WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 4: Crisis (1)
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Why was the Messiah Empire called an “Empire”?
There were many reasons, but it was simple enough.
It had the most land, the most money, and an overwhelmingly powerful military.
Individual combat prowess naturally carried great weight in military strength, and the Empire possessed a Swordmaster.
What was a Swordmaster?
They were monsters who stood at the peak of swordsmanship, treated not merely as tactical weapons but strategic ones.
Swordmasters were famous for splitting the earth with one slash and cleaving mountains with another.
The reason other nations could not casually defy the Empire was the Swordmaster.
[Post title] Are Swordmasters supposed to be rare?
[Post] I heard they used to be everywhere.
└ Yeah, they were back then.
└ Why not now?
└ Ash blocks them all. She says anyone weaker than her shouldn’t call themselves a Swordmaster lol.
└ Fuck, is she the ceiling? lol
└ Lmao.
└ Sword Saints from the old days = modern Swordmasters.
└ Don’t other races have Swordmasters?
└ They do, yeah. Ash just kicked all their asses.
└ Is she even human? lol
That was right. Swordmasters, as a realm of ability, did not exist solely in the Empire.
The Empire’s Swordmaster was simply the strongest. Overwhelmingly so.
Ash Menesil was the Empire’s Swordmaster and famous as the strongest swordswoman of the age.
She was renowned not only for her strength, but also for her snow-white hair, blue eyes, and stunning beauty.
Her beauty had blossomed early, stealing the hearts of countless men since childhood.
Naturally, even at a young age, she received countless marriage proposals.
“I will marry a man stronger than me!”
Unable to stand it any longer, fifteen-year-old Ash declared it.
Everyone accepted.
Anyone who wanted both that beauty and that strength only needed to defeat Ash. After she became an adult, of course.
Three years passed.
She became an adult, full of anticipation, but no man capable of defeating Ash appeared.
Five years passed.
She was now fully of marriageable age and grew anxious, but she waited patiently.
Ten years passed.
Her family began making a huge fuss, begging her to get married. That was when she began to feel something had gone wrong.
[Post title] ???: I’ll marry a man stronger than me.
[Post] Fifteen years had passed since that declaration. No man capable of defeating her had appeared.
└ She’s practically an old lady now lol. Wait, someone’s knocking at my door.
└ This comment remains, cold and lifeless.
└ What happens if you call Ash an old lady to her face?
└ Not sure, but some kid heard her age and called her an old lady lol.
└ Can’t an elf or someone from demonkind take her?
└ There’s nobody definitely stronger than Ash lol.
└ Also, humans are surprisingly strong. Their floor is fucking low, but their ceiling is fucking high.
└ Holy shit, how strong is she?
By the fifteen-year mark, her skill had only continued to rise, yet no man capable of defeating her had appeared.
She had even undergone Body Reforging and retained the beauty of a woman in her twenties, but she was already in her thirties.
Having long passed marriageable age, there were not many men willing to approach her.
Of course, some men proposed after falling for her beauty. The problem was that every one of them was weaker than Ash.
She did not want to abandon her final shred of pride and conviction.
So she endured. And endured some more.
Men also found women stronger than them burdensome, so they understood her position.
“This won’t do.”
She could not keep waiting forever.
Ash began raising disciples herself.
She would personally train those with potential. Surely one of them would work out.
Not one did.
Every one of them was defeated by Ash, then married another woman.
They all got married early and ran away before they could rise high enough.
“I shall pass down all my knowledge on the gallery.”
Feeling a sense of crisis, she carefully uploaded her swordsmanship expertise to the gallery.
She expected a virtuous cycle.
And a virtuous cycle did happen. The overall skill level of people across the continent became more evenly elevated.
At this rate, a man stronger than Ash would eventually emerge from some kingdom.
Would that not cause problems with international relations?
Her path to marriage was completely blocked, so they could all eat shit.
Yet even then, no man capable of defeating Ash appeared.
Instead, mass-produced Swordmasters kept multiplying.
To make matters worse, Ash’s strength gradually grew even when she did nothing but breathe.
“Why? Why is there nobody? Why?!”
Ash could not understand.
Why were there no talented people?
No matter how desperately she struggled, no man appeared who could defeat her.
When she looked into the problem, she belatedly realized something.
“I get stronger just by breathing? Are you kidding me?!”
