WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 219: A Story of the Past, Pied Piper of Hameln - 5

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After everything that happened, to put it simply:

I ended up tightly bound with a rope made of tree vines.

The shock and fury on the kids' faces pierced me like sharp spears. They surrounded me with their weapons raised.

Just moments ago, we had been comforting and encouraging one another, fighting together. Where had all that friendship and trust gone? Hard to earn, easy to squander.

Well, that was only natural.

"Well, they found out."

They had found out that a massive pheromone bait meant to draw in every kind of beast was hidden at the center of this camp, that it was set to go off soon, and that the beasts, wary of this unwelcome human group, would sweep through the camp.

They had found out everything.

"What... What the hell is going on?"

Siati muttered in a trembling voice. Still tied up, I shrugged at her.

"Why? You all know, don't you? You'd have to be an idiot not to figure it out by now."

A conclusion they had reached on their own was more certain than anything. There was no need for me to convince them.

The clues they had found, the logic connecting them, and their slowly growing suspicions all led to a single truth.

Chento, who had wondered where Kerafald and I had gone yesterday, retraced our path and found the rope holding back the drifting debris. The kids noticed it and happily assumed this situation was another test. If it was part of a test rather than an actual emergency, nothing would happen outside controlled conditions. Reassured on their own, they became even more active.

Kerafald formed a team and searched the camp. After drawing a map, they realized the place resembled some kind of magic circle and tilted their head. While the kids struggled over what they thought was a puzzle or test question, Siati took the others out to gather food and drinking water.

There was bedrock beneath the camp, with a strange magic circle carved into its shallow grooves. Just as everyone was racking their brains over a magic circle unlike anything they had ever seen, a pitch-black box appeared in the middle of one of the camp tents.

Assuming it was a clue, the kids opened the lid.

Without knowing it was bait meant to summon beasts.

The pheromones coating the bait spread through the air. A kid whose parents were hunters recognized what it was and urgently shouted for them to close it, but it was already too late.

The sound of beasts going wild came from far away.

The roughly one hundred and fifty students with military training responded fairly well, but that was their limit. A fairly good response.

It proved that the reason beasts had not attacked the human group until now was the instinctive caution of the ones that had survived this long.

A horned deer, worked into a frenzy and spraying spit, tore straight through the camp. It was an attack comparable to a cavalry charge. The house-sized deer looked like a giant swinging two trees from its head, and it took ten people just to pull a single lasso tight.

Wolves that had been prowling cautiously behind it attacked next. They only noticed the stealthy hunters after there were casualties.

Crows and eagles circled in the distance, having caught the scent of a fight.

Seventeen died.

If we had not prepared traps beforehand, far more would have died.

Still, humans showed what they were capable of. Through their united bond, proper orders, and a desperate fight, they drove the beasts away.

Their precious friends had died, but they had no time to grieve. Exhausted, the kids sat on the ground and watched in horror as blood flowed from the dead.

The blood ran through the carved grooves... lighting up the enormous magic circle before sinking into the ground.

It would have remained hidden if the bedrock had stayed underground, but they had exposed it during their investigation, revealing the secret.

As everyone felt an inexplicable sense of dread, someone cautiously suggested they remove their clothes because of the risk of injuries and infection.

The kids agreed and released their clothing packets.

Then they found a vivid red mark glowing ominously on my back.

A mark so clear in its meaning that they could not even look away.

"N-no way... How could... Nicholas... use us as sacrifices...?"

Everyone understood the situation.

The country had abandoned them. The leader they trusted was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Friends they had laughed with until yesterday lay dead with their limbs twisted grotesquely, and they too would soon end up the same way.

And someone would take their deaths and gain power from them.

"Kill him!"

Someone shouted. It was a kid with a broken arm wrapped in bandages after trying to stop the deer. Their eyes were bloodshot as they hurled curses at me.

"There aren't any instructors here to stop us! Kill him and bury him somewhere!"

"Th-then what do we tell them?"

"We'll just say he slipped and fell into the river!"

"Yeah! It's self-defense!"

They shouted viciously. I gave them the calmest smile I could.

"That's the natural conclusion. Leaving someone like me alive when you suspect I'm an accomplice would be foolish, wouldn't it?"

"Be quiet, Hui. You're a prisoner."

Siati and Kerafald, now the students' new representatives, calmed the confused kids. Siati, especially furious with me, pressed her lips together and glared at me.

"Hui. I never liked you, but at least I thought you were more human than those other two. But... I guess I was wrong about you."

"Of all people, you're comparing me to those two. Fine, Siati. What are you going to do with this horrible, inhuman me?"

"I want to kill you right now."

Since she now had to persuade the other kids rather than me, Siati turned and shouted.

"Nothing changes if we kill you here. We'll tie you up, put you on a boat, and confront them in Hamelin. Nicholas cherishes you so much, you should make a good bargaining chip."

"Bargaining?"

"Yes! The Sanctum is desperate to capture anyone involved with taboos. In exchange for keeping this secret, we can demand something..."

"Puhahaha!"

I laughed loudly despite being tied up. As my laughter continued, the kids, including Siati, all looked at me. Once I had their attention, I abruptly stopped.

"Siati. Stop saying things you don't believe yourself. Nicholas intended to kill all of you and trigger a taboo. Do you think he'll say, 'Oh, you figured it out and came back. Sorry about that. Here's Level 3 as a reward'?"

Of course not. If that were possible, this would never have begun.

"No, he'll kill you all. To bury you along with the taboo, he'll use even harsher measures."

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Die for you here?!"

"What you do is your choice, but if you're going to choose, at least follow what you believe. Your choice isn't merely unrealistic. It's a fantasy that denies reality itself."

"Don't act so high and mighty...!"

Siati strode over and grabbed me by the collar. My neck was pulled while I was tied up, making me choke, but she did not care.

"I'm going to kill you! So what if you're better than us?! No matter how great you are, you can't decide our fate...! I, we! We didn't work this hard just to become your food!"

As she spoke, her fierce shouting gradually dissolved into sobbing. Siati gripped my collar hard enough to stretch it and glared at me through clear tears.

"Why? You can already get into an officer academy! Isn't that enough for you? You've already reached the Level 3 that we want so badly...! Did you want something greater? Did you want to become even better? Even if it meant killing all of us?"

After pouring out all her resentment, only a blackened emotion remained. Eyes dark as if she had killed her own heart stared up at me.

"Then you... should die too. That's fair."

I instinctively realized it.

Ah, this was dangerous. If I stayed like this, I would really be swept away.

A taboo was not called a taboo for no reason. It denied the very faith in humanity one had built up until now.

Siati, having become the one denied, was now completely consumed by hatred and despair as she clenched her fist.

...So, Historia.

This is your last chance to save me. If you don't save me.

I.

News that the trainees on their graduation field exercise had become stranded spread in an instant. Feeling deeply responsible, Nicholas ran out of Hamelin Middle Military School with only those close to him. The main force planned to load supplies onto rescue boats and follow him.

'He asked for help, and something really did happen. Did he foresee even this?'

Historia had not forgotten her promise. The moment she learned something had gone wrong with the graduation field exercise, she slung a rifle over her back, ran to the Hamelin River, and borrowed a ferry.

Whenever she rowed, strange waves split to either side of the river. She was not pushing the water aside. She used force to press down the surface, creating a slope and seeming to slide across it.

The ferry literally glided across the river, speeding forward. Historia reached the riverbank filled with debris in no time, hid herself, and observed the situation.

What she saw was... strange.

'Hui? Why is he tied up? And what happened to the kids?'

She had no idea how the situation had reached this point. In the middle of it all, the boy was bound amid everyone's reverence like a prisoner hanging from the gallows, or the First Holy Maiden who died impaled upon a cross.

The kids surrounding me appeared to be condemning something through despair and fury.

Historia did not know how to react to this unexpected situation, but she took out her rifle first.

Her targets were me and Siati beside me.

'Siati. I don't know why you captured Hui. But if you try to kill him, I'll stop you.'

It was better not to show herself until she understood their intentions. If it was nothing serious, she could let it pass. If it was dangerous, Historia appearing might make it even more dangerous.

Silent and covert techniques like stealth or infiltration did not suit Historia's flashy qi arts. Instead, she aimed her rifle from a blind spot beyond their view.

