WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 273: The Land of Steel and the Faceless Humans - 14

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Siati hated the military state. That did not mean she hated everything about it.

The military state's citizens, students, facilities, and steel. Ordinary, innocent things like those did not provoke Siati's anger.

Of course, there were people in the world who hated indiscriminately. Tyr, who hated the Sanctum, or inquisitors who hated vampires. People who saw the world in black and white.

But Siati, whose rage had awakened through the deaths of her friends, was not one of them.

"...Don't be ridiculous! Even if you weren't there back then!"

"Even if?"

"Even so..."

She could not say they bore responsibility. She could not declare them guilty, because she could not truly believe it.

Even if Siati had become a monster through the violence of her era, that excuse faded before those born later.

"What is this...?!"

Turning away from IA, Siati strode toward Captain AB. She seized the captain's shoulders fiercely, but there was little strength behind the gesture. From a different angle, it might have looked as though Siati were clinging to her.

"You!"

Siati tried. To hate the captain before her, she dredged up every dark memory she could.

Friends dying. Young faces full of brilliant potential choosing death for themselves. The past where she alone survived, nursing her fury.

Yet the girl before her was no less young than the friends in her memories. Siati's anger gradually lost its force.

"How old... are you?"

『I am twenty years old.』

The Hamelin incident had happened six years ago. A simple calculation showed that she had been only fourteen then.

It was such an easy calculation that even Siati could finish it in an instant.

Siati looked as though she might collapse. Seeing Captain AB's young face and slender shoulders, she flinched and roughly pulled her hand away. Her prosthetic arm moved as she wished, but her left hand, its fingers broken, did not. It took all her effort just to let go.

"Ah, aah. Why, why?"

Staggering backward, Siati covered her face with her prosthetic arm and sobbed.

"Why won't you even let me hate you as much as I want...?!"

She had lost the target of her revenge. Now, she no longer needed revenge.

Siati's wish ended here.

"You were the ones who did wrong...! You made me this way. It's because of you! If the military state hadn't done this to me, I, I...!"

Watching her friend cry out after losing the meaning of her life, the princess murmured sadly.

"Siati..."

"If you made me this way, then at least pay the price for it! Take my anger! If you took everything from me, you should at least do that much...! You should be people who deserve to die! But...!"

Her broken fingers trembled. Only her thumb remained. She had come all this way to find the military state, but she could not break that thumb she had so carefully saved.

"I... can't."

"It's all right!"

The years she had lived only for revenge had been denied, but that did not mean the time itself had become meaningless.

Hearing her friend's cry, the princess wrapped an arm around Siati's shoulders and comforted her.

"You don't have to keep destroying yourself for revenge! Give up revenge, Siati."

It was not something one would expect from the leader of the Resistance. Still, the princess sincerely continued to soothe Siati.

"A country without a king. It surely won't be so bad. No bad king will appear there. The people here may not be kind, but they won't be cruel, either. They may be harsh and cold, but they won't become tyrants."

"What does that... have to do with it? The children who died in Hamelin..."

"I wish the military state were a little kinder too. I mean it. But it's better than having a king. If this had been an order given by some king, we would have had to execute him, and the kingdom's history would have repeated itself."

‘Maybe this is a relief. I couldn't turn away from their hatred, but if Siati lets go of hers, perhaps she can live an ordinary life. It puts me a little at ease that the military state has no one like a king. They may be merciless, but they can never become tyrants.’

Should she be happy or sad for a friend who had lost the target of her hatred? The princess was clearly closer to the former.

The princess, once the leader of the Resistance, finally confessed what she had been unable to say.

"Rather than keep turning in the wheel of repeating history, this is better. Mr. Hui must have known it was meaningless, which is why he brought Siati here..."

"Huh? Not at all."

I couldn't call this granting her wish if it ended like this.

A wish was a desire. Desire was a sin. It meant taking something from the world, or from someone else.

The military state was trying to take that away from humanity.

"That's the military state's reason for existing. A country where no one can commit sin. A country where no one can fulfill their wishes. Or a country where no one can have any wish except those assigned to them. Sorry, but that doesn't appeal to me much."

"Huh? Then Mr. Hui, you..."

"I'll inherit Siati's wish. I'll break the military state."