That was right.
A heavenly talent in one sense, Ash was a heavenly calamity in another.
She accumulated mana in her body just by breathing, then naturally poured it into her sword.
If she had trained steadily instead of obsessing over marriage, she would have reached Grand Swordmaster at a young age.
Still, Ash was already always included when people discussed the strongest on the continent.
She did not need any more strength.
“Life fucking sucks.”
Everything felt meaningless.
A crushing reality check hit her.
In the end, Ash threw away every position she held and went into seclusion.
The Emperor of the Empire begged her to stay, but she refused it all.
She said they could use her name whenever they wished, but there was such a thing as being a figurehead.
Even though they could use her name, Ash’s withdrawal alone was enough to shake the Empire. It showed just how immense her influence was.
And so, twenty years had passed in total since her declaration, and Ash, who had gone into seclusion...
“Hehehe.”
...was lying in bed, eating a banana.
She giggled like an idiot.
Her snow-white hair was tied into a messy bun, and she wore casual clothes fit for an unemployed bum.
With round glasses on top of that, she was the very image of a jobless layabout.
These days, she spent her pleasant(?) days eagerly lurking on the gallery.
Smack!!
“Argh!”
“You little brat! Didn’t I tell you to go outside sometimes?!”
A sharp smack landed on Ash’s back as she endlessly scrolled through the gallery.
Ash’s body was hard as iron, yet strangely, it stung.
“Look at your younger sister! She’s thirty and pregnant again, so she has five children now, five! You were even Captain of the Imperial Guard, so why won’t you get married?!”
“Ah. Mom...”
It was a beating filled with love, after all.
Ash rubbed her aching back and looked at her mother.
Her face was wrinkled, but her features resembled Ash’s. She must have been incredibly beautiful in her prime.
Ash was already in her thirties, but her mother had given birth to her at nineteen. That was normal for the era.
“What am I supposed to do if there isn’t a man I like...?”
“Then lower your standards! Where in the world is there a man stronger than you?!”
“...”
Ash had nothing to say in response to her mother’s criticism.
It was half right, after all.
Ash was exceptionally strong among all races.
She was even stronger than elves and demonkind.
Of course, there might be a man stronger than her somewhere in the world. She simply had not found him.
“Good grief. You’re driving your mother mad! What good is being some Swordmaster or whatever when you’re thirty-five and still unmarried?! I’m in my mid-fifties, so listen to your mother already!”
“Um... My younger sister married well, didn’t she? Mom, we’re nobles now. Nobles.”
Ash’s family had originally been commoners.
After Ash became the greatest swordswoman on the continent, their status rose.
Their title was Count.
Considering that a marquis was a frontier lord, the Emperor had bestowed the highest possible honor upon them.
Her younger sister was also beautiful, so she married well.
The fact that she had five children especially showed how close the couple was.
Unlike her older sister, Ash’s younger sister had found her perfect match.
Ash was jealous.
“What does that matter when my eldest daughter is like this?! At least go outside and get some exercise!”
“I get stronger just by breathing...”
“You expect me to believe that nonsense?! Get out, now!”
“Yes, ma’am!!”
No matter how old children became, they remained children in their parents’ eyes.
At her mother’s shout, Ash hurriedly climbed out of bed.
She grabbed a practice sword and headed outside the estate.
Then, after pretending to leave, she turned around.
Training was annoying.
She had no need to train when her body grew stronger just by breathing.
‘I should write a post instead.’
Ash returned to bed and logged into the gallery.
What she did on the gallery was simple.
[Post title] You Can Do It Too! Advanced Swordsmanship Lecture 15
[Author] SwordTasteMaster
[Post] Today’s advanced lesson is Parrying. What is Parrying...?
Uploading swordsmanship expertise to the gallery.
It could be called her daily routine.
She had originally uploaded it to raise the continent’s overall standard of skill.
Now, it felt like work.
Ash had not originally been deeply invested in the gallery. She only lurked occasionally.
But after belatedly discovering her constitution, she became deeply absorbed in it out of a frustrated sense that the world had deceived her.
└ What do you think about Quick-Draw Swordsmanship?
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Learn the basics before practicing that kind of thing.
└ But it looks cool.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Do it once you become a Swordmaster.
└ No, if you’re a Swordmaster, anything you do is strong lol.
