WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 198: When Entering (1)
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While Ludwig was adjusting to Grylls and the Forest of Four Seasons, the Iris Kingdom was still tearing its hair out over the Mage Tower floating in the sky.
No one knew when the Mage Tower might fall, and the people's anxiety only grew by the day.
In response, the king of the Iris Kingdom issued this proclamation.
[My people. Rest assured. We are safe.]
It certainly was a highly trustworthy proclamation.
Authority meant nothing when a disaster was hanging over their heads and no one knew when it would strike.
They couldn't feel safe until the Mage Tower came back down.
As anxiety mounted, unrest spread through the population. Some people had even begun evacuating.
In the middle of all this, what was Kadir, the one practically responsible for the entire mess, doing?
“Should I just run away?”
[Irresponsible bastard. You call yourself the one in charge?]
“Says the one who failed while in charge.”
[A painful remark.]
With every passing day, Kadir was losing their mind bit by bit.
They tried everything to analyze the Sky Whale's Ambergris, but every attempt failed.
It was the byproduct of an animal that had existed in the Mythic Age. Naturally, modern knowledge wasn't enough to analyze it.
The irony was that only Kadir could recognize that analyzing it was impossible.
Anyone else would have kept at it, convinced there had to be some way.
The reason Kadir had some breathing room lately was because they had realized analysis was impossible.
‘Even with my knowledge, I can't analyze it at all... What sort of creatures did the gods keep around?’
And what kind of place was the Forest of Four Seasons, where creatures like that lived?
Long ago, driven by curiosity, Kadir had stepped into the Forest of Four Seasons exactly once.
They had escaped only because they had barely set foot inside. If they had gone in any farther...
They didn't even want to imagine it.
Being unable to use mana was a death sentence for a mage.
‘Maybe that shark was an animal from the Mythic Age too.’
The corpse of the shark man Grylls had given them before.
After analyzing it, Kadir had realized it was a species that could not exist in this world.
They hadn't known when they first received it, but the Sky Whale's existence gave them a hypothesis.
There was a high chance that the Forest of Four Seasons housed not only Sky Whales, but all kinds of mythical animals.
‘That animal called a giraffe is the same. There aren't even fossils of creatures like that.’
An animal with no record of ever existing.
Every time Kadir thought about it, their crotch twitched.
Of course, it immediately went down whenever they saw the Ambergris disappearing in real time.
Kadir leisurely sipped tea as they considered what to do next.
‘There is about a week left until the Mage Tower falls. It might be even sooner.’
The Ambergris was shrinking faster with every passing day.
If it all disappeared...
They didn't want to imagine that either.
Should they prepare for the tower to crash? That was difficult as well.
One wrong move, and the entire capital could turn into hell.
‘Running away would be the best option.’
Rationally speaking, abandoning everything and fleeing was the smartest choice.
They could take the remaining Ambergris and the Undying King with them.
No one else knew the cause anyway. As long as Kadir kept their mouth shut, no one would ever find out.
‘Then that friend would curse me out.’
But they couldn't do that. They couldn't face the previous Hero.
Even in death, the Hero would chase Kadir to the depths of hell and point fingers at them.
Kadir let out a deep sigh and looked at the Ambergris.
Even now, it was slowly crumbling away before their eyes.
‘If I can't analyze it... what should I do?’
Kadir had spent their entire life as a mage, analyzing and organizing everything.
They had never understood warriors who relied on their senses and instincts. The Hero had been the same.
But now that a desperate situation had arrived, Kadir found themself leaning toward instinct rather than reason.
‘I can't control the Ambergris. But what if I absorb all of it and control it myself...?’
It was only a hypothesis.
And an instinctive one at that.
Still, their window of opportunity was closing. They could not delay any longer.
Allfather steeled themself and logged into the Gallery.
They weren't going to reveal their identity. They only needed to ask for help.
[Allfather]: Hello, Grylls. Are you there?
[Wild Grylls]: Yeah, I'm here. What's up?
[Allfather]: Sorry to ask, but could I have some more Ambergris? It's a little urgent.
Allfather immediately sought Grylls's help.
Very few people could resolve this crisis.
Grylls was one of them. Allfather prayed there was still Ambergris left.
[Wild Grylls]: I can give you some. How much do you need?
[Allfather]: Would a piece about the size of a fist be okay?
[Wild Grylls]: That's fine. I'll send it right away.
[Allfather]: Thank you. Thank you so much.
[Wild Grylls]: You said it was urgent. Looks like the problem still isn't solved?
[Allfather]: To be honest, I was a little out of my mind, so I'd given up. But I realized I can't put this off any longer.
[Wild Grylls]: I know the feeling. Here's the Ambergris.
As Allfather often thought, Grylls was a kind young man.
That didn't mean he was a pushover. He believed in fair exchange.
If this situation was resolved, Kadir would grant whatever favor Grylls asked of them.
‘If I survive, that is.’
Kadir looked at the fist-sized piece of Ambergris in their hand.
What would they do with this now? Just thinking about it turned their stomach.
Ambergris was a byproduct of a Sky Whale. Whether it came out the front or the back, it had been inside the creature's stomach.
“...Hup!”
[...?]
Then Kadir swallowed the entire thing.
The Undying King, who had been watching, spoke in a horrified voice.
[You've finally lost it enough to eat shit. You're insane.]
“Shut... up. Cough!”
Ignoring the Undying King's horrified voice, Kadir began to concentrate.
Their idea was simple. If they couldn't analyze the Ambergris, they would accept its energy.
