WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 76: Engine
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The next day, Yuri, Haryeong, and Estor left the estate as the Orsia knights saw them off.
“To think they even gave us a carriage.”
Haryeong stood before the large carriage, sounding impressed. Its exterior was not particularly flashy, but several enchantments had been placed on it.
“Wouldn’t a winged horse be more convenient?” Yuri asked.
“Yuri-nim, you do not know what you are talking about. A winged horse is difficult to manage. Besides, we are not travelling safely within a city. We will be travelling outside, where anything could happen. What do you think will happen if we fly through the sky for convenience’s sake and are attacked by a flying monster or from the ground?”
“We fall?”
“Of course we fall. We might not die if we kept our wits about us while falling from the sky, but rather than take that risk, it is better to travel quietly over land.”
‘Is that so?’
Yuri nodded in agreement as he looked at the two horses pulling the carriage.
“But who will drive it?”
Haryeong narrowed her eyes at Yuri and Estor. Back when she had been employed by Elena, Haryeong had usually sat in the driver’s seat. But she was no longer employed, so there was no reason for her to do so.
“Well... we can take turns, can’t we?” Estor said.
“I have no concerns about Yuri-nim, since he learned to drive a carriage from me. However, I am rather concerned about Estor-nim, who will be travelling with us this time.”
“Please speak casually.”
Even Estor did not know Haryeong’s exact age. There was so little information about her, and her peculiar atmosphere and manner of speaking only made him vaguely assume that she was older.
“And there is no need to worry about me. I know how to drive a carriage, at least.”
“Alright, Estor.”
Haryeong was the kind of woman who did not refuse requests like that.
“It is a relief that you can drive a carriage. Shall we see how well our youngest, Estor, can drive?”
“Y-Youngest?”
Estor looked at Yuri in confusion.
“Why am I the youngest? Yuri and I are the same age...”
“You joined last, so you’re the youngest.”
Since he had not wanted to drive the carriage from the start, Yuri readily went along with Haryeong.
“Don’t tell me you’re not confident about driving it?”
He did not merely go along with her. He slipped in a subtle provocation as well.
Estor’s expression hardened, and he swiftly threw himself into the driver’s seat.
“Though I lost our duel, I am confident I can drive a carriage better than you.”
Yuri felt as though he was beginning to understand how to handle the young master of the formidable Orsia Family.
“So, where are we headed?”
“Jeokwon,” Haryeong answered.
Jeokwon was one of the eastern cities. The Salhomun was located there.
“Jeokwon... That is far.”
Estor muttered as he took hold of the reins. Even if they hurried by carriage, the journey from Panteleon to Jeokwon in the east would take more than half a year.
That was if they travelled only by carriage. They could arrive sooner by sailing across the sea, and if they had both the means and the qualifications to take an airship, they could arrive in no more than fifteen days.
However, airships were not something just anyone could board. Tickets for airships that travelled between continents, rather than merely between cities, were so expensive that ordinary people could not even dream of buying them.
“We will make Alderan our first destination.”
Alderan was a major city on the western continent, home to one of only three airship ports and ruled by the Habert Mage Tower.
“We do not have the money to take an airship,” Yuri said.
“And airships are not something just anyone can board, are they?”
Haryeong, who had been speaking casually until then, returned to her formal manner of speech. It seemed she was more comfortable this way.
The primary users of airships were trading merchants. Large trading companies owned airships of their own, while smaller companies reserved spaces on them to transport their goods.
“There will be no problem.”
Rather than explain further, Estor simply smiled confidently. There was no need to ask why. If the heir of the Orsia Family personally came to request passage, they would make room even if none was available.
“This will be only my second time riding an airship.”
Haryeong whispered from within the spacious, comfortable carriage.
“A few years ago, when I was assigned to escort the young lady, Heavenly Thunder-nim sent me an airship ticket. That was how I got to ride one. It felt truly strange.”
“What felt strange?”
“That something so enormous could fly through the sky so swiftly. When I looked down from the railing, the city looked so small, and the people were too small to even see.”
“Hmm...”
Haryeong kept her usual composed expression, but her eyes sparkled brightly. Yuri found the contrast amusing and cute, and he felt like showing off a little.
He rested an arm on the window frame.
“What is this all of a sudden?”
“What?”
“How should I put this? Yuri-nim’s expression is extremely irritating.”
“Now you’re picking fights by making up reasons.”
“What could you possibly be thinking to make that expression so unpleasant?”
“Ah, it’s nothing much.”
[I have never ridden an airship, but I have ridden something similar and better.]
Since Estor was in the driver’s seat, Yuri told her through telepathy.
[What is something similar but better?]
[It is called an aeroplane...]
