WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 28: Resistance, Part 3

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After the Resistance members left for their respective assignments, Azzy and I stood around blankly while Delta, left alone, gripped their gun tightly and kept their distance from us. Their hand clenched around the weapon as they spoke to Azzy and me.

"...Please wait here. Once the leader finishes everything, they will return."

"Ah. Sure."

There. Everyone had scattered. This was a very good situation.

Kanisen and Gamma had left for the administration building, while Alpha and Beta had headed for the hell prepared for each of them.

Now, if I got rid of Delta, no one would be left to interfere with me.

All right. Time to get to work.

I changed my expression and put on an awkward smile. Trying to look as harmless as possible, I casually addressed Delta.

"Oh, my legs are shaking. All we did was talk, but I'm exhausted as though I'd been exercising."

"...The leader has a powerful presence. It's no surprise that it drained you."

"You people are impressive. It can't be easy following someone like that."

"...We have to. The leader does lead us well. This operation would've been impossible if the leader hadn't come up with such an ingenious plan."

Let's see.

Delta answered my questions sincerely enough, but all their caution was focused on Azzy. Naturally. Compared to me, who looked weak and had no equipment, Azzy was much scarier. She caught bullets in her teeth, after all.

That mindset would become their greatest weakness.

"Um, can't you put down the gun now? It's not like Azzy hurts people."

"...But."

"But what? You saw it. She's got the insane ability to catch bullets in her teeth. Pointing a gun at her is completely meaningless."

I gestured lightly toward Azzy.

She had looked excited earlier, when so many people came to visit, but now she sat still with a strangely gloomy expression.

I didn't know why. It was probably some dog reason.

Even so, she didn't seem afraid of the gun at all. Well, why would she be? She could catch bullets with her mouth. I should be grateful if she didn't mistake them for slightly fast balls and start playing fetch with gunfire.

"I've spent a few days with Azzy, so I know. She's strong, but she's not really dangerous. I was scared and ran away from her at first too, but I got used to her eventually. Look."

I picked up the leather ball I had set down earlier. When I raised it high and waved it from side to side, Azzy's tail began wagging before anything else. Then her head turned. She stared blankly at me before suddenly lifting her head and getting to her feet.

I hurled the leather ball and shouted.

"Go get it!"

"Woof!"

Azzy sprinted after the ball. Delta, unable to process what was happening, raised their gun half a beat late in alarm.

"What are you doing?!"

"Woof!"

Delta's concern proved unnecessary. Azzy picked up the ball and immediately returned to me. She dropped it at my feet and looked up at me proudly.

I reached down and petted her. Azzy half-closed her eyes and savored my touch.

It was impossible for that sight to inspire caution. Even Delta, who seemed fairly thorough and principled, muttered in disbelief.

"...Is this really all right?"

The gun lowered. Some of their tension had faded.

I petted Azzy enthusiastically, trying my best to look harmless.

"Honestly, I don't know either. It just somehow ended up like this."

"Even if she's a dog beastfolk, she's still human... Even if it's instinct, this is..."

"It's not like I forced her into submission, right? If anything, I'm the one serving her. I throw the ball, she brings it back, and I throw it again. Azzy's the one having fun."

"That is true, but..."

"I guess it's similar to your relationship with the leader. There's probably a world of difference in your strength, but that has nothing to do with it. You've just become accustomed to each other."

"Hm."

Delta seemed to realize how foolish it was to remain wary of Azzy. There wasn't a trace of danger in the way she happily purred beneath every stroke of my hand.

I kept petting Azzy, creating a pastoral scene.

"When I first fell into this place after the military state arrested me, I was terrified. Still, now that I think about it, I'm glad it was here. Other than the chance that the trainees might kill me, it's peaceful."

"Peaceful. That isn't a word that suits Tantalus."

"That's how it feels to me. Maybe it's because everyone who wanted to escape has already escaped."

