EP.226 Taking Our Places
Looking at the map, the Meta Conveyor Belt is a horizontally flattened, donut-shaped road that supports the interior of the Military Nation. Since it's land that flows like a river, I'm not sure if it can even be called a 'road', but anyway, its scale is massive enough to circumnavigate the entire country.
If you head straight east from here and go up along the coastal road, you'll reach the Principality of Mist, where vampires reign proudly. It is the nation of the Progenitor Tirkanjaka. The moment you step inside, pursuit from the Military Nation becomes impossible. Therefore, they would think that is our destination...
So we'll feint that we're leaving the belt to head for the coastal road... and then feint again that we're actually staying on the belt... a double feint.
In reality, we'll take a shortcut that isn't even the inside track, overtake them... and go somewhere else.
Of course, this plan required two conditions.
First. The bait must be sufficiently appetizing.
This was achieved by sacrificing Rallion.
"Goodbye, Rallion. He was a good horse..."
"Hmm? Phew, I do feel sorry for Rallion, but there's no need to worry. Rallion will return."
"Excuse me? He'll return?"
"My other familiars are beings whose death is halted. But Rallion was revived from the grave of my old mule. No, it is a vessel containing my faint memories and recollections... Ultimately, since it is a part of me, even if I drop it somewhere, it will return someday."
Rallion wasn't that good of a horse. A sacrifice that can return isn't a sacrifice. Yup. Anyway, since this was a little-known fact, I decided to use it.
And the second condition.
Not exposing our tracks.
Because of this, we had to give up the container. No matter how much Tir wraps it in darkness, with surveillance eyes stretching out in all directions right now, a giant container cloaked in darkness flying around cannot go unnoticed. Failing to spot that is a matter of intelligence, not camouflage. The very texture changes.
Therefore, we made a tremendous decision.
"Hey! It's cramped! Don't move!"
"I'm not the one moving."
"...Don't tell me you're doubting me after tying me up."
"Grrr. It's stifling!"
"Meow-. You cats who don't know the comfort of tight spaces are pitiful, meow-."
[...Endure it a little. It wasn't made to fit five people in the first place, so why the pointless complaints?]
Tonight, until just before sunrise. We decided to hide entirely inside Tir's coffin, which can swim through darkness, and fly at full speed!
We put our belongings in the Returner's pocket, placed the butterfly in a box at our feet, and lay side by side in a single line, stacked neatly inside the coffin. It looks exactly like bean sprouts packed tightly in a steamer. It's uncomfortable and stifling, but it can't be helped.
Tir's coffin is a treasure that has shared the Progenitor's history, a mystery that is half-shifted to another dimension. It's a space that can easily accommodate about five people.
The size is just right. At this level, it's even smaller than a carriage, so we can pass through forest paths and between buildings. Three-dimensional maneuvers that were impossible with the container are now possible.
As expected, vehicles don't need to be huge. That's all for show. An efficient, compact size is the rational choice for the future!
Being cramped is an issue, but well, at this level, it doesn't matter much unless you're a large family.
We lay in a row in the order of Azi, Ria, Tir, me, and the Returner.
This was entirely Tir's fault, as she insisted on separating the sexes even in such a cramped space and dividing the sections. And since she lay in the middle to control the coffin, it was a natural arrangement.
'It's going according to plan. I can be close to Hue after a long time.'
A little selfish motive was mixed in, but anyway.
Because the space was too narrow to lie down horizontally, everyone lay down vertically, and as a result, I ended up facing Tir exactly.
'It's nice to see her up close after a long time... but of all places, a coffin. It's as embarrassing as turning a garment inside out to show its lining.'
Embarrassed? About what? She's already seen the inside of my skin countless times, and even touched it! My right hand still vividly remembers the sensation!
Isn't being inside a coffin way more normal than a Heart Touch? Humans may get inside coffins, but it's rare to touch someone else's heart with your fingers!
'Ugh. When I was alone in the coffin, it didn't matter at all... but why does it bother me so much now?'
Perhaps due to the embarrassment of letting someone into her private space, a sense of unease remained in Tir's mind. Because of that, Tir kept complaining in front of me.
[This cedar coffin of mine is a space filled with my authority, a temple solely for me. Since I never let anyone in my entire life, not even my enemies, nor even my familiars, have witnessed the inside of this.]
"There wasn't much to see though? I mean, it's just showing a bit of your coffin."
[That attitude is the problem. This place is a secret, hidden realm never revealed to the world, so do not try to dig any deeper and consider it an honor just to have entered.]
As if our existence kept bothering her, she was voicing her complaints whenever she forgot about it while moving the coffin through darkness. Well, it's not so much that Tir is petty, but rather a repulsion to her private space being exposed...
...Wait a minute. Come to think of it, that's a bit infuriating? Why should I tiptoe around her for something like this?
We can share a coffin! I didn't want to get in a coffin before I died either! It's not like I begged to get in, it was a necessity!
It bothers you that much? Then I'll pry into every little thing!
I moved in the cramped space and lightly lifted the carpet with my hand.
"What's this deep, secret mystery? This red carpet? It doesn't look particularly special."
[Ah. Not there.]
"Oh, there's something back here too. Let's see... clothes?"
[No! Do not touch it!]
Beyond the carpet were clothes that looked like they had been shoved in haphazardly. Primitive garments that should have been folded neatly for storage, not packets, were revealing their flaws vividly before my eyes.
I pointed at the wrinkles and sighed.
"When you put in laundry that isn't in packets, you should fold it neatly. It's all wrinkled. What is this... ah."
