WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

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Chapter 66: Lover

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"The base camp?"

"Yes. Didn't you say we needed to build a base camp to conquer the dungeon?"

'I only answered because she asked.'

Alicia had ordered her soldiers to build a base camp immediately after our conversation at the café.

Apparently, the soldiers had stumbled across this branch while searching for a suitable site for the camp.

Her ability to get things done really was impressive.

"An unreported building was sitting on land perfect for a camp. Of course we had to investigate it."

"So that's why you chose this as our practicum assignment..."

"Since you brought it up first, I thought it could serve as a kind of field trip too."

"Ally really has a plan for everything."

Alicia looked pleased by my praise.

How much farther did we run?

"Stop for a moment."

She hopped down from my back, then muttered as she examined a strangely bent branch.

"It's one of my soldiers' markers. The branch should be nearby."

"But I don't see any of those soldiers..."

"You're right. We should've met them around here..."

Alicia crumpled the branch in her hand, her expression stiffening.

"Something may have happened to them."

"Then let's hurry."

"Yes, we should."

Then she stretched both arms toward me again.

"What are you doing?"

"Didn't you say we should hurry? Present your back already."

"It seems your paralysis has worn off."

Alicia looked as though she had just realized her mistake and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"......Ugh. The paralysis."

"......"

"......Ugh. The paralysis."

"You don't need to say it twice."

Meanwhile, Mine braced herself against the ground and panted heavily.

"Haa... haa..."

Unlike Alicia's fake illness, Mine genuinely looked out of breath.

She had always lacked basic stamina. Just keeping up with us to this point must have pushed her to her limit.

'Ugh.'

Left with no choice, I scooped Mine up in my arms.

"Eek, eeeek! H-Halibal?"

"Hold on tight."

"I'm a little jealous. Can't I ride in front instead?"

"...Do you take me for a carriage?"

With Mine in my arms and Alicia on my back, I sprinted up the mountain trail.

So this was where all that weighted training paid off.

"The ride has somehow become less comfortable. Shouldn't we switch places after all?"

"Please bear with it a little longer."

Bullshit.

Once we broke through the mountain path, we arrived at a small villa that looked suspicious to anyone with eyes.

'Ah, it was the Thirteenth Branch. It existed even at this point.'

I didn't know its exact location, but I couldn't help remembering once we got here.

There had only been a few branches in the original story that took the form of villas.

I carefully set the two of them down and immediately searched for any presence.

For some reason, I couldn't sense anyone inside the villa.

'That's strange.'

A sense of unease rose within me.

Normally, the door should've opened here, and cultists should've attacked first.

It had been a fairly simple quest. Deal with the trash mobs, enter the building, and destroy the branch's seal.

"They may have tucked their tails and run away already."

"N-no...!"

"Even if we ran here at top speed, they could've had another means of communication. They might've withdrawn as soon as contact with the village was cut off."

"Halibal, I'm sorry. We were delayed getting here because of me..."

"Don't blame yourself too much."

You should blame yourself a little, though.

I focused my senses on the villa once more.

I still couldn't sense a single living human inside.

'There really isn't anyone?'

"Either way, the practicum is over. We've captured the place without spilling a drop of blood."

"But the cultists..."

"It's unfortunate that we missed the remnants, but greed invites disaster."

Just as Alicia was about to step toward the villa, a strange scent brushed past my nose.

"Wait. Don't you smell something?"

I immediately stopped the two of them.

"A smell?"

Sniff. Sniff. I was sure of it.

A scent so sweet it made my head spin, yet somehow unnatural.

A heavenly fragrance, like sweet seasonal fruit or freshly refined honey, was leaking out from inside the villa.

'Wait, Heavenly Fragrance?'

Just as I was about to remember something...

Creeeak.

The villa's door opened, and a woman in a splendid dress appeared.

"What are you doing out there, Princess? Please, come in."

Mine and I immediately reached for our weapons at the sight of someone we had never seen before.

But Alicia's voice stopped us.

"...Bennet."

She narrowed her eyes.

"One of the soldiers I assigned to investigate the branch."

"An ally? Then perhaps the soldiers already cleared out the branch."

"I hope so."

