EP.51 Uninvited Guest
The Bottomless Pit that night fell upon was so dark one couldn't distinguish an inch ahead.
No, this must be the true appearance of the Bottomless Pit. An abandoned land with not a speck of light, not a handful of warmth, not even space to set foot upon.
I came down to the yard holding a lamp to check on the fool who had voluntarily entered this place. Surprisingly, there was already a corpse who had come out before me.
"Trainee Tirkanjaka? What brings you here?"
Even in the darkness where one couldn't distinguish an inch ahead, the parasol imbued with vampire essence was still uniquely dark. Rather than the absence of light, a pitch-blackness as if the concept of darkness itself had coalesced covered her.
Within that darkness, the vampire shone her red eyes and looked at me.
"You managed to wake up. You seemed to need a lot of night sleep."
"Oh please. That would only apply to Trainee Tirkanjaka who has entered eternal slumber. Compared to 300 years of consecutive sleep, my night sleep is but a firefly flickering for a single night."
"Your words..."
The vampire smiled softly and directed her gaze at me, or more precisely, at the golem above my head.
"What a cute toy. Is it a golem?"
"This is Captain AB, military nation communications officer. It's a golem that's very shy around strangers, so it won't readily acknowledge you. I ask for your understanding in advance."
The golem retorted.
『Denial. It's not that I'm shy around strangers, but rather from the standpoint of a monitor, direct contact with trainees is not recommended... Anyway, for that reason, I ask for your understanding even if I don't speak.』
"What? A golem speaking on its own without a controller...?"
The vampire's red pupils widened slightly, then she brought her hand to her mouth and clenched it, muttering.
"Ahem. It must be a new technology. It's not particularly surprising anymore."
That's a lie. The vampire only knows golems that are manually controlled. Magical communication is modern technology to her.
"Ah. Yes. I'll let it be that for now. More importantly, why did you really come out?"
The vampire evaded my question.
"I have no reason to explain this and that to you."
"Is it because of the person who will come down soon?"
"...It is."
The vampire, who frowned softly, grumbled.
"You already knew. Well, this is the military nation's land, and you said you manage it? It would be strange if you, who is no different from a lord, didn't know."
"I'm not particularly like a lord. Anyway, did you really come out to greet the person who will come down soon?"
"Yes. Didn't you say it last time? You told me and Shey to handle it if someone else comes from now on."
"Uh, I just threw that out without any expectation, are you really going to do it?"
"I am. Although I am a being stripped from my time, I have entrusted my body to this place, so it would be proper etiquette to grant your legitimate request."
So saying, the vampire rested the parasol on her shoulder and looked upward.
Hmm. Of course, since the vampire is from the old times, she is sensitive to such etiquette. If there's a guest, she would try to fulfill her proper duty.
But is that all?
I carefully read the vampire's thoughts and grinned.
"It's not just for that reason, is it?"
"...Are you doubting my words?"
"Doubt? Certainly, there must be a corner of your heart that feels that way. That's why you sensed the presence and came out to greet them. However."
I have a talent.
Secret stories I've learned by reading minds. But if it becomes known that I can read minds, I would inevitably be put on guard by everyone. There's no one who would welcome me uncovering their weaknesses like pulling back a curtain and staring right in. Rather, they might take the lead in trying to kill me.
So I have blossomed a slightly different kind of ability.
"As you know, Trainee Tirkanjaka is a vampire, right? Your ability to sense blood is at a level that encompasses this entire Tantalos. No, if you're not inside someone's body, it's an immense power that can even dominate them. But conversely, if blood isn't flowing outside, you can't capture it perfectly. For example, like me or Trainee Rash the Immortal."
Exactly, content that makes it seem like I figured out what I learned through mind-reading through deduction.
So I even did some detective work at one time. All sorts of guests came looking for me. Someone hired me to expose their secrets.
The most common request I received was dealing with affair partners. Ahem.
"For Trainee Tirkanjaka to already know of the intruder's presence, there are probably two cases. Either the falling intruder is bleeding, or."
The vampire's expression was calm. But that was nothing more than turning away from the truth that would soon come.
I leisurely shrugged my shoulders and relayed the facts I had read from her thoughts exactly as they were.
"-Or a vampire moving its body by receiving the Progenitor's authority."
The one falling now is none other than a vampire.
Such a vampire entered this place? It wouldn't be to avoid sunlight. In today's world, there are many shades to avoid sunlight.
There is only one thing that would draw a vampire's blood here.
The Progenitor Tirkanjaka. They must have come seeking that mighty blood.
'I knew it would be discovered eventually, though I tried to delay it even a little.'
