WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 26

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Resistance (1)

About a week earlier.

The military state mobilized its forces without warning.

The military authorities pulling soldiers to keep order was nothing new, not even worth a headline. But the scale this time was something else entirely. Leaving only the bare minimum needed to hold the borders and key strategic positions, every available soldier converged on the city. It looked like they were waging war against the city itself. While people took one look at the soldiers flooding every street and hid inside trembling, the military state used those gathered forces to launch a sweeping campaign of arrests.

Petty criminals they'd been letting slide due to murky charges. Names just listed on wanted posters. Resistance members sheltered by sympathetic civilians.

And more than a few ordinary citizens who were just unlucky. Innocent.

All of them arrested, ground under the boots marching through every street.

Kanisen couldn't avoid the checkpoints either.

In the days when the military state was still a kingdom, Kanisen had served as squire to a distinguished knight order. After the military seized power, he went into hiding, but the intelligence bureau still considered him a dangerous man and kept him under watch.

Naturally, when all this kicked off, soldiers paid a visit to his small home too.

Up to here, it was the ordinary kind of thing in the military state. Former figures from the kingdom era getting unexpected military visits. Being dragged away over a single careless word and made to suffer for it.

The one thing different from usual: Kanisen was a genuine subversive, and had been planning a terrorist attack against the military state in the near future.

The moment he sensed something was wrong, he grabbed only the bare minimum of gear and ran. The comrades with him ran too.

Having confirmed that what they'd casually poked turned out to be a rich lode, the military state went straight after them.

Kanisen, though, had once served in the military, even if that was back in kingdom days. Something about all this commotion struck him as off, and instead of running, he slipped into the military state's supply division. There he uncovered a startling fact.

That countless violent criminals had escaped from Tantalus, the great prison housing the worst offenders in history, and the military state had mobilized its forces to prevent the chaos they might cause.

Remarkable intelligence. But he didn't have much time left. The pursuit never let up, and there were too many enemies. Resisting here would be meaningless. He'd be swept away by sheer numbers.

Then, like a miracle, an escape route appeared before him.

A supply crate bound for Tantalus, abandoned with nowhere to go because the prisoners had escaped.

Thoughts raced past like frames from a lantern show. In that instant, memories blazed through me, piecing together every scrap of information.

My head throbbed. Gripping my aching skull, I pulled myself upright from the flood of thoughts.

A sudden, large-scale crackdown. And the Resistance members who'd fled from it. After skimming a rough picture of how they'd ended up here through mind reading, I sighed in sheer disbelief.

These military state morons. Always acting so thorough, and then they don't even open that box.

I wanted to grab that golem by the collar, the one so smug about supplies arriving on time, and give it a good shake. Couldn't you double-check before sending? No cargo inspection at all?

Five Resistance members scraping by inside that crate, gnawing through their rations in stubborn misery, all thanks to the military state's sloppy oversight. Cramped beyond all movement, moaning in pain, but the moment they landed they burst out like they'd been waiting for nothing else.

The first face they met was mine. Of course they turned that hostility straight at me, five people with grievances against everything in the world.

Haa. The Resistance.

Resistance fighters or not, most were just young people with complaints against society. No matter how low I ranked here, I had no intention of losing to a bunch of immature kids. How about I give these brats a proper lesson? Kids, what you grow up to become is exactly me.

While I was working the kinks out of my hands, a sturdy young man shoved a gun in my face and shouted.

"Don't move! Hands up!"

I shot my hands up. Can't argue with a gun.

Phew. What a relief. If Azzy hadn't licked my shoulder, I couldn't have raised my arm, and I'd be dead right now. I owe her for that.

...Actually, wait.

My arm being sore in the first place, and being out in the yard at exactly this moment, all Azzy's fault. If I hadn't been playing fetch with you, I never would have been standing outside empty-handed when the Resistance showed up!

"Woof?"

Azzy had been wagging her tail furiously at the new arrivals, but when she caught the blazing look in my eyes she tilted her head. I stood with my arms raised and glared her down.

