Chapter 466: I Lived the Life of an Insect
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 466: I Lived the Life of an Insect
Vampires have no need for food other than blood. Paradoxically, this makes them more trustworthy than anyone when it comes to storing food. If you’re wary of entrusting fish to a cat, just give it your grain instead. It will hunt the birds that come for the grain, keeping it perfectly safe.
Chief Viltear’s cellar was filled with food that could be stored for a long time. Casks of wine, wheels of cheese, hardtack, and even sausages. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was more than enough for two people to live on.
“Got everything? Let’s go!”
“Yep~.”
Hilde, her arms full of food, slid down into the hole. After she was through, I followed, pulling the cover shut behind me. I strained to drag the lid, which fit so perfectly it was as if the ground had been sliced open with a sharp knife, and sealed the passage, running my hand along the edges.
The earth is fundamentally one. Though it may appear separated for one reason or another, in the eyes of Mother Earth, it’s all the same. As I used Earth Art to mend the ground, the cellar floor became perfectly flat, as if a hole had never been there at all.
Now this is a real skill. Does a skill only count if it can shake the world and split the wind? The real skills are the ones that blend into daily life.
Hilde set the food down in the middle of the burrow and said, “Vampires are so dense, aren’t they? We’re stealing all their food from right under their noses, and they have no idea.”
“It’s because their senses are dull. If we’d spilled any blood, they would have noticed immediately.”
“Well, that works out for us, since we got all this food~.”
Although we were in a tunnel, I had used Earth Art to make it somewhat livable. The ceiling was just high enough that it barely grazed my fingertips if I sat up and raised my hand, and the space was wide enough to accommodate a blanket and even a makeshift table.
If I’d had more time, I would have expanded it into a proper room, but… since it was directly beneath the house, I was afraid it might collapse. A shame.
“You’re surprisingly skilled at civil engineering. When did you learn a talent like this?”
“It’s a basic skill. What’s more surprising is that humans have forgotten it. Building a shelter used to be an essential skill for survival.”
I grumbled and tossed a card onto the ground. The Nine of Spades. A stem sprouted from the false idol representing the Tree of Genesis, and a low, soft bed of moss grew thick and lush. I spread a blanket over it and sat down, satisfied with the plush feeling as I picked up some food.
“Alright. You’ve been working too hard for too long, haven’t you? This is a vacation, on me. Let’s rest up here and get everything in order before we move on.”
“Wow~. A vacation spent eating moldy cheese in a cramped tunnel. How wonderful~.”
“Haha. Seeing you so happy puts my mind at ease. Make yourself at home.”
Despite the poor conditions, Hilde and I ate our simple meal. It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. Both of us had been through situations like this countless times.
Where? In the Military State.
“Eating cheese in a tunnel, I’m suddenly reminded of how amazing the Military State was, forcing us to eat canned beans in an even smaller studio apartment.”
“Mmmph? All of a sudden?”
Provoked by my sudden jab at the Military State, Hilde swallowed what was in her mouth with a gulp and retorted.
“If this cramped tunnel is better than the Military State, then why are there fugitives in this country? Why do people risk death to escape when they could just live peacefully, offering their blood to the vampires?”
“Because there are crazy vampires like Elder Luscynia. It’s better to run than to live under someone like that.”
“Then what about you, Father? You could have lived comfortably here as the Progenitor’s consort. Why did you run away?”
Hilde had suddenly struck at the heart of the matter.
She’s right. If I wanted a comfortable life, staying by Tyr’s side would have been the best option. From a human perspective, Tyr doesn’t have any major flaws, so nothing bad would have happened.
“That’s because…”
The Duchy is a nation of placid livestock. A land where an emotionless, immortal ruler cares for humans. They are diligent, needing neither sleep nor rest. In terms of pure quality of life, it’s incomparable to the Military State. If heaven exists, this might be it.
But… in the end, I chose to leave, too.
“Tyr seemed to want me to stay with her forever as her consort, but that was a wish I couldn’t grant. And since she was prepared to use force to keep me, I had no choice.”
“A fine explanation~. Then you must also understand why the humans try to escape, right?”
Hilde wiped her mouth on the edge of the blanket and spoke with confidence.
“Humans, for all their powerlessness, think they’re special. They don’t take kindly to being treated like livestock.”
“But there are people besides me who chose to stay in the Duchy.”
“It’s one of two things. Either they don’t realize they’re livestock, or they’ve resigned themselves to it. No matter how cynical a person is, if you tell them they’re nothing more than cattle, that their value is no more and no less than that of a dairy cow, they won’t be able to accept it.”
It was an open secret. Strictly speaking, the humans of the Duchy were livestock. But no one ever said it out loud or even allowed the thought to surface in their minds. They just treated the vampires as rulers.
In truth, aside from collecting blood instead of taxes, they weren’t all that different from rulers… but that one detail, the blood, happens to be rather important.
