Chapter 52: The Progenitor and Her Kindred
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 52: The Progenitor and Her Kindred
It seemed the intruder hadn't worn their parachute correctly. The shimmering light was still approaching, but before it arrived, a heavy thud echoed through the air. Something like blood splattered from a few paces away, landing on my foot.
But neither I nor the vampire was concerned. If the intruder was what I thought they were, a wound like this was nothing.
The intruder was a vampire. An undying being who, unlike with spilled water, could recall every drop of spilled blood.
A cracked skull and some bleeding would be reversed in an instant, and they would get right back up... I waited for him to rise, but...
"Huh? Why isn't he getting up? He's not coming to his senses."
"Ah. It seems I forgot for a moment."
The vampire waved her hand. The blood that had been slinking toward her reversed course, flowing back toward the intruder.
The difference in their dominion over blood was so vast that the vampire's pull was stronger than the intruder's own survival instinct. While she was at it, the vampire pushed all the blood back inside him and even sealed the wound.
Having recovered his blood, the intruder regained consciousness. And then—
"This pull... this blood... It must be!"
With a loud cry, the intruder raised his head. From within the darkness, a pair of red eyes, slightly duller than the vampire's, flashed open.
Ecstasy, reverence, adoration, elation.
Fierce emotions washed over him like a tidal wave. His eyes wide, the intruder scrambled forward as if crawling on the ground and prostrated himself before the vampire.
"Progenitor!"
The vampire showed no sign of being flustered, as if a stranger suddenly approaching and kneeling before her was a common occurrence. As she gazed down at him, the intruder pleaded.
"Progenitor! I, the unworthy Finlay, have come to seek an audience with you. Please, forgive me for disturbing your seclusion!"
The intruder slammed his head on the ground with a thud. Blood trickled from his torn skin toward the vampire, but at her slightest glance, it scurried back to its owner as if startled.
With cold eyes, the vampire commanded the prostrate intruder.
"Finlay. Explain yourself."
A higher blood.
A stronger power.
Before the Progenitor, any other vampire was nothing. Their dominion over blood all stemmed from her.
The ability to move their blood, to speak, to live—all of it was done with the Progenitor's tacit permission. With a single gesture, she could make them lose all control over their own blood, turning them into a mere snack.
Therefore, to a vampire, the Progenitor was something that transcended even a god.
To the Progenitor, it was a simple command, but to the intruder, it was like a royal decree—no, a divine revelation. The intruder immediately raised his voice and spoke.
"Yes. The one who made me her kindred is Countess Erte, a direct descendant of His Highness, Lord Sanguine Valdamir. I was gathering intelligence under the Duchy's orders when I heard news of you. I have come with a request for the Progenitor."
Lord Sanguine Valdamir.
The Duke of the Duchy of Mist, the only vampire whose identity and location were both known. The Sanctum's arch-enemy. And the noblest of the Elders.
He was such a monumental figure that his name was practically synonymous with the word 'vampire'.
"Valdamir. That child. It's been a long time since I've heard that name."
The Progenitor repeated the name as if speaking of a young boy, her gaze fixed on some distant point as she asked.
"Yes. Is the child well? Is he still engrossed in playing king?"
To some, he was a king, an absolute monarch, a ruler.
But to the Progenitor, who had watched over him when he was just a young man full of dreams, he remained frozen in that moment.
The intruder, unable to process the gap in perspective, stammered.
"Y-You call His Highness, Lord Sanguine... that child..."
'No, the Progenitor is the one who personally made Lord Sanguine her kindred. I'm facing a legend, a myth. Get a grip, Finlay! I can't show such a foolish side in this glorious moment!'
Mentally whipping himself into shape, the intruder collected himself and bowed his head once more.
"Yes! He is well. As the undisputed king of the Duchy, Lord Sanguine has achieved a legendary status unparalleled in any era!"
"He must have worked hard. The Sanctum would not have stood idly by."
