WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 76: To the Princess, To the Knight. (3)
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“...Huh?”
Carmilla's pupils trembled blankly.
For some reason, she looked surprised.
“Princess? What's wrong?”
I tilted my head as I asked.
She had frozen the moment I took off my mask, which made things a little awkward.
Perhaps my voice brought her back to her senses. The girl belatedly shook her head.
“Ah... S-Sorry.”
“Are you all right?”
“It was just... I thought you looked like a normal, handsome man. You have a surprisingly gentle-looking face, too...”
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
Handsome.
Of course, that didn't seem to be all there was to it.
Her reaction was too extreme for her to have merely thought my face looked nice.
Carmilla seemed to watch for my reaction, then cleared her throat awkwardly before asking.
“Ahem, ahem... By the way, didn't you say there was no particular reason you wore a mask...?”
“That’s right.”
“No, um... You have a scar on your face...”
“Ah.”
Was she worried about the scar on my face?
A burn-like scar stretched from my right cheek to beneath my chin.
Maybe its size had startled Carmilla when she first saw it.
“I hope you didn't force yourself to show me just because I asked...”
The princess mumbled hesitantly.
Was there another royal in the world as kind-hearted as this one?
She seemed worried that she had made me reveal a wound that made me uncomfortable.
‘It’s not a big deal.’
I didn't particularly like showing my bare face, but it wasn't something I needed to hide even from people close to me.
It was more that having my face exposed made me self-conscious.
Not enough to interfere with everyday life, though.
If I had to give an example, it felt like going about daily life without underwear.
“You don't need to worry so much. I told you I was fine.”
“Is that really true...? Still, perhaps you're, f-feeling offended...”
“Not at all.”
“I-I see. That's a relief, but...”
There wasn't any special story behind it, nor was the scar particularly meaningful.
I had burned it myself right after transmigrating.
Something I'd always had in my previous life was missing from this body, so it bothered me every time I looked in the mirror.
Of course, Carmilla would definitely think I was insane if I told her that, so I gave her a vague excuse.
“It’s simply a scar I got when I was young.”
“It must have hurt a lot...”
“I can't even feel it anymore. It happened so long ago that I barely remember it.”
“Still, isn't it a shame on such a pretty face? Your parents must have been heartbroken, too...”
“Ah, that part's fine. I was an orphan with no family in the world, abandoned at birth.”
“Ah...”
Carmilla froze.
Her gaze wandered aimlessly.
“Ah, um... I’m sorry...”
“It really is fine. I don't even know what either of them looked like.”
Carmilla fidgeted, then suddenly blurted it out as though she had decided to confront the matter head-on.
“I-I don't have any either...!”
“Pardon?”
“I lost all my blood relatives as well, so aren't I in the same situation as you, Viktor? Th-Therefore, I understand your pain deeply! Since we understand one another, isn't that the ideal relationship between ruler and retainer...!”
Good grief.
What was I hearing right now?
Carmilla had just launched into a terrifying self-own.
My head throbbed.
‘A double self-own is a bit much.’
Maybe she thought she had stepped on a land mine.
She tried to fix things somehow, only to short-circuit completely.
It was only after I repeatedly told her it was fine that I managed to calm Carmilla down.
Stroke, stroke.
I patted the overloaded girl's head.
As I did, I quietly mulled over what she had said.
‘Come to think of it... Every member of the Slayers is an orphan.’
Carmilla's parents had been executed by her uncle.
I had heard that I was left at an orphanage as an infant.
Alice had been born in a way that made having parents impossible in the first place.
In short, all three of us were orphans.
Looking at it that way, I felt a strange sense of belonging.
Even if you added up all our parents, the answer was still zero.
‘There are three of us, but the number of parents is zero.’
I decided that from now on, I should only recruit orphans.
I couldn't destroy this perfect balance.
Besides, wasn't it unfair?
A member with more parents than me, the deputy commander.
‘Unforgivable.’
I even wondered if I should rename the organization from the Slayers to the Orphans.
That way, non-orphans who ruined the concept wouldn't be allowed to join.
I clenched my fist with firm resolve.
As I continued worrying over a matter that could determine the organization's survival...
“...”
I felt a gaze poking at my cheek.
