WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 57: 10. Stalker vs Stalker (12)

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* * *

It hardly needed saying, but Ivan was a rational man.

That meant he was not the sort of reckless, hot-tempered man who threw an axe just because a long-range projection spell was spouting bullshit.

It was a shame. Ivan was confident he could bury his axe in Alexander's head another five times before he even finished a single breath.

"...Is that a question you need me to answer?"

So Ivan decided to keep the conversation going.

Who knew? If he played along with that lunatic, perhaps Alexander would willingly confess where he was and what he was doing.

No, that was unlikely.

Still, Ivan had a duty, as Elizaveta's agent, to remember this conversation, continue it, and report it.

Duty.

Yes. That was all. He should think of nothing but that.

Anger could wait. Mourning for those who were gone could wait as well.

Until after he laid the Crown Prince's severed head before a headstone in the Counterintelligence Command's cemetery.

So for now, he would think only of his duty.

Ivan loosened his grip on the axe and waited for the Crown Prince to speak.

"Was that a strange question? You met the Hero yourself, didn't you?"

"Why him?"

"Was the Hero... human?"

"More than anyone else."

Ivan answered in a cold, flat voice.

Alexander smiled brightly at that.

"Yes, that's right. More human than anyone. A man who was human through and through. He appeared in a dark world, amid a brutal war, when the human race stood on the verge of extinction, saved humanity, then departed."

A lantern shining in the darkest night.

Ivan had watched the Hero from close by. He knew the Hero held no religious beliefs.

Yet the Hero clearly knew how to use divine power spells. Magic and swordsmanship, too. He was a master of them all.

He was like the sum of every possibility humanity possessed. His character was no exception.

"His existence was proof of the Lord's existence. Who would dare deny it? The Lord loved us, so He sent His son down into the harsh darkness of this world."

Ivan came from a world without gods, or at least one where gods remained silent. He was therefore deeply skeptical about their existence.

This world was different. Gods were real, and they made their existence known to their followers through miracles.

From that perspective, the Hero's existence alone was a miracle. He had been a creation shaped to save a world rushing toward its end.

His soul had come from an Earth like Ivan's, yet even so, his powerful body and talent could reasonably be called divine blessings.

That was why every human in this world willingly praised the Hero. The Lord loved humanity, so He had sent His representative.

Ivan could not deny it, but he still felt strangely bitter.

The Hero had called himself nothing more than a representative, someone anyone could have become, who had simply stepped forward in everyone's place.

Unlike the public praise he received, the Hero had wanted to remain wholly an individual.

"If, as the old men of the Church say, we were made in the image of the Lord and the Lord loves us, then answer me this. Why has our world fallen into such ruin? Why must we live hungry, envious, fighting, and robbing each other?"

Set aside the name of the human race, and its way of life, its cycle, was no different from that of beasts.

It was a question Earth had already debated to death. Ivan had not studied theology, nor had he held any particular religious beliefs on Earth, but it was not difficult for him to answer.

Yet this world, as he had to remind himself once more, truly held personal gods who directly revealed their existence.

Ivan did not answer Alexander's question. In truth, Alexander had not asked it because he wanted an answer.

"Did your godless world have religion?"

"...!"

"It must have. The essential element of religion is not god, but humanity. The object of faith is unimportant. The existence of people willing to submit is the foundation of religion."

So this bastard knew.

He had even known Ivan was a transmigrator.

But that... that was something even the Hero Party and Elizaveta did not know.

When Ivan's eyebrow twitched, Alexander gave a quiet snort.

"So I came to think this. If the Lord truly loves humanity, then the reason humans are not good must be that our Lord is not good. I searched through old documents and dug through so-called impious records the Church had declared forbidden, then came to understand, Ivan Petrovich."

"So you're sulking because it turned out your god isn't good?"

"Ha ha, no. I envied you. All of you! How beautiful must religion be in a world without gods? How pure must the faith created by people who have never faced the reality of a god be? In a world where such faith is ordinary, how beautiful is it that people do good? Isn't that proof that human nature is good?"

"...You're making me want to show you our world."

If possible, Ivan wanted to drop him in the Middle East.

He could all too easily picture Islamic extremists burning children and Christian fundamentalists throwing bombs into the homes of ethnic minorities.