Who else could dismiss the achievements of Lord Sanguine—who declared he would build his own nation in this world and, after a heroic journey, actually accomplished it—as mere 'hard work'? If an ordinary person had said such a thing, they would have been rebuked for their irreverence.
But only the Progenitor, who had endured the same wars, lived through the same ages, and once shared the same dreams, could pass such judgment.
Realizing this anew, the intruder moistened his dry lips.
'Yes. She is the absolute one. The one who created us, fulfilled our deepest wish, and will unite us to lead us to glory! I am standing before such a being! I cannot let this chance slip away!'
The intruder's Adam's apple bobbed as if he were trying to swallow. A habit from his human days, even though he no longer produced saliva.
That was how tense and full of anticipation he was as he began to speak.
"Progenitor! The Sanctum's power is not what it once was."
This was finally the main point. The reason this intruder had endured all hardships to fall into this place.
The intruder stared at the ground and exclaimed loudly.
"The Arcane has been unveiled, and the divine has lost its luster. The Sanctum, wrapped in its self-righteousness, has made enemies on all sides. The Sky God has truly abandoned them. Or perhaps, that pathetic excuse for a god never existed in the first place."
Unconcealed hatred raised its thorns.
The intruder, realizing he had been too emotional before the Progenitor—even if his hatred was directed elsewhere—quickly composed his expression.
"In any case, they have meddled in too many affairs, and now it is time for them to face the consequences of their actions. Naturally, it is only right that we, the nobles of the night, play a part in their downfall. For that coming day, we must prepare to collect our blood debt, to wage a bloody war."
"War."
A brief thought flickered past. Sadness, reluctance, unease, weariness.
A sunken, gloomy emotion, the complete opposite of the intruder's excitement.
The difference in their temperatures, though not apparent on the surface, was like witnessing the gap between a post-war generation and a war generation's view of conflict.
The vampire's lips parted slightly.
"Is that the will of all my children? Does everyone desire war?"
For a brief moment, the intruder was conflicted. Whether to speak with a hint of his own desires—not a lie, but not the whole truth—or to state things exactly as they were.
But the hierarchy among vampires was more absolute than that of a king and his subjects. A vampire cannot resist another of a higher rank. The gap that determined life and death was perhaps even wider than that between a believer and their god.
A god did not give birth to humans, nor could it control them. It couldn't snuff out their lives in an instant as if flipping a switch.
But the Progenitor could do all of that. She had created the vampires, she could move them, and she could annihilate them with a single gesture.
In the end, the intruder bowed his head and confessed the truth.
"No, that is not the case. The other Elders, including Lord Sanguine, have indicated that they will never start a war unless the Progenitor permits it."
"However," the intruder added quietly, a smile full of anticipation spreading across his face.
"In other words, if the Progenitor says but a single word, we will prepare for war."
The vampire's expression hardened.
His words meant that the preparations for war were already nearly complete.
Weapons, power, troops, and resolve.
Even the enemy was ready. His words implied that as soon as the Progenitor's permission was granted, they would sound the war horn at a moment's notice.
"Such are the times. An era where everyone is stockpiling power, preparing weapons, steeling their minds, and nurturing their hatred for one another. Everything is in place. If only you would come, Progenitor. We, who lack a unifying center, need you."
With those words, the intruder bowed his head reverently, awaiting her reply.
The vampire said nothing. Silence once again descended upon the Abyss. The two vampires, needing neither breath to live, saliva to swallow, nor a pulse to circulate blood, stood as still as statues. One could believe it was a scene cut from a photograph.
A quiet as heavy as the darkness settled over them.
The only one to make a sound was...
『Stop this. Actively.』
...the golem, which shoved a microphone into my ear and delivered the directive in a tiny voice.
『It is not yet time to start a war. The Progenitor must not rise yet. I request that you stop this. Actively.』
"Not yet," huh? A rather interesting choice of words.
More importantly, I have to interrupt a conversation between two vampires? Aren't you asking a bit much of a simple laborer?
I would have normally ignored it, but for some reason, the timing didn't feel half bad.
"Alright. That's enough."
I strode forward.