“Tia? That person is….”
Sia whispered to me in a small voice while looking at the Old King.
“That’s the king of this country. Quite old, isn’t he?”
“The king? That old man? I thought he would be someone more dignified and strong.”
“A dignified and strong person, huh….”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Sia’s words. This was a being that couldn’t survive without leeching life from others, yet she thought of him as dignified and strong….
It was just laughable.
“But from the way he’s talking… you know him already?”
“Well, we had a bit of history in the past.”
“With Tia? Hee… I’d like to hear a bit about that.”
I glanced at the Old King, who shook his head slightly. He probably didn’t want to reveal his own mistakes to others.
“Since he doesn’t want to disclose it, it’s a secret.”
“Tch. Can’t you just tell me? If it’s related to Tia, I’m sure there’s some name left behind, and if it’s related to blood, it should be pretty characteristic and easier to find.”
“No means no.”
Cough.
See? Even the Old King is clearing his throat in protest.
“Tch. Fine, I’ll give up for now.”
Sia gave up surprisingly easily. Well, she probably plans to investigate secretly later.
“But… if that old man is the king of this country, how is he protecting it from the nomads?”
Curious, Sia examined the Old King. It was hard to imagine that a frail, old man, incapable of wielding a proper sword, could protect this country from the fierce and violent nomads.
It’s only natural. Who would look at that old man and think he’s the one defending this small nation?
“There’s something he can do that no one else can.”
“Something he can do that no one else can?”
He can’t fight holding a sword. He can’t lead or command many soldiers. He doesn’t handle magic by using infinite magical power.
All he could do was manipulate the power of life.
“Um… is it okay to say this?”
“Looking at him, he doesn’t seem like an ordinary human, so I think it’s fine.”
With the Old King’s permission, I gently placed my hand on Sia’s head.
“Tia?”
“I’ll show you how he protects this country.”
I interfered with Sia’s sight… cutting off everything else, allowing her to see the power of life vividly.
Nothing but the essence of life could be seen, blocking out everything else.
And then.
“This is….”
“Pretty neat, right?”
In the deep darkness, where not a single sliver of light could escape, the light of life rose up.
The faint light of small insects, the pitiful but tenacious light of weeds, and the lights of human beings that moved busily without stopping.
That spectacle made one feel as if they were falling into an endless universe.
And.
“I can’t see anything but this dazzling light….”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot to block mine.”
I completely forgot. If life is expressed as light, then the largest light would be mine. Everything else would be overshadowed by such light.
I couldn’t see the light I emitted, so I simply forgot.
“There you go. I’ve blocked mine. Now it should be visible.”
“Oh, yeah. I think I see something now. It’s beautiful, like a night sky.”
“That’s the light of life.”
When the power of life can be seen as light, one would be able to see things they hadn’t before.
So then.
“Want to look over there?”
I turned Sia’s body to face where the Old King was.
What Sia saw now was a brighter and larger light of life compared to others.
But that light was slowly dimming.
“What’s that…?”
And there was the view of a massive pillar of light connected to the ground below.
“What’s buried under the ground….?”
The faintly pulsing light of life indicated that something huge was alive beneath the ground.
A massive something with life, curling up within this country’s earth and spreading its roots wide.
“Isn’t it interesting?”
“No, this is… something I’ve never seen before.”
“Of course, to have a life this massive, just how much power of life must have been gathered?”
Most likely, a few hundred years wouldn’t suffice. They probably had to pour nearly all the gathered lives over a thousand years to complete it.
In exchange for that, the never-aging king became the Old King.
But he didn’t seem to regret that choice.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to show something I created to others….”
The Old King said, looking a bit shy. It seemed showing something he devoted his whole life to creating was quite embarrassing for him.
“That thing… what on earth is it?”
Sia asked the Old King with disbelief. What it holds is merely the power of life. The magic flowing through that life spread underground like the roots of a massive tree.
Its expanse… was equal to that of this country.
“Under this country… that thing has spread?”
“That’s right.”
Sia’s face was one of confusion.
