WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cyberpunk Chivalry ◈
Chapter 5: The Cloud Dragon Sets Forth 2
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[DATA RECALL: Sanctum Pamphlet]
[DATA RESEARCH. . . NOW<<<]
//*
Welcome to Sanctum!
Humanity's last light, a city of order and safety!
The cradle of your tomorrow!
▶Worried about ion storms? Don't be! Sanctum is safe! Our cutting-edge plasma barrier, the "Veil," provides complete protection for the city, twenty-four hours a day!
▶[ZOT], the AI system overseeing the entire city, guarantees your everyday safety! You no longer need to fear crime!
(*All citizens are deemed to have consented to the collection and use of their personal information for the efficient operation of [ZOT].)
▶Dreaming of a home of your own? Enjoy housing and a full range of amenities tailored to your citizen rank! Your contributions will never let you down!
(*Citizen ranks are adjusted monthly according to the "Personal Merit Assessment," and access to services may be restricted.)
▶Pathfinders wanted year-round! Uncover forgotten legacies and claim your rightful rewards! You are Sanctum's hero!
(*Explorers bear full responsibility for all accidents occurring during exploration. Under no circumstances shall the Sanctum Administration accept legal liability.)
▶The Sanctum Administration is your friend!
*//
"Mister!"
Akina's voice reached him.
Ash's mind returned to reality.
Sanctum.
The Gateway District.
That was where the two of them stood.
"What are you standing there staring at?"
Akina took his steel hand and tugged.
"I was merely taking a moment to look. It is quite an unfamiliar sight."
"Hehe! Pretty flashy, right?"
Ash couldn't tear his gaze away from the view of Sanctum spread out before him.
"...Indeed it is."
The city before Ash was unlike any place he had ever lived.
It was a city that shone with its own light.
Buildings dozens of stories high pierced the sky in strange shapes. Images and letters packed across their surfaces glowed in every color, drawing the eye.
The dazzling display hardly ended with the scenery.
The surging crowds were just as brilliant.
People wore a piece or two of cyberware on their bodies. Their arms, legs, and even their eyes gleamed. Those who had replaced their flesh with shining metal or carbon hurried along the streets.
To Ash, they looked exactly like a parade of ghosts. It was a rather thoughtful impression for a humanoid whose entire body was a machine.
But that splendor was only on the surface.
It wasn't what truly held Ash's attention.
Even now, people were passing beside him.
What caught his interest was the strange heat pouring from all those people.
The Sanctum described on the data card had been a place of poverty and desperate struggle. A hellscape where people were constantly strapped for credits, staking money earned by selling their lives to wrest a commensurate reward.
And yet, look at this.
Not one passerby had lifeless eyes. If anything, he could feel a strange vitality unlike anything he had experienced before.
It was certainly not an energy born of peace or comfort.
It was life blooming from desperation, like a lamp burning everything it had left just before going out.
And so, Sanctum overflowed with energy.
It almost seemed as though everything in the streets was alive and moving.
"What a wondrous world this is."
It was a complicated sigh, too dry to be admiration and too warm to be scorn.
"Mister!"
Akina urged him onward.
Ash moved his steel feet at last and let the girl's hand draw him into the crowd.
Into that strange heat.
* * *
How long had they walked along the Gateway District's main street? At last, they reached their destination.
A purple neon sign blinked as though welcoming them.
[Santa's Rest Stop]
They pushed through the old iron door beneath the sign, and faint music reached their ears. It was rock music, utterly unfamiliar to Ash.
"Miss Akina."
"Yes?"
"Is this the right place?"
"Yes, it is. Why?"
"Did you not say it was an inn?"
"What's an inn?"
"A drinking establishment."
"That's what this is."
"...And yet it looks little different from your workshop."
It truly did.
The sight was nothing like what one would normally picture when thinking of a tavern or a bar.
The interior was much larger than it appeared from outside, but all that space was packed with assorted junk.
One wall was covered in cyberware.
The opposite wall held guns.
There were vehicle parts as well, along with bare engines covered in oil-stained cloth.
Did that mean there was no alcohol?
There was some.
Behind the counter sat cheap liquor and beer bottles, perhaps ten in all.
"..."
The proportions seemed badly wrong. Rather than say so aloud, however, Ash decided to watch for the moment.
Just then, he heard a conversation from behind the counter.
"Ah! Aaagh! Old man! That hurts! Are you even listening to me?"
"I don't listen to anyone weaker than me."
"What kind of bullshit... Aaagh!"
"Almost done. Bear with it."
"Then at least turn that music off! It's killing my ears!"
"What? Can't hear you."
"Aaagh!"
An inexplicable exchange.
They ventured farther inside and peered behind the counter.
A man lay on a crude medical bed while an old man fitted cyberware to his arm.
"Grandpa Santa!"
At Akina's shout, the old man turned toward them. He looked at Ash standing beside her, then turned back to Akina.
After a brief silence, he slapped his forehead.
"Damn it. You really went and did it. Me and my big mouth."
After muttering to himself, the old man shouted.
"Stay right there! Don't go anywhere!"
The old man, Santa, dug into his "customer's" forearm with even greater enthusiasm. The man's screams grew louder.
Rock music and screaming.
The two blended strangely well.
"Miss Akina."
Ash called to her.
"Yes?"
"Is that old gentleman the person you were seeking?"
"That's right."
"...I understood him to be an innkeeper. Why is he performing a cyberware procedure?"
Akina thought for a moment before answering.
"Um... because he can?"
"Hmm?"
"Grandpa Santa knows how to do lots of things. He says he picked them up back when he was a Pathfinder. So he sells weapons, fixes cars, performs surgery, installs cyberware... Anyway, that's how it is."
Why was selling drinks missing from that long list? It was a mystery.
While Ash and Akina exchanged those few words, Santa finished the procedure and came out to the counter.
"Damn it! See if I ever come back!"
Santa gave the grumbling customer the middle finger as the man left, then stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it.
All the while, he stared steadily at Ash.
"Hi, Grandpa! How are you?"
"How am I? Not so great."
Santa answered Akina without looking away.
Ash met his gaze.
He was a truly flamboyant old man.
A clean-shaven head and a neatly trimmed white beard. A skull earring in one ear, and black sunglasses to complete the look.
And what about that silk shirt, embroidered with a riot of flowers? It was so flashy that looking at it left one unsure where to rest one's eyes.
"..."
"..."
But his clothes weren't the only reason Ash was staring.
The cybernetic body visible beneath that colorful silk shirt was no crude collection of modifications slapped together. A glance was enough to tell that this was finely tuned cyberware of the highest quality.
More importantly, there was the faint flow of electromagnetic fields coming from the cyberware covering his entire body.
That power of "electricity," which Ash had recently begun to sense, told him the old man before him was far from ordinary.
Despite his frivolous appearance, his presence was solid and dense.
Ash's optical sensors glowed.
'No ordinary man.'
That was the conclusion Ash reached as he studied the man's appearance and gaze.
"...So this is your answer?"
Santa spoke.
Akina answered brightly.
"Yep! Say hello to each other. This is Grandpa Santa, and this is Mister Ash."
Ash stepped forward slightly and offered a greeting.
"I am called Ash."
Santa raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly old-fashioned introduction.
"Santa Claude. Bartender."
After that brief exchange, the two men fell silent again. It was a peculiar contest of nerves, each trying to measure the other.
But there was a girl who couldn't have cared less about any of that.
"Anyway! You remember what you said last time, right, Grandpa? Now write me that recommendation."
Santa frowned.
Only then did he take his eyes off Ash and look at Akina.
"So you're really going to become a Pathfinder?"
"Of course!"
"...With this one scrap-metal humanoid as your teammate?"
"Mister Ash isn't scrap metal! Do you have any idea how good he is at fighting?"
Akina used both hands to imitate Ash from the night before, reenacting his fight with the REST-MANs.
"See? He went like this! And then, whoosh, whoosh-whoosh, and a person split right in half! I mean, how does that even make sense? Cutting someone apart with a pipe? Isn't that awesome? Amazing, right? So hurry up and write my recommendation."
Watching the young girl's little performance, Santa pulled a face. Then he slapped his forehead. Smack.
"Oh, for crying out loud... Me and my big mouth. My big damn mouth. Why did I ever make a promise like that...?"
He went on complaining for quite some time.
The substance of those complaints was very simple.
Apparently, he had promised to write her a recommendation for a Pathfinder license if she found herself a "capable teammate."
No Pathfinder would ever agree to team up with such a young girl, so he had assumed Akina would eventually give up.
But what was this?
Who could have guessed that she would "build" a teammate herself and bring him along?
After muttering for a while, Santa suddenly looked up as something occurred to him. He had found a loophole in his own promise.
He addressed Ash.
"Right. Ash, was it?"
"That is correct, Elder Santa."
"Is what Akina says true?"
"What do you mean?"
"That you're a capable teammate."
The answer was simple.
Ash just had to prove incapable.
"You've heard enough to get the idea. This kid wants to make you her teammate and become a Pathfinder. Honestly, I'm not keen on it at all. The Outer isn't exactly a safe place."
Ash nodded.
"I agree. In fact, I, too, have only just learned that Miss Akina intends to become a Pathfinder."
"...Really? Well, that's good!"
Santa's face brightened.
This might be easier than he had expected. What could be better than this scrap-metal humanoid backing out on his own?
However.
Ash's next words went completely against his expectations.
"But that changes nothing."
His electronic voice was low and firm.
"I am indebted to Miss Akina. Surely any human ought to know how to repay a kindness? Her wish to become a Pathfinder is certainly unexpected, but I have a duty to repay her. Thus, I have no reason not to accompany her."
Santa's jaw dropped at the lengthy speech.
Then he turned to Akina.
"...Why's your friend so good with words?"
"He does have that side to him."
Shaking his head, Santa addressed Ash once more. His manner was firmer than before.
"Ash. Do you really have to do this?"
"I do."
"Right... Then I guess there's no helping it."
Santa gathered his thoughts.
After all, this hadn't been his real aim in the first place.
"Akina."
"What!"
"You haven't forgotten the promise, have you? I said I'd write you a recommendation if you brought me a 'capable partner.'"
"Of course I haven't!"
"He's your partner. Fine. Okay. I'll give you that. Now we need to find out whether he's capable, don't we?"
"That's what I told you earlier! He took care of the REST-MANs all by himself..."
"Your word alone doesn't tell me much."
Santa stood.
Then he removed his sunglasses.
His mechanical eyes gave off a chilling gleam.
"Come outside. Let's see how capable you are."
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