WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 163: Welcome to the Back Alley

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AB put on her uniform for the first time in a long while.

She turned her favorite casual clothes back into packets, then placed the uniform she had washed and carefully stored away into her bio terminal. A sense of pressure that casual clothes could not imitate, and which now felt slightly unfamiliar, wrapped around her entire body.

Still, she had worn it almost every day for years. AB quickly grew used to it again.

She had been told to nurse Anna, but a captain of the military state was not someone who nursed others.

AB was a communications officer. In addition to using her innate magic to deliver information throughout the military state, gathering information was also part of a communications officer's duty.

There was nothing she could do at Anna's side, but Captain AB had something she could do.

"I will track down those disturbing the peace."

The captain pulled her stiff peaked cap low and left the room.

"Anna said she went to the market in District 13. She most likely headed to the citizen market there."

The citizen market in District 13 sold packets, food, and various small tools needed by low-level citizens.

Because it was also permitted to sell luxury goods up to Level 2, ordinary citizens who came into money visited from time to time.

Pickpockets and robbers targeting citizens' money naturally existed there too, but this was the military state. The risk of getting caught was enormous, so no one would even attempt it without considerable resolve. Unless they were equally thorough, their trail would quickly be discovered and they would be dragged off to a labor camp.

"Having witnessed an illegal act, I have a duty to gather information concerning this incident."

She could not leave it to the police or military police. Even if a Level 0 citizen was victimized by a crime, they would not investigate. They would only make a record of it, intending to pin it on a criminal caught later.

That was why AB decided to act as a captain. She would gather irrefutable evidence and hand it to the military police.

She could not reveal that she was a communications officer, but a captain was still a captain. She had the authority.

"I'm going to die anyway..."

The moment she said it aloud, her body stiffened. Still, AB steeled herself and stepped forward.

Was it because she had experienced so many enjoyable things before dying?

Was it because she had experienced so many new things?

AB was no longer afraid of death. If she could die carrying memories like these, she felt that alone would be enough.

"Before then, I will gather information for Anna."

With that firm resolve, AB walked through the streets of the military state.

It was late at night. Laborers returning from their night shifts passed by here and there. After arriving in District 13, AB stood with her back against the wall of a large building.

She placed both palms against the wall and extended mana in every direction. A faint glow of mana spread from her hands.

Partial Awakening of Innate Magic, Morning Glory Vines.

Using her fingers as roots, invisible energy wound around the walls and ground. The morning glory vines searched for somewhere to wrap around and climb, then instinctively sensed the direction mana flowed and followed it.

The vines climbed along mana-conducting metal supports and eventually reached their destination. Mana searching for an empty space seeped through a gap.

Creak, creak.

Somewhere in the military state, a "Window" prepared exclusively for communications officers raised its head with the harsh sound of grinding metal.

This was not remote access through a bio terminal, but a close-range method that synchronized through innate magic.

AB's innate magic was Morning Glory Vines, a synchronization spell specialized in close-range infiltration.

The military state had assigned her nearly fifty synchronization-type magic golems called "Windows" because of the nature of her innate magic.

All the Windows assigned to her had been destroyed, so she had not had a chance to use it until now...

"This is part of information gathering. Communications officers have the authority to control magic golems stationed throughout the military state."

Synchronization magic left no trace. Therefore, this was not an act that would reveal her identity.

AB would only use the golems to gather information. The golems would not act directly or draw people's attention.

Therefore, this was not a violation of the rules. Having convinced herself, AB raised her head.

Then every golem entwined by vines opened its eyes at once.

"I will exercise my authority as a captain."

She was so bound by principles that she had found a gap through them.

Invisible vines wound around a small golem housed at the top of a clock tower, a golem standing on a building rooftop and looking down, and a head-only golem hidden beneath a searchlight.

The golems stationed throughout the area opened their eyes in unison and responded to the communications officer's synchronization. Having gained control of the golems, AB activated her mana.

Window Parallel Connection. Kaleidoscope.

Dozens of different views, each showing a different place, shattered into fragments like broken windows and entered AB's vision.

The overwhelming flood of information invading her mind despite the darkness made her head spin. AB staggered and leaned more heavily against the wall.

Yet AB was a specialist at handling information, and one of the few communications officers capable of parallel connections. Her single root greedily absorbed the information transmitted by countless vines. Dozens of lights reflected in her blue eyes.

"Search, begin."

Her pupils moved rapidly. She compared and analyzed the scenes filling her vision. The flow of people, unnatural movements, strange noises, sights that should not have been there.

She was the military state's eyes, ears, and mouth.

Communications officers were the military state's brain, the nerves through which fragmented information flowed.

