WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 76: Loss of Self

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Thump. Thump.

An unfamiliar sound echoed through the quiet room. It was a small, fragile beat, like a newborn bird's song, barely audible even when listening closely.

The most primal music the heart could offer.

A rhythm unique to a living being, with a steady beat and distinctive variations branching from it.

Tyrkanzyaka opened her eyes to that cadence.

Like a child who had slept far too long, Tyrkanzyaka hurriedly sat up. She stared blankly into the darkness, then frantically felt over her body and face.

"When did I... fall asleep?"

She had certainly been awake until halfway through. In front of her, he had been sitting with his eyes gently closed. He was clearly doing something, but even with all her accumulated experience, Tyrkanzyaka had no idea what it was.

So she lay still and watched him.

Tyrkanzyaka was used to waiting. Otherwise, she could never have endured for so long. There were days when she had quietly watched the night sky drift by for an entire day without any reason, and when she felt like it, she would burrow underground and sleep for a hundred years or so.

Watching someone's face for a few hours or days was no trouble at all.

Besides, studying every detail of his face was not particularly boring.

At some point, he moved after sitting there as still as a corpse. While Tyrkanzyaka wondered at the sudden motion, his hand slowly reached toward the card she was holding.

His fingers touched the card, then her body.

At that moment, Tyrkanzyaka lost consciousness.

She did not know how long she had slept. What woke her was the steady pulse of a heart beating within her.

It was an unfamiliar sensation, yet one that naturally blended into her body after a moment, like a wanderer returning home after a long time...

"A... heart?"

The instant she realized it, Tyrkanzyaka hurriedly brought both hands to her chest. She placed one palm over the other and quietly felt the beat, then let out a shocked gasp.

"That's... impossible."

Her heart was beating. Clearly, without a doubt.

It was not slow. Nor was it mechanical and regular.

It was natural enough that even Tyrkanzyaka had failed to notice it at first, yet it was familiar enough to stir a longing for the distant past.

This was not a brief flicker that rose and faded, like when electricity was sent through her heart. This was unmistakably her own pulse.

It had beaten before, and it would continue to beat. Tyrkanzyaka knew it by instinct.

"No. You really did it... How in the world?"

Tyrkanzyaka examined her body. Having reached the pinnacle of bloodcraft and gained control over every drop of blood in her body, she carefully retraced the changes while taking care not to damage her heart.

An ordinary person would never have noticed. But Tyrkanzyaka, who had honed bloodcraft for twelve hundred years and even controlled blood outside her body, quickly discovered what had happened.

Then she was overcome with confusion.

"Bloodcraft? How could you, when you're not even a vampire? I only taught it to Shei..."

Bloodcraft was not impossible to learn for someone willing to do so. Tyrkanzyaka had discovered it herself while alive, and Shei had mastered it without even needing a few weeks.

At its root, bloodcraft was a kind of internal energy technique based on understanding.

Still, even after learning bloodcraft, most people could only control the blood within their own bodies. Shei knew that and focused only on stopping blood loss or strengthening her own body. Unless talent, chance, and experience came together and blossomed as they had for Tyrkanzyaka, extending bloodcraft into another person's body was nearly impossible.

Yet he had changed Tyrkanzyaka with bloodcraft.

And not just that.

"What I threw away... The things I cast aside long ago to survive..."

The things she had needed to abandon simply to live.

The things she had pushed into a corner of her memories and left there for an eternity.

The things that had grown so old that she eventually forgot they had ever existed.

All of them had been contained within the single card in her chest. Like an old diary carefully stored away in a drawer, like a treasure chest filled with memories and buried deep beneath the earth.

A distant nostalgia passed through Tyrkanzyaka's heart.

Tears came to her eyes.

Those, too, were something Tyrkanzyaka had lost.

Shedding tears of joy and longing, Tyrkanzyaka repeated in a choked voice.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. You really... did this for me..."

Naturally, she had many questions.

How had he found memories of her body that even she herself had been forced to forget?

How had he put them into a single card and engraved them into Tyrkanzyaka?

