WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 141

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Perfect? Calculation?

Shei, Tyrkanzyaka, Callis, and the immortal, who had been wandering the wasteland, made camp not far from the Abyss.

For people who had just broken out, it was absurdly conspicuous: a huge, blazing red fire, like they were advertising their location. It was almost as if they were begging someone to come find them.

They sat around the bonfire, its light spilling in every direction.

And now, they were sunk in deep grief.

Tyrkanzyaka stared at the endlessly burning flames. Whenever a choked sound escaped her, Shei kept sneaking glances at her and pretending to tend the fire. Every time she jabbed Skywarbler into the flames, sparks burst upward.

Callis and the immortal sat apart today. They didn’t even meet each other’s eyes, as if they were strangers.

In response to that awkward, well-meant distance, Tyrkanzyaka waved a hand.

“...It’s fine.”

But what she said next only made everyone feel heavier.

“You must have found me burdensome. I am Tyrkanzyaka the Progenitor, the Progenitor of all vampires, a blood-craving monster.... Someone like me could never be accepted.”

As she spoke, Tyrkanzyaka suddenly grimaced and pressed a hand to her chest, as if she wanted to tear out an insect gnawing at her heart.

But there was no way to seize the source of that pain.

A vampire whose every drop of blood obeyed her will was writhing under a metaphysical agony she had never known.

Tyrkanzyaka frowned, while the others watched her with nervous, darting eyes.

Letting out a damp breath, Tyrkanzyaka spoke to Shei.

“More importantly, tell me something else. Is that truly true?”

“Uh, huh?”

Called out without warning, Shei flinched.

If it were an enemy, she could fight. But this kind of thing, something force couldn’t solve, was too much for her. She swallowed hard and struggled to choose her words.

Thankfully, Tyrkanzyaka was asking about something else.

“...That someone called the King of Sin will truly destroy the world.”

“Ah, uh, yeah. I, um....”

Shei was about to say, I regress, but stopped herself.

People content with the present grew anxious the instant they heard the word regression. They feared their happiness might not exist in Shei’s next round.

In that moment, Shei would be holding their happiness hostage. They would cling to her, begging her to choose them again in the future, to place the same happiness back in their hands.

For Shei, who had to stop the apocalypse, that burden was crushing.

That was why she didn’t reveal her regressions carelessly.

And even when she did, people often dismissed it as her having gone through the Sanctum’s prophecy.

‘If I reveal it now, they’d probably believe me, but....’

Shei carefully studied Tyrkanzyaka.

Tyrkanzyaka was suffering from the emotions she had regained, but even so, she didn’t seem like someone who would want regression. If she learned these feelings, this heartbeat, could all disappear....

Shei started to speak, swallowed, and changed course.

“...Yeah. I saw it through prophecy.”

“You saw it yourself? You, a man?”

“N-no! I know a prophet! They can’t see broadly, but they’re good with details! Not affiliated with the Sanctum either! They’re trustworthy!”

Shei hurriedly changed her story. Tyrkanzyaka looked mildly suspicious for a moment, then nodded.

“I see.”

Whether her suspicion had faded or she simply had no room for it, Tyr, who had been gazing into the distance, spoke again.

“I will help you.”

“...Huh? Really?”

“That does not mean I fully trust that prophecy. The Sanctum has always bent prophecy in its own favor. Still, if this world may be destroyed, I do not wish to sit and watch.”

“Mmm, thanks, but... are you sure?”

Shei asked very carefully. She didn’t need to ask what exactly she meant. The answer was already in the mood around them.

Tyrkanzyaka nodded calmly.

“Hyu asked if I could protect him even if the world ended. I answered yes.”

“He said that too? When?”

“Before leaving the Abyss. If the prophecy you know is true, then I must help you to keep that promise. Even aside from that, should we not see with our own eyes what happens?”

Shei was glad to hear it, but the shadow of him behind those words made her frown.

How could anyone be that suspicious? The end of the world? Was he saying he knew that too?

“What even is that guy? Is he with the Sanctum or something? Ugh, he’s so suspicious. I really need to grab him and question him someday....”

As Shei muttered, she heard Tyrkanzyaka sigh.

“Haa.”

The Shadow Queen’s sigh made the bonfire flicker ominously. Sweeping her silver hair behind her shoulder, Tyrkanzyaka scolded Shei.

“You are truly selfish.”

“Huh?”

“How much help have you received from Hyu, and you still call him suspicious and talk about digging into him?”

“...Huh?”

Tyrkanzyaka was angry.

Not with an enemy’s hostility, nor with contempt for someone pathetic. It was closer to the cold look given to a childish child.

“When you first stepped into my dwelling. When you learned bloodcraft from me. Later, when he taught us in the name of training. The one receiving Hyu’s consideration was you.”

“Uh....”

Isn’t that just bias?

The regressor nearly blurted it out, then forced herself to hold back. Instead, she shut her mouth and listened.

‘Why am I the one getting scolded?’

She kept the question to herself.

Tyrkanzyaka then let out everything she had been holding in.

“He provoked me at the right moments, kept conversation from breaking, acted foolish, and stirred us. In the end, it benefited you. He eased your dangerous tension, brought life to this Abyss, and shook all of us inside and out. Hyu’s effort was no small thing, so why do you only call him suspicious?”

Still, things sometimes looked different from an outsider’s perspective.

Shei had already gone through thirteen regressions. This was the fourteenth. She was busy watching a world that changed bit by bit, so being asked, in the middle of all this, to see through someone else’s eyes was exhausting.

But Tyrkanzyaka’s lecture made her consider another angle for a moment.

“He helped me?”

“He still is. If Hyu truly knew about the King of Sin and drew that promise from me, was that not for you as well?”

“Was it...?”

She put a different filter over things and traced back through the past. Shei reviewed each of his actions one by one.

In the end, Jizan came into Shei’s hands. Because he stalled Jiseon, then threw it.

At the final moment, Jizan twisted its trajectory as if it had chosen this side, but maybe that too had been his doing.

Before that, when Lieutenant General Ebon attacked, he struck the colonel and reinforced their side. Later, while Callis was being treated, she heard he had stopped the lieutenant general from driving Azzy berserk.

She hadn’t thought much of it because he was always so kind to Azzy... but that was help too.

And during the Finlay incident, he took the lead in reclaiming Tyrkanzyaka and reviving the Progenitor’s heart. Thanks to that, the Progenitor showed more humanity than ever before. It had become the trigger for Tyrkanzyaka’s fixation on him....

Still, this was better. Better than marching while spraying blood.

“Huh?”

Shei muttered dumbly. Tyrkanzyaka snorted.

“It was absurd. You received so much help, yet say no one helps you? You drown in careful consideration, thirst for help more than anyone, and still doubt him. Must you be this way? Can you not simply accept Hyu for what he is?”

Everything he had done took on meaning, little by little.

Really? Even making her snap over trivial provocations. Even dragging her out of training and forcing her to attend lessons. Even playfully pushing and pulling between Shei and Tyrkanzyaka each time while steering the mood?

“...Help?”

“If Hyu had not been there, would you and I be speaking like this now? Would you be sitting here peacefully with them? And what of the adept of the Mother Earth Faith? What would have become of her?”

If he hadn’t been there, what would it have been like? How would Shei have lived in the Abyss?

Honestly, surviving itself wouldn’t have been hard. Shei was used to solitude. She had done closed-door training more than once. She likely would have gone on just fine.

But she wouldn’t have lit a fire like this and sat together with everyone. They wouldn’t have watched each other’s moods either.

They would have finished the job and left at once, with no lingering attachment.

“Th-then... he helped me? Why?”

“It is likely his nature. The King of Dogs, myself, and you as well. If one does not carry clear malice, have we not all helped?”

“Uh....”

No matter how many suspicious points she tried to recall, looking back, everything had helped Shei in the end. Skim away the froth of doubt, and only sweet fruit remained.

‘He... did help. Yeah.’

Shei admitted it honestly, and at the same time, felt a little happy.

Something lightly tapped at her heart.

Like touching one strand of a tangled web and feeling the vibration travel elsewhere, there was relief in knowing she was still connected, still holding on with them.

She had met many good people. She had received plenty of help. Even after clashing, many had cooperated toward a shared goal.

Those she could call friends disappeared as regressions piled up, but she had comrades, and that let Shei keep going. In truth, duty and debt were part of what drove her.

But this thing, invisible and hidden,

wasn’t something pushing her forward,

wasn’t goodwill pulling tight,

but something that seemed to loosen her completely... comfort.

“S-so, that’s how it is.”

Shei trailed off, then regained her composure with Heavenly Mirror.

As Shei avoided eye contact in embarrassment, Tyrkanzyaka snorted and turned away. For a while, only the crackle of the fire filled the camp.

At the end of that silence, Shei spoke.

“Tyrkanzyaka. Sorry, but when your heart was revived.”

“...Again.”

“No, no! I’m not doubting anything! I just want to hear what happened!”

Shei waved at Tyrkanzyaka, whose brow had tightened, and continued.

“I think I can guess a little of his ability.”

“What is it?”

“Relics.”

Shei lifted Jizan, which had been laid carefully beside her. A long, blunt club with no ornament, no hilt, no pattern.

“Relics from beings this powerful usually come with a trial. Depending on how you clear it, the power that gets unsealed is different.”

Then Shei set Jizan against the ground and flicked it up with her wrist. Something astonishing happened.

The patch of earth Jizan had touched rose up like a bamboo shoot growing at high speed.

“But the relic he gave me had no trial. And all its power was already unsealed. Originally, only its power as a ‘club’ was unsealed... but now, faintly, I can even use earth arts through this sword.”

“Interesting... but what does that have to do with my heart?”

“The Homunculus Dilemma. There’s only one way to bypass it: the one doing the replacement must be oneself.”

There was no guarantee one wouldn’t damage oneself, but at least it was natural.

Unlike cases that fell into the Homunculus Dilemma, Tyrkanzyaka’s heart was extremely stable, since it needed no particular adjustment.

“I think he turned your memories from when you were alive into a relic, using the fact that you were already dead.”

Shei’s deduction was sharp.

“He probably has an ability that draws out relic power. Jizan, your heart, both. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense.”

“Relic....”

Tyrkanzyaka laid a hand over her chest and felt her heartbeat.

The single card he had driven into her heart. Had that been a relic forged from the memories of her living days?

“That does make sense. After that, Hyu lost himself....”

Tyrkanzyaka murmured, hands folded over her chest. Shei stroked Jizan and replied.

“...If he has that kind of power, things might really get easier.”

But the world was vast. How were they supposed to find someone who had already gone far away?

Shei muttered.

“I don’t even know where he came from, or where he planned to go. Thinking about it now, I really knew nothing....”

“...Hyu never said, so how could you know? No one would.”

“Huh? Teach said he was going back to where he originally came from!”

Crackle, crackle. Only the loud burning of the bonfire remained. Rashy’s bombshell seemed to swallow all other noise.

Shei and Tyrkanzyaka asked a half beat late.

“What?”

“...What did you say?”

Rashy answered calmly.

“We drank and had a frank talk. Whether it was true, or even that was a lie, who knows! But he did say it!”

“No, forget that. What exactly did he say?”

“He said he’s already a criminal, so he doesn’t have much reason not to go back!”

Shei tilted her head.

“...Where he came from? Where is that?”

By chance, the one who could answer was right there. Callis gave a loud dry cough and reported clearly.

“He was arrested in Amitenggrad District 13-3 for fraudulent gambling. He was apprehended at the scene and detained without being able to take anything with him. If he has hidden assets, he may have gone to recover them.”

“Fraudulent gambling? Was he really brought in for that?”

“If the documents I saw contained no falsehood, yes. I came under inspector authority, so I could not view documents above that security level....”

In other words, higher-level security documents might contain different information.

For Shei, that was a very tempting thought.

She now knew where he had been, and where he had gone.

Only one question remained.

Could they enter the heart of the military state to chase someone who had left them because he didn’t want to stay?

“Awooooo.”

That was when it happened. Azzy, who had been staring blankly at the sky, gave a small, long howl. As the silent Beast King finally spoke, everyone stopped and looked at her.

Azzy spoke without lowering her gaze.

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

“The human country. The country that made a promise to me.”

Azzy looked up at the sky. Starlight reflected in her large, gentle eyes. She looked like someone alone under the night sky, lost in thought.

‘How am I supposed to treat her like a dog when she’s like this?’

While Shei grumbled inwardly, Azzy spoke again.

“I kept my promise. Now it’s their turn.”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

“The human country. The one with many humans. I must go there.”

“Where is that?”

The moment she asked, Shei realized her mistake. Would Azzy know the city names humans had arbitrarily assigned? Shei worried about how to interpret Azzy’s vague, broad, dog-like way of speaking.

“Amitenggrad.”

Thankfully, the worry was needless. With clearer resolve than ever, Azzy watched a drifting star.

“They said it is the most important city in that country. I will find the promise there.”

Tyrkanzyaka and Shei looked at each other.

They knew where he was heading.

They knew how badly they needed him.

And now, they had a reason to go.

“I will not pathetically chase after someone who left me behind. But if we happen to be going the same way, that cannot be helped.”

Tyrkanzyaka nodded, the burning bonfire reflected in her eyes.

“Fine. This time, I’ll overturn the entire military state. And if we happen to uncover that bastard’s secrets too, well, all the better.”

Shei replied, rotating her arms in circles.

And so, the two women’s gazes met beyond the bonfire.

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