WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 439: Heaven-Defying Trial - 7

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"That's cowardly... We were one body. We were both dead. Even if our hearts were cold, even if we couldn't feel anything... We were no longer lonely because we were one with you, Progenitor... You left only us behind. Cowardly."

A faint harmony accompanied Meurie's sobbing song. Meurie of the Dark Moon, the phantom dancer, was a dancer. She hummed songs and danced, adorning the barren duchy with art. Meurie herself had lost her capacity for inspiration after becoming a vampire, but every tiny change Tyrkanzyaka felt whenever she listened to music stirred Meurie's heart and kept her creating it.

"Progenitor... Why did you abandon us? You left, went to sleep, and turned your back on us. Then, when we finally saw you again... You cast us aside like worn-out shoes."

But now that the bond had been broken, nothing stirred in Meurie's heart.

No inspiration, emotion, confusion, or betrayal. The emotions Tyrkanzyaka should have felt were gone.

Inspiration was everything to an artist. Now that Tyrkanzyaka, the one who listened and judged, was gone, Meurie's music had no audience. Art without an audience was nothing. Since the Progenitor had left to find a man, Meurie had become nothing.

"I didn't cast you aside! You judged things on your own and came here, didn't you?"

Tyrkanzyaka answered, but to those freed from the bond, her voice was merely noise that could not stir their hearts. Rahu Khan spoke.

"Clan Chief. A bond is a promise. I protect the body Mother gave me. That is why I became a vampire. But Clan Chief broke the promise."

"Even if I regained my heart, your immortality hasn't disappeared. No, you've grown even stronger. You won't even die at my command now! What's the problem?"

In their early days, the Progenitor's Elders had died in droves despite their immortality. Their faction had been weak compared to their powerful enemies, but Tyrkanzyaka and the Elders also frequently lost control of their own power and went berserk. That was why Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka accepted only those strong enough to control their power as Elders.

"...It's different. Now, we're different from Mother."

Bakuta the Blood Leech, a predator from the deep marshes whose age and origins were unknown. He had become an Elder to rid himself of hunger, but now he rubbed his empty stomach as he sadly chewed on something.

"We promised we'd all become the same. That we wouldn't be lonely. But... how can you change alone?"

"Changed? What about you has changed, Bakuta? You're still an Elder. You can't possibly feel hunger!"

"...But, Mother. I'm hungry. Something is missing. I can't fill it."

Bakuta looked around with hollow eyes. The vampires flinched back from that gaze, which regarded even fellow vampires as food.

The power to consume another's blood and make it his own belonged to Bakuta alone. Once someone was devoured by his gluttony, not even a vampire could regenerate. Gluttony that consumed others was inherently shunned. Bakuta had only been able to remain among the Elders because Tyrkanzyaka's powerful bloodcraft had suppressed him.

Under the Progenitor's rule, Bakuta had leisurely butchered beasts and put his specialty to use.

That was only true until now.

Rahu Khan watched Bakuta writhe with hunger, then spoke as though a realization had dawned.

"Not hunger. Desire."

"...Desire?"

"The Clan Chief took our desires in our place. That is why we were peaceful. But now, desire has returned."

"Mmm... I think that's right. I want to move. I want to dance. I want to tear bodies apart. I want to drink. I want to be held in someone's arms... Did you also want to be held by a man, Progenitor?"

"That's a matter for later!"

The Elders freed from the bond kept asking questions. Tyrkanzyaka answered them.

No one struck a hammer or announced its opening. Still, the Heaven-Defying Trial of the Progenitor had already begun.

Ain and Yeilings. The vampires who no longer had to follow the Progenitor each moved toward their own sovereign. The Progenitor, who stood at the very top, had no one beneath her and was left alone.

The throne had become a courtroom. Without even a single thrall, the Progenitor remained there alone, facing the vampires' interrogation.

