WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 42: ■■■’s Nightmare (7)
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‘The Red Knight.’
The boss monster in charge of Lacquer Night, the first Calamity.
While Ranne and ■■■ fled from it, I moved about in secret and took care of my own business.
Maybe it was because I had prepared so thoroughly.
Everyone seemed firmly convinced I was dead.
‘Well... I had similar clothes, a similar mask, and even a lump of flesh to play the corpse.’
If they still didn’t fall for it after all that, that would have been scarier.
I ran around with such pointless thoughts in mind.
Speed was everything in this plan.
I had to search every inch of Area A, which was sealed off by the barrier.
Of course, I hadn’t done it alone. As always, Her Highness had lent me a hand.
[Viktor.]
“Your Highness.”
[When I went to the places you told me about, there were indeed other students there. They must be the students trapped in Area A with us. I knocked them all unconscious and moved them somewhere safe. I dealt with them so quickly that I should not have left any trace of my presence.]
“Thank you for your hard work.”
All the students caught up in this had been moved to the edge of the barrier.
If they started making a fuss for no reason, the plan could go awry.
Everything was proceeding smoothly.
“I have finished my business as well.”
While Carmilla ran around, I made a wide circuit through Area A.
I found and destroyed every magical recording device placed throughout the forest.
It would have been troublesome if the faculty checked them later.
There was demonic energy everywhere anyway. I could just say they exploded from an overload.
“And lastly...”
I discreetly retrieved the crystal ball I had tossed into the test site a few days before the practical exam.
With this, the preparations were perfect.
Once we finished our work, we returned to the scene.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps because the Red Knight had gone on a rampage, the forest had been utterly wrecked.
The red armor stood tall enough for its head to nearly touch the ceiling.
Before it were only two girls, pitifully beaten down.
Ranne was unconscious, while ■■■ sat on the ground.
“Looks like I arrived at just the right time.”
The girl’s black hair was a mess, and blue-green eyes had gone dark and lifeless.
■■■ only muttered under her breath.
As if she were speaking to something that did not exist.
-Yeah...
-Do whatever you want.
She whispered the words.
There was no way to describe what happened next.
A few seconds after her lips parted, ■■■’s nightmares spilled into the world.
It was a horrific sight.
If you visualized the word apocalypse, it might look something like this.
‘So that is it.’
■■■’s nightmares.
All kinds of monsters crept out with sickening sounds.
Monstrous birds, queens, chess pieces, playing cards, rabbits...
Ominous things swarmed as an ominous mist spread outward.
‘Wonderland.’
The name of the third of the Seven Calamities.
I calmly watched the horrifying scene before me.
They were all things ■■■ had summoned.
‘Dream.’
The girl’s ability.
The power to turn fantasies into reality.
Wonderland was a type of nightmare that fed off that power.
[What on earth is that...?]
Carmilla muttered blankly.
It was hell.
The charging monsters brought down the Red Knight, then tore apart its armor and pulled out its organs.
The tentacle-like insides were mangled beyond recognition.
Soldiers rampaged in madness while queens radiated overbearing killing intent.
A familiar mechanical sound rang in my ears.
Ding-!
[You have cleared the main quest!]
-Title: Lacquer Night
-Details: Defeat the boss monster, ‘The Red Knight.’
[You have stopped one of the Seven Calamities!]
-A special reward has been provided. Please check your inventory.
I had cleared a Calamity.
But I had no time to open my inventory.
The next moment, my status window was dyed bright red.
Beep! Beep!
[An Emergency Quest Has Occurred!]
[An Emergency Quest Has Occurred!]
[An Emergency Quest Has Occurred!]
Urgent notifications unlike any I had seen before flashed past.
I brushed off my sleeve and quietly gripped my scythe.
[Emergency Quest]
-Title: WelcometoWonderland.
-Details: Stop the Nightmare Transformation of ‘■■■(Project Alice-02),’ currently rampaging.
-Penalty upon Failure: The Black Queen, the apocalypse, will reign.
-Reward: WelcometoWonderlandandworshiptheHeartRedWhiteandBlackQueenswhoreignovertheworld.
[Time Limit: ???]
The letters in the status window twisted strangely.
Leaving the flashing red light behind me, I headed toward the girl with light steps.
‘Yeah.’
This was what I had been waiting for.
The moment the nightmares emerged from inside ■■■.
‘Let’s give this a try.’
The corners of my mouth curled beneath my mask.
From now on, I intended to crush the girl’s nightmares.
* * *
“......”
■■■ sat there blankly.
A boy had appeared before the girl just as she was about to be swallowed by nightmares.
“Hehe.”
It was a scene no different from hell.
Yet the clown was laughing even amid such a sight.
His face was hidden by the mask, but the girl was certain he was grinning.
“......How?”
■■■ murmured in a daze.
Those were the only words that escaped.
Every part of this situation was full of questions.
Even the swarming nightmares were briefly pushed aside by the confusion.
‘How?’
The girl had even confirmed the corpse, so how was he alive?
With nightmares spread so far, how was he unharmed?
How had he made the White Queen vanish just now?
How had he appeared as though he had been waiting for this?
What did he intend to do with this situation?
How.
How.
How.
“......”
Perhaps because the thoughts were so hopelessly tangled, no voice would come out.
Unable to form even one sentence, the girl’s throat only trembled.
Something the girl could not understand.
Maybe it had been that way from the beginning.
From the day the girl watched the boy from beyond her dreams.
‘The unknown.’
The boy’s very existence had always been unknown to the girl.
■■■ even forgot to continue asking questions.
When the girl looked up at the mask, everything around them fell silent.
The world sank into a lukewarm stillness, as if bewitched by something.
“Well.”
The clown did not answer.
He only tilted his head playfully.
“Do you really need to know?”
The boy looked down as though asking whether the girl truly wanted to know.
■■■ remained frozen, unable to nod.
“Well... we can talk properly later. I think we should deal with the urgent problem first.”
A hand gently stroked the girl’s head.
Flutter.
Then he draped something over ■■■’s disheveled body.
It was the school uniform coat he usually wore, taken from his robe.
“Please wait a moment.”
The clown asked brightly.
He then gripped his scythe and slowly turned his head.
A horde of nightmares teemed behind the clown.
“Wow... There sure are a lot of them.”
He muttered faintly.
“I got one queen already, so do I just need to get the other two...?”
The minimum condition for calming the situation was to instantly kill the queens commanding the nightmares.
The clown took quick steps in place.
“Your Highness.”
“What is it, my loyal retainer?”
Carmilla was somehow standing beside the clown.
Silver hair cascaded down, and red eyes gleamed between the strands.
The clown casually said to her, “Please take care of Miss Ranne and Miss ■■■. Please make sure neither of them gets hurt.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“I need to make a quick trip. There are a few of them I need to take down.”
“Be careful. Those things give off a sinister aura.”
“You don’t need to worry. It’ll be over in an instant.”
The next moment.
The clown’s silhouette flickered and leaped through space.
Only sparks remained behind him like an afterimage.
Crackle.
<[♥♥♥♥♥]>
<[◆◆◆◆◆◆]>
Perhaps startled, the surrounding nightmares looked around.
The vanished boy reappeared high in the air.
‘Jabberwock.’
The shadow that had been flying overhead all this time.
A monstrous bird as large as the Red Knight.
Standing atop its head, the boy drove his scythe down.
“I will start with this one.”
THUNK-!
The blade plunged deep into its crown.
Ignoring even the creature’s tough hide, it slid in smoothly, as though cutting tofu.
Starting from where the scythe struck, the monstrous bird’s form began to melt away.
<[SKREEEE-!]>
Jabberwock thrashed to throw the clown off, but he only muttered calmly.
“Activate. Thorns.”
BOOM-!
Dozens of thorns exploded from the blade’s edge.
The monstrous bird’s head burst apart without even leaving behind a silhouette.
Jabberwock lost its strength and fell.
Crackle.
The clown’s body flickered once more.
This time, he appeared among the playing-card soldiers.
Before the soldiers could even notice him, he was already swinging his scythe.
“Hup...!”
SHWAAASH-!
The blade swept cleanly in every direction.
The playing cards touched by the scythe immediately melted away.
Without hesitation, the clown ran through the fading creatures.
SHWAAASH-!
SHWAAASH-!
Each swing of the scythe swept away cards like autumn leaves.
After he cut through the forest of playing cards, the Queen of Hearts came into view.
<[♥♥♥♥♥]>
It looked more like a mannequin than a human.
A heart was drawn on its face, which had no eyes, nose, or mouth.
It had been backing away, using the soldiers as shields.
But.
“Where do you think you are going?”
SHWAAASH.
A wall shattered into pieces from one light swing.
The clown was already right before the Queen.
The corners of the clown’s mouth were torn to just beneath his ears.
At the same time, a dark crimson arc cut through the air.
“Did you think you could run away?”
Slice.
The Queen of Hearts was killed without even a chance to resist.
One of the three queens, a central pillar of the nightmares.
Yet its neck was severed with absurd ease.
Its cleanly severed head flew away, while its body collapsed onto the ground.
“Phew... This is tiring.”
Despite his words, the boy calmly brushed off his sleeves.
Countless sliced-up soldiers lay at his feet.
The clown’s mask only grinned.
“Then... there’s only one left now, isn’t there?”
The Red Queen.
The boy spoke while looking at the last remaining queen.
“......”
■■■ watched the scene blankly.
It was something the girl could never have believed.
‘This can’t be...’
Nightmares the girl thought could never be resisted.
A life that had forced the girl to keep running away.
The loneliness of crying alone in silence, letting the heart rot, unable to ask anyone for help.
-When you live long enough.
-Maybe someday, you’ll meet someone who’ll save you.
And yet, the girl still wished for salvation, a contradiction.
The foolish longing for someone to take the girl’s hand.
Because the girl wanted the sadness and pain to end.
-■■■.
-You can definitely be happy.
At the end of it all, the girl had wanted to be happy, just as someone had said.
■■■, ■■■.
A child who should never have been born.
And yet, if the girl still longed for something...
-For example?
-Maybe a prince on a white horse will come and save you.
The girl held her breath.
Life glimmered in pupils that had been stained black.
Resignation peeled away from the girl’s eyes, and tears welled up.
Clear tears mixed with the bloody tears that had been streaming down, diluting them.
“Ah...”
The sobs gradually grew louder.
Without realizing it, the girl tightly gripped what rested over her shoulders.
The coat the boy had draped over her, the fabric still holding his warmth.
‘...The person my sister talked about.’
A prince on a white horse.
The person who would save the girl.
Looking at his back, ■■■ thought,
‘Maybe.’
Even this terrible life might finally see the light.
Footnotes:
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