WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?
[Translator – Aren]
◈ Chapter 360 Even though The Right Eye Cannot See (1)
"Wait, wait, Great Warrior!”
Berserk took a step toward climbing the Eternal Sanctuary. The voice ringing out behind her belonged to the young piper.
"Great Warrior!”
Of course, the girl couldn’t catch up to her. The difference in physical ability between Berserk and the girl was like that between a small hill and a towering mountain.
"I-I!”
But even if she couldn’t catch her, she could still call out to her. Just as Berserk, when she was young, had been unable to stop her sister but had called her name endlessly.
Berserk glanced back at the girl, who was shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Will I…ever get to see you again, Great Warrior?”
Berserk felt strange all of a sudden. The unexpected question led to another, then another, throwing a chain of strange questions at her.
"Will you come back to the tribe?”
Could she really return to this place? Could she survive and see the girl again?
"Please…can’t you just tell me you will?”
One thing was certain, though. Until she learned what had happened to the remains of her sister, she would never return here. That much was as clear as day.
"...Please, please, Great Warrior.”
But…yes. The day she found what remained of her sister would probably never come. If a Primordial Beast truly had taken the corpse, there was no way she could ever get it back.
No, could she even reach the end of the world alive to begin with? Could a journey across a wasteland with nothing but flowing fire and snow to the end of the world truly be made at all? On that vast expanse of land, was it really possible to find exactly where they were?
Even if, by one in a thousand chance, she managed to do exactly that, would she even make it in time?
"Young piper.”
At the end of those questions, Berserk felt like she saw her future.
I’m going to die without accomplishing anything. It was a premonition cried out with the certainty of a 100-year-old elder speaking of the truth the end of their life itself had taught them, or a person with a blade through their lung instinctively knowing their time had come.
"Live freely.”
And yet, even if that future awaited her, she was fine with it. She had always felt that loss was far more painful than her own death, and that was what had driven her soul mad.
"You can go anywhere, and you can become anything.”
Because of that. Because it had always been like that.
With her back to the young girl, Berserk walked toward the end of her world. Just as her sister once had.
* * *
"Whoa!”
Had I gotten completely caught up in that uneasy feeling? Once a scream snapped me fully awake.
Fwoosh! My hand shot forward, acting before reason could catch up. The things lunging at Deathbringer were engulfed in flames.
Fsssh!
I didn’t just stop there either. I thrust my sword toward the ones Daniel was fighting as well. One of the three he’d been desperately holding off split apart.
Fssh. Correction. Two of them split apart. The second had been cut by Aerotelk’s blade. My eyes were naturally drawn to the simple yet extraordinary path of their sword.
"Are you alright?”
"I’m fine. Thank you, Sir.”
Meanwhile, with Aerotelk and me each taking care of one, Daniel was left in a one-on-one fight and easily drove the last one back. There was something quite practiced about the way he slashed with his sword and swept at it with his free hand.
Fwooosh!
"What happened?”
Ah, I was wondering why he’d swung his hand as well. It seemed like doing that extended the stagger duration.
I flicked a spark at the cosmic speck, whose stagger had gone from one second to two. Fwooosh. The flames devoured the black mist, buying us some breathing room.
"Well……"
"A crack in the world.”
Had Aerotelk managed to recover their breath before Daniel could explain? They, their breath unshaken, flatly answered me. They kept their sword rigidly pointed in one direction.
"In the language of Norda, you might also call it the Glacier Trial.”
"That’s……”
Whoa, an actual Gate!
I slowly blinked at the rift, which looked like a shattered window. I’d seen that kind of stuff plenty of times in movies and game CGs, so it wasn’t exactly shocking. It just felt kind of weird.
"So it’s a literal crack.”
“...That thing suddenly appearing really gave us a lot of trouble.”
"...If you hadn’t come, Sir, we would have been in some serious trouble. Thank you again.”
"It’s something I should’ve done anyway.”
Seriously, how many genres did this world jumble together? And what the hell are these cosmic specks that keep crawling out nonstop even now? Is this the kind of setup where they just keep coming through until that thing closes?
"Are those going to keep leaking out?”
"They’ll keep coming until the crack is closed.”
