WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
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◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 25: TRICK OR TREAT? 3
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Siren.
She was a woman Ash had briefly crossed paths with. But the way she looked now was deeply unfamiliar.
There was no trace of the anxious, somewhat foolish woman he had seen in the lobby of Halloween Entertainment.
Standing before Ash was a swordswoman soaked in blood and madness, humming a song on top of a pile of corpses.
Even now, a chilling killing intent poured from her entire body.
Yet, surprisingly, it was Ifrit beside him who caught Ash's attention first.
"...Ha."
Ever since she had recognized the other woman, her face had been stiff, and she hadn't moved a muscle.
At first, he wondered if she was tense because Siren, ranked number one, had appeared. But something seemed off about that simple explanation.
Her usual silliness and noisy behavior had vanished, and anger had filled the gap.
It was a volcanic anger, ready to erupt at any moment. Ash could tell that something was boiling inside her.
'Does she have some personal grudge?'
Ash soon had his answer.
Ifrit sprang up from her hiding place in the darkness and walked into the cavern.
"S-Sis!"
Jack O'Lantern's urgent shout rang out. But Ifrit, consumed by anger, didn't hear him.
Or perhaps she heard him and ignored him.
In the end, Ifrit strode out into the cavern.
The three women, each resting in her own way, turned their heads at once. Their reactions varied.
One sneered, while another immediately lost interest. They treated her like a stone by the roadside.
Still, Siren, who stood in the center, at least acknowledged her.
"Hello, ma'am."
Ifrit answered her greeting.
"Hey, you fucking bitch. I'm sure I told you to take that arm off. Right now."
The vicious insult came without warning, but Siren's lazy expression didn't change.
She raised her right arm.
It was a pale, slender arm that, at first glance, looked no different from an ordinary flesh-and-blood one.
A closer look, however, revealed the fine seams unique to cyberware beneath its silicone skin.
But something else stood out even more: a wave-pattern tattoo that ran from her shoulder to her wrist.
It was clearly a high-end piece worth an enormous amount.
"Always with that arm."
Siren's voice was as clear and refreshing as birdsong. Her words were anything but.
"Why are you still bringing up ancient history? This arm is mine, you know? I bought it for a fair price..."
"Shut up, you corpse-peddling bitch."
Siren closed her mouth.
"What, don't like hearing it? Too bad. You used to be a REST-MAN. That's a fact, isn't it? Having fun playing idol with the money you made selling corpses?"
"Ma'am."
"Oh. Were you streaming? Sorry. But anyone in the know has already heard, haven't they?"
As the ugly exchange continued, Ash asked Jack O'Lantern beside him a question.
"What on earth is going on?"
The answer came from Dullahan.
[that arm used to be Undine's]
"Undine? If I recall, Undine was..."
[yep another member of Elementary Girls. Ifrit's old teammate]
More text continued to scroll across his visor.
[Undine got badly hurt a while back. those REST-MAN bastards took her away to 'rescue' her, then tore her apart alive and stole all her gear]
"...And that woman is wearing it now?"
[yep]
"Good heavens..."
[wanna know the really fucked-up part? Siren used to work for the REST-MANs. yep, bought Undine's gear at an employee discount and now she's playing idol]
Ash asked no more questions.
That brief exchange had explained everything: Ifrit's anger, her hatred of the REST-MANs, and the present mess.
"So what?"
Siren's voice echoed through the cavern.
"Let's be blunt. Was I the one who killed Undine? No, I wasn't. If that arm means so much to you, pay the credits and buy it yourself. Don't start swearing and making things ugly for no reason."
"You little shit, just because you've got a mouth...!"
"Oh. You don't have much money anymore, do you? Now that you've flopped."
Siren's black eyes swept over Ifrit from head to toe.
The advertising slogans covering Ifrit's body flashed, dazzling the eyes.
"Does wearing all those ads actually make you much money? I hear you'll take on any job or product placement that comes your way."
"Pretty interested in me, aren't you? You even know about that?"
