WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 39: Logos
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Yuri fought well.
His movements were clean, but what stood out most was the certainty behind his attacks. The certainty that an attack like this would never miss. The certainty that his opponent would be unable to dodge or block it.
Even if his opponents were weak goblins, it was worth noting that a 2nd-tier martial artist, experiencing real combat properly with martial arts for the first time, had such confidence in his techniques.
It was not something that could be called arrogance. Adequate, justified confidence was far better than hesitating because one lacked conviction.
The easiest mistake for a martial artist of low tier and little experience to make was getting their feet tangled. A martial art's footwork might look like simple steps, but it was a movement that controlled the entire body. Using that footwork alongside another technique was never easy.
It was even harder in actual combat. It was common to focus on one thing and fail at another. Even Haryeong, who had often been called talented, had struggled with such problems when she was young.
But Yuri showed no such mistakes. He was not fighting alone, but facing several goblins at once, and Yuri's movements were excellent.
Several times, Haryeong deliberately did not attack the goblins.
She wanted to see how Yuri would react to surprise attacks approaching from outside his field of vision, but Yuri never panicked during that mischievous test. The attacks had clearly come from outside his view, yet he responded perfectly, as though he had eyes in the back of his head.
‘How is he this good at fighting?’
That was the strongest impression she had after watching Yuri closely. Haryeong thought back to when she had been at the 2nd tier. She must have been around twelve. Before she transferred to Salhomun, when she still belonged to her family and learned martial arts among snakes wearing the mask of kin.
Among the young snakes, Haryeong's skill had been among the best. Even so, Haryeong at the 2nd tier had not fought as well as Yuri did now. She had not been as good at martial arts as Yuri was now.
Even compared to a few years later, when she came to Logos as part of her assassin training, the conclusion remained the same. Her inborn environment, the kind of martial arts she learned, the time she devoted to them. Young Haryeong had been superior in every one of those respects, but Haryeong back then was still inferior to Yuri now.
“Phew.”
On the carriage ride back to the village, Haryeong, seated in the driver's seat, suddenly let out a loud sigh.
Goblin blood was not much different from human blood. It was equally red and smelled similar.
Yuri had diligently wiped away the blood that had soaked his fists and shoes, but the smell would not go away. He wrinkled his nose at the scent of blood clinging to him and grumbled.
“Why are you sighing so loudly? You'll scare away my good fortune.”
“Because it is such a waste.”
“What is?”
“You, Yuri-nim. What if you had been born into a martial family? What if you had grown up somewhere other than an orphanage and learned martial arts earlier? I thought about it, and it feels so wasteful that it makes my stomach ache.”
“Well, look at that.”
Yuri gave a dry laugh and tossed the blood-soaked towel onto the seat beside him. When he spread his hand, bits of flesh were still caught beneath his nails. Yuri grimaced and carefully picked them out.
“Didn't you say twenty wasn't too late?”
“It is not early, either. So, Yuri-nim, do you not think it is a waste?”
“What regrets? Regrets over the childhood I threw away for nothing?”
“Something like that.”
“Of course I have regrets.”
“Have you ever wished you had been born somewhere else?”
“Many times.”
Yuri's diary had contained things like that too, filled with sticky emotions such as self-loathing, hatred, and jealousy. Lee Su-hyeok had indulged in fantasies like that as well.
“But what can I do? It is not as though I can go back to my childhood with a poof, and I cannot choose where I was born. I will just be content with my present reality.”
If he could return to the past, he would not even need the privilege of choosing where he was born. First, he would turn on the computer and delete Seronis, that damned game.
“Besides, my reality is not complete garbage, is it? I had a good childhood friend, so I even got to live in Rutlan, and I learned good martial arts.”
“That is true. Yuri-nim may have been extremely unhappy a year ago, but Yuri-nim now is someone anyone would have to acknowledge as fortunate.”
Elena looked out the window as though she had no interest in the conversation, but the corners of her tightly pressed lips twitched.
It was rather enjoyable to see how obvious she was.
“Why are you laughing?”
Elena abruptly turned toward Yuri after hearing his snicker.
“Just because I'm grateful.”
“What are you grateful for?”
“If you had not come after receiving Uncle Gordon's letter, the me you see now would not exist.”
He had said thank you several times before. But Elena had never once grown tired of hearing it. On the contrary, those words made her heart race every time she heard them.
