WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 452

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All for One

"You're special."

I don't lie much. What I mainly say is the truth. Actually, not mainly, it's a hundred percent. Have I ever told a lie, even once?

"Tyr. There are many people with wishes. Everyone carries one somewhere in their heart. But just because someone has a wish, does that mean I can grant it however I please? A wish I can't even make out clearly?"

I'm a mind reader, so I do read hearts, but that doesn't mean I truly understand them. How am I supposed to grant someone's wish to eat something delicious when I don't know what they'd find delicious?

"To make a wish come true, three things are needed. A concrete, clear goal. The ability to reach it. And the will to keep going through the whole journey. Surprisingly, most people fail at the first hurdle. They don't even know what they want."

Tyr lay quietly in my arms and listened. Reading her thoughts and engineering the perfect answer would be pointless. I had to genuinely convince her. Tyr's emotions right now were all selfishness and indulgence, and on top of that ,

She had buried something of herself inside that shadow, so I couldn't read her innermost thoughts even if I tried.

"Tyr was different. You had a clear goal. You were going to keep trying as long as there was a way, and even if things went a little sideways, you nearly succeeded. Tyr has already saved herself. That's why I was able to save you too. It just so happened that I had the means."

Even if world peace is someone's wish, a person who doesn't know what peace actually means can't achieve it. If they somehow compromise and set their sights on a world where humans stop fighting each other, they still have no way to make it real. You could beat every last fighting human to death and call it done, but anyone who had taken world peace as their goal would sooner give up than choose that method.

"So even if I say I'll grant your wish, not all wishes are possible. Someone who doesn't even know what their own wish is-I'd sooner laugh at them than grant anything. Tyr is already someone special to me."

In that sense, Tyr really was a genuinely special person. Having lived so long, her wish should have weathered away by now, yet whether it was because she was a vampire or something else, she had kept holding onto that desire from so long ago. In the isolation of the Abyss, I had come to understand Tyr's wish completely, taken its meaning into myself, and carved a heart into her own heart.

Come to think of it, Tyr was the first person whose wish I had fulfilled in the purest sense. I had spoken to her honestly and sincerely.

[You never say, until the very end, that only I am special.]

Of course. It didn't work.

Tyr's expression was hard to make out. But her shadow drew a bitter smile of its own accord. Then, as though struck by a dangerous idea, it spread into a wide, tearing grin and raised a hand. Sensing something ominous in that, I spoke quickly.

"Tyr is more than special enough."

[Forgive me, Hyu. I am a greedy, ugly woman. I don't think 'enough' will do.]

The shadow rose. Darkness was gathering toward me, little by little. No real command had been given, but Tyr's shadow moved to carry out her will.

Power was slipping further and further beyond human reach. Growing anxious, I added quickly, "I'll be honest. Right now, Tyr is the only one. The only person I've directly granted a wish for."

[You won't keep it that way going forward.]

"No, look, I'm not a prophet, and as for future matters..."

Even bringing up the prophets did nothing. Tyr calmly tightened the hand holding mine.

[My emotions, my senses. Everything you gave me is driving me forward. It's telling me to hold on even if it's ugly, to never let go again. If I had not been alive, I might have given up right away and let it drift past me, but... now, this me who sings of life is crying out to cling and hold on.]

"Hahaha. To receive the obsession of someone this beautiful and adorable and noble, I don't know what to do with myself."

[Don't worry. I'll make a place for you.]

Tyr smiled and wound herself more deeply around my neck, pulling me into a kiss. She was nearly hanging off me, so I had to take almost her full weight. Even as our lips kept moving together, I was working my head hard.

Damn. What's happening? How did it come to this?

Lie my way out of the immediate crisis? Whisper eternal love? Swear I'd be by her side for the rest of my days?

I could have done that. But the result would have been the same. Tyr would have made those words real, by turning me into a vampire. This was my best option, I'm telling you.

Perhaps sensing the charged atmosphere, Hilde edged in with an awkward smile.

"Um~. You two sharing your love is all well and good, but right in the middle of the street, even so~ Kyah!"

A black hand snatched Hilde up. Without any warning, fast enough that she had no time to react. Hilde gasped sharply, but the force, so completely Tyr itself, was powerful enough that not even a member of the Six Generals could slip free with their energy.

[Negotiations are over, Hilde.]

"Ow, ugh...! Tyrkan, zyaka!"

[Hyu will stay here with me. I will remain on friendly terms with the military state. And I will let you go with your life.]

"That, but! My father, the military state will! Kyaaaaaah!"

Crack. The shadow tightened its grip and something made a wrenching sound. Hilde's arms and legs poking out between the shadow's fingers had clearly been wrenched far from their original positions.

Watching Hilde suffer, Tyr gave a quiet warning, no particular feeling in her voice.

[This is the last mercy I show to the Holy Sword Corps. Be satisfied with the considerable terms I've promised you.]

"Ugh...!"

By Tyr's standards, that was a tremendous amount of concession. Normally where the Sanctum was concerned she'd kill first and ask nothing at all, but this time she at least asked. Whether you could call that more human, I wasn't sure. The person on the receiving end was in agony that looked close to death.

[Hyu. I'm sorry, but. I will not let go. Even if you come to hate me.]

