WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 251: Backdoor of the Mind

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No one was binding these laborers now. What bound them were the rules the military state had created, or fear. In other words, something that did not actually exist.

"We're attacking military state headquarters. We need to destroy the military state's assets while tying down its forces, right?"

I walked over slowly and tapped the nearest motor carriage in the hangar.

"If you don't take these motor carriages and run, I'll have no choice but to destroy these precious motor carriages you sweated blood to make, one by one."

Confusion spread through the crowd. What did it matter to them if we destroyed the motor carriages? That was a positive reaction.

The locks on one's heart were not just one. It was more like an impregnable fortress with dozens of gates. Even if one gate was firmly shut, opening the back door a little would let everything escape. If it had nothing to do with them, that meant this was a gate without a lock.

"Let me put it differently. If you want to preserve the motor carriages, hurry up and take them somewhere safe. Otherwise, like this."

Snap.

The moment I snapped my fingers, the motor carriage's body crumpled horribly.

"Ahhh!"

Someone screamed. It was that terrible a sight. Darkness surrounding the motor carriage coiled around its body like a snake, gradually tightening and sinking in sharp fangs.

Broken gears scattered like entrails. It looked as though the alchemical steel were regressing to the days when it had been an ingot.

"I have to destroy them all myself, you see. I'm a worker just like you, so I'd like to reduce my workload if possible."

Of course, I hadn't done it. I had only borrowed Tyr's power for a moment. Still, to their eyes, it must have looked as though I controlled this darkness.

"Y-you're awful! That motor carriage took so much work to make!"

"Are there any kind people here who could spare me the effort of destroying all of this one by one?"

When I clenched and shook my fist, Tyr copied the motion with darkness. The motor carriage shook back and forth, spitting out parts even more violently.

"Or should I do something inefficient, where I destroy them while you gather the parts you made and build new ones? One side breaks them, the other fixes them."

They could not escape. The military state had bound their hearts. It had planted terror and fear in them, threatening even more horrific punishments if they left their assigned workplace without permission.

So the back door I was creating was not deserting their workplace.

It was reducing their workload.

"Come on! Let's form a labor union! We're all laborers who don't want to work, aren't we? I'll agree not to destroy them, and you'll agree not to build them! Move the motor carriages somewhere safe! We've turned most of the bases on the way north into wasteland, so those places should be empty! You can park them there for a while!"

Someone with a cloth wrapped around her head sprang to her feet first and ran toward a motor carriage. Clunk. She climbed aboard and turned the thunderwheel. With the clacking sound of interlocking mechanisms, the motor carriage began to move.

"...Can't let them destroy them."

"Right. If we have to make them again, it'd be better to..."

The first time was difficult, but once the floodgates burst, the rest flowed naturally. The laborers exchanged looks, quickly nodded, and rose to their feet one by one. They let their hearts escape through the back door I had prepared.

Their bodies followed their hearts outside. The chains binding them had only ever bound their hearts.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Clatter, clatter.

The sight of countless motor carriages fleeing into the darkness was quite spectacular.

It wasn't enough to make the country stagger, but it would still be a loss the military state could not easily ignore. Pride swelled in me at the thought of stealing the military state's tax money.

The regressor, who had returned after destroying the rest of the factory, widened her eyes at the hangar as people poured out.

"What happened to the motor carriages that were here?"

I patted the last one remaining.

"It's fine. I left the last one here. The best one, too."

"And the laborers? They acted as if they'd burn with the factory if it caught fire. Did you help them escape?"

"Escape? You could be punished for saying that! They merely took part in an active evacuation to protect the military state's motor carriages, which are military state assets."

"What? That's the same thing."

"It's different."

I had left the back door open, but the chains remained. Some laborers would enjoy their newly regained freedom for a while before fleeing at once, but others might linger nearby instead of leaving headquarters.

That would be even more dangerous, both for themselves and for the military state.

"From the military state's perspective, they'd hate people loitering nearby for no reason more than laborers who simply ran away. Since they barely had any intention of escaping, they'll cause even greater confusion for the military state!"

The sight of us arriving in motor carriages would still be fresh in their minds. They couldn't help being sensitive about every motor carriage. They would catch them all to inspect what was inside.

It was, so to speak, an allergy operation against the military state.

'You used all these people as bait. You don't even know what will happen to laborers who run away without permission later...'

Why should I worry about that too? That was their problem.

They had made their choice, and the military state was the one tormenting them. I had no idea why I should step into that relationship and feel responsible.

The regressor watched the motor carriages leave and muttered, "You're... pretty ruthless."

"No. You said you wanted to reduce the military state's strength. Why are you criticizing me when I did the job successfully?"

"I'm not criticizing you."

"Then you should praise me! If someone does their job properly, shouldn't you say, 'Well done,' or 'Thank you'?"

People with poor social skills seemed to think they would get an allergy from paying lip service. The regressor was exactly that type. The type who stubbornly avoided social interaction, including praise.

"Why are you making such a fuss over it..."

"Wow. You're no different from the military state when it comes to using people."

When I let that slip out in a grumbling tone, the regressor flared up.

"That's not true! No matter what, I'm not as bad as the military state! Fine, I'll praise you!"

"Go ahead, then. Since I've had to force this praise out of you, you'll need to be all the more careful."