Carmilla was glancing at my scar.
I smiled awkwardly.
“Does it still look a little ugly?”
“What? No! I wasn't thinking that at all! If anything, I thought it looked like a flower. Y-Yes, I thought it was pretty...”
“Haha, thank you, even if you're only saying it to be nice.”
“I truly mean it!”
My scar wasn't actually that ugly.
One side of my cheek was simply covered like a stain.
Still, a flower.
That was the first time I had heard that compliment.
‘Hmm... Is it really?’
I wondered whether the princess was simply being too considerate toward me.
I let out a small laugh, touched by the thought.
“Ahem.”
I put the clown mask I had been holding back on, then rose from the bed.
After straightening my clothes, I turned to the girl.
“Then... Shall we head out soon?”
“Head out? Didn't we have no plans to go out today?”
Carmilla tilted her head.
With a meaningful smile, I held out my hand.
“There’s something I’d like to show you, Princess.”
“To me...?”
“You'll know if you come with me.”
“...?”
Her red eyes blinked in confusion.
* * *
An hour later.
After using Wall Clipping several times, we arrived at a village that was quite familiar.
“This place is...”
“That’s right.”
Lunar Eclipse.
The setting where that event had taken place.
The village where we had faced Jersian together.
The village was bustling as restoration work continued.
“Hey, carry these bricks over here!”
“Let's clear away the rubble! Anyone with nothing to do, lend a hand!”
“Move it carefully...! It'll collapse at this rate!”
Villagers hurried back and forth.
Every one of them was carrying materials or clearing debris piled up in the streets.
It was quite different from the village during Lunar Eclipse, when it had been as dreary as could be.
“Shall we take a look around?”
“...”
I escorted Carmilla, who stood there blankly.
The village brimmed with life.
We walked through it together.
No one in the crowd recognized us.
Neither of us wanted to stand out, so we both wore robes with our hoods pulled low.
“Slowly... Keep pulling just like that!”
“We, the Border Knight Order, will handle the dangerous work!”
Armed soldiers had been stationed throughout the village as well.
They stood guard and helped with the reconstruction, lending a hand wherever they were needed.
“They are...”
“The Border Knight Order. I contacted them as soon as things were settled this time, too.”
I had Kantas take care of the aftermath again.
It certainly was convenient to have people who would clean things up after I caused this much chaos.
I also liked that they handled everything without asking questions.
“Kids, don't stand around watching. It's dangerous, so go on home!”
“Everyone, take a break and have lunch!”
“Ugh... My back's going to break. It’s going to break.”
“Over here! We need another support beam over here!”
Ordinary noise.
If we hadn't stepped in that day, even this would never have come to pass.
Every one of them would have been sacrificed without leaving behind so much as a scream.
One night of our time had saved the rest of their lives.
“Princess.”
“...”
Carmilla stood motionless.
The village was somewhat rough around the edges, but it was undoubtedly peaceful.
Her red eyes took in every part of it.
Her gaze was complicated.
Perhaps she couldn't put her feelings into words.
The girl didn't speak. She only watched the people passing by.
“You said you would set things right.”
I stood beside Carmilla.
My smile wasn't lighthearted.
“Traitors.”
“I will set every last one of them right.”
The village, stained with blood and Ghouls.
The image of the girl standing at its center, looking upon the horrors committed by her own kind, overlapped with the present like an afterimage.
“You did it.”
“...”
“You saved every one of these people.”
Her steadfast heart had overcome malice in the end.
She had extended the nobility she believed in to the weak.
The world grew blurry.
The girl bit her lip as though holding something back.
“Wasn't it Viktor who did most of it?”
“The plan would certainly have failed if you hadn't been there, Princess.”
“I only received help. I have no right to boast that I saved them...”
“Princess.”
I wanted to show you.
I wanted you to understand.
“Didn't I tell you? I belong to you.”
“...”
“You simply wielded what was yours and saved them.”
“That’s...”
You were not powerless.
You were someone who didn't run away and knew how to stand against injustice.
Someone who could be ashamed of the corruption of her own kind and sought to set it right herself.
That was why I had chosen you as my master.
“You accomplished this, Princess.”
Someone who would rather break than bow.
I wanted to affirm someone like you.
