WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 65

──────

Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show (2)

Well. What was I going to do?

How was I even supposed to explain this?

No, before that, I did not even know how to put this miserable feeling into words.

I rubbed my face with one hand and muttered.

"I clearly warned you, Tyrkanzyaka. When a stranger comes to you with sweet words, be careful. They might be trying to take something from you."

I taught her, showed her, acted it out, even teased her to drive it home. Clearly none of it sank in.

Otherwise, she would never have shown her heart to Finlay.

"I told you not to hand over your heart so easily, and that magic can never get you what you truly want. I stressed it again and again. And this is what we get."

A confused voice cut in while I kept muttering to myself.

"What are you talking about?"

"This is why I should never pretend to be an educator. Haa, I am exhausted. What did I struggle for all this time? If my trainee goes off the rails whenever she feels like it, what was all my effort for?"

"Anyone listening would think you are a real teacher. So what is it, exactly?"

The regressor cut me off and pressed me again.

I let out a deep sigh and calmly told her what I had read from Finlay.

"Trainee Tyrkanzyaka has fallen into the Homunculus Dilemma."

Fallen into the Homunculus Dilemma.

Among people who knew magic, that phrase carried symbolic weight.

It meant someone had tried to change themselves with magic, only to end up in a miserable state no better than a homunculus.

In other words, it meant becoming a puppet controlled by someone else.

The regressor understood at once and stared at me in shock.

"What? By who? No way."

"Finlay. He controlled trainee Tyrkanzyaka. Because of that, Finlay can now wield trainee Tyrkanzyaka's power."

"Impossible!"

the regressor said.

"How is that possible? A lower-ranking vampire cannot beat one above them. There is a massive gap in bloodcraft and blood control. And a Progenitor? She could tear your limbs off with a snap of her fingers."

"But it happened. Looks like trainee Tyrkanzyaka let her guard down."

"That is not a gap you close with a little carelessness!"

"Is it not? She exposed her heart in front of me, and even asked trainee Shei to strike her with lightning. Is that not more than careless enough?"

And in the end, she failed to do what she should have done, so now she was being controlled.

Unable to pick apart my logic, the regressor looked at the situation more objectively.

"That does explain everything. If Tyrkanzyaka had really planned to leave, she would have at least given us a hint first. But why? For a small fry like that...?"

With a troubled expression, the regressor carefully retraced yesterday.

Tyrkanzyaka said she wanted a heart that beat on its own. She asked for lightning to strike her. She told Shei to ask me about the Homunculus Dilemma.

When she remembered that, she glared at me sharply.

"You told Tyrkanzyaka about the Homunculus Dilemma yesterday."

I nodded.

"Yes. Because someone pushed me to. If you knew it, you could have explained it yourself. Instead, you kept dumping annoying work on me."

"Tch."

With nothing to say back, the regressor clicked her tongue and changed tack.

"You explained it properly, right? If she heard that story, Tyrkanzyaka would never have tried something that reckless."

"I explained it properly. Our prediction was just off."

Of course, the Homunculus Dilemma was a warning.

A severe warning: if you did not want to end up as a grotesque body dismantled for materials, then you should never even dream of changing your body with magic.

"To an ordinary human, having your body torn apart and used as ingredients would be terrifying, right?"

But vampires had already shown attitudes that defied common sense more than once. I knew that, and yet I did not.

Even I, who could read everything from thoughts to memories, could not fully read a vampire who had lived through twelve hundred years.

Maybe that was why I realized it too late.

"But would trainee Tyrkanzyaka really hear that horror story and feel fear or vague revulsion? Or would she just think, so that method exists too, and move on?"

For some reason, when I explained the Homunculus Dilemma yesterday, she barely reacted.

I should have realized it then.

"Maybe trainee Tyrkanzyaka did not take it as a taboo. Maybe she took it as one possible way to make her heart beat again."

The regressor's face hardened.

To a vampire who opened her own chest asking for electric shock, to a vampire who said shock was not enough and asked for magic to call down lightning.

Something like the Homunculus Dilemma was not a creepy taboo. It was just another polite refusal.

"I had... no idea."

The regressor's voice trembled.

"Then was it my fault? Because of me, did Tyrkanzyaka allow Finlay to take her heart?"

Your fault? What kind of nonsense was that.

If it was your fault for saying that, then what did that make me? I was reading thoughts in real time and still failed to see this coming.

"No. It is not trainee Shei's fault."

I was not responsible, so she was not responsible either. Let us both off the hook.

"And it is not my fault either. How was I supposed to know trainee Tyrkanzyaka's wish for a wildly beating heart was this intense? Honestly, this is trainee Tyrkanzyaka's fault from start to finish. Seriously, she is not some senile old lady. Why does she throw herself at every danger she sees? If she were not immortal, she would have died ages ago."

I offered comfort in an almost breezy tone.

For a moment, the regressor was moved by it. Warm comfort was rare even for her.

Right as she started to relax.

'Wait.'

Strength returned to her lowered eyes. She forcibly pushed away my sweet comfort and raised sharp thorns around her softening heart.

"How do you know that?"

Ahaha. Sharp.

Because I read memories.

From Finlay's lie yesterday, to the vampire who heard that obvious lie and still took out her own heart. I had seen all of it clearly in Finlay's memory.

