WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 185: Say You Want to Live - 1

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A teacher's grace may be as high as the heavens, but a true teacher is one who makes their disciple believe that proverb is true. In that sense, I was a truly great teacher.

Tears filled my eyes as I watched Sephier come all this way to help her teacher, who had set out alone.

"Wow. I really did raise a good disciple. Look at you rushing over the moment your teacher's in danger."

Devoting my youth to raising her had paid off.

To survive in the back alleys, you needed at least one connection. The world wasn't easy enough to get by on mind-reading alone, so the moment I arrived in Amitenggrad, I went into a host bar to make connections.

Meeting the heir to a holding company there had been a stroke of luck. Pretending to be Sephier's tutor, I flitted back and forth between Sephier and her godfather, Alexei, sweetly sucking up all the benefits.

Then, when Alexei showed signs of falling into ruin, I quickly cut ties and attached myself to Sephier.

Ah, thinking back on it, I'd made such a good choice. Mind-reading was useful when used like this.

Anyway. Should I say a few nice things to the disciple who had come looking for me?

"I'm touched. To think you care so deeply about your teacher... It really was worth raising you with such care."

"Could it compare to how deeply you care about me, Master?"

'Care, my ass. He assumed I'd follow on my own and ran off without even saying anything. He never gives even a speck of thought to the people left behind.'

The gap between her words and thoughts was still huge.

Still, words were part of one's thoughts too. The fact that she was at least speaking nicely meant I still had some points saved up.

Anyway, if she'd brought the full strength of Seamless Perfection, there was no way I could be in danger...

Huh?

"But I don't see anyone behind you. Where are the rest of the troops?"

"Troops? We're a holding company. The only people we can hire are specialized workers for professional labor. Peto here is the only one who can even pretend to fight right now."

Sephier calmly said this while pointing at Senior Peto. Dumbfounded, I asked again.

"You're saying your entire force is just a coat rack riding a horse?"

Senior Peto, who had suddenly become a coat rack, replied.

"You're calling someone standing right in front of you a coat rack...?"

"Yes. That coat rack is all we have."

"Boss... No. I am a coat rack."

Senior Peto really was no more than a coat rack. Anyone would do, as long as they could stay on a horse, wear armor, and swing a weapon. The tools were stronger than the person wielding them.

"What? Then you're not much help at all."

"I'm sorry I can't be of much help. If there were mercenaries in the military state, I would've brought them."

'After Alexei fell, the holding company was changed so we couldn't hire employees who were practically private soldiers. He tore it apart himself, then pretends not to know.'

I thought you were the kind of child who could break the law for your precious self and respected teacher. Hire mercenaries, or temporarily employ strong soldiers. Apparently not. This teacher was disappointed in his disciple.

Tch. This meant I wasn't completely safe. One senior wasn't reliable enough against a threat like Shadow.

But it was fine. I had another connection prepared for emergencies.

The military state's captain.

"Ah, Sephier. Could you step aside for a moment? I need to speak with the captain."

Normally, Sephier would have agreed right away, but this time her answer came late, as though something had caught her tongue.

"...You've taken so much from me and used me however you pleased, and now you're openly keeping secrets? Don't you have a conscience, Master? I wasn't asking for a fair transaction where I receive as much as I give. But if I gave you something, shouldn't you give me something too, so that it can at least be called a transaction?"

'I'll step aside, so please have your quiet conversation. I'll just wait outside alone in the meantime.'

Something was strange. It felt like her thoughts and words had switched places.

"Sephier. Didn't some of your true feelings slip out just now?"

"Not true feelings. A fair demand. I followed your wishes and kept the captain here while providing the equipment you needed, yet neither the captain nor you tell me a single thing about yourselves. Is this how you're going to treat me?"

'Not at all. I've never lied to you, Master.'

The points I had saved were being deducted in real time. Resentment showed in her expression, along with doubt over whether she should keep following me.

Before my Sephier points ran out, I hurriedly explained.

"It's not because of me. It's because of the captain. She's carrying out a classified operation."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"She says she'll die if her secret gets out."

The word death clearly shocked Sephier a little. She flinched and glanced toward the inside of the carriage.

Not long after, Sephier regained her cool expression and replied.

"...All right. I'm sorry for raising my voice, Master. I'll step aside, so have your quiet conversation alone. I'll just wait outside alone in the meantime."

After saying that, Sephier leaned against one side of the auto-carriage. I gave her a slight nod before entering through the open door.

Inside, the captain in uniform was waiting for me in a stiff posture, both hands resting on her knees.

I shut the door. Along with it, I closed the small window leading to the driver's seat. It was already a quiet night, but with every door shut, an even more stifling silence settled over us.

The captain said nothing when she saw me, only stared at me intently.

'To be honest, it was strange from the beginning. A life too affluent for someone from District 15, a relaxed attitude, broad connections, and the ability to handle all sorts of situations. Why did this officer not suspect him from the start?'

Now then.

'Or perhaps this officer did not wish to suspect him. Perhaps this officer wanted him to be an ordinary person, so he could enjoy that daily life a little longer. This officer is unfit to be a soldier as well.'

It was time to face the captain.

'But now, that too is over.'

Her thoughts ended, and I had chosen my words as well.

The captain spoke first.

"Are you the one called the Magician?"

"Ah, that? It's just an insignificant nickname."

I smiled vaguely and confirmed her guess. There was no helping it at this point. It was better to pretend I was someone formidable than to claim the person behind all this was some worthless petty criminal.

Even if that title was full of empty bravado.

The captain swallowed and questioned me.

"Your actions are clearly illegal. After several days of investigation, this officer has identified criminal circumstances suspected to be connected to your actions."

Her speech was still stiff. This was why principled people were such a pain.

You had to deal with principled people through principles. I shrugged.

"Do you have evidence?"

If I confidently asked whether she had evidence, she should have hesitated a little. Yet the captain remained sharp.

"Magician. There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence identifying your actions. If even one tenth of the rumors about the Magician are true, the day you complete your sentence will never come."

"A military-state captain is going to imprison someone based on rumors? Come on. Even for the military state, that's too much."

"There is testimony as well. Three days ago, there were circumstances in which you privately punished the criminal who attacked Anna."

"I said bring evidence, not circumstances."

When I shamelessly picked at my ear, the captain furrowed her brow and pressed on.

"The testimony of this officer, a captain, becomes evidence. This officer witnessed a death firsthand. That person mentioned the Magician until the very end and died with spices in their stomach. If you are the Magician, there is strong reason to suspect you were connected to his death."

"What? I only retrieved the spices that were stolen from me."

There was no way I'd stuff something that expensive into his stomach. I took the golden spices from my pocket and shook them. The captain fell silent when she saw them.

"Those are...?"

'They clearly spoke as though there were spices in his stomach...'

What was she talking about? There was no way all of that could fit down the throat of a resisting person. I'd only played a little prank by scaring them with a rolled-up card.

The only thing he swallowed was a beer bottle cap.

"Don't tell me they died cutting open their own stomach because they regretted losing the spices? They can't have been that stupid."

"..."

"Seriously? What? Did someone cut open his stomach?"

Wait. Really? How could anyone think of cutting open a person's stomach? That was utterly heartless.

'Thinking back, they were clutching their stomach... That wasn't because they ate the spices, but because they had been stabbed in the stomach...'

Ugh, disgusting. For someone as sensitive as me, it was a horrifying sight I didn't even want to imagine. A person wasn't wrapping paper. How could anyone think of cutting one open and taking something out?

'A simple prank...? Or did he guide events toward this outcome and create the situation itself? What was his true purpose...?'

"Oh, right, Captain. There's something far more important than that."

Let's stop talking about things unfavorable to me and talk about things that were favorable instead.

The captain looked at me questioningly, and I spoke with confidence.

"You should be thanking me. I handled something the military state couldn't resolve."

The captain was speechless. She still didn't seem to understand, so I kindly explained.

"Thanks to you going around trying to stop Shadow, I also figured out roughly who the enemy was and what they wanted. Then, would you look at that? People connected to me were in danger. So I had no choice but to act first. I infiltrated them, made them think today was the day to carry out their plan, and warned my acquaintances while their unprepared attack was underway."

When an ambush stopped being an ambush, its effectiveness dropped sharply. Unless a force like Shadow deliberately intervened, their attack would end as nothing more than a disturbance. Like any other ordinary incident.

My prediction had been right. Most of the groups gathered through provocation were crushed before they achieved even half their goals.

"And this is the result! Thanks to me, peace in the back alleys has been preserved! What happened today will only be recorded as a minor incident! It's all thanks to my efforts!"

On the ride in the auto-carriage, the captain had grasped the general situation through surveillance golems. The military state's back alleys were particularly loud, chaotic, and disorderly today, but the disturbance had not been as serious as expected.

If things passed like this, it would be loud enough to be annoying, but not serious enough that it couldn't be covered up.

"...But the situation is not over."

The captain's expression did not relax.

Footnotes:

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