WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 262: Half Success

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It was a half-success.

I had made Zikhrund reveal his identity and abilities of his own accord. Convinced that I possessed some kind of mystery, Zikhrund decided there was no point in hiding and revealed his identity before us.

The problem was that he had reached the same conclusion.

‘A mystery becomes easier to deal with once you uncover it. Its origin, abilities, weaknesses, limits. As long as you know those, you can make any number of preparations. Just like with Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka.’

Mysteries came from outside humanity. That was why their weaknesses tended to be as obvious as their strengths. Even Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka, powerful as she was, had been temporarily bound by a trap made of light.

Bloodcraft was her own ability, but the darkness she wielded was a mystery created by history and karma.

‘The military state had no idea about the mystery hidden within the Progenitor’s darkness, so of course it kept losing. Piper, I will dismantle your mystery.’

Hmm. But... my mystery didn’t come from outside humanity.

I looked around. Tyr and the regressor were not here. They were probably rescuing the dying laborers while secretly getting them out.

With the people here... telling them that would not do much harm.

Hmm. Fine. It would be difficult, but this time, I had to manage without the regressor or Tyr’s help.

‘A mystery? Hui?’

Historia hesitated for a moment, but her confusion did not last long. She was an experienced soldier and did not lose sight of her objective.

‘He’s always had a lot of miscellaneous knowledge. Whenever I asked him something, he usually had an answer. Maybe what he said is true. But what does that matter? Right now, the identity of the thing in front of me matters more than Hui’s. That thing is probably...’

The answer came with a little thought.

The opponent had Historia’s face and body. No matter what ability he possessed, transforming into someone else meant he could not be in perfect condition.

Someone not in perfect condition who could contend evenly with Historia for a time? There were only six people in the military state capable of that. Unlike the others, whose abilities had been fully revealed, only one of them remained shrouded in mystery.

“Director Zikhrund of the Public Safety Bureau. Is that you?”

Zikhrund smiled.

“You noticed too late, Historia. You should’ve realized it the moment we exchanged blows. You’re still hopeless at espionage.”

“You introduced yourself as someone skilled in schemes and infiltration, with expertise in stealth and hand-to-hand combat. So the part about stealth was a lie.”

“You know what they say. If you want to deceive the enemy, deceive your allies first. The fact that I can transform is top secret. The people under surveillance cannot know that. What I want is...”

“Then why reveal it now?”

“Because there’s no point hiding it anymore.”

Zikhrund pointed at me beyond Historia.

“There’s a mystery that sees the future right in front of me. What would I gain by hiding?”

“Are you trying to drive a wedge between us? It’s pointless. I’m not incompetent enough to ruin things over suspicions I can’t confirm in this situation.”

“You aren’t.”

This time, Zikhrund pointed over his shoulder. Historia looked that way and widened her eyes.

“But is everyone else like you?”

Siati was there.

No one was more confused than Siati right now. While she had been debating whether to destroy the refinery, Carapald had suddenly betrayed them and activated the trap. Then the world had been swallowed by light.

When her vision returned, Carapald had vanished somewhere, and military state troops were pouring in from the other side. While everyone else was busy, all Siati could do was protect the princess from a safe place.

Even Siati, who did not fully grasp the situation, realized one thing when Zikhrund transformed into Carapald.

Zikhrund was behind all of this.

“You...!”

Siati raised a finger. Dark magic coiled around it.

There was no plan or strategy. Driven only by the desire to make her hated enemy suffer the same pain, Siati clenched her left index finger.

Then, in Carapald’s voice and with Carapald’s eyes, Zikhrund spoke.

“Siati. Black magic isn’t all-powerful. I don’t want you to use black magic...”

People were bound by what they could see. Siati knew in her head that the person before her was an enemy, but she had not fully internalized that yet, and she hesitated.

It lasted only an instant, but an instant was more than enough for Zikhrund. Historia saw the direction Zikhrund was moving and shouted urgently.

“Siati! Fall back!”

Before she could finish, Zikhrund had already reached Siati.

It was a strange movement technique, so natural and fluid that it felt as if he had practiced with his opponent beforehand. Before Siati could notice, Zikhrund had slipped behind her.

Before Siati could react, Zikhrund twisted her arm and subdued her in an instant. Before one of the Six Generals’ qi arts, even a steel prosthetic arm was no sturdier than straw. Bone and metal frame creaked together in one hand.

“Ghhh...!”

Zikhrund whispered to the struggling Siati.

“Calm down, Siati.”

“Let go! Don’t... call my name with that face...!”

“You need to calm down if you want to save Carapald’s life. Aren’t your few friends precious to you?”