You got me caught, so you'd better handle this yourself!

I put everything into that look. Azzy stared back for a moment, then her eyes lit up and she nodded like she understood. Good. The King of Dogs. Time to finally earn your keep.

"Dog girl, you raise your hands too!"

"Woof!"

Azzy barked cheerfully and raised her hands alongside me.

Right. What was I expecting from you. A wagtail who greets every stranger on sight.

The young man glanced at Azzy's utterly unclouded face and looked slightly skeptical. I'd half-hoped he might try attacking her.

'...For a dirty dog beastkin, her attitude is pretty docile. She looks a bit simple, but doesn't seem immediately dangerous, so let's just keep her...'

Her appearance had clearly colored his judgement. A shame. If he'd shot at Azzy and picked a fight, she'd have punched each of them somewhere and broken something.

The young man waved his gun threateningly and called out.

"Right! All hands up, now get on your knees and down on the..."

"Alpha. Stop."

A middle-aged man appeared silently from behind the crate. He stepped forward naturally and placed a hand on the shoulder of the one called Alpha. While Alpha caught his breath, the middle-aged man gripped the gun barrel and slowly lowered it.

Alpha asked, chest heaving.

"Captain?"

By age, by skill, by experience. By bearing, by presence.

A man anyone would call captain at a glance, Kanisen walked toward me.

His firm stride carried real weight. Even if the world crumbled, he'd crumble just a little later. Days curled inside that box hadn't left so much as a dent on him, body or mind.

Kanisen, the Resistance group's leader, spoke quietly to Alpha.

"We still don't know anything about this place. I understand you're frustrated and anxious, but what we need right now isn't a gun. It's a tongue."

"...I'm sorry. I was too hasty."

"It happens. I understand. You've been cooped up too long."

Kanisen stroked his rough stubble and swept a cool gaze across me and Azzy. Then he glanced at Tantalus in the distance, searchlights cutting through the dark, and approached me with a measured smile.

"Pardon me. Did we frighten you?"

Genuinely, yes. I nodded and let the truth into my voice.

"Well obviously! W, who are you people? Pointing guns at someone out of nowhere!"

"Don't be alarmed. We're enemies of the military state, which makes us your allies. For the gun, I apologize on our behalf. And you are...?"

Kanisen let the question hang.

Polite, but weighted just right. The way he drew me out was textbook.

'Young. No shirt. Not in a military uniform, not even an instructor's coat, so probably not with the military state. Lean and quick-looking, but not strong. Most prisoners reportedly escaped during the breakout, so if he was the first one out here collecting supplies in all this chaos, he's likely a laborer. That means I can get what we need most from him... information about this place.'

The Resistance hadn't picked a hollow leader. His thinking was sharp, his judgement fast. He'd tumbled into Tantalus, legendary prison of the Abyss, survived three days curled in a tiny box, and still hadn't lost his composure stepping outside for the first time.

My kind of person. Made it perfectly clear how I should act.

The image a person draws of you in their mind shapes who you become. If he thought of me as a laborer, I'd become the most convincing laborer he could imagine.

Posture slightly slouched, exhaustion unhidden, a thread of fear and confusion woven into my voice. Good thing I wasn't wearing the instructor's coat. Nothing to explain away. I let my gaze go deliberately unfocused and weak, playing the part of a laborer stumbling onto intruders.

"I, I was dragged in here about a week ago. Soldiers barged in out of nowhere, arrested me, and without a word of explanation tossed me in this place and told me to work. I, I don't know anything. I don't have any money either."

"What kind of work were you assigned?"

"Cooking, cleaning, odd jobs like that!"

"I see. Wrongfully taken by the wicked military state."

"That's right. I'm innocent."

Kanisen nodded with satisfaction and extended his hand.

"Just as I thought, we're on the same side. We have our own scores to settle with the military state."

"Pardon?"

