WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 214: If You're Going to Tie Her Up Anyway

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To prevent any unforeseen outburst from the Six-Star General, the regressor was painstakingly tying tight knots. When I interfered, she answered irritably.

"Why are you butting in again?"

"Do you really need to tie another knot across the front?"

I pointed at one of the knots the regressor had tied.

The Heavenly Silkworm Thread did not merely bind Historia's arms behind her back. It was wound around her front as well, keeping her completely restrained so she could not escape.

Perhaps it was because it had been tied too tightly. Historia seemed uncomfortable in a rather different sense.

"What are you talking about? What's wrong with my knot?"

"Well, it's a little awkward for me to say."

I fanned my face as though embarrassed and glanced at the regressor, as if she were an incredibly bold and blatant person.

As the regressor frowned at my impure gaze, I covered my eyes with my fingers spread wide.

"You tied her up in a way that seems meant to emphasize Ria's figure. I don't know whether I should praise your boldness or express concern that my former classmate is being harassed in front of me."

"What kind of nonsense are you two spouting...?"

Following the direction of my fingers, the regressor finally looked at Historia from a more objective perspective.

Historia was a Six-Star General. Ordinary restraints could not hold her. She could snap chains, and if necessary, she would be prepared to stretch or shrink her own arms to escape. In that sense, being overly cautious was only natural.

Perhaps that was why the regressor had not paid much attention to the areas that would have caught her eye if Historia had been a man. She had focused only on cinching the bindings tight, leaving Historia's figure prominently outlined over her uniform.

"Ah."

'Right. I look like a man. To him, I must look like some kind of pervert...'

Only then did the regressor realize it and sigh softly. Historia merely turned her head and answered teasingly.

"Hmm. So you had no ulterior motive. To think you can do this without even thinking about it. You're sneakier than you look."

"No! Why is a prisoner being picky about this?! And I only stayed behind you while tying you up, so how was I supposed to know?!"

She seemed to realize that no matter what she said, it would sound like an excuse. Imagining how she looked from another person's perspective, the regressor hurriedly held out her hands in denial.

"Nobody think weird thoughts!"

I had no weird thoughts. I was simply enjoying the embarrassing sight my former classmate had ended up in. My thanks to the regressor for giving me this opportunity.

"Instinct, I suppose. I understand. Still, humiliating a friend who was once very close to me in front of me, isn't that rather disrespectful to me?"

"What's disrespectful about it?!"

"I could have tied her up better. Shouldn't you have given me a turn first?"

"Thank goodness I did it! Unlike you, I didn't have any dirty thoughts!"

"Oh, right. You said you liked men..."

"Forget that already!"

Her mental endurance finally reaching its limit, the regressor shrieked.

"Then what am I supposed to do?! Let the gunslinger loose in the middle of us?!"

[Shei.]

At that moment, a dark voice came from the black coffin lying quietly deeper inside the container. Tyr, who had taken a brief nap while the military state's attack had stopped, had finally woken up.

Hope filled the regressor at the arrival of an ally.

"Tyrkanzyaka! Say something!"

The sun had not fully set yet, so Tyr did not emerge from her coffin. Instead, she made the darkness tremble with her voice alone.

[…It is too improper to look at. I may have expressed displeasure at your actions, but I have never criticized your conduct. As of today, I must reconsider my thoughts on that....]

"No, it isn't!"

The problem was that even Tyr's voice was not on the regressor's side.

Battered from every direction, the regressor protested in a voice that was almost tearful.

"I know what you're saying! But I can't leave her untied...!"

'Cross-dressing only gets me unnecessary misunderstandings! Before that bastard joined us, I should've taken my clothes off once...! No, should I just force the issue and show them the bandages around my chest now?'

No, that would not do. It would make things difficult for me in many ways. I would have to pretend to be surprised even though I already knew.

Besides, it was much easier for her to get her way while passing as a man. I could not let her reveal her gender yet.

That was enough teasing. You had to make your toys last.

"You can loosen it a little. As Mr. Shei said, Ria got herself captured on purpose."

"See?!"

At my words, the regressor brightened and pointed at Historia, then stiffly turned her finger back toward me.

"What? You already knew? Then why didn't you say so?!"

"Whether I knew or not, capturing her was my accomplishment. Yet you kept trying to downplay it. It hurt my feelings."

"Was that really the only reason?! And it wasn't even wrong!"

The regressor snarled at me like Azzy, then pointed at Historia with even greater confidence.

"Yeah! I expected it too! She must have planned to pretend to be captured, infiltrate us, and gather information! But I won't let her..."

"No, that isn't it. Ria negotiated with me and allowed herself to be captured in exchange for information."

Tyr was awake, and the sun had nearly set. It was about time to begin discussing the next operation.

When I urged Historia on with a look, she understood and flicked away her burnt-out cigarette. Grinding it beneath her military boot, Historia wiped the amusement from her face and spoke stiffly.

"What I'm about to say is entirely my own will and a personal matter. I swear it has nothing to do with the military state... Whether you believe me or not is up to you."

"...Hmph. A personal matter. That doesn't sound like something the military state would say."

The regressor, having realized she had been teased all along, muttered with a sulky expression. Historia gave her a small, amused scoff as if she found her cute, then answered.

"The man the military state is pursuing is named Hui. He was a student at Hamelin Middle Military Academy. Hui and I were classmates. We spent three years in the same class. And..."

Historia stopped there for half a beat. It was not for dramatic effect, but to organize her thoughts. Still, it made the regressor and Tyr focus even more closely.

After gathering their attention, Historia swallowed the emotions rising within her and continued.

"And... During the final field training of our third year, Hui killed 161 other classmates and committed suicide. More precisely, that is how it was reported."

It was a heavy truth, the kind that would have made most people fall silent and stare awkwardly. Yet the regressor and Tyr, who were accustomed to events on a world scale, did not react so sensitively.

The regressor even mocked it.

"Then it must have been reported incorrectly. He's alive here, and the victims of Hamelin all jumped into the river and killed themselves."

It was, in its own way, meant to defend me.

In the previous round, the regressor had exposed the military state's disgrace and worked with the Resistance to destroy the military state. She knew all kinds of classified information.

But...

"...That is also how it was reported."

The answer, laden with several meanings at once, made the regressor sense the strange atmosphere and fall silent.

"You must have heard it somewhere, despite it being classified. You're right. My classmates who rebelled against the military state, or more precisely, Hamelin Military Academy... At the very end, they ran toward the river of their own accord. Anyone would have called it suicide."

As she finished speaking, Historia's piercing gaze turned toward me. Her languid eyes held a longing that was not hot, but prickled like thorns. Historia openly pointed at me and said,

"Only he knows what happened. But he disappeared too. Everyone said he drowned at the bottom of the Hamelin River, and they wanted it to be true. Everyone except me."

Historia sharply turned her head and cast her gaze in turn toward the regressor and Tyr's coffin.

"I will hear that story by any means necessary. I willingly became a prisoner, and I revealed classified information to you, enemies of the military state, all because of that. If you are listening, Hui will not find it easy to lie."

The more people listened, and the greater their strength or authority, the more difficult it became to lie. That was what Historia was aiming for.

The problem was...

[…What a trivial reason.]

Tyr and the rest of my companions trusted me far more than Historia expected.

[If Hui lies to deceive you, do you think I would interrogate Hyu on your behalf? It seems you put some thought into it, but you were wrong. Hyu, there is nothing more to say. Do as you wish.]

Historia was surely flustered for a moment. She could not have expected the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka, a mighty ancient being, to protect me so completely.

She had staked even her life by allowing herself to be captured. Faced with the possibility of gaining nothing despite that, Historia tried to sound calm.

"Did you even charm the Progenitor, Hui? Impressive. Perhaps the rumors surrounding you are not all fiction."

[…Rumors surrounding him?]

Damn. I had caught Tyr's interest. Tyr, who should have been pressuring Historia, quietly stopped speaking and pretended not to know.

[…Using my power in daylight has tired me. Decide among yourselves. I will rest for a while.]

It was rather shameless of her to say that while keeping her ears turned this way.

The regressor answered casually.

"You promised to tell her. Then you should."

I had been planning to from the beginning! The way she put it made it sound as though I had intended to break my promise.

Still hungry for information, the regressor wanted to hear various things from Historia while she had the chance.

"Was that why the military state began pursuing us, despite our active avoidance of combat?"

"I don't know. That is a decision made by headquarters. But it probably isn't completely unrelated. The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Even within the military state, that must have been one of the disgraces they most wanted to bury."

"Only a hundred people?"

Everyone's eyes turned to the regressor. Feeling those gazes, she hurriedly waved her hands.

"No, a hundred is a lot. But this is the military state, isn't it? If it is a country where around a hundred people die from labor every day, deaths on this scale are nothing. The fact that it was suicide is somewhat unsettling, though."

Perhaps not from a human perspective, but it was a valid question from the military state's perspective. Historia answered slowly.

"...Because of a curse."

"A curse?"

"I don't know much beyond that. That is why I need to hear it."

Having brushed aside the question, Historia glared at me with dark, clouded eyes. The obligation to answer had now passed to me.

"The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Him."

I had intended to tell them anyway. The military state was pursuing us, and it would be troublesome if the companions traveling with me did not even know why. I simply had not had the chance.

Well then. Where should I begin?

At that moment, Tyr's voice reached me as though she were trying to comfort me.

[It is fine, Hyu. Is around a hundred truly such a big number? Unless one is newly turned, there are few vampires who have not reached three digits.]

"Tyr, saying that doesn't help either as consolation or vampire proselytizing."

[…Does it not?]

When I cleared my throat, Tyr fell silent and prepared to listen to me. The regressor did the same.

"...Woof."

Azzy had somehow come close as well. For some reason, she had perked up her ears and was quite literally lending an ear to the story. How had this become a tale even a dog was listening to?

Among them, Historia stared at me most intensely. Her arms were bound, but even if they had been free, it would not have made much difference. Her sharp gaze and the longing that demanded to know that story had already bound me.

The stage was set, and the audience was seated. All that remained was for me to tell the story.

I moistened my lips and slowly opened my mouth.

Footnotes:

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