WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 49

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You Can't Be Happy

"Well said. I'll take this opportunity to say something myself. You came to me seeking instruction. I was swept along by the mood and accepted you as my disciple, and have been teaching you since."

Cold fire is real. It has to be. The vampire's eyes, red as flame, could not have been so piercing otherwise. She drew a step closer to my side and rounded on the regressor.

"You have shown me no respect whatsoever."

"Re, respect?"

"Or reverence. A symbol. A token. Some expression of feeling. Anything at all."

The jet-black parasol settled lightly on her shoulder. She gave a small sigh and cast a sideways glance at the regressor.

"Even a small gift would have been fine. A single word of thanks would have been enough, just that one acknowledgment of gratitude. And yet, Shei, you have given me nothing."

"That's..."

"Whereas."

Her gaze turned to me. I raised my hand and waved, and the vampire smiled, just barely, playing along for Shei's benefit.

A stark contrast. Even if the expression was staged, it was enough to sting.

"This one is insolent, but at least he shows me respect in his words. Rude as he is, he gives me what I need. When I asked, he told me stories. When I wished, he shared his knowledge. But what have you done for me?"

She learned bloodcraft. That was all.

From the regressor's perspective, the vampire was a harbinger of the end. Whenever the world fell, the vampire's name was always among the causes. In a previous cycle, after countless efforts, the regressor had managed to free the vampire from her chains and make her an ally. They had fought side by side as comrades, and as people equally adrift in the current of time, they'd found common ground and grown close.

So she had come here to obtain bloodcraft, and in the process, to 'protect' Tyrkanzyaka. For her sake.

But.

"As for payment... well, a treasure perhaps..."

"Treasure? My gold has been rendered worthless, and you think I'm asking for treasure now?"

The vampire standing here was not the shard of the end the regressor knew. At this point in time, she was truly, fully the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka.

"I too was once at the head of the world. I adorned my head with every precious thing, draped beautiful things over my body, and laid soft things beneath my feet. I was a creature of darkness, and yet I held every glittering thing in my hands, save the sun. Do you think a being such as I would desire power? Covet wealth? Or reach for something as trivial as fame? A small gesture of sincerity would have been enough."

Truth was, the vampire didn't dislike the regressor that much. It was disappointment dressed up as a grievance.

The regressor, though, had built every relationship she had through regression, and had little experience with moments like this. She didn't know what to do.

"T, Tyr..."

"Enough. You only ever wanted bloodcraft from me anyway. You got what you came for, so just go."

At the vampire's cold declaration, the regressor trembled and dropped her head. The vampire set the parasol on her shoulder and turned away. The jet-black parasol came between them like a wall.

Driving the wedge in deeper, she looked at me and spoke warmly.

"Let's go."

"One moment. I just want to say something to trainee Shei."

"Make it quick."

At my words, the regressor slowly raised her head, suspicion written all over her face.

'What's he going to say now?'

I cleared my throat softly, looked at her, and smiled with deliberate villainy. Legs spread wide, chin tilted up, I laughed with all the shamelessness of a third-rate stage villain.

"Well, that's how things turned out. Heh heh heh. Don't worry, trainee Shei. Your master is in my most devoted care."

'...Is he seriously mocking me right now?'

Took you that long to catch on? No wonder even someone as easily managed as the vampire still had words for you.

Well, since I was at it.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Diamond 1 card. The diamond-shaped crimson mark on it flickered with a strange light that defied description.

The regressor recognized that color and cried out.

"That's... true blood!"

"Kyahahahaha. Just now figuring it out, are we? I asked for just one drop and she handed it right over. Your master's already given me her heart, her blood, everything! You're finished...!"

"This little..."

A crimson fist clipped the back of my head without warning. Groaning in pain, I found the vampire frowning at me.

"You really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut. How do you manage to completely undermine my anger like this?"

"Why? I've had plenty bottled up myself. I was just getting a little back."

"When an elder expresses their anger, you stay quiet. When those beneath pile on, the original point loses its weight."

"Oh? Really? You want me to treat your age with proper gravity? Shall I?"

'Until now he... wasn't being serious? There's something worse than this?'

Visibly unsettled, the vampire quickly shook her head.

"...No, no. What you do is your own business. Who am I to blame you. Do as you please."

I'd brought her down in a single exchange. I smiled out of one corner of my mouth and gave the regressor my most contemptuous look. One word from me and the vampire backs down. You can't do that, can you?

"You saw that, yes? I'll be off then. And if you don't mind, going forward, I'd appreciate it if you stopped 'burdening' yourself with the affairs of people who are 'none of your concern.' Stop 'clinging'... heh heh heh hahaha!"

'That bastard...! Just you wait! I'll tear off that mask and expose every ugly thing underneath!'

Leaving the regressor burning with rage, I walked away with the vampire. Feeling like poking a little more fun, I tried to drape my arm over her shoulder, but the moment I reached out, her parasol bloomed like dark clouds, seized hold of me, and pushed me back. The push was polite but strong, and there was no getting past it.

How is a parasol stronger than me? And why does it move on its own? Am I really so outmatched by an umbrella?

The vampire walked slowly, sunk deep in thought.

'Shei. A gifted child, and yet something falls short. Not in terms of strength or talent, but something at the core of who he is, just a little lacking... I cannot quite put my finger on what it is.'

We'd call it social skills. A regressor who, whenever things went wrong, destroyed the world and fled to the next cycle, was apparently lacking enough to earn the genuine concern of a vampire.

No one left in the world to point it out to her. Tsk, tsk, tsk. A blood-drinking vampire fretting over someone's character. What a sight.

'How did I come to take that child as my disciple. The way she trains hard even when no one is watching, that much is admirable, but that is what I have observed as her master. By nature, she is not a warm child. Ordinarily I would not have spared such a girl even a glance... so why?'

Following the thread of her thoughts, the vampire's gaze gradually drifted toward me. Her red eyes filled with a pure white question.

'It was this one, even back then. This one nudged me into taking Shei as my disciple. And whenever something happens, the one stirring the waters and shaping things is always this one... could it be?'

Good that she was thinking, but business comes before contemplation. Even if the finest scenery is best enjoyed on a full stomach, the bill still has to be settled first. I extended my hand toward the vampire.

"So, about those artworks?"

My question pulled her out of her reverie. She raised the parasol slightly and gestured.

"Ah, right. I promised you sculptures."

The vampire's coffin stopped before me, its lid clicking open. One by one, sculptures emerged from the churning darkness within. Dark currents lifted them carefully and set them at my feet.

A totem carved from jade. A marble figure with every fold of fabric rendered in extraordinary detail. A bronze statue of a rearing horse with a warrior astride it.

Each one unmistakably precious.

"These are sculptures I own. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I brought a rough selection..."

She spoke carefully, but there was a tiny flicker of pride in it, the pride of someone showing off a cherished collection. The claim of a rough selection didn't seem to be false. The materials alone were clearly valuable, and every piece was exquisitely crafted.

Jackpot. The vampire's coffin was, truly, not a treasure chest but an entire treasure vault.

Even the grandest imperial tombs had been picked clean by treasure hunters by now. Yet these sculptures, having crossed a thousand years alongside the vampire, held astronomical value.

Classical technique, but not a trace of age. Not so much as a hairline scratch anywhere. Clearly the influence of the vampire's energy, preserving them exactly as they'd looked the day they were made.

If their historical value could be authenticated, this was an absolute goldmine.

"Oh..."

But.

I needed to think carefully here.

When dealing with a mark, you don't just scoop up what they've brought and run. Do that and they walk away with their money gone and a bad taste in their mouth, and they don't come back.

The basics of fishing: patience. You bait the hook, play it slow, let out a little slack, and the moment they bite, you pull.

