WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 269

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A Distant Tale: Outside the Stage

A master of energy uses energy even while walking. The instant a foot touches the ground, they pull on it to drive their body forward. Only by gripping the ground with energy can they move faster and strike harder.

By that standard, Hughes did not look like a master at all. His steps were endlessly light, and his attitude was frivolous. He gave off no overpowering aura that demanded caution, to the point you could forget he was even there.

Still, that strange, easy composure unique to him somehow made even that feel like the whim of a powerhouse.

The man called Hughes, impossible to read, spotted Tyrkanzyaka and came over in quick little steps.

"Tyr!"

Tyrkanzyaka called out to him, puzzled.

[Hyu? Why did you come all the way here instead of staying there?]

"I came to see Tyr."

[Hm?!]

He gave the slightly flustered Tyrkanzyaka a natural smile, then turned to Shei with his usual breezy manner.

"I asked Tyr for a favor. I told her to get the laborers here outside. If they run off in every direction, then when we secretly slip out in the middle of that, we can shake any pursuit!"

He explained it excitedly, like a child hungry for praise. Shei listened, nodded, and felt something was off.

The face was his, the behavior was his, the voice was his, the mannerisms were his. But he was different.

Tap, tap. It felt like tiny steel beads knocking against her chest. The bizarre sixth sense born from more than a dozen deaths tugged at her arm. Shei moved on that sudden intuition.

"Mr. Shei!"

Like someone jolted awake, Shei answered quickly.

"Uh, yeah."

"Why are you drawing your sword...?"

"Huh?"

Shei flinched at the sight of Skywarbler, half-drawn from its sheath. She realized what she had been about to do.

If he had not pointed it out, she would have swung and cut off his right arm.

An old memory surfaced. Back then, she had tried to cut his right arm, and he had milked it for days. Remembering that, Shei pretended nothing had happened and put Skywarbler away.

"Oh, this? Don't mind it. It's like a habit."

"That is quite a unique habit. Though I guess some people can't feel at ease unless they're holding a sword."

He smiled gently and took over where she left off.

Again, something was different. Shei knew it instinctively, yet forced herself to calm that discomfort. Hughes had been terrifyingly suspicious from their first meeting, and he had stayed suspicious even after they got to know each other.

Hughes was exactly the kind of person who could do something bizarre and still somehow make sense. It would never happen, but if one of the Six Generals suddenly showed up and said he was defecting, Shei would first suspect what Hughes had done. If you fixated on it, you lost....

[How strange.]

Tyrkanzyaka felt a similar discomfort and placed a hand over her chest. Through thin skin, she sensed a faint pulse. Usually, just his approach made it leap in delight, but today it stayed quiet.

Had her feelings already changed? Maybe. A human heart was like a reed in the wind.

Hiding her disappointment, Tyrkanzyaka called him.

[Hyu. You should have called for me. I would have come to you.]

"How could I dare summon the Progenitor around?"

[You do that all the time.]

"Today I felt like coming out to greet you."

Something was clearly wrong. The voice, gestures, and face were his, yet everything he did felt off. Tyrkanzyaka had fought countless things over long ages, and she trusted her instincts.

She casually began probing.

[Right, Hyu. Is it not about time I returned the card you gave me?]

"My card? What card?"

[Do you not remember the card you gave me?]

"I have more than one or two cards. There are all kinds."

Heart 1. Heart, blood, or life. Tyr had not forgotten, and he should not have either.

His answer gave Tyrkanzyaka's suspicion a sharper shape. She lifted a finger, smiling coldly.

[Enough. Go take it yourself.]

"Where did you put it?"

Inside her body, of all places.

He asked back with an innocent smile. That spotless, gentle smile felt disgustingly repulsive. Tyrkanzyaka clenched her fist. Darkness, syncing to its master's emotions, rippled madly.

Even in the face of open hostility, he did not panic. As if this had been expected, "he," no, Hilde disguised as Hughes, wiped the smile from her lips and murmured softly.

"Hmm. It's not working that well~. Well, I don't know that much about him, so I can't claim I copied him perfectly."

The face was still his, but the gestures grew softer and smoother by the second. Even the smallest motion carried technique too subtle for ordinary eyes to catch.

That familiar face moving in unfamiliar ways triggered raw rejection in Tyrkanzyaka. As if reflecting her foul mood, Black Knights emerged in ominous form. Hidden in darkness, she growled like a beast.

[What did you do to Hyu.]

"Hm? What did I do to him? That question is backward. A better one would be, what did he do to me?"

