WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 188: Say You Want to Live - 4

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Hardship does not come with a warning. That remains true even when it wears a human face.

Mind-reading was an ability particularly suited to not making enemies. You read someone's mind, keep pace with it, and know precisely when to press forward or pull back so you never clash with their feelings.

You could call it a dance.

But mind-reading was far from omnipotent. It was not even all-purpose. It read minds, not the future, so it could not predict every whim or react to sudden accidents and disasters.

Most of all, even against another person, it could not stop clear hostility.

'They said a military state officer had been investigating the back alleys. The description matches.'

A dark killing intent came from beyond us. It was not an emotional impulse, but a conclusion reached through cold reason.

'Kill them to silence them.'

Cold killing intent billowed closer. The captain did not even have time to assess the situation through her golem. Ulfen already had us in their sights.

Beyond that pitch-black darkness, they were staring directly at us.

The moment I sensed it, I threw open the carriage door and shouted.

"Sepi! Captain! Get inside the carriage! Senior, get us moving now!"

"Huh? Where to?"

"Anywhere!"

I yanked the captain and Sepi back into the carriage. Senior, who had been harnessing the horses, hurriedly leaped onto the driver's seat and urged them on.

"Hyah!"

Neighhh!

With a spirited cry, the carriage shot forward. Perhaps because they were born fine steeds, the lion horses reached top speed within a few strides.

Sepi and the captain still had no idea what was happening. The captain asked,

"What's going on?"

"It's a long story! A Shadow is after us!"

'A Shadow? Yet all I can see is darkness....'

The captain synchronized with the nearest golem through her innate magic. Her vision rippled, and a carriage racing at top speed appeared at the edge of her sight. Whenever it passed a dim streetlamp, she saw the lion horses' manes whipping in the wind as they pulled it onward.

Then the streetlamps behind it began flickering one by one, as if darkness itself were racing down the street....

'Darkness?'

Once she understood the situation, the captain shouted urgently.

"Something is following us! Considering the aura art shrouding its entire body in darkness, it may be the Full Shadow... Ulfen!"

"That's what I said! They're following us!"

Even as the captain and I practically screamed, Sepi remained calm, as though she could not sense the danger.

"Don't worry. The horses pulling this carriage are no ordinary horses. No one can catch them on foot. Besides, this carriage has a level 4 defense rating. Ordinary attacks will never penetrate it."

"Please don't say things like that! You're making me scared!"

"I was only trying to reassure you."

'I spent enough to build a house just to make this carriage. Why would I make my own carriage carelessly? From the frame to the fabric covering it, everything is made of level 4 alchemical steel or alchemical thread. What could possibly be worrying?'

Now she was racking up karma in her thoughts too! Please stop!

Then a faint hostility brushed against my mind-reading. I hurriedly grabbed Sepi and the captain, pulling them toward me. They stumbled into my arms.

"Master?!"

"Sir?! What is this?"

There was no time to answer. Ulfen's intent to attack immediately became reality.

The carriage jolted violently. A dagger they had thrown pierced the joint connecting the carriage to its wheel. At the same time, another dagger sliced diagonally through the glass window and lodged in the front seat's backrest. It gave off a dark aura and was buried so deeply that even its handle could not be seen.

The unbalanced carriage tilted sharply. It was fortunate I had pulled them over beforehand. Otherwise, they would have fallen to the other side.

"Aahhh!"

Sepi screamed and threw herself into my arms. Yes, I had saved her life. So she should feel a little more grateful and listen to what I said....

"Why?! You said that was crystal glass that could easily deflect bullets! Who made this thing?! I'll show them hell!"

"Now isn't the time to worry about that, Sepi!"

I calmed the frantic Sepi and focused. At the edge of my range, I could feel Ulfen's thoughts.

Hostility as sharp and cold as a lake covered in thin ice. At its edge was our precariously racing carriage. The distance between us was steadily closing.

'It's sturdy. I meant to sever the wheel entirely, but the axle only shifted.'

Even if the carriage was sturdy, it could not use Bullet-Repelling Aura Art. And a wheeled carriage, by nature, moved far too predictably.

That meant it could not evade daggers packed with aura.

'Two or three more should do it.'

Damn it. At this rate, the carriage would definitely stop. Once we were stranded, there would be no escaping.

A way out of this situation....

Tch. I was taking this all on myself.

"Sepi. You can ride a horse, right?"

"Not with some bastard throwing knives at us from behind!"

'As Master's disciple, of course I can ride a horse. I'm just worried because I've never had to shake off a pursuer before.'

