WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 126: Don Quixote’s Reverie (10)
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???-Rank Reward Selection Ticket.
It was the ticket I’d obtained through a hidden quest during the last midterms.
Nothing but indecipherable writing covered the smooth black paper.
‘It might be the rarest item I own...’
There had been no ticket like this in the original.
The items listed as rewards were the same.
Item Rank Downgrade Tickets, Cooldown Reset Tickets... None of them had existed in the original.
There was no set way to obtain them, and there was no telling whether I’d ever get another chance.
‘I need to use it carefully.’
Its performance had already been proven.
The [Damaged Item Repair Ticket ×1] I’d chosen as my previous reward.
Back then, I tore the ticket apart and evolved my exclusive weapon into an ego weapon.
‘That was when Lua was born.’
It was honestly absurd.
A single ticket could elevate an ordinary weapon into a growth-type ego weapon...
‘That’s a complete balance breaker.’
It was an item that stood atop the original game’s system.
And I had been given two of them as rewards.
‘I still have one left.’
You could say I’d saved it for this moment.
To force open a buy-one-get-one-free event through Lumiera’s mirror.
A faint smile twisted across my lips.
The bug I was about to use flashed through my mind.
[Title: A Bug I Found Today]
[Author: IPlayGamesToFindBugs]
I found a bug today.
I successfully duplicated the SSS-rank item, ‘Divine Bow.’
I attached the recording at the bottom of this post.
[Has the GOAT arrived...]
-> It’s time for our regular worship.
-> The GOAT of organic compounds...
-> The GOAT among every intelligent lifeform created since Genesis...
-> Ah... A GOAT greater than air conditioning in summer...
[My Bible has arrived]
-> We have awaited only your words...
[Everyone’s making a fucking huge fuss]
-> Haa... What’s so special about a bug guide post like this...
-> (A frog meme where its eyes burst through its sunglasses)
-> Shatter!!!!!!
[???? No, how the hell did you do this???]
-> Doesn’t that mirror only copy up to B-rank items?
-> How the fuck do you duplicate an SSS-rank item??
-> Does this work with other items too? Did you try other SSS-rank items?
-> IPlayGamesToFindBugs) Of course.
-> .....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[HowDoesThisFuckingGameAddictAlwaysFindThisStuffILoveYouSoMuchSeriously]
-> Ahem... Please line up for public proposals.
-> Everyone else is waiting their turn, so cutting in line would be troublesome.
-> Yes, you’ve opened your eyes. Join the IPlayGamesToFindBugs Backdoor Hunting Corps.
-> IPlayGamesToFindBugs) Why the fuck does something like that even exist?
It was one of the bugs I’d discovered in my previous life.
It had drawn one of the hottest reactions, too.
‘The duplication bug.’
More precisely, it exploited a failed check to duplicate items above the permitted rank.
I looked back and forth between the items in my hands.
[Mirror That Recreates Forms]
[???-Rank Reward Selection Ticket]
Only my face was reflected in the pristine surface.
Without hesitation, I moved my hand.
Holding the ticket straight, I slowly rubbed it over the mirror.
There couldn’t be the slightest deviation during this process.
Ding!
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
[This is not an applicable target!]
The mirror kept rejecting the ticket.
I ignored it and maintained a steady rhythm.
Squeak, squeak.
‘Seven times to the left, five times to the right, then three times left...’
I repeated it for a long while.
About thirty minutes passed before a noticeably different message appeared.
Ding!
[This is an applicable target!]
[The mirror recreates the form reflected in it!]
I’d broken through.
As the bug took effect, a faint haze rippled around the mirror.
Ding!
[Selected Item: ???-Rank Reward Selection Ticket]
[Would you like to duplicate this item?]
[Yes/No]
I operated the screen without a second thought.
My finger clicked [Yes], and white light burst from the mirror’s surface.
Fwoooosh!
Immediately afterward, the mirror’s form began to collapse.
The light lost its own shape and took on the form of what it had reflected.
Its transparent body darkened, and its thickness became as thin as paper.
[Duplication complete.]
Before long, I held an identical ticket in each hand.
The mirror had successfully completed the duplication.
They were almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.
After inspecting the tickets for a moment, I carefully tucked both into my robes.
‘I should save them.’
One ticket had become two.
Only amateurs would get excited and use one of the selection tickets immediately.
I had no idea what lay ahead, so these tickets needed to be used with care.
‘It’s about time... for the original story to go off course.’
You could call it the butterfly effect.
It had already been around five months since I’d begun seriously interfering with the scenario.
I’d resolved all kinds of disasters in that time, so the New Kingdom and the Cult would likely start making moves soon.
‘The future ahead will be different from the original.’
Perhaps a little. Perhaps a lot.
It meant disasters I knew nothing about would descend upon the world.
Given that, I needed to keep a few joker cards up my sleeve.
‘I can’t carelessly choose any reward, only to need a different item later...’
I would take out the tickets and use them one at a time when necessary.
Unless it was truly the last possible moment, I would save them.
‘Something feels off.’
It wasn’t just the butterfly effect waiting ahead.
The being I had met today in this courtroom.
‘Delkirn.’
The Evil God, Delkirnos.
Meeting her had gnawed at a corner of my heart with unease.
She had left behind only a few cryptic words, but countless questions still lingered in my mind.
‘What is her goal...?’
She couldn’t have appeared before me for no reason.
The message that had appeared in my status window last time also bothered me.
The words that had appeared when I searched for a book related to Delkirn in Raziel’s Library.
[Tip. Child.]
[Tip. Wh҈̧̰̤̣̓͛̈́̌̊̃͝o҉̲͈̣̬͙͎̽̈́̅̿̅̓̑́̕͢ͅse power do you think that is?]
Looking back, the way it spoke was strangely similar.
I couldn’t be certain, but there was a strong chance Delkirn had sent that message.
‘Power? The power I use...?’
If it was a power unique to me, only one thing came to mind.
Bugs.
Within the system, they were called [Misunderstanding].
But these were just errors that occurred in the original game...
‘What did that mean?’
Could it be that none of them were actually errors?
Were the bugs I’d used until now a single authority called [Misunderstanding], with Delkirn as the source of that authority?
‘No way.’
Then what did that mean?
Was it safe for me to keep using this power?
And could I trust the status window where Delkirn’s messages appeared?
No, how did this status window even exist for me in the first place?
‘Could it be connected to how I suddenly fell into this world?’
Maybe.
Perhaps Delkirn stood behind all those questions.
“...”
It was quite a leap.
Still, it was worth considering as a hypothesis.
‘I need to think this through.’
If I didn’t reason things out, I would only be swept along by the situation.
I always had to understand things and try to control them.
I cooled my overheated mind.
I stepped back and looked down at the situation from a broader perspective.
First.
There was one premise I needed to determine above all else.
‘Is Delkirn... truly hostile to me?’
It was something I’d overlooked because Delkirn bore the title of Evil God, and because we had clashed just moments ago.
Something was strange.
That was, if all the reasoning I’d just done was correct.
Why had Delkirn given me a system called the status window?
Why had Delkirn allowed me to use her authority?
Didn’t it strangely seem as though Delkirn was helping me?
‘That attack earlier was strange too.’
Had Delkirn really been trying to kill us?
She bore the name of a god, yet was that all the power she could wield?
‘If she couldn’t use her full strength because she borrowed the judge’s body, it’s not entirely impossible...’
Still, it didn’t sit right.
Unconsciously, I rubbed my right cheek.
The scar there had bloomed rather large, reaching below my jaw.
‘What if... it’s only a hypothesis for now, but.’
What if Delkirn wasn’t my enemy?
If that was the case...
‘...What am I fighting?’
My thoughts dragged on for no reason.
It wasn’t a question that would yield an easy answer.
Setting aside the thoughts I’d been chewing over, I decided to leave the courtroom first.
‘It won’t be too late to think after we return.’
I had stayed awake for two nights, so my mind wasn’t fully clear.
For now, I needed to return and get some rest.
I steadied my unsteady steps.
With Ranne, who lay in one corner of the courtroom, on my back, I climbed the stairs leading to the exit.
“Haa...”
I let out one final long breath.
Soon, pure white light wrapped around us.
Fwoooosh!
Then the familiar mechanical sound rang out.
My vision faded, and a blue screen appeared.
Ding!
[The hidden area, ‘Temple of Lumiera,’ has been cleared.]
[Chil҈̧̰̤̣̓͛̈́̌̊̃͝d.]
[I will be wai҈̢̛͈̠̱͉͙̈́͋̉̊̆͐̎ti҉̨͇͍͚̊̊͝ng for you in the futu҈̛̱̣͚͔͍̍̓̐̌̀̈́͑͋͜re.]
And so.
The long, long two-day raid came to an end.
* * *
Meanwhile.
Count Kihano’s territory was in an uproar.
It had been two days since Viktor disappeared.
One day since Ranne disappeared.
House Kihano had launched a massive search to find them both.
Even amid the raging blizzard, search parties had set up tents throughout the North.
The girls were among them.
“Still nothing visible in that dream?”
“No... I can’t connect to either Sir Viktor or Lady Kihano.”
“Where the hell were those two dragged off to? I feel like we’ve searched every suspicious place...”
Carmilla.
Alice.
Caitlin.
The girls, too, had stayed up for two entire nights.
Every one of them looked exhausted.
The search through the North had continued without rest.
Yet they had not found even a trace of the missing pair.
The deeply rooted anxiety slowly gnawed at the group.
“...Sniff.”
Alice suddenly fought back tears.
The worst possibilities had been circling through her mind the entire time.
The others didn’t say it, but they felt the same.
“...”
“...”
Silence settled inside the tent.
Time lengthened their thoughts, and those extended thoughts spread like nightmares.
The longer it took to find the two, the more anxious the girls became.
“...We should go search again.”
Caitlin rose from the rock where she had been sitting.
Carmilla and Alice moved after her.
Just as they were about to head out to search once more, someone entered the tent.
Rustle.
The girls’ eyes turned toward the entrance.
“...”
“...”
“...Huh?”
Their blank eyes widened.
A familiar black-haired figure stood there.
“Ahem.”
The boy cleared his throat softly.
A mask covered his face.
He carried a girl with golden hair on his back.
After pausing for a moment, he waved at the girls.
“Um, should I say, ‘We’re back’?”
It was a frivolously playful greeting.
Viktor gave them an awkward smile.
One hand rested against his forehead in a salute.
“Garulik and Unnieon of the Slayers have just safely returned from the Cult branch.”
A declaration of survival.
A few seconds passed before the girls rushed toward him.
Footnotes:
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