“In the Duchy, humans are food. That alone is reason enough for them to flee. Do you know why the Sanctum, despite all its foolishness, still stands tall in the world? Because at the very least, God offers humans dignity and salvation, even if it’s a lie!”
The message was right, even if the messenger happened to be Hilde, a former Crusader.
“It’s hard to sympathize when you’re the one saying it, Hilde. You ran away from the Crusaders yourself.”
Hilde shrugged and replied.
“Well~. Let’s just say there were circumstances. Or that I tasted the bitterness of truth~. It’s a long and complicated story~.”
“What kind of circumstances?”
“Curious?”
“Yes. Tell me.”
“From where?”
“From the beginning.”
“It’s going to be a long story.”
“At least I won’t be bored.”
Hilde smiled for a moment, then closed her eyes and shut down her mind, as if lowering a stage curtain.
At times like this, Hilde’s Spiritual World becomes dark and silent. Having briefly lowered the curtain on the stage of the world, she calmly selected her role. Though it was all happening in her mind, it was as if she were taking clothes off a mannequin and putting them on.
‘I am a paladin. A holy believer who has devoted myself to God and carries out His will. He alone watches over me. Glory to the Sky God.’
Having changed into the oldest, most worn-out suit of armor, Hilde raised the curtain once more. Before me now was the paladin of the past, who had lost herself and wandered aimlessly.
Hilde—no, the ‘Nameless Paladin’—began her story in a solemn, heavy tone.
“There was a time when ‘I’ was lost. ‘I’ broke the rules and disturbed the order, eventually killing a man and fleeing. Hired assassins, bounty hunters, mercenary bands… countless people pursued ‘me’. And ‘I’ could do nothing but run, without a thought of atoning for my sins.”
“Are you acting right now? You sound like you’re in a play.”
“It was one of ‘my’ few talents. A meager talent that only ever brought trouble… but it saved my life time and again. Pretending to be a member of an assassin’s guild, a fellow bounty hunter, a mercenary captain. ‘I’ infiltrated, acted, and betrayed, pathetically clinging to life… but in the end, ‘I’ no longer knew who ‘I’ was, or what ‘I’ was living for.”
The ‘Nameless Paladin’ fiddled with a necklace. Hilde wasn’t wearing one, but her gesture was that of a paladin holding a rosary.
“It was then that God singled ‘me’ out.”
“God?”
“Yes. I have watched you, He said. How you have lived, how you have fled, and what roles you have played. He said He pitied the lost lamb pretending to be a goat.”
This was an act. But at the same time, it wasn’t. If you continued an act for nearly five years, even while resting and sleeping, it was no different from your life.
“The Sky God was watching over ‘me’. A shepherd showing the way to a lost sheep. It was only right that ‘I’ follow and serve my parent…”
“Then why did you stop acting?”
“Because~ I realized he couldn’t even tell I was acting and was just handing out power left and right~.”
The actor had abruptly abandoned her role. Hilde, back from being the ‘Paladin’, shrugged nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.
“Everything ‘I’ did was an act. He found ‘me’ and designated ‘me’ a Crusader, but… it was a mistake from the moment he allowed an actor on a stage to wield Holy Power! The shape of my Holy Sword even changed depending on which paladin I was playing!”
Hilde had changed the shape of her faith. A noble and steadfast greatsword. A sharp spear that pierced through evil. A shield that protected the faithful. With her exceptional talent for acting, Hilde could freely change the form of her Holy Sword.
“Even though they appointed ‘me’ as a Crusader, the moment they noticed that my Holy Power was changing shape because of my acting, they immediately cast ‘me’ aside! As if this wasn't what they wanted! Seriously, how ridiculous!”
“But you said he realized you were acting?”
“That wasn’t the Sky God! It was a Saintess, looking for Crusaders—powerful individuals abandoned by fate—who would pledge their body and soul in loyalty at a single whisper! The amazing one wasn’t God, it was the Saintess who could see the future!”
I tilted my head and asked, “Aren’t the Sanctum and the Saintess the same thing?”
“They’re different~. Yuel turned her back on the Sanctum, but she’s still a Saintess!”
That was true. Of course, it was rare for a Saintess to turn her back on the Sanctum, making Yuel an extreme exception.
“The Sky God was just a generous old man who’d share his power if you flattered him. The Saintesses who wanted to maintain their faith gradually distanced themselves from ‘me’. All ‘I’ needed was someone to watch over ‘me’. Then, when even the Sanctum was shunning ‘me’, the excommunicated Saintess Yuel summoned ‘me’ to the Military State. ‘I’ was a hated Crusader, which meant no one needed ‘me’! I was the perfect Crusader for an excommunicated Saintess!”
After her self-deprecating cry, Hilde approached me with a friendly smile. She poked me playfully and grinned.
“And that’s how I met you, Father, while working as an ‘Camarilla’~. It was a thankless job where I was constantly busy, but I was lucky I got to meet you!”
Her tone was endlessly light. As if freed from all shackles, her buoyant voice seemed devoid of any worry or anguish.
But this, too, was just an act.
“What role are you playing now?”