WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 91: Vote
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The kaleidoscopic space gradually faded.
However, the enormous eye and the jelly-like quivering space remained. No, as the kaleidoscopic space vanished, their presence became even more distinct.
Rumble...!!
With the domain that had acted as a buffer fading away, the mental space itself began to shake. This cramped space could not contain that enormous mental body.
Yet no one there could easily step forward.
Its existence was far too alien, and it was obvious that anyone who carelessly intervened would meet the same fate as Butterfly Mask.
“...”
Rumble...!!!
Just as everyone seriously considered what to do and how to escape this place...
The Butcher quietly muttered.
“...I told you not to provoke them. That newbie really doesn't listen.”
The other masks looked at the Butcher, who clicked his tongue, as if he were insane.
The Butcher shrugged at their stares.
“No, why are you all looking at me like that? That person might have a bit of a cosmic-horror vibe, but they aren't someone who goes around causing trouble. Ah, do the newbies not know?”
At his words, the large man in the Mask of Wrath jerked his chin toward him.
“...Then you say something. You know... Tell them to calm down...”
“C-cough... Fine, then...”
The Butcher raised his head and looked toward the sky, never once meeting the eye's gaze.
“Ahem... O Great Plague...!! Please quell Your wrath!!! The space has begun to split apart!!! We lowly beings cannot withstand this, so please show us mercy!!!”
The masks stared in disbelief at the Butcher as he prostrated himself.
“What the...?”
“...”
“Perhaps... that may be the right approach...”
As everyone waited for the eye's response...
[ ...Wait■, soon... I will resto■e the vessel. ]
“Argh...!! Plague! I get it, so please don't talk! My head is going to explode!!!”
The Butcher and every other Tier 2 Apostle grimaced and clutched their heads. Then the blood that had been the Plague Doctor's shell began to boil.
Bubble, bubble...
The Plague Doctor slowly rose from within it.
Something like a huge shadow began to be sucked into the Plague Doctor's back.
Everyone in the room held their breath as they watched.
After several dozen seconds...
The Plague Doctor opened and closed his hands as if checking his body.
Then, seemingly having regained his senses, he nodded.
However, the masks were still extremely tense.
The Butcher cautiously pointed behind the Plague Doctor.
“Um... Plague? A little bit didn't go in...”
“...?”
At those words, the Plague Doctor looked at the huge tentacle protruding from his back and forcibly shoved it inside his body.
“Is that better?”
“...Your disguise is perfect.”
The Plague Doctor nodded and sat in an empty seat.
It was between Magician Mask and Iron Mask.
The two masks beside him subtly shifted away.
‘Fuck! Fuck!! I want to go home... Let me go home...!!!’
‘T-this is insane... No matter how good the information is, sitting next to that thing is...’
Once the Butcher also took a seat, Emperor's Mask quietly spoke.
“...Then let us begin.”
The only way to leave this place was to finish the meeting quickly, so everyone nodded.
Then someone spoke.
“Um... What about Butterfly Mask...?”
Seeing as she was still twitching on the floor, she did not seem completely dead...
“She seems to have avoided instant death because she deployed her domain. But in that state, participating will be difficult.”
Indeed... Even if they somehow woke her, it was doubtful she could even speak properly.
“...Then.”
“...Let us begin.”
And so, the meeting began without Butterfly Mask.
The Butcher spoke first.
“By the way... It's been a while since I've been here. Has anything changed?”
He glanced at the Plague Doctor.
It seemed he wanted an explanation for the Plague Doctor too, since it had been a long time since the Plague Doctor had last attended.
At that, Emperor's Mask gave a brief explanation.
“The rules remain the same. We take turns offering one piece of high-quality information each. However, a meeting ‘topic’ has been added.”
“A topic... Certainly, it would be better to draw out relevant information rather than indiscriminately throwing information around. So how do we choose the topic?”
“We decide it now. Everyone raises a subject, then we choose one by majority vote.”
