Chapter 141: A Perfect? Calculation?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 141: A Perfect? Calculation?
Shei, Tyrkanzyaka, Callis, and the Undying, who had been wandering the wasteland, made camp not far from the Abyss.
Unlike typical escapees, they had built a large, blazing red fire, as if advertising their location. It was as if they were begging for someone to find them.
Gathered around the campfire that illuminated their surroundings, they were now lost in a deep sorrow.
Tyrkanzyaka stared endlessly into the burning campfire. Every so often, a choked sound escaped her, and Shei would sneak glances at her, pretending to tend the fire. Each time she poked the flames with Chun-aeng, they flared up.
For today, Callis and the Undying sat at a distance from each other. They avoided eye contact, like two strangers meeting for the first time.
In response to this considerate, yet not-so-considerate gesture, Tyrkanzyaka waved a hand.
“…It’s fine.”
But the words that followed only made everyone’s hearts heavier.
“I must have been a burden. I am the Progenitor, Tyrkanzyaka. The progenitor of all vampires, a monster that craves blood… Someone like me could never be accepted by anyone.”
As she spoke, Tyrkanzyaka suddenly grimaced and placed a hand on her chest, as if trying to pull out a worm that was eating away at her heart.
But the source of her pain was impossible to grasp.
The vampire, whose every drop of blood obeyed her will, writhed in a metaphysical agony she had never before experienced.
Tyrkanzyaka grimaced, and the others watched her, their eyes darting about nervously.
Tyrkanzyaka let out a wet sigh and spoke to Shei.
“Enough of that. Let’s talk about something else. Is it truly real?”
“Huh? W-what?”
Suddenly put on the spot, Shei panicked.
She could fight an enemy, but this kind of problem, one that couldn't be solved with force, was too much for Shei. She swallowed hard, struggling to choose her words.
Fortunately, Tyrkanzyaka’s topic was different.
“…That the one called the King of Sins will truly destroy the world.”
“Ah, uh! Right. I, well…”
Shei, who was about to say she had regressed, stopped herself.
Those who are content with the present become anxious the moment they hear the word 'regression.' They worry that their happiness might not exist in the next timeline Shei creates.
In that moment, Shei would be holding their happiness hostage. They would cling to her, begging her to choose them in the future, to grant them the same happiness.
It was too great a burden for Shei, who had to stop the apocalypse.
This was why she never carelessly revealed the fact that she regressed.
Even when she did, it was often dismissed as just another prophecy from the Sanctum.
If I reveal my regression now, I think they’d believe me, but…
Shei studied Tyrkanzyaka carefully. Though Tyrkanzyaka was suffering from her recovered emotions, she didn't seem like she would wish for a regression. If she knew that these feelings, this very heartbeat, could all disappear…
Shei swallowed the words she was about to say and changed the subject.
“…Yeah. I saw it in a vision.”
“You saw it yourself? A man like you?”
“Ah, no! I know a prophet! She can't see the big picture, but she's great with the details! She's not with the Sanctum! She's trustworthy!”
Shei quickly changed her story. Tyrkanzyaka gave her a slightly suspicious look before nodding.
“Is that so.”
Whether her suspicion had faded or she simply had no energy to doubt, Tyrkanzyaka stared endlessly into the distance and suddenly spoke.
“I will help you.”
“…Huh? Really?”
“This does not mean I fully trust that prophecy. The Sanctum has always guided prophecies to its own advantage. However, if there is a chance this world could end, I do not wish to stand by and simply watch.”
“Hmm, thanks, but… are you going to be okay?”
Shei asked very carefully. She didn't need to specify what she meant by 'okay.' The subject was already dissolved into the atmosphere.
Tyrkanzyaka nodded calmly.
“Hu asked if I could protect him even if the world ended. I told him I could.”
“He said that? When?”
“Before we left the Abyss. If this prophecy you know of is true, then I must help you, if only to keep my word. In truth, even if it weren't, I must see what happens with my own eyes.”
Shei was happy to hear Tyrkanzyaka's words, but she frowned at the shadow of Hu lurking behind them.
How can someone be so suspicious? The end of the world? Does that mean he knew the world was going to end?
“What is he, really? Is he part of the Sanctum or something? Ugh, so suspicious. I have to grab him and ask him someday…”
As Shei muttered, Tyrkanzyaka’s sigh reached her ears.
“Haaah.”
At the Queen of Shadow's sigh, the campfire flickered ominously. Tyrkanzyaka swept her shimmering silver hair over her shoulder and scolded Shei.
“You are truly selfish.”
“Huh?”
“After all the help you've received from Hu, you're still calling him suspicious and saying you need to investigate him. Is that what you're saying?”
“…Huh?”