Looks like that was really how it worked.
"How annoying.”
I glanced at the black, galaxy-filled space visible beyond the crack, then fired flames at the specks coming out of it. Watching them burst into flames one after another felt like disposing of waste.
The instinctive disgust one felt toward trash crossed with the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that came from seeing those filthy things dealt with.
"How do we close the crack?”
"To close it……”
Still, we couldn't keep this up forever. My Arcane Power wasn’t infinite.
"You don’t know?”
"...Enter the crack and kill the leech feeding on the dimensional wall."
"I see."
But how did Aerotelk know all of this? Being a wizard didn't really explain that. The Glacier Trial was a secret strictly kept by the people of Norda. More than that, it was a secret only really shared among their warriors.
I could assume Aerotelk knew because they were close to the Tower Master, but something about that didn't sit right with me. My gaze kept going toward them.
“How do you know that?”
“Does it matter?”
“Not really. I’m just curious.”
I’d known they were suspicious from the moment I agreed to take them along. But when I kept seeing them display a level of knowledge I didn’t expect them to have or swordsmanship that was clearly anything but ordinary, my curiosity naturally kept surging up.
「...Um.」
‘What?’
「...Ah, nevermind.」
‘What is it? Just say it.’
「No, it’s just… I think I might just be imagining things.」
‘That’s fine. Tell me anyway.’
Besides, there were other people living in my head who could point out the things I might have missed. The boy, whose confidence seemed to have completely shattered and scattered in all directions, continued hesitantly.
「Umm, it really isn’t anything major…but I think that wizard learned Munmund swordsmanship. I could be mistaken, though.」
Despite the boy’s lack of confidence, those words weren’t nearly as insignificant as he made them sound. My fingers, which had been tapping against the hilt of my sword, tightened around it.
Of all places, Munmund.
'...Elaborate.'
「Well…swordsmanship differs a little depending on the region and the school. Things like footwork, how you grip the sword… And that person’s swordsmanship is strangely similar to Munmund’s style. It’s a bit hard to pin down, though.」
'...I don’t know much about Munmund, so is Munmund swordsmanship something you see often?'
「Of course not. Swordsmanship is a kind of secret art as well, so they don’t just let it spread around. If that person dropped out partway through or learned it from someone who did, then there wouldn’t really be much anyone could say about it, though.」
'Right. I get what you mean.'
I thought back to when Aerotelk joined us. White Crow had definitely only said that they'd honed their combat skills but never said they’d formally studied the sword.
Of course, the former statement could include the latter. But language carried context through nuance as well, right? If you heard the former, you’d usually picture someone training on their own before you imagined them being formally taught.
'In that case, Faust.'
「Yes.」
'Setting Mumnund aside… Do you get the feeling you’ve seen that person’s swordsmanship itself before?'
「...Actually, a bit. I’ve only seen a few of their movements, so I’m not sure.」
'That’s enough.'
In that case, maybe this careful bit of misdirection really was meant to hide something. Whether it was this wizard’s identity…
Or something beyond even that.
"Wizard."
"What do you want?”
"I apologize in advance if this question might offend you. But I’d appreciate it if you answered me properly.”
"Mister?”
I decided to ask Aerotelk the question I’d been carrying around, regardless of the confused looks Deathbringer and Daniel were giving me.
I’d held back until now because I knew it was an extremely rude thing to bring up with them…but with this many doubts piling up inside of me, I couldn’t do that anymore. I opened my mouth, fully prepared to be seen as a jerk.
"What exactly is the magic swordsman White Crow wanted to create?”
The guy mentioned my existence when mentioning creating a magic swordsman. From that, I’d been able to roughly picture the kind of “magic swordsman” White Crow had in mind…but now I found myself wondering again.
Was the magic swordsman White Crow wanted to create really the same thing I had imagined?
"How ironic. That the one asking that question is none other than you.”
"So, the answer?”
"A being who possesses immense Arcane Power yet has no difficulty controlling their body. One capable of producing miracles indistinguishable from magic even without wielding magic. That’s the magic swordsman White Crow desired.”
"...I see. Then my second question.”
And one more.
"Are you a failure?”
Was this person really someone I didn’t know?
"M-Mister!”
