WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 426: When All That Remains Is One's Life

──────

In the Abyss, Tyr gave me a single drop of true blood. She said she had no valuable treasures to offer, then handed it over as though she were doing me a favor. I had my skewer absorb it.

Things became rather muddled afterward when Tyr lost her control. Even though Tyr had taken back the regressor's true blood, the drop absorbed by my skewer remained.

And somehow, the skewer infused with true blood survived that chaos intact.

No, it survived because it was that skewer.

The skewer shot up through the shattered desk. It was the move I had prepared beneath the table during our conversation. Its glowing red tip aimed for Rutrik's arm.

'Fool. Don't you know how meaningless a blade is against a vampire?'

Rutrik did not stop. Their momentum only grew fiercer. Even if the skewer pierced them, they intended to ride that momentum straight into an attack on me.

'Vampires cannot be injured. Blades that draw blood are meaningless. A shield or hammer would have been more useful... If you had known that, you would never have provoked me. Your foolishness has killed you, consort!'

Right back at you.

No one else killed you. The Elder died, Tyr's control disappeared, and you gained the right to die. Put another way, you gained the right to live.

Those who had been the Elder's hands and feet had finally become human.

The skewer tore through Rutrik's body. They had intended to ignore it and attack me, but faltered at the strange sensation. There should have been at least some resistance, yet my skewer tore through their body, swollen with blood energy, like paper.

"What...!"

There was no time to hesitate. I pulled my wrist and slashed wide with the skewer. Flesh split like paper, and blood and meat spilled out. My skills from my pickpocketing days had not gone anywhere, so I was able to turn their right arm into rags.

But my opponent was a vampire accustomed to discarding an arm or two. This level of loss was nothing out of the ordinary.

"True blood! So that was what you were relying on!"

'Then how about this!'

They immediately came up with a response and twisted their left arm and right leg. Attacks came from two directions. This time, they had deliberately drawn back their striking points. Even if I blocked their attacks midway, those whip-like limbs would curl around my body.

It really was like fighting a whip. They had plenty of experience, excellent technique, and knew how to wear down humans. If this had been one-on-one, I could never have won.

If it had been one-on-one.

Snap.

Blood threads wrapped around Rutrik's entire body. Behind them, Count Erte had extended countless blood threads and caught them.

"Consort! Run!"

Turning their back on threads. That instant had been their only chance to attack. Count Erte did not miss their limbs, drawn too far back as they prepared their strike. She too was a vampire who had survived countless battles.

Having restrained Rutrik to protect me, Count Erte cried out.

"I shall take responsibility for eradicating this traitor, so... Consort?"

"I'll take responsibility."

Holding the skewer, I casually stabbed both their shoulders. It took some effort, but with the skewer infused with true blood, I had little trouble cutting off Rutrik's left arm as well. Even then, Rutrik thrashed about in an attempt to kill me, but Count Erte kept them restrained by tightening and loosening her blood threads.

Count Erte was better at dealing with vampires. It was as though she had trained for that very purpose. Anyway, after driving the skewer into one of Rutrik's legs, I finally had room to breathe and let out a deep sigh.

"How does it feel? Kneeling before a pet?"

Wounds cut by true blood did not regenerate properly. On top of that, Count Erte had embedded blood threads into their severed limbs to seal them. Rutrik tried to resist several times before giving up, then muttered hollowly.

"Heh. To think the Progenitor's famed consort is such a scoundrel... The nation will fall."

"You kicked the nation away yourself, and now you're saying that? How does treason taste?"

"Treason? After you insulted an Ain who lost their Elder? I only did what I ought to have done."

"But when the Elder was alive and Tyr's control remained, you couldn't even do what you ought to have done, could you?"

I pressed my foot down on the skewer embedded in their thigh.

"Serves you right. You barely gained freedom, and the first thing you did was commit suicide. For daring to oppose the Progenitor's consort, I'll kill you as you wish."

"...From the day the Elder died, I prepared myself to be discarded someday. But I never imagined I would be eradicated by the consort's hand."

Rutrik, who had lost both the strength and will to resist, muttered self-mockingly.

"Eradicate me."

'I considered myself dead already... Still, this will be a meaningful death. If I die from the consort's tyranny, the other bloodkin who have been wavering will join us.'

From what I read, Luscinia's bloodkin had been plotting a rebellion.

Against Tyr, the Progenitor herself.

'Ten years since Lord Luscinia was eradicated. We were nothing through all that time. An Ain who loses their Elder is fated to disappear. Only the Progenitor could take us in... yet the Progenitor cast off her shackles and abandoned us too.'

They were the ones who had wanted the Progenitor's return most desperately. The Progenitor could punish Lir, take her true blood, and establish a new Elder... or take them in personally.

