WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 291: 2 Is Greater Than 1

──────

"Sigh. It's always like this. Going down is easy, but climbing back up takes twice as much effort."

I grumbled as I climbed the ladder.

In darkness so thick I could barely see ahead, I climbed rung by rung using nothing but my senses. After feeling my way up for so long, I could no longer tell how high I had climbed or where exactly I was. It felt as though I were ascending a ladder that would continue forever.

It might have been different if my senses were intact, but the drugs I took earlier had muddled them too. If I let my guard down for even a moment, I might let go of the ladder and try to fly.

Huh, that's true. Why wasn't I flying? Why was I bothering to grip this ladder and climb it one rung at a time?

Right. I'd let go and flap my wings. On three, one, two, three...

"Wait aaaa second!"

My voice filled the dark passage. It rang through my eardrums like an alarm I had set for myself. Startled by my own shout, my mind barely recovered its sanity.

I deliberately spoke aloud.

"Whew, that was close. I almost jumped to my death in some sewer-like place. What an embarrassing way to go."

Even while drugged out of my mind, I had been able to observe myself by reading other people's thoughts. I read other perspectives through mind-reading, which made me objective. Therefore, drugs couldn't destroy my reason. One of the few benefits of mind-reading, I suppose.

But now that no one was around me, I was utterly subjective.

What did that mean? It meant that, with the drug still in my system, I was a drugged-up madman.

"If there were even one sane person beside me, this would be better. Of all times, there's no one here. Maybe there'll be someone once I get up there."

A great many people had come down with me. Now, I was alone.

The others had decided to remain below.

I could understand AB and Yuel, but Siati's choice had been unexpected.

Siati openly declared that she couldn't trust Yuel or AB. Becoming king didn't erase the sins they had piled up until now, she said, and she couldn't trust them without any guarantee. Only Siati could pour cold water over the mood like that.

Still, Siati didn't rage about killing the two of them as she had before. Instead, she chose to remain so she could execute them at any time should they go astray. She had no special power, but she did possess a thumb exceptionally suited for killing a person.

The thoughts I read from Siati then had been strange, though. Thinking of her, I muttered.

"You wanted to become a stern judge, didn't you, Siati? If you can judge the king, you'd be the highest-ranking person in the military state. You might end up being the most successful among us."

A judge. What an impressive position. Rather than ruling or building something, it was a position where you watched from the sidelines and passed judgment whenever you disliked something, wielding authority without responsibility. Siati had volunteered for that position.

The princess had been horrified and tried to stop her, but no one who didn't understand Siati could stop her. Then again, if they understood her, they probably wouldn't think of stopping her in the first place.

In any case, Siati's resolve was too firm for the princess to change her mind. After hesitating, the princess chose to stay with Siati. Unlike Siati, she emphasized several times that it would only be temporary.

"Still, I didn't expect I'd be the only one leaving. Falling is easy, but climbing back up is hard. Is that why everyone gathers down there?"

Unlike Yuel and AB, I didn't have the ability to see outside while sitting in one place. I couldn't live that way.

As I climbed with renewed determination, I eventually reached a point where there was no more ladder. Who stopped halfway through building this thing? Maybe I should just jump... No, that's not right. I shook my head at my increasingly extreme thoughts.

The lack of a ladder meant I had reached the surface. Steeling myself, I reached up and felt something hard. Don't ram into it. I just needed to open this and step outside.

I planted my foot on the highest rung and shoved the lid with all my strength.

"Nngh."

When I finally forced it open, the first thing I saw was a half-destroyed building. It was the communications headquarters that had been ruined when the angel and Historia fought. As I peered out like a mole, showing only my eyes, and surveyed the area, a dirt-filled wind struck my face. The taste of soil was bitter.

The air outside was worse than the underground. Maybe the place below was more livable than this filthy, dangerous surface. I pushed the lid fully aside, pressed my stomach against the ground, and clambered out.

Hello, dust-choked surface. I had returned, after burying the military state's secrets underground...

Wait. Sand? Wind?

This was definitely indoors. Even if it had been half-destroyed earlier, had it collapsed enough for wind to blow through...?

