WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 13: A Fragment of the End

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Hunting and gathering are ancient human instincts, and the psychological reward of achieving something through them is a venerable pleasure passed down since antiquity.

I was no exception. Having found something incredibly valuable during my search, I felt as though I could fly. Even the fact that this was the Abyss, the chasm farthest from the heavens, could not contain my joy.

It had barely cost me anything, either. I had taken a short walk in the morning, and the dog had brought these back. That was really all the effort it took.

It's lucky this was still here. It's a top-priority disposal target because it's a Level 3 state secret.

Feeling even better, I grabbed Azzy, the greatest contributor to this haul, and ruffled her hair.

"Aw, you're adorable! How can you be this cute?"

"Woof! Woof!"

An ordinary person would become wary if someone suddenly hugged them and called them cute. They would wonder what that person was up to.

Azzy, however, was a dog incapable of suspicion. Azzy, the King of Dogs, was genuinely delighted even by praise that came out of nowhere.

After barking happily, Azzy turned to me and spoke.

"Do you like walks now?"

"Just for today, they're lovable."

"Woof? Love?"

"It means I like them a lot."

"Woof! Me too! I love walks!"

'...Love?'

They said generosity came from a full storehouse. With my pockets full, I really was becoming more forgiving. This little glutton looked especially cute today.

The two of us laughed as we walked out through the ruins.

"Good. Keep behaving this well from now on."

"I'm always good!"

"What do you mean, good? Whenever something displeased you, you bared your teeth right away. Like, grrr."

"Grrr?"

Azzy acted as if she had never done such a thing. No, perhaps she was not pretending. Maybe she had simply deleted any inconvenient memories. Dogs had no shame, after all.

Where do you think you're going? This human remembers everything clearly.

I bared my teeth at Azzy and growled. Azzy tilted her head, raised her tail, and copied me.

"Grrr, rr?"

"Right. Don't growl. Don't bare your teeth anymore. Don't try to bite, either. Even if you're unhappy, use only your tongue for now. Understand?"

"Woof!"

"I'll take that as a yes."

'Don't bare your teeth... Only your tongue... Surely not.'

It was then, as I walked outside while having a serious conversation with a dog.

A chilling killing intent struck me.

'Lightly dressed. Already? No, I followed him down right away. There wasn't enough time.'

The regressor was glaring at me with a cold expression.

Huh? Killing intent? Why?

Before I could react in my confusion, the regressor raised a hand behind her head. With a tap, an invisible sword settled into her fingers.

'Whatever it is, this is only an attempted crime, right? Fine. Let's kill him.'

"Wait, wait, wait!"

I grabbed Azzy by the shoulders and pushed her in front of me. Azzy stared blankly at the regressor, not even realizing I was using her as a shield.

Hiding behind Azzy, I cried out urgently.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but it's all a misunderstanding!"

"What's a misunderstanding?"

"Everything! Especially those shameless thoughts in your head!"

"Shameless? Me? Aren't you talking about yourself?"

"Yes! You filthy-minded person!"

Shing.

Ah, she had finally drawn Skywarbler. I pressed myself against Azzy's back and shouted.

"It takes one to know one. Your thoughts are the most impure to begin with! What on earth do you think I am?"

The regressor answered with cold eyes.

"A beast."

"That's what's strange!"

The regressor was seriously entertaining some indecent fantasy right now. It was so absurd that I was not even indignant. I was just bewildered.

No, seriously. I had been falsely accused of plenty of things, but this was the first time anyone had suspected me of bestiality. Worse, she was about to sentence me to death over something that most people would either scorn or laugh off! From suspicion to verdict, she was worse than the military state!

I put every ounce of heartfelt sincerity into my voice as I shouted at the regressor approaching with a vicious expression.

"With a dog? Don't be ridiculous. What kind of person in the world would have relations with a dog?"

The regressor thought of several people.

From what I could gather, they were probably people who had tried loving dogs in one of her previous lives.

