Chapter 418: Elder, Ain, Yeiling, and Human - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 418: Elder, Ain, Yeiling, and Human - 1
The suspect in the Elder's murder: Lyre Nightingale.
She became Luscynia's Yeiling about ten years ago. The one who made Lyre a Yeiling was her mother, Lily, who had become an Ain around the same time. It is said that Luscynia's 'experiments' were behind the mother and daughter becoming an Ain and a Yeiling, respectively.
Afterward, Lily was executed for attempting to flee the Duchy with several citizens. The citizens who fled with her were sent to the compression chamber.
…Compression chamber?
I looked around for an explanation of what that was, but there was none. It seemed to be common knowledge in the Duchy of Mist, not worth explaining. I tried to ignore the ominous feeling the word gave me and turned the page. The first page contained only objective facts, while the following pages were mixed with subjective judgments and testimonies.
In that case, I could just skim through from here. I could verify any subjective judgments or testimonies myself.
After all, my mind-reading ability was several times more accurate than the written word.
“Father, what do you think of your new stepmother? Do you like her?”
“She’s better than the self-proclaimed daughter who keeps trying to sell me off somewhere.”
Hilde, who must have smelled me coming like a ghost, appeared and hovered around me.
“Oh, come on. You like it too, Father~. A little bit of work, and you get two whole countries for free, right?”
“I would have liked it if countries were something you could actually eat. Since they’re not, I’m not too keen on the idea.”
“You say that like you’re not interested. Do you really think you can find the Divine without a nation's help?”
“Just like I’ve always done, I’m sure I can… is what I’d like to say, but.”
It was hard to deny.
Just getting to the Abyss had been a life-threatening endeavor. If anything had gone wrong in the process, my plans would have been ruined, or my own life would have been in danger.
The same went for the Golden Lord of the Fallen Dominion and the Lightning Thief of Claudia. Not only would it be difficult for me to traverse this harsh land alone and safely approach the heart of a Divine, but what guarantee was there that I would escape with my body intact? I had barely managed to survive by relying on Tyr and the Regressor.
“It will likely be difficult to approach the upcoming Divines as a mere individual. I will consider it favorably.”
“Heehee. I’ll be looking forward to it!”
“Don’t get your hopes up. I haven’t even shown you anything yet, so I don’t know what you’re so excited about.”
“Because, Father, you’re the King of Humans, aren’t you?”
“That’s ancient history. The era when the King of Humans was actually a king ended in the inaugural year. I’m just an ordinary human.”
He may have been the King of Humans, but he was once a being whose kingship was denied, who was torn to shreds and lost all his power. Although that wasn't me, if the King of Humans had truly been able to bring about an era of peace, he wouldn't have been betrayed. If things went as they did in the inaugural year, the nation would be torn apart.
And yet, Hilde was more confident than I was.
“As the King of Humans, Father, you can become ‘any human’ in the truest sense, can't you?”
…Could she possibly know about my mind-reading? I read her mind, but thankfully, that wasn't it. She just had a pure, baseless faith in me.
“For the sake of a perfect nation, Yuel had no choice but to shape and use all humans like bricks. But you don’t have to do that, do you, Father? Whether they’re great heroes or street thugs, you wouldn’t care either way. You’re the only one who can unite all the different kinds of humans!”
“What’s with her… The look in her eyes is strange…”
“Don’t play dumb! Just getting Shei and Tyrkanzyaka to be in the same room is a feat close to a miracle!”
What are you talking about? I heard those two used to get along just fine. In a previous timeline when I wasn't around, that is.
“To return to the Military State, we first need to investigate the murder in the Duchy of Mist. The sooner we figure out the truth, the sooner the trial will end. Hilde, you used to command the State’s intelligence division like your own limbs, right? Do you know anything?”
“What ‘I’ know is the same as what you know, Father~. You know where ‘my’ information comes from~.”
Hilde snatched the documents from my hand and quickly read through the dozens of pages, flipping them rapidly.
“The Military State has a system, so it could gather some information independently, but to get information from outside the country, it has to rely on ‘power’~. But the Duchy of Mist can’t be seen with power.”
“For someone who says that, you sure managed to throw Tyrkanzyaka into Tantalus when you built it.”
“She was sleeping outside the Duchy, wasn’t she? Even Yuel gets uncomfortable when darkness is stirring in a corner of the country~.”
As expected of a former head of intelligence, her ability to gather and analyze information was extraordinary. Hilde finished reading the documents in an instant and spoke.
