WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 468: The Boy Who Cried Wolf and the Liar

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Another bark sounded from somewhere nearby. Then, a gust of wind swept through.

A black-furred beastkin, carrying with her a breath of the highland wind racing across the plateau, landed lightly beside Azzy.

Fast.

Not merely fast. She was agile like a swift dog. Her movements and changes of direction were so quick they almost seemed restless, yet she made no sound at all. Her every motion seemed to embody agility itself.

More than that, she was a vampire walking around perfectly well in broad daylight.

Thick fur growing from her head down over her upper back protected her from the sunlight. Her fluffy, white-striped tail wagged up and down. She wore a loose raincoat to block the sun, but taking it off probably would not harm her much. Her double coat would keep the light out.

Lungken's Ain and the shepherds' guardian. A black gale racing across the highlands. Darkness running beneath the noon sun.

The human-herding dog beastkin Collie approached Azzy before the black fur on her body had even settled.

"Woof?"

"Could you please stay still...? I can't work when you run off the moment I take my eyes off you...!"

Shepherd dogs were famous for their intelligence and agility. Collie, a shepherd dog beastkin descended from that splendid bloodline, shook her head with an awkward expression. Twigs and dirt caught in her black fur scattered to the ground.

"If the King of Dogs acts so friendly toward humans, it throws off the hierarchy...!"

"Woof woof! Friend!"

"I know... I know, but this country isn't yours...!"

Before her stood the King of Dogs. The Beast King held special meaning not only for dogs, but for dog beastkin as well. Even after becoming a vampire, Collie was still driven by her instincts as a dog.

After soothing Azzy, Collie looked at me with an irritated growl.

"Nicol. Who is he?"

Was the boy tense because he was facing a vampire? He stammered as he answered.

"C-Collie! Ah, he's from Black Valley village... He said he spotted someone suspicious and came to tell you, Collie."

"Biritear's village? Was there a human like you there?"

Collie frowned, brought her nose close to me, and sniffed. She was clearly on guard. Fortunately, vampire senses of smell were not especially sharp, even for beastkin. She would have trouble finding anything strange through scent alone.

"Y-yes. You may not know me, but my name is Humil, from Black Valley village. It's an honor to meet you, Collie..."

"Awooo. Enough. You've never come here to herd sheep, have you? It's strange that such a sturdy kid has never shown his face before."

"I came once when I was young... Of course, not as a shepherd's apprentice..."

Yet even as a vampire, she still had a beast's ability to catch the slightest sense of incongruity. It would have been easier if she had asked me something. Then I could have read her mind and answered.

What saved me in that critical moment was...

"Woof woof! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

Azzy, utterly unable to read the mood, circled between Collie and me. She squeezed herself between us and sniffed around.

As Azzy wandered around, rubbing her scent everywhere, Collie let out something between a sigh and an annoyed growl.

"No, King! Wait a moment...! I have work to do...!"

"Woof woof. Hurt? Does it hurt?"

"That blood smell isn't because I'm hurt...!"

If there was a reason, it was no longer an incongruity. Because there had been no basis for it, even a small change could overturn it. Azzy, the King of Dogs, was acting friendly toward me, so Collie's suspicion weakened along with it.

"Awooo. Fine. What did Biritear say?"

"She said there was livestock that jumped over the wall..."

Livestock that jumped over the wall was vampire slang. When vampires referred to a human who had become stronger than a vampire, they said the human had crossed something. Defeat a Yeiling, and you crossed a wall. Defeat an Ain, and you crossed a city wall. Defeat an Elder...

They said you had crossed species.

Naturally, I had not heard that anywhere. I had simply picked the most plausible thing I had read through mind-reading. Collie lowered her guard and lifted her chin.

"...Awooo. Come to think of it, we didn't send a messenger to Biritear. It seems she doesn't know what's happening."

"What's happening?"

"Security has been tightened because someone important escaped. The order was to capture them alive at all costs and escort them to the castle. But..."

Collie grumbled, then shot Azzy an unhappy look.

"The King showed up at exactly that time."

"Woof woof? Me? I'm Azzy!"

"The King bit my Yeiling, so I wasted time chasing after her and trying to catch her. Until then, I thought the King was the important person. Awooo. I should have judged it more calmly. It's the King's fault. Why did you show up at that exact time? You confused me."

She was making excuses to me. Why would a vampire make excuses to some human? Still, Collie had been born a dog beastkin. Becoming a vampire had not completely changed her nature.

