WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 244: Noise Removal Technique

──────

Halberdier's order to kill the princess was so flat that it sounded as though he were telling someone to hurry up and fetch something he had deposited for safekeeping. Historia looked troubled.

For one thing, Historia was tied up, and she had no intention of attacking the princess. The princess belonged to the Resistance, but she was surprisingly reasonable and kind. Historia did not want to lose anyone easily, no matter who they were.

Especially someone she could talk to.

Death could never be undone, but as long as someone was alive, they could meet again somehow.

In that sense, Historia was quite satisfied with her current status as a prisoner. Prisoners were restrained by force, so they could not use force against others. Bound as she was, Historia had been freed from the obligation to attack anyone.

But Maximilien's order was pulling her out of that comfortable dream.

Fortunately, before Historia could answer, furious reactions erupted from all around. Ciati, who had been holding her breath and waiting for an opportunity to ambush him, changed her mind and opened the side door of the cargo compartment to protect the princess.

While Ciati guided Selphi this way, the regressor radiated killing intent and drew both Skywarbler and Jizan.

"Can I take that as an invitation to fight?"

Even with such a terrifying enemy before him, Halberdier replied calmly.

"You do enjoy butting in. Still, if you have learned even the slightest bit of manners, stay quiet for a moment. I am speaking with Major General Historia."

"An order to kill someone is a conversation?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

The regressor looked utterly dumbfounded, but no one else reacted the same way. Not Azzy, not me. Even the princess, who had just been told to die to her face, did not seem shaken.

There was almost no killing intent in Maximilien's words. He had spoken so matter-of-factly that even the princess merely tilted her head without sensing any danger.

Historia looked around and answered awkwardly.

"...Director. I'm tied up. And I'm closer to that sword than I am to you. How am I supposed to..."

"I'm starting to feel disappointed in you, so say no more, Major General. Why are we trying to talk around each other instead of trusting each other's intelligence and ability?"

As if he had expected Historia's reaction, Maximilien replied without hesitation.

"There is no way something as trivial as rope could bind you. What binds you is your own heart. Well, I have no intention of criticizing that... Taking an interest in small and insignificant matters is also the leisure of someone qualified. In any case, do not deny that you refused my request."

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? You may refuse any request you wish. It is your choice. Now then, I will hear your request. What is it?"

Maximilien answered calmly, without a trace of regret. It was a remarkably considerate and rational response.

Historia gave the answer she had prepared.

"Their purpose is to stop the war the military state intends to wage. That is why they are charging toward Headquarters, which plans to start it."

"Oh? And?"

"Their total force is on the level of a nation. With our main forces in the Far East, we cannot guarantee victory if we confront them like this. Therefore, I believe the most rational way to minimize casualties is to delay the war plans for a while, recall our forces, and negotiate with them."

"I do not agree."

As though the answer had been decided from the start, Maximilien answered lightly. It was such a clean refusal that it was hard to even ask why.

"Major General Historia, that is not for the sake of the military state. The only thing you care about is Hamelin."

"Even so, this is also for the military state!"

"Then go to Headquarters and argue your case. Do not involve me. I see no reason to avoid battle."

"People will die! Headquarters could collapse!"

"Whose deaths are you worried about? Ah, right. You said you found Hamelin's Pied Piper."

His lenses briefly turned toward me. Before long, though, their focus returned to Historia. From his perspective, I was not even worth paying attention to.

If he had any reason to care about me, it was because I was what motivated Historia. To Maximilien, I was nothing more than a means.

He did not permit even a fragment of reason to those without qualifications.

Because he was special.

He truly was not ordinary.

"Keep your hobbies in check, Major General," Maximilien said with a sigh.

"Tch. I should have known when you made such a fuss over about two hundred useless brats dying. It was something that would have disappeared if it were buried, a trivial incident no one would remember. Yet you kept digging it up and forcing the matter to grow."

"...No one would remember? Even though two hundred people died?"

"They were two hundred people without strength, talent, or even a promised future. Why would anyone remember them? If Major General Historia and Lankart had not thrown a fit, it would have ended as an ordinary mishap... Wait. Who just said that?"

After noticing that Historia's lips had not moved, Maximilien looked around. The speaker was not in his immediate view.

That was because it had been Ciati, inside the cargo compartment.

"Take that back!"

She had left the compartment door open, ready to rescue the princess at once if anything happened. But the moment Maximilien mentioned Hamelin, Ciati could not endure it any longer. She leaped out and clung to the door.

Leaning out, Ciati glared at Maximilien with blazing eyes. The hatred consuming her flickered in her gaze.

"How can you call that trivial?! Hamelin is not something a bastard like you gets to dismiss...!"

But Ciati. It was pointless.

Words meant nothing to someone who did not truly consider you human.

"You rude little bastard!"

Creak.

One of the gears inside Maximilien's head slipped slightly out of place. The part of him that was rational and full of tolerance was not meant for Ciati. She lacked the qualifications for him to use his reason on her.

"Now insignificant things are interrupting me too! Noise, noise! Shut uuuup!"

His killing intent surged violently. The gears that aided... or interfered with his thoughts. A switch connecting his reason and empathy shut off, linking him to the dark, murky part of his emotions instead.

Immense hostility flowed from there.

And that hostility immediately became reality.

Maximilien held six gears in one hand. It did not look like one at all, but it was a bow fitted with a winch.

It needed no external power. The force that turned the gears was power enough.

Crrrrk. The lump of metal twisted. A sharp arrow nocked on the string gleamed.

With a twang, the bow, filled with mechanical force, launched the arrow. It became a ray of light and flew straight for the center of Ciati's chest.

There was not a moment of hesitation or delay between his decision and his action. He truly thought of it as nothing more than clearing away noise. That was why most people failed to realize he intended to attack until the arrow had already been fired.

Only Historia, who had been on guard from the beginning, responded.

Though tied up, she kicked out. Something exploded with a bang, and Historia lost her balance. The impact was so tremendous that her body, perched on the horse, lifted into the air.

"Ah?! Gunslinger!"

The princess reached out, but the force was too great. Historia could not risk endangering the princess and Selphi, so she did not resist as she was thrown away.

She fell from the horse.

I shouted at once.

"Azzy! Catch her!"

"Woof!"

The moment Azzy jumped down at my cry...

Boom! The front windshield of the automatic carriage shattered and flew apart. The regressor had cleared away the annoying barrier in one blow, gripped Skywarbler, and leaped out.

"You crazy bastard! Fine, I'll take that as an invitation to fight!"

Maximilien, who had attacked first without warning, shouted back in fury.

"I'm just clearing away some noise, and every one of you wants to pick a fight!"

"She's not noise! And even if she were, she'd be our noise!"

The regressor reacted fiercely as well and swung Skywarbler.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Dragon-Slaying Slash.

A giant blade of wind, as though Skywarbler had grown a hundredfold, bore down on Maximilien. Before it had even been swung, the fierce wind pressed down on the world. Facing the sword of a giant wielded by the Celestial God, Maximilien drew his cogblade.

Screeeeech. Sharp teeth spun with a metallic shriek. It was a sword whose blade rotated on its own, capable of crushing steel without even being swung. One of his masterpieces.

Just as Maximilien tried to meet Skywarbler with its blade...

His arm bent backward.

"...Dieee!"

Ciati had put Maximilien's arm in her sights and bent one of her fingers. Blinded by rage, Ciati did not care for her own body, and her ring finger twisted into a gruesome shape. Without proper treatment, she would never be able to bend it again after today.

Black magic was fair, in its own way. It forced the same phenomenon upon her finger and the target of her curse. Thanks to her sacrifice, Maximilien's arm bent sharply backward at the joint, just like Ciati's finger...

"Noiseee!"

