WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 202: Land Flowing Like a River - 4

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The meta conveyor belt was flowing land, the military state's most efficient means of transportation.

It wasn't the fastest method, but it was certainly the most efficient. Simply ride it, and you could travel from the eastern edge of the military state to the western edge in just a few days. If you wanted to go faster, all you had to do was move as much as you pleased while riding it.

By vehicle, or on foot if necessary. The more you hurried, the more speed you gained. It was a masterpiece of military state efficiency with an uncharacteristic flexibility, enough to make even that rigid nation puff out its chest.

Yet land was fair. Mother Earth bestowed her mercy equally upon all, so even land that flowed like a river did not embrace the military state alone. Anyone could walk upon it.

Enemy or ally of the military state, all were children of the earth.

As a result, the military state was struggling with enemies occupying the flowing land.

"...I'm going to get an earful."

Because the meta conveyor belt was flowing land, its exact location could not be specified. Still, a temporary headquarters had been established ten kilometers behind them.

Historia returned by traveling against the conveyor belt. With an unlit cigarette between her lips, she entered the largest container.

Inside, generals and high-ranking officers were holding a meeting before a map of the military state. Some outranked Historia, but Historia merely tipped her head as she went in and took her seat.

A few generals turned their heads slightly to acknowledge the greeting. The cheerful-looking middle-aged man seated at the head of the table deliberately furrowed his brow and called to Historia.

"Major General Historia. Where have you been?"

"I went and gave them a little poke."

"I distinctly said solo operations were forbidden."

"That's why I only fired my gun. I didn't fight them directly."

Historia gave a brief reply and took her seat. Her attitude was as bold as though rank and protocol meant nothing to her.

Yet nobody mentioned it.

She was one of the Six Generals. Though still young and low in rank, she was one of the military state's strongest assets. In terms of raw strength alone, she ranked among the top five in the military state. A one-person army capable of carrying out operations alone.

You could not force an irregular existence into a standard mold. Either the mold would shatter, or the existence inside would refuse to endure it and break free.

One of the generals defended Historia.

"Commander, the major general only went along for reconnaissance. There were results as well, so let's leave the reprimand at that."

"Huh? Lieutenant General, what if we'd lost one of the Six Generals that way? Do you think operational plans exist for no reason? Everything is arranged for the sake of our allies, so what happens when one of its central pieces, a Six General, acts on their own?"

Though some might not believe it, Historia was surprisingly diligent. She cared for her subordinates in her own way and showed at least a little courtesy to the other generals. Perhaps that was why she occasionally received criticism but was otherwise left alone.

Because...

"You're one to talk. You're the Northern Commander, yet you took leave and went off to fight by yourself."

Compared with Partlaxion, who had shamelessly submitted a leave request and gone off to duel on his own, a major general who had caused a little friction during reconnaissance before withdrawing was downright adorable.

Partlaxion replied brazenly.

"That is why I was able to take part in this operation. If I'd been in the north, I wouldn't have made it here in time. Besides, my reconnaissance battle gave us a rough idea of their strength."

Historia chewed her unlit cigarette and replied.

"I heard it from the communications officer. You were scared of the Progenitor and came back without accomplishing anything."

"I wasn't scared. I just couldn't find a reason to risk my life fighting. Like you said, isn't it a loss if one of the Six Generals dies in a place like that? Besides, I've got children as cute as rabbits and a wife as sly as a fox waiting at home."

"Why didn't you have such deep thoughts before you went looking for them?"

"...Always talking back."

"Phew... Ah, it isn't lit."

"Now you're just ignoring me?"

Historia was the only one who could treat Partlaxion, the military state's finest in both strength and experience, so casually. The generals admired Historia for saying the things they could not bring themselves to say.

"You little... You should really be grateful to my daughter. If I didn't have a daughter around your age, I'd have set you straight long ago."

Though he grumbled, Partlaxion stopped blaming Historia there. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the table and called to the chief of staff.

"Anyway, the general who went scouting is back, so let's begin the meeting. Chief of Staff, explain."

"Then I'll begin."

The chief of staff inserted a packet into a bio-terminal. When mana flowed into it, alchemical thread formed from mana wove a sheet of cloth and wrapped itself around the chief of staff's arm. Once it had fully manifested, the chief of staff unwound the cloth.

The cloth wrapped around the chief of staff's arm was a packet-created map of the military state.

If it could create forms, it could create images as well. Packet technology had developed enough to store information, and the military state had been the first to adopt it.

When the chief of staff spread the cloth across the table, a vast map showing every part of the military state literally unfolded.

"This is their current location. This is the location of our forces waiting behind them."

Within the military state's territory, divided by thick borders, the broad oval marking the meta conveyor belt resembled the nation's skeleton. It was clearly depicted larger than its actual size, circling the military state once.

The chief of staff's pointer hovered over a point in the oval's southeast. It moved slowly along the belt.

"If they continue as they are, they will stop briefly at the Far Eastern Terminal before changing direction and heading northwest again. Should they remain on the belt, they will make one full circuit of the military state. However, they won't remain in the military state while being pursued. They will certainly leave the belt's flow when they reach the Far Eastern Terminal, shortly before reaching it, or somewhere along the way."

The moment the pointer reached the Far Eastern Terminal, it left the belt and began moving on its own. It had been following the route just moments ago, but now it raced across empty land without warning, which looked almost like cheating. The chief of staff's pointer continued calmly across the map at the same speed.

The place it eventually reached after racing across roadless land was...

"We predict that they will leave here and head for the eastern coastal road. By land or water, they will use whatever means they can to head north."

Partlaxion stared down at the map, then looked with an uneasy expression at the dark land above the coastal road. Even on the map, it was depicted in dark, murky tones. A country so repulsive that any human would hesitate even to speak of it.

"If they follow the coastal road north, then to the Duchy?"

Far to the east lay the Sea of Leviathans. An abyss where unknown monsters ran rampant and which only sank forever. Between the sea and the mountain range lay a dark land always filled with mist.

The chief of staff pointed there and nodded.

"Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka is the ruler of vampires. If she awoke after a long slumber only to be pursued, it is reasonable for her to head toward the Duchy, where allies await. She alone is a nation... Yet she is still a vampire. As someone who understands her own weakness better than anyone, she will not remain in the heart of the military state without an army."

There was only one conclusion.

Whether they intended to kill the enemy or subdue them, they had to do so before they reached the coastal road.

Historia, who had listened in silence, spoke in a strained voice. No one knew whether it was because of the cigarette in her mouth or because she was simply putting so much force into her words.

"We need to gather troops at the Far Eastern Terminal and attack them. The Far Eastern Terminal is a turning point, and it has an enormous delta used to maintain the meta conveyor belt. We can surround them there with sufficient forces."

The chief of staff outranked Historia by one rank, but addressed her with due formality while giving a detailed explanation.

"Under the commander's judgment, headquarters has ordered us to pressure them into leaving if subjugation proves difficult."

"But."

"A large-scale encirclement operation is irrational. The enemy is few, powerful, and has several positions of leverage. If we carry out an encirclement operation against the Duchy's Progenitor and end up killing her, the military state will be put in an awkward position. At the very least, we must maintain amicable relations with the Duchy. Also..."

As if reluctant to say this, the chief of staff glanced at the generals gathered there before quietly adding,

"We cannot even guarantee victory. Since the military state came into political conflict with the Sanctum, neither a Holy Maiden nor bishops have been assigned to us. In contrast, vampires are ancient mysteries and beings who rule over all things without life. If this drags on and night falls, we may be the side that loses."

It was the military state's practical judgment, one that had cast aside any optimism.

Yet Historia could not accept it. Countless lives were buried beneath that cursed river in Hamelin. The truth of an incident she had thought she would never uncover was right before her, and she was supposed to let it go?

If the military state would not allow it, she would go alone.

Just as Historia was about to leap to her feet,

『This is military state Communications Officer PE. I am delivering a direct order from headquarters.』

A flat, rigid voice echoed through the meeting room. The roomful of stars all turned at once toward the messenger who had brought the news. Historia's face in particular was fiercer and more desperate than ever.

The gazes of countless generals converged on one place. Though anyone might have shrunk beneath them, the communications officer calmly continued the report.

『Classified status lifted as of this moment. Under headquarters' emergency deployment order, General Prelvior will arrive shortly.』

The moment the news was delivered, a stir spread even among the generals. It was not concern or fear, but the powerful tremor one felt when something dependable had one's back.

Even Historia could not hide her excitement and clenched a fist tightly to herself.

Only Partlaxion, seated alone at the head of the table, pulled his carelessly worn hat down low. Covering his face so no one could see his expression, he muttered,

"When they were heading for the capital, headquarters ordered us to actively avoid engagement, but now that they're trying to withdraw, they're calling in that granny of a War Mage...? I don't understand it at all."

The military state's only Magist. The creator of standardized magic.

The most ordinary mage, and the War Mage.

The Milky Way.

General Prelvior, the War Mage.

"What is headquarters thinking? Are they really planning to wage a war against only three people?"

Toward headquarters, which was not here and whose true identity nobody knew, the headquarters that issued orders only through communications officers, Partlaxion muttered quietly.

Footnotes:

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