"Would you take an ad for Witchcraft too? Looks like you've got a spot left on your chest."
"Ha! Sure, if you want. How about 'Siren used to be a REST-MAN who scavenged corpses'? Like it?"
The argument between the two women grew more heated.
"Damn it, let's get out there too!"
Jack O'Lantern ran out.
Dullahan silently followed him, hurrying toward Ifrit as she faced the other women.
The women in the cavern snickered at the two men emerging from the darkness.
"ROA? What kind of lineup is that? A washed-up idol and a couple of drivers? What do they think they're going to do, coming all the way down here?"
"They said you'd lost your touch. Guess they were right."
ROA didn't take those sharp insults in silence.
"Yeah, your mom."
[wow lmaooo look at this fucking bloodbath lol how many people did you crazy bitches kill? rotten to the core, just like real witches lmaoooo]
Before anyone knew it, the situation had become a three-on-three standoff.
Apparently finding the scene sensational, countless camera drones flew around the six men and women facing each other amid mountains of corpses and a sea of blood.
Then Ash placed his steel hand on the shoulder of Akina, who was hiding beside him.
"Young lady Akina."
The girl turned at his quiet voice.
"I shall be back shortly."
Akina nodded.
"Okay! Go win!"
Ash had no idea what she wanted him to win against, or how, but he nodded anyway.
"I shall."
With that, Ash moved.
Into the tense standoff, which seemed ready to burst at any moment, stepped a swordsman whose entire body was mechanical.
His entrance was quieter than anyone else's had been. Yet his presence was strong enough that everyone turned to look.
"Greetings."
The low electronic voice drew different reactions.
Everyone on 'this side,' including Ifrit, looked triumphant. Those on 'the other side,' who had no idea what was going on, frowned.
Siren did neither.
Her reaction was, well...
It reminded Ash of their first meeting.
"M-M-Mr. Ash?! How did you get here, Mr. Ash...!"
Siren stammered.
There was no trace of the woman who had been mocking her opponent moments earlier. She awkwardly hid her bloody sword behind her back, looking like a girl who didn't know what to do with herself.
The sudden, shocking change left everyone in the cavern frozen and speechless for a moment.
"...What the fuck? Is she lagging? Why's she suddenly acting like that?"
Jack O'Lantern muttered.
Ifrit looked equally baffled, glancing between Siren and Ash with disbelief all over her face. Dozens of question marks kept appearing and disappearing on Dullahan's visor.
Witchcraft's members were no different.
"Hey. What's wrong with you?"
"Siren!"
The two women whispered urgently, but Siren didn't seem to hear them. Her eyes were fixed on Ash and Ash alone.
Even then, she seemed too shy to look at him directly, stealing sideways glances instead.
But that uncomfortable gaze didn't shake Ash. From the beginning until now, only one thing had mattered to him.
"The state of this cavern..."
Ash spoke quietly.
His optical sensors finally turned toward the blushing Siren.
"Is it your doing?"
There was no emotion in the question.
No anger. No contempt.
It was only a question meant to establish the situation before him and assess the other party.
The relationship between Ifrit and Siren?
Interesting, but nothing more.
Their emotional quarrel meant nothing to Ash.
All that mattered was a far more basic question: were these three women a threat or not?
Siren hurried to answer his matter-of-fact question.
"Yes! I killed most of them!"
She pointed proudly at one of the corpses.
"Look at that cut over there. Isn't it clean? They probably didn't even feel any pain. Actually, I used your video as a reference when I cut this person down, Mr. Ash. You know, the part at 1 minute 17 seconds, where you twist your body and make a big horizontal slash! Of course, I couldn't copy it properly... but what do you think? It's still a pretty clean cut, right?"
Like a student seeking praise from a respected master, she spoke those chilling words with a bright, innocent face.
But Ash remained completely unmoved.
"Let me change the question."
"Oh, yes, of course! Go ahead!"
"Enough about 'how.' 'Why' did you kill them?"
"Oh, that's...!"
Witchcraft's other two women tried to cover Siren's mouth. But Siren was faster.
