WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 127: This Hellish (4)
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Ludwig was rigid and stubborn to the core, but he was a man who valued honor.
He was a follower of Aris, Aris's shield, and the teacher of the holy knights.
Everyone acknowledged Ludwig's honor, and he took pride in it himself.
So when that honor was tarnished, especially through dirty means, he could not help but be furious.
Still, perhaps his last chance to set things right had been the previous time.
No matter how much he resisted, he would end up entering the Forest of Four Seasons. Now, he seemed to be doing nothing more than desperately struggling at the edge of a cliff.
Even so, he stepped forward to protect his honor until the very end.
Not only his own honor, but the lives of others as well.
‘They all got away safely.’
Ludwig looked around.
The investigation group, including Lace, had already scattered in every direction. Before long, they would become the seeds of “revolution.”
All of this had been possible because of the sword. The sword he had received just before entering the Forest of Four Seasons.
Even Ludwig had been awed by the weapon, which glowed like a green Milky Way.
He had fought in countless battles as Aris's sword, yet he had never encountered a weapon this terrifying.
‘If I handle it carelessly, this could become a demonic sword.’
Unlike Revolution, the holy sword, this sword amplified its user's power.
Yet it was difficult even for its user to control, and one wrong move could result in cutting himself.
It was only because he had fought while holding back as much as possible that disaster had been avoided.
‘Just what kind of being created this sword?’
Its power was astonishing. The problem was that it was too powerful.
He could not focus solely on the battle. The moment he slipped up, his aura ran wild.
Ludwig drew ragged breaths and stared ahead. The monitoring group was still glaring at him.
Their faces were hidden beneath helmets, but he could sense it clearly. They were afraid.
“What are you afraid of?”
“......”
“Come. Your enemy is right here.”
Ludwig spoke in a blunt voice.
If the Hero was Aris's sword, Ludwig was Aris's shield.
For the monitoring group to break through him would be absurd.
On top of that, Ludwig now held a terrifyingly fine sword in his hand.
With the rest of the investigation group having escaped, the monitoring group had no options left.
They could charge Ludwig and die, or return and be purged by the Pope.
Ludwig had nowhere to run either, with the Forest of Four Seasons behind him. Still, he lacked the strength to break through the monitoring group.
He had pushed himself too far to spread the seeds. He was barely holding on with the sword alone.
Both sides were completely trapped. There was no easy way out.
‘What do we do?’
‘What do you mean, what do we do?! Why are we not charging him already?!’
‘Didn’t you just see what happened? They tried that and got sent into the Forest of Four Seasons!’
‘Damn it. I wish it were a cliff instead.’
The monitoring group whispered among themselves. Ludwig was not the only thing they feared.
There was also the Forest of Four Seasons behind him. The moment they stepped in there, they would never come back out.
Starting with Archbishop Odon, several members of the monitoring group had already been forced inside.
They had watched them vanish without a trace the instant they entered. Of course they hesitated.
‘They’re wavering.’
With the experience he had accumulated over the years, Ludwig immediately picked up on the monitoring group's mood.
They were hesitating because they, too, were boxed in with nowhere to go.
‘Not that things look good for me, either.’
Ludwig's prospects were far from bright. If anything, they were bleak.
Even if he broke through the monitoring group and survived, his honor would be dragged through the mud.
As long as the Pope had El Dorado firmly in his grip, manipulating the media would be easy.
And since Ludwig had been the Hero's teacher, he was the perfect scapegoat.
They would probably claim that Ludwig's teachings were why the Hero had fallen.
It was so obvious that Ludwig could only snort.
Because he valued honor, he wanted to avoid having it disgraced more than anything.
‘It was a good thing I dealt with that pig first.’
With Archbishop Odon gone, there was no one left to issue orders.
The senior ranks had all either died by Ludwig's hand or been forced into the Forest of Four Seasons.
No one knew whose orders to follow. Confusion was inevitable.
“It seems you’ve grasped the situation quickly. If you return like this, you will be purged. If you attack me, you will die.”
“......”
“I have a proposal.”
At Ludwig's proposal, the monitoring group looked at one another. Their silent expressions asked whether they should hear him out.
They had no better ideas, so they decided to listen for now.
“Even if you return like this, you will die at the Pope's hands. The same will be true even if you kill me.”
“What? What are you talking about...?”
“The Pope wants to destroy my honor more than anyone. Do you know why he wants to make it look like I’ve disappeared?”
Ludwig was steadfast, but he was not stupid.
He had a personality similar to a certain Gallery's Head Mod, with years of experience to back it up.
“To stop me from becoming a martyr.”
“......”
“Even if you bring him my head, you will all disappear at the Pope's hands. They will frame you on some trumped-up charge. I will be listed as missing. You will be executed. Everyone who remembers what happened here will disappear.”
It was not an absurd claim. If anything, it sounded plausible.
The Pope had built his honor by purging “subversives.”
To protect that honor, he would not care if dozens, no, hundreds of innocent people became victims.
The monitoring group was part of that system. No matter what happened, their fate was still death.
“H-How are we supposed to believe that...?!”
“Because he likely did the same thing to the Undying King.”
“......”
“Destroying one person badly enough to drive an entire nation to ruin would be easy for him. In the process, there would be countless casualties.”
The moment Ludwig mentioned the Undying King, the monitoring group members who had been about to argue fell silent.
El Dorado had even committed massacres to break the king of a small nation.
There was no guarantee that such cruelty would not be turned on them.
The situation was too perfectly laid out. The monitoring group could not help but waver.
The instant Ludwig sensed cracks forming in their faith, he made his offer.
“So run.”
“......”
“Either flee beyond the borders of the Holy Kingdom, or wait until I recover. Choose.”
“...And once you recover, will you kill us?”
