WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

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◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 8

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Elena (3)

The luxurious carriage parked in front of the run-down apartment building was a rare sight in a place like Oldor.

Standing a short distance away, Gordon from the general store shifted anxiously, his gaze flickering between the building’s stairs and the second-floor window.

Elena.

He hadn't seen her in person for ten years.

Their only contact was an annual exchange of letters at New Year's; she would send her well-wishes, and he would write back, but their correspondence never went further than that. He never expected it to.

He remembered her from the orphanage, a quiet girl who struggled to connect with the other children and always kept close to Yuri's side.

He had felt sorry for her and slipped her a few candies now and then, though he never considered it a significant act of kindness.

If anything, Gordon was simply grateful that Elena, now a mage at the prestigious Dersia Mage Tower, hadn't forgotten her past and still took the time to write to him each year.

A mage from a Mage Tower was a different breed entirely.

Their innate talent placed them on another level from ordinary magic-users, making them the effective nobility of the magical world.

And Elena was one of them, her potential personally recognised by the Tower Master, who had taken her in.

This meant she could one day aspire to the position of Tower Master herself.

For Gordon, a man who had spent his entire life in this rural town, the annual exchange of letters with someone so remarkable was a point of immense pride.

Now, though, he wondered if he had made a mistake in sending his last letter.

He had hesitated for a long time, as he had never been the one to write to her first. He was worried about bothering the impressive young woman she had become, afraid of overstepping his bounds.

Every one of Elena's New Year's letters had contained the same question: 'How is Yuri doing?'

And Gordon had always given the same answer: 'He’s doing well.'

He didn't want to worry her, and he knew Yuri wouldn't want that either.

But in the end, after much deliberation, he had sent a different kind of letter.

It started with an apology for writing so suddenly, then went on to explain how Yuri had been living since leaving the orphanage and everything that had just happened.

This time, Yuri had come dangerously close to death.

If the Oh Brothers and the Black Snake Gang hadn't turned on each other after breaking into the base, if a stray blade from the fight had landed just a little deeper, Yuri would have been killed.

Gordon felt that if anyone deserved to know the truth, it was Elena.

Even after leaving Oldor for a grand city and her studies at the Dersia Mage Tower, she was the one person who had consistently worried about Yuri's well-being for ten long years.

But he never imagined she would arrive so quickly.

Even accounting for his letter’s special delivery, Elena must have set off for Oldor the moment she read it.

Gordon remembered the girl she had been ten years ago: a timid child who kept to herself, always trailing a step behind Yuri.

He had felt sorry for her back then and would occasionally give her candy. In response, she would bow her head with a shy, happy laugh, looking as if she’d been given the world.

The Elena he saw today, however, was a different person.

There was a startling intensity about her.

The way she carried herself as she stepped from the carriage was so formidable that, if Gordon had been a bit older, he might have been completely overwhelmed.

She looked absolutely furious.

After a quick greeting, she had stormed directly into Yuri’s building.

'Surely that punk Yuri won't mouth off to Elena...'

Of course, Yuri was a handful himself.

His time in a criminal organisation had forced him to learn some humility, but at his core, he was still a disrespectful kid with a rebellious streak.

Gordon worried that Yuri, unable to see past the little girl who used to follow him around, might lash out and repay her concern with harsh words.

'Is he going to get beaten to a pulp?'

As he was fretting over that very thought, a creaking sound came from the old stairs.

Elena, dressed in a pure white dress, and Yuri, with a large travel bag slung over his shoulder, were coming down.

"Gordon-ahjussi." Elena offered a faint smile to Gordon, who stood with his shoulders hunched in anxiety. "We'll be taking our leave now."

‘We?’ Gordon looked at Yuri in surprise.

Sigh.

Yuri knew this wasn't Gordon's fault. The man hadn't sent the letter to cause trouble, but for the sake of both him and Elena. So, offering a wry smile, Yuri bowed his head to him.

"Yeah, that's what's happening."

"Uh... so suddenly?"

"She insisted I pack my things so we could leave today."

The apartment was just a rental, anyway.

He had already packed everything that mattered. He just wouldn't pay next month's rent, and the landlord would eventually clear the place out.

Gordon blinked his wide eyes.

Yuri, who had been heading down a bad path, was actually leaving Oldor with Elena.

"This is wonderful!"

It was certainly a reason to celebrate.

Beaming, Gordon walked over and clapped Yuri on the shoulder.

"You take care of yourself. And don't give Elena a hard time."

"I won't. I'll write sometimes."

"Alright. And come say hello at least once before I die."

"Sure."

It was a happy departure, free of tears. In fact, Gordon felt as if a weight he had long been carrying had finally been lifted.

"Are you returning immediately?"

The woman in the coachman’s seat rose to her feet.

Yuri flinched, turning his head in surprise. She must have been sitting there the whole time, yet her presence was so faint he hadn't noticed her in the slightest.

"Yes," Elena nodded.

