WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 144

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Officer's Hell - (Part 2)

When Evian returned to Edelheit, the villagers greeted him with extravagant enthusiasm. An officer who had run out after runaway kids and brought back the two who had fled by motor carriage looked like a magician.

The adults who had been glaring at Ellie and Dev were just waiting for Evian to release them. It looked like they were ready to dish out a beating for the first time in a while.

But Evian shouted before that could happen.

"Please wait. I've found where the alchemic fabric went."

"Didn't those kids steal it?"

"No. Someone else siphoned off the alchemic fabric."

After drawing everyone's attention, Evian headed straight for Bern's house. Bern followed in silence for a while, then asked in a hurry,

"Wait. Why are we going to my house?"

"I got a tip. I'm going to retrieve it. Please come with me."

"...Hoo. I see."

Bern sighed, then followed behind Evian with the face of a man who had given up on everything.

Ellie did not even need to testify. The traces she had dug up last night were clear, and the attempt to cover them up was painfully clumsy. Evian brought a shovel and dug up the spot.

There, he found bones. Evian turned them over in his hand and examined the marks.

Murmurs spread through the villagers around him.

"My god... there really are bone fragments in Mr. Bern's field..."

"Did anyone die recently...?"

"We would've known if they had. We cremated everyone, didn't we?"

Evian studied the bones with a grave expression, then spoke, his face set hard. At once, the frightened villagers fell silent.

"These aren't recent. Roughly thirty years old... a body buried back then."

After finishing his inspection, Evian slowly stood. His eyes gleamed.

"And as far as I know, only one person disappeared around that time. One person everyone believed ran away from the village, leaving my mother behind before I was born. Everyone believed it because Mr. Bern personally came forward and testified."

Evian stared straight through Bern and said,

"My father."

Bern closed his eyes, looking like he had given up on the entire world. Evian glared at him coldly, all mercy gone, a hard officer once more.

"Bern. I am arresting you on charges of murder and unlawful disposal of a body."

The village erupted in whispers, louder than before.

A nephew was dragging away his uncle. An officer was taking in the village chief. Bern was escorted along with his shoulders slumped.

One of the villagers muttered,

"Th-then what will happen to Mr. Bern...?"

Evian answered himself.

"The ruling is not mine to make. I don't have that authority. But if the offender admits guilt and the circumstances are clear, a military administration judge can issue a summary judgment."

"Judgment? For murder, the sentence is..."

"Premeditated murder is death."

Evian said it coldly, and the murmuring spread again. Someone shouted,

"Evian! He's your uncle!"

"What does that matter? Before the law, there are only criminals!"

Evian looked around and shouted,

"Obstructing official duty can carry up to three years of hard labor depending on the severity. Everyone, move aside!"

A labor sentence was no light punishment.

Factories, mines, training camps, logistics.

You were assigned to places like that and worked like a dog every hour except sleep. People even said six months of labor could wreck your body for three years.

Only then did people begin to grasp, at least a little, what Evian's authority meant, and they backed away with groans. Evian pushed through them with a fearsome presence, like an officer of the military state.

But before one woman who blocked his path, Evian could not keep that posture.

"...Evian."

"Mother?"

Evian's mother approached in sobs and grabbed him. Her hand clutching his collar trembled.

"Arrest me. Arrest me."

"What? What are you saying?"

"...It's me. It's all because of me. Because of me..."

"Because of what?"

Even Evian could not shove aside his widowed mother and keep walking. The authority he had worked so hard to build vanished in an instant, and he froze.

As he stood there, a hidden story spilled from his mother's lips.

"...Your father used to beat me mercilessly, even though I had married in from far away. Back then he was the village chief's eldest son, and no one could stop him..."

"What?"

"He was violent. He hit me even when I was carrying you. Then Bern happened to come back, they argued, and while they fought, then..."

"What?"

"I buried the body myself. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I couldn't tell you, and I lied that he ran away from the village..."

The truth from his mother's own mouth was shocking.

Evian's father had been so violent that no one thought well of him. So when people heard he had run off, they accepted it.

In fact, they said they had never felt any need to doubt it. Nothing got worse with him gone.

And around then, military rule had begun, and everything was in chaos.

"I didn't want to disappoint you when you missed your father... so I talked him up like he was some great man. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the truth..."

His mother had been an accomplice too. Evian stared blankly at her wrinkled face.

The military state was harsh. Whatever the circumstances, anything against the law was not tolerated. Evian knew that better than anyone.

But he could not bring himself to lock these people up with his own hands. He sat in the substation, agonizing, then stood.

"They said a captain is staying at the inn..."

This was a problem Evian could not solve. At times like this, he had to report it up the chain. He dragged himself toward the inn.

"...This is what happened."

Lieutenant Evian visited despite the imposition and reported to the captain.

The blond officer with a bandage around her head listened to everything, then answered in a dry voice. The voice sounded strangely familiar.

"Understood. However,"

Evian closed his eyes and waited for judgment.

Evian might not lose out in rank, but that only applied among civilians. From captain onward was a world far above him.

The soldiers who moved the military state. Monsters governed by entirely different rules. Their authority and power were on a completely different level.

'What will happen? I might fall out of favor with higher command.'

But what came next surprised him.

"For incidents that occurred twenty-five years ago, before military rule, we leave it to the discretion of the investigator in charge."

"What?"

