Chapter 341: The Ship of Theseus
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 341: The Ship of Theseus
Beyond the Mistveil Range lies a land perpetually shrouded in clouds and fog. In this land, where the sunlight is blocked by a constant haze, live the vampires.
The mountain range that walls it off is so high that even the clouds struggle to pass over it, so the Duchy of Mist and the vampires who live within rarely cross over into the Fallen Dominion. The humid air blowing in from the Sea of Leviathan is trapped by this natural barrier and stagnates.
But there is one exception: Claudia, the Village of Clouds, nestled in a stretch of low hills. There, where a mountain seems to have been plucked from the earth, clouds cascade down like a waterfall. Pushing through this Cloud Waterfall reveals a primeval land where everything is shrouded in veils.
The Misty Plains. A land now called the Duchy of Mist. The vampires, having fled the light, settled there.
While vampires are mere legends in many other places, to the people of the Fallen Dominion who lived in and around Claudia, they were a nightmare that would pop up just when you thought you’d forgotten. They rarely ventured outside, but when they did, it was always an event that shook all of Claudia. It was only natural to fear them.
Tyr nodded as she listened to the story.
“So Claudia means ‘Village of Clouds.’ I know it well. In days of old, while wandering in search of a place to live, I found a small village at the edge of the wasteland. I recall tearing through the Cloud Waterfall with my own hands.”
“…Ugh.”
“Why are you so frightened?”
Peru could barely meet Tyr’s eyes. Trembling uncontrollably from a fear etched into her very instincts, she was a rather pitiful sight.
Her extreme terror made Tyr suspicious.
“Are you a follower of the Sky God? Hmm, there is no need to be so afraid. As long as you don’t flaunt it in my presence, I won’t kill you for it… That is, as long as you don’t greatly displease me.”
“…Heek.”
Having lived for so long, Tyr had her own principles. She wouldn’t kill someone just for believing in the Sky God, but if they expressed their faith in front of her, she would kill them without mercy.
Not that she always acted according to her principles; if she was in a bad mood, she might just kill them anyway. After all, if you draw a line too clearly, people will just spend all their time toeing it. A little flexibility is necessary.
I spoke up in place of the terrified Peru.
“Tyr, stop scaring her. It’s only natural for an ordinary person to be afraid of a vampire.”
It was a matter of course. What human could remain calm before a vampire who saw their body as a walking pantry? Just as a lamb and a wolf could never be best friends, it was difficult for vampires and humans to get along.
Tyr frowned at the uncomfortable truth.
“But you talked back to me from the very beginning, without a shred of fear. Even after you knew I was a vampire, and the Progenitor at that.”
“If you’re not sucking my blood, you’re not a vampire to me. I may be scared of vampires, but I’m not particularly scared of people. We’re all human, what’s to be scared of?”
“Right. You were the strange one. You were the first human I met after waking up from my long slumber, so I was briefly confused. This must be the normal reaction.”
Tyr rolled her eyes, but a subtle smile played on her lips, suggesting she was rather pleased.
In truth, nothing had changed. As long as Tyr didn’t covet anyone’s blood, she was still just a beautiful girl with silver hair.
But Peru remained terrified. A few mere words weren’t enough to erase such a deep-rooted fear.
Well, what can you do? This is the price for neglecting public relations. While I’m at it, maybe I’ll tease Peru a little.
“Alright, it’s about time to eat, isn’t it? As for the plates… Shei-ssi, could you prepare three more, including one for Hilde? Oh, and Tyr doesn’t need a plate. Peru can just get on the table.”
“…Heek.”
“You are cruel. Stop it. Unlike other vampires, I have no need to drink blood. I am the sea to which all blood flows. If someone bleeds, it naturally seeps into me without any special effort. The blood that child sheds from a simple cut is enough.”
“…Hah.”
Tyr’s words, meant to reassure her, only terrified Peru more. I decided to add another comment.
“That was in the past, wasn’t it? You can’t eat well these days, can you? Don’t you need a special meal? Some fresh woman’s blood?”
“…I-I’ll go get the food.”
Terrified, Peru fled toward the storeroom. Using the excuse of fetching food to escape, she frantically searched for some kind of meat, likely thinking she could feed the vampire beast’s blood. A useless gesture.
Just then, the Regressor called out to Peru.
“Witherarch. That food is from the Fallen Dominion, right?”
“…Yes. Why?”
“Don’t bring it out. I’ll use mine.”
With that, the Regressor opened her Pocket. Out came the same high-quality ingredients I had seen before, each one fit for an emperor. Wine that was incomparable to the cheap rum Peru was about to bring, meat, rice, and flour. Luxurious foodstuffs were neatly stacked on the table.
“Woof woof! Food! Fooood!”
It was a lavish spread that made one’s mouth water just looking at it. Azzy, drawn by the scent, returned like a ghost, placing her front paws on the table with shining eyes. Her tail wagged so fast it could have kicked up dust.
But not a single human was impressed. Aside from Tyr, who had no interest in food, Peru was more focused on what the Regressor had said than on the ingredients.
“…From the Fallen Dominion?”
The Regressor answered nonchalantly.
“Yeah. We can’t eat that, can we?”
“…What do you mean?”
There was more to Peru’s question than just the words.
If the Regressor had said the ingredients from the Fallen Dominion were too low-quality to eat, Peru would have nodded in agreement. Because it was true.
But that wasn’t the Regressor’s tone at all. It was as if… the Fallen Dominion was cursed. As if she were discussing something inherently inedible.
Of course, it wasn’t because the Regressor looked down on the Fallen Dominion or held a grudge against it.
It was simply a fact.
“It’s best not to eat food from the Fallen Dominion. Because all the crops the Golden Lord creates are homunculi.”
“…”
The Fallen Dominion’s most secret shame spilled from the Regressor’s lips. Peru couldn’t even attempt to stop her.
Of course she couldn’t. She would never imagine that even we, her fellow party members, didn’t know.
“He couldn’t create humans directly because of the Homunculus' Dilemma. But everything in the Fallen Dominion is an artificial product of the Golden Lord, which is why the people exposed to it develop deformities, right? Eating a little might be fine, but I’d rather not touch it if I can help it before meeting the Golden Lord.”
If parts of my body are filled with the Golden Lord’s creations, I don’t know what will happen when I meet him in person.
Hey, Regressor. Isn’t that the Fallen Dominion’s biggest secret? Why are you talking about it like it’s common knowledge? Don’t assume everyone knows all the secrets you do. You’re scaring people.
Aghast, Peru looked around at all of us and asked.
“…The Military State… knows that much…?”
No, we don’t. Not just Hilde, this is the first I’m hearing of it too.
Even Peru, a Primarch, didn’t know that the crops themselves were homunculi!
“Well now~? That’s classified~.”
Hilde feigned knowledge with a mysterious smile, but she shot me a glance.
‘I had no idea. This is unexpected. Why is an Anathema popping up here? Father, did you know?’
No, I didn’t know either. To be precise, I hadn’t read such a thought from the Regressor until she said it today. I had a rough idea about the Golden Lord and the homunculi from reading Peru’s mind, but…
What I told you was that Peru didn’t know either! The deformities in the Fallen Dominion are because of homunculus crops made by the Golden Lord?! You should think about crucial facts like that ahead of time, so I can read them and prepare!
Regardless, the Regressor, seemingly used to such reactions, replied nonchalantly.
“Why? Isn’t it something every Primarch knows? It’s not strange for me to know it.”
“…What kind of… Primarch… would tell such a shameful secret… to an outsider?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
‘I heard it from the Thunderarch of Claudia in a previous timeline. I didn’t hear it in this timeline, so I can’t reveal the source.’
The Thunderarch is the de facto ruler of Claudia and its greatest Primarch, isn’t she? Tch, what good is reading the Witherarch’s mind with telepathy when that woman came back from a previous timeline knowing far greater secrets!
Being only in the Military State, I had forgotten. The Regressor, this woman, had invested a great deal in the Military State, but… in truth, the Military State was just a stepping stone for her.
The Military State was, so to speak, the first stage. From the Regressor’s perspective, it was the first foundation stone to be laid. It needed to be handled perfectly for a smooth progression, but it was also the easiest stage to build up.
The road to reaching the King of Sins is long and arduous. Obstacles of a different caliber than those faced in the Military State lie ahead. The Divine, the Anathemas, the Sanctum, and The Human Regime.
And most of them… will probably overlap with my own path.
Having learned this unexpected truth, Peru grew even more tense.
“…Then. You must understand. Why the Fireblastarch was so desperate.”
“Hm?”
“…The Fallen Dominion wants land that the Golden Lord has not set foot upon. A place where we can settle, like Claudia.”
Claudia, built in the Mistveil Range, is beyond the Golden Lord’s reach. It is therefore safe from his alchemy and one of the few places in the Fallen Dominion where people can settle.
Thus, Claudia is the most important land in the Fallen Dominion, since the Golden Palace is closer to a phenomenon than a physical place. Claudia, the most prosperous city, is the heart of the Fallen Dominion.
“…The Abyss is a hole that swallows all things. The Golden Lord does not go there. Therefore, if we obtain that land, it will become a second Claudia. A place where we can raise children…”
Her explanation was still lacking. Unsatisfied, Tyr looked at me with curiosity.
“Raise children? Does this country have designated places for raising children?”
“Not exactly, but people of the Fallen Dominion who have a child are granted the right to reside in Claudia until the child turns ten. You can’t make much money in Claudia, but you can live a stable life. That’s why the first thing the Dholes do when they’re seriously injured is find a spouse. If they have a child, they can rest until the child grows up.”
“And if they don’t wish to rest?”
“Then they sell the right to someone who does. Apparently, the trade of newborns is an open secret there.”
This wasn’t a secret at all; it was something we learned in history class in the Military State. Aside from the tendency to disparage other nations as hopeless places where surviving even a day is a struggle, it was mostly true, so I’d always brushed it off as being relatively conscientious.
“This much is well-known, but considering what Shei-ssi just said, the reason Claudia’s Thunderarch actively accepts children is…”
That, too, must be related to the Anathema.
As I expected, the Regressor nodded.
“That’s right. If they grow up eating the food created by the Golden Lord from a young age, their bodies will become homunculi. The Thunderarch created that rule to prevent the entire population of the Fallen Dominion from being reduced to his homunculi. The food in Claudia is normal, not homunculi.”
The four Anathemas that humans must never commit.
Gluttony. Grafting. Splicing. Heresy.
The Fallen Dominion, in this context, was a nation that seemed to be recreating the Second Anathema.
The Second Anathema, Grafting. The taboo of replacing the frail human body with something else. This entire nation, a byproduct of the Golden Lord, directly violates the Second Anathema. In the Fallen Dominion, where deformities are not at all strange, it’s necessary to patch up one’s deficient body with alchemy. And homunculi could be called the crystallization of the Second Anathema.
There’s no way the Sanctum would just stand by and watch, but the Golden Lord is a living Divine. I thought they were just unable to act rashly… Hmm.
I’ll need to check whether the rule the Thunderarch established was a product of instinctual wisdom, or if the Sanctum had a hand in it.
Tch. Looks like I’m stuck following the Regressor now. I was planning to cut ties and get off this ride at the right moment…
As the commotion settled down, Peru spoke on behalf of the Fallen Dominion.
“…The Fallen Dominion needs that land. We will not give it up easily.”
“Hmph. You know that’s ridiculous, right? Whatever your circumstances are, that’s not my problem, is it?”
As soon as Peru finished representing the Fallen Dominion’s position, Hilde, the Military State’s representative, retorted sharply.
“If you wanted it, you should have tried to get rid of the Abyss by pouring in money, time, manpower, and resources like our Military State did. You didn’t even go near it for fear of losing your things, and now you want to stick your spoon in? Not a chance!”
“…I admit it.”
“What?”
“…That is why I am guiding you. To the Golden Palace.”
When Peru nodded, Hilde was left speechless. She sat back down, grumbling.
“How can you just admit it like that? Now I’m the only one who looks petty for getting worked up!”
“I think you are a bit petty, Hilde.”
“Have you checked, Father?! Have you?!”
Do I need to check? It’s obvious just by looking.
While Hilde was shouting again, Peru stared into the distance and muttered.
“…I may accept it, but the Golden Palace… might be a different story.”