They would understand that energy and use it to control the Ambergris, or move the Mage Tower.
‘I will become the Ambergris itself. This is normally a warrior's method, but...’
There was no other answer now. Kadir focused with everything they had.
They ignored the taste of the Ambergris. Thinking about it would only break their concentration.
Perhaps the Ambergris held too powerful an energy.
Or perhaps it was because a mere human had consumed an object from myth.
Crack- Crack-
Spiderweb-like cracks began to form across Kadir's skin.
At the same time, a vortex arose in the laboratory, sending countless research materials flying.
[Uuuaaah.]
Unfortunately, the Undying King was among those research materials.
Perhaps dizzy, the Undying King let out a bizarre noise.
Drip-
A line of blood ran from Kadir's mouth. Their insides were damaged.
The spiderweb cracks soon shimmered with a purple light.
Anyone could tell it was serious just by looking at Kadir.
Yet they kept concentrating without letting out a single groan.
After focusing with everything they had...
Crack! Crack!
The cracks spreading across Kadir grew worse and worse.
Boom!!!
Then they exploded.
* * *
[NecromancyIsLove]: Save me.
[Wild Grylls]: Pardon?
[NecromancyIsLove]: I don't know what you gave me, but please save me.
[Wild Grylls]: Did something happen?
NecromancyIsLove suddenly sent me a message, and I wondered what it was about.
They always said strange things, so I figured it was nothing and let it go.
They'd probably say something weird again later. I was a little worried, though.
“#%^#”
“Like this?”
“#%^^”
Getting trained by Ludwig was more important right now.
Maybe yesterday's candied sweet potato incident had bothered him, because he taught me with great care.
Wasn't it difficult when we couldn't communicate?
Honestly, it was.
Still, he corrected my posture himself, so it wasn't like I couldn't do it at all.
“You. Good eyes. Well done.”
He even spoke Korean from time to time.
We'd only met three days ago, and he was already this good. I hadn't taught him Korean separately, either.
I didn't know whether people in this world were smart, or whether Ludwig was especially smart.
‘Kkobong learned how to speak on their own too.’
Anyway, the point of today's training was to build a solid foundation.
If your basics were shaky, everything built on top of them would be unstable too.
I agreed with that, so I quietly followed Ludwig's instruction.
“$^&$#”
“Like this?”
“%^&$”
“Mm. Got it.”
Ludwig taught not only me, but Kkobong too.
Instead of constantly correcting Kkobong's posture like he did mine, he just gave rough advice.
The martial art itself had considerable depth, but Kkobong's physical build wasn't suited for it.
So Kkobong had to carve out and refine their own path.
As for Wonmo...
“Kyuu! Kyuu! Kyuu!”
“@#$. @#$. @#$.”
He cheered from beside us, clapping and even dancing happily.
I didn't need a translation to know he was saying, “Great! Great! Great!”
Thanks to that, morning flew by. We had wild boar meat for lunch.
You might ask why we didn't eat the sweet potatoes we had left, but eating them too often wasn't good.
‘I gave some to the registered users too.’
Everyone thanked me. I should trade with GrowGrow more often.
For a while, I thought another uneventful day was passing by.
Whoooosh-
“Ah. It's starting again.”
At least, until the rain began to pour.
I looked at the rain falling as if a hole had opened in the sky and sighed.
Rain meant winter would arrive soon.
Wonmo had been getting chubbier and fluffier lately, and the rain convinced me.
The harsh winter would come within a few days.
It was a good thing I had prepared in advance.
‘That building isn't leaking, is it?’
Just in case, I checked inside Kkobong and Largo's house.
Maybe because I'd built it carefully, no rain leaked through the ceiling.
I did realize I had forgotten the drainage ditch, so I installed one afterward.
‘Good thing I collected the Fish Trap ahead of time.’
I had collected it as soon as I saw the sky turning gray.
The river would swell anyway, so I wouldn't be going there for a while.
Once the rain stopped, though, it might be worth seeing what kinds of fish had crawled out this time.
If it was an eel, I would definitely catch it. If it was a pufferfish, I would kick it without question.
‘Hopefully nothing weird comes out.’
I had nothing else to do, so I might as well browse the Gallery.
Ludwig was taking a nap, probably because today's work had tired him out.
I couldn't disturb someone sleeping, so browsing the Gallery was the better choice.
[Post title] [Breaking. The Mage Tower came down holy shit.]
[Post title] [Live footage of the Mage Tower coming down.]
[Post title] [Upvote if you think Kadir's fucking amazing lol]
[Post title] [How'd they do it?]
The Gallery was overflowing with talk about the Mage Tower.
From what I could gather, Kadir had controlled the floating Mage Tower and landed it safely.
Making a structure that had risen high into the sky come back down. They really were an amazing person.
‘That must've been difficult even with Ambergris.’
I looked around to see if there was any other news.
Most posts were still about the Mage Tower, but those had been from several hours ago.
I was looking for another topic besides this one when...
“Kyueeng...”
“Hm?”
“?”
“Kyuu?”
A sound I'd never heard before came from the cave entrance.
Not just me. Ludwig, who had been resting with his eyes closed, and Wonmo, who had been rolling around, heard it too.
Even Fast Sloth, perched on my back, turned toward the sound.
“Kyueeeng...”
A mostly gray body. Small wings on its back.
A large snout and hind legs. Comparatively short front paws.
“...Who are you?”
A visitor I had never seen before entered the cave.
“Kyuiiing...”
Covered in wounds.
Footnotes:
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