Siati tried to say something through her rising emotions. That she did not cling to the deaths of her friends. That the children who had sunk in Hamelin had sworn they would cut off their own wrists before dragging one another down.

But the words would not come easily.

She should not have been speaking kindly with an enemy, yet the thought of even the slightest possibility made her body stop on its own.

Because she was, in the end, an ordinary human.

“How do you think I copied his appearance? His way of speaking, your name, even your countersigns. How do you think I learned all that?”

“Ugh...”

“Of course, I got it by capturing and interrogating him. In other words, his life is in my hands.”

Zikhrund gave a short laugh, patted Siati, then looked at Historia and me.

“Now, Historia. Hui. Will you follow my instructions, if only to save your precious friend?”

It was clear that “precious friend” included not only Siati, but Carapald as well. Historia gritted her teeth.

“You’re going to take hostages...”

“It’s the most efficient method. But we’ve been driven into a corner too, so we don’t have the luxury of choosing our means.”

“It’s useless. We’re nothing but extras.”

“There’s no harm in removing even extras. Besides, perhaps you can persuade them.”

The remark seemed aimed at Historia. But I knew better. Zikhrund’s attention was entirely on me.

Wow. Now he was openly keeping me in check? He really intended to strip me bare. I couldn’t keep pretending to be useless.

Because...

“Siati, Historia. Don’t be fooled. You can’t believe that.”

“Hui. Think clearly. Maybe this is an opportunity. Now that we’ve come right up to the military state’s doorstep, this may be our chance to secure our safety...!”

“Carapald is already dead. Zikhrund is taking hostages with a corpse.”

Zikhrund broke into a broad smile. It was the exhilarating smile of someone who had untangled a knotted thread, or finally caught prey they had pursued for a long time.

In contrast, Siati’s face crumpled miserably. It stood out even more against Zikhrund’s face behind her.

It looked as though the total amount of happiness in the world had been fixed, and Zikhrund had taken both their shares.

Sorry. But I couldn’t let this drag on any longer.

“The military state has no reason to keep the Resistance alive. It doesn’t put the Resistance in labor camps. They might incite the laborers to riot. So the military state would’ve killed him immediately after the interrogation ended.”

Carapald was dead. After every kind of torture and interrogation, after they had gotten all the information they wanted, they disposed of him once he became useless.

It had happened relatively recently. Around the time Jiseon came to Tantalus. Claiming it was preparing for war, headquarters ordered Public Safety to inspect military facilities, and during that process, the Public Safety Bureau arrested Carapald. He underwent Zikhrund’s “interrogation,” and...

That was Carapald’s last appearance in Zikhrund’s memories. Carapald was definitely dead.

Siati glared at me as if I had killed him myself and shouted.

“He could still be alive...!”

“No. He’s dead. A facility built purely to imprison people is inefficient. If they can’t make someone work, the military state’s way is to kill them.”

At my certainty, Siati snapped.

“Hui, how can you be so sure?! Do you want Carapald to be dead?”

“I’m talking about reality. Even if he were alive, there’s no way he’d be unharmed after an interrogation by Public Safety.”

Siati clamped her mouth shut.

The Resistance was made up of people who had joined for their own reasons. They did not betray their comrades easily.

In other words, if Zikhrund had personally interrogated Carapald and extracted a confession, then Carapald’s condition could not have been anything short of horrific.

“...How, how do you know that?! How can you be so sure?!”

“Why? I told you. He has a mystery!”

Even though the hostage situation had failed, Zikhrund did not care in the slightest. Satisfied that he had hooked me with this much information, he laughed loudly.

“Hahahahahahahaha! You do know! Of course you do! Is it precognition? Did a future that will one day be revealed whisper the truth to you?”

Now he was completely convinced. Tch. No, it wasn’t. If I were really a prophet, would I have been caught by someone like you?

“I’m not a prophet, and even if I were, I have no obligation to tell you.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t. The more you hide, the more disadvantageous it is for you!”

Ah, right. There was something like that.

In the military state, whose history was short, there was only one department that handled mysteries. The mystery dismantlers, who researched historical records, analyzed them, and broke them apart. If I had remained in the military state, it might have been the department I was assigned to.

Zikhrund was its head. In a military state vulnerable to mysteries, he was the only one of the Six Generals with the power to use mysteries and fight against them.

He knew exactly how to deal with prophecy.

Instead of speaking to me, Zikhrund addressed Historia and Siati.

“Siati. Historia. You’re pouring your resentment in the wrong direction. Why should this country bear your anger? The one who drove you into this situation is standing right in front of you, isn’t he?”

Footnotes:

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