Alicia placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I've already placed my bet. You said you couldn't sense anyone inside the building, didn't you, Junior?"

When I nodded, she said, "Then I'll trust you."

She threw a dagger at Bennet, seemingly pulling it from nowhere.

The dagger pierced Bennet's throat, and she collapsed on the spot.

"Princess?!"

Mine gasped, but Alicia continued without concern.

"None of my subordinates would casually call me Princess outside. Nor would any of them disobey my order to only observe."

"Then..."

At that moment, Bennet's collapsed body spoke again.

"...What are you doing... out there, Princess? Please, come in."

Mine inspected Bennet and shook her head.

"...This person is already dead."

"As expected. I thought there was no life in her."

"Ah, you knew?"

"The night air is this cold, yet I couldn't see her breath. I had no choice but to be suspicious."

Alicia's eyes darkened.

"...It seems the fish inside is playing games, and I don't find it particularly amusing."

A soldier who had died yesterday, wearing a splendid dress and repeating the same line like an NPC.

I looked back and forth between that grotesque sight and the fragrance drifting from the villa.

That sickeningly sweet scent.

An ability that controlled the dead like puppets.

'...Don't tell me.'

The scattered pieces came together in my head like a puzzle.

One of the worst bosses in the original story, who had only appeared after the second semester of the second year and driven countless players to despair.

The Tartarus Cult's Fourth Bishop, Eliver Han, the Lover.

She was the boss of the late-game dungeon, Corrupted Cathedral.

Around the beginning of the second semester of the second year, the Church of the Main Gods suddenly denounced the imperial family.

Aren headed to Erandar to investigate, only to discover that White Spirit Hall, the heart of Erandar, had already fallen entirely into Eliver's hands.

After Aren uncovered her identity, she transformed all of White Spirit Hall into a dungeon called Corrupted Cathedral and confronted the player.

Each Bishop possessed powers suited to their dungeon's concept.

Maliaas of the Beast Dungeon turned humans and dolls into demonic-beast monsters, while Eliver of the Doll Dungeon possessed the power to turn others into dolls and control them.

Her [Heavenly Fragrance] was an area-wide brainwashing ability. Those exposed to it for a long time would have their minds eroded and gradually become obedient to her.

She used that power to turn every priest of the Church of the Main Gods into puppets and send them after Aren.

It didn't affect combat directly, so it took me a while to notice.

But there was another reason Eliver was such a terrible boss.

There was the field [Love’s Exclusivity], which activated the moment battle began.

The instant it activated, it brainwashed one ally and made them attack the player.

The character turned hostile would disrupt Arts combos and Break timings with infuriating precision. It was unbelievably fucking annoying.

She was someone who shouldn't have appeared until after Chapter 5.

There was no way she should've been in a remote branch like this at this point.

"Princess, Mine! Don't breathe that fragrance in deeply under any circumstances!"

"It's Ally!"

"I-I'm Rosia..."

"That's not important right now. This fragrance may be the kind that erodes the mind. Hold your breath as much as you can!"

I immediately checked my Abyss Core.

'My Unique Ability hasn't appeared. We can still run now.'

If the one inside really was Eliver, we didn't stand a chance right now.

Fighting her with our current party, completely unprepared, would be no different from suicide.

The moment Love’s Exclusivity activated, one of us would inevitably become an enemy.

At worst, I might have to cut down Mine and Alicia myself.

I immediately grabbed Alicia by the waist and Mine by the arm.

Mine came along without resistance, but for some reason, Alicia's feet wouldn't budge.

"Where do you think you're going, Junior? My soldiers are in there."

Alicia spoke coldly.

"Judging by Bennet's appearance, the other soldiers must be in there as well. I cannot leave even their corpses as toys for those cultists."

"Are you the type to value revenge over the greater good?"

"Junior. If there's a major Cult figure inside, letting it go now would be our greatest mistake. If we let it escape here, it'll only return as a greater disaster."

She added as she glared at the villa, "And I told you I bet on you."

"......"

"If you say it's impossible, that means my scales were wrong."

"......"

"But that can't be true, can it?"

With her usual laugh, she stepped into the villa without hesitation.

"Kuhuhut. Don't worry. I've prepared something for situations like this."