"Tch..."

The regressor huffed, shot me a glare, and bluntly said, "Not bad. You did well."

"Not enough."

"...I honestly said you did well. What else do you want?"

"Oh, that had some sincerity behind it. I liked that."

"No, I said that because I wanted to praise you... Ugh, forget it. Fine, you're so great."

Just as the regressor was scolding me, someone poked her head out from the first motor carriage. It was the princess, her hair wrapped in a cloth.

"Um, Lord Hui? Is the performance over?"

Oh, right. I hadn't told her it was over yet. I thought she would pick up on it, but had she been waiting inside the whole time?

I gave the princess an okay sign.

"Yes! Princess, that was a wonderful performance! You did great!"

"Phew. I'm glad I was helpful. You suddenly told me to act, so I was terribly nervous."

The princess clasped and unclasped her sweaty hands a few times, then rubbed her chest in relief.

To keep hair from getting caught in gears, laborers either cut it short or wrap it in cloth.

Thanks to that, the princess had managed to blend in with the crowd without revealing her distinctive pale pink hair. Then I used her ability to bring peace to groups, making her take the lead and run to the motor carriage first.

Of course. Without someone to get the crowd going, there was no business. Setting up the whole scene was work, even when there was already an easy mark.

"Tyr, you worked hard too! As expected, the staging was overwhelming! You might become this year's best Grand Magician Girl!"

[This is nothing. Those who watch a play are always pleased.]

Tyr, her body concealed by darkness, gave a calm smile. The regressor caught on and muttered, "What? That was just incitement. How are you any different from the military state?"

"It's different! At the very least, I don't summarily execute people who won't listen or send them to an inner 'research institute'! What I gave them was freedom!"

How could she say something so cruel? Comparing me to the military state of all things!

As I jumped up and down in indignation, the regressor opened the motor carriage door. The princess greeted her from inside.

"Ah, sir! You worked so hard!"

"You too, Princess. It must have been difficult, but you worked hard."

Why did praise come out so naturally only for the princess? Was that discrimination?

"N-no, not at all...! I'm sorry this was all I could do to help...!"

"No. You'll be even more helpful from now on."

'After the military state fell, it was the princess's ability that allowed the new kingdom to survive through all that chaos. Hmph, even I... may have felt disillusioned, but I couldn't feel hostility toward her. With that power, she can certainly be used much better.'

At that statement, filled with firm resolve, the princess's heart seemed to drop with a thud. She gripped the cloth tightly in both hands and looked away.

So when that was what she truly thought, praise came at just the right time. Princess, don't be fooled. That is truly a path covered in thorns.

We had already loaded all our luggage into the motor carriage we had picked out. With Historia and the regressor aboard, our preparations were complete.

The military state had tracked every movement we made so far. But now that night had come and darkness had spread in every direction, we would be faster than the military state for this half day.

That was precisely what Historia had aimed for. Mobile warfare.

As expected of a general from the military state, even the operation was like the military state.

"Ria. Where are we going next?"

Historia, who boarded last, gave the order.

"The alchemical steel smelter. It's the obvious next step. If we ruin the supply of alchemical steel, it will disrupt their medium- and long-term supply plans."

"Oh, not a bad operation. A general was a general, then. How far and in which direction?"

"Not far. Twenty minutes northwest. They were built close together in the first place, so materials for motor carriages could be supplied quickly."

An alchemical steel smelter was good. If there were plenty of alchemical materials there, I might be able to replenish some of the cards I had used.

The regressor recalled a bad memory and frowned.

"Alchemical steel..."

The alchemical steel smelter. The place that forged the military state's flesh, refining minerals and alchemical substances into steel. There were many factories that produced other goods from alchemical steel, but this was the only place that produced the steel itself.

Alchemical steel was the military state's flesh. Therefore, if this place was destroyed, the military state would have to live in fear, never knowing when its stockpile of alchemical steel would run out. From weapons to construction materials to packets, every resource in the military state would receive a death sentence with a time limit.

But.

The regressor could not casually nod because she knew what kind of place it was.

"That place... melts iron by burning people..."

Historia confirmed the regressor's answer.

"It's a place filled only with vicious criminals who can be killed immediately."

Alchemy was required to make alchemical steel. Using alchemy required knowledge of structures as well as mana.

And the easiest source of mana to create was a living human being.

In other words.

The alchemical steel smelter was a factory that squeezed countless people dry to make alchemical steel.

It was part of the "inner area" that the laborers from the motor carriage assembly factory would rather die than be sent to.

"The alchemical steel smelter?"

The princess reacted. She did not know what the alchemical steel smelter was, but she recognized it as important.

"There! One of our collaborators is hiding there! He should be waiting for us there!"

'This is our chance! Maybe we can finally be of help too...!'

The princess spoke innocently, but those of us who knew the truth of that place could not readily say it was good news. The princess was too bright for us to point it out.

"Hiding? In the deepest labor camp, where only people arrested for irredeemable Level 5 crimes go?"

Historia, who did not care much about the princess, shot back even more cynically. At the unexpected words, the princess's eyes widened like a rabbit's.

"Pardon?"

"Like a mouse infiltrating a cat house. They weren't hiding. They were caught."

Footnotes:

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