WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈

Chapter 15: What's Wrong?

──────

Katia's world had always been divided into two colors.

Black and white.

Not metaphorically. The world she saw was truly divided into only those two colors.

They said it was one stage in the process where the divine power forcibly protecting her entire body disrupted all her senses.

Heat, cold, the flow of air, the feel of clothes, taste, smell...

It would have been different if she had never known such things to begin with.

But after making her first vow, those sensations had been taken from her. That made them all the harder to endure losing.

A body that could feel nothing. Of all her ruined senses, only sight and hearing had remained intact.

Even those had eventually begun to change under the influence of the divine power coiled within her body. Though it had happened long ago, she still vividly remembered just how despairing she had been.

The dead appeared black. The living appeared white.

And whenever she looked at herself in a mirror...

She was always gray.

A person alive only because she could not die.

In a world split between white and black, she alone was entirely gray. As though she had been isolated from the world.

It was unbearably boring. Boring enough that she did not care what happened.

Until moments ago.

"Damn, this is insane!"

Lionheart cried out beside her.

A bullet streaked toward her, carrying a brilliant white trail that seemed to cling to her optic nerves. The instant it pierced her heart...

It hurt.

A sensation she had forgotten long ago returned to her.

For the first time, the divine power within her was pushed back and suppressed by an outside force.

Her bodily senses returned as well.

Only for an instant. Only for that brief instant when her heart was pierced.

But color returned to the world.

Every color.

A sight she had thought she would never see again filled her vision.

The black night sky. The moon casting its pale light. People's expressions. Their faces. The air. Blood scattered around her.

A world that was not black and white, but simply as it was. The same world everyone else saw.

And standing at its center was...

A man named Aiden Kellermain, holding a revolver with smoke rising from its barrel and looking directly at her.

"-"

The sight flowed, melted, and clung beneath Katia's eyelids.

She held it firmly in her vision, as though even blinking would be a waste.

As the divine power lodged in her body vanished, her body lost the strength to remain standing and collapsed.

Even so...

Again.

And again.

Until her consciousness slipped away and everything went dark.

Katia kept that man in sight.

As though she would never let him go.

▣

As always, the cleanup was remarkably neat.

It took only a few hours to deal with the remaining forces, confiscate the smuggled weapons, and place the unconscious Katia in custody.

Of course, even with such a clean resolution, there was bound to be at least one person who could not feel entirely good about it.

In this case, it was Aiden, glaring at his status window with a deeply serious expression.

No one had died, Noel was unharmed, and Aiden himself had not been injured. That was good.

But strictly speaking, for Aiden, this was where things truly began.

-Skill Info

◆ Spiritual Power: Savior’s Vow

※ Unique - Only this character possesses this skill!

Constraint: Save the world.

The sole vow offered to Urgan, God of the Supreme Vehicle. Its power increases significantly when taking actions related to the vow you made.

- Quest Info

◈ First Act, < Imperial Capital Rift >

- You have formed close relationships with important figures in the main scenario.

- Your existence will formally enter the scenario. The scenario will be reshaped around you.

...

There was no taking it back now.

Aiden gave a hollow laugh.

He had ended up doing something he had never intended to do.

Still, now that things had come this far, he did not particularly regret it.

'If there isn't a protagonist, everyone dies anyway.'

With the protagonist gone, Aiden was the only one who knew the future of this world and could prepare for it.

More than that...

The people who would be swept up in the future that came without the protagonist included Aiden himself and his family.

There was no reason not to do this.

He slapped his cheek hard enough to make it smack and took a deep breath.

Now that he knew what he had to do, naturally he would have to act far more proactively than before.

More importantly...

'Nothing has gone according to the original story.'

The protagonist was missing.

Katia had appeared out of nowhere.

He had no idea who was leading the weapons smuggling operation.

The Emperor and the Second Prince were on bad terms.

The overall framework of the original scenario was not terribly different from what he knew, but the details filling it were completely different from his memories.

So what he needed right now was...

To close the gap between this real world, where the gears had slipped out of place, and the world of the original story he knew.

Only then could he prepare for the full opening of the First Act.

He already knew the general course of events. But he would have to examine each person involved in that episode.

♠ Main Quest

◈ First Act, < Imperial Capital Rift >

Chapter 1 will begin soon!

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the window floating before him.

'Chapter 1 means...'

It would be the incident involving the Imperial Capital's "ghost knight."

An event deliberately caused by the organization involved in weapons smuggling to spread chaos throughout the Imperial Capital.

Every night, at regular intervals, a ghost knight clad in armor would suddenly appear in the city streets, leaving citizens terrified after dark.

The protagonist's role had been to subdue that ghost knight and protect the citizens' peace.

In the original story, this was around when the protagonist got involved with Noel, and the scenario truly began.

"..."

Of course, Aiden himself had skipped that entire process and claimed the role of Noel's fake husband.

"Ah, Mr. Aiden."

"... You worked hard."

Speak of the devil. Noel trudged into the room looking exhausted.

Normally, Noel would never look this worn out, but the scale of the work that needed sorting out was enormous.

Single-handedly handling the mess caused by foreign royalty must have been brutal.

"How is the princess?"

"She's cooperating more quietly than expected."

