WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 267

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Six General Zikhrund was our enemy. We fought him with our lives on the line.

But at the very last moment, I erased his ego and gave him a new one, Hilde. In place of "her," the one who had led Hilde into the military state, I assumed the role of observer of her existence. Thanks to that, we managed to defeat Six General Zikhrund...

Still, to an ordinary person like Siati, it must have looked different.

"Why did you let him live?"

"Let him live? That's a weird way to put it. He let us live. He fought Historia with a gun to a standstill. How were we supposed to kill him?"

"Liar! You controlled him freely. You definitely could have killed him!"

"I did change Hilde a lot, that's true. But she doesn't die just because I tell her to. If you think about it, I'm basically that ego's parent. Kids don't commit suicide just because their parent orders them to."

"Could you kill him or not? Say it clearly!"

Ugh. Put like that, I had nothing to say.

No one can go against the instinct for life. She would not kill herself just because I told her to die.

Still, I could have steered her toward death. I had Tyr, and I had the regressor. I could have used them to kill by proxy, or weakened her and somehow trapped her to finish her off.

But I didn't do it.

"Why did you just let him go? He killed Kerafald, and he has tortured and interrogated countless people. He's at the core of this military state... the one closest to it!"

"Well, maybe."

"But you acted so calm. You even wished him a safe trip! What are friends to you? Did you already forget what happened in Hameln?"

"No. I remember that very clearly."

What happened back then hit me hard too.

"Then why!"

Siati shouted, face twisted.

"You said you'd grant wishes, didn't you?! Aren't you supposed to avenge us, including yourself?! Then why? Why are you leaving Kerafald's killer alone?! Did you even want revenge on the military state in the first place?"

"Of course. And right now, no one is taking revenge more thoroughly than I am."

"You? You let even the enemy you finally got your hands on walk away, and you're talking about revenge on the military state? You know what my wish is!"

I knew. Siati, your wish was to destroy the military state.

I didn't blindly trust information from prophecy, but according to the regressor's recollection, the country the Resistance built turned into a complete dump. Well, that could happen. You wanted to wreck the military state, not build a new nation.

Even the princess beside you wanted the military state to remain... Seriously, reading other people's hearts was a miserable thing.

I spoke.

"Siati. Do you know what you need first to take revenge on the military state?"

Siati answered at once.

"Will."

"Wrong."

"Then what? Are you about to say power? That's obvious! But even with power, if you don't have will..."

"Wrong. It's not power either. The first thing you need to take revenge on the military state is the military state itself."

It was an obvious, common-sense statement. To take revenge on the military state, you need the military state. If there's no target, revenge cannot exist in the first place.

Siati lost her words for a moment at my answer. I continued.

"But you still don't have a military state. You don't know what it is. If you don't know what it is, how are you going to find it and take revenge?"

Siati's anger returned, and she replied in a low voice.

"How could I not know the military state? We're standing in the center of it right now!"

"So? Is this smelter the military state? Then are you going to take revenge on this smelter? Will you only be satisfied after smashing it piece by piece and turning it back into dirt?"

As I spoke, I picked up a broken reinforcing bar. Level 2, furniture-grade alchemic steel. Heavy, but cheap and sturdy, so it was widely used. I tossed it lightly and caught it.

"The output from this smelter flows all over the military state. Furniture civilians use, weapons soldiers use to kill people, all of it gets processed from what comes out of this labor site. So then, is every human using military-state alchemic steel a sinner?"

"...Drop it. If you're going to say revenge itself is meaningless!"

"Not at all. I'm trying to help your revenge."

The military state's system was simple and easy to understand. But one very specific part was tightly hidden, so not only outsiders, but even the Six Generals did not know the full story.

Yet while reading Hilde's thoughts, I found one clue. "She." The being that created this military state... or completed it...

The problem was just one thing now: whether I could find "her" in the end.

No one knows before trying. I'm not a prophet.

So I had to do it.

"I'm going to see the 'military state' now. Come with me if you want. I'll show you this country. After that, you'll be able to take revenge in the true sense of the word. Just like you wanted."

For a moment, only our eyes moved in silence. Siati glared at me. In that stare, there was still only the gaze of a victim searching for somewhere to hate.

To Siati, who had kept pouring futile resentment at Historia, I was a newly discovered bystander, far more vicious than Historia. Seeing me without a trace of guilt, she suddenly asked:

"Just tell me one thing. Don't hide it."

"I'm always honest. What?"

"Did you know Nicholas was trying to kill us?"

Ah, that. True enough.

Hm. Still, if I nodded here, the mood would get strange, right? So.

"Yeah. I knew."

"I see."

Siati murmured calmly, looked at me in silence for a second... then moved her hand in a flash.

Historia knew the mood had turned ugly, but she hadn't thought Siati would really make a move, and she was horrified.

"Siati, stop...!"

But I was reading thoughts. I already knew Siati was about to use black magic, and that her target was my arm.

