WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 17

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That's Correct. An Alchemist.

Today's lesson had been good.

I was stretching wide, about to step out the door, when the vampire's voice stopped me cold.

[Do you have nothing for today?]

"Nothing? What do you mean?"

[Exactly as I said. Anything at all. Something curious.]

'That story I heard yesterday, the tale of clothing and needles, was quite interesting. This one has a real knack for storytelling. I wonder if he has anything else worth hearing.'

Centuries sealed inside that coffin, cut off from the world, and one story from yesterday had left quite an impression. She was holding onto me like a lonely grandmother who just wanted company.

Though even if she expected more, not everything I had to say would be worth listening to. And I didn't exactly have stories lined up.

I scratched my head. "Something curious? Well, should I teach you magic, then?"

[Magic?]

I had said it half-expecting no interest at all. But both the vampire and the regressor perked up in unison. Oh. That much enthusiasm was more than I could handle.

"Don't get your hopes up. The only magic I can teach you is the military state's standard-issue formula magic, the kind they go over at military academy."

'Ah. Tsk. I thought it might be a unique spell.'

The regressor's interest flickered out just as fast. Her standards had climbed too high to bother with the ordinary techniques someone like me used.

And she herself had been called "a mediocre talent borrowing from the future" by anyone in those circles. Hmph. A regressor propped up by luck and legendary gear. Good luck with that.

What a contrast. The vampire's reaction was exactly what a proper reaction should look like.

[You, you can actually use magic?!]

People look upward to find motivation and downward to find comfort. For me, the downward glance landed squarely on a vampire who was suspiciously ancient and hopelessly behind the times.

Ah. My self-esteem refilled itself. The theory that modern people are geniuses held water, because this ancient creature was looking at me like I had performed a miracle.

Chest swelling, I said, "Yes. I can use magic."

The regressor snorted.

'It's just the military state's standard formula magic, what every last person learns. Preening over something that useless...'

She couldn't even manage it on her first life. A mouse kicked to death by a cow's hind leg, maybe?

Just go. Why was she still standing here listening?

If she was going to stay and observe, she could at least take a page from the vampire's book. That kind of reaction was what made explaining feel worthwhile.

[Magic is a product of mystery, an outer law that only the deepest of sages could approach! Even I cannot wield it, and yet something like you can use it?]

"Something like me? Back where I came from, I used to walk around with my head held high."

A criminal in the military state, crawling around on my hands and knees here, yes. But back at military academy I never once fell from the top of the class. Even after I dropped out, there wasn't a soul in the back alleys who didn't know the name of the street magician.

Known more as a jester than a sage, but still.

"And it's not like I'm anything special. There are so many people outside who can use magic. Walk into any military academy and everyone tries it at least once."

Common knowledge, nothing more. Yet the vampire reacted as though she were watching the end of the world.

[Ev-everyone tries it? Magic?]

"Of course."

[How many of them are there?]

"The military academy I attended had two hundred students per year, and there were ten schools like it, so... yes. At minimum, two thousand people in the magic-using population."

[Two, thousand...]

Genuinely speechless, tongue moving in stunned disbelief.

[Two thousand mages. That is more than the population of a decent city.]

"These days, two thousand doesn't even qualify as a town. The population has grown enormously. You'd have to go to some rural backwater to find a community that small. And I think you're misunderstanding something."

Two thousand per year, per school.

Right. She wouldn't have had the concepts of academic years or grade levels back then. I had to set the record straight.

"It's not that the total magic-using population is two thousand. The thirteen-year-olds currently enrolled in military academies alone number two thousand. The fourteen-year-olds have the same count, and the year above that as well..."

[That cannot be! Then there are a hundred thousand mages in the world?!]

"Mages might be a stretch, but people who can use magic? Though even among those, the ones who actually study it professionally are few."

[Even so. A hundred thousand...]

In the old days, entire nations sometimes numbered fewer than a hundred thousand. The shock was understandable. I shrugged. "Well, about that scale. A thousand years is exactly that wide a gap."

Thank you, civilization. Precious history of humanity, for placing me a thousand years ahead of this vampire.