I reached out hesitantly, and Kanisen snatched my hand and shook it hard. His grip was obnoxiously strong, nearly knocking me off my feet.

"We are the people's friends, the Resistance. Those who seek to defeat the brutal military state and reclaim freedom and peace."

This was the moment to look astonished. I cried out in exaggerated shock.

"The, the Resistance?!"

After the military swept the monarchy out and seized power, the brutal labor conditions, low wages, iron-fisted control, merciless punishments, and rapid urbanization brought the old order crashing down. Those who lost property or family to the military state went underground and built organizations to fight back.

But scattered bands of rebels were no match for the military state's elite forces. They sprang up sporadically and were crushed just as fast, over and over. Eventually the rebels recognized the need for organized leadership and united under a capable commander.

That was the largest Resistance organization. The Resistance, the ones who cried out for liberation from military rule.

Of course, after so many years under military governance, ordinary people didn't have a great image of the Resistance. Better to mix in a trace of wariness here. It'd seem more natural.

"The, the Resistance? Then aren't you terro...! Ah!"

I started to say "terrorist," then deliberately stopped short and mimed covering my own mouth. Then looked up with eyes full of fear.

A little rude. But a perfectly normal reaction from an ordinary person.

As expected, Kanisen showed no suspicion at my reaction.

"Understandable. You've only heard bad things about us. The military state would have painted us as ruthless terrorists."

"Ah, um. Yes."

"But know this. Most of the brutality attributed to the Resistance by the military state is, in truth... committed by the military authorities themselves and pinned on us. We are essentially no different from you, someone wrongly accused."

Something of the knight he'd once been gave those words real weight. Had I been an ordinary person, I might have found myself trusting them without meaning to.

He was skilled at it, too. First reassure them by claiming common cause, then build shared ground by saying they were no different from you. The trace of someone who had once led people was unmistakable.

"Trust us. We came here to help you."

This man.

A genuine talent for deception. Had he not been a knight, he'd have made a fine con artist in the back alleys.

His bad luck was running into me, the finest con artist the back alleys had ever produced. Most of his words fell flat the moment they landed.

I played the part of someone whose fear was slowly dissolving.

"You came to help me?"

"Of course! To help those unjustly oppressed by the military state, that is the purpose of the Resistance! We'll help you, and every other innocent soul trapped in this place!"

"Ohh."

I let that slip. Just enough wonder. Kanisen laughed, satisfied with exactly the response he'd been counting on.

For a moment his gaze left me, turning toward Azzy, who was still standing with her hands up.

"Now then, who is this lovely beastkin young lady?"

At Kanisen's question, Azzy cried out brightly.

"Woof! I'm Puppy!"

"Puppy? What an unusual name. How did you come to be here, miss?"

"Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

Azzy suddenly bolted and started circling Kanisen. It was so fast and so unexpected that even Kanisen, a former knight, couldn't react in time. As he flinched back, his hand drifted toward his hip.

A surge of hostility billowed out from inside the crate. Inside, a female Resistance member had her gun leveled straight at Azzy.

"Captain!"

A young woman's voice, unmistakably taut.

Kanisen's expression twisted at the sound.

"Stop...!"

Don't shoot!

But the trigger had already been pulled before his words even began.

Bang!

A round burst from the muzzle. An armor-piercing bullet, just ahead of the sound, shot straight for Azzy. In an instant. At this distance it would reach her in less than the blink of an eye.

All the while, Azzy had been circling Kanisen. She glanced at the round coming her way.

And caught it in her teeth just before it touched her.

Crack.

A strange sound rang out. Teeth biting into steel. Metal folding without mercy. And that was that.

The short journey of the bullet from the muzzle ended between Azzy's teeth.

Crunch.

Nobody saw it coming. Even so, Kanisen was the first to process what had just happened.

'She caught an armor-piercing round fired at close range? With her teeth?'

Taking a bullet and surviving was common enough. With a little energy training, or sturdy clothing, or just being born resilient, anyone could take one or two shots without much trouble. Guns were useful, but they weren't that powerful.

