WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 417: Elder, Ain, Yeiling, and Human - 4

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"So you went off and had a delicious meal all by yourself?"

"No. It was part of gathering information. Meals have a way of loosening tight lips, after all."

"Could you wipe your mouth before saying that?"

"Ah."

When I went outside, Hilde scolded me for eating alone. It wasn't as if I felt no guilt, but what was I supposed to do when Cabilah offered?

"Vampires can't eat, so you must've been the only one it got talking. What did you blab to the vampire? Confess, Father."

"It was nothing much. I suggested the culprit behind the Elder murder might actually be an Elder."

"...Father, do you have two lives? How could you say you suspect an Elder right in front of an Elder?"

"She agreed it was a reasonable argument."

"Should I say that's just like a vampire...? So, what did Cabilah say?"

"She told me to be careful of Valdamir."

Even Hilde, who feared nothing, looked around at those words.

Tyrkanzyaka, the Progenitor, was the god of the Fog Duchy in both name and reality, but Crimson Duke Valdamir was its king. An absolute being with terrifying power and peerless skill, Valdamir was also capable enough to have maintained this bizarre duchy for nearly several centuries.

Honestly, in political ability alone, excluding authority, Valdamir had already far surpassed Tyr. Vampires could not defy the Progenitor by nature... but what if Valdamir cast off the shackles of blood?

Hilde opened and closed her mouth before asking,

"Father. Just what are you getting involved in?"

"Hold on. That's unfair. This happened before I even arrived. If I've done anything wrong, it's just entering the duchy at the wrong time."

"Oh, dear. Why does everything go wrong whenever you're involved, Father?"

"I'm telling you, it isn't my fault."

Hilde clutched her head, looking troubled.

Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka was undeniably the duchy's god, while I, favored by that god, was the King of Humanity. Hilde was a powerful figure deeply involved in the military state's secrets. With the three of us here, Hilde had made plans and acted on them.

Yet the moment we entered the duchy, something suspicious was waiting for us. Hilde sighed, stretched, and said,

"Well, there shouldn't be a problem~. Every vampire who has survived on the Progenitor's true blood is trapped in the homunculus dilemma. The only reason those corpses could return from death was because of the Progenitor's power. Just as their own hands can't betray their bodies, they can't defy Tyrkanzyaka."

"Hmm. Is that really so?"

"There you go making me anxious again! What are you worried about, Father?"

Tyr's power remained unchanged. It was only that, now her heart had come back to life, she had lost her influence over the outside world. That meant the vampires could now defy Tyr's will.

...Though it would be pretty funny if Tyr's heart stopped again after they defied her. Tyr had cast off the shackles of blood, but that did not mean the Elders had become free.

Hilde did not know about Tyr's heart yet. No matter how thoughtless I was, I would not reveal someone's private bodily affairs to a complete stranger. Cabilah? Elders were practically Tyr's limbs, so that was different.

"No. I was just wondering what if there were such a way~."

"Do you have something in mind?"

"Not at all. Still, it's something worth considering in relation to this incident."

'Father wouldn't say something pointless. He must have noticed something he can't tell me about.... Sigh. I came here to handle politics, yet it looks like I'll be gathering information here too~.'

I had changed the subject because it was difficult to mention Tyr's heart, but Hilde had jumped to a far greater conclusion than I expected. Pulling a hat from somewhere and pressing it low over her head, she said,

"You go on in first. Starving 'me' will wander the streets and fill my empty stomach~."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll treat you to a meal at a restaurant next time."

"I'll look forward to an informative meal~."

Hilde, now returned to her role as the military state's Public Security Chief, waved and disappeared deeper into the streets. For a while, there would probably be no one in the duchy who looked like Hilde. She would lurk through the streets, gathering every scrap of information she could find.

And Hilde's information would become mine.

Not that I had intended it that way.

The sun was beginning to set. The Fog Duchy did not offer much of a view of the sunset, so once it got dark, people simply had to head home. Unlike the military state, there were no streetlights here. Unless one was a vampire, it was difficult to walk around freely at night.

