Chapter 78: What Was Regained
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78: What Was Regained
After finally managing to calm the Dog King, Tyrkanzyaka helped him up and headed for the cafeteria.
Even as he had rolled on the ground, he hadn't screamed or even grimaced. He simply followed Tyrkanzyaka slowly, his eyes unfocused.
“Are you all right?”
A nod.
He gave a small nod. But that was all; he didn't answer or react in any other way.
Tyrkanzyaka murmured with a worried expression.
“He seems to hear sounds and understand words... but it's as if he's become witless.”
There was still no response. Tyrkanzyaka could only feel a sense of pity.
To think that he, who had always been so cheerful and could speak so eloquently about the most useless things, had ended up like this. Hadn't everything truly been taken from him?
“Let's go to the cafeteria for now. If there's something there, we'll find out soon enough.”
Even if nothing turned up. Even if he had to spend the rest of his life as a simpleton, it was all right. Tyrkanzyaka intended to take responsibility for him.
He was her savior, and just because her heart was beating again didn't mean the patience she'd cultivated over eons would simply vanish.
“The cafeteria... it was near the classroom on the 4th floor, I believe.”
As she guided the coffin with her Bloodcraft, Tyrkanzyaka frowned for a moment. Normally, the coffin would have moved as smoothly as her own body the moment she willed it, but ever since her heart had started beating, she felt a subtle resistance when manipulating things outside herself.
It wasn't that it had become difficult to control. It was just that she could now feel its weight, however slight.
To use an analogy, it was perhaps the difference between moving one's own hand and moving a bag held in that hand.
“Is it because I have my heart back? My Bloodcraft doesn't move as I please anymore.”
This was the imperial juniper coffin that had been with her for nearly a thousand years.
It had been her bed, her home, an extension of her own limbs, and now it was acting as stiffly as a child who had grown up and left home. She felt a little sad.
But when she remembered the warmth of the person sitting beside her, along with the thump-thump of her own beating heart, that sadness faded for a moment.
“Yes. If you gain something, you must also lose something.”
If you tried to grasp everything in the world, you might push away and lose the small, precious things you should never forget. Tyrkanzyaka decided to think of it as the price for regaining her emotions.
The coffin, carrying the two of them side by side, rose smoothly. Reaching the 4th floor in an instant, they soon arrived at the cafeteria.
In one corner stood a single, simple table and four chairs, looking as if they'd been set up out of obligation. On a shelf, a large stockpot and about five smaller pots were arranged in order of size. Though small, the space was neat and tidy, giving off a lived-in feeling that suggested someone had taken care of it.
Tyrkanzyaka murmured as she looked around the room.
“This is my first time coming to the cafeteria... Then again, I never had a reason to.”
Vampires partake only of blood. That was why Tyrkanzyaka had never visited the cafeteria before. The blood loss of another was a vampire's sustenance.
That was still true, but Tyrkanzyaka now had another mouth to feed.
Tyrkanzyaka helped him into a chair and then looked around.
“As they say, even sightseeing is best on a full stomach. You must be starving after three days without food, so let's get you something to eat first.”
As she was about to start cooking, Tyrkanzyaka was struck by the realization that she knew nothing about it.
Her body had never needed food itself. There was no way she would remember how to cook from over 1200 years ago. All that remained was the common-sense notion that if you put ingredients in water and boiled them, you'd roughly get a stew.
“...I suppose I should find the ingredients first.”
Tyrkanzyaka looked around and spotted a high cupboard. She managed to open it on her tiptoes, but at her height, she could barely see the lowest shelf.
The bottom shelf held only items like cups and plates. Tyrkanzyaka levitated her body to get a look at the higher shelves.
The middle shelf contained leftover oil and half-used ingredients, all neatly stored. Tyrkanzyaka made a mental note of them and cast her gaze higher.
When Tyrkanzyaka reached the highest shelf, what she saw was...
A small golem, tied up and squirming.
“Hm?”
The golem's posture was bizarre. No, to call it merely bizarre was an understatement; it was a scene that radiated both malice and mischief.
As if dreaming it were an organic being, the golem was sitting with its legs spread 180 degrees apart, its bottom on the floor. It looked as if it were doing yoga.
A closer look, however, revealed this was not by choice. Its ankles were bound tightly with wire, making it impossible to close its legs even if it wanted to.
Just out of the golem's desperate reach lay the speaker that had been detached from its mouth. The bound golem stretched its arms out frantically, trying to retrieve the speaker, but it was no use.
Whoever had set this up had calculated the distance perfectly.
