WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 305: Growth, Life, and Friends

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'Did she leave? Is she gone? She really left, right? Let's see. Green Eye!'

The regressor scanned the surroundings with the green eye among her Seven-Colored Eyes, Green Eye of Penetration. Judging by how thoroughly she checked everything from the ground to the sky, she seemed quite frightened.

After checking several times, the regressor let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew...! At least that's a relief...!"

That was when I heard an explosion. It was not as sharp as gunpowder, but far too intense a noise to have come from a plant.

Isn't the sound alone enough to make this far from reassuring, Shei?

"What's a relief? Everything's in chaos right now!"

"Ah, it's fine. Those are bean pod bombs. They're annoying, but as long as Nevida herself isn't here, we can clean them up soon enough. The Tree of Origin is fine as long as it doesn't produce Root Beasts."

"Root Beasts?"

"Beasts made from trees. Beasts can be born from the fruit borne by the Tree of Corruption. But it looks like she couldn't make them this time. Fortunately..."

The regressor was muttering to herself when a roar rang out.

[Kyyaaaaaaaaaah!]

Far in the distance, a gigantic snake with a tree trunk for a body writhed.

Explosions went off one after another. Bean seeds scattered sparks as they flew, embroidering the brightening sky. A chimera bean that had traced an arc through the air slammed down beside me.

For a moment, the regressor and I forgot how to speak. Then screams began to rise from every direction, breaking through the silence.

"A snake... made of wood?"

"What are you standing around for? Attack it!"

"The food! The military rations are exploding all at once!"

"Quartermaster, if a bean hits us and we get hurt, does that count as an injury on duty?"

"Quit talking nonsense and catch that snake first!"

Gunfire rang out as military state officers and generals rushed in with weapons, hacking at the tree snake. Yet even when cut apart and slashed, the tree snake, with a body as thick as a giant tree, writhed violently and continued inflicting damage.

The Demon God's power changed the environment itself. Even if it had no intention of attacking, when mountains and forests moved, the little insects living within them suffered lethal blows. Listening to the screams echo around us, the regressor clicked her tongue.

"Tch. You want me to clean this up? The military state isn't even on my side!"

"No. From now on, they might be on your side, Shei."

"What?"

"Go clean it up. I'll take care of Ria and get Azzy out."

Only then did the regressor remember the others and look around.

"Ah, right. What about everyone else?"

"They're fine."

"Got it!"

The regressor grabbed Skywarbler and Jizan, then took off at a run. Leaping into the air wrapped in wind, she quickly ran Skywarbler along the diagonally held Jizan.

"Heaven-and-Earth Sword and Staff, Flint Strike!"

Friction set the air ablaze. Skywarbler absorbed the flames and glowed red-hot. The regressor swung the flaming Skywarbler and cut the tree snake cleanly in two. The burning snake twisted its massive body in pain. Scorched branches fell throughout headquarters, accompanied by the screams of ordinary soldiers.

"Platoon leader! What do we do about that?"

"...Headquarters ordered us not to attack...! Burn the trees first!"

The spreading fire only added to the confusion, but the regressor did not care.

"Fire is better than exploding bean pods or tree snakes. At least it makes you feel like you're in danger! I'll set them on fire, so you put them out!"

For a while, the military state and the regressor fought together. The tree snake still writhed even after being torn into pieces, but it seemed likely to be dealt with soon.

'The scale is huge, but the effect is weak. Why did Nevida use the Tree of Origin when she wasn't even going to fight? It's like she just wanted to show off the Demon God.'

Exactly, regressor. Nevida used it to show off the Demon God.

To me.

I turned my head. A chimera bean that had flown over beside me had already taken root and begun sprouting again. A large shoot reached all the way to my feet.

The stem, too frail for the fruit it would bear, grew as it crawled over the ground. I slowly walked alongside the ever-lengthening chimera bean vine.

It was a stem born from a chimera bean. It was only natural for chimera beans to grow from it.

But the Demon God's natural order was slightly different.

Kidney beans, peas, chickpeas, red beans. One crop after another, all belonging to the bean family in one way or another, began to grow. It looked as if someone in a cheerful mood had decided to hang every bean in existence from a single tree.

Yet I could not laugh once I saw what lay beneath it.

A kudzu vine rose and wrapped around the concrete. Clover stretched out its tiny leaves. It did not bear beans, yet it confidently claimed its place on the stem. I walked past it.

If I kept walking with this thing...

What would appear?

This was the essence of the Tree of Origin. It was why Nevida despised the Sanctum, which had given names to all things in the world.

Of course, it had nothing to do with me.

"Hm. I can't make much use of this."

This Demon God was, of all things, an extremely difficult kind for me to use. Nevida could use it hundreds of times more powerfully because she was a druid. If I tried, I could probably do no more than grow peanuts.

But wouldn't that be enough?

I took out the Spade deck. After looking through it, I pulled out the number nine and fidgeted with it between my fingers.

Spades were special. Diamonds consumed alchemical currency, Clubs had to be filled with mana, and Hearts required the appropriate drugs to be stored inside them. Spades needed none of those things.

The one thing they might need was my faith.

Because Spades were idols honoring the Demon God.

Without Maximilien, I could not move the gears. With no other choice, I grabbed the side of the steel beetle and laboriously climbed up. It was only about four meters, but I was already out of breath. I suppose I was tired too. Ah, I was craving mana herb.

When I finally got up there, Historia was sitting with difficulty, leaning against one of the gears. Her hollow eyes turned toward me. I gave her a warm smile.

"Ria. Want a peanut?"

"Where did you get a peanut...?"

I snapped my fingers. A peanut formed at the end of the bean vine that had climbed up with me. Perhaps it had exhausted all its strength following me up, because it only managed to bear one.

Still, one peanut pod held two kernels. I cracked it open and handed one to Historia, who gave a hollow laugh.

"We're close enough to share even a single bean, so I'm making an exception."

"Hmph."

Historia put the peanut in her mouth and lightly bit down. Crunch. I shelled and ate my own peanut, then roughly sat beside her.

Peanuts really were the best. They stood out even as part of a dish, but they were excellent on their own too.

After our brief snack, Historia muttered.

"Hui... Are you the King of Humanity?"

"Yeah."

"I see."

Then silence. I asked again.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?"

There had to be more. When I pressed her, Historia opened and closed her mouth before speaking.

"...Do you have any mana herb?"

"I gave you all of it."

"The stash you hid."

"Tch. How did you know?"

Clicking my tongue, I took out the mana herb I had tucked into my bio-terminal. It had been nice keeping it there, since I could feel some of the drug's effects without smoking it.

"That's just like you."

She held out her hand with a snicker. It was the gesture of someone collecting something that was already theirs. Still, the mana herb was too precious to give away all at once, so I took out a card to cut it in half.

Historia frowned.

"You're being stingy over a single stick."

"Shut up. It's not just one stick. This one stick is everything I have, so of course it's precious."

Historia raised her eyes slightly.

"...Can't you give me all of it?"

"I'm giving you half."

Ah, it would not cut. Was I too exhausted?

While I only managed to leave marks on the mana herb, Historia stared at me like I was pathetic before raising the edge of her hand.

Whoosh. Historia's hand swept past the mana herb. Before the cut pieces could even fall apart, she took the larger one for herself. She quickly put it in her mouth so I could not take it back, then silently held the end out toward me.

'Fire.'

At least say it out loud. I raised my finger and brought it close to Historia's lips. The shortened mana herb came near.

"Set, Ri. Firenheit."

Historia inhaled, and the mana herb soaked up the flames. Before the fire went out, I lit my own mana herb as well.

The words I could not bring myself to say became smoke and scattered into the air. The short mana herb went out as quickly as its length suggested. I pulled the nearly spent herb from my mouth and looked up at the sky.

"Ria. They say I'm going to die in the near future."

"...Is that so?"

"And the King of Humanity will be reborn. As the King of Sin."

"Who? How?"

"I don't know who'll do it. I don't really know how either. But I have a rough idea why. Maybe... they want to defeat sin."

Historia must have been startled. She inhaled sharply and burned through the rest of her mana herb.

"Can sin... be defeated?"

"I don't know. But maybe that's what they want to believe. Just like how you gritted your teeth and became a general because you wanted to make sure something like Hamelin never happened again."

Historia closed her mouth. Forgetting that the mana herb had already burned out, she tried to put it in her mouth with a trembling hand.