I was fucking worried.

In the original game, I had never seen anything this woman prepared turn out well.

'Fuck, seriously.'

With no other choice, Mine and I followed Alicia inside.

'Ha.'

[Unique Ability - Rewind Action 0 / 3]

[※Unique Ability can only be used in boss battles.]

I expected it, but of course it appeared.

I hadn't wanted to see this until at least the Undead Dungeon.

The villa was filled with a sweet scent far stronger than the one outside.

As my mind began to grow hazy, a hall covered in ominous magic circles and the cult's crest came into view.

Soldiers' corpses decorated the hall.

At its center sat a decadent beauty with a seductive figure, her black hair spilling all the way to the floor.

Eliver Han, the Lover.

"I was trying to catch the Funeral Sword... but I unexpectedly caught two huge fish as well. Don't you agree, Princess and Saintess?"

"Can a fish catch the fisherman too?"

Alicia undid the twin tails she had tied up.

"That's a relief. No matter how I look at it, this one isn't my type."

"Hehe. That one was cute enough too."

"I said it wasn't my style, not that it wasn't cute. You whore."

At a word none of us could have imagined coming from the Princess's mouth, three pairs of eyes turned toward Alicia at once.

Eliver's expression twisted in an instant.

"What a foul-mouthed Princess. How did you like my invitation?"

"I tore it up as soon as I received it, so I don't remember."

Alicia drew her fan.

"For the crime of defiling my soldiers, you'll pay with your life."

"I only gave them love. I freed them from lives filled with nothing but pain and gave them the gift of eternal ecstasy."

"What sophistry, worthy of a whore."

"Princess... you're quite pitiful too. You've never received love, so you probably don't know how to give it either."

"The pitiful one is you. Now my sword will tear you limb from limb."

When Alicia snapped her fan open, red mana rose like heat haze.

"Oh my, how frightening. By 'your sword,' you mean the Funeral Sword over there, don't you?"

Eliver's eerie smile sent chills down my spine.

"Where that sword points... will it be my heart, or yours?"

"What concern is that of mine?"

The moment Mine and I drew our weapons, Eliver shouted.

"Fine, then. Good. I'm Eliver Han, the Lover, Fourth Bishop of the Tartarus Cult. From now on, in their name, I'll love you all thoroughly."

At that moment, the magic circles spread throughout the hall gave off a dark-red flash that engulfed us.

The battle had begun.

Gems appeared above everyone's heads.

'...Love’s Exclusivity! Who is it going to hit?'

Our party consisted of one damage dealer, one healer, and one buffer.

The worst possible setup if it hit me.

Then Eliver's red lips moved.

'Fuck.'

A shock like a spike through my brain robbed me of control over my body.

A bad feeling always came true.

My body moved on its own, tightening its grip on my sword.

Alicia and Mine blurred before my eyes as Eliver's voice echoed through my mind.

'I love you.'

'Kill them.'

'Love only me.'

As I felt my consciousness fading, I looked at the gems floating above my two companions' heads.

Red gems floated above my two com?panions' heads.

My turn.

Carving Sword at Mine...

KABOOM!!

"......What?!"

At that moment, a massive set of red scales fell from the sky, and my fading mind returned in an instant.

The sweet scent that had filled the villa vanished as if it had been a lie.

At the same time, the gems floating above Alicia and Mine's heads returned to their original blue.

'What? Love’s Exclusivity definitely worked, didn't it?'

When I looked up, mana flowing from the Red Scales bearing the crest of the Cyrus Empire settled into the bodies of the three of us.

'No, wait. That's...'

"Junior. Didn't I tell you I had prepared something for situations like this?"

When I looked at Alicia, she held another fan in addition to the one she normally used.

[Divine Fan - Hyperion (EX)]

[Alicia Cyrus's Exclusive Weapon]

[Mana 77 / Defense 77]

[Upon entering combat, activates the field 'Red Scales.' (Cooldown: Once per day)]

[Red Scales - Purifies all status ailments affecting allies and increases their stats based on the status ailments purified.]

'It's her endgame weapon...'

Alicia smiled viciously at the stunned Eliver.

"Don’t outbid me for the sword I bid on first, you bitch."

Footnotes:

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