A chill ran down my spine. Not because of the wind, but because my instincts had realized something.

I could read thoughts. They weren't Historia's, but someone else's entirely.

Slowly, I turned my head. My eyes met someone's. As though that person had been waiting only for me to notice his presence, he cried out a beat after our eyes met.

"Welcome! I thought my neck would snap from waiting for you!"

He was a man with a wide grin, a monocle rimmed with gears, and a heavy-looking cloak wrapped around his whole body.

Was he someone I was close to? No. We had only met face-to-face once before.

Did we have good memories together? No. We had fought then too. I had punched him in the face.

We definitely weren't people who should be greeting each other warmly, yet he approached me with one-sided familiarity.

It wasn't a welcome situation. But I couldn't let that show.

After all, he was one of the Six Generals, said to be the strongest people in the military state. I greeted him with a reluctant smile.

"Mr. Maximilien? It's been a while. Have you been well?"

"Well? I've been waiting for the day I could meet you again, so long that my neck nearly snapped! I didn't expect our reunion would come so easily!"

He had been nowhere to be seen until now, only to appear at the moment I was most defenseless. Laughing cheerfully, he said, "What a mystery! I was planning how to meet you after getting past the young man who uses the Progenitor's or Demon God's power. Yet here you are, coming right before me on your own! What was the point of calling for support, then?"

"I didn't come here to meet you."

"You came to see Heavenly Link, didn't you? I know! But what does that matter? Isn't the important thing that we're facing each other now, without any obstacles between us?"

Wow, that would have made my heart flutter if it came from a woman. Since it was a crazy old man, though, my heart was pounding for a different reason. I recoiled in disgust, taking hesitant steps backward.

This wasn't a good situation.

I had relied on two safeguards. One was Historia, and the other was the princess. Historia was more dependable than the unpredictable princess, so I placed greater trust in her.

I might have relied on her too much, but Historia was one of the Six Generals. I thought she could overcome most crises...

But if another Six General, Maximilien, was waiting for me?

"Are you looking for this?"

Maximilien snapped his fingers.

A thunderous sound rang out, as though a giant had seized the whole world in his hand and crumpled it.

The ruined building moved. No, something that had destroyed the building was moving, and the concrete rubble crumbled in waves.

Perhaps this was what it would look like to stand inside a sandcastle and watch it collapse. The pillars that had supported the building, even the steel bars that had served as the concrete's bones, were crushed as easily as dry sand.

What appeared as it grandly overturned the building was a huge carriage made of gears.

At a glance, it looked like a self-propelled carriage stripped to its frame and enlarged several times over. But as it moved, it resembled an insect more than a carriage.

Gears did not turn alone. They always moved together with their neighbors.

Every time that enormous body moved, hundreds of gears rippled with it. Rather than a carriage rolling, it looked as disgusting as a crawling caterpillar.

The monster approached while crushing the building, then stopped a few steps in front of me. It was imposing enough that I had to lift my head to see it.

I swallowed and answered calmly.

"I'm not a junk dealer."

"It's not junk. This is the Steel Beetle, a masterpiece I created over half my life!"

"Isn't it a shame to devote half your life to a toy?"

"Hmm, is it? You see things differently from me. Isn't it much sadder to live a life that cannot be spent on enjoyment?"

Even though I had tried to provoke him a little, Maximilien just laughed it off. For some reason, his opinion of me was far too high. Why were all the people who liked me at first sight men? I suddenly felt sad.

Maximilien spoke as though he were doing me a favor.

"I'll give you an opportunity to examine it closely. A man like you should understand the Steel Beetle's structure in no time!"

"I don't really want to understand it. I mean your hobby, not its structure."

"You'll have to. I don't know whether you're looking for her, but the person looking for you is in there."

Now he was practically forcing me. I could no longer pretend not to understand, so I slowly moved while watching his reaction.

At the front of the gear-made carriage hung something like a figurehead. It was an ominous woman suited to a ghost ship, her black hair hanging limply loose and her whole body soaked in blood.

Her arms and legs were buried out of sight. Her limbs were pinned between the ridges of interlocking gears.

It was a horrifying thought, but if those gears started turning...

"Hui..."