I moved with her. I saw her grab her left index finger with her prosthetic hand and bend it upward without a flicker of hesitation. The steel prosthetic, with a mechanism like a nutcracker built in, snapped a flesh-and-bone finger as easily as if it were jealous.

Crack. Dark magical energy swirled around my finger. But my arm did not bend.

Because.

"Ah, damn. That hurts like hell."

"Hui! Your finger!"

Before my arm bent, I bent my own finger first.

Black magic was the power that forced the same thing to be the same. But Siati had one arm. A one-armed person's finger could never be perfectly identical to the finger of someone with two arms.

Siati used that property and gave her own finger greater symbolic weight. Thanks to that, she could bend bigger and longer things, like a gun barrel or an arm, through her finger.

But the essence of black magic was still making the same thing the same. Before Siati's black magic could activate, I bent my own finger and tricked the spell into thinking the "same event" had already happened.

It hurt so much my eyes watered. Damn it. Sure, it kept my arm from snapping, but I had to break my own finger to do it.

I reset the finger, the knuckle burning red, and muttered.

"I swear, anyone who uses black magic is out of their mind. How do you have zero hesitation about breaking your own finger? I almost missed the timing."

"...You freak. You use black magic too?"

"Freak? My black magic is seriously weak. Weaker than a punch. What's freakish about that?"

If I had mastered my energy-sensing ability, I could have tanked it and not needed this at all. If your body wasn't sturdy enough, you had to cling to every cheap trick there was. What a joke.

Ah, wait. Siati. You're not about to go for another round, right?

"Save your last shot, Siati. It's the unfired bullet that's scary. Scraps left after firing are just pitiful. If that last one is gone too, you won't have any claim left after this."

"Don't make me laugh! You stood by and watched all of it! You have no right to say that to me!"

Siati fumed and raised her next finger. But this time, too many eyes were watching.

Historia lunged in and grabbed Siati's hand. Interrupted at the last second, Siati spoke with resentment filling her voice.

"...Historia. Don't stop me. I'm sure of it. That's the one who did this to us."

"Calm down. You're too worked up."

"Too worked up? Then let me put it the other way! Does that look normal to you?!"

Siati pointed at me with her broken finger. The finger, blotched with bruises, shook weakly. It had to hurt, but she still denounced me in pure fury.

"He's not afraid. He's not sad! Not when we were stranded in Hameln, not when we found out Kerafald was dead! He didn't rage, and he calmly let a Six General walk away! Is that normal?!"

Historia still did not let go of her hand. In case Siati tried to break another finger, she gripped tighter. Siati shouted like a child throwing a tantrum.

"No matter how much you protect Hui, it'll never mean anything. He has no feelings for you. He'll never repay you!"

Words change depending on who says them. Siati's words were plainly true, sharp enough to tear at Historia's heart. But of all people, Siati was the one wielding that blade.

"Never repaid..."

While she served as a Six General, the person she cared about most, more than me who never showed myself, was Siati. Yet Historia had suffered too, watching Siati keep going astray.

So if anyone had failed to repay another, Siati was guiltier of it, if anything.

"That applies to you too, Siati."

Maybe she still had at least some conscience left even without her right arm, because Siati shut her mouth. Historia pressed her with a detached expression. In the end, Siati turned her head away.

But she was only holding back because of Historia. Siati still held fierce hostility toward me.

Hm. Promising temperament. If things soured, she'd try to snap an arm immediately, whether it was a Six General or me.

Perfect.

"It's awkward to call it compensation, but here's a gift. Follow me, and I'll give you the military state."

I looked around at everyone present. The princess and Siati, Historia, and even the two beasts. Perfect lineup. Our combat strength was a little shaky, but it could get troublesome if Tyr or the regressor learned what would be revealed here.

Tyr and the regressor surprisingly got along in some ways, but on exactly one topic, their views were completely opposed.

No point giving away the military state if the military state disappeared.

Good. Decision made. We'll proceed like this.

"Everyone. I'm going to Headquarters now. I don't guarantee safety, and I won't force anyone. But if we succeed, I'll give you the military state. Maybe it'll be the target of revenge you've been desperately searching for."

Siati's wish. To fulfill that revenge, she needed to know what the military state was. At the end of this journey, the military state would reveal its true form.

"Or maybe it'll become an ideal country with a warm heart inside an iron-blooded system."

This time, the princess flinched. For a princess torn between the Kingdom and the military state, the military state could become an answer.

"Or, for someone, it could become a place to stay."

Historia did not react. Fair enough. Historia had already become a Six General once and prepared a place. Siati and I just never chose to step into it.

"I'm not forcing anyone. But anyone coming with me, come stand by my side."

Everyone here had a reason to go. Each of them hardened their resolve. And the first to step forward was,

Azzy, as always, sneaking over first.

"Woof!"

"I told you, I'm human, Azzy."

Footnotes:

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