WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 275

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The Land of Steel and the Faceless Humans - 16

The communications officers had all been synchronized through synchronization magic. Through their innate arcane, they felt the same things and shared the same information. Since their reporting methods were standardized, even their way of speaking had naturally become similar.

It almost made me think the military state had reached the point of mass-producing even humans.

But no way.

If that were possible, would they have locked communications officers in windowless rooms?

"You communications officers can contact each other, right? Then why didn't you help when your colleague was at death's door?"

It was a moral accusation. IA, facing this kind of situation for the first time after spending her whole life shut inside a room, hesitated for a moment before answering.

"That is a rule of communications officers...."

"Quiet! Help the urgent one first!"

I cut her off and tried to urge Y with my eyes, but there was no need. Y was already administering it. She tilted the card I gave her, held Heart 9 in her own mouth first, then opened Z's mouth and poured it in.

Everyone fell silent for a moment and watched the two of them. Y kept forcing the medicine in with desperate focus, then suddenly convulsed violently and collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

A few people were shaken, but most of them were on our side. Even as one of their own collapsed, the communications officers stayed calm.

"The medicine was a lie."

"Poison, or some drug?"

"This module has no means to resist an enemy raid. Why bother lying?"

"He is known as a swindler in Amitenggrad. It must be an attempt to deceive this module."

IA and the others remained composed. They had already considered this possibility, so Y collapsing only reconfirmed my hostile intent to them.

Except for one.

"Liar!"

Only X strode straight at me in raw fury. Historia moved quickly to block her, but I stopped her with a hand.

I needed to make them think and judge.

"Were you planning to dispose of all of us from the start? Even after learning what communications officers are, you still intended to continue this attack!"

X alone poured pure anger at me. I could have provoked her further, but there was no need to make things messier. I told her plainly.

"The potion I used was Heart 9, False-Death Draught. It puts the drinker into a deathlike state for a set amount of time."

"A deathlike state? Why use something like that...."

"Becoming a sacrifice is basically the same as having your mental image ripped out by the roots. They barely stay alive, but they die soon after. At that point, to restore the mental image...."

I mimed slicing my throat once.

"You know that flashback people talk about? Death, or a shock close to death, hits, and your whole life suddenly flashes through your head in an instant."

Any device that jams can solve most problems by stopping once and restarting. Humans are no different.

When death, or a massive shock close to it, sweeps through the whole body, the previously reset nerves return to normal, and the traces of memory built up until then come back.

"So, bam. If you die once and wake back up, a large part of the mental image you've built through life gets restored. We needed to trigger that effect, even with drugs. Want to check for yourself?"

Still doubtful, X used her innate arcane again. Unlike Y or Z, the Eimeder she summoned had only opened a door, so it had taken little damage. That relatively intact innate arcane linked her with Y and Z.

"...! The synchronization...!"

It was incomplete, but they were connected again. Part of the innate arcane that had been badly damaged moments ago had recovered.

X realized I was telling the truth. At the same time, every communications officer realized it too. That was synchronization. X changed her attitude.

"...Thank you for your help."

"It's fine. I just happened to have a method that fit the situation."

A method to dig into you, that was.

I hid my thoughts and gave X a friendly smile.

"Please take care of those two. You're the most reliable person here."

Feeling grateful, X immediately laid both of them down properly.

Whoever created the military state had built a sturdy system. The way they ruled by using communications officers isolated from the world was impressive even from my perspective.

Impressive, sure, but only that.

A world ruled by philosopher-kings was a very common idea. Everyone wanted to become that wise ruler and stand above everyone else.

The military state had done something remarkable by filling that role with communications officers, but it still hadn't escaped the fundamental limit.

No matter how well they built it, communications officers were still human.

"More importantly, now I'm getting mad. You, you called me a deceiver!"

I strode up to U and shoved my face close. U, suddenly put under my spotlight, flinched and stepped back, but I moved faster and pressed in.

"You judge me like that after knowing who I am? You think some back-alley fraud who cheats people could make it all the way here?!"

"Th-that is not so. However, according to information this office acquired...."

"Information you acquired? I don't know what information it was, but did you see and think for yourself? Can the information you got explain what I am?!"

U couldn't argue and shut her mouth. Rare for a communications officer, she had pride in her job, and even a small mistake humiliated her.

