WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 235: I Came
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‘Huh? How did we end up in an all-out war with the military state? I only made contact because I wanted to recruit someone...?’
The all-out war, decided almost by accident, left everyone confused. The regressor had given the Resistance vital information, but even the princess, who had firmly ordered them to prepare an attack, was still dazed.
Still, someone had to do what needed to be done. There was no other choice. The princess turned to the Guardian Knight and gave her order.
“Sir. This is an order. Take this news to the Resistance. We need someone who can rally their full strength and bring them here.”
“Yes. We do... But why are you telling me that?”
Obviously, she was telling him to do it. The Guardian Knight's expression changed sharply once he understood.
Sir Landemeyer was the youngest and strongest knight in the Resistance. Moving the rebels was his job. There was no issue with that.
But he was not only a commander. He was also the princess's Guardian Knight.
Even the Resistance's strongest warrior had only one body. If he devoted himself to one duty, the other would inevitably suffer.
“I said, do it.”
The princess he was meant to protect was ordering him to stop guarding her, return, and lead the troops here. The Guardian Knight spoke urgently.
“You cannot, Princess!”
“I've thought it over several times. This is the only way.”
“One of the Six Generals is here too!”
“She is Hamelin's last graduate, and she got herself captured. Look at her. She can't do a thing against Chiaty, can she? As long as Chiaty is safe, I'm safe too.”
“Chiaty wouldn't be safe alone on a wide plain! If there's nothing else to burn, she'll burn herself instead! I'll stay, so please command the Resistance yourself! Aren't you their master, Princess?”
The princess gave an awkward smile.
That was not true at all. She had no sense of ownership over them, nor did she stand above them.
She had accepted that position out of duty, and her role was no more than a symbol meant to gather people beneath a familiar face and bloodline.
The princess was a sacrifice. A sacrifice the remnants had found to use as firewood because they wanted to deny that their era was over.
She spoke with self-mockery.
“I'm a figurehead. A symbol of the kingdom, and an expensive sacrifice too. In any case, negotiating with other factions is the only role I've been given. I need to be where I can fulfill that role.”
“A sacrifice? Who would dare say something so outrageous?! Just tell me who it was! I'll have them executed immediately!”
“It was me. What execution will you give me?”
“I take back what I said! Princess, please reconsider!”
The Guardian Knight was stubborn. Naturally so. How could he leave the last descendant of the royal family, the princess he was meant to cherish and protect, among the worst criminals in history?
The other worn-down members of the Resistance might be one thing, but his loyalty to the royal family was genuine. He could never accept it.
“No matter what, I cannot leave you alone, Princess! Especially not on the front lines, where battle will break out soon!”
It might be a temporary alliance, but that changed nothing. He had learned through spies that we were not as dangerous as he had expected, but that had been before we decided to attack Headquarters.
Anyone planning to raid Headquarters with only five people was extremely dangerous.
Not because they were ill-tempered, but because they possessed abnormal strength and the will to make irrational choices.
After his repeated objections, the princess sighed.
“Whew. It seems talking nicely won't work.”
“Forgive me, but even if you speak harshly, my decision will not change.”
The Guardian Knight resolved to endure all the princess's complaints and anger with firm determination.
Until she said one thing.
“Brother. Are you kidding me?”
He had not heard that form of address in years, but fear came before any sense of fondness. As the Guardian Knight flinched, the princess gathered her memories of her false identity and shouted.
“Then what should we do? At least one person needs to stay here! We're not the military state. We don't have communications officers! We're leaving our base, and if we can't use the Great White Wall either, who will contact people? How will we negotiate?”
“Th-that is... Chiaty is here, so there is no reason for the Princess to...”
“That would be wonderful! If we leave negotiations to Chiaty, one day we'll realize we're charging Headquarters with our entire force behind her!”
“That is true, but...”
“Should you stay here while I go back to the base? The people will listen so well when an immature figurehead tries to lead them.”
“Wait, please...”
“You said time was running out! Why aren't you going?!”
When the princess suddenly shouted, the Guardian Knight shrank back from her fierce demeanor. He might have been a loyal knight, but he could not defeat the princess once she entered little-sister mode.
The Guardian Knight was driven all the way to the container entrance by her momentum. The Meta-Conveyor Belt was still moving by the moment. If he was going to act, sooner was better.
Just before opening the entrance and leaving, he hesitated and emphasized his instructions to the princess.
“...I'll leave Selfy behind, so if anything happens, mount Selfy and escape. Selfy is a white horse that can travel a thousand li. No one will be able to catch you. Have Chiaty prepare your appearance, and the spare clothing packets are here...”
“Go!”
