EnCoffin Me Chapter 2
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 2
Alexio couldn't hear the crowing of the roosters. He was far too baffled by the scene before him.
Although he'd briefly suspected that the vampires had taken over the world, he quickly dismissed this idea. The various arrangements before him, whether the floral archways, the red carpet, and even the silver-gray dome overhead, were filled with the exquisite elegance unique to light creatures.
The more certain he became of this, the more puzzled he felt. The light creatures, which hated the dark creatures with a deep passion, had clashed with the vampires more times than he could count. In his long life, aside from his own kind's revelries and internal strife, what stood out most was the Silver Crusaders of the Holy Temple — their purges, their expeditions, all in the name of the Supreme Light.
Mutual conquest, fighting each other… that should have been the proper state of affairs.
Footsteps echoed from the other end of the red carpet. They weren't loud, but they were uniform and orderly. Alexio narrowed his eyes. Coming through the floral archways was a mixed group of light creatures and humans. That wasn't unusual. Humans had always admired and revered the light races. Leading the group was a figure with a gentle expression and a horn spiraling to the left. A step behind was a female human dressed like a clerk, and beside her stood an angel.
An odd combination.
Now Alexio was starting to get intrigued. He quickly assessed the blood reserves in his body. If things went south, he could take the human hostage and extract some blood without killing her. By then, neither the unicorn nor the angel would be able to stop him.
He tensed his body in secret, ready to strike… but why wasn't this angel carrying a sword?
The unicorn at the front stopped about two meters from the coffin. Under Alexio's confused gaze, it gracefully and calmly performed a welcoming gesture for a distinguished guest.
“Congratulations on your resurrection, Your Highness. You may call me Andrei. This is the angel Augustus, and the human Ellie.”
The unicorn had silver eyes and white hair. Even his eyelashes were as pure and untouched as snow. Yet, he slowly lowered his head in a slight bow before the black-haired vampire. Although his smile was faint due to his reserved nature, an unconcealable gentleness involuntarily flowed from his translucent eyes.
Unicorns had always been a serene and graceful species. This was something Alexio had known well even before his long slumber. Matching their elegant appearance was their noble stubbornness. A folk tale told of one unicorn who, unable to endure the shroud of night, ran ceaselessly in pursuit of daylight until it collapsed and died, becoming a constellation in the sky.
They could only be approached by pure and flawless maidens, and even their feeding habits followed an exacting set of rules. Their pursuit of light and purity had truly reached its utmost extremes.
That was exactly why Alexio found the unicorn's warm gaze so bewildering. He'd thought a single glance at him would send the unicorn scrambling to rinse his eyes.
Was this all an act? Or was it something else? What was their goal? The lunatic in the coffin?
Alexio glanced down at the still-sleeping man. The saint lay on his back, surrounded by a wreath of roses, his platinum-blonde hair shimmering with a starry radiance. Alexio knew that when those eyes opened, they would reveal a clear sky-blue. This lunatic bore the perfect appearance of a saint, groomed meticulously by the Holy Temple, all for the sole purpose of hunting Alexio, the third-generation vampire prince.
Andrei followed his gaze to the coffin, but saw nothing.
“…Is there something else?”
Alexio lifted his eyes.
Could these people not see the lunatic?
Then he realized the reason. As the Holy Temple's trump card, this lunatic possessed a special kind of sealing ability. It must have concealed his presence automatically during his slumber, creating the illusion that he was ‘invisible’ to outsiders.
“It doesn't matter. Tell me, what year is it now? How long have I been asleep? A thousand years?”
Alexio pushed himself up, preparing to rise from the coffin.
“Careful!”
“It's dangerous!”
The two warnings came, one after the other, from Andrei and the female human, but Alexio was hardly fazed. He lightly flipped out of the coffin and landed on the floor, his half-cape fluttering open, scattering a few bright rose petals.
The scene was truthfully broadcast live, and the chat exploded like a flock of screaming chickens.
【Aaaah, how can he be this handsome!】
【Little cutie, you've been asleep for ten thousand and thirty-seven years! Ten thousand years!】
【Just now when Xixi jumped out of the coffin, I was so scared my hands are still shaking! Too dangerous! What if he fell and hurt himself?!】
【Why do I feel like there's still something in the coffin…】
【You're all simping over Xixi, but I just think AnXi together on screen looks stunning.】
【What the heck is AnXi? Coach, I want to play basketball? Hahahaha…】
(T/N: Coach Anxi — this comment is referring to Coach Anzai (安西 — Ān Xī), the very round grandpa in Slam Dunk)
Alexio couldn't see the chaotic comments flooding the screen. He repeated Andrei's answer in disbelief.
“Ten thousand years?”
“Yes, it has been ten thousand and thirty-seven years since the Great Firestorm ended.”
Alexio looked like he’d entered standby mode, his thoughts ceasing. For a vampire, sleeping for centuries was perfectly acceptable. A thousand years wasn't impossible either. Occasionally oversleeping could stretch that long, but…
Ten thousand years was far too long!
His first reaction was to turn back and try to grab the lunatic in the coffin.
Wake up, you lunatic! Get up and look! It's been ten thousand years!
The saint didn't move an inch, still deep in peaceful slumber.
Discouraged, Alexio let go and turned back to face Andrei.
“I want to know… what happened after I fell asleep.”
He didn't see that the person who should have been asleep faintly clutch a handful of petals when he heard the words ‘ten thousand years.’ Andrei's unusually gentle voice continued.
“First, it is my duty to inform you that on this day ten thousand years hence, you, as a dark creature, remain precious and adorable, without equal.”
The saint in the coffin tightened his grip on the petals.
Alexio's mind buzzed. The phrase ‘precious and adorable’ struck him like a heavy blow. Since the day he was turned into a vampire, he had never imagined such words would ever be used to describe him.
And after hearing the abridged history of the past ten thousand years, his expression went completely blank.
He had no more expressions left. The world had gone utterly insane!
He had been sealed away by that lunatic before the cataclysmic firestorm. Three years after his sealing, the firestorm swept the world, cleansing it, leaving only a tiny fraction of the population and civilization behind. But that was far from the end of the suffering. For nearly five thousand years after, the entire world was flooded with light, so bright it was painful. Strange creatures formed from the light appeared frequently, further decimating the population, and plunging them into an extremely stagnant stage of development.
It was at this time that ‘Pupil’ appeared out of nowhere, selflessly aiding all races in survival and reproduction. It informed the various races that dark creatures were crucial in maintaining the nearly collapsing balance of light and darkness. Without the existence of dark creatures, the scale, which were already heavily tilted towards the light, would inevitably collapse completely, turning the world into a sea of light that would annihilate all remaining life.
Therefore, the surviving races closely monitored the light index and carefully protected the dark creatures. The balance did not collapse further. Instead, as some dark creatures grew and multiplied, things slowly began to improve.
In the following five thousand years, the environment ceased to be so harsh, and all races ushered in a period of vigorous development. This progress lasted until today, along with the ongoing protection of dark creatures. This was the world Alexio saw upon resurrection.
“Now, we would like to invite you to the Darklife Conservation Center. ‘Pupil’ has foretold your resurrection.”
Andrei smiled, his eyes seemingly filled with affection (?). Seeing Alexio remain silent, he suddenly realized something.
“Are you hungry?”
Alexio stared at him steadily, licking his fangs inside his mouth. He realized this was a good moment to test the waters.
“I am indeed a bit hungry. Could you provide me with fresh blood?” He paused. “Human blood would be best.”
Any undead being attempting to harm humans would be bound upon the execution rack and scorched under the midday sun… Alexio knew full well how the light creatures regarded their kind. His thoughts were still stuck in the fierce battles from ten thousand years past. Truth be told, he remained deeply skeptical of the current situation.
He suspected that after ten thousand years, certain traits of dark creatures had been reshaped into something people now admired. And once he showed his fangs and claws, these people who were showing him such eager goodwill would definitely, as in the past, fear him, reject him, and try to exterminate him.
He wasn't cute, nor would he act cute. So, these people had best not harbor any illusions about him.
Sure enough, the few beings present all fell silent. The human named Ellie even raised her head, her eyes wide as she looked at him.
All of this was exactly what Alexio expected.
However…
“Bite me! Please bite me!” Ellie was so excited she was almost crying. “I just took a bath and I'm super clean! I exercise regularly, and my usual meals consist of whole grains and vegetables! I can even provide proof of my vaccinations, huhuhu! Please bite me, I'm super delicious!”
“???”
This was nothing like what he had imagined. Confused, Alexio instinctively glanced at the angel. If any race had the worst relationship with vampires, it was the noble angels who protected humans.
The angel Augustus, who had been standing solemnly behind Andrei, met his gaze with an initially calm expression. Gradually, a faint blush spread across his cheeks.
Alexio had an ominous premonition. It seemed he was about to witness another lunatic reaction—
The handsome angel's cheeks flushed red as he bashfully lowered his head, which should have been held high with pride.
“If you're truly too hungry, it's not like I couldn't…”
“……”
No! Thank you!