WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 199

──────

Land Flowing Like a River - 1

The regressor took just as much interest in me as Azzy did. She pointed at herself and asked casually,

"Azzy. What about me?"

"Woof? You're kinda small!"

Azzy's gaze lingered oddly around the regressor's head. The regressor waved a hand over her own head and thought,

'She means influence, right? It has to be that, right?'

"What if I lend him my strength?"

"Then I'd be happy! Woof! The more the better!"

Hearing investment talk and even a four-character idiom from her left me reeling. That dog was quoting refined sayings. Did she go to school while I was gone?

"Woof, but still small. Small plus small is still small."

Now math too? What was this, had I completely misunderstood dogs? Was this possible because she was the King of Beasts?

I stood there with my mouth hanging open, and the regressor nodded as if she'd understood everything on her own.

"I see. I get the rough idea."

'So the qualification the Beast King demands is personal influence. I thought it meant authority, but after hearing Azzy, influence doesn't have to be just authority.'

Deep in thought, the regressor clicked her tongue.

'This kind of influence is the problem. I can't gain it easily, because every regression resets all my relationships.... Authority I can seize by force somehow, but then my path gets tangled. I need to try all kinds of approaches, and authority is too heavy for that.'

Then she glanced at me and gave me the same look Azzy had. Her eyes glittered like she was looking at prey as she sized me up from head to toe.

'Then what if I use this guy? If I can raise his influence somehow...!'

Her thoughts came to an end.

Hiding those dark intentions inside, the regressor gave an uncharacteristically soft smile and made me an offer.

"How about it? Want authority, like Azzy said? If you do, I can give it to you."

"No, coming from you, that doesn't sound like a joke. You're talking like you've got authority tucked in your pocket."

"Not to that extent, but I can introduce you to a decent position."

That gentle offer from the regressor felt deeply unfamiliar. At this rate, I'd be stuck with her not just this cycle, but the next one too.

Sure, the me in the next cycle would be a different person, but still, getting hounded by the regressor through all future timelines would be a real problem. The perfect ending would be saving each other's lives in Tantalus and parting ways there.

What do I do? Do I really have to travel with her?

I muttered in disbelief, then a good idea struck me. I crossed my arms arrogantly and looked down at the regressor.

"Oh? You said just now you'd help me, right? Then does that mean Mr. Shei is my subordinate?"

"What?"

Her temper flared so fast that I flinched before I knew it. What was this, was she a thug? She blows up whenever things don't go her way?

After calming herself for a moment, the regressor thought,

'If I get the qualification, I'll dump all Beast King negotiations on him.... Well, I can be his subordinate for that.'

"It's closer to being a collaborator... but fine, for now, I'll say I'm your subordinate."

Ha. Let's see if she can keep saying that after this.

I swaggered and tapped my foot like a delinquent. Understand the advantage in position, then use it immediately. I twisted my tone as hard as I could.

"Then starting today, take care of meals and cleaning. I'm sick of solo childcare, no, solo dogcare."

"...What? Solo?"

Whoa, look at her eyes go wide. At this rate she could bury someone.

But I'd already taken Azzy's investment money.

"If I say it's solo, it's solo. You dare talk back? Azzy, I can't do this anymore. Go find another investment target."

"W-woof?! No! Woof!"

Azzy jumped in panic and clung to the regressor with huge pleading eyes. The regressor had been glaring at me, but at Azzy's desperate behavior she looked thoroughly troubled and trailed off.

"Woof, just hold it in for a bit! You don't get a title for going off the rails!"

"Kgh."

'Every time I try to make things even a little better, he pulls some bizarre stunt. Is he messing with me? Seriously, should I fix him from the very start next cycle?'

I was just about to wrap up this favorability management successfully.

A huge hostility swelled. It wasn't from the regressor. It was coming from outside the container. The moment I sensed it, Azzy moved.

Azzy whipped her head around. Her ears twitched sharply. Her hair lagged behind and smacked her cheek hard a beat later, but she didn't care and launched herself straight at me.

"Woof! Danger!"

Azzy bit my collar and yanked. At the same time, I sensed the hostility too and threw myself along with her, not resisting the force. Not that I could have resisted anyway, with the gap in strength.

Either way, thanks to that, we were at least a little safer from the storm of gunfire.

Tutatatatatata.

Countless shots rang out. Like torrential rain, a long rushing roar filled my ears.

Bullets poured down like rain and hammered the container walls. The noise was far beyond any drum barrage and tormented us nonstop.

Sensing the attack, the regressor got up and drew Skywarbler and Jizan.

"An ambush? There was nobody there when I checked the front."

"Not the front. The side!"

"An ambush point? Tch. I focused on the waystation ahead and neglected the side."

As she clicked her tongue, Tyr's voice reached her ears. A heavy resonance filled the container, as if darkness itself were trembling and speaking through a coffin.

[It's noisy outside. Shall I step in?]

"No, it's fine. Their goal is probably to wake you."

[Then I will remain here a little longer. Call me when you need me.]

Tyr lowered her voice and went back to sleep. It was less sleep and more like storing power, or conserving active time, but humans didn't really have a comparable concept besides sleep.

Anyway, with Tyr asleep, the regressor listened through the container wall. The barrage continued, as if testing the container's durability.

I covered my head and shouted at the still-relaxed regressor.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and deal with them!"

"You said you hate solo dogcare. Then I'll split roles too, and you should handle outside work as well. Isn't that fair?"

"Is this really the time to argue about that? Fine, I was wrong!"

Maybe she liked my apology, because the regressor smiled and tapped the container wall.

"Don't worry. This container was reinforced with Tyrkanzyaka's Blood Seal, and I strengthened it further with barrier magic. Mere bullets can't pierce it."

"That line sounds ominous."

"Ominous? They've been pouring bullets at us this whole time without climbing aboard. If they're using guns, they're regular soldiers, not officers. They put expendable regulars in front to wear down our nerves. If you let it get to you, you lose."

She wasn't wrong.

You can't use high-level alchemic steel on bullets that are effectively disposable. The cost doesn't make sense, and if the enemy captures and uses them, that's a loss by itself.

By contrast, armor that protects your life gets loaded with legendary metals or high-level alchemic steel without restraint. No explanation needed.

Even setting aside bullet-deflecting techniques, projectile weapons had clear historical limits because of this imbalance in metal value.

At best, suppression tools, or disposable pawns.

The military state was a pretty bizarre country, handing hard-to-produce guns to regular soldiers and waging war like lunatics, but their combat manuals were still more rational than anyone else's....

Except.

'I hear it. Trace the sound of bullets striking steel, reconstruct the interior.'

My mind reading was catching something different.

'The walls are reinforced, and the inside is mostly empty. Probably because it's meant for living. The uneven reverberation means there are structures along the walls. In that case, the odd part of this sound is....'

On one of the few main roads beside the Meta-Conveyor Belt, three military motor carriages raced side by side.

Their wheels thundered over the paved ground. Faster than the Meta-Conveyor Belt, the military motor carriages screamed as they raced the flowing land.

The regular soldiers riding them fired on their officer's orders. Tudududu. In the thunderous blasts, the officer's shouts were swallowed up. People say even falling drops can bore through rock if they keep at it, but the container, faintly glowing with its crimson mark, wasn't just enduring the barrage, it was outright deflecting it.

A pointless-looking action that couldn't make even a single hole after two magazine changes. Even so, the regular soldiers silently obeyed orders.

Everything for one being.

I sprang to my feet, grabbed the regressor's shoulders, and shouted,

"Historia's over there!"

Historia stood atop the very front motor carriage, aiming this way with a long rifle about a person's height. Her braided hair lashed violently in the rough wind. Her loosely worn uniform flapped without mercy.

It looked like she was being battered by the wind, but in truth, that was her way of reading it.

The weight of her hair, the flutter of her sleeves, all of it was a sensory organ for feeling the wind. Clack. After calculating wind direction and speed with her whole body, Historia set her front sight on one section of the container.

She pulled the action and chambered a large round. At the same time, a blue aura formed around both barrel and bullet.

'There.'

I couldn't tell exactly where she was aiming, or exactly what point inside this container that corresponded to. But I could roughly estimate the height.

'Hui. Just don't die when it hits.'

Where she was aiming was around thigh height if I were standing. Sure, even if something got blown off, it probably wouldn't kill me....

Is not dying all that matters, you bastard?!

At that height, for the regressor it would be around the pelvis. Likely to miss, but not certain.

I immediately wrapped my arms around the regressor and dragged her into a roll on the ground.

Ta-ang!

A long, ringing shot cracked out. Even among the crashing noise like breaking waves, one massive sound stood out, and at the same moment something huge slammed into the container.

Kugooong, the container took a direct hit in the side and let out a long groan.

Kiiik, clunk. The impact was so huge that, for a brief instant, the container swayed. The world stayed still, but it felt like gravity wobbled for a moment before finding its center again.

In that state, I rolled with the regressor. She shoved me off and said,

"Hey! What are you doing...?!"

"Look up before you talk!"

When we looked up, the container's outer wall directly above us was horribly crumpled. The Blood Seal that had been glowing inside had lost much of its light now, leaving only red traces.

Light leaked from the edge of the damage. It had even partially broken the barrier that completely separated outside from inside.

Historia's bullet could threaten even steel reinforced with Blood Seal, and it was strong enough to punch through a barrier!

"The gunslinger? She already caught up to us?"

"She probably ran along the belt! There's no rule saying she had to stay seated after boarding!"

Shouting, I hurled the scattered furnishings in every direction. Colliding steel rang out in a violent racket. As sounds reflected chaotically off the crumpled container, even Historia, who had been reloading, narrowed her eyes.

'...The sound got messy. Because the wall got crushed? Or have they already made a countermeasure?'

But this only bought a little time. If they got no reaction from inside, they might expose that same wall section entirely.

It was time to come up with a plan.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried