WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈
Chapter 68: Date # 1
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Whoooosh.
At last, rain fell from the darkening sky.
It smelled of rain, wet soil, and ashes left after a fire had burned out.
A snake as huge as a mountain curled up to regulate its chilled body temperature.
The countless wounds and patches of pus across its scales seemed to speak of a hard life.
‘Sabranik!’
This vision-like scene had appeared out of nowhere.
I recognized that enormous snake as Sabranik.
Perhaps this was Sabranik from long ago.
Before becoming an idol?
Someone approached Sabranik.
“...My goodness, there really is a giant snake?”
It was a little girl.
She looked about ten years old.
Her face was covered in filthy water, with only her black eyes shining. She looked just like a little rat.
Compared to the enormous Sabranik, she really was no more than a little rat.
“Are you a sacrifice?”
Sabranik opened its mouth wide, as if it would swallow the girl whole.
But instead of satisfying its hunger, the snake satisfied its curiosity.
“Are you not afraid of death?”
“...I am.”
“Then why do you not run?”
“...If I, the sacrifice, return to the village alive... something even scarier will happen.”
Sabranik looked at the girl.
I looked at the girl through Sabranik's eyes too.
Now that I noticed, she had a limp, and her body was covered in wounds.
Clear signs of terrible abuse.
“What is your name?”
“...Zmei...”
With that, the scenery suddenly changed.
Ssssss.
It felt like black mist was clearing away. When I came to my senses, I was standing in the Strategy Room.
‘Was that Sabranik from when it was called one of the Three Fiends?’
Its atmosphere had been completely different from the stone-eating Sabranik.
It had seemed more savage and cold-blooded.
“Nimble! You need to register as an explorer, so come with me!”
Mr. Hammer waved at Nimble.
Nimble glanced at me and asked.
“Yore, you said the weekend is coming soon, right?”
The weekend?
Come to think of it, it was only a few days away.
This weekend was supposed to be complete rest, with no schedule at all.
“Why the weekend?”
“I want you to come with me to a village near the Wall.”
“A village?”
“I want to see how the humans here live.”
Nimble's tail swayed as she quickly left.
Felix clicked his tongue.
“Must be nice, going on a date.”
A date... Come to think of it, was this really asking me on a date?
My brain felt like it was being fried by getting asked out for the first time in my life.
“Felix, what should I wear? Huh?”
“How would I know? Mr. Hammer, I have something to do, so I'll be going first.”
Felix quickly left too.
That left me alone in the Strategy Room.
‘So what do I do now?’
Judging by the setting sun, it was around five in the afternoon.
Too early for dinner.
‘I’ll look up how dates work in a book!’
I went to the library to satisfy my curiosity.
Sauriel the Erdari was reading a book, while Lord Saxon kept a very careful watch over her.
Lord Saxon spotted me and waved me over.
“Yore, is it true that that Erdari is connected to the imperial family?”
It was now openly known that the kid we had recovered, Isaiah, was a member of the imperial family.
Still, I was uneasy about that kid being with Sauriel, an Erdari.
“Please keep an eye on that Erdari so she doesn't do anything strange.”
“Of course! Exterminate the Erdari!”
“...Exterminate the Erdari?”
At that moment, Sauriel's ears twitched.
Fuck!
Maybe because Erdari had long ears, their hearing was good too!
I deliberately raised my voice toward Sauriel.
“Ahem, um, Sauriel! Didn't you promise not to leave your room without permission!?”
People would be shocked if an Erdari wandered around the Wall.
Someone might even die.
“Hehe, I'm sorry. I was simply too bored.”
She was reading a book titled Imperial Founding Epic. It looked like the kind of story that would put anyone to sleep.
When I frowned, Sauriel added an explanation.
“It is quite interesting. The witch Zmei met the Emperor.”
“The witch Zmei?”
Witch Zmei.
Zmei!?
That was the name I had heard in Sabranik's dream.
