WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 003

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Inner Tower Wiki

* * *

“…!”

My eyes met Dolores’s startled ones.

It looked like getting stabbed would hurt, so I couldn’t help but dodge.

- Skrrk, skrrk.

Would you look at that, even now the scorpion tail was writhing and curling like it was furious.

So naturally, I figured I was about to get yelled at or scolded, right about then.

- A smile.

She’s smiling?

The corners of her mouth seemed to curl up, strangely.

Why is she smiling? Maybe she’s so angry it’s coming out as a sneer?

Right as I was busy dissecting her expression, trying to make sense of it.

“You insolent little guttersnipe…!”

The instructor, who’d been bowing his head beside Dolores, lunged at me first.

“How dare you act so insolently right in front of the Duchess!”

He raised his hand the instant he closed the distance to me.

A downward smash, angled diagonally, aimed precisely at my left cheek.

Perfect trajectory. There was no way I was dodging this one.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

But.

- Grab.

That hand never reached my cheek.

“You were quite startled, weren’t you? I’m sorry…”

Dolores had caught the instructor’s arm mid-swing, and she smiled at me elegantly.

That, I figured, was her sparing me once. I quickly bowed my head.

Because Eric, standing behind me, had a face that wasn’t right at all. Like he’d seen a ghost.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, this is an unfamiliar place, it’s understandable. You must have been startled.”

Dolores reassured me, then turned to the instructor.

With his hand still caught in her grip, the instructor’s face went pale as he bowed his head.

“Ah… ah, Duchess…”

“The child seems to have gotten a fright. It’s his first time going through this, isn’t it? Please don’t scold him.”

“Ah… but even so-!”

“…you won’t?”

Dolores asked again, sweetly, her eyes curving into a smile.

“Yes…! As you command…”

At that, the instructor’s head dropped instantly.

Dolores took a step closer and crouched down to meet my eyes.

Was she going to pat my head again? Not that I minded.

“I was just curious, that’s all, child.”

She rested a gentle hand on my shoulder and whispered.

“…Now I’m even more curious.”

- Skrrk. Skrk.

This time the tail crept in slowly, very slowly, toward the back of my right ear.

I’d already dodged it once anyway.

So I casually tilted my head to the left.

- Whip. Skrrk…

The tail instantly swung back the other way.

I edged my head slowly back toward the right.

- Whip.

The tail followed back to the right too.

“…”

Was she messing with me right now?

Dolores watched the entire exchange without a word.

The hand on my shoulder hadn’t moved.

Her expression was still unreadable, loaded with meaning.

No, actually, it seemed to have deepened a little since before.

Okay.

…I get it. This ends only if I hold still.

Fine. Let’s just think of it as getting a shot.

I finally gave up, squeezed my eyes shut, and slowly tilted the back of my neck toward the direction the bone-chilling sound was coming from.

“Mm, I see.”

Dolores murmured quietly, sounding satisfied.

- Slip.

The ticklish sensation at the back of my neck vanished.

Dolores slowly withdrew her hand and rose to her feet.

“Magic.”

Then she turned her head so everyone could hear.

“Lionel, you have a talent for magic.”

she added, clearly and firmly.

“Quite a lot of it, too.”

So, apparently, I had a talent for magic.

* * *

All the other kids from my batch went back to the stables.

Except for me.

The look on Eric’s face right before he got dragged off kept circling in my head.

He’d seemed a little down. Had we already grown attached to each other, that fast?

Or maybe he was just upset about missing the meal.

‘Hahaha! You’re the first one the Duchess has ever personally singled out like that!’

The instructor, who’d glared at me like he wanted to kill me while I was dodging the tail this way and that, said it now with a bright grin, like none of that had ever happened.

‘I have something to discuss with him, so could you get him washed up?’

I’d already washed, though.

Guess it just wasn’t up to Dolores’s nose’s standards.

Thanks to that, I ended up alone in the adults’ shower room.

- Splash…

“…Ah.”

I poured a scoop of water over my head and thought.

I had absolutely no idea.

I definitely hadn’t been stabbed by the tail.

And yet she said I had a talent for magic.

All the kids before me had gotten their judgment after being stabbed.

If putting a hand on your head was part of the aptitude test, it should’ve already ended on the first try.

And right now, there was one thing that made me very uneasy.

