘I’ want an alliance between the military state and the Duchy!"

An alliance with the Fog Duchy. It was an important national matter, if nothing else.

Yet Tyr's reaction was lukewarm.

"Is that all?"

How many nations had sought the vampires' strength until now? In any given era, there might have been only a few humans who considered such an alliance a brilliant strategy. Across twelve hundred years, though, they had sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain.

To Tyr, an alliance was an incredibly stale, boring proposal that offered no practical benefit.

But Hilde had a twist prepared. As if she had expected Tyr's response, Hilde smiled and looked toward me.

"With Father as the king of the military state!"

Footnotes:

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