WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 215: Spring of El Dorado (3)
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“Wh-what on earth is that...?”
Cardinal Morgan, the Pope's loyal servant, couldn't hide his confusion.
He had been caught off guard when the traitor Asella suddenly appeared, but he could handle that.
The Pope had already considered every possible outcome. The Hero was one of them.
But that... he had no idea what it was. He couldn't even begin to describe it.
A statue at least two or three times larger than the surrounding buildings.
Ordinary statues were gray, but this one was a blend of gold and white.
It felt less like a statue and more like standing before a living giant.
“Isn't that... Cain?”
“It looks like Cain, at least?”
The holy knights were deeply shaken as well.
The statue's appearance had been nothing less than a descent from above.
A statue that had fallen from an empty sky and protected the Hero.
The wings on its back and the shield in one hand made it unmistakably Cain.
The first holy knight, and a figure who always appeared in El Dorado's founding myths.
Even if it was only a statue, Cain himself had appeared before them. How could they not be shaken?
“E-everyone, remain calm! That too is the Undy...”
Cardinal Morgan hurriedly began to speak, then hesitated.
Could that statue truly be called a remnant or minion of the Undying King?
Cain, who seemed to have descended directly from the heavens at the Hero's call?
The holy sword embedded in the ground still shone brilliantly, while Cain held his position at the entrance.
No suitable words came to mind. It felt as though everything had gone wrong.
Step. Step. Step.
Asella emerged from Cain's embrace and walked forward.
As she approached, the holy knights instinctively aimed their crossbows at her.
In the tense situation, Asella stopped before the holy sword embedded in the ground.
Shing!
She drew the holy sword and pointed it toward the Papal Palace.
The holy knights flinched at the obvious hostility, but quickly regained their composure.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
But when Cain began walking forward, their morale could only plummet.
This was a statue that had effortlessly blocked not only arrows but even cannonballs.
If that defensive power were turned to offense... they couldn't even imagine what would happen.
More than anything, they were troubled by the thought of fighting a hero from legend.
The holy knights were citizens of El Dorado too. Hesitation crept into their hearts.
“P-prepare to fire! Do not retreat!”
The commander desperately shouted for them to prepare to fire, but their morale had already broken.
A few holy knights even put down their crossbows, practically defying orders.
The commander screamed about military law and punishment from the Pope, but Asella's shout drowned it out.
“Everyone, listen!”
Her cry was clear yet forceful.
She had used neither magic nor a tool, but her voice rang throughout the entire square.
Shhhhh!
At the same time, the holy sword began to radiate a light as bright as the sun.
It illuminated everything, as if proving she was the Hero rather than a traitor.
“Aris has answered our call! As proof, she has sent us Cain, the first holy knight!”
Cain's statue had descended from the sky at their most desperate hour.
Though it was a statue, no one could deny that it had been sent by someone's will.
There was no need to ask whose will it was. It had to be the true master of El Dorado.
“Lay down your weapons! You are not guilty! Only the master who wielded you bears the guilt!”
“She is a traitor! Will you listen to a traitor's words?!”
The Papal Palace hurriedly rebutted Asella's cry.
Yet with a god showing which side was righteous and which was evil, the truth had become clear.
Many holy knights had already harbored doubts about this incident.
Now that Aris's will had appeared before their eyes, they could not help but crumble.
Clatter!
One holy knight threw down their crossbow. It was the signal.
Clatter! Clunk! Crash!
Crossbows, swords, shields, and more.
The holy knights threw all their weapons onto the ground and surrendered.
Finally, they plugged the cannons' muzzles shut.
“Y-you bastards...! You truly dare...!”
“That's enough.”
“W-what?”
The commander roared as they watched, but only for a moment.
One holy knight cut them off.
“It is already over. Aris has made her will known.”
“You little...!”
“Even if you order us to fight, we will not obey.”
The commander was about to resort to violence.
“...”
“...”
“...”
But dozens of eyes around them bore down on them, leaving them no choice but to shrink back.
A commander needed knights or soldiers willing to follow.
Without followers, a commander was nothing but an empty title.
In the end, the commander tightly shut their mouth. There was no one left who could give orders.
“Aris...”
“Please forgive our sins...”
There were only those making the sign of the cross and praying.
Every holy knight fell to their knees and began to pray.
Asella watched them all surrender and smiled with joy.
‘Now...’
El Dorado's winter, both short and long.
‘It's... finally over.’
It was time for a warm spring to arrive.
* * *
After Cain's descent, the situation was resolved with astonishing speed.
The holy knights lost all will to fight, while the protesters' morale rose.
“B-but wasn't the Hero a traitor?”
“What does that matter? She protected us!”
“The traitors are those Papal Palace bastards! That fucking Pope must've been behind all this!”
Asella naturally shed the stigma of being called a traitor.
To the protesters, she was clearly the Hero.
Cain had even personally protected her. Who could call her a traitor now?
The protesters entered the Papal Palace and drove out everyone involved.
“Ugh...”
“Uncle Hans!”
“A priest! Is there a priest anywhere?!”
“Priests are all over the place.”
In the midst of clearing them out, they rescued Hans as well. He had been subjected to all kinds of interrogations.
He had apparently suffered quite badly. There was not a single part of his body that was uninjured.
After receiving basic treatment, Hans headed for the temple.
The temple served as a hospital, so that was where he went.
