WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 150

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The Road Flows with the Traveler - 6

Humans are creatures that sleep.

If you're alive, sleep is something you inevitably need. You can put it off, but you can never refuse it forever. Even in the middle of a flowing road, that doesn't change.

Being able to sleep while moving is both a blessing and a curse. Even in circumstances like this, humans still owe sleep its due.

I was groaning under the rough vibrations running through my whole body when it happened.

"Wake up. Wake up...."

A hurried voice, a hand urgently shaking my shoulder, and a whisper in my ear.

Ah, what now. Don't interrupt my sweet sleep. If the quality is bad, only quantity can make up for it.

I twisted and mumbled,

"Ten more minutes...."

But the next words snapped even me fully awake.

"...Bandits. Wake up."

"Huh? Bandits?"

The Meta-Conveyor Belt and roadside bandits.

Those two words had a huge gap between them.

Once, there had been a failed invention called railways and trains. Two lines of steel laid down with good intentions so vehicles could run over them, supposedly two lines leading to paradise.

Then some passing beast got curious and chewed up the tracks, or enemy spies disguised as beasts sabotaged them, or roadside thieves with too much time and no money attacked them. For reasons like that, they quickly vanished into history.

Compared to that junk, the Meta-Conveyor Belt is an invention close to perfection.

Even someone with ill intent can't damage a Meta-Conveyor Belt. Try wrecking the road in the middle, and it either keeps flowing or fills back in. If you really want to stop the flow, you need to be ready to dig out the entire ground.

It's another word for impossible.

It's hard even to board the belt. Unlike a train that stops and spins its wheels when the tracks are blocked, flowing earth ignores whatever you do and keeps moving on its way.

Even if a cliff collapses onto it, the road doesn't get blocked. It just flows on with the cliff riding on top, so humans are the ones who have to adapt.

It's hard to find targets too. The Meta-Conveyor Belt carries countless goods moving all across the military state. Unlike rail lines, where every passing train is basically a treasure chest, you have no way to know what cargo is in which container unless you can see through it.

And the people using this route are usually soldiers.

So say you somehow overcome all those obstacles and steal something. Congratulations. Now you get to jump off exhausted, with a heavy pack on your back.

By then, the horse or carriage you came on is far behind.

And military state troops are waiting instead.

So roadside robbery on the Meta-Conveyor Belt became something only an organization with enough power to dream of toppling a nation could pull off.

For example, the Resistance.

Huh?

"Resistance?"

"Estimated, affirmative! Right now, just now, they're dropping from above...!"

As the Captain said that,

"Yaaah!"

A battle cry came from overhead.

Dawn still hadn't fully broken. We were passing through a valley, so morning came late, and half-asleep people rubbed their eyes and peered through the dim fog.

But the intruders came from above.

In the distance, nearly ten people came pouring down with ropes tied to their bodies.

They had clearly practiced. The ropes traced precisely calculated arcs, then just before hitting the ground, they sharply shifted direction and ran with the belt. The raiders brushed down onto the belt, let go of the ropes in unison, and rolled across the ground.

When they stood, each held a bayonet rifle.

Only one landed differently, scraping the ground with a long spear instead of carrying a gun.

The Resistance fighters slid down the ropes like monkeys, aimed their gun barrels in all directions, and shouted,

"Everybody stay still!"

Unbelievable. Even clowns like these were pulling raids.

I quietly watched the pups blocking my way.

"Hands up and on your knees!"

Then I obediently did exactly what they said. Guns have my full respect. Obviously.

As their eyes fell on her, a terrified mother clutched her son tightly. She was trembling so hard she was almost sobbing.

The spear-wielding man who seemed to be their leader gave the mother and child a reassuring smile and said,

"We are the Resistance. Friends of the people. We have no intention of harming civilians who are not soldiers."

While he spoke, other Resistance members used large axes and tools to tear open the cargo. Sealed containers broke apart, revealing several neatly packed boxes inside. Most of the Resistance, lamps in hand, went inside the containers.

Meanwhile, the leader kept his spear leveled and counted people.

"Two civilians. One engineer. Over here is...."

"We're civilians! Civilians! We're on our way back home to Amitenggrad!"

I cut in before the Captain could speak. Me in ragged clothes and the Captain still in just a shirt looked perfectly civilian.

The Resistance leader glanced around and muttered,

"No soldiers? Well, no soldiers should be heading this way right now."