Damn it. Had people even lost their humanity in a future close to the end? What a disgrace to mankind. I pressed a hand to my forehead and cried out.

"I know there are people in this world whom ordinary common sense cannot possibly understand. But at least I'm not one of them! I have perfectly ordinary tastes!"

"...You keep treating Azzy like a dog."

The regressor pointed Skywarbler at Azzy's shoulder, which I was gripping.

"Are you doing that on purpose, or do you really think that?"

"What are you talking about now?"

"Azzy isn't a dog. She's the King of Dogs, a Beast King with the appearance of a human."

Azzy looked back and forth between the regressor and me with a vacant expression. Her large eyes were full of curiosity. She was breathing heavily as if she had just sprinted at full speed. Her golden hair was all tousled.

On the surface, she was a lively, healthy-looking girl.

Only on the surface.

But.

"Trainee Shei."

"Do you understand now? You keep treating Azzy like a dog. Azzy is..."

"Are you out of your mind?"

The regressor flinched at my stern rebuke. I pushed Azzy as far forward as I could and shouted. Azzy only opened her eyes wide as she moved wherever I guided her.

"Trainee Shei, tell me! Is Azzy a person?"

"What? What kind of..."

"Answer me! Is Azzy a person? Is she beautiful?"

The regressor mumbled defensively at my blunt questions.

"Well, she... She looks like a person."

"Did I ask that? What do you think when you look at her? Does Azzy turn you on?"

"Turn me on?! Th-that's impossible!"

"You feel the same way, so why are you saying that nonsense to me? Are you ignoring my dignity?"

"W-well..."

'You're far too close with Azzy, and you're the only man...'

Was I being suspected just for being a man? It was so absurd that I could not even speak. Before Azzy was female, she was a dog. A dog!

Wait. Come to think of it, you're disguised as a man too!

I was so bewildered that it made me angry. I was timid and weak-willed by nature, so I normally stayed quiet even when people gave me trouble. But I could not bear having my morality and dignity questioned. I prided myself on remaining within the bounds of ordinary humanity, and now I was being compared to the worst scum imaginable.

"Trainee Shei, listen carefully."

When anger reached its peak, there came a moment when the mind cooled and reason returned.

This was that moment for me.

I let out a deep breath that rose from the depths of my heart, then calmly began speaking to the regressor.

"Someone throws a ball at a person and tells them to fetch it. Another person greets them in the morning and asks whether they had a good meal. Which one is normal?"

"W-well... The person who greets them."

"You know that well. Then, someone throws a ball to a dog and tells it to fetch it. Another person greets the dog in the morning and asks whether it had a good meal. Which one is normal?"

"Th-that..."

'It is a dog, but...'

You know your own guilt. You knew that yourself, yet you were lecturing me?

I glared fiercely at the regressor and shouted.

"Exactly! Treating a dog like a dog is normal! The strange one is the person who awkwardly says hello and asks whether a dog had breakfast!"

"B-but."

"Azzy looks human? Oh, really? Then should I assume you see Azzy as a person? That you are pretending to treat her like an individual while secretly eyeing her with those shameless, lecherous eyes?"

"N-no! I..."

"You're a man too! Just like me! If anything, you're more suspicious than I am. Why do you always treat Azzy like a person, stalk her, and keep suspecting we have some kind of relationship? Are you jealous or something?!"

"Of course not!"

"Words are cheap! Think back on your actions!"

'If only I wasn't disguised as a man...!'

The regressor, who was disguised as a man, could not refute me. Growing smug, I took a step forward and pressed her further. Azzy must have thought this was a fun game, because she smiled brightly and walked wherever I led her.

"Understand? You're the strange one!"

Reason knew the answer. The regressor knew it too. Logically, she knew whose words were right and whose attitude was more rational.

Struck by my attack, which used nothing but sound logic, the regressor stumbled backward.

"Woof?"

Of course, Azzy, who could not understand anything longer than two sentences no matter how sound the logic was, only looked back and forth between the regressor and me in confusion. That was proof that Azzy was a dog.

A dog was a dog. I had delivered a stern lesson to this regressor who had overlooked such an obvious fact and gotten far too absorbed in it.

"Empty words spoken to a dog. You're the strange one for giving them meaning! Understand? I can say I love her a thousand, ten thousand times! I don't actually feel anything!"

But I had overlooked something important.

Azzy was a dog, but she was also a Beast King, a being chosen by the world to communicate with humanity.

She did not understand complicated words very well, but she could hear what I said.

"Woof?! You don't like me?"

"Huh?"

Azzy looked up at me, her large eyes full of doubt. Her tail, which always spun in circles, drooped limply. Her ears, which were always perked up, sagged.

Before I even had time to panic, Azzy spoke with tears in her eyes.

"You hate me?"

"Ah, well. Azzy, there's a lot to explain."

"Woof?"

Wait.

Hm, wait a moment. Let me think.

The King of Dogs was a dog. I could not explain this with complicated words. Even if I told her we would talk later, she would not listen.

That meant that anything I said to corner the regressor now, Azzy would take seriously.

Now, it was a matter of choice. Should I lower Azzy's affection for the sake of cornering and teasing the regressor further? Or should I preserve her affection and let the regressor go?

...It could not be helped. A moment of pleasure or the future.

There was no choice. I could not ruin a great undertaking over a small amusement in the present.

Having made up my mind, I spread my arms and gave Azzy a broad smile.

"Of course it was a lie. I actually like Azzy a lot."

"A lot?"

"Yeah. A lot. Where else could I find someone as sweet and cute as you here?"

It was not entirely wrong. Compared to a terrifying vampire and a regressor who seemed insane, Azzy was much more helpful.

I could depend on her, too.

If only she could read the mood a little. If only she could endure a little more... She would have been much better.

Still, that was also a trait of dogs. I had no choice but to accept it.

"You like me?"

"I said I do."

Innocent or stupid, her mood changed completely with a single word.

Ah, perhaps she was both.

Yet humans found comfort in such shortcomings, so it could only be called ironic.

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Woof! Do you love me?"

'...Love?'

Why were you asking this when someone was watching? Did someone put you up to this?

No, where did you learn the word love in the first place? Who taught a dog such a useless word?

Oh, it was me. Both times!

Damn it. I was crushed beneath the disaster I had summoned myself. It could not be helped. Since I had brought it upon myself, I had to clean it up.

Ignoring the cold gaze of the regressor, who had regained her composure, I slowly nodded.

"Yeah... That's right."

I could tell a dog I loved it a hundred times. Plenty of people loved their pets more than their fellow humans.

Still, saying it in front of the regressor, who was glaring at me with cold eyes...

It was far too burdensome.

But the situation left me no choice. I swallowed hard. In an atmosphere that had somehow become serious, I moved lips that would not part and barely managed to force out the words.

"I love you..."

Azzy's tail fluttered. They said words carried no weight, but for Azzy, who embraced even small emotions so deeply, they were everything.

Azzy smiled broadly and held both arms out toward me. She leaned against me at an angle, entrusting her full weight to me.

It was the sign of trust a dog showed only to someone close, completely placing its body in their care.

Pure goodwill filled her face. Smiling like a fool, Azzy softened her eyes.

"Woof! I like you too! I love you!"

"Yeah..."

I never thought I would whisper sweet words of love to a dog in my life. Haah.

Azzy jumped into my arms. With trembling hands, I stroked her fur.

And as always.

'I really... can't let my guard down.'

The regressor had become even more wary of me.

Ah. Stop. Do not look at me like that. Do not fidget with your sword hilt while debating whether to kill me. I am not that kind of person.

I only liked her as a pet.

'If that man is an instructor from the military state, as I suspect, and if he came to Tantalus voluntarily, it explains the strength he possesses. I need to be even more careful.'

Ah, and honestly, I understood how she felt. I would look down on someone too if they proudly said they had relations with a beast.

I had neither the desire nor the ability to do that, but even if I did, one should not try to kill someone over it. A death sentence for loving a beast? The punishment itself was strange.

No matter how I thought about it, I could not shake the feeling that this was an excessive response...

'...An organization affiliated with the military state's Special Task Force. A secret society that sought to bring about enemy nations' destruction by controlling the Beast Kings according to the military state's will.'

Uh, wait.

What? A secret society?

'Lords of All Creation. Experts at handling beasts, and a gathering of bigots who hated beastfolk more than anyone. It is highly likely that he belongs to them.'

Several images passed through the regressor's mind.

In an unrecorded past, she stood on a plain. A sword lighter than the wind rested in her hand, but her heart was heavy.

Guilt over failing to stop the end. Powerlessness from being unable to change anything alone. She had failed in this life too. Everyone by her side would die. Yet in the end, she would defy death, open her eyes, and set out to find another future.

A line of terrified people stood beside the regressor. Cold sweat streamed from their hands, and their eyes trembled with fear, but they did not even dare think of fleeing.

If their opponent had been human, they could have begged for mercy. Even if they had to die, they could have pleaded for their families to be spared.

But the opponent coming to kill them this time was not bound by rules made by humans. They wore human forms, but they were not human.

The horizon shook. The earth trembled. A mad charge began. Led by several points, thousands upon thousands of beasts surged forward as though a curtain were being drawn across the land.

They came in many forms. Some walked on four legs, others on two. A few had human bodies, but bore beast ears or had long tails swaying from their waists. Beastfolk, the children of sins humanity had committed in the past. Born human but never treated as human, the bloodlines of beasts killed humans with what they had received from humans.

And before them stood humans who gave off an alien air.

The Beast Kings.

Those who spoke for an entire species.

Beast Kings were strong, but they did not wield their strength directly. They were the Speakers of their species, representatives who conveyed their people's will to humanity.

But if their people's will was to rise against humanity.

If their species had firmly resolved to fight.

The Beast Kings acted on behalf of their people.

And among their people, the beastfolk who could no longer endure oppression and had come to hate humanity took the lead.

Blood, fire, smoke.

Beasts clad in iron and fire attacked humans... Wielding weapons with unleashed savagery, they were no different from disasters.

And the most numerous among the beastfolk who betrayed humanity...

The Beast King standing before them, leading the overwhelming majority of rebels...

The past slipped away with a jolt, and reality came back to me. What I had just read was so vivid that the sight still seemed burned into my retinas.

It was both the past and the future. One aspect of the end that the regressor had experienced, and that I too would experience if there were no major changes.

With trembling hands, I placed one hand on Azzy's head as she rubbed her face against my chest. Her broad ears rose slightly, then sank like a sheet of paper fluttering on a desk.

The King of Dogs, who kept her mouth tightly shut as she pressed her weight against me.

The model of a loyal, lovable pet to humanity.

In a future that would one day come, she was smiling with blood covering her entire body.

'Beast Kings are beings chosen by the world. Even if I kill one here, the next generation's king will be born somewhere in the world.'

Why had I overlooked that?

The regressor's concern could not simply be unfounded fear.

'As long as Azzy depends on him like that, I cannot deal with that man carelessly. It is also difficult to be certain that he belongs to Lords of All Creation. But in this situation, he is the most likely trigger for her rampage. There is no reason not to watch him.'

That was true.

Azzy's body was warm and soft. Her hands were curled slightly so that her claws would not show, and I could sense her consideration in them, her wish not to hurt me. She probably had not done that consciously, so it must have been instinctive, avoiding anything that could hurt someone.

What on earth had happened for those curled hands to become covered in so much blood?

It seemed the future was far harsher than I had thought.

Footnotes:

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