Even with the Progenitor's rage before her, Hilde stayed calm without a trace of fear. She was not pretending. She truly felt none.

Was she lacking knowledge? No. If anything, she knew too much, and saw her opponent's skill better than anyone.

Was she lacking emotion? No again. An actor needed emotions richer than anyone else's. Someone who could not understand emotion could not act.

Yet she could still stay calm. That was the privilege of one who had once lost herself. Only those abandoned by fate, those who had lost themselves, became warriors who knew no fear.

Tyrkanzyaka felt a strange sense of deja vu. That attitude, standing before the Progenitor with no fear at all, felt familiar.

[Holy Sword Corps...?]

The thought lasted only a moment before Tyrkanzyaka denied it.

[No, not the same. Those vermin were unpleasantly rigid, but you are different.]

"Thank you. Such praise, this maiden hardly knows what to do."

[I mean you are unpleasantly slimy.]

Tyrkanzyaka swung her arm and strode forward. Hilde was already surrounded by darkness. If Tyrkanzyaka willed it, Hilde would be swept into that darkness and drown, skill or no skill.

[You still have not answered me. Peasant, open your mouth now, or I will kill you myself. I will drain every drop of blood and leave only a pinch, then make that speck suffer forever.]

"Could you really do that?"

Hilde framed her face with her hands like a flower and nodded with a fresh smile.

"Could you treat this face that harshly?"

Of course. Tyrkanzyaka's cold heart was not ruled by sentiment. If she recognized it as a different being despite the same face, she could respond rationally.

She had always done that, and she was sure she would this time too, but she found herself abruptly speechless. Her hostility caught, like hitting a speed bump in her heart.

"You're hesitating~. How cute. So you received something from him too?"

Hilde caught that split-second emotion. Her eyes cooled as well.

"The reason Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka followed him all the way here. Not politics. If it were political, you would have shown intent where both sides could read it. Personal revenge? Not that either. The target was unclear. Then what remains? The possibility that you followed him simply, without any clear goal. It was only a hypothesis, but that was the right answer. Which means the invasion of the military state was purely his idea."

Furious that she had handed information and weakness to an enemy, Tyr thrust out her hand. Black Knights moved to the front, leveling shadow-forged swords and spears.

[You have crossed the line and far beyond it. Is your life not precious to you?]

Hilde still looked relaxed. Tapping the shadow spear aimed at her throat, she smiled crookedly.

"And yet you still don't actually attack~. Is it hard to strike this face? Just how precious a thing did you receive from him?"

[Kgh....]

"Hehe. It's obvious. Everyone here received something from him and followed him all the way to the military state...."

Hilde sensed something, cut herself off, and dropped to the ground as if collapsing. It was a violent motion, less a fall than grabbing the floor and yanking herself down. An instant later, an invisible sword slash tore through the spot she had just occupied.

"Tch."

The air shimmered, and Shei appeared from behind a mirage. Her decisive ambush had failed, and she clicked her tongue.

Hilde planted herself on the floor, then sprang up and spoke.

"Oh my? You're pretty ruthless, aren't you? Even when it's a comrade's face?"

"Face? Tch, who cares."

"...Hmmm. Are you serious? Is that from experience, or were you born without attachment? Given your age, probably the latter... right? How curious~."

"Could you stop deciding my personality for me?"

Shei grumbled.

Over many regressions, Shei had gone through everything. Yesterday's friend had become tomorrow's enemy. She had been betrayed more times than she could count. There were even people who had once been irreplaceable comrades, then one loop later rushed at her with twisted faces trying to kill her.

For Shei, who had killed the same person more than once, a stranger with the same face meant nothing.

After roughly gauging her opponent's strength, Shei lifted Skywarbler and Jizan and showed open hostility.

"If you want to leave last words, say them now. Tyrkanzyaka and I are busy."

"I didn't come to fight. An acquaintance introduced me. That person told me to meet you."

"Him? You mean Hughes?"

"Yes. He said that if it were you, Shei, you might find what I forgot."

"If you lost something, go find a fence. Or think of it as a donation and forget it."

"I already did that. That's exactly how I ended up like this."

Hilde chuckled softly. Shei frowned at her attitude, not a trace of hostility in it, and then Hilde adjusted her voice and changed her face. Hughes's face and voice faded little by little, turning more feminine.

"My name is Hilde. One given that name."

Now fully shed of Hughes's appearance, Hilde looked at Shei and said,

"Shei. I have a favor to ask. If you grant it, I'll give you one piece of information you want to know."

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