There had been signs, and now it had finally happened. Those vampire bastards really were shameless. The Progenitor lost her power for a moment, and they immediately started a rebellion. I thought they had no blood or tears, but apparently they had no shame either.

I had to escape first. If the Elders raised their banners and came here, the Castle of the Full Moon would soon become a battlefield.

"Let's get out of the castle first! Wherever we go, we need to have our feet on the ground!"

I tore down the curtains hanging around the bed. The bed itself was a historic relic made long ago, and even a strip of its curtains would be a precious treasure, but neither was more valuable than my life. I immediately tied the ends of the curtain into handholds.

"Father. What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to use it as a parachute! Don't try to ride with me, Hilde. It's for one person!"

"...'I' would be fine falling like this."

Right. Hilde was one of the Six Generals too. For a member of the Six Generals trained to break a fall, falling was just an easy vertical trip that used none of her own strength.

The same was true for vampires, though... Wait, was I the only one scared of falling? If so, why did acrophobia even exist?

"More importantly, you're unusually serious today."

"I'll start joking after we get out of here. Please go first. They'll be here soon."

"You're very strict about work and private matters... Huh? Why are you grabbing me by the collar..."

Hilde braced her foot against the bed and shoved hard. Rumble. The enormous bed crossed the room and crashed into the opposite wall. When an ordinary bed collided with an ordinary wall, it was easy to imagine the bed suffering a terrible fate, but the massive bed fit for an ancient nobleman did not stop after the impact.

Crash.

The bed smashed through the wall and sailed into open air. Sadly, things that fell did not have wings. The relic that had remained in the Progenitor's bedroom for hundreds of years would soon become debris. You served me well, bed. I gave you a hard time, but you made things comfortable for me. I'll mourn you.

"Go ahead. 'I' will follow shortly."

"You can't possibly mean... Aaaaah!"

Hilde flung me through the broken wall. I flew through the air just like the bed I had mourned moments ago.

"Aaaaah! It isn't finished yet!"

As I fell, I saw two of Erjebeut's ain kick open the door, but that no longer mattered. It was time to worry about my life.

I waited until I picked up a little speed. The wind needed to blow for it to spread wider. After counting to five in my head, I threw both hands apart and opened my curtain parachute. Thankfully, being an antique did not make it any weaker. The sturdy, tough curtain held my weight.

The air of the duchy was heavy. Filled with damp sea winds and mysterious darkness, it clung to my body as though I had sunk underwater.

With the dim, hazy sea in the distance behind me, I descended toward the ground fairly quickly...

"Wait. This is still a little fast."

Even if I used every energy art I knew along with a fall-breaking technique, the impact seemed like it would hurt. Would I be okay? As I worried, I heard the bed breaking apart below me. The frame had shattered, leaving only the soft mattress...

Oh.

"Sorry. I relied on you until the very end."

I landed on the mattress, dusted off my clothes, and stood. Thanks to the bed's tearful sacrifice in supplying the curtain, breaking through the wall, and even laying out its mattress for me, I was unharmed. When I looked up after catching my breath, Hilde stood there in her nurse uniform with a sullen expression.

"Ah, you startled me. What? I definitely fell first. When did you get here?"

Was it a technique for falling quickly rather than breaking a fall? While I stood there confused, Hilde turned around and walked ahead.

"Follow me."

"Your attitude has been cold for a while now. What's bothering you so much?"

"The situation is urgent. We don't have time for small talk, so hurry."

Hilde guided me through only the darkest alleys, as though the Castle of the Full Moon were her own front yard. Her entirely businesslike manner revealed the Shadow Casket beneath.

She was really upset. It couldn't just be because the situation was turning bad. Her dissatisfaction was clearly directed at me.

"Are you jealous?"

"I'd rather it were jealousy, Father."

Hilde answered without looking at me.

"For days, rumors have been spreading that Father has spent every night with the Progenitor. First among vampires, then even among humans. Now, rumors about the Progenitor and her consort are no secret in this old castle."

