WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 306

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What Is the Principle of Healing?

Azzy's big eyes were fixed on me. I reached out, stroked her head, and said,

"Yeah. Remember."

"Woof? Remember? Then are we going to hunt wolves together?"

"Yeah. Someday."

I said it with full confidence, but Azzy tilted her head and pressed again.

"Woof? Someday? When?"

"I said I'll definitely do it someday."

"When is someday?"

"When things calm down a little. I'm busy right now. Look. People came again."

I pointed at the crowd approaching from far away. Soldiers of the military state.

Maximilien had likely ordered them not to interfere when he came over here, but the fight was obviously over and he still wasn't in sight, so they came to assess the situation.

Azzy looked dissatisfied. Still, even after I said that, all she could do was trust me. That's the kind of creature a dog was.

"Woof! Someday, for sure!"

"Yeah. For sure."

If I can, anyway. After calming Azzy, I looked past the gears at the group of soldiers. A general in a stained officer's uniform was leading them.

"...You sure are at ease. Smoking mana herb in the middle of Headquarters!"

Ah, we made eye contact. I hid the mana herb behind my back, and the general shouted with an imposing expression.

"Communications officer!"

A communications officer in uniform appeared at his side. I recognized her face from Communications Bureau Module I.

She looked overwhelmed by the general's presence and shrank back as she watched his mood.

"I am Captain IP, communications officer of the military state."

"Is the no-approach order still in effect?"

"Please wait a moment...."

Captain IP briefly closed her eyes and focused. Once she finished communicating, she relayed exactly what she received.

"Yes. Headquarters is maintaining the no-approach order for this location."

"We were just attacked, and they're telling us to sit still?!"

"Eek!"

Captain IP took the general's force head-on and got scared stiff. I glanced at Historia and said,

"Hey, Ria. You're one of the Six Generals. Do something about him."

Historia looked at Captain IP and said quietly,

"That's Lieutenant General Mexio. One rank above me."

"Damn it. You're one of the Six Generals, so why's your rank so low?"

"The Six Generals only have independent operation authority. Rank is assigned separately. They don't hand out Six General status by rank."

"The other five are all full generals."

"...They've all been active since the founding of the military state."

Oh, that got under her skin a little. Should I push a little more?

"I heard they were full generals from the founding era. You've been commissioned for quite a while, but you're still only a major general?"

"Because I'm only a major general, I betrayed them and sided with you. If I were a full general, I'd have dragged you to Headquarters myself."

Playing the guilt card like that was cheap. Since she spent it here, she doesn't get to cash it in later.

"You said you have independent operation authority. Use that at least."

"Well. I wonder if they'll allow it."

Probably not. I nodded in agreement.

Maybe because we'd ignored him for too long, Lieutenant General Mexio hit his limit and strode forward despite the no-approach order.

"I can't take this anymore! Supplies are exploding, some mysterious snake is crushing my men, and in the middle of all that, a traitor is calmly smoking mana herb, and we're supposed to just watch?! Does that make sense?!"

"L-Lieutenant General Mexio, c-currently, this area is under a no-approach order...."

"Silence!! Communications officer, this is a near-wartime situation! Since when did a mere captain question a general's order?!"

"Eek, s-sorry...."

A communications officer facing the world in person seemed to suffer quite a lot. She had to warn him, but she was a fragile girl whose only weapon was authority, and she couldn't withstand a general's pressure.

There was a reason communications officers used golems for communication.

"And to begin with, something this unreliable is called a communications officer...."

The general's condemnation drove straight into Captain IP's bowed ears. With the Communications Bureau destroyed and her own flight like someone bewitched, Captain IP had nothing to say.

"All troops, assemble. Detain the targets. Use force if they resist. Hey, Historia! You hear me? Unless you want to fight the entire military state, come quietly. If you resist, your boyfriend might end up in danger."

"..."

Hey. Say something back. Why are you just turning your head and staying silent?

