WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 263: Half a Confession

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A prophet's fate was disbelief.

Myths, legends, fairy tales. In none of the stories passed down through the ages were prophecies ever heeded. Warn people to avoid danger, and they clung to it as if drawn by a magnet. Advise them to follow a revelation, and they scoffed as they trampled it underfoot.

Certain that I was a prophet, Zikhrund sowed distrust among my friends.

"Look. Hui saw through both a Six General's operation and disguise in an instant, so why didn't he prevent the Hamelin tragedy? With his abilities and knowledge, he must have known about Nicholas's plan in advance."

"That's sophistry...!"

"Why did Nicholas try to commit a taboo in the first place? Because Hui lacked talent compared to his potential. And who shone brightest when Nicholas tried to commit that taboo? Hui, who led all of you and defeated Nicholas. On top of that, he successfully planted a bomb called Historia in the military state's deepest heart. He turned a traitor who would betray the military state out of personal attachment at the most crucial moment into one of the Six Generals!"

Siati had already been released. Even so, she only stared at me instead of attacking Zikhrund. Her face twisted in pain, as though emotions were caught in her throat because she could not shape them into words.

'It worked. No, it had to. Prophets had always been targets of hatred and persecution. Things only changed once the Sanctum rose to power....'

After confirming his words had taken hold, Zikhrund smirked and continued.

"Now, it's simple logic! If the Pied Piper had power close to omniscience or precognition, or even intuition approaching it, why did he leave the children of Hamelin to die? Why didn't he realize beforehand that the chief instructor planned to commit a taboo? Obviously, because he intended everything! There is no other explanation!"

"No!"

Historia was in somewhat better shape.

Her regret was directed at herself, at the Historia who had failed to act then. Whether I was the root cause or not, she felt guilty for letting a tragedy she could have prevented with her own strength slip away.

Still, that did not mean her feelings toward me were the same as before.

"Don't listen to him! This is his scheme! He's trying to turn us against each other!"

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

Historia shouted, as if to drown out Zikhrund's voice. Yet Zikhrund's voice, honed through acting, did not fade. His words still bored into her ears, and Historia grabbed me in frustration.

"Hui! Hurry, tell us! You were only dragged into this, weren't you?!"

Even Historia, who wanted to trust me, could not erase the creeping doubt. Resentful, distrustful gazes gradually fell upon me. It was a swamp of suspicion I could not escape, whether I kept quiet or opened my mouth.

Honestly, I had been dragged into it. But I had plenty of chances to avoid it and countless ways to run.

Even so, I remained in Hamelin. Though I knew Nicholas would drive the children to their deaths, I followed his plan.

Because...

"I was dragged into it. He isn't wrong. I knew about Nicholas's plan."

"...Hui?"

"I still went along with it. Because that was Nicholas's wish."

Historia recoiled at my markedly changed attitude. I stepped past her and approached Siati, overwhelmed by terror and confusion, and Zikhrund, brimming with excitement.

'You've finally decided to speak? Yes, it'll be difficult for you to escape without revealing it now. Losing the trust of others will be fatal for someone like you, who has achieved everything by using other people's strength!'

That was true. But there was one thing he had wrong.

Whatever Zikhrund guessed, I was only an ordinary person who could read minds a little. I knew nothing of grand mysteries like prophecy.

Still, I did not need to be completely honest. Did he know how I had survived in Tantalus?

"Mr. Zikhrund. Why do you think I left Nicholas alone until he committed that taboo? Would you like to guess?"

"To fulfill a prophecy."

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

"...His wish?"

Yes. His wish.

Nicholas had certainly been calculating and dismissive of anyone who fell below his standards, but until that incident, he had been a considerate instructor to me. Even committing the taboo had been his way of forcibly setting the stage, choosing to dirty his own hands instead.

Ah, I was not grateful in the slightest. He had only been faithful to his own desires.

"Nicholas wanted to contribute to the military state. He wanted to force power upon me, someone who could look toward becoming a Six General, perhaps even beyond that, if I only grew stronger."

"But you refused. The Sanctum rejects taboo beings."

"No. It was different. Not because it was taboo, but because it would change me. I had a homeostatic need to preserve myself, so I had to resist it. That was why I joined forces with friends who shared the same goal and stopped Nicholas."

Nicholas had not possessed enough power to see his will through, so he was defeated. The children won an encouraging victory against their instructor.

"Even after winning, the children lost what they wanted. They joined the graduation practicum because they wanted recognition from this country, but all they learned was that the country had abandoned them. They all resented and hated the military state."

Zikhrund's smile slowly faded.

"...So you came to bring down the military state in accordance with their wishes?"

