WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 143

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Officer's Hell - (Upper)

Lieutenant Evian of Edelheit was one of the few things this frontier town of the military state could be proud of.

He earned decent grades in elementary civic school, then advanced to a faraway secondary military academy. The school was fully dormitory-based, and after passing its brutal exams, he graduated through sheer effort with fairly strong marks.

Not high enough for officer academy, but high enough that he could have become a soldier if he wanted.

But Evian chose to become a police officer.

They called it police, but in truth it was a lower branch under the military police. In the military state, becoming police was little more than blocking your own path to advancement, but it had one advantage soldiers could never match.

Once your rank rose high enough, you could choose your own posting.

Only to return to his hometown, and only to care for his widowed mother, Lieutenant Evian endured a harsh police career and finally got what he wanted.

A small precinct in Edelheit. He had just finished another satisfying day on duty and was organizing paperwork when it happened.

『Lieutenant Evian of Edelheit.』

A voice rang out from nowhere. Lieutenant Evian whipped his head around.

"Who's there? Duty hours are over."

『If you learn who I am, you will feel fear you cannot resist. Every breath will turn into hell, and you will want to crawl into a hole like a frightened rat. Wouldn't ignorance make you happier?』

That was too much for a prank. Lieutenant Evian frowned and jumped to his feet. A steel baton he had handled for years was already in his hand.

"What is this? What kind of prank are you pulling?"

『A prank? A prank, you say. If it were only a prank, you would have been happy. Heh heh. Lieutenant Evian, from tomorrow on, you will taste hell. Look forward to it.』

"How dare you threaten an officer!"

Furious, Lieutenant Evian kicked the door open and looked around, but only a bleak street soaked in darkness greeted him.

He slept badly that night, unable to shake the ominous feeling.

Evian kept patrolling through the night, checking every shadowed corner. The village was painfully peaceful. The only strange thing that day was Lieutenant Evian volunteering for overtime.

The one thing he did all night was send home the unruly Ellie, who had been wandering around instead of going inside.

In other words, Ellie running around was not unusual. Ellie getting caught by Evian and sent home was the unusual part.

Then what had that thing last night been?

Evian was walking down the road, raking a hand through his hair, when loud shouting broke out ahead. He immediately ran toward it.

"Someone stole the motor carriage!"

"Don't be ridiculous! The alchemic fabric we stored in the warehouse yesterday is gone too!"

The residents of Edelheit had split into two groups and were fighting.

Edelheit had two major facilities.

One was a large inn, and the other was a motor carriage maintenance depot.

Edelheit's location was actually good. If the land directly north of it had not been the utterly useless Abyss wasteland, it would have become a transport hub several times larger.

In any case, the military state built an inn and a depot in this near-hub.

Both were military state assets, and the villagers were periodically called in for labor at the two facilities.

At first, the residents resented being forced into labor on top of lives that were already busy.

But it was hard to hate them outright, because the inn and the depot looked so grand. In this remote place, huge structures built by the military state looked like symbols of a new age. Over several years of labor, the residents slowly grew attached to them.

Working with a sense of ownership was good, but that caused a problem.

The inn stood in the center of town, while the depot stood alone by a distant road. Their locations were different, the skills they required were different, and over time residents started going to only one work site. Like water and oil, the two kinds of residents naturally separated.

As a result, Edelheit's people split into two camps.

"What's going on here?"

"Oh, Lieutenant Evian! Perfect timing! Put these bastards in their place!"

The inn-side residents welcomed him. Edelheit's only officer claimed neutrality, but Evian had been born on the inn side.

Evian gave a rough nod and looked over them.

"Explain clearly what happened."

"Those depot bastards stole the alchemic fabric from the inn warehouse!"

The depot side had shrunk back a little when Evian approached, but they pushed back again.

"What kind of slander is that! How would we even know where your alchemic fabric is, let alone steal it!"

"And what about you people! You always sneer that we can't even drive, so why are you blaming us for your missing carriage!"

It was total chaos, but Evian had grown up in this village, so he quickly grasped the rough picture.

The inn and the depot had different functions, and they had changed the residents too.

Those who built careers at the depot, where technical skill and dexterity mattered, had gradually started looking down on the inn side. At first, the inn side, where most residents belonged, just scoffed. But in reality, depot kids often stood out at civic school, and the inn side slowly developed an inferiority complex. Outwardly they sneered, but instead of stopping their children from playing at the depot, they actively encouraged it.

If not for Lieutenant Evian, Edelheit's pride and a police officer born on the inn side, their arrogance might have climbed without limit.

Either way, trouble had broken out between these two facilities that blamed every wrong in the world on each other.

The inn's alchemic fabric had vanished.

A motor carriage under maintenance had vanished.

And each side suspected the other.

Naturally, as he listened, that mysterious voice from yesterday flashed across Lieutenant Evian's mind.

"Could this be the work of an outsider?"

"But only one outsider came to this inn yesterday! She's still staying there!"

"If there's an outsider, shouldn't we suspect that person first? They could've infiltrated before that!"

An inn-side resident scratched his chin and replied.

"She was, well, someone important... a captain, I think. Said she was heading to the capital after finishing a mission."

"Forget everything I just said. All of it."

They called it our inn and our depot, but both were military state assets. A captain could take a motor carriage and alchemic fabric as if they were her own. She would be punished if it was embezzlement, but no one in this village had the authority to challenge her.

And she could also kick Evian in the rear for suspecting her. Evian did not want to be kicked by a captain.

"Then are you saying the alchemic fabric and motor carriage vanished on their own? With nobody coming or going?"

"Well... about that..."

As residents awkwardly avoided his gaze, someone gestured to Evian.

"Evian, come here a moment."

Bern, the inn-side representative, called him over. Evian answered with clear irritation.

"Mr. Bern. Please show some basic respect. I am the lieutenant in charge of security here."

"Do I need to show respect to call my nephew?"

Bern replied in a slightly smug tone.

After Evian's father had run from the village, Bern had become his guardian and raised him, his uncle in all but name. Bern was effectively the village chief, and after his nephew returned as a lieutenant, Bern's influence had been rising day by day.

Evian found him uncomfortable, but Bern had committed no wrongdoing, so he could not punish him. Evian was an officer.

"Of cou... sigh, never mind. What is it?"

As Evian stepped closer, Bern lowered his voice.

"Ellie and Dev are missing."

"What?"

Ellie was the inn's top troublemaker, and Dev was the depot's oddball. The two teenagers, raised in this village's conflict, always looked ready to tear each other apart.

And those two had disappeared at the same time?

"We're both worried. Either Ellie accidentally strangled Dev to death, stole the alchemic fabric, and ran, or Dev beat Ellie with a spanner and fled in panic. It's one of the two."

"How would Ellie drive, and how would Dev steal alchemic fabric... ah, wait."

"Exactly. Those two always sneaked into each other's facilities to play hide-and-seek, didn't they? Unlike us, they know each other's sides inside out. Like scouts probing an enemy. It's not impossible."

That was why Evian pressed a hand to his forehead. It was completely plausible.

They had motive, they had enough malice, and they had a history of causing trouble for residents. Those two really might have tried to kill each other.

"They were both in town until last night! I personally sent them home!"

"Then they probably never went home. Their families said they haven't seen them since that evening."

"Damn it. Then whoever it is, they couldn't have gone far. Wait here!"

"You're going after them?"

"I have to! I just hope both of them are still alive!"

Evian pushed through the crowd with long strides. The residents trembled with a strange expectation toward their officer, and with fear that maybe the child from their own side had done it.

Then Evian came face-to-face with the facility administrators who had been waiting for him.

"Lieutenant Evian. I am Sergeant Bero, Administrative Supply Officer. Alchemic fabric is not ultra-expensive, but it is still a major supply item. We cannot lose it and stay silent."

"I am Sergeant Challe, Technical Officer. The motor carriage is expensive. Resolve this quickly. If this is reported to the authorities, punitive labor sentencing will fall on the entire city."

"An officer is currently staying at the inn. She is recuperating from injury, but if this matter reaches her ears..."

The officers in charge of each facility pressed Evian politely. If Evian's rank had been any lower, those sharp words would not have stopped at words.

Evian shouted irritably.

"As long as it's back before afternoon inventory, that's enough, right? Wait here! Ah, and Challe, is there a carriage I can use?"

"One remains."

"I'll borrow one for official duty. Approved?"

"Approved."

Evian started the motor carriage and swept around the village in a wide loop. The newest wheel tracks were two sets: one from the captain's arrival, and one leaving the village.

Simple enough. Evian followed the carriage trail.

The Abyss wasteland was vast. If the two had gone over the hills into it without knowing what they were doing, Evian would have had to give up and return to Edelheit to await the authorities' ruling.

Luckily, he found the stopped motor carriage not far away. Evian parked nearby, got out at once, and strode over. His eyes burned with anger at the foolish brats who had caused this idiotic mess.

"Hic, hic..."

