175 Episode 68: A Long Night Comes (5) (2/2)
It was then believed that the vampire, who only remained as a gaga story, disappeared from the Kingdom of Palettia. I guess that means that the vampire was fleeing across a mountain range with a canvas kingdom.
”Our ancestors fled to the land that became the Cambus kingdom after being considered heretical in the Kingdom of Palletia. But it wasn't a safe place to live. Countless demons, untapped realms, to the exclusive subhumans.”
”... So what did the family of vampires hate about the interference of the Kingdom of Palletia”
”For two reasons, the forces were divided into two parts among the vampire clan. One is because factions that just wanted to pursue magical truth hated interference. And the other is that the faction that was looking to avenge the Palletian kingdom didn't want to be taken into account.”
”... revenge”
Raini shrugged in a small breath. When I heard that, Ruella shifted her gaze to Raini and smiled bitterly mocking herself.
”Tillis was a weirdo among vampires. He didn't have a spot like a cloud, and he just wanted to do some research. But I wasn't interested in the vampire proposition... and I knew he was weird.”
”... you did like traveling and seeing all sorts of things”
”Is Tillis still doing well? He said he wanted to try traveling, and maybe he's traveling with his daughter alone? Though I'd say it sounds like him.”
”... my mother, she died”
”Huh...?
When Raini said it like it was hard to say, Ruella opened her eyes to such an extent that she seemed to have zero crimson eyes that she blurred. Then I thought I moved my lips to eat the air a few times, slowly dropping my shoulders.
”... Yes, the Tillis guy, he's dead. How old are you? What's your name?”
”I say Raini. He's seventeen.”
”I'm not a kid at all!... I'm not stupid, why are you dead. I don't know... I'm really going to have a hard time understanding until the end...”
Ruella covered her face and groaned like a groan. I lean in like Raini worries when he sees Luella like that.
Aside from what relationship Ruella and Raini's mother had, Ruella still has something to ask.
”So you're saying that vampires wanted revenge on the kingdom of Palletia?
”... there was a guy I was hoping for, but it was second. What Vampires Had The Desire To Give More Priority”
”Ambition, is it?
”Uncover the truth of magic to achieve true immortality.”
”True immortality, is it”
”If vampires are inside you, you know that, right? Vampire immortality is not complete. We must regularly incorporate blood from the outside.”
”So what do you call immortality?
”Complete it alone and become a complete seed that transcends death without degradation.”
That must be God. Vampires really have to rely on others to keep their presence. I guess that can't be called a complete existence, as Ruella put it.
So the vampire wanted to be complete and transcendent to death. It would be an obvious heresy in the Kingdom of Palettia. That's why I named the Cambus Kingdom to avoid interference from the kingdom, he said.
”... but isn't that a spiritual contractor?
”Do you think your presence is perfect?
”... what do you think?”
Nothing. I never thought of that because I'm not asking to be perfect.
If I were you, I might have tried to make it better, but now I'm not even interested in trying to be complete. I just want to work with Anis to create the world that Anis wants. That's just it.
”The Spirit Contract has its flaws. It means abandoning being a person. Abandoning being a person doesn't have to be forever. For the Spirit, eternity is being with the world, isn't it? No hope, just there is. You can call that eternity. But it's not what people want forever.
”Is that why you, the vampires, sought immortality on a different path from the spiritual covenant?
”That's right. And then we arrived at the demon stone.”
stroking her own chest. That's what Ruella said. But I'm not proud of that look, I just laugh at myself.
”The Demon Stone has led us to imperfection but immortality. Then we thought it was right for us to cultivate this demon stone to complete it. Ultimately, even the Spirit Contractor, close to immortality, who is the goal, will be able to defeat it with so much power as to feed it all that it can to gain eternity.”
”... you mean it was good to abandon people and become demons”
”No, I'm not. It's not like a spiritual covenant that dumps people. We wanted to evolve as people. As it turns out, it just turns out to be a monster from a human being today, just chasing a new form of person. Loved, admired, never decayed, never aged, never degraded by anyone. I want to make man's splendor forever and reign in this world. That's our proposition that became a species of vampire.... That was a proposition.”
Ruella hugged her body, telling it repeatedly as a proposition, but speaking as if it were a thing of the past. Its body, which I made to hold with my own arms, seemed to be trembling in small pieces by fear.
”Yes, this was the kind of aspiration of a vampire. But we didn't really understand...! So such a monster was born......!
”... a monster?
”- Princess of the Canvas Kingdom. Closer to the founding fathers than anyone else, carrying the aspirations and expectations of a vampire at once...... and the” devil ”who instantly collapsed the Kingdom of Kambath......!