WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈
Chapter 32: Still, We Live On # 1
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The Erdari froze.
It was the moment I knew the card I held was actually quite powerful.
“If you want to save your young lady, send that man over here!”
“What did you do to Nineveh?”
The Erdari holding the massive bow nocked an arrow.
Creeeak.
As the bowstring tightened with an uneasy sound, Hammer warned me.
“That bow pierced straight through Gottwald’s head in one shot. If that hits us, it’ll at least be a fatal wound!”
“I know!”
That was why I had to try something.
I shouted as coldly as I could.
“If you even touch us with a fingertip, Nineveh will suffer the same fate!”
“That’s a lie.”
“Rendo Thieves are liars.”
The Erdari advised the archer.
The archer’s eyebrows wriggled like worms.
“Do you have any proof that you’re telling the truth?”
“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to. I can still clearly see your Nineveh crying her eyes out and begging Salinor to save her. Hehehe.”
“It really is a lie!”
“Right, Nineveh doesn’t cry!”
“Kill them all and open their brains!”
The demonkin raged like angry monkeys.
Then the archer widened their eyes.
“But it’s not entirely a lie. I heard my name from a Rendo’s mouth. It’s certain he met Nineveh.”
“You’re Salinor? Now that you know I’m not lying, hurry up and send that guy over here!”
“Felix! Come here, quickly!”
Hermit waved at Felix.
Felix, who had been kneeling, glanced at the Erdari. Then he grabbed the shaman lying on the ground by the shoulder and dragged them over to us.
Hammer sighed at the sight.
“...That actually worked!? So, Yore, what now? Do you have another plan?”
“Hehe, of course I don’t.”
Still, I had to do something.
As I thought that, the shaman who had finally joined us chuckled.
“I thought I would die a miserable death at the Erdari’s hands. Thanks to you, Yore, I survived.”
The shaman pulled back the cloth covering their face and revealed themself.
Gasp.
Even in this situation, I was surprised.
His face was pretty enough that I could have mistaken him for a woman!
“I am Moltma, a practitioner of the Way. I hope we can see each other often and for a long time.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If I had a sister, I would want to introduce her to you.”
‘Shaman Moltma!’
‘If he had a sister, she would probably look like him and be beautiful!’
That was a shame, but more importantly, I liked how polite he was.
I wanted to know someone like this for a long time too.
“Let’s focus on surviving this first.”
I patted Shaman Moltma on the back.
Then an Erdari asked me.
“Where is Nineveh?”
Creeeeeeak.
Salinor’s powerful bow was aimed at my head.
This was the turning point.
The most important moment.
“Your Nineveh is...”
Just as I opened my mouth, thinking I should make something up.
Rumble.
The ground swayed as if there had been an earthquake.
Crack.
The sound of something collapsing continued.
Soon, a thunderous roar shot past my ears.
“Kieeeeeek...!”
When I turned around, a spider as large as a small mountain was breaking through the fortress and emerging into the world.
It was several times larger than the Soldier Spiders we had killed earlier.
“A Queen Spider...!?”
Its massive front legs lunged at the Erdari.
Even the gathered Erdari could do nothing against such a huge attack, and they all fled.
“A Spider Queen. Damn it.”
Salinor’s powerful bow targeted the Queen Spider’s forehead.
Creeeak. Twang!
Thunk!
The arrow buried itself deep.
“Kieeeeeek...!”
The enormous Queen Spider screamed like it was fucking furious.
Just hearing it made the hairs on my skin stand up.
“A... a monster...!”
Then Hermit shouted.
They did look like monsters.
“A monster is coming!”
A monster was coming?
What could possibly be coming?
I only had time to wonder for a moment.
Something enormous rose from the destroyed fortress and the open entrance to the Abyss.
Everyone stopped moving.
Even the spiders.
“...”
It was as tall as a spire.
Bone.
White bone.
To be precise, it looked like the bones of a hand.
Rumble!
The skeletal hand crushed the Queen Spider.
“Kweeeek!”
Splat!
The Queen Spider burst apart as if it had been hit by a flyswatter.
Even the Erdari seemed frozen by the sight.
“What the hell did those Rendo bastards hide underground!?”
“Ah...”
Shaman Moltma trembled.
“...It’s over. This entire area will become a wasteland...”
The bones of something enormous beneath the ground kept sweeping its hand around.
As if it were trying to retrieve a coin that had fallen into the narrow gap beneath a refrigerator.
Everything was swept away by that small motion.
“...Could that be Degaros’s bones!?”
Hammer trembled with a clatter.
It seemed Hammer knew something.
“Damn it, that vicious thing was beneath the ground, so bugs like those spiders gathered here! Shaman! Am I right!?”
“The Abyss and the fortress were a tombstone sealing it. It was highly classified, but now that this has happened...”
Whoooooosh.
Then a palm as large as a mountain came crashing down toward us.
Was this what it felt like to stand directly beneath a collapsing mountain?
‘Am I going to die!?’
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Rumble!!!
Despite the enormous impact sound, I was still alive.
When I cautiously opened my eyes, someone had landed in front of us.
“I made it in time!”
I was incredibly glad to see the bald old man with blood streaming down his head.
“Lieutenant General Raiden!?”
“Sergeant Hammer, there’s no time. Lead the unit and escape.”
Lieutenant General Raiden stood before the mountain-sized skeletal palm, holding two greatswords.
His back and shoulders looked firm, as if he were challenging it to a fight.