It was a trivial piece of intellectual musing with no reason to discuss it in the first place. The kind of adolescent concern that would shock only children who had spent their entire lives safely tucked away in the deepest royal palace.

Ivan shook his head. His subordinates had died over something so, so pathetic.

"The Lord those old Church dogs speak of supposedly symbolizes Light. They say the Lord drives away darkness and brings light to humanity. Then what is darkness? What is it that even the great Lord must spend half of every day submerged in?"

That was a natural phenomenon caused by the planet's rotation, kid.

Ivan did not bother saying it. He waited.

He expected the self-absorbed villain to make the kind of mistake people like that always made, to let something slip about his identity and location.

"If Light has divine power, then isn't it self-evident that Night has divine power as well? What if the devils in Holy Scripture are fragments of beings that once existed? And what if they are connected to... you people? The Taken?"

"What...?"

"We do not know the Lord's name. A unique being has no need for a proper name. But what if even god was once called by a name? What if there was an age when giants with divine power walked the earth? What if, after the struggles of that age, we called the victor the Lord and forgot the superstitions, religions, and myths of ancient times?"

-The right to turn the final page of truth, the right to look upon the hands above this game board.

Ivan remembered what Beolgreen had told him. Gods above the game board... giants from ancient religions...?

Was this a constellation story...!

Ivan let out a groan.

If fragments of beings from the past were connected to the Taken, in other words, transmigrators...

Ah, wasn't it obvious? Damn it.

The cause of transmigration was probably ancient evil gods or something like that. Then again, who besides gods could travel between worlds?

The Saintess had said something similar. Transmigrators could easily be found in the Church's old records.

Ivan shook his complicated thoughts away.

At last, he knew the cause of those damned thirty years... Some had returned, some had disappeared, and some had died. Enrika had said that.

If so, it meant those who turned the final page of the story could return.

Ivan did not know his own story, but he still felt relieved. He could go back. That was enough.

"Stop."

"...What?"

"I understand."

Ivan raised his axe and looked at Alexander.

A long-range spirit projection could not be struck directly. But it was possible to attack the device that generated the spell.

The spell was dangerous because it allowed conversation, in other words interaction, with the spirit body. He would have to analyze it after neutralizing it completely.

If it entered the Counterintelligence Command, classified information could leak.

"How typical. You sought wisdom from ancient evil gods, prattle on as if you've learned the truth of the world, form an evil organization, and scheme from the shadows... I understand perfectly."

"Hey, I..."

"I told you to stop."

Ivan was a rational man, so he had neither the intention nor the time to indulge any more nonsense.

He had listened to all the long-winded bullshit, learned what information he could, and even concluded that he would not be able to discover this bastard's location at this point in the episode.

Perhaps this Hidden Room Easter Egg had been the sort of character variation episode where the protagonist stumbled across it by accident and fell into corruption...

Ivan had no idea what kind of idiot would hear a story like that and become corrupted, but this primitive premodern world was full of edgy little brats. That was probably why this Crown Prince fellow had formed an organization.

Strengthening a protagonist through the concept of corruption was an extremely common episode. Venom was popular for a reason. Painting something black automatically made it cool. That was simply one of the truths of the world.

But Ivan was not a middle schooler going through puberty. He found nothing appealing about things that were black and grotesquely twisted.

What he found appealing was a quiet director's office, a soft sofa, and kimchi stew.

"I have only one thing to say to you."

"...What is it?"

"Stay alive."

Ivan glared straight at Alexander and growled.

"You'd better stay alive until I come find you."

"Ivan Petrovich. You're only a puppet. The hands above those strings...!"

-Crunch!!

Ivan smashed the small mana device producing the projection spell, then dusted off his hands.

Predictable to the very end.

Ivan tucked his axe into his belt, turned around, and left.

* * *

-Kyaaaaaagh!!

-Just kill me! Aaaagh!!

-Grrrk... Guhk....

"Wow... What on earth... Um. What on earth is happening...?"

Aesidis swallowed and looked at Isabelle and Oscar.

They were pale with tension.

Screams. Screams, and nothing but screams.

Screams echoing throughout the entire building, along with the deafening crash of furniture being shattered and smashed apart.

Then, soon after.

-Step. Step.