Yet the Progenitor who had returned after so long was completely different.

'Revenge against the Progenitor who abandoned us.'

What an impressive reason for rebellion. The problem was that it made sense to vampires.

I had read everything I needed to. Good grief. All I had done was free them from their shackles, and I never expected it to lead to this.

Count Erte gave me a look. She was asking whether she could kill them now. Still, I had one last thing to ask.

As I pulled the skewer from Rutrik's thigh, I asked casually, "You said earlier that you were sensitive about matters involving consorts because of certain circumstances."

"..."

Rutrik did not answer. It did not matter. A mind reader could read the answer without hearing it.

"Did Lord Luscinia have a consort too? I heard Luscinia was harsh on humans... Well, people like that tend to fall hard once they fall for someone."

"...You talk too much."

"What was he like? Luscinia must have cherished his consort more than fellow vampires like you, right? You call me a pet and all that, but you're used to being treated as less than pets yourselves. I wonder why you suddenly decided to pick a fight with me."

Vampires were not ruled by emotion. Even on the verge of eradication, they calmly made plans rather than feeling fear. Still, could they truly have no regrets before dying?

Of course, they were not foolish enough to reveal their rebellion plan just because I provoked them. Yet they had enough human feeling left to leave behind one thing they knew would offend me before they died.

"That bitch is dead. She took Lord Luscinia's grace for granted as though it belonged to her, acted out, and was eradicated. By Lord Luscinia's own hand."

Even as Rutrik brought their long life to an end, they mocked me with gleaming eyes.

"And you will meet the same end."

It was meant as a curse, but thank you. That was information I truly wanted to know. I spoke to Count Erte, who was beginning to look strained.

"Count Erte, shall I step out for a while?"

"I would appreciate that."

"Oh, right. Before I go."

To help a little, I gave the skewer one final spin. I gripped it tightly with one hand, braced it with the other, and aimed at Rutrik's heart.

"Farewell, Rutrik. The wishes of those under control only gain meaning after they escape that control. It is surprising, and disappointing, that the wish you held after escaping control... was revenge against control."

'Putting on airs and saying ridiculous things right before killing me. You talk too much.'

Choosing rebellion as the first thing you did after gaining freedom meant one of two things. Either you hated control terribly, or you missed it deeply.

Or perhaps both.

"You're human too, so I'll respect that will."

'...Will?'

Thud. I drove the skewer deep into their heart. Rutrik's consciousness wavered. A vampire would not die from this alone, but the skewer infused with true blood dealt a real blow. It steadily gnawed away at their immortality, which would help Count Erte eradicate them.

As their consciousness gradually faded, certain that this was the end, Rutrik thought,

'I have brought a long life to an end... Yet I feel none of the regret humans speak of. Is it because I am a vampire, or because I truly acted by my own will?'

Rutrik had been a hand and foot. They had lived to hear the Elder's commands and faithfully obey them. The Elder's commands were absolute. Bound by blood, they had never even been given a chance to question them, moving like a limb.

Countless Ains like Rutrik had died as hands and feet... but Rutrik alone died as a human. They were not dead yet, but that was how they would die.

As their consciousness broke apart, the power of their bloodcraft weakened. Count Erte released the blood threads she had held tightly. Moving to the front, she drove blood threads into Rutrik's torn chest. She stitched the wound with blood threads to keep it from closing.

"I shall take the traitor's blood and heart. It may be an unpleasant sight for a human."

"I'll step out for a moment. Finish up."

"Do not go too far. There may be accomplices."

"I'll be in the room next door."

I dusted off my hands and walked outside. Looking back briefly, I saw Count Erte drive her hand into Rutrik's heart. With her hand buried inside, she controlled Rutrik's bloodcraft and stopped its flow.

Because Count Erte was not an Elder of a higher rank, she could not take Rutrik's blood for herself. All she could do was release Rutrik's blood, the force that had formed and moved them, into the world.

That was enough. Eradication left behind not even a trace.

The existence called Rutrik melted into the world. I watched for a moment before leaving.

The hospital where the Healer Sage had stayed was more peaceful than I expected. There was little sound of pain or groaning, and the recovering humans chatted cheerfully among themselves. Almost none of Luscinia's bloodkin remained. Instead, humans whose lives had been saved by the Healer Sage had taken it upon themselves to nurse the patients.

As I walked slowly along, a girl dressed as a nurse cautiously approached me.

"Excuse me. I heard a loud noise from over there earlier. Did something happen?"

It was not difficult to tell her. I honestly explained what had happened.

"I just purged an Ain who dared to be disrespectful toward the Progenitor's consort. I did well, didn't I?"

"Father. Have you finally lost your mind?"

Why? What?

Why did I have to hear that from someone playing nurse here?

Footnotes:

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