WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 28: EP.1 The Butterfly Dream
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"Bwahaha! Did you see their faces back there?"
On the way from the cavern to the Nexus Port, the five Pathfinders filled the dark ruins with an unexpected burst of banter.
"They looked like they'd just bitten into a pile of shit!"
[fr lol "turn off the stream!" lmao like any of you would've turned it off lol]
Jack O'Lantern and Dullahan did most of the talking.
Since Dullahan communicated through text rather than speech, however, Jack O'Lantern was easily the loudest.
Not that he was talking to himself. Akina chimed in now and then.
"Hmph! You didn't believe in him at first!"
The small girl shot them a look.
"What was it you said? 'He's getting pushed back, isn't he?' Who was getting pushed back? I told you my mister was super strong! You didn't believe a word of it then, and now look at you!"
As Akina told on him, Jack O'Lantern hurriedly tried to cover her mouth. But one look at Ash standing tall beside her stopped him from even reaching out.
"Ah, ahaha... Well, about that..."
[sry]
Akina smiled in triumph as the two men shrank before her. Anyone watching might have thought she had won the sparring match herself.
"Ugh, you're so loud! Did you all forget we're supposed to be keeping watch? The expedition isn't over yet. Focus!"
Ifrit's sudden scolding silenced all three.
But only for a moment.
Before long, they huddled together again, whispering about the recent match as though nothing had happened.
It hardly needed saying, but Ash had won.
Siren had eventually run out of strength. Unable to fully block one of Ash's strikes, she had been knocked away and lost consciousness.
Despite her crushing defeat, she had passed out with a smile on her face. The match seemed to have left quite an impression on her.
With that brief match over, Team Elementary Girls had continued its expedition. That had been only thirty minutes ago.
"Let them be, lady warrior. I need only pay a little more attention to our surroundings."
Ash spoke just as Ifrit was about to scold them again. She sighed.
Since Ash noticed things before even Dullahan, who specialized in scouting, there wasn't much she could say.
After walking for a while, Ifrit suddenly spoke to him.
"Hey, Ash."
"Speak."
"Can I ask you something?"
Ash turned his head.
When his blue-green optical sensors settled on her, Ifrit flinched without meaning to. She still hadn't quite shaken off the impact of the match either.
He was a monster who had utterly crushed Halloween's No. 1. Somehow, being under that monster's gaze brought a pressure she found hard to bear.
"Go ahead."
Ifrit took a moment to steady her breathing. She pushed aside that strange pressure and asked her question.
"Why did you fight that wager match in the first place?"
It was a simple question.
Surprisingly, however, Ash bowed his head.
"You have my apologies."
"What? What's this all of a sudden?"
"Did I not delay us?"
The woman stared at him blankly, then shook her head.
"No. I'm not asking for an apology. I'm genuinely curious. As far as I know, you're... Well, I don't know you that well, but you're not really that sort of person, are you? Isn't squeezing money out of people Akina's job?"
Ash gave a low chuckle.
"Quite right. You have a keen eye, lady warrior."
"Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, what was the real reason?"
"...The reason."
After a brief pause, Ash continued.
"Well, thinking back on it now, I believe I was a little angry."
Ifrit made a strange face.
It was so strange that even the LED hearts in her eyes looked squashed.
"Don't tell me... it was because of me?"
"...Why have you suddenly entered the picture?"
"Well, you know. Aren't you saying you got angry because that little bitch Siren was giving me a hard time?"
Ash stared at her.
"Lady warrior."
"What?"
"You think too highly of your place in all this."
Ifrit flushed.
"You could've just said no. You always find such fancy ways to take a shot at me. So, are you over it now?"
"Completely."
"Well, three million credits just fell into your lap, didn't they? That should be enough to calm anyone down."
That was the end of their conversation.
Or so Ifrit thought.
Ash had other ideas.
His next words stopped her in her tracks.
"About that arm."
"...Huh?"
"If you get it back, what do you intend to do with it? Would you have it fitted to yourself?"
