WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈
Chapter 25: Carving Soul Stones # 4
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Ever since I bought Snake’s Blood, my blood had become deadly poison.
It seemed all the worms that entered my bloodstream had died because of it.
I could use this.
“Yore, from now on, you will answer our questions honestly.”
Inquisitor Jeremiah’s purple eyes narrowed.
“Is it true that you’ve encountered the Erdari twice?”
“Yes!”
I answered brightly.
Major General Jeremiah frowned.
“Anyone who has encountered the Erdari more than once is considered suspicious.”
“Why?”
“Most people are turned into minced meat during the first encounter. If someone survives multiple meetings with them with all four limbs intact, it means they are either in league with them or a collaborator.”
Now that I heard it, that made sense.
So they thought I was a collaborator?
Fuck!
To think I was being treated like one of those freeloading communist demons!
I couldn’t stand for it!
“Exterminate the Erdari! With my hand on my heart, there isn’t a single lie in me!”
“Since you’re fine even after eating an Emotion-Eating Worm, it doesn’t seem like you’re lying.”
That was right.
Right now, I could only speak the truth.
Which meant that everything I said became the truth.
“Inquisitor, this is truly unfair! Where else could you find someone as loyal to the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor as me, yet you still suspect me?”
It was an appeal filled with my true feelings.
I suddenly felt genuinely wronged, and my chest swelled as if tears might burst out at any moment.
“Most of my fourteen criminal convictions were false accusations too! The claim that I cheated at a Dantes family gambling house was also a ridiculous misunderstanding!”
This was the truth.
Guaaah! Accept it!
“The Emotion-Eating Worm will prove my purity!”
“Oho.”
Major General Jeremiah’s face turned cold in an instant.
She crossed her arms and began tapping one arm with her fingers.
“Sometimes, there are tricksters who can lie while staying calm enough to deceive an Emotion-Eating Worm.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Annoying people like that Jermain. Yore, do you know Jermain?”
“No. Who’s that?”
It seemed like things would become very troublesome if I admitted that I knew her, so I desperately denied it.
Major General Jeremiah looked at me with even narrower eyes.
“You, perhaps...”
“Jeremiah, that’s enough harsh questioning for the Wall’s stalwart explorers who have just returned from an expedition.”
At that moment, an old man I had never seen before appeared, tapping a cane against the floor.
To describe his appearance, he was a bald old man.
His face was covered in scars, and he was tall enough not to be dwarfed by Major General Jeremiah.
“Lieutenant General. Interrogating suspects is the exclusive authority His Majesty guaranteed me.”
“I know. I know. But if you threaten him like that, the worms inside the boy might start acting up. Finding a criminal and making one are two different things.”
“Hehehe! Whoever you are, those are very wise words!”
I nodded at the bald old man’s words.
Major General Jeremiah clicked her tongue, then took a pill from her pocket and handed it to me.
“It’s an antidote for the Emotion-Eating Worm. You should still be careful for half a day after taking it.”
Did that mean my words would no longer be true once I ate it?
What a damn shame.
Gulp.
The antidote was bitter and tasteless.
Then Hammer suddenly shouted.
“Lieutenant General Raiden! It’s an honor to meet you!”
“Hm? And you are?”
“I’m Master Sergeant Hammer, formerly of the Hammer Unit! I saw you when I fought in the Battle of Dresden!”
“Ah, the Hammer Unit! You survived that hellish place and made it all the way to the Wall. This old man is honored to meet a warrior like you.”
Squeeze.
Watching two huge people shake hands like that...
It wouldn’t have been strange for Hermit to complain.
“Ugh, it’s so cramped with big people blocking the way. I’m going in first.”
“Hermit! Don’t you know who Lieutenant General Raiden is?!”
Hammer’s voice boomed like thunder.
I scolded Hermit along with Hammer.
“Yeah! He’s an incredible grandpa!”
That Japanese colonial cop of a Major General couldn’t even make a peep in front of him.
He couldn’t just be a man with authority.
‘Look at those scars. And those muscles.’
Lieutenant General Raiden asked me, “Do you recognize how incredible I am?”
“Yes! You look fucking strong!”
“Hehe, yes. Back in my day, I gave everything I had to reclaim our land from atop this Wall. Ahem. Cough.”
“Lieutenant General Raiden slaughtered Erdari by swinging two greatswords as if they were brooms! That is why the demons gave him the name Thunder Raiden!”
What?
He slaughtered that evil brood?
Suddenly, this bald old man looked incredibly worthy of respect.
“Lieutenant General! I want to become like you too!”
“Is that so? You want to become an old bald man like me!”
“No, I don’t really want to become an old bald man...”
Smack!
The Lieutenant General slapped my shoulder.
He was stronger than Hammer. I thought my shoulder would dislocate.
“But my glory is from long ago. Now, I’m only an old lion without teeth. So, Hammer, could that thing in your hand be a Breakthrough Stone?”
“Yes! It is! I was planning to carve it for the rookie Yore!”
“Ah, that brings back memories. Killing Erdari and picking up Breakthrough Stones was quite profitable. I’m fairly confident in my carving skills too. How about letting me carve it?”
Eh?
The Lieutenant General would carve it?
I had planned to leave it to Hammer.
Lieutenant General Raiden spoke with a proud expression.
“Nineteen. That’s the highest number of successful carvings I’ve ever made on a stone.”
...What!?
A +19 stone.
He made something that ridiculous?
“Come on, you’re lying.”
“You brat, I’m not lying. I carved one for my old comrade Baine. He was born with luck in that sort of thing.”