But I could not tell her that, so I lifted my index finger to my lips.

"It's a secret."

I gave her a spotless, bright smile.

Her gaze darkened even more. Like a beast spotting an enemy, she sharpened every sense and glared at me through clenched teeth.

No, I just gave her a friendly smile. Why? What did I do?

"...Fine. Forget that secret. Then."

The regressor demanded an answer, coiled tight like she might spring at any second.

"So. What are you going to do? Stay out of it? Cooperate? Or turn hostile?"

Well.

If I could escape outside by using vampire power, I might have cooperated with Finlay. No, before that, I would have coaxed the vampire and gone up to the surface together.

But I knew I could not escape in such a simple way. I got clues by dismantling Finlay's bracelet, and after pressing the golem, I became certain.

To get outside, you needed something other than the ability to fly.

Which meant.

"Finlay will fail to escape. You cannot leave the Abyss that way."

As immortal vampires, they could keep climbing patiently. But even that had limits. Sooner or later, they would realize this method could never reach the surface.

"When he realizes he was wrong, he will come back to us. Then things get awkward for both sides, right? We said, Bye, take care. But if he comes back because he does not know the way out, both sides will be awkward, and the already heavy air of the Abyss will get even heavier."

"So what is your conclusion?"

I had no ability to send Finlay out. But even if I told him that, he would not believe me. And even if he eventually believed it after trying every method, he would not spare the person who deceived him.

In short, we were bound to clash eventually.

If I wanted to survive, I had to kill Finlay.

"I am lively by nature, and I hate awkward atmospheres to death. So I guess we should keep Finlay here, even if we have to hunt him down and kill him."

I grinned and held out my hand to the regressor.

"Trainee Shei, let us cooperate. To hunt Finlay down and kill him."

"Hmph. You think I would cooperate with someone like you, when I cannot read what is in your head?"

No, I gave such a friendly smile and such a cooperative attitude, so why are you this prickly? Are you secretly the king of hedgehogs?

Ignoring my awkwardly outstretched hand, the regressor dusted off her clothes.

"We just happen to share the same goal. Just do not get in my way."

"That is fine either way. Reassuring."

"Not reassuring at all."

'Better than making him an enemy, but I cannot trust him completely. For now, I should assume I am fighting alone.'

Oh. Good decision.

Because you really did have to fight alone. I had no ability to fight vampires.

So you had to win on your own. If I was left alone, I would be in real trouble.

Watching the regressor steel herself for a solo fight, I asked casually.

"Do you have a plan?"

"...Hoo. No reason to hide it."

The regressor raised her finger. As she focused and exerted force, bright red blood seeped out between her fingers, gathered into beadlike drops, and rolled across her hand.

"Bloodcraft is an ability every vampire has. But no matter how good he is, he is only a Yeling. Not an Elder, not even an Ain. The link of control should be loose. If so."

Tap. She flicked her finger, and the blood burst in midair. The impact was comparable to a small bomb.

Amid the scattering droplets, the regressor spoke with confidence.

"I will shock Tyrkanzyaka with my bloodcraft. My power is primal bloodcraft. It does not belong to Tyrkanzyaka's power. If I stimulate her with a foreign force, Tyrkanzyaka's instincts will surface if only to resist it."

Even if her head was a little broken, a regressor was still a regressor. The plan was solid. Easily good enough.

No reason to hold back praise at a time like this.

"Nice. Excellent strategy."

The regressor snorted.

"Hmph. Stop with the empty words and give me ranged support."

"I do not really have any ranged support tools."

She looked at me with cold eyes.

What, why? You thought ranged support was the only thing I lacked?

I lacked close-range support too. Ta-da.

"Then cast magic from the back."

"The only magic I can use is Level 0 arcane."

You saw me cast before. That pitiful amount of magical energy.

Remembering that, the regressor twisted her face.

"Tch, what. So you are just a swordsman? A no-skill swordsman has the worst compatibility against Tyrkanzyaka."

No, I was a card shark. I had barely used a sword in my life. My kitchen knife while cooking was the entire history of my swordsmanship.

"Then at least handle Tyrkanzyaka's familiar. I will handle everything else myself."

'This is not reassuring at all. Hmph, but it is fine. I can do this alone. I did it in the previous cycle too.'

For a moment, the regressor recalled what happened in an earlier cycle, when she raided the headquarters of the immortal army that fought the Sanctum in the great war.

Back then, the regressor had faced Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. A revenant with blood-red eyes who declared bloody vengeance.

'Right now I am weaker than then and I have fewer tools, but the same goes for my opponent. No, even more so. The Fog Duchy's Elders and Ains guarding Tyrkanzyaka are not here, right? As long as I watch out for Rallion, I can wake Tyrkanzyaka.'

The brief recollection ended. After finishing her calculations, the regressor hardened her resolve and said:

"I need to prepare."

"What an incredible coincidence. I also needed to prepare."

"Meet here in one minute. We are taking down Finlay and saving Tyrkanzyaka."

She did not even wait for an answer. The regressor strode back to her room.

To pull out tools for fighting vampires.

Hmm.

I actually had nothing to prepare. But I should at least pretend to gather things.

I scratched my head and headed upstairs, to collect my few pieces of equipment.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried