WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 236: I Saw
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At first, the Resistance had been a royal restoration force centered around local lords. Back then, they had resources, courage, and conviction. They even aspired to become the kingdom's saviors, so they had not needed a member of the royal bloodline to stand and fight.
But too much time had passed.
The military state consolidated its power through a systematic structure. It won victory after victory in the successive civil wars. The Resistance, whose way of thinking had never moved beyond the old kingdom, was gradually driven back until it suffered total defeat and hid away in the corners.
It was around then that the Resistance brought in the princess. Without a central figure, they were on the verge of collapse, so they intended to rally around her.
The princess accepted that fate, but because they did not truly respect her, she did not trust the Resistance either. She could not coexist with the military state anyway, so fulfilling her duty was the only path open to her.
That did not mean the Resistance had only declined. There were positive developments as well.
After the incident in Hamelin, a large number of young people abandoned by the military state joined the Resistance. A new wind was blowing through its ranks, but...
It was a short-lived life created by forcibly stitching together mismatched limbs.
The knights, old powers from a bygone era, were never going to get along with young people resisting unjust authority.
The knights thought of the young people as retainers or private soldiers. They believed that if they toppled the country and took them under their command, that alone would be reward enough.
The young people, on the other hand, had never even dreamed of restoring the monarchy. Their goals were to realize a better ideal or pursue endless revenge and struggle. They wanted only one of two things: reform the military state or destroy it completely.
They could not understand one another. For now, they had gathered only under the shared goal of bringing down the military state. Their origins, innate qualities, and aspirations were complete opposites.
And amid all that confusion, the princess, at least nominally the Resistance's representative... did not hate the military state.
Siati watched the conversation between the princess and the regressor with satisfaction. She was genuinely pleased for two reasons. First, the princess, with whom she was fairly close, had spoken so bravely. Second, she had gained valuable information from it.
As Siati listened quietly, she organized the necessary details.
The Command and Control Center. One corner of Headquarters. Twenty-six communications officers.
‘Communications officers will definitely be accompanied by those tiresome surveillance golems. Officers who relay Headquarters' orders won't be exposed outside very often. Using golems is more efficient. So it's reasonable to assume they're stationed somewhere on the outskirts, where there are fewer people, rather than in the central district.’
Siati's hatred-fueled mind had become abnormally developed in every field related to hunting the military state. Like a predator that smelled blood and grasped its prey's condition, she could identify a weakness almost perfectly from only a few pieces of information.
‘They use golems, so they probably aren't anything special in direct combat. There are many golems, but each person controls dozens of them. The total number of communications officers must be quite small. Even twenty-six isn't a number to dismiss... If I kill them all, will it deal a blow to the military state too?’
Then she gave off a chilling killing intent.
Historia, who sensed that intent from the closest distance, hardened her expression.
“...Siati. Stop.”
“Stop? Stop what?”
“Don't increase the number of innocent victims. The communications officers deserve pity too. They aren't any better off than the other children.”
Siati blinked. Unable to believe such words had come from one of the Six Generals, she soon clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.
“Ahaha! Ahahaha! Look who has become a great Holy Maiden! No way, no way! I never thought you'd say something like that!”
Even in the face of that mad laughter, Historia did not avert her gaze. Siati kept laughing as she repeatedly shook her head.
“No, Historia. Whether the communications officers are pitiable or not doesn't matter at all. Not one bit. What matters is how important they are to the military state, how much damage it will cause, and whether I can do it!”
“It seems the princess wants to talk to them. Are you going to disregard your lord's wishes?”
“Princess Yerien isn't my lord. She's my friend. Like you and me, friends with a huge difference in rank!”
Siati sat beside Historia and pointed at the princess. At the girl with light-pink hair, whose very appearance made one's heart feel warm.
Yet unlike her fragile-looking appearance, the princess's eyes held unwavering resolve. Siati looked at her enviously.
“Our princess is quite something, isn't she? She's grown up so bravely. She's neither a flower raised in a greenhouse nor a weed like me. Hehehe. Sometimes, I really feel that she comes from different stock!”
Historia secretly agreed. Though neither of them had experienced the kingdom, if dignity and refinement flowed from someone so naturally, it had to be innate.
She was the complete opposite of rough and violent Historia.
And when one considered that the princess represented the Resistance while distrusting it, how different was she from Historia, one of the Six Generals who harbored doubts about the military state?
If there were two people in the world who were complete opposites, they would be the princess and Historia...
“You two are really alike. You were both born with something, both had a chance to cast it aside, but couldn't because you were swept away by affection... Isn't that ironic?”
“What?”
Siati offered no further explanation. She only looked at the princess with slightly subdued eyes.
“But the princess is the princess, and I am me. We walk toward the same place, but what we want to achieve is different. Maybe we won't get in each other's way. We can just kill them all after the princess finishes talking through the communications officers, right? I can wait that long!”
“Don't repeat the tragedy. One tragedy like Hamelin was enough.”
“One? Ahaha, ahahahahahaha! Historia.”
Siati twisted her lips into a smile. At the same time, without warning, her prosthetic arm shot out and seized Historia's chin, twisting it. They glared at each other from close enough for their noses to touch.
“The tragedy isn't over yet. So to me, it's still the first one. It's still ongoing.”
“...Isn't it time to give up? How many times have I looked the other way for you? You've done enough.”
“You should've killed me then. This is what happened because you didn't.”
Hehehe. Siati let out a dry, cough-like laugh, then spoke with a faint smile.
“I won't die until I destroy the military state, but if you kill me, I'll be satisfied. If I leave the greatest scar on your heart, that will mean I've destroyed the military state too.”
“You think I'll listen to you?”
“You won't kill me? Heh, then join the Resistance! One of the Six Generals was actually part of the Resistance. That would shock every citizen of the military state who respects the Daughter of the Military State several times over! It's the best possible scenario!”
“I have no intention of becoming a terrorist like you.”
“Who said to follow me? Don't follow a weed. Follow the princess whose ideals soar so high! Wouldn't an idealist be happiest beside another idealist? It's not as though you're loyal to the military state...!”
“Shut up!”
Historia shouted, but Siati continued to smile brightly. After glaring at her as though she could bore a hole through her, Historia shook Siati off despite being bound and sprang to her feet. With blazing eyes, she strode toward me.
“Hui. Take me too. Take me as far as the place where the princess meets Headquarters alone.”
Caught off guard by the sudden request, I blinked.
Historia was one of the Six Generals, one of the few valuable hostages from the military state. Originally, I had planned to drag her along while pretending she was a hostage, then toss her aside somewhere. But that plan had been delayed and delayed until it was in danger of being scrapped altogether.
This was why I should have used my plans as soon as I made them.
“I'll follow obediently until then. I swear I won't resist, so you can untie me. No, I don't mind remaining bound. Just take me with you.”
I asked carefully.
“Why? Are you going to confront Headquarters yourself, then betray us if you decide it isn't right?”
“It isn't betrayal. I will act. This time, by my own will.”
Siati's mocking laughter came from behind us. The consequences of the tragedy caused by Historia's delay still trailed behind her.
To shake them off, Historia pleaded with me with firm resolve.
“I won't regret it like I did then. I won't be late. I'll see everything with my own eyes and make my own judgment.”
[…More and more people keep joining us. Hyu, what are we to do?]
Tyr, who had climbed into the coffin to conserve her strength, muttered with a sigh. I shrugged and replied.
“I agree, but the more combat power we have, the better. It's not really a problem.”
[Why do we keep adding only girls? The space is already cramped. I'm worried we'll soon be living shoulder to shoulder.]
“You were worried about impropriety?!”
She did not care at all that we were fighting a country, yet she worried about propriety. Was this the mindset of a vampire who had been in conflict with the Sanctum for over a thousand years? Conflict with a country was apparently just everyday life to her. Impressive.
Tyr did not seem tense about the battle that would soon take place. Something else seemed to concern her more.
[And look over there. Honey is dripping from the princess's eyes as she looks at Shei. In contrast, Shei's eyes are completely indifferent.]