The streets gradually emptied. They had already been dim because of the mist. Now that even the light filtering through the fog was fading, humans hurried to leave before their visibility disappeared.

"Wow! Did Lady Cabilah catch it?"

"That's right. She stopped the tidal wave and caught it with the Dragon Tooth Soldiers."

As I walked along, I heard a child's bright, lively voice. The child, struggling to lift a huge fish, beamed and said,

"When I grow up, I want to become Lady Cabilah's ain! I want to stay by Lady Cabilah's side and help her too!"

In the Fog Duchy, vampires were both nobles and officials. In a nation ruled by Elders, ains, and yeilings, a child's dream would naturally be to become a vampire.

It was the answer she had reached through the eyes of a child, but sadly, the girl's dream could not come true. Her mother replied with a detached smile.

"...No. How could you become Lady Cabilah's ain? Her ains and even her yeilings have been full for over two hundred years. There isn't a single opening."

"I can become a Twit!"

"What are you talking about? Twits aren't vampires. They're a punishment created to discipline very bad humans. If you become a Twit, you'll become stupid and turn into a doll that obeys every command. You won't even be able to get near Lady Cabilah as a Twit, so don't say things like that."

The girl's mother faithfully played the role of a parent crushing her child's foolish dream. Having heard no twice in a row, the girl puffed out her cheeks.

"Then what? What am I supposed to become?"

Like every other parent, the girl's mother gave her child a trite answer.

"...You don't need to become anything. Just grow up healthy."

Not because that was what she wanted, but because it was all she could do.

When I arrived at the Castle of the Full Moon, a vampire maid came to receive me. The Elder Countess Erjebeut's ain possessed terrifying bloodcraft. The moment I set foot in the castle, the ain sensed me and came to greet me.

Was this what one should expect from the Progenitor's castle? They even used ains as maids. Seeing that, Tyr's authority still seemed intact.

Thanks to my guide, I reached the top floor without having to walk there. Before I could even knock, the doors flew open and Tyr welcomed me.

"Welcome. Did you enjoy your walk?"

Tyr, whom I was seeing again after only a few hours, looked quite different. A long nightgown covered in cascading frills fell to her ankles, and a faint floral scent drifted from her bare skin. Even a dead vampire with no natural scent could smell like living flesh if she applied perfume to her skin.

Tyr led me inside and said,

"I wanted to guide you myself, but I, too, have not been here in quite some time. There were things I needed to learn anew."

"You're working too. I thought all you did was lounge around doing nothing."

"Good grief. How could I proudly call it my country if I knew nothing about it?"

Three hundred years was almost history. Tyr had been trying to catch up on the years she had spent asleep by reviewing the materials Erjebeut's ains had selected and organized. Even so, it would take her several days.

"Well? Did you learn anything new?"

"I went to the coast about an hour east of here."

"Cabilah's territory. What did you think?"

"I thought it would be dangerous because of the Sea of Leviathans... I don't know about anything else, but it seemed more livable for humans than I expected. Seafood is scattered all over the ground, so they only need to pick it up, and vampires protect them whenever anything dangerous happens."

"Cabilah pays great attention to humans. Though she is not the only one. Humans are precious resources of the country, and we do not waste them."

Having received the response she expected, Tyr spoke as if denouncing someone.

"Those treacherous Sanctum bastards have slandered my country through every kind of malicious rumor. A land of monsters that squeeze humans dry and drink their blood. A land of corpses where one enters alive and leaves dead. A barbaric land where the stench of blood never fades.... Hmph. Ridiculous. Why would we, who need humans most of all, mistreat them? Is it not the Sanctum that demands one-sided sacrifice from them? I guarantee that most Sanctum territory cannot compare even to the poorest land in the duchy."

She had affection for the country she had created, along with anger toward the Sanctum. Mixed together, those feelings made her emphasize how livable the country was.

A vampire passionately explaining how well humans lived. It was rather ironic.

Still, there was one thing I was curious about.

I carefully asked Tyr something that might be sensitive.

"I saw it in the materials earlier. What does it mean when someone is sent to the press?"

Footnotes:

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