There were occasionally idiots like that, but Ash spoke politely to them.
Why did she bother being so polite on a gallery where people openly displayed their every desire?
‘This way, nobody will suspect me.’
It was because of Ash’s usual personality.
She was somewhat rough and hot-blooded.
That had helped her get along with nobles despite being born a commoner, but none of that mattered now.
She had also spent far too long on the gallery.
Her time there was nothing compared to hardcore gallery users, but she had still used it consistently for a long time.
When she uploaded swordsmanship expertise, people had even become suspicious.
‘I’d rather die than get exposed and humiliated.’
There was a chance someone might recognize her, so she deliberately used a polite tone.
For that reason, she never uploaded pictures or videos when posting her swordsmanship expertise.
Perhaps because she was a genius among geniuses, she had considerable talent for writing as well, so there had been no problems.
“Ah. I want to get married.”
Ash muttered as she scratched her firm abs.
She had long passed marriageable age, but she had not given up.
If a challenger appeared, she was willing to accept them.
The Empire was merely turning challengers away because she was in seclusion.
It was something she had no way of knowing, since the gallery was her window to information.
‘Could this one be strong?’
While browsing the gallery, there were always people who showed promise or talked about strength.
She wanted to meet some of them personally, but they soon revealed everything they had.
└ How the fuck are you supposed to dodge that? Are you kidding?
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Why can’t you dodge it? Flexibility is essential, and you don’t even know that. You’re all talk, you worthless bug.
└ She went straight for the throat lol.
That was usually how it went.
Most of them had trash-tier understanding of even the basics. Or their knowledge was simply lacking.
Still, not everyone was an idiot.
There were a few well-known users who caught Ash’s attention.
‘How strong is this Heavenly Demon?’
Heavenly Demon constantly posted shit like it was nothing.
The users treated Heavenly Demon as an ordinary gallery user who could be found anywhere.
Ash had thought the same at first.
But some of Heavenly Demon’s posts were deeply related to martial arts.
Others laughed at them, but not Ash.
If anything, Ash hated Heavenly Demon several times more than anyone else.
‘This bastard made me stronger...’
A genius recognized another genius.
Heavenly Demon’s posts had affected Ash greatly.
It was like being force-fed enlightenment.
Whenever Ash read Heavenly Demon’s posts, the mana in her body visibly increased.
It did not happen just once or twice.
At first, she dismissed it as a coincidence, but after it happened several times, she realized the truth.
That bastard Heavenly Demon carelessly scattered her own enlightenment around.
The funny part was that most users had no idea of its true value.
‘Judging by the way she talks, she’s definitely a woman...’
If Heavenly Demon had been a man, Ash would have gone to find him personally, no matter what it took.
Anyone capable of giving her this much enlightenment had to be extremely strong.
But she called herself “this lady,” and judging from the way she spoke, she was a woman.
And quite old, at that.
One thing was certain. She was older than Ash.
‘...I’m one to talk.’
Ash also freely scattered her swordsmanship expertise across the gallery.
Swordsmanship tended to be closed off by nature.
But because Ash spread swordsmanship that anyone could easily learn, everyone’s skills rose without exception.
The country that benefited most was the Iris Kingdom, the Empire’s eternal rival.
The Iris Kingdom had originally been a nation where mages were stronger than knights, but thanks to Ash’s trolling, their average had caught up.
-Bring this person called SwordTasteMaster to me at once!!
-Your Majesty. It is impossible to confirm the personal identities of gallery users.
-You... You...! Ugh...! Ugh!
-Your Majesty!
Naturally, the Emperor of the Empire was furious, but it was not as if he could capture a gallery user.
That was one reason Ash had stepped down as Captain of the Imperial Guard.
How could she stay when she felt so self-conscious about it?
If a problem arose in the Empire, the Emperor had to come looking for Ash in person, so she was able to enjoy a comfortable life.
[Post title] Heavenly Demon Is a God and
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (A photo of dead dogs on the ground and a tightly gripped sword)
[Post] This sword is invincible.
“Hmm?”
Ash had been eagerly browsing the gallery while avoiding her mother’s eyes when a registered user caught her attention.
The person who claimed to have suddenly woken up in a forest.
She had assumed it was just another pointless post.
But after Wild Grylls obtained some herb called New Moon Spirit Herb, the gallery had gone into an uproar.