I could not let her eat ash, so I pulled Historia's hand away. My eyes met her black eyes.

"Hui, could you... have stopped what happened in Hamelin?"

"Probably."

"Why didn't you stop it?"

"Because it hadn't happened yet."

"Once it happened, you couldn't stop it."

"That's why I couldn't stop it."

Maybe my answer had been too casual. Historia let go of my hand. Pressing a hand to her forehead, she spoke as if pleading with me.

"I... don't understand. Why do you have to do this? Hui. Can't you be a little more normal? You don't have to be the King of Humanity... You don't have to go anywhere."

Normal, huh.

I was already normal because I was the King of Humanity. I could roughly do anything humans could do, and I was kind enough to get along with them well enough.

That was all.

But the normal Historia, or 'she,' wanted was probably not that. They wanted something quite different from humans as they were now. Something far kinder, far gentler.

Humans were not like that, so I could not be either.

"Ria. Thank you. For helping me without asking why or what for."

"Liar."

"Even I know how to be grateful. Humans aren't such shameless creatures."

"...With just words?"

"What do you want?"

For an instant, something crossed Historia's mind. It was a somewhat simple, instinctive desire. Normally, she would never have said it, but perhaps the drug's effects still lingered, because the words would not stop and were about to spill from her mouth.

"Meow. Stupid mutt. You can't even figure that out, meow?"

Nabi had climbed onto the steel beetle at some point. Historia came to her senses and swallowed her words. It probably would not have mattered if she had said them. Even cat eyes seemed to bother her.

After glancing around, Nabi unsheathed her claws. She drove them into a gap between the misaligned gears, pulled one out as if fishing it up, and tossed it aside. The large gear flew off and fell below. Nabi lay down in front of the opening, waiting for something.

"Woof! Me, free!"

Azzy sprang up through the gap left by the removed gear. Having spent all this time uselessly biting at gears inside the steel beetle, Azzy regained her freedom and shuddered.

"Cages, hate them! Being trapped, hate it! Woof woof! Dark and lonely!"

Nabi was better at using her front paws than Azzy. Beasts that used their front paws were also more familiar with tools. That was probably why Nabi seemed smarter than Azzy.

Nabi looked down at Azzy and sneered.

"Meow. Stupid mutt, meow. Stupid ones fight each other, and you rush in teeth first, meow."

"Woof! Me, got bitten! Had to help! And there was that smell I hate! It smelled like metal!"

"That's what makes you stupid, meow. Whether you like it or not, there's no reason to get involved when other beasts are squabbling, meow. The best thing is to watch quietly, then snatch their food, meow."

Nabi slightly raised her paw. A mana herb was skewered on one of her claws. That cat had really enjoyed herself while we were gone.

Azzy shook her head hard and pointed at me.

"Me, won't do it! Keep promise! Then humans keep promises too!"

"Meow meow. Stupid mutt. They've probably forgotten a promise from so long ago, meow."

Nabi wiggled the claw holding the mana herb and mocked her. Azzy shook her head fiercely.

"Woof! No! Me, remember!"

"Meow meow meow. It doesn't matter, meow. I only keep promises when they're good for me, meow. There isn't even a king to keep promises anymore, so humans have probably forgotten all their promises, meow."

"No! No! Humans remember! Look!"

Azzy barked loudly in denial of Nabi's words. Nabi snorted, but Azzy wagged her tail and approached me.

Azzy, the King of Dogs, had followed me all this time without a shred of doubt. That kind, friendly beast looked completely certain that I would remember our promise. Her face was filled with a bright smile as she brought up a promise from long ago.

"I'll protect you. You protect me too. I'll trust you, so you help me too."

She wagged her tail at any human without exception, whether they were evil or good, and would never attack or kill them. It could be seen as a flaw, but its advantages were far greater. Something you could trust unconditionally was far too useful.

Azzy was surely the stupidest and strongest sucker in the world. No matter how often she was deceived, she would never abandon her trust in humans, including me.

"I'll love you. You love me too."

I, on the other hand, was the King of Humanity. Yet having lost most of my power now, I had no obligation to answer. Life always came before promises.

Still, I could not simply laugh at such pure yet 'artificial' faith.

Perhaps.

"Then the bad wolf won't be able to hurt you."

Because Azzy might be what I would become in the future.

Footnotes:

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