The vampire let out a small sigh and spoke.
"I have a request."
"Don't worry. I don't have prejudice against vampires either. If I had prejudice from the start, would I have dealt with Trainee Tirkanjaka so unreservedly? As long as the one coming down now doesn't try to kill me, I won't kill them."
"...It seems you went into my heart and came out."
At my smooth answer, the vampire smiled warmly.
"Thank you. For understanding."
"For what. I know a vampire I'm acquainted with, and surprisingly, they're quite tolerable to be around."
"You rascal. So smooth-tongued."
The vampire, who laughed briefly and clearly, raised her head upward again, waiting for the vampire who would be falling even now. A warm ending that even satisfied the vampire's heart.
However, as with all beautiful stories, behind it sat hardship and pain that would split one's head open.
『What are you arbitrarily deciding!』
Where the vampire's gaze couldn't reach, the golem was pulling my sideburns hard. Swallowing the scream that was about to burst out, I reached my arm back and tore off the golem's arm.
"Then am I supposed to decide? The Progenitor is the one who decides."
『The opponent is the Progenitor. The beginning of all vampires, their ruler, and the de facto master of the five forces including the principality of the Red Blood Duke! Are you going to let this meeting happen?』
"No. So what? Are you telling me to stop them then? With what power?"
『Intervene between them and persuade the Progenitor!』
"What?"
『If you can't do that, convey exactly what I say. That alone should make the Progenitor fall silent!』
Good grief. If it was such important content, they should do it themselves. What do they expect from a mere laborer?
I grumbled while moving my steps.
"Alright. I'll at least try to help from the side. But just try telling me to defeat the vampire. I don't care about the military nation or whatever, I'll just shove you underwater."
『Finishing this well would be the priority. Unlike you, I am the de facto person in charge here.』
Hanging the golem on my head and walking cautiously, I stood near the vampire. And just like the vampire, I looked up at the sky and waited for the intruder who would soon fall.
Time flowed endlessly. Whether it took time to fall, or some procedure was necessary, the intruder who was said to come down soon showed no sign even after a long while. The vampire and I just craned our necks and quietly looked up at the sky like children waiting for shooting stars.
When the silence grew long, a voice steeped in sentiment came from beneath the parasol.
"In the distant past, looking up at the sky like this in the middle of the night was my joy."
I also replied appropriately.
"It's the same. There are still many people who take that as their joy nowadays."
"Yes. Whether in the past or now, the sky is still beautiful. The night sky where starlight twinkles seems like the Milky Way is flowing, and I would gaze at the night sky endlessly without realizing the passage of time. For only the night was the time when I could look at the sky without any restrictions. Then when the night that seemed eternal ended and the Sun God peeked out from beyond Mother Earth's arm pillow, I hid my body underground to escape the spreading blue light."
What's this, suddenly.
Unable to continue my words at the sensibility of a 12th-century girl that would put even a 12-year-old girl to shame, I just listened quietly. The only fortunate thing was that the vampire didn't particularly want my answer either.
Words spoken while steeped in sentiment are meant to linger in the wind and disappear.
"We merely wanted to live, yet we had no dignity. We couldn't raise our heads and proudly face the light. Even when they demanded we come out and receive proper judgment, if it was carried out in the square at high noon, we had to flee. In the end, we survived, but we could not become proud."
The beginning of vampires, and the Queen of Shadows.
Once, feeling pity for the dying, she made them into vampires and raised them up, but now she sympathizes with the vampires born that way.
And such feelings are...
The guilt that ugly parents feel toward their children follows one after another.
Why did we let them be born?
Was it a good thing to birth you into this world of only suffering?
Was the life of fleeing, being chased, and having to hide a blessing or a curse?
Wouldn't it have been better for both if they hadn't been born at all?
Good parents feel guilt at the very fact that they felt such agony, and suffer again from that guilt. The more they suffer, the more the guilt swells. Like a fire that devours oneself, emotions swell the body darkly and murkily. In endless pain, they scream to avoid falling into the gap between moral theory and reality.
The emotions of the Progenitor Tirkanjaka were exactly like that now.
Having brought the existence of vampires into being, the small god steeped in the sin of creation gripped a pitch-black parasol and agonized.
"...I thought I would feel a bit better if I couldn't see the sky. That's why I voluntarily entered this place. But what I miss here is ironically the sky."
At that moment, something sparkled in the Bottomless Pit without a single starlight. Indicator lights blinking at regular intervals were getting closer. A light that was too artificial to be called a shooting star, one that didn't really resonate, approached this place.
It looked exactly like something plummeting.
"How desolate."
And the intruder fell to the ground.