WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 77: No Slidex
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The boy in front of me looked about the same age as that little girl, Rania.
As the son of a poor merchant, he wore grimy clothes. Still, his cream-colored hair had a slight curl to it, and he was quite a pretty boy.
He'll probably be popular when he grows up.
The boy made snake noises again.
“Saak, saak.”
He really did not seem right in the head.
Poor kid. There was no way he'd become popular.
“Sat, sat.”
“Saaak!”
When I joined in, he turned bright red and started hissing away. He was even snorting through his nose, so he seemed incredibly excited.
Maybe I should stop teasing him.
More importantly, what should I do? He'd caught me hiding here. If he told the merchants, they'd definitely chase me out.
I was enjoying this carriage journey. It was comfortable and relaxing, and Kalea City, my destination, was still several days away.
-Are you planning to kill everyone who knows?
Pelerian said something terrifying.
‘That wouldn't be a good idea. Would the merchants just stand by?’
-True enough.
Even if I ate this human child, the carriage journey would end either way.
You're lucky, kid.
Still, how had he known I was hiding here? Judging by how quickly he started hissing, he'd noticed me beforehand.
Whenever this happened, I thought of the Invisible Cloak I hadn't managed to get. Things would have been so much easier if I had it.
It was probably still in the hands of the Gnome in the Great Forest. What a waste.
-Wait.
Pelerian suddenly spoke seriously.
-That human child's book. Bring that, bring it here.
A book?
The book in the boy's hands read:
「An Introduction to the Mysteries of Magic by Sage Liberta」
Was it some kind of introductory magic textbook?
I flicked my tail toward the boy and the book.
Hey. Bring that book here.
“Shishishit!”
Snake noises again. Bring it over before I teach you a lesson.
I felt like a delinquent extorting an elementary school kid. Using Transparent Hand, I quietly took the boy's book.
“Wow, magic...!”
Instead of panicking, the boy's eyes sparkled with delight.
Ignoring his burdensome gaze, I opened the book. A fairly expensive pen filled with ink was tucked inside.
The open page read:
‘Practical Serpent Tongue Conversation Made Easy. 1) How to Greet a Snake You Meet for the First Time.’
Gasp.
This was awkward.
I'd thought he was just a strange kid, but he'd been copying the book?
‘Is there really a language that snakes use?’
The existence of a snake language I didn't even know about was revolutionary.
-How could that be? It's all nonsense.
Pelerian, who wasn't even a snake, dismissed it without hesitation.
-Liberta, Liberta... I've heard that name somewhere...
Pelerian told me to open the introduction and began reading it closely. While he did, I grabbed the pen with Transparent Hand.
‘Common tongue should work.’
Then I wrote in the corner of the page.
‘Do you know who Liberta is?’
Without realizing it, I used the manner of speaking I'd learned from Nanaruk.
“Ah! Ah... saak...”
The boy began hissing again. His conversation level didn't seem very high, though. Watching him struggle to answer my question was a little amusing.
I almost enjoyed it longer, but decided not to.
‘Serpent Tongue is nonsense. There's no way for humans to learn a snake's language.’
“Is, is that so?”
‘Speak. Do you know who Liberta is?’
“I heard he was a great archmage... He was active around a hundred years ago.”
Pelerian muttered, “A great archmage? Hmm...” and fell into thought.
I waited for the boy to continue.
“He mastered every type of elemental magic... and he always wore a mask made of gold, so they called him the Golden-Masked Sage.”
He sounded like quite the romantic mage.
Then it happened.
-Ah, that bastard fraud!
Pelerian smacked his huge head as if he had finally remembered.
‘You know him? A fraud?’
-Yes. He was a young brat who went around swindling humans while bragging that he was a great archmage.
‘Oh?’
-A golden mask... Now I understand why he wore such a thing.
Apparently, Pelerian had known the author of that magic book.
I wasn't particularly curious, but I asked out of politeness. Pelerian answered eagerly.
-He even tried to swindle me. He was so arrogant that I turned that proud nose of his upside down and put it back on.
‘...’
-They say he coughed every time it rained after that. Hahaha!
As expected, Pelerian was vicious enough to be considered a public enemy of the continent.
‘So this kid is learning magic from a book full of nonsense written by a fraud?’
-He could at least write an introductory magic book... but looking at the Serpent Tongue conversation chapter, he never fixed that rotten habit of his.
It was unfortunate for the human child.
Still, it was better that he learned the truth now.
‘Human child, Liberta was a pathetic half-baked mage. He's not someone worth learning from.’
I worried the boy might be shocked into tears.
But I was mistaken.
“Gasp, did you really meet Liberta?”
His eyes shone even brighter.
After thinking for a moment, I answered.
‘Indeed. He was a pitiful fellow. He held his nose high and acted arrogantly, so I turned it upside down. That must be why he started wearing a golden mask.’
Hehe. This was fun.
The boy looked utterly amazed.
“Wow...”