Perhaps because she was desperate, her true thoughts were spilling out. I gripped Sepi's shoulders tightly and spoke with firm persuasion.

"Sepi. Take the captain to headquarters. Captain Bbi is on a highly confidential mission, and once she completes it, she can help me."

Sepi immediately asked,

"What about you?"

Sharp instincts. When I hesitated for a moment, Sepi's eyes widened as she pressed me.

"Don't tell me you're planning to fight that thing? If you start spouting nonsense about buying time, I don't care if you're my master or not!"

'Don't talk such nonsense! You're doing something like that without even a plan! If you die, I'm never giving you another penny!'

These days, disciples even scolded their masters. Wow, the world really had turned upside down.

Both her thoughts and words were blaming me. Being stabbed from inside and out was as bad as any torture.

I gripped Sepi's shoulders again.

"Sepi. You don't trust me?"

"Of course not."

'No. Of course I don't.'

Where did all the empty flattery go? What happened to all the Sepi points I had carefully built up?

Whew. She was hard to soothe. Still gripping her shoulders, I pointed to the captain.

"Look. The captain is right there. As a military state captain, she can bring reinforcements before I get taken out. That's the only way we can survive."

"You think some rushed plan will work?!"

"It isn't a rushed plan. I planned to borrow the military state's strength to clean up the Shadow from the beginning."

It was a little awkward to say now that the plan had gone wrong, but I had intended to draw in the military state ahead of time.

My plan was this.

Market, the shelter, and the Family. I would draw out the organization targeting them a day early. At the same time, I would hand over secret information and lure in the military state.

Then the Shadow, already eager to act, would join the fray, encounter the military state's military police, and be wiped out.... A perfect plan.

I called it the "You Think You're the Only One Who Can Use the System? I Can Use It Too" operation.

But the military state had not moved. I had dangled bait this tempting, yet for some reason, they were slower to deploy than usual. It was as though they had sent every unit in Amitenggrad somewhere else.

I should never have trusted this damned country. If that was a mistake, it was mine.

But.

"It's still the military state, even if it's rotten. They must have forces standing by for disturbances like this. If I hold out until they deploy and encounter Ulfen, I win. That's why Sepi and Captain Bbi need to hurry if I'm going to survive."

Crash. The carriage shook violently again. The wheels were wobbling so badly that the motion ran through the whole carriage.

Barely keeping my balance, I looked at the captain with complete trust.

You understand, don't you, Captain? That this is the most rational option?

"You understand, Captain?"

"Dangerous! I cannot accept this!"

"Ah, why not this time?"

The captain's face was no longer rigid. With concern filling her large eyes, she refuted me point by point.

"Our opponent is a Tantalus escapee. Even if you are a magician, you cannot subdue someone like that with your power! You are... weaker than you seem!"

"It hurts my pride when you call me weak to my face. I know! Still, I can buy some time, can't I?"

"You told me to survive! Then why must the person who said that be the one placed in danger?!"

"I really, really don't want to do this either! Sacrifice isn't my thing! But this is the best option!"

This was not some noble sacrifice. It was the one method carefully calculated for survival.

I was nothing more than a petty criminal who would, at worst, be dragged off for hard labor. But the Full Shadow, Ulfen, was a truly dangerous person who had even been to the Abyss.

Well, they were nowhere near Tyr, Azzy, or the regressor, but that middling strength was more lethal to me. Acorns were always more sensitive about measuring their height against one another.

"Then I should be the bait instead!"

"Hahahahaha!"

I burst out laughing. For a moment, everyone's attention turned to me. Then I cut my laughter short and let my expression turn cold.

"Don't make me laugh. Bait only has value if it can hook something. Captain, you're not even a snack scattered across a pond. You'd only add another exploit to Ulfen's legend with a single stroke."

"Then are you saying you can stop them?"

"If you bring reinforcements in time!"

Unfortunately, this was the only option. It was truly depressing that this was the best one.

My opponent was the kingdom's Shadow, who used stealth, assassination, and psychological warfare as their main weapons.

I was a petty criminal with nothing to boast of except mind-reading.

Even if there was a vast difference in our skill, I was the opponent best suited to facing them. This had already gone beyond the point where it could be solved any other way.

"Master. That's absurd! Anyone imprisoned in Tantalus is a criminal worthy of being recorded in history. No matter how capable you are, Master, against someone like that...!"

There was no more time to persuade her. I lowered my voice and spoke to Sepi.

Not caring about affection or points, I filled my voice with cold resolve.

"Sephier Bakia. This is both a request and a lesson from your master. Don't turn away from what you need to do."

"But!"

"If you keep being stubborn, this will be my final request as your master. Whether I survive or die."

When I scolded her in a cold voice, Sepi caught her breath. A suppressed, resentful hiccup escaped the thoroughly reprimanded disciple.

Only for a moment. Sephier unfolded her tailored suit and wrapped it around the captain. She draped a jacket with bulletproof, bladeproof, and magic-resistant effects over the captain's shoulders.

Covered by the suit, the captain looked at me with trembling eyes.

'Are you truly going to face them alone? But you...!'

"If you want to save me, survive. Go to headquarters and bring reinforcements! That's the only way I can live!"

After snapping at her firmly, I immediately shouted toward the driver's seat.

"Senior! Get ready to escape! We're abandoning the carriage!"

"Got it!"

Then came another impact. The carriage, which had somehow continued barreling forward while swaying, finally gave out.

Screeeech. The tilted carriage screamed as it scraped along the ground. Through the half-severed window, I saw one of its wheels race ahead of the carriage itself.

"All right. See you later!"

I opened the door on the opposite side and climbed onto the tilted carriage.

Beyond it, I could see pitch-black darkness. Ulfen's thoughts were perfectly clear as they hid themself with Black Shadow Qi Art and stared at us.

'A man? A guard? It doesn't matter. I'll kill them all.'

Who said you could kill anyone? Who said I would die quietly?

I should at least greet them. Smiling as though I had all the time in the world, I took the Diamond 3 card from my pocket. I folded it in one hand and pointed it at Ulfen.

Alchemical Transmutation. The card instantly transformed into a large bow. Since I had fired it once already, no arrow was nocked, but arrows were meant to be drawn and fired. I carefully stared into the darkness and aimed precisely at Ulfen beyond it.

"Fahrenheit!"

Whoosh. Fire bloomed at the arrowhead. Then came the twang of the drawn bowstring. An arrow cut through the darkness along the straight street.

The arrow flew directly toward Ulfen. Their eyes twitched.

'The arrow itself is nothing. But he can see through Black Shadow Qi Art?'

Why was the arrow nothing? I had fired it with all my strength. I wished they would feel at least a little threatened.

'Bullet-Repelling Aura Art.'

Tch. Of course.

Their aura swelled. The flames were swallowed by darkness, and the arrow I had fired with all my strength was deflected uselessly.

Still, I had accomplished my goal.

After finishing my greeting, I leaped from the carriage. I nearly lost my balance and fell, but the carriage had slowed after losing a wheel, so I barely managed to stay on my feet.

Behind me, the carriage slowed further. Sepi and the captain somehow made their way past the driver's seat and climbed onto the horses.

With my back to them, I stood firm and faced Ulfen.

"...Buying time?"

Their voice came from beside my right ear. But their thoughts came from the left.

Psychological warfare, in front of me?

I snickered, put away the bow, and drew my next card.

Diamond 4, a short spear. When I pointed the harpoon-like spearhead in their direction, Ulfen stopped walking.

Silence fell for a moment. Beyond us, the captain, Sepi, and Senior mounted the horses and rode away side by side. Freed from the carriage, the lion horses were fast, and with the distance already opened up, even Ulfen could not catch them.

On this bleak street, we were now completely alone.

It made no difference to Ulfen. They showed no attachment to those who had escaped and simply gazed at me.

"So it was no coincidence. To see me clearly in the darkness...."

"Perhaps our meeting like this was not a coincidence either."

I removed my hat and gave them a deep bow.

Though they had the chance to attack by surprise, Ulfen did not strike me. Were they wary of me, or were they tolerant of this sort of empty formality?

'Skill, unknown. Identity, unknown. Is his aura sense exceptional? Or is it some other unknown power?'

Both, probably.

Ulfen, like me, was the type to make full use of psychological warfare in battle.

Good. Now it was a battle of time.

A very simple fight. If I bought time, I won. If I died before then, it was over.

"Greetings, Ulfen Fenstein. I have heard much about you. A Shadow who has existed in this world since the days of the kingdom, a symbol of this country's darkness."

"Who are you?"

I pulled my magician's hat down again, lifted the brim slightly, and smiled.

"Pleased to meet you. I am the top student in middle school, a rising star in the host industry, a customized private tutor and matchmaker, a legend among pickpockets, and an undefeated gambler. A children's idol, a kind caretaker, and the magician Hughes, shining with one prior conviction."

Footnotes:

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