"The information leaked!"
"...Information?"
"Yes! About the Nexus Port! It was originally passed on just to us, but some people... Oh! Them! Those corpses over there! They aren't actually from Halloween Entertainment. They're from other Societies, though I don't know which ones... So you could call this a cleanup. No, counterintelligence work?"
Siren rambled on, watching Ash's reaction as though she had no idea what she was saying.
But her words did yield something useful.
Some very important information, in fact.
"Wait. So you're saying all those corpses are industrial spies?"
Industrial spies.
The words Jack O'Lantern carelessly let slip shocked everyone.
Competition within Halloween was one thing. A battle to steal technology, with other Societies taking part, was a problem on an entirely different scale.
It was clear that this area would soon become a conflict zone, with agents of the megacorps running wild.
"...No wonder Baba Yaga isn't here."
Ifrit glared at Siren, the heart-shaped lights in her eyes shining.
Witchcraft had four members.
But only three were gathered here.
They had expected a bloody battlefield from the start and hadn't brought their technomancer.
"In that case."
Ash's low electronic voice drew everyone's attention.
"There is no reason for you to stand in our way, is there?"
The woman in white, who had been filing her nails, answered.
"Right. We've got no reason to stop anyone from Halloween. But our esteemed senior here started picking a fight out of nowhere..."
"That will suffice."
With that brief answer, Ash turned and returned to the dark passage he had come from.
A little later, he appeared again.
This time, he was with a small girl.
"I have a fair idea of the situation now. We shall be on our way, then. I do not think this is quite the right thing to say to people picking out spies and killing them... but in any case, keep up the good work, you three lady warriors."
Holding Akina's hand, Ash walked across the cavern as casually as if he were strolling through his own front yard.
Amusingly, Akina looked thoroughly confused, constantly glancing around and even greeting Siren when she spotted her.
As he passed Ifrit, Ash spoke casually.
"Are you not coming?"
There was no emotion in his words.
But there was a pointed message.
'I have no intention of getting caught up in your personal grudge. Remember what we came here for.'
It was unspoken pressure.
She understood what Ash meant.
That was why she bit her lip.
Forcing down her burning anger, Ifrit gave Siren one last glare and shouted.
"Let's go!"
The tension, which had seemed ready to explode at any moment, scattered and vanished. Dullahan and Jack O'Lantern each shrugged and crossed the cavern too.
That was when Siren, who had been standing in a daze, called out to Ash.
"Wait! Mr. Ash!"
For some reason, her cry sounded desperate.
"Are you just... just going to leave like this?"
For some reason, it sounded plaintive too.
"Surely meeting like this means we have some connection!"
Ash stopped.
Not because he agreed with her, but because she seemed mentally unstable enough that simply ignoring her felt unwise.
"Do you have something else to say?"
At Ash's question, Siren clasped her hands, fidgeted with her fingers, and blushed.
She was so beautiful that, at a glance, she could have looked like a woman in love.
But with the corpses piled at her feet and the blood covering her entire body, she looked more like a madwoman.
Which was exactly what she was.
Siren finally gathered her courage and spoke.
"If you don't mind... would you cross swords with me? Even just once."
Witchcraft's other two women pressed their hands to their foreheads.
Ifrit and the members of ROA stood blankly, unable to understand what on earth was happening.
But Ash understood.
As he had seen before, she did indeed love 'the sword.'
Judging by her appearance, she seemed to love 'killing things with a sword' even more, but still.
Ash stared intently at her for a moment.
A little later, his low electronic voice echoed through the cavern.
"Your proposal is quite intriguing."
Siren's face was just about to light up at his unexpectedly positive response when Ash continued.
"But a fight with nothing to gain serves no purpose. It is merely a wasteful game. And I have no intention of taking part in your games, lady warrior."
He paused, then spoke quietly, as though an amusing thought had occurred to him.
"So, how about a wager? One that could benefit us both."
By then, Ash's gaze had settled on Siren's arm.
Her right arm, with its striking wave pattern.
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