"That's a little embarrassing. I'm proud of it too."

"Proud. Ha."

Hilde sighed, turned around, and glared at me with sharp eyes.

"'I' did my best. What did Father do? Roll around in bed with the Progenitor? Leave Father's marks on her body?"

"It was a pleasant time."

"If you intended to grow closer to the Progenitor, you should have handled your business first."

Perhaps because she was still wearing that nurse uniform, Hilde's every word seemed several times sharper than usual.

"You knew there were forces clearly preparing to rebel against the Progenitor. Yet before resolving that, you took the Progenitor into a room? You indulged in pleasure during this golden opportunity? Father may be a beast, but I thought you at least knew how to handle your own crises. I held myself back until I finally came in, only to find you lying in bed."

"I suppose I was a little lazy. But Tyr asked me to."

"If you were going to persuade her with pillow talk, you should have told Tyrkanzyaka first and let her take action. Father is hopeless."

It felt strange to be called Father while being looked down on. I only gave an awkward smile, and Hilde looked at me like I was an insect.

"The sleeping Elders have awakened. We don't know whether they're hostile or friendly toward the Progenitor. This is the first time the Progenitor's control has weakened. No one can predict what sudden actions vampires who have lost that control might take. Not even the Holy Maiden."

"How am I supposed to know something even the Holy Maiden doesn't...?"

"Even so, Father should have been careful after being attacked by ain just now."

Her eyes were sharp enough to cut me. Hilde called me Father now, but she was actually the Shadow Casket who had served as head of the military state's Public Safety Bureau for a long time. Seeing that side of her peek through frightened me, so I hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"W-Well, there are plenty of Elders friendly toward Tyr, aren't there? Historically, most Elders received her favor. More importantly, the Blood Weaver, Lady Cabilah, is devoted to the Progenitor."

"...Do you know what information 'I' found?"

I knew from reading her mind, but I asked out of courtesy.

"What is it?"

"Like the Elders, ain are equal among themselves. Being a little stronger doesn't allow one to rule other ain. To rally and move ain, an Elder is needed. It doesn't even have to be their own Elder."

"Does that mean an Elder has rallied Luscinia's ain?"

"And according to 'my' investigation, that Elder is..."

* * *

At the moment the Progenitor's authority was collapsing in real time, Cabilah clapped her hands in displeasure. At that instant, an enormous presence smashed through the wall and appeared.

Several vampires quickly retreated and tried to defend themselves against the attack with blood power. The enormous presence ignored the vampires' attacks and widened the hole with its claws.

"You said you'd show us, so we should watch and see, yet you've forgotten the favor of being killed and repaid it with betrayal! How dare you mock the sister who shared her blood with you?"

The bones of a Sea Calamity. More precisely, the exoskeleton of a Sea Calamity that had been killed while molting. When the Sea Calamity's corpse had washed ashore one day, Cabilah recovered it and made it into a doll. Working with the corpse of a sea creature made it difficult to create the doll, but Cabilah succeeded after persevering through the hardship.

The lobster's claws tore through the hall. Its hard carapace deflected every ordinary attack as it swept through the room. In the courtroom that had become a complete mess in an instant, Cabilah wrapped herself in blood thread and approached Tyrkanzyaka.

"Sister. Look at those disgusting people. Trash who think that true blood is all their own power just because you regained your heart. We can't stay like this. If we do, they'll seek not only your place, but your blood and life as well."

Cabilah approached after turning the battle around all by herself, looking like the Progenitor's savior. Cabilah herself was utterly absorbed in that role. At that moment, Cabilah was fulfilling her blossoming desire with greater satisfaction than anyone else.

"It can't be helped, Sister."

And Cabilah's human, trivial desire, unlike the other Elders'...

"I'll stop your heart for a little while. So you can become my sister again."

It would be fulfilled by killing the Progenitor. Smiling brilliantly like petals about to wither, Cabilah made her proposal to the Progenitor.

Footnotes:

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