WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈

Chapter 63: Your Name (4)

──────

The Dogfolk village was closer to Rias Territory than I had expected.

We moved fairly quickly, but it took less than half a day.

Anyone capable of using mana could probably get there in an hour or two.

Considering nonhuman races usually kept their distance from human settlements, it was an absurdly short distance.

“Why do we live so close to humans? So we can help each other if either side is about to fall apart.”

That was the answer I got when I asked.

Apparently, not only the Dogfolk but also the Elves living nearby stayed about as close. I was starting to understand just how harsh Rias Territory was as a place to live.

How terrible did a place have to be for nonhumans who hated humans to live nearby?

“We’re here.”

Perhaps because of that, the beastkin village we reached without any real security was...

“A cave?”

A massive cave.

“That’s right. We live in this cave.”

I followed Arang as he cheerfully introduced his home.

...Up to that point, it matched my image of fantasy beastkin perfectly.

But then.

“What is this, some sci-fi world...?”

The inside of the cave was a little... no, very different from what I had imagined.

“How is it? It’s no smaller than a human city, right?”

“...It really isn’t.”

It felt bigger, if anything.

The roads carved from solid stone looked like the kind found near Leon.

Stairs cut into the rock stretched endlessly both upward and downward.

Still, the most surprising part was...

“What’s that?”

“It’s called an automatic staircase. It runs using magic stones. We kept expanding, but the elders kept complaining that their knees hurt from using regular stairs.”

There were escalators and elevators here, things I had never even seen in the Empire.

“Our former elders had a hard time finding a Magic Tower that could install those.”

Ah, so Magic Towers had them.

I just hadn’t known because the Leon Magic Tower didn’t.

I had always watched those Magic Tower bastards panting as they went up and down and wondered why they had built towers just to suffer.

Turns out our Magic Tower was simply incompetent.

...Not something I wanted to know.

“Well, then.”

After exchanging a few words with the warrior unit members, Arang led us toward a small elevator tucked away in a corner.

“It’s an automatic staircase for special use and guests. It only moves up and down, so don’t be too surprised.”

They even had a VIP elevator.

Was the Leon Kingdom really going to be okay, losing to wild beastkin like this?

As I watched this newfangled automatic staircase slowly descend, I began to seriously worry about Leon’s future.

“Did the Dogfolk make all this?”

It must have taken a lot of cooperation for a species of supposed individualists.

“This? Us?”

Arang’s expression alone said, How could we possibly make this?

“Then...”

“We work with the Dwarves for the nonmagical technology. The Elves in the neighboring village help with the magical parts.”

Well, it made sense if it was a collaboration between Dwarves and Elves, two races famous in fantasy for their technological prowess.

Thank goodness.

Leon wasn’t actually below wild races.

“Do Dwarves and Elves really cooperate with you?”

I had heard that Dwarves often broke even promises made to royalty.

Yet those Dwarves helped build another race’s homes.

“It’s an Ancient Covenant. We worked together during the slave hunts long ago...”

Arang smiled as he spoke, then cautiously glanced around. That was enough to tell me who had been behind those slave hunts.

...Humans really were full of fucking bastards.

Their efforts had even united the nonhuman races.

“Ahem. Anyway, because of what happened back then, several races gather regularly and send people wherever they are needed. The folk in the Brown Forest next door live in a similar environment to ours.”

That was fairly shocking.

Elves who didn’t live in trees.

Still, it wasn’t as shocking as the name Dogfolk, so I recovered quickly.

“Hmm. We’ve arrived.”

The doors opened with a familiar ding.

We had descended for quite a while, so this had to be deep underground.

Yet the air was as fresh as it had been above, which meant they probably had ventilation or air purifiers too.

“Grandma!”

As I looked around the facilities, Bell suddenly cried out and sprang forward.

An elderly woman with pure white hair stood there.

“Weak Bell.”

“Even you, Grandma?!”

Unlike Arang, the elderly woman didn’t throw a woof punch.

Instead, she smiled kindly at Bell, who stared wide-eyed in shock, and embraced her.

“I am Gyarang, an elder of the Dogfolk, and the one who invited you here.”

She gave a small bow as she introduced herself.

And my first impression of Gyarang was...

“...”

Why did everyone in the Dogfolk have names with rang in them?

I seriously didn’t understand.

* * *

My question was answered surprisingly quickly.

“My bloodline is not Dogfolk. I am Wolfkin.”

Since Bell called Arang Uncle, I had assumed wolves and dogs were cousins because they were both canines.

As it turned out, Dogfolk with names sharing the syllable rang were Wolfkin or descendants with strong Wolfkin bloodlines.

“We can tell at a glance, but humans probably think we look alike.”

Gyarang said this as she stroked Bell, who was whining in her arms.

“On the other hand, this child is Wolfkin, but she inherited more Dogfolk blood than Wolfkin blood.”

No wonder she was so good at going solo.

“So that’s why her name doesn’t have rang in it.”

“That’s right.”

“Humans often get ostracized over things like that.”

“Unlike humans, once someone becomes family, they are family forever. As long as this child is Wolfkin, she will always be a wolf.”