Yeah. This was it. Tiny differences in how people felt in the same situation. Small emotions. Small cracks that existed because humans were human, emotional, impulsive.

After finishing my browbeating, I walked slowly and spoke.

"I have no intention of killing or harming any of you. In the first place, I came here to restore the value of humans."

Everyone heard what I said, because the communications officers in one module were synchronized in real time.

But did everyone hear it the same way?

"The military state does not care for humans. It only suppresses, punishes, and governs. There is no human warmth in their rule. A mother steals to feed a child crying from hunger, and they lock her up like a violent criminal. Someone speaks their own honest thoughts out loud, and if those thoughts go against military-state ideology, they get stomped down by military boots. They do not consider the heart behind any of it,"

As I said that and walked slowly, I reached P, snapped my head toward her, and shouted loudly.

"The same goes for communications officers dying slowly in narrow rooms!!"

"Eek!"

P, especially sensitive to stimulation, jumped at my shout and fell on her butt. Communications officers could keep their composure because they communicated through golems. In person, they were no different from ordinary people.

I gave her a mocking smile, then leaned close to R next to her.

"I cannot accept a country like this. No joy that comes by chance, no luxury or pleasure like a one-night dream. No being moved by someone, no changing your mind on a whim. A country that weighs people's hearts before weighing their sins. A country where people come before rules. That's the country I want."

"Why are you saying that to this office...."

"Have you never thought about it? When punishing criminals by military law, someone who sold their conscience for pocket change and someone who skimmed money for a moment to treat family who were about to die. Is it right to punish both the same because the charge is the same?"

R was the one who collected judgments and precedents among the communications officers. She would take this more seriously. Little by little, I threw different lines at each of them. When a sharp skewer opened a crack, you had to wedge it left and right and shake it wider.

"You are wrong! I don't know who taught you to become like this, but you're completely wrong! You surround yourselves with steel walls, speak only through golems, and whisper among yourselves, and you think that makes you objective? No! That's neglect and surrender! If you are the Headquarters that runs the military state, you must not give up thinking!"

Maybe because she was starting to sense something, IA, the manager of this module, stood firm and tried to cut me off.

"That is a meaningless claim. Since you cannot present a better alternative, your opinion...."

"Shut up! I don't care about the opinion of a bystander like you!"

I slapped her across the face on the spot. IA fell again, looking wronged for just a moment.

Her innate arcane type linked multiple communications officers within close range. In other words, if this were a class, she was the class president. Her authority was overwhelmingly strong at short distance, enough to bind all twenty-five people here.

So I would not allow you to speak. I'd pressure you so you couldn't get a word out in the first place.

How was it? Maddening enough? That was all I needed.

"Too much talking. Ria, cover her mouth while I speak."

"...Do we really need to go that far?"

"We do. If you won't, I'll just gag her."

Historia judged that covering IA's mouth herself was better than a gag, so she moved behind IA and clamped her mouth shut. The restraint of one of the Six Generals was stronger than most restraint suits, and unlike a restraint suit, it even had the situational judgment this one lacked.

IA couldn't move at all now, and could only watch me speak.

"You all are doing well. The fact that the military state is still standing proves that. But you're human too. You are not always right."

I raised my hand. The Heart 10 card I had broken earlier. It should have been red, but all the liquid inside had drained out, leaving a pale gray heart, and I pinched it between two fingers.

"For example, like this. If I restore the card I just ruined...."

I flicked the card a couple of times with my fingers, rolled it into a tube, and blew into it. The card turned red again.

I waved the restored heart card proudly.

"Do you think people who spent their whole lives in narrow rooms would know what method I used?"

A phenomenon that couldn't be explained by logic alone. A few communications officers felt not exactly curiosity, but something close to an urge to observe.

Communications officers who spent their lives locked in rooms were acquired voyeurs. Without golems, they were just trapped in steel boxes, so they connected to golems and watched the world even without being told to.

And the easiest people to fool with magic tricks were people seeing magic for the first time.

"There is no reason to focus on this. It is obvious he used a trick. There is nothing remarkable about it."

Only one person. S stepped in to cut off the communications officers' curiosity at the source.

But the method was wrong. Calling it a trick was half admitting magic existed. If they had never paid attention in the first place, maybe. But once they were interested, that kind of claim only made them easier prey.

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