WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 520: Side Story, About White (Part 1)
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Yuel Razian had a modest hobby.
Sitting somewhere high up and looking down at the city.
Of course, observing the city was Yuel's hobby. Razian's hobby was looking down at the city, spotting criminals, and taking their heads. Still, both of them liked looking over the scenery from high places.
Gulp. Gulp.
They also liked drinking. They might have two personalities, but they had only one body. Naturally, their tastes were similar. As Yuel drank the strong liquor, she let out a long breath. A drink while looking at the Empire's nightscape was quite nice.
“...”
Sitting atop the bell tower and enjoying her hobby with a drink, she set her cup down beside her for a moment. She was drinking alone, but she was not drinking by herself. Someone kept talking alongside her within.
- Are you finished, Razian? If you are, switch already. I want my next drink too.
“I am savoring the aftertaste. Please wait.”
- Tsk.
One drink for you, then one for me. Taking turns, she drank with herself.
“Phew, fuck. This is the taste. Liquor has improved a lot since I last saw it, hasn't it? In my day, I couldn't have dreamed of drinking something like this.”
- It probably existed back then too.
“That is true as well. Then again, what chance would an Ivory Tower scholar have had to drink good liquor? I only had a drink when the Mage Tower hired me to solve some difficult problem.”
Chuckling, Yuel filled her cup to the brim.
There were two cups on the bell tower.
One belonged to her, and the other belonged to Razian. They could not sit across from each other and drink, but they could keep each other's cups beside them. As they drank, they briefly chatted about how the world was faring.
“How has your work as an executioner been lately? I can't imagine there are many lunatics making new contracts with demons these days. Are there even any demons left?”
- There are some left, but it is indeed rare to find anyone making new contracts. Most are people who could not terminate contracts they had already made and simply kept renewing them automatically.
“For a remarkably realistic reason...”
- That is usually how it is. Inertia. Whether it's crime or wrongdoing, they do it out of habit because they have always done it. And switch, Yuel. I saw you subtly drinking your second cup.
Oh dear, I was caught.
Muttering that, she switched.
“What about you, Yuel? I heard rumors that you've been poking around the Empire's political world lately. Are you interested in becoming an official?”
- It's less interest and more an occupational habit. I did play the lord in that shitty city for decades, after all. So I'm curious about how the current political world functions and how they make their laws.
“I see.”
Small stories about their separate lives.
“So.”
The cups tipped.
“So, you see.”
When people got tipsy and a drinking session ripened, there was one topic that always came up. It was nothing particularly special.
“How have things been with Najin lately?”
- Have you and Najin been swapping spit lately?
It was a love story disguised as sexual harassment.
Only one of them was doing the harassing, of course, but still.
“...”
- Ah, your face turned red.
“It is because of the alcohol.”
- Pfft. Even a passing dog would laugh at that. Alcohol, my ass. Do you think I don't know your tolerance? Why are you getting better at lying every day? Are you becoming more like me or what?
Harassing herself, Yuel snickered.
“What about you, Yuel? Didn't you pound your pillow and beg me to switch last time?”
- ...
“You said, ‘That fucking bastard is trying to kill me. Isn't it cheating for him to keep going until sunrise?’ I could imitate the voice you used when you begged.”
Flinch.
“Ahhh...”
- Aaaaaah!
When Razian started warming up her voice, Yuel hurriedly stopped her. Screaming, she jumped up and hastily took control.
“Um, shall we stop talking about this, Razian? I don't think this topic benefits either of us.”
- I think that is an extremely rational and wise decision.
Something like that happened.
“Ah, we almost forgot something important.”
Yuel spoke.
“Shouldn't we make plans for our trip?”
2.
The Sacred Blood Church's executioner was busy.
Quite simply, there was a lot of work.
There had once been three major orders, though only two remained now that the Holy Radiance Order was gone. Even compared to the days when the Holy Radiance Order still stood, the executioner's workload had been unrivaled. The reason was nothing special. They simply had far too many enemies.
Killing demons.
That was the Sacred Blood Church's reason for existing and the driving force that kept it running. Wasn't the Church's patron deity someone who had devoted both soul and body to killing demons? The Great Champion who represented such a deity had to stand at the forefront of demon slaying.
As a result, Yuel had quite a heavy workload.
A demon was found? The job looked tough?
The Sacred Blood Church simply threw Yuel at it. That usually solved the problem. Compared to the Star Incarnation, who stayed home scratching her belly and enjoying desserts, or the lighthouse keeper, who shut themself away in the lighthouse and never came outside, Yuel's workload was overwhelming.
“But that is all a thing of the past now.”
Yuel said, and Razian nodded.
The times had changed quickly.
Over the last five years, Najin had defeated the Carnival King, exterminated every Herald of the End, and finally brought down even the Witch of the Abyss. The great evils that had existed throughout human history for tens of thousands of years had all been uprooted within only five years.
Even the great Witch of the Abyss had lost her life to the Dawning Star's blade. How could mere demons dare?
The instant they got cocky and happened to catch the Dawning Star's eye, they would be annihilated that very day. Being caught by the Dawning Star would at least be fortunate. If they were caught by a certain foul-tempered Mage who stuck to him twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year, they would be frozen and preserved as ice statues.
As a result, demons were nearly extinct.