I paused, then muttered with eyes faintly clouded by melancholy.

"If this place had truly been the hell the rumors made it out to be, even the military state wouldn't have sent an ordinary petty criminal like me here."

I emphasized petty criminal. I was presenting myself as incompetent while quietly suggesting that I was a perfectly sensible person.

Take the bait. Come on, take it.

As expected, Delta showed curiosity.

"What were you arrested for?"

Caught.

Having drawn out the question I wanted, I deliberately stared into empty space and muttered.

"I used to be a magician. My job was entertaining people with magic in the back alleys. The income was insignificant, but seeing people's amazed faces made me happy enough. But then..."

Pretending to think deeply, I paused for a breath before continuing.

"Uh. About a week ago, I think. Soldiers suddenly rushed in and started arresting people at random. I happened to be playing cards with my friends when we got searched..."

"That was when. You were arrested unfairly too."

When I trailed off, Delta misunderstood on their own. They, too, sank into thought.

'They use innocent people as laborers. The military state truly is wrong. It deserves to collapse. But are we any better, driving innocent people to their deaths for that purpose...?'

This was a decent direction.

I scratched my head vaguely and added.

"Ahaha. Well, it wasn't completely unfair. I did use a little magic while playing cards. Haha."

"...I see."

'So they were a gambler.'

Their expression worsened slightly. They were the diligent sort by nature, so they had an extremely poor opinion of gambling.

Now, one spoonful of remorse. A fitting touch of emotion added to a solid backstory made me into a three-dimensional person.

"I got too carried away, trusting in my meager talents. Magic has the most value when it remains magic, after all."

As I said that, I subtly raised a card.

Delta noticed the pure white card, and their eyes lit up.

"Where did you get that?"

"Maybe it's because I was born a magician, but I feel uneasy if I don't have a card hidden on me. So I managed to get one."

Flutter.

A card danced beneath my fingers. Left hand, right hand, palm, back of my hand. It moved this way and that like an insect crawling over my hands.

Then, when I spread both hands, it vanished in an instant as though it had never existed.

In truth, I could clearly see the card stuck to the back of my hand, but if it had disappeared from Delta's sight, then it had disappeared.

Delta was genuinely amazed.

"No, how did the card...? You don't even have sleeves to hide it in."

"Haha. You need to be able to do at least this much to call yourself a magician."

I turned my hand over, lightly pushing the card stuck to the back of it with my thumb and moving it into my palm. While showing Delta the back of my hand, I concealed the card in my palm. When I showed my palm again and returned the card, it looked to Delta as though the card had disappeared completely.

"Ooh."

I had drawn enough curiosity.

I raised my left index finger, then slowly pulled out the card from the back of my right hand and smiled. Delta had started clapping without realizing it.

A good reaction.

I smiled and scratched my head as though embarrassed by the attention.

"But it wasn't as useful in card games as you might think. Even if my sleight of hand was incredible, I couldn't stop people from being suspicious."

"It's flawless. If it were me, I wouldn't have suspected a thing."

"Once people lose a few coins, suspicion appears out of nowhere. Even if they lose just a few dozen, they grab my wrist. Their eyes were stained with anger and suspicion. My vision clouded for a moment, and I lost sight of magic's true purpose: making people happy."

I put away the card and shrugged.

"That's how I lost sight of why I began and got arrested. What about you, Delta? How did you end up joining the Resistance?"

"I..."

My question struck precisely at their psychological weak point. Without much suspicion, Delta sank into their memories.

"My real name is Elci. I was always good at studying as a child. I entered a military secondary school at my parents' wishes, but even there, I kept asking myself whether what I was doing was right and whether the military state's policies were just. But the military state doesn't allow that kind of discussion. It didn't seem right that people couldn't debate right and wrong for the sake of order, so..."

"You joined the Resistance?"

"That's right. At least in the Resistance, I could express my thoughts about the path the country should take. I found many comrades who shared my beliefs as well. But..."

