WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 69: Lunar Eclipse (7)

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Viktor stood before Jersian.

A few minutes earlier.

The boy had headed straight for Alice as soon as he arrived.

Then he cut down the vampires surrounding her.

Behind his white clown mask, he calmly looked at the girl.

"Miss Alice."

"V-Viktor...? You came!"

"Please take care of the people in the cathedral."

"What?"

Thump.

With only that brief request, he shoved her shoulder.

Alice passed the [Wall Clipping] check and teleported away.

She landed face-first in a corridor.

"Uh, uhh...?"

As she looked around, she soon realized she was indoors.

It was the cathedral building Viktor had torn through moments ago.

More precisely, its basement, where the kidnapped people had been held.

The villagers who had just been freed were gathered there, hiding and whispering among themselves.

'The villagers...? Did Viktor free them?'

There had to be at least three hundred people.

Only then did Alice understand the situation.

Please take care of the people in the cathedral.

'Of course.'

If they stayed gathered here, they would only become targets for the Ghouls again.

Viktor had a reason for choosing her.

'Someone has to lead them.'

They needed someone to take charge.

Someone to fend off the approaching Ghouls and evacuate everyone safely.

That was the role Viktor had entrusted to Alice.

'He left it to me.'

Alice steadied her wavering heart.

She briefly worried about Carmilla, but pushed the thought out of her mind.

If Viktor had arrived, it meant his plan was proceeding as intended.

Alice trusted him.

That alone was enough to make her act at once.

"E-Everyone! Please listen...!"

Alice drew everyone's attention.

Her delicate voice cut through the restless crowd.

"I'm a member of the Slayers! M-My name is Unnieon! I'm a subordinate of Deputy Commander G-Garulik, who saved all of you just now!"

"The Slayers...?"

"That's the person from earlier! The one who got us out of the basement...!"

"He even cured the people who turned into Ghouls!"

"They're from the same group? D-Did they come to rescue us?"

"Come to think of it, they're both wearing similar masks..."

Fortunately, perhaps Viktor had spread the word beforehand, because the people quietly listened to Alice.

In that sense, introducing herself as part of the Slayers had been the right choice.

Alice carefully explained the situation.

'First, we have to leave the cathedral.'

That was Viktor's instruction.

She had to get everyone out safely and evacuate them beyond the cathedral.

'But... there are too many. There have to be at least three hundred people.'

The Ghouls were still prowling outside.

She couldn't simply send the people outside and expect it to work.

Alice sank deep into thought.

'The problem comes after we leave the cathedral. They'll definitely pursue us, and we can't leave this many people standing in the middle of the street.'

They needed shelter.

Somewhere they could stay out of the pursuers' sight and barricade themselves in if they were discovered.

They had to hold out there until this situation was resolved.

That meant finding a nearby building large enough to hold everyone.

'Ah... the grain warehouse!'

As Alice pictured the area in her mind, she quickly recalled a building that fit the conditions.

The grain warehouse.

It was close too.

Less than five hundred meters from the cathedral.

Alice mapped out an escape route to get there.

"Everyone! From now on, p-please follow me! Take care of each other so no one gets left behind...!"

She moved quickly.

Alice deployed Trump cards around the group to help the people evacuate.

With Alice leading the way, they set off toward the grain warehouse.

Whenever the Ghouls tried to close in, the Trump soldiers held them back.

-Krrr...

-Screee, screeeech!

-Woof! Grrk, woof!

Perhaps because of the commotion, the nearby Ghouls turned their attention toward them.

They had tried to move as quietly as possible, but that was difficult with so many people.

With every step, Alice found it harder to shake the feeling that they were being surrounded.

'No.'

A chill ran down her spine.

The Trump soldiers were gradually being pushed back by the sheer number of Ghouls closing in.

'At this rate... people are going to get hurt soon.'

These were people who trusted her enough to follow.

The stronger men had taken the lead, striking away approaching Ghouls with clubs, but even that would become impossible once their numbers grew too large.

Alice grew anxious.

'We still have about five minutes left...'

Only five hundred meters.

Even with such a large group, it should have taken no more than twenty minutes.

A route she would normally walk without thinking now felt impossibly far away.

Ghouls had begun lying in wait even in the winding alleys.

-W-What is that...?!

-Watch out over there! They're coming out one by one from the side streets!

-Let's each watch a direction! At this rate, we'll all be eaten!

The people began to panic.

They had run into a wall.

Alice clenched her fists as she measured the remaining distance.

'I have to find a way.'

