WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 48

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I've Been Following You This Whole Time

A few days had passed since I noticed the vampire's hidden desire and failed to grant her secret wish. Pleased enough to have at least gotten a foothold with her, I'd told myself it was a meaningful step forward in building connections here in Tantalus.

Or so I'd thought.

"Would you spare me a moment?"

"Again?"

Familiarity doesn't always breed warmth. More often than not, it breeds tedium. Lately, the vampire had taken to appearing at my room or the cafeteria every chance she got, and I was nursing a considerable headache over it.

There was only one reason she kept coming. I scrunched my face and answered.

"That's an addiction. An actual addiction."

"It's not as though it's very difficult for you."

"Even so, showing up every time I eat or take a rest is a bit much."

"All you need to do is put your finger in. I'll take care of everything else."

No point arguing. I sighed and gave in with a nod. The vampire approached, undoing the ties of her robes as if she'd known all along I'd agree.

To an outsider who didn't know the full picture, it would've looked like an incredibly enviable scene. A woman beautiful enough to stop anyone in their tracks would light up the moment she saw me, drag me off to some secluded corner, take my hand, and press it to her chest.

But.

"Come on. Hurry."

It wasn't her robe she was undoing. It was her skin.

Knowing she meant that literally, that she was burying my hand inside her chest and not as any kind of metaphor, might make the whole thing feel a bit different.

I slid my fingers deep through the parted flesh. By now I could find the path to her heart without even looking. Not exactly a change I was proud of in myself, but my hand moved through the interior with practiced ease.

"Bolt."

The electrical discharge traveled down my fingers and into her heart. Weak as it was, this was a spell cast in direct contact with the heart itself. The kind of shock that could stop one cold.

But this was a vampire whose heart had long since stopped. For her, the jolt was a welcome sensation, something that stirred nostalgia for what it once felt like to be alive.

"Hng. Haah..."

Color bloomed across her face. The shocked heart lurched back to life and pumped blood with fierce abandon, flooding her pale ivory complexion until it changed entirely. For a moment, a pleasure of a wholly different kind washed over her.

A feverish sound escaped her lips. She gripped my arm tight, and though she seemed to hang her entire body from it, the weight was feather-light.

When she'd savored the lingering sensation long enough, she leaned against me.

"Mmh... you're getting... better and better at this."

"Humans are creatures of learning. We all get used to things eventually."

"Thank you... I'll ask again next time."

"Come less often, please. You're becoming a nuisance."

"You used to talk about respecting your elders. Now you don't even bother pretending."

"I didn't expect you to come this often. Didn't I say not to expose your heart so carelessly? Seems that means nothing to you now."

"This body is already dead. Exposing the heart causes no harm whatsoever. Why tell me not to?"

She made to pull it out and show me right then and there. I reached out quickly and stopped her. She laughed softly, removed my hand, and straightened her clothes.

"Besides, I only show it to you. Consider it an honor."

"An honor. Hardly. It's not something I enjoy, either. What I want to offer is respect for my elders, not labor. Extra labor has been despised by everyone, everywhere, since the beginning of time."

"Then what if there were compensation? I have gold set aside. I'll give it to you."

"No need. Gold from before the Alchemical Revolution isn't worth trusting. Those things are about on par with a pretty rock you'd find lying in the dirt."

"Ugh... I suppose a great deal of time has passed..."

The dejected vampire rested her chin in her hand.

"What can I do... All I have left is gold and some sculptures. I'm not sure those would even serve as compensation."

"Sculptures?"

"Yes. Paintings and sculptures. If I had one hobby, it was collecting artwork. A feeling passes in an instant, but art endures. Though I wonder how much value it holds in this era."

"Still better than gold, I'd imagine. Could I take a look?"

"Very well. Wait here. I'll bring them."

She went off to retrieve her collection. Watching her go, I let a satisfied smile spread across my face.

There we go. What a pushover. A little attention, a little playing hard to get, and she was bringing her own possessions to offer with her own hands.

Artwork, of all things. One of the few things in the world that only grows more valuable the longer it sits. Preserved inside a coffin for over a thousand years alongside the vampire herself, no less. The personal collection of someone who once ruled the world?

The value was beyond estimation. A trove worth more than any ordinary gold mine.

You never knew what might happen in Tantalus, so keeping a bit of treasure close at hand was only sensible. Painting rosy pictures of the future in my head, I turned around.

'Th, th, that, that guy. What is he doing with Tyrkanzyaka?!'

First things first. The voyeur peeping at me from around the corner needed handling.

I strolled down the hallway as if I knew nothing. Behind me, the regressor followed, concealing herself with her stealth technique.

'Should I reveal myself? Or not? Catching someone in the act and pressing them right there would be best. But what if he thinks I was tailing him?'

What "what if"? You were tailing me. Did you leave your conscience behind in a past life?

Biting my tongue took everything I had. The regressor, meanwhile, reached a conclusion after a hundred different deliberations.

