WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
[Translator – Aren]
◈ Chapter 356 The Left Eye That Remained Shut (4)
Like last time, the Vermilion Bird carried us on their back, flapping its enormous wings as they cut through the sky. The three locals who had suddenly ended up traveling with us screamed every time in thrilled excitement.
"B-brother, I’m scared……!”
"C-calm down, Gainir.”
"W-we’re not going to fall, right? This is seriously just……!”
"Pamir, this is seriously insane—!”
But no matter how quickly regret came, it always came one step too late.
The ones who had begged us not to leave them behind were now reduced to cussing out their past selves. Since they had brought it entirely upon themselves and couldn’t even blame anyone else, it was truly a pitiful situation.
"Adventurer, are you alright?”
"...Yes."
By the way, the reason I knew what was going on up there was thanks to the Vermilion Bird’s consideration.
In their consideration, the Vermilion Bird hadn't only remembered that there was someone among us who couldn’t ride on their back but had even prepared something specifically for me. A basket with fastening rings attached to the bottom.
"You look a bit cramped……”
"It’s bearable.”
"If you say so.”
Of course, it wasn’t all that large. It was just about big enough for someone my size to fit inside.
It was fine for a short while but would absolutely give me cramps if I stayed like this for too long. Still, compared to being bundled up in cloth, this basket was something to be grateful enough for to complain.
"I’d rather have that……”
"Me too, I want to sit in the basket too……”
"Shh, Gainir.”
Well…the more timid ones—the three locals—were actually jealous of me. From what I could tell, the wind was so strong that just sitting there constantly made them feel as if they might fall off at any moment.
It would have been nice if they could at least have gotten fastening rings and ropes like the horses, but there weren’t enough to go around. In other words, they had no choice but to endure it like that.
"I’m telling you, as long as you don’t randomly stand up or jump around, you absolutely won’t fall.”
"But I still can’t help being scared……!”
"You ride horses just fine, so why are you making such a fuss now?”
"You seemed to make quite a fuss yourself the first time you rode a horse, though……”
"M-Mister Inquisitor, stay out of this.”
Still, I couldn't say I didn’t understand why they were panicking. For an ordinary person, ‘Hold on to nothing but fur for N hours hundreds of meters in the air’ was a pretty harrowing experience.
That remained true even if the Vermilion Bird’s back was incredibly broad and their flight remarkably stable. Human psychology didn’t work that rationally after all. Especially when it came to anxiety and fear.
"Enough. Look at that man. He’s sleeping just fine. I told you there’s nothing to worry about.”
"...I think that guy’s just weird."
"You’re not exactly wrong.”
...Of course, Meister was treating this as his second time around and sleeping soundly through it. He might have been completely exhausted, but he was still one hell of a bold man.
"Um, Aerotelk. Is there perhaps anything you can do?”
Anyway, taking pity on them, the Inquisitr asked Aerotelk.
"Nothing."
But that was all Aerotelk, the wizard who spoke even less than my old roleplaying persona, had to say. The flat rejection somehow even seemed to carry a hint of contempt.
"I see……”
In the end, the Inquisitor couldn’t bring herself to ignore the three locals fidgeting in fear and put a barrier of Divine power around them to lessen the wind beating against them. Their expressions improved a bit.
"Ah, right. Vermilion Bird, is everything alright at the front?”
[Not particularly.]
"...Is it very serious?”
[The loyal and steadfast bought me time. Yet victory and defeat upon the battlefield are not decided by strength of will alone. I cannot even fathom how much blood will have been spilled by the time I return to my post.]
"That’s……"
[Do not burden yourself too much. There is no war without loss, and a holy war waged with an entire world at stake brings greater losses still. This is not a burden for you to bear alone.]
While the Inquisitor had brought peace to the others by putting her abilities to use, the Vermilion Bird soothed the Inquisitor with words.
[God’s Representative, compose yourself and think only of your duty. What you and I must do is ensure the time they bought us does not go to waste.]
"...Yes!"
Fortunately, the Vermilion Bird was quite good at acting their age. It wasn’t that I disliked the Mountain Lord or the Land Turtle, but beings who carried themselves with that kind of solemn dignity were so rare that it felt incredibly reassuring.
“Then will you be staying with us all the way this time?"
[Unless some irresistible upheaval intervenes, I intend to do so.]
The news that we’d be able to travel comfortably all the way to the end of the world was incredibly relieving to hear. Even with a body unaffected by cold or hunger, dragging yourself through roads buried in snow still wasn't exactly comfortable. Sure, I was better off than the others, but still.