He had ridden one on a round trip to Jeju Island long ago when he travelled alone. He had never ridden an aeroplane otherwise, but it was more than enough to boast about in front of Haryeong, who had ridden an airship exactly once.
[An aeroplane?]
Yuri grinned and explained what an aeroplane was. Haryeong’s brows furrowed more and more as his explanation continued.
[You are saying far too much nonsense because you trust that I cannot go to Yuri-nim’s world and see it for myself.]
[It is not a lie.]
[So, you are saying that a giant bird made of iron flies through the sky?]
[That is about right.]
[Without a balloon?]
[Yes.]
[How does it fly without a balloon? You said Yuri-nim’s world does not have magic.]
[I do not have enough knowledge to explain all of that...]
[Yes, yes, I understand. Naturally.]
Even through telepathy, Yuri could tell she was being sarcastic. Haryeong did not want to hear any more and mocked him instead.
Yuri wanted to argue, but he could not logically explain the principles behind how an aeroplane flew.
[There is something called an engine, and with that engine...]
“Jeokwon is a small city.”
Haryeong no longer used telepathy because she had no intention of hearing Yuri’s lies.
“It is a city within the sphere of influence of the unorthodox martial factions, so aside from the Salhomun, there are several other unorthodox sects there. However, there is no particular need to worry about them.”
“...”
“Why are you looking at me like that, Yuri-nim the liar?”
“I did not lie.”
“Yes, of course you did not. To continue, we may not be able to meet the Sect Leader even if we go to the Salhomun.”
“Why?”
“The Sect Leader is very busy. As Yuri-nim knows, our Salhomun accepts escort requests alongside assassination requests. The Sect Leader is the most skilled special-grade assassin in our sect.”
The Salhomun was located in Jeokwon in the game as well. If he ground enough honor to meet the hiring requirements, Yuri could visit the Salhomun in Jeokwon and hire an escort assassin. Yet the Salhomun’s Sect Leader never appeared in the game.
‘Faceless Killer.’
The person who had saved Heavenly Thunder Orca after Orca fell into a trap fifteen years ago. Orca, who had openly hated assassins in the game, changed her mind and assigned Haryeong to Elena because the Faceless Killer had saved her life.
Yuri had heard that story directly from Orca, but Orca had never explained why or what kind of trap Orca had fallen into.
‘If I meet the Faceless Killer, will I be able to hear Orca’s story?’
According to Orca, the story of being saved by the Faceless Killer was not something that could be called a secret. However, Orca had not told Yuri anything about the trap, saying that it fell within the category of secrets.
So the Faceless Killer might keep silent as well...
‘It seems like it might be related to a transmigrator. Or perhaps the Sect of Chaos.’
By now, several clues had begun to connect in Yuri’s mind.
About thirty years ago, a transmigrator came to this world.
Then, about twenty years ago, the distinguished Raspion Family of Sairan was massacred.
Around the same time, the Sword Lord, the head of the Orsia Family, severed ties with the family and vanished with his wife.
About fifteen years ago, Heavenly Thunder Orca fell into a trap and nearly died, only to be saved by the Faceless Killer.
There was not much difference in years between the series of events Yuri knew about. His speculation involved a considerable leap, but those events seemed likely to be connected to transmigrators or the Sect of Chaos.
‘Perhaps it was the work of those bastards they call Saints of the Sect.’
There was nothing he could do beyond speculate for now, so Yuri wanted to hear about what had happened fifteen years ago from the Faceless Killer if possible.
* * *
Lacey Yuzha.
She had long ago reached the peak of the fifth tier. Though she now stood before the wall of the sixth tier, she was not blocked by it. The wall before her was a weak, low wall that she could destroy or cross whenever she wished.
The reason Lacey had not reached the sixth tier was simple.
Once she reached the sixth tier, every spell she could cast at the fifth tier would become easy. Even without sufficient understanding, the difference in tiers alone would allow her to understand them easily.
Lacey disliked that. She wanted to reach the sixth tier only after perfectly understanding every spell of her current tier. Once a person advanced in tier, they could not lower it through normal means. Reality was not like a game, where one could delete a character and raise one again from the beginning, so she had to fully savor what she could do only now.
‘Magic is so enjoyable.’
Rustle.
She turned the page of an old grimoire. It was a fifth-tier spellbook she had recently purchased at the Le Seyun auction house. It was not a lightning-attribute spellbook, and lightning magic was Lacey’s specialty, but magic was enjoyable regardless of one’s specialty.
‘Is magic enjoyable for you too?’
She thought of Elena, her junior who remained in Rutlan.
Lacey could not claim to be blameless when it came to Elena. Lacey had once shared a room with Elena, yet she had not made much effort to fill the emptiness Elena had carried even then.
