WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
[Translator – Aren]
◈ Chapter 358 The Left Eye That Remained Shut (6)
After dropping off the four people and four horses along the way, we flew for another full day over land where lava flowed like rivers.
We reached the sea. It was filled with drifting ice and reefs that would allow no ship passage.
"Is that the end of the world?”
[No. The end of the world lies on the land beyond the sea.]
But our destination was even farther away. For another three days, we endured an environment where the water in our canteens would freeze if we let our guard down for even a moment, the wind made it difficult to light a fire, and getting any sleep was hard unless the wizard or the Inquisitor did something about it.
[We are almost there.]
And when the sea, half made up of ice and half of water, finally ended, we came face-to-face with the end of the world.
It was a very different kind of end from what I’d imagined.
"So this is the end of the world……”
"It doesn’t really feel like an end, though……”
[It may appear that way.]
"Isn’t there more land behind it?”
[No, that is not land.]
Honestly, if I just described what I saw, it looked like nothing more than a new continent. A vast piece of land filled with snow without so much as a rise or dip, with black water flowing across its surface.
There was not the slightest hint that suggested it abruptly cut off, faded away, or crumbled away. If the Vermilion Bird hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t even have known that this was the end of the world. We would’ve just assumed it was new land to pass through.
"If it’s not land, then……?”
[Huhu, see for yourself once we descend. A thousand words cannot compare to a single experience.]
The Vermilion Bird chuckled at our confusion. They refused to give us even the slightest hint, which only deepened our curiosity, but there was nothing we could do about it. We’d just have to wait until we landed.
"Still…this took longer than I expected.”
[I am not flying alone, so it cannot be helped. What sense would there be in hurrying if I left all of you behind while doing it?]
"That’s true."
[Now, I shall descend.]
Huh, seriously. That’s really the end of the world? What exactly made it the end?
While all kinds of theories spun around in my head, the Vermilion Bird slowly began descending. They didn’t plunge straight down but circled lower in a broad spiral.
[Tsk. The bugs have multiplied again in that brief time.]
"Bugs?"
[Explaining them would take time. So, may I deal with them first?]
"If they need to be dealt with as soon as possible, then of course. Don’t worry. Is there anything we can do to—?”
The Inquisitor never finished her question. The lower we descended, the more clearly we could see the snowfield below.
Black things darting around in the snow. We were starting to understand what the Vermilion Bird meant by bugs without needing any explanation.
"What the hell are those……?”
They weren't Draugr, so what were they? They looked like clumps of dust… No, more like black fog.
"Are those Demons too?”
"...They’re a bit different from Demons. But they don’t look like creatures of this world either.”
[You’re correct. They aren’t lifeforms of this land but beings that wander between dimensions.]
Flap!
The Vermilion Bird beat their wings, blasting away the piled snow as they prepared to land.
Uwoooh. The monsters without a clear form roaming through the snowfield turned their attention toward us.
"They’re not exactly disgusting, but there’s something really unsettling about them.”
"Because they were born according to laws…different from those of this world."
[Physical attacks won’t affect them. Strike them using Divine power or Arcane power.]
Creatures entirely made of black powder, without eyes, noses, mouths, or even a definite shape. I thought for a moment, then casually summoned an Arcane Spear.
Thud!
The Arcane Spear pierced straight through the monster and left a round hole behind. However, that hole immediately filled itself back in.
"Attacking them this way doesn’t seem very effective.”
"Looks like it.”
The instant it was pierced, the currents throughout its body rippled, so it wasn’t like the attack had done nothing at all. But it didn't look efficient either. I crossed Arcane Spear off the list of attacks I could use against them.
"I’ll go first.”
"Ah!"
I guess I’ll try cutting or crushing them next. I launched myself out of the basket and landed on the ground. After spending nearly a full day in the same position, my body was seriously stiff, but I somehow managed to keep my balance. I loosened my tight muscles beneath my cloak.
[I shall deal with those farther away. I leave this area to you.]
"Leave it to us!”
Uhooooo.
Meanwhile, the others climbed down from the Vermilion Bird’s back one after another, while something, I wasn’t sure if it was the wind or the monsters’ cries, tickled my ears.
"Perfect for warming up.”
Ah, the surround-sound horror bgm is a bit much.
My hand tightened around Ratel in its one-handed sword form.
* * *
"Uh, ugh. Why am I here……?”
"Oh, Bauti’s awake.”
At the murmuring whispers reaching her ears, Berserk reflexively lifted her eyelids. A glance out the window showed that the sun had moved quite a bit.