As a shepherd dog beastkin, Collie possessed a strong sense of duty and loyalty. She was faithful to Lungken and Azzy above her, and to the humans under her care. Failing a mission was rather damaging to her pride.

...Of course, I had no reason to listen to all of Collie's whining. So I feigned ignorance and asked,

"King? An important person? Who is this beastkin supposed to be? Is she a vampire?"

Forced to explain it all from the beginning, Collie's face twisted with annoyance.

"Awoooooo! There is someone like that! Don't pry into every little thing!"

She was the one who had spilled everything in the first place. Anyway, after stopping her complaints, Collie immediately turned to the shepherd boy and shouted.

"Nicol, go back to the village!"

"Y-yes..."

The young shepherd who had been so polite in front of me was nothing more than a meek lamb before a vampire. Looking a little dejected, he glanced back at me and headed toward the village.

After sending away the boy and the dog, Collie plopped down on the ground. She was a dog beastkin, so even the way she sat was exactly like Azzy's.

"So? What did you come to report?"

"An unidentified escapee appeared in Black Valley village. The village chief saw him stealing food and went to subdue him, but..."

"He lost, right? I suppose he wasn't called an important person for nothing. Anything else?"

"What else...?"

"His appearance, the abilities he uses. Things we need to know to chase him."

This meeting had not been intentional, but that made it an even better opportunity.

I had felt it earlier, but there was no escaping Collie anyway. A shepherd dog beastkin vampire. Trying to flee from someone who grew more tired from not running than from running would be no different from volunteering to become a plaything.

So, as always, my job was to deceive her.

"He was a man in his late thirties? He looked a little older than me. He wore a hooded robe, perhaps because he wanted to hide his appearance. After fighting Village Chief Biritear, he quickly fled the village. I've never seen anyone move that fast... Though of course, he wasn't as fast as you, Collie."

"How did a human defeat Biritear?"

"I'm not sure. The fight took place inside the village chief's hut. Still, the village chief said he had the power to burrow into the ground. Perhaps earth arts."

Let's fabricate this.

I had used earth arts and Druidism, but if I mentioned two abilities, my opponent would become wary of my hand. I would only show a glimpse of Ten of Spades and let her misunderstand.

"Digging holes? Awooo. This has become troublesome. Now we'll have to check underground too."

Exactly as I had hoped. I had no intention of burrowing underground, but she could not help being mindful of my one and only, not really, ability: earth arts.

"Anything else?"

"I don't know if it will help, but the village chief sent this..."

I pulled out a torn piece of blanket from my pocket. Knowing shepherd dog beastkin Collie existed, I had gone back and quietly taken it before leaving.

"This is a blanket from the place where he stayed. The village chief said his scent should still be on it."

Of course, it was Hilde's blanket, not mine.

Collie moved like lightning. Before I could even hesitate, the piece of blanket was already clenched in her mouth. She sniffed at the faint scent that remained on it.

"Biritear. Not bad."

"Ah! Since you're a dog beastkin, you can find him by scent! I completely forgot that!"

"Awooo. My sense of smell isn't that good. But I'm not alone."

Right? What a relief. I was worried she might actually go looking for Hilde, or somehow catch the strange traces of my scent left behind.

Collie fiddled with the scrap of blanket, then suddenly held it out to Azzy.

"King. Could you perhaps..."

"Sniff sniff. Woof?"

"Find the owner of this scent...?"

"Woof! Here!"

After smelling it, Azzy abruptly turned her head and began patting my foot with her front paw. My body tensed in an instant. As the King of Dogs, Azzy must have smelled not only my scent, but Hilde's too. She wasn't going to expose everything, was she?

"Woof woof! Woof woof woof!"

What a relief. Azzy was not the sort to explain things with that many words. Collie did not seem to expect much either.

"He's the one who brought it... Awooo. Forget it. I'm the idiot. Even if you knew, you wouldn't be much help."

Collie sprang to her feet and jumped lightly. She passed gracefully over my head, then looked back at Azzy and me.

"There are plenty of hunting dogs around me. If I let them smell this, they'll find him quickly. Your scent could confuse them, so go back to the village... No."

‘The King seems to like that human, so I should leave the King with him for a while. It would be troublesome if the King wandered around carelessly and attacked my Yeiling.’

"Take care of the King. If the King is with you, there won't be anything dangerous for a human."

"Pardon? Where?"

"Anywhere!"