Suddenly, I became curious about what was written in that book.
Lord Saxon jumped in as if he had been waiting for the chance.
“Zmei was a court mage who defeated the Three Fiends alongside the founding heroes and laid the foundation of the Empire. She was also the great figure who founded the Mage Tower!”
The witch Zmei who defeated the Three Fiends.
Zmei, the sacrificial girl who met Sabranik.
Could they be the same person...!?
Either way, I should never mention Zmei in front of Sabranik.
“Ugh, I'm dying...”
At that moment, Hermit appeared in the library.
She was wrapped from head to toe in bandages, looking exactly like a mummy.
“Hermit! You're alive after all!”
“Ugh, rookie, I was going to talk to you about my condition anyway...”
“To me?”
“Make some time this weekend. Come help me make counter-magic potions and healing sorcery... Ugh...!?”
Hermit hurriedly ran off somewhere.
This weekend?
‘Nimble asked me to go to a village near the Wall this weekend.’
# # #
“Attention! Salute Major General Jeremiah!”
“Salute!”
“Oh, good work, everyone.”
Major General Jeremiah came to visit the Wall.
Brigadier General Ezakiel was with her.
“Yore, good work on the mission.”
Brigadier General Ezakiel smiled at me.
That beautiful smile made all my fatigue feel washed away.
“Isaiah, it's time to return.”
Brigadier General Ezakiel held out a hand to Isaiah.
Isaiah quickly hid behind Sauriel.
“...I'm not going back to the imperial palace...”
“Hmm, why not?”
“......”
Isaiah tightly shut her mouth.
Brigadier General Ezakiel's smile disappeared in an instant.
“Isaiah, I'm not asking. This is an order.”
“...B-but I can't live with Sauriel in the imperial palace.”
Isaiah looked at me.
It was the look of a child in trouble asking an adult for help.
This was awkward.
What was I supposed to do here?
Then Brigadier General Ezakiel smiled.
“If Sauriel is the problem, I can solve it.”
“Really? Then I'll go back!”
Isaiah's expression brightened immediately.
Could a face that had been as dark as storm clouds brighten that much?
Anyway, Isaiah and Sauriel packed their things.
“Yore, see you later! I won't forget your name!”
Isaiah waved wildly at me.
“Uh, I don't know whether I should call that an honor...?”
“Just treat me normally!”
Thump, thump.
Isaiah hit my back.
Then she whispered to me in a quiet voice.
“I might have all sorts of requests for Yore in the future.”
Ugh.
I didn't like that.
When I frowned, Isaiah puffed out her chest confidently.
“Think of it as putting me in your debt! If I ever become Emperor, I'll repay that debt several times over!”
That was a bluff.
Isaiah left the Wall like that.
Maybe I had grown attached to her, because I felt both relieved and sad.
“Then, Yore, I would like to speak with you for a moment.”
As I watched them leave, Brigadier General Ezakiel gestured to me.
I went to the reception room and spoke with Brigadier General Ezakiel alone.
Thump, thump.
My heart pounded.
Why?
Because when I went to the training camp, Brigadier General Ezakiel had once told me, “If you complete the course well, I will grant you a wish.”
I had not been able to use that wish because I never had the chance to meet her.
But I could use it now.
‘Would she grant any wish? Really?’
Date me.
Would she grant even a wish like that?
But that thought soon left my mind.
I stole a glance at Brigadier General Ezakiel's chest.
The gold eagle-shaped button looked strangely familiar.
‘The imperial emblem.’
Brigadier General Ezakiel was part of the imperial family, just like Isaiah.
That was why everyone groveled before Brigadier General Ezakiel.
‘Me dating someone like her...?’
‘A petty Thief like me, with someone from the imperial family? Just because of one verbal promise?’
I knew better than anyone that something like that could not happen.
This world was not kind to me.
‘The Brigadier General and I live in different worlds.’
Still.
It was because of that tiny possibility that my heart kept pounding.