‘The ugliness within cannot be hidden even with gold.’
“Then... how old are you?”
I was about to say four months old, but quickly changed my answer.
‘I suppose... around four hundred years old.’
“Gasp!”
Pelerian scolded me, saying, “You should've said four thousand. You lack the proper vessel.”
Did children in this world like terrifying monsters the way children on Earth liked dinosaurs?
“You're an incredibly old snake... Then are you a Serpent?”
‘...You could say I'm something similar.’
“What should I call you?”
‘Call me Urooros. Uro is fine too.’
“Master Uro...”
I was wondering how to end this prank I'd started when the boy pleaded with me.
“C-could you teach me magic?”
Hmm.
A child really was a child.
Asking a snake he'd just met to teach him magic. His courage was admirable.
-Liberta really is consistently trash. That magic book is terrible.
I did feel sorry for him, learning magic from something like that.
‘What should I do with him?’
-Hm?
‘He wants me to teach him magic.’
-Do whatever you want.
‘Hmm... Ah!’
Part of me wanted to keep teasing him, but then an idea came to mind.
‘Do you seek instruction?’
“Yes...!”
‘If you offer proper tribute and correct your attitude, I shall grant you knowledge.’
“By tribute, you mean...?”
Maybe this child and I could help each other.
‘Bring me writing tools, paper, and food.’
I might be able to live even more comfortably than I did now.
“If it's food... should I catch mice or frogs?”
‘You little!’
“Th-then what?”
‘Bring me roasted potatoes and sausages.’
I'd really wanted to eat human food. I was sick of jerky, too.
“Understood!”
The boy nodded solemnly.
‘You have yet to introduce yourself.’
“Ah, I'm sorry. My name is Amaen.”
‘Very well, Amaen.’
I needed to make him promise.
‘It would be best if no one learns that I am here.’
“Yes!”
I didn't forget to give him a proper threat, either.
‘Otherwise, I will have no choice but to eat you, your father, and all those humans.’
“Ah...”
‘It might be nice to fill my hungry stomach with human flesh for the first time in a while...’
I flicked out my tongue with a slither and retreated into the darkness of the cargo compartment.
The boy's face turned white with fear.
Pelerian asked quietly.
-Is this fun?
‘Yes, hehe.’
It was very fun.
* * *
To be honest, I couldn't properly teach the child magic.
I was still learning magic from Pelerian myself. How could I teach someone else properly?
I wanted to stay in the carriage longer, and I thought it would be nice if I could use Amaen to get the things and food I needed.
That was all I had in mind.
If the other humans discovered me at any point, I planned to leave the carriage.
Still, winning the child over turned out to be an excellent choice.
Amaen was smart despite his young age.
“Dad, I'm going into the cargo compartment to train.”
“Going in there again?”
“Yeah, it's quiet and dark in there, so I can focus better.”
Amaen said that in a perfectly natural voice, then hopped into the cargo compartment.
The merchant named Roil didn't seem to suspect his son in the slightest. The compartment was tightly covered in oilcloth, so unless someone shouted, it was a decent place to practice magic.
It had been two days since Amaen started coming and going from the cargo compartment, and nobody had discovered my presence yet.
‘You've come.’
“Yes, Master.”
Not only was he smart, he was a polite boy, too.
I used the ink pen he had given me to communicate with him in writing.
‘What did I tell you to bring?’
I had asked Amaen for something this morning. I asked him to bring a flowerpot filled with black soil, but there was no way he could find a flowerpot on a mountain road.
I hadn't expected much, but Amaen had fulfilled my request wonderfully.
“There was a suitable stew bowl, so I filled it with soil.”
Speaking politely, he handed me a wooden food bowl.
This was a perfectly good flowerpot. I could plant Kibaemi's seed in it.
He really was dependable.
‘Excellent. Have you learned Mana Breathing well?’
“Yes.”
‘Show me.’
Amaen sat down, closed his eyes, and began breathing.
The breathing technique he had originally practiced was crude. This one was the technique Pelerian had taught me.
‘You're doing well.’
It couldn't be easy to concentrate atop a rattling carriage, but even I could tell that Amaen was breathing properly as I watched beside him.
Unlike humans or Elves, I didn't seem to have a dantian. It wasn't easy for me to accumulate Mana through breathing techniques.
I felt a little down, but seeing the child learn so well lifted my mood.
-Huh. He has talent. He really has talent.
Pelerian muttered as he watched Amaen.
-Teaching this one would have been much easier...
‘Then travel with him instead of me.’
I said it in irritation, but Pelerian seemed to seriously consider it.
After a long while, he finally shook his head.
-No. Humans are far too inferior a species. They only live to sixty at best before dying. They can't evolve, either.
‘...’
Pelerian had just admitted that snakes were better than humans.
Amaen finished Mana Breathing splendidly.
‘Well done. Today's knowledge will concern elemental magic circles.’
“Elemental magic circles!”
