WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 78

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What Was Recovered

After barely calming the King of Dogs, Tyrkanzyaka helped him up and headed for the dining hall.

Even as he rolled on the ground, he neither screamed nor so much as winced. He simply followed Tyrkanzyaka with unfocused eyes and slow steps.

"Are you all right?"

Nod.

He gave a small nod. That was all, no answer, no other reaction.

Tyrkanzyaka looked worried as she spoke.

"It seems you can hear me, and understand what I am saying... Yet you are like an idiot."

Still no response. Tyrkanzyaka could only feel sorry for him.

He had always been cheerful, chattering on like a stream even about useless things, and now he was like this. It truly felt as if everything had been taken from him.

"Let us go to the dining hall first. If anything is wrong, it should reveal itself soon enough."

And even if it did not. Even if he spent the rest of his life as an idiot, that was fine. Tyrkanzyaka intended to take responsibility for him.

He was her benefactor, and just because her heart beat again did not mean the patience she had built over endless ages would vanish.

"The dining hall... should be near the training room on the fourth floor."

As Tyrkanzyaka guided the coffin with bloodcraft, she frowned for a moment. Normally, the instant she willed it, the coffin moved as smoothly as her own body. But ever since her heart began beating again, she felt slight resistance whenever she controlled something outside herself.

It was not that control had become difficult. She only felt a faint weight.

If she had to compare it, it was like the difference between moving her hand and moving a bag she was holding in that hand.

"Is it because I recovered my heart? Bloodcraft no longer moves exactly as I please."

It was a juniper coffin that had stayed with her for nearly a thousand years.

It had been Tyrkanzyaka's bed, her nest, practically her own limbs, and now it felt stiff like an independent child. She felt a little hurt by it.

But when she remembered the warmth of the person seated beside her, along with the soft thudding in her chest, even that disappointment faded.

"Yes. If one thing is gained, something else must be lost."

If one tried to hold the whole world in hand, something small and precious, something that should never be forgotten, might be pushed aside and lost. Tyrkanzyaka decided this was the price of regaining emotion.

With both of them seated side by side, the coffin rose smoothly. They reached the fourth floor in an instant and soon arrived at the dining hall.

In one corner stood a simple dining table with four chairs, set there almost out of obligation. On a shelf were one large stockpot and about five smaller pots lined up by size. It was narrow but tidy, with the lived-in feel of a place someone had cared for.

Looking around, Tyrkanzyaka spoke.

"This is my first time in the dining hall... Well, I never had any reason to come here."

A vampire consumed only blood. So Tyrkanzyaka had never once visited the dining hall until now. Someone's blood loss was a vampire's food.

That was still true, but Tyrkanzyaka now had one more mouth to care for.

After helping him into a chair, Tyrkanzyaka looked around.

"They say even flower-viewing comes after a meal. You have starved for three days, so you must be very hungry. Let us eat something first."

As she moved to cook, Tyrkanzyaka realized again that she knew almost nothing.

Her body had never needed food. There was no way she would remember cooking from 1,200 years ago. All she had left was the rough common sense that if you put ingredients in water and boil them, you got something like stew.

"...I should find ingredients first."

As Tyrkanzyaka glanced around, she spotted a high cabinet. She managed to open it by standing on tiptoe, but at her height she could barely see the lowest shelf.

The bottom shelf held only cups, plates, and similar items. Tyrkanzyaka floated upward and looked toward the higher shelves.

The middle shelf held stored oil and half-used ingredients. Tyrkanzyaka made note of them, then looked higher.

What she saw on the top shelf was

a small golem, tied up and squirming.

"Hm?"

The golem's posture was bizarre. No, bizarre was too mild. There was malice and mischief in it.

As if dreaming of becoming organic, the golem sat with its legs spread 180 degrees and its rear on the floor. It looked like a yoga pose.

But on closer look, it was clear this was not by choice. Its ankles were tightly bound with wire, so it could not close its legs even if it wanted to.

The speaker removed from its mouth sat just out of reach. With its legs tied, the golem desperately stretched an arm to retrieve it, but could not quite reach.

Whoever set this up had calculated the distance perfectly.

Too mild to call torture, too severe to call a prank, exactly the sort of thing that could drive someone mad.

Watching the golem struggle, Tyrkanzyaka said,

"Is that not the toy golem I saw before?"

Noticing her gaze, the golem waved both arms desperately. Without its speaker it could make no sound, but anyone could see it was asking for rescue.

"Are you asking me to untie you?"

Nod, nod.

Without a speaker, the golem answered with even more vigorous motion.

Tyrkanzyaka removed the wire binding the golem. The golem very slowly, very carefully closed its spread legs, then clutched its thighs with both arms and rolled on the floor for a while. It looked like it was writhing in pain.

After some time, the golem stood up and pressed the speaker back to its mouth. A broken, intermittent voice spilled from the reattached speaker.

『That damn... XX actually overstepped...! This is treason...!』

Static crackled, carrying something between language and profanity. After barely calming down, the golem gave a dry cough and faced Tyrkanzyaka.

『...Thank you for your cooperation, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. Though this is presumptuous under the circumstances, this office requests your cooperation.』

"I also have something to ask. I will hear your request first. Let us exchange one thing each."

Tyrkanzyaka spoke calmly.

『I will answer only if it is information this office can disclose.』

"Is that not only natural? I too will stay silent on questions that are difficult to answer. How could one speak secret matters aloud, and even if one did, how would anyone tell truth from falsehood?"

『A foolish question. I accept. Then this office will ask first.』

The golem clenched its fist and lifted its head. There should have been no way to read emotion from that rigid body, yet Tyrkanzyaka somehow felt it was suppressing unbearable rage.

Then the golem spoke.

『Where is that man?』

"That man?"

If there was someone the golem could mean, there was only one. Tyrkanzyaka understood at once, and that made her hesitate.

"If you mean the instructor your side sent, hmm. Well, I... there was a slight problem."

『Is it something you cannot answer?』

"It is not exactly that. He is still here, for now. But..."

She could have said, while skipping the context, that he had lost his memory while trying to return Tyrkanzyaka's lost heart.

But would that not be too irresponsible?

It had called him an instructor. Considering his endless capabilities, he must have been a great talent who would carry the future of the nation called the military state. By ruining such a person, Tyrkanzyaka had caused great damage to the military state as well.

Thinking that way, she had truly troubled many people. Tyrkanzyaka felt a fresh wave of guilt.

"There is much to explain. Could I speak briefly with a representative of your military state?"

She said it intending to negotiate with the military state, to pay compensation for harming him, and to receive him into her custody.

『Did that reactionary cause some kind of incident?』

The answer was so unexpected that Tyrkanzyaka blinked.

"Reactionary... you say?"

『Affirmative! The reactionary who restrained this unit!』

The golem answered in a voice higher than usual.

Was it because she had regained her emotions? Tyrkanzyaka realized she could now read the feelings in voices better than before.

The Progenitor, having regained her emotions, found the unfamiliar sensation interesting and focused on the golem's words.

『This office has a duty to observe the interior of Tantalus! Yet that man, no more than a common laborer, interfered with this office's mission! This is obstruction of official duty at a level-five security facility, and by severity alone it qualifies as at least a level-four crime! On top of that, he has already committed a crime once and received penal labor, so this time there is not even minimum reprieve!!』

He had restrained the golem, then fled. He had obstructed official duty and committed a crime.

He had already committed a crime once? Did that mean he had fallen out of favor with the military state?

Without realizing it, Tyrkanzyaka defended him.

"Do not be so angry. A ruler should respect a general's judgment. Surely he had some deeper reason."

『I can state with certainty that he had no such reason. This is not even a battlefield to begin with, and he is not a general either!』

"Did your nation not send him here? As lord of this territory. If a knight bears responsibility for one domain, he can be called a general..."

『Negative! He cannot even become a steward, let alone a knight! By strict measure, he is lower than a slave!』

Even so, was it not too much to treat someone loyal to his country as a slave?

And to dare call him a slave.

Tyrkanzyaka was about to shout at the golem, half in rebuke and half with anger she could not explain,

『Because he, while hiding it from others including you, is in fact a criminal who committed a crime and received a Tantalus penal labor sentence!』

If the golem had not delivered that unexpected fact, she certainly would have spoken.

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