The Guardian Knight looked at the princess with eyes dripping with concern, then reluctantly turned and stepped out of the container. He quickly checked his surroundings before throwing himself off the belt. He would probably gather the troops and catch up soon.
‘...He's gone, right? Whew, thank goodness.’
The princess kept up her angry expression until his presence vanished. Then she sighed and relaxed her face.
At that moment, the regressor strode up behind her.
“Hold on. Princess. You're coming with us?”
The princess stiffened at the sudden approach, which showed no concern for personal space.
“Y-yes!”
“We aren't going out for fun.”
The regressor's cold remark visibly flustered her, and she stammered out her reply.
“You said you needed a spy, didn't you? Then it would be better for me to be there. I've handled all sorts of negotiations, the petty things knights are too proud to do.”
“You might die.”
“I'm part of the Resistance too. I'm prepared for that. And... there's something I want as well.”
“What do you want?”
The princess hesitated briefly. But now that an attack on Headquarters was certain, the regressor was the only one who could help her.
‘The knight gave us valuable information. It would be ungrateful to hide my true feelings now. I had no intention of interfering, but I should tell the truth...!’
“I... want to meet Headquarters. I want to meet them and talk.”
The princess clasped both hands before her chest and confessed calmly.
“I'll say this here, but I don't think the military state is evil. The Grandiomor royal family was blessed with Heaven's Fortune, yet its own people pulled it down... The kingdom was already a failed country.”
A member of the Resistance, a princess of the kingdom, and someone born under Heaven's Fortune, she was revealing a truth she could never say within the Resistance.
Why she chose the regressor as the person to tell was unexpected, but it was an excellent choice.
Perhaps because they had been connected in the previous cycle, the regressor could fully understand the princess's secret feelings.
The regressor thought much the same way.
She gave a small laugh.
“Not something a princess should say.”
“Only I can say it. Isn't that the royal family's duty?”
“So what will you do? Surrender to Headquarters?”
“...I can't do that. I doubt they would accept it either. My very existence threatens the military state... Regardless of what I think, the military state and I can never be on the same side.”
The princess muttered self-mockingly, swallowed her loneliness, and continued.
“But even if I can't, the military state can become a better country. Instead of suppressing, persecuting, and exploiting people, it can become an ideal country where everyone advances together. But I want to ask whether Headquarters is deliberately looking away, or if they truly don't know.”
“You'll most likely die if you meet them.”
“Hehe. I was already living on borrowed time the moment I was born a princess.”
The princess smiled awkwardly. It was a smile of resignation.
“You can grant it as payment for my cooperation. If not, you can think of me as a spy you're sending in ahead of you. Before you attack Headquarters... could I speak with them for a little while?”
She clasped her hands and pleaded earnestly. It was so pitiful and wistful that any man with even a speck of romance in him would have had no choice but to nod.
But the regressor's romance had long since worn away, and she was not even a man. Even faced with a gesture that would have stirred a man's heart, she remained calm.
“I don't know where Headquarters is either.”
‘Even when I destroyed the military state in the past, I couldn't find Headquarters or the Führer giving orders within it. Not even by the end of that cycle. Whenever the military state fell, they simply vanished with it.’
Huh? She didn't know?
That was unexpected even for me. I assumed she was planning to attack because she knew where it was. She had ruined the military state over thirteen cycles and still could not find it? How were we supposed to get there if she didn't know where it was?
Fortunately, the regressor was not that reckless.
“But I know where their orders come from. If we go there... you might be able to have the conversation you want. Whether they agree to speak is another matter.”
“Where is that?”
“The Command and Control Center.”
The regressor recalled memories from the previous cycle. Beyond the space and time I could not clearly read, a faint image slowly took shape.
In one corner of Headquarters, within part of a warehouse, was a space soldiers almost never entered. It was publicly said to house communications officers, yet no one knew who those officers actually were. It was a veiled place.
It resembled the windowless room we had seen during Tantalus's collapse.
Remembering it, the regressor overlaid the princess before her with a version of the princess who looked older and more worn down. She seemed to be the princess the regressor had met in the past.
‘You had less room to breathe in the previous cycle. You wanted to talk... but you didn't pursue it at the cost of your companions or your own life. Let's see, this time...’
“In a small facility in one corner of Headquarters' enormous base, there are twenty-six communications officers who relay Headquarters' directives. It is the only channel directly connected to Headquarters. It is also a strategic target, so... if we occupy that place, you will be able to have the conversation you want.”
The regressor was endlessly generous toward a former companion. At her relatively gentle, kind words, the princess bowed deeply and clenched her fists.
“Yes...! Thank you!”
‘As expected, he is a good person...!’
Footnotes:
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