“No matter how I look at it, Lyre Nightingale is suspicious, isn’t she? If this were the Military State, we would have arrested her on the spot~. Is there anything more to investigate?”
“That’s exactly it. That’s what I don’t like.”
“You were born a contrarian, weren’t you~? I see why they call you a barbarian.”
Thwack. Hilde snapped the file shut and asked with a grin.
“In that case, who do you suspect the most, Father?”
“Of course, I’m suspicious of this vampire. She is clearly deeply involved in the late Luscynia’s death. However.”
I knew from reading her mind that she wasn't the culprit. But every piece of circumstantial evidence pointed to her. It was unnatural.
In other words, someone… had manipulated it.
“Do you really think she did all this alone?”
As I subtly threw out the question, Hilde caught it as if she had been waiting.
“You think there’s someone behind it~?”
“It’s a plausible hypothesis, isn’t it?”
“Rather, it’s your nerve that’s suspect~. You’re going to look for the mastermind behind an Elder’s murder in the Duchy of Mist? To be able to harm an Elder and frame a Yeiling, they’d have to be an Elder at the very least, right? A madman who can lie so brazenly in front of the Progenitor?”
They’d have to be quite mad. But still.
I grinned and asked back.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“Heeh~.”
Hilde seemed to be getting an itch herself, letting out a soft groan as she idly tapped the documents.
She was someone who had dealt with deep and dark information back in the Military State. Hilde trusted facts over circumstances. While the situation looked bad for Lyre, in reality, it was nearly impossible for a Yeiling to kill an Elder. This held true even if Lyre was a genius who had transcended one of the limits of Bloodcraft.
She was hooked.
“First, let’s go ask a nearby Elder.”
“Investigating an Elder, huh~? Ten lives wouldn’t be enough~.”
“You never have enough lives. Just like money.”
And so, our small investigation team, consisting of me and Hilde, set out to find an Elder.
The Duchy of Mist bordered the sea.
The sea on one side, a mountain range on the other. A land where the humid air created a perpetual fog.
It couldn't be called a good place to live. Tigers roamed the mountains, and Leviathans churned the seas. The starving tigers, apparently tired of sheep, sometimes had humans for dessert, and when a Leviathan so much as stretched, a storm would batter the entire coastline. The mountains and sea were treasure troves of resources, but the gatekeepers guarding them were so powerful that they threatened survival itself. And when they tried to farm the little land they had, the fog became a problem.
It was because of this kind of land that vampires were able to establish a nation, and that humans were able to accept their rule. The vampires used their power to unearth the treasures and gift them to the humans.
Thanks to them, the humans of the Duchy gained pastures and tidal flats. In particular, the tidal flats, where a wealth of flotsam from the sea washed up, were the Duchy's greatest resource.
About an hour's journey east from Plenilune Castle. There, a vast mudflat stretched out. In this land saturated with saltwater, washed-up seashells and sea mustard were scattered everywhere. Hundreds of humans with baskets and rakes busily gathered the shells and seaweed.
Does digging in the ground produce money? No, here on the tidal flats, money was practically lying on the ground. A land that realized the miraculous economy of earning money just by picking it up.
The one managing these vast tidal flats was…
“The tide's coming in! Move it, you lazy bums!!”
It was Kavila.
It wasn't often that an Elder worked directly. A noble and ruler of the Duchy of Mist. As soon as she arrived at Plenilune Castle, she had diligently come straight here. And now, with a sullen expression and her arms crossed, she was grabbing a human and berating him.
“Are you picking that to give to us? This is the feed you'll be eating! Pick it with some damn sincerity! At this rate, even a clam with no feet could outrun you!”
“My lady Kavila, there are still two hours until high tide…”
“Two hours? That’ll pass in the blink of an eye! If I close my eyes and open them again, half of this place will be underwater!”
“No, you can’t go by vampire time…”
The bearded human was struggling to deal with the rampaging Kavila. At a glance, it looked like a childish noble was making a scene on an arbitrary inspection. Which was, in fact, the case.
However, the fact that a mere human was talking back to the great and cruel Elder showed just how familiar Kavila was with humans.
Moreover, Kavila wasn't just some incompetent, noisy noble. She suddenly narrowed her brow and looked toward the sea. The thick sea fog limited visibility. Not only was the horizon invisible, but even the curve the waves drew on the sand was out of sight. However… from within that dark, inky fog, an unusual current could be felt.