'I still don't know whether resistance built on the sacrifice of ordinary people is right.'

Elci, codenamed Delta, was the type to think too much.

I waited for them to settle down before speaking.

"You could lose your life doing this."

"I'm not afraid of dying. I'm only worried about whether the path I'm taking is right."

"I'm sure it's the right direction. You've thought about it carefully, haven't you?"

"Thinking about something doesn't always make it right."

"But it's more likely to be right than not thinking at all. Humans can't be perfect, so wouldn't it be better to at least pursue what is possible?"

"...I'm grateful for the words, at least."

"Words are all I have. What can a street magician boast about besides dexterous hands and words?"

After comforting Delta, I smiled gently and took out the card again.

"All right, that's enough difficult talk. Let me show you something fun. I don't normally reveal this, but since we've met like this, I'll make a special exception."

Pulled from their memories, Delta looked at my card with expectant eyes.

Having caught their attention, I smiled like a magician and turned the card over in my hands.

"This is a trick involving a magic prop, so normally it should never be revealed."

"Because it's your source of income?"

"Haha. That's part of it. But the moment I reveal it, suspicion sprouts in people's minds before wonder does. They begin to see magic as something to investigate and dismantle rather than something to enjoy. From then on, magic stops being magic and becomes a scam. There is no admiration or joy in that gaze. All that remains is a fierce contest between the audience and the magician."

I gathered magical power at my fingertips. It seeped into the card through them.

A strange pattern was engraved on the back of the card. A faint light gleamed along its lines.

"Still, people who know a secret are bound to seek out a bamboo grove. And this happens to be the Abyss. Since we've met like this, I'll tell only you."

I slid the card held between my index and middle fingers toward my left wrist. At the same time, I opened my palm to block Delta's view for an instant.

Then I turned over my left wrist and right hand at the same time, revealing the thing that had been a card.

The Ace of Diamonds had definitely been there.

In its place was a pointed skewer glowing dark red.

"Ta-da!"

"Ooh!"

I swung the skewer around. It sliced through the air with a whistle each time, proving it was a solid object with a definite shape, not sleight of hand or an illusion.

I pretended to take off a nonexistent hat and bowed. Delta clapped in admiration.

"Is that alchemy?"

"You have a sharp eye. I was going to reveal it slowly."

"No, it's incredibly quick and subtle alchemy. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't watched it from this close."

"It's not ordinary alchemy. This card is an item made through alchemy by copying a clothing packet. So if you channel magical power through a bio-terminal..."

I pressed the skewer against my left wrist, where my bio-terminal was, and rubbed it.

The skewer disappeared as though it had never existed. When I raised my palm again, the Ace of Diamonds had returned to where it belonged.

Delta gasped in admiration.

I spoke proudly.

"It can become a card or a stick. Normally, I'd attach a seasonal flower to the end of the stick and present it, but even a magician like me couldn't get Mother Earth's letter in the Abyss."

Delta stared at my card with fascinated eyes. There was no caution left in the eyes that had been bewitched by card magic.

They muttered.

"That's unfortunate. It would've been much better to see it outside."

"Haha. If we were outside, I wouldn't tell you the secret. Ah! Oh no, the card disappeared. Where could it have gone? Oh, wait. What's that on your head, Delta?"

Of course, this too had to be part of the magic.

After everything that had happened, there was no way Delta could think otherwise. They didn't even feel the need to be wary.

I casually reached out. Delta stayed still even as I approached.

'What kind of magic will it be this time?'

Seeing their anticipation, I smiled.

Then I turned the card into a skewer.

And drove it into their temple.

Their head jerked sideways. Confusion appeared on the face that had been full of interest.

Then, a beat later, their poorly functioning head realized what had happened.

A sharp stick had pierced their temple.

Their damaged brain desperately sent out warnings.

I spread my arms wide and shouted at them.

"Ta-da! A disappearing trick!"

Footnotes:

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