Leaving the princess staring at me with rabbit-like eyes, I strode toward Captain AB. The princess cried out in alarm.

"Wait! Mr. Hui! What are you planning to do?!"

"Break it. So thoroughly that it can never recover."

"What?!"

I meant it.

The military state, this damned country, was far too stifling. There were so many things one could not do that people could not even properly have wishes. It was so bad that even when I wandered around looking for wishes, I could not find any.

I want to become a Level 3 citizen.

I want to turn back time and receive a higher evaluation.

I hope something different happens tomorrow.

Or better yet, I hope tomorrow never comes at all.

Unfortunately, those were things I could not grant.

Everyone who had told me their wishes had lived in the days of the old kingdom.

"If being able to do anything is savagery, then civilization is deciding what cannot be done. The military state dreamed of becoming a nation of solid civilization, but I can't grant the military state's wish."

Because the military state was not human. It was something that devoured humans instead.

"Now then. It's time for savagery. I'll bring down the military state."

‘Bring down the military state? How? There are only communications officers here...’

The princess hurriedly looked behind her. IA, Captain AB, and the other steel doors that had yet to be opened. Seeing the communications officers who must be inside, she guessed my intentions.

‘Communications officers, they are the core of the military state...! If Mr. Hui wants to bring down the military state, surely he doesn't mean...!’

The princess went pale and shouted urgently.

"Even so! You're going to harm defenseless girls...! That's not very manly! Mr. Shei will be disappointed if he sees this!"

"Ahahaha. Princess, you're under a huge misconception. Mr. Shei isn't that kind. If anything, he's closer to a villain. Why do you think he specifically said we had to destroy this facility?"

Naturally, even the regressor did not know the military state's structure perfectly. But she knew that the communications headquarters was at the heart of the military state, and she wanted to destroy it.

Because it was necessary. That was the reason.

And she could do it.

As I stepped forward without hesitation, the princess spread both arms as if defying me and blocked my way. She seemed determined to protect the communications officers.

It looked ironic for a member of the Resistance to repair communications officers, the military state's most vital components, but considering the princess's wish, it was the right thing to do.

The real irony lay elsewhere.

"I understand your point, Princess. But isn't this ironic? You dream of a country without a king, a country that does not need one..."

With a faint smile, I looked down at the princess. She still faced me with defiance burning in her eyes.

"Then why are you trying to take responsibility for the military state's citizens? Why are you trying to become their king? Blood will tell, won't it?"

The princess stiffened as I struck the heart of the matter. Something like a laugh slipped from me.

Feeling responsible for every citizen of this country and choosing the better option. Accepting it even if someone suffered because of it...

What was that? The violence of a ruler.

"It's fine. Everyone dreams of becoming a king at least once! I approve of your wish too. No, I like it even more! This is how grand it should be!"

"I, I..."

The wishes of people from the kingdom really were grander, which made them more satisfying to hear. The kingdom had not been a good country, but at least it had been full of dreams and hope.

I passed by the princess, who creaked under the weight of having her true feelings exposed. She sank to the floor without even thinking to stop me. Only her lost gaze, as though she had seen a ghost, followed my back.

All right, to get started, I first needed to pull the communications officers out of those little rooms. But opening the steel doors would take some time.

"Azzy. Could you break down those doors one by one and free the people inside?"

"Woof?"

"No. What am I even saying?"

Shaking my head, I handed Historia the paper ball and spoke.

"Ria. I'll give you this, so could you free all the communications officers in there?"

"..."

She looked at me suspiciously. What, did she think I might kill all the communications officers?

No way. That method was far too easy.

"Please. I'm not trying to kill them. Help me just this once."

"...I'll trust you."

Historia faithfully carried out my request. Without a word, she approached the steel doors, and each time she exerted force, the steel plates groaned and split apart. Even Level 3 alchemical steel was no match for Historia's internal energy, but steel was still steel, so it would take some time.

I had given her the paper ball so she could use Azzy to break them. Yet she was breaking them herself. Well, if she had the strength, the method was up to her.

Shrugging, I approached Captain AB. She was still tied up in morning glory vines, but I pretended not to notice and casually raised a hand in greeting.

"Captain AB. Long time no see!"

Footnotes:

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