The vampire had gifted me true blood, just a drop, but still, and now she was offering prized artwork, all because she felt she owed me something. I had been telling her stories and giving her heart massages. Meanwhile, the crown she'd given before had turned out to be fake gold, and she was already weighed down by the sense that her knowledge and possessions were hopelessly out of step with the times.

Taking them straight away was an option.

But the true gambler lets go a little for the sake of a bigger prize.

I let my expression cloud over and set the sculpture down.

"These are heretical idols..."

"I beg your pardon? Heretical?"

"Local religious practices, that sort of thing. Druidism, totemism, worship of the Beast King, and so on. Relics of that era. Things like these are treated as heretical idols and destroyed on sight."

I said it with obvious regret, and watched the vampire's expression sour.

"What? Who in the world takes it upon themselves to call the artifacts of the past heretical?"

"Who decides what's heretical? The Sanctum, of course."

"Servants of the Celestial God... so it's those people! Utterly useless!"

Not entirely untrue. Just a little exaggerated.

Not everyone in the world followed the Celestial God, so selling them was hardly impossible. The military state in particular was the only country that taxed temples. With my mind reading on top of that, getting a fair price would be no trouble.

But.

What if I played hard to get and turned these treasures down?

"Just asking on the off-chance, but you don't have any paintings or divine statues with a feel similar to religious illustrations, do you?"

The vampire fidgeted with her fingers as she answered.

"...If you mean ones dyed with my blood, there are still some left."

"My goodness. The moment something like that appeared in the world, there'd be an execution order."

I put on a look of genuine difficulty, as if what she'd brought simply wasn't good enough. The vampire, believing herself to have no means of repaying me, felt a pang of guilt.

"I've managed to be of little help again."

"Not at all. I'm grateful for the thought."

Hiding the regret, pretending to decline, wanting to accept but acting as if the payment fell short. I dragged out each word a little, piling the weight onto the vampire's conscience.

'In the end, nothing I have has been of any use.'

Listening to that quiet flicker of guilt from deep in her heart, I smiled inwardly.

"It's fine, I told you. Don't be discouraged. It wasn't as if I was doing this expecting payment. Well, I'll keep up the electric massage!"

Even with my reassurance, the shadow over the vampire's heart didn't lift.

"I simply feel sorry. I never thought much of material things, but looking back now, time has left me with so little. Even if I remain unchanged, everything I once held has been worn away by it."

"I already received the true blood. That's more than enough, so please don't worry about it."

"Even so."

"Come on. I told you it's fine."

Good. Enough pressure. Time to loosen the tension.

I grinned and raised my index finger.

"Alright. Enough of the gloomy talk. Let me give you the massage. Open your chest up for me. If you hold it open with both hands, I'll slide my fingers deep inside and fill it with as much of my magical energy as you'd like."

A joke so obvious even a fool would catch it. The vampire, who had been sinking under the weight of guilt a moment ago, snapped back with a sharp frown.

"Could you please watch your words? It sounds thoroughly indecent and it makes me uncomfortable."

"Then shall I describe it seriously? Let me see now. The ribs and fascia are wrapped snugly around the cardiac region... I need to shift the lung for the angle, but if you could just move it sligh, ugh. Hold on. My stomach. Blugh."

"...Honestly, there is no winning against you in conversation. Fine. Do as you will."

The mood had lifted. With a rueful laugh, the vampire promptly opened her chest.

Before long, her face had flushed. She drew her chest closed and moved away from me, saying to please do it again next time.

The vampire left, and I let out a long breath. My fingers, which had been channeling electricity, were trembling faintly.

...The heart massage, an easy way to earn the vampire's goodwill... all well and good, except for what it does to my sanity. I could still feel the soft, yielding sensation lingering on my fingers.

I could read human hearts all I wanted. Peering into the interior of natural science was never what I had in mind.

Dinner that night was a meat dish. Every time I looked at the red flesh, my stomach turned, and I couldn't bring myself to eat it, so I gave it to Azzy. She howled happily, oblivious to the whole thing.

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