A murder case, left to discretion? Evian asked blankly.

"You mean there's a statute of limitations?"

"There is no statute of limitations in the military state. There is only discretion."

The captain spoke in a stiff voice, as if that alone were her duty.

"Flexible application makes enforcement easier. That said, for events before military rule, you will not be held responsible for not making arrests. That period is considered an administrative vacuum."

For the military state, more laborers meant more benefit. There was too much work and not enough hands.

So they never created statutes of limitations. They gave broad discretion. If you arrested someone, they could be sent straight to labor.

The law could even apply retroactively. Commit a crime before the law existed, and if things went badly, you could still be hauled off.

But because pre-military administration was not subject to review, whether to bury or pursue what happened then was Evian's decision.

"Why didn't I know that?"

"It's better not to publicize something like a statute of limitations. It eases the tension of people who have committed crimes. So the authorities keep this guideline without announcing it, even to investigators."

Arresting fewer people was a problem, but arresting more was never a loss. It was a very military-state way of doing things.

Once he understood, Evian saluted the captain with a stunned expression and withdrew.

"Loyalty. Sorry to disturb your rest. This officer will now take his leave!"

Through the closing door, he heard the captain's small sigh.

"...What on earth have you been doing out there."

"...I hear the military state does not pursue crimes from the kingdom era. You were lucky, Mr. Bern."

The one who was truly lucky was Evian, who no longer had to arrest his mother, but he did not show it. Instead, he released Bern in front of everyone.

Bern removed the handcuffs, rubbed his wrists, and spoke grimly.

"...I'm sorry. No matter what I say, I killed your father..."

"Quiet."

Evian said curtly.

In truth, there was one more reason he had grown to dislike Bern.

His widowed mother and Bern sometimes whispered together, leaving Evian out. They had even looked at him with guilty expressions.

As a child, Evian had disliked Bern out of clueless jealousy, but if all that had been about his father...

"You worked hard, Lieutenant Evian."

At that moment, Sergeant Bero, the administrative supply officer, approached. Evian greeted him warmly.

"Sergeant Bero. Thank you for the help. Without the captain, I would've been in trouble too."

"It was the captain's decision."

"I'm grateful to all of you. Whew. Anyway, I guess this wraps things up for now."

"Wraps things up?"

It was an ominous voice, suggesting the problem was not over. Bero tilted his head and got to the point.

"...So where is the recovered alchemic fabric? We need to do inventory in an hour."

Evian kicked off the ground and ran at once.

The village was small, and after stirring up every corner, he found the culprit quickly. Aunt Malport next door, who had needed cash urgently, confessed everything.

The reason was simple. Among the inn staff, cutting off small pieces of alchemic fabric and skimming them had become routine. But then Ellie ran away, the matter blew up, and this came to light too.

There was no room to lock up dozens of people involved in big and small ways, so Lieutenant Evian first ordered confinement and reflection. After finishing everything, Evian dropped into a chair at the substation, exhausted. His whole body was drenched in sweat.

"Whew. Feels like everything that should happen over decades happened in one day..."

-And I, leaning against the substation wall, listened to him mutter and smiled to myself.

Of course it did. I was the one who stirred it all up.

In a quiet rural village like this, there were always a few incidents wrapped in mystery. I read the memories around him one by one and prepared a stage for him. Then I scattered dozens of clues all over the village.

Only a few were actually used, but I pulled up the biggest case, so I was more than satisfied.

"Worst day ever... It really was hell."

That was the officer's hell I prepared for you.

Still, you held up pretty well, Lieutenant Evian. I put real effort into that gift.

"Heh, keep those shoulder boards polished until I pass through again."

This time I didn't have enough prep time, so I could only meddle with the big stuff. There's still the adultery case and the case of who keeps stealing pumpkins from the fields.

And actually, between your mother and Bern... ahem. I'll stop there.

Well, anyway. This was enough. If I pass near Edelheit again, I'll show you a different kind of hell next time. Hahaha!

I was smiling to myself as I passed in front of the police station when,

'...What? That man. I've never seen that silhouette before.'

Lieutenant Evian, who had been completely exhausted, suddenly gripped his steel baton and strode out.

No, wait. Why are you doing this.

I was just random passerby number one, completely innocent. So why are you suddenly coming at me with a steel baton? You don't even have evidence.

But only third-rate criminals panic and run here. As a first-rate criminal, I stayed calm even under suspicion. I kept walking at the same pace like nothing was wrong.

No evidence, no charges. He'd be suspicious for a bit, then give up...

"You there. Stop."

What? How did he pinpoint me exactly?

Normally, I should stop here. Then answer calmly and shake off suspicion. If you bolt like an amateur, you're admitting guilt.

But why? This strange certainty I could feel from Lieutenant Evian...!

'That back looks like a criminal I've seen before. No way I'd mistake it. I may be wrong about other things, but not my instincts.'

No, your instincts can be wrong too.

They're not wrong right now, sure! But with that kind of certainty, you could grab innocent people! The military state's motto, better to ruin a hundred innocents than let one criminal go...!

You're following it perfectly.

'I'll subdue him first.'

Fine. Let's run.

I took off at full speed.

"Stop right there!"

Evian shouted at the top of his lungs and spun his steel baton over his head.

The sunset was red. Darkness once again fell over Edelheit, where long-buried secrets had spilled out in a single day.

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