WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 241: The God Who Rode Down on Gears

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I could see water flowing beneath the severed road. It was a waterway that supplied the Inner Circle with the water it needed.

It was not especially wide, but that did not matter. An automatic carriage could not jump the gap. In the chaos, the regressor shouted.

"The road split! What was that? I didn't sense anything strange...!"

"Leader! Give us orders!"

"You only call me leader at times like this...! Tch, wait!"

The regressor spun Jizan in her grip and drove it through the floor of the automatic carriage. The carriage shook violently as Jizan pierced its underside and struck the ground. The ground scraped against Jizan with a harsh grating sound.

The automatic carriage could not handle an unintended second brake. I gripped the wildly shaking controls and shouted.

"Ahhh! The carriage is going to break apart!"

"It's urgent! Don't talk to me!"

Keeping Jizan embedded in the ground, the regressor made a small sweeping motion. A small circle bloomed from the sword's tip. The ground rippled. As the world's heaviest sword swayed gently, the earth rose and fell with it.

I pressed down on the pedal and shouted louder.

"Hold on, everyone! We're falling!!"

"We're not falling! We're going up!"

With a shriek, the regressor abruptly released the ground she had been dragging along.

Earth Staff Style, Ground Swell.

I glanced back. The road we had crossed was twisted into a bizarre shape. It looked like a blanket wrinkling as it was pulled by a long pole. The earth, crumpled with the regressor's Jizan at its peak, surged upward all at once at her gesture.

At that moment, the automatic carriage's front seats changed forever. The passenger and driver's seats, which had seemed as though they would always be together, were permanently torn apart. The regressor's Jizan had sliced straight through the middle.

I could not complain, though. Her swing had raised a temporary bridge over the broken road.

"Step on it...! Huh? You're already stepping on it?"

You should've said that sooner! If I couldn't read your thoughts, I'd have been desperately trying to brake right now! Go on, feel some fear too!

"Oops! This was the accelerator, right?"

"What have you been doing all this time instead of driving?!"

"Accelerating! Put that aside, Azzyyyyy!"

"Woof!"

Rumble.

The automatic carriage, pushed to its limit, screamed. It raced toward the improvised slope, testing its limits as it prepared to leap.

The fortunate part was that the regressor had split the front open, so the wheels had lifted slightly.

The unfortunate part was that she had split it open, slowing the carriage down.

Thump.

The automatic carriage floated through the air as it never would again. For a moment, it felt as though gravity had vanished. The world seemed to move painfully slowly.

The automatic carriage had been made on the assumption of an orderly, sturdy road network. Like any other system, it collapsed pathetically when that assumption failed.

It had charged forward with terrifying force before the jump, yet it was pitifully slow at its highest point. We were clearly going to plunge into the waterway before reaching the other side.

Before the regressor could use another power at a cost to herself, I called out to a different source of power.

"Azzy!! Push! It's a dog sled!!"

"Woof woof woof!"

Azzy, who had been following my call, kicked off the ground and jumped. Then she gave the cargo bed a powerful kick.

Bang!

The automatic carriage achieved a dramatic burst of speed, powered by a charging dog. With a crunch, the truck moved about a meter horizontally. My neck and back jolted like a badly made doll.

Still... the automatic carriage had definitely cleared the waterway! I turned only my head to look back at Azzy, who had achieved this feat.

"Woof?"

Azzy had used all her strength to push the automatic carriage. She flailed helplessly in midair, left hanging with nowhere to place her feet. Our eyes met as she began to fall. The sight of her limbs floundering in empty air was rather pitiful.

"Goodbye, foothold..."

"Woooof!"

Azzy fell straight into the waterway. She would probably climb out soon enough.

We had bigger problems right now.

"Landing!"

I shouted and hid in the shadow beneath the driver's seat.

Hiding in a cramped space right before a collision was foolish. Unless there was a vampire nearby who could control darkness.

As I pushed myself into a shaded place untouched by sunlight, soft darkness wrapped around me.

That was not a figure of speech. This darkness was literally soft.

Crunch.

My body jolted as we landed. Still, there was only slight dizziness. None of the impact that should have followed came.

The darkness warmly embracing me whispered into my ear.

