WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 174

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My Lady

The Shadow of the Kingdom was a bunch of riffraff.

Even if someone ordered them all to start riots at once, when the moment came, they might chicken out. No, chances were high they would.

Some random street thug risking his life to storm a specific facility? If that were possible, the military state wouldn't put people through such brutal training.

Everything they'd done so far had only been crime.

But what they were about to do now was close to rebellion. They risked death, or hard labor until death. No matter how firmly they swore themselves to it, would they really act so easily?

Instead of causing riots, they might hide even deeper out of fear of disobeying orders.

...But if Ulfen had planned even for that,

"...Those lawless people calling themselves the Shadow of the Kingdom were wedges hidden all across Amitenggrad, meant to make the military state tear this city apart."

From the beginning, Ulfen wanted one thing.

Mutual destruction.

"He plans to trigger riots while spreading the military-state taboo at the same time, so the military state's guns turn on everyone who hears it or comes into contact with it!"

Family and Market, two of the few organizations in Amitenggrad where the military state's power held strong.

He riled up the punks, including the Shelter orphans, made them clash with those two groups, then lured the military police into intervening in the sudden chaos.

Then he would spread the taboo, hidden in the shadows.

A deadly poison that seeped in just by hearing it, just by touching it. Lethal poison in the form of information.

The military-state taboo would spread among them.

Then.

"The military state will eliminate everyone suspected of coming into contact with that taboo...!"

Family, Market, even the Shelter with the former general, none of them would be safe.

Before a taboo that could shake the military state's foundation, everyone tied to any organization, large or small, would be swept away.

'In that process, Anna, Smen, or even you will definitely get hurt!'

When you pull a weed, the soil clinging to its roots comes out with it. Not just me and Anna, every lowborn connected to us would be uprooted and tossed onto the trash heap.

If we got dragged to a labor camp, we'd be lucky. We could just as easily go straight to the incinerator.

In front of the communications officer speaking with total certainty, I muttered dryly.

"Sounds like one hell of a taboo."

The captain snapped her head up and spoke to me in a rush.

"You must forget it. Do not be curious about the details. You must never, ever learn that taboo, and you must never act like you know it!"

'Please. I beg you. Just coming into contact with that incident is dangerous. No, even knowing this kind of taboo exists is dangerous! I'd rather he just forget what I said!'

Her emotions were so desperate and urgent that I wanted to do exactly that.

But what could I do? I'd already read it.

...An incident where 162 military middle school students were massacred by "someone."

No, Captain. I wanted to know the Shadow's plot threatening the back alleys. I didn't want to know horrifying information that could kill me just for knowing it.

I'm a victim too. A victim of mind reading! Mind reading did this on its own!

Haa. This had gotten huge. I scratched my head and said,

"...Seriously. I just wanted to make some easy cash with a marriage scam, and now I might end up in a grave. The graveyard of life never gives anything easy."

The moment marriage came up, the captain flinched. I let out another sigh, with a completely different meaning, and looked at her.

She'd been worked up over the taboo, but now another kind of heat rose from her heart, and she avoided my gaze. The neck visible under her straw hat was flushed red.

I spoke lazily.

"Fine. I'll forget it. Anyway, wasn't there something we kept putting off?"

"Th-that... affirmative."

"While helping with your investigation, we said we'd do it if we passed a government office. Somehow we never saw one on our route. What a coincidence."

"Th-that, affirmative. An astonishing coincidence."

She stumbled over her words. I drew mine out and asked at ease.

"You're not feeling shy, are you, Captain? You said it was just a fake marriage to process reward payment."

"Of course! This is solely to pay you legally. I have pursued no personal interest whatsoever!"

Her voice jumped about half an octave, with the same heat as when she spoke about the military-state taboo. Then she startled at her own words and covered her mouth.

'What do I do...! Maybe I really did pursue personal feelings in this...! Danger, danger! At this rate it becomes a false report! That means I lied!'

So what if you lied? I snorted and pointed across the road.

"Then let's stop by the office first. I'd rather not get cheated out of my pay."

"Th-that... affirmative...."

Her voice kept getting smaller.

As we walked, her heart split in two.

Hatred toward the Shadow, who planned to use the military state's power to tear apart the peaceful back alleys.

And excitement that, even if only formally, she was about to file a marriage registration.

Even knowing this marriage was nothing like a normal one, her heart fluttered like a new bride's.

'Could I really... ?'

She glanced at me, then pulled her straw hat down low.

'It's fine. All we need is consent and signatures. That's all... but. For a moment, I can call him my spouse, can't I? Even for a short while, I can pretend, can't I? My spouse, my man. Husband-nim.'

Hiding her burning face, she trembled in embarrassment for a moment. But the instant she faced the soft, swelling happiness in her chest, as soon as she felt her heart growing fuller, she smiled bitterly.

'Now I understand why I needed a room with no windows.'

Back when she was a communications officer, she had been trapped in a windowless room, seeing the world through golems.

A communications officer's world existed only through golems. Captain AB had seen the color of the sky, yet never measured its height. She sensed the force of the wind, yet never felt the cool touch of it combing through her hair. She stayed among people, yet couldn't feel their warmth.

The world had been right in front of her, but like scenery beyond a pane of glass. She had not lived inside it.

Yet in those few days she spent fully in her own body, her heart changed beyond measure.

Taste, smell, connection, emotion, life and death, joy and sorrow. Pain, and happiness.

The warm sunlight from moments shared with people bloomed in her chest. She felt a sunlike warmth spreading in every direction from the center of her heart.

Along with happiness so great it felt excessive.

'When you wish for something small, you start wishing for something bigger. Then you grow greedy for what your hands should never touch. In the end, you crave everything in this world. I must not become greedier. I must kill my emotions and fulfill my duty.'

The military-state taboo and the Shadow.

Even the information she had now was no small matter. If she passed it to headquarters, the riots would be suppressed several times faster.

But if she failed to find the Shadow, that was only half a success. She had to find them before the taboo spread.

There was only one way to find the Shadow before they acted: she herself had to become bait. To the Shadow, an officer would make the perfect signal flare for their operation.

'It's enough. This was always something only I could do. The military-state taboo, Hameln. As a communications officer, I know that story... so even if I come into contact with it, there will be no issue.'

Having made up her mind, she closed her eyes and clenched her fist. Her heart no longer wavered.

'I have decided. After filing the report and finishing the paperwork, I will give him this information. Then I will contact headquarters immediately and tell them to follow after me.'

Her mind was set. Now she only needed to find the path. She spread her magic again and connected to a golem.

'Window connection.'

Formless strands flowed into every corner of Amitenggrad. Soon, the golem's vision filled her eyes.

What it showed now was the street where we stood. In this narrow, quiet alley, only the captain and I walked side by side. Once we left this stretch and reached the main road, there would be the office. There, with little ceremony, she would hold a marriage that would mark the end of her life....

The captain and I walked down the street.

Several cloaked figures watched us from a distance, and when we moved, they quietly followed behind.

The captain whipped her head around. In the golem's view, the captain and the captain made eye contact. Shock filled her face.

'We're being tailed?!'

Huh? Tailed? I didn't feel any hostility.

I tried to look back, but the startled captain grabbed my face and pulled it forward while keeping the connection active. Her whisper brushed my ear.

"...We have tails."

"Tails?"

While living in Amitenggrad, I don't spread mind reading too widely.

This alley looked quiet, but even the building right next to us was a mid-sized residential block with over two hundred people. If I used mind reading recklessly, the flood of thoughts would overwhelm me, so I kept it suppressed.

Even so, if anyone felt hostility or fear toward me, I should've sensed it immediately. Weird.

"Where."

I spread mind reading wide. The dam broke and countless thoughts rushed in. I filtered out the noise, traced thoughts about me back to their owners. Mind reading reached the cloaked group watching me.

Then I blurted out stupidly.

"Huh. Why are you guys...?"

At that moment, the captain grabbed my wrist and took off running.

"This is not the time! Get out of here first!"

"Huh? Uh, okay."

Without understanding what was going on, I ran after her, like we were fleeing in the dead of night.

Even while running, she kept synchronizing with her golems.

Watching yourself in third person was a bizarre feeling. She looked ahead where one alley connected to the next, then synchronized with a golem in the next alley. The path continued at the edge of her vision. At the end of it were two cloaked trackers.

She let out a small groan while running, then turned and headed the other way. A view of the opposite street rose in her eyes.

"Tch! They're blocking routes systematically! This coordination...! They're completely different from the ones we've dealt with so far!"

Yeah. That tracks.

Because they weren't the same people.

Still, I had no idea why they were chasing me and the captain.

The cloaked people were moving with precise focus on the two of us. You could tell even from what the captain saw.

And from what I skimmed from their thoughts, they were clearly moving while keeping both of us in sight.

"Captain, feels like we're getting boxed in."

"I'm sorry...! I let my guard down for a moment...!"

'This is why I should never have wished for happiness! If it were only me, that would be one thing, but to drag him in too...!'

Only urgent footsteps echoed loudly through the narrow alleys. She ran desperately and spoke to me like a vow.

"Leave it to me. No matter what happens, I will make sure at least you survive!"

'Even if I have to use golems, I will!'

Use that when your own life is on the line. Stop trying to spend it saving other people. Why doesn't your protective instinct ever apply to yourself?

I had a rough guess who the pursuers were, so unlike the captain, I stayed fairly relaxed while running.

"Bbi. More importantly."

I pointed behind us. The cloaked people only approached slowly. They weren't running after us. As if it didn't matter even if the distance widened.

I pointed that out.

"Don't you think we're kind of being herded somewhere?"

"...!"

The captain clamped her mouth shut and scanned around. The alleys we'd already passed flashed through her eyes.

Just as I said, we were being forced into a single choice. Like a dike making river water flow to one side. An unseen hand had pushed us all the way toward the main road before we even noticed.

'I realized too late! Of all places, we're being pushed to the main road, not a corner...!'

If we'd been pushed into tighter corners, she would've noticed sooner. Everyone keeps an eye on corners.

But instead, we were being pushed toward a huge main road wide enough for four lanes of motor carriages.

'But why would the enemy target the main road...! Don't tell me they want everyone to witness this? I didn't think they'd move this fast...!'

Still, we had already been driven this far. And a main road meant more ways out.

She clenched her fist.

'Force a breakthrough!'

As she lit her eyes with golem sight and drew up her magic power,

I stepped onto the main road one step ahead of her. The narrow alley ended, and the broad avenue opened before me.

The first thing I saw was not a motor carriage, but a real carriage.

Two horses with red manes snorted and stamped the ground. Their force looked fierce enough to smash stone, but their horseshoes, made of high-level special alchemic steel, absorbed even the sound along with the impact.

And the carriage was massive, easily twice the size of a normal motor carriage. The design was simple, but the luxury rivaled anything in the world.

As if it had been waiting for me from the start, the carriage door opened the moment I stepped onto the avenue. The first thing out was a pair of polished shoes.

Neat suit trousers, a bright red shirt underneath, and a formal scarf. A young woman with vivid sky-blue hair tied and draped to one side.

"Dangerous! Step back!"

The captain came running behind me, then saw the woman's face and fell silent. Her eyes widened.

"You are...!"

"It's fine. I know her."

I waved a hand to reassure the captain.

My oldest connection from right after I settled in Amitenggrad. And my most successful investment.

My former student, my former backing, and an excellent cash line now standing right in front of me.

With the mindset of a con artist facing an easy investor mark, I put on a flattering smile and waved.

"Heeey, long time no see. Sepi. Been well?"

At my casual greeting, Sephier Bakia placed one hand on her chest and bowed deeply.

"Have you been in good health, Master? I have longed to see you again."

'Are other people's messages jerky or something? How long are you going to keep chewing them up and ignoring them? Do I really have to hear news about my own master from someone else's mouth, you bum?'

Wow, her mouth... no, her thoughts had gotten way rougher than before.

Watching the young businesswoman whose language had gotten sharper while I hadn't seen her, I gave an awkward smile.

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