Collie answered as though it were a bother and left. The moment I looked away, she had become a black gust racing into the distance, toward the shepherds' outpost on the misty highlands.

Things had gone better than expected. Meeting Collie had technically been Azzy's fault, but thanks to that, explaining myself had been easy and I had gained the freedom to move as I pleased.

Most importantly, I had acquired a dependable bodyguard.

"Hey, Azzy."

"Woof?"

"How did you get all the way here?"

"Woof!"

Azzy tapped at my feet with her front paw. Had she followed me? Well, Azzy would remember my scent. More than that, our "promise" still remained.

"What about Shei? Weren't you together?"

"Woof? That one? Woof?"

There was not a trace of confusion in Azzy's tilted head. She did not seem to understand why the regressor had come up here.

How exactly was she keeping watch? She had said Azzy might become a disaster in the future. Then shouldn't she be supervising her properly? She was completely unfit to be a pet owner!

Well, it had worked out well for me. I patted Azzy's head and said,

"Anyway, it's good to see you."

Azzy's ears perked up. Feeling my hand between her soft ears, she smiled brightly and answered.

"Woof! It's good to see you too!"

Dogs really were humanity's friends. Just having one by your side made you feel this secure.

A shepherd dog beastkin vampire? Hmph. Azzy was the King of Dogs. She was on an entirely different level. I was a companion who had gone to prison and traveled with the King of Dogs. On top of that, we were friends who had made a racial "promise." We were nothing like some ordinary beastkin, especially one who was a vampire serving an Elder as her progenitor.

I could not do it earlier because Collie was watching, but I could now. I gave a wicked smile and whispered.

"Azzy. You know that one from earlier? The black-furred dog beastkin."

"Woof? Her?"

"Yes. If you see her again later... Bite her hard."

If this were a human country, Azzy would not even be able to bite her and would only paw at the ground helplessly. But the Duchy was a country of vampires. Azzy could tear into her and twist her neck without any restrictions. Once Azzy cleared the way, I could stroll through without a care.

Heh heh. I had barely begun laughing to myself when Azzy tilted her head and barked once.

"Woof! No!"

"What? Why?"

"Friend! Don't bite!"

"No, friend or not, she's a vampire! Couldn't you smell the blood?"

"Friend hurt! Woof! Protect!"

Protect what? She is a vampire! Even if you tore her apart, she would revive perfectly fine! If you're going to protect someone, protect fragile me!

"Hey! Why are you only ever half helpful? Can't you help me completely just once? You're seriously missing a few screws!"

"And you?"

"Me? I didn't have any leeway until now! I couldn't do anything because I had no strength! But I've gained some strength this time, so I have room to spare. I'll keep the promise! I will, so help me just this once!"

"Pathetic!"

"What's pathetic about me? Have you ever seen my strength? I'm telling you, it's real!"

It did not look like Azzy would attack Collie. Well, it did not matter. I had planned for this possibility.

Shepherd dog beastkin Collie might be incredibly fast and agile, but searching this vast mountain range down to every little dog hole would take considerable time. While Collie was away, I could cross the mountains with Azzy. Azzy would handle minor problems like Yeilings and wolves.

Azzy's weakness was that she could not attack humans...

But that did not matter, did it? The humans in this country were livestock. They would not come to stop me.

Heh. This was going to be easy. Smiling triumphantly, I started walking.

* * *

"Hey, Nicol! Long time no see."

"Huh? Brad! It's been a long time!"

"It has. You're really starting to look like a shepherd now! You should be getting married soon!"

"Then introduce me to a kind and pretty girl from the valley village before you say things like that! More importantly, what brings you all the way here?"

"Village Chief Biritear sent me. An escapee headed this way. I came to tell Collie about the escapee."

"What? Another one?"

"Another one? Is there an escapee here too? Good grief, is it escapee season? Why are there so many of them?"

"No, I meant the messenger. The village already sent someone, didn't it?"

"Sent someone? Who?"

"Humil. You know, that tall, sly-looking man."

"What are you talking about? Humil? No one in the village has that name. More importantly, why would they send someone else when they have me, someone who used to herd sheep in your village? No one comes here more often than I do."

"What? That's strange. He definitely said the village chief sent him... If that was a lie, then who was he?"

A man the village had not sent, a liar bold enough to deceive a vampire. An unidentified man.

The answer was obvious. The shepherd boy quickly realized the truth and turned his head.

"An escapee!"

Footnotes:

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