[What a rough method. Whew, did we truly have to fall like that?]

"A long fight is expected. It's better than using darkness in broad daylight. The cargo bed is fine, right?"

[Do not worry. The darkness is my domain. They have not lost a single hair.]

Nabi and Siati in the cargo bed seemed unharmed. I nodded and stood back up.

[But what happened? Did the road suddenly break apart?]

"Rather than breaking, it was cut."

[By whom?]

I did not have to answer. The regressor answered for me.

"Halberdier!!"

About 2.4 kilometers away, someone wearing a monocle was watching us from a distance so great that even my mind-reading reached only faintly. I could not see him well, but the regressor's Seven-Colored Eyes saw him clearly.

The maker of all weapons. The designer of all armaments. A monster of understanding. A creator.

The alchemist closest to the philosopher's stone. The Gear King.

Halberdier, Maximilien.

Looking like an innocent child, he twisted his lips into a smile and silently spoke to the regressor watching him.

'Level 1, passed.'

The regressor flew into a rage at that testing smile. Stepping onto the automatic carriage, she shouted.

"That bastard...! A trap!"

"A trap? He cut the bridge beforehand?"

"No! That bastard...! He saw us from that distance and cut it!"

How could he cut the road here from so far away? The answer came at once.

"With gears installed in this ground!"

Clatter. Clatter.

Perhaps awareness affected the senses. Once the regressor said it, I could hear metal teeth meshing beside my ears.

No, I had been hearing it all along.

The sound was simply so pervasive that it filled every direction. It was like the rustling of tens of millions of ants, too overwhelming to distinguish clearly.

We had arrived on ground made of gears.

The military state had been a fragile nation founded through civil war. To save this country, which was barely more than a newborn, War Hero, the military state's hero who had led the coup and its greatest commander, gathered talent from all over the world.

Absolute Spear and the War Mage had been important figures even in the days of the Kingdom, while the Gunman was born and raised in the military state. Those three Six Generals were natives of the military state, one way or another.

The other three Six Generals, in contrast, had come from foreign lands.

Halberdier, Maximilien.

Shadow Casket, Zikhrund.

Heavenly Link, Eimeder.

The veiled Six Generals, whose identities, motives, and powers were not widely known.

Still, no one could spend twenty-five years in the military state without rumors spreading. From their actions in the military state, one could at least roughly infer their abilities.

Halberdier Maximilien was the director of the military state's Munitions Development Bureau.

He was a master of standardized magic, an energy arts practitioner who understood principles, and an alchemist who had reached the pinnacle.

Weapons and equipment he had made were everywhere on the market. Any citizen of the military state had likely seen his name at least once on a tool they used and marveled at its complexity.

The one who made all things. His ability was...

"Gears! As long as the gears don't break, he can make them turn! No matter what!!"

"What do you mean, no matter what?!"

"Exactly that! No matter how huge the thing on the other side of those gears is, they will mesh and turn! As long as the teeth don't break!"

There was a small gear the size of a palm. If you meshed several together, gradually fitting in larger and larger gears, turning the small one alone could produce a massive change, like moving a giant's arm...

That idea was only valid under childish assumptions: that friction did not exist and that the gears were light yet sturdy.

Yet there was someone who could make half of those childish assumptions real.

Halberdier Maximilien could make gears turn until just before they broke. Therefore, the sturdier the gear and the higher its alchemical steel level, the more powerful a force it could create.

Halberdier was the military state's greatest alchemist. When it came to gears, he might have been the best in the world.

A simple, one-dimensional power. An ambiguous ability that could turn a round steel wheel with ridges, so vague that one could wonder whether it truly counted as a principle.

Yet when it was supported by his talent as an alchemist and his understanding as a grand designer...

'If it were an ability related to combat, that would be one thing...! Since he solves everything with gears, even I don't know what form his gearwork will take in this loop!'

He could make anything with gears.

Screech.

The precisely designed gears let out a discordant metallic cry, as though something was being pulled by force.

The regressor sensed it. At the same time, I sensed danger and turned the controls.

"Watch out!"

It was already too late. The moment I realized what was happening, the change that began in his gears passed through dozens of gears and steel rods, resulting in something rising from beneath the road. I desperately turned the controls, but the carriage no longer moved properly after the regressor had damaged it earlier.

