EP.87 Arrangement...?
The back alleys of Gun-guk, that place is a ruthless district where the half-hearted cannot survive. As the kingpin of that place, do you think I would meekly submit to Gun-guk?
Risking the danger of losing my sense of self, the reason I saved Tir's heart was all for this moment!
"Tir! Show them your power!"
Even if vampires are indifferent to how the world turns, they wouldn't turn away from the one who revived their heart. I jumped up and shouted.
Then Tir stood up following me, and stood half a step ahead of me.
"That's right. As he said."
A pitch-black parasol cast its shadow over my head. Tir had slightly lifted the parasol and leaned it toward me. Having conveyed her intention through the parasol, Tir looked down at the officer.
"I declare here. If even a small wound appears on Hue's body, if even a single drop of blood flows from that body... I will exact a blood debt a million times over from you and your nation."
A warning's weight changes according to its realism.
Even if you threaten to kill all of humanity in this world, no one will be on guard. It's naturally empty boasting, and even if there's such will, it would fail.
But what if you single someone out and declare you will definitely kill them? The one singled out won't be able to sleep well at night.
That's why the Progenitor's warning was clearly imprinted on everyone. Because Tir had such power.
Even the officer was overwhelmed by that presence.
"...He is a petty criminal. Progenitor, do you intend to make an enemy of Gun-guk for the sake of a mere petty criminal?"
"Soldier, I ask you. Are you prepared to create conflict with a nation just to keep a mere petty criminal as a sinner?"
"Nation...?"
As the officer hesitated, the smoke that had encroached upon the room began to churn. The gray, hazy cigarette smoke stopped still in its place, then the moment it touched the vampire's energy, it dyed pitch-black.
The vampire progenitor, her power is the pinnacle of Blood Art.
But that's not all.
Fighting against the celestial god's believers for centuries, her blood energy was scorched by light and her flesh burned by heat. Every time she drew blood from her opponents' bodies, countless subjects burned black and crumbled away.
Those who devoted themselves to the demonic path just to survive perished, leaving only agonizing death throes. The Progenitor bore all the echoes they left behind.
At some point, she came to control darkness.
The shadows that light turned away from.
Darkness filled the room. All of Tantalus began to vibrate. Within it, only Tir's haughty voice came riding on the darkness.
"I am the Progenitor Tirkanjaka. A monster that will devour the world, the Queen of Shadows, and the beginning of all vampires. I am the vampires themselves, and the vampires striding across the land are my limbs. I ask again, soldier of Gun-guk. Does a mere soldier like you have such power, such authority, such resolve?"
"Ugh...!"
Even the elite officer of Gun-guk couldn't dare oppose that power and stepped back. Even as he squeezed out his strength, merely enduring Tir's presence was all he could manage.
Amidst that, I, under Tir's parasol, was unaffected by that energy. Even while Tantalus, which should be imprisoning prisoners, trembled in fear, I was fine.
I crossed my arms, smiling all over my face, and thought.
...Strange.
Something, something is heavy.
I thought she would protect me, but the degree is a bit... I thought it would end at sternly warning not to harm me.
"...Underst-, no, I understand. I shall... endure."
The officer clicked his tongue once and turned his body. Anyone could see it was a retreat, but it's admirable he at least didn't lose his dignity until the end.
As the officer fled, the energy that filled the surroundings disappeared in an instant. The churning energy calmed down, and only Tir and I remained in the room.
A brief silence. Tir, who had been quietly glaring outside the door, glanced at me a few times. Then at some point, she called my name a bit awkwardly.
"Hue."
"Yes?"
Why my name suddenly.
When I answered, Tir smiled contentedly.
"Hehe. You turn around even at this name. I see, is your original name Hughes?"
"Yes. I'm registered under the name Hughes."
"I prefer calling you Hue."
"Why?"
Hesitating for a moment, Tir snatched the parasol from my embrace and blurted out.
"...Because I heard it directly from your mouth. Why, isn't it good because it's short?"
"Ah."
Heavy. I feel it again, it's heavy enough to break the scales of a balance.
I can read minds, but I can't know the future. What choices a changed person makes, what emotions they harbor—that's an unknown realm.
I thought she was a sucker, but I didn't expect her feelings to become this heavy while I was unconscious. Is it because the blocked blood was cleared after 12 centuries?
"How was it. Was it helpful?"
"Of course, more than enough."
That's not a bad thing. The being before me is the vampire progenitor, a great calamity that only occasionally appears in history books. If she, a walking legion, has my back, that's good for me.
As I thought that, Tir spoke in a slightly lower voice.
"If that soldier makes things difficult for you, tell me. I can eliminate a mere soldier without leaving even a corpse."
Even if that's a bit heavy... I mean. Haha.
I waved my hand and trailed off.
"Come on. How can you kill people so casually? That's a big problem. You shouldn't just kill people who want to live."
Tir asked curiously.
"Then, does that mean it's fine to kill those who have no will to live?"
"Well, wouldn't it not matter? Though I'd still ask if you really need to kill them."
"You say strange things. Where would there be people who wish to die, and even if there were, how would you distinguish between those who want to die and those who want to live?"
"No one can, usually."
"Then isn't it useless?"
"Haha, I suppose so."
I shrugged. Tir made a strange expression for a moment and let out a hollow laugh.
"You are kind."
"Wow! That's the first time I've heard that since my mom disappeared!"
"...Didn't you say you were an orphan?"
"Yes!"
Tir looked at me, who answered brightly, in disbelief. She draped the parasol over her shoulder again and muttered.
"I understand. You mean not to kill. Even if great power were given to your hands right now, even if an opportunity arose to wield it against those who oppressed you, you don't particularly try to do so."
"It's not like they tried to kill me, you know."