'No! Focus, Shei! I came to find out what's happening in this Abyss and to stop Azzy and Tyrkanzyaka from falling to corruption! For that! I have every right to step in!'

Whoosh.

She threw herself through the air and landed in front of me, then strode toward me, eyes locked on mine.

So she'd finally worked up the nerve. About time. I greeted her with perfect composure.

"Hello, trainee She..."

"What did you do to Tyrkanzyaka?"

Right to the point. I played innocent.

"Have you been tailing me this whole time?"

"Of course... I mean, no! By chance! By chance I happened to see you heading somewhere with Tyrkanzyaka, and I witnessed you doing something strange!"

"Something strange? I haven't done anything that particularly deserves criticism."

"Planning to dodge it? I saw everything from start to finish! I even heard every word of your conversation!"

What is that. You're just a stalker.

"What is that. You're just a stalker."

Oops. Said the quiet part out loud.

"I am not!! When you put it that way, fine! It's more like an undercover detective!"

"Trainee Shei. Are you an officer, by any chance?"

"Huh? N, no, I'm not."

"See. Then you're just a stalker."

"No...!"

The regressor fumed and bounced on her heels, then took a deep breath and fixed me with a glare.

"Stop changing the subject. This is serious!"

"If anyone should be baffled, it's me. What exactly do you think I did to trainee Tyrkanzyaka? Nothing I've done has gone against my conscience, at the very least."

"So now you're going to dodge it?"

"The one dodging things is trainee Shei, who keeps insisting he wasn't tailing me."

"That's not what matters right now!"

"Fine. Let's hear what does matter, then. What is it?"

The moment I gave an inch, she thought she had me cornered. The regressor called out, newly confident.

"You groped Tyrkanzyaka against her will!"

"Pardon? Who, against their will, what?"

"Tyrkanzyaka, against her will, you touched..."

Even as she said it, she realized how little sense it made, and her voice trailed off. I narrowed my eyes and gave her a sidelong look.

Of course it made no sense. Blackmail and grope the Progenitor of vampires, the monster who defied the natural order, the Queen of Darkness, Tyrkanzyaka?

If that were possible, why would I be living like this.

A cold stare. The regressor caught the implication and shouted.

"B, but I saw it clearly with my Green Eye! Y, you stuck your hand inside Tyrkanzyaka's chest!"

"Yes, well. Touched her heart too."

"Don't give me that! What, are you saying that's some poetic metaphor, that you warmed her frozen heart?"

What are you on about. I meant that literally. With these actual hands. Physical contact.

"On top of that, you said you were getting better and better at it...!"

"It's not exactly a pleasant experience."

Do you know what it feels like when your hand just naturally parts flesh and finds the heart? Sure, the vampire controls her own blood and regenerates even when torn to pieces, but putting your hand inside her is still genuinely bizarre. Smooth inner flesh, writhing muscle, strangely warm and damp within. Like climbing into the belly of a whale.

Blood, viscera, muscle, bone. Humans evolved to find everything packed inside a body repulsive. Exposed innards are basically a prelude to death. Same for me. My sanity had been chipping away in real time lately.

"You, you. Whatever you're doing with Tyrkanzyaka. I honestly don't really know what it is, but."

She'd already half-decided in her head. I tilted mine and asked, playing dumb.

"You really don't know?"

"I really don't, okay!!"

'At this rate, Azzy and Tyrkanzyaka are both being influenced far too much by this man! I'm not certain yet whether this counts as corruption. But if things end up going down that road someday, this man could very well be the cause!'

What exactly do you think I'm doing? Corruption? Why would I corrupt them. Not like I have a death wish.

Those wild imaginings confirmed she truly had no idea. Well, who'd even dream up someone giving a direct electric massage to a heart?

"Whatever it is, it's obviously something no one else is supposed to see!"

That was accurate. Hard to argue with.

"You've got nothing to say, which means I'm right! Today I'm going to put a stop to whatever it is you're..."

"This is something I do willingly. Who gave you the right to end it?"

Perfect timing. The vampire arrived just then, dragging her large coffin, wearing a deliberately stern expression. She walked past the regressor without a glance and positioned herself in front of me, standing between us.

For Tyrkanzyaka, who had taken on something of a mentor's role toward the regressor, to now stand at my side was a profound shock to her.

"Tyr...kanzyaka?"

'Tyrkanzyaka is turning her back on me to stand beside that man?'

Her eyes trembled with disbelief. The vampire's gaze was cold and cutting.

"Enough. Why must you meddle in every single thing I do? How does a student raise her voice at what her teacher does?"

"No. I'm doing this for you!"

'In a previous cycle, you were betrayed by someone, suffered terribly for it, and went on to join the great war that set the world ablaze!'

The anguish in her voice was genuine. Those words were the truth, events that had once come to pass in a future that no longer existed. Shei clearly wanted to prevent Tyrkanzyaka's downfall and wished for her happiness.

Whether for the world's sake, or for her own.

But only I knew that. The vampire had no ability to read minds.

"For me?"

The vampire answered with a cold scoff.

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