WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 95: Lemons and Explosives

──────

There were times like this in life.

You brought something up just in case, but the more you kept talking, the more convincing your own opinion started to sound.

This was one of those times.

‘It really does sound like scurvy!’

The symptoms fit perfectly, didn't they?

I wasn't a doctor, but I knew about scurvy. It had such an interesting history that it even had its own page on Namu Wiki.

“What's scurvy?”

Manjin muttered that.

To be honest, I hadn't really been conscious of it lately, but I was speaking not in Korean, but in this world's “common tongue.”

Which meant I had no idea whether this world even knew about a disease called scurvy.

“Scur... vy? That's an unusual pronunciation.”

Apparently not.

‘Ah, so you don't know what scurvy is!’

Then I should start by explaining the symptoms.

‘Scurvy is actually caused by a vitamin C deficiency. Humans can't produce vitamin C inside their bodies, so they have to consume it regularly. But if their nutrition stays unbalanced for too long, they become deficient in vitamins and start feeling weak and lethargic!’

“...?”

‘Then their appetite worsens, their gums start bleeding, their faces turn pale, their eyes sink in, and in severe cases, they can even suffer internal bleeding and die! It's a terrifying illness that often afflicted sailors who spent a long time aboard ships!’

Despite my earnest explanation, the dwarves stared at me like I was saying, What kind of nerd nonsense is that?

Well, they probably didn't even know what vitamins were.

Fortunately, there was one person who understood me.

-Are you referring to sailor's sickness?

It was Pelerian.

‘You know about it?’

-It was a disease that frequently afflicted human sailors. A strange illness that disappeared once they disembarked and reached a port.

‘That's right, I think that's it.’

It seemed scurvy existed in this world too.

-You know how to treat it? A mere mon... No, a monster!

One warning point for Pelerian.

‘It's simpler than you'd think. Vitamin... I mean, fresh fruit containing that stuff will solve it.’

-It can't be that simple...

The moment had come for modern medicine to triumph in another world.

I explained scurvy and its treatment to the dwarves. They looked skeptical too.

Still, what else could they do besides believe me?

‘Do you have any fruit?’

Fresh fruit was normally impossible to find inside a mine once the gates had been sealed.

But there was one unusual dwarf here whose hobby was tending a garden.

“I was growing lemons. They've borne fruit, but...”

‘Great! Bring them here.’

Dunkel nodded and hurried off.

While we waited, the other dwarves looked after Helmut.

Fortunately, Helmut regained consciousness. He hadn't been hovering at death's door. It seemed he had simply collapsed from accumulated exhaustion after working alone.

“Please lie down for a while.”

“Ghk... To think something so terrible happened.”

We explained what Bluebeard had done to Helmut. He tried to rise, but Manjin stopped him and made him lie back down.

As we waited for Dunkel, Pelerian suddenly asked a question.

-But isn't sailor's sickness a disease that only humans get?

‘Pardon?’

-I've never heard of a dwarf getting sailor's sickness, even though it isn't as if no dwarves have worked as sailors.

‘Uh...’

Scurvy occurred because humans couldn't synthesize vitamin C on their own.

What if dwarves had different bodies?

Then my whole theory about scurvy might have been wrong from the start.

Just as my confidence began to falter, Dunkel came running back.

He carried a basket full of bright yellow lemons.

Whatever. Let's feed him a lemon first.

“Lemons... I won't eat something like that.”

True to form for a stubborn dwarf, Helmut refused to eat a raw lemon.

But this wasn't a situation where we could indulge such minor complaints.

“Hold his arms.”

“Y-you brat!”

With Dunkel taking the lead, Helmut was forced to eat a lemon.

“Grrraaagh!”

Helmut screamed as his face scrunched up.

Manjin, who had never eaten a lemon before, was instantly terrified by the sight.

“What does it even taste like...?”

“Want to try one?”

“No, I'm good!”

If those symptoms really were scurvy, it would be best for Manjin to eat vitamin C-rich lemons too.

Manjin promised to wait and see whether Helmut recovered first.

All we could do was wait.

We didn't have much time, but the answer came after just one day.

“My body... feels unbelievably light.”

The symptoms plaguing Helmut had disappeared.

His gums had stopped bleeding, and his lethargy was gone.

The “plague” that had spread through the dwarf mine had really been scurvy.

I was about to celebrate that my guess had been right.

Then I read the room and stopped.

“This... is impossible.”

Dunkel was trembling as he clenched a fist.

“So many people died? They could have lived if they'd just eaten lemons...”

The fact that it was so easily cured made it even more tragic.

Dwarves were probably naturally resistant to scurvy under normal conditions. But the lockdown had lasted so long that their nutritional imbalance had become severe.

On top of that, Bluebeard had recently burned the critically ill.

“Bluebeard...”

Gentle Dunkel's expression turned frightening.

“Do you know what you've done...?”

I could feel their rage.

