WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 292: The Enemy of My Enemy Is an Ally, the Ally of My Ally Is an Enemy

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Historia faltered for a moment, unable to process the situation. Then Maximilien's boisterous voice filled the silence.

"Major General Historia. Do you understand now how difficult a position I was in? You and I had no reason to fight. If you hadn't tried to wage guerrilla warfare against me, I would have simply ignored you."

"...How did this happen?"

She looked stunned. Naturally.

The Director of the military state's Weapons Development Bureau was actually my ally? Even I had no idea until I met Maximilien in person and read his thoughts.

"This is partly your fault too, Maximilien. If you'd arrived a little sooner, we could've avoided an unnecessary fight."

Even if Maximilien was an ally, he hadn't been much help. I'd expected support, only for him to end up fighting Historia. What kind of ally was that?

When I blamed him, Maximilien offered an excuse.

"My delay was Heavenly Link's fault. By the time I finished an urgent matter, Heavenly Link's control had already begun. The communications officers ignored my summons, and while I was briefly away, my loyal subordinates were reassigned elsewhere. I was left without a single report, then moved only after hearing gunfire. I couldn't have arrived any sooner."

"Are you blaming someone else?"

"I'm only stating the facts! If Heavenly Link hadn't been so cautious of me, would you have reached the central district so easily?"

He had a point.

Heavenly Link Eimeder was Yuel, the Farsighted Holy Maiden. She possessed the ability to survey the whole world without leaving her seat.

Yuel had noticed our approach and secretly guided us with angels. She had tried to handle things quietly, even revealing the communications officer's identity. It was partly because our forces weren't especially formidable, but Maximilien's presence was clearly another reason...

Thinking about it made me angry. If Maximilien had come earlier, we'd have been in a much better position. Why did nothing ever go according to plan? Why did things only become this precarious when I put my life on the line?

"You weren't much help, you know. Ria did all the heavy lifting in the end. You showed up late, then attacked Historia after she was already exhausted!"

I couldn't let this slide. Once incompetence passed a certain point, it became a sin. I should get something out of him as payment.

Maximilien answered my accusations calmly.

"You keep trying to shift responsibility, but isn't this more your fault? If you had warned the Major General beforehand, there would've been no unnecessary clash."

"Well, what's done is done. We should think about what comes next."

"That's what I hoped to hear. At last, we can communicate."

"Now that we've confirmed where we stand, please release Historia first."

There was no reason to keep Historia restrained if Maximilien was our ally. It was a perfectly reasonable request, yet he did not comply.

"Before that, shouldn't we resolve the Major General's doubts? I'd rather not release her only to be attacked again."

He would rather not be attacked. In other words, he believed there was still a chance Historia would attack once she was freed.

Put differently, he didn't completely trust me. Historia had attacked him because I hadn't warned her.

"You're thorough."

"An occupational habit, perhaps? Don't take offense. I need some assurance as well. The military state is the toy I put the most effort into making. Wouldn't it be a shame to gamble it on something less than certain?"

His answer was so logical that there was no opening to press him.

I had to explain things to Historia while convincing Maximilien at the same time. Tch. Even now, he had a firm grip on the initiative and showed no intention of letting go. People who knew how to use an advantageous position were this troublesome...

Historia raised her head and looked at Maximilien.

"Director. What is this possibility? Why would you become Hui's ally?"

"You're impatient. Wait a little. He'll explain."

"Please explain it yourself. Hui's words... are difficult to take at face value."

Historia glanced at me with open distrust.

Hey, how much had I even deceived you? I could understand people I'd tricked saying that, but Historia had some nerve. Should I give her a smack while she was tied up?

I directed fierce killing intent at her, but she didn't so much as flinch.

"The Director is favorable toward Hui. In contrast, Heavenly Link tried to kill Hui with everything they had. What is it about Hui that makes everyone act this way? Why did Shadow Casket, Public Safety Director Zikhrund, try to kill him, then change his attitude and show him favor?"

"Public Safety Director Zikhrund? That happened too? Hahaha! I'm becoming more certain by the moment!"

Maximilien wasn't the only one pleased by this turn of events. Historia was also using the opportunity to satisfy her own curiosity. I couldn't stop the conversation between two Six Generals.