"Ah."
Come to think of it, speaking of cold and food… Did this mean we were taking the locals all the way to the end of the world as well……?
"Vermilion Bird.”
[Has some problem arisen?]
"Do you know what the environment at the end of the world is like?”
I have been there myself, so I do. However, I suspect what I am presently thinking of does not align with what you truly wish to know. So tell me, what do you seek to ask?]
"If we head straight there, can those three ordinary people survive for long without assistance?"
[...I did not think far enough ahead, it seems. I should have stopped them more firmly.]
After some hesitation, the Vermilion Bird gave me their answer. It was a roundabout way of saying no.
"Huh, then what are we supposed to do……?”
[Hmm. Then how about leaving them for a time at the village before we cross the mountain range? I seem to remember seeing a village along our road.]
Fortunately, there was at least a solution to this matter. Whether the people of this land, already crying out over food shortage, would agree to take them in even for a bit was another question though.
[Since matters have come to this, it would also be wise to leave these horses there. Cold is not the only danger in the lands that border the end.]
"Ah......."
But after that, stopping there was no longer optional. Unlike the three men, who seemed like they could somehow manage as long as we gave them food, the horses needed human care.
"Everyone was saying they’re desperate for food. What if they just slaughter the horses we leave with them and eat them?”
"...They wouldn’t, right?”
But just as Deathbringer pointed out, there was no guarantee they’d actually take proper care of our horses. No matter how much authority the Vermilion Bird had, that only meant something if people had enough capacity to care about it.
Would people on the verge of starving to death really protect our horses?
"Then what if we turn back now……?”
[That it not something I can allow. Even now, people may be dying at the front. By what reasoning would we turn back for the sake of four horses?]
Yeah…that was true. We’d been flying for about an hour now. If we turned back, that would be another hour and one more to come back here. Two hours wasted.
And in those two hours…there was no telling how many people might die on the battlefield. Even as someone who cared about Frederick, I couldn’t bring myself to suggest turning back.
[If you cherish the horses like family, then I apologize in advance. But just as those horses may be family to you, every human standing upon the front is like a beloved child to me. I will not turn back for their sake.]
So in the end, we had no choice but to accept this unease. And if you thought about it a bit more, this was our fault as well.
"I’m sorry, Adventurer. I didn’t expect for something like this to happen……”
"Don’t apologize. I’m just as responsible for carelessly bringing the horses along without knowing this would happen."
Still, that one hurt. I’d made the mistake, but Frederick’s life was what ended up on the line. I wouldn’t even be able to complain if Frederick kicked me with both his hind legs. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just left him behind.
"Um…instead of that, how about dropping us off at some ruins or a suitable patch of open ground?”
At that point, the leader of the locals, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
"If you leave the horses with a village, they’ll definitely be slaughtered. So instead…the three of us can look after them.”
"Would you be alright with that?”
"If you can just give us enough feed for the horses and food for ourselves……”
"Hmm, that sounds good. We’re not exactly going to spend days and days at the end of the world anyway, right?”
So…this is how it ends up? I was a little taken aback as I watched the three men’s involvement grow bigger and bigger. It really turned out like this, huh? Though to be honest, this was a very positive kind of surprise.
[Is it settled then? Once we reach the mountain range, I shall land briefly somewhere uninhabited but suitable for shelter and leave you there.]
"Yes."
Anyway, with that settled, we could finally head for the end of the world without any worries. As long as nothing unexpected happened, Frederick’s safety should be guaranteed as well.
[Ah, there is one more thing I must retrieve. I will descend briefly.]
"Yes."
"I-is it over?”
"Of course it’s not over. We’re just going down to pick something up.”
Feeling relieved, I turned my gaze toward the wings as they slowly began to tilt downward. I really liked the dreamlike beauty of those vermilion flames cutting through the night sky.
Whatever the circumstances, it was a truly fantastical sight.
* * *
"Um……? This looks a little different from where we went before…or am I imagining it?”
"No. You saw correctly.”
Berserk agreed with the young piper and shook out her hair. Each time she did, black dust left behind by the shadows scattered from it. Rather than falling to the ground, it just drifted away, dissolving into the air.
“The Glacier Trail doesn’t return you to the palace where the rift first appeared. Where you come out depends on where you were standing inside of it.”
“R-Really?”
“If you’re unlucky, you can even be dropped into the frozen lands beyond the Eternal Sanctuary. That’s the second reason the Glacier Trail becomes a graveyard for warriors.”