Noel took off her hat with a sigh and swept back her hair.

"Since no one was hurt, both sides have agreed not to make the matter any bigger and keep quiet for now."

"I see."

"It's fortunate, though not entirely satisfying."

It had been the same with Prince Daniel before. The authority of royalty was beyond imagination.

Honestly.

Both times had been close to self-defense, but it would not have been surprising if Aiden faced some kind of threat because he had harmed two members of the Holy Empire's royal family.

If both sides were willing to bury the matter quietly, that was not bad news for him.

"The Holy Empire says it will send an additional delegation to discuss this matter."

"A delegation?"

"Putting Princess Katia's situation aside, the issue of Aiden's status as someone who handles divine power has not been resolved. It will take some time, but they said they would follow formal procedures this time and send a large delegation."

Which meant...

Someone fairly high-ranking in the Holy Empire would be coming.

First, they had sent a princess just to see Aiden. Now they would send someone like that as well...

Aiden's mind began calculating.

He already had a rough idea of the high-ranking figures within the Holy Empire.

If one of them came later as part of the delegation, then what Aiden needed to do was...

"That's good."

"Pardon?"

Aiden answered through gritted teeth.

"I'll make them repay every debt they owe."

He had been dragged into trouble by Holy Empire royalty twice in a row. If things had gone this far, it would not be worth it unless he got something out of them.

Noel's lips curled faintly.

"Are you planning something?"

"I am. Definitely."

"... Then I suppose that will be rather interesting."

Just let them come.

He would make sure they were in for quite a show.

As Aiden silently repeated that vow to himself, Noel continued with a sigh.

"And... Princess Katia did make one demand in exchange for not causing another disturbance."

Demanding terms just to refrain from violence. They really were something.

Still, he should at least hear her out.

"A demand?"

When Aiden asked in disbelief, Noel scratched her cheek.

She seemed just as baffled.

"... She requested a meeting with you. She insists that you come see her at least once."

▣

Aiden scratched his head as he looked ahead.

When he heard Katia was being held in the detention cells beneath Imperial Capital Command headquarters, he had expected a rather tense scene.

But Katia was currently sprawled flat on the bed before him, rolling around. That alone was enough to make him discard those expectations.

Not a trace remained of the ferocity she had shown before. She looked like a lazy cat...

"You look... freer than I expected?"

Considering Katia's personality, it would not have been surprising if they had used every possible means to restrain her. Yet apart from being confined to this room, she seemed to have no particular restrictions.

At his words, Noel gave a bitter smile.

"... To be honest, the atmosphere was quite grim until just a moment ago."

"Really?"

"She became that quiet the instant I said I would bring you here."

"..."

It was a little surprising that a princess who had rampaged like a monster would calm down so completely for a single meeting with him.

Still, rather than show his confusion, Aiden merely nodded slowly.

It was not an inexplicable reaction.

- Quest Info

◈ Life Is Beautiful

- Katia Heinkel Craven desperately wants something from you. Help the target experience sensation as fully as possible!

★ You have succeeded in making the target feel pain.

★ You handled the situation wisely. Speak with the figure to claim your reward.

When he had first received the quest, Aiden had already expected that he would become more deeply involved with that woman.

Once he gave a person who could feel nothing the stimulus of pain, there was no way he would not draw their attention.

'I have no idea what the reward is, but...'

According to the description, the way Weaver of Fate applied to Katia would change.

Most likely, it meant that the relationship between him and Katia would change because of what he had done.

He had no idea which direction that would take.

'... I just hope it isn't too bad.'

He meant it sincerely.

Since he had achieved the goal of helping her feel sensation, it should not return to harm him. But who knew?

It was difficult to find anyone as capricious as Katia.

For all he knew, she might hold a grudge against him...

"Ah."

While he was thinking that,

Katia spotted Aiden as he approached the holding cell and abruptly sat up.

"You came!"

Aiden's expression turned strange at her remarkably lively voice.

It was not just her voice. Katia wore a flawless smile that seemed to use every muscle in her face.

She looked like a pet finally reunited with an owner it had not seen in a long time.

"..."

What was this?

The sight was strangely unsettling, like watching a giant dinosaur try to act adorable.

"You know, I've thought about it in all sorts of ways!"

Even as Aiden froze, Katia continued brightly.

"I'm not going back to the Holy Empire!"

"..."

Aiden stared blankly at Noel.

He was asking for an explanation, but Noel's mouth was hanging open. Apparently, this was news to Noel as well.

"..."

No.

Putting aside how she intended to do that, what she would do, and whether it was even possible...

There was one thing he needed to ask first.

"... Why...?"

The moment he managed to force out the question, her response came as though she had been waiting for it.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Her expression plainly asked why he was questioning something so obvious.

Katia continued, still smiling brightly.

"You're here. Why would I go back there?"

"..."

Along with those oddly chilling words, a window suddenly appeared before Aiden.

- Quest Info

◈ Life Is Beautiful

- The related quest has been resolved.

- The application of Weaver of Fate to Katia will change!

- Bond Form changed to Obsession!

- From now on, the target will pay close attention to your every action, and their relationship with you will become extremely important to their overall mental state.

- Additional copyable skills have been unlocked!

... Huh.

What did that say?

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