“Let me go! Do you know who I am?!”
“What should we do with these bastards?”
“I don't know. The Hero will decide.”
“Can we just throw them into the Forest of Four Seasons?”
“Not a bad idea, but how about we each hit them once first?”
“Good idea. Though there might be too many people.”
The Pope continued struggling while being dragged away, apparently still unable to grasp the situation.
“This is all a conspiracy... Urk!”
Thud! Wham! Wham!
The protesters hit the Pope once each, which finally shut them up.
The citizens wanted to hang the Pope from a rope right then and there, but they held themselves back.
Simply because it would not have been right. The Pope's crimes had to be judged another way.
Asella had been right. El Dorado's citizens were too kind for their own good.
“What are you going to do with the holy knights?”
“First, we need to remove all the commanders. We will also restore the commanders the Pope purged.”
“You'll be busy. Can you handle all of it?”
Asella nodded with a gentle smile.
The Papal Palace had committed so many atrocities that there were problems everywhere.
The large-scale purge of Ludwig's faction had left a major gap in their strength, in particular.
She would restore them whenever possible, but there was nothing she could do for Ludwig himself.
“Once everything settles down... I'll go find my teacher. And our savior as well.”
“Our savior? You mean that person?”
“Yes. If it weren't for them, the Holy Kingdom would have perished.”
A group that lost its purpose was bound to stagnate, and stagnant water was bound to rot.
As demonkind matured culturally, conflicts naturally diminished, and the meaning of the Demon King faded as well.
El Dorado, though, had maintained outdated customs because it remained fixated on defeating the Demon King.
Yet that had paved the way for El Dorado itself to become a Demon King.
“From now on, this country will not be able to use the name El Dorado.”
“...What kind of crazy thing is that?”
“Because the name has been stained.”
El Dorado was a national name bestowed directly by Aris.
Now that this incident had tainted that name, it could no longer be used as the country's name.
Aris had judged that they needed a new national name.
“This is not something I can decide alone. I plan to gather the citizens' opinions.”
“You know what it means to change a country's name, right?”
“Yes. I do. It means being reborn as a new country.”
There was a reason people used the term former self.
Still, they were not abandoning El Dorado's identity entirely. They would continue believing in Aris.
Like a pupa shedding its casing and becoming a butterfly, the Holy Kingdom would undergo a similar process.
“Before that...”
Asella raised her head. The enormous statue still stood in its place.
Cain's statue now stood proudly before the Papal Palace.
Adults and children alike were intent on seeing Cain.
For safety reasons, everyone had been kept back, leaving only Asella and Reina nearby.
“What will you do from now on, Cain?”
Cain lowered his head at Asella's question.
That simple movement carried an overwhelming pressure.
It also confirmed that the statue possessed a sense of self.
She did not know whether he was truly Cain as he had been in life, but he was likely close.
[I will return to where I came from.]
Asella could not hide her disappointment at Cain's reply.
She wanted him to remain here and protect the Holy Kingdom, but that would be too selfish.
“Will you be able to help us again later?”
[I will always answer the call.]
That alone was reassuring. Asella smiled.
Cain would remain the Holy Kingdom's eternal Guardian.
He would be a Guardian who answered whenever they called in a crisis.
Flash!
At that moment, an enormous pillar of light descended from the sky.
It was large enough to envelop Cain's entire body.
Those who saw it were greatly startled, but Asella alone remained calm.
“You are leaving.”
[Yes.]
“Can you tell me where you are going?”
[You already know.]
She already knew. There was a place she could roughly guess.
What sort of place could it be? Just hearing it described as an inhuman hellscape made her reluctant even to approach it.
But now she was curious. It was a place where mythical beings had already been proven to exist.
Whoosh.
Cain's massive body began to rise along the pillar of light.
Asella slowly raised her head and quietly saw him off.
[As I have always said.]
Just before leaving, Cain looked at Asella and spoke.
[I will answer the call.]
Words that assured her he would always answer.
Whoooosh!
Cain then soared into the sky along the pillar of light.
Asella watched him disappear into the heavens and quietly murmured.
“...Thank you.”
* * *
“Ugh. What a pain. Are you done over there?”
“Yeah.”
I was busy repairing the spot where the statue had shot up, or rather, the roof.
It had risen so quickly that the hole was huge.
Bricks couldn't cover something like this, so we had no choice but to roughly block it with logs.
‘What a pain in this freezing weather.’
Still, it was finally done. All I had to do was climb down.
I was about to jump down into the cave with all sorts of tools in my arms.
Whoooosh!
An ominous sound came from above. I looked up.
Something small was falling toward us. That wasn't a meteorite, was it?
While I was having that thought, something resembling a meteorite fell into the cave.
Craaaash!!!
It smashed the ceiling I had just patched to pieces.
Since it had fallen from above, the hole was even bigger than before.
“...”
“...”
Ludwig and I blankly stared at the hole as dust drifted through the air.
It was so absurd that neither of us could speak. What the hell had fallen down?
I held back the anger welling up inside me and looked down into the hole.
Clunk! Clunk!
A statue was embedded in the floor, rattling.
Beside it, Fast Sloth looked at it with an expression that said, ‘What's this now?’
Fortunately, Wonmo, who had been directly beneath it, was not hurt. He was just sleeping soundly.
‘...Should I just throw this thing away?’
What the hell is this?
Footnotes:
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