“Yore, I have a request. Would that be alright?”
“A request?”
“As Yore has seen, it seems Sauriel is having a bad influence on Isaiah. The Imperial Council wants this matter handled quickly.”
Handled quickly.
My blood went cold.
“What do you mean by handled quickly...?”
“Quietly and cleanly. Would that not be possible for Yore?”
The world shook for a moment.
Sweat ran down my back and under my arms.
Handle it quietly and cleanly.
Did Thieves at the Wall do that kind of work too?
“It will be a difficult opponent, but you will not have to do it alone, so it should be fine.”
Was there someone besides me?
Then I remembered that Felix had been missing since earlier.
“...Do I really have to do this?”
Even for me, I wasn't comfortable taking out someone I had just waved goodbye to.
I was a Thief who stole things, not an assassin.
But I also did not want to refuse Brigadier General Ezakiel's offer.
If I turned down this proposal, she would surely dislike me.
As I carefully watched her reaction, Brigadier General Ezakiel let out a sigh.
“This is the Imperial Council's decision. Your party's mission was to rescue Isaiah in the first place. Sauriel's safety was never part of the mission.”
“......”
“Or is there a reason the Erdari Sauriel must not die? Yore has suffered greatly after becoming involved with Erdari. I would think Yore understands their danger better than anyone.”
That was true.
But no matter what, I didn't want to take family away from a child.
Was it because I was an orphan?
I found myself empathizing with her.
And although Sauriel was an Erdari, she did not seem that bad.
She was one of the kindest people I had ever met.
‘What if Isaiah becomes Emperor someday?’
‘What if she finds out that I killed Sauriel then?’
That would be the absolute worst.
“Brigadier General, you said you would grant my wish, right?”
“I did.”
“Since you promised to grant my request, please leave me out of this. Or make this entire matter disappear...”
“Yore, are you sure?”
Was I sure?
Of course not!
I hated using my wish on something like this too.
But I had to survive this minefield first, right?
Soon, Brigadier General Ezakiel smiled.
“Alright. I will try to persuade the Imperial Council again.”
“Really?”
“Because I promised to grant whatever Yore wished for.”
“Oh...!”
“I also believe Sauriel still has plenty of value as an asset. Sauriel was once the third Ascendant.”
Third?
How high-ranking was that among the Erdari Ascendants!?
Sauriel had been such a dangerous Erdari.
Just as I wondered if I had made the wrong choice, Brigadier General Ezakiel pushed back her chair.
Then she approached me and spoke quietly into my ear.
“Actually, I thought Yore would make a different wish.”
“A different wish...?”
“But then I would have been a little disappointed. I like people who defy my predictions and expectations.”
Brigadier General Ezakiel smiled.
Her mysterious violet eyes looked toward the corner of the reception room.
Skitter, skitter.
A spider was building a web. It was as small as a fingernail, so it was kind of cute.
Perhaps Brigadier General Ezakiel thought so too, because she held out a hand toward it.
The spider crawled onto the back of her hand.
Brigadier General Ezakiel carefully watched the spider and spoke.
“Yore, is there a woman you've taken a liking to since becoming an explorer?”
“...Pardon?”
At that moment, countless faces came to mind.
Nimble, Jermain nuna, Instructor Roze, Master Estelle...
“If there isn't, I'd like you to spend the weekend with me.”
A weekend appointment from the Brigadier General.
‘Could this be a date!?’
At that moment, it felt like choices appeared before me.
1. Explore a village with Nimble over the weekend.
2. Spend the weekend with Hermit while she's sick.
3. Accept the Brigadier General's offer.
Fuck!?
This was the first time in my life I had been troubled by such overlapping schedules.
Aaaagh, it felt like my brain was splitting apart!
Author's Note
October 4th...!!! Some readers sent support...!!!
Thank you for the support, Ichangdae_103...!!!
Please check the announcement for the full list of thanks!
Footnotes:
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