WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 273

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The Land of Steel and the Faceless Humans - 14

Siati hated the military state. But she did not hate everything about it.

The military state's citizens, its students, its facilities, its steel. Ordinary, innocent people were not what sparked Siati's anger.

Of course, there were people in this world with that kind of indiscriminate hatred. People who saw everything in black and white, like Tyr, who hated the Sanctum, or the inquisitors, who hated vampires.

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

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

"Even if?"

"Even so...."

She could not shout that they were responsible, that they were guilty. She could not bring herself to think that way.

Even if Siati was a monster born from her era's violence, that excuse blurred in front of those born later still.

"What is this...!"

Siati turned away from IA and strode toward Captain AB. She grabbed the captain's shoulders with violent momentum, but there was little strength behind it. From some angles, it looked like Siati was clinging to her.

"You!"

Siati tried. To hate the captain before her, she dredged up every dark memory she had. Friends dying. Young faces full of brilliant potential choosing death with their own hands. The past where she alone survived, nursing her fury.

But the girl before her was just as young as the friends in those memories. Little by little, Siati's anger lost force.

"You... how old are you?"

『I am 20 years old.』

The Hameln incident had been six years ago. A simple calculation meant she had been only fourteen back then.

It was an easy calculation. Easy enough for Siati to finish in an instant.

Siati looked like she was about to collapse. She saw Captain AB's young face and slender shoulders, flinched, and yanked her hand away. Her prosthetic arm moved as she intended, but her left hand, with its broken fingers, did not. She had to strain with everything she had just to pull free.

"Ah, ahhh. Why, why."

Staggering back, 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, so now she no longer needed revenge.

Siati's wish ended here.

"You were the ones in the wrong...! You made me like this. It was because of you! If the military state hadn't done this to me, I, I...!"

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

"Siati...."

"If you made me like this, then at least pay the price! At least accept my anger! If you took everything, then you have to do at least that...! You were supposed to be people who deserved to die! But...!"

Her broken fingers trembled. Only her thumb remained. She had come all this way to find the military state, yet she could not bring herself to break even that one thumb she had guarded so carefully.

"I... can't...."

"It's okay!"

The years she had lived for revenge alone had just been denied, but even so, that time had not been completely meaningless.

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

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

Those were not words fitting for the leader of the Resistance. Even so, the princess kept soothing Siati with complete sincerity.

"A nation without a king. That nation probably won't be so bad. No evil king can appear, after all. The people here might 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... matter. The children who died in Hameln...."

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

'In a way, this is fortunate. I couldn't ignore their hatred, but if Siati lets go of hers, maybe she can live a normal life. If the military state has no being like a king, I can rest a little easier. They may be ruthless, but they can never become tyrants.'

If your friend lost the object of her hatred, should you be happy, or sad? The princess was clearly the former.

The princess, once the leader of the Resistance, finally confessed what she had never been able to say.

"Rather than keep spinning in the wheel of repeating history, this is better. Hui-nim must have known it was meaningless too, and brought Siati here because...."

"Huh? Not at all."

You could not call this granting a wish if it ended like this.

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

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

"That is the military state's reason for existing. A nation where no one can commit sin. A nation where no one can fulfill a wish. Or a nation where you can have no wish except the one assigned to you. Sorry, but that doesn't appeal to me."

"What? Then Hui-nim, you...."

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

Leaving the wide-eyed princess behind, I strode toward Captain AB. Startled, the princess shouted.

"Wait! Hui-nim! What are you planning to do!"

"Break it. So completely it can never recover."

"What?!"

I meant it.

The military state, this damned nation, was too tightly sealed. There were too many things people couldn't do, so they couldn't even hold proper wishes. It had gotten so bad that even I couldn't find any wishes no matter how much I searched.

I want to become a Level 3 citizen.

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

I hope something different happens tomorrow.

Or maybe, I hope tomorrow never comes at all.

Sadly, those were things I could not give them.

The only people who had told me their wishes were all from the old kingdom era.

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

Because the military state was not human. If anything, it was an existence that devoured humans.

"Now then, it's time for barbarism. I'll bring down the military state."

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

The princess hurriedly looked behind us. IA and Captain AB. And the other steel doors that still had not opened. Seeing those doors and the communications officers inside, she guessed my intent at once.

'Communications officers, they are the core of the military state...! If he says he'll destroy the military state, Hui-nim, surely he can't...!'

Her face went pale, and she shouted in a rush.

"Even so! Hurting unresisting girls...! That's not manly! If Lord Shei saw this, he'd be disappointed!"

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

Of course, even the regressor did not know the military state's structure perfectly. But she knew the Communications Bureau was the military state's core. And she had tried 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 and blocked me in protest. She looked like she was trying to protect the communications officers.

It looked ironic for someone in the Resistance to try to save communications officers, the military state's most important components, but if you thought about the princess's wish, it was the right move.

The real irony was something else.

"I heard your wise opinion, Princess. But this is ironic. You dream of a nation without a king, a nation that doesn't need a king...."

With a faint smile, I looked down at the princess. She still met my gaze with burning defiance.

"Then why are you trying to take responsibility for the military state's people? Why are you trying to become their king? Blood will tell, huh?"

The princess's body went rigid, struck dead center. I let out something close to a laugh.

Feeling responsible for every citizen of this nation, choosing what seemed like the better option, and accepting that someone would suffer because of it.

What was that, then? It was royal violence.

"It's okay. Everyone dreams of becoming a king at least once! I approve of your wish too, Princess. No, I like it even more! Now that's the scale I'm talking about!"

"I, I...!"

As expected, people from the kingdom had grand wishes, so they were fun to hear. The kingdom wasn't a good country, but at least it overflowed with dreams and hope.

I walked past the princess, who had started to come apart after having her true feelings exposed. She sank down before she could even think to grab me. Only a stunned gaze, like she'd seen a ghost, followed my back.

Now then, if we were starting, we first needed to drag the communications officers out of those little rooms, right? But opening steel doors took time.

"Azzy, can you smash those doors one by one and free the people inside?"

"Woof?"

"No, never mind. What am I saying."

I shook my head and handed the paper ball to Historia.

"Ria. I'll give you this, so can you free all those communications officers over there?"

"..."

She looked at me with suspicion. What, was she worried I might kill all the communications officers?

No way. That method was too easy.

"I'm asking you. I'm not trying to kill them. Help me this once."

"...I'll trust you."

Historia followed my request faithfully. She walked up to the steel doors in silence, and each time she put strength into her hands, the steel plates spread open with the sound of crumpling metal. In front of Historia's internal energy, even level-three alchemic steel looked meaningless, but steel was still steel, so it seemed like it would still take some time.

I had given her the paper ball to mean she should use Azzy to break them. But she was just breaking them herself. Well, if you had the strength, the method was your choice.

Shrugging, I walked up to Captain AB. She was tied up in morning glory vines, but pretending not to see that, I calmly raised a hand in greeting.

"Captain AB. Long time no see!"

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