WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈
Chapter 26: Fortress of Black Sorcery # 1
──────
Whoooosh!
All the impure fragments fell away from the Breakthrough Stone, leaving it to shine with a beautiful, dazzling light.
It meant all twenty carving attempts had succeeded!
“Is... is this real...?”
Hammer dropped to their knees.
Everyone watching stood there with their mouths open.
“Yore, this may be the only Breakthrough Stone like it on the entire continent. There may never be another.”
Rattle.
The lieutenant general, looking even older as cold sweat streamed down his face, held out the stone to me.
It was a little larger than my thumbnail.
“Perhaps this old soldier’s luck has not yet run out... Haaa... I can finally sleep easy now...”
「+20 Brilliant Breakthrough Stone: Raises the Soul Engraving stage by 2.」
「Liberation: Unlocks the latent potential of the Soul Engraving.」
‘Unlocks the potential of a Soul Engraving?’
Wondering what that meant, I checked the Double-Edged Sword Engraving Tome I had acquired.
「Double-Edged Sword: Engraves upon the soul an enlightenment devised by the ascetic priests of the Chandara Order. Increases damage dealt and damage received by 30% each.」
「Liberation: When health is at maximum, all stats increase by 10%.」
An additional effect had appeared.
This had never been known in the game.
“Newbie, what happened? Did anything change?”
Hermit looked interested.
With everyone watching, I calmly answered.
“All my stats increased.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. By around one percent.”
That was a lie.
My stats had increased by ten percent.
But information was not free, either.
I could not hand out information that I had gained by taking a risk for free.
Not knowing that, Hermit counted on her fingers.
“There’s a theory that a Blessed person’s physical abilities increase by around ten percent every time they level up. So, Yore, your effect is... about one-tenth of that!”
The crowd murmured.
“That isn’t even half the effect of leveling up. It doesn’t seem like much.”
“The Emotion-Eating Worm’s antidote probably hasn’t fully taken effect yet, so he wouldn’t be lying.”
“An Emotion-Eating Worm! Didn’t that guy even get nervous through all that incredible carving?”
Hehehe.
My control over the information was perfect.
Even eating that Emotion-Eating Worm had worked out in my favor.
While everyone was distracted, I took out the Engraving Tome.
「Would you like to engrave ‘Double-Edged Sword’ upon your soul?」
Yes!
The Engraving Tome crumbled into powder.
Ssssss.
Blood seemed to rush through me as vitality filled my body.
So this was the power of a +20 carving and a +2 engraving!
Then the lieutenant general smacked my shoulder.
“Ow!”
“Yore, did you say one percent?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be fooled by small numbers. To old people like me, whose growth has reached a wall, even that feels extraordinary.”
“Really? Even though it’s only one percent?”
“Yes. There have been so many times when I desperately needed just one more step. The more you train and survive, Yore, the more its value will easily surpass a hundred million.”
Ether gains worth over a hundred million!
I could not stop the corners of my mouth from rising.
Then Major Jeremiah, who had not said a word throughout the carving party, spoke.
“However, Lieutenant General, if Breakthrough Stones have that much potential, doesn’t that mean the traitor Baine could have been seeking further gains as well?”
“If Baine knew this, then the reason he hesitated also makes perfect sense. Cough!”
Cough, cough!
The lieutenant general broke into a deep cough.
Blood stained his palm, and everyone panicked.
“Lieutenant General! Are you all right? Did this carving put too much strain on you after all?”
Hammer hurriedly supported the lieutenant general.
I felt guilty too.
“Lieutenant General, I’m sorry! I pushed you too hard!”
But he waved his hand.
“The carving has nothing to do with it! I’m old, that’s all! I’ve always been like this. Damn it.”
Jingle, jingle.
A sudden sound of bells rang out.
Soon, a man appeared in the distance with his face covered by cloth painted with a strange eye.
He had something like a net dangling all over his body and was not even wearing shoes.
A beggar?
He held a staff with bells hanging from it, and Hermit frowned deeply.
“That one is a shaman. Bad omen...”
“A shaman?”
“They’re the same kind of mage as me. But their magic is more sinister and arbitrary. It’s called sorcery... Anyway, I don’t like shamans.”
Hermit was wary of the shaman.
The shaman paid her no attention and approached the lieutenant general.
“Lieutenant General, the cold air of the Wall is poison to you. I’ll prescribe some medicine, so please return with me to the fortress city of Oldor.”
“Medicine? Damn it, why not announce it to the whole town? Tell them Thunder Raiden is dying of lung disease! Our enemies would love that!”
Lieutenant General Raiden picked up his cane and slowly began walking.
“Yore, thanks to you, I have had a remarkable experience in what remains of my life.”
As he passed beside me, he spoke quietly.
“Success or failure. In the end, the odds are half and half. That is why I enjoy meeting young people. It feels like my eyes have been opened.”
# # #
A few days passed after the +20 Breakthrough Stone incident.
We rested without much to do because Michanic University was the only place beyond the Wall where the sun rose.
“There are Erdari roaming around Michanic University, and we’ve already met our quota. We can’t take needless risks. Time to regroup!”
Hammer really liked running the party steadily.
Hermit grinned as if she approved of that decision.
“Good. I’ve got to write a paper and hatch my Familiar egg, so I’ve been busy. I’ll be shut in my workshop for a few days, so don’t come looking for me.”
“Take your settlement money before that! It’s the money from the mana potions and jewels Yore got after pulling one over on Velzer!”
Clink, clink, clink.
Each of us received a settlement of three million Ether.
“Oh, yeah!”
I now had a total of six million Ether.
Should I level up first?