His tone was calm, as casual as if he were asking whether she had eaten. Yet Ifrit found it difficult to answer.
"...I'm not sure. I've never thought about it. There's no guarantee that bitch will give it back, either. I swear at her and demand it back every time, but honestly, I wouldn't return it if I were her. Not with how much it's worth."
"I see."
Ash asked nothing more.
He merely added a few quiet words.
"You would do well to give it some thought now."
That was the end of their conversation.
Ash turned his head away as though he had nothing more to say.
"...What was that about?"
She mulled over his puzzling words for a moment, then shook her head a couple of times.
"Focus!"
She clapped her hands and took out her data pad. A holographic map appeared above it, along with the coordinates where the little-known idol had reportedly died.
"We're almost there. It's right in front of us now, so let's stay focused."
At her order, the three chatterboxes immediately split up. Dullahan moved to the front, Akina to the middle, and Jack O'Lantern to the rear.
It was the search formation they had discussed at the start.
The five Pathfinders pressed deeper into the ruins once more.
* * *
Their journey was anything but smooth.
Countless dangers hidden deep within the ruins troubled the Pathfinders in their own ways.
A great deal happened in a short time.
While they were passing through a narrow corridor, ceiling panels opened and dozens of turrets emerged at once.
They were just far enough away to make reaching them with a sword awkward, so Ash used his ranged weapon, the Bloody Heart Mk.7, for the first time.
His shooting was astonishingly bad.
So bad that Ifrit couldn't understand how anyone could possibly shoot that poorly. Despite the urgency of their situation, she burst out laughing.
He had said that every flow in creation converged into one, but apparently shooting was excluded from All Streams Return to the Source (萬流歸宗).
Beyond the trap-filled passage, they encountered more Pathfinders. It was an idol group approaching from another direction.
"Hey there, you fucking bastards! We're Sh!"
"I!"
"Ning!"
"Sta!"
"Hey, wait. Isn't that humanoid over there Ash?"
"Ash? The one who fought Siren?"
Despite their flashy entrance, the members of the male idol group Shining Star quickly bowed their heads.
Apparently, they had watched clips of Ash's match with Siren.
They exchanged uneasy looks and awkwardly backed away. Then "Sh," who had shouted the first part of their name, hesitantly stepped forward.
"Um, I'm a huge fan... Could I possibly have your autograph?"
"A fan? Did you not just call us fucking bastards?"
"I didn't recognize you! I'm sorry!"
He bowed politely, quickly took out a data pad, and offered it to Ash.
Ash looked between the man and the pad, then shrugged and moved his hand.
His fingertip traced flowing, powerful strokes across the holographic pad. It was hard to believe such handwriting belonged to a machine.
[Ash Blade (Ae-si Bul-lae-i-do)]
"There."
"Thank you... Huh?"
The man stared at the result in confusion. It was written in strange characters he couldn't recognize.
"Um, what is this...?"
"My name."
With that casual answer, Ash turned away.
The members of Shining Star stood there in a daze for some time, holding the pad with its peculiar signature.
Even after that, their journey was full of disturbances, large and small.
They encountered traps.
Destroyed Sentinels.
And occasionally dealt with idols.
How much time had passed?
At last, they reached the place they had seen in the video on the PDA.
"...Have we arrived?"
It resembled an altar within an enormous temple.
Thick layers of dust covered the floor, and huge stone pillars stretched up to the ceiling.
An air of holiness hung over the entire space, something even the weight of the years could not conceal.
And there, in the center of the altar, floated the golden, diamond-shaped crystal they had searched so hard to find.
"The Nexus Port...!"
Ifrit's eyes lit up.
After confirming that it was the Nexus Port, she hurriedly looked around.
Though the space was packed with complex structures, it was much larger than the cavern where they had faced Witchcraft.
But its size meant nothing to Ifrit.
Only one thing mattered.
There was no one here but them.
"Nice!"
At her cheer, Jack O'Lantern and Dullahan threw both arms into the air.
