“After that, what happened is mostly known. The woman who abandoned her followers sought out her nemesis among humans and challenged the Progenitor of Dragons.”
“Is that the story about leaving a wound on the Elder Dragon?”
“Yeah. And she died. She was reckless until the very end.”
Even though it was a story almost two thousand years old, there was a blend of bitterness and resentment in Jeil’s gaze that wandered aimlessly in the air.
‘Was there such a backstory?’
Yustelein, the Progenitor of Dragons and the first lifeform.
It is known that the only instance of humans intertwined with mythical beings throughout history is the tale of the first Progenitor of Vampires.
I had also heard the tale of the first Progenitor.
However, it merely suggested how dangerous the Progenitor, who left a wound on the Elder Dragon, was—not explaining why humans became involved with a mythical being.
“Bored, huh?”
“Maybe she was only interested in fighting, killing, and drinking blood from the very beginning. Although her followers gathered after hearing the Progenitor’s words about taking over the world, in hindsight, what the Progenitor actually did was provoke other species and fill her own belly. They paid the price for not realizing it was just a whim.”
The first Progenitor threw away her life to resolve her profound boredom. Abandoning countless followers who followed her.
And I couldn’t listen to Jeil’s story as if it were someone else’s business.
‘Perhaps.’
Deep inside my heart, anxiety that I had buried and pretended not to notice lifted its head.
Maybe the end of the first Progenitor could be the reflection of my future.
Humans are beings who long for what they cannot possess. The more unreachable it is, the more they truly crave it, and once they grasp what they longed for, it falls to reality and loses its value.
Life, for me, was like that.
In my previous life as a terminally ill patient, I longed for a healthy, ordinary life, and even after being reborn as a vampire, my desire for life grew even stronger as those who wanted to kill me increased.
The simple and ordinary life I wished for remained far away, so far that even if I stretched my hands as hard as I could, I could never touch it, and I am still earnestly hoping for something I have never possessed.
But someday, if I obtain such immense power that I can eliminate all that threatens my life and find no more nemeses, and if all that remains is an ‘ordinary daily life’ that never ends and repeats, would I be the same as I am now?
At this moment, it might be a luxurious worry. After all, I still live under the constant threat of death tomorrow.
Yet even so, I couldn’t confidently declare that the path the first Progenitor walked was irrelevant to me.
“You’re making a complicated face. Do Progenitors share a bond or something?”
“…No. I was just thinking about what it feels like to be bored enough to throw away one’s life.”
“You’re still too young to have so many worries. I’ve been living for 2,000 years and I’m still fine. That woman didn’t go to die; she just liked bloody fights. Death is merely a consequence of losing.”
Amidst my distress, my hand moved on reflex.
I lightly slapped Jeil’s forehead, and a sound echoed from his sun-baked, dried-out body.
“…Why did you hit me?”
“I thought you looked like you had a blood clot in your head, so I cleared it for you. You can save your thank you.”
Jeil made a dissatisfied noise, as if he couldn’t comprehend it.
But perhaps because he already knew that I had no intention of killing him, he just grumbled a bit before continuing the conversation without any further complaints.
“After the death of the Progenitor became known, you can guess what happened to the remaining followers, right? The vampires who lost half of their day rapidly declined. The current Sahelrn Duchy is just a handful of land that the first Progenitor managed to acquire and keep until the end.”
Background on how the isolated island on land, the Sahelrn Duchy, came to be.
“The thoroughly dug underground facilities served as a last bastion in an unexpected way. Well, I can’t deny that Martini Sahelrn played a large role in taking care of the remaining followers in place of the deceased Progenitor.”
As I wondered how the vampires managed to stand their ground amidst humans devouring the premium land of the continent, I asked,
“Then what about the Helraig Duchy?”
“It wasn’t called the Sahelrn Duchy back then… but anyway, it was a nation I established after separating from Martini due to differences in policy after we had lost almost everything.”
“Differences in policy?”
“Martini stubbornly clung to ideals. After being abandoned, she longed for the first Progenitor and tried to protect the land she left behind. Yet she wouldn’t cast out the weaklings and instead sought to gather all the remaining followers. A greedy woman who didn’t want to let go of anything she had. Sitting on the prime land while having no strength to protect anything, how could she not become a target?”
Conversely, what about Jeil Helraig?
With a somewhat pessimistic and realistic viewpoint, he argued that every vampire should protect their own lives.
While those willing to fight could unite their powers, the strong had no obligation to protect the weak unilaterally, and those who didn’t know how to fight and had no intention of fighting should be decisively cut off. It was inevitable that he clashed with Martini.
In the end, Jeil Helraig led the vampires who shared his views and left the Sahelrn Duchy.
The wandering group settled in the barren wilderness of northwestern land where living would be difficult if they weren’t vampires, and Jeil was promoted to Grand Duke.
“I must say, I can honor you for still being alive and protecting that land. Honestly, I thought you would die a long time ago. Though it seems that time will come soon too.”
After finishing his not too short yet not too long tale, Jeil closed his eyes as if he had said enough.
But I began to understand now.
Why Jeil had hated me from the start, and why he had sincerely pursued such an absurd plan to overcome the sun by stealing my powers for years without any clear evidence.
“You actually did take on the role of Grand Duke surprisingly well.”