A monitoring group member with a deep voice spoke. Their voice was tense.
Ludwig stared quietly at them before giving an unexpected answer.
“No.”
“Then what will you do?”
“I will enter the Forest of Four Seasons.”
“What?”
The whole monitoring group reacted in shock at the unexpected answer. Naturally.
They had thought he was desperately fighting to avoid entering the Forest of Four Seasons, but that was not it at all.
Ludwig had made up his mind to enter it long ago.
He explained so that they could understand.
“If I sacrifice my honor, I can protect the honor of others. They can claim that I instilled improper beliefs and created a traitor.”
“......”
The Pope had used human shields to protect his own honor.
But Ludwig offered himself as a shield. It was an act worthy of Aris's shield.
Perhaps they felt something from his words and actions. The monitoring group members began lowering their weapons one by one.
Their instinct to survive, and beyond that, the sincerity in Ludwig's words.
Everything fell into place and shattered the monitoring group's will to fight.
“A wise choice.”
“...When will you enter?”
“In one hour.”
The moment Ludwig said that, he immediately sat cross-legged. It was the posture for the Mana Cultivation Method.
The monitoring group members could only be bewildered.
The person who had just threatened their lives was right in front of them, and he was cultivating mana?
It was such an incomprehensible act that murmurs naturally broke out.
‘Should we strike?’
‘Are you insane? What if it’s a trap?’
‘If he fully recovers, he might come after us.’
‘Ludwig wouldn’t do something like that. Trust him.’
Still, the monitoring group members trusted Ludwig. They knew how upright he was.
Even without their earlier conversation, his character was never tainted. If anything, he was as pure-hearted as the Hero.
While Ludwig practiced the Mana Cultivation Method, the monitoring group members slowly backed away.
Before long, they left only a few people behind to keep watch and began withdrawing in earnest.
“......”
An hour passed, and Ludwig finished cultivating mana.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked ahead. Only two monitoring group members remained in his sight.
‘It seems most of them left.’
Even after sensing the area around him, he found no one else. Ludwig slowly rose to his feet.
The monitoring group members flinched as he stood. They looked frightened before anything had even happened.
Ludwig stared at them and spoke in his usual blunt voice.
“You two.”
“Y-Yes?”
Ludwig's tone was gentler than before. The monitoring group member answered politely without realizing it.
“Are you rookies?”
“Y-Yes?”
“I asked if you’re rookies.”
At the somewhat random question, the monitoring group members looked at each other.
They hesitated, then answered in markedly timid voices.
“Y-Yes! I only recently finished my apprenticeship!”
“I joined a year before this one!”
Their answers were crisp and disciplined. Ludwig gave a small laugh.
At the same time, he felt sorry for them. Even fresh-faced newcomers like them had been dragged into dirty work.
‘What will become of the Holy Kingdom's future?’
He had fulfilled his duty as Aris's shield, but he had failed to protect what lay within.
For the Holy Kingdom to regain its true form, its rotten parts would have to be cut away.
That role could not be fulfilled by a shield. Only a sword could do it.
“......”
Ludwig turned around and looked toward the entrance of the Forest of Four Seasons.
The entrance rippled like an aurora. Beyond it, environments of every kind flickered into view.
Ludwig feared nothing, but he was still human. He feared the unknown.
‘What kind of place lies beyond this...?’
Fear of the unknown, and curiosity.
Ludwig hesitated, then slowly reached out his hand.
His hand passed beyond the aurora. He felt nothing.
He had taken one step. Now it was time to move his whole body in. He slowly closed his eyes and muttered.
‘Aris, protect me.’
Step. Step.
Ludwig moved both legs and entered the Forest of Four Seasons. A strange sensation settled over his body.
He slowly opened his eyes.
“......”
The moment he opened them, he saw a vast grassland.
A grassland filled entirely with green. It looked nothing like a forest.
He blankly stared at the grassland, then turned around.
He should have been able to see the place he had just left behind him, but as if by magic, there was nothing but green grassland.
‘Is someone called Wild Grylls here?’
Ludwig immediately accessed the Gallery.
He was not used to it, but accessing it itself was not difficult.
[System] The Gallery cannot be accessed in this area.
“......”
Accessing it had seemed easy, but he could not actually access the Gallery.
Ludwig looked at the message before his eyes, then silently closed it.
It was impossible to access the Gallery. That meant only one thing.
‘This really is the Forest of Four Seasons.’
The Forest of Four Seasons had always been a place where one could not use the Gallery.
Then how was Grylls able to use it? Ludwig suddenly became curious.
‘I can find out by asking him directly.’
Ludwig slowly began walking. It was a vast grassland, but they would eventually meet.
He did not know when that would be, but it was far better than standing still.
Ah. Of course.
“Munch. Munch. Munch.”
“......”
Finding someone and receiving a welcoming party were separate matters. Ludwig tilted his head upward and stared at an animal.
Its body was mostly yellow, covered in brown patterns.
Its long legs towered far above Ludwig's height, and its muscles were remarkably sturdy.
Yet the most eye-catching part was somewhere else. It was beyond strange. It was grotesque.
‘Its neck...’
Its neck was absurdly long.
It was long enough to easily eat leaves from the top of a towering tree.
Its head, neck, and body seemed disconnected from one another, making it look bizarre.
Even Ludwig, who had seen much of the world, had never encountered such an animal before.
‘...What the hell kind of animal is that?’
It was an animal Grylls would have called a giraffe.
Ludwig watched the giraffe chow down for a long while, then shook his head.
‘This really is hell.’
Otherwise, there was no way an animal like that could exist.
With that thought, Ludwig passed by the giraffe.
“Nom nom nom. Nom nom.”
The giraffe simply kept eating its leaves happily, unconcerned.
Footnotes:
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