“If you had not left right away, you and I might not have met.”
“What... do you mean?”
“I had a lot on my mind after nearly dying. I was considering leaving my hometown.”
Yuri had remained at the house in Oldor in order to understand this world and his circumstances. If Gordon had not sent the letter, if Elena had not left as soon as she received it, Yuri might have left Oldor. At the time, he had been preparing to throw away his name.
If Elena had arrived later and found an empty room, what would she have felt?
“...”
Elena could not say anything and simply stared at Yuri's face. She closed her half-open lips and blinked several times.
“H-How fateful.”
After hesitating for a moment, Elena muttered that and quickly turned her head away. Perhaps because it was summer, her body felt hot.
She had said it like a joke, but Elena did not think it was a joke. It had been good that she went then. It would have been better if she had gone earlier, but she had not been too late. Rather, because she went then, she was able to meet Yuri as he was now.
‘If I had gone to see him while he was living with that Black Snake Gang or whatever, I might have come to despise him.’
Elena pressed her lips tightly together. Her face was hot, and it felt as if her lips kept trying to move on their own.
‘Fateful.’
How could Elena say something so embarrassing and cringeworthy so openly? The genius mage girl of the Dersia Mage Tower really did have different sensibilities from ordinary people. Haryeong folded her arms as she thought that.
Still, putting aside how embarrassing it was, the word fateful was not wrong. If Yuri had not met Elena, he might have lived his entire life without realizing that he had talent for martial arts. Yuri, who grew up at the Oldor Orphanage, had neither a family nor the ability to choose where he was born, but he had met someone who supported him, cared for him, and would change his life.
‘Unlike me.’
She had no choice but to learn martial arts. She had no choice but to become an assassin. She could do nothing else. Haryeong had been a young snake unable to resist, and no one supported or cared for her.
A pointless thought.
Haryeong narrowed her eyes and scattered those feelings.
“...”
Jake drove the carriage in silence.
‘It feels awkward to open my mouth...’
The two inside the carriage were childhood friends. The woman in the driver's seat was a servant, or so he understood. But Jake could not bring himself to open his mouth and join their conversation.
First, the mage did not seem to have any intention of having personal conversations with Jake beyond matters related to guiding them. On top of that, she even seemed wary of Jake talking to her childhood friend.
The servant was out of her mind. She brought a goblin over and made it fight the martial artist, then dragged the martial artist to a goblin lair and left him there. Judging by her words and actions then, it was hard to think she was sane.
‘It is not like we need to become friendly.’
The duration had not been decided, but Jake had been hired as a guide. He only needed to complete the request properly.
“Should I prepare a similar request for tomorrow?”
“No.”
Elena answered from inside the carriage.
“2nd-grade requests are too easy.”
She had selected that grade partly to show Yuri the greatness of magic, but also to let Yuri safely gain experience. However, Elena had also seen Yuri fight.
2nd-grade was too easy. Requests up to 4th grade corresponded to tiers, but 2nd-grade requests could not give Yuri any real experience. They could not show him the danger of adventurers, the world, and the places outside the mansion.
“Please choose 3rd-grade requests from tomorrow onward.”
Originally, she planned to move on to 3rd-grade requests after three days of adjustment, but one day seemed sufficient.
‘Actually, 3rd-grade requests will probably be just as easy.’
Still, she did not want to jump straight to 4th-grade requests. Monsters suited for 4th-grade requests were rare in Logos, and depending on the details, some requests would be bothersome for Elena to handle alone.
‘I do not want to add more people.’
If the requests became troublesome, they would need more people. Elena hated that.
It was already unpleasant that an unfamiliar older man had joined them as a guide. Add even more people to the party? She would rather not even look at 4th-grade requests.
“Understood.”
Jake merely nodded obediently at her still cold voice.
‘This girl... Is her personality good or bad?’
If he wanted to put it nicely, he could call her capable. Objectively, though, she lacked manners. Her attitude toward Jake in particular was even ruder.
‘She was not this bad before.’
Was she still holding onto his comment about being a porter? Yuri was not bothered by it at all. He clicked his tongue and looked at Elena, who was combing her disheveled hair.
Ten years ago, Elena's hair had been short, for a simple reason.
Long hair was troublesome and difficult to manage. Because of that, all the girls at the Oldor Orphanage wore bobs. But Elena's hair now was long enough to fall down her back.