No, what good was my response? The automatic carriage could not respond.

Crunch.

The front wheels were completely crushed by an improvised barricade that rose from below. If the carriage had been a person, it had taken a perfect uppercut. The automatic carriage jolted violently after taking the blow head-on.

At least the force had been reduced because the regressor had split it in half beforehand. Pulling a rag only tore it. It did not drag the whole thing along.

Whew, thank...

"It's too soon to relax, Hui."

I turned toward the voice. While I was nearly dead, Historia and the princess rode past us calmly on Selphi.

Historia and the princess, who had been riding the white horse, had not suffered nearly as much trouble as we had. The waterway was too narrow to call a river. Once Selphi reached the edge, the horse lightly leaped over it and trotted after us.

Unlike an automatic carriage, a horse could jump!

"Horses really have it easy! The automatic carriage I'm working so hard to drive is literally going through a thorny path, but that horse is completely relaxed!"

Historia's arms were bound, and she looked as though she might slip at any moment, yet she rode with exquisite balance. Was this much nothing to a martial artist who had reached such heights?

Even atop the wildly shaking horse, Historia seemed more worried about me.

"...I told you. Hui, the military state's dark side is even more sinister and powerful than this."

"I'm feeling that right now!"

"Halberdier... Director Maximilien's hobby and specialty is fitting things together with gears. Within his domain, even Uncle Partlaxion would find it hard to predict the outcome. That does not mean he is easy to deal with outside it, either."

"Stop telling me things I already know! Tell me the solution!"

'It's fine. It should still be fine. She did not earn her position among the Six Generals for nothing. At this level... there is still room to negotiate.'

Why were you talking about room to negotiate all by yourself? Recognize your situation first. You were following us with both arms tied up. If you wanted to negotiate, negotiate with us before the military state!

"If mediation becomes necessary..."

"If you don't say it now, when we leave this country, I'll spread the rumor everywhere that the strange perverted woman martial artist who fights with only her legs while tied up is actually you."

Historia's mouth shut at my stern warning. That alone was not quite enough to provoke her, but luckily, one of my allies was nearby.

"W-what? A pervert? Hey! Take that back! The Gunman isn't a pervert! She fought for us!"

"Fighting with only your legs while both arms are tied up is plenty perverted."

"Bizarre behavior?! It was so cool! Her upright posture, her long, flexible legs, her incredible sense of balance! If you knew even a little about martial arts, you would have admired it too!"

"I don't know much about martial arts, but I do admire her nerve. How can she be so proud looking like that? Does she think the rope is a mask?"

"Both of you, stop."

The princess launched into a passionate defense, but words without malice cut deepest. The liquid that seeped deepest into the body was clear, clean water. Historia could not endure any longer and surrendered.

"...It's simple. The easy way is to get outside the gears' range. The hard way is to destroy the gears themselves."

"Oh!... No, isn't that obvious? Run away or break them? That's your advice?"

"Even Director Maximilien cannot easily transmute level 5 alchemical steel. He needs prepared materials for level 4, and the alchemical steel he creates at his fingertips is usually level 3."

"Level 3 alchemical steel is still steel! It's more than enough to crush people!!"

While we wasted time on advice that was not much help, the day of reckoning arrived. The Thunder Wheel of the rattling automatic carriage gave its final death rattle.

One of the military state's Seven Great Inventions, the self-turning Thunder Wheel had been commercialized desperately in the water-starved military state, even at the cost of offending the Sanctum.

It gathered the power of lightning and turned by itself, sitting at the center of the automatic carriage and moving both its front and rear wheels. One Thunder Wheel powered the entire automatic carriage.

The Thunder Wheel had somehow kept turning despite being battered until now, but it finally fell silent after the angled impact from below.

The automatic carriage moved forward on inertia alone. Yet I could tell it was gradually slowing as Selfie slowly passed me.

As if she had just remembered, Historia added, "Oh, the automatic carriage was designed by the director too. If he did something to it, it might have broken down."

"You give your most useful advice at the most useless possible time?! You're a spy too!"

Spy or not, she was a Six General in the first place.

Footnotes:

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