Tch. He's keeping us fully in sight. Hiding will be hard, so what now? Historia was completely exhausted, so should I stall until Shei arrived?

I was deciding which topic to bring up from what I'd read in his mind, the affair with the female officer, or the fact that he faked his energy art.

Then Captain IP, who had been fidgeting, suddenly stepped in front of the general as if possessed. She saluted the stunned general and reported.

"Lieutenant General Mexio. This is a direct command communication from a superior command authority. I will relay the command exactly as given, and Lieutenant General Mexio must listen."

"What is it?"

Captain IP's innate arcane manifested. A faint magical glow wrapped her whole body, and her hair floated up. After synchronization, Captain IP recited someone else's command word for word through her own mouth.

"I received your report. Why are you running around like a headless fool? If you don't know, shut up and stay put, Lieutenant General Mexio."

As soon as she finished, her hair dropped back down. Captain IP, who had just delivered a verbal beating, stared blankly at the general with a confused expression.

Silence fell. A mere captain had called a lieutenant general a headless fool and told him to shut up, to his face. Lieutenant General Mexio's face turned bright red.

Mexio knew those were relayed words from above. He had done it himself. But hearing it through a golem as a receiver and hearing it from a human standing right in front of you were clearly different. Without realizing it, Lieutenant General Mexio reached toward IP.

"A captain daring to speak to me that way, you're the first. Be prepared...."

That was when it happened. Two sharp presences surged out. Lieutenant General Mexio instinctively stepped back and looked toward Historia. At some point, she'd drawn her pistol and was aiming it at him.

To block a bullet, Lieutenant General Mexio pulled out his general-grade gear, the sawblade shield. As he started to raise it, he felt something off.

'Wait. There are two presences. The other one is...?'

"It's me."

And then "Maximilien" appeared.

"Maximilien" wore a distinctive monocle and a large hat, with a cloak draped in hanging gears, gliding across the floor. Gear shoes spun beneath his feet as he moved.

That style went beyond taste and into outright obsession with gears; anyone would think it was Maximilien himself. Lieutenant General Mexio didn't even think to doubt it and snapped into a salute.

"Loyalty. Director Maximilien, are you safe!"

"Maximilien" spoke with irritation.

"Didn't I tell you? I'd handle what happened over there, so don't interfere and focus on external defense. I clearly gave a no-approach order through the communications officer."

"That is, the situation was clearly over, but nothing was relayed...."

"So you tried to lay hands on the communications officer who delivered my order?"

Lieutenant General Mexio shut his mouth. He now understood where that earlier command had come from.

"Maximilien" shook his head.

"Lieutenant General Mexio, why would someone of your standing do that? A communications officer is a mere gear. A component that relays central control exactly as it is. Not precious, but extremely important. Because it relays 'my' command without inserting personal opinion. Do you not understand what that means? I thought you were at least rational."

"I apologize. But your weapon was completely destroyed, so I thought something might have gone wrong...."

"What?"

Hearing that his masterpiece had been completely destroyed, "Maximilien" went still. A cold atmosphere swirled again, much stronger and harsher than before.

A general was still only a rank within the military state. The gap in power between one of the Six Generals and an ordinary general was beyond imagination. That was even more true when the other side was the military craftsman active since the founding era, said to have made all the military state's weapons.

And Maximilien had tremendous confidence in and attachment to his own work, so Mexio's words were a clear blunder.

"Say that again. Completely destroyed? What do you know about gears? By what standard are you evaluating them? Does that look completely destroyed to you? With gears, what matters is not shape but structure. If it's in the right place, any gear can be replaced at once! What you see on the outside is not everything, you idiot bastard!"

When he wasn't angry, Maximilien was rational and broad-minded, but once he felt a line had been crossed, he switched instantly and snapped. "Maximilien's" rage crossed the threshold from that one remark. Enraged, "Maximilien" crushed a gear in his hand and shouted.

"Do you know who our enemy is, what I had to face?! You don't! You couldn't even imagine it! Not knowing is one thing. Narrow-minded idiots exist in this world; that can't be helped! But! Don't act confident about things you don't know! Is that so hard?!"

