WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 180: Imaginary Master

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Nights in the military state were dark. Day laborers slept as if dead in their quarters, preparing for the work that awaited them tomorrow, while night laborers busily went about their business elsewhere.

Dressed in a pitch-black robe, I headed for an abandoned worksite in District 13. I passed through a building reduced to a steel frame, where spinning wheels used to draw out alchemical thread had been left broken and abandoned. The moment I stepped deeper into the warehouse...

Sharp hostility turned toward me.

"Stop. Mole."

A password, the most basic and effective means of distinguishing friend from foe. It looked like they had put together something proper, at least.

Still, for someone like me, with mind-reading as a master key, it was practically a free pass to earn their trust.

'The password is mole, and the reply is carriage.'

Thanks for telling me.

I read their thoughts and answered accordingly.

"Carriage."

"Good. What is it?"

"I'm a messenger. I came to tell you something you need to know."

'Something we need to know? Don't tell me Shadow is finally ready to move?'

Thanks for explaining. I nodded as though confirming their thoughts.

"The preparations are complete. Everything we did over the past few days has borne fruit."

"Results? What results are you talking about?"

'Why are you being so vague? You people said you'd assassinate Krin, Market's manager! Just say you did it or that you're about to!'

Because it would be a problem if I answered too precisely and made you suspicious. It was better to keep things vague and read whatever came to mind.

Like now.

You wanted Krin assassinated. Got it. I'll play along.

"The warehouse keeper, the manager, Market's representative, and a secret smuggler. A smoker. Preparations to take Krin's life are complete. Krin's body will sink into darkness."

"You could've said that from the beginning."

In any case, the thugs occupying the worksite were delighted by the news they had been waiting for.

"Krin, that fat bastard. He's finally getting divine punishment!"

Those who desperately wanted Krin dead were members of the Transport Union, a group formed by delivery workers.

There was only one warehouse, but many delivery workers. Krin had naturally grasped economic principles he had never studied and slashed the workers' wages. While Krin enjoyed wealth and power, the delivery workers were always barely scraping by.

A few of them had finally snapped, stood up to Krin, gotten beaten half to death, and sworn revenge.

'Shadow has excellent assassins. Krin, that manager stuffed full of lard, won't stand a chance! Once that bastard who strutted around just because he learned a little aura cultivation is dead, our Transport Union will exploit the chaos and storm Market! Most of what's in that warehouse is stolen goods or contraband anyway. If we grab it and run, no one will catch us!'

The military state's Shadow was full of people like this.

Groups and gatherings dissatisfied with the existing system. People who wanted to break and destroy the old framework so a world favorable to them could emerge.

From what I had learned by reading the captain's thoughts, the mastermind named Ulfenn planned to gather all this gunpowder in one place and set it off at once.

So the military state, acting as a firefighter, would come out and clean everything up.

Right. It was like slash-and-burn farmers setting fire to a forest so they could farm the land afterward.

The union members, unaware that their own situation was no different from the forest or the dry leaves scattered across the ground, asked me excitedly.

"What's the signal?"

"When the warehouse keeper dies, flames will rise from the warehouse. Seize that moment."

"You mean the warehouse will catch fire?"

"Yes."

"Heh, Krin. What kind of expression will that bastard make when the warehouse he cherished goes up in flames? Ah, he'll be dead, so he won't be able to make an expression! What a shame. I wanted to see that ugly face..."

That was when it happened. A boom came from the other side of District 13, and crimson flames shot upward. Scattering explosives dyed the military state's sky red.

Transport Union members hidden throughout the area burst out as though their clothes had caught fire. They stared blankly toward the warehouse, then quickly began cheering in excitement.

"You bastards. Serves you right!"

"Wait. What about our share if the warehouse burns down?"

"It's fine! Market's warehouse is huge. Even if it burns like that, half of it will probably remain!"

"Hurry up and grab the goods!"

"What perfect timing!"

Looking at the red light spreading in the distance, I muttered.

"Ah, look at that timing."

It was damned awful. They could've done it after I left. Now I had even more to do.

The union head standing before me also hurried into action.

"I can't believe you already succeeded in the assassination! Everyone, get ready! We strike Market!"

As the members rushed about, the union head smiled with delight and clenched a fist.

"If you people take control of the back alleys, we'll support you with all our heart!"

"...I'll remember that. I have other places to visit, so I'll be going."

"Leave it to us!"

The Transport Union head's attention quickly shifted toward Market. I swept my pitch-black cloak behind me and moved away from them.

In truth, those flames were fireworks Market had planned as a way to dispose of explosives. Krin had acquired them to use as weapons in an emergency, but unable to withstand my threats, Krin had turned them into fireworks.

The romance of using alchemically converted weapon-grade explosives for fireworks. That romance would ring throughout the military state as a false signal.

Then moths that knew nothing would think this was their time to burn and throw themselves into the flames.

I didn't know when the day of their operation was, but I would burn them out in advance before it arrived.

Because what had already burned could not burn again.

"All right. The places I still need to visit are..."

Night was shorter than I had expected. I would have to move even more diligently. I climbed into the high-end automatic carriage I had taken from Sepi's house and started it. Expensive things really were nice. Even the feel of it was different.

Just as I was about to leave, someone in a robe much like mine came running toward me.

Suspicious clothing, suspicious behavior. I instinctively read their thoughts.

'Damn it! I have to tell them...! Some lunatic is going around impersonating our Shadow! At least I need to make sure the Transport Union fools don't do anything rash...!'

It was a real messenger from Shadow. They had sensed something strange and seemed to be heading out to rein in members of their organization.

Rein them in... rein them in... Ah, wait. Bad memories.

Trauma washed over me, and I stepped on the accelerator. The messenger drew close in an instant.

This was because my mental faculties were impaired.

Crash.

The messenger, struck by the suddenly accelerating automatic carriage, rolled across the ground. Right after the collision, I leaped out of the carriage and shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Ah, shit! Can't you watch where you're driving?"

Perhaps they were well-trained, because even after being hit by a carriage, the messenger reflexively performed a breakfall and got back up. A trickle of blood ran from their mouth, but aside from broken ribs, they did not seem seriously injured.

What a shame. I should've hit them harder.

"Cough...! You're the one driving...!"

Caught up in the unexpected accident, the messenger answered without even gathering their thoughts.

"Look at this! The front of my carriage is completely dented! What are you going to do about it?"

"I got hit by a carriage...!"

"That's true. Your face is more dented than my carriage. Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"You lunatic...!"

Maybe my provocation worked. The messenger pulled a dagger from inside their clothes. Seeing the pitch-black blade, I screamed in horror.

"Aah! A knife! This person is carrying a vicious weapon!"

"Are you seriously saying that after running someone over...?!"

'Whoever you are, I'll kill you...!'

Their pain turned into an urge to attack. Without another word, the messenger thrust their blade at me.

In response, I calmly read their thoughts and pulled out a card.

The Four of Diamonds, a card with four diamonds arranged to the north, south, east, and west. I used alchemy to reveal its hidden form. The card greedily absorbed magic power and swelled.

What emerged after alchemical conversion was a short spear, a little shorter and lighter than standard. It was a plain, straight spear with a diamond-shaped spearhead and a long shaft.

The messenger, who carried a dagger to hide it inside their clothes, saw my short spear and cried out as though it were unfair.

"You lunatic, a spear...!"

"You pulled a knife first, so this is self-defense!"

Justice and the right to strike first were on my side. I thought of Absolute Spear and their disciple, then struck as imposing a pose as I could.

The messenger gritted their teeth.

'That stance is no joke! That man must be an expert!'

Not quite. All I did was imitate the form.

Everyone had different personalities and bodies, so the optimal form for them did not suit me. In short, my stance was nothing more than an exaggerated display full of empty bravado.

But.

'I have to avoid it with everything I've got! One mistake and I'll die in a single blow!'

If the other person didn't know it was a bluff, a fake stance became real.

If fear of the spearhead tearing them apart in their imagination made them hold back, I gained that much more freedom to move.

'All I need is to get close once! Secret technique, Shadow Concealment. I can evade it as though sinking into the ground! My stance will collapse, but if I can endure that...!'

Good. Their plan was laid out.

I wiped the expression from my face. I shed all playfulness, showed a cold, blank expression for a moment, tensed my shoulders and legs, then moved forward.

'...That expression...! A professional! He recognized me from the beginning and hit me with the carriage!'

The spear tip trembled. Seeing it, the messenger unleashed their Earth Qi Art with all their strength despite their injuries.

'Secret technique, Shadow Concealment!'

It was a technique too shabby to even call a secret technique. Using Earth Qi Art to pull at the ground, it let the user cling close to the earth and circle behind their opponent.

At a high level, it supposedly looked as though the user were hiding in the shadows, but a mere messenger who had not even earned the title of Shadow could not do that much.

Still, it should have been enough to catch me off guard.

'Dodged it...!'

I had never thrust the spear in the first place. I spun it around and held it vertically. With the blunt end pointing down, I drove it straight down.

At the messenger's abdomen as they clung to the ground and slid across it.

The messenger's eyes widened.

'Ghk! He saw through it...!'

It was a technique specialized in catching opponents off guard, but... sorry, I had never lost a psychological battle.

The messenger's body folded in half. Already half-dead after being hit by the carriage, they lost consciousness from my attack.

"Thank you for settling this amicably."

Whew, that was dangerous. They weren't even a Half Shadow officer, just an errand runner acting as a messenger, yet they were this tenacious. Automatic carriages might be inferior to horses, but they still endured after getting hit by such a large hunk of metal?

If a mere messenger was this strong, how strong were the Half Shadows, the officers, and Ulfenn, the boss?

Hah, I had wanted to avoid dirtying my hands from the start, but.

"Can't be helped. I'll have to avoid combat even more actively."

One victory was enough. From here on, I decided to pursue only mental victories.

I had only caught one of Shadow's lowly grunts, but I still gained something. I mulled over the memories I had pulled from the messenger, then roughly tossed their unconscious body into a dark alleyway and left.

That was when it happened. Something pitch-black rippled in the darkness. Feeling a chill run down my neck, I turned around.

The alley was full of darkness. Other than the unconscious messenger's groans, I could not sense a single thought.

I tilted my head.

"...? Strange. Wasn't there something there?"

A ghost? Or a phantom?

No, it looked somewhat like one of the dirt grunts I had seen in the Abyss...

"I must've seen it wrong. Why would that be here?"

What was there to see in an alley like this?

Normally, I would have looked into it a little, but I was busy now. I left for another meeting place.

Footnotes:

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