WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 263

──────

Half a Confession

A prophet's fate is disbelief.

In myths, legends, and fairy tales alike, prophecies are never heeded. Warn people to avoid danger, and they cling to it like magnets. Advise them to follow a revelation, and they sneer and trample over it.

Zikhrund, convinced I was a prophet, planted distrust in my friends.

"Think about it. Hui sees through even a Six Generals operation and disguise in an instant, so why didn't he stop the Hameln tragedy? With his ability and knowledge, he should have noticed something like Nicholas's plan beforehand."

"That's sophistry...!"

"To begin with, why did Nicholas try to commit a taboo? Because Hui lacked talent compared to his aptitude. Who shined the most when Nicholas tried to commit that taboo? Hui, the one who led you and defeated Nicholas. And on top of that, Hui succeeded in planting a bomb called Historia at the very heart of the military state. He turned a traitor into one of the Six Generals, someone who'd betray the military state over personal attachments at the most critical moment!"

Siati had already been freed. Even so, she just stared at me without trying to attack him. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't shape it into words, as if emotion had caught in her throat and was choking her.

'It worked on them. No, of course it did. Prophets were always targets of hatred and persecution. That only changed after the Sanctum rose to power....'

After confirming his words had landed, Zikhrund smirked and continued.

"Now then, simple logic! If the Pied Piper had power close to omniscience or foresight, or even intuition close to that, then why did he leave those children to die in Hameln? Why didn't he realize in advance that the Chief Instructor was planning to commit a taboo? Obviously, because he intended all of it! Otherwise, it can't be explained!"

"No!"

Historia was in a somewhat better state.

Her regret was aimed at herself, at the self who couldn't move back then. Whether I was the root cause or not, her guilt came from letting a tragedy pass that she might have stopped with her own power.

But if you asked whether her feelings toward me were exactly the same as before, they weren't.

"Don't listen to him! This is his scheme! He's trying to cause infighting!"

"His plan began before my scheme. No, should I call it fate? Before accusing me, shouldn't you question him first, Historia?!"

Historia shouted as if to drown out Zikhrund's voice. But Zikhrund's projection, honed through acting, held firm. His voice still bored into our ears, and Historia, fed up, grabbed me.

"Hui! Hurry, tell them! You only got dragged into this, right?!"

Even Historia, who wanted to trust me, couldn't erase the creeping suspicion. More and more eyes turned on me with blame and distrust. A swamp of suspicion I couldn't escape, whether I kept my mouth shut or opened it.

To be honest, I was dragged into it. But I'd had plenty of chances to avoid it, and countless ways to run.

Even so, I stayed in Hameln. I knew Nicholas would drive those children to death, and I still followed his plan.

Because.

"I was dragged in, yes. He wasn't wrong. I knew Nicholas's plan."

"...Hui?"

"I still followed it. Because that was Nicholas's wish."

Historia faltered and stepped back at my sudden change in tone. I moved past her and stepped forward.

Toward Siati, who looked beyond confused and into fear, and Zikhrund, who looked delighted.

'So you finally decided to speak? Right, now it'll be hard to get out of this without revealing it. You've always used other people's power to get what you want, so losing trust would be fatal for you!'

True. But one thing was off.

Whatever Zikhrund guessed, I was, in reality, just an ordinary person who could do a little mind reading. I knew nothing as grand as prophecy.

Still, I didn't need to be completely honest. Do you know how I survived in Tantalus?

"Mr. Zikhrund. Why do you think I left Nicholas alone until right before he committed a taboo? Care to guess?"

"To fulfill a prophecy."

"No. Because he deserved a chance to fulfill his wish too."

"...Wish?"

Yes, a wish.

Nicholas was definitely calculating, and he treated anyone below his standards as insignificant, but before that incident, he had been a kind instructor to me. Even when he committed a taboo, he forced that stage into existence because he'd rather dirty his own hands.

Ah, of course, I wasn't grateful at all. He was only being faithful to his own desire.

"He wanted to contribute to the military state. He tried to force power into me, because if my strength grew, I could aim for the Six Generals, maybe even beyond."

"But you didn't accept it. The Sanctum rejects the existence of taboo."

"No. That's not it. Not because it was taboo, but because it would change me. I have a homeostasis that preserves who I am, so I had to resist him. That's why I joined forces with friends who shared that goal and stopped him."

Nicholas didn't have enough power to carry out his will. So he was defeated. The children won a stirring victory over their instructor.

"But even after winning, the children lost what they wanted. They joined the graduation practicum because they wanted recognition from this country, but what they realized was only that the country had abandoned them. Every one of them resented and hated the military state."

Zikhrund's smile slowly faded.

"...So you came to bring down the military state, as they wished?"

"No. The people who can truly hold a wish to destroy a country are extremely few. A country is too big, and you can't see it at a glance, so even the people involved don't really know what the country is. If you don't know your target, how can you hate it? If this were a kingdom, you'd just strike the king, but the military state doesn't even have a king."

"Then what? What was their wish?"

"The most irresponsible wish in the world, and the most burdensome one."

And it was also the most common wish in the world. I lowered my eyes and muttered.

"Even as they died, they only wanted to be remembered."

Even if they had no will or strength left to live and chose death themselves, they still wished that death would not be meaningless. They wanted someone to understand their hardship and despair.

"But there is no heaven or hell in this world. The afterlife does not exist. Naturally, no one remembers them except themselves."

Death is an end in itself. There is nothing beyond it, and death is only another name for stillness.

Like a rolling stone striking something and stopping, like a drifting cloud turning into droplets and falling, it is a natural result. No, nature itself.

Any metaphysical or surreal meaning forced onto it is not even an illusion, just delusion.

Even so, I couldn't abandon that wish either.

"I am the world's smallest ossuary, a library that mourns the forgotten."

I remember everyone who passed through, because that was the wish.

Death has no meaning, so the cry of "I was ready to die" is just a pretty excuse. A blank check no one intends to cash.

But somewhere, someone is slowly paying off that irresponsible debt. Because that is the wish.

"The Pied Piper."

I guided wandering children and taught them how to fight strong enemies. Then I remembered the dead children and repeated their names.

"A doctor from the East. A passing scholar. A wandering mercenary. A reclusive sage. A mendicant monk. A traveler. I have been called by names like those."

A desire to achieve something, even if it means committing taboo, crossing the forbidden, and breaking prohibitions.

A figure who whispers ways to achieve what could never be achieved through ordinary thinking. The kind of character you'd expect to find at least one of, whether in fairy tale, play, legend, or epic.

"I am an ordinary person."

I did not tell every truth, but everything I said was true. No matter how much someone doubted or dug, they would find no contradiction.

In the end, unable to find one, Zikhrund provisionally accepted my words as true.

'There are a few similar traditions. A chest that summons nightmares, a lamp that grants wishes, and so on. But can a human possess that kind of mystery...?'

My identity was a mind reader. I faced naked human wishes, so if possible, I ended up granting them. If possible, that was.

So if I hid mind reading and highlighted that point, it wasn't a lie.

Zikhrund still clung a little to what he'd argued earlier and probed me.

"...So you're not a prophet sent by the Sanctum?"

"How could I be a prophet? Since the first Holy Maiden was nailed to the cross, only Holy Maidens can prophesy. How could I, a man, do that?"

"You can fabricate that kind of thing. Say a Holy Maiden is controlling things from behind you, or that you're moving by revelation. Or maybe you concealed your sex somehow. There are many ways to deceive."

Maybe because of his disguise art ability, or maybe as an occupational habit, he was pretty open-minded. If the regressor had been here, her cross-dressing past would've been exposed on the spot.

"Wow, so I'm secretly a woman, and a Holy Maiden too? From my side, that last option is the most attractive! I've wanted to experience a woman's body at least once in my life! Ah!"

I clapped as if I'd just remembered and pointed at Zikhrund.

"Come to think of it, we have someone right here who's experienced switching bodies. A moment ago you were Historia, then you switched to Kerafald's. So how did it feel when you became a man? No, should I ask how it felt when you became a woman? Mr. Zikhrund, what is your original form?"

"...Normally I shouldn't reveal it, but there's no point hiding it from you. And wearing a dead friend's face is bad manners."

Muttering something that made me wonder how anyone could say it, he covered his face with his palm and changed his bone structure. I heard cracking sounds as bones and muscles held by precision qi control rearranged. His hair turned jet black from the roots.

Returning to his "original form" was several times faster and more natural than transforming. Probably because he kept repeating that original form to himself all the time.

A man with an almost textbook-clean impression appeared. A blank white canvas in the worst sense, a face that fit the word ordinary exactly. Average height too. Slightly thin build. The "original form" that kept flickering every time I read Zikhrund's thoughts....

That wasn't it.

"Stop lying now that we've come this far. How is that your original form?"

"A featureless face. Average height. Moderately thin body. And that's a master of energy? Come on, no way. No matter how I look at it, that's just the default setting of an Archi Avatar."

Zikhrund answered at once.

"I don't know what you're talking about. This is my original form, Zikhrund of the military state's Six Generals."

"Ah. That setting?"

Humans don't picture their own faces in their minds. Because their face, their body, is always there.

Paradoxically, the fact that Zikhrund kept repeating his identity and kept bringing up his original body in his head so he wouldn't forget it meant,

"Then what about before you became one of the Six Generals? What name and face did you live with before that? No, what face did you have before you learned disguise art?"

Zikhrund's face twitched. His paper-white face rippled with displeasure. Right, it was the perfect face for showing expressions.

Which was exactly why it couldn't be real.

I wiped the smile off my face and pressed him.

"Who the hell are you?"

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