When a Six General exploded, it rarely ended with words. As expected, "Maximilien" raised a finger. A gear floated just above it, spinning violently.

They said once you reached the peak of Geon energy, you could infuse objects without touching them. Just a little, but the gear was undeniably floating. Spinning in empty air with no friction and no resistance, it stirred up stormlike wind.

Lieutenant General Mexio instinctively raised the sawblade shield and covered himself. Excellent choice. "Maximilien" threw it at him without the slightest hesitation.

Thud, kakak, kakak, kakak.

The frenzied gear slammed into the sawblade shield. After the first impact, the teeth kept turning and poured rotational force onto the shield. Lieutenant General Mexio felt his whole body shake.

'This impact, this force...! He's serious! General Maximilien is serious!'

Gritting his teeth, Lieutenant General Mexio braced his core and heaved the shield up. The blazing ring of energy rode the shield at an angle and ricocheted far away. By the time he barely shook off the gear and stood again, "Maximilien" was already spinning two more gears, one in each hand.

He'd fully snapped. He had to run.

Following pure survival instinct, Lieutenant General Mexio shouted in panic.

"I-I'll correct it! Everyone! We focus on post-battle recovery! Move!"

"Yes, sir!!"

No fool who stayed near an enraged Six General lived long. The soldiers still alive to this day were proof of survival of the fittest.

Lieutenant General Mexio's unit executed an orderly strategic retreat. The crowd pulled back like a receding tide. "Maximilien" kept spinning gears until they disappeared from view.

The military state's soldiers moved fast. In under a minute, the force that had approached was gone. After everyone disappeared, "Maximilien" dropped the gear in his hand to the ground.

"How can you point a gun at my back? Honestly. I almost slipped because it was distracting."

As he said, Historia was aiming her gun at "Maximilien."

From Historia's perspective, that reaction was natural. She had just fought Maximilien moments earlier. She had barely defeated him with everything she had, so seeing him return perfectly fine was bound to shock her.

"Maximilien...? No way. He was clearly...! No, that's definitely energy...?"

I answered Historia's question.

"Right. That's energy. Anyone can see it."

"But Director Maximilien used innate arcane! That Maximilien used energy...!"

"It's definitely energy. But your subject is wrong. That Maximilien is not Maximilien."

You went through it too, so you know. It looked exactly like Historia, but it wasn't Historia.

"Yeees, as expected, Your Majesty! You recognized it right away!"

"Maximilien" spun in place. The cloak flared dramatically, but maybe the finishing was sloppy, because the wobbling gears rattled loose and fell off. He caught the monocle and tossed it aside, then shook off the makeshift gear shoes. As gears disappeared from his body, the Maximilien-like impression faded sharply.

In that state, "Maximilien" bent deeply and gave an elegant greeting, like taking a curtain call after a play.

"Maximilien" opened his mouth.

"How was 'my' acting?"

The figure was clearly that of a sturdy adult man, yet the voice reaching my ears was as beautiful as a songstress's.

After seeing the performance up close, I gave my honest review.

"It's a complete scam."

"Ahah! A complete scam, from Your Majesty of all people!"

"Maximilien" no, even that name no longer fit. The gears attached all over the body had fallen away, leaving only a man wrapped in a thick cloak.

And that person was becoming more and more like a girl in real time.

Color returned to hands that had been pale like prosthetics, and the frame shrank. Clothes that had fit perfectly loosened, revealing neck and shoulders.

Master of disguise Yeonggwe Zikhrund... now Hilde, the girl approached with a giggle. I quickly cut her off.

"Don't call me Your Majesty. Are you trying to spread my identity around?"

"Huh? All of a sudden?"

"What do you mean, all of a sudden? This is a secret, in its own way."

Hilde's narrow eyes widened into circles.

"Huh? Really? Then what is it? Shei and Tyrkanzyaka are with Father without even knowing that? How did that happen?!"