“Yip!”

Bell let out a proud little howl at Gyarang’s words.

Once a wolf, always a wolf.

It was a pretty cool thing to say, but... Bell had lived like a dog in my room.

Well, for canine... no, personal privacy, I should keep that secret.

“By the way, the letter sent by the Wolfkin said two men had rescued this child...”

At Gyarang’s questioning look, asking why there was one man and two women, Bell answered for me.

“The other male lost the mating contest!”

“...”

Lost what contest?

If Prince Ellen really set out to compete, it would be me, not him, who got pushed aside.

“Hmm, is that so?”

Even with that explanation, Gyarang nodded. They really were a wild people.

“That’s not what happened.”

I explained, on behalf of Daisy and Violet, who had fallen completely silent, why I had brought the two of them here.

I had heard there was an ancient legacy here that only the Church’s Saintess could unravel, so I had brought the Saintess and a guide.

Suspicion filled Gyarang’s eyes.

“This is land where we have settled for a long time. It may look like this on the surface, but we have protected this land for thousands of years. Are you saying we did not know such a place existed?”

Ah, so they had lived for thousands of years. No wonder all the homes looked remodeled.

“It is not that I doubt our benefactor’s words. But it was not our benefactor who first told us of this place, but someone else. Can you give me reason to believe it?”

In short, Gyarang was demanding proof. Violet, who had been whispering with Daisy, quietly stepped forward.

Then she said,

“I’m a sorcerer.”

“Oh.”

With that one sentence, Gyarang immediately nodded.

...What?

* * *

#Sorcerer Tinky Winky

Sorcery felt similar to ancient magic.

But because the bastards who mainly used it were Dark Mages, it had a terrible reputation in human society.

Races like Elves and Dwarves had also, against their wishes, become deeply intertwined with humans throughout history, so most of them used magic as well.

Of course, in the original novel, some High Elves who tended the World Tree used sorcery.

But unlike other Elves, they never left the World Tree.

That was why the original novel had only a little over ten characters who used sorcery, including Silence.

Only four of them were not villains.

There were a few more who were only mentioned without ever appearing directly.

Still, only four had actually appeared in the original novel.

One was a High Elf who had come into the human world because the World Tree was half-dead, while the other three were beastkin.

That was right.

Beastkin were a race that still used sorcery instead of magic.

Because of sorcery’s particular traits, very few people could use it compared to magic...

Which was exactly why sorcerers were highly valued among beastkin.

In other words, from a beastkin’s perspective, I was top-tier talent!

And because sorcery’s lineage had died out among humans, I could earn a lot of goodwill as long as I wasn’t a Dark Mage.

“...”

“...”

That was why I confidently stepped forward, but the back of my head prickled.

I didn’t even need to look to know who was staring at me.

They were probably wondering, What is this situation? Did you know? You knew and didn’t tell us? Things like that.

But I couldn’t help it.

I had planned to tell them everything too.

That was why I had quickly summarized what would happen next!

But hadn’t they treated me terribly every time another piece of information came out?

Honestly, not letting me borrow Prince Ellen?

I could understand that, since I knew Adam’s position.

But if we were going to survive, couldn’t we all survive together?

I still hadn’t forgotten what happened in the Holy Kingdom.

I even knew everything that was going to happen next.

There was a reason the purple bald guy talked to Steel Man about the curse of knowledge.

...I hated that hearing “Tinky Winky” so often made me flinch whenever I heard “purple,” because it made me think of a purple bald guy.

Anyway, the unknown future of this Rias study trip was less frightening than the future I already knew was coming.

Even if I wanted to avoid it, that damn boss of mine, Mr. Adam, only planned to throw me into it because I was supposedly an intelligence agent!

That was why, if I wanted to raise my value, I had to sell information at a high price.

Of course, I had told them all the important things... I would tell them everything once an incident was right around the corner!

But I had to hide side events and things they didn’t absolutely need to know.

And make them look incredibly important.

Once they realized I wasn’t actually necessary, they would abandon me again!

At the very least, I had to make them think they needed to keep me by their side for information.

So as I was examined by the Dogfolk sorcerer summoned by Gyarang, I tried to maintain a calm expression.

Still, was it just my imagination?

Why did the stare at the back of my head feel twice as sharp as before?

Cold sweat ran down my spine, and I subtly turned my head.

“...”

Of course, Adam stood there with narrowed eyes.

“...”

Then I turned toward the stare from the opposite side...

And Daisy was there, wearing an expression strangely similar to Adam’s.

...No, what was wrong with you too?!

“She is definitely a sorcerer.”

“Then we can trust her if she stakes her soul.”

“That is correct.”

In the meantime, I had been acknowledged as a sorcerer.

The Dogfolk looked at me with trust and faith...

Bzzzzz.

But the distrustful stares boring into the back of my head left me looking close to tears.

Author’s Note

The slave has finished drawing all twenty emoticons.

I plan to submit them for review right away.

Now that the slave has finished all the emoticons...

I will make them draw the next illustration.

If the slave occasionally comments, please tell them to shut up and go draw illustrations.

Footnotes:

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