WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 233

──────

Kill the Military State, That Was My Only Thought from the Start

They say that even if you save a drowning person, they'll still demand you hand over their bundle.

It was a saying made to mock the ungrateful, but if that person jumped into the water by their own will, then in a way, it could be seen as a fair complaint.

That was how it was with Siati. Even though she survived thanks to Historia, she poured every bit of rage inside her onto Historia.

She cursed her, damned her, and threw tantrums.

What pierced Historia's chest most was not the sharpened words meant to wound, but the murmurs spoken in earnest.

"Nicholas saw us as materials, and Rancart saw us as bugs. But you... you saw us as losers. Defeated humans with no talent and no effort, endlessly weak and inferior compared to you... Heh heh. You're the only one who at least saw us as human."

They say people on the verge of death speak only the truth before they close their eyes.

Siati had tried to die herself, and if no one had interfered, she surely would have succeeded, so her words carried a sincerity that struck straight through. Sharp, pointed words she normally would never have dared to say to Historia's face stabbed into her.

"You know what? We really hated Nicholas and Rancart. But that was it. Even if we ran into them, we could just avoid them and move on. But with you, I didn't even want to go near you. Because whenever you were there, it felt like I'd lost at life. Because we were so pathetic, a hundred of us still losing to just one of you."

Historia had been busy rescuing survivors, but all she kept pulling out were corpses. She had strength greater than all the students combined, yet even for her, there were countless things she could not do.

She could not stop a flowing river.

She could not hold on to children who had already given up their lives.

She could not find one boy in that muddy current where blurred human shapes drifted by.

The bodies she pulled out piled up. Even some of the people helping her were so horrified by the scene that they could only stare. Watching the drenched Historia jump into the water again, Siati spat up a rush of water from deep in her gut and burst into wild laughter.

"But compared to the others, you're still an angel. At least you get hurt! At least you suffer! Right now, more than any moment in my life, I'm happy to see you in pain! Because that means you're human too, just like us! So more, more! I hope you hurt and regret as much as we did!"

Then she threw herself into the Resistance. She wanted to strike the military state.

Even after becoming an officer and building remarkable achievements, Historia could not catch Siati whenever she appeared before her. No, she did not catch her.

If she captured or killed Siati, one of the few survivors Historia had saved that day would disappear. One fewer person would remain to share the shock and grief of that day...

...In truth, she simply couldn't decide.

The problem she had put off and put off eventually returned and stood before her again.

"Hui. This is incredible! No matter how hard the Resistance tried, the best we could do was assassinate a general. But you even took one of the Six Generals! And captured her alive!"

The children who died in Hameln had achieved their goal: revenge on the military state.

Nicholas died, and the taboo was exposed. The Daughter of the Military State was consumed by remorse, and Rancart, once chosen as the War Mage's successor, betrayed the military state. Siati and several other surviving children burned with hatred and became Resistance fighters.

And I...

"Just like I thought, you're different! The Pied Piper who led us in Hameln!"

Siati, laughing brightly, turned to me with a friendly smile and asked,

"So, how have you been?"

"Just fine."

"Fine? You've... been fine?"

Common sense said you should be happy to hear a friend was doing well, but Siati was abnormal in many ways. The smile on her face twisted into something terrifying in an instant.

"How can you be fine? It's you, right? You're the one who suggested we jump into the water, right? Because of that, everyone threw themselves in and died. You made people."

At that point, Siati gripped Historia's shoulder with her prosthetic hand hard enough to break it. Historia, deliberately not coating herself in energy, let out a small groan as fingers dug into her shoulder bone.

Siati ignored the reaction and twisted her neck with a creak.

"This isn't right. The military state is wrong, something is wrong. You're the one who made us feel that distortion. If you killed everyone and set all this up, then at leaaaast! You don't get to be fineeee!"

"I never told anyone to die."

"If you didn't tell them to die, does that erase death? Is the world some toy that moves by your will? You never told them to die, so they died on their own and you're not responsible? Then whose responsibility is this world that turned out like this?"

After raging like mad, Siati let go of Historia and staggered toward me.

"No, Hui. I chose to die and lived, and the kids who chose to live died. That was how it was supposed to go, but we ended up like this. No, we were supposed to graduate, but everyone died! It all got twisted. The dying kids cursed the military state, but this damned country is still standing just fine. Isn't that weird? Isn't something wrong? Then where did all their hearts go?"

Where did they go? They're right here.

In you, in me, and in Historia.

"You survived because of their deaths... so how can you be fine?"

Because I had to live an ordinary life. I buried myself in ordinariness and lived in peace.

People who spent today in peace wished for an unchanged tomorrow. I lived day by day, faithfully, sharing the same routine among ordinary people content with small happiness.

But.

The tomorrow they drew did not include those who died today.

This was why I wanted to live as a petty criminal.

"I can be fine. The military state's destruction isn't a goal I want so badly I'd stake my life on it, like you do."

"Huiiiii!!"

Siati was about to go berserk, but I continued softly.

"But if I don't have to risk my life for it, I might still want to break it a little."

At once, Siati's face opened up as if a light had fallen over it. The change was dramatic.

By contrast, Historia's expression kept darkening. In the end, she turned her head away again.

Siati smacked my shoulder a few times and grinned.

"Well, with such a powerful ally, and with Historia taken prisoner, we've basically done everything we needed! What you did is way bigger than what we did! I'll trust you, Hui!"

Then suddenly, Siati tugged my ear and whispered quietly from close enough for her breath to brush my earlobe.

"Historia is indecisive, and she gets attached. Last time, she saw me planting bombs, and instead of dealing with me, she forced herself to ignore me and just took the bombs away. I'd probably do the same, but what about you? If you hold her close and whisper something sweet, she'd tear out her liver and gall and hand them to you. Heh heh. Try it quickly! The more weapons we have to wreck the military state, the better, right?"

Still giggling, Siati noticed Tyr staring this way with visible discomfort. In that instant, Siati's face changed.

She swallowed the violent emotion around her mouth in one motion. Reason returned to her madness-glossed eyes. Wearing a far more composed expression, Siati bowed deeply to Tyr and greeted her with utmost courtesy.

"It is my first time meeting you, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. It may be presumptuous, but may this lowly human present a single request to the great Progenitor?"

Tyr accepted the greeting with ease.

"I permit it."

'This human knows proper manners. Hmm. This is quite different from how she behaved with Hui just now.'

Once permission was given, Siati spoke in an emotionless voice, each syllable clear, like reading a contract.

"My blood and flesh, my honor, or my life. I will offer all of it, so will you destroy the military state? If needed, I will secure other payment as well."

Her words were filled with nothing but precisely cut rage.

"Siati!"

The princess, who had only watched from behind the Guardian Knight until now, cried out in alarm. She even waved both hands as if telling her to cancel it right now.

Tyr glanced toward the princess, then answered.

"I understand your will. I too have a record of destroying a nation I hated fiercely. But since neither side came alone, should you not speak with your companions first?"

Unlike with me, Siati showed no blind rage toward Tyr. She accepted the valid point, dipped her head, and answered with perfect politeness.

"My apologies. I will organize our position and return soon."

"There is no need. For now, I am following Hui's lead. Once negotiations between your side and this side are finished, the direction of what should be done will become clear. Let us wait for that."

For an instant, Siati's gaze turned to me. Only for a moment. Then she smiled as if that was enough, bowed politely, and stepped back.

The princess scolded Siati with a deliberately stern face.

"Siati! How can you say something like that so carelessly!"

"I'm sorry, Princess. But it's the easiest way."

"Blood, flesh, life, and honor? Even if we bring down the military state, what use is it if the one meant to enjoy that glory dies? We fight for our comrades!"

"Enjoy glory? That's way too far in the future. A fool like me doesn't really get it."

"Siati!"

The last princess and the first member of the Resistance.

This kind of near-nagging back-and-forth seemed familiar to both of them. Siati took each of the princess's complaints one by one and calmed her down skillfully.

"Princess. Calm down. At the very least, I won't let you die before me."

"Hoo. Siati. What I mean is... no, we are guests here, so let us discuss it later."

'Why does everyone keep saying they'll give their lives, sacrifice their lives, whenever anything happens...! You can do far more while alive, this is so irresponsible! Idiot! Fool!'

Still not over her anger, the princess swore "very harshly" in her head and resumed the greeting that Siati had interrupted.

The princess took a small deep breath.

She tidied her long, full light-pink hair and looked around at everyone with lake-clear blue eyes. The royal symbol was noble light-purple hair, but they said that when an ill omen appeared, a successor with a pink tint was born.

It might have been an ominous sign for the royal house, but for the princess it had been lucky. Because the royal house hid this fact thoroughly, she survived several dangerous crises.

Even with the kingdom gone, the royal blood clearly remained; she had doll-like looks that would suit a dress perfectly. But she wore a plain pocketed shirt and skirt, so there was an odd mismatch, as if her head and body did not belong together. At least the shawl on her shoulders preserved a minimum of dignity.

Displaying the utmost elegance she could within that dissonance, the princess smiled softly.

"Allow me to greet you again. I am Yerien. Yerien Grandiomor. The last bloodline of House Grandiomor, and representative of the Resistance."

A delicate, gentle voice. Graceful gestures only the highborn could possess. A shy smile.

A greeting that made people forget, if only for a moment, that the kingdom was gone.

But no one here was surprised. No one showed shock, and hardly anyone even showed interest.

I nodded because I read their thoughts, at least.

'Right, she was a princess. I've seen her often, so I know. She looks much gentler now than back then. Maybe because both the Guardian Knight and her friend are still alive.'

'The kingdom falls, and the restoration army has the final blood of the royal house. A common story.'

'...It was what I expected. If I pass on this information... then I would be the one directly killing the children who remain. Should I do it?'

Not one of them was surprised or overawed by her status as princess. They were not even happy to see her.

"Woof! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Huh? Are you royalty?"

...No one was happy to see her.

The princess gave Azzy a small bow in return, then waited for the reaction that should have followed... and reading the indifferent eyes around her, she realized something.

'Huh? Could it be... that here, I'm actually on the ordinary side?'

Faced with this lukewarm reaction to the arrival of the last princess, she was disappointed inside, though she did not show it.

'Ah, I shouldn't be like this! Be humble, be humble! I'm just one Resistance member! I told myself not to expect privileges just because I'm a princess!'

Then she became disappointed at herself for feeling disappointed, shook her head side to side, and steeled her heart again.

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