“...What about you, sir!?”
I could not help asking.
“I’m staying. I have to stop it from crawling out.”
I could barely breathe.
A human was about to face a mountain.
That meant death.
“You could die!”
“Yes. But that’s what soldiers are.”
“Yore, let’s go!”
Hammer grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away.
Whatever happened, we had gained some time.
We ran until the fortress was out of sight.
We ran, ran, and ran again.
There was no time to speak.
We could only run.
Something shook the ground behind us, but nobody looked back.
We finally reached a nearby relay station and were about to board a carriage when we found a problem.
“Gasp! Moltba!”
A huge arrow was stuck in Moltba’s back.
When had he been hit by an arrow?
“...Ugh...”
The shaman Moltba panted.
It looked like he would stop breathing at any moment.
“Hammer! Don’t you have something like the red potion you gave Felix earlier? His wound healed right away when you poured it on!”
“I have none left. And he was hit by an Erdari poison arrow. Red potions work well on external wounds such as stab wounds, but they can’t deal with poison.”
“Fuck, no way...”
It felt unfair.
He had promised to buy my spider jewel.
I hadn’t even gotten to pick anything from the treasure vault!
“Argh! Moltba! You can’t die!”
“...Rookie, it’s Moltma, not Moltba.”
“Moltma!”
Moltma, lying on the ground, smiled faintly.
“My... my key...”
With a trembling hand, Moltma removed the necklace around his neck.
He placed it in my hand.
“My... my greatest trea... sure...”
“Is this a treasure key?”
It did not look like a key.
The pendant was shaped like a black stone.
It had a gemstone shaped like a six or a nine, but it did not look particularly valuable.
Still, I felt a certain will in the grip of Moltma’s hand around my wrist.
“With this... the great... spirit will... live on...”
Moltma stopped breathing.
His gently closed eyes looked rather peaceful.
“He was a good person.”
I searched Moltma’s pockets and took a few coins.
Clink.
They were fairly heavy.
Hammer’s sigh was heavy too.
“Ha, Yore... Won’t you be punished by heaven for that?”
“Why? I can’t bury him for free.”
“What? You’re going to bury him?”
I took a shovel from the Black Bundle.
“I’ll help too.”
Scrape. Scrape!
Hammer and I dug into the ground, buried Shaman Moltma, and placed a wooden marker over the grave.
Since Moltma liked totems, he would probably like a wooden gravestone too.
The cicadas were pretty loud.
# # #
Two days passed after the Erdari incident at the fortress.
The Wall.
The Strategy Room.
“The Black Fortress has been completely destroyed. It is now entirely night’s territory.”
Major General Jeremiah spoke calmly.
“The problem is that Lieutenant General Raiden’s fate is unknown as well. Honestly, the fact that you returned alive is a miracle. You’re lucky.”
“We’re lucky?”
As I listened boredly to the report on the damage, a question popped out of my mouth like a grain of rice.
Major General Jeremiah smiled faintly.
“Raiden, that old monster, was holding the position above me, so I couldn’t move up. Now that he disappeared on his own, I’m lucky.”
“How can you say that!?”
Lieutenant General Raiden was one of the highest-ranking people I knew.
And even so, he had treated me well.
He had even stayed behind to die in our place.
Hearing Major General Jeremiah call it lucky that someone like that had died made even mild-mannered me angry.
‘This is the first time in my life I’ve wanted to hit a beauty with all my strength!’
But I thought I would lose if we fought, so I stayed quiet.
Major General Jeremiah clicked her tongue at me.
“Yore, you’re angry at the wrong person. I didn’t kill Lieutenant General Raiden. The Erdari and the human traitors who joined hands with them did.”
“That is...”
Now that I thought about it, that was true.
Those demonkin were the root of this entire incident!
“I’m angry too. Moltma is gone. The only person who could make Appraisal Worm Pellets has died. It’s a great loss to the Empire.”
Major General Jeremiah clicked her tongue.
Then her eyes turned toward my neck.
“By the way, what’s that around your neck?”
“Do you know what this is? I think it’s some kind of treasure chest key.”
“Hmm... It does look familiar.”
“Then we’ll take our leave, Major General. Yore, let’s go.”
Hammer grabbed my shoulder and led me out of the Strategy Room.
Was that exhausting investigation finally over?
‘We went to get the Eight-Armed Great Mother Idol and ended up going through all sorts of trouble.’
Since I was thinking about it, I went to the bathroom.
Then I asked through the door.
“Is Sister Jermain there?”
“I am.”
“I brought the idol you asked for.”
“I knew I could count on my little brother!”
“But a lot of people died in the process.”
It was the first time I had seen so many people die, so I felt a little depressed.
“Little brother, everyone dies someday.”
“What?”
“You nearly died several times too, didn’t you?”
“Did anyone cry for you then?”
I had been hanged once too.
Before that and after that, I had nearly died many times.
But nobody had cried for me.
“When people from the streets like us die, everyone spits and pisses on their corpses.”
“So we don’t have to be sad about other people’s deaths either.”
“That’s a strange kind of logic.”
But it worked.
The sadness and depression faded a little.
Clack.
The bathroom door opened.
Sister Jermain looked at me.
“Shall we go to the next lesson?”
“The next lesson?”
“Why are you pretending not to know? We’re going to fuck.”
“Whaaat!?”
“The people who survived have to keep living, don’t they?”
Author’s Note
August 29...!!!
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