My situation had gotten genuinely difficult, but...

"This is what it means to be human. You've finally gotten a little more human."

[More human? It sounds as though I was not so before.]

"You behaved that way yourself more than I ever pointed it out. Acting as though you were some force of nature. This is much better than that."

The grip in the shadow's hand loosened slightly. She had steeled herself to be hated and gone ahead anyway, so my unexpected reaction left her puzzled.

"Tyr. I think there's a misunderstanding here. I don't particularly dislike this. Being here, or being with you. I'm not going to run off just because something else is pulling at me."

Tyr had a very large misconception, that restraining me would make me hate her. The fact that she had landed on restraining me even at the cost of being hated was unfortunate, but.

It really was a big misunderstanding. Why assume I'd always dislike being restrained?

"What in this world ever goes exactly the way you want it to? If you're locked in the Abyss, you live in the Abyss. If you're locked in the military state, you live there too. Tyr, I think you've made the mistake of seeing the Beast King as some extraordinary being. The Beast King mostly just... lives."

[Just lives? From what I observed, they were bound to their beasts.]

"Only when they had the leeway for it. Why was Azzy in the Abyss? Because with a dog's head, she couldn't find her way out. Why was I living so miserably inside the military state's system? Because I had no foundation, no ability to go anywhere else. You might think a beast does whatever it pleases, but you'd be wrong. Even that indulgence only comes when you have the leeway. Normally you adapt to your given environment. Adapt is a kind word for it. What it really is, is surrender."

I shrugged and rested my hand gently on Tyr's shoulder.

"I'm especially that way. I've lost my strength. My abilities are ordinary, weaker than most people. So I always have no choice but to make use of other things. I can't accomplish anything by my own power alone."

[Then...]

"But, Tyr. There's something you'll need to brace yourself for. If you truly love me."

Restraint is fine. But I'll need something out of it too.

A rotten move, I'll admit, but I used Tyr's feelings as a hostage and said:

"You'll need to make sure staying in the Duchy isn't a waste. That way it can be a honeymoon that satisfies us both, don't you think?"

She's going to restrain me either way. In that case, I'd better wring every last drop out of it, and brag the whole time that my chains are the finest around.

[Honeymoon...]

The word settled warmly on Tyr. She broke into a bright smile and whispered,

[As long as you don't leave me. I'll give you anything.]

Setting aside my difficult position... it really was tempting. Power, a country, strength, and on top of all that, a peerlessly beautiful older woman obsessed with me. It's the kind of situation anyone would dream of.

What would actually change from now, anyway? Being pushed around was nothing new.

"Come now. There are people watching. Shall we head inside?"

[Do the eyes of others concern you that much?]

"Yes, even so. This is a world we share with others."

[There's no need to bother with that.]

'The Hyu who was in the Abyss did not respond to the wishes of other humans. Even as the King of Humanity, granting the wishes of humans he has never met would be impossible... As long as I can keep him from meeting too many others, even Hyu will stop changing.'

That's a strange direction for things to go. She wants to lock me away from meeting other people? It's certainly an effective measure for the current me, but...

[Let's go to the castle, Hyu.]

"Wait. There was a bit of an incident in our room, a large hole opened in the wall."

[The bricks that make up the Castle of the Full Moon are soaked in blood. They can be restored in an instant.]

"The bed fell and broke too. Whatever else we argue about, there has to be a bed. I'm the Progenitor's consort, after all. I can't sleep on a hard bare floor."

Vampires might be fine lying in a coffin, but only dead people do that among humans. Even living in captivity, I had no desire to become a corpse.

Even with my perfectly reasonable protest, Tyr narrowed her eyes.

[You dislike returning to the castle that much?]

"How did you get that from what I said?"

Sensitive. Until the suspicion dies down a little, I'd better stay away from anything that could be misread.

"It doesn't matter where it is, as long as I'm by your side, Tyr. How about getting us an inn room?"

[Huhuh, that's right. Now that's something I like hearing.]

Huh? What is.

While I was still puzzling over that, the shadow rose. It sprang up without a trace of presence, like a ghost's shadow. No one had noticed when it appeared, but once it was there, everyone became aware of it.

Screams rang out, but only for a moment. Pitch-black darkness swamped both sides of my vision, and before I knew it I was inside the shadow. Only belatedly did I realize Tyr's shadow was holding me like a game piece.

Sealed off from the world, my body pitched this way and that. A dizzying sensation, like being a game piece for real, shook me several times, and then, not long after, set me down carefully.

Where is this. Indoors? A moment ago I had been in the middle of a street, and now I was in an out-of-the-way room with not a single presence to sense. Taking in the changed scene with a feeling of unreality, I asked, "Where are we?"

[A villa. A fine place to spend a few days.]

"A few days? Aren't you busy?"

[A few days, doesn't it pass in the blink of an eye?]

There are limits to vampire time. These were the days right after a revolt. Shouldn't she be cleaning up after it?

[Valdamir will see to it well enough.]

"Pawning everything off on a capable subordinate isn't very becoming."

[That's your fault. If you hadn't kept pushing me away, I'd have left him with less.]

Tyr smiled, dangerously, and perched on the edge of the bed, watching me quietly. As though determined not to let me out of her sight for even a moment.

Damn. How did things end up like this.

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