That was when she became a little interested.
What kind of person was this?
‘Is New Moon Spirit Herb really that good?’
For the record, Ash did not know what New Moon Spirit Herb was.
Her body had no need for an elixir.
After that, Wild Grylls encountered Mad Dogs as large as cows. Ash wondered what would happen, only for Wild Grylls to kill two of them.
‘Those cross-sections... They’re incredibly clean?’
Ash looked surprised.
Interest filled her blue eyes behind her round glasses.
Even in the picture, the cuts were remarkably clean.
No matter how good a sword was, most people could not even cut tofu without leaving crooked slices.
There had been no shaking.
Wild Grylls claimed to be an ordinary person, which drew Ash’s attention even more.
Above all...
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: If you have nothing to do, would you like to learn swordsmanship? You seem to have talent.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Silence! I shall personally pass on my secret martial arts manual to this one! How dare you!
Heavenly Demon was interested.
That same Heavenly Demon, who had only ever been busy shitposting!
She was so intent on protecting Wild Grylls, as if declaring that Wild Grylls was already hers, without realizing it only made Wild Grylls draw even more attention.
‘Well, well?’
Ash broke into a toothy grin.
This made her want to tease Heavenly Demon even more.
Heavenly Demon, famous for always doing her own thing, reacted like this?
Ash wanted to tease her more.
It would also be good to learn more about Wild Grylls while she was at it.
Ash waited for another post.
[Post title] Found a Cave. Should I Go In?
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (A photo showing the entrance of a dark cave)
[Post] It’s getting dark, and I need somewhere to rest. Should I go in? What if there’s a bear?
└ It might be a dungeon. A bear would honestly be better lol.
└ [Wild Grylls]: What comes out of dungeons?
└ No idea lol.
└ [Wild Grylls]: You bastard.
└ It’s a real-life loot box lol.
At first, Ash had thought it was an act, but Wild Grylls really seemed to be someone living in the wild.
Adventurers wandering the world often made posts.
But unlike Wild Grylls, they were never empty-handed.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: If there aren’t any torches, it probably isn’t a dungeon! Still, throw a rock in first just in case!
└ [Wild Grylls]: What if a monster jumps out?
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Then fight it!
└ [Wild Grylls]: The Head Mod talks big because they’re strong;; I’ll try it anyway.
Five minutes passed.
[Post title] This Cave Is Mine Now
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (A surprisingly cozy cave interior and a thumbs-up)
[Post] I can do whatever I want with it.
└ Nobody in there?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yeah. It’s a little damp, though.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Be careful! The owner might come back later!
└ [Wild Grylls]: I’m tired, so I’m gonna sleep first.
It seemed Wild Grylls had somehow found a cave to stay in for at least a day.
Ash snickered.
It was strangely entertaining.
After spending every day looking at people who only posted nonsense, this was a different kind of fun.
Still, it would all be meaningless if Wild Grylls died.
Ash should tell Wild Grylls to look at the posts she had uploaded later.
‘What would be necessary for survival?’
She did not know.
If Wild Grylls needed something, she would give it then.
After that, perhaps Wild Grylls had really fallen asleep, because there were no more posts.
Ash continued browsing the gallery.
Even if it was nighttime for Wild Grylls, it was daytime in the Empire.
Ash still had plenty of energy.
The sun was setting, and evening had just arrived when...
[Post title] Someone Help. Urgent.
“Huh?”
A post from Wild Grylls appeared.
The title alone was ominous.
Ash checked the post at the very top.
What could be wrong?
“Eek?”
She had no choice but to be shocked.
[Post title] Someone Help. Urgent.
[Post] (A photo of a right arm full of holes and dripping blood)
[Post] (A photo of the Mad Dog leader from earlier, dead with its head severed)
[Post] Fuck, this was that bastard’s cave. I’m bleeding too much. Can anyone help?
Wild Grylls’s right arm was ruined.
And badly.
It went beyond simple holes in the flesh. Bone was exposed.
Rather than infection, excessive blood loss was the immediate concern.
└ Ah, fuck. Put a gore warning on that.
└ [Wild Grylls]: I might fucking die right now, and that’s what you’re saying?
└ Why should I care? Lol.
└ But isn’t this actually dangerous?
An emergency had occurred.
Footnotes:
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