“And if someone has no information related to it...?”
“They may offer other information instead. However, the standard will be stricter.”
Information unrelated to the topic had to be high-level information that anyone would acknowledge.
Then, one by one, they each raised a subject to choose the topic.
Magician Mask spoke first.
“I find Russia rather suspicious. Why don't we discuss that? Honestly, doesn't it look as though the Chaos forces have swallowed it whole? They're so closed off that I'm curious about exactly what is happening there.”
Magician Mask pulled a card from his hat.
“I happened to draw an interesting card too, so vote for it if you're interested.”
The moment he finished speaking, the Plague Doctor looked at him.
“...That.”
Flinch!
“...Yes? Wh-what is it...?”
Magician Mask panicked.
Why was that inhuman being interested in him?
For a moment, he desperately racked his brain, wondering if he had said something wrong, but he could not think of anything.
Unconcerned by his panic, the Plague Doctor continued.
“Is that subspace?”
“No... That is a kind of trick, so it is difficult to explain... No, y-yes. It is subspace!”
...What? Why was he suddenly asking?
Why was he interested in subspace??
“Can you use it in reality too?”
“Th-that is correct...?”
“Then... Can you put living creatures in subspace too, not just objects?”
Unable to understand the monster's intent, Magician Mask broke out in a cold sweat.
“Th-that would probably be difficult, wouldn't it...? Putting living creatures inside would require far too much cost... It would be terribly inefficient...”
“...Hmm. Would folding and compressing them reduce the cost?”
Thump.
For a moment, Magician Mask felt as though he understood the Plague Doctor's intention, and his face beneath the mask went pale.
‘Fuck... What exactly is he planning to use it for...?’
What was he going to fold? Why was he interested in this?
Why only me!!!
Nearly on the verge of tears beneath his mask, Magician Mask answered.
“I don't think folding them before putting them in would make much difference to the cost... Though it would allow you to use the space more efficiently.”
“Is that so... Understood.”
At that moment, Emperor's Mask stopped the private conversation.
“...Please refrain from casual conversation when possible.”
...!!
At Emperor's Mask's words, the Plague Doctor quietly nodded. The people in the meeting room, whose hearts had been in their throats, silently let out breaths.
Next, Mask of Wrath crossed his arms and spoke.
“Ahem... How about China instead of Russia? There are two Transcendent factions there. Frankly, both are acting in ways that make it fair to call them enemies of humanity! Isn't grinding people down to make elixir pills excessively inhumane? On top of that, Sichuan Province and the surrounding region are crawling with mutated magical beasts! At this rate, it feels like the magical beast forces will grow too powerful.”
“...Don't you just want to fight?”
What was discussed at this Round Table meeting had a major impact on the movements of factions in reality.
Just like at Merfolk Island. Based on the shared information, a large-scale subjugation operation could take place.
The next turn belonged to Fanatic Mask.
“Speaking of magical beasts in China, South Korea doesn't look normal either. Magical beasts played a major role in resolving the Merfolk Island incident, and I heard every one of those magical beasts was made by a Korean Magic Beast Alchemist named Yoo Hyun. I am curious about him.”
As expected, because he had shown too great a presence at Merfolk Island, Yoo Hyun had begun to be mentioned even here.
After that, Yoo Hyun was mentioned a little more, while the discussion centered on the Gate Church, China, and Russia...
Eventually, one person after another finished their turn, and it was finally my turn as the Plague Doctor.
‘Hmm, what should I say?’
The purpose of coming here was to gather information, but I had not come with a clear goal. I was simply here to see how the world was moving.
So I had planned to quietly come and go without drawing attention...
But because of Butterfly Mask, my mental body had shattered and my shell had been forcibly stripped away.
‘What am I supposed to do about this atmosphere...?’
Everyone waited for me to speak with tense eyes.
...Should I just gloss over it?
Black-and-White Twins, Emperor's Mask... Even Valentina had simply passed their turns, so it was not particularly a problem.
