463 – Escape from the Capital No.5
Hilde’s judgment was correct. The vampires who passed us once couldn’t find us. They were only vaguely searching in the distance, never imagining that we were inside the encirclement.
We didn’t go far beyond them, but it didn’t matter. The misconception that they had already searched here was actually protecting me and Hilde.
The presence that had been lingering nearby disappeared. Marquis Jenryu admitted defeat and temporarily withdrew.
“Have they already given up? Vampires lack persistence~.”
“They haven’t given up. It’s impossible to find alone, so they’ll try to cooperate with other vampires in the vicinity who control the area. Of course, in the end, he will give up. He will hear the news of Duke Lahane’s victory.”
The effort of administering the potion finally paid off. To cooperate, you need to share information, and naturally, you will hear the news. I even provided a hint.
“It took a bit longer, but it worked as I said, right? We managed to shake him off in two days.”
“Don’t be too relieved. They were gatekeepers, not a pursuit squad, right? If Tircanjoka sent a pursuit squad, there would be at least one elder. You can hide, but crossing the border without friction is impossible.”
Hilde pushed the reality into my face, not liking the sight of me being relieved. While I was at a loss for the bleak future, Hilde poked me and laughed.
“Oh~. Why that expression all of a sudden? ‘You’ can’t fool me anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your father hasn’t revealed all the cards yet, right? You’ve come this far, so spill it now. Since your father didn’t escape without thinking, I already know that much!”
“….”
Oh, that’s what she means.
Honestly, there’s no plan. Well, saying there’s none at all is a bit much, but there are parts I can’t control.
“Father?”
“Oh, yes, th-th-th-that’s right.”
Hey, Regressor. What are you doing, disappearing like that? Something was supposed to happen tonight. The time for the night raid has passed, but why is there no response from the country?
And you, you came earlier to announce the night raid! If you came all the way to the capital, at least find me or provoke Tircanjoka unintentionally to attract attention! If not, do something! Where did you disappear to without any news?!
Hilde, who didn’t know the burning frustration within me, smiled on her lips.
“Don’t pretend. You have a way, right?”
“Uh, um, of course.”
“Is what I’ve been thinking correct?”
What? Did you have something in mind? If you did, you should have let me know in advance. Just to gain some inspiration, I briefly read Hilde’s thoughts.
“Father is the king of humans. The organization that searches for him is the Sage Green and the Guardians of All Things. Although the Guardians of All Things are more favorable towards the king of humans~ Since Shay is close, I thought I would call Shay. But it doesn’t seem like I’m sending any signals to either side.”
…Indeed. Hilde also thinks that way, but it seems she’s not a regressor after all. Hmph. Though it’s not like I particularly miss regressors! I’m just waiting for the regressor to visit Tír completely unaware and cause all sorts of trouble!
Anyway, it’s a part that I can’t do anything about at the moment. I replied with a hollow cough.
“Something similar… I suppose we’ll need help if it’s beyond our capabilities.”
“I’ll look forward to it~.”
Hilde’s smile approaches heavily. It’s truly awkward to have baseless belief towards the king of humans. Even though I was the Information Office, can I really be trusted that much? Show a little doubt.
…No, it would be difficult if Hilde doubted me when she is the only one I can rely on in this situation.
“Ha. We’ll just have to cross the mountain then.”
With the obscured view ahead, thoughts of gambling arise. I slowly turned my head to look beyond the hill.
The Fog Nation between the mountain and the sea becomes higher as it goes westward. Since the tendency is clear, if you are in a high place, you can see the lower part well, and without relying on bushes and trees, you cannot hide your body. That’s why Hilde and I went through the gate. Crossing the border without being noticed by anyone is an impossible task.
However, above the checkpoint. What if we cross the mountain beyond the ridge? It would certainly be less noticeable to human eyes.
“You mentioned crossing the mountain?”
…Human eyes, that is.
“It’s just empty talk. How can we cross when there’s a tiger.”
Not all mountains have tigers. But tigers are definitely in the mountains. That alone is enough reason not to go to the mountains.
And if you climb up the mountain, you are bound to be visible from below. It just adds one more threat. I turned my head without any hesitation.
“You roughly described it, but there’s no need to mention it without any reason. So the king of humans has a means to cross the mountains without any problems?”
Huh. No, it’s not. I mentioned it because I was really concerned.
“A method to deceive the ears and nose of beasts? Hm, no. If the king of humans is not that simple, there might be something related to the time when humans became the dominant species on earth~.”
What is it? I don’t know. Tell me too. Not just you knowing my story!
However, no matter how much I search through Hilde’s thoughts, all I could find was just vaguely heard stories. The half-baked Holy Sword Bearer like her hardly knows anything about me. Come to think of it, it’s natural. If I have information that even I don’t know, that would be strange….
…Wait a minute.
Then that means a proper Holy Sword Bearer or Saintess can know even about my information? Information that not even I know? But when I read the thoughts of the original Saintess Yuel and the Saintess of Steel Perel, I couldn’t really gain any significant information….
Something is strange. Even Hilde, who is my own child, knows that there’s something. If that’s the case, someone should know the content as well. If it’s not the Saintess, then who on earth?
Or maybe there’s an area that I can’t read? Like the previous regressor’s memories?
Suddenly, a doubt arises, but there’s no way to resolve it. To figure that out, I should first escape the kingdom.
Please, if something could just tie up Elder, at the very least, Vladimir’s foot.
