WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 238

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Dark Zone

The inside of the Meta-Conveyor Belt was also called the Dark Zone. Unlike the Fog Duchy, that name was purely symbolic. The Dark Zone was not dark at all. If anything, it was much brighter than other regions.

Lights that let people work through the night.

Searchlights that tracked anyone trying to flee.

Watch beacons on tall spires that monitored laborers.

Even at night it was bright enough to see clearly, yet this land was paradoxically called the Dark Zone. People of the Inner Circle could not leave the belt before their sentence ended. So whatever happened inside never reached the outside.

That was why it was the Dark Zone: a void created by missing information.

Unlike the pastoral land outside the belt, the inside was a place for laborers dragged in for rule violations or crimes. It was full of people forced to continue penal labor without even the smallest freedom.

"Huff, huff."

At the communal farm, one of the Seven Great Inventions of the military state, chimera beans, grew in thick clusters. The beans were so large and plump that any farmer who grew them would probably feel full just from looking.

But he was not a farmer. He felt no pride in tilling fields and harvesting crops.

This field was not his, and he had never wanted it. It had been forced on him.

Chimera beans grew fast and yielded a lot, but they needed huge amounts of water and labor. If the side branches were not trimmed regularly, the vines ran wild and then collapsed under their own weight. Chasing off birds and bugs that targeted the dense growth was his job.

A prisoner and laborer, he snapped chimera bean branches through sheer exhaustion. As he did his repetitive work, he recalled how he had ended up here.

He had beaten an overseer who demanded bribes over a speck of authority. Back then, hot-blooded, he had not tolerated the sight. Even when his hard fist smashed the overseer's jaw, he had not regretted it for a second.

But now, one year later, he regretted that day every moment.

If only he had not raised his hand then, he would not have ended up like this.

Not a trace of the anger that had driven things this far remained in him. He only wished today would pass faster, that this brutal labor would end sooner.

The moment the word escape crossed his mind, fear swallowed him. He could not even think about escaping. Even setting aside the searchlights watching every direction, he had seen it over and over: people who disobeyed orders getting dragged farther inward.

He did not know what lay deeper inside, but one thing was certain: after a full year, no one had come back. That terrified him even more.

The one small comfort was this: the overseer he had beaten, who had dared take bribes in the military state, had been dragged deep inside and vanished. That alone was his tiny consolation.

In the military state, only the military state could exploit someone. With that dull thought in his foggy mind, he cut through brush with a blunt sickle.

Then it happened.

『Communications Officer Io of the military state is informing all laborers. Stop your work and return to your quarters immediately. I repeat. All laborers currently on duty are to return to your quarters immediately. This is an order. End of message.』

He doubted his own ears. For military state laborers, early release from labor was like a god: always sought, never arriving. And now, suddenly, he was meeting that god.

Maybe he had heard wrong, so he looked up at the sky. It was still bright. There should have been plenty of time left before work ended.

The overseer started shouting. He yelled that there would be penalties if they did not go rest at once, enough to give an ordinary laborer cognitive dissonance. Carrying his tools, he rushed off at full speed to rest.

"You really do live long enough to see days like this."

That was all it was, unexpected luck that came by pure chance. Yet somehow, it made life feel more worth living.

A gunner without a Gunslinger was powerless. They could not even keep the enemy in check. Bullets came down in bursts and hammered the motor carriage, but the body, already hard to pierce, was currently under Tyr's control. Rounds that struck alchemic steel reinforced by uncanny magical power only bounced away uselessly.

I gripped the wheel and drove forward, then spotted a barricade blocking the road ahead. A grid of alchemic iron caltrops and a huge barrier.

I shouted at once.

"Mr. Shei! The road is blocked!"

"I know."

The regressor kicked off her seat, leaped up, and planted herself on the front hood of the motor carriage. She stretched Jizan out to the side, and once we got close enough to the barrier, she threw it in a long arc.

Jigon Style, Earth Sickle.

Jizan spun through the air and slammed into the barricade.

In that instant, the barrier and caltrops exploded outward with shrieking metal. The sword was light only to one it acknowledged; to everything else, it felt heavier than a giant motor carriage. And if that thing came spinning at you?

Barrier or not, in front of rotating Jizan, it was just straw. The heaviest thresher earth had ever made harvested steel crops in a savage sweep.

Roaring impact, detonations, and flying steel shards. I pushed the pedal harder through that wrecked scene.

"We're breaking through! Everyone brace your, gah!"

The carriage jolted so hard I smashed my head. Even after the regressor had cleared the way, debris was still left over.

This thing hit like a kick to the ass from even tiny bumps. Was this really made for people to ride? Then again, the military state never saw its citizens as people anyway.

"This damn motor carriage...! Mr. Shei! Forget this cheap junk, don't we have some better transport? Something amazing that can carry all of us and run?"

"You think we have that?"

Standing on the side of the carriage, the regressor stretched out and snagged Jizan from the ground. It was a stunt.

After recovering Jizan, she came back to the passenger seat. I kept driving and grumbled.

"Then how about a flying tool! You were riding the wind just fine earlier!"

"There are too many people right now. The heavier we are, the harder it is to ride the wind."

"Then put in more power!"

"Easy for you to say, it isn't your power..."

She gave a short scoff, then her eyes widened. She shot out an arm and shoved my body sideways.

"Danger!"

Pushing me out of the firing line, she thrust Skywarbler through the gap.