“Ha, are you mocking me? The real issue is that after enjoying it for 2,000 years, I still have nothing to show for it.”
I had thought he was a selfish tyrant with personal ambitions for his own power and honor.
But it didn’t seem that way.
Although it might be a lie if I said he didn’t feel frustrating and blocked from my perspective, honestly, I still wanted to hit him once, but setting personal feelings aside, at least he surely protected his own.
There was simply a difference in the direction of their beliefs. Martini and Jeil were both right in their ways.
While Martini aimed to protect her followers through more idealistic means, Jeil sought to do it through more realistic methods.
As a result, the vampire race managed to survive even after losing the unique pillar, the first Progenitor.
Even if there were huge sacrifices along the way, the conviction they upheld for over 2,000 years was not something that could simply be dismissed by others.
“You intended to overcome the sun to replace the first Progenitor, didn’t you?”
Responsibilities come with positions.
Generally, you might find the phrase ‘great power comes with great responsibility’ familiar, but the truth is that phrase is wrong.
If one is content with being an individual, there is no necessity for the power and responsibility to be proportionate. What’s wrong with using the power acquired through one’s efforts and talents for oneself?
Simply stating that since one has power, they must take responsibility is merely the cries of the weak wanting to impose constraints on the strong in a game they have no chance of winning.
What comes with responsibility is not power, but position.
Positions are not created by individuals. Kings exist because there are subjects and citizens.
A position is formed by social agreements. Whether by democratic consent or coercive agreement through fear, positions and roles are shaped at least on the surface through someone’s consensus.
Especially in this world dominated by the logic of power, the whims of a powerful individual may earn resentment from others, yet lacks the basis to be criticized for its legitimacy.
However, if the whims belong to a powerful king rather than a powerful individual, the story changes.
Subjects and citizens delegate a part of their rights to the king in exchange for responsibilities.
The king, through the rights granted by subjects and citizens, has an obligation to protect them in exchange for enjoying above-average comforts.
Yet the first Progenitor arbitrarily tossed away her responsibilities.
She reversed her declaration of wanting to take over the world and left, abandoning the responsibilities that came with ruling as a king while enjoying the rights received from others.
It was inevitable that a castle losing its pillar would collapse. The vampire race, having lost the first Progenitor, quickly descended into decline.
Someone had to take the place of the first Progenitor.
Thus, Jeil Helraig, despite being born of royal blood, sought to become a king in place of the Progenitor who prioritized personal feelings.
However, even after abandoning ideals like Martini and compromising with reality, Jeil Helraig ultimately couldn’t transcend the more realistic constraint of the sun.
“…You wouldn’t understand. The emptiness of watching everything built with my kin’s blood become bubble and vanish at dawn.”
That was the very reason he was fixated on the sun.
Jeil did not deny it. He neither claimed justification for his actions nor sought sympathy.
“So, that’s why I don’t believe in you, the Progenitor. A being with perfect possibilities unhindered by the sun and the moon would have no understanding of the struggles of those who follow. To a Progenitor, followers are merely convenient tools. I cannot recognize a Progenitor as a king who does not know the fear of waiting powerless for an uncertain death, shackled by half a day of freedom every day. Before accepting a definite destruction by clinging to a Progenitor for immediate crisis, it is better to seize the Progenitor’s True Blood and gamble on the possibility of overcoming the sun.”
He denied me, not my question. Even in his state of vulnerability, Jeil remained stubborn and irritatingly confident.
“You’re still too cocky.”
To look down on me while lying down—how talented can one be?
What a filthy, stubborn fool.
But this time, I decided not to get angry. His will to uphold his beliefs and take on the vacant throne for nearly 2,000 years, though an enemy, was worthy of respect.
Assuming Jeil was not lying to me, I had confidence that seeing this would break down his stubbornness.
“I said you didn’t know the fear that comes from powerlessness.”
No. I could confidently say that no one knows it better than me.
Having experienced how terrifying it is to wait for a death chance with no power, to live a life bound to a sickbed while waiting for death, I know how agonizing it can be.
“The possibility of overcoming the sun… fine. I’ll show you.”
Originally, I hadn’t intended for the first demonstration to be here, but I’ll make an exception.
I gathered my weary body, narrowed my eyes, and looked up at the sun.
It was bright, dazzling, and hot.
Splash! As if sensing something, Lavina, who had been hiding at a distance, suddenly stood up with an urgent face, staring at me with her mouth agape.
I lightly nodded at her, signaling to just watch, and turned back to Jeil.
My mind blazed white. The power required for initiating large-scale magic, the first time I was trying it, rapidly left me as if chunks were being severed away.
In the brilliantly bright dawn, the darkness of the world gathered toward me.
Jeil’s eyes widened in shock.
Yeah, watch closely. This is my minimum respect for you, doing something like this.
The activation process didn’t require a chant. However, I insisted on saying the name of the magic I completed with Lavina’s help.
“Solar Eclipse.”
As I clapped my hands together, an anomaly occurred.
In the blink of an eye, darkness erupted like a flood. The sun, peeking from the east, vanished from the sky as if it had been erased without warning.
The light illuminating the ground disappeared, and the world turned pitch black, with an untimely night defying the natural order, descending upon the Helraig Duchy.
Feeling the now-familiar sensation of night, I was confident I had successfully completed the first demonstration of magic.
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EPIC!!!