"Seeing that stiff attitude, they won't bend easily. They could treat you carelessly at any time."
"People's futures are unknown. What if you kill them in advance just because there's a possibility? That's barbarism."
Unless they're a severe schizophrenic, I can read murderous intent toward me in advance. I can deal with it then and it won't be too late.
And... there are things I need to find out from the officer. I can't kill him already.
Setting that aside for now, with just the two of us left, I asked Tir what I was curious about.
"But did you really do nothing while I was unconscious? Is there really nothing you're hiding from me?"
"O-of course! What would I do?!"
Where did her relaxed attitude from earlier go, Tir instead raised her voice. She seems to be desperately trying to hide it, but there's no way.
'Phew. Thank goodness she didn't notice. If that was discovered...'
It's about time my telepathy is returning. Let's see, shall I read her memory to find out what she did while I was unconscious?
I read back through Tir's memories.
The not-so-distant past. Tir was sitting side by side with me in my room. It was when she was preparing to feed breakfast to me, whose sense of self had faded.
Tir, who was trying to sit me up, stopped her motion when she saw my hand.
For some reason, Tir stared intently at my hand for a while, then casually glanced around.
A suspicious attitude like a child about to steal something, shown just before committing a wrong. If someone showed this attitude in the back alleys, people would have swarmed demanding a share...
Though they'd all fall with just one gesture from me.
Anyway, Tir, who had been watching my hand so restlessly, snapped her fingers in the air as if she had made up her mind.
The room filled with darkness. It was the Progenitor's authority. Having hidden the world's eyes with the supreme authority to manipulate shadows, Tir reached out both arms toward my empty hand.
In the darkness, I responded to that stimulus.
"...Who is it?"
"Shh. It's me."
"Tir?"
"Yes. It's Tir. Stay still for a moment."
Tir, who quieted me, began to carefully pull my hand toward her chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The closer my hand got, the more fiercely Tir's heart beat. There are probably several reasons—Tir's body remembering the electric massage, and the card embedded in her heart reacting.
Anyway, to Tir, my hand was like a magnet, a stove, or perhaps a drug.
Meaning it can't dare be compared using humanity's shallow history.
From thump-thump to thump, from thump to boom.
The small ripples disturbing the surface had become drumbeats resonating through her entire body. The heartbeat was so loud that vibrations reached my hand.
Tir, savoring the proof of life regained in such a way, suddenly thought of something.
"It's like this even being this close, if we got just a little closer..."
We're already almost touching, what more? How could we get any closer?
Ah.
Tir's eyes flashed ominously.
"Stay still, Hue."
I, who had no sense of self at the time, nodded though somewhat wary. Tir, after glancing around once more, placed her finger on her chest and drew it downward.
Ah, wait. Don't tell me.
Tir's finger parted the chest skin and revealed the inside.
Even with the heart beating, the Blood Art doesn't disappear. Even with the chest split open, still—though it took more effort than before—Tir's blood didn't flow out and merely circulated within her.
Into the wide-open chest, my hand got closer to Tir's heart...
"Hah..."
Around that point, I stopped reading minds.
Originally, when you read the weaknesses of important figures... you're supposed to think about how to use them to extract something...
For the first time in my life, I decided to bury this massive secret in my heart.
Because there are secrets in the world that must never be revealed.
'He's not from Gun-guk. In other words, the instructor who brought down Tantalus and him are different people! Tch, making things confusing!'
Gloomy thoughts flow out in the dark room.
'That's right. No matter how much it's Gun-guk, there's no way they could corrupt Azi or Tirkanjaka like that. They are extreme control freaks. They'd rather use that as leverage to threaten, but making them go berserk and sending them outside isn't Gun-guk's way. Nor is it what they want.'
She slides the blade of Cheon-aeng at an angle. Then sparks fly from empty space and spaces rub against each other.
Cheon-aeng is a sword without thickness. Therefore it is infinitely sharp, and can cut everything that exists... they say, but that's not necessarily true. A biting wind sometimes chills to the bone, but that doesn't make it the sharpest spear in the world.
'The fundamental cause of the corruption is, exactly... More precisely, Gun-guk killed him and the rest went berserk.'
If the wielder's skill is lacking, if the disordered space forming the sword isn't held together with qi, Cheon-aeng becomes nothing but a sword with only a handle left.
Conversely, if only the user's skill is sufficient, it becomes the most powerful sword in the world.
The regressor sharpened the blade in the space dyed with darkness. The killing intent returns to the space that had been gradually depleted.
Sharpening her mind along with the blade in the darkness, Shay repeated her thoughts.
'...Being an ordinary laborer is really unexpected. I thought he was a prisoner impersonating the instructor. But just a laborer? Or is even this a trick...? One that can fool even Gun-guk's administration? Or did they swap him with a laborer named Hughes?'
It was regrettable that the conclusion reached was a miss, but regardless, it was a sufficiently interesting topic for the regressor.
'His identity and purpose are still unknown... I still don't know what he's trying to do by charming Azi and Tirkanjaka...'
The sharpening was done. The regressor swung Cheon-aeng once in the air. The sword that could pry into even the gaps of wind was quiet in the darkness.
'Still, it's okay. Even though I still can't trust him, at least I know his death is the trigger for the tragedy. From now on, I can set the direction toward keeping him alive.'
Tick. The scales tip. Small, but irreversibly.
This decision made in a young girl's heart was trivial, yet at the same time incomparably heavy.
In all futures to come, a certain being would survive.
'I've gained results. Now.'
Just taking one step further than before is enough.
Just knowing one more thing than before is enough.
What awaits the regressor anyway is a path of penance where she might die dozens more times yet never reach her goal.
Filled with a sense of accomplishment and smiling, the regressor gripped Cheon-aeng tightly with one hand.
'I can die to my heart's content.'