Yet identical phenomena did not always carry identical weight. A cool stream that someone could comfortably step into could be a flooding river to an ant. Maximilien was completely unharmed despite his arm bending backward.

Those who had mastered the Water Qi Art could infuse their bodies with qi. The usual use was to strengthen bones and muscles, but qi masters who had reached a high realm had mastered the opposite as well.

The instant the black magic struck, Maximilien reacted mechanically. His bones and muscles softened for a moment. Though his arm had bent backward, it returned to normal without any injury.

The price of Ciati's ring finger was no more than a momentary opening. Maximilien trembled from head to toe in indescribable rage.

"You noise, daring to forget your place!"

"That was enough!"

Still, that noise had prevented Skywarbler and the cogblade from engaging. Skywarbler fell upon Maximilien.

Broken gears scattered in every direction.

At nearly the same moment, a steel gear the size of a palm shot up toward Ciati's chest as though drawn to it. It was a steel gear trap Maximilien had rolled onto the road in his fury.

She had not noticed the attack until it was halfway there, and the impact nearly sent her tumbling from the automatic carriage. If Azzy had not been following while carrying Historia, Ciati would have fallen straight over.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Azzy barked as though demanding thanks, but Ciati only watched Maximilien, her face twisted in pain. She touched one of the three remaining fingers on her hand.

Just before Dragon-Slaying Slash tore Maximilien apart, his wheels burst into sparks and spun violently. Their teeth dug into the road as Maximilien's body shot away.

His power over gears allowed sudden acceleration without any preparatory motion, such as bending his knees or lowering his center of gravity. Against an ordinary attack, that alone would have carried him out of range.

"Dragon-Slaying Slash, Reverse Scale!"

But the regressor's attack had accounted for Halberdier's abilities. An attack far larger and greater in scale than he expected swallowed Maximilien.

Creak, creak. Gears moved at his shoulders. Maximilien's cloak flipped over and wrapped around him like a shield.

Then came the explosion.

Maximilien's cloak tore apart, and the tiny gears filling every fold scattered like dust caught in a dry wind.

"Tch! A gear cloak...!"

'It disrupts space through constant interlocking, a weapon made to counter Skywarbler. He actually made that in such a short time. This is going to be troublesome.'

The regressor clicked her tongue in disappointment.

She was only disappointed, but Maximilien felt as though his head would burst with rage. The scattered gears had fulfilled their purpose, but they had lost their calm order and returned to chaos. Bloodshot eyes glaring, he shouted.

"You destroyed my masterpiece, Infinite Interlocking...! You truly mean to create friction with me!"

The regressor replied with an incredulous look.

"You attacked first!"

"Now you are slandering me as well! Yes, it was my mistake to try and achieve what I wanted through intelligence and order! There is a proper way to converse with noisy creatures!"

Halberdier lowered his stance and drove both hands into the ground. Light flared along the thin metal lines etched into his skin, beginning at his elbows. As his fingertips slid rapidly forward, the road's surface was carved away like tofu.

"Combat Alchemy: Demonic Forging."

Rather than scattering as dust, the carved-up road took shape at Halberdier's fingertips. In an instant, the road's debris transformed into steel.

If you lightly dug into a soft pudding with a spoon, then pulled it across the surface as though drawing a plow, it would curl into a round shape along the curve. Something similar was happening at Maximilien's fingertips.

The only difference was that the material was the roadbed, and Maximilien's fingers were what dug through it.

Two long lines appeared across the road. The excavated ground instantly became enormous steel wheels. Their complex gears, with inner and outer sections rotating separately, scraped fiercely against the ground and roared.

Iron wheels as large as the automatic carriage were forged in an instant. Maximilien spun the inner gears to their limit. The inner wheels storing power glowed red from friction.

"Steel Newborn! Gooo! Crush those ugly things!"

Thump. Maximilien released his hand, and the iron wheels came scraping across the ground. The gouged road turned into a crimson glow. Carving massive scars into the flat road, the steel gears charged as though to crush us.

Footnotes:

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