Where Tyr clicked her tongue and pointed, the princess kept chattering while stealing glances at the regressor.
“It feels strange. Perhaps because I was raised so strictly, but I've always found men a little difficult. Yet when I'm with you, I only feel at ease.”
“Ah, that's... Uh.”
‘I am actually dressed as a man. Right. Ugh. I don't want to change her impression of me again and make her wary of me now...’
At that point, it was an original sin. The moment she decided to live disguised as a man, she had fastened the first button wrong. Just live as a man this cycle.
Tyr murmured wistfully.
[Sigh. Whenever I see that, my chest feels tight and my throat closes up. Shei likes men, so how did that girl come to harbor feelings that will never be returned...?]
...That was certainly true. She liked men, and those feelings would never be returned.
Misunderstanding or not, it was still the regressor's fault. What a bad man. No, a bad woman.
“Wait. I feel like someone is slandering me somewhere.”
She was only sharp about useless things.
Tyr had surrounded the area in darkness so the conversation would not carry. Then, as though she had suddenly remembered something, she said,
[Still, this is unexpected. From what I have observed, Shei avoids taking on troublesome matters, so I thought he would refuse the princess's offer.]
“I agree, but... Shei is strangely kind to a certain few people.”
The regressor had a terrifyingly poor sense of sociability. She took everything the wrong way and snapped her words out like flint striking stone. Yet she tended to become endlessly generous toward those who had become her friends in the previous cycle.
Even in the Abyss, she had approached Tyrkanzyaka, the strongest vampire, without any wariness from the beginning. When something happened to Tyr, she had been the first to step forward.
She would be at least as generous toward the princess.
[Hyu, wasn't he overly suspicious of everything you did?]
“Perhaps to balance out the total amount of patience she has, she's even colder to certain people. I must have been one of them. It's unfair, unfair. What did I do?”
[That's what I'm saying. What could possibly be suspicious about someone as dependable as you?]
Huh? Had Tyr not called me suspicious when we first met?
[He is more fickle than a new bride. How can his attitude change so much?]
“If I knew, I would have used it first. I don't know.”
Actually, I did know. I just could not follow that path. To do so, I would need to return to the previous cycle and build a relationship of trust.
Well, I complained like that, but from the regressor's perspective, it was only natural. I could not read memories of the previous cycle, but she must have gone through all kinds of events and experiences there.
Even if a new cycle had begun, those memories and experiences remained. Naturally, the degree of intimacy could not be the same.
“By the way, is it really all right for you to help us, Tyr? The military state is in conflict with the Sanctum. Won't you lose an ally?”
[Since when was a human country an ally of vampires? In all my life, I have seen countries fight the Sanctum, but never one that formed an alliance with us. At most, there were non-aggression pacts.]
“Still, isn't it a bit burdensome to fight a country alone?”
[Shei is working to save the world, and aren't you doing the same? No harm will come from lending a hand.]
Tyr spoke kindly and opened the coffin lid slightly. Through the narrow gap, I met the eyes of the vampire smiling softly.
[I am cheering for you. Even if the world abandons you, I alone will help you.]
A sincere declaration from Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. It was reassuring. There was no need to doubt her, but to understand her feelings better, I read her thoughts with my mind-reading.
‘If we become enemies with a country and end up being hunted, we'll become each other's only support. From then on, whether we like it or not, we'll continue living together. Isn't that romantic?’
Huh? What was that supposed to mean? What was romantic about the life of a fugitive? It was nothing but barbaric.
Ah, wait. Tyr kept encouraging my and the regressor's reckless behavior. She kept helping me do whatever I wanted. Could it be...?
“Tyr. For this raid on Headquarters, are you planning to wipe them out completely, or rough them up a little and leave?”
Tyr answered as though it were obvious.
[What good would destruction and chaos do for the world? Let us issue a stern warning and run away. Freely toying with a country and its fate is irresponsible.]
“But won't those left behind pursue me?”
[Don't worry. I will protect you.]
‘Thoroughly, for a long time.’
Cold sweat trickled down my back. Perhaps I was the one who had fallen into a trap without anyone noticing.
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