Chapter 416: The Culprit is Inside

The Progenitor’s return kept the Plenilune Castle abuzz for days.

Elderly folks who had once lamented that they wouldn’t live to see the Progenitor in this lifetime were moved to tears, dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs, while curious children loitered near the castle, hoping to catch a glimpse of her face even from a distance.

There was no fear of vampires nor the helplessness expected from the ruled humans.

They felt nothing but peace.

It made one wonder—was this how a flock of sheep felt grazing out beyond the fence?

The vampires were overjoyed with emotion, but beneath it stirred slightly different feelings.

The few who knew about the Elder’s death were anxious something might happen.

And those who hadn’t yet heard…

“The Progenitor’s…”

“… Consort!”

They stared at me with fascination and murmured every time I passed by.

Seriously.

I told you! Stop calling me that!

It sounds awful from a human’s perspective.

I’m not some consort. I’m here as a guest because I extended kindness to Tyr, nothing more—

“Hu!”

Tyr recognized me from across the corridor and approached warmly.

Her gentle expression brimmed with affection and her slightly quickened steps betrayed her excitement.

The vampires managing the Progenitor’s castle gasped, covering their mouths in shock at the unfamiliar behavior.

｢The Progenitor… smiled at a mere human?!｣

｢She hasn’t even laid a finger on a human’s body in over a thousand years, let alone taken a consort! Just how delicious must his blood be?!｣

Ugh, at this rate, I will never be able to deny the “consort” label.

At least try to carry yourself with some of that Progenitor dignity.

And stop looking so delighted!

Of course, my inner protests went unheard.

Tyr, not dressed in her usual gown but in comfortable everyday clothes instead, approached with the same casual warmth as her outfit.

“You woke up early. Did you sleep well? Any discomfort?”

“It was so dark all around I couldn’t even tell it was day. Sorry, I overslept… wait, early?”

“Waking up in a day is early. Vampires often do not rise again until a month has passed.”

“That’s by vampire standards. If a normal human sleeps more than twelve hours, we start wondering if they’re dead. Past twenty-four hours? We would hold their funeral.”

“Fufu… By your standards, we would be considered as walking corpses, then.”

“Exactly. Vampires are the perfect example of how wrong that standard is.”

“Haha. You have a point.”

｢Is it my revived heartbeat that makes even these little conversations feel joyous, or is it just because it is Hu? …Maybe there is no need to distinguish the reason. These swells of emotion are all gifts he has given me.｣

Hearing her thoughts truly makes me think that I’m her consort.

But that word sounds so… undignified.

Like I’m nothing but some pretty boy toy…

“We were supposed to go over the materials today. I already felt bad for delaying it once, but now… you should’ve woken me.”

“How could I wake you when you were sleeping so peacefully? We can go over the materials slowly. There is no urgent deadline.”

“Huh? But it’s a murder case. Isn’t that urgent?”

“It is the top priority, yes, but Luscynia has been dead for over ten years. Rushing will not change anything now.”

…Is that really something the Progenitor should be saying?

Even in the Abyss, Tyr had always moved at her own unhurried pace.

She never rushed and spoke of weeks or months as if they passed by in the blink of an eye.

I hadn’t noticed it much while we were in the Abyss, but here in the Duchy of Mist, it became clear.

The whole country moved at a leisurely pace.

There was no sense of urgency.

Vampires weren’t bound by time; they’d lie dormant for a while, then wander the streets, tossing out Blood Coins and drinking.

Humans used those Blood Coins as currency—trading them for food at ranches and fisheries or buying wares from traveling merchants.

Eventually, the coins made their way back to the vampires in some form.

Before I had seen it, I’d imagined the Duchy as hell on Earth.

But the Duchy of Mist I saw now was nothing but a pastoral land of livestock.

Like drifting clouds, like growing grass.

Separated from vampires by a vast, unbreachable fence.

“All the evidence must be gone by now. That’s going to be a problem. How are we supposed to investigate like this?”

“There is still evidence. There are vampires who remember what happened back then.”

“Eyewitness testimony always needs supporting physical evidence.”

“Physical evidence…?”

The way Tyr tilted her head gave me a bad feeling.

Physical evidence—objects that explain the truth of a case are necessary in any proper trial.

It’s natural to expect that.

But Tyr, the one presiding over the trial, tilted her head?

“Just out of curiosity… how exactly were you planning to conduct this trial?”