It was too light to be called torture, but too cruel to be a prank—a position perfectly designed to drive one mad.
Watching the golem struggle and whimper, Tyrkanzyaka murmured.
“Isn't that the toy golem I saw before?”
Noticing Tyrkanzyaka's gaze, the golem waved its arms desperately. Without its speaker, it couldn't make a sound, but it was clearly a plea for help.
“Are you asking me to untie you?”
Nod, nod.
Lacking a speaker, the golem agreed with an equally enthusiastic gesture.
Tyrkanzyaka untied the wire binding the golem. The golem brought its spread legs together very slowly and carefully, then clutched its thighs with both arms and rolled on the floor for a moment. It seemed to be writhing in pain.
After a short while, the golem got up and reattached the speaker to its mouth. A voice, broken and staticky as if from a malfunctioning device, came out.
『That damn... XX finally overstepped his authority...! This is treason...!』
Static crackled, emitting something between language and profanity. After finally composing itself, the golem gave a small cough and faced Tyrkanzyaka.
『...Thank you for your cooperation, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. It is presumptuous of me in this situation, but this unit wishes to request your assistance.』
“As it happens, I also have something to ask. I will hear your request first. Let us exchange one for one.”
Tyrkanzyaka proposed leisurely.
『This unit will answer only if it is information I am permitted to disclose.』
“Isn't that only natural? I, too, will remain silent on questions that are difficult to answer. How can one speak of secret matters? And even if one did, how could you tell if it was the truth or a lie?”
『A foolish question on my part. I accept your terms. In that case, this unit will ask first.』
The golem clenched its fist and raised its head. Though it was impossible to sense emotion from its rigid body, Tyrkanzyaka somehow got the feeling that the golem was suppressing an immense rage.
Finally, the golem spat out its words.
『Where is he?』
“He?”
There was only one person the golem could be referring to. Tyrkanzyaka understood immediately, and because of that, she trailed off, looking troubled.
“If you mean the warden you sent, well. The thing is, I... there's been a bit of a problem.”
『Is this something you cannot answer?』
“Not exactly. He is here, for now. However...”
She could, of course, just state the facts without context: He lost his memory while trying to return my lost heart.
But wouldn't that be far too irresponsible?
They called him a warden. Considering his endless capabilities, he must have been a brilliant talent destined to shoulder the future of the Military State. By breaking such a person, Tyrkanzyaka had inflicted a great loss upon the Military State as well.
Thinking about it, she had caused trouble for so many. Tyrkanzyaka felt a fresh wave of guilt.
“There is much to discuss. Would it be possible to speak with a representative of your Military State?”
She would have to negotiate with the Military State to compensate them for injuring him and to take custody of him. That was her intention when she spoke, but...
『Has that counter-revolutionary caused some kind of trouble?』
The reply was so unexpected that Tyrkanzyaka blinked.
“Counter... revolutionary?”
『Affirmative! I am referring to the counter-revolutionary who restrained this unit!』
The golem replied in a higher-pitched voice than usual.
Was it because she could feel emotions again? Tyrkanzyaka realized she was much better at discerning the emotions carried in a voice than before.
Fascinated by this unfamiliar sensation, the Progenitor who had regained her emotions focused on the golem's words.
『This unit has a duty to observe the interior of Tantalus! Yet he, a mere laborer, has obstructed this unit's mission! This constitutes obstruction of official duties in a Level 5 security facility, which is recognized as a Level 4 crime at minimum! Furthermore, since that man has already committed a crime and received a labor sentence, there will be no leniency this time!!』
He restrained the golem and fled. He committed a crime by obstructing its duties.
He's already committed a crime before? Does that mean he's on the Military State's bad side?
Without realizing it, Tyrkanzyaka found herself defending him.
“Don't be so angry. A ruler must respect the judgment of their generals. He must have had some profound reason.”
『I can assure you there was no such thing. In the first place, this is not a battlefield, and he is not even a general!』
“Didn't your country send him here? As the lord of this domain. A knight responsible for a domain can surely be called a general...”
『Negative! He is not a knight, nor even a butler! When you get down to it, he is less than a slave!』
Still, wasn't it too harsh to treat someone loyal to the country like a slave?
And to dare call him a slave.
Tyrkanzyaka was about to scold it, her voice filled half with admonishment and half with an inexplicable anger.
『Because he! Although he hid it from you and the others! Is actually a criminal who committed a crime and was sentenced to labor in Tantalus!』
If the golem hadn't revealed this surprising fact, she would have surely let her words fly.