'That's why we aimed for this window. We got lucky.'

The leader lowered his guard a little, then swept sharp looks around and said,

"Stay still. We are the Resistance. We are reclaiming the kingdom's rightful assets."

An old engineer caught up in this mess asked,

"Kingdom?"

"That's right. Everything in the military state originally belonged to the kingdom. We are taking back what the military state unjustly occupies."

All kinds of people had gathered in the Resistance that sought to overthrow the military state.

Knights from the old kingdom era, spirited youths, and scraps cast out by the military state. Their reasons differed, but in the end they were all people who couldn't live under the same sky as the military state, and they gathered into one force.

Among them, the biggest faction was naturally the old era's vested class: knights.

The king's spearmen.

It was only natural that knights, who had wealth, power, influence, and force, became the center.

"The military state acted cowardly. It struck while provincial knights were guarding their own lands and toppled the country. If all provincial knights had gathered in the royal capital, the rabble's uprising would have ended as a simple disturbance. Tell me, how is that any different from having your country stolen?"

Knights had been the ruling class of the nation, and also lords of their territories.

During the coup, many knights were in other provinces. Once the military state seized power, they either resisted or hid with their money and vassals. That strength became spearpoints aimed at the military state, and in its early years the regime staggered badly inside and out.

Now the only ones staggering are the Resistance.

Anyway, muttering in displeasure, the Resistance leader, Sir Baltzroy, gave off a sharp aura.

"What would ignorant peasants understand if I explained it? As when the kingdom fell, hold your breath and stay quiet now too. Peasants who know neither honor nor glory...."

Wrapped in a knight's arrogance, Sir Baltzroy watched us while the others looted the containers, not moving a finger himself.

As if someone as noble as him could never do menial work like that.

Then, as the noise inside the containers gradually grew louder, the Captain beside me flinched.

'Though I am a communications officer, this officer is still a captain. I must fulfill my duty.'

Huh? Why all of a sudden?

Wait. No, right? You don't mean what I think you mean, right?

'This officer may be communications, but this officer is still a captain. I cannot overlook rebels stealing military state assets.'

Despite my hopes, the Captain rose with firm resolve.

Then tried to slot a clothing packet into a biometric terminal.

Right before Sir Baltzroy noticed and moved his hand,

"Waaah!"

I quickly threw my arms around the Captain and rolled on the ground. I gripped that fist so it couldn't open, clamped the Captain's mouth with my other hand, and pinned the Captain down with my weight.

Subdued under me, the Captain twisted and shouted,

"Let go, mmph!"

"I'm sorry! Our Bbi has an anxiety disorder!"

Are you actually insane?!

The other side was a knight who had once been part of the kingdom's ruling class. Even a properly promoted combat captain would have bad odds, so how was a communications captain supposed to face him? What, were you going to blast a screech straight into his eardrums? That at least might've had a chance!

As the Captain and I grappled, Sir Baltzroy pointed his spear at us and said,

"What are you doing?"

"Don't mind us! Episodes! I hold Bbi down for this exact reason! Agh!"

Damn it, bitten. Still, I clenched my teeth and kept the Captain's mouth covered.

Pinned beneath me, the Captain let out muffled cries.

'Release me! This officer is a soldier of the military state! I must fulfill my duty!'

Duty has limits. This is just pointless death! You can't even fight, so why step in? Trying to die?

'The moment this officer is exposed, this officer must either commit suicide at once, or kill you, who found and saved this officer. That is the duty of a communications officer who handles the highest-grade secrets!'

Wait. Why bring that up now?

...Ah. No way.

'But until now, this officer has not fulfilled that duty. Excited to come out into the world, I postponed the moment of choice I would one day have to make. I looked away from duty. But I cannot do that now.'

Tch.

Damn military state. What did they do to turn a person into this?

'If I die resisting the Resistance, that too means this officer fulfilled duty. Then this officer need not agonize any longer. This is your only chance to live. So release me!'

Just as the Captain, having made up that mind, was about to throw me off and stand,

the old engineer stood first.

"...You called us ignorant?"

The engineer moved despite the gun barrels aimed at him.

The difference between the Captain and the engineer was simple: I was next to the Captain to stop the crazy. Facing the Resistance, the engineer muttered with all the weariness of life in his voice.

