The Prince of La Manchaland: Meursault's Story
The Prince of La Manchaland Meursault
Sometimes, I dream.
I dream of the burning confessional.
Of the Kindreds' dismembered bodies and the crumbling rides of the amusement park.
Die...! Filthy, disgusting beasts...
Look, I've brought water! You need water to put out the fire burning your home to the ground, don't you? Too bad you're too scared to go anywhere near your own salvation... hah!
Raiders yell at the top of their lungs as they trample our land.
W-we... we wanted to live, too...!
Do you have even an inkling of the suffering we'd endured day after day while your kind blissfully frolicked across La Manchaland...?
My Family protests, their voices trembling with fear.
Some beg for their lives, too.
Today... today's the day I finally reduce this damned place to a pile of ashes.
Big sis... rest easy now. I'll get you that proper office building you'd always dreamed of.
But my Family never survive this dream.
Just as they failed to in the waking world.
131 rounds of expeditions.
79 attempts at arson, 21 attempts at hosing us down, 3 volleys of trebuchet strikes, 17 total counts of sniper shots and assassination attempts. And 10 all-out battles.
671 Kindreds killed. 3,449 Bloodbags burned.
Visions of this dream are as precise as the clarity of my memory. I recall them with the same vividness of that day, recalling the varied ways in which they were killed and the accompanying cries that became their last words.
And I do nothing but witness it all from the Parade's vanguard.
For the first time, the Parade comes to a stop, and my vantage point presents me with a vision of a massacre inflamed by mania...
... which is reminiscent of the crowd of humans who once cheered happily at our Parade.
So, standing still like a stone, I observe them.
... Meursault. Listen to me.
... The dream is nearing its end.
At this moment, with mere minutes separating this dream and the waking world, maman always grabs me by my shoulders and calls my name.
…….
But I do not answer her.
Because there is no "Meursault" in the procession. As that is the rule as written, I follow it.
... Haah. In moments like this, I begin to wonder how I understand so little of my own Child.
... O, noble Prince.
Have you aught to say, Princess?
We now stand upon the last vestiges of our kingdom. Those who are green with envy have looted and plundered our land bare.
You are the first prince. Its fate now lies solely in your hands; thus -
Are you suggesting that I flee, Princess?
What other recourse have I to suggest?
A royal prince must rightly stand his ground, no matter what is to come. He shall fight to the bitter end...
... I see. If that is your rule, then I suppose no words, regardless of its speaker, would sway you from here.
Allow me to rephrase that, noble Prince.
You are aware of the rule that this march must never stop, correct?
Indeed. For this is the endlessly, eternally blessed Carnival.
My Prince, you are the vanguard of the procession. Should you stop, you will reave it of its eternity.
Thus, I implore you to march on, dear Prince. March over the ruins of this kingdom and go forward - found a new kingdom, reborn and rewritten by your hands.
... You mean...?
Become King, my Prince.
... If that is your will, Princess, the fairest and the wisest of the kingdom, then...
That was the new rule bestowed upon me.
When the request behind a rule is reasonable, I carry it out - no more, no less.
... Live.
I turn away from the lingering whisper of maman's last words. I feel the pressure of the Bloodfiend hierarchy, the very essence of which has infused my blood, intensify a degree higher -
O Third Kindred, now...
... Mm.
... Then, I wake.
Report.
We have marched to the halfway point of the economy class section, as per Your Majesty's command.
The procession's end is near... and so is the time for Your Majesty to join it at its rear.
Mm.
As maman had commanded me, I fled La Manchaland to build my own kingdom.
How many new Bloodbags have we gained?
A total of six today and not one more. I have relayed that no more than that is to be made, as per Your Majesty's decree.
And... as the time for you to create a new Kindred is nigh, I have set aside a few prospective passengers who may receive that honor.
Well done. I commend your efforts.
... Anything for the kingdom and the Family's prosperity.
It was rather convenient how the rules perfectly dovetailed with instinct.
The moment maman ceased to exist, my very instincts alerted to my ascension in the hierarchy.
And with it, a sudden pressure sliced through me - the inescapable responsibility to propagate the Family, as I had no Children of my own.
Indeed, I required a place where propagation of the Family was guaranteed, a furtive place that could hide our growth from foreign forces...
... making it a most reasonable decision to hide myself within the WARP train to escape P Corp.
No other place has so perfectly met the needs of my purpose, and none shall ever again.
P-please, please don't kill me... Aagh!
The squire leads me to a room with a passenger, who is terrified out of his mind.
Terrified as he may be, and despite the considerable amount of time this train must have spent in stasis, there is a spark of life within him, desperately clawing to prolong its existence... And that makes him a prime candidate to join my Family.
You need not be afraid.
For I too, was once human.
Hm. However, considering the City's standards of what constitutes a human and what does not, I still belong in the former category. Therefore, upon adjusting the distinction to "before Bloodfiend characteristics became apparent" and "after"...
…!
But to me, the human existence and the princely existence...
... were indistinguishable from one another.
Thus, the same shall be true to thee.
W-wait... what does that even mean?! That doesn't make any sense - !!!
I do not wait for him to finish his reply and sink my teeth into his jugular.
Warm blood... spreads to every corner of my body.
Some may say that subjects of the King deserve to be heard. But that would be inefficient.
I was given but two rules.
One, the march must never end.
Two, I must raise my kingdom.
... And no more.