WeTried Translations
Translator: Aren
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer? ◈
Chapter 349: I Shall Convey it to God (7)
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The group booked a regular inn again. With the Divine-power filter, I probably wouldn’t die even if we stayed at the Temple, but it was still a small and strangely touching act of consideration.
"I’ll go to the Temple with the Heretic Inquisitor and see if there’s any news."
"I’ll also look into the person you’re searching for. Going by the Great Master’s warning, asking around among ordinary people would probably be difficult.”
"Thank you."
"Not at all."
Even so, I didn't volunteer to go to the Temple with them. The Divine-power filter kept my HP from dropping, but the issue of mental exhaustion from having priests stare at me still remained.
"I’ll stop by the Magic Tower for a while as well. You all stay here and rest.”
"Yes."
I didn’t go with her to the Magic Tower for pretty much the same reason.
I was worried about the Archmage having to make the trip alone…but I was also kind of scared of even going near that place.
From what I’d seen so far, wizards from other regions all had at least one screw loose. Just how bad did the north have to be for even those people to be wary of it?
"...A northern barbarian destroyed the Magic Tower.”
Anyway, for those reasons, we stayed at the inn and just ordered some food.
The first thing brought out was soup set over a heated stone so it would stay warm for as long as possible. It was made with bone broth, lard, beets, cabbage, and potatoes.
"Some idiot picked the wrong person to abduct.”
"Um, by northern barbarian, you mean someone from Norda, right?”
"Right."
"Are they really strong enough to destroy a Magic Tower?”
"You’re not from the north, are you?"
Wow, the gamey smell was seriously legendary.
I sipped the soup while keeping an eye on Meister, who had grown unusually quiet. Naturally, Deathbringer was the one chatting with the innkeeper.
"Yeeah. We just came up from east."
"Thought so. Only outsiders ask questions about the barbarians.”
Apparently pleased that he’d guessed correctly, the innkeeper gave a faint nod.
Each time he did, his stocky build, distinctive of northerners, shifted slightly. He wasn’t really fat. He just had a large frame with muscle hidden all over it. That type of build seemed pretty common here.
"Same goes for people like you who keep chit-chatting and trying to make conversation."
The problem was that it was customary for northerners to keep their distance from warmth, kindness, and even a single smile.
When a huge, bear-like man said something like that without a single change in expression, it naturally came across as intimidating. Even though he clearly hadn’t meant it as a threat or an attempt to pressure anyone.
Deathbringer’s ears stiffened slightly.
"Ah… Is that so?”
"Ah, I’m not criticizing you or anything, so don’t worry about it.”
"Yep."
"So…what was I talking about again?”
"How strong the people from Norda are.”
"Ah, right.”
Still, it wasn’t like we had much trouble asking around. I mean, how many brushes with death had we already survived, and how many deadly situations had we fought our way through?
We’d faced far too many things scarier than a simple difference in size to get intimidated by that.
"Not everyone from Norda is strong. But the ones they call warriors can slap around any adventurer. And I’ve heard a Great Warrior even has a chance against a Knight.”
"A Knight??”
"Well, they say the Knight usually wins if they actually fight…but I don’t know the details either. I only know that they’re incredibly strong.”
Whatever. New dishes arrived just then. One dish was rice stir-fried with meat, vegetables, and spices, another was noodles, and the last one was…
"Dumplings?”
It looked shockingly similar to dumplings.
"......?"
Meister, who had been forcing down his soup beside me, looked at me, then at the dumpling dish, then at Deathbringer in that order. The expression he ended up making was pretty indescribable.
"Your taste, seriously……”
What’s with him all of a sudden? With no idea why Meister was suddenly shaking his head, I pointed at the bowl of dumplings.
"Is it bad?”
"No…The food’s fine.”
"Then what?”
"...Forget it. Just eat.”
Seriously, what the hell was his problem? Unable to make any sense of what was going on, I finally just put a dumpling in my mouth. Minced vegetables and meat filled my mouth. My jaw gradually slowed down.
"Just so you know, it’s harder to find food without meat in the north. Same with fish dishes. Northerners don't really like fish.”
"...I know."
But if it doesn’t suit my taste, it just doesn’t suit my taste. I forced down what was already in my mouth, then picked listlessly at only the vegetables in the soup. Every time I bit into a beet, its sweetness filled my mouth, which was its own kind of torture.
"The only good thing those damn bastards have done lately is smash that damn Magic Tower.”
"...Sounds like you’ve got a lot pent up.”
"Hah, you’re asking if I’ve got a lot pent up? Of course I do!”
Meanwhile, the innkeeper stopped scrubbing the table and flung his rag down. Splat. The wet rag landed on the table with a heavy sound. It perfectly showed how he felt.
"Not a single person in this land likes those goddamn raiders.”
"Oh......"
"When even every person in the north working together isn’t enough, those parasites go around attacking their fellow northerners and stealing their food……”
The blatant verbal abuse continued.
I couldn’t tell whether he was openly showing his feelings because we were from the east or because everyone in this region felt the same way and he saw no reason to hide it. Either way, his hostility was unmistakable.
"...Norda doesn’t seem to have a very good reputation."
"There are way too many raiders from there.”
I set down my spoon without even finishing half my bowl, far less than I normally ate.
I knew I hadn’t gotten enough calories or protein, but the food simply didn’t suit my taste far too much to force myself through it.
'Sorry…even though it’s your body.'
「I-It’s okay. You don’t have to force yourself to eat. This body won’t die even if you don’t eat anything.」
I knew Arcane Power would somehow make up for the calories even if I didn’t eat, but if I ate too little, wouldn’t my digestive system start deteriorating……?
I decided I’d make up for it by eating a lot once we escaped the north, then focused on the conversation again.
"People didn’t think very highly of that region ever since I lived here. It does produce a lot of skilled fighters… but when those skilled fighters are killing people instead of Demons, it’s kind of hard to like them.”
"...I see."
"A lot of people also cursed them for always taking the easy way out. With that many capable fighters, they could join the Northern Front, earn some merit, and receive supplies in return.”
"Not everyone can choose the rational path. Though that doesn’t mean I’m defending their choices.”
Even if they didn’t want to earn merit, moving somewhere else seemed like a perfectly reasonable option. Why hadn't they even done that? Was it attachment to their homeland or something?
"Honestly, I wonder about that too. Apparently, a few hundred years ago, they were known more as barbarian warriors and soldiers of the snowfields than as raiders…..."
"Don’t start researching at the dinner table.”
"You barely ate anything yourself.”
"I don’t think being unable to eat something is the same as choosing not to.”
"How is being picky the same as not being able to eat? You’re also just choosing not to.”
"If you can’t understand the difference between not eating something because you simply don’t want it and not eating it because you can't stomach it, then sure. You can think of it that way.”
I stopped Meister before he could keep chasing that train of thought, then raised a hand to call someone over. The person who had finished cooking and come back out approached me blankly.
"What do you have to drink?”
"Vodka or beer?”
"...Anything besides alcohol?”
"Besides alcohol? Hmm…I do have some tea leaves stashed away.”
"I’ll pay."
I had tea leaves of my own, but I was saving these. I paid an amount that included the guy’s tip. The cook nodded in satisfaction and went back into the kitchen.
"Didn’t you give him too much?”
"Did I?”
Well, you need to know the local prices before you can pay the right amount. It was my first time here, so this couldn’t be helped.
"You’re awfully calm. Looks like you have a lot of money.”
"Can’t say I’m exactly broke.”
My wallet had never been really empty to begin with, and not long ago Deathbringer had even returned the Skyflow Tiger’s claw to me. I’d laughed so hard inside when he told me he’d gotten it back as payment for violating a confidentiality clause.
Anyway, thanks to that, there was almost no chance I would ever find myself in financial troubles. Even in the worst case, I could just take on a few requests as an adventurer.
"Is that so?”
"Yeah."
In other words, there was no reason to suddenly start worrying over some trivial amount of money. Instead of dwelling on the loss, I leisurely waited for my tea.
"Then lend me some money later.”
"If it’s in the form of an investment.”
"An Investment……?”
"It means that I’ll provide you with some starting capital, and in return, you pay me a fixed percentage of whatever you earn later. After I return home, pay Faust instead.”
"...Yeah. Sounds good."
Wow. If this goes well, I could live for a few years without worrying about money. Am I finally going to become a billionaire in this world after never managing to do it back on Earth?
"I could go my whole life without worrying about money."
Well, once I went back, it wouldn’t matter, though…but then Faust could collect the payments instead. If he didn’t want it, I could tell him to use it to build a school or hospital or something.
Imagining a future that hadn’t even arrived yet, I watched the cook come out of the kitchen. I wondered what northern tea tasted like. Some faint anticipation bounced in my chest.
"...Jam?"
"Tea tastes good with jam mixed into it.”
"........"
...There was a country back on Earth where people had tea with jam as well. Wasn't that place up north as well¹? Goddammit.
* * *
Berserk dug and dug through the snow until blood dripped from her fingers.
But just as finding a needle in a haystack was difficult, finding someone who had died decades ago somewhere in these snowy mountains was nearly impossible. She repeatedly rubbed at her cheeks.
"Damn it."
She had already prepared herself for the search to be difficult. She had accepted that she might wander for decades without finding anything and that perhaps she herself would collapse first.
"Sister……”
But what tormented her most during the search wasn’t that hopelessness.
"Please......."
The very possibility that the corpse she was desperately searching for might no longer exist in this world at all. That was Berserk’s true trial.
"........"
It was fine if finding her took a long time. That only meant time and effort were needed. At least finding her was still possible.