"...Sir."
The others reacted with shock before the person I’d been talking to. Their expressions practically screamed, ‘You, of all people, are asked something like that?!’
"...Truly rude.”
But there was nothing I could do about their shock right now.
I focused on the wizard. I couldn’t tell what emotion was causing it, but I could clearly see their fingertips trembling.
"I apologize for that. But this is something I can’t back down on.”
If I had my way, I would’ve preferred to direct my anger somewhere other than this person, but if my suspicion was right, there was no way that person would ever admit it outright. So even though I knew this wasn’t the right thing to do, I deliberately struck at Aerotelk’s pride.
Because if they really were the person I had in mind, there was no way they would let this slide.
"Yes. I’m a failure.”
...Wait, are they not? Was I wrong? From what I remembered, if they really were that person, there was no way they would’ve just let that provocation go.
「Erm… Is there a problem?」
'No.'
No… Maybe not. Maybe I’d misread their character, or maybe I was just mistaken… There were endless possibilities.
I put those thoughts aside and asked my final question.
"Why did you come with us when you weren’t really desperate to?”
"You ask a lot of questions.”
"I apologize for that as well. I simply thought someone of your caliber wouldn’t have joined us just because the Tower Master told you to.”
We really couldn’t afford to waste more time now. I gradually moved toward the crack as I waited for the wizard’s answer.
But when no answer came even after that much time passed, I figured they were pissed enough that they didn’t want to answer me anymore. I’d expected that possibility, so there was nothing I could do.
"I’ll be back.”
"I’ll come too……”
"Stay here, just in case."
Just as I was about to step into the crack. “I…” The wizard finally spoke.
"I will kill Pride.”
Unfortunately, I never heard what came after that. Crack. The crack suddenly widened greatly, and something like a dot appeared in the space visible beyond it. The crack began stretching farther and farther upward.
"......!"
[Dodge!]
I wasn’t sure what happened after that. All I know is that instead of consciously processing anything, I moved on instinct, threw two people behind me, then wrapped myself around the one person left as if shielding them.
Boooom!
When our bodies hit the snow, a roar washed over us like a wave. Snowflakes floated upward, creating the illusion that the positions of earth and sky had been reversed.
"Gugh."
A ragged groan came from beneath me as I twisted myself and lifted my body. The snow that had settled across my back slid off, and my view turned toward the sky.
"......!"
"Th-that’s…"
Holy shit. My lips parted slightly as I stared at the enormous snout protruding through the now-massive hole. Aerotelk, whose view opened up when I shifted aside, reacted similarly. The sheer shock of it hammered at both our minds.
[Fall back! Now!]
Thankfully, we weren’t simply left exposed to that unknown thing. The Vermilion Bird, having rushed over, beat their wings in the sky.
Their solemn shout and the torrent of flames raining down seemed to make clear just how serious the situation was.
"Let’s go.”
Now. While the snout was getting roasted by flames, I quickly pushed myself upright. I didn’t forget to offer Aerotelk a hand while I was at it. Pulling themselves up with help would be faster than getting up alone. Even though they hated physical contact, they didn’t refuse this time.
-Tap, tap.
Anyway, we retreated quickly. By the time we finished running around in a panic, we had reached the two people I’d thrown behind me earlier.
"S-Sir. Th-thank you, but next time, I would appreciate a warning at least…"
"M-My nose is bleeding……”
Apparently neither of them had landed well. Daniel was rubbing his lower back, while blood streamed from Deathbringer’s nose. I felt kind of bad.
"...I’m sorry."
"It’s fine……”
But the situation earlier was just too urgent. Even now, I glanced at the thing forcing its way through the crack while pushing back the flames. I still had no idea what it was, but my instincts were very certain about one thing. It sure wasn’t friendly toward us.
The other two, who had been whining about their own pain, fell silent the moment they noticed it as well.
"Vermilion Bird, explain.”
So what the hell was this thing that had suddenly appeared here? At my question, the Vermilion Bird swallowed a groan before answering.
[One of the things the Noble Dragon had been holding back. It seems that, as of today, the limit has finally been reached.]
Their answer didn’t exactly offer any sort of solution, though. Goddammit.
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