「Would you like to level up?」
「8 → 9」
「Ether Cost: 1,280,000」
「Would you like to level up?」
「9 → 10」
「Ether Cost: 2,560,000」
“I hit level 10. I’ve finally shed the newbie label, right?”
I felt strangely proud and satisfied.
With the ten percent stat increase from the carving bonus, I was basically level 11.
That was a secret from everyone else, though.
Hermit nudged my side.
“Without everyone funneling resources to you, it’s rare to see someone level up as quickly as you.”
“Hehehe, I’m pretty amazing.”
“But this is where the real challenge begins. From now on, leveling up will cost an enormous amount of Ether.”
“I know, I know. Hey, Felix! Come to the Training Ground and give me a hand!”
I called Felix.
Training with Felix had been fun lately.
Part of it was getting used to the stat increase from the Breakthrough Stone.
「Double-Edged Sword: Engraves upon the soul an enlightenment devised by the ascetic priests of the Chandra Order. Increases damage dealt and damage received by 30% each.」
I also wanted to get used to this engraving.
The thirty percent increase in damage dealt was very noticeable.
For proof, when I threw shuriken at a training dummy...
Crunch! Crunch!
What had once been dull thuds now sounded far more violent.
It was because I’d leveled up and absorbed the Engraving Tome into my body.
Felix checked the dummy.
“If you can do this much against a training dummy, you could kill the Stonefolk in the volcanic region in one hit. You can definitely provide combat support now.”
I was officially pulling my weight in combat support!
This was the judgment of Felix, the human butcher, so I could be proud of it.
Then Felix asked me.
“By the way, did the lieutenant general really not say anything about me?”
“I told you, he didn’t.”
“You’re not lying?”
“Felix, do I look like someone who lies?”
“The lieutenant general is like a father to me. He came to this Wall, but he left without meeting me? That makes no sense.”
I had not known it before, but Felix had known Lieutenant General Raiden quite well.
He had trained under Raiden since childhood.
“Maybe you two weren’t actually that close?”
“What kind of crazy thing is that to say? The lieutenant general took me in after my parents died.”
“What? Your parents died?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”
Felix rarely talked about himself.
According to Hermit, he was quiet and always putting on airs.
‘So Felix was an orphan too.’
‘I suddenly feel closer to him.’
More importantly...
The lieutenant general said he would grant me one wish if he succeeded at a +20 carving.
When was he going to grant it?
There were many things I wanted to ask for.
‘Could he have lied?’
Just as I was growing suspicious...
Sniff, sniff.
A bitter scent drifted into my nose.
I knew that smell.
It was the smell of the antidote for the Emotion-Eating Worm I had eaten before.
I turned my head, wondering if it could be...
“Major Jeremiah!”
Felix stood straight and saluted.
I suddenly felt uneasy.
“Major, my innocence should’ve already been proven, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes. Yore, you have been cleared of suspicion. A traitor who had been conspiring with the Erdari at the Wall has been captured.”
...What?
Had Jermain finally been caught?
I had wondered why I had not seen her lately.
Maybe she had been dragged to a prison full of interrogators.
“I came because of that traitor. This is an order assigning you to a traitor subjugation mission. Shall I read it to you?”
“A traitor subjugation mission? We have to do that too?”
I thought all we did at the Wall was farm Ether.
Major Jeremiah smiled at me.
“You were waiting for deployment anyway, were you not? The lieutenant general personally issued this top-secret order to you. Of course, if Yore does not want to do it, we may need to give it to someone else...”
“We’ll go!”
Felix immediately answered.
What was this? He was not even asking what I wanted.
I didn’t have time to hunt down traitors.
I needed to gather Ether!
But there were no take-backs.
Major Jeremiah handed us the order.
“You are to go to Oldor, the Black Fortress, by tomorrow.”
Major Jeremiah left.
Felix immediately grabbed my arm while holding the order.
“This is no time to stand around! We need to tell everyone!”
Bang, bang, bang.
Felix knocked on Hammer and Hermit’s doors.
Hermit grumbled.
“Felix, didn’t I tell you not to bother me because I have to write my paper?”
“We’re going to the Black Fortress.”
“What? Really? Then this is no time to sit around!”
Hermit’s face brightened at once.
Hammer laughed so loudly that their armor shook upon hearing the news.
“Yore, this is no time to stand there blankly! We are being dispatched to the fortress city where Lieutenant General Raiden is!”
“Really?”
“Yes! It’s not often that we get the chance to leave the Wall and visit a fortress city! It’s an outing!”
An outing.
That was why everyone was happy!
But I liked the Wall, so I was a little unhappy.
“Then does that mean we can’t deploy to the Land of Night?”
“Yore! There’s an Ether Round Table there too! From there, we can travel farther and to more places!”
“Oh! Ooooh!”
My dissatisfaction vanished in an instant.
If I could deploy to earn Ether anywhere, that place was home!
I hurried back to my room to pack.
Then I went to the bathroom to take a leak, but the door was locked.
“Damn it, again? Just tell me what you want, quick! I really have to go!”
“Yore, you’re going out, right?”
It was Jermain.
How did she know I was going out?
Jeremiah had called it a top-secret order.
“By the way, Jermain, they said a traitor who was conspiring with the Erdari got caught. That wasn’t you, was it?”
“Hehehe, Yore, do you think they could catch me that easily?”
“No.”
“You’re going to the Black Fortress, right? Can I ask you for one favor?”
“I have something there. Could you bring it back for me?”
“I need it before I can begin your next stage of training.”
What?
The next stage of training!
What came after touching breasts?
Aaaagh! I could not even imagine it!
Author’s Note
August 23...!!! Some readers sent support...!!!
marvel****_504!!! Thank you for your support...!!!
Please check the announcements for the detailed acknowledgements...!!!
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