That was why information about their identities could only be accessed by officers of general rank or higher, and even the Six Generals could not use it for personal reasons.

"Search. Search. Search."

There would be no way to find them if they had entered a sealed building, but AB expected they would move under cover of night. If they had stolen something, they would want to dispose of it before the next day.

"Search. Search. Search. Search. Search. Search..."

As she stood there watching the streets throughout District 13, AB spotted a suspicious-looking man. Bleeding from the shoulder, he limped along while clutching his stomach.

He looked more like a victim than an attacker, but it was still a scene that clearly suggested a crime.

"Search, complete."

AB severed her connections to the other golems and headed toward where she had spotted the man.

Considering his escape route, he would pass through the next block. Once she had calculated his path, AB headed there ahead of him.

Then she came face-to-face with the terrified man running toward her. When he saw AB's attire, his eyes widened.

"An officer?!"

If he was the robber who had committed the crime, he would flee from AB or fear her. If he was a victim being chased by a robber, he would ask for help.

It did not matter if he was not the robber AB sought. There could not be many people bold enough to commit crimes in the military state, so if she continued tracking them, she would eventually find the robber who attacked Anna.

AB was considering how to respond to either situation.

"I, I was wrong! Arrest me! I'm No. 1!"

The man's reaction was unlike either possibility.

Calling himself No. 1, the man knelt before AB, breathing heavily.

"I committed robbery! Together with No. 2 and No. 3! No. 2 is Milsen, and No. 3 is Gallen! Please, arrest me!"

This was beyond what she had anticipated, but a communications officer could not panic over that. AB replied stiffly.

"...Please explain what happened in an orderly manner."

"There's no time!"

The man looked out of his mind. Or perhaps he urgently needed to relieve himself. Or perhaps it was both. AB's common sense could not explain it otherwise.

He was clutching his stomach and confessing to a crime with a face twisted by pain and fear.

"No. 2, no, that bastard Milsen told the whole organization. That there's gold in my stomach...! Everyone's coming to cut open my stomach...!"

"I find it difficult to understand the full circumstances, but I presume your personal safety is threatened. Are you requesting protective custody?"

"That's right! Yes! P-please protect me!"

The man nodded frantically. In any case, AB asked, intending to gather information.

"Accepted. First, however, I request information from you. To understand the circumstances, I need to know what item you took, from whom, and what was done to you, and by whom."

"I don't know who he was. It was some woman trying to sell poison, no, spices at the market... I took it and was celebrating, but then he, he... put it in my mouth."

It seemed certain that he had attacked Anna. AB had not expected to find the culprit so easily.

Yet finding the culprit and arresting him were separate matters. The man's face was filled with fear and pain beyond anything she had expected.

"That man... the one wearing a strange hat. He gave me a glass bottle with poison in it."

No. 1, who had been muttering, suddenly grabbed his face.

AB revised her assessment. Compared to the distorted expression he wore now, the fear he had shown until then had not even been a fragment of true terror.

"Ahhh. The magician. Right. The magician...! It was definitely him! Why, why couldn't I remember...?!"

Repeating it to himself like a madman, the man began crying and grabbed the captain's pant leg. His other hand still clutched his stomach, as though he believed it would split open the instant he let go.

"Please. I don't want to die like this. To die because my trusted comrades cut open my stomach, what is this...?! I, I... I didn't do this for... for th-this, sob. Ah, ah."

No. 1, who had been pleading, suddenly opened his eyes wide. Cold sweat beaded across his face in the frigid night air.

As though something had seized his head and legs and twisted them in opposite directions, he made a sound as if his insides were being crushed through his tangled tongue.

"Ahh... I, won't..."

Then, without warning.

"Kyaaaaaah! Aah! Kyaaaaaaah!"

No. 1 collapsed to the ground. As though he had absorbed every pain in the world into his body, he flailed both legs and violently pounded the ground. His fists split open and his entire body bruised, but he did not stop.

At some point, he rolled back his eyes and fell limp. Something like soap bubbles flowed from his mouth.

Along with his life.

There was nothing AB could do.

She was a communications officer, not a military doctor.

"...Death confirmed. This is a murder case."

Even the military state did not overlook murder cases. Murder was a serious crime because it eliminated valuable laborers needed to keep the labor system running, so murderers were made to pay an equivalent price through labor.

That was why even criminals had no choice but to watch themselves. One wrong move and they could be caught in the military state's surveillance net.

And yet...

"...Why are you pursuing him in a group in the middle of the night?"

The captain spoke as she looked at the approaching crowd. Beyond the shadows of the dark street, a gaunt man with chilling eyes appeared, carrying a longsword over his shoulder.

Footnotes:

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