She looked at Siati and me through the gun sight. I was still safe, and even while tied up, I wore a bright smile.

My usual playful expression nearly made Historia relax, but she calmed her breathing again and took aim.

'I can't hear them well. From what I can tell, someone died and they seem to blame Hui...'

Even if I was their leader, would they really tie someone up over just that?

Historia reached the same question. She tilted her head, still aiming at Siati as every muscle in her body tensed.

But she did not rashly step in or fire.

Siati was Historia's classmate too. If the target had been an enemy or a beast, Historia would have put a hole through them right away, but she could not be cruel to someone she knew.

That was not the only reason, of course.

'Hui. Do you understand now? When it comes down to it, the only thing you can trust is your own strength. You need to take qi arts more seriously.'

Thinking that if I felt my life was in danger, I would understand the importance of qi arts and devote myself to them, she left me alone for a while.

That was why she was late.

I had already been thoroughly stained by hatred and despair toward the military state.

Siati and I talked. Time passed tediously. The serious atmosphere had vanished somewhere, and the conversation flowed smoothly while my expressions constantly changed.

To Historia, I seemed to be enjoying the situation itself.

She was not wrong.

'What? Did he really need my help?'

I did need it. Not anymore, though.

'That's why you should have learned qi arts from the start. If you hadn't wasted your time on kids who would betray you without even knowing gratitude, you wouldn't have ended up tied up. Tch. Making me worry.'

My body was not tied up. This kind of rope could not bind me.

I opened my hands behind my back. It was a sloppy knot made with stiff vines. The vines loosened smoothly, and both my arms rose over my shoulders as if they had never been tied. The flustered kids were startled, but I held out a hand to calm them.

'He wasn't even tied up? I'm starting to feel like an idiot.'

To Historia, they were all classmates and acquaintances. No matter how insignificant she thought they were, they still fell within that category. She did not see any need to attack them.

Historia relaxed and resumed the breath she had briefly held.

Then someone's voice sounded from nearby.

"Boar woman."

Click.

Her rifle swung around in an instant. Lankart stood expressionlessly where her barrel pointed.

With an unreadable expression, he looked back and forth between Historia and me.

Historia lowered her rifle and asked, "Ah, damn. You startled me. What are you doing here?"

"That's what I should ask. I'm here because I'm part of the advance team that left with Nicholas. What about you? What exactly are you?"

"I'm part of the rear team."

"How is the rear team already here?"

"You're just slow. How did you arrive later than someone who rowed here?"

Lankart spotted the ferry and the large oar by the riverbank, then muttered, "Insane boar..."

Historia arriving here had still been within Lankart's expectations. It was why he had followed Nicholas.

'This boar is as fickle as a beast, and she shows even more blatant interest in Hui, as if she's in heat. I need to separate her from him before Gluttony occurs.'

"Chief Instructor Nicholas's orders. The instructors will deal with Hui's problem, so step aside for now."

"Deal with it? Deal with what?"

'To confirm whether Gluttony was successfully completed, and personally deal with anything left behind. But... what the hell is this situation...?'

Historia sneered at the contemplative Lankart.

"There you go again, turning that worthless brain of yours. Stop trying to pull something with that talentless head and tell me straight."

"That's called thinking, a concept you don't possess, bitch."

After exchanging insults like good friends, Lankart replied irritably.

"I have to sort this situation out. I won't say more than that. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it."

"Why? Is there something you're hiding?"

"Yes."

Lankart agreed without hesitation, and Historia gave a disbelieving laugh.

"...Hah. Bold, aren't you? Now I want to leave even less."

'Tch. Stubborn as hell and impossible to persuade. Even if I wanted to remove her by force, fighting here wouldn't settle anything. In that case.'

"It's for Hui's sake."

"What? For Hui's sake?"

"You probably don't know. No, you definitely don't. This evaluation was actually a test prepared for Hui. If you keep watching, the test loses its meaning."

"A test?"

"Yes. Through this, right here, Hui will advance another step."

Wow. That wasn't wrong. This place had been made for me, after all.

Since Lankart brought me up, Historia's anger eased. She looked between me and him, thought for a moment, then clicked her tongue quietly when she saw that I was free.

'...I don't like Lankart, but he handles work properly. He practically worships Hui, so there's no way he'd hurt him. And if the chief instructor is here, then the situation must be over.'

Convinced, Historia slung the rifle over her shoulder and stood.

"...I'm warning you, don't order me around. I'll decide for myself."

"If you've got energy to talk back, go eat the beasts wandering along that riverbank. It's a job that suits you perfectly."

Lankart had achieved his immediate goal of driving Historia away. Muttering that, he watched me with an expression that was still confused.

'He hasn't rejected Gluttony. But he hasn't accepted it either. What are you trying to do, Hui...?'

"That's ridiculous!"

While the two finished their private conversation, I had freed myself and completed my persuasion of the kids.

Siati shouted loudly, as though she wanted to deny what I said.

"...No, Siati... That's not it."

Kerafald, the other representative who had listened to me, shut their eyes tightly and shook their head.

"If we think rationally... Hui gave us hints. He knew about the net but told everyone, and he told us to uncover the camp's secret. Hui was also the first person to rush in, close the box with the pheromone bait, carry it away, and throw it into the river. If Hui hadn't told us to set traps beforehand, more people would have died. If he had wanted us dead..."

More.

Or we all would have died. Kerafald finished the explanation.

The silent majority agreed.

We had spent a full day in the same place. They knew I had always been issuing orders and working day and night, leaving me no time to plot anything. They had seen how I acted, and that was why my words reached them.

Siati was not stupid enough not to believe it. She was simply angrier than that. Having lost the target of her anger, she clenched both hands and shouted.

"Then! Then what is it?! What the hell is this...?!"

"You're curious, right? So am I. Honestly, I didn't know what was waiting here until I arrived either."

That was the clear truth. I had expected Gluttony, but not that they would use drifting debris, a bait camp, and pheromones to trigger it.

There had been casualties, so calling it a success was difficult. Still, we had overcome it.

This was only the first obstacle.

The true malice that meant to kill everyone was approaching now.

"Only one person can answer that."

"Who...?"

"Chief Instructor Nicholas. The head of Hamelin Middle Military School, who planned all of this."

A uniformed man with a warm yet stern impression came to the kids' minds. He had been devoted to education, spent time and effort on the kids, and though he beat and punished them, he never starved or injured them. By comparison, he could be called a person of character.

But now...

He only looked like a monster wearing human skin.

"All right, then let's prepare, everyone."

I knew Nicholas. He was a good educator, but only as an attribute of a military state officer. His educational philosophy existed for the country. Education was a field cultivated by the country to produce talent for the country.

It seemed he thought that one me, taking a portion of the strength of a hundred mediocre people, would be better.

I could say with certainty that he was completely wrong.

I was better when I stood among a hundred people. Even if their strength was gathered into one, it was no different from tearing books apart to use as firewood.

The guardian of knowledge was a library full of good books, not the librarian guarding its entrance. Tearing up books to build a fire for the librarian was putting the cart before the horse.

Of course, if someone committed the atrocity of using books as firewood, the librarian would be angrier than anyone.

"That box with the pheromone bait was designed to open on its own a few hours later. I don't know for sure, but that was probably the scheduled time. Do you think Chief Instructor Nicholas would just leave this alone after causing all this? I expect he'll arrive soon."

"Ch-Chief Instructor...? Personally?"

"Yes. This field exercise, the net holding back the debris, the camp hiding a taboo, and the pheromone box set to open eventually... If the one who personally prepared this grave doesn't come himself, the word taboo loses all meaning."

I was not certain. If I had not read Historia's and Lankart's thoughts earlier, I would not have stated it so firmly.

Still, I had the information now. We needed to prepare.

"When Chief Instructor Nicholas arrives, what will we ask? How will we greet him, receive him, question him, and answer him? We need to prepare beforehand."

Looking around at the eyes that had lost their focus after being abandoned by the military state, I lowered my voice and told them all.

"So that we can hear what he has to say and understand it."

I knew, but they did not.

Leaving behind all their doubt, despair, and exhaustion, the kids rose to their feet. They looked up at me with the hands that had just buried their friends' bodies clenched tight.

I spoke forcefully to them all.

"First, shall we make traps?"

As a means of conversation.

Footnotes:

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