It was fine if she died while searching too. She had no lingering attachments to this life anyway. To die on the land where her sister rested would be nothing short of a good death as far as she was concerned.
However, she couldn’t bear the possibility that there had never been anything left to find in the first place. Just imagining beasts tearing apart her sister’s corpse and the passing years digesting what remained was horrifying.
Berserk returned to the cave she had made her shelter and curled up.
"...There’s something I want to ask you, Great Warrior.”
Now that the warriors had left and even the hunter had given up, the only girl who remained beside her moved her reddened cheeks as she spoke.
"She’s already dead. Why are you so desperate to find her?”
The girl who blew the horn had once nearly been cast out of the tribe after failing to prove her worth. If one of the tribe’s hunters hadn't sprained his ankle at the time and suddenly needed an attendant, she would have ended up buried somewhere out on those snowy plains as well.
"Even family is still just other people in the end.”
The rather tragic part of that story was that her parents had never once tried to resist the decision about what would happen to her.
That was why the girl had no real attachment to the word ‘family.’ To her, family were people who could turn their backs on you at any time.
"...My sister died for me.”
"...Really?”
But Berserk was different from the girl. Her entire life had been built on her sister’s sacrifice.
"...My sister and I were orphans. Orphans who failed to prove our worth.”
As the years passed, both food and medicine grew scarcer. The tribe began abandoning those they considered useless in order to reduce the number of mouths they had to feed… And with no one to protect them, the sisters were cast out onto the snowfields. Berserk was 7. And her sister was 12.
"My sister was at least in a better position. While our parents were still alive, she’d learned a bit about using a blade and hunting from them, and she was old enough to actually put what she’d learned into practice."
But Berserk wasn’t. Far from surviving on her own, she was still at an age where she couldn't live without someone’s help……
"My sister was the one who fed and raised me when I was too young to hunt, taught me how to hunt once I grew older, and protected me from every kind of danger. She could have lived much more comfortably if she’d just abandoned me…but she chose to look after me anyway.”
Without her sister’s choice, Berserk would have died long ago. As those memories appeared one after another in her mind, she lowered her eyes.
"But the year I turned 13, an especially harsh cold came. There was nothing to eat, and going south was impossible…It was just that kind of cold.”
Four tribes had vanished without a trace that year. That was how bad it was.
"We tried everything we could to find food. And the beasts were doing the same. We ran into a starving bear.”
"......!"
Now, she could tear apart a bear with her bare hands. But back then, she couldn’t.
Neither could her older sister. They were weak, and so they got hurt.
"We managed to escape somehow…but because she prioritized protecting me, my sister was badly injured. It was the kind of wound the tribe could have treated if we’d been able to rely on them, but for someone who’d been cast out, there was no way to heal it.”
"Th-then……”
"So my sister challenged the Great Warrior.”
"...What?"
"If she was going to die anyway, she probably thought she might as well save her little sister first.”
『If I can wound you, you have to take in my little sister.』
『That condition only has disadvantages for me, though. Why should I agree to it?』
『Because my little sister is an even greater genius than I am.』
"...Did she succeed?”
"The fact that I’m alive and well should be answer enough.”
If…her sister had abandoned her, she could have lived more comfortably. If she hadn’t chosen to keep caring for Berserk, she could have escaped the starving bear without a single wound.
Yes, if she had done that, her sister would have lived. If she hadn’t saved Berserk, her sister would have survived.
『I-I wounded you. So keep the promise……』
『...If I’d found you a little earlier, I would have taken you as my disciple...』
But she hadn’t, and so her sister died.
『Please, my sister……』
『Very well. If only for the spirit you’ve shown, I’ll take your sister in. I swear on the honor of a Great Warrior.』
『Ah…that’s a relief……』
That was their story.
“...But if you survived because of her, shouldn’t that be all the more reason not to live like this? Your sister saved you, Great Warrior. I don’t think she’d want you living this way—”
“Young piper, do you think I’m doing this because I don’t know that?”
And because of that, Berserk had no choice but to find her sister.
Without her sister, Berserk couldn’t exist.
“...Every Great Warrior has their own madness. The previous tribal chief did, and so did my master.”
“That’s……”
“I simply have the same kind of madness. And just like every Great Warrior before me… I’ll probably die because of it.”
“Great Warrior.”
“But I have no regrets.”
She had rested enough. Berserk pushed her share of food toward the girl and rose to her feet.
“Because I’m just that insane.”
* * *
The Archmage waited for someone as she looked out the window at the shattered wall.
“My apologies. Have you been waiting long?”
She didn't have to wait much longer. The person she had been expecting finally showed up.
"This is the first time we’ve met since that incident, isn’t it? Wise Golden Wind.”
That chatterbox bird said to contain every road and every flame had arrived.
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¹ Russia, Azerbaijan, and Poland
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