"My older brother died during construction of the Meta-Conveyor Belt. He fell into the flowing earth and his whole body was crushed. A person being ground up alive... that scene is still clear in my eyes. On days I have spare time, I walk this belt under the excuse of maintenance and remember him. Even now... I still resent the military state. The military state that took my brother and his coworkers with reckless construction."

"Oh ho. They say weeds grow even in mud. Looks like someone finally understands."

Hearing criticism of the military state, Sir Baltzroy was openly delighted. As expected, nothing bonds people faster than cursing the same thing.

"Would you throw yourself into the Resistance? The Resistance always welcomes technicians like you...."

"Even so. No matter how much I resent the military state."

The engineer twisted his wrinkled face without mercy. Every line carved by hardship burned red with rage.

With hatred and contempt beyond measure, he ground his teeth and answered,

"It is a hundred times better than a kingdom full of whore-born trash like you."

"...What?"

A crack ran through Sir Baltzroy's expression.

Even facing a knight's killing intent, the engineer screamed out a lifetime of pent-up bitterness. It was the fading cry of someone who remembered the age before times changed, an age of hatred and duels.

"Yeah, you filth. My brother died working as a carpenter. He died horribly, but at least not pitifully! Better than you dog bastards strutting around as knights, killing people like toys!"

Sir Baltzroy's face flushed red at the insult. Gripping the spear shaft so hard it might break, he strode toward the engineer.

"...Looks like you want to die."

Even before a knight with clear murderous intent, the engineer shouted at the top of his lungs, veins bulging in his neck.

"Yeah! Kill me! You kingdom sons of bitches who slept with scum! Kill me too, just like you killed my father and mother!"

"If that is your wish."

Sir Baltzroy removed a glove and threw it at the engineer's feet. Flap, the leather struck with a wet slap.

The kingdom era, the age of knights.

A time when strength itself was national power and authority.

There were laws in that era too, but they were barely enforced. Instead, trials called duels ran rampant.

The two sides tested strength, and the winner took everything. The winner was truth and justice, and all of it was done in the name of god.

After throwing the glove, Sir Baltzroy regripped his spear barehanded and aimed it at the engineer.

"A duel, worm. Take up a weapon."

The military state forbids private duels. So citizens born after military rule don't really know what a duel is, or what it means.

But those who had lived since the kingdom era instinctively trembled at the institution that had taken the most lives in the kingdom.

Seeing the engineer flinch, Sir Baltzroy recited a shortened duel rite.

"Challenge me. For victory is justice itself, and the victor shall surely be protected by the Celestial God."

"Sacred my ass! If it's god's will for thug bastards to run wild, then what is that god but a thug god!"

The engineer steadied himself and shouted.

"...An ignoramus who doesn't even know duel etiquette. If you had accepted properly, I would have at least let you die cleanly."

Whoosh. The spear cut the air. Sir Baltzroy lowered his stance like a beast and glared at the engineer as if he would devour him.

"I'll cut off your limbs one by one. Roll on the ground like an insect, beg for mercy, and die."

The spear crept closer. Faced with death, the engineer staggered backward with trembling eyes.

But he had no regrets.

The military state had toppled the kingdom he hated beyond words. So even though he had suffered great tragedy at the military state's hands, he could not hate the military state. He had only carried his pent-up resentment for nearly twenty years, walking the Meta-Conveyor Belt.

And at the end of his life, he had finally poured out all that hate and bitterness. His original target had long disappeared, and the fire that had wandered inside him had only now been fully released.

The old engineer had no regrets even if he died here.

Though he would not die.

'This cannot be. With the General away from his post, no one can stop the rebels!'

Ah, and Captain, same for you. Even if you had stepped in, you wouldn't have died.

Why did you think the General was away from his post in the first place?

"Starting with your right arm."

Sir Baltzroy's spear moved. I thought only the tip trembled slightly, and then at some point the spearhead had already risen like a snake and touched the engineer's body.

A hidden, lightning-fast thrust with no readable beginning or end.

"Yaaawn."

And then the spear was violently knocked away.

Sir Baltzroy staggered back, his grip split open. He looked down at his hand in disbelief, then widened his eyes and pointed his spear toward where the attack had come from.

"Who are you!"

"It's me, you bastard."

A presence emerged. The veil masking his existence vanished, and he appeared as if a curtain had been pulled aside.

The military state's greatest combat force, the Six Generals.

Among them, the traitor knight who had killed the most knights, Patraxion, stood before the Resistance.

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