“I will hear the testimonies of both sides, then choose the one who seems guilty and punish them. That is all.”

“That’s all? That’s enough?”

“What more should I do? Would a vampire of the Duchy dare to lie in front of me?”

“And if they do? What, do you have Mind Reading powers or something?”

When I shot back, Tyr seemed slightly less confident and asked.

“…Is that not how verdicts are passed nowadays?”

｢Has the way we conduct trials changed without me knowing? At this point, I do not know what has changed anymore.｣

“It’s still kind of like that, but… this is a major incident, and it feels like you’re being a bit too lax with the investigation.”

Even if the judges in the Military State handed out overly harsh punishments, they still demanded evidence.

They might burst in unannounced based on a neighbor’s report, but if they couldn’t find what they were looking for, they’ll let it go.

If they just arrested people who followed orders without proof, everyone would ignore the laws and do as they pleased.

Punishment is a nation’s right to revenge—it doesn’t prevent crime.

Justice and the rule of law only work if people believe they’ll be upheld.

In that sense, the death of an Elder must be approached cautiously, in a way that earns trust.

“This isn’t some petty squabble between kids—it’s the death of a key figure. We have to dig up the full truth. Listen to testimony, but don’t take it at face value. Investigate contradictions. Then render your verdict.”

“…Hmm.”

｢I had hoped to enjoy a peaceful time with Hu before dealing with all this. We could have spent a year in blissful quiet.｣

A year?!

That’s not a short break—that’s procrastination.

You’d have to start worrying about the statute of limitations at that point.

I might have decided to stay, but I’m not here just to pass the time.

“I offered to help, so let’s put our heads together and think this through.”

“Together… Yes. Let’s do that—let’s put our heads together. Together, indeed. Hehe.”

“Right. Before we look at the materials, I’d like to hear it directly from you—who Luscynia was, and who might’ve had the power to kill him.”

“The documents should be in my audience chamber. Let’s go there and talk.”

Tyr led the way.

Two vampire handmaids bowed their heads in the corridor, their mouths covered in shock, but Tyr walked past them as if they were mere decorations.

The Plenilune Castle was a massive fortress over ten stories tall.

For a human, its hard floors and high ceilings would be joint killers, but for vampires who could swim through darkness, it was hardly an obstacle.

More importantly, the bricks of the castle were forged by mixing in human blood during the molding process.

The shadows filling the halls weren’t due to a lack of light—they were manifestations of the Progenitor’s power.

In this castle, built upon a balance of all manner of power, vampires could find their way even with their eyes closed, like bats in a cave.

Tyr led me to the Progenitor’s audience chamber at the highest point of the fortress.

I was afraid we would have to walk the whole way up—but thankfully, a red carpet rose up beneath my feet and lifted me gently.

It was convenient… though this shade of red was probably… yeah.

As the carpet began to float upward, Tyr started her explanation.

“Luscynia was a Blood Aura Practitioner. That term alone might be vague, so to put it more clearly… he was someone who combined Bloodcraft with Qi Arts to heal and enhance the body.”

“Heal and enhance? The body?”

“Yes. He would break and regenerate muscles, fracture and reset bones. Bit by bit, he refined the body to make it stronger. He pioneered the field of ‘Blood Aura Techniques’ by using Bloodcraft to replicate Qi. A grandmaster of the Blood Aura school, he was brilliant in many fields and I learned much from him.”

“Breaking muscles, fracturing bones… would that be similar to Kavila?”

“No. At a glance, they may seem similar, but the two were opposites. From their abilities to their personalities.”

Tyr paused, thinking for a moment about how to best explain the matter.

“Kavila combined her powers with dark magic and devoted herself to puppetry that utilized domination. To Kavila, puppets were her creations—objects of affection and care. The humans under her protection were no different from her puppets.”

“That’s kind of creepy. Thinking of humans like dolls…”

“You might find it hard to accept, Hu, but Kavila is one of the kindest Elders to humans. She never kills them needlessly and does her best to fulfill their desires with sincerity. Her Dragonfang Puppets were created to carry out dangerous tasks in place of humans. In fact, the most hazardous workplaces in the Duchy often use them.”

…Is that so?

Well, when we arrived, she did use one to cook in the carriage.

A vampire, an Elder at that, was cooking for the living.

That means she at least cared about human taste.