"What the hell? Why am I here?”
"We passed out. Don’t you remember, Bauti?”
Had she slept for about 5 hours? Berserk calculated the time from the angle of the sun, then checked whether the young piper had woken up. Perhaps too exhausted, the girl was still lost in her dreams.
"Pamir said he found us knocked out after getting hit by a flying snowball and brought us back.”
"Snow……? No. That last one definitely wasn’t snow……”
Should she wake her or not? Berserk listened to the girl’s breathing. Judging by the strength of her breaths, she didn’t seem likely to wake up anytime soon. Berserk decided to let the young piper sleep a bit longer.
"You awake?”
"Yeah."
"I finished your weapon, so check it out.”
"That was fast.”
As it happened, Berserk had something she needed to check as well.
Berserk retrieved the axe, the one she had received after smashing up the Magic Tower, after the Great Master had finished working on it. Compared to before she fell asleep, the only thing that had changed was the handle.
"I didn’t touch the parts with Arcane enchantments on them. I didn’t have the proper tools for that.”
"I see."
But it felt far too different in her hands to dismiss it as ‘just the handle.’ Berserk gave the axe a few swings, finding it much easier to grip than before. An expert wasn’t called an expert for nothing.
"Not bad."
“Of course it isn’t. Look who made it.”
Berserk acknowledged Meister’s skill and hung the axe at her waist. The repositioned loop kept it from getting in the way and made it easier to carry. It was enough to make her wonder why the Magic Tower that made it hadn’t done this from the beginning.
"You leaving?”
"No. I’m just going to take a quick look around.”
"Sure."
Anyway, if a weapon changed, it was only natural to test it once. And sitting around doing nothing while waiting for the girl to wake up would be nothing but a waste of time.
"You guys are going too, right?”
"Y-yes?”
"Aren’t you supposed to look after the horses?”
"Ah, yessir!!”
Berserk got ready to leave without paying any more attention to Meister chewing the others out or his fiddling with some brick-shaped object. She wasn’t going far, so there was no need for any serious preparations. She took only a couple of weapons, a cloak, and a waterskin.
"Whew, thought my heart was going to give out……”
However, the moment she stepped out of the house happened to coincide with the people Meister had just been scolding bolting through the door. Berserk’s gaze slid toward them.
"Sky Boar? Blue Desire? Which one?”
Their accents and appearances made it obvious they were from Norda. If they’d been traveling with the Demon Knight, they surely would have been eating well, but all three were just skin and bones. They probably hadn’t been with him for long.
Then why were they traveling with the Demon Knight? And why hadn’t Meister gone to the end of the world as well?
"Uh…I had a feeling, but you’re from Norda, too, right?”
She wasn’t particularly fond of digging obsessively into complicated politics, shady schemes, or hidden circumstances. But not liking something didn’t mean she couldn’t do it.
"I am."
If it was necessary, she did it. Having felt uneasy ever since her conversation with Meister, Berserk struck up a conversation with them to put that feeling to rest.
"Oh…Sorry. I wasn’t sure because I’d never heard your accent before.”
"I understand."
"Gainir and Pamir are from Blue Desire. I’m from Sky Boar.”
"Blue Desire and Sky Boar are both gone. That’s why we travel together.”
"And you?”
"Moonshadow, but I cut ties with them now.”
"Oh… Right.”
Berserk followed them into the makeshift stable. There was one horse she recognized and three she had never seen before.
Neeeigh.
"Why are you acting up all of a sudden?”
"Pamir! We’re back."
"Ah, you’re finally awa–...Who’s that behind you?”
Berserk deliberately suppressed her presence, trying to show some consideration toward the anxious horses. Apparently they were more sensitive than ordinary horses because all four trembled their lips a few more times, but once she consistently maintained a harmless demeanor, they soon calmed down.
One of the men who had been struggling with the snorting horses finally approached her.
"Berserk.”
"...Of Moonshadow?”
"I've fulfilled my duty to that place. I’d appreciate it if you were more careful from now on.”
"Ah, my apologies. I wasn’t expecting that…I’m Pamir of Blue Desire.”
After exchanging a northern-style greeting that differed from tribe to tribe yet was still more or less the same, they properly settled in for a conversation. The furniture had all been thrown out, but the heated platform remained, so there was plenty of room to do so.
"Why are you with them?”
"That’s kind of a long story……”
It would have been better if they had liquor and food. As Berserk thought of the items particularly good at loosening people’s tongues, she listened to their story with a relaxed demeanor.