***
The tidal wave had arrived. If the humans who had gone out to collect materials for the night tide had not been stopped beforehand, the casualties would have been quite significant. The tidal wave swept across the beach and reached even the village where the cottages were located. The village, built with enough distance to prepare for capricious disasters, was also flooded and turned into a rocky seabed.
“Is this all?”
However, Valdamir tilted his head in surprise when he saw this scene. It was because the scale was much smaller than he had expected.
Valdamir stepped on the creaking pier and walked forward. Seawater is the lifeblood of the earth god. It is a salty water that contains tiny organisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye. For vampires, who have higher sensitivity to blood even in flowing water, seawater with a salt concentration higher than blood is a realistic terror.
As soon as seawater touches them, the tweedle and earrings melt like salt grains, and even Eyring loses control of blood manipulation and bleeds if she doesn’t concentrate. Ain may be able to endure it, but that is only when facing ‘seawater’. If they are attacked by sea beasts carried by tides, they cannot cope with incomplete blood manipulation.
That’s why Valdamir did not participate in the chase operation. Even if he had participated under the order of the clan leader, he would not have moved actively. A father should be threatening to a man approaching his daughter, but gentle to a man moving away. The harder the daughter tries to hold on, the more so.
Valdamir was personally inspecting the disaster area with humans and vampires. The reason why an elder like him was doing such mundane work soon became apparent.
“What? Why is a sail here…?”
One worker, who saw a strange object buried in the sand, approached the sail. Every time he stepped on the sand, something resembling a leaf stirred. Just as the worker felt strange, the sand suddenly sucked in, and something pushed the sand and popped out.
“Oh my gosh!”
When the head of the startled human sprouted a bizarre mouth. A large greatsword flew and pierced the mysterious shadow.
What jumped out of the sandy soil was a large fish with a similar color to Valdamir. The large fish with fins specialized in moving on land jumped up and down as if in pain, twitching its mouth. It made a sound as if a millstone struck against an entrance big enough to fit a human head. It is unknown whether it is suffering from the outside air or is irritated by being disturbed during its meal.
“It, it’s alive….”
Valdamir’s Ein, Count Drickle, emphasized once again towards the relieved worker.
“Stay alert! It’s not just the night tide right now! Various dangerous creatures are lurking nearby as various things have been carried from the far sea! If there’s anything strange, throw a spear before approaching it!”
The workers held arrows above their heads with determined resolution. Some workers, who thought they were skilled, threw spears toward holes in rocks or windowsills.
There were still some sea beasts that survived, but most of them were corpses. Especially, most of the dangerous mussels and crabs on land were dead with broken shells. Valdamir watched the traces of broken shells of crustaceans and suddenly opened his mouth.
“Cabilla.”
“Don’t call me a brazen face without shame, betrayer!”
Cabilla replied with a defiant attitude.
Cabilla still harbored resentment towards Valdamir for not making the patriarch give up his heart.
But that was neither Valdamir’s concern nor his concern. Valdamir ignored Cabilla’s rebellion and spoke again.
“What kind of tidal wave is this?”
“What kind of tidal wave is there? When seawater flows in, it’s just a tidal wave. I didn’t know you were such a sentimental person who names each wave while watching them.”
Emotions are emotions and work is work. Valdamir asked without emotion, and Cabilla answered obediently, albeit with a cold tongue.
“I don’t know. It’s strange this time.”
“What’s strange about it?”
“Cloud animals have been causing trouble frequently. It’s a pattern that occasionally appears before the night tide, but it’s been unusually noisy lately. How noisy it was when the waves came crashing down throughout the day.”
“Why is that?”
Valdamir’s Ein, Drickle, addressed the relieved workers once again:
“Stay alert! It’s not just the night tide right now! Various dangerous creatures are lurking nearby as various things have been carried from the far sea! If there’s anything strange, throw a spear before approaching it!”
The workers held arrows above their heads with determined resolution. Some workers, who thought they were skilled, threw spears toward holes in rocks or windowsills.
There were still some sea beasts that survived, but most of them were corpses. Especially, most of the dangerous mussels and crabs on land were dead with broken shells. Valdamir watched the traces of broken shells of crustaceans and suddenly opened his mouth.
“Cabilla.”
“Don’t call me a brazen face without shame, betrayer!”
Cabilla replied with a defiant attitude.
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Cabilla still harbored resentment towards Valdamir for not making the patriarch give up his heart.
But that was neither Valdamir’s concern nor his concern. Valdamir ignored Cabilla’s rebellion and spoke again.
“What kind of tidal wave is this?”
“What kind of tidal wave is there? When seawater flows in, it’s just a tidal wave. I didn’t know you were such a sentimental person who names each wave while watching them.”
Emotions are emotions and work is work. Valdamir asked without emotion, and Cabilla answered obediently, albeit with a cold tongue.
“I don’t know. It’s strange this time.”
“What’s strange about it?”
“Cloud animals have been causing trouble frequently. It’s a pattern that occasionally appears before the night tide, but it’s been unusually noisy lately. How noisy it was when the waves came crashing down throughout the day.”
“Why is that?”
Kavilla replied with annoyance.
“How do you know what’s happening in the distant ocean? I’m already busy with my sister’s work!”
“That’s your job.”
“Hmph! Then maybe you should have paid some attention before! You didn’t care at all, and now suddenly you come here to bother me!”
“That’s my job.”
“Ugh!”
Kavilla kicked the crumbling cottage in frustration. With a crash, the weakened wall collapsed, revealing a giant pupil in the massive crack.