Still, Dunkel, muttering to yourself like that doesn't look very cool from the side.

I should know.

“There might be a better way to use lemons.”

Manjin muttered as he touched one.

Oh, I thought so too.

Manjin and I spoke at the same time.

“They could wake people right up!”

‘We could make lemonade!’

Dunkel tried to read the note I had written, so I quickly crumpled it up.

“Since they're so sour, maybe people charmed by the fire will come to their senses too.”

‘Hmm, would it really be that easy?’

I had my doubts, but our group alone wouldn't be able to do anything about Bluebeard anyway.

“If we bring Trawl back, they'll be a huge help. Trust me.”

Manjin spoke with a serious expression.

I didn't agree.

Still, since Manjin wanted to go himself, it seemed fine to give him some lemons.

Dunkel handed Manjin several lemons, and Manjin left at once.

“There are a lot of people to feed. This is a problem.”

‘What is?’

“The lemons. This is all we have.”

As he spoke, Dunkel collected the seeds Helmut had spat out after eating the lemon.

Even with an indoor garden, replanting lemons and growing them would take time.

We had no time to wait for that.

That was when Kibaemi started taking an interest in the seeds.

Did lemon seeds look like babies to Seedling Kibaemi?

‘Just in case, don't eat those, Kibaema.’

Kibaemi ate just about anything, so I had to say it.

Fortunately, Kibaemi didn't eat the seeds.

Instead, Kibaemi poked at them with thin tendrils, then planted them in the ground.

Dunkel was about to dig the seeds back up, but sighed and left them alone.

“Even if they sprout, it'll take months before they bear fruit... Huh?”

Something wriggled from Kibaemi's tendrils into the seeds.

Then, in the underground where no sunlight reached, lemon sprouts suddenly burst from the soil.

What kind of magic trick was this?

Wondering if I had missed something, I checked Kibaemi's status window again.

──────────────

【Seedling Chimera Lv. 9】

【Traits】

[Seedling], [Baby], [World Tree], [Bone], [Fire]

【Skills】

[Sixth Sense Lv. 1], [Perception Expansion Lv. 2], [Absorptive Growth Lv. 6], [Leaf Shaking Lv. 4], [Tendril Lv. 1], [Communion Lv. 1], [Cultivation Lv. 2]

【Status】

[Hunger]

──────────────

Kibaemi had a skill called ‘Cultivation Lv. 2.’

I had seen it before. Dunkel had it too, despite not being much like a typical dwarf.

Yet even with that skill, Dunkel had only grown and maintained plants the traditional way.

They couldn't accomplish miracles like Kibaemi could.

Was this the difference in talent?

Monsters born with the World Tree spoon were simply different. It was enough to make me jealous.

‘Dunkel, Kibaemi's hungry.’

“Huh? Uh, right. Should I give Kibaemi water?”

‘Not that.’

A thought occurred to me, and I made a request of Dunkel.

‘Give Kibaemi some ham.’

Kibaemi was a proud chimera, after all.

Dunkel cut off a piece of ham and placed it in Kibaemi's flowerpot with a doubtful look.

Shluurp.

The ham was sucked into the soil.

Kibaemi's drooping leaves immediately sprang up strong again.

A carnivorous plant with the traits ‘Bone’ and ‘Fire.’

After taking in nutrients, Kibaemi began accelerating the lemon's growth again.

The lemon plant that had been a seed moments ago was already taller than Kibaemi.

Kibaemi was still a baby, yet could make other plants grow so quickly.

Kibaemi's Cultivation skill level would likely keep rising too, so it looked like we would be able to get lemons sooner than expected.

Dunkel, and even Helmut, stood with their mouths hanging open as they watched Kibaemi's feat.

Then Manjin returned earlier than expected.

“It worked!”

Amazingly, he had brought Trawl and five of Trawl's companions back all at once.

“Did the lemons really work?”

“Yeah. They took one bite and came to their senses immediately.”

Trawl scratched their head with an embarrassed expression.

“I thought I'd be fine if I squinted, but the flames were so beautiful. When I looked at them, my mind just went blank...”

Trawl stopped cold in the middle of speaking.

Manjin immediately shoved half a lemon, peel and all, into Trawl's mouth.

“Ghk, I'm fine. I'm really fine now.”

It looked like they would need to eat lemons regularly for a while.

Still, we had proven that dwarves who had only recently been charmed by the fire could quickly regain their senses.

That was fortunate, at least.

Dunkel muttered with a brighter expression.

“Th-then we can grow lemons in bulk and slowly gather everyone...”

“No.”

It was Helmut who shut down Dunkel's softhearted idea.

“Only fools try to mend a broken sword and keep using it. Bluebeard is beyond redemption. He no longer deserves another chance.”

Helmut had been the one who initially told me to give Bluebeard a chance.

But now Bluebeard had crossed the line far too badly.