But as he started hearing Ellie's sobs, fear crept into him. Had Ellie killed Dev by accident and run? What was he supposed to do then?

If Evian had been from another village, he would have coldly arrested Ellie and proudly added a line to his career. But he was from this village, and he wanted it peaceful if possible. A troublemaker belonged lively in the village, not in prison.

Evian swallowed hard and yanked open the driver's door as if pouncing. Then his eyes met someone inside.

"H-hiik! Evian-hyung!"

"Dev?"

Dev was in the driver's seat gripping the wheel. Ellie was in the passenger seat sniffling. Once he confirmed they were safe, Evian flared up and dragged Dev out by the ear.

"You little punk. Who told you to steal a motor carriage?"

"N-no! I didn't steal it, this was a test drive! Mr. Challe said we had to confirm it was fully repaired! I wanted to check it and try driving too!"

"Did you tell Challe before leaving?"

"No? I wanted to surprise him. Ah, ah!"

Evian shook Dev's ear back and forth and yelled.

"If you were going, go alone! Then we'd at least have had less reason to suspect! Why drag innocent Ellie along?"

"I dragged her? She snuck in herself! Then she started crying and saying she didn't want to go back to the village, what was I supposed to do!"

He sounded genuinely wronged, not like he was lying. Evian, who had been about to slap Dev, let out a sigh and spoke to Ellie.

"Ellie, I don't know what happened, but how could you run without a word? Your mother is waiting. Let's go back..."

"Hic, I c-can't go back...! I'll die!"

"Die from what? I'm a police officer. Who would kill you?"

"No! I really might die...! I found it...!"

Still sobbing, Ellie squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

"...A corpse!"

Evian's eyes widened at that unexpected report.

"What?!"

There were two cars, and two people who could drive. With Ellie in the seat, Evian listened to what had happened.

Trying to get into her usual trouble, Ellie had found some strange writing. She kept following it around, and in the end discovered a horrifying trace hidden by this peaceful frontier village... buried bone fragments...

Evian asked,

"Wait a second. There can't be bones. Everyone who died recently was cremated."

"Hic...!"

Evian clicked his tongue. Pressuring a panicked kid would get him nowhere.

He was an officer, not a heartless military policeman.

"If there was a corpse, you should've told me. Why did you keep quiet?"

"But Uncle Evian is..."

Then Ellie clamped her mouth shut again. Evian urged her, frustrated.

"You don't trust me? Ellie, I didn't get lieutenant by gambling! Lieutenant is a rank you earn by catching criminals like a ghost under those military police everyone calls bloodless and merciless. Don't look down on it!"

In the military state, military administration ruled everything.

All medical treatment happened in military hospitals. Civil engineering was handled by the engineering corps. Investigations were handled by military police.

Administrative soldiers ran civilian administration, and even factories operated under the Bureau of Technical Development.

Not just the military and police, even businesses were not separate from the military regime. It was a nation of soldiers.

Aside from a very small number of exceptions, everything belonged to the military state.

"People in Edelheit don't know better, but even having one official title is impressive! The military state intentionally split affiliations, that's all!"

To prevent the person responsible for one village's security from becoming corrupt, the military state separated affiliations and threw people into place. Because of that, Evian did not hold much real authority for his career and rank.

Put differently, his status was high compared to his authority.

"...Hic."

But maybe because Evian felt too familiar to her, Ellie still would not speak. Evian glared, then sighed.

"Whew. If you still don't trust me, tell the captain at the inn. She outranks me by miles, so maybe you'll be satisfied."

Ellie recoiled in terror.

"N-no, not the inn. If that happens, I'll die...!"

"No, why? Was the corpse found at the inn?"

"Hiik!"

"...Seriously, don't ever commit a crime."

Then a thought struck him.

Why had Ellie kept her mouth shut this whole time? Was it that she couldn't tell Evian?

Could it be...

"Where did you find it? Mr. Bern's place?"

"Hiiiik!"

The representative of the inn side, where most people belonged, and effectively this village's chief.

Bern, Evian's uncle, whose authority had grown even stronger after Evian returned.

A corpse coming out of his home.

Part of Evian had wished Bern had done something wrong. If he could punish him and break that authority, good.

But he had never wanted it to go as far as a corpse. Murder was a different story entirely.

"...Don't worry."

Still, Evian was an officer in charge of this village's security. He could not ignore a lead in a murder case.

From the start, if he ignored an incident that serious, he might be punished by the military state himself. On top of that, severe penalties might fall on the entire village.

He had to prevent that.

"I will find the culprit, no matter what."

Lieutenant Evian hardened his resolve.

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