"Haha, hahaha! I kept hoping, but we actually did it!"
[whoa lol we actually pulled it off lmaooo]
"Jack! Start the stream! Let's show everyone the moment of discovery!"
The three immediately sprang into action.
"Hi, Ifrities! Been waiting long? Aw, don't be like that! I've got a big present to make up for it!"
Ifrit blew a kiss toward the streaming drone and chatted away. Meanwhile, Jack O'Lantern gathered metal plates and other scraps scattered around the ruins and carried them to the center.
Akina would soon begin her Deep Dive. They needed makeshift barricades to prepare for the Sentinel counterattack that was all but certain to follow.
Ssszzzt!
A flash of light and welding sparks burst from Dullahan's fingertips. Wherever his hands passed, molten metal filled the gaps.
Amid all that activity, Ash's gaze remained fixed on one person.
The technomancer who would soon begin her Deep Dive.
Akina.
From the moment she entered this place, she had been staring at nothing but the Nexus Port.
She bit her nails, looking anxious, or perhaps nervous.
Ash quietly approached and placed a hand on her shoulder. Akina flinched and turned her head.
"...Mister."
"Are you very nervous?"
The girl shook her head.
"Heh, hehe! Of course not! Who do you think I am? I'm a genius technomancer, remember? Th-this is... a piece of cake!"
Her stammer and trembling hands told the opposite story.
But Ash didn't point that out.
Instead, he went down on one knee to meet her eyes.
"Quite right. You are a more remarkable technomancer than anyone I know, young lady. I can say that with confidence."
"...Aren't I the only technomancer you know?"
With a low chuckle, Ash took the hand whose nails she had been biting.
"I include everyone I shall ever meet."
Had his words helped?
The girl's trembling hand gradually steadied. So did her wavering blue eyes.
"Mister, could you say that thing from before one more time?"
"What would you like me to say?"
"What you said when I went on my first Deep Dive..."
Ash was silent for a moment.
Then he recalled their first expedition.
Realizing what she wanted to hear, he repeated those words exactly.
"Go safely. I shall be here the whole time."
"...You have to keep that promise, okay?"
"Without fail."
At his firm promise, a faint smile finally appeared on the girl's face.
Meanwhile, the welding stopped.
Jack and Dullahan had finished their work. They looked over and nodded.
Ifrit, who had been busy talking to her viewers through the drone, also turned toward them and nodded.
"Now, young lady. Are you ready?"
Ash spoke to Akina.
Rather than answering, she nodded, just as everyone else had.
She no longer hesitated.
Their entire journey had been nothing more than the process of bringing her here, before the Nexus Port.
Akina took a deep breath and walked up onto the great altar.
Toward the Nexus Port shining with golden light.
Once she reached it, she tied back her hair without hesitation and connected her head to the Nexus Port with a cable.
For a brief moment, her eyes met Ash's.
She gave him a brave smile.
"See you in a bit."
"I shall see you soon."
That was all they said.
Akina closed her eyes and sent her consciousness into cyberspace, an ocean of information beyond anything an ordinary human could imagine.
The small girl's body floated into the air. Blue wisps like heat haze soon swirled around her.
Rrrrrumble...!
The moment her Deep Dive began, the entire altar, no, the entire ruins began to tremble faintly.
Red warning lights that had lain dormant across the walls came on all at once, bathing the world in red.
"Warning. Unauthorized life-form access to the system detected. Unauthorized life-forms must immediately disconnect and cease functioning. Failure to comply will result in..."
A flat mechanical voice echoed through the chamber.
It was a declaration of the bloody battle to come.
"Get ready!"
The four Pathfinders surrounding Akina tightened their grips on their weapons.
Footnotes:
Ash's autograph uses Chinese characters read in Korean as “Ae-si Bul-lae-i-do,” approximating the English sounds “Ash Blade.” The individual characters mean “sorrow,” “is,” “not,” “come,” “different,” and “blade.” The elaborate-looking signature is phonetic rather than a natural Chinese phrase.
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