Her sweat-mussed bangs caught Yuri's attention.
“Are you not thinking of cutting your hair?”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Isn't it bothersome to comb your hair every time you use magic?”
“It is because I am still inexperienced.”
Elena pouted and placed the comb on her lap.
“Even if you look at Lady Orca or Senior Lacey, their hair does not stand on end just because they use magic. Once I reach the 5th tier, the magic and mana used by my body will be in balance. Then my hair will not stand on end anymore.”
“So you are not planning to cut it until you reach the 5th tier?”
“Yeah.”
It seemed to be Elena's own point of pride.
They returned to the village, but before going to their lodging, they first stopped by the Adventurer's Guild to return the bracelet.
“Thirty-one goblins... confirmed.”
Elena had killed many kinds of monsters that day, but Yuri had only killed goblins.
“The reward is 150,000 sel.”
It came to 50,000 sel for every ten goblins. With monsters constantly multiplying abnormally through the Rift, Yuri could feel how cheaply monster lives were valued. The martial arts Yuri learned alone had cost hundreds of millions, meaning he would need to slaughter hundreds of thousands of goblins to buy a supreme martial art using only goblin kills.
“The average reward for a 2nd-grade request is 100,000 sel.”
Elena whispered after noticing Yuri's uneasy expression.
“High-ranking adventurers earn a lot, but lower-ranked adventurers have trouble making enough to live on day by day. How does it feel to learn such a hollow truth?”
“I do not particularly feel anything.”
“It is hard for adventurers to become rich. That is why most adventurers rent rooms at inns affiliated with the guild. Yuri, do you not want a house of your own?”
“If you think about it, even your mansion is not entirely yours.”
Elena's lips, which had been openly trying to persuade him, pressed tightly shut.
“Besides, every profession is like that. Those at the top make a lot of money, while those lower down make little. That is normal.”
“So, are you going to become a top-ranking adventurer and make lots of money too?”
“I have not decided whether I will become a real adventurer yet, but if I make a lot of money, I will repay you first.”
Debt.
At that word, Elena's tightly shut lips protruded.
“The word debt sounds somehow cold.”
“I will repay your kindness, then.”
“What is the difference?”
“The words are different from the start.”
“They sound the same to me.”
While they bickered, the reward payment was completed. Yuri handed over the 150,000 sel he received, but Elena quickly shook her head.
“I will not take it. You caught them.”
Then as now, Yuri was not the type to refuse what was given to him.
After parting with Jake, they left the guild building. Something caught Yuri's eye on the way back to the inn.
Yuri stopped and stared at it for a moment. When he slowly turned his head, he saw Elena's back as she walked ahead some distance away.
Her blonde hair, which had been sticking up, now fell smoothly after she diligently combed it in the carriage, swaying gently with her steps.
“What is it?”
Elena turned around. It was a hot summer day. They had climbed partway up the mountain, and she had moved continuously while casting magic, so she had sweated a little.
Strands of hair clung to her pale forehead. Elena tilted her head, puzzled by Yuri staring at her. Her pretty blue eyes blinked.
“Wait a moment.”
After looking at Elena for a while, Yuri abruptly turned and entered the shop beside them. Startled, Elena tried to follow Yuri inside, but Haryeong quickly grabbed her wrist.
“Oh my, oh my.”
“W-What? Why?”
“Oh my, oh my, oh my. Young Lady, Yuri-nim said it himself. He said, wait a moment. So, Young Lady, let us wait here a moment.”
“Why? What is it?”
“Now, now, now. Do not look behind you.”
Haryeong grabbed Elena's shoulders and turned her around so she could not see any more. Haryeong's strength was too great for Elena to resist. Elena blinked, still unable to understand and too flustered to notice what kind of shop Yuri had entered, since everything had changed so suddenly.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my...”
Standing in the middle of the street with her hands on Elena's shoulders, Haryeong's expression was slightly different from usual. Ninety percent expressionless, ten percent smile. Elena glared at Haryeong's eyes and lips, which curved just slightly more than usual.
They stood there for about ten minutes, having a staring contest. Just as Elena began to think she could not endure it any longer and considered forcing Haryeong away, Yuri's voice reached her.
“What were you doing by yourself all of a sudden?”
“Sorry, it suddenly caught my eye. Do not be too angry.”
