WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 113: Aftermath - 2

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The first condition for rock-paper-scissors to become a battle of wits was when someone began trying to read the other person's moves.

The regressor hesitated for a moment, probing my intentions.

'What is this? A mind game? Hmph. What a pathetic trick.'

"Then I'll throw paper."

"I knew you'd say that. See? You're still being indecisive."

"What?"

Before the regressor could flare up, I quickly shouted,

"Here we go! The contest that will decide whether Nabi lives or dies! What will happen?!"

The second condition was when the stakes were enormous.

When mind games mixed with desperation, rock-paper-scissors became an entirely different genre.

'Dogs and cats are beasts that get along with humans, and they have the largest beastkin populations. If both stabilize, the disaster coming in the future will be far less dangerous too.'

The regressor widened her eyes and focused on the match.

The moment she started thinking, though, her defeat was decided. I grinned wickedly to myself and shouted,

"If you don't throw, you lose! Now, scissors!"

'He said he'll throw rock, so I should throw paper... No, he might have said that so he could throw scissors instead. Then I should... Pretend to throw scissors, then switch back to paper!'

She had fallen for it after all. And she had even chosen the ambiguous option of paper. Tsk, tsk. Even without mind-reading, you'd have won.

Don't resent me too much, regressor. The outcome had been decided the moment you accepted a rock-paper-scissors match against a mind reader like me.

"Rock!"

'Huh? Wait. There's no way that bastard will fight fairly. Why did I assume this would be a fair match?'

Heh heh heh. Of course it wasn't fair. Realizing it now was too late. In rock-paper-scissors, I had the absolute advantage of being a mind reader, so victory was guaranteed...

"Paper!"

'I almost fell for it again! Fine. Don't play along with what he wants! I'll throw paper, then watch what he throws and change mine!'

Huh?

What did she say?

Wait, you insane regressor. Why were you changing the very premise of rock-paper-scissors? This wasn't changing the genre of the game. You were turning it into a contest of reflexes!

'Heaven-Reversing Boundary, Response Form! Take the action that beats whatever the opponent throws!'

She was even using energy arts?

The Heaven-Reversing Boundary reflexively reproduced a movement set in advance. It caught the opponent's motion through energy spread across the body, making the gap between recognition and response incredibly short.

At this rate, I would lose. I had to stop her. Yet both the regressor and I had already thrown our hands.

Damn it. She said she'd throw paper, so I should change mine slightly while throwing and make scissors...

'Fist.'

Right. Just win, then.

The result of rock-paper-scissors was simple. I had scissors. The regressor had rock.

By the great laws of rock-paper-scissors, I lost. It hurt all the more because I had been certain I would win.

Goddamn it. I had lost. And of all things, I had lost at rock-paper-scissors.

If she had simply changed her mind on a whim, I wouldn't have felt so wronged. But I had been winning until that cowardly regressor overturned the game itself!

The regressor checked the result and opened her eyes wide.

"...Huh? What? I won?"

"Looks like it. Wow. Congratulations on your victory, Shei. Thanks to that, Nabi gets to keep her life."

'What? He didn't use any trick? Was he really trying to play ordinary rock-paper-scissors?'

Rock-paper-scissors was rock-paper-scissors. What even was ordinary rock-paper-scissors? Why did such a simple game need the modifier ordinary?

I sent a resentful glare at the regressor who had dragged the contest into a physical battle and stolen my victory.

The regressor, who had a terrible personality, enjoyed my glare and sneered at me.

"Heh heh. I won? What was that about a man's weapon being his fist? You threw scissors yourself."

"I suppose so. Compared to a true man like you, Shei, I'm still lacking. I acknowledge my defeat. Your manliness surpasses mine."

'...Wait. Why doesn't that make me happy at all?'

While the regressor tilted her head in confusion, Tyr, who had been watching the contest from afar, quietly signaled to me.

Tyr's blood-red eyes gleamed with warmth for me alone.

"Hyu... If you wish it."

If I wanted, she would deal with Nabi even if it meant clashing with the regressor.

I immediately shook my head.

"No. Rock-paper-scissors is a sacred contest. We have to follow its result."

It was the most peaceful agreement humanity had ever devised to settle petty conflicts. Even if I had lost, its sanctity did not disappear.

A winning gambler had to accept the occasional loss. That was what made victory more valuable.

Then there was only one thing I needed to do now. I had to make sure Nabi could safely move around outside despite being steeped in drugs.

Sigh. What a life.

"Azzy. Lick her for me."

"Woof? Her?"

Azzy tilted her head and looked at me, then gave Nabi a quiet growl. I let out a long sigh and stroked Azzy's head.

"What can we do? Since we're letting her live, we need to treat her from now on."

"Woof... I don't want to. She's annoying."

"It's fine. I'll make sure she doesn't attack anyone. If she doesn't attack, she'll become a good friend of yours."

"Woof."

Azzy barked in dissatisfaction, but after my repeated persuasion, she reluctantly agreed. When Azzy stood beside Nabi, Nabi let out a pitiful, terrified "Meow..."

Azzy looked over Nabi's wounds as she grovelled and pleaded, gave a soft bark, then lowered her head and began licking Nabi's injuries.

Nabi curled up, thinking Azzy was about to bite her. Once she realized it was not an attack, though, she accepted the grooming without resistance.

"Woof woof."

Azzy's little tongue steadily worked over Nabi's ankle. The bite marks Azzy had left began healing slowly, visibly.

"Looks like she didn't get rabies. Well, Azzy licked her, so she should be better now."

The cure for a curse carried in one's teeth was one's own saliva.

It wouldn't be a complete cure, but it would stop the condition from worsening. After cleaning the wound on Nabi's calf, Azzy gradually worked her way up toward her thigh. Since Azzy's tongue was so small, even licking one calf took quite a while.

It probably wasn't good for Azzy to smell so much blood. Should I ask Tyr to use bloodcraft to clean up just the blood...? The Beast King was a sacred being. Would her blood count as that too? While I was considering it,

"Hyu."

"Yes?"

Tyr called me.

When I turned around, she tightly grabbed my sleeve and began pulling me out of the training room as though she were impatient.

"Leave."

"Yes?"

Tug, tug. The force pulling on my sleeve was no joke. I was dragged along helplessly.

"It is an improper sight. You must not watch. Quickly."

"No, that's just grooming."

"...Must I use force?"

"But the air in this room somehow feels unbearably heavy. I should go outside for a walk."

Callis was also continuing her lightning campaign in the instructors' room at the far end of the hall. There was nothing good to gain by staying where I could hear an immortal's anguish, so I decided to withdraw.

The regressor watched me and sneered.

"Hmph. You understand now, don't you? I'm not the strange one. You're the strange one for taking that scene so calmly..."

"Shut up and come out too, Shei of the Iron Fist."

"W-what? Why... Ah!"

'Right! I'm disguised as a man!'

I wished she would get a grip. What was she planning to accomplish with that kind of awareness?

Tsk. No, it was fortunate she couldn't act. If her ego had been weak, would she have stayed sane through all those regressions? Yes, it was better that she was like this.

"We have something to do, remember? Hurry up. I'll teach you how to roll magic herb."

"I don't smoke magic herb."

The regressor firmly refused. Her response was so reflexive that I wondered if she had used the Heaven-Reversing Boundary.

'If I depend on something like that, my resolve will crumble every time I regress.'

She was diligent too.

"I'm not telling you to smoke it, so just come along."

When I glanced back, Tyr had called forth a thick darkness and was watching me as though she were guarding against me. The darkness already filled every direction so completely that nothing could be seen, yet her red eyes continued to follow me.

Why was she being so defensive? This was really unfair. Even if they looked human, beasts were still beasts...

"...What are you looking at? Go quickly."

The blood-red eyes that had once held warmth only for me now held sternness only for me.

Fine. There was no reason to stand around watching beasts groom each other. I left the training room as though I had been chased out.

Hmph. I was in a bad mood, so I would take it out on the regressor.

As I led her toward my room, I brought up the matter at hand.

"You heard the basic story, right? The King of Cats is steeped in drugs right now. Special magic herb made from catnip and World Tree leaves."

"Yeah. I never thought that was how you controlled the King of Cats."

"You won't be able to get magic herb in the Abyss, so what were you planning to do?"

"...Wouldn't she just quit?"

"That means you hadn't thought about it. Understood."

'Kgh...! It's true I hadn't thought of a method...! But still!'

The regressor shamelessly made excuses.

"You can't get drugs in the Abyss anyway. Then she'll have no choice but to endure it, right?"

"Think about it reasonably. Do you think an addict will stay quiet just because there are no drugs?"

"If it comes down to it, we can subdue her by force..."

"How are you any different from the Lords of All Creation? Forget it. Follow me."

The dejected regressor pressed her lips together and followed behind me.

As I walked, I took out the magic herb I had collected. They were catnip magic herb cigars made specifically for Nabi, scraped together by searching the lieutenant colonel and the colonel.

"These are six Nabi-exclusive magic herb cigars I got from the colonel and lieutenant general. If we just give them to Nabi, how many days do you think they will last?"

"Since there are six... If she carefully saves them and uses one every three days... Eighteen days?"

"One day. If an addict has any amount in their own hands, getting rid of it within a day is their nature."

How could someone who had never used drugs understand the heart of an addict?

Sighing, I entered my room and opened a drawer. The eleven magic herb cigars Callis had supplied were still inside. I took them out, lined them up on the table, and spoke seriously.

"No matter how carefully we ration them, keeping it below one cigar a day will be difficult. So what should we do?"

The leaf wrapping around a cigar was made from incense tree leaves that absorbed scents.

I tore apart the outer layer of a magic herb cigar. The moment the leaf split, a cool, sharp scent poured out and cleared my head. The faint mana spread throughout my body reacted to the magic herb and flowed through my veins.

Enjoying the refreshing sensation, as though someone had opened a window in my head, I said,

"We increase the amount of magic herb."

"Can you do that?"

"Nothing is impossible in this world. The higher the quality of the magic herb, the easier it is to increase the amount. More precisely, we can make it carry only a faint trace of the scent and trick people into thinking it's a premium product. These Nabi-exclusive catnip magic herb cigars even contain a small amount of World Tree leaves..."

The First Holy Maiden, who was always mentioned in the Sanctum's scripture, had supposedly performed a miracle by feeding a thousand people with a single sheep.

I was no different from her now.

I spread out paper and scattered the dried magic herb leaves over it. I used low-grade magic herb as a base, coated it with catnip magic herb containing World Tree leaves, then rolled it into a cylinder and folded the end slightly to seal it.

Once I finished dividing it up, I announced,

"Ta-da. I mixed two low-grade magic herb cigars with one Nabi-exclusive catnip magic herb cigar and divided them properly. Would you look at that? We now have five Nabi-exclusive catnip magic herb cigars! What do you think?"

This was magic. This was a miracle.

The number of cigars had multiplied as though they had reproduced. Feeling pleased with myself, I brought one of them to my lips.

"Hey. What are you doing smoking it?"

"Whoops. My body moved on its own."

Goddamn it. I could have made at least a hundred Alke per cigar if I sold these outside. And I had to give them to a cat?

My hands trembled. I barely pulled my fingers away from the cigar they kept trying to cling to.

As I unraveled another magic herb cigar to continue working, the regressor stared at the increased supply and made a suggestion.

"If I give you more World Tree leaves, can you make more?"

"You have more World Tree leaves?"

"Yeah."

"One or two won't be enough. How many do you have?"

The regressor immediately created a crack in the air and stuck her right arm into the pocket beyond it. After frowning and rummaging around with her arm a few times, she pulled it back out.

In her hand was a small ginkgo branch lush with leaves.

A branch of the World Tree. With countless leaves still attached.

"Is this enough?"

That was absurd. The guardians of the World Tree would sell leaves, but they would never sell branches. How in the world had she obtained one?

"What exactly do you keep in there?"

"More or less anything I need."

"Not even leaves, but an entire branch..."

"Here. Take it."

The regressor handed it over without hesitation. Was her sense of money broken, or did she simply not care because she would regress anyway?

World Tree leaves were saturated with life force. When mixed properly, they could multiply the effects of any herb without causing any side effects.

In other words, rolling them together with magic herb would create magic herb cigars several times more effective.

World Tree leaves did not dry through ordinary methods, so I had to touch each one and draw out its moisture with Acus magic. As I roughly tore the dried leaves into long strips, I tilted my head.

"Wouldn't this stop being cheap?"

For someone like me, who sought profit by stuffing cheap materials inside, filling them with even more expensive ingredients felt utterly unfamiliar.

Was this how rich people thought? Had I spent my whole life as too much of a commoner?

Before long, I had made a total of sixty magic herb cigars. Far from becoming addicted, someone would probably get healthier the more they smoked them.

"Magic herb made with World Tree leaves... Can I try just one?"

One cigar was a precious item that could stop the King of Cats from going berserk, but for a smoker, it was an irresistible temptation. If I could endure this, I couldn't even claim to smoke magic herb anywhere.

The problem was the regressor.

"Go ahead."

She gave permission surprisingly easily.

What was this? I quickly picked up a magic herb cigar and said,

"I'm going to smoke magic herb, so get out."

"Huh? Why? I said you could."

"I don't want to blow smoke in front of a child. Hurry up."

"What? A child?"

The child who was only strong flared up at my words, snatched up a magic herb cigar from the desk, and shouted,

"I can smoke something like magic herb too! Want me to show you?"

Sigh. Of course. I put down the magic herb cigar I had picked up. What was the point of smoking magic herb in such an isolated place?

It was expensive, and one cigar was practically the King of Cats' life. Even if I kept it, I would have to hand it over when Nabi ran out. Regretful as it was, I decided to put aside the part of me that was a smoker for now.

If there were any left after we escaped later, I would steal one and smoke it then.

"Ah, forget it. Adults should set an example."

"I said you can smoke!"

Leaving the regressor chattering noisily behind me, I trudged out.

'This regression... I came here intending to abandon it, putting off other matters too. But I can't abandon it anymore.'

'I secured the King of Cats, the King of Dogs is fine, and Tyrkanzyaka is normal. I even stopped the Lords of All Creation from carrying out their attempt. I still don't know what changed from the previous regression, but... Now I need to find out.'

'How far this regression can go. How much further it can advance.'

Footnotes:

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