What that was, why it held such immense life, why it was linked to the Old King—all of it was a mystery to her.
Even though she was the goddess of knowledge and magic.
“This idea is a bit refreshing, and I was surprised myself at how he thought to expel most of his life outside his body to create something like that.”
“I was just desperate to survive.”
“But it’s effective, isn’t it?”
I returned Sia’s sight to normal as I spoke.
“That is the being that protects this country.”
Someone once said that the king of Wallachia tames monsters using blood and uses them to protect the nation.
The truth behind that rumor resided beneath the earth.
“Could it be said that it’s a being crafted from life? Um, did you give it any name?”
“No, I didn’t name it. It has no self and simply exists with the vitality I impart.”
“No name? That’s a bit sad.”
Such a massive, yet pitiful existence.
“All it can do is… chase away those who harbor animosity towards this country and seek to harm its people.”
“It chases them away…?”
Sia’s expression showed disbelief.
What such a massive being, laden with life, could do for other purposes was unfathomable, and the fact that it was used to protect this small, peaceful country was beyond her understanding.
“How… how would such a thing chase away enemies? No, can it even move properly? If it slips up, the whole country could be turned upside down, right?”
“Calm down, Sia. If it’s about toppling a country, you could easily do that yourself.”
“That’s true! But how could they create such an unidentified being and only use it to protect one country? How does it even protect it?!”
“Well… seeing is believing.”
I conjured a square screen using magic and showed it to Sia.
A magic that displays events from the past… let’s say.
“This is?”
“This happened last month, when the nomads invaded the plains.”
Inside the screen, dozens of nomads on horseback were charging with weapons in hand.
There were no walls to block them, and the village had only wild animals or perhaps a simple fence as barriers.
The future of that village being ransacked, killed, and burned by those nomads was plain to see.
“Urk!”
They were pierced by the blood-red thorns that erupted from the ground.
Of course, not all the nomads were exterminated at once. Some managed to fend off the thorns with weapons or swiftly evade them on horseback.
“Beware of the ground!”
“There’s a monster in the ground!”
Thorns continued to burst forth, as if to not spare those who violated this land.
“It’s just minor scratches! It’s nothing!”
The strongest-looking nomad urged the others to stay calm,
but the thorns were not simply arising for the purpose of piercing enemies.
“C-cough….”
Its existence was born from leeching the lives of others.
Thus, its inherent nature was predatory.
It was an existence optimized for stealing other lives.
The nomads pierced by thorns began to have their lives drained away.
Blood, muscle, organs, life.
All that remained after the plundering was merely a handful of bone fragments.
Such a horrific sight left the nomads and Sia speechless, with no words left to say.
Before long, the nomads were left as mere scattered bones, losing their lives.
And so, the blood-red thorns that had made them this way vanished into the ground as if nothing had happened.
“Wow… he sure made something like that.”
Sia gazed in horror at the Old King, who had created such a thing.
“Don’t think too poorly of him. All he wanted was to protect this land.”
In other words, without such a thing, this country would have been trampled long ago.
“Still, no matter how selfless it is, even if it just pierces enemies without having a self… not having a name is a bit sad.”
I turned to the Old King and said.
“If it’s alright, can I give it a name?”
“The Goddess of Life is offering to name it? That would be an honor, but… is it too much of an honor for such an imperfect being I created….”
“What’s it, naming it is easy enough.”
I smiled lightly.
“By giving it a name, it will receive my gaze. Should any issues arise or it goes rampaging… I would then be able to take action.”
“That… does give me a bit of reassurance.”
The Old King, who had given almost all his life to that being… wouldn’t have long to live.
Yet, regardless, that being would continue to exist until the moment his life was done.
Even if he disappeared, there would need to be someone who could control it… or take precautionary measures should it rampage.
“Let’s call it ‘Sanguinas’. A name derived from the word for blood.”
With this name, it would not be able to evade my gaze.
I contemplated between ‘vampire’ and ‘Sanguinas’… but ‘vampire’ feels more like a race’s name. ‘Sanguinas’ sounded like a better fit. Yeah.
Thanks for the chappies!