Celestial Sword Qi, Shoot the Sun.

The invisible sword energy fired from Skywarbler and grazed right past my nose. My vision blurred for a split second, and a violent blast sounded far away. A shell flying toward us exploded in midair. Heat brushed my left cheek.

"So those bastards were trying to pin us with the barricade and snipe us, huh! Hmph, no chance! Who do they think is going to get hit by that!"

She said it with a proud snort, and for some reason she looked a little cool today. I gave my honest impression.

"Mr. Shei, that was pretty cool. I think I might fall for you."

"Huh?! D-don't say useless stuff in a moment like this! Focus on driving!"

At her shout to focus, I glanced over and saw a mobile artillery unit with a cannon mounted on a motor carriage aiming its barrel at us. Just like she said, their plan seemed to be isolating us on the road and shelling us one-sidedly.

I pressed the pedal harder.

"They're not on the road itself. They probably can't follow far. How about we keep intercepting like this and break out?"

"I don't like that plan."

"You can't do it? Was what you just did a fluke?"

"It wasn't! It's the subtle logic of impact. You explained it too, so you know, right? If you use that principle, hitting something in empty air isn't hard. That's also why we can't fly through the sky either. We'd get intercepted too..."

She muttered, sounding dissatisfied.

So if there were no interception risk, she would have flown. So she wasn't being stingy. Maybe I had misjudged her.

"But it burns energy and concentration, so I don't want to knock every shell down one by one. How about we trust Tyrkanzyaka and tank it with our body?"

"My body?"

"I meant the car's body, but if your body can tank it too, even better."

"That's nonsense. I'm a fragile creature. If I get hit by a shell, I die, and even if it hits the car, the shock ruins my driving! Please value me!"

"Tch, so that's out."

"Of course it's out! Go deal with them already!"

The regressor looked like she wanted to, but after hearing my push, she stared ahead with concern, as if something bothered her.

"I want to, but if I leave this spot..."

"Right, we can't break the next barricade! Then I'd be in danger! Stay by my side from now on too! Don't go anywhere!"

"Th-that's what I mean. Why do you always phrase things like... Tch, anyway. I don't want to spend magical energy, but maybe I should call down lightning..."

Right when the regressor was about to summon lightning, a white horse running beside the motor carriage broke formation with a sharp neigh and dashed off. The Princess and Siati were riding it together.

The regressor spoke like she had only just remembered.

"Right, the Resistance was here too. Let's leave that side to them."

"Will those two be enough? The Princess doesn't exactly look strong in a fight...?"

I said it in an unconvinced tone.

Of course I did. Siati seemed to have gained some new ability after joining the Resistance, but that pink-haired Princess kept throwing herself into danger like she had flowers in her head despite having no notable combat power. Not trusting that was normal. Trusting it would be stupid.

Seeing my doubt, the regressor looked amused.

"So there are things you don't know too, huh? Heh. Well, this one is hard to figure out. The Princess herself probably doesn't even know."

"What is it?"

"Want me to tell you? If you ask politely, I might."

Her smug tone annoyed me, so I just read her thoughts.

Knowledge from previous turns was normally hidden from my mind reading, but because the regressor was actively recalling that memory, I could read it too.

'The Princess is of House Grandiomor. House Grandiomor was one of the five monarchs that drove out the human king. The Princess especially, as the last surviving blood relative, has the ability to evade human hostility.'

An ability to evade hostility? I looked again at the white horse charging straight at the enemy line.

The artillery unit seemed to hesitate for a moment. Should they intercept the white horse charging at them, or keep attacking the motor carriage running toward the command office?

The regressor who had just burst incoming shells in midair was still glaring from our carriage. Even for self-preservation, intercepting the white horse should have been the rational choice.

But the artillery did not move their barrels. They stubbornly kept aiming only at us, preparing the next shot.

I caught that sign in the corner of my eye and said,

"Is it an ability that makes her not a valid target?"

"Pretty close. How did you figure it out?"

"Because even with riders coming straight at them, those barrels are still aimed only at us!"

Like gunners, artillery did not get much respect for efficiency. Loud, slow shells were useful only when enemies were packed together, and even then, stronger opponents could swat shells away or catch them.

Still, artillery was better than gunners. At least cannons had enough power to smash city walls or carriages on the road.

Like right now!

"To be exact, it's an ability to evade hostility. People betray her less, she feels least dangerous when attacked, and everyone becomes more lenient toward her. Only someone with the bloodline of an ancient king can have it. It's also why House Grandiomor's bloodline lasted this long..."

"That's not the important part right now! The hostility that slid off them is pointed at us! We're the ones in danger!"

Right as I shouted that,

Siati, who had been hanging on behind the Princess as they charged, pulled off her left glove. Not her right hand with the prosthetic, her left hand, lined with scars, was revealed.

The most striking thing was her twisted finger joints.

Ugly fingers, visible even at long range. As everyone watched her,

Siati raised her hand high for all to see, then bent her left pinky finger upward.

At the same time, the main cannon barrel bent, snapping upward in a shape eerily like Siati's finger.

A thunderous blast followed. The steel-cast barrel, built to endure explosive shock, had bent upward grotesquely like Siati's finger and now pointed at the sky. Red fire and smoke burst up, likely from the shell detonating inside.

Siati put her glove back on. She signaled something, and the Princess turned the horse and came back toward us. They had crippled the enemy's main weapon, yet the Princess did not look pleased at all.

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