“Baine? The Emperor of the Abyss?”
Hermit asked curiously.
But what I really wanted to know was whether he had truly made a +19 stone.
‘He doesn’t seem like he’s lying.’
Was he really that skilled at carving?
I took the Breakthrough Stone from Hammer and held it out to the old Lieutenant General.
“Lieutenant General! Please do a good job! That stone is all the money I have!”
“Very well. First, smear your blood on the stone and bind it to your soul.”
“Blood?”
“You can only carve a Breakthrough Stone that has been bound to a soul with blood.”
“Then I’ll be the only one who can use it?”
“That’s right. To anyone else, it’s just an ordinary stone. That is why another name for a Breakthrough Stone is a Soulstone.”
Aha.
So that was how it worked!
# # #
Lieutenant General Raiden, the bald old man, held a hammer and a nail.
People gathered around him.
“What is a Breakthrough Stone? A mysterious stone that raises enlightenment and Soul Engraving every seventh successful carving!”
I hadn’t known before, but carving a Breakthrough Stone was apparently quite a spectacle.
He was hammering something worth twenty million Ether, so of course it was exciting.
“When carved with these Stonefolk Ether Nails, the chance of success is generally fifty-fifty! The first carving tells us whether this stone has potential or not.”
Clang!
Rattle.
Stone fragments poured from a stone larger than my palm.
“The impurities have fallen away. It succeeded! This stone has potential.”
“Ooh! It’s a stone just like me!”
“Now, we’ll begin in earnest!”
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The old Lieutenant General hammered the nail against the stone several times in an instant.
I thought I was going to lose my mind.
“Ahhh!”
That crazy old man!
Was he just carving it however he wanted because it wasn’t his stone?
But then...
「+7 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 1.」
“See? In my experience, striking several times in one burst while the momentum is there gives the best chance of success.”
“Grrraaaah!”
“From here on, the stone will break if a carving fails. Boy, what will you do?”
“Keep going!”
“Why?”
“This kind of thing is all about momentum. You have to push while your luck is good.”
“Are you serious?”
“Please take it all the way to +19 in one go!”
“+19? Boy, do you know the odds of succeeding nineteen times in a row with a fifty-fifty chance?”
Odds?
I didn’t know!
But if I wanted to earn Ether like the Emperor of the Abyss, I had to think and act like the Emperor of the Abyss!
I wanted to gather more Ether!
Amid the overwhelming tension...
“If it breaks midway, I won’t take responsibility!”
Whoosh.
At last, Lieutenant General Raiden swung his hammer with all his strength and struck the stone.
Clang!
Crack.
As tiny cracks spread across the stone, everyone held their breath.
But only impurities fell away with a rattle.
「+8 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 1.」
「+9 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 1.」
...
..
「+14 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 2.」
「+15 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 2.」
...
Crunch!
The Breakthrough Stone made an ominous sound from the continued hammering.
Soon, more stone fragments fell away.
「+19 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 2.」
“...It succeeded! Nineteen successful carvings in a row! This Raiden has done it again!”
“Woooaaah!”
I shouted wildly in every direction out of joy.
Even the Inquisitors hugged each other and cheered.
“Fuck! What am I seeing right now?!”
“That crazy bastard! He really didn’t tell him to stop!”
The bald Lieutenant General was sweating heavily from his forehead.
“I never thought I’d see this again...”
Nineteen successes in a row.
He seemed ten years older after pouring all his skill into the carving.
Rattle.
I received the Breakthrough Stone after all its impurities had been carved away.
It was now only as large as my thumb.
「+19 Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 2.」
But its stats were no different from when it had been a +14 Breakthrough Stone.
The Soul Engraving stage rose every seventh carving.
‘Then a +14 stone and a +19 stone are practically the same?’
The gamble that carried a fifty percent risk every time had become nearly meaningless.
‘Then why did the Emperor of the Abyss carve it this far?’
Maybe there was something I was missing.
Then the Lieutenant General let out a breath.
“Baine stopped carving his stone here.”
“Why?”
“Who knows? Maybe his gambling-soaked brain finally came to its senses. He thought about it for a long time.”
He thought about it?
That meant he had considered trying to carve it further.
Maybe the answer was there.
“Lieutenant General.”
The moment I opened my mouth, everyone stopped moving.
Nearly ten people fell silent.
“Please do it just one more time.”
“Yore.”
The Lieutenant General’s face turned serious.
“Even Baine, who dared call himself Emperor, stopped that gamble. You intend to challenge it? We have long moved beyond the simple entertainment of probability games!”
He almost looked angry.
What was the big deal about the odds?
“...Isn’t it fifty-fifty anyway? It can only succeed or fail.”
“Fifty-fifty...?”
The bald old man’s serious expression suddenly relaxed.
“Fifty-fifty... Kuhahaha!”
Soon, he laughed so hard that he nearly dropped his cane.
“That’s right! There’s no need for grand numbers. The world is success or failure! You’re right.”
The Lieutenant General gripped the hammer.
“Good. I can’t take this lightly either. If this carving succeeds, Yore, I’ll grant you one request.”
“Huh? Why?”
A sudden suspicion rose in me.
Why was he making an offer that only benefited me?
What did this bald old man gain if I succeeded?
“You’ve given me the chance to become the first-ever craftsman to carve a +20 Breakthrough Stone! Even now, that Baine fellow’s stone, and its fate, still flicker before my eyes!”
That almost made sense.
The bald old man blew out a fierce breath through his nose.
“This hammer strike, whether we like it or not, will be recorded in the history of the Wall!”
Clang!
Author’s Note
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