I had only learned it from Pelerian that morning, but it was nice that I didn't need to act while communicating through writing.
‘I'll teach you how to fill a fire magic circle with Mana.’
When teaching newly acquired knowledge to someone else, I could make that knowledge my own once more.
The same was true for magic circles.
With Pelerian's help, I drew a small magic circle on paper.
‘After you fill this place with Mana properly.’
Then I attached it to my dagger, Ashira.
Raising the dagger, I wrote:
‘Then this happens.’
When I injected a little Mana into it,
Whoosh!
The dagger caught fire as if it had been coated in oil.
Longing filled Amaen's eyes.
‘Fire Aura is complete.’
-You bastard.
I had used a little trick, but I had finally become a first-rate magic swordsman.
* * *
It had been just under a week since the three cargo carriages left the waystation for Kalea City.
They would finally reach Kalea City tomorrow.
After camping outdoors for nearly three days straight, the merchants looked utterly filthy.
“Ugh, we'll be in the city tomorrow, right?”
“The first thing I'm doing is going to an inn and washing up.”
Night had fallen completely.
The merchants sat around a single campfire, chatting quietly. Since it was their last night, they shared a little rum to warm themselves.
Warm stew and rum would make the cold night bearable.
One of them, however, drank stew from a cup instead of a bowl.
“Damn it, where the hell did my bowl go?”
“You were on dish duty, Jackson. If you don't know, who would?”
“It was definitely there until then...”
The merchant named Jackson had a bright red nose. It was because he drank constantly.
It was a bad habit, but he never listened when people tried to stop him.
Amaen, lying beside Roil, curled up as if he were sleepy.
“Mmm, Daaad...”
“You must be cold. Cover yourself with a blanket.”
Roil covered Amaen with his own blanket.
It was a warm sight.
Jackson muttered blankly.
“That kid's really smart. Cute, too.”
“Haha.”
Roil and Jackson weren't especially close, but they knew a little about each other.
“You said your son wants to become a merchant too, right?”
“Ah, yeah...”
“Why don't you bring him along sometime? Does your wife not like that?”
Jackson hesitated before answering.
“Well... yeah.”
Jackson's vague response made the atmosphere a little awkward.
Only the chirping of insects could be heard.
Jackson was the one who broke the silence.
“Can I take the first watch tonight? I'm pretty tired.”
“Sure. Then I'll take the second one. Wake me later.”
They took turns keeping watch. There had been rumors of bandits lately, and a hungry monster might appear at any time.
After all, they were close to the Mountain Range, which was undeniably part of the Demonic Realm.
Everyone except Jackson crawled into their sleeping bags one by one and tried to sleep.
Their breathing became steady. Once everyone was asleep, Jackson drank a cup of rum and muttered,
“...This is fucking awful.”
Roil lay there sleeping with his kind-looking face, his son asleep in his arms.
It was a pleasant sight, but Jackson found it irritating.
With his face flushed from drink, Jackson thought,
‘Is that bastard Roil laughing at me too?’
Bring my son along sometime?
It had been a long time since Jackson had seen his son's face.
One day, he came home early for the first time in a while and found an unfamiliar man in bed with his wife.
He lost his mind and beat both the man and his wife. The man ran away, and when Jackson tried to slap his wife, she bit his wrist.
He was drunk and already furious, so he beat her with the intent to kill.
Then his back stung. When he turned around, his young son had stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife.
The child's hand trembled around the knife, but he glared at Jackson with bloodshot eyes.
Fortunately, the knife had only cut slightly into his skin.
His wife, blood pouring from her nose, hugged their son and cried out.
“Please leave. Get out.”
It was utterly absurd, but Jackson fled as if he were running away.
After drinking and telling his fellow merchants what happened, the story had somehow spread everywhere.
Had that bastard Roil never heard about it?
Or did he know and pretend not to, just to mock him?
‘Bastard. Thinks he's so great.’
The alcohol made his anger boil over.
He wanted to smash both that brat's face and Roil's. But he didn't actually act on it.
Then, perhaps sensing the hostility Jackson was giving off, Amaen opened his eyes slightly.
The moment Jackson's eyes met the boy's,
Thud!
Something pierced through Jackson's cheek with searing pain.
Only afterward did he realize it was an arrow fired from somewhere.
“Urgh, guuugh!”
Jackson let out a muffled scream and lurched to his feet.
More arrows flew out of the darkness.
Thud, thud, thud!
Three arrows lodged in Jackson's body.
He died instantly.
Jackson staggered and fell over the campfire.
Thud!
Sparks burst loudly into the air.
Everyone woke at the commotion.
From the darkness emerged rough-looking figures carrying crossbows, maces, and other weapons.
“I win because it didn't kill him in one shot.”
“No, he would've died even if you'd left him alone.”
“Are you kidding? He would've died of old age much later. Hahaha!”
They laughed and joked about killing someone.
A dog began barking.
“B-bandits!”
Amaen screamed.
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