She glanced at the surprised Yuri and said, "This is Haryeong, my guard."

Haryeong gave Yuri a silent nod.

She was an Easterner with short black hair and black eyes, her skin so pale it was almost translucent.

"A guard?"

"Yes."

"Does a mage of your calibre even need a guard?"

Yuri had asked out of genuine curiosity, but Elena's lips twitched as she fought to suppress a smile.

"Of course I do. Just because I'm a mage doesn't mean I can handle every situation."

"It's because you're useless at everything besides magic, my lady," Haryeong stated with a deadpan expression.

At her words, Elena flinched and shot a glare at Haryeong.

"Don't say unnecessary things."

"I, too, have the freedom to speak my mind. If you wish for my silence, you'll have to draw up a separate contract."

In response to the swift comeback, Elena just glared silently at Haryeong. After a moment, she took a deep breath and moved toward the carriage door.

"Whatever. Let's depart immediately."

"How often should we rest?"

"I rushed out without a proper report, so we need to get back quickly."

"Shortest route, fastest speed. I understand," Haryeong replied, pulling up the mask that had been around her neck.

Yuri glanced at the black mask now covering the lower half of her face before following Elena into the carriage.

The inside of the carriage was as luxurious as the outside.

Yuri settled into a seat far more plush than his bed back home and looked at Elena.

"Who is she?"

"I told you, she's my guard."

"She doesn't seem like a simple guard."

"Well, you're not wrong," Elena said with a small scoff, placing her wide-brimmed hat on the seat beside her as the carriage started to move with a slight jolt.

"Haryeong is from Salhomun."

"Ah."

The name registered immediately, a memory from both his life as Yuri and as Lee Su-hyeok.

Salhomun was a clan of elite bodyguards and assassins, but unlike common mercenaries, they couldn't be hired by just anyone with enough money.

One needed the right qualifications to even contract a ‘salsu’ from their ranks.

He remembered from the game that hunting named NPCs protected by a Salhomun ‘salsu’ was always an ordeal, a testament to their absolute skill.

Once a contract was made, they were known for protecting their employer to the death. Because of this, a strategy of hiring a Salhomun ‘salsuas’, a meat shield, had briefly become popular in the Seronis community.

However, it was quickly abandoned for not being cost-effective, considering the reputation grinding and steep fees required.

"I heard they're not easy to hire."

"The Tower Master said it would be convenient and arranged the contract for me," Elena replied, her gaze fixed on the window as the grimy scenery of Oldor blurred past.

"And it's also because I'm not just 'anyone'." She rested a hand on her pristine white dress, which remained spotless.

'She's so full of herself...'

The subtle boasting in her letters was clearly a core part of her personality.

Instead of replying, Yuri sank into his thoughts.

'Orca Dersia arranged a contract with a Salhomun salsu for her?'

For the Tower Master to go that far meant her relationship with Elena was much closer than Yuri had imagined.

This was far more significant than being given a 4th-grade request; Salhomun was famously exclusive. Perhaps Elena was even in a position to be considered Orca's disciple.

'Then again, probably not a true disciple.'

If she were, the insufferable Elena would have undoubtedly bragged about it in her letters, and word would have surely spread.

"A 4th-grade request and now a Salhomun contract? The Tower Master must really dote on you. Are you her disciple or something?"

Since guessing was pointless, Yuri just asked her outright.

"A disciple?"

A wry smile touched Elena’s lips as she continued to gaze out the window.

"Not yet. But I'm working to become one."

"What do you mean, 'working'?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like. It's true I have the Tower Master's favour, but that doesn't make me the only one. There are three of us, including me, competing for the position."

Yuri recalled that in the game, Orca never had any disciples.

'Salhomun...'

What surprised him more than the closeness between Orca and Elena was that Heavenly Thunder Orca would ever arrange a contract with Salhomun for a prospective disciple.

In the game, the Tower Master despised assassins.

If a player approached her with a salsu guard, it would trigger special dialogue and an immediate attack.

[The stench of blood is vile.]

[Witness for yourself just how thin the hide of a beast that has fed on the lives of others truly is.]

Yuri had seen that event for himself. He still remembered the hollow feeling of watching his expensive, newly hired salsu get vaporised by Orca's lightning.

'And now she's personally assigning an assassin to a potential disciple?'

It was another stark reminder that thirty years had passed since the game's era.

For the notoriously stubborn Heavenly Thunder Orca to change her principles, there had to be a powerful reason, and Yuri suspected it had to do with the transmigrators.

The Dersia Mage Tower was home to the core spells needed for the lightning mage skill tree. In the game, players acquired those spellbooks as rare drops from killing the tower's mages.

But translating that to this new reality...

‘They wouldn't be carrying priceless spellbooks in their pockets, so the transmigrators probably captured and tortured the mages to force the knowledge out of them.'

It was exactly the kind of brutal, efficient tactic an aggressive transmigrator would use.

If Orca was consistently losing her subordinate mages to such attacks, it was plausible that even she would be forced to adopt new countermeasures.