"No. Only a very limited number of people can wish to bring down a country. A country is too large to take in at a glance, and even those involved do not know what a country truly is. How can you hate something you do not understand? In a kingdom, you could simply strike the king, but the military state is not even a country with a king."

"Then what was their wish?"

"It was the most irresponsible, most burdensome wish in the world."

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

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

Even if they killed themselves because they no longer had the will or strength to live, they wished their deaths would not be meaningless. They wanted someone to understand their suffering and despair.

"But there is no heaven or hell in this world. There is no afterlife. Naturally, no one but themselves will remember them."

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

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

The metaphysical, surreal meaning people forcibly assigned to it was a delusion that could not even become an illusion.

Yet I could not abandon even that wish.

"I am the world's smallest columbarium. A library that mourns the forgotten."

I remembered everyone who had passed through. Because that had been their wish.

Death had no meaning, so the cry that one was prepared for death was only a convenient excuse. An empty promise that nobody intended to repay.

Yet somewhere, someone was slowly repaying that irresponsible debt. Because it was a wish.

"The Pied Piper."

I led wandering children and taught them how to fight powerful enemies. Then I remembered the dead children and repeated the words to myself.

"The wise man from the East. The passing scholar. The wandering mercenary. The hermit sage. The mendicant monk. The traveler. I had been called by all those names."

A desire to achieve something, even if it meant committing taboos, crossing forbidden lines, and breaking prohibitions.

A character who whispered of a way to achieve what could never be achieved through ordinary thinking, someone who would surely appear in some fairy tale, play, legend, epic, or story.

"I am an ordinary person."

I had not told every truth, but everything I said was true. No matter how much Zikhrund doubted and investigated, he would find no contradiction.

Unable to find one, Zikhrund tentatively concluded that my words were true.

'There are several similar legends. A chest that brings nightmares, a lamp that grants wishes. But could a human possess that sort of mystery...?'

My identity was that of a mind reader. Since I came face-to-face with people's naked wishes, I would grant them if I could.

So long as it was possible, anyway.

If I hid my mind reading and emphasized that aspect of myself, it was not a lie.

Zikhrund still clung to part of the claim he had made earlier as he tested me.

"...You are not a prophet sent by the Sanctum?"

"Of course I'm not a prophet. Since the First Holy Maiden was nailed to the cross, only Holy Maidens have been able to prophesy. How could a man like me prophesy?"

"That sort of thing can be fabricated. A Holy Maiden could be manipulating you from behind the scenes, or you could be acting after receiving a revelation. Or perhaps you deceived people about your gender through some method. There are many ways to deceive."

Maybe because of his appearance-shifting art, or maybe it was an occupational habit. He had quite an open mind. If the regressor had been standing before him, her disguise as a man would have been exposed.

"Wow, I'm actually a woman, and a Holy Maiden at that? From my perspective, the last option is the most appealing! I've always wanted to experience a woman's body at least once in my life! Ah!"

As though I had just remembered something, I clapped my hands and pointed at Zikhrund.

"Come to think of it, someone with experience changing bodies is right in front of me. A moment ago, you were Historia, then you switched to Carapald's body, right? What was it like becoming a man? No, should I ask what it was like becoming a woman? Mr. Zikhrund, what was your original form?"

"...Ordinarily, I should not reveal it, but there's no point hiding it from you. Besides, wearing a dead friend's face is discourteous."

Muttering something that made me wonder whether a human being should say such a thing, Zikhrund covered his face with one hand and changed his skeletal structure. Bones cracked as the qigong holding his bones and muscles in place rearranged them. His hair darkened to pitch-black from the roots.

Returning to his "original form" was several times faster and more natural than transforming. Probably because he constantly reminded himself of his "original form."

A man with a clean, almost exemplary appearance stood before me. He was the sort of man who perfectly suited the phrase ordinary-looking, a man like a blank white canvas in the worst sense. Average height. A slightly slender build. The "original form" that kept flickering through Zikhrund's thoughts whenever I read his mind....

"Don't lie after coming this far. How could that be your original form?"

It was not.

"An unremarkable face. Average height. A moderately thin body. You're a master of qigong and you look like that? Come on. No matter how I look at it, that's just an Aki avatar's default settings."

Zikhrund answered at once.

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

"Ah. So that's the setting?"

People did not picture their own faces in their minds. Their face, their body, was always there.

Paradoxically, the reason Zikhrund repeatedly reminded himself of his identity and imagined his original body so he would not forget it was...

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

Zikhrund's face twitched. His blank-sheet face creased with displeasure. Really, it was the perfect face for putting on an expression.

Which was why it could not be real.

The smile vanished from my face as I pressed him.

"Who the hell are you?"

Footnotes:

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