WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 65: Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show (2)

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Well. What was I going to do?

How was I supposed to explain this?

No, before I explained anything, I didn't even know how to express this miserable feeling.

I rubbed a hand over my face and muttered.

"I clearly warned you, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka. I told you to be careful when strangers approach you with sweet words. They might be trying to take something from you."

I'd taught her, shown her, acted it out, and even teased her relentlessly. Yet none of it had gotten through.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have shown Finlay her heart.

"I told you not to hand over your heart so carelessly, and that magic could never give you what you wanted. I emphasized it again and again. Yet look at this."

A confused voice came from beside me.

"What are you talking about now?"

"This is why I shouldn't call myself an educator. Haa. I'm exhausted. What have I been struggling for all this time if my trainee is going to go astray on her own? What does that make all my effort?"

"You make it sound like you're some proper educator. So what is it?"

The regressor dismissed me rudely, then pressed me for an answer.

With a deep sigh, I calmly told her what I'd learned from Finlay.

"Trainee Tyrkanzyaka has fallen into the Homunculus Dilemma."

Falling into the Homunculus Dilemma.

For those familiar with magic, the phrase carried a symbolic meaning.

It meant someone had tried to change themselves through magic, only to end up in the miserable state of a mere homunculus.

In other words, they had become a puppet controlled by someone else.

The regressor understood immediately and stared at me in shock.

"What? By whom? Don't tell me..."

"Finlay. He has taken control of Trainee Tyrkanzyaka. That's why he can wield her power now."

"Impossible!"

The regressor spoke sharply.

"How could that be possible? A vampire of lower rank can't defeat one of higher rank. There's an enormous gap in their ability to control blood through bloodcraft! And the Progenitor? She could tear him limb from limb with a snap of her fingers!"

"But it happened. It seems Trainee Tyrkanzyaka let her guard down."

"That isn't a gap that can be bridged by carelessness!"

"Is it not? She showed me her heart, and even asked Trainee Shei to strike her with lightning. Isn't that more than enough carelessness?"

And failing to get her heart beating again had led to her being controlled now.

Unable to find fault with my words, the regressor considered the situation more objectively.

"That does explain everything. If Tyrkanzyaka had truly intended to leave, she would have at least told us. But why? To a small fry like him...?"

The regressor frowned in confusion as she slowly recalled what had happened yesterday.

Tyrkanzyaka had said she wanted a heart that beat on its own. She had asked the regressor to strike her with lightning. The regressor had also told Tyrkanzyaka to ask me about the Homunculus Dilemma.

Once she remembered all that, the regressor glared at me fiercely.

"You told Tyrkanzyaka about the Homunculus Dilemma yesterday."

I nodded.

"Yes. Because someone urged me to. If she knew about it, she could've explained it herself. Instead, she kept making me take on bothersome work."

"Tch."

With no rebuttal, the regressor clicked her tongue and changed the subject.

"Did you explain it properly? If she'd heard that story, Tyrkanzyaka wouldn't have carelessly tried something like this."

"I did explain it properly. It seems our expectations were slightly off."

Naturally, the Homunculus Dilemma was a warning.

It was a stern warning never to even dream of altering your body with magic unless you wanted to end up in a horrific state, your body dismantled piece by piece and used as material.

"For an ordinary human, having their body taken apart and used as material would be terrifying, wouldn't it?"

Vampires had displayed attitudes that defied common sense more than once. I knew that, but at the same time, I didn't.

Even I, who could read everything from a person's thoughts to their memories, couldn't completely understand a vampire who had lived for twelve hundred years.

Maybe that was why I realized it too late.

"But would Trainee Tyrkanzyaka really have felt fear or vague revulsion upon hearing that horror story? Or would she have simply thought, so there is a way like that?"

For some reason, she hadn't seemed particularly affected while I explained the Homunculus Dilemma yesterday.

I should have known then.

"Perhaps Trainee Tyrkanzyaka didn't see it as a taboo... but as one possible way to make her heart beat again."

The regressor's face stiffened.

To a vampire who opened her own chest because she wanted an electric shock, to a vampire who asked for magic because electric shocks weren't enough and she wanted to be struck by lightning instead.

The Homunculus Dilemma wasn't a disturbing taboo...

It was no different from a polite refusal.

"I never... realized."

The regressor's voice trembled.

"Then is this because of me? Did Tyrkanzyaka let Finlay have her heart because of me?"

Because of you? What nonsense was that?

If telling her made it your responsibility, what did that make me? I had read her thoughts in real time and still hadn't foreseen this situation.

"No. It isn't Trainee Shei's fault."

I wasn't responsible. Therefore, neither was she. We could both clear ourselves.

"And it isn't my fault either. How was I supposed to know Trainee Tyrkanzyaka's wish for a heart that beat wildly on its own was so great? Honestly, this is Trainee Tyrkanzyaka's fault from start to finish. Seriously, she's not some elderly person with dementia. Why does she stick her head into every danger she finds? If she weren't immortal, she'd have died long ago."

I offered my comfort in an endlessly lighthearted voice.

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

Just as she was about to relax.

'Wait.'

Strength returned to her lowered eyes. The regressor forcibly pushed away that sweet comfort and bristled against the weakness trying to take hold of her.

"How did you know that?"

Ahahaha. Sharp.

I read Finlay's memories.

From the lie he told Tyrkanzyaka yesterday to the sight of the vampire eventually taking out her heart despite hearing such an obvious lie. I had seen Finlay's memories clearly.