Right in the middle of my quiet gloating, a voice cut in.

"Stop stoking misunderstandings. Those with genuine talent for magic are a tiny minority."

The regressor chose that moment to throw cold water on things.

She used magic herself, so why the constant knocking down? She couldn't help herself.

"Put most of them to a real test and plenty couldn't manage it properly. Talent matters more than anything else in this domain, which is why many people learn just the basics and put magic aside entirely. Spending that time on combat or strategy is more worthwhile."

She was gunning for a deflation, but for the vampire, even that was astonishing.

[Even given the chance to learn magic, people simply give it up? How is that even conceivable?]

"Ah, that. It's a long story. Hmm."

I stepped in.

"When knowledge becomes more common than stones on the roadside, people start treating it the way they treat stones on the roadside."

[Even when mastering it would clearly mean gaining power?]

"Power too follows economic logic. It becomes just another product. When something is no longer rare, there's no need to acquire it."

[My. What a curious perspective...]

"Well, that's what a changed world looks like, isn't it?"

[Th-then. Perhaps.]

I had said it so casually, and from inside the coffin the vampire hesitated before speaking.

Like someone reaching for something she knew she shouldn't want. No, more like a timid girl who felt guilty for wanting anything at all.

[Even for someone like me... if I were to ask to learn, would you teach me?]

"Trainee Tyrkanzyaka can't use magic to begin with, can she?"

[I do not mean to actually use it. I simply... want to learn. Once. In that place called school, the way the other trainees do...]

"Ah. You want to be a late learner."

People who missed the chance often carried a longing for it. From the outside it seems like nothing, but regret piles up in proportion to the years it has gone unfulfilled. I scratched my head.

"To enroll in school, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka would first have to sort out the residency registration issue..."

That would be difficult. The military state's registry was quite strict. Though for someone of Tyrkanzyaka's caliber, putting together a legal identity probably wasn't entirely out of reach. I shrugged.

"If you want to learn, there's no need to go to school specifically. As long as you can pay, private academies teach it just as well."

[Is that so?]

Knowledge had gotten cheaper, but it wasn't worthless. Anything at or above level three tactical-grade arcane arts was locked down by the military state, but level two combat-grade arcane arts could still be taught at private institutions.

As I gave another shrug.

[Then. Could you teach me magic? Once?]

"Me? You mean me?"

[Yes. Right now, the only windows I have to the world are you and Shei.]

Teaching magic to a thousand-year-old vampire, a Progenitor whose every deed had been written into legend? Me?

Absurd. Theory was where I shone. Practical application was another story entirely. I had picked apart every thought of every magic teacher I'd ever had using mind reading. And still I only managed level zero manifestation-grade arcane arts before I had to drop out.

This wasn't false modesty. Magic wasn't my specialty, but if she saw me barely squeezing out zero-level arcane arts, she might start questioning my capabilities altogether. No deliberation needed. Refusal was the only option.

I was about to turn her down.

'Did he say there would be a cost? No matter. I have gold to spare...'

Gold.

It had always been this way. Gold, the metal that blinds people entirely.

The contemptible trophy that stands over people's heads, gets steel soaked in blood on its behalf, and then serenely moves on to crown the next scalp. Even the principled disdain gold but never quite manage to keep their distance. The same applied to someone as levelheaded and thoughtful as me.

In an instant, my stance reversed. I curled my fist and pressed it to my chest.

"I could teach Trainee Tyrkanzyaka as well."

Then I curled my fingers into a loose circle and gave a small shake.

"Though, ah, even as an instructor, teaching magic without some compensation feels... the security level goes up with each tier, you understand. There'd need to be some consideration."

[You are asking for gold?]

"Not necessarily. Just a token of goodwill. Enough to put me in the right frame of mind."

Too transparent, that. The regressor clicked her tongue and shot me a glare. No need to read minds for this one. A military state officer lining a second pocket, and she was clearly about to lecture me for it.

But here's the thing.

A few centuries back, kickbacks were simply how things were done.

[Gold seems modest enough. Understood.]

Creak. The coffin lid tilted open. From the darkness still rippling inside, a jet-black hand rose with something balanced on it, drifting slowly upward.

Wait, really? She was actually giving me something?

Crisis truly was opportunity. The crisis of sharing space with a thousand-year-old vampire had just turned into an opportunity to fleece a wealthy relic with no idea how the world worked.

Desperately suppressing the urge to lunge forward, I fixed my gaze on what the black hand was bringing out.

A golden crown, dripping with aristocratic splendor from first glance alone.

A windfall. I forced a cough to seal the joy inside.

"Pulled from a coffin, it looks just like a burial piece. Ow!"

[That is quite enough from you.]

Still, no need to throw the crown. What if something so precious got scratched. Worried about fingerprints, I stretched my sleeve out long and received it with the utmost care.

Good lord. The weight of it. Is this actually a crown? If it's all gold, even accounting for alchemy driving the price down, how much would this be worth...

...Wait.

Alchemy. A thousand years ago. The technological gap, and that faintly guileless demeanor.

Just on the off chance. I examined the golden crown very carefully.

Why is it that bad feelings are never wrong?

"This is fake!"

[...?]

"Come to think of it, this is pre-Alchemical Revolution gold, isn't it? That makes it counterfeit. Oh, what a disaster."

The vampire was genuinely flustered.

[Gold is gold. How can there be real gold and fake gold?]

"There has been. For the past hundred years."

[Wh-what. Don't tell me.]

'Again... it's that pattern, falling behind the times? Again, the same pattern...?'

I had felt cheated and wanted to take it out on her, but reading her thoughts made it impossible to muster the energy. Yes, I had lost a bit of the money I was owed. But the vampire had lost everything she owned.

These were the moments when mind reading felt like a curse. If I hadn't known at all, I could have squeezed her dry without shedding a single tear.

Such is my fate. Just when I thought I'd pocketed something.

"Normally I'd have to turn you in for currency fraud, but since Trainee Tyrkanzyaka lived in an era before alchemy even existed, I'll let it go. Watch this."

I drew a star with my finger in the center of the crown. Pure gold should leave nothing on the hand, but instead it flushed bright red, as though a hot iron had been pressed against it.

"A golden crown's defining traits are its shine and weight. The third and fourth corners, most likely. The alchemical level is quite low, as you'd expect from ancient work. Even I could undo this."

I tapped the third and fourth corners, then scratched the front and back surfaces with a nail in a full circle. A push of magical energy along the outline, and thud, the crown began to melt and shift, changing color.

What lay beneath was a dim, ink-dark metal.

Mithril, the magical conductivity metal. Far more useful, more widely used, and cheaper than gold. Undeniably superior to gold in many respects, but stripped of its place among precious metals for exactly that reason. An unfortunate metal.

I set it down on the lectern. "Mithril is a metal with excellent magical conductivity. So excellent that alchemical techniques using it could mimic any metal in the world. Naturally, the one mimicked most was gold. Back then, mithril itself was rare enough that fake gold mixed in with real wasn't easy to detect. Little by little, counterfeits, mithril dressed up as gold, slipped into circulation.

Then one day, an alchemist who wanted to get his hands on bigger money had a clever idea. Producing real gold was difficult, so he'd make mithril instead and pass it off as gold. Mithril was also hard to produce, so his plan looked like it'd come to nothing."

Sadly, he succeeded.

The alchemical pattern was cracked open.

Estimated level three. Alchemists who knew what they were doing started stamping out mithril. Cottage-industry scale at first, but a steady supply drove the price down.

Those who held gold grew afraid. Without lifting a finger, their wealth was halving itself in a slow bleed. A well-informed few raged and dug for the truth. When they finally found it---

"The moment they understood what was happening, they sealed their mouths and began selling off every piece of gold they owned."

[Why? Rather than punishing the alchemists making the counterfeits?]

"Because they had to offload everything before others found out their gold was fake. If they punished the alchemists, everyone else would find out, wouldn't they?"

[They knew their gold was counterfeit. And knowing this, they sold it?]

"They sold it because they knew."

Watching your accumulated wealth evaporate in real time and doing nothing would be the foolish thing. Perfectly natural.

[But then, what of those who bought the counterfeit gold believing it genuine? Surely they did not sit still.]

"Correct!"

The enthusiasm for learning. Worth teaching, this one. I spread both hands wide with a broad grin.

"What happened after that is hard to put simply. The buyers raged, the sellers denied everything, the two sides fought, quarreled, and went to war. An absolute disaster, by all accounts. One historian summed it up by saying the blood spilled amounted to the combined weight of all the gold that had ever existed."

Anyway. I turned the mithril crown over in my hands. "Simply put, mithril is now worthless. A bit of an exaggeration, but it's somewhere in the range of a bundle of firewood."

Which meant most of what the vampire owned had turned to garbage. I sighed and fixed her with a genuinely sympathetic gaze.

Wine, fermented goods, antiques, those can gain value with time. But as with all things, leave them long enough and they spoil. A thousand years was too long.

The vampire took her time before speaking.

[History, and now alchemy... How do you know all of this? Could it be.]

Even now, curiosity. Charmed by that, I gave a firm nod.

"That's right. This too was something I learned in 'school'."

[Again!]

"Not just alchemy. Mathematics, biology, natural science, foreign languages, arcane studies, mechanical engineering, ballistics, and more. All of it is covered at military academy."

[Just what is this... place called school? Is it where talented children are gathered from all over the world to seek learning? A Tower of Sages, something of that kind?]

"No? Anyone between fourteen and seventeen who graduates from civic school with strong marks can apply. Open to anyone who wants in."

[Th-that cannot be.]

The voice from inside the coffin had gone quieter than before. Quite the culture shock.

Back then, learning anything at all was a privilege of the highest echelons. The road to knowledge was narrow, winding, and treacherous. Closed off, too, so even those who reached the end often found a shut door with no way through.

Compared to that, is today an improvement?

"Anyway. Now you understand, don't you? What a shame this all is. Sigh. Today's session gets called off."

[W-wait.]

Unable to absorb the changed world so easily, the vampire turned to the regressor for a second opinion.

[Shei. Is what he said... true?]

"...All of it is factually correct. But."

'Even so, someone as fluent in all of this as he is, that's far from common. The military state pushes specialization. Each person is supposed to dig deep into what suits them. Being able to deflect my sword and also have thorough knowledge of alchemy and magic, that's strange...'

Still going on about deflecting that sword. I shuddered to think how she would have treated me if I hadn't managed it. Like something scraped off the bottom of a shoe, probably.

Well, I suppose my arm would have been gone. Literally scraping the ground, a real bug after all.

"But it isn't as impressive a place as he makes it sound. Go in with expectations and you'll be sorely disappointed."

The regressor said it like it was nothing. It was an ordinary place, that much was true, so I didn't argue.

The vampire, having been so impressed, voiced a sudden question.

[Shei, did you also attend this military academy? Are the two of you alumni of the same institution?]

"No. I only went to civic school."

[Ah... I see.]

'Hmm. Yes. The difference shows, even in how they speak. There does seem to be a gap between the two...'

The vampire drew out her words like an apology. Catching the pity folded into the tone, the regressor rushed to explain herself.

"No?! The reason I only went through civic school is that I was an orphan and couldn't afford the tuition!"

[Oh dear.]

"No! What I mean is! I had no need to go all the way through military academy! I had more than enough without it!"

[I understand. Do not worry. I will teach you bloodcraft to the fullest of my ability.]

"That is not what I'm saying!"

Well. Not trying to show off, exactly, but here we were. I wiped my nose and added, "For what it's worth, I was also parentless. Got in on a scholarship. Top of my class, all the way through military academy."

"You. Shut up."

"A ripe ear of grain bows its head, and a full pouch stays still no matter how it's jostled... Since you so wish it, I will be quiet."

"Is that what shutting up looks like to you?!"

People with no education, honestly. Sigh.

I had only let out a quiet sigh as directed, but even that seemed to bother the regressor. Fuming, she reached into some invisible space and pulled something out.

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