Even in Claudia, Kavila was the only one who paid attention to each Thunder Guardian as she killed them.

You could ask how that could be considered kindness, but compared to someone like Lunken, who only sought powerful foes regardless of who was in his way, or Valdamir, who saw them purely as combat resources… Kavila was the more humane one.

Which is probably why she left the least impression.

As I recalled those memories, a sudden thought made me ask.

“Wait a second. You said the late Luscynia was the opposite of Kavila, right? If Kavila was the kindest Elder… then Luscynia…”

“Your guess is correct. Luscynia was the most ruthless Elder to humans. He would not hesitate to cut open a living person for his Blood Aura research. Under the guise of ‘progress,’ he often damaged the muscles and bones of the humans here.”

“Wow. I mean, it’s not nice to say this, but… maybe it’s a good thing he’s the one who died. I might’ve been dissected too otherwise.”

“He would not dare do that to my esteemed guest unless he had a death wish. At any rate, even among vampires, Luscynia was widely resented. He killed so many humans that blood became scarce.”

“Every time we dig deeper, it’s just another horror story…”

The irony is that his heir was now a doctor.

Or maybe it’s precisely because of Luscynia’s cruelty that Lyre focused so strongly on saving people—learning by opposition.

“Thus, his coven possesses the ability to manipulate the body in bizarre ways through Blood Aura Techniques. Like the Ancilla you saw before—using his cloak as wings to fly, or twisting his leg bones and muscles to leap high into the sky. If a vampire is using their body in unnatural ways, they are likely from Luscynia’s coven.”

“I’m not sure what counts as ‘unnatural.’ I’ve seen a vampire split her chest open and show me her heart.”

“There were circumstances back then, were it not? Besides, thanks to that, you and I were able to form a bond.”

Tyr playfully teased me before continuing.

“Still, no matter how much resentment he attracted, an Elder is an Elder. Luscynia’s strength shook the heavens and his regenerative ability was unparalleled. Neither vampire nor human would dare even imagine harming him.”

“But someone did, didn’t they?”

“…True.”

“It’s already happened, so hypotheticals don’t matter. Let’s say someone killed an Elder. Then the culprit must be someone who had the means to kill an Elder. Tyr—what’s the method for killing an immortal Elder?”

Even Tyr needed time to think the question over.

As the blood-red carpet carried us to her audience chamber, she pondered quietly before finally answering.

“Even an immortal Elder can be annihilated if their very existence is erased. For instance… this is unlikely, but if one were subdued and thrown into the depths of the Sea of Leviathan, their body would be scattered into the waters and vanish forever.”

“That makes sense. The saltwater would draw out their blood and the scent would attract Leviathans from all directions. The sea is basically one massive beast. Once swallowed, they’d be digested completely, making regeneration virtually impossible.”

“Or if their body were torn to shreds and left under the searing sun for a week, the damage would be irreparable.”

“Sunlight changes all things. If a vampire’s body were dried in the sun, even an Elder might not survive.”

Vampires are immortal, but they’re not invincible.

Sunlight, garlic, running water—there’s a reason they hate them.

If it’s intense enough, even a vampire’s existence can be threatened by mundane objects.

But—

“Those methods wouldn’t leave a body, would it?”

Tyr let out a small sound of admiration and looked at me with bright eyes.

“Astounding thought. Why do you think that?”

“Because someone inherited his Primordial Essence.”

Luscynia is dead, but a new Elder with his Primordial Essence has appeared—Lyre Nightingale.

She’s not officially recognized yet, but in the Regressor’s future, she’ll be known as the Doctor Sage.

Lyre already wielded enough Bloodcraft to confidently call herself one.

If she inherited the Primordial Essence, then—

“The fact that the Primordial Essence was passed on means he wasn’t burned in sunlight or lost to the sea… It means someone defeated him and, using Bloodcraft superior even to him, extracted his Primordial Essence.”

Dun dun.

The culprit is a vampire.

That’s the crimson truth I’ve arrived at.

With just this much to go on, the King of Humans, Hughes, can deduce this much.

Tyr was sincerely impressed by my reasoning.

｢As expected of Hu. I thought even the King of Humans might struggle to grasp vampire matters, but… this is a pleasant surprise. Perhaps… Hu really could uncover the truth behind Luscynia’s death.｣

…Uhmm, that’s because I used my Mind Reading.

Please don’t put too much faith in me.