That had been the will of Orca, the Mage Tower Master, and Lacey had not defied it. To be honest, immersing herself in grimoires and researching magic had been far more enjoyable than caring for the unstable mind of a child only ten years old.
‘Still, I never imagined she would grow up like this.’
She did not think Elena’s inability to get along with the other mages was a major problem. Lacey herself had not actively socialized with other mages either. In the end, a mage tower was a place where one merely had to prove one’s abilities.
‘That man...’
Yuri, Elena’s childhood friend. If not for Yuri, Elena would not have twisted this far.
Lacey let out a short sigh and closed the grimoire.
She could not concentrate. After thinking of Elena, she had thought of Yuri as well.
‘Who could he be?’
There was no doubt that Yuri was a transmigrator. Elena still denied it, but Orca and Lacey were certain that Yuri was a transmigrator.
However, they did not know his name.
It had already been seventeen years since Lacey transmigrated into this world. By now, she could barely remember the users who had remained in that community. Even among memories blurred by time, there were only a handful of names that remained clear.
Not a few people must have joined the community after she transmigrated, so it was practically impossible for Lacey to guess Yuri’s identity now.
‘FUCKINGSEXY, Cat Panties, and USAUSAMI transmigrated before I did.’
They were grouped with Moonlit Reveller as the community’s worst users. They had already achieved first place in the Hall of Honor before crossing over into this world.
‘Could he be UrMumSpammer?’
Silver Wood of the Habert Mage Tower had been the last transmigrator Lacey knew of before Yuri’s identity as a transmigrator came to light. Even when Silver Wood reached first place, UrMumSpammer had remained at the bottom of the Hall of Honor. Yet despite that, the community treated UrMumSpammer as a mysterious person who had mastered the game.
‘But I do not think he is UrMumSpammer...’
It was only circumstantial evidence. Unless she knew which skills UrMumSpammer had learned in the game, she could not be sure. That thorough man had almost never revealed his build on the forum. In the forum’s early days, before hidden bosses had even been discovered, UrMumSpammer had uploaded screenshots a few times as supposed character verification, but those had been fakes with editing added to them...
As far as Lacey knew, UrMumSpammer was Korean, like Moonlit Reveller and Cat Panties.
Yet Yuri had shown no sign of recognition even after meeting Moonlit Reveller. Moreover, Moonlit Reveller had been so shocked to learn that Yuri was a transmigrator that he spilled tea everywhere, babbled incomprehensibly about vomiting, and reacted negatively to Yuri being a fellow Korean.
‘Besides, his personality is different from UrMumSpammer’s...’
Lacey stared at her trembling fingers. To her, the name UrMumSpammer was practically an object of hatred.
Even after seventeen years, it was difficult to forget how the guides she had written purely out of goodwill were insultingly refuted on the community forum, or how UrMumSpammer had sneered at her whenever she left comments on other posts asking questions.
Someday, someday... if UrMumSpammer came to this world, how often had she thought about forcibly subduing UrMumSpammer and tormenting him thoroughly?
The reason Lacey chose the Dersia Mage Tower in this world and learned lightning magic, the reason she never carelessly passed over a single spell and honed every one to the limit as she built her skill as a mage, was not merely because she liked Dersia’s magic.
There was also a small wish to teach magic to UrMumSpammer, who had always scorned it as trash.
‘How does it feel to learn the Dersia magic you called trash?’
She had long imagined forcing UrMumSpammer, who would struggle and refuse to learn Dersia’s magic, to kneel and making the mouth that had spewed filthy, insulting curses say, “Master-nim.”
Lacey had not yet abandoned that wish. That was why she could not bear not knowing Yuri’s identity.
Perhaps, perhaps Yuri was UrMumSpammer?
‘But Yuri did defeat a Bishop of the Evil God...’
This too was circumstantial evidence, but UrMumSpammer was suspected of being an apostle of the Evil God. Lacey’s stance on that suspicion was uncertain, but Silver Wood of the Habert Mage Tower was convinced that UrMumSpammer was an apostle of the Evil God.
Silver Wood was not the only one convinced of it. Several transmigrators who associated with Silver Wood also believed UrMumSpammer was an apostle of the Evil God. It seemed that most who had transmigrated within the last ten years felt that way.
“Huu...”
There was no way to reach a clear answer.
Lacey let out a short sigh, opened the carriage window, and stuck her head outside.
Airships were clearly visible even from this distance in the sky above the city, protected by its high walls.
Alderan.
Lacey did not usually go out much, but every year around this time, she left Rutlan to visit Alderan.
She came to browse the magic exposition held in Alderan every year and meet Silver Wood of the Habert Mage Tower.
“I wanted you to come with me, you know.”
Thinking of Elena, who had refused without a moment’s hesitation, Lacey smiled bitterly.
Footnotes:
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