But because of what had happened earlier, I was receiving a great deal of attention now, and my words seemed to carry considerable weight.
There was a high chance they would follow whatever topic I chose.
It felt wasteful to let this opportunity pass.
‘Hmm...’
Let's organize this.
First, Russia was an extremely closed-off situation.
Most people here would have difficulty offering high-quality information related to it.
However, seeing Magician Mask act so confidently, he likely possessed considerable information.
With that one piece of information, he probably intended to obtain key information unrelated to the topic from the others.
I was not uninterested in Russia, but it had not caught my attention.
Mentions of South Korea or myself were naturally out of the question, so I would skip those...
If the topic moved to the Gate Church...
For one, I had a secret friend.
The Saintess of the Gate Church was my secret friend, so I could obtain internal information about the Gate Church more easily than the people here.
That left China...
There were two branches to that topic. Sichuan Province, where a major disaster had occurred while someone copied my techniques, and the faction that made elixir pills by grinding people down, which Black-and-White Twins had mentioned during the first session.
Those two had established themselves as Chinese factions.
Naturally... my interest lay with the former.
Among all the possible choices, there was a being that had chosen unstable magical beasts as its underlings.
That being might be an Apostle of a Transcendent faction similar to mine.
Naturally, at the top of that Apostle faction would be a Transcendent of the same type.
I became very interested.
There might be a being who had reached transcendence by modifying or creating life.
“I am interested in Sichuan, China.”
That was all I said.
After blinking for a while, the masks began speaking one by one.
“...So... I see.”
“Hmm... Plague, but isn't that team killing?”
“The Chaos side always fights among themselves. They don't know teamwork.”
“Khahaha!! Isn't China practically decided, then? If this goes well, I'll get to run across a battlefield for the first time in a while.”
“We do not know that yet. The vote has not even begun.”
Once everyone had spoken, the vote results were...
A tie.
Russia: 1 vote
South Korea and Yoo Hyun: 3 votes
Sichuan, China and the elixir-pill faction: 3 votes
Abstention: 1 vote
“This... Butterfly Mask is not conscious, so we have a tie.”
“Should we eliminate the one-vote option and vote again?”
“Ahem...”
“...But Black-and-White Twins are here, so why are there eight votes? Shouldn't there be nine?”
“Those two belong to the same faction, so we agreed to treat them as one person.”
Then Emperor's Mask, who had silently watched the results, spoke.
“This meeting's topic will be Sichuan. I was the abstention.”
At that, Magician Mask tilted his head in confusion.
“Hm? Well... I guessed it was you, since you often abstain, but this is the first time you have taken one side. Something seems suspicious.”
“...Yoo Hyun's magical beasts are useful. Moreover, we can obtain them too if we pay a sufficient price. It is simply not a faction we need to restrain at this time.”
“...Is that so? It feels suspicious that you are defending them... Hmm... Well, if that is the case.”
Magician Mask could not tell whether Emperor's Mask had cast a vote for Sichuan because he was taking Yoo Hyun's side or because he was mindful of that monster.
‘...There is no choice. It would be troublesome if they went on a rampage because they did not like the vote result.’
And so, information about Sichuan, which had become a complete mess due to the magical-beast biohazard, began to be revealed one piece at a time through the Apostles.
Magician Mask spoke first.
“Did you know? There are surprisingly many magical beasts with plant-like traits in central Sichuan─”
...Plant-type essence!!
Whoosh!
The Plague Doctor's aura abruptly changed, and Magician Mask, sensing it, began sweating profusely down his back.
‘W-what...? Did I say something wrong again?’
Why, why had this been happening since earlier!!!
He had no idea why it was only happening to him, and he could barely breathe.
That inhuman being had sensibilities utterly different from a human's, so he could not tell what might set them off. Even saying a single word felt like risking his life.
‘Fuck... So this is cosmic horror...!!’
Magician Mask prayed that his turn would end without anything happening.
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