"First, let me tell you one thing. Zikhrund and I aren't exactly Heavenly Link's subordinates. Heavenly Link only brought us to the military state. There's no clear hierarchy between us like there is in the military state's chain of command. It's closer to a relationship between employer and employee."

"Employees...? I can understand the Director being negligent, but the Public Safety Director..."

"I worked diligently in my own way as well... though I can't compare to the Public Safety Director. That thing is probably a member of the Holy Sword Corps."

A word slipped casually from Maximilien's lips. Historia reacted to the name of one of the world's most formidable armed groups.

"...The Holy Sword Corps? The Sanctum's elite?"

"Elite? No, slaves."

With a brief, mocking smile, Maximilien freely revealed everything he knew.

"Strong people forsaken by fate, only to be taken in by a god who found them admirable. They have no lives of their own. All that remains is faith, so they don't even value their lives. Zikhrund must be the same. That's why Heavenly Link would have trusted him in that regard."

"...Then Heavenly Link is actually..."

"I've never faced Heavenly Link directly, so I can't be certain. Still, who besides a Holy Maiden could command angels as though they were extensions of their own body? Don't be so surprised at something so obvious."

Maximilien frowned and explained patiently, as though speaking to an idiot. He was right. Once the military state had guardian angels, it was inevitable that it would be connected to the Sanctum in some way.

Well, Yuel had turned her back on the Sanctum, both personally and as a nation, so that didn't matter much.

"Public Safety Director Zikhrund is Heavenly Link's limb. Yet faith always breaks before a more certain belief. A god people worship and are forced to believe in does not exist. It cannot inspire greater faith than something plainly real before their eyes. That is why the First Holy Maiden had to erase the king in order to create a god."

"...The king."

If she was going to turn her back on it, she should've done so completely. Instead, she kept clutching that tiny remnant of faith.

"Yes. I conjecture that he is the King of Humanity."

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"...The King of Humanity?"

Silence descended upon the secret space underground.

It was unlike the silence caused by the absence of people. It was as if the fact they had just heard might stir if anyone made a careless sound. It wasn't something they could laugh off as a joke, nor something they could readily accept.

Yeryen Grandiomor was the first to break the silence. Perhaps it was because she had a direct connection to the king, or perhaps it was simply her nature. Unable to bear the silence, she asked.

"H-how? How do you know?"

"I don't."

"What?"

Yuel, who had revealed every secret, answered irresponsibly.

"There's no way to know. No one knows whether he is the King of Humanity."

"But you said he was the King of Humanity, Lady Yuel!"

"Wolves are the best at smelling sheep's blood. If those pursuing the King of Humanity judged him to be one, they must have grounds that I haven't seen."

It was an unconcerned, unaccountable answer, as though it were someone else's affair. Yeryen looked at Yuel resentfully, clutched her head with both hands, and trembled.

"Ugh... W-what should we do? Did we commit some terrible irreverence...?"

"The irreverent one is that bastard Hui. Princess, do you seriously believe her?"

Siati continued to glare at Yuel with distrustful eyes.

"He didn't stand out for anything but being full of himself. Something like that can't possibly be the King of Humanity."

"But he's too extraordinary to dismiss as mere bluff!"

"I went to school with Hui. If he really were the King of Humanity, something should've been different even back then. And if he's a king who only watches tragedies unfold, there's even less need for him!"

"...I'm not defending the King of Humanity."

Yuel could no longer listen to Siati and replied.

"The King of Humanity has no special power. The First Holy Maiden rejected the King of Humanity throughout the future with her power. Even the King of Humanity is an ordinary human with no power. Therefore, the world belongs entirely to humanity without a king... Sin and punishment, good and morality, all of it belongs entirely to humanity."

Yuel's words gradually became a murmur like a prayer. Her gentle voice only provoked Siati further.

"Belongs to humanity? You did this!"

"...Yes. That sin is mine."

"What good is it to say it's yours?"

Siati, burning with anger, demanded answers from Yuel. She demanded to know how Yuel could call herself a Holy Maiden and create a hell like this, and told her not to speak of sin however she pleased after causing it all. Every cry pierced Yuel's heart.

Yet Yuel suffered over something slightly different.

"If he truly is the King of Humanity... the King of Humanity, no, humanity... this country..."

They had rejected it.

Yuel steadied her aching heart and bent over the War Hero's corpse, to comfort him, who would grieve even in death, or perhaps to comfort herself.

Footnotes:

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