WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 293: The Truth Is, I

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The more valuable the trump card, the more carefully it should be hidden. All the more so if it was rare but not especially practical. Spilled water could not be gathered up again, and exposed information could not be concealed again. The best course was to keep it hidden away and wait for the most crucial moment.

Still, unless I planned to take it with me to the afterlife without ever using it, I had to use it someday.

Now then, what should I hide?

I was actually the King of Humanity.

Of course, that did not mean I was anything remarkable. This fact had not helped me in any way throughout my life.

A Beast King was supposed to possess mighty power worthy of representing its species and reign over its kind. That was the order of the world, the natural way of things.

Yet I had no power at all.

I did not even have a way to prove I was a king.

No crown, royal robe, or throne. I had been given none of it.

A naked king left all alone in a foreign land. That was me. I was not actually naked, but still.

"The King of Humanity...?"

Historia looked unconvinced. Calling it half-belief was generous. If Maximilien had not said it so seriously, she would have dismissed it as nonsense.

I stepped in to clear away Historia's doubts.

"That's right. I'm the King of Humanity. From now on, address me as Your Majesty, flatter me, and pay fifty percent of your earnings in taxes."

"You're being noisy, so be quiet."

"Yes."

See? Whether I was the King of Humanity or anything else, it was useless if no one acknowledged it.

While I kept my mouth shut, the insolent subject continued asking questions as she pleased.

"...I heard the King of Humanity did not exist. Humans are the lords of all creation. They can choose their own king and rule the earth as noble beings."

"Do you really think so? That humans are noble beings?"

A mechanical sneer spread across Maximilien's face.

"Even a great person like you is fooled by such words. What about all the other fools? No matter how much they wish to turn away, the truth is plain. Humans are beasts by nature, and compared to other animals, their only advantage is that they are slightly stronger. Foolish humans believe themselves special, but hope has always been far removed from truth."

"But..."

"But! Humans used an extraordinary method to become special! With human hands, they killed their own king! They became 'special' beings capable of doing what even beasts would not! I have no idea how they killed her, though!"

For the record, neither did I. It happened before I was born.

Even a king could not know what happened before his own lifetime.

"How can you prove that Hui is the King of Humanity?"

Exactly. Why not reveal it to the world with clear proof? Why only work in the shadows? Use the power you have to make me king.

At Historia's question, Maximilien answered with increasing enthusiasm.

"It cannot be done!"

"But you are certain, Director."

"Certain? Not at all! No one can be certain! Because humans killed their king with their own hands, they have had countless kings since then! How can anyone identify the King of Humanity in a world where even a beggar becomes a king if you put a crown on his head?"

Unlike earlier, when he had scrutinized me from every angle, he was proudly showing off before Historia. He seemed like the type who enjoyed acting knowledgeable.

That personality did not suit running a secret organization.

"Even so, the King of Humanity is still a king, the Speaker for all humans! If the King of Humanity exists, he must be capable of understanding any human. No matter how twisted or warped they are, if they are human, then without fail!"

Twisted and warped humans. At those words, Historia immediately thought of someone.

'Lankart. Even that obnoxious bastard who saw everyone else as insects was favorable only toward Hui. And that was not all. Hui always paid attention to the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka too. Everyone was unusually favorable to him compared to what he had shown them.'

Hey, why not think of yourself first? What made you think you were normal?

As I silently found fault with her, Maximilien started spilling out things no one had even asked about.

"If he is the King of Humanity, he will understand! That some parts of the human body can be replaced with gears without issue! Arms and legs, joints and muscles, they are no more than machines made of organic matter, and gears can replace them well enough! Humans can become better with gears...!"

Historia recalled her fight against Maximilien.

A short while ago, Maximilien had appeared riding a Steel Beetle. Its arrival had been so loud that Historia spotted him long before he reached her.

Historia's body was not in good condition after fighting the angels. She was not even sure she could use an energy projectile, let alone her Gun-Sword Total Intent. At a disadvantage in every respect, Historia had planned to wage guerrilla warfare from a distance.

Maximilien did not play along. Remaining inside the beetle, he steadily approached the communications headquarters. Historia's bullets were powerful, but not enough to pierce a Steel Beetle made from interlocking Level 5 alchemical steel. Unable to let him get closer, Historia had no choice but to engage in close combat.

She faced the Steel Beetle alone, tore gears apart with her bare hands, and barely made an opening. Even as the sawblades tore into her body, she attacked the exposed Maximilien.

Maximilien's arms and legs moved in a very strange way. It was as though teeth caught in gears were turning...

"Like the Director's limbs."

There was no particular intent behind it. Historia had simply stated a fact she had learned through battle.

Still, the most uncomfortable thing in the world was the truth.