The lightning mage was, after all, an incredibly popular build in Seronis, and the community forums had been full of detailed guides.

Before he had settled on his character’s concept, Yuri had experimented with various builds, including a lightning mage one.

He had been greatly helped by a guide written by an international player, THOR123.

That guy had also achieved first place in the Hall of Honour with a pretty high score, so he must have transmigrated into this world.

Yuri didn't know if he was alive or dead, but he needed to keep him in mind.

"How long until we get there?"

"About a week, if we hurry."

After a moment of silence, Elena turned from the window. It seemed she'd been waiting for the chance to speak.

"Yuri," she began, her expression serious, "do you want to become a mage? Or a martial artist?"

It was clear she had been thinking about this.

"If you want to be a mage, I can teach you myself. I can't show you the magic of Dersia, of course, but I can teach you common magic."

"Is it even possible for me to learn magic at this point? I've never touched it."

"...It would be difficult," Elena conceded with a frown, crossing her arms.

"It's best to start magic young. But isn't it the same for martial arts?"

"That is incorrect," a voice interjected from the coachman's seat.

"While it is certainly better to begin at a young age to avoid the accumulation of murky energy and blocked meridians, learning later is not inherently a disadvantage. In fact, some argue it is better to begin after one's physical frame is fully developed."

"Haryeong, I wasn't asking you."

"I merely overheard and provided an answer."

Yuri couldn't see Haryeong's face, but he had a clear view of Elena's. She was glaring towards the front, her displeasure obvious.

"Physical development or whatever, it's still a fact that starting late is a disadvantage, right?"

"The meridians can be cleared through stimulation from external arts. Once that happens, the murky energy is naturally expelled. In that respect, it is simpler than magic."

"That can also be applied to magic. The magic of Dersia..."

"You were the one who said you couldn't teach me Dersia's magic," Yuri cut in, having listened quietly until now.

Elena flinched and stared at him. Her wide eyes seemed to ask if he was seriously taking Haryeong's side.

Though he felt a bit unsettled by her gaze, Yuri continued.

"I think I'd be more comfortable with martial arts."

"What...?"

"I've been doing physical work until now, after all."

The disadvantage of age didn't apply to him, of course.

As a transmigrator, he could catch up to anyone, no matter how late he started. But he couldn't exactly flaunt that fact in front of Elena.

So, for now, Yuri chose martial arts. It seemed like the safer option, a way to keep his true potential hidden from a real mage like Elena.

Besides, it wasn't a lie; he was used to physical work.

"B-but, magic is so much better than martial arts. It's convenient, and..."

"My lady, that is not a wise statement," Haryeong interjected.

"As I am in your employ, I will withhold my personal opinion, but a more temperamental martial artist might not have tolerated such words."

At the all-too-correct remark, Elena’s shoulders trembled slightly.

She clutched her skirt and took a steadying breath before giving a sharp nod.

"Yes, I retract my statement. Haryeong, my words were rude."

"I believe one of your few good qualities, my lady, is that you are quick to apologise."

"Few good qualities?"

"It is rare to find a person in this world who is full of only good qualities."

A faint crackle of electricity sparked in the air around Elena at the reply.

She shuddered, but quickly reined in her mana when she caught Yuri's steady gaze.

"H-Haryeong is just always like that."

"So you just spark whenever you get annoyed?"

Yuri asked, a deadpan look on his face.

‘Like a Pikachu.’

Seeing his expression, Elena hurriedly smoothed down her static-charged hair.

"It's a habit."

"A useful one," he remarked drily.

It was a shame smartphones didn't exist in this world; he'd never need a portable charger.

"W-well then... Haryeong," Elena said, changing the subject. "Are you going to teach Yuri martial arts?"

"Are you insane?" came the immediate reply. "I wouldn't do that for any amount of money. If I taught that man Salhomun's techniques, we would both end up dead."

"W-what if it's not Salhomun's techniques?"

"I could teach him basic grappling," Haryeong offered.

"For a suitable fee, of course."

"...I'll think about it."

"Let me be clear, I cannot teach him a heart technique," Haryeong added.

"If you are serious about him learning martial arts, you will have to find a suitable one for him yourself, my lady."

"That won't be a problem."

With that, Elena fell silent. She slumped in her seat, clutching her skirt, her posture making her displeasure perfectly clear.

"Ahem."

Glancing at the sulking girl, Yuri cleared his throat to break the silence.

"By the way, where am I going to be living?"

He'd agreed to go with her, but they hadn't actually discussed the arrangements.

Was she just getting him a room at an inn? He doubted she'd go as far as buying him a house.

"My house."

"What?"

"What's with that reaction? Where else would you stay?"

To Yuri, her baffled expression was the strangest thing of all.

"I have plenty of rooms, so don't get any funny ideas."

"No... but still..."

"And unlike your place, my house has an indoor toilet."

At those words, Yuri fell silent.

An indoor toilet was a serious matter.

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