"There are people like that in this world. And are your only choices for addressing me Your Majesty or Father?"

With Tyr, it felt less like she didn't know and more like she didn't care. Still, she probably sensed something. Giving her heart back wasn't exactly a small thing.

Wow, looking at it this way, the only one who truly doesn't know my identity is the regressor. Is that okay? You're a regressor, you know?

...No. I should think about this the other way around. The regressor might be foolish, but she isn't dumb.

It's not that she doesn't know. She probably knows something else that we don't.

Now then, what could that be? I was deep in thought when it happened.

Hilde walked up to the Steel Beetle. Historia showed open hostility toward her.

"Zikhrund...."

"No, Historia. It's Hildegard. Zikhrund is, hmm, something like an illusion... just a title meaning the military state's light and shadow, like Eimeder. It's not the essence."

Hilde laughed lightly and sprang up onto the Steel Beetle. Historia glared at her, but Hilde moved in regardless.

Historia showed hostility toward Hilde, but she also knew Hilde held no hostility toward her. Mexio's case had already proved that. In the brief pause where Historia couldn't attack, Hilde naturally took her arm and gently threw her down. Historia was exhausted and couldn't resist.

"'I' envy you, Historia. You probably don't realize what an incredible twist of fate you've encountered. Ah, what a shame. I wish I'd met Father before I became like this."

"Urgh... how do you know Hui is the Human King...."

"'I' am not certain either, but compared to others, I'm in a somewhat better position. I have a way to verify it. Besides, Father told us himself, didn't he?"

Hilde's touch was firm and gentle at once. She lightly kneaded Historia's arm and flowed energy into her acupoints with her fingers. It was acupressure treatment, healing wounds with energy.

And... it wasn't only energy.

"A doctor from the East. A passing scholar. A wandering mercenary. A reclusive sage. An alms monk. A wayfarer."

Alongside the acupressure, an incomprehensible force gathered in her open palm. Warm and comforting... yet somewhat forceful.

"Those were all occupations once held by the Human King, and titles he was called by. This time it's the Pied Piper, right, Father? Your titles keep getting cooler and cooler!"

I hadn't asked for that. I shrugged, and Hilde smiled with her eyes as she leaned over Historia. Their bodies overlapped side by side. Pressed to Historia's back, Hilde whispered softly into her ear.

"Hehe. You don't need to be so upset, Historia. It's natural not to know. Even those people in the past only learned because they met someone, just like you."

After saying that, Hilde closed her eyes and focused. In that short pause between words, she entered meditation. In a dark, pitch-black inner world, Hilde gave herself a suggestion.

'I am a monk. My body and mind are both damaged, but my faith is more devout than anyone else's.'

And she stepped into a domain that could only be reached through faith.

White light gathered on the touching hand. Hilde clasped Historia's hand and breathed that power into her biometric terminal.

The power to return a human being to a previous state. Authority of restoration beyond healing. The greatest reason a "god" could exist.

Historia felt the force digging into her body and murmured,

"Divine... power."

Her body, bound to gears, bent and twisted, recalled the original form from before it had been deformed. The body was like rubber; once stretched out of shape, it tried to return.

For external trauma like this, divine power displayed absolute healing.

Historia's body "returned." Hilde smiled and stood up.

"Healing complete! No need to thank me. This means let's get along from now on!"

The pain barely being suppressed by mana herb vanished as if washed away.

Her vigor hadn't returned, and her fatigue hadn't faded... but Historia had recovered. After witnessing a miracle before her eyes, she asked in a trembling voice.

"Zikhrund... who are you...?"

Hilde smiled even more playfully and answered.

"All right, let me introduce myself again! 'I' am Yeonggwe, given the name Zikhrund... and formerly engaged in the duty of assisting the Holy Maiden!"

With only a rough bend at the waist, she twisted one arm up into place. Giving a deliberately delinquent salute, Hilde grinned.

"Farseeing Holy Sword Captain, Hildegard! Eheheh, pleased to meet you!"

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