The smile vanished from Maximilien's face. Tick. It was as if a gear shifted inside his head.

"...I have spoken too long. Major General Historia, I trust that someone as qualified as you understands. I have no intention of harming the King of Humanity."

Maximilien's mechanical manner of speaking was ill-suited to conveying emotion. Historia failed to notice his discomfort and added one more question.

"What do you intend to do with Hui, Director? It cannot be that you have no other motive... Aah...!"

The final drop was always what made water spill over.

Offended, Maximilien snapped his fingers. The gears moved heavily and pulled at Historia's limbs.

Some bows used a winch to draw the bow. Historia's body bent just like one. Each time the gears twisted her limbs, her waist bent further. A tearing scream escaped Historia's lips.

Maximilien's expression did not change even as he twisted a human's limbs.

"Know your place, Major General Historia. Your life and death are in my hands. Do you interrogate the person holding your life in his hands, here and now? How can you be so foolish?"

"Aah! Ngh...!"

"You are qualified to become my ally, but if you continue disappointing me, I will reconsider my judgment. An ally who does not know their place is more dangerous than an enemy."

It was outright torture. Unable to watch any longer, I approached and pulled hard on the gears, but it had no effect. Was this really what being a king amounted to?

Maximilien saw me struggling, yet did not loosen his grip.

"Explaining the circumstances to a subdued opponent was my pure goodwill. Yet you betray that goodwill. You understand, do you not?"

"Ah, yes. Of course. I understand perfectly. Our Historia was terribly presumptuous, wasn't she?"

I had enough time. There were plenty of clues.

The Steel Beetle was an elaborate machine in which hundreds of thousands of gears connected organically.

A power source? There was none. It could move only through Maximilien's authority to turn the gears, and it could display its full power only under his control. To anyone else, it was nothing but a heap of scrap metal. To Maximilien, it was a weapon that could never be taken away.

Especially this one here. A prison made of gears that crushed arms and legs through the amplification of mechanical force on top of his authority.

Unlike the heavenly silkworm thread the regressor had used to bind Historia, these gears exerted continuous force. She could not escape by altering her body through energy arts. The instant she changed shape, they would tighten that much further.

"...But an escape trick is most dramatic when it seems impossible."

As I said that, I gripped the gear around Historia's leg with both hands. Maximilien's eyes darkened.

'Is he trying to loosen the gears? Foolish. If he knew the Steel Beetle's construction, he would understand that it is pointless. Or does he not understand?'

I understood. According to what I had read, to loosen these gears through human strength, I would have to dismantle the Steel Beetle piece by piece, starting from its tail. In other words, it was impossible.

Knowing that better than anyone, Maximilien concealed his faint disappointment as he said:

"Do not disappoint me as well. The Steel Beetle cannot be moved by strength."

"I told you, I understand."

Moving it by strength alone was absolutely impossible. The Steel Beetle could only be operated by Maximilien.

"Are you protesting to make me stop? Then I am even more disappointed. If you think I will change my mind because you throw a tantrum..."

Creak.

At a sound that should never have been heard, Maximilien stopped speaking. Unable to understand the situation, he belatedly examined what was happening.

The gears were turning.

Backward.

This was not done through brute strength. I did not possess that kind of power. No, even if Tyrkanzyaka came here, she would not be able to resist the force exerted by the Steel Beetle through pure strength. The mechanical device created by a mad genius over many years amplified even the force of a finger's movement thousands, tens of thousands of times.

There was only one way to move it. Maximilien's power, Li among the Heaven, Earth, Water, and Li...

Or rather, the innate arcane pretending to be that authority.

I used it to turn the gears.

"...!"

Maximilien was shocked. Even his mechanical thoughts could not keep pace with an impact this great.

The gears that should have been completely under his control, moving according to his will. The Steel Beetle, which had been his weapon alone, was escaping his control.

'Could it be...! The King of Humanity can even use innate arcane...!'

It took only a few seconds for him to collect himself. That was enough time.

Historia's body sprang free. Once the force from the gears vanished, her right leg and right arm slipped out easily. The rest was simple. Before I could even touch the gears on the other side, Historia tore herself free with brute force.

Free again in an instant, Historia staggered as she landed on the ground. I waited for her to land, then spread both arms and shrugged.

"Ta-da. Did you enjoy that? It was an escape trick! Everyone, applaud!"

As I proudly cried out, Maximilien raised both hands with his eyes wide. Historia moved, thinking it was the start of an attack, but it was not.

Maximilien held one hand out flat and began clapping into it using only his right arm. It was such enthusiastic applause that Historia, who had taken a defensive stance, looked utterly deflated.

It had been a while since I met such a responsive audience.

Footnotes:

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