Catching a bullet mid-flight, though? Even a master would struggle with that, and even someone who could wouldn't try it with their teeth. If it went wrong, the soft inner lip would be shredded.

Azzy had done it anyway.

She chewed the steel round once with a crunch, grimaced, and spat it out. The mangled bullet bounced along the ground. Azzy screwed up her face and shouted.

"Hot! Hard! Disgusting!"

The squashed bullet, tooth marks pressed deep into it.

Right then, the rest of the Resistance members finally processed what they'd seen and raised their guns all at once.

"Cease fire!"

At Kanisen's bark, every one of them startled like students scolded by a teacher and lowered their weapons. Kanisen's face twisted as he turned on the culprit.

"Who told you to shoot on your own? Beta, didn't I tell you never to fire until I give the order?"

The one called Beta ducked her head frantically.

"S, sorry."

"If you understand, keep your mouth shut!"

Kanisen snapped at her, then pressed his hands together politely and bowed his head toward Azzy.

"Please forgive the rudeness. We weren't learned enough to recognize such a distinguished personage. Might we have the honor of your name?"

'That beastkin is no ordinary creature. If it comes to a fight... we all die!'

He knew his own limits and offered the first apology. Refreshing. The first genuinely ordinary, reasonable person I'd encountered since coming down to Tantalus. Down here I'd been starting to feel like even a model citizen such as myself was slowly going a little crooked.

Of course, it takes two hands to clap, and behaving normally didn't guarantee a normal response.

"Woof! I'm Puppy!"

"Puppy? I hope this isn't presumptuous, but is that a title?"

"My name! Woof! Woof! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

Kanisen stared at Azzy with the glazed look of a man whose mind had gone somewhere far away. Momentarily losing his footing, he looked at me with something like desperation.

"Excuse me, this... distinguished personage..."

"Ah. She's a trainee who was already here when I arrived. Says her name is Puppy. Strong, but she listens well, almost like an actual dog, so I sometimes have her tag along with me."

"The King of Dogs, spoken of only in legend? No, surely even in Tantalus a being like that wouldn't..."

Right on the mark. Sharp, and clearly knowledgeable.

Polite, knows to fear what should be feared, self-aware, and well-read on top of it all. If the trainees in this place could all be people like this.

Haa. That's precisely why it's a shame.

Having to kill someone like this.

Kanisen steadied himself and asked.

"Are there soldiers, or other prisoners... no, other trainees left in here?"

"Uh, no soldiers. But there are maybe two more trainees. They're either dead asleep or busy with their own things. Short of a bomb going off, they won't come out."

"Is that so. What a relief."

'A chill runs down my spine. At least two of those things... no, there was a breakout, so there must have been far more locked in here before. Just how did the military state manage to capture monsters like that?'

Kanisen sank into thought. I kept my expression blank and quietly read his mind.

'This is not a place to take lightly. If we don't move the plan forward quickly, the other Tantalus prisoners could stop us. We need to finish this as fast as possible.'

The Resistance was the enemy of the military state.

The prisoners were also the military state's enemies.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all the more so when your enemy is powerful.

Normally, the Resistance would recruit prisoners or free them outright, dumping an enormous burden on the military state.

But Kanisen had no intention whatsoever of asking Tantalus's prisoners for help. As if that wasn't his purpose to begin with.

Why had Kanisen come to Tantalus? Why, while fleeing for his life, had he hidden himself in a supply crate bound for this place?

The Abyss, Tantalus, cursed by Mother Earth, a land with no escape?

'Now that we're in Tantalus, there's no getting out. All we managed to grab while fleeing was the explosives for the operation. The only way to deal meaningful damage to the military state with what we have...'

Simple enough. I said it cold.

What else would a terrorist do, if not commit terrorism.

'Completely destroy Tantalus, the symbol of oppression, and sink it to the bottom of the Abyss.'

These people had come to blow this place up. Themselves included, apparently.

My eyes went cold and still.

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