Heavy footsteps.

"Gulp..."

Other than the sound of them swallowing dryly, the three could not make a sound.

They stared at the door with wide, tense eyes.

After a moment, the footsteps came again. They approached the door, and someone grabbed the handle.

-Click.

The locked handle turned several times.

-Bang!!

An axe blade split the door apart.

A long silhouette stretched through the dim room beneath the faint light.

A horrible stench of blood drifted in.

"S-spare..."

"Stay still."

The shadow walked toward Aesidis. With a small squeak, Aesidis curled up and wrapped her arms around herself.

Then, click. Her hands were suddenly free.

The axe had split the chain binding her hands right down the middle.

"Can you stand?"

"Y-yes... Ah, n-no. My legs went w-weak."

"Wait here."

The man turned around and left. Soon, click, click. With the sound of metal splitting, the other two were freed from their chains as well.

Isabelle's excited voice rang beside Aesidis's tense ears.

"M-Mister, is that you?! Oh my god! Mister! You came to save us!"

"Mm."

"How did you know I was here... Gasp, w-were you watching me?"

Isabelle's "Mister." In other words, her stalker!

Aesidis looked at Isabelle in shock. Was it really all right to ask a stalker whether he had been stalking someone?

Especially a stalker carrying an axe and covered in blood...?

"No. I followed Mord."

The moment Aesidis heard that, she crumpled.

Ah, so it was me. Right, I was someone he had been stalking too.

The bottomless desire of that shameless villain terrified her....

"Get on my back."

"N-no, ah, I'm f-fine..."

"There's no time."

Ivan picked up the trembling Aesidis and put her on his back.

Then he silently walked back the way he had come.

* * *

Blood, flesh, pieces of dead bodies.

Half-destroyed outer walls, shattered windows, doors smashed and split apart.

The hallway went on and on.

It had been pure white until the moment they were dragged in. Now it was difficult to find any space that was not red.

She was afraid.

Aesidis trembled all over. The man terrified her, as did everything he was capable of doing.

"It's all right."

"Eek...!"

"It's all right, Aesidis. It's over now."

Huh.

Aesidis had squeezed her eyes shut and trembled, but she felt a hand slowly patting her back. She carefully opened her eyes.

Short-cropped hair. A firm nape exposed beneath it. A broad, muscular back stretching below.

A calm voice that went on in an even tone.

Huh...?

-It's all right, Aesidis. It's over now.

She had heard those words before.

And now that she thought about it, she had heard this voice too...?

Aesidis stared blankly at the back of Ivan's head for a long time.

She shut her eyes tight and recalled the moment he had saved her earlier.

She remembered his face from when she had encountered him in the schoolyard not long ago.

She imagined his face without the beard and slowly compared it to the person she had vaguely pictured from the distant past....

"U-uh... Uuuu...? U-u-u-uncle...?!"

"Mm?"

"Ivan... Uncle...???"

"Mm."

"Uh... Ah... Huh? Why...?"

Aesidis's mind overloaded for a while, then she simply slumped over and fainted.

Ivan supported Aesidis's limp body and nodded quietly.

Well, she had been betrayed by the Huscarl she trusted and had been imprisoned all day. Of course she would be exhausted.

Once the tension left her, she could faint. Ivan had seen plenty of soldiers like that, so he did not panic.

"Mm."

He adjusted Aesidis on his back without a word and kept walking.

He ran an orphanage, so he had plenty of experience bringing exhausted children home.

* * *

"...Why."

"What's wrong, Miss Isabelle?"

"Why... me...? I was kidnapped first. I knew you first..."

Isabelle had been glaring at Aesidis on Ivan's back for quite some time, biting her nails.

The woman she had thought was her friend had chatted warmly with Ivan while riding on his back.

Then, without warning, Aesidis had tightly wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and entrusted her body to him.

She had even rubbed a certain rather outstanding part of her body against Ivan's back, tightly. Firmly. Obnoxiously!

Getting carried because her legs had gone weak, whispering into his ear and chatting away...!!

"I was first. She just copied me."

"Um, Miss Isabelle. Th-that scares me a little."

"Betrayer...."

Creak.

Blood seeped from the tip of Isabelle's thumb.

ep10. Stalker vs Stalker.

Footnotes:

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