WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 77: The Age of Loss

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The firmly shut steel door opened with a heavy groan. Azzy and Shei both turned toward it.

At last, after three days of seclusion, he and Tyrkanzyaka were coming out.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Hey! What on earth have you been doing in there...?!"

Just as they strode toward the door, Tyrkanzyaka squeezed through the narrow opening ahead of them, bursting out in a panic. She looked around wildly, spotted Shei, and hurried over.

"Shei! Shei! This is bad! He...!"

Tyrkanzyaka was always elegant and leisurely, usually sitting atop her coffin. She carried herself with the dignity befitting the Progenitor of vampires and the Shadow Queen.

Yet now she was running toward Shei with a disheveled face.

Taken aback by Tyrkanzyaka's unfamiliar appearance, Shei asked in confusion, "Huh? What's wrong, Tyrkanzyaka? Where's the coffin you always ride around on, and where's that man...?"

Shei's questions were answered at once.

The steel door opened fully, revealing a huge coffin and him sitting quietly atop it.

The instructor sat blankly in what had been Tyrkanzyaka's personal seat, as though his soul had left his body.

Shei was glad to see that shameless face, but anger rose in her all over again. She shouted at him.

"Just in time! What kind of ritual did you perform? And what did you mean in that note? Get down here right..."

"That isn't the problem, Shei!"

Tyrkanzyaka grabbed Shei. Her movements were so urgent that Shei could hardly believe this was the same Tyrkanzyaka.

What could it be? Why was Tyrkanzyaka so flustered, and why was that man sitting vacantly atop the coffin?

Just as those questions filled Shei's mind.

"He's lost his memories!"

"What?"

The words swept every thought from Shei's head.

Tyrkanzyaka explained what had happened. She did not know much herself, so the explanation was brief.

After hearing the result, Shei asked doubtfully, "Your heart is really beating? That man did it?"

"Yes! It's truly beating!"

"That's impossible. Even a mage couldn't do that. How could that man, who isn't even a mage...? Are you sure it's beating again? You aren't mistaken?"

It was a reasonable question in one sense, but it poured cold water over Tyrkanzyaka, who was feeling both joy at having her wish granted and concern over its cost.

The faint excitement left Tyrkanzyaka's face as she glared at Shei.

"Do you think I would lie to you about something this important? Or are you saying he deceived me, deceived my bloodcraft? Must I show you my pounding heart before you believe me?"

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just, if reviving a heart was this easy..."

If it had been easy, why had Shei failed to achieve it in her previous lives?

Shei stopped herself just before saying that. She did not want to reveal that she was a regressor yet.

But that only made Tyrkanzyaka more upset.

"Easy? You can still say that after seeing the state that child is in?!"

Shei flinched at Tyrkanzyaka's roar. Before Shei could make an excuse, Tyrkanzyaka pointed at him atop the coffin and cried out.

"For three whole days, he did not drink a single sip of water. Not a morsel of food passed his lips. He fasted, did not move even a speck, and sat more quietly than a vampire in a coffin! Then, at the end, he revived my heart and lost his memories as the price! He took on something this reckless, and you call it easy?"

Still, it had been easy for something no one had managed in twelve hundred years.

Shei could not bring herself to grumble that with Tyrkanzyaka acting so serious. She closed her mouth and pretended to agree.

'Still... judging by how worked up she is, her heart really must be beating again.'

If her heart had still been stopped, Tyrkanzyaka might not have agreed with Shei, but she would at least have understood. Vampires with cold blood did not get worked up easily. They observed everything from a step away.

The fact that she was this emotional was proof that she had regained her feelings.

'This is good. We just need to restore that man's memories and learn how he did it! Then persuading Tyrkanzyaka will be much easier starting next time. Even if he never gets his memories back, I can make him my companion in the next life! Either way, finding a way to conquer this is a great thing!'

Having finished her calculations as a regressor, Shei happily said, "Anyway, congratulations! Now we just need to bring him back to himself!"

"Hoo... Shei, you..."

Tyrkanzyaka was about to say something, but she closed her eyes and calmed herself.

When her heart had been stopped, she had never needed to go through such a process. Now that it had returned, her emotions no longer moved exactly as she wished.

Remembering once more what she had gained and recovered, Tyrkanzyaka felt grateful to him again.

"Enough. I did not come here to argue with you. What do you think? Is there a way to restore his memories?"

"Well, in my case, I handle most things with the Heaven-Reversing Boundary..."

The Heaven-Reversing Boundary was the ultimate defensive internal art, engraving specific movements into the body so it could react accordingly.

At low mastery, it only launched reflexive counterattacks in response to unexpected approaches. Its true value emerged as one's mastery rose.

The mind followed the body.

By repeating movements ingrained into the body, one could maintain peace of mind and return the spirit and soul to a stable state. Thanks to the Heaven-Reversing Boundary, Shei was protected against mental attacks such as curses that stopped the heart or rendered someone senseless.

To defend against mental attacks and prevent sudden death while unconscious, Shei learned the Heaven-Reversing Boundary to its peak at the beginning of every life.

"...But he probably doesn't have anything like that. And even if he does, I wouldn't know about it."

Despair crossed Tyrkanzyaka's face. Shei realized anew that her expressions had become surprisingly varied for a vampire.

Then Shei remembered the note she had received three days ago.

Could that strange message mean...?

As Shei rummaged through her pocket, Tyrkanzyaka murmured with a hollow look in her eyes.

"Then he will remain without his memories... My goodness, to save me..."

"Wait a second, Tyrkanzyaka. Look."

"Truly, I have no words. To fulfill my own lingering wish, I stole his future..."

"Look at this."

"There is no helping it... Since I have taken his whole life from him, I must compensate him for it. I will keep him by my side for the rest of his life and care for him..."

Trying to stop Tyrkanzyaka as the matter grew increasingly grave, Shei pulled out the note and waved it around.

"Wait! Hold on! He left a note for me!"

Tyrkanzyaka's eyes turned to it. Shei unfolded the note before her and pointed at it.

"There's not much written on the note itself. Just that I should take care of Azzy and not go near the underground armory. But there are other words in the indentations here!"

"Indentations? I see nothing."

"Ah, right. Then I'll read it to you."

Do not go to the dining hall.

Even if my condition is strange afterward, do not touch me carelessly.

If supplies arrive, use them on yourself.

Using her eyes that saw depth, Shei carefully read the writing, then folded the note again and said smugly, "He expected that something might happen to him too. Look. He wrote, 'Even if my condition is strange afterward.' It seems he left this with me for just such a situation."

"...Why you specifically?"

"It says not to go to the dining hall, but telling someone not to go somewhere is practically the same as telling them they must go there. There must be something in the dining hall..."

Shei was pointing at the note as she explained when she suddenly looked up.

Tyrkanzyaka had puffed out her cheeks with a sulky expression.

Something about Tyrkanzyaka's attitude felt strange.

She should have been happy that they had found a clue. Why did she look dissatisfied?

"Why did he have to give that note to you specifically?"

"Huh?"

Shei let out a stupid sound without meaning to. Something about this situation was going wrong.

Tyrkanzyaka continued to glare at Shei and voice her displeasure.

"He could have simply given it to me. Why pass it through you and make matters complicated? When he opened his eyes, I would have been the first person he saw. If I had known what the note said beforehand, I would not have worried like this."

"Uh...?"

Wait. What was that attitude supposed to mean?

Shei was so flustered that she could not speak for a moment. Tyrkanzyaka let out a faint sigh, then clenched one hand and struck her palm as if she had realized something.

"Ah. I understand at last. The person who must not go to the dining hall is undoubtedly you, Shei. He gave the note only to you so that you would not go there. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to entrust it to you."

"Uh...?"

"And since you were the only one left outside anyway, he must have told you at the same time. Fine. I will take him to the dining hall. Something should come of it if we go there."

Tyrkanzyaka looked ready to run off immediately. Still standing there blankly, Shei hurriedly spoke up.

"Wait, Tyrkanzyaka. I'll come too! You might have trouble finding..."

"Are you planning to disobey what is written in the note? Stay here. If I need help, I will call for you."

'No, why are you trying to follow what the note says so strictly? He wrote it himself, so it doesn't matter if we break this much!'

But Tyrkanzyaka was unyielding. She clearly intended to leave Shei behind no matter what. Shei felt unfairly slighted.

'If this was going to happen, I should have gone first. I only followed the instructions on the note for nothing!'

Shei harshly criticized her overly obedient self from three days ago. She decided that if there was another life, she would not blindly do whatever this man told her to do.

"Woof woof! Woof woof!"

Then Azzy's happy barking reached them. It was a sound full of satisfaction, one Shei had not heard in days. She reflexively looked over.

Azzy was playing with him.

With unfocused eyes, he followed behind Azzy and threw the ball. It rose weakly into the air before falling. Whenever Azzy happily fetched it and came back, he petted her without changing his blank expression.

Then Azzy excitedly leaned against him. The impact made him stagger weakly and fall to the ground.

Azzy barked in alarm.

"Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof!"

Tyrkanzyaka paled and rushed over.

"K-King of Dogs. Leave him alone for a moment!"

"Woof woof woof! What do I do? What do I do?"

"I said leave him alone!"

Chaos broke out. Azzy barked in fright while Tyrkanzyaka did not know what to do. The two circled around him as he lay on the ground.

Watching them, Shei muttered, "So he really has lost his memories... I had my doubts, but it doesn't seem like a joke."

As Shei said that, she suddenly reflected that she might be too harsh for still doubting him even now.

Footnotes:

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