“Whether Bluebeard was charmed by the demon's fire or not, a mine lord should never act that way. We need to defeat Bluebeard and either extinguish or bury that Demon Flame.”

“We want to do that too, but...”

Trawl scratched their head.

“Those flames are in the deepest part of the mine. You can't put them out just by pouring a little water over them.”

I nodded.

“And more than anything, we're far too short on fighting power. There are only nine of us... and if we see the flames up close, we might lose our minds too.”

Hold on.

There were eleven.

Kibaemi and I counted too.

And I was Urooros.

Still, I had no need to refute Trawl's claim.

Helmut's eyes gleamed.

“Do you know what kind of Meister I am?”

I had a feeling that was the case.

It seemed Helmut had been a Meister.

“Uh...”

But Trawl couldn't answer right away.

They didn't seem to know, so they looked at Dunkel, who might know the answer.

Dunkel answered for them.

“Aren't you the Meister of Swords and Explosives?”

“That's right.”

Helmut took a deep drag from his cigarette with his prosthetic arm.

His black eyes shone.

“At one point, I made half the explosives used in Red Anvil Mine.”

Explosives were used in mines.

Trying to dig through rocky ground with pickaxes alone was terribly inefficient.

Instead, workers calculated precise placements, set explosives throughout the rock, and blasted it apart.

“Until I retired, I personally blasted open countless tunnels.”

So he had been that kind of expert.

“Follow me.”

Helmut led us to his storage room.

When he opened the door, a strange smell wafted out.

‘Something smells rotten.’

-Don't use fire magic like last time.

I wasn't planning to.

Something inside the storage room was covered by black cloth.

When Helmut pulled it away, the contents beneath were revealed, wrapped in paper to keep out moisture.

Trawl spoke in a trembling voice.

“I-is all of that... explosives?!”

The storage room contained enough explosives to destroy this entire area.

Dunkel seemed not to have known, because he stared at Helmut in shock.

“With this much, what were you planning to do, commit terrorism?”

“Why would I? It's stockpiled material I kept and maintained. Bluebeard knows this place too, so he'll come looking for it soon enough.”

That meant Bluebeard knew these explosives existed.

If so, he could come for them at any moment.

“So use them properly before that bastard takes them. Why not collapse the lava lake and bury it too?”

With this much explosive, we could do it.

That feeling spread through the room.

If we failed, it would be rebellion. If we succeeded, it would be a revolution!

But everyone had different ideas about how to use the explosives.

“We could bury them, then blow them up the moment he comes...”

“Do you think setting the detonators is that easy?”

“What if we attach them to the pillars and bury the whole place at once?”

“Are you trying to collapse the entire mine? What about everyone else? Do you want to kill them too?”

Then something in the back of my mind began to itch.

It felt like a brilliant scheme was about to emerge.

‘Yes, that's it.’

At this very moment.

The Great Forest's Snake Zhuge Liang was making his return.

‘I have a strategy.’

Every dwarf looked at me.

Instead of using my notebook, I started writing directly on the storage room wall.

As the briefing continued, the skeptical dwarves gradually began to marvel.

When I finished, Helmut carefully asked,

“Will that really work?”

‘The ventilation system is in good condition, right?’

“Ventilation is the most important thing in a mine. Otherwise, everyone would suffocate to death.”

‘Then that's enough. It's a strategy that has been proven countless times throughout history.’

“Good...”

Helmut nodded.

“My explosives will be used according to the snake's plan.”

Then he added an unnecessary comment.

“To think the mine's fate rests on a plan made by a snake...”

You'll thank me later.

Honestly, it was a plan that made my heart pound.

Wasn't that why Manjin and Trawl were making such excited faces too?

There would be no regrets.

‘Oh, and one more thing.’

I added another request.

I asked Helmut to make several items.

“I can make them in a day. They would be useful, I suppose.”

‘Then please do.’

* * *

Once a decision was made, we had to move quickly.

We completed all the preparations in just one day.

Helmut also stayed up all night making the items I had requested.

“Here, put these over your eyes.”

They were sunglasses made from black crystal.

They were crudely shaped, but they definitely looked like sunglasses.

“Wow, these are cool.”

“For some reason, my heart's pounding.”

Despite seeing such an item for the first time in their lives, the dwarves immediately understood the appeal of sunglasses.

I didn't know how effective they would be as a countermeasure, but they would at least be better than exposing bare eyes to the flames.

“I made one for you too.”

Helmut handed me a very tiny pair of sunglasses.

I placed them over my eyes.

It was a shame that I had to wrap cloth around myself to keep them in place, but I was fairly satisfied.

‘Operation Red Wave.’

I loved the name.

Kibaemi placed a tendril on me.

It looked like Kibaemi wanted sunglasses too.

‘Not for you. You don't have eyes.’

I'll make you a pair once you grow some.

-But you know...

Pelerian pointed something out.

-You don't actually need to wear that strange thing, do you?

I neatly ignored the unnecessary remark.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried