WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 216

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A Story of the Past, Pied Piper of Hameln - 2

Historia thought I was a kind fool who couldn’t bring himself to abandon even a single straggler.

Rancart thought I was a cold-blooded man who calculated even that before acting.

Did they know? What they saw in me was the world they wanted to see. In a way, I was a mirror reflecting people’s wishes.

So what was I? A fool? Or cold-blooded?

Well. If I had to say, I was both.

I had always been the type who couldn’t refuse other people’s requests. Being a mind reader was probably the biggest reason.

If someone had a desire they wanted to fulfill with their life on the line, I found myself wanting to cheer them on.

If it was a child hiding candy in a secret spot and pretending nothing happened, I wanted to smile and play along.

If someone projected their past self onto me and placed their hopes on me, I wanted to live up to them.

...Even if that person was older than me.

“So, Historia joined the log run.”

I had been called in before Chief Instructor Nicholas, and I answered politely with my hands behind my back.

“Yes, Chief Instructor Nicholas.”

“Well done, Hui.”

Hameln’s chief instructor, Nicholas, gave a big nod and a gentle smile.

“Historia... that child is truly blessed. A fortune for Hameln, and for the military state beyond it. At that age, mastering energy arts and developing her own style... even in the Empire, that kind of talent would be rare.”

His thoughts naturally shifted to Rancart. The smile on his lips widened.

“Rancart too. Same story. Innate Arcane differs from person to person, but its scale depends on the intent behind it. Rancart’s Innate Arcane is at least strategic-grade. Enough for one person to change the tide of battle. If he just gets the right opportunity... becoming a mage is no impossible dream.”

Even with two students who would far surpass him, Chief Instructor Nicholas felt nothing but joy.

Colonel Nicholas. Strict but warm with students, loyal to the military state, a soldier who devoted himself fully. Maybe not a legendary soldier, but an officer with the qualities of an excellent educator. He was also proof that the military state’s personnel decisions weren’t entirely bad.

A soldier more loyal than anyone, a man who loved his nation, rejoiced as he imagined the military state’s brilliant future.

“I trust you, Hui. For Historia and Rancart, you’re the only one who can speak to them as an equal and direct them.”

“...I can’t direct Historia. I only ask.”

“What does it matter? If she acts on your words, then it’s direction, a request, a command, all the same.”

Still, he was a soldier to the end. He didn’t spare his heart for lottery tickets that had already been scratched and lost.

“You can stop serving as class leader now. You have nothing left to learn from them anyway.”

“I appreciate it, but we’re already in third year. Since I’ve taken the role this far, I’ll see it through.”

“You said something similar last year, and the year before that. Not stopping you then is my lifelong regret.”

“Haha.”

Nicholas looked at me with pity as I laughed it off.

“I think you try to carry too much. Energy arts, magic, ballistics, tactics, mystic deconstruction, alchemy, medicine, smithing... You tried this and that to find your talent, and you did produce results in your own way. But you never reached greatness in any of them.”

It wasn’t that I produced results. I just read minds, grasped the key points, and copied along roughly. Of course I couldn’t reach greatness that way.

But Nicholas didn’t know that, so he thought I had wasted my time and talent.

“You were too outstanding. I thought you’d manage on your own, so I looked away for a while. That was my mistake, and my regret. I should have known you were still young and hadn’t found your true talent yet.”

I could feel his earnest regret.

The kind of shattered feeling you’d get when a lottery needed six matching numbers and you missed the last one by your own mistake.

I already knew someone like me could never truly master anything, but after reading his desperate feelings, I couldn’t sneer.

“It’s like that for everyone. This didn’t happen to me alone. The other kids are probably the same.”

“...Ah. Right. The other kids.”

Nicholas accepted that only because he was still an educator. Another soldier would have barked at me for muddying the point.

No, before first year even ended, they would have forcibly separated me from them.

‘Hui is the type to pour attention and time into other people. That helped him get close to Historia and Rancart, but there are side effects. He gives attention even to those who’ll become ordinary soldiers. I let it slide in case another Historia or Rancart appeared, but I should never have kept Hui with them in the first place. If only I’d separated them from the start.’

Nicholas, who still treated even discarded lottery tickets as military-state resources and valued them, was the closest thing this place had to an educator. Even so, he couldn’t escape the limits of the military state.

He spoke without hiding his devastated mood.

“...But it’s not over yet. You still have the officer academy ahead of you. There, you’ll meet instructors better than me.”

“I may meet instructors with higher rank than yours, Chief Instructor, but it’ll be hard to find a better teacher.”

“No need for formalities. I already failed.”

He said it self-mockingly, but my flattery had clearly improved his mood at least a little. I snapped a salute, turned, and left.

When I stepped out and closed the door, Nicholas, now alone inside, let out a deep sigh and pulled a classified document from his stack of papers. He read it with an even heavier expression, shut his eyes tight, and muttered,

“...Maybe I can undo my mistake. If his heart for his comrades is that strong...”

Unaware that I was outside reading his thoughts, Nicholas kept reading the classified page.

Hameln had been built on the academy from the old kingdom era. Records from that time remained intact, so mystic deconstructors and military-state researchers visited often.

Among those records was one someone had handed over. It should have been destroyed, but Nicholas had stopped that and accepted it.

-Class-1 Taboo, Gluttony.

Nicholas’s gaze darkened.

“Ah, that feels refreshing!”

“Gghhhhh...”

Historia stretched her back with a refreshed expression. I, on the other hand, had been beaten nonstop and lay sprawled on the ground, groaning. My arms and legs had been hit so many times they throbbed.

Her friend was groaning in pain, yet Historia still looked pleased despite my miserable state.

“It feels great to move again after so long. Right, Hui?”

“If you were the one getting pummeled... you wouldn’t feel so great either...”

“If you ever get strong enough to hit me, I’ll let you hit me all you want.”

“You found a clever way to say you’ll never get hit...”

Urgh. I groaned softly and rolled over. Historia wiped off her sweat and laughed brightly.

This had been a spar where Historia didn’t use energy arts. Normally, that should have favored me because I was bigger... and it was best to throw that thought away.

People trained in energy arts develop tremendous strength. At first, their bodies get thrown around by that power, but over time they adapt. In the end, they build bodies far sturdier than ordinary people.

So yes, Historia had become strong enough that I couldn’t beat her even if I used energy arts.

“Why do you spar with me... Springfield is second in class, and there are combat instructors too...”

“It’s not fun.”

Still full of energy, Historia stretched her long arms and legs as she answered.

“If I use energy arts, I win.”

“Must be nice. What if you don’t use them?”

“If we spar without energy arts, they just try to overpower me with brute force. They don’t even think about reading moves or exploiting openings. It doesn’t help at all.”

“What a luxurious complaint... If I had your strength, I’d overpower people too.”

“Then go build up your stamina somewhere and overpower me all you want.”

“If it were that easy, I’d have done it already.”

Sighing, I pulled a paper pack from inside my coat. I flicked it open, and only one rolled mana herb was left.

One stick? Even mana herb was cornering me now.

Mana herb was a level-three luxury item. Not something a mere military school student could get. But so what. Mana herb didn’t care who you were or what time it was. Put it in your mouth and light it, and that sweet smoke whispered comfort regardless of place or moment.

While I was having a private rendezvous with the smoke wrapped in paper, Historia came over.

“Mana herb? You smoke that?”

Before she could start nagging, I scrunched my face and spoke first.

“Ria. What if I had even a little more energy or mana?”

“That would be ideal.”

The moment energy arts came up, Historia ignored the smoke and stepped closer.

“Your energy control is really natural. You use every bit of what you have perfectly. Just look at your written scores if anyone doubts your understanding.”

“That’s because I only have a grain of energy. Handling a cup is easier than moving a bathtub.”

“Liar. When I couldn’t control my overflowing energy and kept breaking swords and spears, you were the one who told me to try balancing it out with a gun. And now you’re saying you don’t understand?”

No, Chief Instructor Nicholas had thought of it first, then dropped it because of his bad view of guns, and I just read that and stole the idea.

I couldn’t tell her that, so I deflected.

“...And that’s why you keep coming to me for sparring. Biggest blunder of my life.”

“Hehe. For me, it was the luck of a lifetime.”

I felt nothing but joy from her clear smile. She had already achieved something, had the strength to move forward, and had a brilliant future waiting for her, so all she needed to do was keep looking ahead.

What Historia lacked was only a friend who could walk beside her when she got too far ahead, but with Rancart and me around, even that was covered.

All she had left was to move forward.

Historia...

“But why the sudden self-pity? Wait. Don’t tell me...?”

‘Hui got called in by Nicholas earlier, right? Why? Don’t tell me?’

Her instincts were sharp too. Realizing something, Historia urgently leaned in and searched my face.

“If Nicholas, or military-state HQ, offers to increase your energy, accept it without hesitation, Hui!”

“How would they increase energy?”

“Take tonics or elixir pills!”

“Easy to say. Where would they even get those? And even if they did, would they give them to a mere student like me? Even then, there’s no guarantee my energy would increase.”

“No. I think there’s a chance! If the military state has any sense, there’s no way they’d leave you alone!”

It was nonsense. If the military state gave that kind of special treatment, it wouldn’t be called the military state.

But Historia’s shining eyes were so full of hope that I couldn’t bring myself to crush it.

Sorry, Historia. What the military state prepared for me wasn’t some tonic or elixir pill.

It was something much worse.

Not just for me alone, to be fair.

“Sigh. Fuuu.”

I had nothing to say, so I blew smoke straight into Historia’s face. She inhaled it and recoiled at the stinging scent, stepping back in shock.

“Cough. Isn’t that basically poison? Why do you even smoke this crap?”

“Fuu. You wouldn’t understand. Sometimes, as you live, there are days when you want to dump poison into your own mouth. Don’t smoke this stuff.”

“The way someone my age talks big.”

Tsk, tsk. Only people who hadn’t lived through it called this posturing. I took the mana herb from my mouth and waved it around. As if it were some kind of barrier, Historia only turned her head side to side to dodge it.

“Looks like bluffing to you? Then try one.”

“You think I can’t?”

Snap. Historia quickly snatched the cigarette from my hand. She stared at the half-burned stick, hesitated for a moment, then looked between me and my lips before taking a big bite on it. The instant it touched her mouth, her face turned bright red.

Anyone watching would think she was being smoked like meat. I muttered in disbelief.

“I told you to take it and you actually took it.”

“Cough. You said to, cough!”

“Hey, it’s burning down. If you can’t smoke it, give it back. I barely got that after begging.”

“Inhale, cough. I’ll give, cough!”

Her face was red hot, but she still kept dodging my hand and running away until the one cigarette burned to the end.

That had been the last one.

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