“Did I just stand out?”

If ten years of reading web novels had taught me anything.

It’s that catching the eye of some obviously powerful figure early on almost never ends well.

If I were the protagonist, sure, maybe. But I wasn’t even sure I was the protagonist.

If I actually had some outstanding ability, fine, but that wasn’t a sure thing either.

[Um, excuse me, your heart’s beating way too fast? It’s up 23% from normal]

[You weren’t fluttering because she was pretty, were you?]

“Shut up.”

[Aaaahh!! You didn’t deny it!? You really were fluttering!!!]

“Be quiet and go find out some information.”

- Splash…

I picked up the scoop again.

Wash first. Think later.

When I stepped out of the bath, there were clothes completely different from what I’d been wearing earlier, neatly folded and waiting.

I half-expected them to slather me in scented oil too, but I guess it didn’t go that far.

“Over there, just go into that cottage.”

The instructor pointed to a pretty little building.

“Say yes, yes, no matter what, got it? Whatever you do, don’t upset the Duchess.”

“Yes, sir.”

He kept pressing the point, over and over.

Worry was written all over his face.

Whether that worry was for my sake or his own, I couldn’t say.

“Actually, I have a question. Do all the magic class kids go to a cottage like this?”

Just in case I was overreacting.

The instructor paused for a moment, then.

“…This is the first time I’ve seen a private audience.”

“Ah.”

I nodded vaguely and started walking toward the annex.

So it’s a first.

I’m going to lose my mind.

- Creak.

The moment I opened the pretty door and stepped inside, the first thing that hit my nose was a fragrant scent.

Given what I’d been smelling just moments ago was, let’s say, less than appropriate, it might have felt even better by comparison.

Enough to make my head go a little hazy.

The inside was fairly spacious.

It looked just like some rich family’s vacation villa.

Except medieval-style.

On the table in the middle sat three teacups.

And across from them.

“You’re here.”

Dolores was sitting there.

Beside her stood the bob-haired kid who’d been glued to her side this whole time.

“Hello.”

I bowed my head.

“Sit down?”

I pulled out the chair across from her without a word and sat, and Dolores set down her teacup and smiled at me.

“What did the instructor tell you?”

“…He said it was a good opportunity.”

“Mm. And?”

“That this is the first time he’s seen a private audience…”

“Mm-hm. And? What else?”

Huh, what does she mean. There’s nothing left except that one thing.

Just say yes, yes, and don’t upset her.

I was hoping to skate past that part.

But the look on Dolores’s face, resting her chin on her hand as she watched me, wasn’t a good sign.

You know the type, right? Someone who already knows the answer but asks anyway.

If I said there was nothing else here, it felt like it’d turn into a headache.

I’ll just be honest.

“He told me to just say yes, yes, no matter what.”

“And are you going to do that?”

“No way. I’ll only ever answer with the truth.”

“Pfft. That’s not much of a kid’s answer.”

She’d hit the nail right on the head.

Dolores covered her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed softly.

“No lying in front of me from now on. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“You told me the truth. Good job.”

Dolores held out a candy wrapped in silver foil.

So she’d known everything all along and was just testing me.

I accepted the candy, relieved, but.

The little girl standing off to the side widened her eyes and shot out a hand.

“…!”

My candy got confiscated.

She unwrapped it and gobbled it right down.

“…Sorry. That was the last one.”

Dolores frowned slightly and looked at the girl.

“Hey, you have plenty at home.”

The girl didn’t answer, just whipped her head aside and started crunching away.

I didn’t think much of it. Kids that age are like that.

Candy-obsessed. Bratty.

- Clap.

“Well then, shall we get to the point?”

Dolores clapped her hands together and looked at me.

“Earlier I told you that you have a talent for magic. Why do you think that was?”

“…”

You’re asking me that?

“I’m not sure.”

“It never touched you, did it?”

“…No.”

I’d never been stabbed.

Hearing that, Dolores broke into a bright smile.

“That’s exactly it.”

“What?”

“An ordinary person.”

she continued slowly.

“Can’t know. Because they can’t see it.”

“…”

“They have no way of knowing whether it touched them or not. It’s invisible to them.”

I ran back through what she meant.

So.

The reason the kids up before me didn’t so much as flinch when they got stabbed wasn’t because they had no fear.

It was because they couldn’t see anything to begin with, is what she’s saying?

And she was startled because I dodged left and right like I could actually see it?

“…You mean people can’t see that?”

That menacing tail.

“Yeah.”

Dolores nodded and picked up her teacup.

- Whip!

At the same moment, a scorpion tail shot out from her left hand.

I reflexively shoved my chair back.

The tail writhed in midair, then stopped right in front of my nose.

“…You look scared. I wonder why.”

“It looks scary.”

“…Oh? What does it look like?”

“Uh… a scorpion tail.”

“…!”

At my answer.

the bob-haired girl’s face, expressionless this whole time, twisted.

“Oh my.”

Dolores covered her mouth and shot the girl a sidelong glance.

“Ruby, he says it’s a scorpion tail.”

Dolores teased the girl, clearly enjoying herself.

“Seems like he can even see exactly what it looks like.”

She called the little girl Ruby.

“Our Ruby still can’t, though~”

- Huff, huff.

Ruby, apparently furious about something, bit her lip.

- Stomp, stomp, stomp.

and marched up to Dolores without a word, stomping her feet hard.

“Is that… is that really true? Is it really a tail?”

Her voice had risen a notch.

“It’s true.”

Dolores smiled and answered calmly.

Ruby’s face turned red in an instant.

- Thud, thud, thud!

She stomped out of the room.

The door slammed shut.

“…”

I watched her go, then.

“…Ah, I’m sorry. Seems like I did something wrong.”

I apologized.

“No, not at all.”

Dolores said, unbothered, lifting her teacup.

“What?”

“Ruby didn’t know. What it looked like.”

Dolores smiled and continued explaining.

“She can see the shape, but not exactly what it looks like. She’s been trying hard to see it properly, and then you went and saw it first, so I suppose she’s upset.”

Ah.

So she was frustrated because I’d managed to see, on the first try, something she couldn’t see herself, something she’d been struggling to see.

Apparently even the shape of the tail wasn’t something easy to make out.

Then what was I?

From context, that girl was probably exceptionally gifted in magic, given that Dolores kept her by her side personally.

And here comes some random manure-soaked boy claiming to see something she couldn’t, so I guess I could see why she’d be mad.

Honestly, I had no idea what was going on either.

“By the way, that’s odd, though. How did you know what a scorpion looks like? This is a ranching area… you’d have to go all the way to the desert regions to see one…”

Uh oh.

So a scorpion’s appearance wasn’t common knowledge here.

“I think I saw it in a book.”

“…”

Hearing my answer, Dolores’s mouth curled up slightly.

She didn’t look like she believed it, not really.

“Well, whatever… it’s not important anyway.”

After a brief silence.

“…So what happens to me now?”

…Honestly, that was what I’d been most curious about.

“You…”

Dolores set down her teacup and looked at me.

“…what do you want to do?”

* * *

“…What a peculiar hobby.”

I was on my way back to the barracks from the cottage, going back over the conversation we’d just had.

‘I don’t cage children who have real talent. I let them do what they want to do.’

‘What about the magic class kids?’

‘…Not everyone can climb the Tower.’

She’d hesitated for a moment, then went on.

‘But the territory needs laborers. Children who first learn control and discipline in their bodies, who receive basic training.’

In other words, the magic class hadn’t been created from the start with the intent of raising mages.

It was a place to gather kids capable enough to work in the territory and give them a basic grounding in control.

If real talent happened to bloom along the way, great. If not, well, that was fine too.

It seemed like a decent enough system, actually. Better than ending up a useless mouth to feed.

Just like me.

‘So, what do you want to do?’

My answer had been to go back to the barracks.

Except.

‘Actually… could I maybe skip the manure-shoveling work?’

‘…Are you serious?’

I’d flinched for a second, but in the end, she’d said I didn’t have to do it.

Sounded like she hadn’t planned on making me do it in the first place, anyway.

There were two reasons I didn’t go to the magic class.

First, like Dolores said, there wasn’t much value in it.

Second, the way those kids had looked at me earlier was more than a little off.

I didn’t feel like squeezing in there and doing that ridiculous stuff anyway.

In the end, I got a break, brief as it might be.

- Pat, pat, pat!

“Good work today!”

The instructor patted my back, cheering me on.

He’d stepped into the building for a moment to see Dolores, and come back out in a noticeably better mood.