But I couldn't tell her that. I placed my index finger against my lips.

"It's a secret."

Then I gave her a perfectly innocent smile.

The regressor's gaze darkened further. Like a beast facing an enemy, she sharpened every sense and glared at me through gritted teeth.

No, why? I'd given her such a friendly smile. What had I done?

"...Fine. We'll let that secret go. Then."

The regressor looked ready to spring at the slightest touch as she demanded an answer from me.

"So. What do you intend to do? Stand by? Cooperate? Or become an enemy?"

Well.

If I could escape outside using the vampire's power, I might have cooperated with Finlay. No, before that, I would've tempted the vampire and gone to the surface with her.

But I knew I couldn't escape in such a simple way. I'd dismantled Finlay's bracelet and found a clue, then forced an answer out of the golem and become certain.

To get outside, I needed something besides the ability to fly.

Which meant...

"Finlay will fail to escape. You can't leave the Abyss that way."

Since vampires were immortal, they might patiently keep climbing. But even that had its limits. At some point, they would realize they could never reach the surface this way.

"Once he realizes he was wrong, he'll come back to us. Won't that be awkward? We said, hello! Goodbye! Then he returns because he didn't actually know the way out. Things will be awkward for both sides, and the already heavy air of the Abyss will grow even heavier."

"So what's your conclusion?"

I had no ability to send Finlay outside. Even if I told him that, he wouldn't believe me. And even if he came to believe it after confirming it through various means, he wouldn't leave me alone after I had deceived him.

In other words, we were destined to clash someday.

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

"I'm lively by nature, so I'd rather die than endure an awkward atmosphere. I suppose I'll have to keep Finlay here, even if I have to catch and kill him."

I grinned and held out my hand to the regressor.

"Trainee Shei, let's cooperate. To catch and kill Finlay."

"Hmph. Do you think I'd cooperate with someone whose true intentions I can't see, like you?"

No, why was she so prickly when I'd smiled so kindly and offered to cooperate? Was she secretly the King of Hedgehogs?

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

"We only happen to have the same goal. Just don't get in my way."

"That's good enough. How reassuring."

"I'm not reassured at all."

'It's better than having him as an enemy, but I can't trust him completely. I'll assume I'm fighting alone for now.'

Oh. A good resolution.

Because she really would have to fight alone. I had no ability to fight vampires.

So she needed to win alone. If I ended up by myself, I was in serious trouble.

Watching the regressor prepare herself to fight alone, I casually asked.

"Do you have a plan?"

"...Hoo. There's no reason to hide it."

The regressor raised a finger. As she focused and exerted herself, bright red blood seeped from between her fingers, gathered into a bead, and rolled across her fingertip.

"Bloodcraft is an ability every vampire possesses. But no matter how capable he is, he's only a Yeiling. He isn't an Elder, nor is he even an Ain. The connection in his power must be loose. If that's the case..."

Flick.

When the regressor shook her finger, the blood burst in midair. The impact was comparable to a small bomb.

Amid the scattering droplets, the regressor spoke confidently.

"I'll shock Tyrkanzyaka with my bloodcraft. My power is primordial bloodcraft. It doesn't belong to Tyrkanzyaka's power. If I stimulate her with an alien power, Tyrkanzyaka's instincts will emerge, if only to resist it."

Even if her head had been damaged a little, a regressor was still a regressor. Her countermeasure was solid. It was more than acceptable.

There was no need to hold back praise at a time like this.

"Nice. That's an excellent plan."

The regressor snorted.

"Hmph. Stop spouting empty praise and provide some long-range support."

"I don't have any means of long-range support."

The regressor looked at me with cold eyes.

What? Did she think that was all I lacked?

Actually, I had no means of close-range support either! Ta-da!

"Then use magic from the back."

"The limit of the magic I can use is zero-level magecraft."

You saw me using magic last time. You even saw how pitiful my mana was.

Remembering that, the regressor's face twisted.

"Tch, what? You're just a swordsman? A swordsman with no abilities has the worst possible compatibility with Tyrkanzyaka!"

No, I was a card player. I had barely used a sword before. My entire history as a swordsman consisted of the kitchen knife I used while cooking.

"Then deal with Tyrkanzyaka's familiars! I'll handle everything else!"

'He's not reassuring at all! Hmph, but it's fine. I can do it alone. I did it in the previous cycle too!'

For a moment, the regressor recalled something from her previous cycle. She had once raided the headquarters of the immortal army that opposed the Sanctum during the great war.

Back then, the regressor had faced the Progenitor, Tyrkanzyaka. A vengeance seeker with blood-red eyes who proclaimed her bloody revenge.

'I'm weaker now, and I don't have many methods available, but the same is true for her. No, it's even worse for her. There are no Elders or Ains of the Fog Duchy protecting Tyrkanzyaka, are there? If I'm careful around Rallion, I can wake Tyrkanzyaka.'

The brief recollection ended. Having finished calculating everything in her head, the regressor steeled herself and spoke.

"We need to prepare."

"What a remarkable coincidence. I need to prepare too."

"Meet here in one minute. We're going to kill Finlay and save Tyrkanzyaka."

She didn't wait for an answer. The regressor strode back to her room.

To retrieve tools that could deal with vampires.

Hmm.

I didn't actually have anything to prepare. Still, I should at least pretend to gather something, right?

Scratching my head, I headed upstairs to collect the few pieces of equipment I had.

Footnotes:

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