WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 12: Man, the Tool-Using Animal

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Riiiiiiiiing-

Today's alarm, too, came at me as something beyond mere noise. It was painful.

Was this what it would sound like if a steel cicada screamed its heart out? It felt as if thin blades were slicing up my ears. Unable to bear it any longer, I sprang out of bed and shut off the wall-mounted alarm.

The fact that headaches were becoming part of my daily routine was far from pleasant. Clutching my throbbing head, I ground my teeth.

"Ugh. That damned alarm."

Military state alarms could be set earlier, but never later. No matter how late you set one, it automatically blared at eight in the morning. The noise was practically an attack.

There was a joke that if you wanted to find a corpse, you should look for a house where the alarm was still ringing. It was not completely baseless. Nobody could endure that noise unless they were dead.

The only way to sleep in was to smash it, but then there was no guarantee I would wake up tomorrow. In the military state, where every part of the day meshed together as precisely as gears, being late was practically a crime.

"Vicious bastards. Would it kill them to let people wake up more gently?"

After stretching fully, I stood before the sink and looked into the mirror. My face was split along the cracks in the broken glass. One crack twisted the corner of my mouth just right, hiding my expression.

I was wearing a standard-issue shirt, the clothes the military state had given me before they put me in restraints. It had only been a few days, but the shirt was already badly wrinkled.

"I should do laundry soon. And find a spare set of clothes. I can't be a one-shirt gentleman forever."

People had lived here, so there had to be something I could wear somewhere. Once I finished washing up, I headed outside, intending to find even a set of worn-out clothes.

"Woof."

Then I shut the door again.

I gripped the handle tightly, braced my foot against the door, and thought.

Why was that ball of fur waiting outside my room? Was she planning to drag me out for a walk first thing in the morning?

"Woof woof."

No. Absolutely not. I had too much to do here. I was already the only one feeding her, so I had to cook every day. If I had to walk this horrible food vacuum every day too, I would have no personal time at all.

What was so bad about taking her for a walk? She was the King of Dogs. Naturally, she took walks like a king.

"Woof woof woof."

I heard her scraping the door with her front paws. The laborers' quarters had no locks, so every time her paws struck the door, it rattled and jolted my body.

Azzy was not even trying to break down the door. She was only scratching it. The problem was that even that felt like being hit by a battering ram. At this rate, I would run out of strength before the door gave way.

During a siege, outnumbered defenders often opened the gates and charged. Not because they were stupid, but because they wanted to do something before exhaustion made them collapse helplessly.

With the heart of a general facing the fall of his fortress, I reached for the doorknob.

"This is it, you damned beast."

I was afraid. How could I not be, when I was about to face a monster that could separate me into blood, flesh, and bones with one gesture?

Still, dogs were creatures loyal to humans by nature. Azzy, the King of Dogs, held boundless affection for humanity and did not attack without good reason. She might give me a little bite as a sign of defiance, but she would not tear me apart completely.

Until now, I had treated her like a master to build goodwill. From now on, things would be different.

Humanity would not lose anymore.

I would not submit to the demands of beasts.

I would fight back. Even if it killed me.

I opened the door with that firm resolve. Azzy, sitting in front of it, looked up at me.

She was camped at my doorstep like a debt collector, so I shouted at her as gravely as I could.

"What do you want from me, you horrible beast?"

"Woof?"

If she shamelessly demanded a walk this early, I would put her on a leash and throw her outside. If she begged for food like a pig, I would make a special meal loaded with spices and feed it to her as dog food.

It did not matter that I lacked the ability to win a fight. What mattered was my attitude. The stubborn refusal to sit still and accept defeat!

This is it, you mutt!

"Woof."

As I made that vow, Azzy slowly crawled over to my feet. Then she plopped down again and let out a long yawn.

Huh. She was not asking for a walk? She was not pestering me for food?

I waited for about a minute just in case, but Azzy only tapped me now and then with her tail.

"You just came to see me. Whew. That's a relief."

Even the King of Dogs was still a dog. She needed companionship with humans. The other humans here had slight issues when it came to bonding with a dog. The regressor had no time to spare, and the vampire did not have a life. Right now, I was the only one the King of Dogs could properly bond with.

Relaxing, I slowly reached down. Azzy, who had been yawning, saw my hand and rubbed her face against it.

"Right. This is what a pet should be like. You finally understand your place!"

Humanity was the undisputed ruler of the land. That was why the Beast Kings could wear human guises and speak human language. As Speakers for their species, the Beast Kings had to be able to communicate with the dominant species of the land.

Like every other dog, she was overly lively and quietly stubborn, but unlike them, she could communicate at any time. Stroking Azzy's head, I twisted my lips into a grin.

"Heh heh heh. That's right, good girl. Isn't it nice when you're obedient? I don't even need to lift a finger!"

There was no better beast than a dog that listened well. Fine. I could tolerate her this much.

"You're so well-behaved, I can put you to good use. Follow me, Azzy! I need your nose to search the control room."

"Woof!"

I headed to the control room, and Azzy immediately got up and followed me.

If this were an ordinary prison, there would have been a tall tower beside it.

The tower would have stood two stories taller than the roof of the Re-education Facility, looking stiffly down at prisoners and laborers swarming like ants. Countless searchlights, like the eyes of deep-sea fish, would have watched every prisoner closely. If any prisoners slipped into the shadows to avoid the lights, it would have screamed like a child who had lost a toy and found them somehow. There was no need to explain what would happen to them afterward.

But this was Tantalus, a place that held only the most vicious prisoners, people even the military state could not control.

To manage prisoners here and survive, the military state would have had to make a suitable investment. Deploy soldiers, or send someone with the strength of a general.

Naturally, that was impossible. Wasting that much force on mere prison guards would have been horribly inefficient.

Rather than pour endless manpower and resources into managing this place, they had decided it was more economical to abandon it. They dropped the prison into the Abyss and washed their hands of it. Kill each other or keep each other alive, do whatever you want.

Anyway. That was probably why Tantalus had no tall, imposing watchtower. It only had a square temporary building that looked like a warehouse, a container structure separated off by a modest fence.

It was not even intact anymore. Frowning, I climbed over the collapsed fence.

"Ugh, what a complete mess."

One wall had collapsed entirely. Judging by the huge handprint-shaped mark on it, someone had smashed the wall with their palm. The iron plates reinforcing the building had dozens of small holes punched through them, as though someone had shot arrows at them for target practice. The metal around those holes had melted. What had they shot at it? Fire arrows could not do this.

The roof had caved in miserably. I did not need to search for the reason. A huge chunk of concrete with steel framework sticking out of it, something you would see at a construction site, had slammed down onto it. One of the building's four corners was missing in a shape that looked like bite marks...

But no creature could have a mouth that large. It had to be my imagination, right?

What on earth had happened here? I was walking carefully, all tensed up, when the ground suddenly shook. I quickly lowered myself and looked down. Someone had sliced cleanly through the concrete floor as though it were cake. That was probably the regressor's work.

Something seemed to have happened here, but I was only a mind reader. I could not know what had happened in the past. All I could do was guess that tremendous hatred and violence had swept through this place.

Unable to take another step, I scratched my chin and looked back at Azzy.

"Azzy, do you remember what happened here?"

"Woof! Everyone fought!"

"Yeah, but who? Why were they fighting? Could you explain it in detail, following the who, what, when, where, why, and how?"

"Woof?"

"No. It was my fault for asking you."

Azzy would not have taken anyone's side. Being loyal to all humans also meant being equally indifferent to all humans. No matter how much goodwill I built with her, she probably would not take anyone's side if I fought someone else.

Come to think of it, that pissed me off. I had treated her so well, and she would not take my side?

"Sigh. All my efforts are for nothing. No matter how much I feed you and walk you, a dog is still a dog..."

"I like walks!"

"I know. I just don't like them as much as you do."

"Woof?!"

Azzy's eyes widened in shock. Was it really that shocking that I did not like walks very much?

Perhaps she had suddenly grown anxious, because she began bouncing around and spoke more fluently than I had ever seen.

"Woof! Walks are good! They're cool! Sometimes you see strange things! They're fun!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"There are lots of good things about walks! They feel good! Lots of room! You run around!"

So what? Was she trying to convince me? Sigh. No matter how far I had fallen as a prisoner, would I really let a dog persuade me?

Having passionately explained the virtues of walking with what she considered advanced vocabulary, Azzy looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

"You don't like walks?"

"I like walks too."

"Woof!"

Don't get happy yet. Watching Azzy spin in circles, I added briefly.

"I just like lying down and sleeping much more."

"W-woof?!"

"It's late. Let's go."

Right. What was the point of asking her? I had to investigate it myself.

While having a conversation suited to her level, I stepped over the door torn into three pieces and entered the control room.

What had they done to tear a door apart like paper? It was an iron door.

Maybe I should just go back.

There was not a single light inside the building, so it was dark. If the roof had been intact and the walls had not collapsed, the interior would have been pitch-black, with nothing visible. Thankfully, light leaked in through holes no architect had designed, making it bright enough to distinguish objects.

As expected of a control room, I could see things that had once been machines amid the collapsed and shattered wreckage. I said "once" because they had been damaged so badly that their original forms were barely recognizable. Scattered bolts and nuts. Cracked gears, control panels with their frames torn off. Golem arms and legs ripped away in a bleak fashion.

The machines and magic golems that had once managed this place had been completely wiped out by something's attack.

"Looks like they smashed everything while breaking out. I can understand that feeling."

They've taken such good care of us, so let's leave them needing care themselves. A perfectly righteous attitude. Muttering meaningless words, I rummaged through the mountain of wreckage. If the military state had left behind any items or equipment, I intended to pick them up and use them.

There was too much debris, though, and it was dark inside. Lost in the darkness with no idea where to begin, I straightened up and wiped away sweat. The building had seemed narrow from outside, but now that I had to search it myself, it felt irritatingly large. Every piece of debris was so heavy that I had to groan whenever I lifted one.

Even if there were treasure hidden in the darkness, I had no way to find it or the ability to claim it.

"Tch. Was this a waste of time?"

Just as I decided to leave, Azzy suddenly turned her head and burrowed into the wreckage.

Every time she dug through the ground with both paws, large pieces of debris flew through the air with strange noises. I hid beneath the collapsed roof and waited for the chaos to end. Azzy casually tossed aside reinforced concrete and a large antenna, then wagged her tail furiously as she pointed at a small cabinet lying inside.

Realizing what it was, I slowly stood up.

"That's an important-items storage cabinet. You found it somehow."

"Did I do good?"

"Yeah. Good girl, good girl. You're the best puppy."

"Woof!"

When I patted her head in praise, Azzy hopped around the cabinet. I grabbed the handle on its side and pulled with all my strength.

The cabinet's side was badly dented. Either it was firmly locked or something had gotten stuck, because it did not open no matter how much force I used. It seemed to be structurally jammed. Not because I lacked strength.

But who was I? A human with intelligence. And the defining trait of humans was tools.

"First-class, second-class, and third-class. Which class of lever do I need here?"

"Woof! Walks!"

"First-class, idiot."

"Woof? I'm not stupid!"

I shoved a steel beam into the bent gap and pushed down as hard as I could.

...It did not open.

Ahem. But who was I? A human with intelligence. When my strength was lacking...

"Azzy, can you help me?"

"Woof? I'm not stupid!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Here, Woof Woof Punch!"

"Woof woof?"

"It means hit this spot with your front paw. Hard."

"Woof? Like this?"

The moment Azzy lifted her paw, I turned and ran. Behind me, Azzy's arm blurred through the air.

Boom.

With a deafening crash, the cabinet rose about three meters into the air. Its tightly locked door spun away and embedded itself in the roof. The steel beam I had used as a lever fell to the ground, bent into a V shape. The cabinet, which had been floating in the air, crashed headfirst onto the ground.

Woof Woof Punch certainly got results.

"Good girl. You're the best puppy in the world, after all."

"The best?"

"Yeah. The best."

"Woof! I'm the best!"

Leaving the proud Azzy behind, I looked inside the cabinet. There were several crystal balls that seemed to have been set aside as spares, along with a few paper documents. Was that all? It felt a little disappointing.

As I looked inside one more time, unwilling to give up, I saw a round object glinting like lead in the back. It had been too dark to see clearly. I reached deep inside and pulled it out.

Then I let out an exclamation without realizing it.

"My god. This was still here?"

This.

I could use this.

Footnotes:

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