So that was it. That's why she told me not to look. I nodded heavily.
"My. You were embarrassed because you didn't clean your room. You stay in your coffin so much, you should have kept it organized."
[I told you I never intended to let anyone in from the start!]
"People who live holed up in their rooms living dirty lives all say the same thing. 'It's my room where I live alone, so what if it's a little dirty.' That's exactly right."
I was nodding, but then I opened my eyes wide and shouted.
"That was before we came in! That's why I'm telling you to keep it organized normally! Do you think other people clean and organize because they have nothing better to do? They clean because they never know when their parents, their lover, or a precious guest might drop by! Tir, you're paying the price for not organizing regularly!"
[Ugh...!]
When I shoved the wrinkled clothes at her and interrogated her, Tir, left with nothing to say, clenched her teeth and snatched the clothes from my hand. Even so, since we were practically pressed against each other, they were still exposed right in front of my eyes.
Phew. When in my life would I ever get to lecture a 12th-century girl? An opportunity like this won't come again.
Seniority reversed. Isn't this thrilling?
"Cleaning is like life. Even knowing it will one day get messy, humans tidy up their surroundings. Just like how they live fiercely even knowing they will one day die. So Tir, you too..."
[Hm? Do you perhaps wish to overcome death? If so...]
"The metaphor is different! It's a one-to-one correspondence! If death is messiness, then Tir should never be messy! But the moment it's already gotten messy, it's over!"
She suddenly jerked the drift! It was so abrupt I almost accepted it while ignoring the logic!
'Oh ho. Come to think of it, that's true. I am not alive, I do not sweat, and I consume nothing but blood. So there's no way my clothes or the inside of my coffin would get dirty. My coffin wasn't dirty in the first place...!'
In the meantime, Tir, having appropriated my logic, smiled a smile of profound satisfaction.
[You are right. Organizing is for those who need it. But I am the Progenitor Tirkanjaka. A being that doesn't even need water or food, and lives on blood and darkness. What meaning would cleaning or organizing have? It's just temporarily messed up because I let your bodies in.]
"Oho. So that's how you're going to play it?"
Tir answered shamelessly.
[Because that is the truth.]
"Well, if you're going to play it like that..."
Alright. She's learned shamelessness. My intended goal was achieved. Now she won't complain about us borrowing her coffin... Huh? Wait a minute.
She doesn't organize because it doesn't get dirty? Then what about the clothes? I tilted my head and asked.
"Then Tir, do you perhaps not do the laundry either?"
[Hmm?]
"Laundry, I mean laundry. Even clothing packets, an innovative invention, need to be taken out and washed occasionally. But it seems like Tir doesn't even wash the clothes she wears every day."
Come to think of it, I never saw Tir hand-washing laundry in Tantalus either. Since I also use packets, I didn't pay much attention to it, but thinking about it, isn't that strange? Washing clothes is a monster that devours domestic labor. Why didn't I see her doing it?
There is only one conclusion.
"The reason you tried to hide the clothes is because you don't even do the laundry... Aha."
[That is slander!]
"Then did you do the laundry? I never saw you doing that."
Actually, seeing a Progenitor squatting and doing laundry would be pretty funny in its own right. While there may be nobility and lowliness in professions, there is no such thing in labor. Work that must be done must be done by someone.
Even I took on all sorts of chores, and a Progenitor thinks she's above it? Feeling a bit jealous now.
[I-I say again. I do not spit out anything dirty, so...]
"Then it shouldn't matter if I do this, right?"
Hmph, how about this.
I grabbed the hem of Tir's clothes and brought it to my nose. Then I made a show of sniffing and inhaling the scent.
The circuits in Tir's head creaked. Tir, who was blinking her red eyes as she watched what I was doing, freaked out a beat late, as if she had malfunctioned.
[Huh?!?! What are you doing?]
"Checking the smell. Let's see how these clothes that supposedly never get dirty smell."
Let there be even a hint of a smell. I'll use this as an excuse so she won't even be able to lift her head... Huh.
"Huh? It really doesn't smell?"
What? She doesn't even do laundry... Ah.
The Progenitor can manipulate blood and darkness at will. Her control is so strong that she doesn't emit a single scent of blood even in a space filled with it.
She even crushes corpses into a pulp with blood when disposing of them and then swallows them. She is a being capable of completely melting down and expelling waste products from inside her body or foreign substances from outside.
"Wow, I roughly understand why some people go to the Principality wanting to become vampires. Aside from not dying, it's just convenient in various ways..."
[L-Let go! You insolent brat!]
The clothes really only smelled of fabric. Even the scent was pristine. Who knew the joke about dying being more convenient than living would actually be true...
As I was lamenting life, voices started mixing in from front and back. The Returner's voice echoed from behind me, riding along the wall of the coffin.
"Stop squirming! It's cramped!"
"I barely moved."
"You moved a lot! Plus, it's not even for a good reason! It's because you're doing weird things!"
"Ah! Ah! Don't poke me! It hurts!"
Getting poked with a finger hurts! Her strength is ridiculously strong but her fingers are slender, so it hurts more! Is this the correlation between pressure and area!
In this vertically elongated hexagonal coffin, Ria's voice, which started from the opposite corner, reached my ears.
"...It's good that you two seem close. But couldn't you switch places? It's too cramped because you're moving over there. Um, it's hard to say out loud, but. Having the two of us right here like this..."
"Woof, it's cramped! My chest is stifling! You're too big!"
"Yeah, roughly for this reason."
What could be happening over there? Curiosity is welling up, but it's so cramped I don't even dare to look....