“Yes, Young Lady, please do not be angry. You must not get angry. Oh my, oh my, oh my...”
“What on earth is it?”
The approaching footsteps behind her only made Elena more irritated. She had had enough. Elena, who had obediently looked forward as instructed, was about to turn her head when Yuri's arm suddenly appeared before her face.
“...”
A blue hairpin decorated with a flower.
“I figured you would not wear a headband or a band.”
At home, she sometimes tied up the back of her hair with a band, but Yuri had never seen her go out with her hair tied.
However, she used hairpins fairly often.
They were always simple, ordinary hairpins, but Yuri thought something like this might suit her as well.
He saw it by chance while walking and became captivated by it. It was not flashy enough to burden her, and its color resembled Elena's eyes.
He entered the shop because it caught his attention, but when it came time to buy it, he needed time to think.
Would a gold flower hairpin suit her nickname, Marigold? A gold flower hairpin would not stand out in blonde hair. No, would it not be a little funny to wear a gold flower hairpin when her nickname was Marigold?
He thought about that for about three minutes, then spent another two thinking about the price.
It was more expensive than expected. Why did a hairpin cost 1,000,000 sel at an accessory shop in a village serving adventurers, not even a major city like Rutlan? The shopkeeper said it was expensive because it used a real gemstone. The shop did have a rather luxurious atmosphere.
Yuri had been willing to pay even 1,000,000 sel. After all the things Elena had treated him to, was 1,000,000 sel really too much to spend on her now?
Still, it felt as if he was being taken for a fool, so he tried haggling. Thanks to that, he bought the hairpin that had initially cost 1,000,000 sel for 600,000 sel. Perhaps the original price was even lower, or perhaps the gemstone was fake, but...
Yuri liked this hairpin. The moment he saw it, he thought it would suit Elena.
“Y-You are giving this to me?”
Elena looked back and forth between the hairpin and Yuri's smiling face. This was a real gift. Unlike the Seven Thunders obtained through negotiations with the martial artist, it was a real gift, like the doll she brought from the orphanage. A gift Yuri gave Elena.
“Yeah.”
“Why...?”
“You said you had no plans to cut your hair.”
It was something they had discussed in the carriage. Elena accepted the hairpin with trembling hands. It was an unfamiliar feeling, no, she knew what this feeling was. Elena opened her lips without realizing it.
“I...”
No.
Elena swallowed the words that had almost come out. Then she took a short, deep breath and steadied her emotions. She had decided before coming here.
She would sort things out and tell him after returning to the mansion in Rutlan.
“Thank you.”
Her expression came naturally. Her face was hot. It was not because of the summer heat. This warmth came from her emotions.
“I... I will put this hairpin on after we return to the mansion.”
“Why not wear it from now on?”
“No, absolutely not. I am wearing robes right now. I have not washed my hair either. And starting tomorrow, we will be doing 3rd-grade requests, so we will be staying on the mountain.”
Like when she visited Oldor, she wanted to wear it with clothes she had carefully chosen.
“I do not want to make the gift you gave me dirty.”
They had to go to Logos again tomorrow to hunt monsters. What if monster blood or mountain dust got on the hairpin? The thought alone was terrifying.
“If that is what you want.”
Yuri wanted to see her wearing it right away, but Elena's words also sounded right.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my...”
Haryeong's face held more of a smile than before. Eight parts expressionless, two parts smile. Even her voice sounded more amused than usual.
“For Yuri-nim, you chose a fairly decent gift. To be honest, I was worried. I worried that if you bought something so dreadful that I had to question your sense of beauty, I might need to destroy it for Young Lady's dignity as her guard.”
Yuri did not bother responding to the teasing.
Elena walked while staring at the hairpin in her palm for a long time, then carefully put it inside her clothes so that it would not get dirty or break.
‘I want to return soon.’
Since this was Yuri's final scheduled activity before he left, Elena had intended to stay as long as possible. But the gift changed her mind.
‘Let us stay for about a week, then return to Rutlan.’
Elena patted her still-burning cheeks and turned her head. Logos was visible not far away. Under the darkening night sky, the reddish-black mist-like Rift still hung over Logos, looking as though night and sunset had mixed together.
It felt ominous, but beautiful.
They encountered the Blood Fiend five days after entering Logos.
Footnotes:
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