The Sacred Blood Church's long-cherished wish had come true.
The demons that had appeared endlessly, no matter how many were killed, were now on the verge of extinction. The Thorned Martyr, patron deity of the Church, had this to say about the situation.
「Yahhaaaaaa!!!!!」
More precisely, “screamed” would have been more appropriate than “said.” Yuel, who had witnessed the patron deity of the Sacred Blood Church, leader of millions of followers, screaming while doing somersaults through the air, had to cover her eyes.
「This young lady said it, didn't she?! I said I would rip these fucking bastards out of this land by the roots! I won, you cockroach-like shits who aren't even fit to be dogs!!!!」
As an aside, the Thorned Martyr had quite a foul mouth. Where else could Razian have learned to swear? The one who had prettily painted “profanity” upon the blank white canvas of her amnesiac mind was none other than the Thorned Martyr.
I will wipe out an entire species.
The Thorned Martyr had vowed that a thousand years ago, and the fire that had not gone out for a full thousand years had finally fulfilled its purpose. In any case.
The story had briefly wandered.
Because demons were dying out, Yuel now had free time. Remnants occasionally failed to know their place and caused trouble, but the inquisitors usually dealt with them. In short, her schedule was completely empty.
“Which is why we are traveling.”
A woman in a white dress and bright yellow straw hat.
“Let's travel, Najin.”
Yuel Razian boldly came to Najin's home. There were around three places that could be called Najin's home: one in Avalon, one in the Duchy of Arbenia, and a residence in the Imperial capital. The home in question was the residence in the capital.
The Dawn Horn's residence.
Even the Emperor of the Empire could not casually visit it, but exactly three people could pass through it freely.
Yuel, Dieta, and Merlin.
Not that anyone could stop those three from going wherever they pleased, but in any case. Yuel confidently knocked on the residence's door and gave Najin, who came out rubbing his eyes, a gentle smile.
“Let's travel, Najin.”
“...All of a sudden?”
“Yes, all of a sudden.”
Blinking at her, Najin watched as Yuel tilted her head slightly to one side.
“Don't you want to?”
Najin's instincts sounded an alarm. His mind raced furiously before promptly reaching the following answer. He could not refuse anyway. If so, shouldn't he at least answer quickly? He reached that conclusion in an instant.
“Of course I do. I'll change and come out.”
“You can change in front of me.”
“I can't. I'm the problem.”
“I can.”
“...”
“...”
And so, the trip was decided suddenly.
3.
They decided to travel by carriage.
With their physical abilities, walking or running would have been dozens of times faster, of course. But where was the romance in that? The journey itself was part of traveling. Wasn't the charm of travel the novelty that differed from everyday life?
From that perspective.
Yuel's plan was working perfectly. Najin had been glancing at her since earlier. Razian looked out the window indifferently, but the corners of her lips kept twitching at the gaze she felt.
- Fuck, it worked, Razian!
‘As expected of you, Yuel. I applaud your eye for fashion. I feel like clapping for you.’
- I was quite fashionable in my younger days. The Ivory Tower even put me forward as its public face. My mug is rather impressive, isn't it? Hah, fashion is completed by the face.
‘I wholeheartedly agree.’
Her current outfit consisted of a bright yellow straw hat and a soft, flowing white dress. It made her look like a country girl visiting the capital, or a noble lady sneaking away for a bit of rebellion. It was also clothing she had never worn before in her life.
The Sacred Blood Church's uniform.
A priest's formal robes.
A lord's attire.
Even counting her entire life before and after losing her memories, Yuel had spent her lifetime rotating between those three styles. So this outfit was a fairly bold attempt for her too, but judging by Najin's gaze, it appeared to be a success.
“It suits you.”
Najin said it casually. Within her inner world, Yuel slapped her forehead and cried, “Fuck yeah!” Razian barely maintained her expressionless face.
“What suits me?”
“That outfit. It's pretty.”
“...Thank you.”
He had said it was pretty.
“Ah, but anyway. Razian?”
“Yes, Najin.”
“The destination. Where are we going?”
Najin had climbed into the carriage as if kidnapped without knowing where they were going, how long they would be gone, or what they would do. When he asked whether she could tell him now that they were already in the carriage, Razian nodded and spoke.
“Do you know of Rappeli?”
“Ah, I know it was the holy land where the Sacred Blood Church's patron deity was born. Was it a nation that existed a thousand years ago?”
“That is right.”
Razian spoke.
“The old capital of Rappeli is our destination.”
She glanced upward.
“My patron deity recommended it. She says we will be able to enjoy the best possible trip there, and that she has personally prepared a small gift as well. She adds that you may look forward to it.”
“I should offer my thanks.”
“She wishes to thank you even more.”
What had she prepared that made her make such a fuss? Yuel was curious too. Her patron deity kept whispering in her ear, “You may look forward to it!” The sight of the deity assuring her that she should leave the travel plans entirely to her briefly came to mind.
It was a little, just a little worrying.
But wouldn't it be disrespectful to her patron deity to show that worry? Besides, after seeing her deity busily scampering about in the form of a little girl, preparing something so diligently, it felt wrong to say, “We'll simply prepare things ourselves.”
In any case.
Thus began a journey where neither Yuel nor Najin knew what awaited them.
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