Tyrkanzyaka was angry. It wasn't the hostility she'd show an enemy, nor the contempt she'd have for someone pathetic. If anything, it was like the cold stare one gives a foolish child.
“When you first forced your way into my abode. Later, when you learned Bloodcraft from me. And even after that, when you taught us under the guise of 'education.' It was always you who was being cared for by Hu.”
“Uh…”
Aren't you just wearing rose-colored glasses?
The Regressor barely stopped herself from blurting out the thought. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and listened to Tyrkanzyaka.
Why am I the one getting scolded? she wondered.
Meanwhile, Tyrkanzyaka let out all her pent-up words.
“He provoked me at just the right times, kept the conversation from dying, acted foolishly, and stimulated me. But in the end, it all benefited you. He eased your precarious tension, brought life to this Abyss, and stirred all of us up, inside and out. Hu's efforts were not insignificant, so why do you only call him suspicious?”
But sometimes, an outsider's perspective reveals something different.
This was her fourteenth life, after thirteen regressions. For Shei, busy observing a world that changed little by little, the request to see the world through another's eyes, even now, was overwhelming.
But Tyrkanzyaka's lecture made Shei consider a different point of view for a moment.
“He helped me?”
“He is doing so even now. If Hu truly knew about the King of Sins and extracted that promise from me, was that not also for your sake?”
“Is… that so?”
Applying a new filter, she went back through the past. She re-examined every single thing he had done.
In the end, Jizan had ended up in her hands. That was because he had stalled the Earth Sage before tossing it away.
At the last moment, Jizan had twisted its trajectory as if choosing her side, but… perhaps that too was his doing.
Before that, when Lieutenant General Ebon attacked, he had struck the colonel and lent his strength to their side. Later, while treating Callis, she'd heard that he had stopped the lieutenant general from making Azzy go berserk.
She hadn't thought much of it since he was always so kind to Azzy… but that, too, was help.
And during the incident with Finlay. He took the lead in rescuing Tyrkanzyaka and revived the Progenitor's heart. Thanks to him, the Progenitor showed a more human side than ever before. It became the reason Tyrkanzyaka grew obsessed with him, but…
Wasn't this better? Better than her marching forward, scattering blood everywhere.
“Huh?” Shei muttered blankly. Tyrkanzyaka scoffed.
“It's absurd. After receiving so much help, you claim no one helps you? To be soaked in such meticulous care yet thirst for help the most, and to suspect him on top of it all. Must you really be that way? Can you not simply accept Hu for the person who helped you?”
Every action he had taken was slowly starting to take on meaning.
Really? Even making her flare up at his petty provocations? Dragging her away from her training to attend his classes? The way he always playfully took charge of the mood, pushing and pulling between Shei and Tyrkanzyaka?
“…Help?”
“Without Hu, would you be speaking with me like this? Would you be sitting here peacefully with the others? The Taoist from the Order of Gaia? What would have become of her?”
If he hadn't been there, what would have happened? How would Shei have survived in the Abyss?
Truthfully, survival itself wouldn't have been an issue. Shei was used to solitude. She had even gone through closed-door training several times, so she probably would have lived on without incident.
But she wouldn't be sitting here like this, gathered around a campfire. They wouldn't be glancing at each other with concern.
She would have finished her business and left immediately. Because she would have had no lingering attachments.
“Is… that… so? He… helped me? Why?”
“It must be his nature. The Dog King, myself, and even you. Have we not all helped those who bear no clear malice?”
“Uh…”
No matter how many suspicious things she recalled, looking back, they had all ultimately helped her. Once she wiped away the foam of suspicion, all that remained was sweet fruit.
He… did help me. He really did.
Shei admitted it honestly, and at the same time, felt a little happy.
Something gently tapped at her heart.
It was like plucking a single thread in a complex spiderweb and feeling the vibration on the other side—a sense of relief that she was still connected, that they were all holding onto each other.
She had met many good people. She had received plenty of help. Even if they fought, there were many who cooperated for a common goal.
Those she could call friends had vanished with each regression, but she had many comrades, which allowed her to keep moving forward. In fact, a sense of duty and indebtedness were the driving forces that pushed her on.
But this, this was different. It wasn't overt. It wasn't a favor that pulled tautly, demanding something in return.
It was a kindness that seemed to loosen everything… a comfort.
“I… I see.”
After trailing off for a moment, Shei regained her composure with the Heavenly Counter Domain.
As she averted her gaze in embarrassment, Tyrkanzyaka scoffed and turned her head away. For a while, only the crackling of the campfire filled the silence.
At the end of the silence, Shei spoke up.
“Tyrkanzyaka. Sorry to ask, but… when he revived your heart.”
“…Again.”
“No, no! I'm not being suspicious! I just want to hear what happened!” Shei waved her hands at the frowning Tyrkanzyaka and continued.
“I think I have a small inkling of his ability.”