The path of standing against your own kind.
The path of carrying through on your beliefs, your nobility.
I wanted to show you that path wasn't wrong.
“Thanks to you, this village is peaceful. No one was sacrificed. No one shed tears, and no one shed blood. It’s all because you bestowed your nobility upon them.”
“...”
Carmilla's shoulders trembled.
Thin streams of tears ran down her pale cheeks.
I carefully reached out and wiped away the falling drops.
Along with one final sentence.
“You weren't wrong, Princess.”
Perhaps...
Those were the words you needed most.
“Ugh...”
Carmilla gave no reply.
Only the sound of her quiet sobbing lingered.
Even then, the girl's gaze never left the village.
As though she were trying to remember exactly what she wanted to protect.
“Huh...?”
“Big brother, are those people...?”
How much time had passed like that?
Two children suddenly appeared and hovered in front of us.
“Ah! It really is him! It’s the big brother who saved us that day!”
“Wow... We meet again!”
They looked to be siblings of around ten.
The first children we had encountered during Lunar Eclipse.
How had they recognized us?
We had our hoods pulled so low.
Fortunately, both of them looked healthy and well.
“Ah...”
Carmilla took a startled step back.
It made sense. The children had been quite wary of her.
“That person over there...! They look like those monsters from before!”
“C-Could they be on the side of the bad monsters?”
“Big brother, I-I’m scared...”
“Monsters! Get out of our village!”
“Give back our mom and dad...”
How cruel those frightened words must have been for the girl.
Her shoulders curled inward, as though she feared hearing the same words again.
They were something Carmilla feared more than blood or blades.
Yet the children's response was quite different from what she expected.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you so much...!”
They ran toward us and tightly hugged our legs.
Small, warm bodies clung to our legs.
Carmilla froze at the unexpected warmth.
Regardless, the children held us tightly.
“They said big brother and big sister saved us!”
“Our dad suddenly turned all w-weird... They said big brother treated him!”
“Big sister fought really scary-looking monsters and got hurt really badly because of it!”
“W-We were cheering for you, too. Big sister was really cool...!”
Chatter, chatter.
The children kept talking as they hugged us.
Before the flustered Carmilla, the young boy and girl bowed their heads.
“We're sorry!”
“W-We did something wrong...!”
“Huh?”
“We're sorry for saying bad things back then!”
“You s-saved our village... We kept feeling bad about it...”
“The adults told us! They said you fought the monsters even while you were badly hurt!”
“Thank you, big sister...”
The siblings clung to us, offering endless thanks.
Though startled, Carmilla accepted them.
“Ah... I-It’s fine! I didn't mind at all...”
She held the children in her arms.
She tried to sound strong, but her tears only flowed more heavily.
Carmilla swallowed back her sobs and accepted their apology.
I watched the scene with satisfaction.
‘By the way... They heard about Carmilla's part in this, too.’
That was a little strange.
There was no way they could have seen Carmilla's exploits near the cathedral.
And they said they had watched and cheered her on. Hadn't they been asleep in a corner of the market?
As I mulled over those questions, the children suddenly held something out to us.
“It’s nothing special, but... it’s a th-thank-you gift!”
“We prepared it! Please accept it!”
Rings.
They looked like rings woven from blades of grass.
“Thank you...”
“Oh my, thank you very much.”
We carefully accepted one each.
They had a cute appearance.
The children's innocent show of sincerity couldn't help but touch us.
As I examined the ring closely, a blue screen suddenly appeared before my eyes.
Ding!
[You have cleared the hidden quest, ‘Favor of the Spirits’!]
[You have obtained the item ‘Ring of the Grove (A-)’!]
“...What?”
The sudden notification.
The status window message pointed to the ring in my palm.
Ding!
[Ring of the Grove]
-Category: Accessory
-Rank: A-
-Status: Not Intact
-Description: A ring personally given to you by the twin spirits [Selimin & Selipin], who protected this area. You can receive the spirits' favor within a limited environment. When used together with the ‘Ring of the Wind (A-)’ you received alongside it, you will be able to use a special skill.
“Excuse me?”
I could only stand there in a daze.
The hand holding the ring trembled.
No.
Why was this absurdly overpowered item showing up here...?
Footnotes:
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