WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 606: The Stolen World (21)
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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 229
Current Location: Searching...
Sage’s Advice: 1」
- Han Ga-in
I studied the translucent, glowing Mirror and thought about Aedia's surprise attack earlier.
“Did you find something?”
“Holy Mother, could you give me a little more time?”
“Oh, I’m not trying to rush you.”
If Aedia fought the four of us alone, who would win?
If we clashed head-on, we would probably win.
But earlier, we had nearly lost without even getting a chance to catch our breath.
Aedia had instantly sent the other companions away with the power of her Inheritance, the Taeguk Diagram.
What if the Holy Mother and I had faced each other one-on-one in that situation?
I couldn't say for sure since I didn't know the full extent of Aedia's power, but I thought I would have been more likely to lose.
What if the Holy Mother defeated me and attacked the others?
Other than A-ri, they would have died without even putting up a proper fight.
Aedia simply hadn't intended to fight us. It had been an enormous crisis.
Why had we been pushed into danger so helplessly?
Because we hadn't even known the Taeguk Diagram existed.
The first time, our ignorance had left us unable to do anything.
I'd had a similar experience before.
When Ryan Raymond toyed with me using the power of Communication, I had been defeated the first time without being able to lift a finger.
The reason had been the same.
I knew nothing about my opponent's ability.
In a fight between Participants, victory and defeat aren't decided by the absolute difference in power.
Whether you know each other's abilities and Inheritances matters far more.
The Holy Mother surely still had more power she was hiding.
So did we.
Powers we knew about, but the Holy Mother didn't!
And if we added a hostage to that...
Yes. Now was the time.
“Huh?”
“Did you find something strange?”
I scratched my head and looked at Aedia.
“My friends from the Management Bureau are coming.”
“... I'm sorry about what happened earlier-”
“It's fine. I'll explain it properly to my friends, so you don't need to worry.”
Aedia had probably been worried about fighting A-ri and the others. Her expression brightened a little at my words.
Soon, A-ri and Jin-cheol approached with such fury that they looked ready to fire beams of rage from their eyes.
“Aedia! How dare you-”
“Now, now, calm down!”
When I smiled and waved, A-ri and Jin-cheol stopped in confusion.
“Ga-in, are you okay?”
“Of course. Where's Eun-sol?”
“She’s far away. A-ri and I are faster.”
“There was a slight misunderstanding with Aedia. It's all cleared up now. Right, Holy Mother?”
Aedia nodded with an awkward smile.
“Um, I apologize for what happened earlier.”
“...”
Just as A-ri frowned, I screamed in alarm.
“Aaah!”
“W-what is it?”
“Holy Son?”
“What happened-”
“Berenike-Tarsikov array confirmed! The spacetime coordinates of Mirror Analog Synchronizer No. 37 are collapsing! H-how could this happen!”
The Holy Mother's eyes went wide.
“W-what are you talking-”
Her eyes filled with undisguised confusion.
--- Flap!
The Grimoire opened.
“Oh? You had a book like th-”
The Holy Mother's movements slowed under the restraint of the Power of the Avatar.
The instant Aedia realized something was wrong, her eyes filled with killing intent!
“You-!”
For the brief moment when the Holy Mother froze, caught off guard by the Power of the Avatar, my companions realized the fight had begun and joined in.
An ominously glowing polyhedron warped space.
The blazing white heat rays of the Sacred Sun burned the Holy Mother's body.
A Star Fragment that gave off sinister waves revealed its power.
And then-
--- Crackle!
The Holy Mother withstood every attack!
The Taeguk Diagram spun in a circle, and the Sacred Sun's and polyhedron's assaults vanished without a trace!
“Ugh! What is this?”
Was the Otherworldly Star Fragment the only thing that had ignored the Taeguk Diagram and still shown its power?
Even so, the Holy Mother's body itself was completely different from an ordinary human's!
Sure enough, the Qliphoth Crystal shone with violet light throughout the Holy Mother's body, stopping the collapse of her flesh.
Could the Holy Mother keep enduring?
If we dragged out the fight, wouldn't the Star Fragment eventually pierce even the Crystal's protection?
But the Power of the Avatar could no longer suppress the Holy Mother at all!
“Holy Son! I was trying to trust you, and you pull something like this... You want to fight?”
“Aah! Is she really human?”
“What human? She's a lizard!”
“Holy Son! I may spare you, but I won't leave a single one of these bugs alive!”
“That’s so unfair! Ga-in started the fight, so why are we the only ones who have to die?”
Was A-ri seriously making jokes right now?
For an instant, even the Holy Mother stared at A-ri as though she couldn't believe it.
“The light of Judgment shall crush great evil...”
Then golden waves burst from the Holy Mother's eyes.
I had to admit it.
Aedia was absurdly strong.
Honestly, even if we had fully charged the Sacred Sun, it would have been hard to guarantee victory.
No wonder Elder Wisdom had warned us in advance not to let Elena die.
We had ambushed her, and it was still this difficult...
She was overwhelmingly strong in both offense and defense. If we kept fighting head-on, we would suffer enormous losses.
...
Of course, there was no phrase more meaningless than “fighting head-on.”
There was no judge in a fight like this to deduct points for using tricks!
“Holy Mother-”
“Holy Son! I'll slice up that head of yours while you're still alive-”
“Look over here.”
The blazing white heat rays aimed at the Mirror.
“You...”
Aedia looked completely stunned.
At that moment, the Holy Mother realized it as well.
If we kept fighting like this, then regardless of who won, the Mirror would be destroyed!
She stood frozen, staring blankly.
--- Click!
A-ri swiftly pulled out her camera and pressed the shutter.
“Aah! She's resisting the camera's power too?”
“Holy Mother, are you really going to take this to the end?”
“... Holy Son. What exactly are you thinking?”
“All I want is a happy ending.”
“...”
“Holy Mother, you sent all my companions away earlier, didn't you? We suffered a loss once, so think of it as your turn to suffer one.”
“...”
“Don't forget. Who was it that woke the Moon? I, too, am setting the stage for the Prince of the Moon. My method is simply a little different from yours.”
“...”
--- Click!
The second shutter sound rang out.
This time, the Holy Mother did not resist.
* * *
The beach looked as though several missiles had struck it in an instant.
My companions stood there blankly for a while, muttering.
“The Holy Mother really is unbelievable.”
“The Taeguk Diagram? Is it some kind of Inheritance specialized in defense?”
I added my own thoughts.
“The Qliphoth Crystal and the Taeguk Diagram. Both Inheritances seem to have considerable defensive abilities. It looks like she uses the blessing of Justice entirely for offense.”
“... Scary.”
Jin-cheol shook his head in amazement.
“I thought you were insanely strong for a Participant, Ga-in.”
“...”
“Then I saw Elder Wisdom, that lunatic, and learned there were people several times stronger than you.”
“...”
“The Holy Mother is no joke either.”
Listening to him made me sigh.
“Maybe powerhouses with two or more Inheritances are average among escapees? The middle tier of the pyramid.”
Jin-cheol lowered his head and muttered.
“... Then what am I?”
A-ri snorted.
“The bottom of the pyramid. Why even ask, Ga-in?”
“Yeah.”
“What was that Berenike-whatever from earlier?”
“What?”
“‘Berenike-Tarsikov array confirmed! The spacetime coordinates of Mirror Analog Synchronizer No. 37 are collapsing!’ What was that?”
“It didn't mean anything. I was just spouting nonsense. More importantly, is the picture okay? Can that really seal the Holy Mother?”
“... She'll stay quiet for a while. Not for long, though. She's such a monster that I think she'll tear through the photograph and get out within a week.”
“That’s troublesome. Should we put the picture in the deep sea or lava?”
“...”
“Or how about sending it into space?”
“I've been thinking along similar lines, but first, tell us what happened to you.”
As I explained everything that had happened to my companions, including Eun-sol, who had appeared before I knew it, I kept thinking.
What was our current situation?
The Moon had awakened, and the world was racing toward the End Times.
Since there had been no answer through normal means, I had set a point to turn back time and awakened the Moon.
As a result, I learned many secrets revealed only after destruction.
The true nature of the Pillager opposing the Moon.
The gigantic Mirror that could break the balance of the three-way standoff.
Just as the Pillager is an Ark, the Moon is an Ark as well.
Therefore, it would likely share the same vulnerability to the Mirror.
Suppose we turned back time.
The Management Bureau's Ark would return to normal, and the Moon would once again be imprisoned beneath the Earth.
What if, at that point, we wiped out The Silent and took control of the Management Bureau's Ark with Elder Wisdom?
The Pillager, possessing the Mirror, might be able to neutralize the Moon.
Hadn't we roughly figured out how to deal with the Moon?
“What do you think? Doesn't this sound like a solution?”
My companions thought hard for a moment after hearing my explanation. Then Eun-sol answered.
“So, we'd join forces with the Pillager and neutralize the sealed Moon?”
“Yes.”
“... It is an answer, but doesn't it feel like a thirty-point answer by Hotel standards?”
“Hmm...”
The Moon was both the cause of destruction and the barrier holding back the Pillager.
If the Moon disappeared, the Pillagers, in other words, the other Arks, would simply descend upon the now-safe world to devour it.
That would mark the beginning of another great war.
Of course, no matter who won, it would be better than the Moon winning.
The Pillager was essentially another Management Bureau, another Holy See. Whoever won, human civilization would continue.
So even if it was worth thirty points, it was still an answer.
“Can you think of a better way?”
“Sorry. A-ri, do you have any ideas?”
“... This is difficult.”
My companions fell silent again.
Was there no better possibility?
Was there no clever move that could drive away the Moon and eliminate the problem of the Pillager as well?
I wanted an answer worth around eighty points, if not a perfect hundred.
「Advice: 1 -> 0」
‘Is there a better possibility?’
「The truly wise set the board so that everyone can win.」
“A board where everyone can win...”
“Did you use Advice?”
“Yeah. It said the truly wise set the board so that everyone can win.”
“I've heard that one before.”
“The same one came up again.”
Jin-cheol tilted his head.
“Am I mistaken? Isn't this whole mess basically a game of musical chairs?”
“Right.”
If I summarized every problem very roughly, it was this.
The one sitting in the chair.
The one trying to take the chair.
The one trying to break the chair.
Applied to that analogy, the thirty-point answer was to first drive the one trying to break the chair out of the game.
“How does everyone win at musical chairs? Does that even make sense? Ah, do they all live together peacefully in one chair?”
A-ri firmly shook her head.
“If that were possible, they wouldn't be fighting in the first place.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“... Exactly.”
We had found an answer worth around thirty points, but I couldn't see anything beyond that.
Everyone fell into confusion.
--- Ring!
A phone rang.
“Hm? It's not mine-”
“It's my phone. Who would call at a time like- Ah! It's Delight!”
A call from Hotel Delight at a time like this?
A-ri startled and immediately answered the phone.
“Mi-ro? Are you okay? What's going on?”
A moment later.
A-ri looked at us with a blank expression.
Eun-sol urgently asked, “What did she say? Why had they been unreachable all this time?”
“... Eun-sol.”
“Yeah?”
“This is what Mook-seong just said.”
“Okay.”
What came next silenced everyone.
“... Hotel Delight is turning into ‘Pioneer.’”
Footnotes:
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