Of course, through repeated experience, she had learned how to bring luck into the realm of effort. It was a kind of trick, and even she hadn’t mastered it perfectly.
“If that’s how it works… Then if I’d escaped on my own, I would’ve come out somewhere different from you, Great Warrior.”
“Yes. But that still would’ve given you a better chance of survival than losing your mind beneath that night sky.”
“...I see.”
“...Young piper. If you ever enter the Glacier Trail again, find the brightest star and run in the opposite direction.”
“The brightest star……?”
“Yes. If you use that star as you guide and run, you will not be dropped beyond the Eternal Sanctuary."
Could she really pick out the brightest star among thousands? And before that, could the girl defeat the monsters spilling out between those stars?
Berserk’s answer to both questions was no, but she told her anyway. In life, there was little harm in knowing something. Only the pain of loss was truly cruel.
“...I didn’t know the Glacier Trail was like this.”
"You had no reason to know. If a time comes when you truly need that knowledge, you will learn it then.”
In any case, Berserk gave that dry piece of advice and gripped the hand axe at her thigh. Shiiiing. The spinning axe flew out and smashed through the skull of a wolf that had hidden away, crushing its brain.
"Seems like we have something to eat.”
They had already run out of food, and they were already on edge, so this was pretty lucky. She strode over and retrieved the axe embedded in the wolf’s head. The blade was smeared with sticky blood, but with snow everywhere, all she had to do was wipe it clean.
"I’ll butcher it.”
"Go ahead."
The young piper took a small knife and slit open the wolf’s belly. The blood pooling in the cavity where the organs had been pulled out was hot enough to make steam rise up. Before long, it would lose that warmth and freeze.
"Drink first.”
Because of that, those of Norda drank the blood first the moment a hunt succeeded. It was unavoidable if they wanted both to quench their thirst and warm their bodies.
Following that tradition mixed with survival methods, the piper hurriedly scooped up some blood and handed it over.
"You drink too.”
"Yes."
"A shame that it isn’t a reindeer.”
"It’s gotten harder to see a reindeer than to catch sight of the hem of a god’s robe.”
Reindeer were better than wolves not only in the amount and taste of the meat but also for one’s health. For reasons they didn’t know, people who ate nothing but carnivore meat would start bleeding from the gums and, in severe cases, die.
"Still, this is better than nothing."
"Yes."
But just as the girl said, in their current situation, even wolf meat was a luxury.
They drank as much of the blood as they could, and once the rest had frozen, they sliced the meat into thin stripes and put it in their mouth.
There was no firewood to make a fire, and their people had always eaten raw meat more often than cooked meat anyway, so neither of them hesitated.
"...You’re going to keep looking for the body, right?”
"Of course.”
"Are we leaving right away?”
Once they had eaten their fill, the girl stripped off the remaining meat and tied it around her waist. There was no need to worry about it spoiling when it would freeze anyway.
"...Hmm."
But by the time all of that was finished, exhaustion had gathered thickly around the girl’s eyes. Berserk noticed it and trailed off.
"We spent the night inside the Trail, so taking a short rest will be more efficient than continuing the search immediately. Very well, young piper. Prove to me that the time you spent under that hunter wasn’t wasted.”
"......! Yes!"
Judging by the sky, the sun was only just beginning to rise, but there was nothing wrong with taking the young girl’s stamina into consideration. Just as her sister had once done for her.
And so Berserk decided they would rest. Meanwhile, the girl eagerly fidgeted with her fingers, cheeks flushed with excitement as she tried to prove what she could do.
"Judging by the shape of the peaks, I think we’re somewhere between War and Sky. And until a few years ago, there was a tribe living between War and Sky. There probably won’t be anyone left now, but it should still be much more comfortable for us to rest there.”
"Alright. Lead the way, young piper.”
"Yes!"
The girl, who had been drawing in the snow as she calculated their location, lit up at the opportunity she’d been given. It was hard to believe she had been inside the Glacier Trail only an hour ago.
"The tribe is down below. Let’s go!”
She’s a hundred, no, a thousand times better than those bastards bragging about being warriors and what not, only to start crying the moment they face a real Trial.
Berserk followed along behind the girl, steeped in drowsiness born from exhaustion and a full stomach.
"Just as I thought! I can see the village over th—huh?”
And there, she came across a certain trace.
"Why has the ice melted……?”
"You, find somewhere to hide."
It was the same trace that the experienced hunter had previously mistaken for signs of the Glacier Trail.
Berserk’s eyes flashed.
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