Kavila commanded her retainer.
“Chasey. Bring me the screaming monkey.”
“Here, my lady.”
An Ain was an Elder's retainer. A noble of blood, with only about a hundred of them in the entire Duchy of Mist. Though it varied by their field, they were powerful beings who could look down on even the Primarchs of the Fallen Dominion or the Generals of the Military State… but even an Ain was nothing more than a gofer to be ordered around with a nod by an Elder.
The vampire called Chasey immediately handed over a small doll made of monkey bones. Kavila took the doll without looking.
Bloodweaver Kavila's specialty was puppetry based on black magic. She infused it with blood using her Bloodcraft. The bones absorbed the blood and began to move according to Kavila's will. Kavila whispered into the doll's ear.
“Scream, little monkey. Chase them all away with your noisy voice.”
At Kavila's command, the monkey bone doll grinned and turned its head. Then, the monkey bone doll opened its jaw and shrieked in a bone-scraping voice.
“Ukeeeeeeeeeee—! Run away—! Run—!”
A warning sound that felt like it could tear eardrums. The humans digging for clams reacted instantly. Men and women, young and old, tucked their baskets under their arms and sprinted for the highest ground. Hasty footprints were left on the tidal flat.
“A tsunami is coming—!”
“Everyone, run—!”
There was still a considerable distance to the nearest seawater. It was hard to imagine that even a large wave could cover this vast tidal flat.
However… the reason why this land, so far from the sea, was a tidal flat would soon be revealed.
A massive presence flickered beyond the fog. A colossal wave, more deserving of the name tsunami than a mere breaker, was approaching. It had already passed the coast and was now crashing in with terrifying force, overturning the land itself.
This was not a natural phenomenon. Mother Earth, who creates earthquakes and tsunamis, was innocent this time. This tsunami was a disaster caused purely by a single sea beast.
It was the work of a Leviathan. Kavila, sensing the unusual force, asked.
“Chasey. Did you see? Was it an Island Whale? Or a Cloud Manta?”
“…My apologies. I sent a familiar that way, but it was swept away by the storm. Please do not forgive my incompetence.”
“A storm? Then it’s a Cloud Manta. Of all the luck.”
Kavila grimaced in annoyance.
The Leviathan, the Cloud Manta. A legendary giant of the sea, said to create cirrus clouds from its wingtips when it flapped its fins… The result of it striking the sea once had reached all the way to the shore.
The shattered sea from the Cloud Manta's rampage shot out like glass shards. A spray of water rained down from above. Stunned fish were mixed in with the salty droplets. Whether it was good luck or bad, a small child among the fleeing humans was hit squarely by a fish and fell.
The child's parents stopped abruptly and ran back to their fallen child. They threw down their baskets, helped the child up, and carried him on their backs. But the tsunami did not wait, and it crashed down upon them. At this rate, a family would become food for the sea and disappear.
“Hmph.”
Watching this, Kavila split the doll's back and pulled out a massive bone needle, as large as an awl. She gripped it with both hands and, using her Bloodcraft to its absolute limit, plunged it into the ground. The sharp bone needle dug deep into the tidal flat and took root. It looked as if she had planted a sapling.
Kavila muttered.
“Dragonspine Wall.”
Krrrrack. A massive spine erupted from the spot where the bone needle was planted.
A spine undulated across the vast tidal flat. The ribs of a giant beast, half-buried in the mud, stretched out. The dragon bones, growing as if to bisect the wide flat, became a breakwater and blocked the tsunami. The tsunami crashed against the dragon bones and shattered.
It couldn't completely block the tsunami. However, the current, filtered once by the bones, was significantly weaker than before. The spray washed over the family, but thanks to the reduced force, they were able to hold on to each other tightly and endure.
If the tide comes in, it must also go out. That is the way of nature. The tsunami that had charged in as if to overturn the tidal flat also gradually receded with time. Soon, the tidal flat returned to its original state, except for the spine of a great dragon that had grown to bisect it.
If the Leviathan was fearsome, then what was Kavila, who had so easily blocked its attack? The humans, whose lives had been saved by an Elder, looked at Kavila with awe.
Towards those who revered her, Kavila…
“What? Two hours left? I've been doing this for five hundred years longer than you have! You're livestock! You should just do as you're told, not talk back to meeee!”
…she stomped her feet like a child and screamed. The reverence that had filled the people's hearts rapidly faded away.