She judged that if she showed that she was impatient and pressed them, they might become wary.
With Meister refusing to say a word, these people were her only way to resolve the doubts in her mind. She absolutely couldn't make them suspicious of her.
"…and that’s why we joined them. If we head south, there’ll at least be something to eat.”
"Hmm. So that was the reason.”
"Yes, yes."
"Then why are you looking after these horses now?"
"Ah, we were asked to. If they left them with a tribe…you know, right? They’d get eaten.”
"That’s true.”
Fortunately, whatever else the name Berserk might mean in other places, it carried incredible weight in Norda. She made full use of that and asked what she wanted to know.
"Still…as far as I know, horses aren’t animals complete beginners can look after among themselves. Especially not if we’re talking months rather than a short period. They should know that, so I don’t understand why they made this choice. Getting to the end of the world should take far more than a day or two, right……?”
"Well, about that……”
She brought up the questions that had come to her mind the instant she heard the Demon Knight had gone to the end of the world. Pamir’s expression immediately turned awkward. Should I tell her or shouldn’t I? It was clear what he was thinking.
Berserk looked away from the conflicted Pamir and turned her attention to the others. He seemed rather cautious, so she wanted to pick someone whose tongue looked looser.
"A month? Does it really take that long? That’s strange. Pamir, didn’t they say they’d be back within ten days?”
"...Gainir!”
"Good grief.”
Ah, so it was that guy. Berserk flatly stared at the man who clearly looked like he would spill everything with just the slightest prod. Of course, her brows and facial muscles were drawn into a hard frown so he wouldn’t notice what was going on behind her eyes.
"That’s impossible. It’s true they’re strong…but just crossing the Eternal Sanctuary should take more than five days.”
"Really, Great Warrior?”
"Yes. It did when I went there as well. And I only checked the very edge of the frozen lands before turning back, yet more than a month had passed.”
"Pamir! What the hell is going on?!”
"...Calm down, Gainir. They didn’t go alone.”
Just what method were they using that made them think they could make a trip in ten days? Berserk leaned her already crooked posture even more to the side.
"Having more people doesn't shorten the physical distance.”
Bauti, who had been trying to calm Gainir, let out a faint sigh, while Pamir swallowed a groan. Their faces said they had picked up on the unspoken pressure that keeping quiet here would make things very unpleasant.
In the end, Pamir raised both hands.
"...That’s not it. Hah. It’s because a Divine Beast stepped in.”
"A Divine Beast?”
But what he had mentioned was the very existence she had half-suspected and deliberately dismissed.
A Divine Beast, or a Primordial Beast. The Phoenix.
"The Phoenix?”
"Yes."
"I thought that being was moving around the front lines.”
"I don't know the details either. All I heard was that they must absolutely go to the end of the world.”
The Phoenix. The Phoenix, huh. That explained both why they were confident they could make the trip within ten days and those traces outside. More precisely, it explained those things and nothing else.
She still couldn’t understand why it had abandoned the front lines to come here.
"Are you sure it was the Phoenix?”
"The priest confirmed it, so I think so?”
"...Not too long ago I saw similar traces to the ones in front of the village…in other places as well. Many of them didn’t just appear either. Some were already there over a month ago.”
Why had it been traveling all over Norda in intervals like that?
Berserk lowered her voice as she brought up the part that stirred the most unease in her. She had to hear at least this much. The instincts that had saved her time and time again were shouting in her ears.
"That…I don’t know either. We only came along because they said they’d take us with them when they headed south.”
"Nothing comes to mind?”
"Not really. I can’t think of anything……”
Sharp bastard. Berserk clenched her fist at the man who kept his mouth firmly shut whenever it came to anything important, clearly unwilling to be scolded by the Demon Knight’s party.
Should she force it out of him? She might end up making an enemy of the Demon Knight, and would whatever answer she got really be worth that? The uncertainty born of ignorance was the only leash holding her back.
“Ah! Gainir, I think I know!”
"......!"
"Wait, hey……!”
"They’re going to pick up a corpse!”
"...You!"
"...A corpse?"
And then that idiot lowered her a lifeline.
"They said that was absolutely secret……!”
A corpse. A corpse. Whose?
"Tell me."
Berserk’s instincts whispered softly in her ear. That’s it. That’s it.
"What do you mean, they’re going to pick up a corpse?”
Ah, had her older sister’s remains, which she couldn’t find no matter how hard she searched, really been missing simply because Berserk had failed to find them?
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