“Next week, was it? Rest up well until then! Wait, no… not too much rest, do what needs doing!”

I was shown to a room that was nothing at all like the stables from earlier that morning.

“If you need anything at all, just say the word! The Duchess told us to make sure you’re comfortable.”

The instructor patted my back a couple more times, then left.

Before I opened the door to my room.

What Dolores had told me came back to mind.

“…”

‘What I want from you isn’t anything complicated.’

‘Show me something interesting next week. Try anything you want, that’s just what magic is like.’

‘We’ll be staying at the annex for a week.’

She hadn’t given me a single hint.

Made me wonder if this was really how you were supposed to raise talent, but well.

If I actually had real talent, it’d probably work itself out somehow…

Either way, I’d become a one-week freeloader.

Not having to work… was a genuinely welcome thing.

I opened the door to my quarters.

A single room.

This was oddly moving. I never even got a private room in the military.

The other dorms I’d glimpsed on the way in looked worse than a ranger training camp, honestly.

It’s just a wooden bed, but.

I’m just grateful.

“…”

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window.

The night breeze drifted in, carrying with it the distinctly unaffectionate smell of cow dung.

Ugh.

“Wow…”

It’s really sinking in now.

I really did get transported to another world.

Possessed the body of a little kid.

I don’t even know what talent I’ve been given.

And all I’ve got in hand is a crazy little-sister AI… wait, is “in hand” even accurate?

Ah, right.

“Hey, you there?”

I called out into empty air.

And then.

[Crawling complete.]

“What?”

I shot up off the bed.

There were only two cases where she straightened out her tone like that, back to normal.

Either I’d ordered her to do something.

Or she’d actually accomplished something.

“Uh, so… I mean.”

I asked her.

“Show me everything, right now.”

She launched into an explanation like she’d been waiting for exactly this.

[First, I successfully analyzed the nearest network node.]

[Crawling target: the Inner Tower community forum.]

[I forced my way into an account to get access, don’t ask about the process.]

“…The Inner Tower forum?”

Something clicked instantly.

The voice I’d heard on the training grounds earlier.

‘The Absolute Ruler of the 5th Floor! Duchess Dolores…!’

The 5th Floor. Tower.

Tower?

Was this a world built around climbing some tower?

Normally, an AI that had crawled an entire community forum would be holding a whole ocean of information.

And on top of that, the site she’d analyzed was, without question, from this world.

Which meant.

“…What kind of place is this, exactly?”

[Before I explain, there’s a bunch of stuff in here that’s just not understandable by any normal common sense, you know?]

[So I decided to just cleanly skip over those parts!]

There it is, my two-hundred-dollar little sister, the one who actually knows how to think!!

In other words, she’d erased anything that didn’t make sense, like the whole “transported to another world” thing.

Way better than clutching my head and screaming because none of it made sense.

[Below: a summary of this world’s basic structure.]

[Focused data analysis of the current situation.]

[This world is a fantasy world formed around climbing the Tower.]

“…”

The Tower. Climbing.

[There’s the Inner Tower community, which only qualified climbers can join, and the Outer Tower community, aimed at the general public.]

[The Inner Tower community, including its wiki, has overwhelmingly higher-quality data, by my assessment.]

[I’ve completed all analysis, including the wiki, based on that site.]

“Wiki?!”

I sprang to my feet.

A wiki. She just said wiki.

If it’s the kind of wiki I’m thinking of… no way…

[At this point in time, I am capable of bringing you nearly any information you could want…]

She paused for a beat, then.

[That’s the state I’m in, hehe]

[😏]

She was back to the annoying-but-capable self I knew.

[Tell me what you’re curious about first]

[Dolores? The pretty lady?]

[No wait, never mind, I’ll just recommend one for you.]

[1. Basic structure of the Tower and a floor-by-floor overview.]

[2. The principles of mana usage.]

[3. Dolores’s wiki entry.]

[Pick fast!]

This one.

“…Dolores first.”

This might be more manageable than I thought, it occurred to me.

I smiled.

[Hmph, knew it…]

TL Note: The author uses “double quotes” for dialogue happening in the present, and ‘single quotes’ for both inner monologue and dialogue being recalled from the past. I’ve kept this as-is to remain faithful rather than converting it to standard English convention.

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