They lacked firepower.

There weren't enough soldiers to break through this encirclement.

In that situation, Alice had no choice but to make up her mind.

'A way...'

There was only one thing she could try now.

The crown floating above her head.

Her clear blue eyes trembled softly.

Alice hesitated, then bit down hard on her lip.

'Let's do it.'

This wasn't the time to retreat.

Even if she had to push herself too far, she had to fulfill her role here.

Alice slowly closed her eyes.

Then she sank into a hazy state of consciousness.

-Miss Alice.

-Please take care of the people in the cathedral.

Words whispered like mere fragments.

Yet they were enough to push her forward.

'I don't want to disappoint him.'

He had entrusted her with this role as if it were only natural.

She wanted to show that she could do it, as if it were only natural.

Because he believed in her.

Because she didn't want to disappoint him.

'I can do this.'

Kuuuuung!

The black crown began to shake violently.

When she practiced with Viktor, she had succeeded a few times.

Though her success rate had been less than ten percent.

'I can't make a mistake this time.'

She had been driven into a desperate situation.

That precarious position instead pushed her mental strength to its limit.

Dreams seeped from her fingertips, and white cracks spread around the crown.

'Stay calm. Remember practicing with Viktor...'

Something the old Alice never could have imagined doing.

The moment she faced a difficult situation, she would have curled up in terror.

Rather than confront the nightmare, she would have desperately searched for somewhere to hide.

But not anymore.

-Miss Alice.

-While you're with me, learn how to control your Nightmare Transformation.

Because someone had taught her how to fight.

Because someone had held her close.

Because someone had promised to come save her, even if she fell into the mire.

-If you succeed in controlling your Nightmare Transformation, you won't be tormented by nightmares anymore.

-You'll be able to live an ordinary life, like the other children.

-I'll give you that kind of life.

Only he had told her that.

Only he had reached out to her.

So Alice tightly grasped that white hand.

Crimson-black mist surged beside her flowing black hair.

"Awaken...!"

Sharararark!

A sound like cards flipping over in succession.

Before long, white soldiers sprang from the writhing mist.

<[♠̶̲̰̞̳̭̬̞̯̃̿͛͢͞]>

<[♥҈̧̜̮̫͖̫͉̳̰̀́́̒̄̑͊͝]>

<[♣҉͉̰̤̖̝͉҇͌͋̍̑͢ͅ]>

Trump cards.

Excluding the four queens and two jokers, forty-eight cards remained.

The number of soldiers, which had been only nine, multiplied several times over.

The nightmare, pushed far beyond its limits, looked ready to break free of control at any moment.

Pitch-black shadows crackled and swelled as though they would twist into grotesque forms.

"Awaken...!"

But the queen's cry did not permit it.

A voice that neither trembled nor wept.

The girl's resonance awakened the nightmare.

The two consciousnesses pulling against each other tipped toward awakening.

At the boundary where nightmares and dreams mixed together, a delicate sword swung.

"Awaken!"

Alice.

A girl who had always been swept along by nightmares.

But today, her dreams would not become nightmares.

<[♠]>

<[♥]>

<[♣]>

The scene turned brilliantly white.

Clack!

The chaotic cards aligned at once.

They neatly knelt before their sovereign and paid their respects.

"..."

Whoooosh.

The queen's banner fluttered, black as night.

Alice.

The epithet the world had once given her.

Because she embraced the night, they named her after that pitch-black light.

"That's an order."

Black Queen.

The sovereign who ruled over all dreams.

"Protect the people."

Her clear command became the final blow, completely driving the nightmares from the soldiers.

The Trump cards then scattered in every direction, helping the people evacuate.

The Ghoul horde that had been closing in was cut down without mercy.

-The path is open! Everyone, hurry into the grain warehouse...!

-We're here! Don't push, move slowly!

-The strong men stay behind until the end, and the elderly and children go in first!

The path had been cleared.

The surging crowd kept order and safely entered the grain warehouse.

Not a single person was left behind.

"Haa..."

Alice entered last.

Only after she closed the door and gave the soldiers a few more orders could she finally collapse.

The mental strength she had poured out in such a short time and the power that continued to drain as the soldiers moved left her feeling as though her consciousness might cut out at any moment.

'Not yet...'

Still, she gritted her teeth and endured.

Though she swayed for a moment, Alice looked into the distance beyond the window.

The plaza where Viktor and Carmilla would still be fighting.

With a faint breath, she murmured.

"...Viktor."

Please.

Hoping that both of them would be safe as well.

Footnotes:

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