How could he use bloodcraft when she had never taught it to him?

She wanted to know everything, but those were secondary matters.

"Thank you. How could I ever repay this debt...? Just tell me what you want."

Tears welled in her eyes, something she had once forgotten. Tyrkanzyaka smiled brightly as she spoke to him.

"If it's something I can give, I'll give you anything. Tell me."

He had lowered his head as if exhausted and was nodding off.

She wanted to let him sleep, but there was not even a proper bed here, so he would not rest well. Tyrkanzyaka reached out to wake him.

Her hand touched his shoulder. In response, he raised his head. His unfocused eyes met Tyrkanzyaka's.

"...are you?"

Tyrkanzyaka waited for the rest of his request, prepared to gladly accept whatever he asked of her.

What he had given her was precious enough for that.

"Who... are you?"

But her tender feelings lasted only a moment.

Even Tyrkanzyaka could only stare in stunned disbelief at the words that came from his mouth.

Shei had been watching over the underground armory for days without getting proper sleep.

It had already been three days since the instructor said he would perform some kind of ritual with Tyrkanzyaka. Since that day, the solid steel door had not opened even once.

Not the faintest sound came from inside, and the room was made entirely of steel, making it impossible to see through. All she could do was wait outside for the door to open.

'What the hell are they doing? It isn't something improper, is it...?'

Shei shook her head.

What a ridiculous thought. Vampires felt no desire besides bloodlust and reverence for the Blood Lord, and he had never shown any suspicious behavior until now. That was too much of a leap.

Still, the instructor bore quite a bit of responsibility for making Shei so suspicious. What kind of ritual was he performing that he had to act so secretively?

'Tch...! If it was going to take three days, he should've explained it properly before leaving! I've been too curious to sleep!'

Just as she was blaming him for no reason because she could not ease her frustration...

"Woof!"

Azzy approached with a ball in her mouth. While the regressor sat in the yard guarding the door, Azzy had gotten bored, taken it as a sign that playtime was about to begin, and often asked Shei to play ball with her.

Shei wanted to maintain a good relationship with Azzy, so she accepted every time Azzy asked.

The process and results were somewhat different from how he usually played with her, though. Holding the ball in one hand, Shei raised Skywarbler with the other.

"Heavenly Sword Technique, Fair Wind."

"Woof?"

Before Azzy could react, Shei swung Skywarbler and sent the ball flying. Wrapped in wind, it rose and fell on its own as it flew all around the yard.

Shei had gained a brief moment of peace and was glaring at the closed door again when it happened.

Rather than chase the ball, Azzy sat down and tapped at Shei's feet. Shei looked back at her.

"Azzy? What's wrong?"

Azzy barked, clearly dissatisfied.

"Woof! You're not playing! Only me!"

"Huh?"

"Woof woof! Woof woof woof! You're no fun!"

"No, wait."

Her dissatisfaction must have built up quite a bit. Azzy had always played on her own before quietly wandering off, but this time she seemed determined as she kept barking at Shei without pause.

The King of Dogs, who was endlessly fond of humans.

Faced with the king's complaint, Shei did not know how to respond.

"No, I was just... trying to make it easier."

"Woof woof woof!"

Had she underestimated the King of Dogs because Azzy was kind to humans?

It seemed this approach would not work. Shei sighed and called the ball back. Riding the wind through the air, it landed in Shei's hand.

"Fine. From now on, I won't use any tricks. I'll throw it by hand. Will that satisfy you?"

"Arf! No! Arf arf!"

Azzy barked loudly once and abruptly turned away from Shei. Rejected by even the famously kind King of Dogs, Shei could only stare stupidly at her retreating back.

Shei ruffled her hair and muttered.

"...Ugh. I don't get it. How did that guy get along with Azzy so well?"

It might be awkward to say, but Shei too was quietly hoping he would return. He was the only one who could resolve the many questions scattered before her, as well as the problem right in front of her.

She would never admit it, but perhaps she had grown a little attached to him too.

Then the door opened.

Footnotes:

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