“What is it?”
“Relics.”
Shei picked up Jizan, which had been laid carefully beside her. It was a long, blunt club with no decorations, no hilt, and no patterns.
“The relics of such powerful beings always come with a trial. The power that's released depends on how you pass that trial.”
Shei then touched Jizan to the ground and flicked it up with her wrist. Something incredible happened.
The earth where Jizan had touched shot up like a fast-growing bamboo shoot.
“But the relic he gave me had no trial. All of its power was released at once. Originally, only its power as a 'club' was unlocked… but now, though it's faint, I can use Earth Art through this weapon as a medium.”
“Interesting… But what does that have to do with my heart?”
“The Homunculus' Dilemma. There's one way to bypass it. The person making the change has to be oneself.”
There's no guarantee one wouldn't damage oneself, but it's at least a natural process.
Unlike cases that fall into the Homunculus' Dilemma, Tyrkanzyaka's heart was in a remarkably stable state, requiring no particular adjustments.
“I think he turned your memories from when you were alive into a relic, using the fact that you had already died once.”
Shei deduced sharply.
“He probably has the ability to draw out the power of relics. Like with this Jizan. And your heart. There's no other explanation.”
“A relic…”
Tyrkanzyaka placed a hand over her chest and felt her heart beat.
That single card he had embedded in her heart. Was it a relic forged from her memories of when she was still alive?
“That makes sense. After all, Hu lost himself after that…”
Tyrkanzyaka muttered, her hands clasped over her chest. Shei fiddled with Jizan and replied.
“…Certainly, with his power, things would probably be a little easier.”
But the world is vast. How could they find someone who had just up and left?
Shei muttered, “I don't know where he came from or where he plans to go. Come to think of it, I really knew nothing about him…”
“…If Hu didn't reveal it, how could anyone know? No one would know.”
“Huh? The Teacher said he was going back to where he originally came from!”
Crack-crack. The sound of the burning campfire was suddenly deafening. Rasch's bombshell declaration seemed to have stolen away all other noise.
Shei and Tyrkanzyaka asked, a beat too late.
“What?”
“…What did you say?”
Rasch answered nonchalantly.
“We had a heart-to-heart while drinking, but I don't know if it was the truth or just another lie! In any case, he did say it!”
“No, forget that. What did he say?”
“He said he was already a criminal, so there was no particular reason not to go back!”
Shei tilted her head.
“…The place he was originally from? Where is that?”
As it happened, someone who could answer that question was right there. Callis cleared her throat loudly and reported in a clear voice.
“He was arrested in Amitengrad, District 13-3, on charges of gambling fraud. Since he was arrested on the spot and detained without being able to take anything, it's possible he went back to retrieve any hidden assets.”
“Gambling fraud? Was he really arrested for gambling fraud?”
“If the related documents I saw were not falsified, then yes. I was there in my capacity as an inspector, so I was not able to view documents with a higher security level, but…”
In other words, there could be different information in higher-security documents.
To Shei, that was a rather sweet temptation.
They knew his location, and his whereabouts had been revealed.
Only one problem remained.
Should they really enter the heart of the Military State to find someone who had left them because he wanted to?
“Awoooooo.”
Just then, Azzy, who had been staring blankly at the sky, let out a small, long howl. When the silent Dog King spoke, everyone stopped talking and looked at her.
Looking up at the sky, Azzy said.
“I have to go.”
“Where to?”
“To the nation of humans. The nation that made a promise with me.”
Azzy looked up at the sky. Starlight reflected in her large, kind eyes. She looked as if she were lost in thought, gazing alone at the night stars.
How am I supposed to treat her like a dog when she's like this?
While Shei grumbled inwardly, Azzy spoke.
“I kept my promise. Now, it's their turn to keep theirs.”
“Who are they?”
“The nation of humans. The one with many humans. I have to go there.”
“And where is that?”
As she asked, Shei realized her mistake. Would Azzy even know the name of a city arbitrarily named by humans? Shei worried about how to interpret Azzy's vague, roundabout, 'dog-like' expression.
“Amitengrad.”
Fortunately, her worry was unfounded. With more clarity than ever before, Azzy gazed at a shooting star.
“They said it's the most important city in the nation. I will find my promise there.”
Tyrkanzyaka and Shei looked at each other.
They knew where he was headed.
They knew how much they needed him.
And now, they had a perfect excuse to go.
“I will not shamefully chase after someone who abandoned me. However, if our paths happen to coincide, well, that can't be helped.”
Tyrkanzyaka nodded, her eyes reflecting the blazing campfire.
“Alright. This time, I'll turn the Military State completely upside down. And if I happen to uncover some of his secrets along the way, well, that'd be nice too.”
Shei replied, rolling her arms.
And so, the gazes of the two women met across the campfire.