Historia's arms and legs would be crushed between the enormous gears.

What had happened while we were apart for such a short time? I stood before the battered Historia and touched the gears binding her.

"You even learned a new finishing move. How did you get captured?"

"...Tch. I wasn't at full strength. If my body had been in better condition..."

"You still have pride to protect at a time like this? Wait a moment. I'll get you out."

I gripped a gear and tried to pull it, but it didn't budge. I didn't think my strength could free her. It would take at least someone as strong as Historia to pull her loose somehow...

'It is a pointless effort. That is a gear knot of my design. The more strength you use, the more that force will be transmitted directly to bind Major General Historia. Of course, a man like you should be able to discern its structure easily!'

No wonder it had been needlessly complicated. He had made a cruel device.

The burden on Historia wouldn't increase just because someone like me exerted some strength, but there was no need to waste effort on something useless. I released the gear and said, "Brute force won't work. The gears are intricately interlocked. If I use force carelessly, you'll get hurt."

"...This isn't the time to worry about me."

"Is that so?"

Then again, I wasn't in a position to worry about someone else.

I was weak, had no special ability, and was poorly prepared, yet I was facing a Six General. I could say with confidence that I was more helpless than Historia, trapped in those gears.

Historia seemed to think so too.

"Run. No, at least stall for time until your companion arrives. The gears he controls are pure physical force. The Progenitor would have an advantage against Director Maximilien's gears. So... flatter him, do whatever you have to. Fortunately, he seems to like you..."

"Hey. Do I really have to take advice from someone tied up?"

"Do you have a plan? You won't even be able to escape Director Maximilien. I know because I fought him. That person is... strange."

Historia spoke with a grave expression, as if she were leaking military secrets. I considered her words and replied.

"I know too. He looks strange at a glance. Did you really have to fight him to figure that out?"

"I'm serious! The Director's energy arts are different somehow... Urgh!"

"Don't move. The gears are turning."

Her arms were under enough pressure to fold steel. Historia could endure it because she had reinforced her body with energy arts. An ordinary person's limbs would have been severed.

It seemed excessive, but there was probably no other way to restrain someone as strong as Historia while keeping her limbs intact. In a way, it was reasonable. Looked at another way, it was an act of goodwill. At least it meant he didn't want to kill her or hurt her more than necessary.

"The Director must be after something. I don't know why he didn't kill me, but... if we find out what it is..."

"I'll tell you."

Unlike before, when she tried to solve everything with force, Historia was now thinking things through. It seemed she had gained the ability to see the wider game, like a general should. It was always the same. Circumstances made people.

Naturally, my response changed with the circumstances too.

"What?"

"Halberdier knows, and I know. The calculations won't add up if you, my ally in all this, don't know."

Historia's judgment suited a general. If a trivial truth could help her make faster decisions, that alone would benefit me.

So I told her.

"The Halberdier isn't my enemy."

Of course, that required the assumption that Historia would remain my ally even after learning this.

A gambler who couldn't trust the cards in his hand wasn't much of a gambler.

"...Not your enemy?"

I nodded and began explaining.

"There are six Six Generals. Excluding you, who's on my side, there are three left in the inner circle: Shadow Casket, the Halberdier, and Heavenly Link. When Shadow Casket left, only Halberdier and Heavenly Link remained at headquarters. That leaves us with a very simple math problem. An inequality even a child could solve, comparing one and two."

I raised my hand and spread my fingers. One on my side, two on theirs. Naturally, two had the advantage over one. Even if there were differences between the Six Generals, those were differences in nature.

Once strength reached a certain level, it became a single number. Anything below the standard was discarded beneath the decimal point, leaving only whole numbers to reign.

"But if Shei isn't in this space, the direction of the inequality reverses. Like this."

As I spoke, I slowly folded and spread my fingers again. Now there were two on my side and one on the other side. Now I had the advantage.

Naturally, the one on the other side was Heavenly Link. Heavenly Link had created the military state, protected it, and wanted it to continue. Change would not be tolerated.

But Halberdier, who had created the military state yet regarded it as nothing more than an interesting toy...

"Exactly so!"

With a broad smile, he affirmed my words.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried